• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.287-291
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• 2018

In this study, corrosion behavior of a SA178-A alloy used in the boiler tube of a district heating system was investigated in different environments where it was exposed to pure water, district heating (DH) water, and filtered district heating (FDH) water. After the corrosion test, the surface morphology was examined for observation of the number of pitting sites and pitting area fraction, using a scanning electron microscope. The DH water and FDH water conditions resulted in a lower corrosion potential and pitting potential, and revealed a significantly higher corrosion rate than the pure water condition. The pitting sites in the DH water (pH 9.6) were approximately eighteen times larger than those in the pure water (pH 9.6). Compared to the DH water, the corrosion potential became more noble in the FDH water condition, where iron ions were reduced through filtration. However, the corrosion rate increased in the FDH water due to an increased concentration of chloride ions, which deteriorated the stability of passive film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2019

Severe wall thinning is found on the tube of a low-pressure evaporator(LPEVA) module that is used for a heat recovery steam generator(HRSG) of a district heating system. Since wall thinning can lead to sudden failure or accidents that lead to shutdown of the operation, it is very important to investigate the main mechanism of the wall thinning. In this study, corrosion analysis associated with a typical flow-accelerated corrosion(FAC) is performed using the corroded tube connected to an upper header of the LPEVA. To investigate factors triggering the FAC, the morphology, composition, and phase of the corroded product of the tube are examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results show that the thinnest part of the tube is in the region where gas directly contacts, revealing the typical orange peel type of morphology frequently found in the FAC. The discovery of oxide scales containing phosphate indicates that phosphate corrosion is the main mechanism that weakens the stability of the protective magnetite film and the FAC accelerates the corrosion by generating the orange peel type of morphology.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.138.2-138.2
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• 2012

Cave on the Moon is considered as the most appropriate place for human to live during the frontier lunar exploration. While the lava flows, the outer crust gets cooled and solidified. Then, the empty space is remained inside after lava flow stops. Such empty space is called the lava caves. Those lava tubes on the Earth are formed mostly by volcanic activity. However, the lava tubes on satellite like Moon and planet like Mars without volcanic activity are mostly formed by the lava flow inside of the crater made by large meteorite impact. Some part of lava tube with collapsed ceiling appears as the entrance of the cave. Such area looks like a deep crater so called a pit crater. Four large pit craters with diameter of > 60 m and depth of > 40 m are found without difficulty from Kaguya and LRO mission image archives. However, those are too deep to use as easily accessible human frontier base. Therefore, now we are going to identify some smaller lunar caves with accessible entrances using LRO camera images of 0.5 m/pixel resolution. Earth's lava caves and their entrances are well photographed by surface and aerial camera in immense volume. Thus, if the image data are sorted and archived well, those images can be used in comparison with the less distinct lunar cave and entrance images due to its smaller size. Then, we can identify the regions on the Moon where there exist caves with accessible entrances. The database will be also useful in modeling geomorphology for lunar and Martian caves for future artificial intelligence investigation of the caves in any size.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2016

In the present work, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been dispersed alone in the same solvent of the active layer for improving performance parameters of the organic solar cells. Different concentrations of the ZnO NPs have been blended inside active layer of the solar cell based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), which forms the hole-transport network, and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), which forms the electron-transport network. In the present investigations, the ZnO NPs may represent an efficient tool for improving light harvesting through light scattering inside active layer, electron mobility, and electron acceptance strength which tend to improve photocurrent and performance parameters of the investigated solar cell. The fill factor (FF) of the ZnO-doped solar cell increases nearly 14% compared to the non-doped solar cell when the doping is 50%. The present investigations show that ZnO NPs improve power conversion efficiency of the solar cell from 1.23% to 1.64% with increment around 25% that takes place after incorporation of 40% as a volume ratio of the ZnO NPs inside P3HT:PCBM active layer.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.111-121
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• 2020

The study measures the resource use efficiency of diesel based power generation in the Maldives and analyses factors which influence efficiency levels. Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) technique is applied to data on 30 plants over two year period from 2016 to 2017. The study finds that technical efficiency scores varies from 0.44 to 0.98 across power plants. About 33 percent of the plants have scores below the mean technical efficiency score of 0.87. Empirical results indicate ownership and use of solar photovoltaic (PV) have an influence on improving efficiency levels. Privately owned power plants in resort islands obtained higher technical efficiency scores compared to public and community owned power plants. This is a significant finding as the first study that used power plants in tourist sector in a comparative study. Size of the power plants was not found significant, but relatively small installed capacities can also be efficient. This finding is important because in many inhabited islands installed capacities remain oversized compared to the load. The benchmarking exercise offers model power plants that are relatively efficient, for other power plants and policy makers in small islands to learn from.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.147-158
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• 2020

We apply Return Dispersion Model by calculating CSAD (Cross-sectional standard deviation of return) and State Space Model to identify herding behavior in the period of pandemic (H1N1 and COVID-19). Employing data from TEJ and Data Stream, this paper examines whether the herding behavior is existing in Vietnam and Taiwan stock market, especially during pandemic influenza. We compare the differences in herding behavior between frontier and emerging markets by examining different industries across Vietnam and Taiwan stock market approaches. The results indicate solid evidence for investor herd configuration in the various industries of Vietnam and Taiwan. The herding impact in the industries will be greater than with the aggregate market. The different industries respond differently to influenza pandemic panics through uptrend and downtrend demonstrations. Up to 12 industries were found to have herding in Vietnam, while Taiwan had only 5 of 17 industries classified. Taiwan market, an emerging and herding-level market, has changed due to the impact of changing conditions such as epidemics, but not as strongly as in Vietnam. From there, we see that the disease is a factor that, not only creates anxiety from a health perspective, but also causes psychological instability for investors when investing in the market.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.73-83
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• 2018

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between regional financial development and corporate investment efficiency as well as the relationship between firm-level characteristics and corporate investment efficiency. Using a large sample of A-listed companies in China from CSMAR database between 2003 and 2016, this paper explores corporate investment efficiency and its influencing factors in emerging market on the basis of heterogeneous stochastic frontier model. The results show that: (1) the average investment efficiency of Chinese listed companies is 74.5%, and the investment efficiency of large enterprises, state-owned enterprises and enterprises with relatively high financial development level is significantly higher; (2) compared with average corporate investment efficiency in the year 2003, the investment efficiency of different types of enterprises in 2016 is significantly higher, and the gap is gradually widening; (3) enterprise heterogeneity namely firm size, nature of property right, and institutional environment reflected by the level of regional financial development indirectly affects corporate investment efficiency by influencing the financing constraints and uncertainty. The findings suggest that to improve corporate investment efficiency in emerging market, financial market should be accelerated, regional balance should be restored and the differences among regions, industries and differences between public and private sectors should be eliminated.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2010

For decades, traditional mutation breeding technologies using spontaneous mutation, chemicals, or conventional radiation sources have contributed greatly to the improvement of crops and microorganisms of agricultural and industrial importance. However, new mutagens that can generate more diverse mutation spectra with minimal damage to the original organism are always in need. In this regard, ion beam irradiation, including proton-, helium-, and heavier-charged particle irradiation, is considered to be superior to traditional radiation mutagenesis. In particular, it has been suggested that ion beams predominantly produce strand breaks that often lead to mutations, which is not a situation frequently observed in mutagenesis induced by gamma-ray exposure. In this review, we briefly describe the general principles and history of particle accelerators, and then introduce their successful application in ion beam technology for the improvement of crops and microbes. In particular, a 100-MeV proton beam accelerator currently under construction by the Proton Engineering Frontier Project (PEFP) is discussed. The PEFP accelerator will hopefully prompt the utilization of ion beam technology for strain improvement, as well as for use in nuclear physics, medical science, biology, space technology, radiation technology and basic sciences.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

Collaborative research and development (R&D) has been encouraged based on the belief that knowledge spill-over is mutually beneficial for partners. Although the benefits are supported by science and technology policy research, the risk of R&D collaboration has not been extensively discussed. Two independent studies suggest that there are risks associated with the overuse of collaborative research frameworks. Two sets of R&D collaboration data were analyzed: between the national bio-technology research program and 1) Data Envelop Analysis (DEA), and 2) between Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). In the case of SFA, output measures were integrated into a single output, with weights extracted from research programme managers' responses to the questionnaire. While the DEA result demonstrated the inefficiency of collaborative research, SFA did not. Unlike previous research highlighting risks associated with disclosing proprietary R&D and potential conflict of interest, our study indicates that the transaction's social cost affects collaborative research efficiency. Therefore, governments promoting R&D collaborations should be carefully managed, and policy makers must reconsider the strict conditions governing compulsory collaborative R&D programs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.849-855
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare Islamic commercial banks and Islamic banking units with the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method during 2014-2018. The data in research using Islamic commercial banks and Islamic banking units. There are 10 Islamic commercial banks and 5 Islamic banking units that meet the criteria of purposive sampling. The calculation of efficiency level using the SFA method with the function of production shows that Islamic commercial banks and Islamic banking units always experience an increase in efficiency every year with the average level of efficiency of Islamic commercial banks being 0.43994, while the average rate of efficiency of Islamic banking units is slightly higher at 0.47654. This shows that Islamic banking units are slightly more optimal in generating total financing in the period 2010-2014. The test results using Independent Sample T-Test can be concluded that there is no difference in the efficiency value between Islamic commercial banks and Islamic banking units. Operating costs are not significant and have a positive effect on the total financing; total assets have a significant effect and a positive impact on total financing; labor costs are not significant and have a negative effect on total financing.