• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.403-407
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• 2005

Pyrolysis of methyl ricinoleate, from castor oil, was performed to produce methyl undecenoate. Methyl undecenoate has excellent deodorant, bactericidal and fungicidal activity. The object of this study was to find the optimum temperatures to maximize the yield of methyl undecenoate. The optimum temperatures were at $500^{\circ}C$ and $590^{\circ}C$ for preheating and pyrolysis, respectively. The maximum yield was 46% on the basis of injected methyl ricinoleate. The feeding rate of methyl ricinoleate mixture was selected as the scale-up factor. Maintaining the maximium yield, the feeding rate was scaled-up 20 folds, while the reactor was scaled-up 18 times.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.135-148
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• 2018

Reservoir sedimentation is a major environmental issue, and various sediment load controls and plans have been proposed to secure clean and safe water resources. The objectives of this study were to estimate soil loss in the upper basins and predict sediment deposition in Ipjang reservoir using hydrologic and hydraulic model. To do so, SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and EFDC (Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code) was used to estimate soil loss in two upper basins and to predict spatial distribution and amount of sediment deposition in the Ipjang reservoir, respectively. The hydrologic modeling results showed that annual average soil loss from the upper basins was 500 ton. The hydraulic modeling results demonstrated that sediment particles transported to the reservoir were mostly trapped in the vicinity of the reservoir inlet and then moved toward the bank over time. If long-term water quality monitoring and sediment survey are performed, this study can be used as a tool for predicting the dredging amount, dredging location and proper dredging cycle in the reservoir. The study findings are expected to be used as a basis to establish management solutions for sediment reduction.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.545-552
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• 2001

Nondestructive methods such as ultrasonic and magnetic resonance imaging systems have many advantages but still much expensive. And they do not give exact color information and may miss some details. If it is allowed to destruct a biological object to obtain interior and exterior informations, 3D image visualization model from a series of sliced sectional images gives more useful information with relatively low cost. In this paper, a PC based automatic 3D visualization system is presented. The system is composed of three modules. The first module is the handling and image acquisition module. The handling module feeds and slices a cylindrical shape paraffin, which holds a biological object inside the paraffin. And the paraffin is kept being solid by cooling while being handled. The image acquisition modulo captures the sectional image of the object merged into the paraffin consecutively. The second one is the system control and interface module, which controls actuators for feeding, slicing, and image capturing. And the last one is the image processing and visualization module, which processes a series of acquired sectional images and generates a 3D volumetric model. To verify the condition for the uniform slicing, normal directional forces of the cutting edge according to the various cutting angles were measured using a strain gauge and the amount of the sliced chips were weighed and analyzed. Once the 3D model was constructed on the computer, user could manipulate it with various transformation methods such as translation, rotation, and scaling including arbitrary sectional view.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.273-279
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• 2008

Space separation method that use independent reactor for nitrification and other reactor for denitrification has been commonly used for biological nitrogen removal process like $A^2O$ process. However, this method needs large space and complicate pipelines and time separation method such as SBR process have a difficulty in continuous treatment. Thus biological nitrogen removal process which is capable of continuous treatment, easy opeation and space saving is urgently required. In this research, submerged moving media was used for a biofilm process and suspended sludge was used for biological nitrogen removal at the same time. In particular DO environment by controlling air flow rate was investigated for simultaneous nitrification/denitrification. Total nitrogen removal in aeration rate more than $67L/min{\cdot}m^3$ showed 51~53% and rose to 65%, 70% and 78% in $50L/min{\cdot}m^3$, $58L/min{\cdot}m^3$ and $25L/min{\cdot}m^3$ respectively. Total phosphorus removal was very low about 10~20% more than $67L/min{\cdot}m^3$ aeration rates. But total phosphorus removal roses when reduces aeration rate by $58L/min{\cdot}m^3$ low and it showed total phosphorus removal of 72% in aeration rate $25L/min{\cdot}m^3$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.706-713
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• 2015

Graphite foams (GFs) were prepared by adding different amounts of mesophase pitch (MP) into polyvinyl alcohol-acrylic acid (PVA-AAc) solution followed by the heat treatment. It was confirmed that the pore diameters of GFs were controlled by the slurry concentration, which was the mesophase content added in polymer solution, and their thermal conductivity and compressive strength were also controlled by porosities of GFs formed at different conditions. The resulting GFs in this study had the highest thermal conductivity of $53.414{\pm}0.002W/mK$ and compressive strength of $1.348{\pm}0.864MPa$ at 0.69 in porosity. The thermal conductivity of MP based GFs increased approximately 23 times higher than that of using isotropic pitch based GFs due to the developed graphitic structure.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study was to prepare and evaluate a natural material extracted from germinated brown rice (GBR). Herein, we evaluated whether the natural material could positively activate the biological effects seen during bone formation, including enhancement of metabolic activity, osteogenesis, and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), one of the growth factors in human osteoblast-like cells. Methods: The natural material was created by a hot water extraction process after being soaked for 2~3 days in tap water and dried at $50^{\circ}C$. The material was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The biological behaviors of the material were also investigated; we performed tests to assess cell cytotoxicity, metabolic activity, osteogenic markers related to bone formation, and VEGF. Results: The EDX, XRD, and FTIR results for the natural material indicated the presence of organic compounds. The natural material caused positive increases in cell metabolic activity and mineralized bone formation without cytotoxicity. The protein levels in the extract for the $6.25{\mu}g/mL$, $12.25{\mu}g/mL$, $25{\mu}g/mL$, $50{\mu}g/mL$, and $100{\mu}g/mL$ groups were significantly different from that for the control. Conclusions: The GBR-based natural material was easy to prepare and had characteristics of a potential biomaterial. The biocompatibility of this natural material was evaluated using in vitro techniques; our findings indicate that this novel material is promising for agricultural and biological applications.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2018

Intervertebral disc(IVD) mainly consists of Annulus fibrosus(AF) and Nucleus pulposus(NP), playing a role of distributing a mechanical load on vertebral body. IVD tissue engineering has been developed the methods to achieve anatomic morphology and restoration of biological function. The goal of present study is to identify the possibilities for creating a substitute of IVD the morphology and biological functions are the same as undamaged complete IVD. To fabricate the AF and NP combine biphasic IVD tissue, AF tissue scaffolds have been printed by 3D bio-printing system with natural biomaterials and NP tissues have been prepared by scaffold-free culture system. We evaluated whether the combined structure of 3D printed AF scaffold and scaffold-free NP tissue construct could support the architecture and cell functions as IVD tissue. 3D printed AF scaffolds were printed with 60 degree angle stripe patterned lamella structure(the inner-diameter is 5mm, outer-diameter is 10 mm and height is 3 mm). In the cytotoxicity test, the 3D printed AF scaffold showed good cell compatibility. The results of histological and immunohistochemical staining also showed the newly synthesized collagens and glycosaminoglycans, which are specific makers of AF tissue. And scaffold-free NP tissue actively synthesized glycosaminoglycans and type 2 collagen, which are the major components of NP tissue. When we combined two engineered tissues to realize the IVD, combined biphasic tissues showed a good integration between the two tissues. In conclusion, this study describes the fabrication of Engineered biphasic IVD tissue by using enable techniques of tissue engineering. This fabricated biphasic tissue would be used as a model system for the study of the native IVD tissue. In the future, it may have the potential to replace the damaged IVD in the future.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 1998

Nature-friendly river project has became common practice in Japan. In order to make it available for the conservation and rehabilitation of desirable water environment, water criteria for water environmental assessment must be established. Especially, the criteria estimating the effects on ecosystem in and around river should be constructed. In this paper, classification method for water quality has been developed using biological indices and applied to observed data in Honmyo River, Nagasaki, Japan. Modified PI method (BI') has been suggested and those of three most abundant species resulted effective estimate for an overall water quality with comparatively simple procedure. Extensive database management code was prepared for the comprehensive ecological monitoring of river basin, which includes various biota. That system enables easy access of all the ecological data for a dissemination of a sound and sustainable water environment. The result of this study could improve knowledge base, serve making consensus for citizens, and help river management plans. In Japan, citizen's realization and action are the most critical factor for nature-friendly river restoration project.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.613-618
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• 2014

In this study, nitrogen doped graphene oxide (GO) was prepared using liquid phase ammonia treatment to improve its electrical properties. Also, the aminated GO was manufactured into a film format and the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency was measured to evaluate its electrical properties. The XPS result showed that the increase of liquid phase ammonia treatment concentration led to the increased nitrogen functional group on the GO surface. The measurement of EMI shielding efficiency reveals that EMI shielding efficiency of the liquid phase ammonia treated GO was better than that of non-treated GO. When GO was treated using the ammonia solution of 21% concentration, the EMI shielding efficiency increased by -5 dB at higher than 2950 MHz. These results were maybe due to the fact that nitrogen functional groups on GO help to improve the absorbance of electromagnetic waves via facile electron transfer.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.99-103
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• 2013

An emzymatic bioanode for a glucose/oxygen biofuel cell was prepared by the sequential coating of carbon nanotube (CNT), charge transfer complex (CTC) based on tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) and tetrathiafulvalene (TTF), glucose oxidase (GOx), and polyion complex (mixture of poly-L-lysine hydrobromide and poly (sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)) on a glassy carbon electrode. A biocathode was also prepared by the sequential coating of CNT, bilirubin oxidase (BOD), 2,2'-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS), and polyion complex. The effect of CNT and CTC on the electrochemical performance was investigated. The biofuel cell exhibited a promising performance with maximum power densities of 3.6, 10.1, and $46.5{\mu}W/cm^2$ at 5, 20, and 200 mM of glucose concentration, respectively. The result indicates that the biofuel cell architecture prepared in this study can be used in the development of biofuel cells and biosensors.