• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.335-342
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• 2003

In order to analyze the deformational behavior accurately, the in-situ testing technique which provides the reliable deformational characteristics at whole strain ranges, needs to be developed. The pressuremeter is a unique method for assessing directly the in-situ shear modulus of soils with strain amplitude. This paper introduces a new alternative, the cavity strain measuring system in pressuremeter designed for whole strain ranges of $10^{-5}$%∼20%. Not only in the synthetic calibration chamber but also in the field, the pressuremeter tests were performed to determine the compliance of the new developed pressuremeter system. The variation in shear modulus with strain amplitude above $5\times 10^{-2}$% was reliably determined by the developed pressuremeter. It is concluded that the major cause of error in small cavity strain measuring is not from the cavity strain measuring system but from the friction between measuring arm and membrane during unloading-reloading loops.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 1993

This study was conducted to develop the on-line monitoring system for plant growth responses. The system consisted of two parts. One system was the measuring system and the other was its controlling system. The established measuring systems were the ultrasonic wave sensor driver for height of plant, the potentiometer for diameter of plant stem, and the weighing system with strain gage application for plant weight. Also, computer program for measurement and controlling was developed, and the whole system was tested by the fabricated plant, and the actual plant growth responses were monitored by the system. When monitoring the actual plant growth responses, even the small amount of plant growth resposes could be measured by the system within tolerable error ranges.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.260-267
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• 2006

The Liquid Culture Assay using a recombinant Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain has been developed as a means for quorum sensing autoinducer screening. However, the low aqueous solubility of marine natural product extracts used as potential autoinducers has been a hindrance in the screening process. Although the addition of organic solvents and/or surfactants could increase aqueous solubility, errors in data interpretation including false positive results could be a serious problem. Therefore, determining the best possible solvent and surfactant at the optimum concentration is crucial. Evaluating methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, DMSO and DMF at concentration ranges of 0~10% revealed < 2% methanol to be most favorable when tested for ${\beta}$-gal activity and growth inhibition of the recombinant A. tumefaciens strain. On the other hand, among surfactants tested, Triton X-100 was similarly effective in increasing the delivery of autoinducers for activity at less than 0.05% concentration.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.12
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• pp.2901-2909
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• 2020

Thermal creep is a key property of zircaloy cladding. CZ developed by CGN is a new zircaloy used as PWR fuel cladding. This research is devoted to investigating the thermal creep behavior of CZ and build the thermal creep model of CZ. Twenty internal pressure creep tests were conducted, and the ranges of temperature and Tresca stress were 320-430 ℃ and 70-300 MPa, respectively. Real-time creep data were analyzed by separating primary creep and steady-state creep. Based on Soderberg model and creep test data, CZ thermal creep model is derived. As a whole, the mean value and the standard deviation of P/M of CZ saturated primary creep strain are very close to these from steady-state creep rate, however, the predictive effect of primary creep is less satisfactory. Four conditions, where there exists large deviation between predicted values and test data, are 320 ℃ and 300 MPa, 350 ℃ and 190 MPa, 380 ℃ and 160 MPa, 380 ℃ and 190 MPa, respectively. As primary creep was much smaller than steady-state creep in long-time operation, the thermal creep model built can be applied to predict the thermal creep behavior of CZ cladding.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.207-218
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• 1990

Grains display characteristics of both elastic bodies and viscous fluids when they are subjected to mechanical treatments in harvesting, handling, and processing. This viscoelastic behavior of grains when mechanically stressed must be fully understood to establish maximum machine efficiency and have a minimum degree of grain damage and the highest quality of the final product. The studies were conducted to examine the effect of the moisture content, the loading rate and the initial deformation on the stress relaxation behavior of whole kernel of rough rice, and develop the rheological model to represent its stress relaxation behavior. The following results were obtained from the study. 1. Moisture content had the greatest influence on the initial portion of the relaxation curve. With elapsing time the lower moisture content resulted in the lower residual stress for the Japonica-type rough rice and vice versa for the Indica-type rough rice. But within the ranges of moisture content tested, the degree of stress relaxation per unit strain on the Indica-type rough rice was a little higher than those on the Japonica-type rough rice. 2. The slower loading rate resulted in less initial stress. The decreasing trend of residual stress for all the samples tested with increasing loading rate was shown. 3. The higher initial deformation for all the samples resulted in less initial stress. The increasing of amount of stress relaxation per unit strain with increase of initial stress indicated that viscoelastic properties of rough rice depended not only upon duration of load applied but also initial stress applied. This means that rough rice is nonlinear viscoelastic material. 4. The compression stress relaxation properties of rough rice kernel can be described by a generalized Maxwell model representing by the Maxwell elements.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.327-337
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• 2021

Fibrinolytic enzymes with a direct mechanism of action and safer properties are currently requested for thrombolytic therapy. This paper reports on a new enzyme capable of degrading blood clots directly without impairing blood coagulation. This enzyme is also non-cytotoxic and constitutes an alternative to other thrombolytic enzymes known to cause undesired side effects. Twenty-four Bacillus isolates were screened for production of fibrinolytic enzymes using a fibrin agar plate. Based on produced activity, isolate S127e was selected and identified as B. subtilis using the 16S rDNA gene sequence. This strain is of biotechnological interest for producing high fibrinolytic yield and consequently has potential in the industrial field. The purified fibrinolytic enzyme has a molecular mass of 27.3 kDa, a predicted pI of 6.6, and a maximal affinity for Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe. This enzyme was almost completely inhibited by chymostatin with optimal activity at 48℃ and pH 7. Specific subtilisin features were found in the gene sequence, indicating that this enzyme belongs to the BPN group of the S8 subtilisin family and was assigned as AprE127. This subtilisin increased thromboplastin time by 3.7% (37.6 to 39 s) and prothrombin time by 3.2% (12.6 to 13 s), both within normal ranges. In a whole blood euglobulin assay, this enzyme did not impair coagulation but reduced lysis time significantly. Moreover, in an in vitro assay, AprE127 completely dissolved a thrombus of about 1 cc within 50 min and, in vivo, reduced a thrombus prompted in a rat tail by 11.4% in 24 h compared to non-treated animals.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2005

An organic acid tolerance mutant (M-200) was obtained from Leuconostoc mesenteroides KCCM 35471, followed by the screening procedure using a specific organic acid medium (lactic acid: acetic acid, 2:1). The characteristics of the acid tolerance M-200 and the wild type LM-W were examined at various temperature and pH ranges $(l0-30^{\circ}C$ of temp, 3.5-4.5 of pH). The growth of strain M-200 at HCl adjusted medium $(10^{\circ}C\;and\;pH 3.5)$ was observed. In the case of organic acid adjusted medium, the strain showed its growth at the pH range of 3.8. When the strain M-200 was used as a starter for Kimchi fermentation, a constant acid level (0.55) was observed during the whole fermentation period. This result indicates that the strain produces a proper level of acid content for the Kimchi fermentation. This result also indicates that the edible period of Kimchi can be extended to 3.5 fold compare to the result obtained from the LM-W used Kimchi fermentation. However the excess use of the strain M-200 showed the inhibition of growth of Lactobacillus plantarum, low lactic acid level content and low level of organoleptic test. In the case of organic acid content during the Kimchi fermentation, the strain M-200 showed relatively low production rate compare to the wild type (M-200: 3.5 mg/L at 21 days of fermentation, LM-W: 7 mg/L at 21 days of fermentation). Therefore a mixed Kimchi starter containing M-200 and other strains probably maintain a good Kimchi quality during the fermentation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1519-1528
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• 2013

Bacillus pumilus SG2, a halotolerant strain, expresses two major chitinases designated ChiS and ChiL that were induced by chitin and secreted into the supernatant. The present work aimed to obtain a mutant with higher chitinolytic activity through mutagenesis of Bacillus pumilus SG2 using a combination of UV irradiation and nitrous acid treatment. Following mutagenesis and screening on chitin agar and subsequent formation of halos, the mutated strains were examined for degradation of chitin under different conditions. A mutant designated AV2-9 was selected owing to its higher chitinase activity. To search for possible mutations in the whole operon including ChiS and ChiL, the entire chitinase operon, including the intergenic region, promoter, and two areas corresponding to the ChiS and ChiL ORF, was suquenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the complete chitinase operon from the SG2 and AV2-9 strains showed the presence of a mutation in the catalytic domain (GH18) of chitinase (ChiL). The results demonstrated that a single base change had occurred in the ChiL sequence in AV2-9. The wild-type chitinase, ChiL, and the mutant (designated ChiLm) were cloned, expressed, and purified in E. coli. Both enzymes showed similar profiles of activity at different ranges of pH, NaCl concentration, and temperature, but the mutant enzyme showed approximately 30% higher catalytic activity under all the conditions tested. The results obtained in this study showed that the thermal stability of chitinase increased in the mutant strain. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to predict changes in the stability of proteins caused by mutation.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.162-174
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• 1981

Fiftysix male weanling rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain weighing $52.6{\pm} 0.9g$ were fed with 77% starch-15% casein diet by ad libitum for four days to get them adapted and divided into eight groups. For three weeks, the body weight gain of rats was controlled in three different ranges. After the period of food restriction, the rats were recovered by being fed by ad libitum for seventeen days. During the experimental period, the amount of food intake and body weight were measured. And the experimental groups were compared when they reached at the same age and at the same body weight. Anterior Tibialis, Extensor Digitorum Longus, Soleus, Plantaris, Gastrocnemius were used as analytic items of skeletal muscle. Wet weight of muscle, muscle protein, water content were measured from each of five skeletal muscles. Sodium, potassium, magnesium content were measured from Anterior Tibialis, Extensor Digitorum Longus, Soleus ana Plantaris. Phosphorus was measured only from Gastrocnemius. The whole carcass protein except the skeletal muscles was also measured. During the period of food restriction, food intake was $311.7{\pm}19.5g$ for the control group. $130.2{\pm}1.5g$ for the second group and $161.7{\pm}2.1g$ for the third group. During the period of food restriction, body weight gain was $106.8{\pm}12.7g$ for the control group, $3.6{\pm}2.1g$ for the second group and $18.9{\pm}3.3g$ for the third group. Comparing the body weight when they reached at the age 66 days, the control group showed higher value than the other groups. In the concentration of electrolytes of skeletal muscles sodium and magnesium tend to increase and potassium and phosphorus tend to decrease by food restriction. But after their recovery, there was no significant difference between the groups. By the degree of food restriction, there was time difference in reaching at the same body weight. But when they reached at the same body weight, there was no significant difference in the value of electrolytes concentration. Regarding all the results of this study, the ages of rats which reached the same body weight were different by food restriction level during weanling. Once food·restricted rats reached the same body weight by recovery, the concentration of electrolytes and protein tend to become almost the same.