• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.302-312
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• 2019

The voltage produced from the salinity gradient in reverse electrodialysis (RED) increases proportionally with the number of cell pairs of alternating cation and anion exchange membranes. Large-scale RED systems consisting of hundreds of cell pairs exhibit high voltage of more than 10 V, which is sufficient to utilize water electrolysis as the electrode reaction even though there is no specific strategy for minimizing the overpotential of water electrolysis. Moreover, hydrogen gas can be simultaneously obtained as surplus energy from the electrochemical reduction of water at the cathode if the RED system is equipped with proper venting and collecting facilities. Therefore, RED-driven water electrolysis system can be a promising solution not only for sustainable electric power but also for eco-friendly hydrogen production with high purity without $CO_2$ emission. The RED system in this study includes a high membrane voltage from more than 50 cells, neutral-pH water as the electrolyte, and an artificial NaCl solution as the feed water, which are more universal, economical, and eco-friendly conditions than previous studies on RED with hydrogen production. We measure the amount of hydrogen produced at maximum power of the RED system using a batch-type electrode chamber with a gas bag and evaluate the interrelation between the electric power and hydrogen energy with varied cell pairs. A hydrogen production rate of $1.1{\times}10^{-4}mol\;cm^{-2}h^{-1}$ is obtained, which is larger than previously reported values for RED system with simultaneous hydrogen production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 2009

Crop-livestock mixed farming systems depend on the efficiency with which nutrients are conserved and recycled. Home-grown forage is used as animal feed and animal excretions are applied to cultivated crop lands as manure. The objective of this study was to develop a mixed farming system model for dairy cattle in Japan. The model consisted of four sub-models: the nutrient requirement model, based on the Japanese Feeding Standards to determine requirements for energy, crude protein, dry matter intake, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A; the optimum diet formulation model for determining the optimum diets that satisfy nutrient requirements at lowest cost, using linear programming; the herd dynamic model to calculate the numbers of cows in each reproductive cycle; and the whole farm optimization model to evaluate whole farm management from economic and environmental viewpoints and to optimize strategies for the target farm or system. To examine the model' validity, its predictions were compared against best practices for dairy farm management. Sensitivity analyses indicated that higher yielding cows lead to better economic results but higher emvironmental load in dairy cattle systems integrated with forage crop production.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1525-1529
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• 2004

Most of the recently developed robots are human friendly robots which imitate an animal or human such as entertainment robot, bio-mimetic robot and humanoid robot. Interest in these robots are increasing since the social trend is focused on health, welfare, and graying. By these social backgrounds, robots become more human friendly and suitable for home or personal environment. The more bio-mimetic robots resemble living creature, the more human feels familiarity. People feel close friendship not only when they feed a pet, but also when they watch a pet having the food. Most of entertainment robots and pet robots use internal-type batteries and have a self-recharging function. Entertainment robots and pet robots with internal-type batteries are not able to operate during charging the battery. So far there have been a few robots that do not depend on a battery. However, they need a bulky energy conversion unit and a slug or foods as an energy source, which is not suitable for home or personal application. In this paper, we introduce a new bio-mimetic entertainment robot with autonomous feeding functionality, called ELIRO-1(Eating LIzard RObot version 1). The ELIRO-1 is able to find a food (a small battery), feed by itself and evacuate. We describe the design concept of the autonomous feeding mechanism of the ELIRO-1, characteristics of sub-parts of the manufactured mechanism and the control system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1314-1322
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• 2017

Objective: This experiment investigated the effect of dietary net energy (NE) concentrations on growth performance and NE intake of growing gilts. Methods: Five diets were formulated to contain 9.6, 10.1, 10.6, 11.1, and 11.6 MJ NE/kg, respectively. A metabolism trial with 10 growing pigs (average body weight [BW] = $15.9{\pm}0.24kg$) was conducted to determine NE concentrations of 5 diets based on French and Dutch NE systems in a $5{\times}5$ replicated Latin square design. A growth trial also was performed with five dietary treatments and 12 replicates per treatment using 60 growing gilts (average BW = $15.9{\pm}0.55kg$) for 28 days. A regression analysis was performed to predict daily NE intake from the BW of growing gilts. Results: Increasing NE concentrations of diets did not influence average daily gain and average daily feed intake of growing gilts. There was a quadratic relationship (p = 0.01) between dietary NE concentrations and feed efficiency (G:F), although the difference in G:F among treatment means was relatively small. Regression analysis revealed that daily NE intake was linearly associated with the BW of growing gilts. The prediction equations for NE intake with the BW of growing gilts were: NE intake (MJ/d) = $1.442+(0.562{\times}BW,kg)$, $R^2=0.796$ when French NE system was used, whereas NE intake (MJ/d) = $1.533+(0.614{\times}BW,kg)$, $R^2=0.810$ when Dutch NE system was used. Conclusion: Increasing NE concentrations of diets from 9.6 to 11.6 MJ NE/kg have little impacts on growth performance of growing gilts. Daily NE intake can be predicted from the BW between 15 and 40 kg in growing gilts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.357-361
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• 2018

Forward osmosis (FO) process has been attracting attention for its potential applications such as industrial wastewater treatment, wastewater reclamation and seawater desalination. Particularly, in terms of fouling reversibility and operating energy consumption, the FO process is assumed to be preferable to the reverse osmosis (RO) process. Despite these advantages, there is a difficulty in the empirical step due to the lack of separation and recovery techniques of the draw solution. Therefore, rather than using FO alone, recent developments of the FO process have adapted a hybrid system without draw solution separation/recovery systems, such as the FO-RO osmotic dilution system. In this study, we investigated the performance of the hollow fiber FO module according to various operating conditions. The change of permeate flow rate according to the flow rates of the draw and feed solutions in the process operation is a factor that increases the permeate flow rate, one of the performance factors in the positive osmosis process. Our results reveal that flow rates of draw and feed solutions affect the membrane performance, such as the water flux and the reverse solute flux. Moreover, use of hydraulic pressure on the feed side was shown to yield slightly higher flux than the case without applied pressure. Thus, optimizing the operating conditions is important in the hollow fiber FO system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1143-1150
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted in Vietnam to test the hypothesis that supplementation with cassava powder up to 2% of live weight (LW)/d (DM basis) would linearly increase digestible organic matter intake and LW gain of Laisind cattle. There were five treatments: a basal diet of elephant grass fed at 1.25% of LW and rice straw fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with cassava powder, containing 2% urea, at about 0.3, 0.7, 1.3 or 2.0% LW. The cattle fed cassava powder at about 2.0% LW did not consume all of the supplement, with actual intake similar to the 1.3% LW treatment. Organic matter, digestible organic matter and digestible energy intakes increased (p<0.001) curvilinearly with increased consumption of cassava powder. Rice straw intake declined curvilinearly with increasing intake of cassava powder (p<0.001), and there was a small linear decline (p = 0.01) in grass intake. The substitution rate of cassava powder for forage was between 0.5 and 0.7 kg DM reduction in forage intake per kg DM supplement consumed, with no difference between treatments. Apparent digestibility of organic matter increased (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner, while digestibility of neutral detergent fibre declined (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner with increased consumption of cassava powder. Live weight gain increased (p<0.01) linearly with increased consumption of supplement. It was concluded that the amount of cassava powder fed should be limited to between 0.7 and 1.0% LW.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.4_spc
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• pp.786-793
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• 2024

Latin America is a culturally, geographically, politically, and economically diverse region. Agriculture in Latin America is marked by a remarkable diversity of production systems, reflecting various agroecological zones, farm sizes, and technological levels. In the last decade, the swine industry increased by 30.6%, emerging as a great contributor to food security and economic development in Latin America. Brazil and Mexico dominate the pig production landscape, together accounting for 70% of sow inventory in the region. The swine industry in Latin America is predominantly comprised of small and medium-sized farms, however, in the past 30 years, the number of pig producers in Brazil dropped by 78%, whereas pork production increased by 326%. Similar to the global pork industry, the growing demand for pork, driven by population growth and changing dietary habits, presents an opportunity for the industry with an expected growth of 16% over the next decade. The export prospects are promising, however subject to potential disruptions from global market conditions and shifts in trade policies. Among the challenges faced by the swine industry, disease outbreaks, particularly African Swine Fever (ASF), present significant threats, necessitating enhanced biosecurity and surveillance systems. In 2023, ASF was reported to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Venezuela, and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) in Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Ecuador. Additionally, feed costs, supply chain disruptions, and energy expenses have affected mainly the smaller and less efficient producers. The swine industry is also transitioning towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, including efficient feed usage, and precision farming. Ensuring long-term success in the swine industry in Latin America requires a holistic approach that prioritizes sustainability, animal welfare, and consumer preferences, ultimately positioning the industry to thrive in the evolving global market.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1974-1987
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• 2023

The load-following operation of small modular reactors (SMRs) requires accurate prediction of transient behaviors that can occur in the balance of plants (BOP) and the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS). However, 1-D thermal-hydraulics analysis codes developed for safety and performance analysis have conventionally excluded the BOP from the simulation by assuming ideal boundary conditions for the main steam and feed water (MS/FW) systems, i.e., an open loop. In this study, we introduced a lumped model of BOP fluid system and coupled it with NSSS without any ideal boundary conditions, i.e., in a closed loop. Various methods for coupling boundary conditions at MS/FW were tested to validate their combination in terms of minimizing numerical instability, which mainly arises from the coupled boundaries. The method exhibiting the best performance was selected and applied to a transient simulation of an integrated NSSS and BOP system of a SMART. For a transient event with core power change of 100-20-100%, the simulation exhibited numerical stability throughout the system without any significant perturbation of thermal-hydraulic parameters. Thus, the introduced boundary-condition coupling method and BOP fluid system model can expectedly be employed for the transient simulation and performance analysis of SMRs requiring daily load-following operations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.514-519
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• 1997

The MRX is an integral type ship reactor with 100 MWt power, which is designed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. It is characterized by integral type PWR, in-vessel type control roe drive mechanism, water-filled containment vessel and passive decay heat removal system. Marine reactor should have high passive safety. Therefore, in this study, we simulated the loss of flow accident to verify the passive decay heat removal by natural circulation using RETRAN-03 code. auxiliary feed water systems are used for decay heat removal mechanism and results are compared with the loss of flow accident analysis using emergency decay heat removal system by JAERI. Results are very similar to case of EDRS 1 loop operation in JAERI analysis and decay heat is successfully removed by natural circulation.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.547-554
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• 2006

This paper is concerned with an optimal control suspension system using the preview information of road input based on a quarter car model. The main purpose of the control is to combine good vibration isolation characteristics with improved attitude control. The optimal control law is derived with the use of calculus of variation, consisting of three parts. The first part is a full state feedback term that includes integral control acting on the suspension deflection to ensure zero steady-state deflection in response to static body forces and ramp road inputs. The second part is a feed-forward term which compensates for the body forces when they can be detected, and the third part depends on previewed road input. The performance of the suspension is evaluated in terms of frequency domain characteristics and time responses to ramp road input and cornering forces. The effects of each part of the suspension controller on the system behavior are examined.