• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2010

Surface modification of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes has been widely used to improve the protein adsorption resistance and permeation properties of hydrophobic membranes. Several surface modification methods for converting conventional membranes into low-protein-binding membranes are reviewed. They are categorized as either physical modification or chemical modification of the membrane surface. Physical modification of the membrane surface can be achieved by coating it with hydrophilic polymers, hydrophilic-hydrophobic copolymers, surfactants or proteins. Another method of physical modification is plasma treatment with gases. A hydrophilic membrane surface can be also generated during phase-inverted micro-separation during membrane formation, by blending hydrophilic or hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymers with a hydrophobic base membrane polymer. The most widely used method of chemical modification is surface grafting of a hydrophilic polymer by UV polymerization because it is the easiest method; the membranes are dipped into monomers with and without photo-initiators, then irradiated with UV. Plasma-induced polymerization of hydrophilic monomers on the surface is another popular method, and surface chemical reactions have also been developed by several researchers. Several important examples of physical and chemical modifications of membrane surfaces for low-protein-binding are summarized in this article.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.453-462
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• 2023

Intermediate Geomaterials (IGMs) are natural formation materials that exhibit the engineering behavior (strength and compressibility) between soils and rocks. The engineering behavior of such material is highly unpredictable as the IGMs are stiffer than soils and weaker/softer than rocks. Further, the characterization of such material needs exposure to both soil and rock mechanics. In most conventional designs of geotechnical structures, the engineering properties of the IGMs are either aligned with soils or rocks, and this assumption may end up either in an over-conservative design or under-conservative design. Hence, many researchers have attempted to evaluate its actual engineering properties through laboratory tests. However, the test results are partially reliable due to the poor core recovery of IGMs and the possible sample disturbance. Subsequently, in-situ tests have been used in recent years to evaluate the engineering properties of IGMs. However, the respective in-situ test finds its limitations while exploring IGMs with different geological formations at deeper depths with the constraints of sampling. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the strength-based index test that is often used to explore IGMs. Moreover, it was also observed that the coefficient of variation of the design parameters (which represents the uncertainties in the design parameters) of IGMs is relatively high, and also the studies on the probabilistic characterization of IGMs are limited compared with soils and rocks. With this perspective, the present article reviews the laboratory and in-situ tests used to characterize the IGMs and explores the shear strength variation based on their geological origin.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.167-171
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• 2010

The present study aims to evaluate Cordyceps militaris water extract (CMWE) with a view to develop melanogenesis inhibitors. Inhibitory activities of CMWE against tyrosinase, L-DOPA(L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) oxidation, and melanin biosynthesis in B16 mouse melanoma cells were investigated. CMWE, at $5000\;{\mu}g/ml$, inhibited tyrosinase activity of 71% and DOPA oxidation of 40% as reacting with L-DOPA. Furthermore, B16 mouse melanoma cell survived over 50% from low to high dose on MTT assay, and CMWE markedly inhibited (> 50%) melanin synthesis at $5000\;{\mu}g/ml$. The inhibitory effect of CMWE on melanogenesis was attributed to enhancement of tyrosinase degradation. Key enzyme of melanin biosynthesis is tyrosinase which catalyses a beginning step from tyrosine to DOPA quinine and melanin formation step, respectively. These results indicated that CMWE may be a potential source of novel whitening agents for cosmetic or therapeutic application.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

Ti₃C₂T_x MXene, a 2D material, is known to exhibit unique characteristics that are strongly dependent on surface termination groups. Here, we developed a novel annealing approach with Ca as a reducing agent to simultaneously remove F and O groups from the surface of multilayered MXene powder. Unlike H₂ annealing that removes F effectively but has difficulty in removing O, annealing with Ca effectively removed both O and F. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the proposed approach effectively removed F and O from the MXene powder. The results of O/N analyses showed that the O concentration decreased by 57.5% (from 2.66 to 1.13 wt%). In addition, XPS fitting showed that the volume fraction of metal oxides (TiO₂ and Al₂O₃) decreased, while surface termination groups (-O and -OH) were enhanced, which could increase the hydrophilic and adsorption properties of the MXene. These findings suggest that when F and O are removed from the MXene powder, the interlayer spacing of its lattice structure increases. The proposed treatment also resulted in an increase in the specific surface area (from 5.17 to 10.98 m²/g), with an increase in oxidation resistance temperature in air from ~436 to ~667 ℃. The benefits of this novel technology were verified by demonstrating the significantly improved cyclic charge-discharge characteristics of a lithium-ion battery with a Ca-treated MXene electrode.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.958-967
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• 2006

The overall objective of this research was to find out the role of rapid mixing conditions in the species of hydrolyzed Al(III) formed by Al(III) coagulants and to evaluate the distribution of hydrolyzed Al(III) species by coagulant dose and coagulation pH. When an Al(III) salt was added to water, monomers, polymers and solid precipitates may form. Different Al(III) coagulants (alum and PSOM) show to have different Al(III) species distribution over a rapid mixing condition. During the rapid mixing period, for alum, formation of dissolved AI(III) (monomer and polymer) increases, but for PSOM, precipitates of $Al(OH)_{3(S)}$ increases rapidly. During the rapid mixing period, for high coagulant dose, Al-ferron reaction increases rapidly. The kinetic constants, Ka and Kb, derived from AI-ferron reaction. The kinetic constants followed very well the defined tendencies for coagulation condition. For pure water, when the rapid mixing time increased, the kinetic constants, Ka and Kb showed lower values. Also, for raw water, when the rapid mixing time increased, the kinetic constants, Ka and Kb showed lower values. At A/D(Adsorption and Destabilization) and sweep condition, both $Al(OH)_{3(S)}$ and dissolved Al(III) (monomer and polymer) exist, concurrent reactions by both mechanism appear to cause simultaneous precipitation.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.133-144
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• 2015

The aim of this investigation is to prepare geopolymer resin by alkali activation of ceramic waste (AACW) with different sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and liquid sodium silicate (LSS) concentrations. In order to prepare geopolymer cement, AACW was replaced by 10 and 30 % by weight (wt.,) of concrete waste (CoW) as well as 10 and 30 wt., % ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS). The results showed that, the compressive strength of AACW increases with the increase of activator content up to 15:15 wt., % NaOH: LSS. All AACW hardened specimens activated by 3:3 (MC6), 6:6 (MC12), 12:12 (MC24) and 15:15 wt., % (MC30) NaOH: LSS destroyed when cured in water for 24h. The MC18 mix showed higher resistivity to water curing. The results also showed that, the replacement of AACW containing 9:9 wt., % NaOH: LSS (MC18) by 10 (MCCo10) and 30 (MCCo30) wt., % CoWdecreased the compressive strength at all ages of curing. In contrast, the MCCo10 mix showed the lower chemically combined water content compared to MC18 mix. The MCCo30 mix showed the higher chemically combined water content compared to MC18 and MCCo10 mixes. The compressive strength and chemically combined water of all AACWmixes containing GGBFS (MCS10 and MCS30) were higher than those of AACWwith no GGBFS (MC18). As the amount of GGBFS content increases the chemically combined water increases. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) proved that as the amount of CoWcontent increases, the degree of crystallinity increases. Conversely, the replacement of AACW by GGBFS leads to increase the amorphiticity character. The infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirms the higher reactivity of GGBFS compared to CoW as a result of successive hydration products formation, enhancing the compaction of microstructure as observed in scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2013

High-performance concrete (HPC) usually has higher paste and lower coarse aggregate volumes than normal concrete. The lower aggregate content of HPC can affect the shear capacity of concrete members due to the formation of smooth fractured surfaces and the subsequent development of weak interface shear transfer. Therefore, an experimental investigation was conducted to study the shear strength and cracking behavior of full-scale reinforced beams made with low-cement-content high-performance concrete (LcHPC) as well as conventional HPC. A total of fourteen flexural reinforced concrete (RC) beams without shear reinforcements were tested under a two-point load until shear failure occurred. The primary design variables included the cement content, the shear span to effective depth ratio (a/d), and the tensile steel ratio (${\rho}_w$). The results indicate that LcHPC beams show comparable behaviors in crack and ultimate shear strength as compared with conventional HPC beams. Overall, the shear strength of LcHPC beams was found to be larger than that of corresponding HPC beams, particularly for an a/d value of 1.5. In addition, the crack and ultimate shear strength increased as a/d decreased or ${\rho}_w$ increased for both LcHPC beams and HPC beams. This investigation established that LcHPC is recommendable for structural concrete applications.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.507-521
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• 1997

The ultimate behavior of a reinforced concrete hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shell under uniformly distributed vertical load is investigated using an inelastic, large displacement finite-element program originally developed at North Carolina State University. Unlike with the author's previous study which shows that the saddle shell possesses a tremendous capacity to redistribute the stresses, introducing tension stiffening in the model the cracks developed are no longer through cracks and formed as primarily bending cracks. Even though with small tension stiffening effect, the behavior of the shell is changed markedly from the one without tension stiffening effect. The load-deflection curves are straight and the slope of the curves is quite steep and remains unchanged with varying the tension stiffening parameters. The failure of the shell took place quite suddenly in a cantilever mode initiated by a formation of yield lines in a direction parallel to the support-to-support diagonal. The higher the tension stiffening parameters the higher is the ultimate load. The present study shows that the ultimate behavior of the shell primarily depends on the concrete tensile characteristics, such as tensile strength (before cracking) and the effective tension stiffening (after cracking). As the concrete characteristics would vary over the life of the shell, a degree of uncertainty is involved in deciding a specified ultimate strength of the saddle shell studied. By the present study, however, the overload factors based on ACI 318-95 are larger than unity for all the cases studied except that the tension stiffening parameter is weak by 3 with and without the large displacement effect, which shows that the Lin-Scordelis saddle shell studied here is at least safe.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.559-577
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• 2016

There are many theoretical analyses and experimental studies of the hydrodynamics for the tension leg platform (TLP) of a floating wind turbine. However, there has been little research on the arrangement of the TLP's internal structure. In this study, a TLP model and a 5-MW wind turbine model as proposed by the Minstitute of Technology and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been adopted, respectively, to comprehensively analyze wind effects and wave and current combinations. The external additional coupling loads on the TLP and the effects of the loads on variables of the internal structure have been calculated. The study investigates preliminary layout parameters-namely, the thickness of the tension leg body, the contact mode of the top tower on the tension leg, the internal stiffening arrangement, and the formation of the spoke structure-and conducts sensitivity analyses of the TLP internal structure. Stress is found to be at a maximum at the top of the tension leg structure and the maximum stress has low sensitivity to the load application point. Different methods of reducing maximum stress have been researched and analyzed, and the effectiveness of these methods is analyzed. Filling of the spoke structure with concrete is discussed. Since the TLP structure for offshore wind power is still under early exploration, arrangements and the configuration of the internal structure, exploration and improvements are ongoing. With regard to its research and analysis process, this paper aims to guide future applications of tension leg structures for floating wind turbine.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.307-319
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• 2014

Four chickpea cultivars viz. kabuli (Pusa 1088 and Pusa 1053) and desi (Pusa 1103 and Pusa 547) differing in sensitivity to high temperature conditions were analyzed in earthern pot (30 cm) at different stages of growth and development in the year of 2010 and 2011. Pusa-1053 (kabuli type) showed maximum photosynthetic rate and least by Pusa-547 (desi type), whereas maximum cell membrane thermostability were recorded in Pusa-1103 and minimum in Pusa-1088. Among the treatments, the plants grown under elevated temperature conditions had produced 13.01% more significant data in comparison to plants grown under continuous natural conditions. Stomatal conductance were reduced 44.25% under elevated temperature conditions than natural conditions, whereas 35.56%, when plants grown under initially natural conditions upto 30DAS, then 30-60DAS elevated temperature and finally shifted to natural conditions till harvest. In case of Pusa-1103, stomatal conductance was maximum as compared to rest of 2.7% from Pusa-1053, 8.9% from Pusa-1088, and 10.3% in Pusa-547 throughout the study. Plants grown under continuous elevated temperature conditions had produced 15.30% and 15.32% more significant membrane thermostability index in comparison to continuous natural conditions at vegetative stage and 19.40% and 18.44% at flowering stage, while the better response was recorded at pod formation stage. Pusa-1053 had given 2.8% more membrane thermostability index than Pusa-1088 and Pusa-1103 had given 1.6% more membrane thermostability index than Pusa-547 in the present study. The membrane disruption caused by high temperature may alter water ion and inorganic solutes movement, photosynthesis and respiration. Thus, thermostability of the cell membrane depends on the degree of the electrolyte leakage.