• Title/Summary/Keyword: Mass Efficiency

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Detection of Matrix Metalloprotease-9 and Analysis of Protein Patterns in Bovine Vaginal Mucus during Estrus and Pregnancy

  • Kim, Sang-Hwan;Baek, Jun-Seok;Lee, Ho-Jun;Min, Kwan-Sik;Lee, Deuk-Hwan;Yoon, Jong-Taek
    • Journal of Embryo Transfer
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.93-100
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    • 2012
  • To investigate the biochemical nature of changes in vaginal physiology during estrus and pregnancy, we examined the cytology and viscosity, and monitored the protein expression profile in vaginal mucus during estrus and pregnancy. The viscosity progressively decreased from estrus to pregnancy. Cell type analysis revealed that white blood cells progressively increased from estrus to pregnancy, while red blood cells progressively decreased during pregnancy. The cornification index (CI) was higher in estrus than in pregnancy. Protein mass spectrumetry identified the presence of ribosome-binding protein 1, GRIP 1 (Glutamate receptor-interacting protein 1)-associated protein 1, DUF729 (Domain of unknown function729) domain-containing protein 1, prolactin precursor, dihydrofolatereductase, and MMP (Matrix metalloprotease)-9 in vaginal mucus. MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins in the vaginal mucus were active throughout estrus and gestation, as measured by a gelatinase assay, but most abundant in the vaginal mucus on day 0 of estrus. Results from ELISA of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were in accordance with the gelatinase assay. In light of the crucial role of metalloproteinases in extracellular matrix remodeling, the level of MMP-9 in vaginal mucus might be useful as an indicator of estrus and pregnancy to increase the efficiency of reproduction.

Effect of Housing Systems - Barn vs Cage on the First Phase Egg Production and Egg Quality Traits of Laying Pullet

  • Ahammed, Musabbir;Ohh, Sang Jip
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.67-73
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    • 2013
  • With an increasing concern on laying hen welfare, barn system has appeared as one of the alternatives to replace the conventional cage. This study was conducted to compare the early laying performance and egg quality at the barn system with those at the conventional cage. A total of 288 shaver-579 brown layers were used for 9 weeks ($21^{st}$ to $30^{th}$ weeks of age) feeding study. Feed consumption and egg weight were significantly (P<0.01) higher at barn than at cage. However, there were no significant differences between two housing systems on hen day egg production (HDEP), egg mass, body weight, feed efficiency and livability. In case of egg quality parameters, shell thickness, albumen height and Haugh unit were significantly (P<0.05) different between two systems. Haugh unit and albumen height were significantly higher in eggs produced at cage (88.97 and 8.16 mm) compared than those produced at barn (83.11 and 6.87 mm), whereas shell thickness was thicker in eggs produced at barn than those produced at cage. Shape index, breaking strength, blood spots and yolk index data were not influenced significantly by the types of housing system. To implement welfare bestowing production, this study showed that the barn system can replace the conventional cage without serious sacrifices on starting phase egg production. In addition, this study suggested that the barn system need to be optimized in view of daily feed consumption.

Study of Thermoelectric Generator with Various Thermal Conditions for Exhaust Gas from Internal Combustion Engine using Numerical Analysis (수치해석을 통한 엔진 배기가스의 조건 변화에 따른 열전소자 발전 특성에 관한 연구)

  • In, Byung Deok;Lee, Ki Hyung
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.243-248
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    • 2013
  • Internal combustion engines typically expel 30%-40% of the energy supplied by fuel to the environment through their exhaust system. Therefore, further significant improvements in the thermal efficiency of IC engines are possible by recovering the waste heat from the engine exhaust gas. With this fact in mind, a numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the potential of using thermoelectric generation with an internal combustion engine for waste heat recovery. Physical parameters such as the exhaust temperature and mass flow rate were evaluated in the exhaust system, and the optimum location for inserting a thermoelectric generator (TEG) into the system was determined. The TEG will be located in the exhaust system and will use the energy flow between the warmer exhaust gas and the external environment. The optimum position of the temperature distribution and the TEG performance were predicted through numerical analysis. The experimental results obtained showed that the power output significantly increases with the temperature difference between the cold and hot sides of the TEG.

A New Selection Strategy of High Redshift Quasars: Medium-Band Observation with SQUEAN

  • Jeon, Yiseul;Im, Myungshin;Pak, Soojong
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.78.3-78.3
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    • 2015
  • About 70 high redshift quasars with $z{\geq}5$ have been discovered through combinations of standard broad-band filters to distinguish them from contaminating sources. However, among the discovered quasars so far, there is a redshift gap at $5{\leq}z{\leq}6$ due to the limitation of traditional filter sets and selection techniques. To understand the early mass growth of supermassive black holes and the final stage of the cosmic reionization, it is important to find a statistically meaningful sample of quasars with various physical properties. Here we suggest a new selection technique of high redshift quasars using medium-band filters: nine filters with bandwidths of 50nm and central wavelengths from 625 to 1025nm. Photometry with these medium-bands traces the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a source, similar to spectroscopy with R~15. We installed these filters to SED camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse (SQUEAN) on the 2.1m telescope at McDonald Observatory, and conducted test observations of known high redshift quasars at $4.7{\leq}z{\leq}6.1$ and also dwarf stars for comparison. We found differences in SED shapes between high redshift quasars and dwarf stars, determined their locations on color-color diagrams, and demonstrated that the medium-band filters can enhance the efficiency of selecting robust quasar candidates in this redshift range. In this poster, we propose an effective selection method of high redshift quasars using these medium-band filters and discuss its effect on our high redshift quasar survey.

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Development of an Infiltration and Ventilation Model for Predicting Airflow Rates within Buildings (빌딩 내의 공기유동량 예측을 위한 누입 및 환기모델의 개발)

  • Cho, Seok-Ho
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.207-218
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    • 2014
  • A ventilation model was developed for predicting the air change per hour(ACH) in buildings and the airflow rates between zones of a multi-room building. In this model, the important parameters used in the calculation of airflow are wind velocity, wind direction, terrain effect, shielding effect by surrounding buildings, the effect of the window type and insect screening, etc. Also, the resulting set of mass balance equations required for the process of calculation of airflow rates are solved using a Conte-De Boor method. When this model was applied to the building which had been tested by Chandra et al.(1983), the comparison of predicted results by this study with measured results by Chandra et al. indicated that their variations were within -10%~+12%. Also, this model was applied to a building with five zones. As a result, when the wind velocity and direction did not change, terrain characteristics influenced the largest and window types influenced the least on building ventilation among terrain characteristics, local shieldings, and window types. Except for easterly and westerly winds, the ACH increased depending on wind velocity. The wind direction had influence on the airflow rates and directions through openings in building. Thus, this model can be available for predicting the airflow rates within buildings, and the results of this study can be useful for the quantification of airflow that is essential to the research of indoor air quality(temperature, humidity, or contaminant concentration) as well as to the design of building with high energy efficiency.

Influence of Initial Seedling Size and Root Pruning Intensity on Growth of Transplanting Seedling of Quercus acutissma

  • Na, Sung-Joon;Lee, Do-Hyung;Kim, In-Sik
    • Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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    • v.26 no.6
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    • pp.709-717
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    • 2013
  • The objective of this study was to examine the effect of root pruning intensity in combination with different initial seedling size on the growth of transplanting seedlings of Quercus acutissima. One-year-old seedlings were divided into three groups depending on their height, i.e. small (< 15 cm), medium (25-35 cm) and large size (35 cm <). Root of seedlings was pruned by three intensity such as, leaving 5 cm (severe), 10 cm (medium) and 15 cm (light) of taproot from the root-collar. After one year, we investigated survival rate, height and root-collar diameter (RCD) increment and final shoot dry weight. Also we measured characteristics of newly developed lateral roots such as number, total length, dry weight and diameter. Severe root pruning showed the lowest survival rate in all seedling size. Height increment, RCD increment and shoot dry weight were decreased with increasing intensity of root pruning. Seedlings of medium and light root pruning showed similar above-ground growth and dry weight of lateral roots. More large seedlings showed good survival rate, height increment and final shoot dry mass in all root pruning intensity. Therefore, one-year-old seedlings of Q. acutissima should be pruned taproot by 10 cm and transplanted to obtain excellent performance and increase the efficiency of transplanting work. Based on the findings of this study, it is important that applying to different root pruning intensity depending on initial seedling size for producing 2-year-old seedlings with excellent growth and high quality.

Optimal Design for the Rotor Overlap of a Supersonic Impulse Turbine to Improve the Performance (초음속 충동형 터빈 성능개선을 위한 동익 오버랩 최적설계)

  • Cho, Jongjae;Shin, Bong Gun;Kim, Kuisoon;Jeong, Eunhwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.33-41
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    • 2014
  • In a supersonic turbine, A rotor overlap technique reduced the chance of chocking in the rotor passage, and made the design pressure ratio satisfied. However, the technique also made additional losses, like a pumping loss, expansion loss, etc. Therefore, an approximate optimization technique was appled to find the optimal shape of overlap which maximizes the improvement of the turbine performance. The design variables were shape factors of a rotor overlap. An optimal design for rotor overlap reduces leakage mass flow rate at tip clearance by about 50% and increases about 4% of total-static efficiency compared with the base model. It was found that the most effective design variable is the tip overlap and that the hub overlap size is the lowest.

Influence of piston bowl geometry on the in-cylinder flow of HCCI Engine (HCCI 엔진의 실린더 내 유동에 대한 피스톤 보울 형상의 영향)

  • Nam, Seung Man;Lee, Kye Bock
    • Journal of Energy Engineering
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.399-405
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    • 2013
  • The gas motion inside the engine cylinder plays a very important role in determining the thermal efficiency of an internal combustion engine. A precise information of in-cylinder three dimensional complex gas motion is crucial in optimizing engine design. Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine is a combustion concept, which is a hybrid between Otto and Diesel engine. The turbulent diffusion leads to increased rates of momentum, heat and mass transfer. The in-cylinder turbulence flow was found to affect the present HCCI combustion mainly through its influence on the wall heat transfer. This study investigates the effect of piston geometry shape on the turbulent flow characteristics of in-cylinder from the numerical analysis using the LES model and the results obtained can offer guidelines of the combustion geometries for better combustion process and engine performance.

Effects of Ovarian Morphology and Culture Vessel on In vitro Development and Cell Number in Embryos of Korean Native Cows

  • Park, Yong-Soo;Kim, Jae-Myeoung
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.31-35
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    • 2007
  • The main purpose of this study was to improve the efficiency and quality of in vitro embryo production in Korean Native Cows (KNC). We examined the effects of ovarian morphologies (Experiment 1) and the culture vessel (Experiment 2) on in vitro maturation (IVM). We measured the subsequent development rates and cell numbers of blastocysts. In Experiment 1, the ovaries of KNC were divided into six groups, based on follicle and corpus luteum (CL) morphology. The development rates to the 2- and 8-cell stages were similar among the six groups. The development rates to blastocyst stages were significantly higher in the group without a CL or follicle (WOCL/F) than in the groups with follicular cysts (FCs), regressive CLs (RCLs) or cystic CLs (CCLs) (p<0.05). The cell number of the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocysts in the FCs and RCLs groups, and the number of cells in the trophectoderm (TE) in the WOCL/F group, FCs, growing CLs (GCLs) and RCLs were significantly higher than in other groups (p<0.05). The total cell number (TCN) in the WOCL/F, FC and RCL groups was also significantly higher than in other groups (p<0.05). The ICM cell number/TCN ratio was significantly higher in the FC and RCL groups than in the GCL and DF groups (p<0.05). In Experiment 2, oocyte IVM was carried out in culture dishes, in 0.25- or 0.5-ml straws used for freezing sperm. The development rate to the 2-cell stage was significantly higher in the 0.5-ml straw group than in the 0.25-ml straw group. The development rates to the blastocyst stage were similar in the dish and the two straw groups. There were no differences in the cell numbers of ICM, TE or TCN or ICM cell number/TCN ratios between groups.

Theoretical Analysis of the Charging Process with Perfectly Mixed Region in Stratified Thermal Storage Tanks (완전혼합영역을 갖는 성층축열조의 충전과정에 대한 이론적인 해석)

  • Yoo, H.;Pak, E.T.
    • Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.184-195
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    • 1995
  • A theoretical one-dimensional model for the charging process in stratified thermal storage tanks is established presuming that the fluid ensuing from the tank inlet creates a perfectly mixed, layer above the thermocline. Both the generic and asymptotic closed-form solutions are obtained via the Laplace transformation. The asymptotic solution describes the nature of the charging pertaining to the case of no thermal diffusion, whereas the generic solution is of practical importance to understand the role of operating parameters on the stratification. The present model is validated through comparison with available experimental data, where they agree well with each other within a reasonable limit. An interpretation of the exact solution entails two important features associated with the charging process. The first is that an in-crease in the mixing depth $h_m$ causes a relatively slow temperature rise in the perfectly mixed region, but on the other hand it results in a faster decay of the overall temperature gradient across the thermocline. Next is the predominance of the mixing depth in the presence of the prefectly mixed region. In such a case the effect of the Peclet number is marginal and there-fore the thermal characteristics are solely dependent on the mixing depth paticularly for large $h_m$. The Peclet number affects significantly only for the case without mixing. Variation of the storage efficiency in response to the change in the mass flow rate agrees favorably with the published experimental results, which confirms the utility of the present study.

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