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By applying an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we specifically examined how TAM-related factors affected two types of usage behaviors of current Metaverse platforms. The use intensity of the popular Metaverses and the adoption of the emerging Metaverses. The study recruited 222 participants through an online survey distributed via Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk). The results indicated that the driving forces to use the popular Metaverses were perceived usefulness (PU) and subjective norm (SN), while the adoption of the emerging Metaverses was significantly influenced by perceived enjoyment (PE) and external regulation (ER) of the Covid−19. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors that motivate individuals to engage with contemporary Metaverse platforms, shedding light on the theoretical frameworks of TAM, Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), and Self-determination Theory (SDT). By exploring these dimensions, our study offers a fresh and distinctive perspective on this subject, paving the way for future research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gesture interactivity and self-mirroring effects of large digital displays, also known as digital signage, was investigated using the self-presence theory and engagement. By extending the interactive effects of gesture and self-mirroring from the immersive environment to a large interactive display (LID), this study found the implicit mediating roles of social presence and engagement for advertising effectiveness through a 2 (gesture; non-gesture vs. gesture interactivity) x 2 (self-representation; non-self-mirroring vs. self-mirroring interactivity) between-subject design (N = 81) experiment. The results indicated that gesture interactivity enhances a feeling of self-presence, not self-mirroring, and it positively fosters psychological engagement with advertising content. In turn, the heightened engagement results in better advertising effectiveness, such as brand attitude, purchase intention, and recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air ambulance has a huge advantage over the ground transport in providing rapid medical access to remote areas, shortening transport time, and improving survival rate. However, one of the hurdles to expanding air service coverage is the limited heliports for landing. This study aims to quantitatively assess the impact of adding school playgrounds as sub-heliports to reduce air medical transport time. To achieve this goal, the existing air medical transport infrastructure and traffic crash injury data were collected and analyzed to establish the relationship between transport time and injury severities. Then, air medical transport time with and without the augmentation of school playgrounds were estimated, respectively. Additionally, air medical service coverage maps were created to show the impact of fatal injury reduction and the estimated transport times. The findings have shown promising results of using school playgrounds to reduce air medical transport time, which is an encouraging sign for converting school playgrounds to potential heliports. Our research provides the quantitative evidence to the policy makers on expanding air medical capacity with existing infrastructure to improve the emergency medical services in South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As smoking has emerged as a health-risk behavior, communication scholars and practitioners have put many efforts into finding out ways to achieve smoking cessation. In this research, participants (N = 57) were randomly assigned to a spatial augmented reality (SAR) condition (3D projection mapping) and 2D flat screen to be exposed to an anti-smoking message. This research provides insightful evidence that the effects of SAR on people's behavioral intention to spread anti-smoking messages online could be explained by spatial presence and negative emotions. Implications for research on the potential of SAR in terms of emotions and online viral behavioral intentions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous studies have shown that shyness is a risk factor for internalizing behaviors, not all shy children are affected to the same extent, suggesting possible moderating factors. Emotional intelligence (EI) may be one factor that is protective against internalizing problems for some shy children. EI is a socio-cognitive skill that helps individuals understand and use their emotions, and the emotions of others, to achieve goals. Here we examined whether EI moderated the relation between children's shyness and internalizing behaviors. Participants were 115 school-aged children (M age = 8.84 years, SD = 0.44 years, 49 girls). Parents completed online questionnaires about the child's shyness, EI, and internalizing behaviors. We found that EI moderated the relation between shyness and internalizing behaviors. Specifically, shyness was positively related to internalizing behaviors for children with low EI, but unrelated to internalizing behaviors for children with high EI. These findings suggest that EI may play a protective role against internalizing behaviors for some shy children in middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment is reported that studied the effects of spatial embodiment in augmented reality on medical attitudes about the self. College students (N = 90) viewed public service announcements (PSAs) with overlaid virtual fetuses and X-rayed images of lungs on various interfaces representing embodiment—a two-dimensional screen, a three-dimensional (3D) mannequin, and the participants' bodies (3D). Results indicated that PSA messages with richer embodied interfaces increase the sense of "being there," also known as spatial presence (SP), in sequential order; this leads to increased negative emotion regarding smoking cigarettes and an increased willingness to engage with a cigarette cessation campaign. When the SP mediates the dual model process, only affective attitudes increase the behavioral intention to engage with the campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent crashes caused by drowsy driving, supplemental rest areas have been installed in the South Korean freeway system to allow road users to rest. These supplemental rest areas are very small-sized resting facilities located between the larger regular rest areas, which is a unique design. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the supplemental rest areas on reducing crashes caused by drowsy driving. Between 2011 and 2012, supplemental rest areas were first installed in the Gyeongbu Freeway, which was selected as the study area for this study. The first 160 km and 178 km stretches of the southbound and northbound lanes, respectively, of the Gyeongbu Freeway were considered the reference areas. For both the southbound and northbound lanes, the downstream stretch of the Gyeongbu Freeway was considered the treatment area where the supplemental rest areas were installed. Based on a negative binomial regression of the crashes estimated in the reference and treatment areas, an empirical Bayes approach was employed to quantitatively validate the effects of the supplemental rest areas on reducing crashes caused by drowsy driving. The results showed that the supplemental rest areas reduced freeway crashes caused by drowsy driving by 14%. The supplemental rest areas were most effective in reducing drowsy driving related crashes particularly in freeway sections with 2 or 3 travel lanes or with ramps. As the first data-driven study evaluating the effects of these supplemental rest areas, the results imply that supplemental rest areas provide more opportunities to avoid drowsy driving, and, therefore they should be encouraged for freeways as cost-effective safety improvement facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedestrian safety enhancement is a key component in reducing traffic fatalities in the Republic of Korea. The purpose of this study was to review, validate, specify, and prioritize Korea’s strategic policies for pedestrian safety enhancement using the classification tree method to model pedestrian injury severities. The findings show that pedestrian age and movement type are the two primary variables contributing to pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries. Traffic operation, road class, crash location, driver violation, and at-fault vehicle type are all secondary variables associated with pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries. Factors that contributed to crashes were compared with strategic polices for senior zones and school zones, road safety facilities, safe walking environments, and legal obligations of the driver in order to understand why certain polices are ineffective versus effective. Consequently, this study provides prescriptive analysis and specific insights pertaining to strategic policies for pedestrian safety enhancements, which can be employed in other countries for the similar purpose. For further research, this study suggests combining several other data-mining techniques with nationwide data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study combined vehicle to vehicle crash frequency and severity estimations to examine factor impacts on Wisconsin highway safety in rainy weather. Method: Because of data deficiency, the real-time water film depth, the car-following distance, and the vertical curve grade were estimated with available data sources and a GIS analysis to capture rainy weather conditions at the crash location and time. Using a negative binomial regression for crash frequency estimation, the average annual daily traffic per lane, the interaction between the posted speed limit change and the existence of an off-ramp, and the interaction between the travel lane number change and the pavement surface material change were found to increase the likelihood of vehicle to vehicle crashes under rainfall. Results: However, more average daily rainfall per month and a wider left shoulder were identified as factors that decrease the likelihood of vehicle to vehicle crashes. In the crash severity estimation using the multinomial logit model that outperformed the ordered logit model, the travel lane number, the interaction between the travel lane number and the slow grade, the deep water film, and the rear-end collision type were more likely to increase the likelihood of injury crashes under rainfall compared with crashes involving only property damage. Practical implications: As an exploratory data analysis, this study provides insight into potential strategies for rainy weather highway safety improvement, specifically, the following weather-sensitive strategies: road design and ITS implementation for drivers' safety awareness under rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A study is made to quantitatively assess California motorcyclist safety strategies with an emphasis on the young and 45–54 aged motorcyclist victims. [•] Multinomial logit model and pseudo-elasticity were used to examine contributing factors to increase the emphasized age group motorcyclist fatalities. [•] Public education regarding alcohol use and helmet use, enforcing the heavy vehicle violation, and roadway facility strategies were found to be effective regardless of age groups. [•] Roadway design and visibility enhancement are expected to be reasonable in reducing older motorcyclist in particular. [•] Driver education and enforcement of speed violations are convinced as reasonable ways especially to reduce young age group fatalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An observation on the relationship between stick-slip phenomena and chatter scratch generation during chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) was made using finite element analysis. The motivation for this work is based on the questions about the possibility of the stick-slip phenomena in the CMP process and the quantitative relation between the stick-slip behaviors and the formation characteristics of the scratch. The finite element simulation results showed that stick-slip friction could occur during CMP and it could be seen only in the case of the interactions with the particles trapped inside pad surface. Also, the stick-slip period increased with the density of interacting wafer surface material and the particle size had a significant effect on the stick-slip period and magnitude. It is expected that this work will aid the development of chatter scratch reduction technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the Wisconsin road weather safety initiative, the objective of this study was to microscopically assess the factor effects on the severities of multivehicle-involved crashes on high-speed roadways during rainfall utilizing a sequential logistic regression approach. Research began by considering interstate freeways in Wisconsin. Weather-related factors considered in the research included estimated rainfall intensity, water film depth, temperature, wind speed and direction, and the car-following distance at the time of crash. With each crash observation, weather data were obtained through the three most adjacent weather station locations and the inverse-squared distance method. Nonweather factors such as roadway geometries, traffic conditions, collision manners, vehicle types, and driver and temporal attributes were also considered. Sequential logistic regression was applied to predict multivehicle crash severities in ascending (forward) and descending (backward) orders, respectively. The final model was selected on the basis of a combination of model performance, parameter significance, and prediction accuracies. The backward sequential logistic regression model produced the most desirable results for predicting crash severities in rainy weather in which deficiency of car following, wind speed, the first harmful spot, vehicle types, temporal, and at-fault driver-related actions at the crash moment were found to be statistically significant. These findings can be used to provide quantitative support of road weather safety improvements via weather warning systems, highway infrastructure enhancements, and traffic management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As part of the Wisconsin road weather safety initiative, the objective of this study is to assess the effects of rainfall on the severity of single-vehicle crashes on Wisconsin interstate highways utilizing polychotomous response models. Weather-related factors considered in this study include estimated rainfall intensity for 15min prior to a crash occurrence, water film depth, temperature, wind speed/direction, stopping sight distance and deficiency of car-following distance at the crash moment. For locations with unknown weather information, data were interpolated using the inverse squared distance method. Non-weather factors such as road geometrics, traffic conditions, collision types, vehicle types, and driver and temporal attributes were also considered. Two types of polychotomous response models were compared: ordinal logistic and sequential logistic regressions. The sequential logistic regression was tested with forward and backward formats. Comparative models were also developed for single vehicle crash severity during clear weather. In conclusion, the backward sequential logistic regression model produced the best results for predicting crash severities in rainy weather where rainfall intensity, wind speed, roadway terrain, driver''s gender, and safety belt were found to be statistically significant. Our study also found that the seasonal factor was significant in clear weather. The seasonal factor is a predictor suggesting that inclement weather may affect crash severity. These findings can be used to determine the probabilities of single vehicle crash severity in rainy weather and provide quantitative support on improving road weather safety via weather warning systems, highway facility improvements, and speed limit management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Enzyme addition improved convenience of extraction by preventing filter clog. • Recovery and LOQ obtained using the enzyme-addition method met the EU criteria. • Enzyme addition suitable as pretreatment method for acrylamide analysis by LC-MS/MS. An enzyme-addition method to pretreat fried fruit and vegetable chips for acrylamide analysis is reported, followed by determination of the acrylamide contents in 36 marketed fruit and vegetable chip products using LC-MS/MS. To improve the extraction process, the FDA method was modified. Specifically, digestive enzymes were added, overcoming the clogging of filters (or SPE cartridges) after extraction of vegetable chips using water. Diastase was added to extract high-starch products, including potato chips. Recoveries of 90.3–105.5% acrylamide were obtained at the spiking levels of 25–500 μg/kg. LOD and LOQ were similar between the method with (4.5 and 13.7 μg/kg) and without diastase addition (4.4 and 13.2 μg/kg). Okra chip with high mucin content was extracted after adding pepsin. This method provided a recovery of 99.8–102.2%, LOD of 6.0 μg/kg, and LOQ of 18.1 μg/kg. Both methods could be used for analyzing acrylamide, with critical method parameters satisfying European Union regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A data-driven approach to identify a list of risk factors affecting severities of freeway tunnel crashes. • Combining random forest algorithm with standard binomial regression. • Quantitatively confirming national tunnel traffic safety improvement strategies. • Recommending additional strategy specifications for freeway tunnel safety enhancement. Freeway tunnel strikes by motor vehicles inflict serious damages to the infrastructure, cause personal injuries, and create traffic congestions. Freeway tunnel hits are a constant threat in South Korea due to its mostly mountainous terrain. Despite efforts by public agencies to include disaster remedial or preventative facilities in the development of freeway tunnels, these facilities are designed mainly to reduce the number of collisions instead of also mitigate the consequences of a crash. Hence, the Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (KMOLIT) recently presented a plan to modify the list of risk factors affecting tunnel traffic safety, and it recommended several strategies for tunnel traffic safety management. The study presented here took a data-driven approach to quantitatively confirming the strategies recommended by KMOLIT through the random forest-based binomial regression. The following factors were found to be significantly associated with serious injury crashes involving freeway tunnel strikes: adverse weather, fatigued and distracted drivers, collision type (i.e., head-on/angle/rear-end), tunnel exit, tunnel width, curve radius (radius less than 1800 m), and heavy vehicle. This study compares specifications of each government strategy with the effects of the identified risk factors on injuries involved in tunnel crashes to quantitatively support recommendations to modify the government strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CaAn2, an R2R3 Myb transcription factor is associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis. • Insertion of non-LTR retrotransposon in CaAn2 gene promoter activates it transcription. • Non-LTR retrotransposon insertion accommodate cis-elements for CaAn2 expression. • Non-LTR retrotransposon′s second ORF 3′ UTR is crucial for the promoter activity. The flavonoid compound anthocyanin is an important plant metabolite with nutritional and aesthetic value as well as anti-oxidative capacity. MYB transcription factors are key regulators of anthocyanin biosynthesis in plants. In pepper (Capsicum annuum), the CaAn2 gene, encoding an R2R3 MYB transcription factor, regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis. However, no functional study or structural analysis of functional and dysfunctional CaAn2 alleles has been performed. Here, to elucidate the function of CaAn2 , we generated transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing CaAn2. All of the tissues in these plants were purple. Promoter analysis of CaAn2 in purple C. annuum 'KC00134′ plants revealed the insertion of a non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon designated Ca-nLTR-A. To determine the promoter activity and functional domain of Ca-nLTR-A, various constructs carrying different domains of Ca-nLTR-A fused with GUS were transformed into N. benthamiana. Promoter analysis showed that the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the second open reading frame of Ca-nLTR-A is responsible for CaAn2 expression in 'KC00134′. Sequence analysis of Ca-nLTR-A identified transcription factor binding sites known to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis. This study indicates that insertion of a non-LTR retrotransposon in the promoter may activate expression of CaAn2 by recruiting transcription factors at the 3′ UTR and thus provides the first example of exaptation of a non-LTR retrotransposon into a new promoter in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) infection was first reported in 2012, many studies have analysed its transmissibility and severity. However, the methodology and results of these studies have varied, and there has been no systematic review of MERS. This study reviews the characteristics and associated risk factors of MERS.Method: We searched international (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane) and Korean databases (DBpia, KISS) for English- or Korean-language articles using the terms "MERS" and "Middle East respiratory syndrome". Only human studies with > 20 participants were analysed to exclude studies with low representation. Epidemiologic studies with information on transmissibility and severity of MERS as well as studies containing MERS risk factors were included.Result: A total of 59 studies were included. Most studies from Saudi Arabia reported higher mortality (22-69.2%) than those from South Korea (20.4%). While the R0 value in Saudi Arabia was < 1 in all but one study, in South Korea, the R0 value was 2.5-8.09 in the early stage and decreased to < 1 in the later stage. The incubation period was 4.5-5.2 days in Saudi Arabia and 6-7.8 days in South Korea. Duration from onset was 4-10 days to confirmation, 2.9-5.3 days to hospitalization, 11-17 days to death, and 14-20 days to discharge. Older age and concomitant disease were the most common factors related to MERS infection, severity, and mortality.Conclusion: The transmissibility and severity of MERS differed by outbreak region and patient characteristics. Further studies assessing the risk of MERS should consider these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The present study aimed to monitor the levels of selected salivary biomarkers during the development and treatment of periodontitis and to evaluate their ability to identify periodontitis in dogs. Materials and methods: A total of 15 beagle dogs were divided into a control group (no ligature), group 1 (ligature on six teeth), and group 2 (ligature on 12 teeth). The experimental periods consisted of 8 weeks of periodontitis induction and 4 weeks of treatment. Clinical measurements and the sampling of saliva were performed every 4 weeks. The levels of S100A8, S100A9, S100A8/A9, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐9 were measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results: All experimental animals and two control animals developed periodontitis, which was successfully treated. All salivary biomarkers were significantly increased in periodontitis with high diagnostic power (c‐index ≥ 0.944) and were able to identify animals with periodontitis on a single tooth. Whereas the levels of salivary S100A8/A9 recovered to levels in health, those of S100A8, S100A9, and MMP‐9 in periodontitis stability remained significantly higher than in health. Conclusion: Salivary S100A8, S100A9, S100A8/A9, and MMP‐9 may be used for the screening of periodontitis in dogs, but with caution of other conditions that can affect their levels in saliva. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food-grade titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a common and widespread food additive in many processed foods, personal care products, and other industrial categories as it boosts the brightness and whiteness of colours. Although it is generally recognised as safe for humans, there is a growing interest in the health risks associated with its oral intake. This study quantified and identified TiO2 nanoparticles present in confectionery foods, which are children’s favourite foods, with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A reliable digestion method using hot sulphuric acid and a digestion catalyst (K2SO4:CuSO4 = 9:1) was suggested for titanium analysis. Validations of the experimental method were quite acceptable in terms of linearity, recoveries, detection limits, and quantification limits. Of all the 88 analysed foods, TiO2 was detected in 19 products, all except three declared TiO2 in their labelling. The mean TiO2 content of candies, chewing gums, and chocolates were 0.36 mg g−1, 0.04 mg g−1, and 0.81 mg g−1, respectively. Whitish particles isolated from the confectionery foods were confirmed as TiO2 nanoparticles via TEM and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), in which nanosized particles (<100 nm) were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although several previous studies have reported the effect of qigong on lowering blood pressure, rigorous trials are lacking. Studies evaluating the effect of qigong on prehypertension are also scarce. This study aimed to assess the effect of qigong on prehypertension and mild hypertension. Participants with prehypertension or mild hypertension were randomized to the Dongeui qigong group or a nontreated control group. In the qigong group, Dongeui qigong was administered 5 times/week for 12 weeks. The control group did not receive any intervention for blood pressure control. Fifty-two participants were included in this study. Even though diastolic blood pressure was significantly reduced in the qigong group after 8 weeks (p=0.04) compared to baseline, the difference in change in blood pressure between the qigong and control groups was not significant. There were no significant differences in quality of life between the qigong and control groups. Dongeui qigong is not significantly effective in pre/mild hypertension compared with controls. This result could be due to a lack of effect of qigong or caused by other factors, such as the type of qigong, target symptoms, inappropriate sample size, and compliance of participants. Trial Registration. This trial is registered with KCT0001397 (Clinical Research Information Service). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driving behavior from vehicle interactions, such as acceleration, deceleration, and stop-and-go, is highly associated with traffic environment and safety conditions. This study is intended to investigate the connection between traffic environment and safety, more specifically, vehicle emissions and crash potential occurring in freeway traffic. Individual vehicle trajectory data collected from the US-101 freeway are used to investigate the relationship. Vehicle emission and crash potential indices are derived to characterize traffic environment and safety conditions, respectively, and relate those indices using correlation and regression. The resultant findings reveal that vehicle emissions are positively correlated with crash potentials in a statistically significant relationship. The methodological process for vehicle emissions and crash potential estimation developed in this study is expected to be used to monitor vehicle emissions from traffic conflict potential. Correspondingly, the methodological process is also to evaluate traffic control technology and policy implementation for improvement of transportation system efficiency with the goal of transportation emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Message: The novel gene CaAN3 encodes an R2R3 MYB transcription factor that regulates fruit-specific anthocyanin accumulation. The key regulatory gene CaAN2 encodes an R2R3 MYB transcription factor that regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis in various tissues in pepper (Capsicum annuum). However, CaAN2 is not expressed in certain pepper accessions showing fruit-specific anthocyanin accumulation. In this study, we identified the novel locus CaAN3 as a regulator of fruit-specific anthocyanin biosynthesis, using an F2 population derived from a hybrid cultivar with purple immature fruits and segregating for CaAN3. We extracted total RNA, assembled two RNA pools according to fruit color, and carried out bulked segregant RNA sequencing. We aligned the raw reads to the pepper reference genome Dempsey and identified 6,672 significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by calculating the Δ(SNP-index) between the two pools. We then conducted molecular mapping to delimit the target region of CaAN3 to the interval 184.6–186.4 Mbp on chromosome 10. We focused on Dem.v1.00043895, encoding an R2R3 MYB transcription factor, as the strongest candidate gene. Sequence analysis revealed four insertion/deletion polymorphisms in the promoter region of the green CaAN3 allele. We employed virus-induced gene silencing and transient overexpression assays to characterize the function of the candidate gene. When Dem.v1.00043895 was silenced in pepper, anthocyanin accumulation decreased in the pericarp, while the transient overexpression of Dem.v1.00043895 in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves resulted in the accumulation of anthocyanins around the infiltration sites. These results showed that Dem.v1.00043895 is CaAN3, an activator of anthocyanin biosynthesis in pepper fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• During 2017–2020, 15 RVA outbreaks occurred at neonatal facilities in Seoul, Korea. • Only two genotypes, G4P[6] and G8P[6], were detected in those neonatal outbreaks. • The novel G8P[6] RVA predominated since its emergence in 2018. • Continued surveillance for circulating RVA is needed to monitor genotype changes. Rotavirus group A (RVA) is a causative agent of acute gastroenteritis among young children worldwide, despite the global expansion of rotavirus vaccination. In Korea, although the prevalence of RVA has been reduced among young children owing to vaccination, nosocomial infections still occur among neonates. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology of RVA strains associated with several neonatal outbreaks in Seoul from 2017 to 2020. Clinical and environmental samples were collected and screened for the presence of RVA using ELISA and PCR targeting VP6, respectively. RVA-positive strains were genotyped via RT-PCR and subsequent sequencing of VP4 and VP7 and were phylogenetically compared with RVA strains from other countries. During 2017–2020, a total of 15 RVA outbreaks occurred at neonatal facilities (six in hospital neonatal wards and nine in postpartum care centers) in Seoul, and only two RVA genotypes were detected: G4P[6] and G8P[6]. G8P[6] emerged in Seoul November 2018 and immediately became the predominant genotype among neonates, at least up to 2020. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the G8P[6] genotype in this study was closely related to G8P[6] strains first identified in Korea in 2017, but differed from G8P[6] strains detected in Africa. A novel G8P[6] genotype of RVA strains has emerged and caused outbreaks among neonates in Seoul. Continued surveillance for circulating RVA genotypes is imperative to monitor genotype changes and their potential risks to public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this work, mesoporous carbon nanofibers (MCNF) were synthesized by using a template of mesoporous silicate nanofibers within anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) film and furfuryl alcohol for the carbon source at the carbonization temperatures (600, 900, and 1200°C). Due to the easy control nature of pore size and thickness of AAO film, the diameter and length of MCNF can easily be controlled. The MCNF pyrolyzed at 1200°C shows the highest BET surface area. The surface area is discussed with the structural properties associated. Also, hydrogen uptake capacity of MCNF is measured to examine the nanofibers for the potential application as a hydrogen storage media. Among them, MCNF carbonized at 1200°C shows 0.73wt.% of the highest hydrogen uptake at 77K and 0.1MPa. Results of the study indicate that the capacity of the MCNF for hydrogen storage shall increase as the carbonization temperature increases. The structural property and the surface area of MCNFs depending on carbonization temperature were discussed with their hydrogen uptake efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]