We produced an activated carbon using sodium-lignosulfonate, in which we investigated how the sodium salt in lignin served as the activating agent during heat treatment. Our process resulted in a product with a high specific surface area of 1324 m2/ g at 800 °C and microporous structure. During the activation process, we observed the consumption of carbon due to the dehydration reaction of NaOH and the reduction of Na2CO3 to metallic Na, which created pores through oxidation/ reduction reactions. The intercalation of metallic Na between the lattices at high temperatures formed additional pores and increased the specific surface area. Our proposed mechanism holds promise for enhancing the control of the microstructure and porosity of activated carbons through the thermal treatment of biomass.

In 2022, research for native prokaryotic species in Korea reported 10 unrecorded bacterial strains affiliated to phyla Actinomycetota, Bacillota, and Pseudomonadota. The strains formed monophyletic clades with the most closely related species (with ≥98.7% sequence similarity) in the 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among them, four species of the phylum Actinomycetota, two species of the phylum Bacillota, and four species of the phylum Pseudomonadota have not been reported in Korea, suggesting unrecorded species in Korea. Information on strains such as Gram staining reaction, colony and cell morphology, biochemical characteristics, and isolation sources were provided in the species description.

Biomass-derived porous carbon is an excellent scientific and technologically interesting material for supercapacitor applications. In this study, we developed biomass-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets (BDPCNS) from cedar cone biomass using a simple KOH activation and pyrolysis method. The BDPCNS was effectively modified at different temperatures of 600 °C, 700 °C, and 800 ℃ under similar conditions. The as-prepared BDPCNS-700 electrode exhibited a high BET surface area of 2883 m2 g− 1 and a total pore volume of 1.26 cm3 g− 1. Additionally, BDPCNS-700 had the highest electrical conductivity (11.03 cm− 1) and highest N-doped content among the different electrode materials. The BDPCNS-700 electrode attained a specific capacitance of 290 F g− 1 at a current density of 1 A g− 1 in a 3 M KOH electrolyte and an excellent longterm electrochemical cycling stability of 93.4% over 1000 cycles. Moreover, the BDPCNS-700 electrode had an excellent energy density (40.27 Wh kg− 1) vs power density (208.19 W kg− 1). These findings indicate that BDPCNS with large surface areas are promising electrode materials for supercapacitors and energy storage systems.

The inclusion of conductive carbon materials into lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential for constructing an electrical network of electrodes. Considering the demand for cells in electric vehicles (e.g., higher energy density and lower cell cost), the replacement of the currently used carbon black with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) seems inevitable. This review discusses how CNTs can contribute to the development of advanced LIBs for EVs. First, the reason for choosing CNTs as a conducting agent for the cathode is discussed in terms of energy density. Second, the reinforcing effect of CNTs on the anode is described with respect to the choice of silicon as the active material. Third, the development of water-based cathode fabrication as well as dry electrode fabrication with aid of CNTs is discussed. Fourth, three technical hurdles, that is, the price, dispersion issue, and entrapped metal impurities, for widespread use of CNTs in LIBs are discussed.

The slaughter of livestock is inevitably required to obtain meat products from livestock. Since slaughter means pain and death for animals, reducing the pain and distress of animals during slaughter is very important from a perspective of animal welfare based on the principle of respect for life. Generally, two stunning methods, CO2 stunning and electrical stunning, are used for slaughter. When the carotid arteries of the lungs are cut off for bleeding, the bronchial tubes are also severed. To determine the degree of blood inflow into the lungs through the severed bronchial tubes, the prevalence rates of pulmonary diseases and pulmonary congestion in slaughtered pigs were analyzed. In this study, the prevalence of pneumonia was 24.9% in Slaughterhouse A using the gas method, but it was decreased by about 10% to 15.7% and 12.6%, respectively, in Slaughterhouses B and C using the electric method. On the other hand, the prevalence of pulmonary congestion in Slaughterhouses A, B, and C was 4.24%, 14.10% and 16.40%, respectively. In other words, the prevalence of pulmonary congestion was higher by about 10% in the groups of pigs slaughtered by the electric method (Slaughterhouses B and C) than in the group of pigs slaughtered by the gas method (Slaughterhouse A). These results indicate that blood inflow into the pulmonary alveoli led to a diagnosis of pulmonary congestion instead of pneumonia in some pigs with pneumonia. In short, it was found that about 10% of pigs stunned by the electric method were not in a state of complete unconsciousness but in a partially conscious state during slaughter. It is suggested that slaughterhouses should be equipped with gas stunning equipment instead of applying the electric method due to lower costs.

RADTRAN is a code that assesses the radiation risk of radioactive material transportation. RADTRAN assumes that the package is a point source or a line source regardless of package type and corrects the external dose rate using a shape factor which depends on the critical dimension of the package. However, the external dose rate calculated using a shape factor may be different from the actual external dose rate. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the effect of the shape factor on the external dose rate. In this study, the effect of the shape factor on the external dose rate in RADTRAN was analyzed by comparison with MCNP. This study analyzed change in external dose rate depending on the distance from the package and the critical dimension. The distance from the package was in the range of 1–800 m. The shape of the package was assumed to be cylindrical with a radius of 1 m, and the critical dimensions of the package were assumed to be 2, 4, and 8 m. Attenuation and build-up in the air were not considered to consider only the effect on the shape factor. When simulating the exposure situation using MCNP, the package was assumed to be a volume source, and flux by distance from the package was calculated using F5 tally. The dose rate at 1 m from the package was normalized to 2 mSv·hr−1. As a result of the analysis, the external dose rates of the package were higher in RADTRAN than in MCNP. For the critical dimension of 2, 4, and 8 m, when the distance from package is 1–10 m, the RADTRAN was 1.83, 4.08, and 5.27 times higher on average than MCNP, respectively. And when the distance from the package was 10–100 m and 100–800 m, RADTRAN was 1.10, 2.02, 3.01 times and 1.04, 1.92, 2.43 times higher than MCNP, respectively. It was found that the larger the distance from the package is and the smaller the critical dimension of the package is, the less conservatively RADTRAN assessed. It is because the shape of the package gets closer to the point source as the distance from the package increases, and the shape factor decreases as the critical dimension of the package decreases. The result of this study can be used as the basis for radiation risk assessment when transporting radioactive materials.

Deep geological disposal (DGD) of spent nuclear fuels (SNF) at 500 m–1 km depth has been the mainly researched as SNF disposal method, but with the recent drilling technology development, interest in deep borehole disposal (DBD) at 5 km depth is increasing. In DBD, up to 40SNF canisters are disposed of in a borehole with a diameter of about 50 cm, and SNF is disposed of at a depth of 2–5 km underground. DBD has the advantage of minimizing the disposal area and safely isolating highlevel waste from the ecosystem. Recently, due to an increasing necessity of developing an efficient alternative disposal system compared to DGD domestically, technological development for DBD has begun. In this paper, the research status of canister operation technology and plans for DBD demonstration tests, which subjects are being studied in the project of developing a safety-enhancing high-efficiency disposal system, are introduced. The canister operation technology for DBD can be divided into connection device development and operation technology. The developing connection device, emplacing and retrieving canisters in borehole, adopted the concept of a wedge thus making replacement equipment at the surface unnecessary. The new connection device has the advantage of being well applied with emplacement facilities only by simple mechanical operation. The technology of operating a connection device in DBD can be divided into drill pipe, coiled tubing, free-drop, and wireline. The drill pipe is a proven method in the oil industry, but requiring huge surface equipment. The coiled tubing method uses a flexible tube and shares disadvantages as the drill pipe. The free-drop is a convenient method of dropping canister into a borehole, but has a weakness in irretrievability in an accident. Finally, the wireline method can be operational on a small scale using hydraulic cranes, but the number of operated canisters at once is limited. The test facility through which the connection device is to be tested consists of dummy canister, borehole, lifting part, monitoring part, and connecting device. The canister weight is determined according to the emplacement operation unit. The lifting part will be composed following wireline consisting of a crane, a wire and a winding system. The monitoring part will consist of an external monitoring system for hoists and trolleys, and an internal monitoring system for the connection device’s location, pressure, and speed. In this project, a demonstration test will be conducted in a borehole with 1km depth, 10 cm diameter provided by KAERI to verify operation in the actual drilling environment after design improvement of the connecting device. If a problem is found through the demonstration test, the problem will be improved, and an improved connection device will be tested to an extended borehole with a 2 km depth, 40 cm diameter.

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 objective of this study was to verify the effect of pig slurry application with acidification and biochar on feed value, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of maize forage, and ammonia (NH3) emission. The four treatments were applied: 1) non-pig slurry (only water as a control, C), 2) only pig slurry application (P), 3) acidified pig slurry application (AP), 4) acidified pig slurry application with biochar (APB). The pig slurry and biochar were applied at a rate of 150 kg N ha-1 and 300 kg ha-1, respectively. The AP and APB treatments enhanced all feed values compared to C and P treatments. The NUE for plant N was significantly increased 92.1% by AP and APB treatment, respectively, compared to the P treatment. On the other hand, feed values were not significantly different between AP and APB treatments. The acidification treatment with/without biochar significantly mitigated NH3 emission compared to the P treatment. The cumulative NH3 emission throughout the period of measurement decreased by 71.4% and 74.8% in the AP and APB treatments. Also, APB treatment reduced ammonia emission by 11.9% compared to AP treatment. The present study clearly showed that acidification and biochar can reduce ammonia emission from pig slurry application, and pig slurry application with acidification and biochar exhibited potential effects in feed value, NUE, and reducing N losses from pig slurry application through reduction of NH3 emission.

The objective of this study was to prove the effect of pig slurry application with charcoal on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), feed value and ammonia (NH3) emission from maize forage. The four treatments were applied: 1) non-pig slurry (only water as a control), 2) only pig slurry application (PS), 3) pig slurry application with large particle charcoal (LC), 4) pig slurry application with small particle charcoal (SC). The pig slurry was applied at a rate of 150 kg N ha-1, and the charcoal was applied at a rate of 300 kg ha-1 regardless of the size. To determine the feed value of maize, crude protein, dry matter intake, digestible dry matter, total digestible nutrient, and relative feed value were investigated. All feed value was increased by charcoal treatment compared to water and PS treatment. Also, the NUE for plant N was significantly higher in charcoal treatments (LC and SC) compared to PS treatment. On the other hand, there is no significant difference for feed value and NUE between LC and SC. The NH3 emission was significantly reduced 15.2% and 27.9% by LC and SC, respectively, compared to PS. Especially, SC significantly decreased NH3 emission by 15% compared to LC. The present study clearly showed that charcoal application exhibited positive potential in nitrogen use efficiency, feed value and reducing N losses through NH3 emission.