• Elastomers and Composites
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• 제59권1호
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• pp.8-16
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• 2024

As regulations on greenhouse gas emission have strengthened globally, the demand for improved fuel efficiency in automobiles continues to rise. In response, the tire industry is actively conducting research to improve fuel efficiency by enhancing tire performance. In this study, silica-filled epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)/butadiene rubber (BR) blend compounds were manufactured according to ENR types and silica contents, and their physical properties and vulcanizate structure were evaluated. ENR-50, which has a higher epoxide content than ENR-25, exhibited stronger filler-rubber interaction, resulting in superior abrasion resistance. In addition, because of its high glass transition temperature (T_g), the wet grip performance of ENR-50 improved, even though the rolling resistance increased. Increasing the amount of silica had little effect on the abrasion resistance due to the increase in filler-rubber interaction and decrease in toughness. In addition, ENR-50 exhibited better wet grip performance; however, the rolling resistance increased. The results indicated that truck bus radial (TBR) tire tread compounds can be designed by applying ENR-50 to improve wear resistance and wet grip performance. In addition, by applying ENR-25 and reducing the silica contents improve fuel efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.111-114
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• 2011

As a growth-template of ZnO nanorods (NR), a hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ nanosheet (NS) was synthesized with the low temperature hydrothermal process and its microstructure was investigated using a high resolution scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Zinc nitrate hexahydrate was hydrolyzed by hexamethylenetetramine with the same mole ratio and various temperatures, growth times and total concentrations. The optimum hydrothermal processing condition for the best crystallinity of hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS was determined to be with 3.5 mM at $95^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The prepared $Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were two dimensionally arrayed on a substrate using an air-water interface tapping method, and the quality of the array was evaluated using an X-ray diffractometer. Because of the similarity of the lattice parameter of the (0001) plane between ZnO (wurzite a = 0.325 nm, c = 0.521 nm) and hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ (brucite a = 0.313 nm, c = 0.461 nm) on the synthesized hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS, ZnO NRs were successfully grown without seeds. At 35 mM of divalent Zn ion, the entire hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NSs were covered with ZnO NRs, and this result implies the possibility that ZnO NR can be grown epitaxially on hexagonal $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ NS by a soluble process. After the thermal annealing process, $\beta-Ni(OH)_2$ changed into NiO, which has the property of a p-type semiconductor, and then ZnO and NiO formed a p-n junction for a large area light emitting diode.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• 제51권4호
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• pp.110-122
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• 2014

As multimedia technologies develop, three-dimensional (3D) technologies are attracting increasing attention from researchers. In particular, video quality assessment (VQA) has become a critical issue in stereoscopic image/video processing applications. Furthermore, a human visual system (HVS) could play an important role in the measurement of stereoscopic video quality, yet existing VQA methods have done little to develop a HVS for stereoscopic video. We seek to amend this by proposing a 3D visual attention (3DVA) model which simulates the HVS for stereoscopic video by combining multiple perceptual stimuli such as depth, motion, color, intensity, and orientation contrast. We utilize this 3DVA model for pooling on significant regions of very poor video quality, and we propose no-reference (NR) stereoscopic VQA (SVQA) method. We validated the proposed SVQA method using subjective test scores from our results and those reported by others. Our approach yields high correlation with the measured mean opinion score (MOS) as well as consistent performance in asymmetric coding conditions. Additionally, the 3DVA model is used to extract information for the region-of-interest (ROI). Subjective evaluations of the extracted ROI indicate that the 3DVA-based ROI extraction outperforms the other compared extraction methods using spatial or/and temporal terms.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제64권4호
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• pp.333-341
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• 2021

In this study, to select strains suitable as microbial agent from among rhizosphere microorganisms present in rhizosphere soil and roots, the mineral solubilization ability, antifungal activity against 10 types of plant pathogenic fungi, and plant growth-promoting activity of rhizosphere microorganisms were evaluated. As a result, DDP346 was selected because it has solubilization ability of phosphoric acid, calcium carbonate, silicon, and zinc; nitrogen fixing ability; production ability of siderophore, indole-3-acetic acid, and aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase; and antifungal activity against seven types of plant pathogenic fungi. DDP346 showed a 99.9% homology with Acinetobacter pittii DSM 21653 (NR_117621.1); phylogenetic analysis also revealed a close relationship with Acinetobacter pittii based on the 16S rRNA base sequence. The growth conditions of DDP346 were identified as temperatures in the range of 10-40 ℃, pH in the range of 5-11, and salt concentrations in the range of 0-5%. In addition, a negative correlation coefficient (r² = -0.913, p <0.01) was shown between pH change and the solubilized phosphoric acid content of Acinetobacter sp. DDP346, and this is assumed to be due to the organic acid generated during culture. Consequently, through the evaluation of its mineral solubilization ability, antifungal activity against plant pathogenic fungi, and plant growth-promoting activity, the potential for the utilization of Acinetobacter sp. DDP346 as a multi-purpose microbial agent is presented.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.243-253
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• 2015

Series Chinensis, Genus Iris, endemic to the far regions of East Asia, consists of four species and related varieties. This series is divided into two major groups (I. rossii and I. minutiaurea complex). In this study, the ITS region and matK gene sequences within nuclear ribosomal DNA and plastid DNA were analyzed in order to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among the I. minutiaurea complex (I. minutiaurea, I. odaesanensis, and I. koreana) and the taxonomic identities of a putative hybrid in Mt. Palgong. In the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2) region, a total of 106 cloned genomic sequences from three taxa were obtained to study the intragenomic polymorphisms of the ITS regions. Three taxa revealed high levels of intragenomic polymorphisms, indicative of incomplete nrDNA concerted evolution. This incomplete ITS concerted evolution in the series Chinensis may be linked to the recent species divergence and frequent interspecies hybridization of the series Chinensis. In the matK gene, three taxa were fairly separated by eleven variable sites. In eight individuals collected on Mt. Palgong, putative hybrids between I. odaesanensis and I. minutiaurea were clustered in the I. minutiaurea clade in the NJ (neighbor-joining) tree based on the matK gene. However, in the ITS tree, some of them were clustered in the I. odaesanensis clade and others were clustered in the I. minutiaurea clade. Therefore, the individuals on Mt. Palgong were formed by the hybridization between two taxa (I. odaesanensis and I. minutiaurea) and not through the lineage of I. koreana.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.18-25
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• 2015

A universal DNA barcoding for agricultural noxious weeds is a powerful technique for species identification without morphological knowledge, by using short sections of DNA from a specific region of the genome. Two standard barcode markers, chloroplast rbcL and matK, and a supplementary nuclear ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region were used to examine the effectiveness of the markers for Pooideae barcoding using 163 individuals of 29 taxa across 16 genera of Korean Pooideae. The rbcL and ITS revealed a good level of amplification and sequencing success while matK did not. Barcode gaps were 78.6% for rbcL, 96.2% for matK, and 91.7% for ITS, respectively. Resolving powers were 89.3% for rbcL, 92.3% for matK, and 79.1% for ITS. The matK obtained the best both barcode gap and resolving power. However, it should be considered not to employ matK for Pooideae barcode because of low rate of PCR amplification and sequencing success. As a single DNA marker, rbcL and ITS were reasonable for Pooideae barcode. Barcode gap and resolving power were increased when ITS was incorporated into the rbcL. The barcode sequences were deposited to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database for public use.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• 제59권2호
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• pp.64-72
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• 2024

As air pollution continues to increase owing to increasing traffic centered in urban areas, the tire industry is researching methods to reduce particulate matter. In this study, functionalized lithium butadiene rubber (F-LiBR) was applied to a natural rubber (NR)/butadiene rubber (BR) blend compound often used in truck bus radial (TBR) tire treads. The effect of the functional group that can react with carbon black (CB) in BR was investigated in terms of the dispersion of CB and the compound performance, including the generation of particulate matter. Compounds that were substituted with F-LiBR exhibited enhanced interaction with CB, resulting in excellent filler dispersion. Although F-LiBR exhibited lower crosslinking density and inferior abrasion resistance due to its high vinyl content, the compound with 30 phr of F-LiBR was advantageous in terms of its rolling resistance due to the excellent filler dispersion, which was also effective in reducing the amount of generated particulate matter (up to 56% reduction for PM_2.5, and 67% reduction for PM₁₀). The results confirmed the benefits of the introduction of functional groups into TBR tire tread compounds, which can aid in improving the fuel efficiency and reducing particulate matter generation.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.26-34
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• 2015

Korean Poaceae includes approximately 80 species of the agricultural weeds. Precise species identification is the first step for more effective weed management in the agricultural fields. However, the identification of species in Poaceae is not easy without the assistance of taxonomists or identification experts although they are relatively easy to distinguish from the plants of the other family by the unique characteristics of caryopsis. Thus, DNA barcode was suggested as an alternative powerful technique for species identification by using short sections of DNA from a specific region of the genome. Two standard barcode markers of vascular plants, chloroplast rbcL and matK, and a supplementary nuclear ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region were used for barcode of major Korean Poaceae weeds, 403 individuals of 84 taxa. All the barcode markers revealed a good level of sequencing success with the lowest 73.7% for matK and the highest 88.8% for rbcL. The barcode sequences were deposited to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database for public use. Combined matK and ITS showed very high resolving power with 92.9%. Besides the identification of weeds for weed managment, the generated DNA barcode data could be used for many other applications such as rapid biodiversity assessment and conservation prioritization.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.117-126
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• 2010

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of needle retention(NR) and electro-acupuncture of low(EA(L)) and high(EA(H)) frequencies at Haegye($ST_{41}$) on intestinal hypermotility induced with carbachol in rats Methods : We made over-activated state of intestinal motility with carbachol in rats and caried out needle retention acupuncture, low frequency electro-acupuncture and high frequency electro-acupuncture at Haegye($ST_{41}$) or sham point in rat devided into pre-treatment group and post-treatment group. And we resulted as followings from measuring charcoal travel rate with observation of intestinal motility. Results : 1. None of acupuncture, low frequency electro-acupuncture and high frequency electro-acupuncture at $ST_{41}$ had significant influences on intestinal motility of rat in normal state. 2. Pre-treated with acupuncture, low frequency electro-acupuncture and high frequency electro-acupuncture and post-treated with acupuncture and low frequency electro-acupuncture at $ST_{41}$ didn't significantly influences intestinal motility in rat which over-activated with carbachol. 3. Post-treated with high frequency electro-acupuncture at $ST_{41}$ suppressed intestinal motility in rat which over-activated with carbachol. Conclusions : These results suggest that treatment high frequency electro-acupuncture at ST41 may be effective on gastric disorders such as intestinal hypermotility and its effect had more cure than prevention.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.202-216
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• 2017

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient. Thus, evaluating its flows and stocks in rice paddy ecosystems provides important insights into the sustainability and environmental loads of rice production. Among the N sources of paddy fields, atmospheric deposition and irrigation inputs remain poorly understood. In particular, insufficient information is available for atmosphere-rice paddy exchange of gaseous and particulate reactive N (Nr, all N species other than molecular N) which represents the net input or output through dry deposition and emission. In this study, we assessed the N inputs via atmospheric deposition and irrigation to a Japanese rice paddy area by weekly monitoring for 2 years with special emphasis on gas and particle exchange. The rice paddy during the cropping season acted as a net emitter of ammonia ($NH_3$) to the atmosphere regardless of the N fertilizer applications, which reduced the effects of dry deposition to the N input. Dry N deposition was quantitatively similar to wet N deposition, when subtracting the rice paddy $NH_3$ emissions from N exchange. The annual N inputs to the rice paddy were 3.2 to $3.6\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for exchange, 8.1 to $9.8\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for wet deposition, and 11.1 to $14.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$ for irrigation. The total N input, 22.8 to $27.5\;kg\;N\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$, corresponded to 38% to 55% of the N fertilizer application rate and 53% to 67% of the brown rice N uptake. Monitoring of atmospheric deposition and irrigation as N sources for rice paddies will therefore be necessary for adequate N management.