• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.499-512
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• 2022

This work proposes a novel contactless vibration damping and thermal isolation tripod platform based on Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SML). This prototype is suitable for cryogenic environments, where classical passive, semi active and active vibration isolation techniques may present tribological problems due to the low temperatures and/or cannot guarantee an enough thermal isolation. The levitating platform consists of a Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SML) with inherent passive static stabilization. In addition, the use of Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) technique is proposed to characterize the transmissibility function from the baseplate to the platform. The OMA is based on the Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) by using the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. This paper contributes to the use of SSI-EM for SML applications by proposing a step-by-step experimental methodology to process the measured data, which are obtained with different unknown excitations: ambient excitation and impulse excitation. Thus, the performance of SSI-EM for SML applications can be improved, providing a good estimation of the natural frequency and damping ratio without any controlled excitation, which is the main obstacle to use an experimental modal analysis in cryogenic environments. The dynamic response of the 510 g levitating platform has been characterized by means of OMA in a cryogenic, 77 K, and high vacuum, 1E-5 mbar, environment. The measured vertical and radial stiffness are 9872.4 N/m and 21329 N/m, respectively, whilst the measured vertical and radial damping values are 0.5278 Nm/s and 0.8938 Nm/s. The first natural frequency in vertical direction has been identified to be 27.39 Hz, whilst a value of 40.26 Hz was identified for the radial direction. The determined damping values for both modes are 0.46% and 0.53%, respectively.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.225-235
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• 2022

It includes the synthesis of pristine ZnO nanoparticles and a series of Ag-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles was carried out by reflux method by varying the amount of silver (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9% by mol.). The morphology of these nanoparticles was investigated by SEM, XRD and FT-IR techniques. These techniques show that synthesized particles are homogenous spherical nanoparticles having an average particle size of about 50-100 nm along with some agglomeration. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO nanoparticles and Ag doped ZnO nanoparticles were investigated via photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) as a standard dye. The data from the photocatalytic activity of these nanoparticles show that 7% Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles exhibit much enhanced photocatalytic activity as compared to pristine ZnO nanoparticles and other percentages of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles. Furthermore, 7% Ag-doped ZnO was made composites with sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride by physical mixing method and a series of nanocomposites were made (3.5, 7.5, 25, 50, 75% by weight). It was observed that the 25% composites exhibited better photocatalytic performance than pristine S-g-C 3 N 4 and pure 7% Ag-doped ZnO. Tauc's plot also supports the photodegradation results.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.270-279
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• 2022

In this study, N/S co-doped carbon felt (N/S-CF) was prepared and characterized as an electrode material for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). A commercial carbon felt (CF) was immersed in an aqueous solution of thiourea and then thermally treated at 800 ℃ under an inert atmosphere. The prepared N/S-CF showed a large specific surface area with hierarchical pore structures. The electrochemical performance of the N/S-CF-based electrode was evaluated using both 3-electrode and 2-electrode systems. In the 3-electrode system, the N/S-CF-based electrode showed a good specific capacitance of 177 F/g at 1 A/g and a good rate capability of 41% at 20 A/g. In the 2-electrode system (symmetric capacitor), the freestanding N/S-CF-based electrode showed a specific capacitance of 275 mF/cm² at 2 mA/cm², a rate capability of 62.5 % at 100 mA/cm², a specific power density of ~ 25,000 mW/cm² at an energy density of 23.9 mWh/cm², and a cycling stability of ~ 100 % at 100 mA/cm² after 20,000 cycles. These results indicate the N/S co-doped carbon felts can be a promising candidate as a new electrode material in a symmetric capacitor.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.68 no.1
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• pp.8-19
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• 2023

Adzuki beans have gained popularity in recent years due to their health benefits. Breeding of Adzuki beans is less favorable than with other legumes due to low genetic diversity. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of 252 adzuki bean germplasms from China, Japan, and Korea using 18 agro-morphological parameters and comparing their performance to three prominent Korean cultivars: Geomguseul, Arari, and Chungjupat. Leaf shape, pod color, and seed coat color were among the qualitative traits that showed wide variations. The quantitative variables also showed wide variations among adzuki bean germplasms. Although there was no significant difference (p < 0.05), the average rate of germination declined in the order of Korean (91.44%) > Chinese (91.31%) > Japanese (87.47%) adzuki beans. Chinese adzuki beans needed fewer days to flower (DF, 58.22 days) and days to mature (DM, 107.13 days), which varied significantly compared to the Korean and Japanese adzuki beans (p < 0.05). The average number of pods per plant (PPP) and one-hundred seeds weight (HSW) were higher in Japanese adzuki beans compared to the Korean and Chinese adzuki beans although the variation of each was not significant. Almost 29.76% of the accessions had early-blooming flowers, 3.97% were premature, 21.43% produced more PPP, and 3.97% yielded more SPP compared to control cultivars. Results of hierarchical cluster and principal component analyses revealed three clusters with significant variation in all quantitative variables except for RG (p < 0.05). The key factors in multivariate analyses were DF, DM, and HSW. Our study investigated the genetic diversity of adzuki bean accessions and identified ten early maturing and ten high PPP-yielding accessions. Our findings would help farmers and breeders to select the top-performing accessions that can provide them with various options.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2023

Recently, the use of stable lithium nanostructures as substrates and electrodes for secondary batteries can be a fundamental alternative to the development of next-generation system semiconductor devices. However, lithium structures pose safety concerns by severely limiting battery life due to the growth of Li dendrites during rapid charge/discharge cycles. Also, enabling long cyclability of high-voltage oxide cathodes is a persistent challenge for all-solid-state batteries, largely because of their poor interfacial stabilities against oxide solid electrolytes. For the development of next-generation system semiconductor devices, solid electrolyte nanostructures, which are used in high-density micro-energy storage devices and avoid the instability of liquid electrolytes, can be promising alternatives for next-generation batteries. Nevertheless, poor lithium ion conductivity and structural defects at room temperature have been pointed out as limitations. In this study, a low-dimensional Graphene Oxide (GO) structure was applied to demonstrate stable operation characteristics based on Li+ ion conductivity and excellent electrochemical performance. The low-dimensional structure of GO-based solid electrolytes can provide an important strategy for stable scalable solid-state power system semiconductor applications at room temperature. The device using uncoated bare NCA delivers a low capacity of 89 mA h g-1, while the cell using GO-coated NCA delivers a high capacity of 158 mA h g−1 and a low polarization. A full Li GO-based device was fabricated to demonstrate the practicality of the modified Li structure using the Li-GO heterointerface. This study promises that the lowdimensional structure of Li-GO can be an effective approach for the stabilization of solid-state power system semiconductor architectures.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.82-88
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• 2023

Genomic analysis indicated that the genome of Drosophila melanogaster contains more than 80 cytochrome P450 genes. To date, the enzymatic activity of these P450s has not been extensively studied. Here, the biochemical properties of CYP6A8 were characterized. CYP6A8 was cloned into the pCW vector, and its recombinant enzyme was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified using Ni²⁺-nitrilotriacetate affinity chromatography. Its expression level was approximately 130 nmol per liter of culture. Purified CYP6A8 exhibited a low-spin state in the absolute spectra of the ferric forms. Binding titration analysis indicated that lauric acid and capric acid produced type I spectral changes, with K_d values 28 ± 4 and 144 ± 20 µM, respectively. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that the oxidation reaction of lauric acid produced (ω-1)-hydroxylated lauric acid as a major product and ω-hydroxy-lauric acid as a minor product. Steady-state kinetic analysis of lauric acid hydroxylation yielded a k_cat value of 0.038 ± 0.002 min^-1 and a K_m value of 10 ± 2 µM. In addition, capric acid hydroxylation of CYP6A8 yielded kinetic parameters with a k_cat value of 0.135 ± 0.007 min^-1 and a K_m value of 21 ± 4 µM. Because of the importance of various lipids as carbon sources, the metabolic analysis of fatty acids using CYP6A8 in this study can provide an understanding of the biochemical roles of P450 enzymes in many insects, including Drosophila melanogaster.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2023

Lotus Nelumbo nucifera seed protein (LSP) was isolated by alkaline solubilization after removing fat and phenolics by hexane and ethanol treatment. Antioxidant peptides from LSP were produced with Alcalase^® and pepsin and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities were determined. LSP-Alcalase^® hydrolysates showed higher hydroxyl radical scavenging activity than LSP-pepsin hydrolysates. To purify antioxidant peptides, LSP-Alcalase^® hydrolysates were subjected to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation on the C18 column and the active fraction was further purified using a Superdex^TM peptide 10/300 GL column. Finally, the active fraction (F8-2) was evaluated for antioxidant activities by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical scavenging, and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. The EC₅₀ values of the F8-2 were 105.81±0.02 ㎍/mL for DPPH and 32.26±0.02 ㎍/mL for hydroxyl radical and the F8-2 exhibited 7.22 μM trolox equivalent (TE)/100 ㎍ F8-2. Glutathione (GSH), which is a positive control, showed EC₅₀ values of 19.87±0.01 ㎍/mL for DPPH and 15.95±0.03 ㎍/mL for hydroxyl radical and an ORAC value of 14.17±0.03 μM TE/100 ㎍ GSH. Finally, sixteen peptides were identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Among them, Ile-Tyr and Leu-Tyr showed higher antioxidant scores.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.107-125
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• 2023

Drag reduction is significant research in aircraft design due to its effect on the cost of operation and carbon footprint reduction. Aircraft currently use conventional solid winglets to reduce the induced drag, adding extra structural weight. Fluidic on-demand winglets can effectively reduce drag for low-speed flight regimes without adding any extra weight. These utilize the spanwise airflow from the wingtips using hydraulic actuators to create jets that negate tip vortices. This study develops a computational model to investigate fluidic on-demand winglets. The well-validated computational model is applied to investigate the effect of injection velocity and angle on the aerodynamic coefficients of a rectangular wing. Further, the turbulence parameters such as turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and turbulent dissipation rate are studied in detail at various velocity injections and at an angle of 30°. The results show that the increase in injection velocity shifted the vortex core away from the wing tip and the increase in injection angle shifted the vortex core in the vertical direction. Further, it was found that a 30° injection is efficient among all injection velocities and highly efficient at a velocity ratio of 3. This technology can be adopted in any aircraft, effectively working at various angles of attack. The culmination of this study is that the implementation of fluidic winglets leads to a significant reduction in drag at low speeds for low aspect ratio wings.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2023

The earth-abundant element-based Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have attracted greater attention in the photovoltaic (PV) community due to their rapid development in device power conversion efficiency (PCE) >13%. In the present work, we demonstrated the fine-tuning of the bandgap in the CZTSSe TFSCs by altering the sulfur (S) to the selenium (Se) chalcogenide ratio. To achieve this, the CZTSSe absorber layers are fabricated with different S/(S+Se) ratios from 0.02 to 0.08 of their weight percentage. Further compositional, morphological, and optoelectronic properties are studied using various characterization techniques. It is observed that the change in the S/(S+Se) ratios has minimal impact on the overall Cu/(Zn+Sn) composition ratio. In contrast, the S and Se content within the CZTSSe absorber layer gets altered with a change in the S/(S+Se) ratio. It also influences the overall absorber quality and gets worse at higher S/(S+Se). Furthermore, the device performance evaluated for similar CZTSSe TFSCs showed a linear increase and decrease in the open circuit voltage (V_oc) and short circuit current density (J_sc) of the device with an increasing S/(S+Se) ratio. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) measured also exhibited a linear blue shift in absorption edge, increasing the bandgap from 1.056 eV to 1.228 eV, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.388-400
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• 2023

Aeromonas spp. and Pseudomonas spp. are opportunistic pathogens widely distributed in the aquatic environment. To test the antibiotic susceptibility, the MIC of the 18 antibiotics mainly used in aquaculture were measured. Aeromonas spp. and Pseudomonas spp. straoms had different resistance patterns against most antibiotics. The MIC of tetracycline for four Aeromonas spp. strains (10.5%) was < 0.25 ㎍/mL. However, 0.5-4 ㎍/mL tetracycline inhibited most Pseudomonas spp. strains. The tet resistance performance of 14 genes including tet(B), tet(E), and tet(M) were investigated. Investigating, the tetracycline resistance gene of 38 Aeromonas spp. strains detected tet(A) in 21 strains (55.3%). Two Pseudomonas spp. strains showed high MIC values and no inhibition zone. tet gene analysis detected tet(D) in only one strain (5%).