• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.134-142
• /
• 2012

A bipolar plate is a major component of a fuel cell stack, which occupies 50~60% of the total weight and over 50% of the total cost of a typical fuel cell stack. In this study, a composite bipolar plate is designed and fabricated to develop a compact and light-weight direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack for a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) application. The composite bipolar plates for DMFCs are prepared by a compression molding method using resole type phenol resin as a binder and natural graphite and carbon black as a conductor filler and tested in terms of electrical conductivity, mechanical strength and hydrogen permeability. The flexural strength of 63 MPa and the in-plane electrical conductivities of 191 S $cm^{-1}$ are achieved under the optimum bipolar plate composition of phenol : 18%; natural graphite : 82%; carbon black : 3%, indicating that the composite bipolar plates exhibit sufficient mechanical strength, electrical conductivity and hydrogen permeability to be applied in a DMFC stack. A DMFC with the composite bipolar plate is tested and shows a similar cell performance with a conventional DMFC with graphite-based bipolar plate.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.75-89
• /
• 1984

A total of 141 strains of Streptococcus mutans were isolated from dental plaques of 153 subjects. Eighty-two children with caries-experience, 18 caries-free children and their mothers were participated. All isolates were examined for their serotypes by immunodiffusion method with 7 reference sera and their antibiotic susceptibilities to 7 antibiotics by agar dilution method using 7 kinds of antibiotics, and were compared their results by caries experience (DMFT ratio) and by intrafamilial levels. 1. Isolation rate of Streptococcus mutans were greater in samples of carious teeth than those of sound teeth, and in mothers than in children. 2. Multiple serotypes of Streptococcus mutans were occasionally found in a single samples. 3. Of the total 141 isolates (83 isolates from children, and 58 from their mothers), type c isolates were most prevalent (63.8%). Type d,e and f were found, comprizing 14.9%, 10.6% and 6.4% respectively. Serotype g, a and untypable strain were also found but far lower frequencies (2.8-0.7%), and type b was detected. 4. These results suggest that there are no significant correlation among the distribution of serotypes, antibiotic susceptibilities, caries experience and intrafamilial relationships. 5. Most of isolates were susceptible to chloramphenicol (100%), penicillin (95.7%), ampicillin (94.3%), and gentamicin (92.2%), but about one-third isolates were resistant to cephaloridine (27%), streptomycin (33.3%) and kanamycin (47.6%), resulting that 91 strains (64.5%) among 141 isolates were resistant to one or more drugs used. 6. Of the 91 resistant strains, 20 different resistant patterns were observed, and the most frequently encountered patterns were KM, SM and CE.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.714-725
• /
• 2003

The theory of the current-type electromagnetic flowmeter for a high temporal resolution was developed for two-phase flow measurements. To predict the output of the current-type flowmeter, the three-dimensional virtual potential distribution C and the newly introduced flow pattern coefficient f were derived and computed. The output of flowmeter depends on the liquid conductivity (sensitive to temperature) and flow configurations of the two-phase flow with the sinusoidal excitation over 100 Hz. The flow pattern coefficient was specially devised to separate the dependency on the flow configuration of the two-phase flow from that on the liquid conductivity which can be expressed with the calibration of single-phase flow. Using the finite difference method, the three-dimensional virtual potential distributions were computed for the electrode of finite size. By taking derivative of the virtual potential, the weight functions were evaluated and compared with existing analytic series solution for the point-electrode. There was a reasonable correspondence between the present and existing results. In addition, the flow pattern coefficients were evaluated for annular flows with various film thicknesses, and compared with the experimental results by the impedance spectroscopy. The numerical results agreed well with the experimental data.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.330-341
• /
• 2014

Andropogon gayanus is an important grass due to its high biomass production, drought tolerance and favorable growth on low fertility acidic soils. Currently, there is little research on the impact of growth stage on the nutritional quality or the degree of $CH_4$ production that may arise from this forage during ruminal fermentation. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of regrowth stage of A. gayanus on its chemical composition, in vitro production of gas and CH4, as well as in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility when grown under tropical Brazilian conditions and conserved as hay or as silage. The nutritional value of A. gayanus grass declined with increasing maturity; however digestible DM yield linearly increased. After 112 d of regrowth, A. gayanus produced higher quality silage (higher lactate and lower pH and butyrate content) and higher DM yield. However, the low levels of crude protein at this time would make protein supplementation a necessity for proper rumen fermentation. No differences in $CH_4$ kinetic parameters were found with advancing maturity or preservation method (hay or silage).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2016

The intestinal environment plays a critical role in maintaining swine health. Many factors such as diet, microbiota, and host intestinal immune response influence the intestinal environment. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an important apical brush border enzyme that is influenced by these factors. IAP dephosphorylates bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), unmethylated cytosine-guanosine dinucleotides, and flagellin, reducing bacterial toxicity and consequently regulating toll-like receptors (TLRs) activation and inflammation. It also desphosphorylates extracellular nucleotides such as uridine diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate, consequently reducing inflammation, modulating, and preserving the homeostasis of the intestinal microbiota. The apical localization of IAP on the epithelial surface reveals its role on LPS (from luminal bacteria) detoxification. As the expression of IAP is reported to be downregulated in piglets at weaning, LPS from commensal and pathogenic gram-negative bacteria could increase inflammatory processes by TLR-4 activation, increasing diarrhea events during this phase. Although some studies had reported potential IAP roles to promote gut health, investigations about exogenous IAP effects or feed additives modulating IAP expression and activity yet are necessary. However, we discussed in this paper that the critical assessment reported can suggest that exogenous IAP or feed additives that could increase its expression could show beneficial effects to reduce diarrhea events during the post weaning phase. Therefore, the main goals of this review are to discuss IAP's role in intestinal inflammatory processes and present feed additives used as growth promoters that may modulate IAP expression and activity to promote gut health in piglets.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.643-649
• /
• 2010

Evaluation of the primary etiologic agents that cause aseptic meningitis outbreaks may provide valuable information regarding the prevention and management of aseptic meningitis. In Korea, an outbreak of aseptic meningitis caused by echovirus type 30 (E30) occurred from May to October in 2008. In order to determine the etiologic agent, CSF and/or stool specimens from 140 children hospitalized for aseptic meningitis at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital between June and October of 2008 were tested for virus isolation and identification. E30 accounted for 61.7% (37 cases) and echovirus 6 accounted for 21.7% (13 cases) of all the human enteroviruses (HEVs) isolates (60 cases in total). For the molecular characterization of the isolates, the VP1 gene sequence of 18 Korean E30 isolates was compared pairwise using the MegAlign with 34 reference strains from the GenBank database. The pairwise comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the VP1 genes demonstrated that the sequences of the Korean strains differed from those of lineage groups A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Reconstruction of the phylogenetic tree based on the complete VP1 nucleotide sequences resulted in a monophyletic tree, with eight clustered lineage groups. All Korean isolates were segregated from other lineage groups, thus suggesting that the Korean strains were a distinct lineage of E30, and a probable cause of this outbreak. This manuscript is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, of the molecular characteristics of E30 strains associated with an aseptic meningitis outbreak in Korea, and their respective phylogenetic relationships.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.377-384
• /
• 2002

To investigate the expression patterns of proteins and growth factor signals in differentiated rabbit embryonic stem (ES) cells, ES cells with confluent stage grown of feeder layer and differentiated cells into embryoid bodies (EB) without feeder cell were applied to protein gel and Western blotting analysis. There were 66kDa and 28kDa specifically expressed in differentiated ES cell but not in undifferentiated ES cell while 25kDa protein band showed up in only undifferentiated ES cells. Also there were some difference of protein bands in several area of gel between differentiated and undifferentiated ES cells such as about 100 kDa, 50kDa and 27kDa areas, but there was no difference in band pattern of one-dimensional gel analysis between mouse ES cells and rabbit ES cells. IGF-I receptor and EGF receptor were expressed in differentiated cells and undifferentiated cells. And ICF-I and EGF were not expressed in both differentiated and undifferentiated cells. These results indicated that ES cells express their own proteins to inhibit differentiation while EB cells synthesize different proteins to differentiate, and 16F-I receptor and EGF receptor were expressed in both ES and EB cells probably for the different functions.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.147-158
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was to find out the effects that daughters' incomplete lactation records affect sire's breeding values through genetic evaluation using RRTDM(random regression test-day model). First, we estimated genetic parameters and breeding values on sires having complete lactation records of daughter by RRTDM, second, we changed complete lactation records of specific sires into incomplete records by various methods. Third, the breeding values were compared between complete and incomplete records. Finally, this study aimed to find out the methods to minimize the estimation errors of young bulls' breeding values. Data used in this study were collected from the dairy herd improvement program, and a total of 97,562 records were composed of 10,929 first parity with both parents known, since 1999. Breeding values on the daughters from randomly chosen sires were calculated and compared with among 90 day, 150day, and 200 day's incomplete records. For milk yields, sire's ranks of breeding values used by complete lactation records were very different from sire's ranks of breeding values obtained by incomplete lactation records(Rank_90 cut, 150cut, 200 cut).The differences were also obtained between complete lactation records(per305_full) and incomplete lactation record (per_90 cut, 150cut, 200 cut) in breeding values regarding persistency. Especially, the differences between per_90 cut and per305_full were very large(from 1.8 kg to 145kg).

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.234-241
• /
• 1996

Two hundreds and thirty lactic acid bacteria, mostly isolated from Kimchi, including type strains were used for analysis of cellular fatty acids. The 230 test strains were recoverd in 7 major and 1 single clusters defined at Euclidian distance of 17.5. These aggregate taxa were equivalent to the genus Leuconostoc (aggregate group A, B, C and D), the genus Lactobacillus (aggregate group F), the genera Lactobacillus and Pediococcus (aggregate group E) and the genera Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus (aggregate group G). It is concluded as evident that FAMEs (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) profile of cell can be used as a criterion in classification of lactic acid bacteria from kimchi. Additional comparative taxonomic studies need to be carried out on well chosen representative strains to determine the most appropriate methods of value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 1996.06c
• /
• pp.263-269
• /
• 1996

In indian agricultural , the energy use pattern has played dominant role in influencing the level of mechanization . Besides that the agro-climatic factors as well as the size of holdings do affect the degree of mechanization . Nearly 30 percent of total cultivated area is owned by l76 percent of the small and tiny land holders each owning even less than a hectare. On the other hand, about 2 percent of land owners cultivate land. These variabilitieshave greatly influenced the ownership of power sources on Indian farms. Small farmers, employ human and animal energies with the use of hand tools and animal drawn equipments. Whereases, the use of tractors, power tillers, electric motors, etc. on small farms is on a marginal scale. There are few pockets and also extensive wheat growing regions where mechanical and electrical power sources are extensively used in production agriculture leading to about 185% of cropping intensity . In that region, the animal energy is employed for on the farm transport of fertilizers, fodders and fuel to support milch animals and other household activities . Inspite of high degree of mechanization, the harvesting of crops is done by human labour with few exceptions of harvesting wheat crops by combines in few pockets. In overall assessment of mechanization, the following conclusions are drawn : ⅰ) Farm operation which show a growing trend of mechanization are (a) tillge, (b) seedling (c) Irrigation (d) Plant protection application (e) Threshing and (f) Transport . ⅱ) Crop cultivation system in respect of wheat, maize and sorghum have been greatly mechanized. ⅲ) The least mechanized cropping systems are (a) vegetable production and (b) cultivation of sugarcane, cotton, rice and pulses. ⅳ) Annual production of tractor has touched the figure of 280.000 by 1995 and the total number has crossed 1.5million on Indian farms.