The occurrence of shear failure in a rock mass, resulting from the sliding of joint surfaces, is primarily influenced by the surface roughness and contact area of these joints. Furthermore, since joints serve as crucial conduits for the movement of water, oil, gas, and thermal energy, the aperture and geometric complexity of these joints have a significant impact on the hydraulic properties of the rock mass. This renders them critical factors in related industries. Therefore, to gain insights into the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of a rock mass, it is essential to identify the key morphological characteristics of the joints mentioned above. In this study, we quantified the morphological characteristics of tensile fractures in granitic rocks using X-ray CT imaging. To accomplish this, we prepared a cylindrical sample of Hwang-Deung granite and conducted splitting tests to artificially create tensile fractures that closely resemble rough joint surfaces. Subsequently, we obtained 2D sliced X-ray CT images of the fractured sample with a pixel resolution of approximately 0.06 mm. By analyzing the differences in CT numbers of the rock components (e.g., fractures, voids, and rock matrix), we isolated and reconstructed the geometric information of the tensile fracture in three dimensions. Finally, we derived morphological characteristics, including surface roughness, contact area, aperture, and fracture volume, from the reconstructed fracture.

Rock discontinuities in underground rock behave as weak planes and affect the safety of underground structures, such as high-level radioactive waste disposal and underground research facilities. In particular, rock discontinuities can be a main flow path of groundwater and induce large deformation caused by stress disturbance or earthquakes. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the characteristics of rock discontinuities considering in-situ conditions when constructing highlevel radioactive waste disposal, which needs to assure the long-term safety of the structure. We prepared Hwang-Deung granite rock block specimens, including a saw-cut rock surface, to perform multi-stage direct shear tests as a preliminary study. In the multi-stage direct shear tests, we can exclude possible errors induced by different specimens for obtaining a full failure envelope by using an identical specimen. We applied the initial normal stress of 3 MPa on the specimen and increased the normal stress to 5 and 10 MPa step by step after peak shear stress observation. We obtained the mechanical properties of saw-cut rock surfaces from the experiments, including friction coefficient and cohesion. Additionally, we investigated the effect of filling material between rock discontinuities, assuming the erosion and piping phenomenon in the buffer material of the engineering barrier system. When the filling material existed in the rock surfaces, the shear characteristics deteriorated, and the effect of bentonite was dominant on the shear behavior.

This study was performed to assess the cosmic-ray effect caused by altitude in the aerial gammaray measurement. For the gamma-ray measurement experiment by altitude, the aerial survey system composed of four 4×4×16 inches large volume NaI (Tl) detectors was used. The aerial survey system was installed in a rotor-craft to stably keep its flight altitude and position. In addition, in order to avoid to time-dependent shielding effects with the amount of fuel, a rotor-craft of which the fuel tank is not located beneath the cabin floor was selected. In this study, the ROI (Region Of Interest) was set to the 3~6 MeV range to assess the cosmic-ray contribution to the gamma-ray spectrum that could ignore the contribution of the dominant natural radionuclides. The gamma-ray spectra measured inside and outside of the rotor-craft on the ground were compared to evaluate the shielding effects of the aircraft body. As a result, the count rate of the 40K photo peak was decreased by about 10% when measuring the inside compared to the outside. On the other hand, the total count rate of the 3~6 MeV region was decreased by about 0.7% under the same condition. Therefore, the aircraft body effect was insignificant in 3~6 MeV region considering the relative uncertainty of 0.04~0.78% (1σ). In addition, the count rate in the 3~6 MeV range according to altitude was evaluated to assess the cosmic-ray effect. In order to evaluate the change in the ROI count rate according to the altitude, the gamma-ray spectrum was measured in the range of 300~2,000 m above the sea to avoid the effect of terrestrial radiation. As a result, the relationship between altitude and count rate in the 3~6 MeV range showed a high correlation with the R2 value of 0.99, when the approximate equation was derived in the form of a quadratic polynomial. Also, the count rate of 3~6 MeV at 50~500 m above the ground was estimated using the correlation equation, and this value was compared with the measured count rate. As a result of comparing the average value of estimated count rate and measured count rate, the relative difference is less than 2%. Considering the relative uncertainty of 0.78~4.11% (1σ), it was possible to evaluate the count rate of the 3~6 MeV region relatively accurately. The results of this study could be used for further study on background dose corrections in aerial survey.

Non-destructive estimation of leaf area is a more efficient and convenient method than leaf excision. Thus, several models predicting leaf area have been developed for various horticultural crops. However, there are limited studies on estimating the leaf area of strawberry plants. In this study, we predicted the leaf areas via nonlinear regression analysis using the leaf lengths and widths of three-compound leaves in five domestic strawberry cultivars (‘Arihyang’, ‘Jukhyang’, ‘Keumsil’, ‘Maehyang’, and ‘Seollhyang’). The coefficient of determination (R2) between the actual and estimated leaf areas varied from 0.923 to 0.973. The R2 value varied for each cultivar; thus, leaf area estimation models must be developed for each cultivar. The leaf areas of the three cultivars ‘Jukhyang’, ‘Seolhyang’, and ‘Maehyang’ could be non-destructively predicted using the model developed in this study, as they had R2 values over 0.96. The cultivars ‘Arihyang’ and ‘Geumsil’ had slightly low R2 values, 0.938 and 0.923, respectively. The leaf area estimation model for each cultivar was coded in Python and is provided in this manuscript. The estimation models developed in this study could be used extensively in other strawberry-related studies.

The present study investigated effects of antifungal and carboxylesterase inoculant on rumen fermentation with different rumen pH. Corn silage was treated without inoculant (CON) and with a mixed Lactobacillus brevis 5M2 and L. buchneri 6M1 (MIX). Rumen fluid was collected from two cannulated Hanwoo heifers before morning feeding (high rumen pH at 6.70) and 3 h after feeding (low rumen pH at 6.20). Dried corn silage was incubated in the rumen buffer (rumen fluid + anaerobic culture medium at 1:2 ratio) for 48 h at 39oC. Eight replications for each treatment were used along with two blanks. Both in a high and a low rumen pH, MIX silages presented higher (p<0.05) the immediately degradable fraction, the potentially degradable fraction, total degradable fraction, and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) than those of CON silages. Incubated corn silages in a low rumen pH presented lower (p<0.05) total degradable fraction, ammonia-N, total VFA (p=0.061), and other VFA profiles except acetate and propionate, than those in a high rumen pH. The present study concluded that application of antifungal and carboxylesterase inoculant on corn silage could improve degradation kinetics and fermentation indices in the rumen with high and low pH conditions.

Radioisotope ADME (RI-ADME) studies are enabling visualization of the biodistribution in molecular imaging. We applied RI-ADME to investigate the tumor targeting capacity and biodistribution of trastuzumab-monomethyl auristatin F (LCB14-0110) in JIMT-1 xenograft mice and healthy marmoset. The LCB14-0110 was labelled with 125I. 125I-LCB14-0110 was intravenously administered to the animals. The gamma-count and single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) was conducted for biodistributioon and bioimaging of the biopharmaceutics. Tumor uptake in xenograft mice was highest at three-day after 125I-LCB14-0110 administration in both the biodistribution and SPECT/CT bioimaging. Alternatively, blood and organ tissues showed gradual decrease in radioactivity over time. In marmosets, radioactivity in all organ tissues rapidly reduced and no specific targeting of organs was observed in the biodistribution study and SPECT/CT imaging. Hence, 125ILCB14- 0110 demonstrated effective tumor targeting capacity and accumulated in JIMT-1 cell-bearing mice. However, accumulation did not occur in the organs of xenograft mice. Additionally, marmosets showed rapidly decrease in radioactivity throughout the entire body without accumulation in the normal organs. We also confirmed that the drug distribution was similar in normal organs between the two experimental animal species except spleen. Therefore, 125I is expected to be a useful tool in the study of RI-ADME in biopharmaceuticals through minimal antibody modification.