• Title/Summary/Keyword: Biological Processes

Search Result 1,544, Processing Time 0.031 seconds

New Perspectives on Plant Defense Responses through Modulation of Developmental Pathways

  • Chung, Kwi-Mi;Igari, Kadunari;Uchida, Naoyuk;Tasaka, Masao
    • Molecules and Cells
    • /
    • v.26 no.2
    • /
    • pp.107-112
    • /
    • 2008
  • Invasion mechanisms of pathogens and counteracting defense mechanisms of plants are highly diverse and perpetually evolving. While most classical studies of plant defense have focused only on defense-specific factor-mediated responses, recent work is beginning to shed light on the involvement of non-stress signal components, especially growth and developmental processes. This shift in focus links plant resistance more closely with growth and development. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of how pathogens manipulate host developmental processes and, conversely, of how plants deploy their developmental processes for self-protection. We conclude by introducing our recent work on UNI, a novel R protein in Arabidopsis which mediates cross-talk between developmental processes and defense responses.

Optimization of compression ratio in closed-loop CO2 liquefaction process

  • Park, Taekyoon;Kwak, Hyungyeol;Kim, Yeonsoo;Lee, Jong Min
    • Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
    • /
    • v.35 no.11
    • /
    • pp.2150-2156
    • /
    • 2018
  • We suggest a systematic method for obtaining the optimal compression ratio in the multi-stage closed-loop compression process of carbon dioxide. Instead of adopting the compression ratio of 3 to 4 by convention, we propose a novel approach based on mathematical analysis and simulation. The mathematical analysis prescribes that the geometric mean is a better initial value than the existing empirical value in identifying the optimal compression ratio. In addition, the optimization problem considers the initial installation cost as well as the energy required for the operation. We find that it is best to use the fifth stage in the general closed-loop type carbon dioxide multi-stage compression process.

The Role of Vanadium Complexes with Glyme Ligands in Suppressing Vanadium Crossover for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

  • Jungho Lee;Jingyu Park;Kwang-Ho Ha;Hyeonseok Moon;Eun Ji Joo;Kyu Tae Lee
    • Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.14 no.2
    • /
    • pp.152-161
    • /
    • 2023
  • Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have been considered one of promising power sources for large scale energy storage systems (ESS) because of their excellent cycle performance and good safety. However, VRFBs still have a few challenging issues, such as poor Coulombic efficiency due to vanadium crossover between catholyte and anolyte, although recent efforts have shown promise in electrochemical performance. Herein, the vanadium complexes with various glyme ligands have been examined as active materials to suppress vanadium crossover between catholyte and anolyte, thus improving the Coulombic efficiency of VRFBs. The conventional Nafion membrane has a channel size of ca. 10 Å, whereas vanadium cation species are small compared to the Nafion membrane channel. For this reason, vanadium cations can permeate through the Nafion membrane, resulting in significant vanadium crossover during cycling, although the Nafion membrane is a kind of ion-selective membrane. In this regard, various glyme additives, such as 1,2-dimethoxyethane (monoglyme), diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (diglyme), and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (tetraglyme) have been examined as complexing agents for vanadium cations to increase the size of vanadium-ligand complexes in electrolytes. Since the size of vanadium-glyme complexes is proportional to the chain length of glymes, the vanadium permeability of the Nafion membrane decreases with increasing the chain length of glymes. As a result, the vanadium complexes with tetraglyme shows the excellent electrochemical performance of VRFBs, such as stable capacity retention (90.4% after 100 cycles) and high Coulombic efficiency (98.2% over 100 cycles).

A Study on the Biological Remediation Technology for Oil Contaminated Sites (유류로 오염된 토양의 생물학적 처리기법에 관한 연구)

  • Cho Jai-Rip
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Quality Management Conference
    • /
    • 2004.04a
    • /
    • pp.307-312
    • /
    • 2004
  • Contamination of industrial sites has happened by a variety compounds. Petroleum hydrocarbons, which are readily biodegradable, are reported principle contaminats in most industrial sites. Therefore, the use of biological processes will be a promising technology for remediation of industrial sites. This paper addresses the possible use of biological processes in remediation of contaminated industrial sites and discusses the background and main streams of the process. The paper also characterizes representative biological systems developed for application.

  • PDF

An Empirical Relation between the Plating Process and Accelerator Coverage in Cu Superfilling

  • Cho, Sung-Ki;Kim, Myung-Jun;Koo, Hyo-Chol;Kim, Soo-Kil;Kim, Jae-Jeong
    • Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
    • /
    • v.33 no.5
    • /
    • pp.1603-1607
    • /
    • 2012
  • The effects of plating process on the surface coverage of the accelerator were investigated in terms of Cu superfilling for device metallization. When a substrate having 500 nm-wide trench patterns on it was immersed in an electrolyte containing poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-chloride ion ($Cl^-$)-bis(3-sulfopropyl) disulfide (SPS) additives without applying deposition potential for such a time of about 100s, voids were generated inside of the electrodeposit. In time-evolved electrochemical analyses, it was observed that the process (immersion without applying potential) in the electrolyte led to the build-up of high initial coverage of SPS-Cl on the surface, resulting in the fast saturation of the coverage. Repeated experiments suggested that the fast saturation of SPS-Cl failed in superfilling while a gradual increase in the SPS-Cl coverage through competition with initially adsorbed PEG-Cl enabled it. Consequently, superfilling was achievable only in the case of applying the plating potential as soon as the substrate is dipped in an electrolyte to prevent rapid accumulation of SPS-Cl on the surface.

End-to-end Structural Restriction of α-Synuclein and Its Influence on Amyloid Fibril Formation

  • Hong, Chul-Suk;Park, Jae Hyung;Choe, Young-Jun;Paik, Seung R.
    • Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
    • /
    • v.35 no.12
    • /
    • pp.3542-3546
    • /
    • 2014
  • Relationship between molecular freedom of amyloidogenic protein and its self-assembly into amyloid fibrils has been evaluated with ${\alpha}$-synuclein, an intrinsically unfolded protein related to Parkinson's disease, by restricting its structural plasticity through an end-to-end disulfide bond formation between two newly introduced cysteine residues on the N- and C-termini. Although the resulting circular form of ${\alpha}$-synuclein exhibited an impaired fibrillation propensity, the restriction did not completely block the protein's interactive core since co-incubation with wild-type ${\alpha}$-synuclein dramatically facilitated the fibrillation by producing distinctive forms of amyloid fibrils. The suppressed fibrillation propensity was instantly restored as the structural restriction was unleashed with ${\beta}$-mercaptoethanol. Conformational flexibility of the accreting amyloidogenic protein to pre-existing seeds has been demonstrated to be critical for fibrillar extension process by exerting structural adjustment to a complementary structure for the assembly.

Electro-Oxidation in Combination with Biological Processes for Removal of Persistent Pollutants in Wastewater: A Review

  • Navarro-Franco, Javier A.;Garzon-Zuniga, Marco A.;Drogui, Patrick;Buelna, Gerardo;Gortares-Moroyoqui, Pablo;Barragan-Huerta, Blanca E.;Vigueras-Cortes, Juan M.
    • Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.13 no.1
    • /
    • pp.1-18
    • /
    • 2022
  • Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and emerging pollutants (EP) are characterized by their difficulty to be removed through biological oxidation processes (BOPs); they persist in the environment and could have adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystem and human health. The electro-oxidation (EO) process has been successfully used as an alternative technique to oxidize many kinds of the aforementioned pollutants in wastewater. However, the EO process has been criticized for its high energy consumption cost and its potential generation of by-products. In order to decrease these drawbacks, its combination with biological oxidation processes has been reported as a solution to reduce costs and to reach high rates of recalcitrant pollutants removal from wastewaters. Thus, the location of EO in the treatment line is an important decision to make, since this decision affects the formation of by-products and biodegradability enhancement. This paper reviews the advantages and disadvantages of EO as a pre and post-treatment in combination with BOPs. A perspective of the EO scale-up is also presented, where hydrodynamics and the relationship of A/V (area of the electrode/working volume of the electrochemical cell) experiments are examined and discussed.

Biogeochemical Activities of Microorganisms in Mineral Transformations: Consequences for Metal and Nutrient Mobility

  • Gadd, Geoffrey-M.;Burford, Euan-P.;Fomina, Marina
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • /
    • v.13 no.3
    • /
    • pp.323-331
    • /
    • 2003
  • Bacteria and fungi are fundamental biotic components of natural biogeochemical cycles for metals and metalloids, and play important roles in dissolution, precipitation, oxidation and reduction processes. Some processes catalyzed by microorganisms also have important applications in environmental biotechnology in the areas of ore leaching and bioremediation.

Effect of hydrothermal processing on ginseng extract

  • Ryu, Jebin;Lee, Hun Wook;Yoon, Junho;Seo, Bumjoon;Kwon, Dong Eui;Shin, Un-Moo;Choi, Kwang-joon;Lee, Youn-Woo
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
    • /
    • v.41 no.4
    • /
    • pp.572-577
    • /
    • 2017
  • Background: Panax ginseng Meyer is cultivated because of its medicinal effects on the immune system, blood pressure, and cancer. Major ginsenosides in fresh ginseng are converted to minor ginsenosides by structural changes such as hydrolysis and dehydration. The transformed ginsenosides are generally more bioavailable and bioactive than the primary ginsenosides. Therefore, in this study, hydrothermal processing was applied to ginseng preparation to increase the yields of the transformed ginsenosides, such as 20(S)-Rg3, Rk1, and Rg5, and enhance antioxidant activities in an effective way. Methods: Ginseng extract was hydrothermally processed using batch reactors at $100-160^{\circ}C$ with differing reaction times. Quantitative analysis of the ginsenoside yields was performed using HPLC, and the antioxidant activity was qualitatively analyzed by evaluating 2,2'-azino-bis radical cation scavenging, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging, and phenolic antioxidants. Red ginseng and sun ginseng were prepared by conventional steaming as the control group. Results: Unlike steaming, the hydrothermal process was performed under homogeneous conditions. Chemical reaction, heat transfer, and mass transfer are generally more efficient in homogeneous reactions. Therefore, maximum yields for the hydrothermal process were 2.5-25 times higher than those for steaming, and the antioxidant activities showed 1.6-4-fold increases for the hydrothermal process. Moreover, the reaction time was decreased from 3 h to 15-35 min using hydrothermal processing. Conclusion: Therefore, hydrothermal processing offers significant improvements over the conventional steaming process. In particular, at temperatures over $140^{\circ}C$, high yields of the transformed ginsenosides and increased antioxidant activities were obtained in tens of minutes.