• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.15-24
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• 2021

In Korea, which is mostly mountainous, the proportion of tunnel and underground space development are increasing. Although the ground is reinforced by applying the ground improvement method during underground space development, accidents still occur frequently in Korea. In the grouting method, a representative ground reinforcement method, the effect was judged by comparing the total amount of injection material with the amount of injection material used during the actual grouting construction. However, it is difficult to determine whether the ground reinforcement is properly performed during construction or within the target ground. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to study a new method for quality control during or after construction by measuring electrical resistivity after performing grouting by mixing carbon fiber, which is a conductive material, and microcement, which is a grout material. In this study, as a basic study, a cement specimen mix ed with 0%, 3%, 5%, 7% of carbon fiber was prepared to evaluate the performance of the grout material mixed with carbon fiber, which is a conductive material. The prepared specimens were wet curing for 3 days, 7 days, and 28 days under 99% humidity, and then compression wave velocity and shear wave velocity were measured. As a result of the compression wave velocity and shear wave velocity measurement, it showed a tendency to increase with the increase in the compounding ratio of carbon fibers and the number of days of age, and it was confirmed that the elastic modulus and shear modulus, which are the stiffness of the material, also increased.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.283-291
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• 2022

Hydrogen energy has received much attention as a solution to the supply of renewable energy and to respond to climate change. Hydrogen is the most suitable candidate of storing unused electric power in a large-capacity long cycle. Among the technologies for producing hydrogen, water electrolysis is known as an eco-friendly hydrogen production technology that produces hydrogen without carbon dioxide generation by water splitting reaction. Membranes in water electrolysis system physically separate the anode and the cathode, but also prevent mixing of generated hydrogen and oxygen gases and facilitate ion transfer to complete circuit. In particular, the key to next-generation anion exchange membrane that can compensate for the shortcomings of conventional water electrolysis technologies is to develop high performance anion exchange membrane. Many studies are conducted to have high ion conductivity and excellent durability in an alkaline environment simultaneously, and various materials are being searched. In this review, we will discuss the research trends and points to move forward by looking at the research on anion exchange membranes based on commercial polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-polystyrene (SEBS) block copolymers.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.169-181
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• 2022

Purpose: This paper addresses a case study of developing a flame retardant wood-plastic composites (WPC) by adding tannic acid to the existing synthetic wood. The optimal mixing ratios of six components are explored to minimize the burning time using two mixture designs. Methods: In the preliminary experiment, six components are considered to find important components and their ranges. Seven D-optimal mixture design points are generated. Two points are removed for the balance of plastic components to be maintained, and the remaining five points are augmented with two basic compositions. Four components are selected to be considered in the main experiment. In the main experiment, pellets are extruded at the eight mixture design points. In-house testing of burning time is executed three times. Specimens made of pellets from two promising flame retardant compositions are sent to the accredited laboratories and tested. Results: The test results are as follows: 1) The best composition (Wood flour, Tannic acid, PE, Lubricant) = (25, 41, 10, 2) (wt%) shows the burning time of 1 second, which is 9-fold improvement compared to the the burning time of 9 seconds from the existing composition (58, 0, 10, 2) (wt%). 2) The second best composition (41, 25, 10, 2) (wt%) results in the burning time of 2 seconds. This composition is inferior to the best composition in terms of the flame retardancy, but more economical since it needs less tannic acid which is 100-fold expensive than the wood flour. Conclusion: Flame retardant compositions are found by adding tannic acid to the existing WPC employing optimal mixture designs. This case study will be helpful to practitioners who try to develop new products with additional physical properties with as small number of experimental trials as possible. Future research direction includes exploring conditions which satisfy both performance level and cost limitation simultaneously.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.449-459
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• 2023

The design and development of underground nuclear waste repositories should cover the performance evaluation of the different components such as the construction materials because the long term stability will depend on their response to the surrounding conditions. In South Korea, Gyeonju bentonite has been proposed as a candidate to be used as buffer and backfilling material, especially in the form of blocks to speed up the construction process. In this study, various cylindrical samples were prepared with different dry density and water content, and their physical and mechanical properties were analyzed and correlated with X-ray CT observations. The main objective was to characterize the samples and establish correlations for non-destructive estimation of physical and mechanical properties through the utilization of X-ray CT images. The results showed that the Uniaxial Compression Strength and the P-wave velocity have an increasing relationship with the dry density. Also, a higher water content increased the values of the measure parameters, especially for the P-wave velocity. The X-ray CT analysis indicated a clear relation between the mean CT value and the dry density, Uniaxial Compression Strength, and P-wave velocity. The effect of the higher water content was also captured by the mean CT value. Also, the relationship between the mean CT value and the dry density was used to plot CT dry densities using CT images only. Moreover, the histograms also provided information about the samples heterogeneity through the histograms' full width at half maximum values. Finally, the particle size and heterogeneity were also analyzed using the Madogram function. This function identified small particles in uniform samples and large particles in some samples as a result of poor mixing during preparation. Also, the μ_max value correlated with the heterogeneity, and higher values represented samples with larger ranges of CT values or particle densities. These image-based tools have been shown to be useful on the non-destructive characterization of bentonite samples, and the establishment of correlations to obtain physical and mechanical parameters solely from CT images.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.349-354
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• 2023

This study wa s conducted a s pa rt of ma ximizing the use of ca rbon dioxide by a pplying CCU(Ca rbon Ca pture, Utiliza tion) a mong technologies for reducing CO₂ in the cement industry. In a carbon dioxide curing environment, changes in carbonation depth and changes in basic physical properties by age due to the mixing of carbonation reaction accelerators were usually targeted at Portland cement paste. In addition, in order to check the fixed amount of CO₂ in the concrete field, a thermal analysis method was applied to evaluate CaCO₃ decarbonization at high temperatures. As a result of the evaluation, it was confirmed that the carbonation depth in the cured body significantly increased due to the incorporation of CRA in the carbonation depth diffusion performance. In addition, it was confirmed that the weight reduction rate increased by 23.8 % and 40.77 %, respectively, compared to Plain, in the order of curing conditions for constant temperature and humidity and curing conditions for carbonation chambers, so it was confirmed that the amount of excellent CaCO₃ produced by the addition of CRA increased as the concentration of CO₂ increased.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2024

In this study, a structural concrete square beam was developed using the centrifugal molding technique. In order to secure the bending stiffness of the cross section, the hollow rate of the cross section was set to 10% or less. Instead of using the current poor mixture of concrete and a concrete mixing ratio with a high slump (150-200) and a design strength of 100 MPa or more was developed and applied. In order to investigate the durability of centrifugally formed PSC square beams to be used as the superstructure of the avalanch tunnel or ramen bridge, the durability performance of ultra-high-strength centrifugally formed concrete with a compressive strength of 100 MPa was evaluated in terms of deterioration and chemical resistance properties.Concrete durability tests, including chloride penetration resistance, accelerated carbonation, sulfate erosion resistance, freeze-thaw resistance, and scaling resistance, were performed on centrifugally formed square beam test specimens produced in 2022 and 2023. Considering the information verified in this study, the durability of centrifugally molded concrete, which has increased watertightness in the later manufacturing stage, was found to be superior to that of general concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2017

Recently, building materials and air purification filters with eco-friendly charcoal are actively studying to reduce the concentration of radon gas in indoor air. In this study, radon reduction performance was assessed by designing and producing new panel-type activated carbon filter that can be handled more efficiently than conventional charcoal filters, which can reduce radon gas. For the fabrication of our panel-type activated carbon filter, first the pressed molding product after mixing activated carbon powder and polyurethane. Then, through diamond cutting, the activated carbon filter of 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm thickness were fabricated. To investigate the physical characteristics of the fabricated activated carbon filter, a surface area and flexural strength measurement was performed. In addition, to evaluate the reduction performance of radon gas in indoor, the radon concentration of before and after the filter passes from a constant amount of air flow using three acrylic chambers was measured, respectively. As a result, the surface area of the fabricated activated carbon was approximately $1,008m^2/g$ showing similar value to conventional products. Also, the flexural load was found to have three times higher value than the gypsum board with 435 N. Finally, the radon reduction efficiency from indoor gas improved as the thickness of the activated carbon increases, resulting in an excellent radon removal rate of more than 90 % in the 6 mm thick filter. From the experimental results, the panel-type activated carbon is considered to be available as an eco-friendly building material to reduce radon gas in an enclosed indoor environment.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.591-610
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• 2020

Concrete with activated carbon and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has been used to reduce the particulate matter (PM) in underground structures (e.g., tunnels) due to the high performance of nitrogen oxides (NOx) abatement. Damage (e.g. crack, spalling, or detachment) can be caused by the environmental and ageing effects on the surface of the particulate matter reduction concrete, installed on the tunnel lining. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the existence of spalling on the concrete surface for maintaining performance of NOx reduction. In this study, a basic research was performed for feasibility of spalling evaluation using electrical resistivity characteristics. Given the test results, the electrical resistivity was decreased as the ratios of activated carbon (0~15%) and TiO₂ (0~25%) were increased for specimens. Under a dry condition, electrical resistivity of cement specimens, mixed with activated carbon and TiO₂, was decreased up to 2.3 times, compared with the normal cement specimen. In addition, under saturation conditions (degree of saturation: 85~98%), electrical resistivity of cement specimens with activated carbon, was decreased up to 3.5 times, compared with the normal cement specimen. Regardless of the condition (dry or saturated), the difference of electrical resistivity values shows the range of 2.3~2.8 times between the mixing specimen (with activated carbon (15%) and TiO₂ (25%)) and the normal cement specimen. This study can help to provide basic knowledge for spalling evaluation using the electrical resistivity on the surface of the particulate matter reduction concrete in tunnels.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.472-487
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• 2020

With the emergence of abnormal climate due to the rapid industrialization, the importance of water quality management and management costs are increasing every year. In Korea, for the management of total phosphorus and total nitrogen, the major materials causing the water quality pollution, coagulants are injected in sewage treatment plants to process organic compounds. However, if the coagulant is injected in an excessive amount to PAC (Poly Aluminium Chloride), a secondary pollution problem might occur. As such, a study on the applicability of natural material-based coagulant is being conducted in Korea. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the applicability of a mixed coagulant developed by analyzing water quality pollutants T-P, T-N as well as their turbidity, in order to derive the optimum mixing ratio between PAC and torrefied wood flour for the primary settling pond effluent. Under the condition where the content of PAC (10%) and torrefied wood flour is 1%, T-P showed the maximum removal efficiency of 92%, and T-N showed approximately 22%. This indicates that removal of T-N which includes numerous positively charged organic compounds that are equivalent to mixed coagulant is not well accomplished. Turbidity showed the removal efficiency of approximately 91%. As such, 1% of torrefied wood flour was determined to be the optimum addition. As a result of analyzing the removal efficiency for organic compounds by reducing PAC concentration to 7%, T-P showed a high maximum removal efficiency of 91%, T-N showed 32%, and turbidity showed the maximum of 90%. In addition, a coagulation process is performed by using the mixed coagulant based on 1% content of torrefied wood flour produced in this study by performing a coagulation performance comparative experiment with PAC (10%). As a result, PAC concentration was reduced to 30-50%, a similar performance with other coagulants in market was secured, PAC injection amount was reduced that an economic effect can be achieved, and it is considered to perform a stable water treatment that reduces the secondary pollution problem.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-82
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• 2014

It was main objectives to find the learners characteristics and educational effects of cyber agricultural technology courses in RDA. For the research, it was followed by literature reviews and internet based survey methods. In internet based survey, two staged stratified sampling method was adopted from cyber training members database in RDA along with some key word as open course or certificate course, and enrollment years. Instrument was composed through literature reviews about cyber education effects and educational effect factors. And learner characteristics items were added in survey documents. It was sent to sampled persons by e-mail and 316 data was returned via google survey systems. Through the data cleaning, 303 data were analysed by chi-square, t-test and F-test. It's significance level was .05. The results of the research were as followed; First, the respondent was composed of mainly man(77.9%), and monthly income group was mainly 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 won(24%), bachelor degree(48%), fifty or forty age group was shared to 75%, and their job was changed after learning(12.2%). So major respondents' job was not changed. Their major was not mainly agriculture. Learners' learning style were composed of two or more types as concrete-sequential, mixing, abstract-random, so e-learning course should be developed for the students' type. Second, it was attended at 3.2 days a week, 53.53 minutes a class, totally 172.63 minutes a week. They were very eager or generally eager to study, and attended two or more subjects. The cyber education motives was for farming knowledge, personal competency development, job performance enlarging. They selected subjects along with their interest. A subject person couldn't choose more subjects for little time, others, non interesting subject, but more subject persons were for job performance benefits and previous subjects effectiveness. Most learner was finished their subject, but a fourth was not finished for busy (26.7%). And their entrying behavior was not enough to learn e-course and computer or internet using ability was middle level as software using. And they thought RDA cyber course was comfort in non time or space limit, knowledge acquisition, and personal competency development. Cyber learning group was composed of open course only (12.5%), certificate only(25.7%), both(36.3%). Third, satisfaction and academic achievement of e-learning learners were good, and educational service offering for doing job in learning application category was good, but effect of cyber education was not good, especially, agricultural income increasing was not good because major learner group was not farmer, so they couldn't apply their knowledge to farming. And content structure and design, content comprehension, content amount were good. The more learning subject group responded to good in effects, and both open course and certificate course group satisfied more than open course only group. Based on the results, recommendation was offered as cyber course specialization before main course in RDA training system, support staff and faculty enlargement, building blended learning system with local RDA office, introducing cyber tutor system.