• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.263-263
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• 2013

This work examines the dynamic properties of ice surfaces in vacuum for the temperature range of 140~180 K, which extends over the onset temperatures for ice sublimation and the phase transition from amorphous to crystallization ice. In particular, the study focuses on the transport processes of excess protons and chloride ions in ice and their segregative behavior to the ice surface. These phenomena were studied by conducting experiments with a relatively thick (~100 BL) ice film constructed with a bottom $H_2O$ layer and an upper $D_2O$ layer, with excess hydronium and chloride ions trapped at the $H_2O$/$D_2O$ interface as they were generated by the ionization of hydrogen chloride. The migration of protons, chloride ions, and water molecules to the ice film surface and their H/D exchange reactions were measured as a function of temperature using the methods of low energy sputtering (LES) and Cs+ reactive ion scattering (RIS). Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments monitored the desorption of water and hydrogen chloride from the surface. Our observations indicated that both hydronium and chloride ions migrated from the interfacial layer to segregate to the surface at high temperature. Hydrogen chloride gas desorbs via recombination reaction of hydronium and chloride ions floating on the surface. Surface segregation of these species is driven by thermodynamic potential gradient present near the ice surface, whereas in the bulk, their transport is facilitated by thermal diffusion process. The finding suggests that chlorine activation reactions of hydrogen chloride for polar stratospheric ice particles occur at the surface of ice within a depth of at most a few molecular layers, rather than in the bulk phase.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2017

The objective of this study is the evaluation of the performance of a large-scale respirometer (LSR) of 17.7 L in the determination of the methane generation rate constant (k) values. To achieve this objective, a comparison between anaerobic (GB21) and LSR tests was conducted. The data were modeled using a linear function, and the resulting correlation coefficient ($R^2$) of the linear regression is 0.91. This result shows that despite the aerobic conditions, the biodegradability values that were obtained from the LSR test produced results that are similar to those from the GB21 test. In this respect, the LSR test can be an indicator of the anaerobic biodegradability for landfill waste. In addition, the results show the high repeatability of the tests with an average coefficient of variance (CV) that is lower than 10%; furthermore, the CV for the LSR is lower than that of the GB21, which indicates that the LSR-test method could provide a better representation of waste samples. Therefore, the LSR method allows for both the prediction of the long-term biodegradation potential in a shorter length of time and the reduction of the sampling errors that are caused by the heterogeneity of waste samples. The k values are $0.156y^{-1}$ and $0.127y^{-1}$ for the cumulative biogas production (GB21) and the cumulative oxygen uptake for the LSR, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.850-855
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• 2007

Leptin is the adipocyte-specific product of the obese gene and plays a major role in food intake and energy metabolism. Leptin research was mainly focused on mammalian species, but understanding of leptin and its function in poultry is very poor. In this study, the duck leptin gene was amplified using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from duck liver RNA. The cDNA fragment was inserted into the pET-28a expression vector, and the resulting plasmid was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Experimental mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of 10 mg/kg leptin dissolved in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), while the control mice were injected with PBS. The effect of leptin on food intake, body weight and fatty deposition in mice was detected. Sequence analysis revealed that duck leptin had a length of 438 nucleotides which encoded a peptide with 146 amino acid residues. The sequence shares highly homology to other animals. The coding sequence of duck leptin was 84 and 86% identical to human and pig leptin nucleotides sequence. Highest identity was with the rat coding sequence (95%). The identity of the amino acid sequence was 84, 82 and 96% respectively compared to that of the human, pig and rat. Results of SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that a fusion protein was specifically expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The purified product was found to be biologically active during tests. Continuous administration of recombinant duck leptin inhibited food intake. Despite the decrease of food intake, leptin significantly induced body weight and fatty deposition. These changes were accompanied by a significant down-secretion of plasma glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and insulin levels in mice. The observations provide evidence for an inhibitory effect of leptin in the regulation of food intake and for a potential role of duck leptin in the regulation of lipogenesis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.270-282
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• 2008

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has defense mechanisms identical to higher eukaryotes. It offers the potential for genome-wide experimental approaches owing to its smaller genome size and the availability of the complete sequence. It therefore represents an ideal eukaryotic model for studying cellular redox control and oxidative stress responses. S. cerevisiae Yap1 is a well-known transcription factor that is required for $H_2O_2$-dependent stress responses. Yap1 is involved in various signaling pathways in an oxidative stress response. The Gpx3 (Orp1/PHGpx3) protein is one of the factors related to these signaling pathways. It plays the role of a transducer that transfers the hydroperoxide signal to Yap1. In this study, using extensive proteomic and bioinformatics analyses, the function of the Gpx3 protein in an adaptive response against oxidative stress was investigated in wild-type, gpx3-deletion mutant, and gpx3-deletion mutant overexpressing Gpx3 protein strains. We identified 30 proteins that are related to the Gpx3-dependent oxidative stress responses and 17 proteins that are changed in a Gpx3-dependent manner regardless of oxidative stress. As expected, $H_2O_2$-responsive Gpx3-dependent proteins include a number of antioxidants related with cell rescue and defense. In addition, they contain a variety of proteins related to energy and carbohydrate metabolism, transcription, and protein fate. Based upon the experimental results, it is suggested that Gpx3-dependent stress adaptive response includes the regulation of genes related to the capacity to detoxify oxidants and repair oxidative stress-induced damages affected by Yap1 as well as metabolism and protein fate independent from Yap1.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.538-543
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• 2014

It is investigated that that the physical properties of Glutathione layer formed on gold surfaces may make an effect on the distribution of either gold particle adsorbed to the $ZrO_2$ surface or vice versa with the adjustment of the electrostatic interactions. For the investigation, the atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to measure the surface forces between the surfaces as a function of the salt concentration and pH value. The forces were quantitatively analyzed with the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory to estimate the surface potential and charge density of the surfaces for each condition of salt concentration and pH value. The estimated-value dependence on the salt concentration was described with the law of mass action, and the pH dependence was explained with the ionizable groups on the surface. The salt concentration dependence of the surface properties, found from the measurement at pH 4 and 8, was consistent with the prediction from the law. It was found that the Glutathione layer had higher values for the surface charge densities and potentials than the zirconium dioxide surfaces at pH 4 and 8, which may be attributed to the ionized-functional-groups of the Glutathione layer.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.743-751
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• 2018

The objective of this study was to investigate the adsorption potential of chicken feathers for the removal of OrangeII (AO7) from aqueous solutions. Batch experiments were performed as a function of different experimental parameters such as initial pH, reaction time, feather dose, initial OrangeII concentration and temperature. The highest OrangeII uptake was observed at pH 1.0. Most of the OrangeII was adsorbed at 2 h and an adsorption equilibrium was reached at 6 h. As the amount of chicken feather was increased, the removal efficiency of OrangeII increased up to 99%, but its uptake decreased. By increasing the initial concentration and temperature, OrangeII uptake was increased. The experimental adsorption isotherm exhibited a better fit with the Langmuir isotherm than with the Freundlich isotherm, and maximum adsorption capacity from the Langmuir constant was determined to be 0.179244 mmol/g at $30^{\circ}C$. The adsorption energy obtained from the Dubinin-Radushkevich model was 7.9 kJ/mol at $20^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$ which indicates the predominance of physical adsorption. Thermodynamic parameters such as ${\Delta}G^0$, ${\Delta}H^0$, and ${\Delta}S^0$ were -12.28 kJ/mol, 20.64 kJ/mol and 112.32 J/mol K at $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. This indicates that the process of OrangeII adsorption by chicken feathers was spontaneous and endothermic. Our results suggest that as a low-cost biomaterials, chicken feather is an attractive candidate for OrangeII removal from aqueous solutions.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.605-617
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• 2020

The existence of damages in structures causes changes in the physical properties by reducing the modal parameters. In this paper, we develop a two-stages approach based on normalized Modal Strain Energy Damage Indicator (nMSEDI) for quick applications to predict the location of damage. A two-dimensional IsoGeometric Analysis (2D-IGA), Machine Learning Algorithm (MLA) and optimization techniques are combined to create a new tool. In the first stage, we introduce a modified damage identification technique based on frequencies using nMSEDI to locate the potential of damaged elements. In the second stage, after eliminating the healthy elements, the damage index values from nMSEDI are considered as input in the damage quantification algorithm. The hybrid of Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used along with nMSEDI. The objective of TLBO is to estimate the parameters of PSO-ANN to find a good training based on actual damage and estimated damage. The IGA model is updated using experimental results based on stiffness and mass matrix using the difference between calculated and measured frequencies as objective function. The feasibility and efficiency of nMSEDI-PSO-ANN after finding the best parameters by TLBO are demonstrated through the comparison with nMSEDI-IGA for different scenarios. The result of the analyses indicates that the proposed approach can be used to determine correctly the severity of damage in beam structures.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.21-27
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• 2018

It is difficult to fabricate and maintain moving parts of expander at cryogenic temperature. This paper describes numerical analysis and experimental investigation on a cryogenic reciprocating expander without moving piston. An intake valve which takes high-pressure gas, and an exhaust valve which discharges low-pressure gas, are connected to a tube. The inside pressure of the tube is pulsated for work production. This geometric configuration is similar to that of pulse tube refrigerator but without regenerator. An orifice valve and a reservoir are installed to control the phase of the mass flow and the pressure. At the warm end, a heat exchanger rejects the heat which is converted from the produced work of the expanded gas. For the numerical analysis, mass conservation, energy conservation, and local mass function for valves are used as the governing equations. Before performing cryogenic experiments, we carried out the expander test at room temperature and compared the performance results with the numerical results. For cryogenic experiments, the gas is pre-cooled by liquid nitrogen, and then it enters the pulse tube expander. The experiments are controlled by the opening of the orifice valve. Numerical analysis also found the expander conditions that optimize the expander performance by changing the intake pressure and valve timing as well as the opening of the orifice valve. This paper discusses the experimental data and the numerical analysis results to understand the fundamental behavior of such a newly developed non-mechanical expander and elucidate its potential feature for cryogenic application.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.491-502
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• 2012

The world's food production systems are becoming an area of great concern for both human and ecological health. Research has identified that one of the greatest threats to sustainability is conventional industrial agricultural systems and the high energy and material cost they require to function. The organic food movement is contributing as promising alternative to the current dominant model. Over the last 50 years it has developed into the most visible brand for a healthier and more environmentally sustainable food system. However, to achieve its full potential there are still a number of hurdles which must be overcome to make organic products a more viable and appealing option for consumers. This paper provides an overview of key research that has been conducted on why consumers are buying organic products, what they are buying and what is preventing them from purchasing more. It concludes that the key challenge is for the organic food movement to convince existing consumers of the superior 'value' of its products. In addition there are a number of methodological issues associated with analysing the market for organic products as well as issues of limited distribution, intermittent availability and high prices that are currently preventing increases in sales. Recognition and management of these barriers could contribute to more effective targeted research into consumer food purchasing motivations and subsequently the development of more sophisticated marketing strategies that assist in maintaining integrity with consumers and fending off challenges from conventional as well as other complementary food systems such as local food movement. And finally to achieve these market growth strategies the organic food movement will need to cope with its diverse constituency - ranging from global corporates through to local production and consumption - and provide attractive opportunities to individuals and business at all stages in supply chain whilst retaining credibility with government to ensure ongoing policy support.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2014

An experimental method based on flexural wave propagation is proposed for identification of structural damage in rail fastening systems. The vibration of a rail clamped and supported by viscoelastic pads is significantly influenced by dynamic support properties. Formation of a defect in the rail fastening system induces changes in the flexural wave propagation characteristics owning to the discontinuity in the structural properties. In this study, frequency-dependent support stiffness was measured to monitor this change by a transfer function method. The sensitivity of wave propagation on the defect was measured from the potential energy stored in a continuously supported rail. Further, the damage index was defined as a correlation coefficient between the change in the support stiffness and the sensitivity. The defect location was identified from the calculated damage index.