For practical applications of graphene sheets in a variety of fields, mass production of high-quality graphene sheets is necessary. Herein, we reported a cost-effective, green, and simple approach to synthesizing mass production exfoliated graphene (EG) flakes employing electrochemical exfoliation of pencil graphite in neutral aqueous electrolytes. Pencil graphite cores of different grades were applied as anode and cathode electrodes and exposed to the electrolyte solution at a different voltage. Several parameters were examined and optimized, including pencil grade (2,4,6,8 B), applied voltage (10, 15, 20, 30 V), different inorganic electrolytes ((NH4)2SO4, Na2SO4, NaNO3, NaCl, and CH3COONa), and the concentration of electrolytes. The optimal condition was chosen by considering the mass of produced graphene and the conductivity of the graphene solution. The optimal conditions were as follow: pencil grade: 6B; applied voltage: 10 V; electrolyte type: Na2SO4; electrolyte concentration: 0.1 M. Under these conditions, the production yield was > 95% within 3 h and 9 min. The EG was characterized by utilizing FT-IR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FE-SEM, Cyclic Voltammetry, and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Characterization indicates that the synthesized EG had an XRD peak at 2θ = 26.6° and an ID/ IG ratio of 0.36. Furthermore, the EG showed good conductivity when tested by cyclic voltammetry and EIS whereas the R2 values were 985.8 and 76.3 Ω for bare GCE and EG/GCE, respectively. In addition, EG effectively removed cadmium (Cd(II)) with an adsorption level of 8.72 mg/g. The results from this study suggest that EG can be scaled up and commercialized in an environmentally friendly and low-cost manner, especially in low-income countries, and using it to rectify metal ions.

South Korea, one of the representative countries known for consuming dog meat, is experiencing a gradual decline in its consumption, and it is expected to be eradicated soon as there is no influx of new consumers. However, the cultural aspect of dog meat consumption is strong as it is deeply rooted in social traditions, and there is inadequate agreement on banning it legally. This article examines the laws related to dog meat and how it is currently managed. It also scrutinizes the animal welfare and food safety aspects of the process of dog meat breeding and distribution. The current legal management system for dog meat is inadequate, which poses risks in terms of food safety. In addition, the dogs used for food consumption are exposed to coarse environments from an animal welfare perspective. Until dog meat consumption is naturally eradicated, establishing a temporary hygiene management system to ensure food safety and improve animal welfare could be one solution.

In recent years, there is rising conversation about animal welfare with increasing concern about animals. However, disease control is still not being carried out effectively. It is hard to discuss the specific plan of the domestic animal shelter and pet shop due to limited information about their present condition. Thus, we analyzed existing data and suggested a new disease control system. Disease management reports of pet shops and animal shelters investigated by local government and animal protection organizations were the main reference of this study. As the euthanasia rate of shelters has recently decreased, animals stay in shelters for extended periods. As a result, mortality rate from disease has increased. Also, many animals in pet shops die due to health problems. In animal shelters, there is always a certain proportion of individuals with disease, and many shelters do not treat them or vaccinate animals before infection. In pet shops, information such as each individual’s health condition and vaccination records is not properly disclosed, and contagious pathogens are detected in hygiene tests. In order to improve the condition, each animals’ information should be dealt with using a system based on ICT technology. Also, it is necessary to perform antibody tests and infectious disease kit tests provided by local governments, set up breeding environment manuals, and supervise the management of local governments.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are attracting attention because of their excellent properties and functions; however, they are relatively expensive compared with commercial alloys. Therefore, various efforts have been made to reduce the cost of raw materials. In this study, MIM is attempted using coarse equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi HEA powders. The mixing ratio (powder:binder) for HEA feedstock preparation is explored using torque rheometer. The block-shaped green parts are fabricated through a metal injection molding process using feedstock. The thermal debinding conditions are explored by thermogravimetric analysis, and solvent and thermal debinding are performed. It is densified under various sintering conditions considering the melting point of the HEA. The final product, which contains a small amount of non-FCC phase, is manufactured at a sintering temperature of 1250oC.

We investigate the diffusion process of Thomson-scattered line photons in both real space and frequency space through a Monte Carlo approach. The emission source is assumed to be monochromatic and point-like embedded at the center of a free electron region in the form of a sphere and a slab. In the case of a spherical region, the line profiles emergent at a location of Thomson optical depth τTh from the source exhibit the full width of the half maximum σλ ≃ τ 1.5 Th . In the slab case, we focus on the polarization behavior where the polarization direction flips from the normal direction of the slab to the parallel as the slab optical depth τTh increases from τTh ≪ 1 to τTh ≫ 1. We propose that the polarization flip to the parallel direction to the slab surface in optically thick slabs is attributed to the robustness of the Stokes parameter Q along the vertical axis with respect to the observer’s line of sight whereas randomization dominates the remaining region as τTh increases. A brief discussion on the importance of our study is presented.

Current studies have revealed the capacity of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in term of immunomodulatory properties, and this distinct potential is downgraded according to the disease duration of patients-derived MSCs. In order to enhance the immunomodulatory and anti-tumorigenic properties of the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) joints-derived MSCs, we aggregate synovial fluid-derived MSCs from RA joints (RA-hMSCs) into 3D-spheroids by the use of hanging drop culture method. Cells were isolated from synovial fluids of RA joints with longstanding active status over 13 years. For aggregation of RA-hMSCs into 3D-spheroids, cells were plated in hanging drops in 30 μL of advanced DMEM (ADMEM) containing 25,000-30,000 cells/ drop and cultured for 48 h. To analyze the comparative immunomodulatory effects of 3D-spheroid and 2D monolayer cultured RA-hMSCs and then cells were cultured in ADMEM supplemented with 20% of synovial fluids of RA patients for 48 h and were evaluated by qRT-PCR for their expression of mRNA levels of inflammatory and antiinflammatory markers. Cellular aggregation of RA-hMSCs was observed and cells were aggregate into a single sphere. Following treatment of RA patient’s synovial fluids into the RA-hMSCs, spheroids formed RA-hMSCs showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher expression of TNFα stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6) than the monolayer cultured RAhMSCs. Therefore, the 3D-spheroid culture methods of RA-hMSCs were more effective than 2D monolayer cultures in suppressing inflammatory response treated with 20% of RA-synovial fluids by expression of TNFα (TSG-6) according to the immune response and enhanced secretion of inflammatory factors.

논문의 목적은 예이츠의 초기 글에서 예이츠의 문학에 대한 생각이 어떻게 발전되어 가고 있는지 살펴보는데 있다. 그 중에서도 글에서는 특히 사무엘 퍼거슨 및 클래런스 맨건과 같은 아일랜드 작가, 그리고 보다 전반적인 아일랜드 문학에 대한 바람과 우려에 대해 예이츠가 어떻게 논의하고 있는지에 대해 알아볼 것이다. 그러한 점에서, 이 논문에서는 선배 작가에 대한 예이츠의 글, 그리고 그가 아일랜드의 문학적 어젠다를 수립해 가는 과정에서 겪었던 문제에 대해 이야기 하는 과정에서 훗날 예이츠 자신의 시와 드라마가 나아갈 방향에 대한 단초를 제공하는지에 대해 논의하고자 한다.

North Korea continues to upgrade and display its long-range rocket launchers to emphasize its military strength. Recently Republic of Korea kicked off the development of anti-artillery interception system similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome”, designed to protect against North Korea’s arsenal of long-range rockets. The system may not work smoothly without the function assigning interceptors to incoming various-caliber artillery rockets. We view the assignment task as a dynamic weapon target assignment (DWTA) problem. DWTA is a multistage decision process in which decision in a stage affects decision processes and its results in the subsequent stages. We represent the DWTA problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). Distance from Seoul to North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers positioned near the border, limits the processing time of the model solver within only a few second. It is impossible to compute the exact optimal solution within the allowed time interval due to the curse of dimensionality inherently in MDP model of practical DWTA problem. We apply two reinforcement-based algorithms to get the approximate solution of the MDP model within the time limit. To check the quality of the approximate solution, we adopt Shoot-Shoot-Look(SSL) policy as a baseline. Simulation results showed that both algorithms provide better solution than the solution from the baseline strategy.