• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2015

Compared to their terrestrial and marine counterparts, little is known about the capacity of freshwater-derived actinomycete bacteria to produce novel secondary metabolites. In the current study, we highlight the disparities that exist between cultivation-independent and -dependent analyses of actinomycete communities from four locations in Lake Michigan sediment. Furthermore, through phylogenetic analysis of strains isolated from these locations, we identified a Streptomyces sp., strain B025, as being distinct from other Streptomyces spp. isolated from sediment. Upon fermentation this strain produced a rare class of eight-membered lactone secondary metabolites, which have been for their antitumor properties. We used spectroscopic and chemical derivitization techniques to characterize octalactin B (1) in addition to its corresponding novel, unnatural degradation product (2).

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.479-482
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• 2015

The objective of this study is to develop adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model for estimating daily solar radiation using limited weather variables at Champaign and Springfield stations in Illinois. The best input combinations (one, two, and three inputs) can be identified using ANFIS model. From the performance evaluation and scatter diagrams of ANFIS model, ANFIS 3 (three input) model produces the best results for both stations. Results obtained indicate that ANFIS model can successfully be used for the estimation of daily global solar radiation at Champaign and Springfield stations in Illinois. These results testify the generation capability of ANFIS model and its ability to produce accurate estimates in Illinois.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.483-486
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• 2015

The objective of this study is to develop generalized regression neural networks (GRNN) model for estimating daily solar radiation using limited weather variables at Champaign and Springfield stations in Illinois. The best input combinations (one, two, and three inputs) can be identified using GRNN model. From the performance evaluation and scatter diagrams of GRNN model, GRNN 3 (three input) model produces the best results for both stations. Results obtained indicate that GRNN model can successfully be used for the estimation of daily global solar radiation at Champaign and Springfield stations in Illinois. These results testify the generation capability of GRNN model and its ability to produce accurate estimates in Illinois.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.130-136
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• 2021

Persister cell formation and biofilms of pathogens are extensively involved in the development of chronic infectious diseases. Eradicating persister cells is challenging, owing to their tolerance to conventional antibiotics, which cannot kill cells in a metabolically dormant state. A high frequency of persisters in biofilms makes inactivating biofilm cells more difficult, because the biofilm matrix inhibits antibiotic penetration. Fatty acids may be promising candidates as antipersister or antibiofilm agents, because some fatty acids exhibit antimicrobial effects. We previously reported that fatty acid ethyl esters effectively inhibit Escherichia coli persister formation by regulating an antitoxin. In this study, we screened a fatty acid library consisting of 65 different fatty acid molecules for altered persister formation. We found that undecanoic acid, lauric acid, and N-tridecanoic acid inhibited E. coli BW25113 persister cell formation by 25-, 58-, and 44-fold, respectively. Similarly, these fatty acids repressed persisters of enterohemorrhagic E. coli EDL933. These fatty acids were all medium-chain saturated forms. Furthermore, the fatty acids repressed Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) biofilm formation (for example, by 8-fold for lauric acid) without having antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates that medium-chain saturated fatty acids can serve as antipersister and antibiofilm agents that may be applied to treat bacterial infections.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2008

Minimum support and confidence have been used as criteria for generating association rules in all association rule mining algorithms. These criteria have their natural appeals, such as simplicity; few researchers have suspected the quality of generated rules. In this paper, we examine the rules from a more rigorous point of view by conducting statistical tests. Specifically, we use contingency tables and chi-square test to analyze the data. Experimental results show that one third of the association rules derived based on the support and confidence criteria are not significant, that is, the antecedent and consequent of the rules are not correlated. It indicates that minimum support and minimum confidence do not provide adequate discovery of meaningful associations. The chi-square test can be considered as an enhancement or an alternative solution.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2010

In this study, a clustering algorithm that uses DCT transformed data is presented. The algorithm is a grid density-based clustering algorithm that can identify clusters of arbitrary shape. Streaming data are transformed and reconstructed as needed for clustering. Experimental results show that DCT is able to approximate a data distribution efficiently using only a small number of coefficients and preserve the clusters well. The grid based clustering algorithm works well with DCT transformed data, demonstrating the viability of DCT for data stream clustering applications.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.624-633
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• 2009

This study examines farmers' knowledge and perception on the functions and values of wetland and their attitudes on government wetland policies in the state of Illinois in the United States. No significant differences were found in the knowledge of the functions and values of wetland between farmers and non-farmers, although farmers tend to value the importance of wetland less than non-farmers. However, farmers are negative on the importance of protecting wetland and replacing damaged or destroyed wetlands as well as stricter government wetland policies. It suggests that noticeable discrepancy exists between farmers' knowledge of wetland and their practice to protect wetland.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.15-23
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• 2024

Subsurface drainage improves crop productivity in poorly drained soils but may also substantially contribute impairment of surface water quality due to excess leaching losses of nutrients like Nitrate-Nitrogen (NO₃-N). This research presents preliminary findings from a 3-years tile depth and spacing study in Illinois state that includes three drain spacings implemented in 2 plots. We found that the plot with the narrower subsurface drainage (Case 1) exported more drainage water compared to the plot with the narrower subsurface drainage system (Case 2). The total drainage water from Case 1 plot showed 57% more compared to Case 2 plot. Whereas we observed that the plot with narrower drain spacing (Case 1) exported only 9% more NO₃-N leaching losses compared to the wider plot (Case 2). The average corn yield was observed higher in plot Case 1 compared to Case 2. Especially, we observed about 7% higher corn yield in plot Case 1 compared to Case 2 plot in the relatively dried year (2022). The preliminary findings for this study suggest that subsurface drainage systems can be optimized to reduce nutrient losses while improving the crop productivity.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.5-20
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• 2013

Social media holds the potential to facilitate vertical political communication by giving citizens the opportunity to interact directly with their representatives. However, skeptics claim that even when politicians use "interactive media," they avoid direct engagement with constituents, using technology to present a façade of interactivity instead of a genuine dialogue. This study explores how elected officials in three regions of the world are using Twitter to interact with the public. Using the Twitter activity of 15 officials over a period of six months, we show that in addition to the structural features of Twitter that are designed to promote interaction, officials rely on language to foster or to avoid engagement. We also provide evidence that the existence of interactive features does not guarantee interactivity.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.157-172
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• 2014

The three-dimensional Nano-Electronic Modeling toolkit (NEMO 3-D) is an open source software package that allows the atomistic calculation of single-particle electronic states and optical response of various semiconductor structures including bulk materials, quantum dots, impurities, quantum wires, quantum wells and nanocrystals containing millions of atoms. This paper, first, describes a software module introduced in the NEMO 3-D toolkit for the calculation of electronic bandstructure and interband optical transitions in nanowires having wurtzite crystal symmetry. The energetics (Hamiltonian) of the quantum system under study is described via the tight-binding (TB) formalism (including $sp^3$, $sp^3s^*$ and $sp^3d^5s^*$ models as appropriate). Emphasis has been given in the treatment of surface atoms that, if left unpassivated, can lead to the creation of energy states within the bandgap of the sample. Furthermore, the developed software has been validated via the calculation of: a) modulation of the energy bandgap and the effective masses in [0001] oriented wurtzite nanowires as compared to the experimentally reported values in bulk structures, and b) the localization of wavefunctions and the optical anisotropy in GaN/AlN disk-in-wire nanowires.