The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a leading causative agent of acute hepatitis in humans. Zoonotic HEV strains have been isolated from several animal species, including pigs. New HEV variants have been recently isolated from camels in the Middle East. In the present study, fecal samples from fallow deer, formosan deer, alpaca, and guanaco were analyzed for the detection of HEV. One HEV strain was detected from guanaco, a species of camelids. The nucleotide sequence of guanaco HEV was identical to those of deer HEV-3 strains, which implied the cross-species transmission of HEV-3 from deer to guanaco.

Human hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a serious public health problem worldwide, as it is one of the main risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Cross-species transmission of HBV has been reported in non-human primates, and pigs may also be infected with HBV or an HBV-like agent. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the presence of HBV antigens and anti-HBV antibodies in pig sera, providing further support for the existence of HBV or an HBV-like agent in pig populations. The HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV e antigen (HBeAg) in pig serum samples were detected using HBsAg and HBeAg ELISA Kits, respectively. Antibodies to HBsAg and the Hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) in serum samples were also detected using anti-HBsAg and anti-HBcAg antibody ELISA Kits, respectively. HBsAg and HBeAg were detected in 7 of 442 (1.6%) and 7 of 184 (3.8%) pig serum samples, respectively. Furthermore, antibodies specific to HBsAg and HBcAg were identified in 45 of 442 (10.2%) and 39 of 434 (9.0%) pig serum samples, respectively. However, neither HBV DNA nor antibodies to HBeAg were detected in 409 and 298 pig serum samples, respectively. HBV antigens and anti-HBV antibodies were both present in a considerable number of pig serum samples, suggesting that pigs could be infected with a variant HBV or an HBV-like agent. Further studies will be necessary to confirm cross-species infection of pigs with HBV.

In this work, we employed an electroless nickel plating on glass fibers in order to enhance the electric conductivity of fibers. And the effects of metal content and plating time on the conductivity of fibers were investigated. From the results, island-like metal clusters were found on the fiber surfaces in initial plating state, and perfect metallic layers were observed after 10 min of plating time. The thickness of metallic layers on fiber surfaces was proportion to plating time, and the electric conductivity showed similar trends. The nickel cluster sizes on fibers decreased with increasing plating time, indicating that surface energetics of the fibers could become more homogeneous and make well-packed metallic layers, resulting in the high conductivity of Ni/glass fibers.

In order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the expanding maritime transportation market, most shipping companies are making every effort to reduce transportation costs. Likewise, the car shipping companies, which carry more than 80% of total car import and export logistics volume, also do their utmost for transportation cost saving. Until now many researches have been made for efficient maritime transportation, but studies for car shipping companies have rarely been made. For this reason, this study has tried to develop a maritime transportation planning support system which can help to save logistics costs and increase a competitive power of car shipping companies. To this end, instead of manual effort to solve the routing problem of car carrier vessels, this study has used an integer programming model to make an optimal transportation planning at the minimum cost. Also in response to the frequent changes both in the car production schedule and ship's arrival schedule after the completion of transportation planning, this research has developed a decision support system of maritime transportation, so that users can easily modify their existing plans.

In order to become a mega hub port, major ports all over the world are making every effort to enhance their productivity through efficiency of internal operation. Accordingly, in order to enhance the competitiveness of a container terminal, an automated container terminal is considered as the best alternative. An automated container terminal is using such automated handling equipment as AGV(Automated Guided Vehicles) and ATC(Automated Transfer Crane). The efficient equipment operation plays a critical role in enhancing the productivity of an automated container terminal. In an automated container terminal, the most important equipments are AGV and ATC. Each block of containers with a vertical layout is generally operating two ATCs. The two ATCs can be crossed or not at each block. In the case of operating crossover ATC, it has an advantage of high flexibility that ATC work is possible at both TP(Transfer Point) of each block. But it has also a disadvantage that the yard has to be operated at a low storage level of containers in the terminal yard. Recently, for automated container terminals, which are being prepared for opening in Korea, they plan to use uncrossed twin ATC in order to make the storage level of their yards high at a low cost. Therefore, studies have to be made in order to increase the efficiency of twin ATC system based on the flexibility that the crossover ATC system has. This research aims to suggest an operation strategy to improve efficiency of twin ATC at each storage block in a yard.