• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.570-578
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• 2003

Background : Ambient particles during Asian dust events are usually sized less than $10{\mu}m$, known to be associated with the adverse effects on the general populations. But, there has been no considerable evidence linking these particles to the adverse effects on airways. The objectives of this study was to investigate the possible adverse effects of Asian dust events on respiratory function and symptoms in subjects with bronchial asthma. Patients and Methods : From march to June 2002, Asthmatic patients who were diagnosed with bronchial challenge test or bronchodilator response were enrolled. We divided them into three groups; mild, moderate, and severe, according to the severity. Subjects with other organ insufficiency such as heart, kidney, liver, and malignancy were excluded. All patients completed twice daily diaries and recorded peak flow rate, respiratory symptom, and daily activity. Daily and hourly mean pollutant levels of particulate matter < $10{\mu}m$ in diameter($PM_{10}$), nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$), sulphur dioxide($SO_2$), ozone($O_3$) and carbon monoxide(CO) were measured at the 10 different monitoring sites. Results : Dust events occured 14 times during the study period. Daily averages of 4 air pollutant were measured with an increased level of $PM_{10}$, decreased level of $NO_2$ and $SO_2$, and no change in CO during dust days compared to those during control days. An increase in $PM_{10}$ concentration was associated with an increase of subjects with PEF variability of >20% (p<0.05), night time symptom(p<0.05), and a decrease in mean PEF (p<0.05), which were calculated by the longitudinal data analysis. Otherwise, there was no association between $PM_{10}$ level and bronchodialtor inhaler, and daytime respiratory symptoms. Conclusion : This study shows evidence that ambient air pollution, especially $PM_{10}$, during Asian dust events, could be one of the many aggravating factors at least in patients with airway diseases. This data can be used as a primary source to set up a new policy on air environmental control and to evaluate the safety of air pollution index. We also expect that this research will help identify precise components of dust, which are more linked to the adverse effects.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.797-806
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• 2000

The objectives were to compare the biodegradable threshold concentrations of phenol with the different composition of the influent carbon source and examine the SMA (Specific Methanogenic Activity)and the possibility of simultaneous removal of high-strength organics and nitrogen compounds in UASB(Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) - PBR(Packed Bed Reactor) process. The results showed that UASB reactors were efficient to remove phenol and phenol + glucose from synthetic wastewater. At phenol conc, of 600 mg/L and SCOD conc. of 2100 mg/L in UASB reactor(with only phenol as substrate), the removal efficiencies of phenol and SCOD were over 99% and 93% respectively, under MLVSS of 20 g. The activity of microorganism was $0.112g\;phenol/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$, $0.351g\;SCOD/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$. The gas production rate was $0.115L/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$ and $CH_4$ content in gas was about 70%. At phenol conc. of 760 mg/L and SCOD conc. of 4300 mg/L in UASB reactor( with phenol + glucose as substrates), the removal efficiencies of phenol and of SCOD were over 99% and 90% respectively, under MLVSS of 20 g. The activity of microoganism was $0.135g\;phenol/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$, $0.696g\;SCOD/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$. The gas production rate was $0.257L/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$ and $CH_4$ content in gas was about 70%. Serum bottle test showed that the activity of granule was inhibited over 1600 mg/L phenol conc, and denitrification and methanogenesis simultaneously took place in UASB granules under co-substrates conditions. PBR reactor packed with cilium type media, was efficient in nitrification. In condition of $0.038kg\;NH_4-N/m^3-media{\cdot}d$. 10~12 mg/L phenol conc. and 200~500 mg/L SCOD conc., nitrification efficiency was over 90% and phenol removal efficiency was over 98%.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.306-314
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• 2023

Stream sediments are an important component of water quality management because they are receptors of various pollutants such as heavy metals and organic matters emitted from upland sources and can be secondary pollution sources, adversely affecting water environment. To effectively manage the stream sediments, identification of primary sources of sediment contamination and source-associated control strategies will be required. We evaluated the performance of machine learning models in identifying primary sources of sediment contamination based on the physico-chemical properties of stream sediments. A total of 356 stream sediment data sets of 18 quality parameters including 10 heavy metal species(Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, As, Zn, Cr, Hg, Li, and Al), 3 soil parameters(clay, silt, and sand fractions), and 5 water quality parameters(water content, loss on ignition, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous) were collected near abandoned metal mines and industrial complexes across the four major river basins in Korea. Two machine learning algorithms, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers were used to classify the sediments into four cases of different combinations of the sampling period and locations (i.e., mine in dry season, mine in wet season, industrial complex in dry season, and　industrial complex in wet season). Both models showed good performance in the classification, with SVM outperformed LDA; the accuracy values of LDA and SVM were 79.5% and 88.1%, respectively. An SVM ensemble model was used for multi-label classification of the multiple contamination sources inlcuding landuses in the upland areas within 1 km radius from the sampling sites. The results showed that the multi-label classifier was comparable performance with sinlgle-label SVM in classifying mines and industrial complexes, but was less accurate in classifying dominant land uses (50~60%). The poor performance of the multi-label SVM is likely due to the overfitting caused by small data sets compared to the complexity of the model. A larger data set might increase the performance of the machine learning models in identifying contamination sources.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.392-396
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• 1989

Methylobacterium organophilum, a facultative methylotroph was cultivated on a methanol as a sole carbon and energy source. The cell growth was affected by the various components of minimal synthetic medium and the medium composition was optimized with 0.5% (v/v) methanol at pH 6.8 and at 3$0^{\circ}C$. The maximum specific growth rate of M. organophilum was achieved to 0.26 hr$^{-1}$ in the optimized medium which has following composition: Methanol, 0.5% (v/v):(NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$, 1.0g/l:KH$_2$PO$_4$, 2.13g/l:KH$_2$PO$_4$, 1.305g/ι:MgSO$_4$.7$H_2O$. 45g/l and trace elements (CaCl$_2$.2$H_2O$, 3.3mg:FeSO$_4$.7$H_2O$, 1.3mg:MnSO$_4$.4$H_2O$, 130$\mu\textrm{g}$:ZnSO$_4$.5$H_2O$, 40$\mu\textrm{g}$:Na$_2$MoO$_4$.2$H_2O$, 40$\mu\textrm{g}$:CoCl$_2$.6$H_2O$, 40$\mu\textrm{g}$:H$_3$BO$_3$, 30$\mu\textrm{g}$ per liter). By the limitation of nitrogen and deficiency of Mn$^{+2}$ or Fe$^{+2}$, the cell growth was significantly repressed. Methanol greatly repressed the cell growth and the complete inhibition was observed at concentration above 4% (v/v). In order to overcome the methanol inhibition and to prevent the methanol limitation, intermittent feeding of methanol was conducted by a D.O.-stat technique. PHB production by M. organophilum was stimulated by deficiency of nutrients such as NH$_{4}^{+}$, SO$_{4}^{-2}$, $Mg^{+2}$, $K^{+}$, or PO$_{4}^{-3}$ in the medium. The maximum PHB content was obtained as 58% of dry cell weight under deficiency of potassium ion in the optimized synthetic medium.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2004

The purpose of this work was to investigate the relationships between acrylamide degradation by Pseudomonas sp. JK-7 and several relevant physicochemical environment parameters. In initial experiments, the bacterial culture, strain JK-7 isolated from paddy soil sample was developed to grow aerobically with acrylamide as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. The bacterium was identified as genus Pseudomonas in the basis of use BIOLOG test, and designated as Pseudomunas sp. JK-7. Strain JK-7 could degrade 50 mM acrylamide completely within 72 hours of incubation. Major intermediates resulting from acrylamide degradation were not detected with the HPLC methodology except acrylic acid which appeared to accumulate transiently in the growth medium. The pH increased from 7.0 to 8.7 with complete degradation of the initial 50 mM acrylamide within 72 hours of incubation. pH control in the range of 5 to 9 influenced the growth of JK-7 and acrylamide degradation, whereas it was not examined the growth and degradation at pH 3 or pH 11, respectively. The effect of supplemented carbons (e.g., glucose, fructose, citrate, succinate) on the acrylamide degradation by the test culture of JK-7 was evaluated. The results indicated that the addition of carbons accelerated the bacterial growth and acrylamide degradation compared to those in the absence of supplemented carbons. The effect of supplemented nitrogens on the degradation was monitored. Increasing concentrations of yeast extract resulted in higher growth yield, based on the turbidity measurement, and complete degradation of acrylamide. However, acrylamide degradation was essentially uninfluenced by the addition of $(NH_{4})_{2}SO_{4}$, $NH_4Cl$ or urea. Addition of $AgNO_3$, $CuSO_4$ or $HgCl_2$ except $ZnSO_4$ in the test culture inhibited the degradation of acrylamide and growth of JK-7.