• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1536-1543
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• 2013

Proteases produced by Xenorhabdus are known to play a significant role in virulence leading to insect mortality. The present study was undertaken to purify and characterize protease from Xenorhabdus indica, an endosymbiont of nematode Steinernema thermophilum, and to decipher its role in insect mortality and its efficacy to control Helicoverpa armigera. A set of 10 strains of Xenorhabdus isolated from different regions of India were screened for protease activity on the basis of zone of clearing on gelatin agar plates. One potent strain of Xenorhabdus indica was selected for the production of protease, and the highest production (1,552 U/ml) was observed at 15-18 h of incubation at $28^{\circ}C$ in soya casein digest broth. The extracellular protease was purified from culture supernatant using ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography. The enzyme was further characterized by SDS-PAGE and zymography, which confirmed the purity of the protein and its molecular mass was found to be ~52 kDa. Further MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis and effect of metal chelating agent 1,10-phenanthrolin study revealed the nature of the purified protease as a secreted alkaline metalloprotease. The bioefficacy of the purified protease was also tested against cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and resulted in $67.9{\pm}0.64%$ mortality within one week. This purified protease has the potential to be developed as a natural insecticidal agent against a broad range of agriculturally important insects.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.114-114
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• 2018

Among the various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by the plant, floral scent plays a key role in attracting pollinators for reproduction and mediates ecological interactions. Floral scent is an important trait and industry drives the competition for flowers with novel scents. Chrysanthemum is one of the well-known ornamental plants and is a popular cut flower across the world. Floral scent and the genes responsible for the floral scent emission are poorly studied in chrysanthemum. In the present study, floral scent and the expression pattern of floral scent genes were analyzed in two chrysanthemum cultivars 'Golden Egg' and 'Gaya Glory'. Initially, intensity of the floral scent in five developing stages of flower including 'budding (B), bud developing (BD), initial blooming (IB), almost open (AO) and open flower (OF)' was analyzed using electronic nose (E-nose) with six metal oxide sensors. Based on the distance analysis, different stages of flower showed different relative intensity of scent according to the sensory evaluation. Although the scent pattern differed by stage, scent intensity was strongest in the OF stage in the completely opened flower in both the cultivars. Further, expression pattern of six genes in the floral scent pathway including FDS, IDI, ISPH, TPS2, TPS5 and TPS6 was observed in all the five stages of the flower in both the cultivars. The expression pattern of all the six genes differed by stage and the terpene synthase genes TPS2, TPS5 and TPS6 showed good expression levels in the $5^{th}$ flower stage compared to other stages. This study provides a preliminary data for understanding the regulation of floral scent in chrysanthemum.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.657-663
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• 2016

In this work, a novel silicon (Si) based floating body synaptic transistor (SFST) is studied to mimic the transition from short-term memory to long-term one in the biological system. The structure of the proposed SFST is based on an n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) with floating body and charge storage layer which provide the functions of short- and long-term memories, respectively. It has very similar characteristics with those of the biological memory system in the sense that the transition between short- and long-term memories is performed by the repetitive learning. Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) characteristics are closely investigated for the SFST device. It has been found from the simulation results that the connectivity between pre- and post-synaptic neurons has strong dependence on the relative spike timing among electrical signals. In addition, the neuromorphic system having direct connection between the SFST devices and neuron circuits are designed.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.261-266
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• 2015

The capacity of passive metal to repassivate after film damage determines the development of local corrosion and the resistance to corrosion failures. In this work, the repassivation kinetics of 316L stainless steel (316L SS) was investigated in borate buffer solution (pH 9.1) using a novel abrading electrode technique. The repassivation kinetics was analyzed in terms of the current density flowing from freshly bare 316L SS surface as measured by a potentiostatic method. During the early phase of decay (t < 2 s), according to the Avrami kinetics-based film growth model, the transient current was separated into anodic dissolution ($i_{diss}$) and film formation ($i_{film}$) components and analyzed individually. The film reformation rate and thickness were compared according to applied potential. Anodic dissolution initially dominated the repassivation for a short time, and the amount of dissolution increased with increasing applied potential in the passive region. Film growth at higher potentials occurred more rapidly compared to at lower potentials. Increasing the applied potential from 0 $V_{SCE}$ to 0.8 $V_{SCE}$ resulted in a thicker passive film (0.12 to 0.52 nm). If the oxide monolayer covered the entire bare surface (${\theta}=1$), the electric field strength through the thin passive film reached $1.6{\times}10^7V/cm$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.846-855
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• 2020

A loose part monitoring system is used to detect unexpected loose parts in a reactor coolant system in a nuclear power plant. It is still necessary to develop a new methodology for the localization and mass estimation of loose parts owing to the high estimation error of conventional methods. In addition, model-based diagnostics recently emphasized the importance of a model describing the behavior of a mechanical system or component. The purpose of this study is to propose a new localization and mass-estimation method based on finite element analysis (FEA) and optimization technique. First, an FEA model to simulate the propagation behavior of the bending wave generated by a metal sphere impact is validated by performing an impact test and a corresponding FEA and optimization for a downsized steam-generator structure. Second, a novel methodology based on FEA and optimization technique was proposed to estimate the impact location and mass of a loose part at the same time. The usefulness of the methodology was then validated through a series of FEAs and some blind tests. A new feature vector, the cross-correlation function, was also proposed to predict the impact location and mass of a loose part, and its usefulness was then validated. It is expected that the proposed methodology can be utilized in model-based diagnostics for the estimation of impact parameters such as the mass, velocity, and impact location of a loose part. In addition, the FEA-based model can be used to optimize the sensor position to improve the collected data quality in the site of nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.197-204
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• 2010

This paper proposes a new body-effect compensated switch configuration for low voltage and low distortion switched-capacitor (SC) applications. The proposed circuit allows rail-to-rail switching operation for low voltage SC circuits and has better total harmonic distortion than the conventional bootstrapped circuit by 19 dB. A 2-1 cascaded sigma-delta modulator is provided for performing the high-resolution analog-to-digital conversion on audio codec in a communication transceiver. An experimental prototype for a single-stage folded-cascode operational amplifier (opamp) and a 2-1 cascaded sigma-delta modulator has been implemented m a 0.25 micron double-poly, triple-metal standard CMOS process with 2.7 V of supply voltage. The 1% settling time of the opamp is measured to be 560 ns with load capacitance of 16 pF. The experimental testing of the sigma-delta modulator with bit-stream inspection and analog spectrum analyzing plot is performed. The die size is $1.9{\times}1.5\;mm$.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2012

In this study, fosmid cloning strategies were used to assess the microbial populations in water from the International Space Station (ISS) drinking water system (henceforth referred to as Prebiocide and Tank A water samples). The goals of this study were: to compare the sensitivity of the fosmid cloning strategy with that of traditional culture-based and 16S rRNA-based approaches and to detect the widest possible spectrum of microbial populations during the water purification process. Initially, microbes could not be cultivated, and conventional PCR failed to amplify 16S rDNA fragments from these low biomass samples. Therefore, randomly primed rolling-circle amplification was used to amplify any DNA that might be present in the samples, followed by size selection by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The amplified high-molecular- weight DNA from both samples was cloned into fosmid vectors. Several hundred clones were randomly selected for sequencing, followed by Blastn/Blastx searches. Sequences encoding specific genes from Burkholderia, a species abundant in the soil and groundwater, were found in both samples. Bradyrhizobium and Mesorhizobium, which belong to rhizobia, a large community of nitrogen fixers often found in association with plant roots, were present in the Prebiocide samples. Ralstonia, which is prevalent in soils with a high heavy metal content, was detected in the Tank A samples. The detection of many unidentified sequences suggests the presence of potentially novel microbial fingerprints. The bacterial diversity detected in this pilot study using a fosmid vector approach was higher than that detected by conventional 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.38-43
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• 2017

The role of current lead in high-temperature superconducting synchronous machine (HTSSM) is to function as a power supply by connecting the power supply unit at room temperature with the HTS field coils at cryogenic temperature. Such physical and electrical connection causes conduction and Joule-heating losses, which are major thermal losses of HTSSM rotors. To ensure definite stability and economic feasibility of HTS field coils, quickly and smoothly cooling down the current lead is a key design technology. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a novel concept of a cooling anchor to enhance the cooling performance of a metal current lead. The technical concept of this technology is the simultaneously chilling and supporting the current lead. First, the structure of the current lead and cooling anchor were conceptually designed for field coils for a 1.5 MW-class HTSSM. Then, the effect of this installation on the thermal characteristics of HTS coils was investigated by 3D finite element analysis.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2003

Both MgO and $Sc_2O_3$ are shown to provide low interface state densities (in the $10^{11}{\;}eV^{-1}{\;}cm{\;}^{-2}$ range)on n-and p-GaN, making them useful for gate dielectrics for metal-oxide semiconductor(MOS) devices and also as surface passivation layers to mitigate current collapse in GaN/AlGaN high electron mobility transistors(HEMTs).Clear evidence of inversion has been demonstrated in gate-controlled MOS p-GaN diodes using both types of oxide. Charge pumping measurements on diodes undergoing a high temperature implant activation anneal show a total surface state density of $~3{\;}{\times}{\;}10^{12}{\;}cm^{-2}$. On HEMT structures, both oxides provide effective passivation of surface states and these devices show improved output power. The MgO/GaN structures are also found to be quite radiation-resistant, making them attractive for satellite and terrestrial communication systems requiring a high tolerance to high energy(40MeV) protons.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1150-1156
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• 2007

In this paper, two novel subsurface antennas for remote management of underground facilities using PCS and cellular wireless network are proposed. The proposed subsurface antenna is a dual band circular patch which is inserted and molded for the protection of the antenna into a metal such as a manhole cover. The antenna is designed considering the resonant frequency shift of the antenna due to the insertion and molding. The measured return loss and receiving power of the fabricated antenna comparison with a dipole shows that two proposed subsurface antenna can be used for remote management of underground facilities using PCS and cellular systems.