• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.375-390
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• 2022

Influenza viruses are zoonotic respiratory pathogens, and influenza infections have caused a substantial burden on public health systems and the livestock industry. Although currently approved seasonal influenza vaccines have shown potent protection efficacy against antigenically well-matched strains, there are considerable unmet needs for the efficient control of viral infections. Enormous efforts have been made to develop broadly protective universal influenza vaccines to tackle the huge levels of genetic diversity and variability of influenza viruses. In addition, antiviral drugs have been considered important interventions for the treatment of viral infections. The viral neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir is the most widely used antiviral medication to treat influenza A and influenza B viruses. However, unsatisfactory clinical outcomes resulting from side effects and the emergence of resistant variants have led to greater attention being paid to plants as a natural resource for anti-influenza drugs. In particular, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has underpinned the need for safe and effective antiviral drugs with a broad spectrum of antiviral activity to prevent the rapid spread of viruses among humans. This review outlines the results of the antiviral activities of various natural products isolated from plants against influenza viruses. Special focus is paid to the virucidal effects and the immune-enhancing effects of antiviral natural products, since the products have broad applications as inactivating agents for the preparation of inactivated vaccines and vaccine adjuvants.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2024

In this study, LiDAR-detectable black hollow-structured materials are synthesized using different reducing agents to evaluate their applicability to LiDAR sensor. Initially, white SiO₂/TiO₂ core/shell (WST) materials are fabricated via a sol-gel method, followed by a reduction using ascorbic acid (AA) and sodium borohydride (SB). After the reduction, subsequent etching of the SiO₂ core leads to the formation of two different black hollow-structured materials (AA-BHT and SB-BHT). The lightness (L^*) and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance (R%) of AA-BHT are measured as ca. 19.1 and 34.5 R%, and SB-BHT shows values of ca. 11.5 and 31.8 R%, respectively. While AA-BHT exhibits higher NIR reflectance compared to SB-BHT, it displays slightly lower blackness. Compared with core/shell structured materials, improved NIR reflectance of both AA-BHT and SB-BHT is attributed to the morphology of hollow- structured materials, which increase light reflection at the interface between air and black TiO₂ according to the Fresnel's reflection principle. Consequently, both AA-BHT and SB-BHT are effectively detected by the commercially available LiDAR sensors, validating their suitability as black materials for autonomous vehicle and environment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.545-551
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• 2008

When cultivated aerobically, Aspergillus niger hyphae produced extracellular glucoamylase, which catalyzes the saccharification of unliquified potato starch into glucose, but not when grown under anaerobic conditions. The $K_m\;and\;V_{max}$ of the extracellular glucoamylase were 652.3 mg/l of starch and 253.3 mg/l/min of glucose, respectively. In mixed culture of A. niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, oxygen had a negative influence on the alcohol fermentation of yeast, but activated fungal growth. Therefore, oxygen is a critical factor for ethanol production in the mixed culture, and its generation through electrolysis of water in an electrochemical bioreactor needs to be optimized for ethanol production from starch by coculture of fungal hyphae and yeast cells. By applying pulsed electric fields (PEF) into the electrochemical bioreactor, ethanol production from starch improved significantly: Ethanol produced from 50 g/l potato starch by a mixed culture of A. niger and S. cerevisiae was about 5 g/l in a conventional bioreactor, but was 9 g/l in 5 volts of PEF and about 19 g/l in 4 volts of PEF for 5 days.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.245-251
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• 2004

The fungal species of Rhizopus oryzae 2062 has the capacity to carry out a single stage fermentation process for lactic acid production from potato starch wastewater. Starch hydrolysis, reducing sugar accumulation, biomass formation, and lactic acid production were affected with variations in pH, temperature, and starch source and concentration. A growth condition with starch concentration approximately 20 g/ L at pH 6.0 and 30$^{\circ}C$ was favourable for starch fermentation, resulting in a lactic acid yield of 78.3%∼85.5% associated with 1.5∼2.0 g/L fungal biomass produced in 36 h of fermentation.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1530-1541
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• 2013

The coexistence and extinction of species are important concepts for biological systems and can be distinguished by an investigation of stability. When determining local stability of nonlinear systems, Lyapunov indirect method based on the Jacobian linearization has been widely employed due to its simplicity. Despite such popularity, it is not applicable to singular systems whose Jacobian has at least one eigenvalue that is equal to zero. In such singular cases, an appropriate Lyapunov function should be sought to determine the stability of systems, which is rather difficult and quite involved. In this paper, we seek for a simple criterion to determine stability of the equilibrium that is located at the boundary of the positive orthant, when one of eigenvalues of the Jacobian is zero. The goal of the paper is to present a generalized condition for the equilibrium to attract all trajectories that starting from initial condition in the positive orthant and near the equilibrium. Unlike the Lyapunov direct method, the proposed method requires just a simple algebraic computation for checking the stability of the critical point. Our approach is applied to various biological systems to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2017

A tube-type ceramic membrane for microfiltration was developed, and the membrane module comprised of three membranes was also applied to biological carbon and nitrogen removal processes for post-treatment. Manufacturing the microfiltration membrane was successful with the structure and boundary of the coated and support layers within the membrane module clearly observable. Total kjeldahl nitrogen removal from effluent was additionally achieved through the elimination of solids containing organic nitrogen by use of the ceramic membrane module. Removal of suspended solids and colloidal substances were noticeably improved after membrane filtration, and the filtration function of the ceramic membrane could also easily be recovered by physical cleaning. By using the ceramic membrane module, the system showed average removals of organics, nitrogen, and solids up to 98%, 80% and 99.9%, respectively. Thus, this microfiltration system appears to be an alternative and flexible option for existing biological nutrient removal processes suffering from poor settling performance due to the use of a clarifier.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.05
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• pp.379-382
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• 1997

A method for measuring optical properties of biological medium was investigated by using the frequency domain spectroscopy. When amplitude-modulated light with the frequency of several tens up to several hundred MHz propagates through a scattering medium, the phase lag and the amplitude reduction occur. The phase lag depends on the average of optical path lengths. The amplitude reduction with respect to the radial distance is influenced by the penetration depth. The mean of optical path length and penetration depth are related to optical coefficients. The phase lag and the amplitude reduction were measured based on the heterodyne detection method. The experimental data were fitted with the theoretical curves derived from diffusion theory and the absorption and scattering coefficients were calculated.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.103-107
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• 2008

Unlike conventional optical coherence tomography systems based on Michelson interferometer, we suggest a common-path OCT system, which does not include a separated configuration between reference signal and sample signal. We optimize the refractive index of partial reflecting probe to induce a balanced intensity of the reference signal. At the end of the probe, convex lens was optimally fabricated to get images of biological samples in the position of focus. Using the experimental system, we could get 2-D images of various biological samples.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.362-368
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• 2004

A new one-column chromatography process, analogous to a four-zone simulated moving bed (SMB), was presented. The basic principle of the process was identical to that of a four-zone SMB. The process consisted of one chromatographic column and four tanks, instead of the four columns in the four-zone SMB (1-1-1-1), and has been used for the separation of two amino acids, phenylalanine and tryptophan, using an ion exchange resin. The operating parameters for the one-column process and four-zone SMB were obtained from equilibrium theory. Computer simulations were used to compare the performances of the new one column process to that of the general four-zone SMB, using Aspen $Chromatography^{TM}$ v 11.1. The differences between the one-column and SMB processes in terms of the purities and yields of phenylalanine and tryptophan were less than 4 and about $6\%$, respectively. The lower purities of the one-column process were due to the loss of the developed concentration profiles in the column when the liquid was stored in tanks. The one-column process gave great flexibility, and would be useful for reconstructing an existing conventional chromatography process to one of a SMB.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 2017

An efficient synthetic process for bio-based adipic acid, a monomer for nylon 66, was developed from galactose. Galactaric acid, prepared from a mild oxidation of galactose using a Pt catalyst, was successfully converted to muconate, a key intermediate for adipic acid, by an efficient microwave-assisted DODH (deoxydehydration) reaction. The high efficiency of the microwave-assisted reaction greatly reduced the overall reaction time to 30 min. and resulted in an excellent yield of 97% of muconate. The catalytic hydrogenation of muconate followed by the acidic hydrolysis successfully produced the desired adipic acid in high purity after recrystallization.