• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1615-1634
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• 2004

A review was undertaken to obtain information on the sustainability of pig free-range production systems including the management, performance and health of pigs in the system. Modern outdoor rearing systems requires simple portable and flexible housing with low cost fencing. Local pig breeds and outdoor-adapted breeds for certain environment are generally more suitable for free-range systems. Free-range farms should be located in a low rainfall area and paddocks should be relatively flat, with light topsoil overlying free-draining subsoil with the absence of sharp stones that can cause foot damage. Huts or shelters are crucial for protecting pigs from direct sun burn and heat stress, especially when shade from trees and other facilities is not available. Pigs commonly graze on strip pastures and are rotated between paddocks. The zones of thermal comfort for the sow and piglet differ markedly; between 12-22$^{\circ}C$ for the sow and 30-37$^{\circ}C$ for piglets. Offering wallows for free-range pigs meets their behavioural requirements, and also overcomes the effects of high ambient temperatures on feed intake. Pigs can increase their evaporative heat loss via an increase in the proportion of wet skin by using a wallow, or through water drips and spray. Mud from wallows can also coat the skin of pigs, preventing sunburn. Under grazing conditions, it is difficult to control the fibre intake of pigs although a high energy, low fibre diet can be used. In some countries outdoor sows are fitted with nose rings to prevent them from uprooting the grass. This reduces nutrient leaching of the land due to less rooting. In general, free-range pigs have a higher mortality compared to intensively housed pigs. Many factors can contribute to the death of the piglet including crushing, disease, heat stress and poor nutrition. With successful management, free-range pigs can have similar production to door pigs, although the growth rate of the litters is affected by season. Piglets grow quicker indoors during the cold season compared to outdoor systems. Pigs reared outdoors show calmer behaviour. Aggressive interactions during feeding are lower compared to indoor pigs while outdoor sows are more active than indoor sows. Outdoor pigs have a higher parasite burden, which increases the nutrient requirement for maintenance and reduces their feed utilization efficiency. Parasite infections in free-range pigs also risks the image of free-range pork as a clean and safe product. Diseases can be controlled to a certain degree by grazing management. Frequent rotation is required although most farmers are keeping their pigs for a longer period before rotating. The concept of using pasture species to minimise nematode infections in grazing pigs looks promising. Plants that can be grown locally and used as part of the normal feeding regime are most likely to be acceptable to farmers, particularly organic farmers. However, one of the key concerns from the public for free-range pig production system is the impact on the environment. In the past, the pigs were held in the same paddock at a high stocking rate, which resulted in damage to the vegetation, nutrient loading in the soil, nitrate leaching and gas emission. To avoid this, outdoor pigs should be integrated in the cropping pasture system, the stock should be mobile and stocking rate related to the amount of feed given to the animals.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.94-104
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• 2009

It is urgently required to develop the production of fermentation-heat energy from the waste agricultural and forest biomass and its effective heat exchanging system for the supply of warm water to rural households and greenhouses. In this study 3 helical-type and 1 plate-type heat exchangers using 3 different waste biomasses [e.g. hardwood (HW) sawdust (100%), softwood (SW) sawdust : HW sawdust (50 : 50) and HW sawdust : grass (90 : 10)] were applied in order to find out the best heat recovery system. The heat exchanger was basically considered to improve the overall heat recovery efficiency, to minimize heat loss and to simplify manufacturing, assembling and breaking up the fermenting beds. The helical-type heat exchanger (HX-H3) installed in fermenting bed of HW sawdust : grass (90 : 10) showed relatively higher temperature profiles, in particular mid- and upper-parts than lower and surface parts during 45-day fermentation process. The maximum temperature was ranged from $40^{\circ}C$ to $65^{\circ}C$ with average $60^{\circ}C$. The water temperature of tank outlet was ranged to $33{\sim}48^{\circ}C$ during whole measuring periods. By the way plate-type one (HX-P) installed in same biomass compositional fermenting bed showed $64.5{\sim}76.5^{\circ}C$ at center part, and $43{\sim}56^{\circ}C$ and $42{\sim}58^{\circ}C$, water tank and tank outlet temperatures, respectively, during 100 day measurement. It could be concluded that the plate-type heat exchanger (HX-P) provides not only the effective heating for the rural households and greenhouses, but also having the best heat recovery performance, easy manufacturing, assembling and breaking up the systems.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.711-722
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• 2011

Beam-column gravity or Intermediate Moment frames subjected to unexpected large displacements are vulnerable when no seismic details are provided, which is typical. Conversely, economic efficiency of those frames is decreased if unnecessary special detailing is applied as the beam and column size becomes quite large and steel congestion is caused by joint transverse reinforcement in beam-column connections. Moderate seismic design is used in Korea for beam-column connections of buildings with structural walls, which are to be destroyed when the unexpected large earthquake occurs. Nonetheless, performance of such beamcolumn connections may be substantially improved by the addition of steel fibers. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of steel fibers in reinforced concrete exterior beam-column connections and possibility for the replacement of some joint transverse reinforcement. Ten half-scale beam-column connections with non-seismic details were tested under cyclic loads with two cycles at each drift up to 19 cycles. Main test parameters used were the volume ratio of steel fibers (0%, 1%, 1.5%) and joint transverse reinforcement amount. The test results show that maximum capacity, energy dissipation capacity, shear strength and bond condition are improved with the application of steel fibers to substitute transverse reinforcement of beam-column connections. Furthermore, several shear strength equations for exterior connections were examined, including the proposed equation for steel fiber-reinforced concrete exterior connections with non-seismic details.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.119-127
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• 2002

This study was conducted to develop the heat exchanger by utilizing the heat energy of underground water(15℃), which might be used for cooling and heating system of the agricultural facilities. We developed the heat exchanger, parallel type plat fin tube made of Aluminum(Al 6063), which was named Aloo-Heat(No. of The registration design : 0247164, by Korean Intellectual property Office). The fin of exchanger was design of the granulated surface for minimizing fouling factor and dew forms, and also placed parallel to the tube in order to minimized the resistance of flows. 1. Aloo-heat was designed to have 0.03m for inside diameter, 0.036m for outside diameter of tube, 0.0012m for thickness of fin and 0.032m for length of plat fin. 2. t was also designed to have 1.5248m²/m for outside area of heat transfer, 0.0942m²/m for inside area contacting hot liquid, and the ratio (Ra) was 16.1869. 3. Efficiency of the fin was 93 percentage when fin length was 0.032m, and the fin thickness satisfied equation $\frac{h{\rho}}{k}$< 0.2 when it was 0.0012m. 4. According to the performance test of Aloo-heat, as the temperature and rate increased, the heating value also increased, heating value was 504kJ/h·m and 6,048kJ/h·m when it was 60℃, 10 𝑙/min and 80℃, 40 𝑙/min respectively. 5. The test of heating value was confident, because correlation value(R²) was 0.9898 for the temperature and 0.9721 for flow rate of hot liquid, respectively.