Search

Aerogel has gained much attention as a promising nanostructure which contributes to the high dispersity of nanofillers and structural stability. However, the difficulty of fabricating robust aerogels using various nanofillers and producing aerogels for the scale-up process is still challenging for expanding applications of aerogels. We fabricate the ternary aerogel particle consisting of MXene, carbon nanotube (CNT), and polydopamine (PDA), and it has structural stability owing to the outstanding adhesion property of PDA. The fabricated aerogel particles are also highly favorable for industrial application because if its ease of handling and scaling up compared to the bulk aerogels. In this study, various parameters, such as polymerization time of PDA and fabrication method, are utilized to find the optimal conditions for fabricating robust and stable aerogel nanostructures. Ternary aerogel exhibits a unique nanostructure with self-staked MXene and bridged CNT between MXene layers, which is expected to form a more effective conducting pathway. Moreover, rheological analysis revealed that the storage modulus recovered even after severe deformation, indicating that the fabricated aerogel possesses structural stability. It is anticipated that these ternary aerogel particles have the potential to be applied in the effective platform for nanocomposites in various industrial fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric liners, one of the main components of hydrogen tanks, have attracted significant research interest because of their lightweight and high-impact strength. Despite their advantages, high gas permeability limits their applications. Thus, numerous studies have been conducted to improve the gas barrier properties of polymer-based composites. In this study, we used a polyamide 6 (PA6)/ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) blend as a matrix for high hydrogen gas barrier properties and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber as reinforcement for injection moldability. The ternary polymer blends were successfully injection molded, and their morphology, mechanical properties, and gas permeability were measured. In addition, we performed a rheological investigation to analyze the processability of the ternary polymer blends. As a result, the developed material system showed a 28% reduction in hydrogen permeability and a 11% improvement in tensile strength compared to a commercial material. This study will be a valuable resource for the research of polymeric liners with efficient and reliable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional micro-batch streaming systems introduce high tail latency for the following two reasons. First, they trigger data processing on a fixed time interval, without taking into account the data ingestion rate and data analysis processing rate. Second, in a multi-query environment, their scheduling methods do not consider the real-time characteristics of the application and each query. This paper presents zStream, a low latency micro-batch streaming system implemented on Apache Spark. The main idea of zStream's design is to use a reference value called deadline for each query to constrain latency around a specific time. Considering the deadline information of each query, zStream controls the admission of every micro-batch dynamically and schedules them by their priorities, significantly reducing the average and tail latency while maintaining throughput. Experimental results show that the tail latency of zStream is reduced by a maximum of 34% compared to the original Spark. Also, zStream reduces the average latency per query by up to 48% while stably maintaining throughput compared to the original Spark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring, recording and analyzing spectral information of materials as its unique finger print using a ubiquitous smartphone has been desired by scientists and consumers. We demonstrated it as drug classification by chemical components with smartphone Raman spectrometer. The Raman spectrometer is based on the CMOS image sensor of the smartphone with a periodic array of band pass filters, capturing 2D Raman spectral intensity map, newly defined as spectral barcode in this work. Here we show 11 major components of drugs are classified with high accuracy, 99.0%, with the aid of convolutional neural network (CNN). The beneficial of spectral barcodes is that even brand name of drug is distinguishable and major component of unknown drugs can be identified. Combining spectral barcode with information obtained by red, green and blue (RGB) imaging system or applying image recognition techniques, this inherent property based labeling system will facilitate fundamental research and business opportunities. Smartphones are ubiquitous devices that have permeated into our daily life. Here, the authors demonstrate that a Smartphone Raman spectrometer can be used for drug classification by using a convolutional neural network to process its spectral barcode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the evaluation of a program that provides low-income Latina mothers with skills to help their children cope with stress. Based on focus groups with mothers and their school-aged children in two locations, we developed a five-week program for helping mothers identify signs of stress in their children, learn effective emotion-coaching skills, and learn how to effectively encourage their children to use coping strategies that match the controllability of the situation. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in an urban (n = 13) and rural (n = 78) location in which we randomly assigned mothers to either an intervention or a no-treatment control condition. We completed eight implementations of the program (2 in the urban sample and 6 in the rural one). To evaluate the program, we collected pre- and post-assessments of mothers' coping knowledge, emotion coaching, strategies for helping their children cope with stress, maternal self-efficacy in helping their children cope, general parenting practices, and general parenting self-efficacy. Observers assessed the fidelity of program delivery. Mothers who received the intervention, in contrast to those in the control condition, showed significant increases in their knowledge of strategies to help their children cope with stress, in reported emotion-coaching skills, and in the reported use of positive strategies for helping their children manage their behavior and emotions in stressful situations (i.e., helping their children relax and calm down, talking with their children about feelings, helping their children problem-solve, encouraging distraction, and helping their children improve their self-esteem). Post intervention, mothers reported increases in their efficacy for helping their children cope with stress. Analyses revealed no significant effects of the program on general parenting or general parenting self-efficacy, but did have the hypothesized effects on maternal knowledge, attitudes, and reported behavior. Subsequent research should examine the degree to which the program has effects over a longer time period and on children's approaches to coping with stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As nanoscale photonic devices are densely integrated, multiple near-field optical eigenmodes take part in their functionalization. Inevitably, these eigenmodes are highly multiplexed in their spectra and superposed in their spatial distributions, making it extremely difficult for conventional near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) to address individual eigenmodes. Here, we develop a near-field transmission matrix microscopy for mapping the high-order eigenmodes of nanostructures, which are invisible with conventional NSOM. At an excitation wavelength where multiple modes are superposed, we measure the near-field amplitude and phase maps for various far-field illumination angles, from which we construct a fully phase-referenced far- to near-field transmission matrix. By performing the singular value decomposition, we extract orthogonal near-field eigenmodes such as anti-symmetric mode and quadruple mode of multiple nano-slits whose gap size (50 nm) is smaller than the probe aperture (150 nm). Analytic model and numerical mode analysis validated the experimentally observed modes. Nanoscale integrated photonic devices have complicated combinations of optical eigenmodes. Here, the authors develop a far- to near-field transmission matrix microscopy that enables measuring higher-order modes of nanostructures beyond the capabilities of conventional near-field microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated cadmium toxicity created by adsorption kinetics in several mixtures containing two types of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (COOH-MWCNT and NH2-MWCNT) and natural kaolinite. Characteristics of two types of MWCNTs were measured by zeta potential and ATR FT-IR graphs and TEM images. The solution of CNTs and kaolinite was tested to study Cd adsorption kinetics and mechanisms of differentiation-associated toxicity using Daphnia magna in a binary system (Cd–MWCNTs and Cd–kaolinite) and a ternary system (Cd–MWCNTs–kaolinite). In the binary system, Cd removal efficiency was nearly 100% and 40% for MWCNTs and kaolinite because of surface charge, respectively, with increasing sorbent concentration. In the ternary system, the trend of adsorption rate was similar to that of binary system. In comparison with percent mortality in the binary system, the solution in the ternary system showed higher toxicity due to the interaction of MWCNTs–kaolinite coagulated particles, thereby decreasing Cd adsorption onto CNTs and kaolinites. Overall, kaolinite can affect the adsorption process of Cd on MWCNTs in negative ways, depending on adsorption state. In conclusion, our studies suggest that kaolinite differs with adsorption ability of Cd by MWCNTs, and toxicity is likely to be produced by multivariable regression in the adsorption state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the sleep environment factors that influence children's sleep, and the relationship between co-sleeping and parenting stress and parents' mental health. A survey was conducted in 115 parents of preschool children and a total of 60 questionnaires completed for children aged 12–84 months were analyzed. The mother's mental health was evaluated using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Korean-Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (K-PSI-SF), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The children's sleeping environment and quality were assessed using the Child Sleep Habit Questionnaire (CSHQ) and a sleep environment survey. Children were 28 males and 32 females, with a mean age of 48 ± 20 months. The high score of K-PSI-SF was significantly correlated with the frequency of a child sharing a bed with other children, and Difficult Child subcategory was correlated with the frequency of a child sharing a room with other children or sleeping in a too bright place. The high CSHQ score was correlated with the high K-PSI-SF score, mother's young age and high PHQ-9 score. In the path analysis, sleeping in the same space with parents can induce sleep problems in the child, resulting in the mother perceiving the child's behavior as difficult. Also, the mother perceiving her child as difficult was found to correlate with the mother's insomnia. Our study suggests that sleeping problems occur more often in preschool children co-sleeping with parents than in children sleeping alone. The mother's parenting stress is likely to be related to the children's sleeping problems and their sleep environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped, and yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain ID1709T, was isolated from an automotive air conditioning system collected in Korea. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity showed that strain ID1709T had 92.2-94.3% similarities with the type strains of members of the genus Flavisolibacter. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 G, iso-C17:0 3-OH, and summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c). The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The polar lipids comprised phosphatidylethanolamine, aminoglycophospholipid, two unidentified aminolipids, and three unidentified lipids. The DNA G + C content of the strain was 35.6 mol%. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and genotypic data, strain ID1709T represents a novel species in the genus Flavisolibacter, for which the name Flavisolibacter aluminii sp. nov. (= KACC 19451T = KCTC 52778T = NBRC 112870T), is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-stain negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and yellow bacterium, designated TX0651T, was isolated from an automotive air-conditioning system. Phylogenetically, the strain groups with the members of the genus Flavisolibacter and exhibits high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Flavisolibacter ginsenosidimutans Gsoil 636T (97.4%), Flavisolibacter ginsengiterrae Gsoil 492T (96.3%) and Flavisolibacter ginsengisoli Gsoil 643T (96.2%). DNA-DNA relatedness between TX0651T and F. ginsenosidimutans KCTC 22818T and F. ginsengiterrae KCTC 12656T were determined to be less than 40%. The low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness identifies the strain TX0651T as a novel species in the genus Flavisolibacter. The major cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C15:0, summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c), iso-C15:1 G and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The predominant respiratory quinone was identified as MK-7. The polar lipids were found to be comprised of phosphatidylethanolamine, unidentified amino-glycophospholipids, an unidentified aminophospholipid, an unidentified amino lipid and unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of the strain was determined to be 31.2 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain TX0651T should be classified in a novel species in the genus Flavisolibacter, for which the name Flavisolibacter carri sp. nov. (= KACC 19014T = KCTC 52836T = NBRC 111784T) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gamma radiation-resistant and pink-to-red pigmented bacterial strain, designated ID1504T, was isolated from a car air-conditioning system sampled in Korea. The cells were observed to be Gram-stain negative, aerobic, motile with peritrichous flagella and short rod-shaped. Phylogenetically, the strain groups with the members of the genus Deinococcus and exhibits high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Deinococcus arenae SA1T (94.0%), Deinococcus actinosclerus BM2T (93.9%) and Deinococcus soli N5T (93.5%). The predominant fatty acids were identified as C17:0, C16:0, summed feature 3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c) and iso-C17:0. The major respiratory quinone was identified as MK-8. The polar lipids were found to be comprised of unidentified phospholipids, unidentified glycolipids, an unidentified aminophospholipid and an unidentified lipid. The DNA G+C content of the strain was determined to be 68.3 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain ID1504T should be classified in a novel species in the genus Deinococcus, for which the name Deinococcus multiflagellatus sp. nov. (= KACC 19287T = NBRC 112888T) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correction to: I Nature Communications i https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40925-3, published online 29 August 2023 In this article, the affiliation details for Seokin Kim were incorrectly given as 'Department of Digital Health, Samsung Advanced Institute of Health Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul 06355, Korea' but should have been 'School of Integrative Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea'. These authors contributed equally: Un Jeong Kim, Suyeon Lee. [Extracted from the article]

A Gram-stain-negative and yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, designated TX0653, was isolated from an automobile evaporator core collected in Korea. The cells were aerobic and rod-shaped. The strain grew at 10−28 °C (optimum, 25 °C), at pH 6.0−7.5 (optimum, 6.5), and in the presence of 0−1% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%). Phylogenetically, the strain was related to members of the genus Spirosoma (95.1−90.8% 16S rRNA sequence similarity) and distantly related to Spirosoma pulveris JSH5-14 (95.1%), Spirosoma fluviale MSd3 (95.0%), Spirosoma endophyticum DSM 26130 (94.8%), and Spirosoma linguale DSM 74 (94.6%). The major fatty acids of the strain were summed feature 3 (C ω6 c and/or C ω7 c), C ω5 c, iso-C, iso-C 3-OH, and C. MK-7 was identified as the predominant menaquinone. The polar lipids profile indicated the presence of one phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid, one unidentified aminophospholipid, two unidentified phospholipids, and three unidentified lipids. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic, and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain TX0653 represents a novel species in the genus Spirosoma, for which the name Spirosoma metallum sp. nov. (= KACC 19278 = NBRC 112495) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-stain-negative and orangish yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, designated PR1014K, was isolated from an automobile evaporator core collected in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain PR1014K was related with the members of the genus Spirosoma (94.7-90.2%) and closely related with Spirosoma lacussanchae CPCC 100624 (94.7%), Spirosoma knui 15J8-12 (94.3%), and Spirosoma soli MIMBbqt12 (93.3%). The strain grew at 15-40°C (optimum, 25°C), pH 6.5-7.0 (optimum, 6.5) and 0-1% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%). The predominant fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C ω7 c and/or C ω6 c), C, iso-C, C ω5 c, and iso-C 3-OH. The major menaquinone was MK-7. The polar lipid profile of the strain indicated that the presence of one phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified aminolipid, two unidentified aminophospholipids, and three unidentified lipids. The DNA G+C content of the strain was 47.4 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, strain PR1014K represents a novel species in the genus Spirosoma, for which the name Spirosoma metallicus sp. nov. (=KACC 17940 =NBRC 110792) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and factors associated with sexual problems and their relationship to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in male and female non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) survivors. In this cross-sectional study, 738 NHL survivors (425 men and 313 women; mean time since diagnosis, 6.2 years) in South Korea completed the six-item instrument of adult sexual behavior used by the National Health and Social Life Survey in the United States. HRQOL was measured by two subscales of the EORTC QLQ-C30. Sexual problems were reported by a greater proportion of women (range, 31.9 to 64.4%) than men (range, 23.3 to 49.1%). Among four items common to both sexes, three (lacking interest in sex, unable to achieve orgasm, sex not pleasurable) were significantly more prevalent in women. Significant factors associated with multiple sexual problems in men were older age and being unemployed; in women, they were marital status and comorbidity. Lastly, more significant associations between sexual problems and HRQOL were observed in men than in women. Male and female NHL survivors differ in the prevalence of sexual problems and the factors associated with them as well as their associations with HRQOL. These findings can be used to develop sex-specific interventions to improve sexual function in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness and practicality of the newly proposed guidance to take hypnotics 7 h before one's usual wake-up time, compared to the conventional guidance to do so 30 min before bedtime. Subjects with primary insomnia who were not satisfied with their hypnotics were included between November 2014 and October 2015. Participants were instructed to take their own sleeping pills 7 h before their usual wake-up times, and sleep-related time variables and symptom questionnaires were assessed at baseline and after 2 weeks. Among 32 subjects, 23 patients were successfully followed up. Adhering to the said 7-h instruction, 73.9 % ( n = 17) were satisfied with their sleeping pills. Mean hypnotics administration time was significantly delayed from 9:32 p.m. ± 0:58 to 10:55 p.m. ± 0:46 ( p < 0.001), duration from pills to wake-up time (PTW) was shortened from 9.0 ± 1.1 to 7.1 ± 0.8 h ( p < 0.001), and sleep latency ( p = 0.023) was significantly shortened. Scores of ISI and PSQI significantly improved ( p < 0.001), and the improvements of ISI and PSQI were positively correlated with the shortened sleep latency ( r = 0.49, p < 0.05) and PTW ( r = 0.54, p < 0.05), respectively. Advising patients to take hypnotics about 7 h before their usual wake-up time could increase the level of satisfaction with their original medication as is. In incorporating concepts of cognitive-behavioral therapy, this recommendation may serve as a simple but considerably useful guidance on the proper timing for taking prescribed sleeping pills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of lymphoma survivors, to compare it with that of the general population, and to identify its predictors in lymphoma survivors. We enrolled 837 participants (mean age, 54.6 years; mean time since diagnosis, 6.3 years) with a history of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) ( n = 58) or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) ( n = 779) who had been treated at any of three Korean hospitals from 1989 through 2010. For controls, we selected 1,000 subjects randomly from a representative Korean population. We administered the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Overall, the HRQOL in both groups of survivors and the general population were comparable, but we observed clinically meaningful worse social functioning in NHL survivors ( p < 0.001) and more severe fatigue in HL survivors ( p < 0.001) than in the general population. Analysis of covariance revealed no clinically meaningful difference in HRQOL associated with age or sex. Survivors who received peripheral blood stem cell transplants showed clinically meaningful worse role ( p = 0.001) and social ( p < 0.001) functioning than those who were treated with first-line chemotherapy alone. In multivariate analyses, fatigue, depression, and financial difficulties emerged as the strongest predictors for almost all subscales of functioning and global quality of life. Interventions for alleviating fatigue, depression, and financial difficulties are needed to enhance the HRQOL of Korean lymphoma survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural biopolymers, such as collagen or chitosan, are considered ideal for biomedical scaffolds. However, low processability of the materials has hindered the fabrication of designed pore structures controlled by various solid freeform-fabrication methods. A new technique to fabricate a biomedical three-dimensional collagen scaffold, supplemented with a sacrificial poly(ethylene oxide) mould is proposed. The fabricated collagen scaffold shows a highly porous surface and a three-dimensional structure with high porosity as well as mechanically stable structure. To show its feasibility for biomedical applications, fibroblasts/keratinocytes were co-cultured on the scaffold, and the cell proliferation and cell migration of the scaffold was more favorable than that obtained with a spongy-type collagen scaffold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]