A 1.8 μm thick polycrystalline diamond (PCD) thin film layer is prepared on a Si(100) substrate using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition. Thereafter, its thermal conductivity is measured using the conventional laser flash analysis (LFA) method, a LaserPIT-M2 instrument, and the newly proposed light source thermal analysis (LSTA) method. The LSTA method measures the thermal conductivity of the prepared PCD thin film layer using an ultraviolet (UV) lamp with a wavelength of 395 nm as the heat source and a thermocouple installed at a specific distance. In addition, the microstructure and quality of the prepared PCD thin films are evaluated using an optical microscope, a field emission scanning electron microscope, and a micro-Raman spectroscope. The LFA, LaserPIT-M2, and LSTA determine the thermal conductivities of the PCD thin films, which are 1.7, 1430, and 213.43 W/(m·K), respectively, indicating that the LFA method and LaserPIT-M2 are prone to errors. Considering the grain size of PCD, we conclude that the LSTA method is the most reliable one for determining the thermal conductivity of the fabricated PCD thin film layers. Therefore, the proposed LSTA method presents significant potential for the accurate and reliable measurement of the thermal conductivity of PCD thin films.

The value of using rice flour processed into rice powder in preparing porridge was evaluated by measuring the moisture content, pH, total starch, reducing sugar, and color content. The moisture content of the rice flour and the pH of porridge made with rice flour were measured. Rice flour contained 77.55% moisture and the moisture content of the porridge made from rice flour processed into rice powder was 91.40 to 92.47%. The pH of rice flour porridge was acidic at 6.53 to 6.95. The color of the porridge was also measured. The L* values ranged from 82.62 to 97.55, the a* values ranged from －0.09 to 0.08, and the b* values ranged from －2.74 to 1.91.

Interleukin-1b (IL-1β), a proinflammatory cytokine, regulates the innate immune responses against bacterial infection. Mature IL-1β is produced from pro-IL-1β by activated caspase-1, which in turn is activated by the inflammasome complex formation. In this study, we compared the inflammasome mRNA expression induced by S. sanguinis, S. oralis, F. nucleatum and P. intermedia. Among the tested bacteria, S. sanguinis induced the highest IL-1β secretion. S. oralis, F. nucleatum and P. intermedia induced very weak IL-1β secretion. S. sanguinis mostly induced the NLRP3 mRNA expressions. Although F. nucleatum did not induce high IL-1β secretion, it induced high expression levels of AIM2, NLRP2, and NLRP3. No specific inflammasomes were induced by S. oralis and P.intermedia. Studying the inflammasome complex activation induced by oral bacteria may thus enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of oral diseases.

The study aimed to evaluate the damage persistence during subsequent years in kiwifruit vines defoliated by strong wind such as typhoons. Artificial defoliation was treated on five-year-old ‘Jecy Gold’ kiwifruit vines grown in a plastic house in year 2013 and 2014 by applying four levels of defoliation, i.e., 0, 50, 75, and 100% in August 23, 2013 and 100% defoliation in July 28 and August 29, 2014, respectively. Return bloom and fruit quality were investigated in the following two years, 2014 and 2015. A significant reduction in number of flowers per shoot in the following year, 2014 was recorded for the vines with 50%, 75%, and 100% defoliations treated in 2013 compared to the control vines. The number of flowers per florescence was significantly reduced for defoliated vines. Nevertheless, the fruit quality parameters, i.e., fruit length, width, weight, firmness, TSS, acidity, and dry matter content were not significantly different for the defoliated vines compared to the control vines. The vines defoliated in 2013 at 75% and 100% levels showed a significant reduction of number of flower per inflorescence in 2015 compared to the 0% defoliation. However, the number of flowers per shoot and fruit quality were not significantly different. Also, the number of flowers per inflorescence in 2015 was significantly reduced by July 28, 2014 or August 29, 2014 defoliation compared to non-defoliated vines while the number of flowers per shoot, and fruit quality in 2015 were not significantly different between treatments and control vines. Accordance with the present findings, the flowering is considerably affected by the shortage of carbohydrate supply than the fruit quality of ‘Jecy Gold’ kiwifruit. In addition, the negative impacts of severe defoliation in flowering of ‘Jecy Gold’ kiwifruit might be persisted more than one season from the time of defoliation and consequently, the total yield might be reduced in the following seasons after defoliation.

Biological control has been tried for integrated pest management. It is often comparable, safe, and environment-friendly, making itself an alternative for chemical agents. Filamentous microorganisms, i.e., fungi and streptomystes, produce many kinds of useful metabolites, and some of them have been developed as a biocontrol agent. However, they still have a long way because of the concern of manufacturing cost. Therefore, process development was intensively studied to meet cost-effectiveness. Operating conditions of bioreactor, e.g., agitation and aeration, had an effect on biological and physiological responses such as mycelial morphology, oxygen and nutrient transfer. Understanding relationship between operating parameters and microbial responses in terms of growth, substrate and oxygen consumption, and production yield was critical for process development. This study dedicated to build strategies for mass production of biological control agent using aerobic filamentous microorganisms.

The purpose of this study was to parallel circuit training and circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism was to compare the differences in pulmonary function and chest expansion in adult men. This study was performed on 20 subjects. 20 subjects were divided into two groups; Circuit training group(n=10), Circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism(n=10). Both of the group performed the exercise 3 times a week for 5 weeks. The data was analyzed by the Repeated t-test for comparing before, during and after changes of factors in each group and the Independent t-test for comparing the between groups. The result are as follows. Circuit training group was statistically significant difference FVC, FEV1/FVC(p<.05), Circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism group was statistically significant difference PEF, VC in pulmonary function(p<.05). Circuit training group was statistically significant difference FEV1/FVC of between the two group in pulmonary function(p<.05). Circuit training group and circuit training with sonic systemic mechanism group was statistically significant difference in chest expansion(p<0.05) and there was no statistically significant difference of between the two group in chest expansion(p>.05).

The notion that dental amalgam is a potential source of mercury exposure remains a controversial issue. However, there are few epidemiological analyses that have addressed whether this occurs in children. We aimed in our current study to identify the relationship between dental amalgam filling surfaces and the blood mercury levels in a cohort of 711 South Korean children aged between 8-9 years. Oral examinations were conducted to detect the number of amalgam filling surfaces on the teeth of these individuals. Blood samples were also taken from these children to assess the levels of mercury accumulation in the body. The amalgam filling surfaces were classified into four groups based on their number: 0 (n = 368), 1-5 (n = 219), 6-10 (n = 89), and 11+ (n = 35). The blood mercury levels in the children with more than 10 amalgam surfaces was 0.47 μg/L higher on average than those with no amalgam surfaces after adjusting for the frequency of fish or seafood consumption, age, and gender (P < 0.05). We found from our data that a higher number of dental amalgam fillings correlated with a higher blood mercury level in Korean children. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these elevated mercury levels exert neurotoxic or nephrotoxic effects.