A theoretically consistent structural model facilitates definition and measurement of use and non-use benefits of ecosystem services. Unlike many previous approaches that utilize multiple stated choice situations, we apply this conceptual framework to a travel cost random utility model and a consequential single referendum contingent valuation research design for simultaneously estimating use and non-use willingness to pay for environmental quality improvement. We employ Monte Carlo generated data to evaluate properties of key parameters and examine the robustness of this method of measuring use and non-use values associated with quality change. The simulation study confirms that this new method, combined with simulated revealed and stated preference data can generally, but not always, be applied to successfully identify use and non-use values of various ecosystems while consistency is ensured.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) share common risk factors as poor dietary intakes, especially among low-income populations worldwide. However, the diet-related health burden by country income levels remains unclear. We assessed the current prevalence of NCDs and the association between selected dietary factors and NCDs by income levels. Data were obtained from the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Bank, and 151 countries were included in the analysis weighted by the total population size. Linear regression was used to find the association between metabolic risk factors and health-related behaviors by income levels. The prevalence of raised fasting blood glucose and total cholesterol, overweight, and obesity were lowest in lower and middle income countries, but prevalence of raised blood pressure and NCD deaths under age 70 were highest in lower and middle income countries (p for trend < 0.001). The proportion of carbohydrates and alcohol consumer were highest, and vegetable, milk supply, insufficient activity were lowest in lower and middle income countries. In high income countries, raised fasting blood glucose level were negatively associated with vegetable consumption (β = -0⋅05 CI [-0⋅08, -0⋅02]), and alcohol consumption, fat intake (7⋅94 [1⋅82, 14⋅06]), and sugar and sweetener supply (0⋅04 [0⋅01, 0⋅07]) were associated with overweight. In low income countries, overweight was associated with vegetable oil (0⋅03 [0⋅00, 0⋅05]),. In this study, different relationship between diets and NCDs trends were found across country income levels. Appropriate health policies for each group of countries by income are needed to solve the increasing challenges of NCDs.

This work was carried out with the support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ PJ01317001)” Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) values of foods consumed in Asia remain poorly characterised despite the fact that Asian diets are high in carbohydrates. We evaluated the GI and GL of the most commonly consumed carbohydrate-rich foods, according to food type and cooking methods. GI and GL values were determined using protocols from the FAO/WHO and International Standards Organization recommendations. A total of 152 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. In all, forty-nine carbohydrate-rich foods were categorised as cereal grains, noodles and pasta, breads and other processed grains and starchy vegetables, prepared using standard cooking methods and evaluated. Cereal grains had the widest range of GI values that the food made with white rice and barley had GI values of 51–93 and 35–70, respectively, according to cooking methods, and most cereal grains had high GL values. Noodles and pasta had low to medium GI values, but most foods had high GL values. Breads had medium to high GI and GL values, while other processed grains had low to medium GI and GL values. The GI values for food made with starchy vegetables (e.g. potatoes and sweet potatoes) varied widely for different cooking methods but tended to have low GL values. In conclusion, GI values for a single food type varied widely with the cooking method used. This study of GI and GL values for common carbohydrate-rich foods provides a valuable reference for consumers and health professionals to make informed food choices for glycaemic control.

This study was conducted to examine the neuropsychological deficits in children with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Furthermore, the focus of present study was to explore whether OCD children show the same executive dysfunction as adult OCD patients. The participants consisted of 106 children between the ages of 6 and 16 years who visited the department of child-adolescent psychiatry, Seoul National University Children's Hospital (17 OCD, 25 ADHD, 21 tic disorder, 20 depressive disorder, and 23 healthy children). The OCD children showed higher verbal ability compared to other psychiatric groups, but performed the worst on WISC-R subtests assessing perceptual organization ability under time pressure. The OCD children did not show any significant deficits in verbal intellectual function, memory, attention and concentration abilities. However, similar to the ADHD children, the OCD children had significantly more errors and completed fewer categories on the WCST compared to the healthy group. Through neuropsychological tests, the OCD children showed cognitive strength and weakness similar to those of OCD adults that were reported in previous research. Specifically, they had executive function deficits in mental set shifting, supporting the frontal-striatal dysfunction hypothesis of OCD in children as well as in adults.

Recently, the development of information technology (IT) increases the demands of memory devices. Phase change random access memory (PRAM), based on the reversible phase change of the chalcogenide alloy, Ge2Sb2Te5, is widely regarded as a favourite candidate for the next generation memory. Because of PRAM has a simple cell structure with high scalability; it is non-volatile, has a relatively high read/write operation speed (Â50ns). The PRAM operation relies on the fact that chalcogenide-based materials can be reversible switched from an amorphous phase to a crystalline state by an external electrical current. It is important to study the electrical property with set/reset cycles, since film thickness shrinkage occurs with the phase transition.

In this work, we fabricated the 100nm amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 thin film on TiN/Ti/Si substrate using dc-magnetron sputtering. The 50X50§2 isolated Ge2Sb2Te5 cell was lithographed by the lift-off pattern and wet etching. And TiN top electrode was deposited using pattern align process at room temperature after the SiO2 insulator CMP. Phase transition behavior with the set/reset cycle was observed using I-V measurement and transmission electron microscope (TEM) on isolated Ge2Sb2Te5 cell. The set/reset programming was operated using tungsten SPM tip which was fabricated using focused ion beam (FIB) lithography. I-V curve which was observed by the I-V probe clearly showed that the phase transition was occurred by applying the electric field through the I-V probe. The resistivity difference between amorphous and crystal state was more than 102. After the phase transition, it was also demonstrated with transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. For the preparation of TEM specimen of the amorphous and crystalline cell, focused ion beam (FIB) lithography was adopted.

The relationship between crystal structure and piezo-response was investigated in epitaxially grown PbZr1−xTixO3 (PZT) thin films on Pt(001)/MgO(001) with a thin PbTiO3 interlayer. Insertion of the interlayer resulted in significant relaxation ofthe strain that could be developed in the course of deposition of the PZT films, consequently leading us to single out only the effect of composition. Composition of the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), at which tetragonal and rhombohedral phases are mixed with the same volume fraction, was found to be ∼0.55 in Ti/(Zr + Ti) ratio in our films, which is close to the value for bulk polycrystalline PZT (∼0.50). The piezoelectric response peaks were two times higher in the MPB regime than in the single phase regime due to structural instability caused by the coexistence of two phases. The results indicate that epitaxial PZT films having the MPB composition are advantageous over those of other compositions for nano-storage devices based on scanning force microscopy.

The dynamics of surface fluctuations in thin supported polystyrene films have been investigated using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) in reflection geometry. The results from the films thicker than four times of the radius of gyration (Rg) of polystyrene show the behavior of the capillary waves expected in viscous liquid. However, thinner films show a deviation indicating the need to account for viscoelasticity. Theoretical considerations with viscoelastic liquid model has been performed by introducing frequency dependent viscosity and compared with Fredrickson’s brush model (Macromolecules, 25, 2882 (1992)). The theory has been extended to the surface and interfacial modes in a bilayer film system. The results will be discussed in terms of surface tension, viscosity, and shear modulus.

The effect of Mg in Ag(Mg)/SiO2/Si multilayers on the adhesion, passivation, and resistivity following vacuum annealing at 200–500 °C has been investigated. The annealing of Ag(Mg)/SiO2/Si multilayers produced surface and interfacial MgO layers, resulting in a MgO/Ag/MgO/SiO2/Si structure. The formation of a surface MgO/Ag bilayer structure provided excellent passivation against air and CF4 plasma chemistry. In addition, the adhesion of Ag to SiO2 was improved due to the formation of an interfacial MgO layer resulting from the reaction of segregated Mg with SiO2. However, the negligible solubility of Si in Ag prevented the dissolution of free silicon into the Ag(Mg) film produced from the reaction Mg + SiO2 = MgO + free Si, which in turn limited the reaction between Mg and SiO2, which led to a decrease in the adhesion of Ag to SiO2 at the higher temperature. The use of an O2 plasma prior to Ag(Mg) alloy deposition on SiO2 produced an oxygen-rich surface on the SiO2, which allowed for the enhanced reaction of the segregated Mg and SiO2 at the surface, thus resulting in markedly increased adhesion properties.

Crystalline and pore-free films of α–Fe2O3 were prepared on hydrophilic self-assembled organic monolayers (DTT-SAMs) at 80 °C. Subsequently, Fe3O4 and γ–Fe2O3 films were synthesized via post annealing of as-deposited α–Fe2O3. In situ patterning of crystalline iron oxide thin layers was achieved via microcontact printing (μCP) and selective deposition. μCP was used to pattern two different surface moieties of self-assembled organic monolayers (SAMs) on Au–Cr–Si substrates. An elastomeric stamp was used to transfer either hexadecanethiol (HDT) SAMs, which are to sustain deposition of iron oxide precipitates, or hydrophilic SAMs [e.g., dithiothreitol (DTT)]. Selective deposition was realized through precipitation of iron oxide phases. Iron oxide films were deposited onto hydrophilic SAMs, but not onto HDT surfaces. Line (width of <1 μm) patterns in crystalline α–Fe2O3 thin films were obtained.

X-ray specular and off-specular reflectivity studies have been carried out to study the density modulations in liquids confined between two smooth silicon mirrors. The special technique as well as the advantages of using high energy and high brilliance synchrotron x-ray beams for carrying out such experiments will be discussed. Results will be presented on the ordering of octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) as a function of the confining pressure, where we find evidence of layering as the gap is decreased from macroscopic down to a few nanometers.

In situ patterning of crystalline iron oxide thin layers has been achieved via microcontact printing (μCP) and selective deposition. μCP was used to pattern two different surface moieties of selfassembled organic monolayers (SAMs) on Au/Cr/Si substrates. An elastomeric stamp (poly(dimethylsiloxane); PDMS) having a submicron-size patterned relief structure was used to transfer either hexadecanethiol (HDT) SAMs, which are to sustain deposition of iron oxide precipitates, or hydrophilic SAMs (e.g. dithiothreitol (DTT)). Selective deposition is realized through precipitation of iron oxide phases from aqueous solutions at ambient temperature (<100°C). Aqueous solutions of 0.05 M of iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)2•9H20) containing urea under nitric acid (pH < 2) were prepared for selective depositions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) results showed that iron oxide precipitates were deposited onto hydrophilic SAMs, but not onto HDT surfaces. As-deposited films onto DTT-SAM surfaces at 80°C were crystalline α-Fe2O3 (hematite). Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3 films were synthesized via annealing of as-deposited α-Fe2O3. Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffractometry, vibrating sample magnetometry, and optical microscopy were used to characterize the films' microstructures and properties.

We have studied the pressure dependence of the type-I and type-II transitions in (GaAs)m/(AlAs)m superlattices by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. From the study of PL linewidths of the type-I exciton as a function of pressure and temperature, we determine the intervalley deformation potential. Beyond the type-I and type-II crossover, the PL linewidth increases both as a function of pressure and temperature. We find that the electron-phonon deformation potential for Γ-X intervalley scattering varies with temperature.