• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.168-172
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• 2008

A microbial fuel cell is a noble green technology generating electricity from biomass and is expected to find applications in a real world. One of main hurdles to this purpose is the low power density. In this study, we constructed a prototype microbial fuel cell using Proteus vulgaris to study the effect of various reaction conditions on the performance. Main focus has been made on the modification of the anode with electropolymerized polypyrrole (Ppy). A dramatic power enhancement was resulted from the Ppy deposition onto the reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) electrode. Our obtained maximum power density of 1.2 mW cm-3 is the highest value among the reported ones for the similar system. Further power enhancement was possible by increasing the ionic strength of the solution to decrease internal resistance of the cell. Other variables such as the deposition time, kinds of mediators, and amount of bacteria have also been examined.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.236-240
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• 1999

A preliminary study was carried out to find characteristics of microbial trophic relations in hypoxic waters of Lake Shihwa in May and August 1996. Abundances of bacteria, viruses, and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) and HNF grazing on bacteria were measured. Dissolved O$_2$ (DO) saturation ranged from 13 to 34% in the bottom waters, and % of DO saturation strongly correlated with salinity. Ratios of HNF-to-bacteria abundance (42-118${\times}$10$^{-5}$) and biomass (0.06-0.25), and ratios of virus-to-bacteria abundance (110-297) in the hypoxic water were similar to those found in the surface layer, indicating similar structures of microbial abundances and trophic functions in hypoxicand surface waters during the study period. In the hypoxic water, an energy flow from organic matter to bacteria to HNF might operate as equally as in oxic surface layer.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1344-1348
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• 2008

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been regarded as noble clean energy technology that can directly convert biomass to electricity. However, its low power density is a main limitation to be used as a new energy source. To overcome this limitation, we focused on the anode improvement in a mediator-type MFC using P. vulgaris as a biocatalyst. Fuel cell performance increased when the anode was coated with carbon black or polypyrrole. The best performance was observed when polypyrrole/carbon black (Ppy/CB) composite material was coated on a carbon paper electrode. Our obtained value of 452 mW $m^{-2}$ is the highest value among the reported ones for the similar system. The effects of amount of Ppy/CB, mediator concentration, and amount of P. vulgaris have also been examined.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.600-614
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• 2011

Classical methods which used for removal of heavy metals from contaminated water are adsorption, precipitation, coagulation, ion exchange resin, evaporation, and membrane processes. Microbial biosorption can be used for the removal of contaminated waters with pollutants such as heavy metals and dyes which are not easily biodegradable. Microbial biosorbents are inexpensive, eco friendly and more effective for the removal of toxic metals from aqueous solution. In this review, the bacterial and fungal abilities for heavy metals ions removal are emphasized. Environmental factors which affect biosorption process are also discussed. A detailed description for the most common isotherm and kinetic models are presented. This article reviews the achievements and the current status of bacterial and fungal biosorption technology for heavy metals removal and provides insights for further researches.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.242-247
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• 2011

Soil management for environment-friendly agriculture depends on the effects of soil microbial activities and soil fertility. To improve soil health for the upland crops, this study evaluated a relationship between soil chemical properties and soil microbial diversities at 25 sites in upland soils in Gyeongnam Province. The average nutrients in the upland soils were 1.7 times for available phosphorous, 1.4 times for exchangeable potassium and 1.5 times for exchangeable calcium higher compared to recommend concentrations in the upland soils. We found a significant positive correlation between the soil organic matter and the soil microbial biomass C (p<0.01). Contents of organic matter and dehydrogenase in the inclined piedmont soils were significantly higher than those in the other topographical soils (p<0.05). In addition, concentrations of organic matter and microbial biomass C in the loam soils were significantly higher than in the silt loam soils (p<0.05). In principal component analyses of chemical properties and microbial populations in the upland soils, our findings suggested that available phosphorous should be considered as potential factor responsible for the clear upland soils differentiation. The soil organic matter was positive correlation with Bacillus sp. and fungi, whereas soil pH was also positive correlation with Pseudomonas sp. in upland soils.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.36-47
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• 2009

Microbial and related biochemical mass of composts are important for optimization of its process and end-products. This study was carried out to assess the specific microbial and related biochemical mass which could be used as an indicator for compost maturity during composting stages. The samples from five compost plants were collected at three stages (Initial, Thermophilic and Mature) and analyzed for total aerobic bacteria (TAB), Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Actinomycetes and fungi. Significantly, the coliforms and E.coli counts decreased during the thermophilic stage and were completely eliminated during mature stage. However, the other microbial mass were completely eliminated during mature stage. Which disclosed that Coliforms and E.coli communities can be used as compost maturity indicator. Interestingly, the microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen ratio (MBC/MBN) were decreased a little during the thermophilic stage due to the decreasing number of coliforms, Ecoli and fungi, while the ratio increased during the mature stage due to increasing fungal and aerobic bacterial counts. In addition the heavy metals were shown strong negative correlation with Actenomycetes. This study provides insight to the evaluation of compost maturity as well as the quality by the metal-microbial interactions.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.58-65
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• 2002

The study of microbial communities in sediments is impaired by the lack of reliable extraction methods. This study reports on the efficiency of recovery of a method for extracting bacteria, protists and diatoms from sandy sediments using a modified decant/fix method. The best extractions were achieved after fixation with a microtubule stabilising fixative and subsequent sonication for 80 seconds. We estimate that the efficiencies of recovery of bacteria and mixed heterotrophic flagellates were $96.4{\pm}3.5\%$ and $96.9{\pm}4.6\%$, respectively. Diatoms were recovered with an efficiency of 38-83% and varied considerably from species to species. This study suggests that the decant/fix method is effective in extracting small cells such as bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates, and that the efficiency of recovery of the method varies due to cell length and different types of organisms. When microbial carbon biomass had been underestimated by up to 32%, with much of that relating to larger cells such as microalgae and ciliates. We note that the corrected abundances may be still a subset of the total numbers present.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.146-152
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• 2015

Heavy metal pollution has been a critical problem in agricultural field near at the abandoned metal mines and chemical amendments are applied for remediation purpose. However, biological activity can be changed depending on chemical amendments affecting crop productivity. Main purpose of this research was to evaluate biological parameters after applying chemical amendments in heavy metal polluted agricultural field. Result showed that soil respiration (SR) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were changed after chemical amendments were applied. Among three different amendments, lime stone (LS), steel slag (SS), and acid mine drainage sludge(AMDS), AMDS had an effect to increase SR in paddy soil. Comparing to control ($93.98-170.33mg\;kg^{-1}day^{-1}$), average of 30% increased SR was observed. In terms of MBC, SS had an increased effect in paddy soil. However, no significant difference of SR and MBC was observed in upland soil after chemical amendment application. Overall, SR can be used as an indicator of heavy metal remediation in paddy soil.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.80-85
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• 2013

The bacterial community structure in a biological reactor fed influent from a wastewater treatment system was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and in situ hybridization. Sludges were collected from three biological reactors (aerobic, oxic, and anoxic tanks) at the M wastewater treatment facility (WTF). The influent of the MWTF consisted of mixed tannery wastewater (40~65%) and seafood wastewater (35~60%). The treatment processes resulted in a removal efficiency for BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) of 83.6~98.2% and 72.8~84.6%, respectively for tannery wastewater than for seafood wastewater resulted in greater survival of biomass in the biological reactors and a higher removal of BOD, COD, and T-N of about 8~18%. In contrast, addition of greater amounts of seafood wastewater decreased the amount of biomass in the bioreactors due to the increasing concentration of chromium from that wastewater and it also. The dominant bacterial species during the high seafood wastewater input period were Burkholderia cepacia (JX901049) and an uncultured bacterium (JF247555), while Pseudomonas geniculata (HQ256559) was dominant during the high tannery wastewater input period. Flavobacteriumsp. BF.107 (FM173271) and Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii (Y14306) were dominant under anoxic conditions.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.19 no.spc
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• pp.149-152
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• 2011

To improve the soil condition for no-tillage organic pepper cultivation, four different green manure crops were cultivated. Fertilizer supply was depended on the biomass of the cultivated green manure crops, nitrogen supplies were 314kg in Vicia villosa and 341kg $ha^{-1}$ in Vicia angustifolia. In the microbial community analyzed by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) method, soil microbe populations were different among the green manure crops and fungi group was increased at Vicia angustifloia and Vicia villosa. The biological ratio indexes of fatty acids in the soils, the ratio of Gram-negative to Gram-positive bacterial PLFA and Ratio of aerobes to anaerobes were high at Vicia hirsute and Vicia tetrasperma suggesting the enrich of the aerobic conditions. The ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids increased at Vicia angustifloia and Vicia villosa suggesting anaerobic conditions. Abundant biomass and uncomposted organic matter, the ratio of fungi to bacteria was increased at Vicia angustifloia and Vicia villosa.