• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2015

The presence of phenols in treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) is an environmental concern due to their phytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity. In this study, phenol-degrading bacteria, Methylobacterium sp. NP3 and Acinetobacter sp. PK1 were immobilized on oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs) for removal of phenols in the treated POME. The bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) were responsible for cell adhesion to the EFBs during the immobilization process. These immobilized bacteria could effectively remove up to 5,000 mg/L phenol in a carbon free mineral medium (CFMM) with a greater degradation efficiency and rate than that with suspended bacteria. To increase the efficiency of the immobilized bacteria, three approaches, namely activation, acclimation, and combined activation and acclimation were applied. The most convenient and efficient strategy was found when the immobilized bacteria were activated in a CFMM containing phenol for 24 h before biotreatment of the treated POME. These activated immobilized bacteria were able to remove about 63.4% of 33 mg/L phenols in the treated POME, while non-activated and/or acclimated immobilized bacteria could degrade only 35.0%. The activated immobilized bacteria could be effectively reused for at least ten application cycles and stored for 4 weeks at $4^{\circ}C$ with the similar activities. In addition, the utilization of the abundant EFBs gives value-added to the palm oil mill wastes and is environmentally friendly thus making it is attractive for practical application.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.599-608
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• 2017

Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) is a pharmacologically active substance extracted from the rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (also known as the Chinese herb Danshen), and is widely used to treat atherosclerosis. The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a nuclear receptor that is a key regulator of xenobiotic and endobiotic detoxification. Tan IIA is an efficacious PXR agonist that has a potential protective effect on endothelial injuries induced by xenobiotics and endobiotics via PXR activation. Previously numerous studies have demonstrated the possible effects of Tan IIA on human umbilical vein endothelial cells, but the further mechanism for its exerts the protective effect is not well established. To study the protective effects of Tan IIA against hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we pretreated cells with or without different concentrations of Tan IIA for 24 h, then exposed the cells to $400{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ for another 3 h. Therefore, our data strongly suggests that Tan IIA may lead to increased regeneration of glutathione (GSH) from the glutathione disulfide (GSSG) produced during the GSH peroxidase-catalyzed decomposition of $H_2O_2$ in HUVECs, and the PXR plays a significant role in this process. Tan IIA may also exert protective effects against $H_2O_2$-induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway associated with the participation of PXR. Tan IIA protected HUVECs from inflammatory mediators triggered by $H_2O_2$ via PXR activation. In conclusion, Tan IIA protected HUVECs against $H_2O_2$-induced cell injury through PXR-dependent mechanisms.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.479-486
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• 2008

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) play an indispensable role in activation of the myogenic program, which is responsive to mechanical stimulation. Although there is accumulating evidence of mechanical force-mediated cellular responses, the role of MAPK in regulating the myogenic process in myoblasts exposed to cyclic stretch is unclear. Cyclic stretch induced the proliferation of C2C12 myoblasts and inhibited their differentiation into myotubes. In particular, it induced persistent phosphorylation of p38 kinase, and decreased the level of phosphorylation of extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK). Partial inhibition of p38 phosphorylation increased cellular levels of MyoD and p-ERK in stretched C2C12 cells, along with increased myotube formation. Treatment with $10{\mu}M$ PD98059 prevented myogenin expression in response to a low dose of SB203580 ($3{\mu}M$) in the stretched cells, suggesting that adequate ERK activation is also needed to allow the cells to differentiate into myotubes. These results suggest that cyclic stretch inhibits the myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells by activating p38-mediated signaling and inhibiting ERK phosphorylation. We conclude that p38 kinase, not ERK, is the upstream signal transducer regulating cellular responses to mechanical stretch in skeletal muscle cells.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.91-107
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• 2013

In recent years, the number of walking-tourists who visit Jeju olle trail are increasing every year and the ripple effect is a rapid change on the roles and leadership of local people in rural villages. The reason for the change is that most Jeju Olle Trails cuts through the rural village in Jeju island. However, most of travelers just walked along the trails, no one was interested about villages along the Olle roads. For these reasons, many rural villages would not get any benefits such as non-farm income, sales profit and also can not activate the facility of village and infrastructure. Therefore, we study on Revitalization Method for rural villages through the Analysis of characteristics of tourist in Jeju Olle Trails and a field survey research too. In this process, we investigated the status and characteristics of the rural villages of Jeju island in the first step. Then, we considered the distinct characteristics and factors for improving of the 10 places with site investigation where were recommended by Jeju Olle Corporation and Jeju Agricultural Technology Center in second step. Lastly, we arranged the resident's requirement and result of survey and interview with leaders of rural village. As a result, we suggest the activation methods for residents and leaders of rural area and this study is also expected to help management of rural villages and also is an important study to improve importance of utilizing of more people visiting in Jeju Olle Trails.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2015

If $CO_2$ stored for geological sequestration escapes from deep formations and is introduced to shallow aquifers, it dissolves into groundwater, creates acidic environments, and enhance mineral dissolution from rocks and soils. Among these minerals, dissolution and spread of hazardous trace metals can cause environmental problems with detrimental impacts on groundwater quality. This study aims to investigate geochemical effects of $CO_2$ in groundwater on dissolution of galena, the main mineral controlling the mobility of lead. A series of batch experiments are performed with granulated galena in $CO_2$ solutions under various experimental conditions for $CO_2$ concentration and reaction temperature. Results show that dissolution of galena is significantly enhanced under acidic environments so that both of equilibrium concentrations and dissolution rates of lead increase. For thermodynamic analysis on galena dissolution, the apparent rate constants and the activation energy for galena dissolution are calculated by applying rate law to experimental results. The apparent rate constants are $6.71{\times}10^{-8}mol/l{\cdot}sec$ at $15^{\circ}C$, $1.77{\times}10^{-7}mol/l{\cdot}sec$ at $25^{\circ}C$, $3.97{\times}10^{-7}mol/l{\cdot}sec$ at $35^{\circ}C$ and the activation energy is 63.68 kJ/mol. The galena dissolution is suggested to be a chemically controlled surface reaction, and the rate determining step is the dissociation of Pb-S bond of surface complex.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2014

In this study, the reducing agent hydrazine and precipitator NaOH were used with $NiCl_2$ as a starting material in order to compound Ni-based material with spherical nano characteristics; resulting material was used as an anode for SOFC. Synthetic temperature, pH, and solvent amounts were experimentally optimized and the synthesis conditions were confirmed. Also, a 0 ~ 0.15 mole ratio of metal(Co, Fe) was alloyed in order to increase the catalyst activation performance of Ni and finally, spherical nano $Ni_{(1-x)}-M_{(x=0{\sim}0.15)}$(M = Co, Fe) alloy materials were compounded. In order to evaluate the catalyst activation for hydrocarbon fuel, fuel gas(10%/$CH_4$+10%/Air) was added and the responding gas was analyzed with GC(Gas Chromatography). Catalyst activation improvement was confirmed from the 3% hydrogen selectivity and 2.4% methane conversion rate in $Ni_{0.95}-Co_{0.05}$ alloy; those values were 4.4% and 19%, respectively, in $Ni_{0.95}-Fe_{0.05}$ alloy.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.508-512
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• 2010

The optimum route to fabricate nano-sized Fe-50 wt% Co and hydrogen-reduction behavior of calcined Fe-/Conitrate was investigated. The powder mixture of metal oxides was prepared by solution mixing and calcination of Fe-/Co-nitrate. A DTA-TG and microstructural analysis revealed that the nitrates mixture by the calcination at $300^{\circ}C$ for 2 h was changed to Fe-oxide/$Co_3O_4$ composite powders with an average particle size of 100 nm. The reduction behavior of the calcined powders was analyzed by DTA-TG in a hydrogen atmosphere. The composite powders of Fe-oxide and Co3O4 changed to a Fe-Co phase with an average particle size of 40 nm in the temperature range of $260-420^{\circ}C$. In the TG analysis, a two-step reduction process relating to the presence of Fe3O4 and a CoO phase as the intermediate phase was observed. The hydrogen-reduction kinetics of the Fe-oxide/Co3O4 composite powders was evaluated by the amount of peak shift with heating rates in TG. The activation energies for the reduction, estimated by the slope of the Kissinger plot, were 96 kJ/mol in the peak temperature range of $231-297^{\circ}C$ and 83 kJ/mol of $290-390^{\circ}C$, respectively. The reported activation energy of 70.4-94.4 kJ/mol for the reduction of Fe- and Co-oxides is in reasonable agreement with the measured value in this study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.279-286
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• 2011

The aging degradation and lifetime assessment of a domestic class 1E Ethylene-Propylene-Diene-Monomer (EPDM), which is a popular insulating elastomer for electrical cables in the nuclear power plants, were studied for equipment qualification verification under the Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) conditions. The specimens were acceleratively aged, underwent a LOCA environment, as well as tested mechanically, thermo-gravimetrically, and spectroscopically according to the American Society of the Testing of Materials (ASTM) procedures. The tensile test results revealed that the elongation at break gradually decreased with an increasing aging temperature. The lifetime of EPDM aged isothermally at $140^{\circ}C$ was 1,316 hours and reduced to 1,120 hours after experiencing the severe accident test. The activation energies of the elongation reduction were $1.10{\pm}0.196$ eV and $0.93{\pm}0.191$ eV before and after the LOCA condition, respectively. The TGA test results also showed that the activation energy of the aging decomposition decreased from 1.35 eV to 1.02 eV after undergoing the LOCA environment. Although the mechanical property changes were discernibly observed during the aging process, along with the LOCA simulation, the FT-IR analysis showed that the spectroscopic peaks and their intensities did not alter significantly. Therefore, it can be concluded that the degradation of the domestic class 1E EPDM due to aging can be tolerable, even in severe accident conditions such as LOCA, and thus it qualifies as a suitable insulating material for electrical cables in the nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.211-220
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• 2018

The standard data link layer encryption provided by CCSDS has a structure that encodes HDLC frame into it using an AES algorithm. However, CCSDS is standard method has a structure in which the receiving side cannot request a re-activation when noise interference occurs over an unstable channel. SES Alarmed has a structure that enables the receiving side to additionally detect errors and perform re-activation requests in an operational structure similar to that of link encryption in CCSDS. The SES Alarmed related paper was intended to identify the optimum range of thresholds and identify data corruption due to channel noise. In this paper, the focus was on reducing the re-activation process if the HDLC frame, excluding the password Sync code, consistently exceeds any threshold levels. The HDLC frame order was changed and the results of using SES Alarmed were proposed and compared.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.304-313
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• 2015

Background: Ginsenoside Rg3 is a promising anticancer agent. It is usually produced by heat treatment of ginseng, in which ginsenoside Rb1 is the major ginsenoside. A kinetic study was conducted to optimize ginsenoside Rg3 production by the heat treatment of ginsenoside Rb1. Methods: Ginsenoside Rb1 was heated using an isothermal machine at $80^{\circ}C$ and $100^{\circ}C$ and analyzed using HPLC. The kinetic parameters were calculated from the experimental results. The activation energy was estimated and used to simulate the process. The optimized parameters of ginsenoside Rg3 production are suggested based on the simulation. Results: The rate constants were $0.013h^{-1}$ and $0.073h^{-1}$ for the degradation of ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg3 at $80^{\circ}C$, respectively. The corresponding rate constants at $100^{\circ}C$ were $0.045h^{-1}$ and $0.155h^{-1}$. The estimated activation energies of degradation of ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg3 were 69.2 kJ/mol and 40.9 kJ/mol, respectively. The rate constants at different temperatures were evaluated using the estimated activation energies, and the kinetic profiles of ginsenosides Rb1 and Rg3 at each temperature were simulated based on the proposed kinetic model of consecutive reaction. The optimum strategies for producing ginsenoside Rg3 from ginsenoside Rb1 are suggested based on the simulation. With increased temperature, a high concentration of ginsenoside Rg3 is formed rapidly. However, the concentration decreases quickly after the reaching the maximal concentration value. Conclusion: The optimum temperature for producing ginsenoside Rg3 should be the highest temperature technically feasible below $180^{\circ}C$, in consideration of the cooling time. The optimum reaction time for heat treatment is 30 min.