The backfill refills the deep geological disposal system after the installation of buffer in the disposal hole. SKB and Posiva have established the safety function for the backfill such as hydraulic conductivity of 10-10 m/s and swelling pressure of 0.2 MPa. The study on the thermal properties is required for the evaluation of performance design and long-term stability of backfill, since the thermal condition affects the hydraulic and mechanical behavior of backfill. Thermal conductivity is a key characteristic of thermal properties due to heat dissipation from spent fuel. In this study, thermal conductivities of bentonite-sand mixed blocks were measured. The silica sands were used instead of the crushed rock with bentonil-WRK, one of the candidate bentonite of the Korean repository system. The effects of size distribution and mass ratio of sand were evaluated. Four different size of silica sand (i.e., 0.18-0.25, 0.7-1.12, 1.6-2.5, 2.5-5.0 mm) and five mixing ratio (i.e., 1:9, 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, 5:5 of bentonite and sand) were used for characterization of thermal conductivity. As a result, the thermal conductivities were measured ranging from 1.6 to 3.1 W/m∙K depending on the size and mass ratio of the sand. The smaller the size or higher the mixing ratio of sand or the higher the water contents, the higher the thermal conductivity on the surface of backfill block. The higher compressing pressure induce higher thermal conductivity. Meanwhile, the feasibility study of backfill block productivity was reviewed according to the variables of this study. The excessive sand ratio and water contents lead to poor quality that results in the failure of the block. In Korea, the research of backfill is only now in fundamental steps, thus the results of this study are expected to use for setup the experimental conditions of hydraulic and mechanical performance, and can be used for the design of safety function and evaluation of long-term stability for deep geological disposal system.

In photobiophysics, biophoton means a kind of biological energy which enhances most metabolisms of the body. To investigate the immuno-enhancing effects of biophoton energy projector (BEP) producing light energy, pigs were irradiated with BEP for 8 weeks. Swine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (sPBMCs) were isolated from the blood of irradiated pigs. In this study, the antigen uptake and mitochondrial membrane potential of sPBMCs were measured by flow cytometric analysis. The irradiation of BEP increased the antigen uptake of sPBMCs. For functional analysis, the production of Bordetella bronchiseptica-specific IgG, measured using antigen-specific ELISA, was increased during the period of BEP irradiation. Taken together, the results suggest that the irradiation of BEP has immune-enhancing effects on sPBMCs.

This paper investigates how promotions of knowledge and social embeddness shape consumers’ participation in sustainable consumption. An extended model of goal-directed behaviour is tested under airline consumers who have participated in voluntary carbon offset (VCO) program. Results show consumer’s knowledge positively influences their subjective norm but not their attitude towards participation of VCO. Increasing consumers’ sense of social embeddedness is also found to be crucial in forming subjective norm and their attitude. Finally, positive anticipated emotion influences consumers’ desire to participate in VCO, while negative anticipated emotion did not. The findings of this research reveal how interactive promotions influence individual’s internal processes for sustainable consumption, as well as highlight the need for different emotional elicitation strategies for different sustainability programs.

The development of mobile Internet services allows more consumers to adopt smartphones as their primary communication device. This study focused on the application of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to determine the willingness of batik and textile craftsmen to use smartphones. The population of this study was batik and textile craftsmen in the Bayat, Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia. A total sample of 243 people had answered 30 questions on the questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. The results of data analysis using GSCA software showed that, from eight hypotheses proposed, two hypotheses had not been supported. Technical support was not significant for the ease-ofuse. It is because the damage experienced can be easily resolved by a repair shop. The findings reinforce the importance of training during the implementation of new technology. This training can make the users understand how to use new technology. The findings of this study strengthen the theory of TAM. Management support further influences the usefulness. This finding supports the theory of Igbaria technology acceptance. However, social influence did not significant influence the usefulness. This was because this study was conducted when the smartphone was no longer said to be a new technology.