• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.476-483
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• 1990

In order to investigate hydantoinase-producing strain of the genus Streptomyces, 523 strains of Streptomycee sp. isolated from soils were cultivated in various media and conversion activity of the enzyme was measured to DL-5-phenylhydantoin. A number of strains producing hydantoinase were detected and among them, the strain of Streptomyces sp. Y-183 was selected as a most powerful strain to producing the enzyme. The optimal culture conditions for the production of hydantoinase of the strain were studied, and it was found that almost all hydantoinase activity was produced in the cell fraction. The maximum activity of the enzyme, 17.8 unitstg of dried cells weight, was obtained when the strain was cultured at $30^{\circ}C$ for 72 hr in a medium containing 1.0% of glycerol. 0.5% of yeast extract. 0.5% of soytone, 0.5% of beef extract, 0.6% of KCI, 0.002% of $K_2HP0_4, 0.25% \;of \;CaC0_3, \;0.0002% \; of \; ZnSO_4, \; 0.0002%\; of\; FeS0_4$, and 0.4% of uracil as an inducer, and the pH of culture broth was adjusted ranging from 7.0 to 7.5.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2007

The effect of $MnO_{2}$ as a sintering additive on the microstructures and the piezoelectric properties, especially mechanical quality factor, of 0.05 Pb$(Sb_{0.5}Nb_{0.5})O_{3}$-0.95 Pb$(Zr_{0.52}Ti_{0.48})O_{3}$ (PSN-PZT) piezoelectric ceramics was investigated. The samples were sintered at $1250^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The crystal structure and surface morphology of the sample were examined using XRD and FE-SEM, respectively. A study on the influence of $MnO_{2}$ additives on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties showed that the $MnO_{2}$-added PSN-PZT system exhibited a high mechanical quality factor and well-situated piezoelectric properties. The optimized results of $d_{33}$ (319 pC/N), $k_{p}$ (55 %), and $Q_{m}$ (751.24) were obtained at 0.2 wt% $MnO_{2}$ added PSN-PZT piezoelectrics.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.159-164
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• 2007

Thin films of platinum were deposited on a $Al_{2}O_{3}/ONO(SiO_{2}-Si_{3}N_{4}-SiO_{2})/Si$-substrate with an 2-inch Pt(99.99 %) target at room temperature for 20, 30 and 60 min by DC magnetron sputtering, respectively X-ray diffract meter (XRD) was used to analyze the crystallanity of the thin films and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was employed for the investigation on crystal growth. The densification and the grain growth of the sputtered films have a considerable effect on sputtering time and annealing temperatures. The resistance of the Pt thin films was decreased with increasing deposition time and sintering temperature. Pt micro heater thin film deposited for 60 min by DC magnetron sputtering on an $Al_{2}O_{3}$/ONO-Si substrate and annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in air is found to be a most suitable micro heater with a generation capacity of $350^{\circ}C$ temperature and 645 mW power at 5.0 V input voltage. Adherence of Pt thin film and $Al_{2}O_{3}$ substrate was also found excellent. This characteristic is in good agreement with the uniform densification and good crystallanity of the Pt film. Efforts are on progress to find the parameters further reduce the power consumption and the results will be presented as soon as possible.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1555-1563
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• 2008

A novel $\alpha$-amylase ($\alpha$-1,4-$\alpha$-D-glucan glucanohydrolase, E.C. 3.2.1.1), ScAmy43, was found in the culture medium of the phytopathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum grown on oats flour. Purified to homogeneity, ScAmy43 appeared as a 43 kDa monomeric enzyme, as estimated by SDS-PAGE and Superdex 75 gel filtration. The MALDI peptide mass fingerprint of ScAmy43 tryptic digest as well as internal sequence analyses indicate that the enzyme has an original primary structure when compared with other fungal a-amylases. However, the sequence of the 12 N-terminal residues is homologous with those of Aspergillus awamori and Aspergillus kawachii amylases, suggesting that the new enzyme belongs to the same GH13 glycosyl hydrolase family. Assayed with soluble starch as substrate, this enzyme displayed optimal activity at pH 4 and $55^{\circ}C$ with an apparent $K_m$ value of 1.66 mg/ml and $V_{max}$ of 0.1${\mu}mol$glucose $min^{-1}$ $ml^{-1}$. ScAmy43 activity was strongly inhibited by $Cu^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, and $Ba^{2+}$, moderately by $Fe^{2+}$, and was only weakly affected by $Ca^{2+}$ addition. However, since EDTA and EGTA did not inhibit ScAmy43 activity, this enzyme is probably not a metalloprotein. DTT and $\beta$-mercaptoethanol strongly increased the enzyme activity. Starting with soluble starch as substrate, the end products were mainly maltotriose, suggesting for this enzyme an endo action.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2005

During the screening of xylanolytic enzymes from locally isolated fungi, one strain BCC14405, exhibited high enzyme activity with thermostability. This fugal strain was identified as Aspergillus cf. niger based on its morphological characteristics and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. An enzyme with xylanolytic activity from BCC14405 was later purified and characterized. It was found to have a molecular mass of ca. 21 kDa, an optimal pH of 5.0, and an optimal temperature of $55^{\circ}C$. When tested using xylan from birchwood, it showed $K_m$ and $V_{max}$ values of 8.9 mg/ml and 11,100 U/mg, respectively. The enzyme was inhibited by $CuSO_4$, EDTA, and by $FeSO_4$. The homology of the 20-residue N-terminal protein sequence showed that the enzyme was an endo-1,4-$\beta$-xylanase. The full-length gene encoding endo-1,4-$\beta$-xylanase from BCC14405 was obtained by PCR amplification of its cDNA. The gene contained an open reading frame of 678 bp, encoding a 225 amino acid protein, which was identical to the endo-1,4-$\^{a}$-xylanase B previously identified in A. niger.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2008

The effect of $CeO_2$ as a sintering additive on the microstructure and the piezoelectric property of yPb$(Sb_{0.5}Nb_{0.5})O_3$-(1-y)Pb$(Zr_{0.52}Ti_{0.48})O_3$ ($0{\leq}y{\leq}0.1$, PSN-PZT) for a hypersonic sound speaker (HSS) application was investigated. The samples were sintered at $1250^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The crystal structure and surface morphology of the samples were examined using XRD and FE-SEM, respectively. Study on the influence of $CeO_2$ additives on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties indicated that the $CeO_2$-added PSN-PZT system had a high piezoelectric properties. The optimized results of ${\varepsilon}_r=1209$, $K_p$=52% $d_{33}$=351(pC/N) and $Q_m$=1230.16 were obtained at 0.4 wt.% $CeO_2$-added PSN-PZT.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.415-421
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• 2003

A bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens 2112, that is antagonistic against a red-pepper blight-causing fungus, Phytophthora capsici, was isolated from the local soil of Gyongju, Korea. This strain formed an orange-colored clear halo zone on chrome azurol S (CAS) blue agar, suggesting the production of a siderophore in addition to an antifungal antibiotic. The optimal culture conditions for siderophore production by P. fluorescens 2112 were 30-h cultivation at $25^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.5 in King's B medium. The presence of $20{\mu}g/ml\;of\;Fe^3+$ ion or EDDHA promoted the production of siderophore in King's B medium. The siderophore was purified from culture broth by CM-Sephadex C-25 and Sephadex G-25 column chromatographies. The UV spectra of the purified siderophore was the same as that of pyoverdins or pseudobactins. The molecular mass was 1,958 Da determined by FAB-rlass spectrometer, and the amino acid composition analysis showed that the purified siderophore consisted of glycine/threonine/serine/glutamic acid/alanine/lysine with the molar ratio of 3:2:1:1:1:1, DL-Threo-${\beta}$-hydroxyaspartic acid and $N^{\delta}$-hydroxyornithine, two of the essential constituents of pyoverdin, were also found. The purified siderophore pyoverdin showed strong in vitro and in vivo antagonistic activities against phytophthora blight-causing P. capsici. Especially in an in vivo pot test, the siderophore protected red-pepper Capsicum annum L. very well from the attack of P. capsici. These results indicated that the purified siderophore of P. fluorescens 2112 played a critical role in the biocontrol of the red-pepper blight disease, equivalent to treatment by P.fluorescens 2112 cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.483-487
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• 2010

To fabricate $TiO_2$ nanoparticle-based dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) at a low-temperature, DSSCs were fabricated using hydropolymer and ZnO nanoparticles composites for the electron transport layer around a low-temperature ($200^{\circ}C$). ZnO nanoparticle with 20 nm and 60 nm diameter were used and Pt was deposited as a counter electrode on ITO/glass using an RF magnetron sputtering. We investigate the effect of ZnO nanoparticle concentration in hydropolymer and ZnO nanoparticle solution on the photoconversion performance of the low temperature fabricated ($200^{\circ}C$) DSSCs. Using cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,20 bipyridy1-4,40 dicarboxylato) ruthenium (II) bis-tetrabutylammonium (N719) dye as a sensitizer, the corresponding device performance and photo-physical characteristics are investigated through conventional physical characterization techniques. The effect of thickness of the ZnO photoelectrode and the morphology of the ZnO nanoparticles with the variations of hydropolymer to ZnO ratio on the photoconversion performance are also investigated. The morphology of the ZnO layer after sintering was examined using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). 60 nm ZnO nanoparticle DSSCs showed an incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) value of about 7% higher than that of 20 nm ZnO nanoparticle DSSCs. The maximum parameters of the short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$), the open circuit potential ($V_{oc}$), fill factor (ff), and efficiency ($\eta$) in the 60 nm ZnO nanoparticle-based DSSC devices were 4.93 mA/$cm^2$, 0.56V, 0.40, and 1.12%, respectively.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.158-162
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• 1974

Some ecological attributes of perennial plants and Pb contamination were analyzed for study plots near an entrance of Nevade Test Site at Mercury Valley, Nye County, Nevada. The surface of the desert pavement soil was composed of stones (1 to 4cm diameter). The underside of each stone was coated with coarse and fine sand (about 90%). The profiles of soil were constituted with the A-horizon and C-horizon only. The soil pH at the plots ranges from 7.6 to 8.5, C/N was 13 and cation exchange capacity showed 15me/100g. Nine species and 42 number of individuals were found in all plots. Franseria dumosa and Larrea divaricata were dominant species. The discrete clumps of vegetation were consisted of 9 species of common perennials and these were covered about 25% on desert pavement, on the other words, bare area without vegetation was about 75%. The size and spacing of the plants was irregular. Community coefficient as comparison between shrub species in these study area and those in near the low elevation desert indicated a low degree of similarity. Density, cover and productivity in the study plots as compared with those in the nearest study areas in Mercury Valley showed a higher value. The soils in the studied area involved high heavy metal contents in the plant tissue was higher than those of its soil. The leavds of Lycium andersonii tended to accumulate more Zn and Mo than those of the other species. Larrea divaricata leaves accumulated very high leaves of Fe and Ephedra nevadensis were generally high in Mn. Lead contamination was apparent in foliage of desert vegetation collected alongside the roadway, reflecting the variation in traffic volume. Lead contents greater than fifteen-fold of normal (low traffic) were found in plant foliage alongside the heavily traveled roadway. Lead content of old foliage by the heavily traveled roadway was as much as 129 ppm but that of new foliage 17 ppm only.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2012

Spherical mesoporous silica particles, of which main pore diameter was 3.8 nm, were successfully prepared by spray pyrolysis from aqueous silicic acid. The effect of precursor concentration, reaction temperature, and the addition of urea and PEG on the particle diameter and pore properties such as pore diameter, total pore volume, and specific surface area were investigated by using FE-SEM, particle size analyzer, and nitrogen absorption-desorption analysis. With an increase of the precursor concentration from 0.2 M to 0.7 M, the average particle diameter, total pore volume, and specific surface area of the porous silica particles increased from 0.56 to $0.96\;{\mu}m$, 0.434 to $0.486\;cm^3/g$, 467.8 to $610.4\;m^2/g$, respectively. Within the temperature range $(600\;^{\circ}C{\sim}800\;^{\circ}C)$, there was no significant difference in the pore diameter, total pore volume, and specific surface area. In addition, the addition of urea as an expansion aid led to slight increases in particle diameter, pore diameter, and specific surface area. However, when the polyethylene glycol (PEG) as an organic template was used, the total pore volume of porous particles increased dramatically.