Monascus-fermented grain vinegar enhances glucose homeostasis through the IRS-1/PI3K/Akt and AMPK signaling pathways in HepG2 cell and db/db mice

Food Science and Biotechnology - MV was reported to have beneficial effects in ameliorating insulin resistance in db/db mice, but the intrinsic mechanisms for glucose homeostasis are unclear. This...     

Strong Diffie-Hellman-DSA Key Exchange

To provide authentication to the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, a few integrated key exchange schemes which provide authentication using the DSA signature have been proposed in the literature. In this letter we point out that all of the previous Diffie-Hellman-DSA schemes do not provide security against session state reveal attacks. We also suggest a strong Diffie-Hellman-DSA scheme providing security against session state reveal attacks as well as forward secrecy and key independence     

Floating-patch MEMS antennas on HRS substrate for millimetre-wave applications

Novel floating-patch micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) antennas are proposed for millimetre-wave applications. The floating-patch MEMS antennas are fabricated on a high resistivity silicon (HRS) substrate using surface micromachining technology. Simulation and experimental results for reflection coefficients and radiation patterns are presented.     

New approach to enhance adhesions between carbon nanotube emitters and substrate by the combination of electrophoresis and successive electroplating

Complementary electroplating combined with electrophoresis enhanced the field emission characteristics of emitters by improving the adhesions between CNT emitters and substrate. The emitting current of the CNT emitters prepared by our combined method increased nine times higher than that of CNT emitters prepared by electrophoresis only, since electroplating improved the adhesion of CNT emitters. During the life-time measurement for 10 h, the emitting current of CNT emitters fabricated by electrophoresis only was drastically decreased to 13% of the initial current, while that prepared by the combination of electrophoresis and successive electroplating decreased to 64% of the initial current. We suggest that our method is a promising approach for the efficient fabrication of reliable CNT emitters.     

Development of a physics analysis procedure for the prismatic very high temperature gas-cooled reactors

A new physics analysis procedure has been developed for a prismatic very high temperature gas-cooled reactor based on a conventional two-step procedure for the PWR physics analysis. The HELIOS and MASTER codes were employed to generate the coarse group cross sections through a transport lattice calculation, and to perform the 3-dimensional core physics analysis by a nodal diffusion calculation, respectively. Physics analysis of the prismatic VHTRs involves particular modeling issues such as a double heterogeneity of the coated fuel particles, a neutron streaming in the coolant channels, a strong core-reflector interaction, and large spectrum shifts due to changes of the surrounding environment and state parameters. Double heterogeneity effect was considered by using a recently developed reactivity-equivalent physical transformation method. Neutron streaming effect was quantified through 3-dimensional Monte Carlo transport calculations by using the MCNP code. Strong core-reflector interaction could be handled by applying an equivalence theory to the generation of the reflector cross sections. The effects of a spectrum shift could be covered by optimizing the coarse energy group structure. A two-step analysis procedure was established for the prismatic VHTR physics analysis by combining all the methodologies described above. The applicability of our code system was tested against core benchmark problems. The results of these benchmark tests show that our code system is very accurate and practical for a prismatic VHTR physics analysis.     

SBLOCA long term cooling procedure for the integral type PWR

An advanced integral-type pressurized water reactor (IPWR) with a maximum thermal power of 65 MW has been developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). This 65 MW IPWR enhances the safety and reliability by adopting inherent safety design characteristics and an advanced passive design feature.     

Dispersion of flexible polymer chains in confined geometries

Molecular model approach has been used to predict the dispersion characteristics of flexible polymer chains in confined geometries. The analysis ranges from the early stage dispersion to the steady Taylor dispersion of the simple linear dumbbell model polymer chains. For the early stasje dispersion the ray method was applied; an Aris type moments rnothod was useful for the Taylor dispersion. Two parallel plates were chosen as a confining geometry and the specific initial condition of a point source in the midway of the gap was chosen for simplicity. It was found that the qualitative difference in dispersion properties of deformable polymer chains starts from the early stage compared with those of single Brownian particles. And it turns out that one parameter, which is similar to the relative spacing of the dumbbell to the gap of confining geometries, is useful to see the dispersion characteristics of the dumbbells.     

Processabilities and mechanical properties of surlyn-treated starch/LDPE blends

The esterification of the hydroxyl group of starch with DuPont Surlyn was considered as pretreatment method of starch before blending with polyolefins. In treating starch with Surlyn, two different raction conditions were taken to optimize reaction conditions. First, the esterification reaction was carried out in 110°C xylene with oleic acid as a catalyst. Second, the reaction out in a 90°C mixture of deionized water and xylene with ceric ammonium nitrate(CAN) as an initiator. Starch granules would be swollen above the gelatinization temperature in water. In both cases starch was midified by Surlyn to have good compatibility with low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The mechanical and theological properties were examined for blends of the treated starch and LDPE. This system may be one of the biodegradable polymer blends that sufficiently retain properties as a packaging film.     

Determination of non-methane hydrocarbon emission factors from vehicles in a Tunnel in Seoul in May 2000

Measurements of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) were performed at the entrance and exit of the Sangdo tunnel to estimate emission factors (EF) of NMHC from vehicles in May 2000. About 50 species were analyzed by a combined GC/FID and GC/MS system. Ethylene was the most abundant compound, followed by n-butane and acetylene, respectively. Based on the measurement data, the real world vehicular EF in Seoul was estimated. The highest EF value was 89.8 mg (veh-mile)^-1 for n-butane, followed by ethylene and toluene.