This paper explores the potential application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the construction industry, as CNTs can effectively serve as nano-fillers, bridging the voids and holes in cement structures. However, the limited dispersibility of CNTs in water necessitates the use of dispersing agents for achieving uniform dispersion. In this study, two kinds of cement superplasticizers, polycarboxylate ether (PCE) and sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde (SNF) were employed as dispersing agents to improve the interfacial affinity between CNTs and cement, and to enhance the strength of the cement nanocomposites. Contact angle experiments revealed that the utilization of PCE and SNF effectively addressed the interface issues between CNTs and cement. As a result, the cement nanocomposite with a CNT to PCE ratio of 1:2 exhibited an approximately 6.6% increase in compressive strength (73.05 MPa), while the CNT:SNF 1:2 cement composite showed a 4.7% increase (71.72 MPa) compared to plain cement (68.52 MPa). In addition, the rate of crack generation in cement nanocomposites with CNTs and dispersing agents was found to be slower than that of plain cement. The resulting cement nanocomposites, characterized by enhanced strength and durability, can be utilized as safer materials in the construction industry.

Haemaphysalis longicornis는 사람과 동물에게 여러 심각한 병원체를 전달하는 주요 매개체로, 한반도에 널리 분포하고 있다. H. longicornis는 Rickettsia spp., Borrelia spp., Francisella spp., Coxiella spp., 그리고 중증열성혈소판 감소증후군 바이러스 (SFTS virus) 등을 매개하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 국내에 서식하는 H. longicornis의 미생물 군집과 관련된 연구는 많이 진행되지 않은 것으로 확인되었다. 이 연구는 한반도 내 다양한 지역에서 채집된 H. longicornis의 미생물군집 다양성을 지역별, 성장 단계 및 성별에 따라 분석하였다. 2019년 6월부터 7월까지 질병관리청 권역별기후변화매개체감시거점센터 16개 지역에서 채집한 H. longicornis의 16S rRNA 유전자 V3-V4 영역을 PCR로 증폭 후 Illumina MiSeq 플랫폼으로 시퀀싱하였다. Qiime2를 활용한 미생물 다양성 분석을 통해 총 46개의 샘플에서 1,754,418개의 non-chimeric reads를 얻었으며, 평균 126개 의 operating taxonmic unit (OTU) 을 식별하여 총 1,398개의 OTU를 확인하였다. 대부분의 지역에서 Coxiella spp.가 우점종으로 나타났으며, 특히 Coxiella endosymbiont는 가장 높은 우점도를 보이며, Coxiella burnetii와 계통 발생 학적으로 유사한 것으로 확인되었다. 이 연구를 통해 분석된 결과는 각 지역의 H. longicornis 미생물군집 데이터 베이스 구축에 활용되었으며, 이를 통해 지역별 미생물군집의 특이성을 식별할 수 있게 하였다. 이는 한반도의 H. longicornis에 의한 질병 전파 연구와 이를 통한 공중보건 개선에 기여할 것으로 기대된다.

LILW disposal repository in Gyeongju, South Korea is considered with a concrete mixture that uses Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) partially substituted with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). The degradation of cementitious materials that result from chemical and physical attacks is a major concern in the safety of radioactive waste disposal. We present a reactive transport model utilized as one of the geochemical simulation approaches for the timescales of concern that range from hundreds to thousands of years. The purpose of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of parameters in concrete disposal systems and to evaluate the influence of various assumptions on the chemical degradation of the systems using a reactive transport model. A reactive transport model in the concrete disposal vault was developed to evaluate the behavior of engineered barriers composed of cementitious materials. The sensitivity analysis was performed using reactive transport models through the coupling between COMSOL and PHREEQC. The databases selected for the analysis are the Thermochimie database presented by ANDRA. Among many variables considered, two variables that can highly affect chemical degradation were selected for detailed sensitivity analysis for dealing with uncertainties. This is important because the chemical degradation mechanism is generally sensitive to precipitation and diffusion coefficient. The first factor is precipitation, which might be the most important factor in chemical degradation because it acts as a calcium leaching of cementitious materials in a disposal system in a highly alkaline environment, increasing the porosity of the system. To predict the change in annual precipitation, the measurement of the precipitation observatory station in the nearest area of Gyeongju for the past 80 years was collected. The second factor is the diffusion coefficient, which plays an essential role in the durability of the concrete disposal system, promoting the decalcification of cementitious minerals, accelerating system degradation, and increasing the porosity of its system, thereby facilitating the migration of radionuclides. The diffusion coefficient values used in studies similar to this work were calculated and evaluated using the box-and-whisker method. The results of the sensitivity analyses for the reactive transport model in the concrete disposal system will be presented. The sensitivity cases show that the results obtained are much more sensitive to changes in transport parameters.

The bacterial soft-rot disease is one of the most critical diseases in vegetables such as Chinese cabbage. The researchers isolated two bacteria (Pseudomonas kribbensis and Pantoea vagans) from diseased tissue samples of Chinese cabbages and confirmed them as being the strains that cause soft-rot disease. Lactic-acid bacteria (LAB), were screened and used to control soft-rot disease bacteria. The researchers tested the treatments with hypochlorous acid water (HAW) and LAB supernatant to control soft-rot disease bacteria. The tests confirmed that treatments with the HAW (over 120 ppm) or LAB (Lactobacillus plantarum PL203) culture supernatants (0.5 mL) completely controlled both P. kribbensis and P. vagans.

In this study, epoxy composites were reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and fused silica particles, dispersing the fillers within the epoxy resin based on a simple physical method using only shear mixing and ultrasonication. The hybrid composite specimens with 0.6 wt% of carbon nanotubes and 50 wt% of silica particles showed improved mechanical properties, with increase in tensile strength and Young’s modulus up to 12 and 37%, respectively, with respect to those of the baseline specimens. The experimental results showed that the low thermal expansion of the silica particles improved the thermal stability of the composites compared with that of the baseline specimen, whereas the thermal expansion slightly increased, due to the increased heat transfer from the exterior to the interior of specimens by the carbon nanotube filler. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the hybrid composite specimen reinforced with 0.6 wt% of carbon nanotubes and 50 wt% of silica particles was decreased by 25%, and the thermal conductivity was increased by about 84%, compared with those of the baseline specimen.

We studied the infection rate of and various metacercariocidal approaches to controlling Gymnophalloides seoi for prevention of human infection in cultured and natural oysters in Korea. The selected survey areas were Aphae-do (Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do), which is an endemic area for G. seoi, and Tongyeong (Geonsangnam-do), which is the main production area of oysters in Korea. In the Tongyeong area, the metacercariae of G. seoi were not detected in cultured oysters (0/201) or wild oysters (0/134). Seventy-two G. seoi metacercariae were observed in 33 of 265 natural oysters collected from Aphae-do; however, metacercariae were not detected in the cultured oysters (0/1101) purchased from the Daejeon Fish Market. To investigate the viability of G. seoi metacercariae, various metacercariocidal treatments were used with 3.5% saline and oyster juice used as positive controls. The metacercariae survived for 75.4 h in 3.5% saline and 112.6 h in oyster juice. After the metacercariocidal treatment, G. seoi metacercariae were survived for 13.29 min in tap water, < 20 sec in 4.3% vinegar, no effect in a rinse of the whole oyster body in 70°C water for 1 sec, but 1 sec in a rinse of the whole oyster body in 90°C water for 1 sec. The greatest metacercariocidal effect on G. seoi was from rinsing oysters in 90°C water followed by those from treatment with 20% ethyl alcohol, 4.3% vinegar, and tap water. However, we suggest that the most actual prevention to G. seoi human infection is rinsing the oysters with tap water for at least 30 min.

Microfluidics based on nanobio sensors technologies can provide convenient and accurate diagnosis tools. In this talk, we present recent developments of nanobio sensors & diagnosis chip using microfluidics, with special emphasis on disposable plastic devices format. In detail, we overview of the common methods used in the fabrication of polymer microfluidic systems, including replica and injection mold-ing. Also we explain the different methods by which on-chip operations—such as the pumping and valving of fluid flow, the mixing of different reagents, and the separation and detection of different biochemical species implemented in a microfluidic format. Finally, a few select biotechnological applications of microfluidics are presented to illustrate both the utility of this technology and its potential applications with insect models in the near future.

This study used SCS-CN method to estimate the real recharge of the study area which is one of the most reasonable techniques to estimate groundwater recharge when there is no available runoff data in a watershed. From the results of the real recharge analysis for the study area using SCS-CN method, it was analyzed that the year 1994 when the drought was severe showed the lowest recharge of 106.3mm with recharge rate of 12.4%, and the highest recharge of 285.6mm with recharge rate of 21.8% occurred in 1990. Yearly average recharge of 213.2mm was obtained, and the average recharge rate was 16.9%/year. KOG-FLOW model which has powerful post process functions consists of setting environments for input parameters in Korean language, and help function is added to each input data. Detailed information for each parameter is displayed when the icon is placed on the input parameters, and geologic boundaries or initial head data for each layer can be set easily on work sheet. The relative errors (R. E.) for each model’s observed values and calculated values are 0.156~0.432 in case of KOG-FLOW, and 0.451~1.175 in case of WINFLOW, therefore it is known that KOG-FLOW model developed in this study produced results compared to observed head values.

The average ratio of the daily UV-B to total solar (75) irradiance at Busan (35.23˚N, 129.07˚E) in Korea is found as 0.11%. There is also a high exponential relationship between hourly UV-B and total solar irradiance: UV-B=exp (a× (75-b))(R2=0.9 0.93). The daily variation of total ozone is compared with the UV-B irradiance at Pohang (36.03˚N, 129.40˚E) in Korea using the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data during the period of May to July in 2005. The total ozone (TO) has been maintained to a decreasing trend since 1979, which leading to a negative correlation with the ground-level UV-B irradiance doting the given period of cloudless day: UV-B=239.23-0.056 TO (R2=0.5 0.52). The statistical predictions of daily total ozone are analyzed by using the data of the Brewer spectrophotometer and TOMS in East Asia including the Korean peninsula. The long-term monthly averages of total ozone using the multiplicative seasonal AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model are used to predict the hourly mean UV-B irradiance by interpolating the daily mean total ozone far the predicting period. We also can predict the next day's total ozone by using regression models based on the present day's total ozone by TOMS and the next day's predicted maximum air temperature by the Meteorological Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5). These predicted and observed total ozone amounts are used to input data of the parameterization model (PM) of hourly UV-B irradiance. The PM of UV-B irradiance is based on the main parameters such as cloudiness, solar zenith angle, total ozone, opacity of aerosols, altitude, and surface albedo. The input data for the model requires daily total ozone, hourly amount and type of cloud, visibility and air pressure. To simplify cloud effects in the model, the constant cloud transmittance are used. For example, the correlation coefficient of the PM using these cloud transmissivities is shown high in more than 0.91 for cloudy days in Busan, and the relative mean bias error (RMBE) and the relative root mean square error (RRMSE) are less than 21% and 27%, respectively. In this study, the daily variations of calculated and predicted UV-B irradiance are presented in high correlation coefficients of more than 0.86 at each monitoring site of the Korean peninsula as well as East Asia. The RMBE is within 10% of the mean measured hourly irradiance, and the RRMSE is within 15% for hourly irradiance, respectively. Although errors are present in cloud amounts and total ozone, the results are still acceptable.