The objective of this study is to assess immunomodulatory effects of mixed Weissella (W.) cibaria JW15 strain with water extract of black soybean (Glycine max) and burdock (Arctium lappa) on Listeria (L.) monocytogenes infection in mice. Female 7-9 week old BALB/c mice were given a daily dose of 1 × 109 CFU of viable JW15 and JW15 mixed with black soybean (BS) and burdock (BD) in 200 μL PBS for 2 weeks. The nomal control group (NC) and positive control group (PC) were given 200 μL PBS. After 2 weeks, mice were infected with L. monocytogenes (1.0 × 105 CFU/mouse) via the tail vein. The NC was injected with 100 μL PBS without L. monocytogenes. After 2 days, mice were euthanized and their body weights were determined. In addition, their livers and spleens were weighed, and serum were analyzed for cytokine (Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) production. The survival rate was monitored using 5 mice in each group in the same way above until the mice died. Two days after infection with L. monocytogenes, mean spleen weight per body weight (g/kg) of JW15 (5.4 ± 0.88 g/kg), JW15 + BS (6.0 ± 0.64 g/kg), and JW15 + BD (5.3 ± 0.38 g/kg) group were significantly lower than that of the PC (6.8 ± 0.57 g/kg). The level of IL-1β in the serum of JW15 + BD (113.6 ± 31.03 pg/mL) was significantly higher than that of the JW15 (67.9 ± 15.15 pg/mL). Collectively, combination W. cibaria JW15 and water extract of BD and BD have ability to induce synergistic immunomodulative effects and are suitable for consideration as a functional food for humans and functional feed additives for companion animals.

There has been growing concern over the emissions of formaldehyde and VOCs from automotive interior materials, as these could have an important impact on the in-vehicle air quality (IVAQ) of automotive vehicles. Odor along with VOCs refers to the automotive interior smell emitted directly or indirectly from any part of an automotive interior, based on human olfactory senses and a comfort evaluation of vehicle quality. The objective of this paper is to compare the odor intensity using GC/MS analysis method and odor sensory test in accordance with ISO 12219-2. For the compounds having low odor threshold value and high VOC concentration, it was found that there was the same tendency in each field of odor whether the instrument analysis method or the odor sensory test method was used.

Background: The multiple hop test is an active performance test that has been commonly used to assess individuals with functional ankle instability. Previous studies have suggested that insufficiency of dynamic postural stability and passive stability during dynamic activities can have an influence on performance in the multiple hop test. However, no study has investigated the effects of dynamic postural stability training and ankle bracing on multiple hop test performance in individuals with functional ankle instability. Objects: The purpose of this study was to compare the immediate effects of dynamic postural stability training versus ankle bracing in the performance of the multiple hop test for participants with functional ankle instability. Methods: Twenty-nine participants with functional ankle instability who scored below 24 in the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool were selected. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: a dynamic postural stability training group (n1=14) and an ankle bracing control group (n2=15). The multiple hop tests were performed before and after applying each intervention. Dynamic postural stability training was performed using visual-feedback-based balance-training equipment; participants in this group were asked to perform a heel raise in a standing position while watching the centering of their forefoot pressure to prevent excessive ankle inversion. Ankle bracing was applied in the control group. Results: When comparing the pre- and post-intervention period for both groups, both methods significantly improved the results of the multiple hop test (p<.05). However, no significant differences were shown between the dynamic postural stability training and ankle bracing groups (p>.05). Conclusion: Both dynamic postural stability training and ankle bracing showed significant improvement (2.85 seconds and 2.05 seconds, respectively) in test performance. Further study is needed to determine the long-term effects of dynamic postural stability training and to determine whether insufficient dynamic postural stability is a causative factor for functional ankle instability.

WC-CrC-Ni coatings were prepared by nine processes of the Taguchi program with three levels for the four spray parameters: spray distance, flow rates of hydrogen and oxygen, and powder feed rate. The optimal coating process (OCP) was oxygen flow rate of 38 FMR, hydrogen flow rate of 53 FMR, powder feed rate of 25 g/min, and spray distance of 7 inches. Hardness of 1150 Hv and porosity of 1.2 %, were obtained by OCP; these are better results compared with the highest 1033 Hv and the lowest 1.5% porosity obtained by nine processes of the Taguchi program. Friction coefficient of the WC-CrC-Ni coating decreased from 0.36 ± 0.07 at 25 oC to 0.23 ± 0.07 at 450 oC. These values were smaller than those of the EHC (electrolytic hard chrome) plating at both temperatures due to lubrication from the oxide debris. The wear trace and wear depth of the coating are smaller than those of the EHC at both temperatures. Pitting was not found in the WC-CrC-Ni coating sample, while it did appear in the EHC sample.

Natural and expandable graphites were chemically treated in acidic aqueous solutions such as acetic acid or mixtures of acetic acid and nitric acid. Structures and thermal conductivities of the as-treated graphites were characterized in detail. Both graphites were significantly oxidized in the mixed acidic solution of H2SO4 and HNO3, which condition was generally used for the oxidation of carbon nanotubes. This considerable oxidation of graphites caused a depression of their thermal conductivity. The structural characteristics, obtained by XRD and XPS, show that the graphites treated in the relatively weak acidic conditions (acetic acid or mixture of acetic acid and nitric acid) were quite similar to the untreated graphites. However, the thermal conductivities of both acidic-treated graphites were remarkably increased.

The BCBJ (Back Contact and Back Junction) or back-lit solar cell design eliminates shading loss by placing the pn junction and metal electrode contacts all on one side that faces away from the sun. However, as the electron-hole generation sites now are located very far from the pn junction, loss by minority-carrier recombination can be a significant issue. Utilizing Medici, a 2-dimensional semiconductor device simulation tool, the interdependency between the substrate thickness and the minority-carrier recombination lifetime was studied in terms of how these factors affect the solar cell power output. Qualitatively speaking, the results indicate that a very high quality substrate with a long recombination lifetime is needed to maintain the maximum power generation. The quantitative value of the recombination lifetime of minority-carriers, i.e., electrons in p-type substrates, required in the BCBJ cell is about one order of magnitude longer than that in the front-lit cell, i.e., 5 × 10−4 sec vs. 5 × 10−5 sec. Regardless of substrate thickness up to 150 μm, the power output in the BCBJ cell stays at nearly the maximum value of about 1.8 × 10−2 W·cm−2, or 18 mW·cm−2, as long as the recombination lifetime is 5 × 10−4 s or longer. The output power, however, declines steeply to as low as 10 mW·cm−2 when the recombination lifetime becomes significantly shorter than 5 × 10−4 sec. Substrate thinning is found to be not as effective as in the front-lit case in stemming the decline in the output power. In view of these results, for BCBJ applications, the substrate needs to be only mono-crystalline Si of very high quality. This bars the use of poly-crystalline Si, which is gaining wider acceptance in standard front-lit solar cells.

Nanosized and aggregated Y2O3:Eu Red phosphors were prepared by template method from metal salt impregnated into crystalline cellulose. The particle size and photoluminescent property of Y2O3:Eu red phosphors were controlled by variation of the calcination temperature and time. Dispersed nanosol was also obtained from the aggregated Y2O3:Eu Red phosphor under bead mill wet process. The dispersion property of the Y2O3:Eu nanosol was optimized by controlling the bead size, bead content ratio and milling time. The median particle size (D50) of Y2O3:Eu nanosol was found to be around 100 nm, and to be below 90 nm after centrifuging. In spite of the low photoluminescent properties of Y2O3:Eu nanosol, it was observed that the photoluminescent property recovered after re-calcination. The dispersion and photoluminescent properties of Y2O3:Eu nanosol were investigated using a particle size analyzer, FE-SEM, and a fluorescence spectrometer.

Dinickel-silicide (Ni2Si)/glass was employed as a counter electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) device. Ni2Si was formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 700 oC for 15 seconds of a 50 nm-Ni/50 nm-Si/glass structure. For comparison, Ni2Si on quartz was also prepared through conventional electric furnace annealing (CEA) at 800 oC for 30 minutes. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning of TEM were used to confirm the formation of Ni2Si. TEM and CV were employed to confirm the microstructure and catalytic activity. Photovoltaic properties were examined using a solar simulator and potentiostat. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning results showed that both CEA and RTA successfully led to tne formation of nano thick- Ni2Si phase. The catalytic activity of CEA-Ni2Si and RTA-Ni2Si with respect to Pt were 68 % and 56 %. Energy conversion efficiencies (ECEs) of DSSCs with CEA-Ni2Si and RTA-Ni2Si catalysts were 3.66 % and 3.16 %, respectively. Our results imply that nano-thick Ni2Si may be used to replace Pt as a reduction catalytic layer for a DSSCs. Moreover, we show that nanothick Ni2Si can be made available on a low-cost glass substrate via the RTA process.

A thin film thermoelectric generator that consisted of 5 p/n pairs was fabricated with 1 μm-thick n-type In3Sb1Te2 and p-type Ge2Sb2Te5 deposited via radio frequency magnetron sputtering. First, 1 μm-thick GST and IST thin films were deposited at 250 oC and room temperature, respectively, via radio-frequency sputtering; these films were annealed from 250 to 450 oC via rapid thermal annealing. The optimal power factor was found at an annealing temperature of 400 oC for 10 min. To demonstrate thermoelectric generation, we measured the output voltage and estimated the maximum power of the n-IST/ p-GST generator by imposing a temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions. The maximum output voltage and the estimated maximum power of the 1 μm-thick n-IST/p-GST TE generators are approximately 17.1 mV and 5.1 nW at ΔT = 12K, respectively.

Ink-jet printing techniques with ceramic ink, which contains ceramic pigments as colorant, are in increasingly use in the ceramic industry. Generally, ceramic pigments that are produced by conventional method show diameters of several micrometers; these micrometer sized particles in the ink-jet printing process can cause undesirable behavior such as print head nozzle clogging. To prevent this problem, a particle size reduction process is required. In this study, CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) pigments were synthesized via solid state method. Each pigment particle was milled to submicron size by an attrition mill. The effects of micronizing on the morphology, mechanical property, crystal structure and color property of the CMYK ceramic pigments were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), particle size analysis (PSA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and CIE L*a*b*.

Recently, there have been many efforts to establish suitable processes for recycling fly ash, which is produced in thermal power plants and which poses serious environmental problems. Use of fly ash as a major ingredient of ceramic tiles can increase fly ash utilization, as well as reduce the cost of raw materials in ceramic tile production. In this study, the effects of fly ash addition on ceramic tile properties such as bending strength, water absorption and porosity were investigated. A manufacturing process of ceramic tile was developed for utilization of fly ash with high carbon content. In this approach, it is important to hold the ceramic tiles at a temperature that is sufficient for carbon oxidation, before the pores supplying oxygen to the inside of the ceramic tile are sealed. Ceramic wall tiles were manufactured with 0-40wt% of fly ash addition. The water absorption and porosity of the fired body were slightly changed with increasing fly ash content up to 30wt% and decreased with greater amounts of fly ash addition. The bending strength of ceramic tile including 10wt% fly ash increased, reaching a level comparable to that of ceramic tile without fly ash.

To establish low-temperature process conditions, process-property correlation has been investigated for Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. Thickness of GZO films and deposition temperature were varied from 50 to 500 nm and from room temperature to 250 oC, respectively. Electrical properties of the GZO films initially improved with increase of temperature to 150 oC, but deteriorated subsequently with further increase of the temperature. At lower temperatures, the electrical properties improved with increasing thickness; however, at higher temperatures, increasing thickness resulted in deteriorated electrical properties. Such changes in electrical properties were correlated to the microstructural evolution, which is dependent on the deposition temperature and the film thickness. While the GZO films had c-axis preferred orientation due to preferred nucleation, structural disordering with increasing deposition temperature and film thickness promoted grain growth with a-axis orientation. Consequently, it was possible to obtain a good electrical property at relatively low deposition temperature with small thickness.

A black nickel oxide powder, one of the commercial nickel oxide ores, was reduced by hydrogen gas in a batchtype fluidized-bed reactor in a temperature range of 350 to 500 oC and in a residence time range of 5 to 120 min. The hydrogen reduction behavior of the black nickel oxide was found to be somewhat different from that of green nickel oxide ore. For the black nickel oxide, the maximum temperature (below which nickel oxide particles can be reduced without any agglomeration) was significantly lower than that observed for the green nickel oxide. In addition, the best curve fittings of the Avrami model were obtained at higher values of the overall rate constant “k” and at lower values of the exponent “m”, compared to those values for the green nickel oxide. It may be inferred from these results that the hydrogen reduction rate of the black nickel oxide is faster than that of the green nickel oxide in the early stages, but the situation reverses in the later stages. For the black nickel oxide ore, in spite of the low temperature sintering, it was possible to achieve a high degree fluidized-bed reduction at lower temperatures and at lower gas consumption rates than was possible for the green nickel oxide. In this regard, the use of black nickel oxide is expected to yield a benefit if its ore price is sufficiently lower than that of the green nickel oxide.

Magnesium alloys are of emerging interest in the automotive, aerospace and electronic industries due to their light weight, high specific strength, damping capacity, etc. However, practical applications are limited because magnesium alloys have poor formability at room temperature due to the lack of slip systems and the formation of basal texture, both of which characteristics are attributed to the hcp crystal structure. Fortunately, many magnesium alloys, even commercialized AZ or ZK series alloys, exhibit superplastic behavior and show very large tensile ductility, which means that these materials have potential application to superplastic forming (SPF) of magnesium alloy sheets. The SPF technique offers many advantages such as near net shaping, design flexibility, simple process and low die cost. Superplasticity occurs in materials having very small grain sizes of less than 10 μm and these small grains in magnesium alloys can be achieved by thermomechanical treatment in conventional rolling or extrusion processes. Moreover, some coarse-grained magnesium alloys are reported to have superplasticity when grain refinement occurs through recrystallization during deformation in the initial stage. This report reviews the characteristics of superplastic magnesium alloys with high-strain rate and coarse grains. Finally, some examples of SPF application are suggested.

In this study, we used I-V spectroscopy, photoconductivity (PC) yield and internal photoemission (IPE) yield using IPE spectroscopy to characterize the Schottky barrier heights (SBH) at insulator-semiconductor interfaces of Pt/HfO2/p-type Si metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. The leakage current characteristics of the MIS capacitor were analyzed according to the J-V and C-V curves. The leakage current behavior of the capacitors, which depends on the applied electric field, can be described using the Poole-Frenkel (P-F) emission, trap assisted tunneling (TAT), and direct tunneling (DT) models. The leakage current transport mechanism is controlled by the trap level energy depth of HfO2. In order to further study the SBH and the electronic tunneling mechanism, the internal photoemission (IPE) yield was measured and analyzed. We obtained the SBH values of the Pt/HfO2/p-type Si for use in Fowler plots in the square and cubic root IPE yield spectra curves. At the Pt/HfO2/p-type Si interface, the SBH difference, which depends on the electrical potential, is related to (1) the work function (WF) difference and between the Pt and p-type Si and (2) the sub-gap defect state features (density and energy) in the given dielectric.

E (Electric) -glass fibers are the most widely used glass fibers, taking up 90 % of the long glass fiber market. However, very few papers have appeared on the physical characteristics of E-glass fibers and how they depend on the fiberizing temperature of fiber spinning. Glass fiber was fabricated via continuous spinning process using bulk E-glass. In order to fabricate the E-glass specimen, raw materials were put into a Pt crucible and melted at 1550 oC for 2hrs; mixture was then annealed at 621 ± 10 oC for 2hrs. The transmittance and adaptable temperature for spinning of the bulk marble glass were characterized using a UV-visible spectrometer and a viscometer. Continuous spinning was carried out using direct melting spinning equipment as a function of the fiberizing temperature in the range of 1175~1250 oC, while the winder speed was fixed at 500 rpm. Subsequently we investigated the physical properties of the E-glass fiber. The average diameter of the synthesized glass fiber was measured by optical microscope. The mechanical properties of the fiber were confirmed using a UTM (universal materials testing machine); the maximum tensile strength was measured and found to be 1843 ± 449MPa at 1225 oC.

E-glass (electrical glass) fiber is the widely used as a reinforced composite material of PCBs (printed circuit boards). However, E-glass fiber is not stable because it has a dielectric constant of 6~7. On the other hand, D-glass (dielectric glass) fiber has a low dielectric constant of 3~4.5. Thus, it is adaptable for use as a reinforcing material of PCBs. In this study, we fabricated D-glass compositions with low dielectric constant, and measured the electrical and optical properties. In the glass composition, the boron content was changed from 9 to 31 wt%. To confirm the dependence of the dielectric constant on melting properties, D-glass with 22 wt% boron was melted at 1550 oC and 1650 oC for 2hrs. The glass melted at 1650 oC had a lower dielectric constant than the glass melted at 1550 oC. Therefore, the D-glass with boron of 9~31 wt% was fabricated by melting at 1650 oC for 2hrs, and transparent clear glass was obtained. We identified the non-crystalline nature of the glass using an XRD (x-ray diffractometer) graph. The visible light transmittance values depending on the boron contents were measured and found to be 88.6%~ 82.5%. Finally, the dielectric constant of the D-glass with 31 wt% boron was found to have decreased from 4.18 to 3.93.

Insulating TaNx films were grown by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition using butylimido tris dimethylamido tantalum and N2+H2 mixed gas as metalorganic source and reactance gas, respectively. Crossbar devices having a Pt/TaNx/Pt stack were fabricated and their electrical properties were examined. The crossbar devices exhibited temperature-dependent nonlinear I (current) - V (voltage) characteristics in the temperature range of 90-300 K. Various electrical conduction mechanisms were adopted to understand the governing electrical conduction mechanism in the device. Among them, the Poole- Frenkel emission model, which uses a bulk-limited conduction mechanism, may successfully fit with the I - V characteristics of the devices with 5- and 18-nm-thick TaNx films. Values of ~0.4 eV of trap energy and ~20 of dielectric constant were extracted from the fitting. These results can be well explained by the amorphous micro-structure and point defects, such as oxygen substitution (ON) and interstitial nitrogen (Ni) in the TaNx films, which were revealed by transmission electron microscopy and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The nonlinear conduction characteristics of TaNx film can make this film useful as a selector device for a crossbar array of a resistive switching random access memory or a synaptic device.

This study investigates changes in the mechanical behaviors, especially hardness and indentation load-displacement curves, of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) brought about by thermal shock. The TBCs on the Nickel-based bondcoat/superalloy was prepared with diameters of 25.4 mm and 600 μm thickness. The results of thermal shock cycling test from 1100 oC of the highest temperature indicate that the thermal shock do not influence on the mechanical behavior, but a continuous decrease in porosity and increase in hardness were observed after 1200 thermal shock cycles; these changes are believed to be due to sintering of thermal barrier coating materials. The results that no degradation in the indentation load-displacement curves indicate that the coating shows good thermal shock resistance up to 1200 cycles at 1100 oC in air.

This paper is concerned with a test method that can be used to investigate the parameters of the Johnson-Cook constitutive model. These parameters are essential for accurately analyzing material behavior under impact loading conditions in numerical simulation. Ti-6Al-4V alloy (HCP crytal structure) was used as a specimen for the experiments. In the 10−3-103/ s strain rate range, three types of experimental methods (convention, compression and tension) were employed to compare the differences using MTS-810, SHPB and SHTB. Finite element analysis results when applying these parameters were displayed along with the experiment results.