• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

Strength anisotropy is a typical feature of thin-bedded rock masses and their strength will be degraded subjected to water immersion effect. Such effect is crucial for the operation of hydropower plant because the impoundment lifts the water level of upstream reservoir and causes the rock mass of nearby slopes saturated. So far, researches regarding mechanical property of natural thin-bedded rock masses and their strength variation under water immersion based on field test method are rarely reported. This paper focuses on a thin-bedded stratified rock mass and carries out field test to investigate the mechanical property and strength variation characteristics. The field test is highlighted by samples which have a large shear dimension of 0.5 m*0.5 m, representing a more realistic in-situ situation than small size specimen. The test results confirm the anisotropic nature of the concerned rock mass, whose shear strength of host rocks is significantly larger than that of bedding planes. Further, the comparison of shear strength parameters of the thin-bedded rock mass under natural and saturated conditions show that for both host rocks and bedding planes, the decreasing extent of cohesion values are larger than friction values. The quantitative results are then adopted to analyze the influence of reservoir impoundment of a hydropower plant on the surrounding rock mass stability of diversion tunnels which are located in the nearby slope bank. It is evaluated that after reservoir impoundment, the strength degradation induced incremental deformations of surrounding rock mass of diversion tunnels are small and the stresses in lining structure are acceptable. It is therefore concluded that the influences of impoundment are small and the stability of diversion tunnels can be still achieved. The finings regarding field test method and its results, as well as the numerical evaluation conclusions are hoped to provide references for rock projects with similar concerns.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2015

International interests in chemical warfare agents (CWAs) have been increased recently because of the use of sarin (GB) in Syrian civil war which caused around 1,300 casualties in 2013. After exposing to natural environments, CWAs undergo hydrolysis or photodegrade to non-toxic degradation byproducts. Generally, CWAs and their degradation byproducts are present at very low concentration (e.g. several ppb), thus pretreatment processes including separation, extraction and concentration are required prior to any analyses. Liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction (SPE) are common techniques to pretreat environmental samples. Recently, a novel pretreatment method, liquid phase miecoextraction (LPME), has been applied to CWAs analysis, which could reduce amounts of solvent used but promote analytical efficiencies. Fundamental backgrounds of LPME and its application to CWAs analysis were reviewed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.114-121
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• 2012

The potential for ochratoxin A (OTA) degradation by swine intestinal microbiota was assessed in the current study. Intestinal content that was collected aseptically from swine was spiked with 100 ppb OTA and incubated for 6 and 12 h at $39^{\circ}C$. An OTA assay was conducted using the incubated samples, and it was found that 20% of the OTA toxin was detoxified, indicating the presence of microbes capable of OTA degradation. Twenty-eight bacterial species were isolated anaerobically in M 98-5 media and 45 bacterial species were isolated using nutrient broth aerobically. Screening results showed that one anaerobic bacterial isolate, named MM11, detoxified more than 75% of OTA in liquid media. Furthermore, 1.0 ppm OTA was degraded completely after 24 h incubation on a solid 'corn' substrate. The bacterium was identified by 16S rDNA sequencing as having 97% sequence similarity with Eubacterium biforme. The isolation of an OTA-degrading bacterium from the swine natural flora is of great importance for OTA biodegradation and may be a valuable potential source for OTA-degradation enzymes in industrial applications.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2001

The aim of this study was to examine how plant terpenoids, as natural growth substrates or inducers, would affect the biodegradation of PCB congeners. Various PCB degraders that could grow on biphenyl and several terpenoids were tested for their PCB degradation capabilities. Degradation activities of the PCB congeners, 4,4-dichlorobiphenyl (4,4-DCBp) and 2,2-dichlorobiphenyl (2,2-DCBp), were initially monitored through a resting cell assay technique that could detect their degradation products. The PCB degraders, Pseudomonas ((S)-(-) limonene, p-cymene and $\alpha$-terpinene) whereas Arthrobacter sp. B1B could not grow on the terpenoids as a sole carbon source. The B1B strain grown on biphenyl exhibited good degradation activity for 4,4-DCBp and 2,2-DCBp, while the activity of strains P166 and T104 was about 25% that of the B1B strain, respectively. Concomitant GC analysis, however, demonstrated that strain T104, grown on (S)-(-) limonene, p-cymene and $\alpha$-terpinene, could degrade 4,4-DCBp up to 30%, equivalent to 50% of the biphenyl induction level. Moreover, strain T104 grown on (S)-(-) limonene, could also degrade 2,2-DCBp up to 30%. This indicates that terpenoids, widely distributed in nature, could be utilized as both growth and/or inducer substrate(s) for PCB biodegradation in the environment.

• Clean Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.191-200
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• 2011

Natural polymers, biopolymers, and synthetic polymers based on renewable resources are the basis for the 21th portfolio of sustainable and eco-friendly plastics but high-volume consumable plastics continue to be dominated by nondegradable petroleum-based materials. Three factors have recently made biodegradable polymers economically attractive: (i) rising costs of petroleum production resulting from the depletion of the most easily accessible reserves, (ii) environmental and economic concerns associated with waste plastics, and (iii) emissions of carbon dioxide from preparation of petroleum-based materials. These pressures have driven commercial applications based on biodegradable polymers which are related to reduction of carbon dioxide in processing, such poly(hydroxy alkanoate) and poly (lactide). Since initial degradation of these polymers leads to catastrophic mechanical failure, it is necessary to control the rate of initial degradation for commercial applications. In this article, we have a critic review on the recent progress of polymer modification for the control of degradation.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2011

In this study, a total of 350 households contained 700 individuals in Iganzo village were surveyed to study their literate and poverty levels and their impacts to conservation of the Mbeya Range Forest Reserve. The study included 350 women and 350 men. The majority of respondents were between the ages of 31-40 years old (53%), while the rest were between 41-50 years old (25%) and 21-30 years old (22%). The total income per day per household was calculated and averaged to 4,570 Tanzanian shillings that is equal to about 3 U.S. dollars. The average number of members per household was seven. It was reported that, there is a tremendous decrease in biodiversity composition of the reserve mainly due to poverty (80%) and ignorance (76%) of the people on the importance of the reserve. Other causes for this decrease were reported to be grazing of livestock in the reserve (23%), poor farming systems (68%), which resulted in soil erosion, encroachment (64%) through expansion of farms towards the reserve boundary and charcoal burning (34%). Respondents from Mbeya Urban Water Supply Authority and District Forest Office mentioned lack of funds (49%) and lack of experts (56%) as challenges that face the conservation of the reserve. It was revealed that 25% of respondents had never gone to school, 53% had primary level of education as their highest level of education, 20% had secondary education and 2% had first degree. The null hypothesis that poverty and illiteracy have a positive correlation to forest degradation was accepted based on these findings at a probability of p>0.85. Thus, it was concluded that poverty and illiteracy among Iganzo village residents are the main causes for the degradation of biodiversity in Mbeya Range Forest Reserve.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.5 s.164
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• pp.659-669
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degradation of silk fabrics dyed with gardenia and sappanwood by Ultraviolet Light(UV). To asses the effect of uv on dyed silk fabrics, physical and chemical properties of samples were explored. K/S value rapidly decreased with increasing exposure time. Mordanting improved ultraviolet-cut ability and the sappanwood dyed samples were superior to those of gardenia dyed in ultraviolet-cut ability. Color progressively faded away as uv exposure time increased, accordingly, $L^*,\;a^*,\;b^*$, H/VC, ${\Delta}E$ were changed. Morphological change observed with SEM represented degradation of silk fabrics from the outer fibril to the inner fibril. Tensile Strength abruptly decreased as uv exposure time increased and the mordanted samples showed higher tensile strength than the unmordanted. FT-IR analysis confirmed that main peaks at 3297 and $1704cm^{-1}$ band for silk fabric were due to N-H and C=O stretching, gardenia peaks at 1654 and $668cm^{-1}$ band representing C=O(ester), C=C(alken) and O-C=O(carboxylic acids) of crocin and sappanwood peaks at $1715cm^{-1}$ band representing C=O(cyclic keton) of brazilin appeared on the samples exposed for 14 days, but these peaks indicating colorants after 28 days of uv exposure faded away due to prolonged exposure of uv.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2001

Among the biodegradability tests, TOC-HANDAI and OECD method were utilized to examine the degree of biodegradation of endocrine disruptors, Bisphenol A (BPA) and Nonylphenol. Both methods used natural water microcosms and measured their biodegrada-bilities of BPA and Nonylphenol, in terms of TOC or DOC degradation with time for 28 days. Biodegradabilities for BPA, 73-78% with TOC-HANDAI method and 77-81% with OECD method were obtained respectively at the end of experiment. There was no difference in BPA degradation between two methods. BPA degradation was described by two distinct first order decay rates (k$_1$ and k$_2$) which could be separated by a simple visual fitting. Most of the initial decay reaction accelerated within 1-7 days with k$_1$of 0.24-0.34 $day^{-1}$. And the following another long term first order decay coefficient (k$_2$) showed 0.02-0.05 day$^{-1}$ with much flat slope. About 20-25% of initial BPA remained at the end of experiment. It suggests that the remaining TOC components in BPA biodegradation considered to be refractory metabolites of BPA. Nonylphenol at each sampling point was appeared to be mineralized 20-48% of initial TOC concentration. Consequently Nonylphenol seems more recalcitrant against biodegradation. BPA was not detected in the detection limit of ppb in the watershed of Daechung reservoir and Kum river. However 25 ppb concentration of BPA was detected at the influent of industrial wastewater treatment plant in Taejon.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.39-46
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• 2014

The objectives of this study were to determine biodegradation and characteristics of BTEX and MTBE under aerovic-anaerobic conditions and evaluate the potential of natural attenuation method in denitrifying condition.. In the single-substrate experiments, all of the BTEX compounds were degraded under all the conditions. but, lower degradation of benzene and p-xylene were observed under aerobic condition due to the lack of oxygen initially supplied. In the mixed-substrate experiments, BTEX degradation was delayed compared to that in the single-substrate experiments due to a competition of the substrates. Biodegradation of MTBE was observed only under denitrifying conditions and we expected that MTBE mineralized to $CO_2$ without the accumulation of TBA. We also conducted to determine the effect of initial nitrate concentration on BTEX and MTBE degradation. At low nitrate concentration (<50 mg/L), BTEX degradations were limited by the lack of electron acceptor and BTEX degradation was inhibited at high nitrate concentration (>200 mg/L). The results in this study indicated that biotransformation could be applied to the gasoline-contaminated region under aerovic-anaerobic.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.260-264
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• 1992

Pseudotnorju.c sp. EL-071P degrading 2.4.5-trichlorophe~~oxyi~cetaicci d (2.3.5-T) was resistantto antibiotics: rifampicin. ampicillin. kanamycin and metal ions : Zn" and Cu".The plasmitl related to the degradation of 2.4.5-'r and rifa~npicin resistance was isolatecifrom the strain. Its size was about 40 Kb. As result of transforming the plasmid intoEsch~rirhiti coli MClOhl, it was confirmed that the plasmid ura.; related to 2.4.5-T degradation.The strain coulil grow in the various chlorinated aromatic analogs as the solc carbon source.In the case of chlorophcnols. the chlorinated mono-substituteti phenols were easily dcgradetlin the order ol' ortho-. ~ ~ a r um- ,c ~tu-position.T he 2.3.5-T mctaholism was inhibited by 4-chlorophenol of 2.4.5-7' analog. In non-chlorinateci aromatics. ~ C I I L O ~ I ~ Csa.l icylilte i~ndtoluene were uscd ax the carbon source by the strain and typestrain Acudonlotrtr.\ plrtirltrKCTC 1643 having clegrad;~bility of various aromatics. But naphtalene was usecl only bythe A~urlomonri.\ sp. EL-07 1 P.the A~urlomonri.\ sp. EL-07 1 P.