• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.2995-3000
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• 2014

A sensitive concentration method utilising modified gas-purge microsyringe extraction (GP-MSE) was developed. Concentration (reduction in volume) to a microlitre volume was achieved. PAHs were utilised as semivolatile analytes to optimise the various parameters that affect the concentration efficiency. The injection rate and temperature were the key factors that affected the concentration efficiency. An efficient concentration (75.0-96.1%) of PAHs was obtained under the optimised conditions. The method exhibited good reproducibility (RSD values that ranged from 1.5 to 9.0%). The GP-MSE concentration method enhances the volume reduction (concentration factor), leading to a low method detection limit ($0.5-15ngL^{-1}$). Furthermore, this method offers the advantage of small-volume sampling, enabling even the detection of diurnal hourly changes in the concentration of PAHs in ambient air. Utilising this method in combination with GC-MS, the diurnal hourly flux of PAHs from the gas phase of ambient air was measured. Indeed, the proposed technique is a simple, fast, low-cost and environmentally friendly.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.241-247
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• 2016

Natamycin is a widely used antifungal antibiotic. For natamycin biosynthesis, the gene pimE encodes cholesterol oxidase, which acts as a signalling protein. To confirm the positive effect of the gene pimE on natamycin biosynthesis, an additional copy of the gene pimE was inserted into the genome of Streptomyces gilvosporeus 712 under the control of the ermE* promoter (p_ermE*) using intergeneric conjugation. Overexpression of the target protein engendered 72% and 81% increases in the natamycin production and cell productivity, respectively, compared with the control strain. Further improvement in the antibiotic production was achieved in a 1 L fermenter to 7.0 g/l, which was a 153% improvement after 120 h cultivation. Exconjugants highly expressing pimE and pimM were constructed to investigate the effects of both genes on the increase of natamycin production. However, the co-effect of pimE and pimM did not enhance the antibiotic production obviously, compared with the exconjugants highly expressing pimE only. These results suggest not only a new application of cholesterol oxidase but also a useful strategy to genetically engineer natamycin production.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.596-603
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• 2009

This study aimed to examine the influence of adding an oxygen vector, n-dodecane, on hyaluronic acid (HA) production by batch culture of Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Owing to the high viscosity of culture broth, microbial HA production during 8-16 h was limited by the oxygen transfer coefficient $K_La$, which could be enhanced by adding n-dodecane. With the addition of n-dodecane to the culture medium to a final concentration of 5% (v/v), the average value of $K_La$ during 8-16 h was increased to $36{\pm}2h^{-1}$, which was 3.6 times that of the control without n-dodecane addition. With the increased $K_La$ and dissolved oxygen (DO) by adding 5% (v/v) of n-dodecane, a 30% increase of HA production was observed compared with the control. Furthermore, the comparison of the oxygen mass transfer in the absence and presence of n-dodecane was conducted with two proposed mathematical models. The use of n-dodecane as an oxygen vector, as described in this paper, provides an efficient alternative for the optimization of other aerobic biopolymer productions, where $K_La$ is usually a limiting factor.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.188-194
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• 2012

Cognitive networks (CNs) are capable of enabling dynamic spectrum allocation, and thus constitute a promising technology for future wireless communication. Whereas, the implementation of CN will lead to the requirement of an increased energy-arrival rate, which is a significant parameter in energy harvesting design of a cognitive user (CU) device. A well-designed spectrum-sensing scheme will lower the energy-arrival rate that is required and enable CNs to self-sustain, which will also help alleviate global warming. In this paper, spectrum sensing in a multi-user cognitive ad hoc network with a wide-band spectrum is considered. Based on the prospective spectrum sensing, we classify CN operation into two modes: Distributed and centralized. In a distributed network, each CU conducts spectrum sensing for its own data transmission, while in a centralized network, there is only one cognitive cluster header which performs spectrum sensing and broadcasts its sensing results to other CUs. Thus, a wide-band spectrum that is divided into multiple sub-channels can be sensed simultaneously in a distributed manner or sequentially in a centralized manner. We consider the energy consumption for spectrum sensing only of an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC). By formulating energy consumption for spectrum sensing in terms of the sub-channel sampling rate and whole-band sensing time, the sampling rate and whole-band sensing time that are optimal for minimizing the total energy consumption within sensing reliability constraints are obtained. A power dissipation model of an ADC, which plays an important role in formulating the energy efficiency problem, is presented. Using AD9051 as an ADC example, our numerical results show that the optimal sensing parameters will achieve a reduction in the energy-arrival rate of up to 97.7% and 50% in a distributed and a centralized network, respectively, when comparing the optimal and worst-case energy consumption for given system settings.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2007

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women, and mutations in the BRCA1 gene produce increased susceptibility to these malignancies in certain families. In this study, the forward 1-13 exons of breast cancer associated gene BRCA1 were cloned from breast cancer cell line ZR-75-30 by RT-PCR method. Sequence analysis showed that nine BRCA1 splice forms were isolated and characterized, compared with wild-type BRCA1 gene, five splice forms of which were novel. These splice isoforms were produced from the molecular mechanism of 5' and 3' alternative splicing. All these splice forms deleting exon 11b and the locations of alternative splicing were focused on two parts:one was exons 2 and 3, and the other was exons 9 and 10. These splice forms accorded with GT-AG rule. Most these BRCA1 splice variants still kept the original reading frame. Western blot analysis indicated that some BRCA1 splice variants were expressed in ZR-75-30 cell line at the protein level. In addition, we confirmed the presence of these new transcripts of BRCA1 gene in MDA-MB-435S, K562, Hela, HLA, HIC, H9, Jurkat and human fetus samples by RT-PCR analysis. These results suggested that breast cancer associated gene BRCA1 may have unexpectedly a large number of splice variants. We hypothesized that alternative splicing of BRCA1 possibly plays a major role in the tumorigenesis of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Thus, the identification of cancer-specific splice forms will provide a novel source for the discovery of diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and tumor antigens suitable as targets for therapeutic intervention.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2005

Mixed-mode hydrophobic/ionic matrices exhibit a salt-tolerant property for adsorbing target protein from high-ionic strength feedstock, which allows the application of undiluted feedstock via an expanded bed process. In the present work, a new type of mixed-mode adsorbent designed for expanded bed adsorption, Fastline $PRO^{\circledR}$, was challenged for the capture of nattokinase from the high ionic fermentation broth of Bacillus subtilis. Two important factors, pH and ion concentration, were investigated with regard to the performance of nattokinase ad-sorption. Under initial fermentation broth conditions (pH 6.6 and conductivity of 10 mS/cm) the adsorption capacity of nattokinase with Fastline PRO was high, with a maximum capacity of 5,350 U/mL adsorbent. The elution behaviors were investigated using packed bed adsorption experiments, which demonstrated that the effective desorption of nattokinase could be achieved by effecting a pH of 9.5. The biomass pulse response experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the biomass/adsorbent interactions between Bacillus subtilis cells and Fastline PRO, and to demonstrate a stable expanded bed in the feedstock containing Bacillus subtilis cells. Finally, an EBA process, utilizing mixed-mode Fastline PRO adsorbent, was optimized to capture nattokinase directly from the fermentation broth. The purification factor reached 12.3, thereby demonstrating the advantages of the mixed-mode EBA in enzyme separation.

• The Pure and Applied Mathematics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.327-344
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• 2009

In this paper, we deal with the following system of nonlinear singular boundary value problems(BVPs) on time scale $\mathbb{T}$ $$\{{{{{{x^{\bigtriangleup\bigtriangleup}(t)+f(t,\;y(t))=0,\;t{\in}(a,\;b)_{\mathbb{T}},}\atop{y^{\bigtriangleup\bigtriangleup}(t)+g(t,\;x(t))=0,\;t{\in}(a,\;b)_{\mathbb{T}},}}\atop{\alpha_1x(a)-\beta_1x^{\bigtriangleup}(a)=\gamma_1x(\sigma(b))+\delta_1x^{\bigtriangleup}(\sigma(b))=0,}}\atop{\alpha_2y(a)-\beta_2y^{\bigtriangleup}(a)=\gamma_2y(\sigma(b))+\delta_2y^{\bigtriangleup}(\sigma(b))=0,}}$$ where $\alpha_i$, $\beta_i$, $\gamma_i\;{\geq}\;0$ and $\rho_i=\alpha_i\gamma_i(\sigma(b)-a)+\alpha_i\delta_i+\gamma_i\beta_i$ > 0(i = 1, 2), f(t, y) may be singular at t = a, y = 0, and g(t, x) may be singular at t = a. The arguments are based upon a fixed-point theorem for mappings that are decreasing with respect to a cone. We also obtain the analogous existence results for the related nonlinear systems $x^{\bigtriangledown\bigtriangledown}(t)$ + f(t, y(t)) = 0, $y^{\bigtriangledown\bigtriangledown}(t)$ + g(t, x(t)) = 0, $x^{\bigtriangleup\bigtriangledown}(t)$ + f(t, y(t)) = 0, $y^{\bigtriangleup\bigtriangledown}(t)$ + g(t, x(t)) = 0, and $x^{\bigtriangledown\bigtriangleup}(t)$ + f(t, y(t)) = 0, $y^{\bigtriangledown\bigtriangleup}(t)$ + g(t, x(t)) = 0 satisfying similar boundary conditions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.85-110
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• 2005

This paper aims at formulating various statistical models for the study of a ten year Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) data collected from various WIM stations in Hong Kong. In order to study the bridge live load model it is important to determine the mathematical distributions of different load affecting parameters such as gross vehicle weights, axle weights, axle spacings, average daily number of trucks etc. Each of the above parameters is analyzed by various stochastic processes in order to obtain the mathematical distributions and the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method is adopted to calculate the statistical parameters, expected values and standard deviations from the given samples of data. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) method of approach is used to check the suitability of the statistical model selected for the particular parameter and the Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the distributions of maximum value stochastic processes of a series of given stochastic processes. Using the statistical analysis approach the maximum value of gross vehicle weight and axle weight in bridge design life has been determined and the distribution functions of these parameters are obtained under both free-flowing traffic and dense traffic status. The maximum value of bending moments and shears for wide range of simple spans are obtained by extrapolation. It has been observed that the obtained maximum values of the gross vehicle weight and axle weight from this study are very close to their legal limitations of Hong Kong which are 42 tonnes for gross weight and 10 tonnes for axle weight.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.44-63
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• 2017

'Bukpo' is called 'Tongpo' or 'Balnaepo,' which respectively mean hemp fabric that goes into a small bamboo tube and women's table utensil 'bari' in Chosen. It is fine hemp fabric produced in Yukjin, Hamgyeong province. Korea has been divided into North and South since the Korean War in 1950. As it is hard to get information about Northern life style or their traditional technology, their hemp fabric production is also left unknown. This study demonstrates characteristics of the production of 'Bukpo' through "Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango", the only document that marked about 'Bukpo' making process of the late Chosen dynasty. It aims to analyze the transition of the technique and the meaning by comparing the characteristics of the production of 'Bukpo' with the modern era's documents. In this process, I discovered that the hemp fabric production technique at 19th century shares some sort of similarities with that of Europe or Chinese Miao(hmong). But the hemp fabric production technique changed before the 20th century. The evolution of Northern hemp fabric production technique can be a good example to examine the context of the traditional craft technique.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2019

Esterase produced by Acinetobacter sp. B1 (strain B1) was optimized by means of one-variable-at-a-time and response surface methodologies. Results of the one-variable-at-a-time experiment showed that Tween 80 significantly increased esterase production of strain B1. The addition of Tween 80 to the culture medium increased the biomass and esterase activity of strain B1, stimulated content of total extracellular protein, and enhanced the oleic acid (C18:1) composition in the cell membrane of strain B1. The influence of eight culture variables on esterase production was evaluated by Plackett-Burman design. Results showed that Tween 80, pH, and $K_2HPO_4$ significantly affected the esterase production of strain B1. Tween 80, pH, and $K_2HPO_4$ were further optimized by central composite design. Under the optimized conditions (w/v, soluble starch 2.5%, tryptone 1.5%, Tween 80 0.8%, $K_2HPO_4$ 0.5%, NaCl 0.5%, pH 8.0, inoculum size 1%, and inoculum age 24 h), the maximum esterase activity of strain B1 was 152.13 U/ml, which was 10-fold higher than that of non-optimization after 36 h cultivation.