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East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM) is an important system, which has impact on extreme winter phenomena, in East Asia including the Korean Peninsula. EAWM is characterized by the Siberian high with cold air and the Aleutian low with warm air, low-level northerly wind between them, East Asian trough in the middle troposphere, and East Asian jet stream in the upper troposphere. According to some previous studies, the variability of EAWM, which can be influenced by human activity and climate change, is strongly correlated with the occurrence of cold waves in East Asia. Additionally, EAWM variability has been shown to affect the precipitation during winter on the Korean Peninsula. Extreme boreal winter phenomena such as cold waves and heavy snow related to EAWM can induce disruptions to regular life and socio-economic damage. Regional climate models (RCMs) have added value in the simulations of extreme climate phenomena, but also have internal variability, which can increase uncertainty in future climate projections. Therefore, in this study, to closely understand EAWM and reduce the uncertainty in future climate projection, the performance of two RCMs (SNURCM and WRF) for EAWM simulation was evaluated. The results showed that two RCMs had the ability to capture the interannual variability and climatological spatial pattern of EAWM despite the systematic biases of EAWM in the lower troposphere (e.g., comparatively low correlation and larger temporal-spatial variability than reanalysis). Additionally, two RCMs presented significant cold bias over the Manchuria and wet bias over the Kuroshio Current. In further analysis, their systematic errors were positively correlated with EAWM, which had a larger pressure gradient between the Siberian high and the Aleutian low and colder advection over Manchuria than those of the ERA5. Wet biases over the Kuroshio Current could be related to unreasonable simulation EAWM induced by uncoupled air-sea interaction in RCMs.

Predicting building energy consumption needs to be anticipated to save building energy and effectively control the predictions. This study depicted the target building as a physical model to improve the learning performance in a data-scarce environment and proposed a model that uses simulation results as the input for a data-driven model. Case studies were conducted with different quantities of data. The proposed hybrid method proposed in this study showed a higher prediction accuracy showing a cvRMSE of 22.8% and an MAE of 6.1% than using the conventional data-driven method and satisfying the tolerance criteria of ASHRAE Guideline 14 in all the test cases.

Much attention has been given to the sun as a source of alternative energy for conserving energy. Recently, solar energy technologies have been linked with IT to reduce the energy consumed in buildings, with proven effectiveness. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of a light shelf with user-awareness and dimming control features. We assess the efficiency of a light shelf in saving lighting energy by examining each component of the light shelf. A testbed is used to verify the lighting energy-saving effect of this light shelf. In order to determine the energy consumption in different situations, we examine three cases. Case 1 features a light shelf that is user-unaware but with lighting On/Off control. Case 2 features a light shelf that is user-aware with lighting On/Off control. Case 3 features a light shelf that is user-aware with dimming control. Users were classified by target illumination levels according to illumination standards: A (600 lx), B (400 lx), and C (300 lx). The appropriate standards and lighting energy consumption levels for each Case were found through this study, and the lighting energy saving performance of the light shelf that is user-aware and applies light dimming technology proposed here was verified.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is being used in various research fields on the building environment. Target space of the CFD model is divided into a finite number of grids for numerical analysis. Therefore, an optimal grid design is required to obtain accurate results. The grid independence test is generally performed to design an optimal grid. However, given that there is no standardized procedure for gird independence test, most depend on the researcher’s experience and knowledge. In the conventional method, the subjective judgment of the researcher affected the selection of the grid conditions and the criteria for the optimal grid. It can lead to a decrease in the reliability of the simulation results by poor grid design. This study proposed a grid independence test method that applies the grid resolution to improve the conventional method. The grid resolution was calculated by applying the characteristic length. CV(RMSE) and R2 were applied as the criteria for optimal grid. A case study was conducted to evaluate the adequacy of the proposed method. As the characteristic length increased, the optimal grid resolution increased. In particular, for a characteristic length of 0.7 or more, the optimal grid resolution was evaluated as 24. The grid convergence index (GCI) was calculated to verify the suitability of the proposed method. As a result, all of the optimal grid resolution derived from the proposed method was evaluated as the optimal condition.

A window set is defined as a window where the frame and the glass are combined and is used at the part that comes into contact with the air. As the performance evaluation of window sets has gained significance, the need for software that can simulate window set performance has also increased accordingly. However, the simulation of window sets is not carried out efficiently due to the difficulty in the window set modeling. Meanwhile, the design of building information modeling has recently proliferated so that the window set BIM library is distributed online. If such a window set BIM library is utilized in the window set simulation, it is expected that the productivity issue that occurs in the simulation process could be improved. Therefore, this study proposes a method to automatically convert the information required in the simulation of the window set heat transfer coefficient from the BIM. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the following procedure is carried out. First, the framework for converting the information required in the simulation of the window set heat transfer coefficient from the BIM is suggested. Second, the method to extract and convert BIM data based on the suggested framework is proposed. Lastly, the BIM data conversion program is developed, and its performance is validated by applying the window set BIM case. The case study result showed that the information converted and entered from the window set data BIM conversion program coincided with the information entered in the window set BIM. It is expected that the result of this study will increase the productivity of window set simulations, which will lead to the increased use of certification through these simulations.

Background Recently, automatic molecular diagnostic devices to extract DNA have been extensively developed using magnetic beads. While various methods can be applied to the control of the beads, the efficiency of the control when incorporated in automatic devices has not been studied. This paper proposes a compact magnet actuation method for the control of magnetic beads for DNA extraction, and compares the efficiency to the already available magnetic bead-based DNA extraction device. A permanent magnet was preferred for its compactness, while an electro-magnet provides easy operation. After investigating various methods to actuate the magnet with perspective to the size, circuit complexity, and power requirement, we determined the solenoid actuation method to be most efficient. To further reduce the dimension of the overall actuation device, direct actuation of the permanent magnet to control the hold/release of the beads was employed in this paper. The proposed method was compared with the conventional solenoid actuator with a metal plunger. An experimental fluidics device was set up with a fluidic channel and a syringe pump. The bead holding performance against the fluid speed was tested while a fixed amount of beads was loaded into the center of the channel. The group velocity of the beads was analyzed via image processing to determine whether the magnet was sufficient to hold the beads. The required power and space was analyzed and compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Result The proposed direct actuation method was capable of holding the beads at faster fluidic speed than the conventional solenoid actuator. The required power was comparable contemplating the high initial power of the solenoid actuator, and required much smaller space since no plunger was needed. Conclusions The direct actuation of the permanent magnet using a solenoid coil showed enhanced performance in holding the beads via permanent magnet, with less complexity of the actuation circuit and space. The proposed method therefore can efficiently improve the overall performance of the bead-based DNA extraction.

Polymers have been used to stabilize interfaces or to tune the mechanical properties of interfaces in various contexts, such as in oil emulsions or biological membranes. Although the structural properties of these systems are relatively well-studied, instrumental limitations continue to make it difficult to understand how the addition of polymer affects the dynamic mechanical properties of thin and soft films. We have solved this challenge by developing a new instrument, an optical-tweezer-based interface shear microrheometer (ISMR). With this technique, we observed that the interface shear modulus, G*, of a dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride (DODAC) monolayer at the air-water interface significantly increased with adsorption of polystyrenesulfonate (PSS). In addition, the viscous film (DODAC monolayer) became a viscoelastic film with PSS adsorption. At a low salt concentration, 10 mM of NaCl in the subphase, the viscoelasticity of the DODAC/PSS composite was predominantly determined by a particular property of PSS, that is, it behaves as a Gaussian chain in a θ-solvent. At a high salt concentration, 316 mM of NaCl, the thin film behaved as a polymer melt excluding water molecules.

This study aims to establish a prediction equation for the thermal transmittance of the thermal bridges in a lightweight wood-frame house comprising composite wall materials using a statistical method. A heat transfer analysis was performed on 288 cases with different independent variables that affect the linear thermal transmittance and equivalent thermal transmittance of a wooden structure, and independent variables with a high degree of influence were selected through hierarchical regression analysis in order to establish a regression equation. The predicted values were compared with the heat transfer analysis values for verification. The results showed an average error of 5.9% and maximum error of 15.1% for the linear thermal transmittance and an average error of 0.9% and maximum error of 3.0% for the equivalent thermal transmittance, demonstrating an engineering level of reliability (

The effects of crystal orientation on the optical gain characteristics of blue AlInGaN/InGaN quantum-well (QW) structures with a reduced internal field were investigated by using the non-Markovian model with many-body effects. The AlInGaN/InGaN system has a larger matrix element than the conventional InGaN/GaN system because the former has a smaller internal field than the latter for relatively small crystal angles. As a result, for QW structures with a relatively small crystal angle (θ = 30°), the AlInGaN/InGaN system is shown to have a much larger optical gain than the conventional InGaN/GaN system. On the other hand, in the case of QW structures with a large crystal angle (θ = 90°), the AlInGaN/InGaN system is shown to have a smaller optical gain than the conventional InGaN/GaN system. Hence, we expect that we can obtain high-efficiency optoelectronic devices by using quaternary AlInGaN QW for relatively small crystal angles.

Millet and sorghum are major dryland cereal crops, however their growth and productivity is limited by soil water stress with varying intensity. The major objective of this study was to evaluate water stress of millet and sorghum yield under drainage classes of poorly drained soil and to test the effect of the installed pipe drainage in poorly drained paddy soil to minimize crop stress. The research was carried out in poorly drained paddy fields located at alluvial slopping area resulting in non-uniform water content distribution by the inflow of ground water from the upper part of the field. Stress Day Index (SDI) was determined from a stress day factor (SD) and a crop susceptibility factor (CS). SD is a degree of measurement by calculating the daily sum of excess water in the profile above 30cm soil depth (SEW30). CS depends on a given excess water on crop stage. The results showed that sum of excess water day (SWD30) used to represent the moisture stress index was lower on somewhat poorly drained soil compared with poorly drained soil on 117 days. CS values for sorghum were 57% on 3rd leaf stage, 44% on 5 th leaf stage, 37% on panicle initiation, 23% on boot stage, and 16% on soft dough stage. For proso millet CS values were 84% on 3 rd leaf stage, 70% on 5 th leaf Stage, 65% on panicle initiation, 53% on boot stage, and 28% on soft dough stage. And for foxtail millet the values were 73% on 3 rd leaf stage, 61% on 5 th leaf stage, 50% on panicle initiation, 29% on boot stage, and 15% on soft dough stage. SDI of sorghum and millet was more susceptible to excess soil water during panicle initation stage more poorly drained soil than somewhat poorly drained soil. Grain yield was reduced especially in proso millet and Foxtail millet compared to Sorghum.

Although sorghum residue production was estimated to be 8～10 Mg ha -1 , most sorghum straw was used to be burnt or removed after harvest. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of manured sorghum residues on soil physical properties from 2010 to 2012 in the converted paddy field. Five treatment with 3 replication consisted of control, inorganic fertilizer (NPK), manured residues, sorghum stover and sawdust manure. The incorporation level of organic source was 10 Mg ha -1 without inorganic fertilizer NPK. The investigated physical parameters were bulk density (BD), porosity, water stability aggregate (WSA), water infiltration rater (WIR), penetration resistance (PR) and soil water retention characteristics (WRC) with soil depth. The incorporation of manured sorghum residues improved WIR significantly over inorganic fertilizer (NPK), sorghum residues and sawdust manure. The BD by incorporating with manured residues on sorghum was reduced significantly with crop residue over plot of NPK and sawdust. Significant increase in WSA was observed with stubble incorporation alone or manured sorghum residues. Soil WRC were significantly enhanced with manured sorghum residue incorporated without NPK. The average PR at 0～15 cm was 0.54 MPa for manured sorghum residues. For sawdust manure plot it was 0.42 MPa, for Sawdust manure plot 0.39 MPa and for NPK plot 0.54 MPa.

We report the molecular beam epitaxy growth of lateral composition-modulated (LCM) GaInP structures induced by GaP/InP short-period superlattice (SPS), and the effect of post-annealing process on their optical properties. The samples are structurally analyzed using cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy which reveals the formation of SPS-induced LCM-GaInP just above the substrate and bulk-like weakly phase separated LCM-GaInP towards the sample surface. The bulk-like features are formed due to strain accumulation and relaxation during SPS growth. The grown samples are annealed under different annealing conditions and optically characterized by low-temperature photoluminescence (LT-PL) and Raman spectroscopy. LT-PL reveals a lower energy PL peak originating from LCM-GaInP and a higher energy PL peak originating from weakly phase separated LCM-GaInP. These peaks red-shift with increase in annealing duration and temperature, and the higher energy PL peak approach towards the lower energy PL peak indicating enhanced phase separation of In-rich GaInP and Ga-rich GaInP vertical layers of the constituent LCM-GaInP structure. Also there exists an optimum annealing temperature and duration at which the PL intensity of the LCM-GaInP increases. More importantly, our results suggest that post-annealing process is a viable technique to enhance the optical properties of LCM-GaInP structures.

The paper relates to a transmissive electro-absorption modulator and a method of fabricating the optical modulator for 3D image capturing system. For 3D image capturing, the system utilizes Time-of-Flight (TOF) principle by means of high-speed optical shuttering. A 20 MHz-switching high speed optical shutter is realized by GaAs based multi-layer design with electro-absorption layers combining with optical resonance cavity and GaAs micromachining based on the etching process. Thick InGaP (4λ) layer was chosen for the transmissive membrane structure and etch-stop of GaAs wet etching. This layer also was n-type doped to enhance the electrical contact resistance. The transmissive window area is divided into 28 cells for a low device capacitance and a high switching speed, and the polyimide layer with low dielectric constant is embedded between p-pad and n-pad to reduce the leakage and parasitic capacitance. As a result, 49.5% of transmittance variation and above 37.7 MHz of switching speed are obtained to guarantee the functionality of Time-of-Flight operation of 3D camera.

Sustainability index was calculated to determine the best management for rice productivity under long-term inorganic fertilizer management’s practices. It is based on nutrient index, microbiological index and crop index related to sustainability as soil function. Indicators for calculating sustainability index were selected by the comparison of soil properties and rice response in paddy soil with fertilization. Total twenty two indicators were determined to assess nutrient index, microbiological index and crop index in order to compare the effect of different fertilization. The indices were applied to assess the sustainability with different inorganic fertilizer treatments such as control, N, NK, NP, NPK, NPK+Si, and NPK+Compost. The long-term application of compost with NPK was the highest sustainability index value because it increased nutrient index, microbial index and crop index. The use of chemical fertilizers resulted in poor soil microbial index and crop index, but the treatments like NP, NPK, and NPK+Si were maintained sustainability in paddy soil. These results indicate that application of organic and chemical fertilizer could be a good management to improve rice sustainability in paddy soil.

This study was conducted to evaluate the weed suppressing effects of different cropping system including hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) and rye (Secale cereale) cover crops, polyethylene plastic film, and transplanting film mulching in direct sowing and transplanted sorghum field in 2011. Crop growth and development and weed occurrences in the fields were examined to know the efficiency of proposed cropping system. In polyethylene film mulching treatment, heading date of sorghum was earlier by 3 days than control, on the other hands, rye cover crop mulching delayed heading date by 11 days. Besides the effect of cover crop on the heading of sorghum, the residues changed growth characteristics. Plant height of sorghum was increased by 27.3% at hairy vetch treatment although it was reduced by 47.5% in the rye cover crop treatment. Hairy vetch treatment showed beneficial effects on sorghum growth reduced the occurrences of grasses and broadleaf weeds to 84% and 96%, respectively, as compared to control in sorghum fields. While rye cover crop treatment showed poor sorghum growth reduced less strongly grasses and broadleaf weeds by 35% and 71%, respectively. At harvest, yield of sorghum was greater in order of hairy vetch cover crop > polyethylene film mulching > rye cover crop control in both transplanted and direct sown fields.

Soil compaction is one of the major problems facing modern agriculture. Overuse of machinery, intensive cropping, short crop rotations, intensive grazing and inappropriate soil management leads to compaction. This study was carried out evaluate of the effects soil texture and different compaction levels within the soil profile on the soybean root growth and productivity. The soybean plants were grown in cylinder pots using three different soil textures (clay, fine loamy and coarse loamy) compacted at different compaction levels (1.25, 1.50, 1.75, and 2.00 MPa). Results revealed that soybean development is more sensitive on penetration resistance, irrespective of soil type. Soybean yield and root weight density significantly decreases with increasing levels of soil compaction in both clayey and fine loamy soils, but not in coarse loamy soil. The highest root weight density was recorded in coarse loamy soils, followed by fine loamy and clay soils, in descending order. The root growth by soil compaction levels started to decline from 1.16, 1.28 and 1.60 MPa for clay, fine loamy and coarse loamy soils. Soybean production in the field experiment decreased about 30% at compacted sub-soils compared to undisturbed soils.

Weed control is of fundamental importance when planting cereal crops, particularly during the establishment phase. Weeds compete for nutrients, water and light, and can severely threaten the survival and early growth of newly planted crops. Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of ethanol treatment on the weed control efficacy in cereal crops in protected vinylhouse. Five treatments like water, 25 L, 50 L, 75 L, and 100 L per m -2 at 2% ethanol were applied and covered with vinyl on 10 days before foxtail millet seeding. After that, foxtail millet seeds were sown on June 20 at 60×10cm planting distance and weed control efficacy was recorded at 30, and 50 days after seeding based on the dry weight. Soil oxidation-reduction potential was recorded -200～-400 ㎷ after treatment 2 days. Weed control efficacy of at 75 L, and 100 L per m -2 was observed 92%, 84% in 2% ETOH, respectively. Yields of foxtail millet at 75 L, and 100 L per m -2 were 1,570 kg ha -1 , 1,230 kg ha

Design and performance test results of a newly developed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurement system are presented in this paper. Generally, different types of optical filters are used in OSL reader system to minimize the interference of the stimulation light in the OSL signal. For optically stimulation of , we have arrived at an optimal combination of the filters, i.e., GG420 filter for filtering the stimulating light source, and a combined UG11 and BG39 filter at the detecting window (PMT). By using a high luminance blue LED (Luxeon V), sufficient luminous intensity could be obtained for optically stimulation. By using various control boards, the OSL reader device was successfully interfaced with a personal computer. A software was developed to deliver required commands to operate the OSL reader by using the LabView program (National Instruments, Inc.). In order to evaluate the reliability and the reproducibility of newly designed-OSL reader. Performance testing of the OSL reader was carried out for OSL efficiency, OSL decay curve and signal to noise ratio of the standard OSL material. It was found to be comparable with that of commercial Riso reader system.

There are considerable areas of wet paddy fields in Korea that requires improvement of its drainage system. In poorly drained sloping paddy fields, upland crops can be damaged by either rainfall or capillary rise of the water table caused by percolating water beneath the upper fields during summertime rainy season. The purpose of this study is to evaluate excess water stress of soybean yield by drainage systems. Four drainage methods namely open ditch, vinyl barrier, pipe drainage and tube bundle were installed within 1-m position at the lower edge of the upper paddy fields. Stress Day Index (SDI) approach was developed to quantify the the cumulative effect of stress imposed on a soybean yield throughout the growing season. SDI was determined from a stress day factor (SD) and a crop susceptibility factor (CS). The stress day factor is a measure degree and duration of stress of the (SEW30). The crop susceptibility factor (CS) depends of a given excess water on crop stage. The results showed that SDI used to represent the moisture stress index was most low on the pipe drainage 64.75 compared with the open ditch 355.4, vinyl barrier 271.55 and tube bundle 171.55. Soybean grain yield increased continuously with the rate of 3% in Vinyl Barrier, 32% in Pipe Drainage and 16% in Tube Bundle.

Weed control is of fundamental importance when planting horticultural crops, particularly during the establishment phase. Weeds compete for nutrients, water and light, and can severely threaten the survival and early growth of newly planted crops. Failure to control weeds represents one of the single most important factors leading to crop loss. Knowledge on the existence of the diversity of weed species in greenhouses is of our main concern in this study in order to develop a most efficient and effective weed control strategies. Sixty-two greenhouses were surveyed in 3 cities and counties of Gyeongnam area in March to October 2009 to investigate the feature of weed occurrence in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) after harvesting of the main crops. Forty-one weed species were identified and classified to 18 families which were composed of 14 annual weeds, 18 summer annual weeds and 9 perennial weeds. On the other hand, broadleaf, grasses and sedges recorded with 30, 7 and 4 weed species, respectively. Asteraceae was the most dominant weed species (9 species) noted followed by Poaceae (7 species), Cyperaceae (4 species), Caryophyllaceae and Brassicaceae (3 species respectively) and other families have 1~2 species. The dominant weed species occurred in the greenhouse based on the summed dominance ratio. These weeds were Digitaria sanguinalis, Cyperus iria, Portulaca oleracea, Rorippa islandica, Mazus japonicas, Cardamine flexousa, and Eclipta prostrata and others. Weed occurrence in the greenhouse after horticultural crops consisted of summer annuals (4 species), winter annuals (3 species), and perennial annuals (1 specie). The dominant species occurred in tilled soil based on summed dominance ratio of weeds were Cardamine flexousa (88.1%), Eclipta prostrate (57.4%) and Portulaca oleracea (55.2%). Comparison of weed occurrence was thoroughly surveyed also in which field without PVC, weed species were Portulaca oleracea (55.2), Eclipta prostrata (57.9%) and Trigonotis peduncularis (25.1%) and field with PVC, the identified weeds were Portulaca oleracea (98.75), Trigonotis peduncularis (49.1%), and Eclipta prostrata (36.8%).

To use barley as a green manure crop, this study has been conducted in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do to establish the barley green manure (BGM)-rice cropping system with emphasis on soil incorporation date and BGM density. The nitrogen (N) contents of rye and barley, grass green manure crops, were 1.4~2.4% at early growth stage and decreased rapidly to 0.6~1.0% at late growth stage. The biomass of barley was 449 kg/l0a at heading stage (HS) and increased to 421 kg/10a at 10 days after heading stage (DAH), 473 kg/10a at 20 DAH. C/N ratio of BGM was the lowest 26.3 at HS. The N contents of BGM was in the range of 0.9~1.5%, the highest at HS and gradually decreased, and the output of N were 4.3-6.3 kg/10a. The total amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium of BGM showed the highest level at 10 DAH. Culm length of rice was relatively longer as the BGM application time was delayed. The application of BGM into soil increased plant height of rice by 7.2~7.7 em as compared to the plants treated with commercial fertilizer at recommended rate. but panicle length of rice showed a similar tendency in both the soil-applied of BGM and commercial fertilizer. N contents of unhulled rice was the highest at HS of BGM and followed by 10 DAH of BGM and 20 DAH of BGM. This trend could also be seen in rice straw. The yield of rice in the soil-applied of BGM was 10~15% lower than in the soil-applied of commercial fertilizer. Based on this study, application of BGM made it possible to save 30~50% of application amount of nitrogen fertilizer for following crops.

This survey of weed population by different soil moisture with paddy-upland rotation was conducted to investigate information on weed flora and its ecology between two years. Weed species were assessed in April : 2009, 2010. Soil samples were taken from each study plot to assess the impact soil moisture on the occurrence and abundance of dominance weed species. Soil water of poorly drained field ranged from 10.2~18.2% more than 11.8~14.3% of somewhat poorly drained field. Weeds of fields composed of 19 species belonging to 12 families. Among 12 families, 6 weed species belonged to Compositae (31.6%) were the biggest family, Cruciferae were 2 species (10.5%), and Rubiaceae were 2 species (10.5%), respectively. Youngia japonica had the highest summed dominance ratio(SDR) (97.0%) and followed by Conyza canadensis (92.1%), Galium spurium (35.3%) and Hemistepta lyrata (28.4%) of somewhat poorly drainage in 2009. Artemisia princeps the highest SDR (100%) and followed by Stellaria alsine(55.2%), Y. japonica (38.3%) and Nasturtium officinale (28.5%) of poorly drainage in 2009. And, Stellaria alsine had the highest SDR (86.8%) and followed by Alopecurus aequalis (77.7%), Astragalus sinicus (68.7%) and Y. japonica (46.3%) of somewhat poorly drainage in 2010. S. alsine the highest SDR (93.7%) and followed by A. aequalis (78.6%), Nasturtium officinale (31.3%) and Y. japonica (30.4%) of poorly drainage in 2010. Simpson`s index was calculated to 0.12~0.23, which showed that weed occurrence with different soil moisture in paddy-upland rotation and between years was various. Similarity coefficient between years was 43.0% (2009) and 74.2% (2010), which indicate a low diversity because of the moisture in the agro-ecosystem.

and films were prepared on indium-tin-oxide(ITO)-coated glass substrates by using thermal evaporation. The crystallization was achieved by annealing the as-deposited films in flowing nitrogen. X-ray diffraction spectra showed that the and the films were preferentially grown along the (113) orientation. The crystal structure was rhomohedral(hexagonal) with lattice constants of $a

The near-fault ground motion (NFGM) is characterized by a single long period velocity pulse of large magnitude. NFGM`s have been observed in recent strong earthquakes, Izmit Turkey (1999), Kobe Japan (1995), Northridge USA (1994), etc. These strong earthquakes have caused considerable damage to infrastructures because the epicenter was close to the urban area, called as NFGM. Extensive research for the near-fault ground motion (NFGM) have been carried out in strong seismic region, but limited research have been done for NFGM in low or moderate seismic regions because of very few records. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the effect of near-fault ground motions on reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers with lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcing steels. The seismic performance of four RC bridge piers under near-fault ground motions was investigated on the shake table. In addition, a RC bridge pier is subjected to pseudo-dynamic loadings. Test results showed that large residual displacements were observed in RC bridge piers under NFGM. RC specimens on the shake table failed at relatively low displacement ductility, compared with the displacement ductility of RC bridge pier subjected to pseudo-dynamic loadings.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns using shaking table tests. A computer program, named RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology), for the analysis of reinforced concrete structures was used. Material nonlinearity is taken into account by comprising tensile, compressive and shear models of cracked concrete and a model of reinforcing steel. Solution of the equations of motion is obtained by numerical integration using Hither-Hughes-Taylor (HMT) algorithm. The proposed numerical method for the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge columns using shaking table tests is verified by comparison with reliable experimental results.

A strictly aerobic, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative bacterium, designated strain HW7T, was isolated from a rice field in Korea. Cells of strain HW7T were short rod-shaped and motile with single polar flagella. The major cellular fatty acids of strain HW7T were C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The genomic DNA G+C content was 56 mol% and the major isoprenoid quinone was Q-8. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain HW7T forms a distinct lineage with respect to closely related genera within the class Betaproteobacteria and that the levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with respect to the type species of related genera are less than 93 %. On the basis of the physiological and phylogenetic data, strain HW7T represents a novel genus and species of the Betaproteobacteria, for which the name Leeia oryzae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HW7T (=KCTC 12585T=DSM 17879T).

Through lessons in recent earthquakes, the bridge engineering community recognizes the need for new seismic design methodologies based on the inelastic structural performance of RC bridge structures. This study represents results of performance-based fragility analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge. Monte carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic responses of RC bridge. Two-parameter log-normal distribution function is used to represent the fragility curves. These two-parameters, referred to as fragility parameters, are estimated by the traditional maximum likelihood procedure, which is treated each event of RC bridge pier damage as a realization of Bernoulli experiment. In order to formulate the fragility curves, five different damage states are described by two practical factors: the displacement and curvature ductility, which are mostly influencing on the seismic behavior of RC bridge piers. Five damage states are quantitatively assessed in terms of these seismic ductilities on the basis of numerous experimental results of RC bridge piers. Thereby, the performance-based fragility curves of RC bridge pier are provided in this paper. This approach can be used in constructing the fragility curves of various bridge structures and be applied to construct the seismic hazard map.

Agroenvironmental characteristics in paddy fields irrigated with the water of Nagdong river were analyzed along the river watershed for two years from 1999. The sites monitored from upper reaches of the river were Andong, Sangju, Gumi, Goryeong, Changnyeong, Milyang and Pusan. In paddy soils, the contents of heavy metals such as Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn and As were around natural values showing the highest values in Pusan followed by Goryeong. In brown rice, the contents of heavy metals were lower than natural values. Soil chemical properties appeared higher values in the lower reaches including Goryeong than the upper ones. The highest parameters in Goryeong were pH (), EC (), (), exchangeable Ca (), Mg (), K () and those in Pusan were organic matter () and T-N (). In conclusion, the recommended rates of N fertilizer for rice cropping were 21.4%, 11.8% and 8.8% high for Andong, Sangju and Gumi, respectively and 14.9%, 4.6%, 4.5% and 11.5% low for Goryeong, Changnyeong, Milyang and Pusan, respectively reflecting the chemical properties of soils and the quality of irrigation water on the basis of 110 kgN/ha. In the case of phosphorous, the rates were 18.9% and 33.3% low for Changnyeong and others, respectively on the basis of . The populations of bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, Bacillus, fluorescent Pseudomonas and Biomass C were high at the lower reaches including Goryeong, which showed relatively much nutrient contents of organic matter, total N and phosphorous etc.