Daejin University

ABSTRACT Conductive pitch‐based porous carbon materials were synthesized and systematically investigated as high‐performance electrode materials for supercapacitors. Petroleum‐derived pitch was thermally treated and chemically activated using KOH and NaOH at different pitch: activating agent molar ratio (1:1, 1:2, and 1:4) to optimize the pore structure and electrical conductivity. The resulting activated carbons exhibited large specific surface areas (up to 1686 m 2 g −1 ) and high micropore fractions (84–90%). Among them, the KOH‐activated sample prepared at a 1:2 ratio displayed the highest specific capacitance of 112.6 F g −1 at 10 mV s −1 in a three‐electrode system using an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the NaOH‐activated sample at a 1:4 ratio showed the lowest charge‐transfer resistance (2.7 Ω) due to its superior conductivity (51 S cm −1 ), whereas the KOH‐activated 1:2 sample exhibited enhanced ion diffusion attributed to its high micropore fraction. These results indicate that micropore fraction and conductivity, rather than total surface area alone, predominantly govern the electrochemical behavior of pitch‐derived carbon electrodes. This study demonstrates that pitch‐based porous carbon is a cost‐effective and structurally tunable material platform for next‐generation energy storage devices.

Amine-functionalized solid adsorbents are widely recognized as promising candidates for direct air capture of CO2; however, their practical deployment remains constrained by humidity-dependent adsorption behavior and poor packed-bed operability arising from irregular particle morphology and fines generation. Rather than focusing solely on maximizing intrinsic adsorption capacity, this study addresses these process-level limitations through an integrated design strategy combining particle morphology control with surface chemistry optimization. Uniform spherical magnesium silicate particles with a mean diameter of approximately 15 μm were synthesized via a water-in-oil emulsion route to suppress fines formation and reduce hydrodynamic resistance. Controlled acid pretreatment was subsequently applied to adjust surface hydroxyl accessibility and enable efficient amine grafting without altering bulk composition. The optimized spherical magnesium silicate amine adsorbents exhibited pronounced humidity-enhanced carbon dioxide capture, achieving capacities of 1.7 to 1.8 millimoles/g at 50% relative humidity, representing an approximately fourfold increase compared with dry conditions. This enhancement is attributed to a humidity-induced mechanistic transition from carbamate formation under dry conditions to water-assisted bicarbonate formation under humid conditions. Complete regeneration was achieved at 100 °C, with stable adsorption desorption behavior maintained over ten consecutive cycles, demonstrating short-term reversibility. These findings highlight morphology controlled scalability. Future work should prioritize durability beyond 100 cycles, mechanical robustness, and techno-economic viability at scale.

BackgroundThe outbreak of new infectious diseases is on the rise worldwide. In particular, hospital nurses and nursing managers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic are facing overwhelming workloads amidst confusion and anxiety. In South Korea, qualitative research exploring the experiences of nurse managers in COVID-19 dedicated wards are needed to strengthen their capacity and develop response strategies.ObjectiveThis study aimed to comprehensively understand and explore the experiences of nurse managers in COVID-19 wards.MethodsA qualitative study using the phenomenological research method of Giorgi was employed. Participants were 12 nurse managers who had been performing nursing care in a dedicated ward for the treatment of COVID-19 patients for more than 1 month and had at least 2 years of experience as a COVID-19 nursing unit manager at general hospitals. They were randomly assigned to two groups of six participants for focus group interviews, and they were in-depth interviewed until data saturation. Data were collected from April to July, 2022.ResultsThe duration of experience as nurse managers in COVID-19 dedicated wards was an average of 7 years and 5 months. The duration of experience as staff nurses in COVID-19 wards was an average of 1 year and 2 months. The five themes derived from this study were ‘the opening of unprecedented COVID-19 dedicated wards’, ‘difficulties in personnel management’, ‘overall predicaments as managers’, ‘demonstrating leadership with responsibility’, and ‘pride in overcoming hardships’. Also, eleven sub-themes were derived.ConclusionNurse managers in COVID-19 dedicated wards need to establish rules and guidelines within the ward to prevent and reduce confusion. They also need to collaborate with hospital administrators to ensure that staff nurses assigned to COVID-19 dedicated wards receive relevant training and are assigned accordingly. Intervention programs for COVID-19 dedicated ward nurse managers need to be developed and implemented. Policymakers need to develop government-level policies and systems to establish a medical support system for hospitals operating COVID-19 dedicated wards.

With the widespread availability of the internet, adolescents are spending increasing amounts of time online, particularly influenced by online games and short videos. Prolonged internet use can lead to declining academic per-formance, reduced social skills, and mental health problems. Research has found that parenting styles have a significant impact on adolescents’ internet use. Based on parenting style theory, this study explores how parental media intervention under four different parenting styles influences adolescent inter-net addiction behaviors, and, drawing on self-determination theory and social cognitive theory, analyzes how family education can reduce the risk of inter-net addiction by meeting children’s emotional needs and enhancing self-reg-ulation abilities. The study recommends promoting the authoritative parenting style and integrating efforts with schools and the state to establish collabora-tive mechanisms to better help adolescents avoid excessive internet use.

ABSTRACT Longitudinal research is critical to clarify how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) evolves among disaster survivors and to identify factors shaping recovery. The three-year PTSD trajectories of disaster survivors were classified using Latent Growth Class Analysis. Predictors – including disaster characteristics, psychological and emotional traits of survivors, and post-disaster service utilization – were analyzed using a multinomial logistic regression with Stata software. The results are as follows: i) PTSD trajectories were classified into three groups: low-level maintenance (57.3%), high-level improvement (13.4%), and high-level maintenance (29.2%); ii) A comparison between the high-level maintained and improvement groups revealed that survivors who received timely treatment, appropriate psychological counseling, and sufficient healthcare services were more likely to belong to the high-level improvement group. Furthermore, emotional and social support factors were closely associated with high-level improvement. In contrast, comparisons between the low- and high-level groups revealed disaster type, physical injury severity, and individual resilience as crucial predictors. By revealing distinct three-year PTSD trajectories and their predictors among disaster survivors, this study extends prior research that has largely focused on short-term outcomes. The findings underscore the need for tailored interventions, early crisis response, and integrated health and welfare services, and further suggest that strengthening social safety nets through community programs and multi-channel support systems is critical for vulnerable groups with limited social support.