• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.378-384
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• 2012

In aquatic invertebrates, particularly marine gastropods, organotin compounds induce irreversible sexual abnormality in females, which is termed imposex, at very low concentrations. Organotin compounds are agonists for nuclear receptors such as RXRs and $PPAR{\gamma}$. However, the imposex phenomenon has not been reported to act as an antagonist on estrogen receptors in other species, including vertebrates and invertebrates. In order to gain insights into the antagonistic activity of organotin compounds on estrogen receptors (ERs), we examined the inhibitive effect of these compounds on estradiol-dependent ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity using the yeast two-hybrid detection system consisting of a combination of the human estrogen receptor ($hER{\beta}$) ligand-binding domain and the co-activator steroid receptor co-activator-1 (SRC1). Tributyltin-hydroxide (TBT-OH) and triphenyltin-chlorine (TPT-Cl) exhibited an inhibitive effect on $E_2$-dependent transcriptional activity, similar to antagonistic chemicals such as 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) or ICI 182,780, at a very low concentration of $10^{-14}$ M TBT or $10^{-10}$ M TPT, respectively. The yeast growth and transcriptional activity with transcriptional factor GAL4 did not exhibit any effect at the tested concentration of TBT or TPT. Moreover, the yeast two-hybrid system using the interaction between p53 and the T antigen of SV40 large did not describe any effect at the tested concentration of OHT or ICI 182,780. However, the interaction between p53 and T antigen was inhibited at a TBT or TPT concentration of $10^{-9}$ M, respectively. These results indicate that TBT and TPT act as inhibitors of ER-dependent reporter gene transcriptional activation and of the interaction between $hER{\beta}$ LBD and the co-activator SRC1 in the yeast two-hybrid system. Consequently, our data could partly explain the occurrence of organotin compound-induced imposex on the endocrine system of mammals, including humans.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 2014

The potential mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) is studied in the Pohang steel industrial complex (PHSIC). The total GHG emission in 2010 is estimated to be in the range from 4,174,000 to 4,574,000 $tCO_2-eq$ in PHSIC. To meet the target proposed by the government, it is needed to reduce 552,000 $tCO_2-eq$ at minium by 2020. To estimate the potential amount of GHG reduction, the technologies used in the voluntary carbon reduction projects are applied to 51 companies which are subject to GHG target management. From the viewpoint of technological availability and payback period, the fuel conversion and waste heat recovery have an advantage in the short term with a possibility to reduce 160,000 $tCO_2-eq$. In the mid term, the thermal technologies in steel and iron industry have the potential to cut 229,000 $tCO_2-eq$, while the electrical technologies have the potential of 125,000 $tCO_2-eq$ reduction. The gap between the target GHG mitigation and potential reduction using the short and mid term technologies is about 38,000 $tCO_2-eq$, which should be compensated by the fundamental process innovation and the implementation of the most cutting-edge technologies including renewable energy.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.369-377
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• 2013

This paper deals with the state of charge(SOC) and life cycle evaluation algorithm for lead-acid battery, which is essential factor of the electric vehicle(EV) and the stabilization of renewable energy in the smart grid. In order to perform the effective operation of the lead-acid battery, SOC and life cycle evaluation algorithm is required. Specific gravity with the change of electrolyte temperature inside battery case should be obtained to evaluate the SOC of lead-acid battery, however it is difficult to measure the electrolyte temperature of sealed type lead-acid battery. To overcome this problem, this paper proposes the equation of thermal transmission to compensate internal temperature of the lead-acid battery. Also, it is difficult to exactly evaluate the life cycle of battery, depending on the operation conditions of lead-acid battery such as charging and discharging state, self discharging rate and environmental issue. In order to solve the problem, this paper presents the concept for gravity accumulation of charge and discharge cycle, which is the value converted at $20^{\circ}C$. By using the proposed algorithm, this paper propose the test device based on the Labview software. The simulation results show that it is a practical tool for the maintenance of lead-acid battery in the field of industry.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 2019

This report constitutes the first demonstration in Korea of single-crystal lateral gallium oxide ($Ga_2O_3$) as a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), with a breakdown voltage in excess of 480 V. A Si-doped channel layer was grown on a Fe-doped semi-insulating ${\beta}-Ga_2O_3$ (010) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The single-crystal substrate was grown by the edge-defined film-fed growth method and wafered to a size of $10{\times}15mm^2$. Although we fabricated several types of power devices using the same process, we only report the characterization of a finger-type MOSFET with a gate length ($L_g$) of $2{\mu}m$ and a gate-drain spacing ($L_{gd}$) of $5{\mu}m$. The MOSFET showed a favorable drain current modulation according to the gate voltage swing. A complete drain current pinch-off feature was also obtained for $V_{gs}<-6V$, and the three-terminal off-state breakdown voltage was over 482 V in a $L_{gd}=5{\mu}m$ device measured in Fluorinert ambient at $V_{gs}=-10V$. A low drain leakage current of 4.7 nA at the off-state led to a high on/off drain current ratio of approximately $5.3{\times}10^5$. These device characteristics indicate the promising potential of $Ga_2O_3$-based electrical devices for next-generation high-power device applications, such as electrical autonomous vehicles, railroads, photovoltaics, renewable energy, and industry.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.29-35
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• 2022

This paper proposes a fuel cell education framework installed on a Metaverse environment, which is to reduce the burden of education costs and improve the effect of education or learning. This Meta-Fuel cell platform utilizes the Unity 3D Web and enables not only theoretical education but also hands-on training. The platform was designed and developed to accommodate a variety of unit education contents, such as ppt documents, videos, etc. The platform, therdore, integrates ppt and video demonstrations for theoretical education, as well as software content "STACK-Up" for hands-on training. Theoretical education section provides specialized liberal arts knowledge on hydrogen, including renewable energy, hydrogen economy, and fuel cells. The software "STACK-Up" provides a hands-on practice on assembling the stack parts. Stack is the very core component of fuel cells. The Meta-Fuelcell platform improves the limitations of face-to-face education. It provides educators with the opportunities of non-face-to-face education without restrictions such as educational place, time, and occupancy. On the other hand, learners can choose educational themes, order, etc. It provides educators and learners with interesting experiences to be active in the metaverse space. This platform is being applied experimentally to a education project which is to develop advanced manpower in the fuel cell industry. Its improvement is in progress.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.3-11
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• 2022

Owing to the global development of high-strength alloys and renewable energy industries, the demand for vanadium, a key raw material in these industries, is expected to increase. Until now, vanadium has been recovered as a by-product of the industry, but interest in its direct recovery from minerals has increasing with its significantly increasing demand. In particular, the recovery of vanadium from stone coal ore and vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) containing vanadium has been actively researched in China, which has the largest reserves and production of vanadium in the world. In Korea, a large amount of VTM also occurs in the northern part of Gyeonggi-do, and fundamental research and technical development is being conducted to recover vanadium. It is necessary to understand the current status of the separation technology used worldwide to satisfy the demand for metals such as vanadium, which currently depends on imports.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2024

Along with the high interest in electric vehicles and new renewable energy, there is a growing demand to apply lithium-ion batteries in the construction equipment industry. The capacity of heavy construction equipment that performs various tasks at construction sites is rapidly decreasing. Therefore, it is essential to accurately predict the state of batteries such as SOC (State of Charge) and SOH (State of Health). In this paper, the errors between actual electrochemical measurement data and estimated data were compared using the Dual Extended Kalman Filter (DEKF) algorithm that can estimate SOC and SOH at the same time. The prediction of battery charge state was analyzed by measuring OCV at SOC 5% intervals under 0.2C-rate conditions after the battery cell was fully charged, and the degradation state of the battery was predicted after 50 cycles of aging tests under various C-rate (0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5C rate) conditions. It was confirmed that the SOC and SOH estimation errors using DEKF tended to increase as the C-rate increased. It was confirmed that the SOC estimation using DEKF showed less than 6% at 0.2, 0.5, and 1C-rate. In addition, it was confirmed that the SOH estimation results showed good performance within the maximum error of 1.0% and 1.3% at 0.2 and 0.3C-rate, respectively. Also, it was confirmed that the estimation error also increased from 1.5% to 2% as the C-rate increased from 0.5 to 1.5C-rate. However, this result shows that all SOH estimation results using DEKF were excellent within about 2%.