• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.840-846
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• 2012

Global climate changes caused by $CO_2$ emissions are currently debated around the world; green sources of energy are being sought as alternatives to replace fossil fuels. The sustainable use of biogas for energy production does not contribute to $CO_2$ emission and has therefore a high potential to reduce them. Catalytic steam reforming of a model biogas ($CH_4:CO_2$ = 60%:40%) is investigated to produce $H_2$-rich synthesis gas. The biogas utilized 3D-IR matrix burner in which the surface combustion is applied. The ruthenium catalyst was used inside a reformer. Parametric screening studies were achieved as Steam/Carbon ratio, biogas component ratio, Space velocity and Reformer temperature. When the condition of Steam/Carbon ratio, $CH_4/CO_2$ ratio, Space velocity and Refomer temperature were 3.25, 60% : 40%, $14.7L/g{\cdot}hr$ and $550^{\circ}C$ respectively, the hydrogen concentration and methane conversion rate were showed maximum values. Under the condition mentioned above, $H_2$ yield, $H_2$/CO ratio, CO selectivity and energy efficiency were 0.65, 2.14, 0.59, 51.29%.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.49-74
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• 2010

Cities are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions but also suitable places for implementing proactive climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Based on the interdisciplinary review of literature, we categorize the current discussion about urban climate mitigation and adaptation planning, policy and practices into four perspectives - sustainability science, global change science, multilevel governance, and structural engineering. While these four schools of thought have distinct perspectives rooted in different disciplinary lenses, our synthesis of the literature identifies several universal themes that are common to all of the perspectives in the context of combating threats posed by climate change. The Portland case study illustrates that a city can make changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase adaptive capacity to climate change impacts by implementing smart growth, devising local climate action plans that target emission reductions in various sectors, recognizing the interactions and influences of multiple scales of governance, and supporting the installation of various green infrastructures that contribute to green economy. Furthermore, a university can serve as a hub in this climate mitigation and adaptation arena by connecting various levels of community organizations in both public and private sectors, creating innovative research centers and spatially explicit green infrastructure, designing impact assessments and campus carbon inventories, and engaging students and the larger community through service learning.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.919-929
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• 2020

Aromatic compounds are widely used in the chemical, food, polymer, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries and are produced by mainly chemical synthesis using benzene, toluene, and xylene or by plant extraction methods. Due to many rising threats, including the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, the strengthening of international environmental regulations, and the excessive harvesting of plant resources, the microbial production of aromatic compounds using renewable biomass is regarded as a promising alternative. By integrating metabolic engineering with synthetic and systems biology, artificial biosynthetic pathways have been reconstituted from L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathway in relevant microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli and Corynebacterium glutamicum, enabling the production of a variety of value-added aromatic compounds, such as 5-hydroxytryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, 7-chloro-L-tryptophan, 7-bromo-L-tryptophan, indigo, indirubin, indole-3-acetic acid, violacein, and dexoyviolacein. In this review, we summarize the characteristics, usage, and biosynthetic pathways of these aromatic compounds and highlight the latest metabolic engineering strategies for the microbial production of aromatic compounds and suitable solution strategies to overcome problems in increasing production titers. It is expected that strain development based on systems metabolic engineering and the optimization of media and bioprocesses using renewable biomass will enable the development of commercially viable technologies for the microbial production of many aromatic compounds.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1233-1243
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• 2018

Sterol regulatory-element binding proteins (SREBPs) are a family of transcription factors that regulate lipid homeostasis and metabolism by controlling the expression of enzymes required for endogenous cholesterol, fatty acid (FA), triacylglycerol, and phospholipid synthesis. The three SREBPs are encoded by two different genes. The SREBP1 gene gives rise to SREBP-1a and SREBP-1c, which are derived from utilization of alternate promoters that yield transcripts in which distinct first exons are spliced to a common second exon. SREBP-2 is derived from a separate gene. Additionally, SREBPs are implicated in numerous pathogenic processes, such as endoplasmic reticulum stress, inflammation, autophagy, and apoptosis. They also contribute to obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases. Genome-wide analyses have revealed that these versatile transcription factors act as important nodes of biological signaling networks. Changes in cell metabolism and growth are reciprocally linked through SREBPs. Anabolic and growth signaling pathways branch off and connect to multiple steps of SREBP activation and form complex regulatory networks. SREBPs are activated through the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway in these processes, but the molecular mechanism remains to be understood. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of SREBPs in physiology and pathophysiology at the cell, organ, and organism levels.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.103-107
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• 2014

Acrylic acid is a commodity chemical which is applicable for various industries such as polymer and textile industry. Currently, it has been produced by chemical synthesis from petroleum. However, due to the high price of petroleum and global $CO_2$ emission, renewable materials such as sugar are interesting alternative carbon sources for the biological production of acrylic acid. For an economic production of acrylic acid from renewable carbon sources, a cost effective separation process for acrylic acid should be needed. In this study, reactive extraction by TOA (tri-n-octylamine) was used for the recovery of acrylic acid from its aqueous solutions. The effects of polarity of diluents and concentration of TOA on extraction equilibrium were investigated. The extraction efficiency was proportional to concentration of TOA and polarity of diluents and its value was more than 95% in the case of sufficient concentration of TOA. From IR spectroscopy, it was concluded that the ratio of (1,1) acid-amine complex was increased and the ratio of acid dimer was decreased with concentration of TOA. Equilibrium model based on IR spectroscopy was well fitted with experimental data.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.499-505
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• 2017

The increasing number of natural disasters resulting from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions has prompted the development of a gas separation membrane. Carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) is the main cause of global warming. Organic polymeric membranes with inherent flexibility are good candidates for use in gas separation membranes and poly(dimethyl siloxane)(PDMS) specifically is a promising material due to its inherently high $CO_2$ diffusivity. In addition, poly(vinyl pyrrolidine)(PVP) is a polymer with high $CO_2$ solubility that could be incorporated into a gas separation membrane. In this study, poly(dimethyl siloxane)-poly(vinyl pyrrolidine)(PDMS-PVP) comb copolymers with different compositions were synthesized under mild conditions via a simple one step free radical polymerization. The copolymerization of PDMS and PVP was characterized by FTIR. The morphology and thermal behavior of the produced polymers were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Composite membranes composed of PDMS-PVP on a microporous polysulfone substrate layer were prepared and their $CO_2$ separation properties were subsequently studied. The $CO_2$ permeance and $CO_2/N_2$ selectivity through the PDMS-PVP composite membrane reached 140.6 GPU and 12.0, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.1-1
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• 2016

Many of the world's large ecosystems are severely stressed due to population growth, water quality and quantity problems, vulnerability to flood and drought, and the loss of native species and cultural resources. Consequences of climate change further increase uncertainties about the future. These major societal challenges must be addressed through innovations in governance, policy, and ways of implementing management strategies. Science and engineering play a critical role in helping define possible alternative futures that could be achieved and the possible consequences to economic development, quality of life, and sustainability of ecosystem services. Science has advanced rapidly during the past decade with the emergence of science communities coalescing around 'Grand Challenges' and the maturation of how these communities function has resulted in large interdisciplinary research networks. An example is the River Experiment Center of KICT that engages researchers from throughout Korea and the world. This trend has been complemented by major advances in sensor technologies and data synthesis to accelerate knowledge discovery. These factors combine to allow scientific debate to occur in a more open and transparent manner. The availability of information and improved communication of scientific and engineering issues is raising the level of dialogue at the science-policy interface. However, severe challenges persist since scientific discovery does not occur on the same timeframe as management actions, policy decisions or at the pace sometimes expected by elected officials. Common challenges include the need to make decisions in the face of considerable uncertainty, ensuring research results are actionable and preventing science being used by special interests to delay or obsfucate decisions. These challenges are explored in the context of examples from the United States, including the California Bay-Delta system. California transfers water from the wetter northern part of the state to the drier southern part of the state through the Central Valley Project since 1940 and this was supplemented by the State Water Project in 1973. The scale of these activities is remarkable: approximately two thirds of the population of Californians rely on water from the Delta, these waters also irrigate up to 45% of the fruits & vegetables produced in the US, and about 80% of California's commercial fishery species live in or migrate through the Bay-Delta. This Delta region is a global hotspot for biodiversity that provides habitat for over 700 species, but is also a hotspot for the loss of biodiversity with more than 25 species currently listed by the Endangered Species Act. Understanding the decline of the fragile ecosystem of the Bay-Delta system and the potential consequences to economic growth if water transfers are reduced for the environment, the California State Legislature passed landmark legislation in 2009 (CA Water Code SS 85054) that established "Coequal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem". The legislation also stated that "The coequal goals shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place." The challenges of integrating policy, management and scientific research will be described through this and other international examples.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.154-161
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• 2022

The carbon-neutrality induced by the global warming is important for the modern society. Hydrogen has been received the attention as a new energy source to replace the fossil fuels. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, which convert the chemical reaction energy of hydrogen into electric power directly, are a type of eco-friendly power for future vehicles. Due to the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction and costly Pt catalyst in the cathode, the research related to the replacement of Pt-based catalysts has been vitally carried out. In this case, however, the performance is significantly different from each other and a variety of factors have existed. In this review paper, we rearrange and summarize relevant papers published within 5 years approximately. The selection of precursors, synthesis method, and co-catalyst are represented as a core factor, while the necessity of research for the further enhancement of activity may be raised. It can be anticipated to contribute to the replacement of precious metal catalysts in the various fields of study. The final objective of the future research is depicted in detail.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.359-366
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• 2022

In this paper, we present the Korean menu-ordering Sentence Text-to-Speech (TTS) system using conformer-based FastSpeech2. Conformer is the convolution-augmented transformer, which was originally proposed in Speech Recognition. Combining two different structures, the Conformer extracts better local and global features. It comprises two half Feed Forward module at the front and the end, sandwiching the Multi-Head Self-Attention module and Convolution module. We introduce the Conformer in Korean TTS, as we know it works well in Korean Speech Recognition. For comparison between transformer-based TTS model and Conformer-based one, we train FastSpeech2 and Conformer-based FastSpeech2. We collected a phoneme-balanced data set and used this for training our models. This corpus comprises not only general conversation, but also menu-ordering conversation consisting mainly of loanwords. This data set is the solution to the current Korean TTS model's degradation in loanwords. As a result of generating a synthesized sound using ParallelWave Gan, the Conformer-based FastSpeech2 achieved superior performance of MOS 4.04. We confirm that the model performance improved when the same structure was changed from transformer to Conformer in the Korean TTS.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.248-254
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• 2022

Educational innovations are first created, improved or applied educational, didactic, educative, and managerial systems and their components that significantly improve the results of educational activities. The development of pedagogical technology in the global educational space is conventionally divided into three stages. The role of innovative technologies in Higher School practice is substantiated. Factors of effectiveness of the educational process are highlighted. Technology is defined as a phenomenon and its importance is emphasized, it is indicated that it is a component of human history, a form of expression of intelligence focused on solving important problems of being, a synthesis of the mind and human abilities. The most frequently used technologies in practice are classified. Among the priority educational innovations in higher education institutions, the following are highlighted. Introduction of modular training and a rating system for knowledge control (credit-modular system) into the educational process; distance learning system; computerization of libraries using electronic catalog programs and the creation of a fund of electronic educational and methodological materials; electronic system for managing the activities of an educational institution and the educational process. In the educational process, various innovative pedagogical methods are successfully used, the basis of which is interactivity and maximum proximity to the real professional activity of the future specialist. There are simulation technologies (game and discussion forms of organization); technology "case method" (maximum proximity to reality); video training methodology (maximum proximity to reality); computer modeling; interactive technologies; technologies of collective and group training; situational modeling technologies; technologies for working out discussion issues; project technology; Information Technologies; technologies of differentiated training; text-centric training technology and others.