• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.14-18
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• 2019

In general after the etching process, waste etching solution contains metals. (ex. Nickel (Ni), Chromium (Cr), Zinc (Zn), etc.) In this work, we proposed a recycling process for waste etching solution and refining from waste liquid contained nickel to make nickel metal nano powder. At first, the neutralization agent was experimentally selected through the hydrolysis of impurities such as iron by adjusting the pH. We selected sodium hydroxide solution as a neutralizing agent, and removed impurities such as iron by pH = 4. And then, metal ions (ex. Manganese (Mn) and Zinc (Zn), etc.) remain as impurities were refined by D2EHPA (Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid). The nickel powders were synthesized by liquid phase reduction method with hydrazine ($N_2H_4$) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The resulting nickel chloride solution and nickel metal powder has high purity ( > 99%). The purity of nickel chloride solution and nickel nano powders were measured by EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic) titration method with ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer). FE-SEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy) was used to investigate the morphology, particle size and crystal structure of the nickel metal nano powder. The structural properties of the nickel nano powder were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy).

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 2014

Biochar application to soil is widely known to have effects of climate change mitigation and soil quality improvement. However, effects of biochar on soil ecosystem are not always positive and some biochars are reported to contain toxic materials which might influence soil ecosystem. In this context, this study aims to investigate behavioral changes of earthworms(Eisenia fetida, Eisenia andrei) in response to different application rates of biochar to artificial soil. Treatment included two types of biochars made from rice husk (RH_Char) and wastewater sludge (SL_Char) with 1% and 10% application rates, respectively. Avoidance test revealed that earthworms did not avoid SL_Char treatments at 1% and 10%, while they rather moved to the RH_Char treatments probably due to higher labile carbon content(Hot water extractable carbon) of the RH_Char. The HWC content of RH_Char was 4 times higher than that of the SL_Char. Results of reproduction test showed that the survival rates, number of juveniles and number of cocoons were not influenced by biochar application except for the treatment of SL_Char at 10% rate. In the SL_Char 10% treatment, fatality was approximately 3.3 times as high as the control and the number of cocoons was 1.3 times higher in the same treatment than the control, indicating that earthworms were under environmental stress. The possible explanation for the stress condition was related to higher Cd, Ni, Cr, and As contents in the SL_Char. Overall results imply that biochar application at low rate might not change earthworms' behavior for the short term, while the reproduction behavior might be negatively influenced under the high application rate.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.57-67
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• 2017

The inhibitory effects of Asparagus cochinchinensis against inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), substance P and phthalic anhydride (PA) treatment were recently reported for some cell lines and animal models. To evaluate the hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity of A. cochinchinensis toward the livers and kidneys of ICR mice, alterations in related markers including body weight, organ weight, urine composition, liver pathology and kidney pathology were analyzed in male and female ICR mice after oral administration of 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg body weight/day saponin-enriched extract of A. cochinchinensis (SEAC) for 14 days. The saponin, total flavonoid and total phenol levels were found to be 57.2, 88.5 and 102.1 mg/g in SEAC, respectively, and the scavenging activity of SEAC gradually increased in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, body and organ weight, clinical phenotypes, urine parameters and mice mortality did not differ between the vehicle and SEAC treated group. Furthermore, no significant alterations were measured in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and the serum creatinine (Cr) in the SEAC treated group relative to the vehicle treated group. Moreover, the specific pathological features induced by most toxic compounds were not observed upon liver and kidney histological analysis. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that SEAC does not induce any specific toxicity in the livers and kidneys of male and female ICR mice at doses of 600 mg/kg body weight/day.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.231-248
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• 2014

The relationship between market structure and social welfare outcomes has received considerable critical attention in the field of competition policy research. In particular, it is necessary to study in greater depth the impact of market power on social welfare in the telecommunications industry, which is highly likely to form a monopolistic market structure. This is because, when market powers are concentrated on few upper carriers, there are negative effects on social welfare due to an excess of profits. Against this background, the present study investigates the relationship between the market structure of the mobile communications industry (the level of market power) and social welfare outcomes (the retail rate cut) through an international comparison. The results demonstrate that both the market structure and competition status of the Korean market have had significant gaps in global trends. It also points out that the monopolistic market structure (when the leading provider has more than 50% of the market share) has significantly negative effects on consumer welfare (the retail price cut). In addition, the findings of this study suggest that the direction of competition policy should focus on not only improving market concentration(HHI), but also on mitigating the monopoly of power of a dominant operator.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.87-102
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• 2019

Pallancata Ag mine is located at the Ayacucho region 520 km southeast of Lima. The geology of mine area consists of mainly Cenozoic volcanic-intrusive rocks, which are composed of tuff, andesitic lava, andesitic tuff, pyroclastic flow, volcano clasts, rhyolite and quartz monzonite. This mine have about 100 quartz veins in tuff filling regional faults orienting NW, NE and EW directions. The Ag grades in quartz veins are from 40 to 1,000 g/t. Quartz veins vary from 0.1 m to 25 m in thickness and extend to about 3,000 m in strike length. Quartz veins show following textures including zonation, cavity, massive, breccia, crustiform, colloform and comb textures. Wallrock alteration features including silicification, sericitization, pyritization, chloritization and argillitization are obvious. The quartz veins contain calcite, chalcedony, adularia, fluorite, rutile, zircon, apatite, Fe oxide, REE mineral, Cr oxide, Al-Si-O mineral, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, electrum, proustite-pyrargyrite, pearceite-polybasite and acanthite. The temperature and sulfur fugacity ($f_{s2}$) of the Ag mineralization estimated from the mineral assemblages and mineral compositions are ranging from 118 to $222^{\circ}C$ and from $10^{-20.8}$ to $10^{-13.2}atm$, respectively. The relatively low temperature and sulfur-oxygen fugacities in the hydrothermal fluids during the Ag mineralization in Pallancata might be due to cooling and/or boiling of Ag-bearing fluids by mixing of meteoric water in the relatively shallow hydrothermal environment. The hydrothermal condition may be corresponding to an intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineralization.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2019

Heavy metals resulted from the increase of human industrial activity are introduced into the environment through rainfall and wastewater, and have harmful effects on inhabitants. In this study, we investigated biological responses such as survival rate, growth rate, emergence rate and sex ratio, and morphological effects of mentum deformity in Chironomus plumosus, an indicator organism to evaluate pollutions on aquatic ecosystem. The survival rate of C. plumosus showed time- and dose-dependent decrease after chromium and copper exposures. Growth rate decreased at $4^{th}$ day after chromium exposure and significantly reduced at exposure to relatively high concentration (copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$) for all exposure times. In addition, we observed that the emergence rate by exposure to copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$ was significantly lower than that of the control group. The imbalance of sex ratios showed at relatively low concentrations (chromium 10 and $50mg\;L^{-1}$) with the high proportion of female and at the relative high concentration (copper $1000mg\;L^{-1}$) with the high proportion of male. Furthermore, the morphological mentum deformities of C. plumosus observed in the exposed group according to chromium and copper exposure. These results suggest that the heavy metal exposure in environment may influence biosynthetic and morphological stresses of benthic invertebrate C. plumosus, and aquatic midge C. plumosus are potential indicators for toxicity assessment of heavy metals such as chromium and copper.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.541-547
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• 2019

Objective: This study investigated the effects of photoperiod on nutrient digestibility, hair follicle (HF) activity and cashmere quality in Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats. Methods: Twenty-four female (non-pregnant) Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats aged 1 to 1.5 years old with similar live weights (mean, $20.36{\pm}2.63kg$) were randomly allocated into two groups: a natural daily photoperiod group (NDPP group:10 to 16 h light, n = 12) and a short daily photoperiod group (SDPP group: 7 h light:17 h dark, n = 12). All the goats were housed in individual pens and fed the same diets from May 15 to October 15, 2015. The digestibility of crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were measured in different months, along with secondary hair follicle (SHF) activity, concentration of melatonin (MEL), and cashmere quality. Results: Although there was no significant difference in the live weights of goats between the SDPP and NDPP groups (p>0.05), the CP digestibility of goats in the SDPP group was significantly increased compared to the NDPP group in July, September, and October (p<0.05). For the DM and NDF digestibility of goats, a significant increase (p<0.05) was found during in September in the SDPP group. Furthermore, compared to the NDPP group, the SHF activity in July, the MEL concentration in July, and the cashmere fiber length and fiber weight in October were significantly increased in the SDPP group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The cashmere production of Inner Mongolia white cashmere goats was increased without obvious deleterious effects on the cashmere fibers in the SDPP group (metabolizable energy, 8.34 MJ/kg; CP, 11.16%; short daily photoperiod, 7 h light:17 h dark).

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1268-1274
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• 2018

We have investigated the effects of chemical rounding (CR) on the surface passivation and/or antireflection performance of $AlO_{x^-}$ and $AlO_x/SiN_x:H$ stack-passivated pyramid textured $p^+$-emitters with two different boron doping concentrations, and on the performance of bifacial n-PERT Si solar cells with a front pyramid textured $p^+$-emitter. From experimental results, we found that chemical rounding markedly enhances the passivation performance of $AlO_x$ layers on pyramid textured $p^+$-emitters, and the level of performance enhancement strongly depends on boron doping concentration. Meanwhile, chemical rounding increases solar-weighted reflectance ($R_{SW}$) from ~2.5 to ~3.7% for the $AlO_x/SiN_x:H$ stack-passivated pyramid textured $p^+$-emitters after 200-sec chemical rounding. Consequently, compared to non-rounded bifacial n-PERT Si cells, the short circuit current density Jsc of 200-sec-rounded bifacial n-PERT Si cells with ~60 and ${\sim}100{\Omega}/sq$ $p^+$-emitters is reduced by 0.8 and $0.6mA/cm^2$, respectively under front $p^+$-emitter side illumination. However, the loss in the short circuit current density Jsc is fully offset by the increased fill factor FF by 0.8 and 1.5% for the 200-sec-rounded cells with ~60 and ${\im}100{\Omega}/sq$ $p^+$-emitters, respectively. In particular, the cell efficiency of the 200-sec-rounded cells with a ${\sim}100{\Omega}/sq$ $p^+$-emitter is enhanced as a result, compared to that of the non-rounded cells. Based on our results, it could be expected that the cell efficiency of bifacial n-PERT Si cells would be improved without additional complicated and costly processes if chemical rounding and boron doping processes can be properly optimized.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.382-388
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• 2019

Increased anterior teeth mastication following posterior teeth loss leads to greater anterior occlusal force. It may cause greater attrition of anterior teeth, traumatic force occlusion (TFO), also often followed by antagonist extrusion and occlusal disharmony. This clinical report describes the treatment for a 67-year-old female patient diagnosed with loss of both maxillary and left mandibular posterior teeth, severe attrition of maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth and extrusion of multiple teeth. A diagnostic cast was mounted on articular in centric relation (CR) position to evaluate vertical dimension (VD) and interspace. To provide adequate space for the prosthetic reconstructions, VD was increased by 3 mm on the anterior pin. And then diagnostic wax-up was completed upon that VD. Wax-up was converted to provisional restorations and verified in the patient's mouth and the final restorations were delivered. Clinical follow up examination held 3 months after temporary restoration owing to changes in vertical dimension revealed proper function in mastication without evidence of temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) disorders. This clinical report presents successfully restoring severe attrition case with increasing vertical dimension resulting in satisfaction in esthetics and function.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.33-45
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• 2019

In this study, in order to recycle a large amount of rocks and weathered mudstones produced by civil engineering projects such as railways and highways, as materials for roadbeds or embankment materials, circumferential specimens with a diameter of 5 cm and a height of 10 cm were made. A mudstone that weathered rapidly during rainfall was collected from Pohang construction sites. The weathered mudstone passed through a 2 mm sieve. It was prepared with the cement ratio, the sand ratio, curing condition and curing days. Three specimens were prepared according to each condition and then the unconfined compressive test, durability test and SEM analysis were performed to evaluate the engineering properties of the cemented soil. In the case of 28 days cured specimen, the strength of under-water cured specimens was 32-55% and the durability index was about 15% higher than air cured specimens. In addition, when the CR increased from 8% to 16%, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of pure mudstone cemented soil under water increased by about 1.6 times and the durability index increased by about 1.9 times. When the SR increased from 0% to 50%, the UCS of the specimen with SR = 10% was slightly less than or equal to specimen with SR = 0%. Then, as the SR became 30-50%, the UCS increased up to 51%. Unlike the UCS, the durability index increased continuously as the SR increased. As a result of SEM analysis, when SR was 50% rather than SR = 0%, the contact between sand particles increased and they were connected to each other. Such contact between these particles resulted in the increase of strength.