Korean wooden architectural heritage buildings are often damaged by termites, and climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem. To prevent termite damage, it is necessary to identify the ...habitat range and activity period of termites. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the ecological characteristics of Reticulitermes speratus, the dominant termite species in South Korea, past termite damage records of wooden architectural heritage buildings, and climate data (2000–2019). We determined that termite infestations could potentially occur in 98.5% of the total studied area, except for a few mountainous regions in South Korea. In addition, termites were active for an average of 209 days per year. The habitat range of termites appears to be gradually expanding, possibly as a result of a combination of anthropogenic interventions, rising temperatures caused by climate change, and the ecological characteristics of termites. In the future, it is imperative to implement enhanced preventive and active termite control measures to preserve the original wooden architectural heritage buildings of South Korea.
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•A composite hydrogel containing Prussian blue (PB) was prepared for spatiotemporal cancer treatment.•A new technique for photothermally triggered drug release was developed for ...improved photothermal/chemotherapy performance.•The composite hydrogel was efficient to kill cancer cells.
Recently, microgel-based drug delivery systems have received great attention. However, these systems face various challenges such as low drug loading, leakage, rapid drug elimination by the bloodstream, and low efficacy against tumors. To overcome these limitations, we fabricated a near-infrared (NIR)-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid)/Prussian blue microgel (PNA@PB). The microgel featured improved stability and higher loading of Prussian blue (PB), achieved by chemically linking it to the polymer. For cancer therapy, the microgel was loaded with the model drug doxorubicin (DOX) to obtain PNA@PB@DOX, resulting in a high loading capacity of 26% and encapsulation efficiency of 51%. Upon exposure to 808 nm NIR laser light, the photothermal PB in PNA@PB@DOX raised the temperature above the lower critical solution temperature of the microgel, causing the microgel to shrink and release the drug by 36%. The NIR-triggered drug release by PNA@PB@DOX resulted in improved photothermal/chemotherapy performance, both in vitro and in vivo experiments using A549 lung cancer cells, compared with PNA@PB. The combination of photothermal therapy from PB and photothermal shrinkage-induced chemotherapy from PNA was found to be highly effective in killing cancer cells.
•Soft and stretchable devices with the abilities of a natural spider web are demonstrated.•The device are patterned with interdigitated liquid metal subsurface microwires.•The electroadhesion of the ...device can be electrically modulated.•The device can be utilized as a proximity and piezocapacitive sensor.
Stretchable and soft electronic devices with the ability to sense objects and adhere to surfaces, similar to spider webs, are promising for creating soft robotic systems. In this study, stretchable and soft devices mimicking the features of a spider web were developed by utilizing interdigitated electrode subsurface microwires patterned on PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) elastic substrates. The devices could generate electroadhesion to surfaces through an out-of-plane electric field generated from in-plane interdigitated electrodes. Such interdigitated electrodes patterned on dielectric PDMS substrates could also generate capacitance owing to the electric charge stored on these electrodes due to the potential difference generated between them. To form interdigitated electrodes patterned in PDMS substrates, we used the liquid metal (EGaIn, eutectic gallium-indium), which was a soft and fluid conductor. Therefore, the device could maintain its electroadhesion performance while being strained and capacitance could be manipulated by the interference of the fringe electric field, thereby sensing external objects by distinguishing their proximity, contact, and pressure. These unique properties of the devices mimicking the features of a spider web can be utilized for fabricating soft robots, grippers, and electronic skin.
In this article, a 5-nm node two-stack nanosheet FET with a triple-k spacer structure representing three spacer regions consisting of two inner spacers (inner spacer 1 and inner spacer 2) formed by ...two atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes leveraging the inner spacer formation-process method and outer spacer process of stack gate-all-around (GAA) process is proposed. Material and structure optimization was performed to confirm the effects of each spacer regions. Inner spacer 1 has a direct effect on the channel extension region. However, the inner spacer 2 is not in direct contact with the channel extension region and the gate, thus confirming the relatively indirect effect. In addition, the material dependence of the outer spacer, formed between the gate and the side region of the channel where the field is concentrated, was confirmed. By comparing the optimized triple-k spacer structure with the fully nitride spacer, the improved dynamic performance, as well as the active power and static power, was identified.
Numerous studies have developed extensions to the IFC schema to meet the needs of specialized domains or represent nascent technologies, and in turn have expanded the scope of interoperability for ...BIM data exchanges. However, these studies used varying approaches for IFC extensions and validation, making it difficult to identify research gaps and agree on legitimate extension protocols. This study collected 64 studies of IFC schema extensions spanning over two decades, from 2001 to 2022. The analysis first focused on categorizing these cases with respect to their target domains and sectors, their purpose and extension approaches, as well as their methods for implementation and validation. Timeline analyses were also conducted to track the temporal trends over the specified period. The results revealed that architectural cases have recently shifted from process to product representations due to new technology adoptions, while infrastructure cases, initially centered on major sector elements, have transitioned towards operation and maintenance processes. The findings also showed the need for a more holistic and organized approach for extensions, as current ad hoc developments were limited to products and processes only applicable for specific sectors.
Background
Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) has been reported to account for approximately 5–16% of all GCs with good prognosis compared to EBV-negative GC. We evaluated ...the clinicopathological characteristics of EBVaGC including survival rate in South Korea.
Methods
A total of 4,587 patients with GC who underwent EBV in situ hybridization (EBV–ISH) were prospectively enrolled at the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital from 2003 to 2021. Age, sex, smoking status, cancer type and stage, tumor size and location, histological type, molecular features and survival information were analyzed.
Results
A total of 456 patients with GC (9.9%) were positive for EBV. The EBVaGC group displayed a higher proportion of males (
P
< 0.001), a predominant presence in the proximal stomach (
P
< 0.001), a higher proportion of undifferentiated cancer (
P
< 0.001), and a lower cancer stage (
P
= 0.004) than the EBV-negative group. Cox multivariate analyses revealed age (hazard ratio HR = 1.025,
P
< 0.001), tumor size (HR = 1.109,
P
< 0.001), and cancer stage (stage2 HR = 4.761,
P
< 0.001; stage3 HR = 13.286,
P
< 0.001; stage4 HR = 42.528,
P
< 0.001) as significant risk factors for GC-specific mortality, whereas EBV positivity was inversely correlated (HR = 0.620,
P
= 0.022). Furthermore, the EBVaGC group displayed statistically significant survival advantages over the EBV-negative cancer group in terms of both overall (
P
= 0.021) and GC-specific survival (
P
= 0.007) on the Kaplan–Meier survival curve. However, this effect was evident only in males.
Conclusions
EBVaGC patients showed better prognoses despite their association with proximal location and poorly differentiated histology in male, probably due to the difference in immunity between males and females.
The gradual commercialization of entirely autonomous vehicles is expected to bring numerous benefits, such as structural transformation in the industry. Specifically, in maritime transportation, ...automobile terminals that import and export finished autos are seen to transform their current loading system into a CAV (connected automated vehicle)-loading system to accommodate autonomous vehicles. In this study, the impact of introducing a CAV-loading system to a roll-on, roll-off (RORO) ports was investigated. Simulation models were developed to test the performance of the terminal with the CAV-loading system. Then, a cost model was developed to determine the economic benefits of the CAV-loading system. The results in this study revealed that operating costs were reduced by 90%, while terminal operations were significantly improved. In addition, the study revealed that using the CAV-loading system resulted in a 12% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to that using the current loading system. The originality of this study lies in its transformative potential for an industry that heavily relies on human labor and has limited mechanization and automation. This study provides significant implications for incorporating autonomous vehicles in planned automobile terminal operations.
Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) have been successfully applied to cargo terminals to reduce operating costs and improve productivity. However, the focus was on container terminal operations. Ports ...with roll-on/roll-off (RORO) terminals still heavily depend on human resources for the loading/unloading processes. Work operations are affected by human errors and safety issues. In particular, terminals where vehicles cannot be stacked pressure workers to handle cargo more rapidly, which induces more errors. In this study, we propose automating RORO terminal operations by using AGVs. We assessed the impact of AGVs on the productivity, cost efficiency, and environment. A series of simulation models was developed on the basis of the current loading system at an actual port to test the impact of AGVs. Then, we developed a cost model to analyze the economic benefit of AGVs compared with the current loading system. The environmental benefits were also analyzed. Results revealed that a system using 29 AGVs matched the productivity of the current loading system, and using more AGVs increased the productivity. For a given productivity level, the total operating cost of the AGV system was three times less than that of the current system over a 15-year period. The AGV system also showed great potential for improving the environmental friendliness of terminal operations. This is the first study to propose automating RORO terminal operations to improve productivity and sustainability through AGV technology rather than human factors. AGVs are expected to become a good option in the future to address labor shortages and the “untact” era.
Local residents living adjacent to ports are directly affected by the fine dust generated from the port operations. There is a need to prepare detailed measures according to cargo type given the high ...correlation between the types of dust-producing cargo primarily managed at ports and local industries. This study attempts to establish the attributes of the cargo handled at ports and the relationship between supply chains built for local key industries and the air quality of the local community. It aims to ascertain which cargo needs managing preemptively at the local level, based on the major cargo types handled in a port. A correlation analysis and Granger causality test were performed to investigate the causality between the factor of cargo and fine dust concentrations. The results in this study indicate the necessity for intensive management of scrap metal cargo among the major cargo handled at the target port, which confirms the large effect of management on fine dust reduction, as well as on reduction efficiency. The results suggest requirements to expand the regulations on the emissions of supply chains by cargo type, not by industry type. Additionally, it is required to minimize the blind spots of management and form an eco-friendly supply chain by introducing green technology. The preparation of emission control measures is also necessary. The findings provide useful insights for the sustainable operations of the local supply chain around the target port and will help the strategic agenda for future improvement.
We developed a new numerical method which converts creep data to dynamic moduli without relying on viscoelastic spectra of relaxation or retardation times. This algorithm is an improvement of the ...previous ones (Kwon
et al.
, 2016) in the reduction of artificial waviness in the terminal regime as well as the noise due to measurement errors. The method is the application of the point-wise polynomial regression which reduces the polynomial order dramatically compared with previous method in order to suppress the waviness.
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