• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.205-215
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• 2019

A flexible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite prototype with high piezoelectricity and force sensitivity was constructed, and its huge potential for applications such as biomechanical energy harvesting, self-powered health monitoring system, and pressure sensors was proved. The crystallization, piezoelectric, and electrical properties of the composites were characterized using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiment and customized experimental setups. The composite can sustain up to 100% strain, which is a huge improvement over monolithic PVDF fibers and other PVDF-based composites in the literature. The Young's modulus is 1.64 MPa, which is closely matched with the flexibility of the human skin, and shows the possibility for integrating PVDF/PDMS composites into wearable devices and implantable medical devices. The $300{\mu}m$ thick composite has a 14% volume fraction of PVDF fibers and produces high piezoelectricity with piezoelectric charge constants $d_{31}=19pC/N$ and $d_{33}=34pC/N$, and piezoelectric voltage constants $g_{31}=33.9mV/N$ and $g_{33}=61.2mV/N$. Under a 10 Hz actuation, the output voltage was measured at 190 mVpp, which is the largest output signal generated from a PVDF fiber-based prototype.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.316-323
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• 2019

The adsorption of bisphenol A from an aqueous solution onto dried rice husk was investigated. Batch adsorption experiments were performed as a function of the pH, contact time, bisphenol A concentration, adsorbent dose and temperature. The concentration of Bisphenol A was measured by HPLC. The results showed that bisphenol A removal was highest at a solution pH value of 3, adsorbent dose of 4 g/L, and contact time of 75 min. The bisphenol A removal percentage decreased from 99.1 to 66.7%, when the bisphenol A concentration increased from 10 to 200 mg/L. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics provided the best fit for the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters such as ${\Delta}G^0$, ${\Delta}H^0$ and ${\Delta}S^0$ were also evaluated and it was found that the sorption process was feasible, spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Overall, the studied absorbent can be used as an effective and low cost material to treat the industrial wastewater and aqueous solution containing phenolic compounds.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.91-118
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• 2019

Every year, many people are severely injured or lose their lives in accidents such as fire, chemical spill, public pandemonium, school shooting, and workplace violence. Research indicates that the fate of people in an emergency situation involving one or more hazards depends not only on the design of the space (e.g., residential building, industrial facility, shopping mall, sports stadium, school, concert hall) in which the incident occurs, but also on a host of other factors including but not limited to (a) occupants' characteristics, (b) level of familiarity with and cognition of the surroundings, and (c) effectiveness of hazard intervention systems. In this paper, we present EVAQ, a simulation framework for modeling large crowd evacuation by taking into account occupants' behaviors and interactions during an emergency. In particular, human's personal (i.e., age, gender, disability) and interpersonal (i.e., group behavior and interactions) attributes are parameterized in a hazard-impacted environment. In addition, different hazard types (e.g., fire, lone wolf attacker) and propagation patterns, as well as intervention schemes (simulating building repellent systems, firefighters, law enforcement) are modeled. Next, the application of EVAQ to crowd egress planning in an airport terminal under human attack, and a shopping mall in fire emergency are presented and results are discussed. Finally, a validation test is performed using real world data from a past building fire incident to assess the reliability and integrity of EVAQ in comparison with existing evacuation modeling tools.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.460-465
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• 2019

In this study, the optimization of active materials and the preparation of particulate adsorbents for the application of metal oxide-based adsorbents for the treatment of $H_2S$, an air pollutant and odorant, occurred in various industrial facilities were investigated. The adsorbents were prepared by using $TiO_2$, which has a high physicochemical stability and relatively high specific surface area among metal oxides and also by different kinds and contents of active materials. The correlation between the physicochemical property and adsorption performance of the adsorbents confirmed that the adsorbent containing KI, which is a typical alkali metal among the active metals, showed the highest adsorption performance. The relationship between the contents and the adsorption performance was non-proportional, but a volcano plot. From XRD, SEM and BET analyses, it was confirmed that the active material was exposed to the surface above a certain amount and also the adsorption performance was the best when the specific surface area and pore volume were $40{\sim}100m^2/g$ and $0.1{\sim}0.3cm^3/g$, respectively. For practical application, the adsorbent was granulated or coated on a ceramic support. It was also confirmed that the adsorbent showed high adsorption performance when the adsorbent was coated on the ceramic rather than that of the granulated support.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.407-416
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• 2019

The criticical micelle concentration (CMC) was measured by using the UV-Vis method for the micellization of the ammonium type cationic surfactants (DTAB, TTAB, and CTAB) in the aqueous aniline solution. The enthalpy change (${\Delta}H^0$) and entropy change (${\Delta}S^0$) were calculated from the dependence of Gibbs free energy change (${\Delta}G^0$) on the temperature for micellization of the cationic surfactants between 290K and 314K. The effects of n-butanol and sodium chloride on the micellization of cationic surfactants were measured and compared with the other thermodynamic functions. All the free energy changes (${\Delta}G^0$) of the micellization were negative, all the enthalpy change (${\Delta}H^0$) were negative, and all the entropy change (${\Delta}S^0$) were positive values, respectively. The micelle formation of cationic surfactant in aniline solution is a spontaneous exothermic reaction, and the iso-structural temperature calculated from the thermodynamic values show that enthalpy and entropy contribution to the micellization are almost the same for the micellization of cationic surfactants

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.43-49
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• 2019

In order to investigate the relation between sewage sludge solubilization and extracellular polymeric substances(EPS) during alkaline-ultrasonic pretreatment, SCOD/TCOD ratio, solubilization rate, VSS/TS ratio, VSS reduction rate, LB-EPS(Loosely-Bound EPS) and TB-EPS(Tightly-Bound EPS) were measured. At the condition of TS 1.0% and pH 12, solubilization rate increased by 27.7%, LB-EPS as Carbohydrate and Protein increased by 14.6 and 13.3 mg/L/g TS, respectively. Withal, VSS decreased by 26.7% and TB-EPS as Carbohydrate and Protein were extracted by 15.7 and 21.9 mg/L/g TS, respectively. Consequently, the concentrations of organic matter and LB-EPS increased and the trends appeared similarly. In addition, the concentrations trend of decreasing solid matter and extracted TB-EPS also appeared similarly.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.527-532
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• 2019

We designed 170 new simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers based on the whole-genome sequence data of button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), and selected 121 polymorphic markers. A total of 121 polymorphic markers, the average major allele frequency (M_AF) and the average number of alleles (N_A) were 0.50 and 5.47, respectively. The average number of genotypes (N_G), observed heterozygosity (H_O), expected heterozygosity (H_E), and polymorphic information content (PIC) were 6.177, 0.227, 0.619, and 0.569, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that M_AF was negatively correlated with N_G (-0.683), N_A (-0.600), H_O (-0.584), and PIC (-0.941). N_G, N_A, H_O, and PIC were positively correlated with other polymorphic parameters except for M_AF. UPGMA clustering showed that 26 A. bisporus accessions were classified into 3 groups, and each accession was differentiated. The 121 SSR markers should facilitate the use of molecular markers in button mushroom breeding and genetic studies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1345-1350
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• 2019

Our recent study has revealed that in vivo intestinal transit rate (ITR) in normal mice was significantly increased by the administration of an aqueous extract of dried Gentiana scabra rhizomes and roots (GS-W) in a dose-dependent manner. Following on from our previous study, the effect of GS-W on ITR was measured in mice with experimentally induced gastrointestinal motility dysfunctions (GMDs) in the present study. GS-W showed no significant acute toxicity even at an oral dose of 5 g/kg to mice. ITR was significantly retarded in the GMD mice compared with that in normal mice, and this retardation was significantly recovered by the oral administration of GS-W in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the ITR value of GS-W at a dose of 1 g/kg appeared to be higher than that of cisapride, which was predominantly prescribed for human patients with various GMDs in the late 1900s but was withdrawn from the market in 2000 due to its fatal side effects. The current results suggest that GS-W is a potential substitute for cisapride to prevent or alleviate human GMDs.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.705-708
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• 2019

Gymnophalloides seoi (Digenea: Gymnophallidae) is a human intestinal trematode contracted by eating raw oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in the Republic of Korea (=Korea). It has been known to be highly endemic in Aphae Island, Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Province). However, recent epidemiological status of G. seoi has not been reported since the 1990s. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of G. seoi metacercariae in natural and cultured oysters collected from 3 islands and 2 coastal areas in western parts of Korea. The oysters were examined using the artificial digestion method followed by stereomicroscopy. The overall positive rate of G. seoi metacercariae in natural oysters was 66.0% (99/150), and the oysters collected from Yubu Island showed the highest infection rate (74.0%). However, the metacercarial density per oyster was relatively low (1.5-2.4 per oyster). By contrast, no metacercaria was found in cultured oysters purchased from 2 coastal areas in Chungcheongnam-do. Thus, we could confirm that natural oysters produced from 3 western coastal islands are infected with G. seoi metacercariae, whereas cultured oysters purchased from 2 coastal areas were free from infection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.645-650
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• 2019

Skin plays important roles in protecting the internal organs from the chemical-biological risk factors and ultraviolet light. Exposure to the chemical and biological stimuli has a detrimental effect on skin's structure and physiological regulation. Therefore, much attention has been paid to natural products that show biological activities such as anti-oxidation, anti-aging and anti-bacterial activities. In this study, we investigated the skin-related biological activities of Oenothera lamarckiana aerial part extract. The extract contained 229.35 mg TAE (tannic acid equivalents)/g total polyphenolic compounds and the extract showed relative high antioxidant activity ($SC_{50}$ value: $8.52{\mu}g/mL$). The $IC_{50}$ value against tyrosinase and elastase were 307.94 and $181.51{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. This suggested that O. lamarckiana can be applied to whiten skin and slow the aging of skin. O. lamarckiana extract showed a growth inhibitory effect on Staphylococcu epidermidis (minimum inhibitory concentration: $250{\mu}g/mL$). Interestingly, O. lamarckiana extract showed no inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the paper disc assay. Yet the extract inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the broth dilution assay in a dose-dependent manners. Taken together, O. lamarckiana could have good potential for development as an additive in the cosmetic industry.