A number of middle and high school students are selected at the Korea Astronomy Olympiad (KAO) in every year. In the first stage of the selection, the resume, school transcript, and recommendation letters from teachers are referred. In the second stage, after video lectures and weekend observation classes, students are tested with on-line homeworks, and interviewed through internet. For 118 students who have gone through the second stage of the 2012 KAO, we have conducted a questionnaire survey, which asks the students the motivation and preparation for the KAO. The survey has also included inquiries for the selection process and education program of the 2012 KAO; the replies will be used as feedbacks for the next year's KAO. The survey has revealed that the first stage worked well, while the second stage needs to be improved in terms of fairness and objectivity. We have found that most students received private tutorings for the KAO, so we suggest efforts should be made for students to be able to prepare the KAO without receiving private tutorings.

The purpose of this study was to propose effective marketing communication strategies for overseas Korean restaurants through a multilateral comparison analysis of American, Chinese, and Japanese consumers' attitudes towards communication media and Korean restaurants. The survey was written in English, Chinese, and Japanese, with guideline for surveyors, and conducted using both online and offline methods. Samples were collected from five major cities - Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, which are the foothold for the globalization of Korean food. When it comes to attitudes towards communication media, word-of-mouth showed a high mean value, indicating it as the most useful and reliable media recognized by consumers who visited Korean restaurants. Furthermore, the necessity of recognizing the importance of visual communication in the physical environment of Korean restaurants and specialized websites, featuring restaurants and gourmet food, was observed. Consumers in all three nations chose word-of-mouth as the most useful and reliable media for learning about Korean restaurants. In addition, American consumers highly depended on signage and restaurant exteriors. Chinese consumers highly recognized the usefulness and reliability of offline media, such as newspapers, magazines, and events, while Japanese consumers considered online media, such as gourmet websites, blogs and social networks, as useful and reliable sources. A significantly positive attitude and high value was observed in all who had visited Korean restaurants. American and Japanese consumers had a significantly higher rate of intention to visit Korean restaurants in the future and to tell others about their satisfaction with Korean restaurants. Meanwhile, the average rate of prior preference for Korean restaurants (when choosing restaurants) was the lowest in all three countries. This study is useful for both the Korean government and food enterprises abroad to plan and develop marketing communication strategies properly for overseas Korean restaurants.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been widely used in many industrial applications because of their outstanding mechanical and chemical properties like hardness, wear resistance, lubricous property, chemical stability, and uniformity of deposition. Also, DLC films coated on paper, polymer, and metal substrates have been extensively used. In this work, in order to improve the printing quality and plate wear of polymer printing plates, different deposition conditions were used for depositing DLC on the polymer printing plates using the Pulsed DC PECVD method. The deposition temperature of the DLC films was under 100˚C, in order to prevent the deformation of the polymer plates. The properties of each DLC coating on the polymer concave printing plate were analyzed by measuring properties such as the roughness, surface morphology, chemical bonding, hardness, plate wear resistance, contact angle, and printing quality of DLC films. From the results of the analysis of the properties of each of the different DLC deposition conditions, the deposition conditions of DLC + F and DLC + Si + F were found to have been successful at improving the printing quality and plate wear of polymer printing plates because the properties were improved compared to those of polymer concave printing plates.

분말을 우리밀 밀가루 중량 100%를 기준하여 각각 0.5, 1.0 및 2.0% 첨가하여 제조한 국수의 품질특성을 조사하였다. DPPH radical 소거활성, 환원력, 자동산화 억제활성, tyrosinase 저해활성을 측정한 결과, 분획물의 농도가 증가함에 따라 항산화활성은 증가하는 경향을 보였으며, 부탄올 분획물에서 높은 DPPH radical 소거활성, 환원력, 자동산화 억제활성, tyrosinase 저해활성을 보였다. 솔잎분말을 첨가하여 제조한 국수의 중량, 부피, 함수율 및 국물의 탁도는 대조구와 비교하여 분말의 첨가량이 많을수록 증가하였다. 색도는 솔잎분말의 첨가량이 증가함에 따라 L값과 a값은 감소하였으며 b값은 증가하였다. 솔잎분말을 첨가하여 조리한 국수의 조직감은 우리밀 밀가루만 사용하여 제조한 대조구에 비하여 경도, 응집성, 탄력성, 검성 및 씹힘성이 감소하는 경향을 보였다. 관능검사 결과 솔잎 분말 1.0% 첨가구에서 색, 맛 및 전체적인 기호도가 높게 나타났으며, 향과 조직감에서는 대조구와 비교하여 유의적인 차이를 나타내지 않았다.

Selenium was initially considered toxic to humans, but it was then discovered that selenium is essential for normal life processes. Selenium plays important roles in antioxidants. It is expected that chitosan microcapsules containing nano-selenium will be able to be used as a key material in bio-medical and cosmetic applications. The high concentration of chitosan derivatives guaranteesincreased antioxidative activity. Both inorganic and organic forms of selenium can be nutritional sources. The antioxidant properties of selenoproteins help prevent cellular damage from free radicals. The objective of this experiment was to study the antioxidative activity of chitosan nano-selenium. Our experiments were divided into five groups, in the presence of various concentrations(0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, and 0.9%) of chitosan. We performed an assessment of the antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity of respective concentrations of chitosan nano-selenium. The antioxidant activity was examined by the free radical scavenging activity on 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) assay. The cytotoxicity effect was measured by means of 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide(MTT) assay. As a result, the electron donating abilities of 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, and 0.9% of chitosan nano-selenium exhibited effective andioxidant scavenging activity at 12.5 ㎍/㎖ against DPPH radicals. 0.3% chitosan nano-selenium did not show cytotoxicity on human keratinocytes. In general, the cytotoxicity of 0.1% and 0.9% chitosan nano-selenium showed the lowest effects. Though low cytotoxicity of 0.5% and 0.7% chitosan nano-selenium exhibited 29.67% and 38.4% against human keratinocytes on adding 100 ㎍/㎖ and 50 ㎍/㎖, respectively, cell vitality was recovered with 200 ㎍/㎖. These findings support the notion that chitosan nano-selenium may be useful as a new active ingredient source for bioactive compounds.

Co and Ni as catalysts in SnO2 sensors to improve the sensitivity for CH4 gas and CH3CH2CH3 gas were coated by a solution reduction method. SnO2 thick films were prepared by a screen-printing method onto Al2O3 substrates with an electrode. The sensing characteristics were investigated by measuring the electrical resistance of each sensor in a chamber. The structural properties of SnO2 with a rutile structure investigated by XRD showed a (110) dominant SnO2 peak. The particle size of the SnO2:Ni powders with Ni at 6 wt% was about 0.1 μm. The SnO2 particles were found to contain many pores according to a SEM analysis. The sensitivity of SnO2-based sensors was measured for 5 ppm of CH4 gas and CH3CH2CH3 gas at room temperature by comparing the resistance in air to that in the target gases. The results showed that the best sensitivity of SnO2:Ni and SnO2:Co sensors for CH4 gas and CH3CH2CH3 gas at room temperature was observed in SnO2:Ni sensors coated with 6 wt% Ni. The SnO2:Ni gas sensors showed good selectivity to CH4 gas. The response time and recovery time of the SnO2:Ni gas sensors for the CH4 and CH3CH2CH3 gases were 20 seconds and 9 seconds, respectively.

This study developed a rapid egg-salting method using a temperature change in NaCl solution under pressure. The permeation effects(PEs) of NaCl into eggs at ambient pressure were analyzed 1) after soaking them in 20, 30, or 40%(w/v) NaCl solution at 50℃ and 2) after soaking in 20～40% concentrations(w/v) of NaCl solution at 4℃ immediately after soaking at 50°C for 1 hr(temperature change method; TCM). Under permeation conditions(40% NaCl solution with TCM), the PE of NaCl into eggs at various pressures(4.0～7.0 MPa) was determined. The PE improved with increasing NaCl concentration and pressure. In 40%(w/v) NaCl solution, the PE was more rapid with TCM(0.70% for 2 hr) than without TCM(0.60% for 2 hr). At 7.0 MPa pressure, the PE was more rapid with TCM(1.66% for 15 min) than without TCM(1.40% for 15 min). These results suggest that the TCM-induced contraction of the egg membrane improved the PE. Therefore, we believe that the development of a rapid salting method for seasoning eggs is possible with the TCM.

Five kinds of selective media, such as mannitol salt agar (MSA), Baird-Parker agar (BPA), Baird- Parker supplemented with rabbit plasma fibrinogen (BPA+RPF), CHROMagar Staphylococcus aureus (CSA), and Petrifilm Staph Express count system (Petrifilm), were compared to recommend the optimum selective media for isolation of Staphylococcus aureus from agricultural products. Seventy four target and non target bacteria were inoculated on five selective media to analyze sensitivity and specificity. In the recovery test of injured S. aureus cells, S. aureus was exposed to acid (1% lactic acid for 10 min), heat (60oC for 90s), and cold (−20oC for 1h) conditions. And artificially contaminated agricultural products (iceberg lettuce, green pepper, and cherry tomato) was enumerated on five selective media. The sensitivity of BPA+RPF, CSA, Petrifilm, MSA, and BPA were 100%, 100%, 100%, 90.5%, 90.5%, respectively. In addition, the specificity of BPA+RPF, CSA, MSA, BPA and Petrifilm were 100%, 100%, 84.6%, 75.0%, 67.3%, respectively. However, no difference among five selective media was observed in recovery on injured S. aureus cell and enumeration from agricultural products. This results suggest that BPA+RPF and CSA are the optimum media for detection of S. aureus from agricultural products.