• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.182-187
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• 2020

When cells are stimulated by growth factors, they make a critical choice in early G₁ phase: proceed forward to S phase, remain in G₁, or revert to G₀ phase. Once the critical decision is made, cells execute a fixed program independently of extracellular signals. The specific stage at which the critical decision is made is called the restriction point or R-point. The existence of the R-point raises a major question: what is the nature of the molecular machinery that decides whether or not a cell in G₁ will continue to advance through the cell cycle or exit from the cell cycle? The R-point program is perturbed in nearly all cancer cells. Therefore, exploring the nature of the R-point decision-making machinery will provide insight into how cells consult extracellular signals and intracellular status to make an appropriate R-point decision, as well into the development of cancers. Recent studies have shown that expression of a number of immediate early genes is associated with the R-point decision, and that the decision-making program constitutes an oncogene surveillance mechanism. In this review, we briefly summarize recent findings regarding the mechanisms underlying the context-dependent R-point decision.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.167-179
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• 2024

This study explores the feasibility of employing (U, Th)-based accident tolerant fuels (ATFs), specifically (_0.8UO₂, _0.2ThO₂), (_0.8UN, _0.2ThN), and (_0.8UC, _0.2ThC). The investigation assesses the overall performance of these proposed fuel materials in comparison to the conventional UO₂, focusing on deep neutronic and thermal-hydraulic (Th) analyses. Neutronic analysis utilized the MCNPX code, while COMSOL Multiphysics was employed for thermal-hydraulic analysis. The primary objective of this research is to overcome the limitations associated with traditional UO₂ fuel by exploring alternative fuel materials that offer advantages in terms of abundance and potential improvements in performance and safety. Given the limited abundance of UO₂, long-term sustainable nuclear energy production faces challenges. From a neutronic standpoint, the U-Th based fuels demonstrated remarkable fuel cycle lengths, except (_0.8UN, _0.2ThN), which exhibited the minimum fuel cycle length and, consequently, the lowest fuel burn-up. Regarding thermal-hydraulic performance, (_0.8UN, _0.2ThN) exhibited outstanding performance with significant margins against fuel melting compared to the other materials. Overall, when considering the integrated performance, the most favourable results were obtained with the use of the (_0.8UC, _0.2ThC) fuel configurations. This study contributes valuable insights into the potential benefits of (U, Th)-based ATFs as a promising avenue for enhanced nuclear fuel performance.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.35-41
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• 2023

The carbon-coated silicon monoxide (c-SiO_x), which is a negative electrode active material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), has a limited cycle performance due to severe volume changes during cycles, despite its high specific capacity. In particular, the significant volume change of the active material can deform the electrode structure and easily damage the electron transfer pathway. To improve performance and mitigate electrode damage caused by volume changes, we replaced parts of the carbon black conducting agent with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) having a linear shape. The content of the entire conductive material in the electrode was fixed at 10% by mass, and the relative content of CNTs ranged from 0% to 25% by mass to prepare electrodes and evaluate electrochemical performance. As the CNT content in the electrode increased, both cycle life and rate capability improved. Even a small amount of CNT can significantly improve the electrochemical performance of a c-SiO_x negative electrode with large volume changes. Furthermore, dispersing CNTs effectively can lead to achieving the equivalent performance with a reduced quantity of CNTs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.2888-2897
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• 2011

The performance of a geothermal heat pump system using carbon dioxide was investigated by the steady-state cycle simulation program developed in this study. A parametric study was carried out in order to investigate the effect of various operating conditions on the performance of the basic cycle without an IHX(internal heat exchanger). The simulation program consists of several Fortran subroutines for simulating indoor and outdoor heat exchangers, compressors, and expansion valves and Visual Basic subroutines for the graphic user interface(GUI) consisted with pre-processor for input data and post-processor for the output data. Refprop V6.01 was used for estimating the thermodynamic properties and equilibrium behaviors of carbon dioxide. The simulation results were validated by comparing experimental data through a series of case studies. The cycle simulation program developed in this work would seem to be a useful tool in optimizing and establishing economical and efficient operating conditions in the $CO_2$ geothermal heat pump system.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2019

The objective of this study is to assess the environmental effect of the reclaimed land drainage method using oyster shell through the Life cycle $CO_2$ assessment, and to evaluate the applicability in South Korea. In this Study, the life cycle $CO_2$ emissions of oyster shell (OS) and crushed stone (CS, as avoided product) were assessed and compared. The Life Cycle Assessment method was used for quantitative evaluation of direct or indirect environmental effects of OS recycling. $CO_2$ was selected as the evaluation target material, and the scope of assessment includes the acquisition of materials, processing, transportation, construction phases. Compared to using CS, 77.0% of $CO_2$ emissions in acquisition and processing, 47.0% in transportation and 6.5% in construction phase were reduced, respectively by using of OS. The maximum transportation distance of OS was estimated according to transportation distance of CS. OS has environmental advantages than CS within about 26 - 101 km from the source. OS was found to be applicable to reclaimed lands up to 810 ha, 3,910 ha from Tongyeong and Yeosu, respectively. In addition, the amount of OS that could be used as drainage material for reclaimed land was much higher than annual OS production of South Korea. Therefore, it is considered that OS is sufficient to be used as drainage material for reclaimed land in South Korea.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.636-642
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• 2022

The "Hydrogen Economic Activation Road map" was announced in 2019, and hydrogen demand is expected to exceed 470,000 tons per year in 2022 and keep increasing. Under this circumstance, it has become important to understand the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with various hydrogen production pathways. In this study, the evaluation of life cycle GHG emissions regarding the hydrogen produced as by-product from coke oven gas (COG) in steel mill is conducted. To cover the possible range of operations, three literatures were reviewed and their data of inputs and outputs for the process were adopted for calculation. Life cycle inventories and emission factors were mostly referred to GaBi and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines, respectively. When there are multiple products from a single process, the energy allocation method was applied. Based on these sources and the assumptions, the life cycle emission values of COG-based hydrogen were found to be 3.8 to 4.7 kg/CO₂-eq./kg-H₂.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.242-249
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• 2003

Zn electrode was widely used as an anode material in alkaline battery systems in highly concentrated KOH electrolyte, however it was well known that its cycle life is significantly shortened by growth of dendrite due to the high dissolution of $Zn(OH)_2$ and rapid electrochemical reaction. In this study when by the additives such as $Ca(OH)_2$, Citrate, tartrate and Gluconate were added to $40\%$ KOH electrolyte at solution temperature of $25^{\circ}C$ and the amount of $5wt\%\;Pb_3O_4$ was mixed to Zn electrode and then the effect of $Pb_3O_4$ and additives on the electrochemical behavior of Zn electrode was investigated by Potentiodynamic Polarization Curves, Cyclic Voltammetry, Accelerated Life Cycle lest, and SEM image analyses. The addition of $Pb_3O_4$ reduced the corrosion rate of Zn electrode. The corrosion potential of Zn electrode with $Pb_3O_4$ was higher or lower than that of pure Zn electrode however was not influenced practically to the open circuit voltage. And the addition of 4 type additives had an important role in improving both cycle life in accelerated cycle life test and corrosion resistance. Furthermore the additive of Tartrate indicated comparatively a good effect to corrosion resistance as well as charging-discharging property Improvement among those four type additives.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 2002

A series of multicomponent $Zr_{0.8}Ti_{0.2}Mn_{0.4}V_{0.6}Ni_{1-x}Fe_{x}$ (x=0.00, 0.08, 0.15, 0.22, and 0.30) alloys are prepared and their oystal structure and P-C-T curves are examined. The electrochemical properties of these allqys such as activation conditions, discharge capacity, cycling performance are also investigated. $Zr_{0.8}Ti_{0.2}Mn_{0.4}V_{0.6}Ni_{1-x}Fe_{x}$ (x=0.00, 0.08, 0.15, 0.22 and 0.30) have the C14 Laves phase hexagonal structure. The electrode was activated by the hot-charging treatment. The best activation conditions were the current density 120 mA/g and the hot-charging time 12h at $80^{\circ}C$ in the case of the alloy with x=0.00. The discharge capacity increased rapidly until the fourth cycle and then decreased. The discharge capacity increased again from the 13th cycle, arriving at 234 mAh/g at the 50th cycle. The discharge capacily just after activation decreases with the increase in the amount of the substituted Fe but the cycling performance is improved. The discharge capacity after activation of the alloy with x=0.00 is 157 mAh/g at the current density 120 mA/g. $Zr_{0.8}Ti_{0.2}Mn_{0.4}V_{0.6}Ni_{0.85}Fe_{0.15}$ is a good composition with a medium quantity of discharge capacities and a good cycling performance. The ICP analysis of the electrolyte for these electrodes after 50 charge-discharge cycles shows that the concentrations of V and Zr are relatively high. Another series of multicomponent $Zr_{0.8}Ti_{0.2}Mn_{0.4}V_{0.6}Ni_{0.85}M_{0.15}$ (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Mo and Al) alloys are prepared. They also have the C14 Laves phase hexagonal structure. The alloys with M = Co and Fe have relatively larger hydrogen storage capacities. The discharge capacities just after activation are relatively large in the case of the alloys with M = Al and Cu. They are 212 and 170 mAh/g, respectivety, at the current density 120mA/g. The $Zr_{0.8}Ti_{0.2}Mn_{0.4}V_{0.6}Ni_{0.85}Co_{0.15}$ alloy is the best one with a relatively large discharge capacity and a good cycling performance.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.773-781
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• 2002

The natural carbon cycle has been perturbed since the mid-19th century by anthropogenic CO$_2$emissions from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation due to population growth and industrialization. The current study simulated the global carbon cycle for the past 42 years using an eight-box carbon cycle model. The results showed that since the terrestrial biospheric carbon sink was roughly offset by the deforestation source, the fossil fuel emission source was partitioned between the atmospheric and oceanic sinks. However, the partitioning ratio between the atmosphere and the ocean exhibited a change, that is, the carbon accumulation rate was faster in the atmosphere than in the ocean, due to a decrease in the so-called ocean buffering capacity. It was found that the ocean buffering capacity to take up excess CO$_2$decreased by 50% in terms of the buffer factor over the past 42 years. Accordingly, these results indicate that if the current CO$_2$emission trend continues, the future rate of increase in the atmospheric CO$_2$concentration will accelerate.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2012

Recently, many researchers have studied the performance of the transcritical $CO_2$ refrigeration cycle in order to improve the system efficiency. In this study, the length of IHX in the $CO_2$ ejector cycle was varied so as to evaluate the performance improvement. As a result, compressor work and cooling capacity was increased by 3% and 5% as the length of internal heat exchanger was changed from 3 m to 15 m. The best COP was appeared at internal heat exchanger length of 12 m, and it was 3.01. Besides, the length of internal heat exchanger has a big effect to pressure lift ratio and entrainment ratio in the ejector $CO_2$ cycle and it may be changed with operating conditions and system specifications.