• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.288-298
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• 2018

In this study, we surveyed pre- and post-perceptions of fourteen science teachers related to the atmosphere composition of molecules with different masses by the developed test. As a result of the test, the teachers were classified into two types of thoughts; One of them is considered the atmosphere to be a homogeneous solution, and the other is a thought that the composition ratio of the atmosphere was not homogeneous considering the different weights of particles. The two types were reclassified into three categories; one of them is considering large gravity effect, another is considering small gravity effect, and the other is considering medium scale gravity effect. Total six types of thoughts were found from the pre-test. After introducing crosscutting concepts which are related to the composition of atmosphere. The teachers discussed the phenomena with the molecular motion by weights of atoms and temperature, the homogeneity of the solution of air in chemistry domain. They also discussed with the relationship between mass and gravity and distance in physics domain. And the discussion included distribution of the atmosphere, convection phenomena, etc. After the discussion, the teachers changed their pre-conceptions to post-concoctions considering combined perspectives of gravity, mass, temperature, altitude etc. Through these changes, we are able to confirm the importance of crosscutting concepts covered in various disciplines. In the integrated science, we should help teachers to provide students with these types of thinking in order to form a coherent world-view and to carry out inquiry thinking as an intellectual tool.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.522-529
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• 2009

To supply safe drinking water to areas lacking in water supply and drainage system, such as rural area and military bases in proximity to Demilitarized Zone, effective method for treating organic contaminants such as MTBE is required. This study focuses on seeking optimal conditions for effective degradation of MTBE using a bath type ultrasound reactor. Effectiveness of MTBE degradation by ultrasound is dependent on the frequency, power, temperature, treatment volume, initial concentration, catalyst, etc. In this study the degradation rate of MTBE by ultrasound was proportional to power/unit volume ratio and removal is relatively more efficient for 0.1 mM than for 1 mM of MTBE solution. Efficiency of ultrasound treatment for 1 mM MTBE solution was enhanced under bath temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ compared to $4^{\circ}C$, but the temperature effect was negligible for 0.1 mM MTBE solution. Also for 0.1 mM MTBE solution, effect of catalyst such as $TiO_2$ and $Fe^0$ on treatment speed was negligible, and zeolite even increases the time taken for the degradation. Under these specific experimental conditions of this study, the most determinant factor for degradation rate of MTBE in solution was frequency and power of ultrasound. The results have shown that a continuous ultrasound reactor system can be used for small scale remediation of organically polluted groundwater, under optimal conditions.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.510-518
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• 2013

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.274-282
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• 2019

Mercury-resistant ($Hg^R$) bacteria were isolated from heavy metal polluted wastewater and soil collected near to tanneries of district Kasur, Pakistan. Bacterial isolates AZ-1, AZ-2 and AZ-3 showed resistance up to $40{\mu}g/ml$ against mercuric chloride ($HgCl_2$). 16S rDNA ribotyping and phylogenetic analysis were performed for the characterization of selected isolates as Bacillus sp. AZ-1 (KT270477), Bacillus cereus AZ-2 (KT270478) and Bacillus cereus AZ-3 (KT270479). Phylogenetic relationship on the basis of merA nucleotide sequence confirmed 51-100% homology with the corresponding region of the merA gene of already reported mercury-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. The merE gene involved in the transportation of elemental mercury ($Hg^0$) via cell membrane was cloned for the first time into pHLV vector and transformed in overexpressed C43(DE3) E. coli cells. The recombinant plasmid (pHLMerE) was expressed and the native MerE protein was obtained after thrombin cleavage by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The purification of fusion/recombinant and native protein MerE by Ni-NTA column, dialysis and fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC/SEC) involved unfolding/refolding techniques. A small-scale reservoir of wastewater containing $30{\mu}g/ml$ of $HgCl_2$ was designed to check the detoxification ability of selected strains. It resulted in 83% detoxification of mercury by B. cereus AZ-2 and B. cereus AZ-3, and 76% detoxification by Bacillus sp. AZ-1 respectively (p < 0.05).

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.388-396
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• 2023

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a vital source of clean and sustainable hydrogen energy. Moreover, the large-scale H₂ production is currently necessary, while long-term stability and high PEC activity still remain important issues. In this study, a GaN-based photoelectrode was modified by an additional NH₃ treatment (900℃ for 10 min) and its PEC behavior was monitored. The bare GaN exhibited a highly crystalline wurtzite structure with the (002) plane and the optical bandgap was approximately 3.2 eV. In comparison, the NH₃-treated GaN film exhibited slightly reduced crystallinity and a small improvement in light absorption, resulting from the lattice stress or cracks induced by the excessive N supply. The minor surface nanotexturing created more surface area, providing electroactive reacting sites. From the surface XPS analysis, the formation of an N-Ga-O phase on the surface region of the GaN film was confirmed, which suppressed the charge recombination process and the positive shift of E_FB. Therefore, these effects boosted the PEC activity of the NH₃-treated GaN film, with J values of approximately 0.35 and 0.78 mA·cm^-2 at 0.0 and 1.23 V_RHE, respectively, and an onset potential (V_on) of -0.24 V_RHE. In addition, there was an approximate 50% improvement in the J value within the highly applied potential region with a positive shift of V_on. This result could be explained by the increased nanotexturing on the surface structure, the newly formed defect/trap states correlated to the positive V_on shift, and the formation of a GaO_xN_1-x phase, which partially blocked the charge recombination reaction.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2003

A bacterial strain producing a high level of an extracellular phytase was isolated from livestock waste water, identified as a strain of Pseudomonas fragi and designated as Pseudomonas fragi Y9451. Under the phytase production medium, the activity of phytase reached the highest level after 120 hours of incubation. On the effect of carbon sources on the phytase production, the most favorable carbon source for phytase production was fructose. As for the effect of nitrogen sources, high levels of phytase activity were detected in the medium containing nutrient broth as the nitrogen source. Free $PO_4^{3-}$ inhibited phytase production with increasing concentration of $KE_2PO_4$ and phytate in the media. The addition of $CaCl_2$ and $MgSO_4$ also resulted in the inhibition of phytase production. To investigate the effect of aeration on the phytase production, different volumes of culture broth in Erlenmeyer flasks were incubated in rotary shaker at the speed of 200 rpm. As a result, a high level of phytase activity was detected at small volume of culture broth as compared to larger volume because of its more aerobic condition.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.373-381
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• 2019

Site-directed mutagenesis was employed to generate five different triple point mutations in the double mutant (C295A/I86A) of Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus alcohol dehydrogenase (TeSADH) by computer-aided modeling with the aim of widening the small alkyl-binding pocket. TeSADH engineering enables the enzyme to accept sterically hindered substrates that could not be accepted by the wild-type enzyme. The underline in the mutations highlights the additional point mutation on the double mutant TeSADH introduced in this work. The catalytic efficiency ($k_{cat}/K_M$) of the ${\underline{M151A}}$/C295A/I86A triple TeSADH mutant for acetophenone increased about 4.8-fold higher than that of the double mutant. A 2.4-fold increase in conversion of 3'-methylacetophenone to (R)-1-(3-methylphenyl)-ethanol with a yield of 87% was obtained by using ${\underline{V115A}}$/C295A/I86A mutant in asymmetric reduction. The ${\underline{A85G}}$/C295A/I86A mutant also produced (R)-1-(3-methylphenyl)-ethanol (1.7-fold) from 3'-methylacetophenone and (R)-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)-ethanol (1.2-fold) from 3'-methoxyacetophenone, with improved yield. In terms of thermal stability, the ${\underline{M151A}}$/C295A/I86A and ${\underline{V115A}}$/C295A/I86A mutants significantly increased ${\Delta}T_{1/2}$ by $+6.8^{\circ}C$ and $+2.4^{\circ}C$, respectively, with thermal deactivation constant ($k_d$) close to the wild-type enzyme. The ${\underline{M151A}}$/C295A/I86A mutant reacts optimally at $70^{\circ}C$ with almost 4 times more residual activity than the wild type. Considering broad substrate tolerance and thermal stability together, it would be promising to produce (R)-1-(3-methylphenyl)-ethanol from 3'-methylacetophenone by ${\underline{V115A}}$/C295A/I86A, and (R)-1-phenylethanol from acetophenone by ${\underline{M151A}}$/C295A/I86A mutant, in large-scale bioreduction processes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.495-503
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• 2012

The water quality of Gul-po Stream, the subject of this study, has been deteriorating because of the inflow of domestic sewage and the industrial wastewater due to industrialization and the problems relating to the structure of river including slow flow rate and the covering of river. In particular, the domestic sewage from small-medium sized factories by the river and large-scale industrial complex by the upper and middle streams of the river, and the domestic sewage from increasing population due to the regional development are the main pollution sources. Thus, this study aims to survey the water quality and the sediment affecting Gul-po Stream; monitor the state of pollution in water body; assess the yield of sediment and investigate the water quality of river and the problems arising from sediment; and then suggest reasonable ways to improve the situation. The findings from surveying pollution load shows the discharge increases up to average 72.8 times from the upper stream to the downstream of Gul-po Stream, and pollution load increases up to: SS 111 times, BOD 150 times, COD 145 times, the nutrient T-N 222 times and T-P 312 times on an average basis. As for the pollution concentration range, ignition loss is 1.29~12.43%; COD is 4,015~37,547 kg/day; T-N and T-P 94.8~352.5 kg/day and 81.8~372.3 kg/day, respectively. As for the releasing rate of sediment, T-N is -14.46~$156.61mg/m^2/day$; T-P is -11.53~$26.10mg/m^2/day$, indicating the likelihood of internal contamination due to the elution of sediment. This study is expected to be used as basic data to manage Gul-po Stream basin.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.378-390
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• 1997

Ten total populations of Korean fir (Abies koreana Wilson) and Manshurian fir [A. nephrolepis (Traut.) Maxim.] were sampled from south Korea to investigate patterns of intraspecific variation in these species and to evaluate a recognition of the two species. Principal components analysis and cluster analysis were performed both on seed-cone data and on needle morphology data. The characters that contributed most to the separation between A. koreana and A. nephrolepis along three principal components axis were leaf width, length of seed, width of seed wing, length of seed wing, cone width, width of scale, and length of bract tip, but these characters were not diagnostic because of overlap in reality. Therefore, all these characters were not reliable in distinguishing these two taxa including bract position (exerted and recurved vs. exerted and straight). The individuals of A. koreana from Mt. Chi-ri appeared quite unique probably on account of its larger cone size and longer scale tip, while those from Mt. Hal-la of A. koreana were generally distinct from others in terms of their larger seed and seed wing and longer scale width. The Mt. Duk-yu specimens of A. korecana appeared somewhat smaller but more data were needed due to the small sampling size. Generally, the gradual clinal geographic trends made evident by the position of resin ducts in leaves of A. koreana can be detected. The southern populations, Mt. Hal-la (an insular population) were generally distinct from the northern populations (Mt. Chi-ri, Mt. Ga-ya and Mt. Duk-yu) in terms of their position of resin duct (medial, within mesophyll vs marginal, close to epidermis : 100% vs 75 or 50%). Although no sharp boundary separating these two species could be detected based on cone and needle morphology, the observed clinal pattern was distinct in northern populations of A. koreana and southern population of A. nephrnlepis. In a preceding study of the flavonoids variation of 20 species in eastern Asia, flavanone (5-deoxyflavanone) was found to be characteristic of A. faxoniana Rehder et Wilson, A. georgei Orr of China and A. koreana of Korea. A. faxoniana, which is assumed to be primitive species, has position of resin duct relative to both the medial and the marginal, while A. georgei and A. koreana are identified by marginal position of resin duct. With respect of foliar flavonoids chemistry, A. koreana was distinct from A. nephrolepis : the southmost samples (Mt. Hal-la and Mt. Chi-ri) contained additional flavonoids derivatives (mainly flavanone) that were not found in the northmost samples of A. nephrolepis except a few individuals from Mts. Seo-rak and Tae-bak populations of Kwang-won province. The presence of A. koreana type flavonoids in two Chinese species suggested that position of resin duct may be a phyletic character. Abies koreana including two Chinese taxa, exhibited the most elaborate and specialized flavonoids profile within the Abies in eastern Asia. Contrary to our initial expectations, the apparent intermediates between A. nephrolepis and A. koreana in Duk-yu and Ga-ya mountains were found. The pattern of variation on position of resin duct and flavonoids chemistry in these populations of A. kareana suggested that genetic interchange or natural hybridization had occurred between these two species. The evidence needed to resolve the status of this taxon is still inconclusive in our opinion until intermediate individuals from Mts. Duk-yu and Ga-ya show indication of hybridization between the two species.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5339-5343
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• 2012

The induction of apoptosis in target cells is a key mechanism for most anti-tumor therapies. Bufalin is a cardiotonic steroid that has the potential to induce differentiation and apoptosis of tumor cells. Research on bufalin has so far mainly involved leukemia, prostate cancer, gastric cancer and liver cancer, and has been confined to in vitro studies. The bufadienolides bufalin and cinobufagin have been shown to induce apoptosis in a wide spectrum of cancer cell. The present article reviews the anticancer effects of bufalin. It induces apoptosis of lung cancer cells via the PI3K/Akt pathway and also suppressed the proliferation of human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cell line in a time and dose dependent manner. Bufalin, bufotalin and gamabufotalin, key bufadienolides, significantly sensitize human breast cancer cells with differing ER-alpha status to apoptosis induction by the TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL). In addition, bufadienolides induce prostate cancer cell apoptosis more significantly than that in breast epithelial cell lines. Similar effects have been observed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but the detailed molecular mechanisms of inducing apoptosis in this case are still unclear. Bufalin exerts profound effects on leukemia therapy in vitro. Results of multiple studies indicate that bufalin has marked anti-tumor activities through its ability to induce apoptosis. Large-scale randomized, double-blind, placebo or positive drug parallel controlled studies are now required to confirm the efficacy and apoptosis-inducing potential of bufalin in various cancers in the cliniucal setting.