• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2011.10a
• /
• pp.7-7
• /
• 2011

Quantum beam technology has been expected to develop breakthroughs for nanotechnology during the third basic plan of science and technology (2006~2010). Recently, Green- or Life Innovations has taken over the national interests in the fourth basic science and technology plan (2011~2015). The NIMS (National Institute for Materials Science) has been conducting the corresponding mid-term research plans, as well as other national projects, such as nano-Green project (Global Research for Environment and Energy based on Nanomaterials science). In this lecture, the research trends in Japan and NIMS are firstly reviewed, and the typical achievements are highlighted over key nanotechnology fields. As one of the key nanotechnologies, the quantum beam research in NIMS focused on synchrotron radiation, neutron beams and ion/atom beams, having complementary attributes. The facilities used are SPring-8, nuclear reactor JRR-3, pulsed neutron source J-PARC and ion-laser-combined beams as well as excited atomic beams. Materials studied are typically fuel cell materials, superconducting/magnetic/multi-ferroic materials, quasicrystals, thermoelectric materials, precipitation-hardened steels, nanoparticle-dispersed materials. Here, we introduce a few topics of neutron scattering and ion beam nanofabrication. For neutron powder diffraction, the NIMS has developed multi-purpose pattern fitting software, post RIETAN2000. An ionic conductor, doped Pr2NiO4, which is a candidate for fuel-cell material, was analyzed by neutron powder diffraction with the software developed. The nuclear-density distribution derived revealed the two-dimensional network of the diffusion paths of oxygen ions at high temperatures. Using the high sensitivity of neutron beams for light elements, hydrogen states in a precipitation-strengthened steel were successfully evaluated. The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) demonstrated the sensitive detection of hydrogen atoms trapped at the interfaces of nano-sized NbC. This result provides evidence for hydrogen embrittlement due to trapped hydrogen at precipitates. The ion beam technology can give novel functionality on a nano-scale and is targeting applications in plasmonics, ultra-fast optical communications, high-density recording and bio-patterning. The technologies developed are an ion-and-laser combined irradiation method for spatial control of nanoparticles, and a nano-masked ion irradiation method for patterning. Furthermore, we succeeded in implanting a wide-area nanopattern using nano-masks of anodic porous alumina. The patterning of ion implantation will be further applied for controlling protein adhesivity of biopolymers. It has thus been demonstrated that the quantum beam-based nanotechnology will lead the innovations both for nano-characterization and nano-fabrication.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.781-786
• /
• 2014

Growth and physiological disorders caused by abnormally low temperatures were evaluated in pepper, an important field crop in Korea. In addition, the effects of chemical treatment using glutamine was verified on minimizing the damages by low temperature. The growth of pepper plants in stem length and diameter was suppressed as the temperature decreased from $25^{\circ}C$, and the suppression level was the highest for plants grown for 90 days at $20^{\circ}C$. However, root growth was not affected by the different temperatures. The number of leaf and leaf area decreased at the temperatures below $25^{\circ}C$, an optimum temperature for growth. Fresh weight and dry weight decreased for plants grown at $20^{\circ}C$. Pepper fruit yield also decreased by 11% at $20^{\circ}C$ in comparison to $25^{\circ}C$. Falling blossom rate was different depending on the growth temperature, and the rate was 27.2% at $25^{\circ}C$, 35.2% at $22.5^{\circ}C$, and 41.0% at $20^{\circ}C$, indicating that falling blossom rate increased as temperature decreased. Different growth temperatures did not affected on the level of symptom of calcium deficiency and Phytopathora blight. Falling blossom was severe at abnormally low temperature of $20^{\circ}C$, but the treatment of glutamine reduced falling blossom rate and increased the yield by 7.0% as compared to control. The optimum concentration of glutamine treatment was 10 mg/L for yields.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.576-583
• /
• 2018

Silicon carbide is considered to be a potentially useful material for high-temperature electronic devices, as its band gap is larger than that of silicon and the p-type and/or n-type conduction can be controlled by impurity doping. Particularly, porous n-type SiC ceramics fabricated from ${\beta}-SiC$ powder have been found to show a high thermoelectric conversion efficiency in the temperature region of $800^{\circ}C$ to $1000^{\circ}C$. For the application of SiC thermoelectric semiconductors, their figure of merit is an essential parameter, and high temperature (above $800^{\circ}C$) electrodes constitute an essential element. Generally, ceramics are not wetted by most conventional braze metals,. but alloying them with reactive additives can change their interfacial chemistries and promote both wetting and bonding. If a liquid is to wet a solid surface, the energy of the liquid-solid interface must be less than that of the solid, in which case there will be a driving force for the liquid to spread over the solid surface and to enter the capillary gaps. Consequently, using Ag with a relatively low melting point, the junction of the porous SiC semiconductor-Ag and/or its alloy-SiC and/or alumina substrate was studied. Ag-20Ti-20Cu filler metal showed promise as the high temperature electrode for SiC semiconductors.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.195-202
• /
• 2007

The normalized difference in incident solar energy between a target surface and a level surface (overheating index, OHI) is useful in eliminating estimation error of site-specific maximum temperature in complex terrain. Due to the complexity in its calculation, however, an empirical proxy variable called northern exposure index (NEI) which combines slope and aspect has been used to estimate OHI based on empirical relationships between the two. An experiment with real-world landscape and temperature data was carried out to evaluate performance of the NEI - derived OHI (N-OHI) in reduction of spatial interpolation error for daily maximum temperature compared with that by the original OHI. We collected daily maximum temperature data from 7 sites in a mountainous watershed with a $149 km^2$ area and a 795m elevation range ($651{\sim}1,445m$) in Pyongchang, Kangwon province. Northern exposure index was calculated for the entire 166,050 grid cells constituting the watershed based on a 30-m digital elevation model. Daily OHI was calculated for the same watershed ana regressed to the variation of NEI. The regression equations were used to estimate N-OHI for 15th of each month. Deviations in daily maximum temperature at 7 sites from those measured at the nearby synoptic station were calculated from June 2006 to February 2007 and regressed to the N-OHI. The same procedure was repeated with the original OHI values. The ratio sum of square errors contributable by the N-OHI were 0.46 (winter), 0.24 (fall), and 0.01 (summer), while those by the original OHI were 0.52, 0.37 and 0.15, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.769-776
• /
• 2013

This study evaluated fermented soybean meal (FSM) as a fish meal (FM) replacement and determined the appropriate amount of FSM in juvenile olive flounder diet. Twenty-four aquaria with a flowing-water system were stocked with fish averaging 20.9 g at a density of 25 fish/tank. Five experimental diets were prepared replacing FM with 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40% FSM based on FM protein (designated $FSM_{0}$, $FSM_{10}$, $FSM_{20}$ $FSM_{30}$, and $FSM_{40}$, respectively). Two additional diets were prepared that replaced 30 or 40% of the FM with FSM with added amino acids (methionine and lysine) (designated $FSM_{30+AA}$, and $FSM_{40+AA}$, respectively). Fish (triplicates) were fed one of the eight experimental diets (50% crude protein and 16.7 kJ available energy $g^{-1}$ diet) for 8 weeks. Survival did not differ among the treatments during the feeding experiment. There were no significant differences in weight gain (WG) or specific growth rate (SGR) among the fish fed diets with up to 30% of the FM replaced. However, fish fed $FSM_{40}$ or $FSM_{40+AA}$ had a reduced WG and SGR, as compared to $FSM_0$ (control) (P < 0.05). The feed efficiency and apparent digestibility showed a similar trend (P < 0.05). The proximate composition in the whole body of fish differed only between the control and $FSM_{40}$ for the crude protein level and between the control and $FSM_{30+AA}$ for the crude lipid level. The whole-body amino acid composition did not differ among treatments. No significant differences were found between the diet groups with and without amino acid supplementation, indicating that amino acid supplementation had no effect. The major finding of this study is that fermented soybean meal may replace up to 30% of fish meal without amino acid supplementation for normal growth of juvenile olive flounder.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.628-635
• /
• 2011

This study was conducted to establish the tissue culture system for Korean domestic Miscanthus sinensis, which is used in various purposes such as forage, and bio-energy resources. With the mature seed of Miscanthus, optimum concentrations of plant growth regulators were identified for an efficient callus induction and regeneration. Among the treatments of 1~10 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ 2,4-D, IBA, or NAA, callus induction rate was highest (85.3%) on MS medium containing 5 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ 2,4-D. Under the condition, the callus were efficiently induced and proliferated with comparably lower frequencies of callus browning. In shoot regeneration, the treatment of NAA combined with BAP seemed to contribute more efficient conditions to shoot regeneration than those of NAA with Kinetin or 2-iP. Especially, regeneration efficiency and number of regenerated plants were 83.7% and 5.5 in 3 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ NAA with 5 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ BAP, respectively, which were higher frequencies than those in NAA with Kinetin or 2-iP. In results, 5 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ 2,4-D and 3 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ NAA combined with 5 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ BAP were efficient for embryogenic callus induction and regeneration of Miscanthus. This system would be useful for mass-propagation and developing new cultivars via tissue culture of Miscanthus sinensis.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.42-48
• /
• 2008

Bio-implantable devices such as heart pacers, gastric pacers and drug-delivery systems require power for carrying out their intended functions. These devices are usually powered through a battery implanted with the system or are wired to an external power source. This paper describes an inductive power transmission link, which was developed for an implantable stimulator for direct stimulation of denervated muscles. The carrier frequency is around 1MHz, the transmitter coil has a diameter of 46mm, and the implant coil is 46mm. Data transmission to the implant with amplitude shift keying (ASK) and back to the transmitter with passive telemetry can be added without major design changes. We chose the range of coil spacing (2 to 30mm) to care for lateral misalignment, as it occurs in practical use. If the transmitter coil has a well defined and reliable position in respect to the implant, a smaller working range might be sufficient. Under these conditions the link can be operated in fixed frequency mode, and reaches even higher efficiencies of up to 37%. The link transmits a current of 50 mA over a distance range of 2-15 mm with an efficiency of more than 20% in tracking frequency. The efficiency of the link was optimized with different approaches. A class E transmitter was used to minimize losses of the power stage. The geometry and material of the transmitter coil was optimized for maximum coupling. Phase lock techniques were used to achieve frequency tracking, keeping the transmitter optimally tuned at different coupling conditions caused by coil distance variations.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.435-438
• /
• 2000

Crude oil-degrading microorganisms, Acinetobacter sp. A132, Pseudomonas aeruginosa F722, and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus OM1 were isolated from soil and sea. The optimal temperature of strain A132 and strain F722 on growth isolated from soil was $35^{\circ}C$ both, and also their growth were optimized at pH 8 and 9, respectively. The growth of the strains, A132 and F722, showed that crude oil of 2% (w/v) in culture broth in which crude oil was used as carbon and energy sources appeared to be an optimum. Optimal culture conditions of strain OM1 were different from those of the soil microorganisms except for temperature. The growth of strain OM1 was optimized at pH 7 and crude oil of 3.0% (w/v). The degradability to crude oil by strain A132 showed maximum $5.49g/\;l\;{\cdot}\;day$ under the conditions of $25^{\circ}C$, NaCl of 1.0% (w/v), and crude oil of 2.0% (w/v). The highest degradability of strain F722 to crude oil was $1.19g/\;l\;{\cdot}\;day$ under the culture conditions at $35^{\circ}C$, NaCl 1.0% (w/v), and crude oil of 2.0% (w/v). The degradation characteristics of kerosene $(nC_9-nC_{20})$ and diesel $(nC_9-nC_{28})$ by strain OM1, and F722 were analyzed by gas chromatography. Strain OM1 degraded more than 95% of kerosene and 75% of diesel for 7 days cultivation. Strain F722 showed degradation of more than 80% to kerosene in 10 days.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.443-447
• /
• 2014

Biosynthesis of lactate-containing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) was examined in recombinant Escherichia coli W strain from sucrose. The Pseudomonas sp. MBEL 6-19 phaC1437 gene and the Clostridium propionicum pct540 gene, which encode engineered Pseudomonas sp. MBEL 6-19 PHA synthase 1 ($PhaC1_{Ps6-19}$) and engineered C. propionicum propionyl-CoA transferase ($Pct_{Cp}$), respectively, were expressed in E. coli W to construct key metabolic pathway to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-lactate) [P(3HB-co-LA)]. The recombinant E. coli W expressing the phaC1437 gene and the pct540 gene could synthesize P(3HB-co-13mol%LA) up to the polymer content of 31.3 wt% when it was cultured in chemically defined MR medium containing 20 g/L of sucrose and 2 g/L of sodium 3-hydroxybutyrate. When Ralstonia eutropha phaAB genes were additionally expressed to provide 3-hydroxybutyrate-CoA (3HB-CoA) from sucrose, P(3HB-co-16mol%LA) could be synthesized from sucrose as a sole carbon source without supplement of sodium 3-hydroxybutyrate in culture medium, but the PHA content was decreased to 12.2 wt%. The molecular weight of P(3HB-co-16 mol%LA) synthesized in E. coli W using sucrose as carbon source were $1.53{\times}10^4$ ($M_n$) and $2.78{\times}10^4$ ($M_w$), respectively, which are not different from those that have previously been reported by other recombinant E. coli strains. Engineered E. coli strains developed in this study should be useful for the production of lactate-containing PHAs from sucrose, one of the most abundant and least expensive carbon sources.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.190-195
• /
• 2018

Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] represents an attractive starch crop that can be used to facilitate solving global food and environmental problems in the $21^{st}$ century. It can be used as industrial bioreactors to produce various high value-added materials, including bio-ethanol, functional feed, antioxidants, as well as food resources. The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced sweetpotato as one of the ten 'super foods' for better health, since it contains high levels of low molecular weight antioxidants such as vitamin-C, vitamin-E and carotenoids, as well as dietary fiber and potassium. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also reported that sweetpotato is the best bioenergy crop among starch crops on marginal lands, that does not affect food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that world population in 2050 will be 9.7 billion, and require approximately 1.7 times more food than today. In this respect, sweetpotato will be a solution to solving problems such as food, energy, health, and environment facing the globe in the $21^{st}$ century. In this paper, the current status of resources, and cultivation of sweetpotato in the world was first described. Development of a new northern route of the sweetpotato and its prior tasks of large scale cultivation of sweetpotato, were also described in terms of global food security, and production of high-value added biomaterials.