Background : This study was carried out to select the medicinal crop having the superior antimicrobial activity against 5 microorganisms among 20 medicinal crops. Methods and Results : Dried plants were extracted by methanol. The extracts of each plant were evaporated under vacuum. The extracts were absorbed into 50㎕ of each extracts on paper disk and diameter of clear zone was confirmed around the colony. The results showed that diameter of the clear zone against Escherichia coli was the widest in Rhus javanica(R. javanica, 16mm), followed by Evening primrose(14.5mm), Chinaberry(13mm) and Giant knotweed(11mm). Also, diameter of the clear zone against Vibrio parahaemolyticu was the widest in R. javanica(26mm), followed by Evening primrose(21mm), chrysanthemum flower(19mm), Chinese pepper(16.5mm), Chidii rhizoma(11.5mm), Curly dock(11.5mm), Comfrey(11mm), Black nightshade(11mm) and Mustard(10mm). Likewise, diameter of the clear zone aginast Proteus mirabilis was the widest in R. javanica(11.5mm), followed by Chinaberry(11mm). Specially, diameter of the clear zone against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus was identified only in R. javanica(12mm and 11mm, respectively). Therefore, R. javanica showed the best excellent antimicrobial activity among 20 medicinal crops. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents of R. javanica were 2,725mg/100g and 30.2mg/100g respectively. DPPH and ABTS activity of R. javanica were 92.6% and 98.4%, respectively. Conclusion : These results suggest that R. javanica can be utilized as natural food additives and antioxidant materials because of its powerful antimicrobial action and the high antioxidant activity.

We used the 4 m Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) at Lowell observatory in 2014 to observe the Guitar Nebula, an Hα bow-shock nebula around the high-velocity radio pulsar B2224+65. Since the nebula's discovery in 1992, the structure of the bow-shock has undergone significant dynamical changes. We have observed the limb structure, targeting the “body” and “neck” of the guitar. Comparing the DCT observations to 1995 observations with the Palomar 200-inch Hale telescope, we found changes in both spatial structure and surface brightness in the tip, head, and body of the nebula.

This paper will examine Russia’s policy concerning Korea’s re-unification and Moscow’s likely responses to possible results of the unification process as a major and necessary element of peace-building in Northeast Asia. Since the middle of the 19th century Russia has had a keen interest in the situation on the Korean peninsula. History repeatedly proved that any aggravation of the situation on the peninsula caused serious concerns and made Russia to take additional steps to ensure her security. So both for security reasons and for smooth development of her Far Eastern region, Russia is vitally interested in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. Emergence of the re-unified Korea, however, is likely to create a new situation in the region and make Russia to re-evaluate her policy in Northeast Asia. It is generally accepted notion that Russia will benefit, first of all, from liquidation of a long-time hot spot right next to her Far Eastern region and from founding the re-unified Korea, which is supposedly will maintain relations of friendship, good-neighborhood and cooperation with Russia and other neighboring states. Meanwhile, at the moment, better relations between North and South Korea, along with providing Russia with more favorable conditions for development of trade and economic cooperation with both parts of Korea, would also open new opportunities for economic development of the Russian Far East and for linking Russia’s economy to globalization and integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region. So both on security and economic reasons Moscow is vitally interested in reconciliation between North and South Korea and eventual emergence of a peaceful and neutral Korea.

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of word of mouth on customer perceived value for restaurants in Malaysia. The objectives of this research include determining how word of mouth (WoM) factors - frequency of word of mouth messages, reputation of word of mouth messenger, richness of word of mouth message, dispersion of word of mouth conversations and manner of word of mouth delivery impact customer perceived value in Malaysian restaurant industry. Research Design, Data, and Methodology – The research follows causal / explanatory research method based on quantitative data. A sample of 150 restaurant customers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was selected using convenience sampling technique. Likert scale questionnaire is used to collect data and data is analysed using regression analysis through SPSS 22. Results – The statistical analysis revealed that independent variable ‘manner of delivery’ significantly and positively impacts c ustomer perceived value for restaurants in Malaysia. Conclusions – To build strong positive customer perception, Malaysian restaurants can enhance word of mouth campaigns’ ‘manner of delivery’ by making them passionate, exciting and with high emotional appeal.

Background : Fruit picking is the most labor consuming procedure for Boxthorn (Lycium chinense Mill.) growers. Recently fruit harvesters were invented and improved in the efficiency to fulfill the expectation of farmers through field demonstration tests. Additionally, T-type hedge cultivation method harmonized well with fruit picking machine, but it also needed to be improved in its’ pruning methods for the efficiency of fruit collecting procedure. Methods and Results : In this experiment, ‘Cheong-un’ cultivar and local variety were grown in the rain shelter greenhouses for the tests. Plots were set by randomized block design. There were two types of previously developed harvesters. One vibrates it’s harvest rod right and left (A type) and the other shakes it’s rod back and forth (B type). Among two harvesters A type was superior to B type in efficiency and convenience in use and it was able to harvest eleven times more fruits than manual picking in simple comparison test. In field comparison test, A type harvester performed 4.6 to 5 times more fruits than manual fruit picking. T-type hedge cultivation method is the proper way of enhancing efficiency of harvester. In the test, wiry perpendicular branches formed by once pruning method hindered moving forward of fruit collector. However installing collecting net with velcro along the edge under the field increased the efficiency and handiness of fruit harvester and well harmonized with T-type hedge cultivation. Conclusion : From the above results, the newly developed fruit harvester could increase the annual income of Boxthorn growers by reducing fruit picking labor and time.

Background : Boxthorn has been cultivated by conventional fertilization and irrigation methods that can be characterized by applying a great deal of fertilizers and a small amount of water compared to the other crops. With increasing rain shelter greenhouses, there were significant needs for developing new fertigation and irrigation methods. In this study, several prescribed fertigation methods for balanced fertilizer application and a few irrigation start methods based on soil moisture tension has been tested to confirm the fruit quality and productivity for Boxthorn growers. Methods and Results : In the experiment, ‘Cheong-un’ cultivar was grown in the rain shelter greenhouses for the tests. Plots were set by randomized block design. According to the growth investigation on the ‘Cheong-un’ cultivar which is supplied with four different formulated fertigation, the formulation N 15 me/ℓ increased the size and weight of fruit leading to 17% increased yield than the others. Additionally, on the amount of annual supply of fertigation with the concentration of N 15 me/ℓ, the treatment applied with 10kg/10a during the cultivation period facilitated overall growth of ‘Cheong-un’ cultivar and increased the yield as well. In the irrigation experiment ‘Cheong-un’ cultivar was grown in the four differently planned treatments that start irrigation at –20, -40, -50 and -100kPa soil moisture tensions. According to the investigation, the irrigation treatment starting at -50kPa enhanced the number of fruit bearing and productivity of Boxthorn consistently during two years. Conclusion : Therefore, the newly developed fertigation and irrigation methods could enhance the annual income of Boxthorn growers by increasing growth and yield.

Background : Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer is a perennial herb and its growth potential keep relatively high at least for the early 3 years old. If the transplanted ginseng roots of 2 or 3 years old grow well, a period of cultivation and the disease management cost could be reduced for the production of 6 years old ginseng roots. Methods and Results : The rooting and growth of a transplanted ginseng root could be affected by the age of a transplant. Therefore, the experiments were conducted to examine the influences of the age factor on the rooting and growth of transplanted ginseng roots. The ginseng roots with different plant ages in growth years (1, 2, and 3 years old), used in this study, were obtained by raising in a seedling production field near the Punggi Ginseng Experiment Station. The transplants were continuously grown under the same conditions after transplanting. The number of lateral or branched roots at the root-growing period after transplanting was basically higher in originally older plant ages compared to younger plants: the numbers of secondary and tertiary branched roots of the 1 year-old transplants were 8, 12, respectably; 2 years old: 12, 20; 3 years old: 12, 28. Those did not show any difference in both overground and underground growing, in compared to conventional cultivations with roots of a year old. The plants grew well without anthracnose, spotting disease, and high temperature injury. Conclusion : The conventional cultivation period of above 5 or 6 years for the raw material of red ginseng might be shorten and also the cost of disease control could be decreased, by transplanting of 2 or 3 years old roots raised at a seedling nursing field.

In this study, strain properties of high strength concrete (HSC) have been evaluated at elevated temperature. To evaluate the strain behaviour of HSC at elevated temperatures, ø100 × 200 mm cylindrical specimens of HSC with compressive strengths of 80, 130 and 180 MPa concrete were heated to 700 °C at a rate of 1 °C/min. As a results, Total strain of HSC was showing shrinkage with compressive strength increasing.

Molecular targeting for the altered signaling pathways has been proven to be effective for the treatment of many types of human cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor BEZ235 has shown to exhibit potent antitumor activity against solid tumors. Autophagy is a cellular lysosomal catabolic process to maintain metabolic homeostasis, which has been known to be induced in response to many therapeutic agents in cancer cells. This process is negatively regulated by mTOR and often acts as prosurvival or prodeath mechanism following cancer therapeutics. The current study was designed to investigate the antiproliferation activity of BEZ235 and to evaluate the role of autophagy induced by BEZ235 using HCT15 CRC cells bearing ras oncogene mutation. We found that BEZ235 decreases cell viability, which was mostly dependent on G1 arrest of cell cycle via suppression of cyclin A expression. BEZ235 affects PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT at Ser473 and RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway by decreasing the phosphorylation of ERK at Tyr204. BEZ235 also stimulated autophagy induction as evidenced by the increased expression of LC3-II and abundant acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs) in the cytoplasm. In addition, the combination of BEZ235 with autophagy inhibitor chloroquine, a known antagonist of autophagy, counteracted the antiproliferation effect of BEZ235. Thus, our study indicates that autophagy induced in response to BEZ235 treatment appears to act as cell death mechanism in HCT15 CRC cells.

Between 2010 and 2012, former Bank of Japan Governor Shirakawa argued, in series of speeches, that Japan’s economic performance, when compared to that of other G7 nations, was stronger after 1990 than appreciated by the critics. In May 2012, Nobel prize-winning economist and Princeton University professor Paul Krugman echoed a similar sentiment in a Financial Times interview. This analysis expands on these assertions and asks to what extent they are supported by cross-section data for the G7. As reviewed below, to date, no idiosyncratic explanation has arisen to explain the Japanese slowdown—perhaps this is the correct explanation: the slowdown in Japan, once adjusted for demographics, is less severe than in other G7 countries and, as recently noted by Eichengreen, Park, and Shin (2015), TFP growth in a number of other nations followed similar patterns. Focused on labor productivity, far from a laggard, Japan’s performance ranks near the best in the G7.

Purpose – The study aims to examine the students’ perspective (stream wise) of parameters affecting the undergraduate engineering education system present in a private technical institution in NCR, Haryana, India. Research design, data, and methodology – It is a descriptive type of research in nature. Questionnaire Based Survey has been used to collect the data. The sample size for the study is 500 comprising of the students respondents. The sample has been taken randomly and the questionnaire was filled by the students (pursuing B. Tech) chosen on the random basis from a private technical educational institution in NCR, Haryana, India. For data analysis and conclusion of the results of the survey, statistical tool like F test was performed with the help of high quality software; SPSS. Conclusion – Analysis of variance revealed statistically no difference between the mean number of the groups (stream wise) for the parameters "Selection", "Academic Excellence", "Infrastructure", "Personality Development and Industry Exposure" and "Management and Administration". While Analysis of variance revealed statistically difference between the mean numbers of the groups for the parameter "Placements".

The influence of different roasting temperatures, times and extraction methods on the quality characteristics of Omija (Schizandra chinensis) seed oils was investigated. Roasted Omija seeds were divided into five groups based on roasting temperature-time conditions: no roasting (Raw) and roasting [R11: 150℃, 10 min, R12: 150℃, 20 min, R21: 250℃, 10 min, R22: 250℃, 20 min (R22)]. Oils from each of the raw and roasted Omija seeds were obtained by solvent (n-hexane) and press (machine) extraction. The L* values decreased, but the a* and b* values increased with increasing the roasting temperature and time. The L* values were lower in the press-extracted oils than in the solvent-extracted oils. The peroxide value (POV) of Omija seed oils decreased with increasing the roasting temperature-time values. The POV value was higher in the press-extracted oils than in the solvent-extracted oils. ABTS (2, 2＇-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) radical inhibition of Omija seed oils was higher in the solvent-extracted oils than in the press-extracted oils, but there were no significant differences between the two oils. The four major kinds of fatty acid methyl esters detected in Omija seed oils were methyl butyrate, methyl hexanoate, methyl arachidate, and methyl eicosanoate. In conclusion, Omija seed oils obtained by solvent extraction and at higher roasting temperature-time values were more effective antioxidants.

This study presents a precise relative navigation algorithm using both laser and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in real time. The measurement model of the navigation algorithm between two spacecraft is comprised of relative distances measured by laser instruments and single differences of GPS pseudo-range measurements in spherical coordinates. Based on the measurement model, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is applied to smooth the pseudo-range measurements and to obtain the relative navigation solution. While the navigation algorithm using only laser measurements might become inaccurate because of the limited accuracy of spacecraft attitude estimation when the distance between spacecraft is rather large, the proposed approach is able to provide an accurate solution even in such cases by employing the smoothed GPS pseudo-range measurements. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the errors of the proposed algorithm are reduced by more than about 12% compared to those of an algorithm using only laser measurements, as the accuracy of angular measurements is greater than 0.001° at relative distances greater than 30 km.

This work presents fuel-optimal altitude maintenance of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) spacecrafts experiencing non-negligible air drag and J2 perturbation. A pseudospectral (direct) method is first applied to roughly estimate an optimal fuel consumption strategy, which is employed as an initial guess to precisely determine itself. Based on the physical specifications of KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite-2 (KOMPSAT-2), a Korean artificial satellite, numerical simulations show that a satellite ascends with full thrust at the early stage of the maneuver period and then descends with null thrust. While the thrust profile is presumably bang-off, it is difficult to precisely determine the switching time by using a pseudospectral method only. This is expected, since the optimal switching epoch does not coincide with one of the collocation points prescribed by the pseudospectral method, in general. As an attempt to precisely determine the switching time and the associated optimal thrust history, a shooting (indirect) method is then employed with the initial guess being obtained through the pseudospectral method. This hybrid process allows the determination of the optimal fuel consumption for LEO spacecrafts and their thrust profiles efficiently and precisely.

Two mini neutron monitors are installed at Concordia research station (Dome C, Central Antarctica, 75°06'S, 123°23'E, 3,233 m.a.s.l.). The site has unique properties ideal for cosmic ray measurements, especially for the detection of solar energetic particles: very low cutoff rigidity < 0.01 GV, high elevation and poleward asymptotic acceptance cones pointing to geographical latitudes > 75°S. The instruments consist of a standard neutron monitor and a "bare" (lead-free) neutron monitor. The instrument operation started in mid-January 2015. The barometric correction coefficients were computed for the period from 1 February to 31 July 2015. Several interesting events, including two notable Forbush decreases on 17 March 2015 and 22 June 2015, and a solar particle event of 29 October 2015 were registered. The data sets are available at cosmicrays.oulu.fi and nmdb.eu.

A full-scale process has been developed to immobilize fission products that accumulate within the Mark IV electrorefiner (ER) electrolyte at Idaho National Laboratory. ER salt was blended with treatment additives, followed by pressureless consolidation (PC) in a furnace to produce a durable ceramic waste form (CWF). The goal is the development of a process to consolidate actual radioactive ER salt into a form suitable for transportation and disposal.Four batches (300 to 400 kg per batch) of full-scale pre-qualification material preparation runs have been prepared. From these four batches of nonradioactive salt-loaded surrogate material, three full-scale PC trials have been conducted. The first PC test run, established equipment parameters with a basic CWF container design. The second trial included a modified CWF container design, real-time measurement of CWF consolidation, and an audio recording to identify cracking during the CWF cool-down. During the third trial, salt was doped (from the fourth material preparation batch) to create a nonradioactive salt material and to more closely represent actual ER salt. The second and third trials were also used to validate a model developed for the CWF. The CWF model is beneficial for understanding and predicting the physical processes that occur during the heat cycle. This would be particularly useful when the CWF is located in a hot cell, which makes accessing and examining a CWF difficult.

Voltammetry has shown promise as a method to estimate the concentrations of actinides in the molten LiCl-KCl used as an electrolyte in spent nuclear fuel electrorefiners. This salt typically contains several actinides in addition to many active metal fission products (rare earths, Group I & II metals). However, most of the voltammetry studies to date have focused on a single actinide or lanthanide in eutectic LiCl-KCl. This paper examines experimental and analytical techniques that can be used to estimate the concentration of a molten salt mixture containing both lanthanum (III)- and gadolinium(III)-chloride in eutectic LiCl-KCl. The aspects of the experimental procedures and setup that are unique to a multi-lanthanide mixture are briefly discussed. Experimental results from qualitative and quantitative analyses of cyclic voltammetry and open-circuit potentiometry are presented. Due to the close proximity of their standard potentials, extensive analytical work is required to estimate the concentrations. Two approaches are used in this work: peak separation and multivariate analysis. The merits of these two methods will be analyzed and discussed.

A new facility, known as Pyrel III, has been installed at ENEA laboratories for pyrochemical process studies under inactive conditions. It is a pilot plant which allows electrorefining and electroreduction experiments to be conducted on simulated fuel. The main component of the plant is a zirconia crucible. The crucible is heated by a furnace which is supported in an externally water-cooled well under the floor of a steel glove-box, where an argon atmosphere is maintained by a continual purge of about 10 L·min-1. The vessel is loaded with LiCl-KCl eutectic salt (59-41 mol%) and is currently operated at 460 °C. Several improvements on Pyrel II (the previous operating plant) have been introduced into Pyrel III. They are described in detail, together with the results from the first experimental campaign which used lanthanum metal.Moreover, studies about the treatment of chloride salt wastes from pyroprocesses have been conducted in parallel. They follow two main routes: on one hand, a matrix termed sodalite, a naturally occurring mineral containing chlorine, has been synthesized from a mix of nepheline, simulated exhausted salts and glass frit; on the other hand, a novel method proposed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is under assessment. The final waste forms have been fully characterized with the support of the Politechnique of Milan, by means of density measurements, thermal analysis, and stereomicroscopy observations, FTIR, XRD, and RAMAN spectra, as well as leach tests under static conditions.