The detection of Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in environmental samples with precision is imperative to control bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infections at the herd level, as residual M. bovis remains one of the major causes of recurring infections. In this study, a nested PCR method for the detection of M. bovis in environmental samples was applied to identify potential environmental reservoirs of the bacterium. A set of 200 environmental samples (167 fecal samples and 33 water samples) from 39 herds with a history of bTB outbreak was analyzed using a nested PCR method to detect residual M. bovis. Amplicon libraries of the IS6110 target gene fragment were amplified from M. bovis DNA using two established primer sets. A positive nested PCR result was observed in 69.5% of fecal samples and 66.7% of water samples, thus showing that residual M. bovis was present in the environmental samples of bTB-positive herds in a high proportion. This study is the first to demonstrate high levels of M. bovis DNA in environmental samples and to show that environmental reservoirs of this pathogen contribute to recurring outbreaks of bTB. Environmental monitoring of herds in which bTB outbreaks have occurred with high sensitivity and specificity is expected to help prevent the recurrence of potential bTB disease and improve the herd environment.

Attempts to increase the usability of lilies led us to prepare pulverized lily bulbs, which we then added to bread flour to bake white pan bread. The properties of the frozen dough and the quality characteristics of the bread were analyzed. Our experiments showed that the addition of lily powder decreases the viscoelasticity and stability of frozen dough. The absorption rate of the frozen dough was 63.1±0.2% for the control sample, and 66.1±0.1% and 70.9±0.2% for the normally pulverized samples containing 3% and 5% of lily powder, respectively, whereas the absorption rate of the finely pulverized samples tended to increase slightly. The gelatinization results of the frozen dough decreased with the addition of lily powder in terms of the final viscosity, break down, and setback values. Compared to the control sample, the specific volume of the bread products that underwent normal pulverization (5% additive) increased slightly and decreased for the lily bulbs that were finely pulverized (3% additive). The addition of lily powder did not significantly affect the water activity during the storage period of up to 5 days. The hardness of white pan bread increased from 1,948±114.3 to 2,518±154.7 g/㎠ on the first day of storage to 2,571±160.9 to 3,265±147.4 g/㎠ on the 5th day of storage. The hardness was the highest for the 5% sample that underwent normal pulverization, and the samples differed significantly. The longer the storage period, the lower the springness value of the white pan bread became, and this result was most notable for the finely pulverized powder sample. The springness of white pan bread decreased as the amount of lily powder additive and the storage period increased. The sensory test results were excellent in that the appearance, texture, flavor, taste, and overall preference for white pan bread to which 3% of normally crushed lily powder had been added had improved relative to the control sample.

In this study, we developed a facile and template-free strategy for the preparation of activated porous carbon beads (APCBs) from polyacrylonitrile. The chemical activation with KOH was found to enhance the pore properties, such as specific surface area (SSA), pore volume, and pore area. The APCBs exhibited a large SSA of 1147.99 m2/g and a pore area of 131.73 m2/g. The APCB-based electrodes showed a good specific capacitance of 112 F/g at 1 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte, and excellent capacitance retention of 100% at a current density of 5 A/g after 1000 cycles. Therefore, the APCBs prepared in this study can be applied as electrode materials for electric double-layer capacitors.

정전용량 수분측정 센서는 수경용 배지 양쪽에 구리 및 테플론으로 절연된 전극판(30cm×10cm)을 부착하 여 배지의 넓은 부분에 걸쳐 측정하도록 개발되었다. 본 연구는 콘덴서형 정전용량 센서로부터 출력되는 정전용량 값을 배지 함수량으로 변환하는 것이다. 정량화 실험은 양액을 공급하면서 배지 물무게와 정전용량 변화를 측정하고 그 값을 비교하는 방식으로 수행되었다. 배지 함수량과 정전용량은 본 연구를 위해 특별히 개발된 소프트웨어와 함께 센서와 로드셀을 사용하여 20~30초마다 측정되었다. 상용 curve-fitting 프로그램을 이용하여 배지 함수량과 정전용량을 변수로 정전용량 값으로 배지 함수량을 추정하였다. 공급하는 물의 양이 증가하면 정전용량도 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 배지 내 물무게에 따른 정전용량에 대한 변동계수(coefficient of variation, cv)는 배지 내 물무게가 1.0kg 수준에서 다른 무게에 비해 높아 함수량 보정은 물무게를 1.7~6.0kg 수준에서 수행하였다. 정전용량과 물무게 사이의 상관 계수는 0.996이었고 보정식에 의해 정전용량으로 추정된 함수량은 로드셀로 측정한 배지 함수량과 비교하였다.

We report the structural characterization and electric heating performance of carbon thin films (CTFs), which were prepared from negative-type SU-8 photoresist by deep UV exposure and following carbonization. The prepared CTFs were found to have pseudo-graphitic carbon structures containing partially graphite domains in the amorphous carbon matrix. The CTFs showed a very smooth surface morphology with a roughness of 0.42 nm. The 107 nm-thick CTFs exhibited an excellent electric heating performance by attaining a high maximal temperature of 207 °C and a rapid heating rate of 13.2 °C/s at an applied voltage of 30 V. Therefore, the CTFs prepared in this study can be applied as electrode materials for high-performance electric heaters.

Excessive intake of sodium caused by high salt diet promotes the expression of inflammatory cytokines and differentiation of helper T cells resulting in inflammatory responses. High-glucose diet also contributes to the pathogenesis of periodontitis by inducing changes in the oral microbiome and reducing salivation. However, the effect of a high-salt and glucose diet (HSGD) on the prognosis of periodontitis remains unclear. In this study, a rat model of experimental periodontitis was established by periodic insertion of absorbable sutures containing Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum strains into the right gingival sulcus to analyze the effect of HSGD on the incidence and progression of periodontitis. The alveolar bone heights (ABH) was measured with microcomputed tomography imaging of the HSGD- and general diet (GD)-treated groups. The right ABH was significantly decreased compared to the left in both groups at 4 weeks after induction of inflammation; however, no significant difference was noted between the groups. Notably, the ABH in the HSGD-treated group was significantly decreased at 8 weeks after induction of inflammation, whereas in the GD-treated group, an increase in the ABH was observed; a significant difference of the ABH was noted between the two groups (p < 0.05). At 12 weeks, recovery of the alveolar bone was observed in both groups, with no significant differences in ABH between the two groups. These findings indicate that the intake of excessive sodium attenuates the recovery rate of the alveolar bone even after the local infectant is removed. In addition, this study demonstrates the use of HSGD in establishing a new animal model of periodontitis.

In recent years, importance of blockchain systems has been grown after success of bitcoin. Distributed consensus algorithm is used to achieve an agreement, which means the same information is recorded in all nodes participating in blockchain network. Various algorithms were suggested to resolve blockchain trilemma, which refers conflict between decentralization, scalability, security. An algorithm based on Byzantine Agreement among Decentralized Agents (BADA) were designed for the same manner, and it used limited committee that enables an efficient consensus among considerable number of nodes. In addition, election of committee based on Proof-of-Nonce guarantees decentralization and security. In spite of such prominence, application of BADA in actual blockchain system requires further researches about performance and essential features affecting on the performance. However, performance assessment committed in real systems takes a long time and costs a great deal of budget. Based on this motivation, we designed and implemented a simulator for measuring performance of BADA. Specifically, we defined a simulation framework including three components named simulator Command Line Interface, transaction generator, BADA nodes. Furthermore, we carried out response surface analysis for revealing latent relationship between performance measure and design parameters. By using obtained response surface models, we could find an optimal configuration of design parameters for achieving a given desirable performance level.

Support vector regression (SVR) is devised to solve the regression problem by utilizing the excellent predictive power of Support Vector Machine. In particular, the є-insensitive loss function, which is a loss function often used in SVR, is a function thatdoes not generate penalties if the difference between the actual value and the estimated regression curve is within є. In most studies, the є-insensitive loss function is used symmetrically, and it is of interest to determine the value of є. In SVQR (Support Vector Quantile Regression), the asymmetry of the width of є and the slope of the penalty was controlled using the parameter p. However, the slope of the penalty is fixed according to the p value that determines the asymmetry of є. In this study, a new ε-insensitive loss function with p1 and p2 parameters was proposed. A new asymmetric SVR called GSVQR (Generalized Support Vector Quantile Regression) based on the new ε-insensitive loss function can control the asymmetry of the width of є and the slope of the penalty using the parameters p1 and p2 , respectively. Moreover, the figures show that the asymmetry of the width of є and the slope of the penalty is controlled. Finally, through an experiment on a function, the accuracy of the existing symmetric Soft Margin, asymmetric SVQR, and asymmetric GSVQR was examined, and the characteristics of each were shown through figures.

In this paper, an overview of the scoping calculation results is provided with respect to criticality and radiation shielding of two KBS-3V type PWR SNF disposal systems and one NWMO-type CANDU SNF disposal system of the improved KAERI reference disposal system for SNFs (KRS+). The results confirmed that the calculated effective multiplication factors (keff) of each disposal system comply with the design criteria (< 0.95). Based on a sensitivity study, the bounding conditions for criticality assumed a flooded container, actinide-only fuel composition, and a decay time of tens of thousands of years. The necessity of mixed loading for some PWR SNFs with high enrichment and low discharge burnup was identified from the evaluated preliminary possible loading area. Furthermore, the absorbed dose rate in the bentonite region was confirmed to be considerably lower than the design criterion (< 1 Gy‧hr-1). Entire PWR SNFs with various enrichment and discharge burnup can be deposited in the KRS+ system without any shielding issues. The container thickness applied to the current KRS+ design was clarified as sufficient considering the minimum thickness of the container to satisfy the shielding criterion. In conclusion, the current KRS+ design is suitable in terms of nuclear criticality and radiation shielding.

Recently, a lots of studies have been conducted to imitate real meat with the factors including texture, aroma, taste, and color of meat analogues. Since the color component of meat is diverse and complex, as well as large of degree of change according to cooking, the color imitating has been still challenging. In this study, we selected up a representative meat analogue (tteok-galbi), tracked the color change at three making points as steps of batter, steaming, and cooking. In order to realize the color at these points, three plant-based natural pigments including prickly pear cactus, sweet pumpkin, and mugwort were selected, and the color with optimized ratio was applied to the tteok-galbi. As a result, it was found that 1:3:1 in the batter, 2:1:2 in steaming, and 2:1:2 in cooking were optimal ratios. The results in this study were significant in that it could apply the colors to meat analogues according to the combination of natural pigments derived from plants.