• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 2002

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are of great interest of next generation energy conversion system due to their high energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. The basic SOFC unit consists of anode, cathode and solid electrolyte. Among these components, anode plays the most important role for the oxidation of fuel to generate electricity and also behaves as a substrate of the whole cell. It is normally requested that the anode materials should have the high electrical conductivity and gas permeability to reduce the polarization loss of the cell. In this study, the effect of pore former on the microstructure of anode substrate was investigated and thus on the electrical conductivity and the gas permeability. According to the results, microstructure and electrical conductivity of anode substrate were greatly influenced by the shape of pore former and especially by the anisotrpy of the pore former. The use of anisotropic pore former is supposed to deteriorate the cell performance by which the electrical conduction path is disconnected but also the effective gas diffusion path for the fuel is reduced.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.353-362
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• 2009

This study attempted to compare the litter decomposition rate of Arundinella hirta and Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens which collected from serpentine soil acting potentially toxic concentration of heavy metals and non-serpentine soil by using the microcosm method for 192 days under constant humidity and $23^{\circ}C$. The contents of Ni, Fe, Mg and Cr in the serpentine and nonserpentine soil originated litter showed high differences between them. The litter samples from serpentine site have lower C/N than non-serpentine litter, but the soluble carbohydrate content was shown almost similar between two plant litter. The mass loss rates of leaf litter from serpentine area were slower than those from non-serpentine site. During the experimental period, the remained dry weight of A. hirta and M. sinensis var. purpurascens litter collected from serpentine site were 64.7%, 65.0% of initial dry weight and litter samples from non-serpentine site showed 54.2%, 50.7%, respectively. K and Na were leached rapidly at the initial decomposition periods, but Ca showed immobilization and other metal elements reserved at the decomposing litter for a long time. The decomposing A. hirta litter from non-serpentine soil showed higher values of $CO_2$ evolution, microbial biomass-C, and microbial biomass-N than those in serpentine soil originated litter acting nutrient stresses and exhibited rapid decay rate. The microbial biomass and microbial respiration of decaying litter were positively correlated with litter decomposition rate, and these relationships showed more rapid slope in non-serpentine soil originated litter than that in serpentine soil.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2020

Characterization and in vitro inhibition studies of protease inhibitor from the mushroom Pleurotus floridanus (PfTI) towards the pest Papilio demoleus is studied. The addition of 1 mM Mn²⁺, Na²⁺, Ba²⁺ and Ni ²⁺ enhanced the PfTI activity. The ICP-atomic emission spectrum showed the presence of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Zn²⁺ in the PfTI. Surfactants SDS and CTAB at a concentration of 1% reduced the PfTI activity whereas, the nonionic detergents Triton X and Tween 80 increased the activity. The inhibitory activity gradually decreased with increase in concentration of DMSO and H₂O₂. The activity was increased by dithiothreitol up to a concentration of 80 μM and inactivated at 140 μM. The activity of PMSF modified PfTI was drastically reduced to 0.234 U/mL at 4 mM concentration and similar results were obtained for modification of cysteine by N-Ethylmaleimide at slightly higher concentrations. The complex of trypsin and PfTI showed complete loss in fluorescence intensity at 343 nm compared with control. In vitro inhibition studies of PfTI with midgut proteases isolated from citrus pest P. demoleus with protease activity of 1.236 U was decreased to 0.613 U by 50 μL (0.1 mg/mL) of the inhibitor. Inhibitor was stable up to 0.04 M concentration of HCl.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1119-1128
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• 2015

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase, which is encoded by some bacteria, can reduce the amount of ethylene, a root elongation inhibitor, and stimulate the growth of plants under various environmental stresses. The presence of ACC deaminase activity and the regulation of ACC in several rhizospheric bacteria have been reported. The nitrogen-fixing Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501 is capable of endophytic association with rice plants and promotes the growth of rice. However, the functional identification of ACC deaminase has not been performed. In this study, the proposed effect of ACC deaminase in P. stutzeri A1501 was investigated. Genome mining showed that P. stutzeri A1501 carries a single gene encoding ACC deaminase, designated acdS. The acdS mutant was devoid of ACC deaminase activity and was less resistant to NaCl and NiCl₂ compared with the wild-type. Furthermore, inactivation of acdS greatly impaired its nitrogenase activity under salt stress conditions. It was also observed that mutation of the acdS gene led to loss of the ability to promote the growth of rice under salt or heavy metal stress. Taken together, this study illustrates the essential role of ACC deaminase, not only in enhancing the salt or heavy metal tolerance of bacteria but also in improving the growth of plants, and provides a theoretical basis for studying the interaction between plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and plants.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.930-940
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• 2013

We evaluated contamination with organic matter and trace metals by analyzing grain size, ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (COD), acid volatile sulfide (AVS), and trace metals (Al, Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Cr, Mn, Hg, and As) in surface sediments at 28 stations around the Geum River estuary in July 2008. The surface sediments in the estuary were mainly composed of coarse sediment (sand and muddy sand), with mean grain size (Mz) ranging between $2-4{\O}$. The high concentrations of IL, COD, and trace metals were mainly found at stations in front of the Gusan outer port and industrial complex, and near the Seocheon coast with relatively fine sediments. In addition, the concentrations of IL and all trace metals, except Pb and As, showed good positive correlations with Mz, indicating that the concentrations of organic matter and trace metals were mainly dependent on sediment grain size. The concentrations of COD, AVS, and trace metals in most sediments did not exceed the sediment quality guideline (SQGs). Although the sediments in the study region are not polluted with organic matter and trace metals, there are many point sources of pollutants, such as Gusan port and industrial complex, Janghang refinery, and a thermoelectric power plant around the Geum River estuary. Thus, the management of coastal environments through periodic monitoring of organic matter and trace metals is required in the future.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.37-42
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• 2008

In this paper, design parameters of high Q (> 50), high current inductor for on-chip power module were optimized by 4 Xs 3 Ys DOE (Design of Experiment). Coil spacing, coil thickness, ferrite thickness, and permeability were assigned to Xs, and inductance (L) and Q factor at 10 MHz, and resonance frequency ($f_r$) were determined Ys. Effects of each X on the Ys were demonstrated and explained using known inductor theory. Multiple response optimizations were accomplished by three derived regression equations on the Ys. As a result, L of 125 nH, Q factor of 197.5, and $f_r$ of 316.3 MHz were obtained with coil space of $127\;{\mu}m$, Cu thickness of $67.8\;{\mu}m$, ferrite thickness of $130.3\;{\mu}m$, and permeability 156.5. Loss tan ${\delta}=0$ was assumed for the estimation. Accordingly, Q factor of about 60 is expected at tan ${\delta}=0.02$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.631-636
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• 2014

Aurora-A is a centrosome-localized serine/threonine kinase that is overexpressed in multiple human cancers. We previously reported an intramolecular inhibitory regulation of Aurora-A between its N-terminal regulatory domain (Nt, amino acids [aa] 1-128) and the C-terminal catalytic domain (Cd, aa 129-403). Here, we demonstrate that although both Aurora-A mutants (AurA-K250G and AurA-D294G/Y295G) lacked interactions between the Nt and Cd, they also failed to interact with Ajuba, an essential activator of Aurora-A, leading to loss of kinase activity. Additionally, overexpression of either of the mutants resulted in centrosome amplification and mitotic spindle formation defects. Both mutants were also able to cause G2/M arrest and apoptosis. These results indicate that both K250 and D294/Y295 are critical for direct interaction between Aurora-A and Ajuba and the function of the Aurora-A complex in cell cycle progression.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.130-134
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• 2016

The influence of Au/Ni-based contact formed on a lightly-doped (7.3×1017cm−3, Zn-doped) InGaAsP layer for electrical compensation of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) propagation under various rapid thermal annealing (RTA) conditions has been studied. The active control of SPP propagation is realized by electrically pumping the InGaAsP multiple quantum wells (MQWs) beneath the metal planar waveguide. The metal planar film acts as the electric contact layer and SPP waveguide, simultaneously. The RTA process can lower the metal-semiconductor electric contact resistance. Nevertheless, it inevitably increases the contact interface morphological roughness, which is detrimental to SPP propagation. Based on this dilemma, in this work we focus on studying the influence of RTA conditions on electrical control of SPPs. The experimental results indicate that there is obvious degradation of electrical pumping compensation for SPP propagation loss in the devices annealed at 400℃ compared to those with no annealing treatment. With increasing annealing duration time, more significant degradation of the active performance is observed even under sufficient current injection. When the annealing temperature is set at 400℃ and the duration time approaches 60s, the SPP propagation is nearly no longer supported as the waveguide surface morphology is severely changed. It seems that eutectic mixture stemming from the RTA process significantly increases the metal film roughness and interferes with the SPP signal propagation.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.306-313
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• 1999

Polyphenol Oxidase(PPO) was purified from an extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves by ammonium sulfate fractionation followed by sephadex G-150 column chromatography, which resulted in a 18-fold increase in specific activity. The enzyme was most active at pH 8.5 and the temperature optimum for the PPO catechol oxidation reaction was $45^{\circ}C$. Heat inactivation studies showed that heating for 7, 9 and 48 min, at 80, 70 and $60^{\circ}C$ respectively caused a 50% loss in enzymatic activity and that the enzyme was completely inactivated after heat treatment at $90^{\circ}C$ for 60 min. Km values of the PPO for catechol, hydroquinone and 4-methylcatechol derived from Lineweaver-Burk plots were $6.06\;{\times}\;10^{-4}M,\;1.02\;{\times}\;10^{-3}M,\;1.41\;{\times}\;10^{-3}M$ respectively. Of the substrates tested, 4-methylcatechol was oxidized most readily and the enzyme did not oxidize monophenols. The enzyme datalyzed browning reaction was completely inhibited in the presence of reducing reagents, namely ascorbic acid, cysteine, glutathione, 2-mercaptoethanol, potassium metabisulfite at 0.5 mM level. Sodium chloride showed very little inhibition effect on Ginkgo biloba leaves PPO. Lineweaver-Burk analysis of inhibition data revealed that the inhibition by cysteine, 2-mercaptoethanol, potassium cyanide was competitive with ki values of $1.1\;{\times}\;10^{-5}M,\;2.4\;{\times}\;10^{-5}M,\;8\;{\times}\;10^{-5}M$, respectively. Among the divalent cations, $Cu^{2+}ion$ was a strong activator on PPO and $Mn^{2+}ion$ was little or no effect on PPO activity $Ni^{2+}ion$ was an inhibitor on PPO.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.309-313
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• 2011

The power capacitors used as vehicle inverters must have a small size, high capacitance, high voltage, fast response and wide operating temperature. Our thin film capacitor was fabricated by alumina layers as a dielectric material and a metal electrode instead of a liquid electrolyte in an aluminum electrolytic capacitor. We analyzed the micro structures and the electrical properties of the thin film capacitors fabricated by nano-channel alumina and metal electrodes. The metal electrode was filled into the alumina nano-channel by electroless nickel plating with polyethylene glycol and a palladium catalyst. The spherical metals were formed inside the alumina nano pores. The breakdown voltage and leakage current increased by the chemical reaction of the alumina layer and $PdCl_2$ solution. The thickness of the electroless plated nickel layer was 300 nm. We observed the nano pores in the interface between the alumina layer and the metal electrode. The alumina capacitors with nickel electrodes had a capacitance density of 100 $nF/cm^2$, dielectric loss of 0.01, breakdown voltage of 0.7MV/cm and leakage current of $10^4{\mu}A$.