• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.605-612
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• 2006

A psychrotrophic bacterium was isolated from oil-contaminated groundwater and identified as Rhodococcus sp. YHLT-2. Growth was observed at the temperature of 4 to $30^{\circ}C$. This strain degraded various petroleum hydrocarbons such as crude oil, diesel oil, and gasoline over the whole range of temperatures tested. The Rhodococcus sp. YHLT-2 was capable of growing even at $4^{\circ}C$, exhibiting 90% of oil biodegradation after 20 days. Degradation of crude oil occurred at low temperature in nature. This strain was also able to grow at 7% NaCl, and utilized not only short chain alkenes $(C_9\;to\;C_{12})$, but also a broad range of long chain alkenes $(C_{19}\;to\;C_{32})$ present in crude oil at $4^{\circ}C$. The Rhodococcus sp. YHLT-2 is expected to be of potential use in the in situ bioremediation of hazardous hydrocarbons under low-temperature and high-salt conditions.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.627-638
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• 1998

For any hazardous operation or risky project to be carried out safely and economically, it is of the utmost importance to formulate proper risk management policies based on the rational assessment of the risk levels of various potential hazards. In this paper, a Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making(FMCDM) method for risk assessment is proposed. The method evaluates, on the basis of fuzzy set theory, the risk level of a risky situation by aggregating the assessed levels of risk factors and their subjective weights. The method also allows some flexibility for the future users in the sense that, first, the relative importance weights for the three risk factors can be adjusted according to the nature of projects or systems and, second, the users have the choice between the two types of risk assessment results, that is, the assessed risk levels or the ranks of the risk situations. A numerical example for the proposed FMCDM method is provided to illustrate the computational procedure. To see how the suggested FMCDM method describes well people's perceived risk level, we compared the risk values derived from the suggested method with the subjective risk evaluations for ten risky situations.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 2017

A liquid nitrogen engine is a highly clean power engine, which does not emit any hazardous substances in its fumes. Additionally, it has an advantage over electric vehicles, as its energy density is larger than that of a battery. The use of an existing liquid nitrogen engine is typically limited to the reciprocation type. In this study, the concept of a nitrogen engine equipped with a scroll expander is introduced. The engine's efficiency was shown to increase when the scroll expander was utilized in the engine, while also adding to the simplification of the structure. Therefore, compared to the existing reciprocation-type engine, the engine with the scroll expander has the potential to be both technically and economically more competitive. In this study, the performance of a liquid nitrogen engine equipped with a scroll expander was analyzed while altering the injection pressure profile of liquid nitrogen.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.277-283
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• 2003

Haloaliphatic hydrocarbons have been widely used as solvents and ingredients of pesticides and herbicides. However, when these compounds contaminate the environment, they can be very hazardous to animals and humans because of their potential toxicity and carcinogenicity. Therefore, lots of studies have been made for microbial degradation of those pollutant chemicals. In this study, 11 bacterial strains capable of degrading 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), 2-chloropropionic acid (2-CPA), 2,3-dichloropropionic acid (2,3-DCPA), and 2-monochloroacetic acid (2-MCA) by hydrolytic dechlorination under aerobic conditions were isolated from wastewaters and rice paddy soil samples. Their morphological and biochemical characteristics and their degradation capabilities of haloaliphatic hydrocarbons were examined. On the basis of the 16S rDNA sequences, 8 different kinds of microbial species, including Pseudomonas plecoglossicida, Xanthobacter flavus, Ralstonia eutropha, were identified. All of the isolated strains can degrade MCA. In particular, strains UE-2 and UE-15 degraded 1,2-DCA, and strain CA-11 degraded 2,3-DCPA, which are hardly degraded by other strains.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.238-244
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• 2003

Nicotine is one of the major hazardous components in cigarettc smoke. Nicotine deals a harmful effect to smokers and passive smokers due to its rapid conversion to various carcinogenic metabolites. Nitrosamine-4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) is believed to cause lung cancers among the nicotine-derived carcinogens. Recent studies report that NNK synthesis can be inhibited by the metabolism pathway to produce a stable metabolite cotinine from nicotine. Tea polyphenols have been known to contain factors to prevent cancers and to retard progression of cancers. This study aims to correlate tea polyphenol's potential for cancer prevention with an accelerated formation of cotinine. The conversion from nicotine to cotinine in the presence of tea extracts or three polyphenols (Catechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin gallate) was measured in established cell lines and in Xenopus oocytes. Among three lines of cell used, PLC/PRF5 and HEK293 cells showed a fast turnover from nicotine to cotinine while HepG2 cell line showed a marginal difference between groups treated and non-treated with tea polyphenols. When Xenopus oocytes were microinjected with nicotine, tea polyphenols appear to accelerate the conversion of nicotine to cotinine. Among the polyphenols tested in this study, (＋)－catechin showed the best efficiency overall in accelerating conversion from nicotine to cotinine both in the cell lines and in the oocytes. In summary, the present study indicated that tea polyphenols have a positive effect on conversion of nicotine to cotinine.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2019

Hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) is mainly produced along with methane and hydrocarbons in many gas fields as well as hydrodesulfurization processes of crude oils containing sulfur compounds and the emission of $H_2S$ has a considerable effect on both environmental problem and human health aspects due to formation of, e.g. acid rain and smog. In recent years, ionic liquids (ILs) have been proposed as the most promising solvents for $CO_2$ and hazardous pollutants capture, such as $H_2S$ and sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$). In this work, we demonstrate the use of the predictive COSMO-SAC model for the prediction of Henry's law constant of $H_2S$ in ILs. Furthermore, the method is used to screen for potential IL candidates for $H_2S$ capture from a set of 2,624 ILs formed from 82 cations and 32 anions. The effects of cation on the Henry's law constant of $H_2S$ such as (i) the variation of the alkyl chain length on cation, (ii) the substituent of methyl group ($-CH_3$) for H in C(2) position and (iii) the change of ring structure for cation family are clearly predicted by COSMO-SAC model.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.333-340
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• 2021

In Vietnam, the desire to consume organic vegetables is increasing as people become increasingly concerned about foods that contain several chemicals and toxins that are hazardous to their health. However, numerous subjective and objective factors continue to influence customers' purchase intention and behavior, indicating that this market has not yet reached its full potential. The study analyzes the impacts of trust, price, and convenience on consumers' consumption behavior and frequency of using organic vegetables in Northern Vietnam. We surveyed 312 consumers in the region. After classifying the data, 178 participants have used or regularly used organic vegetables selected for further study. Next, the author applied SmartPLS software with version 3.3 to test the hypotheses and analyze the effects of the observations. The result shows that three main factors affect customers' organic vegetable consumption behavior, especially perceived convenience. This study contributes to the development of comprehensive policy mechanisms and regulations on product traceability. Furthermore, market management authorities must have a strategy in place to inspect the product quality of organic vegetable store chains regularly to build customer trust and support the growth of organic vegetable production and supply chains in Vietnam's northern region.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2019

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) in sheep is a hazardous zoonotic parasitic disease that is caused by Echinococcus granulosus (Eg). At present, serological test is an important diagnostic method for Eg infection in domestic animals. Here, a fusion protein Eg mefAg-1 harboring 8 dominant B-cell epitopes of Eg such as antigen B, tetraspanin 1, tetraspanin 6, reticulon and Eg95 was produced in E. coli and evaluated for CE in sheep by indirect ELISA. Eg mefAg-1 showed in ELISA a high sensitivity (93.41%) and specificity (99.31%), with a coincidence rate of 97.02%. Overall, it is suggested that the Eg mefAg-1 could be a potential antigen candidate for CE serodiagnosis in sheep.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.23-30
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• 2021

In recent years, hazardous flash flooding has caused deaths and damage to infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. In this paper, our aim is to assess patterns and trends in climate means and extremes affecting flash flood hazards and water resources in Saudi Arabia for the purpose to improve risk assessment for forecast capacity. We would like to examine temperature, precipitation climatology and trend magnitudes at surface stations in Saudi Arabia. Based on the assessment climate patterns maps and trends are accurately used to identify synoptic situations and tele-connections associated with flash flood risk. We also study local and regional changes in hydro-meteorological extremes over recent decades through new applications of statistical methods to weather station data and remote sensing based precipitation products; and develop remote sensing based high-resolution precipitation products that can aid to develop flash flood guidance system for the flood-prone areas. A dataset of extreme events has been developed using the multi-decadal station data, the statistical analysis has been performed to identify tele-connection indices, pressure and sea surface temperature patterns most predictive to heavy rainfall. It has been combined with time trends in extreme value occurrence to improve the potential for predicting and rapidly detecting storms. A methodology and algorithms has been developed for providing a well-calibrated precipitation product that can be used in the early warning systems for elevated risk of floods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3293-3298
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• 2022

Removing radioactive contaminated metal materials is a vital task during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants to reduce the cost of the post-dismantling process. The laser decontamination technique has been recognized as a key tool for a successful dismantling process as it enables a remote operation in radioactive facilities. It also minimizes exposure of workers to hazardous materials and reduces secondary waste, increasing the environmental friendless of the post-dismantling processing. In this work, we present a thorough and efficient laser decontamination approach using a single-mode continuous-wave (CW) laser. We subjected stainless steels to a surface-removal process that repetitively exposes the laser to a confined region of ~75 ㎛ at a high scanning rate of 10 m/s. We evaluate the decontamination performance by measuring the removal depth with a 3D scanning microscope and further investigate optimal removal conditions given practical parameters such as the laser power and scan properties. We successfully removed the metal surface to a depth of more than 40 ㎛ with laser power of 300 W and ten scans, showing the potential to achieve an extremely high DF more than 1000 by simply increasing the number of scans and the laser power for the decontamination of primary circuits.