• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.303-308
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• 1998

A bacterial strain which utilizes phenol under denitrifying condition was isolated from the industrial waste water collected from the Chong-ju Industrial Complex. The strain was identified as Pseudomonas species from the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and designated as HL100. The strain can utilize phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy when nitrate is provided as the terminal electron acceptor. The isolated strain completely degraded 3 mM of phenol within 110 hour with concomitant reduction of nitrate to nitrite. The observed maximum doubling time was 20 hours. Under appropriate condition, complete reduction of nitrate to atmospheric N$_2$ was observed indicating that the isolated strain could perform complete steps of denitrification. The strain showed optimal growth at pH 7.0 and temperature of 37$^{\circ}C$ under denitrifying phenol-degrading condition. The strain can also utilize toluene as the sole carbon and energy source under the same growth condition. However, no growth was detected on xylene and benzene.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.75-82
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• 2008

Two UASB reactors were operated to investigate the effect of high concentration of sulfate on anaerobic digestion of propionate using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. An organic loading rate of $1.2kg\;COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ and a hydraulic retention time of 1.6 d were maintained during this study. In the absence of sulfate, the UASB reactor achieved about 95% removal of chemical oxygen demand whereas in the presence of $2,000\;SO_4^{2-}mg/L$, the COD removal rate decreased to 83% due probably to the inhibition of dissolved sulfide inhibition. Interactions between the methane producing bacteria (MPB) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were measured to investigate the competition between MPB and SRB. The MPB consumed average 58% of the available electron donors at $COD/SO_4^{2-}$ ratio of 1. Propionate was consumed mainly by SRB, converting sulfate into sulfide and suppressing the methane production. The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) using acetate and propionate increased as microorganism acclimated to the substrate.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of deer antler extract on the regeneration of peripheral nerves. Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing about 300 gm were fed deer antler extract for 1, 2, and 3 weeks per oral (1.5 ml/100 gm B.W.), respectively, once a day and transected both sides of sciatic nerve of each leg. After keeping for 6 hours, sciatic nerves taken from proximal part of transected region were treated with conventional transmission electron microscopical method and then observed with electron microscope. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. Sciatic nerves of normal control group were not showing any sprouts and electron dense axolemmal projections were frequently observed. 2. Sciatic nerves of saline treated groups were showing axonal sprouts at the nodes of Ranvier. The length of them was usually short, and numerous vesicles, vacuoles and organelles including neurofilament were contained. The number of nodes of Ranvier containing sprouts from 100 longitudinal sectioned nerve fibers was 29 (29%) in 1 week treated group, 32 (32%) in 2 weeks treated group, and 30 (30%) in 3 weeks treated group, respectively. 3. Sciatic nerves of deer antler treated groups were showing axonal sprouts at the node of Ranvier as well. Although most of the sprouts were short, some sprouts of 2 weeks and 3 weeks treated groups were quite long. Sprouts usually contained numerous vesicles, vacuoles and cell organelles such as neurofilaments and mitochondria. The number of nodes of Ranvier containing sprouts from 100 longitudinal sectioned nerve fibers was 38 (38%) in 1 week treated group, 46 (46%) in 2 weeks treated group, and 48 (48%) in 3 weeks treated group respectively. The results described above explain pretreatment of deer antler extract improves the sprout formation of transected sciatic nerves, and then it suggests deer antler may be effective for the regeneration of peripheral nerves.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.639-645
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• 2016

We herein report efficient triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) achieved in various non-toxic and non-volatile vegetable oils as a UC media using platinum-octaethylporphyrin (PtOEP) and 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) as a sensitizer and acceptor, respectively. Green-to-blue UC was readily achieved from PtOEP/DPA solution in vegetable oils with the quantum yield of 8% without any deoxygenation process. The UC efficiency was found to be significantly dependent on the contents of unsaturated hydrocarbon in vegetable oils and viscosity of the solution, as well. Though the Stern-volmer constant and quantum yield in vegetable oils were measured to be lower than those measured in the deaerated organic solvent, the quenching efficiency was still high enough to be 93%. In the sunflower oil, the UC threshold intensity ($I_{th}$) was approx. $100mW/cm^2$, which is far larger than the sunlight intensity, but we believe that the UC achieved in non-toxic and air-saturated media was still highly applicable to nontraditional visualization techniques such as bioimaging.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.757-763
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• 2006

In our previous studies, we have isolated bacteria from BTEX-contaminated sediment, which utilized BTEX as a sole carbon source and $NO_3$-N as an electron acceptor. For the possibility of field application, we have applied co-culture of those isolates in the BTEX-contaminated soil and evaluated their biodegradation efficiencies. To investigate the relationship between the isolates and indigenous microorganism in soil, changes of microbial community structure in soil samples with respect to time were monitored. To examine this, soil samples were artificially contaminated with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene. BTEX-degrading bacteria such as Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 15(DQ 202712), Klebsiells sp. strain 20(DQ 202715) and Citrobacter sp. strain A(DQ 202713) were injected into the soil samples in the ratio of 2:1:1. Our results showed that the highest BTEX biodegradation efficiency was achieved when both BTEX and $NO_3-N$ existed simultaneously. The change in soil microbial community structure was characterized by PCR-DGGE analysis comparing the relative DGGE band intensities. The band intensities of indigenous microorganisms in the soil were reduced by injecting co-culture of the three isolates. On the contrary, the relative band intensities of the isolates were increased. Among the three isolates, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 15 rendered the highest band intensity. This indicates that the Pseudomonas stutzeri was the dominant microbial species found in the soil samples.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.438-442
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• 2007

A biosensor using electrochemically-active bacteria (EAB) enriched in three-electrode electrochemical cell, was developed for the determination of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in wastewater. In the electrochemical cell, the positively poised working electrode with applying a potential of 0.7 V was used as an electron acceptor for the EAB. The experimental results using artificial and raw wastewater showed that the current pattern generated by the biosensor and its Coulombic yield were proportional to the concentration of organic matter in wastewater. The correlation coefficients of BOD vs Coulombic yield and $BOD_5$ vs Coulombic yield were 0.99 and 0.98, respectively. These results indicate that the biosensor enriched with the EAB capable of transferring electrons directly toward the electrode can be utilized as a water-quality monitoring system due to a quick and accurate response.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.443-451
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• 2020

A futuristic locomotion system called Hyperloop is projected for driving at ulta-high speed, levitated in the tube. In hyperloop localization of pods on the linear synchronous motor is essential for pod driving. precision localization is required for acceleration and deceleration of pods driving at speed above 1,000km/h, and also required for adjusting the pod speed driving at this very-high speed to maintain inter-vehicle distance. In this work, a new scale of localization is challenged by modified laser surface velocimeter. In acceleration the speed of a virtual pod is calculated along its displacement measured by laser reflection. Under the requirement of precise localization of the pod driving at ultra-high speed, a displacement measurement device, which detects the difference in reflections from tiles passing by the pod, is developed and evaluated through performance test. Tests of pod speeds below 500km/h have showed exact localization results of the precision in centimeters, and tests of pod speeds above 500km/h have showed localization with very low error rates under 0.1%. For the measurement above 500km/h, future works would pursue the error rate converges to zero.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 2019

Triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) is a photochemical process wherein two or more low-energy photons are converted to a high-energy photon through a special energy transfer mechanism. Herein, we report a strategy to enhance the efficiency of TTA-UC through the light-scattering effect induced by silica microparticles (SM) embedded in polymeric thin films. By incorporating monodisperse uniform silica microparticles with a uniform size of 950 nm synthesized by $St{\ddot{o}}ber$-based seeded growth method into UC polymeric thin films, the UC intensity in the 430-570 nm range was enhanced by as much as 64% when irradiated by 635 nm laser. Analyzing the lifetime of PdTPBP phosphorescence revealed that the presence of SM in the UC layer does not affect triplet-triplet energy transfer (TTET) between sensitizers and acceptors, supporting the enhancement of TTA-UC originated from the light-scattering effect. On the other hand, the incorporation of SM in UC layer is shown to enhance the triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) efficiency, which results in a 1.5-fold increase of the ${\Phi}_{UC}$, by scattering light source and thus increasing the number of excited photons to be utilized in TTA-UC process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.758-763
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• 2014

Soil microbial fuel cells (SMFC) have gained a great attention as an eco-friendly technology that can simultaneously generate electricity and treat organic pollutants from the contaminated soil. We evaluated the effect of electrode spacing and size on the performance of SMFC treating soil contaminated with organic pollutants. Maximum power density decreased with increase in electrode distance or decrease in electrode size, likely due to higher internal resistance. The maximum voltage and power density decreased from 326 mV and $19.5mW/m^2$ with 4 cm of electrode distance to 222 mV and $5.9mW/m^2$ with 9 cm of electrode distance. In case of electrode size test, the maximum voltage and power density generated was 291 mV, $0.34mW/m^3$ when both of anode and cathode area were $64cm^2$ with 4 cm of electrode distance. The maximum voltage decreased by 19~29% when the anode area decreased to $16cm^2$ while only 3~12% of voltage decreased with cathode area decrease. The maximum power density decreased by 49~68% with decreasing anode size, and by 29~47% with decreasing cathode size. These results showed that the anode area had more significant effects than the cathode area on the power generation of SMFC which has a high internal resistance due to a coexistence of soil and wastewater in the reactor.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.853-860
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• 2012

To estimate potential use of fly ash in reducing $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ emission from soil, $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ fluxes from a paddy soil mixed with fly ash at different rate (w/w; 0, 5, and 10%) in the presence and absence of fertilizer N ($(NH_4)_2SO_4$) addition were investigated in a laboratory incubation for 60 days under changing water regime from wetting to drying via transition. The mean $CH_4$ flux during the entire incubation period ranged from 0.59 to $1.68mg\;CH_4\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$ with a lower rate in the soil treated with N fertilizer due to suppression of $CH_4$ production by $SO_4^{2-}$ that acts as an electron acceptor, leading to decreases in electron availability for methanogen. Fly ash application reduced $CH_4$ flux by 37.5 and 33.0% in soils without and with N addition, respectively, probably due to retardation of $CH_4$ diffusion through soil pores by addition of fine-textured fly ash. In addition, as fly ash has a potential for $CO_2$ removal via carbonation (formation of carbonate precipitates) that decreases $CO_2$ availability that is a substrate for $CO_2$ reduction reaction (one of $CH_4$ generation pathways) is likely to be another mechanisms of $CH_4$ flux reduction by fly ash. Meanwhile, the mean $CO_2$ flux during the entire incubation period was between 0.64 and $0.90g\;CO_2\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, and that of N treated soil was lower than that without N addition. Because N addition is likely to increase soil respiration, it is not straightforward to explain the results. However, it may be possible that our experiment did not account for the substantial amount of $CO_2$ produced by heterotrophs that were activated by N addition in earlier period than the measurement was initiated. Fly ash application also lowered $CO_2$ flux by up to 20% in the soil mixed with fly ash at 10% through $CO_2$ removal by the carbonation. At the whole picture, fly ash application at 10% decreased global warming potential of emitted $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ by about 20%. Therefore, our results suggest that fly ash application can be a soil management practice to reduce green house gas emission from paddy soils. Further studies under field conditions with rice cultivation are necessary to verify our findings.