• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.5-12
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• 2006

Degradation performance of environmentally friendly plastics that can be disintegrated by combination of sunlight, microbes in soil, and heat produced in landfills was evaluated for use in industries. Two multi-degradable master batches (MCC-101 and MCC-102 were manufactured, separately mixed with polyethylene using film molding machine to produce 0.025 mm thick films, and exposed to sunlight, microbes, and heat. Low- and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE) films containing MCC-101 and MCC-102 became unfunctional by increasing severe cleavage at the surface and showed high reduction in elongation after 40 days of exposure to ultraviolet light. LDPE and HDPE films showed significant physical degradation after 100 and 120 days, respectively, of incubation at $68{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. SEM images of films cultured in mixed mold spore suspension at $30^{\circ}C$ and 85% humidity for 30 days revealed accelerated biodegradation on film surfaces by the action of microbes. LDPE films containing MCC-l01 showed absorption of carbonyls, photo-sensitive sites, at $1710\;cm${-1}$ when exposed to light for 40 days, whereas those not exposed to ultraviolet light showed no absorption at the same frequency. MCC-101-based LDPE films showed much lower $M_w$ distribution after exposure to UV than its counterpart, due to agents accelerating photo-degradation contained in MCC-101.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.283-287
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• 2011

As the performance of microelectronic devices is improved, the use of copper as a heat dissipation member is increasing due to its good thermal conductivity. The high thermal conductivity of copper, however, leads to difficulties in the joining process. Satisfactory bonding with copper is known to be difficult, especially if high shear and peel strengths are desired. The primary reason is that a copper oxide layer develops rapidly and is weakly attached to the base metal under typical conditions. Thus, when a clean copper substrate is bonded, the initial strength of the joint is high, but upon environmental exposure, an oxide layer may develop, which will reduce the durability of the joint. In this study, an epoxy adhesive formulation was investigated to improve the strength and reliability of a copper to copper joint. Epoxy hardeners such as anhydride, dihydrazide, and dicyandiamide and catalysts such as triphenylphosphine and imidazole were added to an epoxy resin mixture of DGEBA and DGEBF. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses revealed that the curing temperatures were dependent on the type of hardener rather than on the catalyst, and higher heat of curing resulted in a higher Tg. The reliability of the copper joint against a high temperature and high humidity environment was found to be the lowest in the case of dihydrazide addition. This is attributed to its high water permeability, which led to the formation of a weak boundary layer of copper oxide. It was also found that dicyandiamide provided the highest initial joint strength and reliability while anhydride yielded intermediate performance between dicyandiamide and dihydrazide.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2009

We have recently reported that the continuous exposure of rats to a concrete building environment under cool temperatures had adverse effects on general health parameters and embryo-fetal development. This study examined to compare the potential effects of concrete and wood building environments on pregnant dams and embryo-fetal development in rats. Groups of 10 mated females were exposed to polycarbonate (control), concrete, or wood cages from gestational days (GD) 0 to 20 under cool temperatures $(11.9\sim12.3^{\circ}C)$. All the females underwent a caesarean section on GD 20, and their fetuses were examined for any morphological abnormalities. The temperatures in the cages were similar in all groups but the relative humidity in the concrete and wood groups were higher than in the control group. The concentration of volatile organic compounds in the wood group was higher than in the control group. In the concrete group, maternal effects manifested as an increase in the incidence of clinical signs, a lower body weight, and a decrease in the thymus and ovary weights. Developmental effects included increased post-implantation loss and decreased litter size. Infrared thermal analysis showed that the skin temperature of the rats in the concrete group was lower than that in the control group. In contrast, there were no exposure-related adverse effects on the maternal and developmental parameters in the wood group. Overall, the exposure of pregnant rats to a concrete building environment under cool temperatures has adverse effects on the clinical signs, body weight, skin temperature, organ weight, and embryo-fetal development. On the other hand, exposure to a wood building environment does not have any adverse effects in rats.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.191-204
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• 2005

Building and furnishing materials and consumer product are important sources of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and other aldehydes in the indoor environment. Some available evidence indicates that VOCs can cause adverse health effects to the building occupants and contribute to some of the symptoms of what we call, 'Sick House Syndrome' in Korea. The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of emission system and to investigate comparison of the emission characteristics of different building materials such as wall-papers, paints, and adhesives. The emission of VOCs from building materials were determined in the small chambers defining the temperature, relative humidity, and ventilation rate in this study. VOCs were sampled for 20 minutes using Tenax-TA tubes and analysed by GC-MS with thermal desorption. The stability of conditions for temperature and relative humidity in this small chamber system showed that the fluctuation of temperature was between 25.4$\pm$0.3$^{\circ}C$ and that of relative humidity was 50.2$\pm$0.6$\%$ under the airflow rate of 167 mL/min. The emission tests from building materials resulted in TVOC emission rates of 0.011 $\~$ 3.108 mg/m$^{2}$h after 7 days. The general wall-papers emitted toluene abundantly and the natural wall-papers mainly emitted n-butanol and a minor amount of alkanes compound such as n -tetradecane. The remainder consisted of toluene, m,p -xylene, and styrene. The paints mainly emitted toluene and the adhesives mainly emitted chloroform as well as toluene. As a result, this study is expected to suggest meaningful data for future studies in exposure control through selecting healthy building materials and for the establishment of guidelines for various building materials in Korea.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.531-544
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• 2021

Heat stress (HS) damages health and decreases performance variables in pigs, and if severe enough, causes mortality. However, metabolic changes under HS and recovery following HS are poorly understood. Therefore, this study was aimed to expose the essential mechanisms by which growing pigs respond to HS and the temporal pattern of plasma concentrations (PC) of amino acids (AAs) and metabolites. Crossbred male growing pigs were penned separately and allowed to adapt to thermal-neutral (TN) conditions (20℃ and 80% relative humidity; TN[-1D]). On the first day, all pigs were exposed to HS for 24 h (36℃ and 60% relative humidity), then to TN conditions for 5 days (TN[2D] to TN[5D]). All pigs had ad libitum access to water and 3 kg feed twice daily. Rectal temperature (RT) and feed intake (FI) were determined daily. HS pigs had higher RT (40.72℃) and lower (50%) FI than TN(-1D) pigs (p < 0.01). The PC of indispensable (threonine, valine, and methionine) and dispensable (cysteine and tyrosine) AAs were higher (p < 0.05) in HS than TN(-1D) pigs and remained increased during recovery time. Nonprotein α-aminobutyric acid and β-alanine concentrations were higher (p < 0.05) in HS than TN(-1D) pigs. The metabolite concentration of creatinine was higher (p < 0.01) under HS treatment than other treatments, but that of alanine and leucine remained increased (p < 0.05) through 5 d of recovery. In summary, some major differences were found in plasma AA profiles and metabolites between HS- and TN-condition pigs. This indicates that the HS pigs were forced to alter their metabolism, and these results provide information about mechanisms of acute HS responses relative to the recovery time.