• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.362-367
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• 2023

Recently, research and development of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) membranes are progressing in the direction of thinning to reduce prices and improve performance. Demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles for commercial vehicles is also increasing, and their durability should be five times greater than those for passenger vehicles. Despite the thinning of the membranes, the durability of the membranes must be increased five times, so the improvement of the durability of the membranes has become more important. Since the acceleration durability evaluation time also needs to be shortened, the protocol using oxygen instead of air in the existing protocol was applied to a 10 ㎛ thin membrane to evaluate durability. The accelerated durability test (Open circuit voltage holding) was terminated at 720 hours. If the air-based department of energy (DOE) protocol was used, a lifespan of 450,000 km of driving hours would be expected, with a durability of about 1,500 hours. During the chemical durability evaluation, the active area of the electrode decreased by 51%, suggesting that catalyst degradation had an effect on membrane durability. Reducing the catalyst degradation rate is expected to increase membrane durability.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5A
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• pp.649-656
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• 2008

The enhancement of the service life of damaged or cracked structures is a major issue for researchers and engineers. The hierarchic void element based on the integrals of Legendre polynomials is used to characterize the fracture behaviour of unpatched crack as well as repaired crack with bonded composite patches by computing the stress intensity factors and stress contours at the crack tip. Since the equivalent single layer approach is adopted in this study, the proposed element is necessary to represent a discontinuous crack part as a continuum body with zero stiffness. Thus the aspect ratio of this element to represent the crack should be extremely slender. The sensitivity of numerical solution with respect to energy release rate, displacement and stress has been tested to show the robustness of zero stiffness element as the aspect ratio is increased up to 2000. The stiffness derivative method and displacement extrapolation method have been applied to calculate the stress intensity factors of Mode I problem. It is noted that the proposed hierarchical void element can be one of alternatives to analyze the patched crack problems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.208-215
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• 1999

The creep behavior of a rapidly solidified and consolidated Al-9.45wt%Fe-4.45wt%Cr alloy were investigated in the stress range 40 to 115 MPa and temperature range 300(0.53Tm) to 441$^{\circ}C$(0.66Tm). It is of use to available aerospace and automobile industries for the improved performance of materials used at high temperature. Because Al alloys with improved creep resistance offer the potential for lower weight and reduced costs in aerospace and automobile components (e.g., structural members and engine parts) through the replacement of heavier and more costly materials, the safety in use at high temperature is good. The alloy is characterized by high stress exponents and activation energies for creep, which are greatly dependent on the stress and temperature. Because the creep stress is seen to cause a strongly significant enhancement of coarsening, the coarsening rate of the dispersed particles in all crept specimens is faster than that in isothermally annealed specimens. Dislocations connecting dispersoids are observed more cofrequently in crept specimens with higher stress and lower temperature. The creep strain rates in the power law creep regime were found to be predicted much better by the Shorty and Rosler/Arzt equation with the inclusion of a threshold stress and dislocation detachment mechanism. The dispersoids in this alloy were acting a source of void nucleation that finally leaded to ductile fracture within the grain so called intergranular. Each void was initiated, grown and failed at the dispersoids in the aluminium matrix. Grain boundary accommodation of the slip produced, which result in initiation of the void and then final transgranular fracture. Therefore, it was confirmed that these dispersoids played an important role in the fracture mechanism by the formation of $Al_{13}Fe_4$, $Al_{13}Cr_2$ and $Al_2O_3$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.86-90
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• 2023

The packaging of electronic devices performs a protective function to ensure that their durability and reliability are not affected by changes in the operating environment caused by external factors. Recent advances in materials have led to ongoing research into bonded packaging of heterogeneous materials such as polymers and inorganic materials in electronic devices. In this packaging process, it is important to have a binding that joins the materials and ensures the operating environment, which includes adhesion to the substrate, corrosion and oxidation resistance through moisture removal, and durability. In this study, the hygroscopicity of the coating layer by modifying the polymer surface based on PVA was evaluated by controlling and measuring the contact angle, and the adhesion was confirmed by applying water-based ink and testing according to ASTM_D3363. For the durability of the polymer surface, the IPL post-treatment process was used to improve the hardness and toughness against applied voltage, and the pencil hardness test and nanoindentation test were conducted. Through this, we analyzed and proposed solutions to ensure the reliability and durability of polymer devices in polymer microfabrication against environmental factors such as moisture, temperature fluctuations and adhesion, and surface abrasion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.967-977
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• 2023

Rubus crataegifolius (RC) is a traditional Asian medicinal plant belonging to the Rosaceae family. The fruits of RC are known to prevent adult diseases through antioxidants. In this study, the effects of RC extract (RCex) on obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were evaluated in animal models. Twenty-eight male C57BL/6J mice were induced to become obese for 8 weeks and then the extract was orally administered for 8 weeks. RCex reduced body weight, adipose tissue, liver weight. RCex improved biochemical biomarkers including lipid metabolism (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), plasma triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol). The activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) reduced the expression of adipogenesis genes (liver × receptor (LXR), sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthesis (FAS), acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and the effect of enhancing carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) activity by RCex was verified. RCex also influence on plasma production of hormones (adiponectin & leptin) related on energy expenditure and metabolism. In addition, we confirmed that RCex improved glucose intolerance in HFD-induced obese rats. RCex was first demonstrated to have anti-obesity as well as anti-NAFLD effects by regulating fatty acid oxidation and fatty acid synthesis by phosphorylation of AMPK. This suggests that RCex could be a good supplement for the prevention of obesity and related NAFLD.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.91-111
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• 2024

Most of utility cable tunnels are constructed utilizing shield TBM as part of the underground transmission line project. The TBM chamber is the only space inside the tunnel that encounters rock and soil, and is the place with the highest frequency of accident exposure, such as collapse and collision accidents. Since there is currently no way to measure the disc cutter wear from outside the chamber, frequent inspection by workers is essential. Accordingly, in this study, in order to prevent safety accidents inside the TBM chamber and expect the effect of shortening the construction period by reducing the number of chamber openings, the concept of disk cutter wear measurement technology was established and a prototype was produced. By considering prior technology and determining that magnetic sensors are most suitable for the excavation environment, wear measurement sensor package were developed integrating magnetic sensors, wireless communication modules, power supply, external casing, and monitoring systems. To verify the performance of the prototype in an actual excavation environment, a full-scale tunnelling test was performed using a 3.6 m EPB shield TBM. Based on the full-scale tests, five prototypes were operated normally among eight prototypes. It was analyzed that sensor measurement, wireless communication, and durability performance were secured within a maximum thrust of 3,000 kN and a rotation speed of 1.5 RPM.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.835-840
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• 2023

RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) systems are attracting attention as a key component of Internet of Things technology due to the cost and energy efficiency of application services. In order to use RFID technology in the IoT application service field, it is necessary to be able to store and manage various information for a long period of time as well as simple recognition between the reader and tag of the RFID system. And in order to read and write information to tags, a performance improvement technology that is strong and reliable in poor wireless channels is needed. In particular, in the UHF(Ultra High Frequency) RFID system, since multiple tags communicate passively in a crowded environment, it is essential to improve the recognition rate and transmission speed of individual tags. In this paper, Middleton's Class A impulsive noise model was selected to analyze the performance of the RFID system in an impulsive noise environment, and FM0 encoding and Miller encoding were applied to the tag to analyze the error rate performance of the RFID system. As a result of analyzing the performance of the RFID system in Middleton's Class A impulsive noise channel, it was found that the larger the Gaussian noise to impulsive noise power ratio and the impulsive noise index, the more similar the characteristics to the Gaussian noise channel.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2024

Biodegradable coating urea plays an important role in reducing the non-pollutants in agroecosystems, maximizing the plant nutrient utilization efficiency and slow-releasing nitrogen. Herein, the objective of this study was to investigate the nitrogen-releasing patterns and greenhouse gas emissions on different biodegradable coating urea. The treatments consisted of the control as an application of chemical fertilizers, NBCF as the non-biodegradable coating urea, NB60, and MDS as biodegradable coating urea. As a result of this study, the maximum accumulated total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the NBCF was higher at 33% than one in the NB60 during the precipitation periods. Its leaching period in the NCBF was prolonged for day 10 compared to the NB60. TN and NO₃-N releasing patterns in the NBCF and NB60 were fitted well on linear types(R²≥0.991), but their control and MDS were fitted well on Sigmoid curves(R²≥0.994) with high releasing concentration in the MDS compared to the control during leaching periods. For the greenhouse gas emissions, CH₄ emissions in the NBCF, NB60, and MDS were increased at 0.38%, 11.36%, and 5.91%, and N₂O emissions were also increased at 50.5%, 32.4%, 58.8% as compared to the control, respectively. Therefore, application of biodegradable polymer coating urea might mitigate the non-point pollutants in agro-ecosystem.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.157-166
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• 2008

We have investigated a statistical relationship between sawtooth oscillations and geomagnetic storms during 2000-2004. First of all we selected a total of 154 geomagnetic storms based on the Dst index, and distinguished between different drivers such as Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and Co-rotating Interaction Region (CIR). Also, we identified a total of 48 sawtooth oscillation events based on geosynchronous energetic particle data for the same 2000-2004 period. We found that out of the 154 storms identified, 47 storms indicated the presence of sawtooth oscillations. Also, all but one sawtooth event identified occurred during a geomagnetic storm interval. It was also found that sawtooth oscillation events occur more frequently for storms driven by CME $({\sim}62%)$ than for storms driven by CIR $({\sim}30%)$. In addition, sawtooth oscillations occurred mainly $({\sim}82%)$ in the main phase of storms for CME-driven storms while they occurred mostly $({\sim}78%)$ during the storm recovery phase for CIR-driven storms. Next we have examined the average characteristics of the Bz component of IMF, and solar wind speed, which were the main components for driving geomagnetic storm. We found that for most of the sawtooth events, the IMF Bz corresponds to -15 to 0 nT and the solar wind speed was in the range of $400{\sim}700km/s$. We found that there was a weak tendency that the number of teeth for a given sawtooth event interval was proportional to the southward IMF Bz magnitude.