• Title/Summary/Keyword: South Africa

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Trends in Production and Application Technology of Nano-platinum Group Particles for PEFC (고분자고체형연료전지용 나노백금족입자의 제조와 응용기술 동향)

  • Kil, Sang-Cheol;Hwang, Young-Gil
    • Resources Recycling
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.79-91
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    • 2017
  • The core of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV) is polymer solid fuel cell (PEFC), and the core material that generates electrochemical electricity in the cell is platinum catalyst. Platinum is localized in South Africa and Russia, and the world production of Pt is about 178 tons per year, which is expensive and recycled. At present, the amount of Pt used in PEFC is $0.2{\sim}0.1mg/cm^2$. In order to reduce the price of the battery and increase the FCV supply, the target is to reduce the amount of Pt used to $0.05{\sim}0.03mg/cm^2$. $Pt-Pd/Al_2O_3$, Pt/C, Pt/GCB, Pt/Au/C, PtCo/C, PtPd/C, etc. by using polyol method using nano Pt, improved Cu-UPD/Pt substitution method and nano-capsule method, Have been researched and developed, and there have been reported techniques for improving the activity of Pt catalysts and stabilizing them. This paper investigates the production technology of nano-Pt and nano-Pt catalysts, recycling of spent Pt catalysts and application trends of Pt catalysts.

The Restudying of Naturalized Plants in Jeju Island (제주도의 귀화식물에 관한 재검토)

  • Yang Young-Hoan;Kim Moon-Hong
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.325-336
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    • 2005
  • The life form, the origin and the time of introduction of those naturalized plants grown in Jeju-Do, korea were grasped by conducting the documentary survey, and the field survey thereof. The naturalized plants were total 199 taxa including 185 species, 12 varieties and 2 cultivar, which belong to 115 genera, 32 families. The classification of families, there were 43 taxa of Compositae ($21.6\%$), 32 taxa of Gramineae ($16.8\%$), 17 taxa of Legumlinosae ($8.5\%$), and 13 taxa of Cruciferae ($6.5\%$). As the life forms of the naturalized plants in Jeju Island were there 91 taxa of annual plants, 31 taxa of biennial plants, 16 taxa of annual or biennial plants, 57 taxa of perennial plants, and 4 taxa of trees. The distribution of the naturalized plants, the were 29 taxa thereof were located in Jeju Island, 20 taxa in Jeju Island as well as in the southern part of Korean Peninsula, 33 taxa in Jeju Island as well as in the central part of Korean Peninsula, and 117 taxa in the entire area of South Korea. As 89 taxa thereof were originated from America, 69 taxa from Europe, 2 taxa from Africa, 22 taxa from Asia, 1 taxa from Oceania, and 16 taxa from other provinces. As 38 taxa thereof had been introduced into Jeju Island before 1921, 23 taxa from 1922 to 1963, and 138 taxa since 1964.

An Analysis on the North-Africa Entry Strategies of Korea Logistics Companies (조선산업의 글로벌 경쟁력 강화를 위한 한중 선박금융제도의 비교연구)

  • Choi, Chang-Yeoul;Ham, Hyung-Bum
    • International Commerce and Information Review
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.317-337
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    • 2012
  • This study has investigated shipping finance systems in Korea and China, and extracted negative factors based on it to propose a way to develop the shipping financial system in Korea for shipbuilding industry and marine transportation. From after the global financial crisis in 2008 to right before the Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy, shipping finance has been dominated by the major industrialized countries in Europe. However, the weight point is moving to the countries in Asia region such as Korea, Japan, and China based on relatively strong banking system and low interests rate. This study focused on the alternatives the current situation that the starter of shipping finance among three countries in Northeast Asia, South Korea is facing China's challenges. In the paper, shipping finance in Korea presented its defectives such as the limits of ship financing, lack of professional workforces, ever-present foreign exchange risks, and lack of understandings of the parties. As the countermeasures of them, it proposed establishing professional institute for ship financing, training professionals in financial industry, raising foreign credentials of won, and continuing associations between the parties. Even though we are the first Asian country introduced ship funds, the ship funds growth in China shall be under our eyes while we keep systemic networks between shipping, ship building, and ship financing.

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Critical Discussion on the 'Orientalism' in Fashion Culture (패션문화에 나타난 오리엔탈리즘에 대한 비판적 논의)

  • Seo, Bong-Ha
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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    • v.32 no.6
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    • pp.902-910
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    • 2008
  • A view of the Orientalism that sees the Orient as the inferior Other, characterized by the heterogenic, eccentric, backward, and passive features, has been internalized in the unconsciousness of Westerners. 'Orientalism' which is the cultural device and the system of discourse to put Asia in the fixed frame of dominance was the West European centered term, designating Southwest Asia including South Europe and North Africa as Orient, and contained the idea that non-Western society could progress only with the acceptance of Western civilization. Accordingly, it is need to use this term deliberately. In addition, even though the Asian Look of the West, borrowing the images and costume styles of Asia has lost the original mentality of Asia, it was not initiated from the perception that sees Asia as the inferior Other. Since the Asian Ethnic Look is the Western costume, borrowing the image of Orient and style by being fascinated by Oriental Aesthetics, the attributes of it are different from those of Orientalism. Therefore, it is not appropriate to designate the Asian Ethnic Look as 'Orientalism Fashion' or 'Oriental Look' except for some eccentric manipulation of Asia costume and image. Instead, it is desirable to exchange the term 'Asian Look', 'Asian Fashion', and 'Asian Ethnic Look' upon occasions or the name of individual nation or region can be referred to as preferred alternatives. Today, Asia including Korea is taking the initiative in the World Fashion as one of central axes of World Fashion Industry, and cannot be interpreted from the perspective of West Centrism. Now, it's time to dissolve the dichotomous prejudice of the West centrism on Asia's own strength.

Study on Methods for Determining Half-Life of Domestic Wooden Panel among Harvested Wood Products (국산 목질판상재의 반감기 결정방법에 관한 연구)

  • Chang, Yoon-Seong;Han, Yeonjung;Park, Jun-Ho;Son, Whi-Lim;Park, Joo-Saeng;Park, Moon-Jae;Yeo, Hwanmyeong
    • Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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    • v.42 no.3
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    • pp.309-317
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    • 2014
  • Harvested wood products (HWP) are known as products from the tree such as sawn wood, plywood, particle board, structural lumber, wooden interior material, wooden furniture, and paper products. Because carbon is locked up in the HWP until eventual end-use of HWP, HWP played a role as the carbon storage which has the effect of stabilizing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For these reasons, the suggestion that it must admit the carbon storage effect of HWP has been constantly raised. In 2011, the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which was held in Durban, South Africa, assigned "Production Approach" which targets only the HWP producted by using round wood of domestic forestry as a official method for carbon accounting. Therefore, it is necessary that each country has to determine the half-life of wood in order to correspond to the discussions and negotiations between countries in the future and to develop an inventory of product-specific domestic wood. In this study, some countries' examples of the methods and conditions for determining half-life of HWP were investigated, and it was tried to derive the factor and methodology to determine half-life span of domestic HWP appropriately.

Synthesized Oil Manufacturing Technology from Natural Gas, GTL (천연가스로부터 합성유 제조 기술, GTL(Gas To Liquids))

  • Bae, Ji-Han;Lee, Won-Su;Lee, Heoung-Yeoun;Kim, Yong-Heon
    • The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.45-52
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    • 2008
  • The GTL(Gas to Liquids) technology, manufacturing synthesized oil from natural gas, had been developed about 1920 for the military purpose by Fischer and Tropsch, German scientists. And 1960, Sasol company had started commercializing the FT(Fischer-Tropsch) synthesis technology, for the transport fuel in South Africa. Until a recent date, the commercialization of GTL technology had been delayed by low oil price. But concern about depletion of petroleum resources, and development in synthesizing technology lead to spotlight on the GTL businesses. Especially, Qatar, which has rich natural gas fields, aims at utilizing natural gas like conventional oil resources. Therefore, around this nation, GTL plants construction has been promoted. There are mainly 3 processes to make GTL products(Diesel, Naphtha, lube oil, etc) from natural gas. The first is synthesis gas generation unit reforming hydrogen and carbomonoxide from natural gas. The second is FT synthesis unit converting synthesized gas to polymeric chain-hydrocarbon. The third is product upgrading unit making oil products from the FT synthesized oil. There are quite a little sulfur, nitrogen, and aromatic compounds in GTL products. GTL product has environmental premium in discharging less harmful particles than refinery oil products from crude to the human body. In short, the GTL is a clean technology, easier transportation mean, and has higher stability comparing to LNG works.

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Biological Control of Crown Gall

  • Kerr, Allen;Biggs, John;Ophel, Kathy
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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    • 1994.06a
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    • pp.11-26
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    • 1994
  • Crown gall of stonefruit and nut trees is one of the very few plant diseases subject to efficient biological control. The disease is caused by the soil-inhabiting bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium rhizogenes and the original control organism was a non-pathogenic isolate of A. rhizogenes strain K84. Control is achieved by dipping planting material in a cell suspension of strain K84 which specifically inhibits pathogenic strains containing a nopaline Ti plasmid. Because the agrocin 84-encoding plasmid (pAgK84) is conjugative, it can be transmitted from the control strain to pathogenic strains which, as a result, become immune to agrocin 84 and cannot be controlled. To prevent this happening, the transfer genes on pAgK84 were located and then largely eliminated by recombinant DNA technology. The resulting construct, strain K1026, is transfer deficient but controls crown gall just as effectively as does strain K84. Field data from Spain confirm that pAgK84 can transfer to pathogenic recipients from strain K84 but not from strain K1026. The latter has been registered in Australia as a pesticide and is the first genetically engineered organism in the world to be released fro commercial use. It is recommended as a replacement for strain K84 to prevent a breakdown in the effectiveness of biological control of crown gall. Several reports indicate that both strains K84 and K1026 sometimes control crown gall pathogens that are resistant to agrocin 84. A possible reason for this is that both strains produce a second antibiotic called 434 which inhibits growth of nearly all isolates of A. rhizogenes, both pathogens and non-pathogens. Crown gall of grapevine is caused by another species, Agrobacterium vitis. It is resistant to agrocin 84 and cannot be controlled by strains K84 or K1026. It is different from other crown gall pathogens in several characteristics, including the fact that, although a rhizosphere coloniser, its also lives systemically in the vascular tissue of grapevine. Pathogen free propagating material can be obtained from tissue culture or, less surely, by heat therapy of dormant cuttings. A number of laboratories are searching for a biocontrol strain that will prevent, or at least delay, reinfection. A non-pathogenic A. vitis strain F/25 from South Africa looks very promising in this regard.

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Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Pan-Africanism: People's Memory and Alliance to Overcome Postcolonial Nations (응구기와 시옹오의 범아프리카주의 - 포스트식민 국가를 넘어서는 주변부의 기억과 연대)

  • Lee, Hyoseok
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.42
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    • pp.107-129
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    • 2016
  • In modern history, there have been several kinds of continental unions or supranational politico-economic unions in the world, such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Union of South American Nations, the African Union, etc. Modern thinkers proposed many pan-isms on their continental base, for example, Pan-Arabism, Pan-Latin Americanism, Pan-Asianism, Pan-Celtism, etc. What is the most common in these pan-isms is that a continental union would be a politico-economic system to overcome the limits of the modern state-nation and to realize a long and happy relationship between member nations and continents. However, the concept of a supranational union differs from that of cosmopolitanism, in that the former presupposes the common cultural and historical heritage in the concerned region or continent. Ngugi wa Thinog'o' Pan-Africanism implies two keywords that are connected to his concepts such as 'decentralization' and 'African languages.' Pan-Africanism supposes that Africa may gain benefits from the union of African nations under the umbrella of anti-colonial efforts to down size the Euro-American influences. Moreover, using African languages enhances self-reliance and self-imagination among the African people. For in the former colonial regimes, the European colonial languages, such as English, French, or Portuguese, were central to the dissemination of European culture and modernity. Ngugi asserts that the African peripheralized languages could reinstate the African cultural heritage and propose an alternative to the Western modernity.

Analysis on dam operation effect and development of an function formula and automated model for estimating suitable site (댐의 운영효과 분석과 적지선정 함수식 및 자동화 모형 개발)

  • Choo, Taiho;Kim, Yoonku;Kim, Yeongsik;Yun, Gwanseon
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.52 no.3
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    • pp.187-194
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    • 2019
  • Intake ratio from river constitutes about 31% (8/26) that beings to "water stress country" as "Medium ~ High" with China, India, Italy, South Africa, etc. Therefore, the present study on a dam that is the most effective and direct for securing water resources has been performed. First of all, climate change scenarios were investigated and analyzed. RCP 4.5 and 8.5 with 12.5 km grid resolution presented in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 5th Assessment Report (AR5) were applied to study watershed using SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and HEC-ResSim models that carried out co-operation. Based on the results of dam simulation, the reduction effects of floods and droughts were quantitatively presented. The procedures of dam projects of the USA, Japan and Korea were investigated. As a result, there are no estimating quantitative criteria, calculating methods or formulas. In the present study, therefore, indexes for selecting suitable dam site through literature investigation and analyzing dam watersheds were determined, Expert questionnaire for various indexes were performed. Based on the above mentioned investigation and expert questionnaire, a methodology assigning weight using AHP method were proposed. The function of suitable dam (FSDS) site was calibrated and verified for four medium-sized watersheds. Finally, automated model for suitable dam site was developed using FSDS and 'Model builder' of GIS tool.

The Development of Vietnam's Fair Trade: The Case Study of Fair Trade Organizations (베트남 공정무역의 발전: 공정무역조직 사례연구)

  • KIM, Sunhwa;HWANG, Seonyoung;NGUYEN, Haphuong;JANG, Seungkwon
    • The Southeast Asian review
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.1-45
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    • 2018
  • This research is concerned with the current state and uniqueness of Vietnam's Fair Trade through the case study of Fair Trade Organizations (hereafter FTOs) in Vietnam. Vietnam has emerged a successful developing country with rapid economic growth under the socialist regime, while the income gap between the rich and the poor is still growing. Especially the poverty is becoming a serious issue for ethnic minorities and smallholder farmers in the mountainous areas. Fair Trade in the early stage has been initiated, and still is led by the charities and international development agencies of the Global North. But Vietnam's Fair Trade has been introduced by local Vietnamese who have been motivated to solve their own problems voluntarily. This is different from other Fair Trade producing countries in the Global South. It's noticeable that Vietnam's FTOs are playing a significant role of adopting and applying Fair Trade practices. Concerning Fair Trade producing countries the researchers are mostly focusing on Africa and Latin America and the themes are mainly to do with the impact of Fair Trade producers. There are very few research outcomes on the analysis of producing countries' FTOs and their motives and developing processes. The research findings can contribute to understand not only Vietnam's challenges and issues, but also Fair Trade producing countries in general.