Using lanthanum zinc oxide (LZO) film with the ion-beam irradiation, uniform and homogeneous liquid crystal (LC) alignment was achieved. To fabricate the LZO thin film on glass substrate, solution process was conducted as a deposition method. Cross-polarized optical microscopy (POM) and the crystal rotation method reveal the state of LC alignment on the ion-beam irradiated LZO film. Between orthogonally placed polarizers, POM image showed constant black color with regular transmittance. Furthermore, collected incidence angle versus transmittance curve from the crystal rotation method revealed that the LC molecules on the ion-beam irradiated LZO film were aligned homogeneously. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were conducted to reveal the relationship between the ion-beam irradiation and the LC alignment. The ion-beam irradiation changed the LZO film surface to rougher than before by etching effect. Numerical roughness values from AFM analysis supported this phenomenon specifically. XPS analysis showed the chemical composition change due to the ion-beam irradiation by investigation of O 1s, La 3d and Zn 2p spectra. The ion-beam irradiation induced the breakage of chemical bonds in the LZO film surface and this occurred surface chemical anisotropic characteristics for uniform LC alignment.

Calcium is the most abundant stored mineral in the human body and is especially vital for bone health; thus, calcium deficiency can cause bone-related diseases, such as osteopenia and osteoporosis. However, a high concentration of serum calcium, which is commonly known as hypercalcemia, can also lead to weakened bones and, in severe cases, osteosarcoma. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the concentration of calcium that is appropriate for bone biology. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the effects of high concentration of calcium, approximately 2 folds the normal calcium level, on osteoblast differentiation. The CaCl2 treatment showed dose-dependent suppression of the alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralized nodule formation. Calcium showed cytotoxicity at an extremely high concentration, but a moderately high concentration of calcium that results in inhibitory effects to osteoblast differentiation showed no signs of cytotoxicity. We also confirmed that the CaCl2 treatment repressed the mRNA expression and protein abundance of various osteogenic genes and transcriptional factors. Considered together, these results indicate that a high concentration of calcium negatively regulates the osteoblast differentiation of C2C12 cells.

Economic indicators are a factor that affects air cargo volume. This study analyzes the different factors affecting air cargo volume by each Chinese cities according to the main characteristics. The purpose of this study is to help companies related to China, airlines, and other stakeholders predict and prepare for the fluctuations in air cargo volume and make optimal decisions. To this end, 20 economic data were used, and the entire data was reduced to 5 dimensions through factor analysis to build a dataset necessary and evaluated the influencing factors by multi regression. The result shows that Macro-Economic Indicators, Production/Service indicators are significant for every cities and Chinese manufacture/Customer indicators, Korean manufacture/Oil Price indicators, Trade/Current indicators are significant for each other city. All adjusted R2 values are high enough to explain our model and the result showed excellent performance in terms of analyzing the different factors which affects air cargo volume. If companies that are currently doing business with China can identify factors affecting China's cargo volume, they can be flexible in response to changes in plans such as plans to enter China, production plans and inventory management, and marketing strategies, which can be of great help in terms of corporate operations.