• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.95-111
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• 2012

This study investigated the relationship between the geochemical environment and the occurrence of natural radioactive materials (uranium and Rn-222) in borehole groundwater at an Icheon site. The drill core recovered from the study site consists mainly of biotite granite with basic dykes. The groundwater samples were collected at four different depths in the borehole using the double-packed system. The pH range of the groundwater was 6.5~8.6, and the chemical type was Ca-$HCO_3$. The ranges of uranium and Rn-222 concentrations in the groundwater were 8.81~1,101 ppb and 5,990~11,970 pCi/L, respectively, and concentrations varied greatly with depth and collection time. The ranges of uranium and thorium contents in drill core were 0.53~18.3 ppm and 6.66~17.5 ppm, respectively. Microscope observations and electron microprobe analyses revealed the presence of U and Th as substituted elements for major composition of monazite, ilmenite, and apatite within K-feldspar and biotite. Although the concentration of uranium and thorium in the drill core was not high, the groundwater contained a high level of natural radioactive materials. This finding indicates that physical factors, such as the degree of fracturing of an aquifer and the groundwater flow rate, have a greater influence on the dissolution of radioactive materials than does the geochemical condition of the groundwater and rock. The origin of Rn-222 can be determined indirectly, using an interrelationship diagram of noble gas isotopes ($^3He/^4He$ and $^4He/^{20}Ne$).

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2003

If contaminated river water is sprayed over a floodplain, the microbial processes can simultaneously remove organic matter and nitrogen during the infiltration through the sediment profile. The effect of rhizosphere on the removal of organic matter and nitrogen from contaminated river water was investigated using floodplain lysimeters. River water was sprayed at a rate of $68.0L\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$ on the top of the lysimeters with or without weed vegetation on the surface, Concentrations of $NO_3$, $NH_4$ and dissolved oxygen (DO), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Eh in water were measured as functions of depth for 4 weeks after the system reached a steady state water flow and biological reactions. A significant reductive-condition for denitrification developed in the 30-cm surface profile of lysimeters with weeds. At a depth of 30 cm, COD and $NO_3$-N concentration decreased to 5.2 and $0.9mg\;L^{-1}$ from the respective influent concentrations of 18.2 and $9.8mg\;L^{-1}$. The removal of $NO_3$ in lysimeters with weeds was significantly higher than in those without weeds. Vegetation on the top was assumed to remove $NO_3$ directly by absorption and to create more favorable conditions for denitrification by supply of organic matter and rapid $O_2$ consumption, In the lysimeters without weeds, further removal of $NO_3$ was limited by the lack of an electron donor, i.e. organic matter. These results suggest that the filtration through native floodplains, which include rhizospheres of vegetation on the surface, can be effective for the treatment of contaminated river water.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.382-386
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• 2011

Microbial fuel cells (MFC), devices that use bacteria as a catalyst to generate electricity, can utilize a variety of organic wastes as electron donors. The current generated may differ depending on the organic matter concentrations used, when other conditions, such as oxidant supply, proton transfer, internal resistance and so on, are not limiting factors. In these studies, a single-cathode type MFC (SCMFC) and dual-cathode type MFC (DCMFC) were used to ascertain the current's improvement through an increase in the contact area between the anode and the cathode compartments, because the cathode reaction is one of the most serious limiting factors in an MFC. Also an MFC was conducted to explore whether an improvement in electricity generation resulted from oxidizing the carbon sources and nitrates. About 250 mg $L^{-1}$ sodium acetate was fed to an anode compartment with a flow rate of 0.326 mL $min^{-1}$ by continuous mode. The current generated from the DCMFC was higher than the value produced from MFC with a single cathode. COD removal of dual-cathode MFC was also higher than that of single-cathode MFC. The nitrate didn't affect current generation at 2 mM, but when 4 and 8 mM nitrate was supplied, the current in the single-cathode and dual-cathode MFC was decreased by 98% from $5.97{\pm}0.13$ to $0.23{\pm}0.03$ mA and $8.40{\pm}0.23$ to $0.20{\pm}0.01$ mA, respectively. These results demonstrate that increasing of contact area of the anode and cathode can raise current generation by an improvement in the cathode reaction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.414-419
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• 2005

This study was performed to compare the treatment efficiencies of two media, newly developed Bio-rock and conventional gravel, in soil clothing contact oxidation process. The composition of synthetic wastewater were $COD_{Cr}$ $150{\sim}370\;mg/L$, $BOD_5$ $150{\sim}270\;mg/L$, T-N $20{\sim}60\;mg/L$, T-P $5{\sim}25\;mg/L$, pH 7 and 2 mL/L of trace element solution. The experiment using two reactors was comparatively conducted for the flow rate of 40 L/d for 13 months, respectively. Initially Bio-rock reactor was increased to pH 12 due to $Ca(OH)_2$ with hydration of cement, but gravel reactor was dropped to pH 4 due to the degradation of organic material and nitrification. This significant pH variation deteriorated the growth and activity of microorganism. But the high pH of Bio-rock seems favorite to ammonia stripping and precipitation of phosphate. Such pH variation of Bio-rock and gravel reactors were finally stabilized to pH 8 and pH 6, respectively. The removal efficiencies of organic compounds from Bio-rock reactor were 96% of $COD_{Cr}$, 98% of $BOD_5$, 80% of T-N and 85% of T-P which stably coping against variation of influent concentration. But those of gravel reactor were 96% of $COD_{Cr}$, 96% of $BOD_5$, 42% of T-N and 40% of T-P, respectively. The Bio-rock was 2 times higher than T-N and T-P in treatment efficiency. And electron-microscopic examination showed that Bio-rock was more favorable to microbial adherence than gravel. The microbial populations were $5.2{\times}10^6\;CFU/mL$ of Bio-rock reactor compared to $2.6{\times}10^6\;CFU/mL$ in gravel reactor. In result Bio-rock was favor to microbial adherence and high treatment efficiency in spite of variation of influent concentration which had the advantages in saving running time and reducing site requirement.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.166-173
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• 2006

This research has been performed to clarify the relationship between hydrogeochemistry and bacterial community structure in groundwater contaminated with landfill leachate. We collected and analyzed samples from 5 sites such as leachate (KSG1-12), treated leachate (KSG1-16), two contaminated groundwaters (KSG1-07 and KSG1-08) and non-contaminated groundwater (KSG1-13). pH was 8.83, 8.04, 6.87, 6.87 and 6.53 in order; redox potential (Eh) 108, 202, 47, 200 and 154 mV; electric conductivity (EC) 3710, 894, 1223, 559 and 169.9 $\mu$S/cm; suspended solids (SS) 86.45, 13.74, 4.18, 0.24 and 11.91 mg/L. In KSG01-12, the ion concentrations were higher especially in $Cl^-$ and $HCO_3^-$ than other sites. The concentrations of Fe, Mn and $SO_4^{2-}$ were higher In KSG1-07 than in KSG1-08, and vise versa in $NO_3^{2-}$. In the comparison of DGGE fingerprint patterns, the similarity was highest between KSG1-13 and KSG1-16 (57.2%), probably due to common properties like low or none contaminant concentrations. Otherwise KSG1-08 showed lowest similarities with KSG1-13 (25.8%) and KSG1-12 (27.6%), maybe because of the degree of contamination. The most dominant bacterial species in each site were involved in $\alpha$-Proteobacteria (55.6%) in KSG1-12, $\gamma$-Proteobacteria (50.0%) in KSG1-16, $\beta$-Proteobacteria (66.7%) in KSG1-07, $\gamma$-Proteobacteria (54.5%) in KSG1-08 and $\beta$-Proteobacteria (36.4%) in KSG1-13. These results indicate that the microbial community structure might be changed according to the flow of leachate in grounderwater, implying changes in concentrations of pollutants, available electron accepters and/or other environmental conditions.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.213-219
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• 2009

Purpose:Iron is a critical nutritional element that is essential for a variety of important biological processes, including cell growth and differentiation, electron transfer reactions, and oxygen transport, activation, and detoxification. Iron is also required for neoplastic cell growth due to its catalytic effects on the formation of hydroxyl radicals, suppression of host defense cell activities, and promotion of cancer cell multiplication. Chronic transfusion-dependent patients receiving chemotherapy may have iron overload, which requires iron-chelating therapy. We performed this study to demonstrate whether the iron chelating agent deferoxamine induces apoptosis in Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells, and to investigate the underlying apoptotic mechanism. Methods:To analyze the apoptotic effects of an iron chelator, cultured Saos-2 cells were treated with deferoxamine. We analyzed cell survival by trypan blue and crystal violet analysis, apoptosis by nuclear condensation, DNA fragmentation, and cell cycle analysis, and the expression of apoptotic related proteins by Western immunoblot analysis. Results:Deferoxamine inhibited the growth of Saos-2 cell in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The major mechanism for growth inhibition with the deferoxamine treatment was by the induction of apoptosis, which was supported by nuclear staining, DNA fragmentation analysis, and flow cytometric analysis. Furthermore, bcl-2 expression decreased, while bax, caspase-3, caspase-9, and PARP expression increased in Saos-2 cells treated with deferoxamine. Conclusion:These results demonstrated that the iron chelating agent deferoxamine induced growth inhibition and mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis in osteosarcoma Saos-2 cells, suggesting that iron chelating agents used in controlling neoplastic cell fate can be potentially developed as an adjuvant agent enhancing the anti-tumor effect for the treatment of osteosarcoma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.653-661
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• 2001

Background: Retrograde cerebral perfusion(RCP) is one of the methods used for brain protection during aortic arch surgery. The author previously published the data, however, for the safety of it, there still remains many controversies. The author performed RCP and checked various parameters to clarify the possibility of early detection of cerebral injury. Material and Method: The author used pigs(Landrace species) weighing 25 to 30kg and performed RCP for 120 minutes. After weaning of cardiopulmonary bypass, we observed pigs for another 120 minutes. Rectal temperature, jugular venous oxygen saturation, central venous pressure were continuously monitored, and the hemodynamic values, histological changes, and serum levels of neuron-specific enolose(NSE) and S100$\beta$ protein were checked. Central venous pressure during RCP was maintained in the range of 20 to 25 mmHg. Result: Flow rates(ml/min) during RCP were 224.3$\pm$87.5(20min), 227.1$\pm$111.0(40min), 221.4$\pm$119.5(60min), 230.0$\pm$136.5(80min), 234.3$\pm$146.1(100min), and 184.3$\pm$50.5(120min). Serum levels of NSE did not increase after retrograde cerebral perfusion. Serum levels of S100$\beta$ protein(ng/ml) were 0.12$\pm$0.07(induction of anesthesia), 0.12$\pm$0.07(soon after CPB), 0.19$\pm$0.12(20min after CPB), 0.25$\pm$0.06(RCP 20min), 0.29$\pm$0.08(RCP 40min), 0.41$\pm$0.05(60min), 0.49$\pm$0.03(RCP 80min), 0.51$\pm$0.10(RCP 100min), 0.46$\pm$0.11(RCP 120min), 0.52$\pm$0.15(CPBoff 60min), 0.62$\pm$0.15(60min after rewarming), 0.76$\pm$0.17(CPBoff 30min), 0.81$\pm$0.20(CPBoff 60min), 0.84$\pm$0.23(CPBoff 90min) and 0.94$\pm$0.33(CPBoff 120min). The levels of S100$\beta$ after RCP were significantly higher than thosebefore RCP(p<0.05). The author could observe the mitochondrial swellings using transmission electron microscopy in neocortex, basal ganglia and hippocampus(CA1 region). Conclusion: The author observed the increase of serum S100$\beta$ after 120 minutes of RCP. The correlation between its level and brain injury is still unclear. The results should be reevaluated with longterm survival model also considering the confounding factors like cardiopulmonary bypass.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.7-14
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• 2009

In this paper, the effects of annealing conditions on the structural ((002) intensity, FWHM, d-spacing, grain size, (002) peak position), optical (UV peak, UV peak position) and electrical properties (carrier concentrations, resistivity, mobility) of ZnO films were investigated. ZnO films were deposited onto SiO$_2$/si substrates by RF magnetron sputtering from a ZnO target. The substrate was not heated during deposition. ZnO films were annealed in temperature ranges of $500\sim650^{\circ}C$ in the O$_2$ flow for 5$\sim$20 min. The film average thicknesses were in the range of 291 nm. The surface morphologies and structures of the samples were characterize by SEM and XRD, respectively. The optical properties were evaluated by photoluminescence (PL) measurement at room temperature (RT) using a He-Cd 325 nm laser. As the annealing temperature and time vary, the following relations were also observed: (1) proportional relationships among UV intensity (002) intensity, and grain size exist, (2) UV intensity is inversely proportional to FWHM, (3) there is no special relationship between UV intensity and electron carrier concentrations, (4) d-spacing is inversely proportional to (002) peak position, (5) UV peak position in the range of 3.20$\sim$3.24 eV means that ZnO films have a n-type conductivity which was consistent with that obtained from the electrical property, (6) the optimal conditions for the best optical and structural characteristics were found to be oxygen fraction, (O$_2$/(O$_2$+Ar)) of 0.2, RF power of 240W, substrate temperature of RT, annealing condition of 600$^{\circ}C$ for 20 min, and sputtering pressure of 20 mTorr.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate dosimetric characteristics of Optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLD) for dosimetry Materials and Methods: InLight/OSL $NanoDot^{TM}$ dosimeters was used including $Inlight^{TM}MicroStar$ Reader, Solid Water Phantom, and Linear accelerator ($TRYLOGY^{(R)}$) OSLDs were placed at a Dmax in a solid water phantom and were irradiated with 100 cGy of 6 MV X-rays. Most irradiations were carried out using an SSD set up 100 cm, $10{\times}10\;cm^2$ field and 300 MU/min. The time dependence were measured at 10 minute intervals. The dose dependence were measured from 50 cGy to 600 cGy. The energy dependence was measured for nominal photon beam energies of 6, 15 MV and electron beam energies of 4-20 MeV. The dose rate dependence were also measured for dose rates of 100-1,000 MU/min. Finally, the PDD was measured by OSLDs and Ion-chamber. Results: The reproducibility of OSLD according to the Time flow was evaluated within ${\pm}2.5%$. The result of Linearity of OSLD, the dose was increased linearly up to about the 300 cGy and increased supralinearly above the 300 cGy. Energy and dose rate dependence of the response of OSL detectors were evaluated within ${\pm}2%$ and ${\pm}3%$. $PDD_{10}$ and PDD20 which were measured by OSLD was 66.7%, 38.4% and $PDD_{10}$ and $PDD_{20}$ which were measured by Ion-chamber was 66.6%, 38.3% Conclusion: As a result of analyzing characteration of OSLD, OSLD was evaluated within ${\pm}3%$ according to the change of the time, enregy and dose rate. The $PDD_{10}$ and $PDD_{20}$ are measured by OSLD and ion-chamber were evaluated within 0.3%. The OSL response is linear with a dose in the range 50~300 cGy. It was possible to repeat measurement many times and progress of the measurement of reading is easy. So the stability of the system and linear dose response relationship make it a good for dosimetry.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2003

Although a variety of synthetic vascular grafts are available in modern vascular surgery, no ideal prosthesis ha,4 yet been developed. Small-caliber vascular grafts with low flow, as used in the lower extremity, continue to become thrombosed at unacceptable rates. We have developed and evaluated the new antithrombogenic blood contacting surfaces in canine model. Material and Method: Two now antithrombogenic blood contacting surfaces(Polyvinylalcohol -Polyurethane(PVA-PU) blend and natural Graphite-polyurethane(G-PU) blend) have been developed and evaluated in canine model, using vascular grafts and patches. The luminal surfaces of the test vascular grafts(5 mm ID) were fabricated by dipping a glass rod in PVA-PU blend solution(50 % PVA) using phase separation method. Mongrel dogs of either sex weighing 18-22 kg were anesthetized by endotracheal intubation using halothane and their lungs were ventilated with a volume-cycled ventilator, Maintenance anesthesia with 0.5-1.0% halothane and supplemental oxygen was used. Two pairs were used for comparison in the bilateral femoral arteries for both vascular grafts(PVA-PU vs. PU) and vascular patches(G-PU vs. PU). Bilateral groin incisions were made and the arteries were exposed and clamped. After an excision of 1 cm of the artery between clamps, a grail of 2.5 cm in length was implanted end-to-end using 6-0 polypropylene suture. The vascular patch was implanted as a form of on-lay patch. Animals were sacrificed at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 16 weeks for vascular grafts and 1, 2. 4 and 6 weeks for vascular patches. Result The vascular grafts of PVA-PU blends showed patent lumina in the 2 and 16 weeks animals, while those of PU showed a patent lumen in 2 weeks animal. PVA-PU graft of 16 weeks showed a fairly clean luminal surface. A light microscopic finding of this graft demonstrated good tissue infiltration through porosity, The animals with vascular patches showed patent arteries in both groups except 2 weeks animal. Scanning electron microscopy of the luminal surfaces of G-PU patches in 4 and 6 weeks animals showed endothelial cell covering with microvilli. PU patches showed qualitatively less endothelial cell covering. Conclusion: In conclusion, PVA-PU and G-PU blends can be a promising blood contacting surfaces for application in a synthetic vascualr graft. However, further animal study is needed to determine the real long-term effects of these methods of surface modifications.