• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.28-36
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• 2021

Edwardsiella piscicida is a significant cause of hemorrhagic septicemia in fish and gastrointestinal infections in humans. Survival bacteria require specialized mechanisms to adapt to environmental fluctuations. Hence, to understand the mechanism through which E. piscicida senses and responds to environmental osmolarity changes, we determined the protein expression profile and physiological properties under various salinity conditions in this study. The OmpR protein is a part of the Env-ZOmpR two-component system that has been implicated in sensing salt stress in bacteria. However, the physiological role played by this protein in E. piscicida remains to be elucidated. Therefore, in this work, the function of the OmpR protein in response to salt stress was investigated. Phenotypic analysis revealed that, in the mutant, three of the biochemical phenotypes were different from the wild type, including, citrate utilization, hydrogen sulfide, and indole production. Introduction of the plasmid containing the entire ompR gene to the mutant strain returned it to its parental phenotype. The retarded growth rate also partially recovered. Furthermore, in our studies, OmpR was not found to be related to cell motility. Taken together, our results from the mutational analysis, the growth assay, MALDI-TOF MS, qRT-PCR, and the phenotype studies suggest that the OmpR of E. piscicida is implicated in osmoregulation, growth, expression of porins (ETAE_1826), virulence-related genes (EseC, EseD and EvpC), and certain genes of unknown function (ETAE_1540 and ETAE_2706).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.781-792
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• 2020

Mine tailings, which are inevitably formed by the development of manganese nodules, manganese crusts, and hydrothermal seafloor deposits, have attracted attention because of their quantity and potential toxicity. However, there is a lack of data on the quantity of mine tailings being generated, their physicochemical properties, and their effects as environmental hazards and on marine ecosystems in general. The importance of treating mine tailings in an environmentally friendly manner has been recognized recently and related reduction/treatment methods are being considered. In the case of deep-sea mineral resource development, if mine tailings cannot be treated aboard a ship, the issue becomes one of the cost of transporting them to land and solving the problem of environmental pollution there. Therefore, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology conducted research on the harmfulness of mine tailings, their effect on marine ecosystem, the diffusion model of contaminated particles, and candidate purification treatment technologies based on five representative controlling factors: 1) effects of pollution /on the environment, 2) effects of environmental/ biological hazards, 3) diffusion of particles, 4) mineral dressings, and 5) reducing/processing mine tailings. The results of this study can provide a basis for minimizing environmental problems by providing scientific evidences of the environmental effects of mine tailings. In addition, it is also expected that these results could be applied to the treatment of pollutants of different origins and at land-based mining waste sites.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.151-163
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• 2022

This study was conducted to promote organic fertilizer(s) that sustain soil productivity for corn production and protect the environment as required by the Act on the promotion of eco-friendly agriculture. It was conducted at the research station of the Organic Agriculture Division of the National Institute of Agricultural. The treatments consisted of Compost (Com), Bokashi as fermented organic fertilizer (FOF), and mixed expeller pressed cake (PC). They were applied at 174 kg N /ha to field corn, together with a 'no fertilizer' check in Randomized Complete Block Design. At eight weeks after transplanting (WAT) corn, compost increased soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) to 7.48 and 0.76 g/kg respectively, while other fertilizers maintained the initial levels (before treatment application). At corn harvest (13 WAT), soil chemical properties (total C, total N, pH, electrical conductivity, P₂O₅, Ca, K, and Mg) were similar among all organic fertilizer treatments. For soil respiration, FOF increased soil CO₂ respiration by 31-76% above other fertilizer treatments. However, there were no prominent changes in the trends of CH₄ fluxes following the two mechanical weeding operations. Fermented organic fertilizer affected N₂O emissions between 87-96% lower than other fertilizer treatments. Compared to the initial microbial densities, FOF increased fungi and actinomycete colony foming unit by 25 and 16% at harvest. Therefore, the additional potential of improving soil biological fertility and local availability of raw materials make FOF a better option to sustain soil productivity while protecting the environment.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 2020

To replace the sawdust in the growth medium of oyster mushroom to utilize its by-product spent mushroom substrates (SMS) as feed for ruminant, we performed cultivation test using cotton seed hull pellet (CSHP), corn stalk pellet (CSP), corncob (CC), and analyzed the feed chemical properties of those SMS. As a result of cultivation test, CC and CSHP treatment took 27 days for spawn run, 4 days for primordium formation, and 3 days for development fruiting bodies, resulting in a total cultivation period of 34 days. The yield per bottle was 134 g for CC treatment, similar to 130 g for control, while CSHP treatment (112 g) and CSP treatment (68 g) were lower than that of control. The highest biological efficiency (BE) was shown in CC treatment as 80.1%, which was 11.4% higher than 68.7% of control. The SMS of CC treatment had a relatively low content of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber, and in particular, lignin content was the lowest and crude protein content was the highest among other treatments. Therefore, CC as a substitute material for sawdust was capable of stable mushroom production and excellent nutritional value as a feed for its by-products.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.51-57
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• 2021

The seawater cooling system of naval ships is installed to remove the toxic substances generated by CBR (Chemical, Biological, and Radiological) warfare and reduce the infrared signature of naval ships from outside the hull. The dispersion range of the nozzle is determined according to the injection pressure of seawater and the nozzle type. Therefore, it is necessary to select the appropriate injection pressure and design the optimal nozzles to increase the seawater dispersion area and maximize the efficiency of the cooling system. In this study, the applying feasibility of 3D printing technology to produce an injection nozzle for the seawater cooling system was examined. To this end, the extruded plastic specimens were fabricated by 3D printing, and the physical properties of the specimens were estimated through tensile testing. After this, the strain and stress of the nozzle as a function of the pressure were simulated by applying the estimated results to the finite element analysis. The finite element analysis results showed that the nozzle remained within the elastic range at the optimal pressure. The nozzle was estimated to be structurally stable, and the possibility of this study was confirmed.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.177-186
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• 2022

The performance of a surface plasmon resonance sensor is evaluated based on the sensitivity (nm/RIU) and sharpness from the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the peak depth of a resonance peak. These factors are determined by the materials and conformational properties of the sensing structure. In this paper, we investigated an optimized insulator-metal-insulator (IMI) multilayer-based surface plasmon resonance sensor structure to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, narrow FWHM, and deep peak depth while using gold for the metallic film layer which occurs peak broadening. By adopting the optimized structure, sensitivity of 8,390 nm/RIU, FWHM of 11.92 nm, and a resonance peak depth of 93.1% were achieved for 1.45-1.46 refractive index variation of the sensing layer. With the suggested structure conformation, high sensitivity and resolution of sensing performance can be achieved.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.136-146
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• 2022

In this study, it is intended to provide basic data that can help develop a cardiovascular simulator for performance evaluation of pulse wave detectors by identifying the development status of domestic and overseas cardiovascular simulators. A total of 119 papers were selected by excluding duplicate literature, gray literature, and literature not related to a cardiovascular simulator. Based on the selected literature, the research trend of cardiovascular simulators was analyzed. As a result of analyzing the purpose of the study, most of the simulators were developed to evaluate the hemodynamic properties of artificial hearts and valves. In addition, it was used for simulation evaluation or hemodynamic studies such as pulse wave studies. As a result of analyzing configurations of the simulators, a heart most often consisted of only one left ventricle. For blood vessels, the Windkessel model was most often constructed using chambers and valves. In most studies, blood was reproduced by mixing glycerin and water to reproduce both density and viscosity. In addition, as a result of analysis from the perspective of medical device performance evaluation, simulators for evaluating artificial heart and artificial valves have been studied a lot, whereas simulators for blood pressure, pulse wave, and blood flow devices have been relatively insignificant. Based on the review results, we suggested considerations when developing a simulator for performance evaluations of a pulse wave detector.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2022

The migration and proliferation of keratinocytes are key events in re-epithelization, itself a major phase in the wound healing process. Cuscuta japonica Choisy (CJC) is used as a traditional medicine to improve liver, heart, and intestinal function, and its extracts are reported to have various biological properties such as whitening, anti-oxidancy, and an anti-acne effect. However, it is not yet known in particular whether or not CJC essential oil (CJCEO) affects skin regeneration. In the present study, we isolated CJCEO by solvent extraction and tested its effect on wound healing responses using normal human keratinocytes, namely HaCaT cells. We found that CJCEO induced proliferation as well as migration in HaCaT cells in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with a control group, CJCEO treatment at 250 ㎍/ml increased proliferation by 239.98±5.51% in HaCaT cells in a dose and migration by 124.86±6.06%. Moreover, the oil induced sprout outgrowth and, at 250 ㎍/ml, increased collagen synthesis by 148.56±15.47% in HaCaT cells. These results demonstrate that CJCEO may promote skin regeneration and wound healing by increasing the migration, proliferation, and collagen synthesis of HaCaT cells. We therefore suggest that CJCEO could be used as a cosmetic material.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.778-790
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• 2021

The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha in Bijung-ri are state-designated heritage (treasure) statues having the Buddha style of the Goryeo dynasty from the 6th century. Conservation scientific investigations were conducted to understand the preservation status of these stone Buddha statues and to establish a conservation plan. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha are composed of fine-medium grained biotite granite, which is considered to be of the same origin owing to their low magnetic susceptibility distribution of less than 0.2 (×10^-3 SI unit) and similar mineral characteristics. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad has highly homogenous mineral composition and particle size, whole-rock magnetic susceptibility, and geochemical characteristics very similar to those of the nearby outcrop. It was confirmed that a combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors affects the Stone Buddha statues. In particular, both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha tend to be chipped off from the front and cracked and scaled from the back. The Stone Standing Buddha located outdoors experiences granularity decomposition and black algae formation, which accelerate the weathering under unfavorable conservation environments. The result of non-destructive physical property diagnosis using ultrasonic velocity showed that both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha have been completely weathered (CW), indicating very poor physical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2002

Improvement of density profile and sound absorption capability of particleboard was attempted. Three types of hot pressing methods examined ; flat-platen pressing method (A-type pressing), hot pressing in forming box (B-type pressing), and hot pressing set up jagged caul in forming box (C-type pressing). The raw materials were larch(Larix leptolepis (S, et. Z.) Gorden) shavings, phenol formaldehyde resin, and the particleboard perforated with stair type. The physical and mechanical properties such as specific gravity, bending strength (MOR), internal bonding strength (IB) and sound absorption coefficients were examined. The results are summarized as follows : 1) The MOR and internal bonding strength of the board pressed in forming box were higher than those of flat-platen pressed board. 2) The minimum density to average density ratio in thickness direction which pressed in forming box showed about 923%, in the case of 35 mm commercial particleboard and 50 mm flat-platen pressed board, its values showed about 66.4% and 865% respectively. 3) Sound absorption coefficients of the particleboard perforated with stair type were higher than those of flat-plated pressed board and commercial particleboard.