• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.482-493
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• 2005

Biomass is originally photosynthesized from inorgainic compounds such as $CO_2$, minerals, water and solar energy. Recent studies have shown that anaerobic bacteria have the ability to convert recalcitrant biomass such as cellullosic or chitinoic materials to useful compounds. The biomass containing agricultural waste, unutilized wood and other garbage is expected to utilize as feed, food and fuel by microbial degradation and other metabolic functions. In this study we isolated several anaerobic, cellulolytic and chitinolytic bacteria from rumen fluid, compost and soil to study their related enzymes and genes. The anaerobic and cellulolytic bacteria, Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium stercorarium, and Clostridium josui, were isolated from compost and the chitinolytic Clostridium paraputrificum from beach soil and Ruminococcus albus was isolated from cow rumen. After isolation, novel cellulase and xylanase genes from these anaerobes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The properties of the cloned enzymes showed that some of them were the components of the enzyme (cellulase) complex, i.e., cellulosome, which is known to form complexes by binding cohesin domains on the cellulase integrating protein (Cip: or core protein) and dockerin domains on the enzymes. Several dockerin and cohesin polypeptides were independently produced by E. coli and their binding properties were specified with BIAcore by measuring surface plasmon resonance. Three pairs of cohesin-dockerin with differing binding specificities were selected. Two of their genes encoding their respective cohesin polypeptides were combined to one gene and expressed in E. coli as a chimeric core protein, on which two dockerin-dehydrogenase chimeras, the dockerin-formaldehyde dehydrogenase and the dockerin-NADH dehydrogenase are planning to bind for catalyzing $CO_2$ reduction to formic acid by feeding NADH. This reaction may represent a novel strategy for the reduction of the green house gases. Enzymes from the anaerobes were also expressed in tobacco and rice plants. The activity of a xylanase from C. stercorarium was detected in leaves, stems, and rice grain under the control of CaMV35S promoter. The digestibility of transgenic rice leaves in goat rumen was slightly accelerated. C. paraputrificum was found to solubilize shrimp shells and chitin to generate hydrogen gas. Hydrogen productivity (1.7 mol $H_2/mol$ glucos) of the organism was improved up to 1.8 times by additional expression of the own hydrogenase gene in C. paraputrficum using a modified vector of Clostridiu, perfringens. The hydrygen producing microflora from soil, garbage and dried pelletted garbage, known as refuse derived fuel(RDF), were also found to be effective in converting biomass waste to hydrogen gas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.248-251
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• 2002

The intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with a multileaf collimator (MLC) requires the conversion of a radiation fluence map into a leaf sequence file that controls the movement of the MLC during radiation treatment of patients. Patient dose verification is clinically one of the most important parts in the treatment delivery of the radiation therapy. The three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of dose distribution delivered to the target helps to verify patient dose and to determine the physical characteristics of beams used in IMRT. A new method is presented for the pretreatment dosimetric verification of two dimensional distributions of photon intensity by means of Beam Intensity Scanner System (BISS) as a radiation detector with a custom-made software for dose calculation of fluorescence signals from scintillator. The scintillator is used to produce fluorescence from the irradiation of 6MV photons on a Varian Clinac 21EX. The BISS reproduces 3D- relative dose distribution from the digitized fluoroscopic signals obtained by digital video camera-based scintillator(DVCS) device in the IMRT. For the intensity modulated beams (IMBs), the calculations of absorbed dose are performed in absolute beam fluence profiles which are used for calculation of the patient dose distribution. The 3D-dose profiles of the IMBs with the BISS were demonstrated by relative measurements of photon beams and shown good agreement with radiographic film. The mechanical and dosimetric properties of the collimating of dynamic and/or step MLC system alter the generated intensity. This is mostly due to leaf transmission, leaf penumbra and geometry of leaves. The variations of output according to the multileaf opening during the irradiation need to be accounted for as well. These phenomena result in a fluence distribution that can be substantially different from the initial and calculative intensity modulation and therefore, should be taken into account by the treatment planning for accurate dose calculations delivered to the target volume in IMRT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.43-56
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• 2001

Colostrum contains various kinds of cytokines including TGF-${\beta}$ which is known to be multifunctional in immune response and act as an anti-inflammatory agent. First, we measured the amount of TGF-${\beta}$ in bovine and human colostrum. Expression pattern of TGF-${\beta}$ isotypes was dramatically different between human and bovine colostrial samples. Bovine colostrum collected on day 1 post-delivery retained $41.79{\pm}16.96ng/ml$ of TGF-${\beta}$ 1 and $108.4{\pm}78.65ng/ml$ of TGF-${\beta}$ 2 while in human, $284{\pm}124.75ng/ml$ of TGF-${\beta}$ 1 and $29.75{\pm}6.73ng/ml$ of TGF-${\beta}$ 2. Thus, TGF-${\beta}$ is the predominant TGF-${\beta}$ isotype in bovine colostrum and vice versa in human colostrum. Both TGF-${\beta}$ isotypes diminished significantly in human and bovine colostrum with time. Next, biological activity of colostrial samples was examined in vitro. Both human and bovine colostrum increased IgA synthesis by LPS-activated mouse spleen B cells, which is a typical effect of TGF-${\beta}$ on the mouse B cell differentiation. Futhermore, we found that anti-proliferative activity in MV1LU cells by colostrum samples disappeared by addition of anti-TGF-${\beta}$ 1 and anti-TGF-${\beta}$ 2 antibody. In conclusion, there are substantial amounts of biologically active TGF-${\beta}$ 1 and TGF-${\beta}$ 2 in bovine and human colostrum. The results that the colostrum can increase IgA expression has important implications since IgA is the major Ig class produced in the gastrointestinal tract. We have previously shown that the stimulatory effect of Bifidobacteria bifidum on spllen B cells was quite similar to that of LPS which is a well-known polyclonal activator for murine B cells. In the present study, we further asked whether B. bifidum regulate the synthesis of IgA by mucosal lymphoid cells present in Peyers patches (PP) and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN). B. bifidum alone, but not C. perfringens, significantly induced overall IgA and IgM synthesis by both MLN and PP cells. This observation indicates that B. bifidum possesses a modulatory effect on the mucosal antibody production in vivo. We, therefore, investigated the mucosal antibody prodduction following peroral administration of B. bifidum to mice. Ingested B. bifidum significantly increased the numbers of Ig (IgM, IgG, and IgA) secreting cells in the culture of both MLN and spleen cells, indicating that peroally introduced B. bifidum enhances mucosal and systemic antibody response. Importantly, however, B. bifidum itself does not induce the own specific antibody responses, implying that B. bifidum do not incite any unwanted immune reaction. Subsequently, it was found that excapsulation of B. bifidum further augments the total IgA production by increasing the number of IgA-secreting cells in the culture of both MLN and spleen cells. Finally, we found that the immuno-stimulating activity of B. bifidum is due to its cell wall components but not due to any actively secreting component(s) from bacteria. Thus our data reveal that peroral administration of B. bifidum can enhance intestinal IgA production and that encapsulation of B. bifidum further reinforces the IgA production.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-388
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• 2001

Purpose : This study was conducted to assess the effects of x-irradiation on the expression of the novel glutathione S-transferase K1 gene. Materials and methods : Human glutathione S-transferase K1 (hGSTK1) DNA was purified and ligated to a pcDNA3.1/Myc-His(+) vector for the overexpression of hGSTK1 gene. MCF-7 cells were transfected with or without the recombinant hGSTK1 gene, and irradiated with 6 MV x-ray. After incubation of 14 days, cell survival was measured and compared. The expression of hGSTK1 and the effect of x-irradiation on hGSTK1 expression were also estimated in MCF-7 cells transfected with or without the hGSTK1 gene by RT-PCR. Results : Following 2 to 12 Gy of x-irradiation, the cell survivals were higher in the MCF-7 cells transfected with the hGSTK1 gene than in those without transfection. Despite the higher cell survival in the hGSTK1-transfected cells, RT-PCR for hGSTK1 mRNA revealed no significant differences according to radiation dose, fractionation, and time after irradiation. Conclusion : The MCF-7 cells transfected with the hGSTK1 gene showed higher cell survival than those without transfection of the gene. The hGSTK1 gene might be associated with the radiosensitivity of MCF-7 cell line and further analysis should be needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.197-200
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• 2016

Background: Wedge filters are commonly used in radiation oncology for eliminating hot spots and creating a uniform dose distribution in optimizing isodose curves in the target volume for clinical aspects. These are some limited standard physical wedges ($15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$),or creating an arbitrary wedge angle, like motorized wedge or dynamic wedge,${\ldots}$ The new formulation is presented by the combination of wedge fields for determining an arbitrary effective wedge angles. The isodose curves also are derived for these wedges. Materials and Methods: we performed the dosimetry of Varian Clinac 2100C/D with Scanditronix Wellhofer water blue phantom, CU500E, OmniPro - Accept software and 0.13cc ionization chamber for 6Mv photon beam in depth of 10cm (reference depth) for universal physical wedges ($15^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, and $60^{\circ}$) and reference field $10.10cm^2$. By combining the isodose curve standard wedge fields with compatible weighting dose for each field, the effective isodose curve is calculated for any wedge angle. Results: The relation between a given effective wedge angle and the weighting of each combining wedge fields was derived. A good agreement was found between the measured and calculated wedge angles and the maximum deviation did not exceed $3^{\circ}$. The difference between the measured and calculated data decreased when the combined wedge angles were closer. The results are in agreement with the motorized single wedge appliance in the literature. Conclusions: This technique showed that the effective wedge angle that is obtained from this method is adequate for clinical applications and the motorized wedge formalism is a special case of this consideration.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.9033-9038
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) based volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for locally advanced left sided breast cancer patients undergoing radical mastectomy. DIBH immobilizes the tumor bed providing dosimetric benefits over free breathing (FB). Materials and Methods: Ten left sided post mastectomy patients were immobilized in a supine position with both the arms lifted above the head on a hemi-body vaclock. Two thermoplastic masks were prepared for each patient, one for normal free breathing and a second made with breath-hold to maintain reproducibility. DIBH CT scans were performed in the prospective mode of the Varian real time position management (RPM) system. The planning target volume (PTV) included the left chest wall and supraclavicular nodes and PTV prescription dose was 5000cGy in 25 fractions. DIBH-3DCRT planning was performed with the single iso-centre technique using a 6MV photon beam and the field-in-field technique. VMAT plans for FB and DIBH contained two partial arcs ($179^{\circ}-300^{\circ}CCW/CW$). Dose volume histograms of PTV and OAR's were analyzed for DIBH-VMAT, FB-VMAT and DIBH-3DCRT. In DIBH mode daily orthogonal ($0^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$) KV images were taken to determine the setup variability and weekly twice CBCT to verify gating threshold level reproducibility. Results: DIBH-VMAT reduced the lung and heart dose compared to FB-VMAT, while maintaining similar PTV coverage. The mean heart $V_{30Gy}$ was $2.3%{\pm}2.7$, $5.1%{\pm}3.2$ and $3.3%{\pm}7.2$ and for left lung $V_{20Gy}$ was $18.57%{\pm}2.9$, $21.7%{\pm}3.9$ and $23.5%{\pm}5.1$ for DIBH-VMAT, FB-VMAT and DIBH-3DCRT respectively. Conclusions: DIBH-VMAT significantly reduced the heart and lung dose for left side chest wall patients compared to FB-VMAT. PTV conformity index, homogeneity index, ipsilateral lung dose and heart dose were better for DIBH-VMAT compared to DIBH-3DCRT. However, contralateral lung and breast volumes exposed to low doses were increased with DIBH-VMAT.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.77-81
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• 2005

To determine the appropriate method out of various available methods to measure build-up doses, the measurements and comparisons of depth doses of build-up region including the surface dose were executed using the Attix parallel-plate ionization chamber, the Markus chamber, a cylindrical ionization chamber, and a diode detector. Based on the measurements using the Attix chamber, discrepancies of the Markus chamber were within $2\%$ for the open field and increased up to $3.9\%$ in the case of photon beam containing the contaminant electrons. The measurements of an cylindrical ionization chamber and a diode detector accord with those of the Attix chamber within $1.5\%\;and\;1.0\%$ and after those detectors were completely immersed in the water phantom. The results suggest that the parallel-plate chamber is the best choice to measure depth doses in the build-up region containing the surface, however, using cylindrical ionization chamber or diode detector would be a reasonable choice if no special care is necessary for the exact surface dose.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.82.1-82.1
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• 2012

란타늄 산화물 ($La_2O_3$) 박막은 하프늄 산화물 ($HfO_2$) 박막보다 높은 유전 상수와 높은 밴드 오프셋으로 인해 dynamic random access memory(DRAM)에서 유전체 재료로써 연구되어 왔다. 그리고 Lanthanum이 도핑된 HfO2이 더 높은 유전 상수와 낮은 누설 전류 밀도를 갖는 다는 사실이 이전에 보고 된 바 있다. 본 연구에서 우리는 ALD를 이용하여, TiN 하부 전극 위에 $La_2O_3$의 위치를 달리하는 $La_2O_3/HfO_2$의 나노 층상조직 구조(두께 10 nm)를 금속 - 절연체 - 금속 (MIM) 구조로 제작 하였다. ALD는 좋은 comformality와 넓은 지역 균일성을 가지며, 원자수준의 두께를 조절할 수 있다는 장점을 갖고 있다. 또한, 다양한 화학 물질들을 이용한 복합적 계층구조를 만들 수 있는 점과 $HfO_2$ 및 $La_2O_3$ 계층의 수직 위치를 정확하게 조절할 수 있는 점으로 본 연구에 적합한 증착 방법이다. HfO2 속에 $La_2O_3$ 층을 깊이에 따라 삽입함으로써 $HfO_2$ 계층에 La 도핑의 효과와 더불어 TiN 하부 전극 위의 $La_2O_3$과 $HfO_2$의 차이점을 확인 하였다. $HfO_2$은 $250^{\circ}C$에서 TDMAH와 물을 사용하여, $La_2O_3$은 동일한 온도에서 $La(iPrCp)_3$와 물을 사용하여 제작되었다. 화학적 구성 및 binding 구조는 X선 광전자 분광법 (XPS)을 통해 분석하였다. 전기적 특성(유전 상수 및 누설 전류)은 Capacitance-Voltage (CV)와 Current-Voltage (IV) 측정으로 확인하였다. 결과적으로, $La_2O_3$ 또는 $HfO_2$을 한 종류만 사용한 절연층의 전기적 특성보다, $La_2O_3/HfO_2$의 나노 층상조직 구조가 더 나은 특성 (누설 전류 밀도 : $5.5{\times}10^{-7}\;A/cm^2$ @-1MV/cm, EOT : 14.6)을 갖는다는 것을 확인했고, 더불어 $La_2O_3$의 흡습 성질로 인한 화학 구조와 전기적 특성의 일부 차이를 확인하였다. 본 연구에서는 $HfO_2$ 속에 $La_2O_3$층이 TiN 하부 전극 바로 위에 위치할 때, 즉, 공기 중에 노출되지 않은 $La_2O_3/HfO_2$ 구조에서 가장 좋은 특성의 MIM capacitor를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.243-244
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• 2013

Over the past 15 years, several groups have incorporated radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) based instruments before the accelerator in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) systems for ion-gas interactions at low kinetic energy (＜40 eV). Most AMS systems arebased on a tandem accelerator, which requires negative ions at injection. Typically, AMS sensitivity abundance ratios for radioactive-to-stable isotope are limited to Xr/Xs ＞10^-15, and the range of isotopes that can be analyzed is limited because of theneed to produce rather large negative ion beams and the presence of atomic isobaric interferences after stripping. The potential of using low-kinetic energy ion-gas interactions for isobar suppression before the accelerator has been demonstrated for several negative ion isobar systems with a prototype RFQ system incorporated into the AMS system at IsoTrace Laboratory, Canada (Ontario, Toronto). Requisite for any such RFQ system applied to very rare isotope analysis is large transmission of the analyte ion. This requires proper phase-space matching between the RFQ acceptance and the ion beam phase space (e.g. 35 keV, ${\varphi}3mm$, +-35 mrad), and the ability to control the average ion energy during interactions with the gas. A segmented RFQ instrument is currently being designed at Korea Institute for Science and Technology (한국과학기술연구원, KIST). It will consist of: a) an initial static voltage electrode deceleration region, to lower the ion energy from 35 keV down to ＜40 eV at injection into the first RFQ segment; b) the segmented quadrupole ion-gas interaction region; c) a static voltage electrode re-acceleration region for ion injection into a tandem accelerator. Design considerations and modeling will be discussed. This system should greatly lower the detection limits of the 6 MV AMS system currently being commissioned at KIST. As an example, current detection sensitivity of 41Ca/Ca is limited to the order of 10^-15 while the 41Ca/Ca abundance in modern samples is typically 41Ca/Ca~10^-14 - 10^-15. The major atomic isobaric interference in AMS is 41K. Proof-of-principal work at IsoTrace Lab. has demonstrated that a properly designed system can achieve a relative suppression of KF3-/41CaF3- ＞4 orders of magnitude while maintaining very high transmission of the 41CaF3- ion. This would lower the 41Ca detection limits of the KIST AMS system to at least 41Ca/Ca~10^-19. As Ca is found in bones and shells, this would potentially allow direct dating of valuable anthropological archives and archives relevant to our understanding of the most pronounced climate change events over the past million years that cannot be directly dated with the presently accessible isotopes.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1045-1051
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• 1996

The influence of electrolyzed acid-water (oxidation-reduction potential (ORP): above 1,150 mV, pH : 2.5) on the survival of some microorganisms was investigated. It was observed that the ORP of electrolyzed acid-water was kept at the level of above 1,000 mV for 15 days at room temperature. Escherichia coli. Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were not detected after 10 to 40 min in electrolyzed acid-water. However, Bacillus cereus showed higher tolerance to electrolyzed acid-water than other test microorganisms. After 60 min of inoculation, only 0.4% of initial population remained. The investigation of surface sterilization effect on some vegetables was carried out too. Total count of cabbage, Chinese cabbage and kale were reduced to below 3% of initial count, and no coliform was detected after 20 to 60 min of immersion in 5 volumes of electrolyzed acid-water. In the lettuce, total and coliform counts were reduced to 90% and 2% of initial population. This study shows that the electrolyzed acid-water has a potential for the sterilization of food products such as vegetables and fruits which cannot be thermally sterilized.