• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.704-708
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• 2001

The effect of nutrient nitrogen on the degradation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) by Phanerochaete chrysosporium in a liquid culture was investigated. PCP disappeared at almost the same rate in both nutrient nitrogen-sufficient (NS) and -limited (NL) sttionary cultures. However, more pentachloroanisole (PCA) was accumulated in the NS culture than in the NL culture. The effect of nitrogen on the degradation of PCA was also tested in both cultures. PCA disappeared faster in the NL culture than in the NS culture, indicating that the lower accumulation of PCA during the degradation of PCP in the NL culture was due to the faster degradation of PCA in the NL culture than in the NS culture. In another experiment, PCA was added to shaking cultures rather than stationary cultures to search for any other metabolite(s). While no other metabolite but PCA was found in the NS stationary culture, 2,4,5,6-tetrachloro-2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione(TCHD) was found as the only indentifiable product in the NL shaking culture. Thus, PCP would appear to be metabolized to TCHD via PCa or directly oxidized to TCHD by lignin peroxidase. Since all the above results indicate that no innocuous metabolite was formed during the degradation of PCP by the fungus, it is quite feasible to use the fungus in the biotreatment of PCP.

• The Korean Journal of Rheology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 1999

Viscoelastic characteristics of cured phenolic resin/carbon fiber composite materials were investigated through glass transition and degradation reaction processes in the high temperature region up to $400^{\circ}C$. A typical glass transition of the cross-linked thermoset polymer was followed by irreversible degradation reactions, which were exhibited by the increasing storage modulus and loss modulus peak. A degradation master curve was constructed by using the vertical and horizontal shift factors, both of which complied well with the Arrhenius equation in light of the kinetic expression of degradation rate constants. Using an analogy to the Havriliak-Negami equation in dielectric relaxation phenomena, a viscoelastic modeling methodology was developed to characterize the frequency- and temperature-dependent complex moduli of the degrading thermoset polymer composite systems. The temperature-dependent relaxation time of the degrading composites was determined in a continuous fashion and showed a minimum relaxation time between the glass transition and degradation reaction regions. The capability of the developed modeling methodology was demonstrated by describing the complex behavior of the viscoelastic complex moduli of reacting phenolic resin composite systems.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.27-34
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• 2005

We have investigated the correlation between the active-layer uniformity and reliability of InGaN/GaN blue LEDs. According to initial characteristics, the devices are classified into two groups: group I devices of uniform light-emission and group II devices of non-uniform light-emission. The group II devices are more dependent on temperature and we have found two degradation mechanisms through reliability test. One is bulk degradation in which the degradation occurred over the entire chip and another one is edge degradation in which the degradation occurred from the edge of the chip. Bulk degradation caused by the nonradiative defects is found to be faster in group II devices while there is no difference in the rate of the much faster edge degradation, where darkening starts from the n-Ohmic contact edge. Therefore, more uniform active layer, more uniform current spreading, and the passivation of the dry-etched side-wall are essential for the high reliability of InGaN/GaN LEDs.

• Carbon letters
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.158-165
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• 2005

Room temperature kinetics of degradation of nerve agent simulants and sarin, an actual nerve agent at the surface of different carbon based adsorbent materials such as active carbon grade 80 CTC, modified whetlerite containing 2.0 and 4.0 % NaOH, active carbon with 4.0 % NaOH, active carbon with 10.0 % Cu (II) ethylenediamine and active carbon with 10.0 % Cu (II) 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoroacetylacetonate were studied. The used adsorbent materials were characterized for surface area and micropore volume by $N_2$ BET. For degradation studies solution of simulants of nerve agent such as dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), diethyl chlorophosphate (DEClP), diethyl cyanophosphate (DECnP) and nerve agent, i.e., sarin in chloroform were prepared and used for the uniform adsorption on the adsorbent systems using their incipient volume at room temperature. Degradation kinetics was monitored by GC/FID and was found to be following pseudo first order reaction. Kinetics parameters such as rate constant and half life were calculated. Half life of degradation with modified whetlerite (MWh/NaOH) system having 4.0 % NaOH was found to be 1.5, 7.9, 1206 and 20 minutes for DECnP, DEClP, DMMP and sarin respectively. MWh/NaOH system showed maximum degradation of simulants of nerve agents and sarin to their hydrolysis products. The reaction products were characterized using NMR technique. MWh/NaOH adsorbent was also found to be active against sulphur mustard.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.906-912
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• 2000

The effect of ammonia treatment and rice bran supplementation on the in situ rumen degradation of rice straw was determined using three Japanese Corriedale wethers fitted with permanent rumen cannula. About 4 g samples of diets containing 100% untreated rice straw (URS); 100% ammonia treated rice straw (ARS); 65% URS+30% rice bran (RB)+5% soybean meal (SBM) (T1); and 85% ARS+15% RB (T2) were incubated at 0, 4, 8, 16, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours in the rumen of sheep to measure dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradability. The DM disappearance of ARS based diets were about 20% higher than that of URS based diets. Rice bran supplementation improved DM disappearance of URS but not on ammoniated straw. Degradation parameters showed that ammoniation increased rate (c) of straw degradation resulting to higher DM and fiber degradability but RB supplementation did not. ARS gave similar DM and CP solubility and effective rumen degradability (ED) with that of the supplemented groups indicating that ammoniation alone can give the same effect on rumen degradability of sheep receiving low quality roughage. All degradation parameters for NDF were consistently higher in ARS based-diets indicating improved fiber solubility. Rice bran supplementation did not affect degradation characteristics of the diets except on soluble DM and CP fraction (A) of URS but not on ARS.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.195-204
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• 2002

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of three categories of supplements on intake and diet induced difference on degradation of straw substrates. Sixteen crossbred cattle fitted with rumen cannula were randomly divided into 4 equal groups. Animals were fed on wheat straw ad libitum without any supplement except mineral mixture (control; $T_1$) or supplemented with concentrate mixture (CS; $T_2$) or green Lucerne (GLS; $T_3$) or urea-molasses block lick (ULS; $T_4$). Total dry matter intake in $T_2$, $T_3$ and $T_4$ was increased by 70, 54 and 49%, respectively compared to $T_1$ which was only 1.55 kg/100 kg B.Wt. Other than control animals, straw intake was less on $T_3$ than $T_2$ or $T_4$. In Sacco degradation of untreated and urea treated wheat or paddy straw in different treatments indicated that the supplements had a significant (p<0.01) impact on rapidly soluble (A) and insoluble but potentially degradable (B) fractions of straw. Urea treatment increased fraction-A but, provision of supplement improved fraction-B also. Effective degradation (ED) of OM was better on $T_2$. Rate of degradation (C) of OM and CWC was dependent on diet and type of straw but hemicellulose and cellulose were related to latter factor only. ED of cell wall carbohydrates (CWC) was similar in $T_2$ and $T_4$ but higher than $T_3$. CS was more effective in improving the degradation of both untreated and urea treated straw while ULS was effective on the former only. CS had more impact on superior quality straw while contrary was true with ULS. Although GLS improved intake and degradability of untreated and urea treated straws, its bulkiness affected the straw intake compared to other supplements.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.321-326
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• 2007

An organophosphorus insecticide, chlorpyrifos, has been of a great concern due to persistence, toxicity and accumulation in soils and groundwaters. This study deals with degradation efficiency and dechlorination kinetics of chlorpyrifos by various types of zerovalent irons (ZVIs) for effective remediation of the soils contaminated with chlorinated pesticides. Chlorpyrifos degradation rate was increased with increasing ZVI treatment amount and reaction time. The degradation rate and dechlorination kinetics of chlorpyrifos increased in the order of mZVI > nZVI > cZVI in solutions and soils. Dechlorination number value of chlorpyrifos by cZVI, nZVI and mZVI treatment exhibited 1.08, 3.09 and 3.18, respectively. In soils, degradation efficiency and kinetics of chlorpyrifos significantly were affected by moisture content because of the limited contact between ZVIs and chlorpyrifos. These results suggest that nanosized and functionalized mZVI could be effectively applied to degradation of chlorinated pesticides in the soil and aqueous environments.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.245-254
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• 2001

Effects of soil moisture and temperature on the degradation rate of imazamethabenz were studied in two soils, a Declo sandy loam soil with 1.5% organic matter and pH of 8.0, and a Pancheri silt loam soil with 2.1% organic matter and pH of 7.7. Soils were incubated for 12 weeks under controlled conditions. Treatments were a factorial arrangements with combinations of three soil moistures (45, 75, 100% of field capacity) and two soil temperatures (20, 30C). Imazamethabenz degradation followed first-order kinetics for all soil moisture-soil temperature combinations. Imazamethabenz degradation rate was proportional to increase of soil moisture and temperature. Soil moisture effect on imazamethabenz degradation was greater when soil moisture was increased from 45 to 75% of field capacity (half-life decreased 2.6 fold) than when moisture increased from 75 to 100% of field capacity (half-life decreased 1.2 fold). Imazamethabenz degradation occurred more rapidly in the Pancheri silt loam than the Declo sandy loam soil. Formation of imazamethabenz acid from imazamethabenz followed a quadratic trend for most soil-moisture-soil temperature combinations. Imazamethabenz acid formation initially increased at earlier stages, but later gradually decreased. In most cases, increasing soil moisture and temperature appeared to accelerate it's acid breakdown to other metabolites.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.330-336
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• 2015

Photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) in aqueous solution was investigated using $TiO_2$ nanoparticles (Degussa P25) in this study. After a 3 hr photocatalytic reaction (${\lambda}=365nm$ and $I=3mW\;cm^{-2}$, $[TiO_2]=2.0g\;L^{-1}$), 98% of BPA ($1.0{\times}10^{-5}M$) was degraded and 89% of the total organic carbon was removed. In addition, BPA degradation by photolytic, hydrolytic and adsorption reactions was found to be 2%, 5% and 13%, respectively. The reaction rate of BPA degradation by photocatalysis decreased with increasing concentration of methanol that is used as a hydroxyl radical scavenger. This indicates that the reaction between BPA and hydroxyl radical was the key mechanism of BPA degradation. The pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant for this reaction was determined to be $7.94{\times}10^{-4}min^{-1}$, and the time for 90% BPA removal was found to be 25 min. In addition, acute toxicity testing using Daphnia magna neonates (< 24 h old) was carried out to evaluate the reduction of BPA toxicity. Acute toxicity (48 hr) to D. magna was decreased from 2.93 TU (toxic unit) to non-toxic after photocatalytic degradation of BPA for 3 hr. This suggests that there was no formation of toxic degradation products from BPA photocatalysis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1395-1403
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• 2012

The objective of the study was to quantify annual and seasonal differences in the chemical composition, in vitro gas production, in situ degradability and ruminal fermentation of grazing steers… diets. Diet samples were collected with four esophageal cannulated steers ($350{\pm}3$ kg BW); and four ruminally cannulated heifers ($342{\pm}1.5$ kg BW) were used to study the dry matter degradation and fermentation in rumen. Data were analyzed with repeated measurements split plot design. The crude protein, in vitro dry matter digestibility and metabolizable energy were higher during the first year of trial and in the summer (p<0.01). The values of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and copper were higher in summer (p<0.05). The gas produced by the soluble and insoluble fractions, as well as the constant rate of gas production were greater in summer and fall (p<0.01). The ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3N$) and total volatile fatty acids concentrations in rumen, the soluble and degradable fractions, the constant rate of degradation and the effective degradability of DM and NDF were affected by year (p<0.05) and season (p<0.01). Our study provides new and useful knowledge for the formulation of protein, energetic and mineral supplements that grazing cattle need to improve their productive and reproductive performance.