• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.362-372
• /
• 2010

Although different disposal routes of waste-activated sludge are possible, anaerobic digestion plays an important role for its abilities to further transform organic matter into methane. The potential of using methane as energy source has long been widely recognised and the present paper extensively reviews the principles of anaerobic digestion, the process parameters and hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is recognised as rate-limiting step in the complex digestion process. To accelerate the digestion and enhance the production of biogas, various pre-treatments can be used to improve the rate-limiting hydrolysis. These treatments include mechanical, thermal, chemical and biological interventions to the feedstock. All pre-treatments result in a lysis or disintegration of sludge cells, thus releasing and solubilizing intracellular material into the water phase and transforming refractory organic material into biodegradable species. The reader will finally be guided to extensive discussion for anaerobic digestion processes.

• Plant Resources
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-45
• /
• 2000

To date many kinds of compounds have been obtained from plants kingdom as antineoplastic and anti-cancerous agents. However, there is no special type of compounds for cancer therapy. Various types of substances are effective for various types of cancers and tumors: for instance, alkaloids. lignans, terpenes and steroids etc. Curcumol obtained from Curcuma aromatica was tested and noticed to be effective against cancer of the uterine cervix clinically. Oridonin isolated from Rabdosia ssp. is now investigate for clinical trials in China. Moreover camptothecine isolated from Camptotheca acuminata is also antineoplastic alkaloid, but is very toxic. Chemical modification has been tried to decrease its toxicity This compound is now using as clinical agent. Harringtonin was investigated as an anticancerous drug in China. Taxol, a compound with a taxane ring isolated from the bark of Taxus brevifotia. has been demonstrated to have substantial anticancer activity in patients with solid tumors refractory standard chemotherapy. Supply of this drug has severely limited full exploration of its antineoplastic potential Some efforts are continued in National Cancer Institute(NCI) Washington for surveying various Taxus species for optimal taxol content, improvement in semi-synthesis from baccatin 111, improvement in method of extraction, and development of alternative renewable resources. Further, there are many compounds which have been reported as antineoplastic agents. On the other hand, we have screened on higher plants collected In Japan, China, Korea. Southeast Asia and South America for antineoplastic activity, which has been done using Sarcoma 180 ascites in mice, P388 Iymphocytic leukemia In mice, Chinese hamster lung V-79 cells, P388 cells and nasopharynx carcinoma(KB) cells in our laboratory, as primary screening. In this meeting, 1 will present on antitumor and cytotoxic substances of the higher plants(Rubis cordifolia, Ailanthus vilmoriniana, Aster tataricus, Taxus cuspidata var. nana, Cephalotaxus harringtonia var. drupacea, etc.) selected from above screening tests.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.243-250
• /
• 2019

This objective of this study was to investigate the degradation characteristics of phenol, a refractory substance, by using a submerged dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. To indirectly determine the concentration of active species produced in the DBD plasma, the dissolved ozone was measured. To investigate the phenol degradation characteristics, the phenol and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations were evaluated based on pH and the discharge power. The dissolved ozone was measured based on the air flow rate and power discharged. The highest dissolved ozone concentration was recorded when the injected air flow rate was 5 L/min. At a discharge power of 40W as compared to 70W, the dissolved ozone was approximately 2.7 - 6.5 times higher. In regards to phenol degradation, the final degradation rate was highest at about 74.06%, when the initial pH was 10. At a discharged power of 40W, the rate of phenol decomposition was observed to be approximately 1.25 times higher compared to when the discharged power was 70W. It was established that the phenol degradation reaction was a primary reaction, and when the discharge power was 40W as opposed to 70W, the reaction rate constant(k) was approximately 1.72 times higher.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.52-58
• /
• 2004

Oak is one of major species in this country as well as pine, but has been less utilized because of its refractory properties. The purpose of this study is to develope an effective method for drying the boards and disks of Quercus variabilis. Among four end-coaters used in this study thick coating with polyvinyl acetate chrolide glue (PVAc) was proved as the most effective. The average air-drying rate of boards was 1.2%MC/day, which did not exceed the safe drying rate recommended by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The kiln drying schedule used in this study gave a good result in drying the air-dried boards to 8%MC without any internal checks. An attempt to prevent oak disks from V-cracking during air-drying using special pallet-type stickers was not successful.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.671-675
• /
• 2009

Prostate cancer has been a critical health problem due to an increase of prostate cancer-related deaths worldwide. Also, a frequent treatment option for prostate cancer is androgen ablation, but this treatment has a limited scope, especially for hormone-refractory cancer. There is an urgent need for the identification of alternative therapeutic strategies for prostate cancer. Previously, over one hundred species of dried-plant methanol extracts were tested for inhibitory effects on proliferation. One of them, Piper longum Linn. was selected based on its potent anti-proliferation effect. The dried root of P. longum Linn. was extracted with 100% methanol for 2-3 days and its extract was fractionated using chloroform. The chloroform layer was then subjected to column chromatography on silica gel, reverse phase-18 (RP-18) and Sephadex LH-20, in turn. Finally, the pure compound was obtained and identified as pipernonaline by NMR spectroscopic and physico-chemical analysis. In this study, anti-proliferation and cell cycle arrest effects of pipernonaline on human prostate cancer PC-3 cells were investigated using the MTT and PI staining, respectively. Our findings suggest that pipernonaline represents a dose-dependent growth inhibition pattern on PC-3 cells and, moreover, its growth inhibition is associated with sub-G1 and G0/G1 cell cycle accumulation in PC-3 cells. Also, these results provide an anticancer candidate for human prostate cancer.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.51-56
• /
• 2016

Particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere has wide-ranging health, environmental, and climate effects, many of which are attributed to fine-mode secondary organic aerosols. PM concentrations are significantly enhanced by primary particle emissions from traffic sources. Recently, in order to reduce $CO_2$ and increase fuel economy, gasoline direct injected (GDI) engine technology is increasingly used in vehicle manufactures. The popularization of GDI technique has resulted in increasing of concerns on environmental protection. In order to better understand variations in chemical composition of particulate matter from emissions of GDI vehicle versus a port fuel injected (PFI) vehicle, a high time resolution chemical composition of PM emissions from GDI and PFI vehicles was measured at facility of Transport Pollution Research Center (TPRC), National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), Korea. Continuous measurements of inorganic and organic species in PM were conducted using an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The HR-ToF-AMS provides insight into non-refractory PM composition, including concentrations of nitrate, sulfate, hydrocarbon-like and oxygenated organic aerosol, and organic mass with 20 sec time resolution. Many cases of PM emissions during the study were dominated by organic and nitrate aerosol. An overview of observed PM characteristics will be provided along with an analysis of comparison of GDI vehicle versus PFI vehicle in PM emission rates and oxidation states.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.124-138
• /
• 2017

Physico-chemical measurement of non-refractory submicron particles($NR-PM_1$) was conducted in Baengnyeong Island, Korea using Aerodyne High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) from 2012 to 2014. Organics and ammoniated sulfate were dominant species in $NR-PM_1$. The organics was found to have similar fractions(approximate 40%) of $NR-PM_1$ during the summer and winter, while the sulfate fractions of $NR-PM_1$ were calculated to be approximately 47% and 31% for the summer and winter, respectively, suggesting the possibility that particles provide non-acidic surfaces for condensation of nitric acid in the winter. The nitrate fractions of approximate 4% and 20% of $NR-PM_1$ were observed in August (summer) and November (winter), respectively, resulting that the relatively low concentration of sulfate in $NR-PM_1$ provided a non-acidic surface for nitric acid condensation and formation of particulate ammoniated nitrate is favored thermodynamically in winter. The new particle formation (NPF) event and particle growth rate were analyzed for each month in 2014 using Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer(SMPS). The Percent of NPF events was the highest in winter, but NPF event was not observed during summer due to relatively high temperature and frequent rainfall. The average particle growth rate was 3.5 nm/h and the highest particle growth rate was 5.5 nm/h in May. We observed the long-range transport of the anthropogenic sulfate from the East Asia during the intensive monitoring period of November between Qingdao and Baengnyeong Island in 2013. The relatively high concentrations of m/z 60 measured in HR-ToF-AMS was observed in May and June at Baengnyeong Island, suggesting the possibility of the influence of biomass burning from the East Asia to the Korean Peninsula.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.49-61
• /
• 1999

Fenton's oxidation can improve the biodegradability of refractory organic wastewater by generating $OH{\cdot}$ which is one of the most reactive species. Fenton's reagent is used to treat a variety of industrial waste containing a range of toxic organic compounds. But this process cannot be economical because of high chemical cost of $H_2O_2$, ferrous ion solution and high sludge disposal cost. In this study, we proposed a modified Fenton's oxidation process which can reduce the reagent cost and obtain better removal efficiencies with less Fenton's reagents, and have a good potential of sludge recycling. In modified Fenton reaction, ferrous ion solution is adjusted to optimal pH with NaOH. Then it added to the sample and reacted to $H_2O_2$. For the experiment, synthetic wastewater made of phenol, which is one of the typical water pollutants, was used and the ionic strength of this wastewater was controlled by adding $NaHCO_3$. The effects of DO, ionic strength, and $H_2O_2$ dosing methods were investigated. As a result, modified Fenton's treatment efficiencies are better than conventional Fenton's reaction treating leachate and dyeing wastewater. And modified Fenton's treatment efficiencies combined to the sludge recycling for a half of Iron dosage are as good as the conventional Fenton's for a normal Iron dosage.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2000.05a
• /
• pp.23-36
• /
• 2000

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the causative agent of a mosquito-borne encephalitis and is transmitted to human via persistently infected mosquito vectors. Although the virus is known to cause only acute infection, there were reports that showed neurological sequelae, latent infection in peripheral mononuclear cells, and recurrence of the disease after acute encephalitis. Innate resistance of certain cell lines, abnormal SN1 expression of the virus, and anti-apoptotic effect of cullular bcl-2 have been suggested as probable causes of JEV persistence even in the absence of defective interfering (DI) particles. Although possible involvement of DI particles in JEV persistence was suggested, neither has a direct evidence for DI presence nor its molecular characterization been made. Two questions asked in this study are whether the DI virus plays any role in JEV persistent infection if it is associated with and what type of change(s) can be made in persistently infected cells to avoid apoptosis even with the continuous virus replication, DI-free standard stock of JEV was infected in BHK-21, Vero, and SW13 cells and serial high multiplicity passages were performed in order to generate DI particles. There different-sized DI RNA species which were defective in both structural and nonstructural protein coding genes. Rescued ORFs of the DI genome maintained in-frame and the presence of replicative intermediate or replicative form RNA of the DI particles confirmed their replication competence. On the other hand, several clones with JEV persistent infection were established from the cells survived acute infections during the passages. Timing of the DI virus generation during the passages seemed coincide to the appearance of persistently infected cells. The DI RNAs were identified in most of persistently infected cells and were observed throughout the cell maintenance. One of the cloned cell line maintained the viral persistence without DI RNA coreplication. The cells with viral persistence released the reduced but continuous infectious JEV particle for up to 9 months and were refractory to homologous virus superinfection but not to heterologous challenges. Unlike the cells with acute infection these cells were devoid of characteristic DNA fragmentation and JEV-induced apoptosis with or without homologous superinfection. Therefore, the DI RNA generated during JEV undiluted serial passage on mammalian cells was shown to be biologically active and it seemed to be responsible, at least in part, for the establishment and maintenance of the JEV persistence in mammalian cells. Viral persistence without DI RNA coreplication, as in one of the cell clones, supports that JEV persistent infection could be maintained with or without the presence of DI particles. In addition, the fact that the cells with JEV persistence were resistant against homologous virus superinfection, but not against heterologous one, suggests that different viruses have their own and independent pathway for cytopathogenesis even if viral cytopathic effect could be converged to an apoptosis after all.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.430-446
• /
• 2018

To improve understanding of the sources and chemical properties of particulate pollutants on the Korean Peninsula, An Aerodyne High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) measured non-refractory fine particle ($NR-PM_1$) from 2013 to 2015 at Baengnyeong Island and Seoul metropolitan area (SMA), Korea. The chemical composition of $NR-PM_1$ in Baengnyeong island was dominated by organics and sulfate in the range of 36~38% for 3 years, and the organics were the dominant species in the range of 44~55% of $NR-PM_1$ in Seoul metropolitan area. The sulfate was found to be more than 85% of the anthropogenic origin in the both areas of Baengnyeong and SMA. Ratio of gas to particle partition of sulfate and nitrate were observed in both areas as more than 0.6 and 0.8, respectively, representing potential for formation of additional particulate sulfate and nitrate. The high-resolution spectra of organic aerosol (OA) were separated by three factors which were Primary OA(POA), Semi-Volatility Oxygenated Organic Aerosol (SV-OOA), and Low-Volatility OOA(LV-OOA) using positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis. The fraction of oxygenated OA (SOA, ${\fallingdotseq}OOA$=SV-OOA+LV-OOA) was bigger than the fraction of POA in $NR-PM_1$. The POA fraction of OA in Seoul is higher than it of Baengnyeong Island, because Seoul has a relatively large number of primary pollutants, such as gasoline or diesel vehicle, factories, energy facilities. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis revealed that transport from eastern China, an industrial area with high emissions, was associated with high particulate sulfate and organic concentrations at the Baengnyeong and SMA sites. PSCF also presents that the ship emissions on the Yellow Sea was associated with high particulate sulfate concentrations at the measurement sites.