• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2003

Oxygen to metal ratio has been measured by wet and dry chemical analysis to study the properties of sintered $UO_2$ pellets and $U_3O_8$ in the lithium reduction process of spent pressurized water reactor fuels. Uranium dioxide pellets simulated for the spent PWR fuels with burnup values of 20,000~60,000 MWd/MtU were prepared by mixing $UO_2$ powder and oxides of fission product elements, pelleting the powder mixture and sintering it at $1,700^{\circ}C$ under a hydrogen atmosphere. For wet chemical analysis, the simulated spent fuels were dissolved with mixed acid (10 M HCl : 8 M $HNO_3$, 2.5 : 1, v/v) using acid digestion bomb technique. The total amount of uranium and fission products added in the simulated spent fuels were measured using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Weight change of the simulated fuel during its oxydation was measured by thermogravimetry and then the O/M ratio result was compared to that obtained by wet chemical analysis. Influence of $Mo_{0.4}-Ru_{0.4}-Rh_{0.1}-Pd_{0.1}$, quaternary alloy, on the determination of O/M ratio was investigated.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.422-428
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• 2014

Endophytic bacterial strains from root tissue of strawberry were screened for their efficacy in growth improvement and control of Phytophthora blight disease of chili pepper plant under greenhouse condition. Plants treated with the strain EP103, identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens, showed growth improvement in terms of fresh weight and root length compared to the untreated control and other endophytic strains. When challenged with Phytophthora capsici, there was significant reduction of disease in EP103 treated plants with an efficacy of 78.7%. There was no direct inhibition of the target pathogen by EP103 when tested under in vitro antibiosis assay. Analysis of differential expression of selected marker genes for induced systemic resistance (ISR) in plants treated with EP103 and challenged with P. capsici showed up-regulation of PR1 and PR10 pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. PCR analysis showed that EP103 produced secondary metabolites such as pyoluteorin, pyrrolnitrin, hydrogen cyanide and orfamide A. This study indicated the potential of endophytic P. fluorescens strain EP103 as an efficient biocontrol agent against P. capsici in chili pepper plant.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.3-10
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• 2000

The main purpose of this study were to estimate the benthic fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) from the sediment and denitrification rates in tidal flats of the Keum river estuary. Sediment specimens were collected by a core sampler from three stations along the Keum river estuary in April, August and December, 1999. The sediments were composed of 1.18 %, 29.34 % and 69.49 % of gravel and sand, sand and silt, respectively. The mean ignition loss of the sediment was found 6.7 % and its Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) was measured -12 mV. The total hydrogen sulfides was determined about 0.26 mg/gㆍdry. The estimated outflux of ammonium was found 11.2 m mole N/m²ㆍday from the sediment, whereas -1.09 m mole N/m²ㆍday of influx was obtained for nitrate and nitrite through the incubation experiment of sediment cores. Total DIN flux was 10.2 m mole N/m²ㆍday outflux from the sediment. From the incubation experiments executed with the flux studies, mean denitrification rate was found 30.6 m mole N₂/m²ㆍday measured by the direct assay of N₂ production technique. On the basis that DIN flux and denitrification rate in sediment of tidal flat of the Keum river estuary are may be effects to control the algal biomass in the coastal environment, it seems inevitable to pay more attention to investigate the flux of DIN and denitrification rate in tidal flat of the Keum river estuary.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.717-724
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• 2003

A newly isolated Citrobacter sp. Y19 catalyzes the CO-dependent $H_2$ production (biological water-gas shift reaction) by the actions of CO dehydrogenase (CODH) and hydrogenase. Y 19 requires $O_2$ for fast growth, but its $H_2$ production activity is significantly inhibited by $O_2$. In the present study, the effect of $O_2$ on the activities of CODH ard hydrogenase was investigated quantitatively in both whole cells and broken cells, based on CO-dependent or methyl viologen (MV)-dependent $H_2$ production in addition to CO-dependent MV reduction. In crude cell extracts, CODH activity was mostly found in the soluble fraction. Inactivation of CODH and hydrogenase activities by $O_2$ followed the first-order decay kinetics, and the dependence of the rate constants on $O_2$ partial pressure could be expressed by the Michaelis-Menten equation. In whole cells, the maximum deactivation rate constants ($k_{d,max}$ of hydrogenase and CODH were quite similar: $0.07{\pm}0.03 min^{-1}\;and\;0.10{\pm}0.04 min^{-1}$, respectively. However, the first-order rate constant ($k_{d,max}/K_s$) of CODH ($0.25\;min^{-1}\;atm^{-1}$) at low $O_2$ partial pressures was about 3-fold higher than that of the hydrogenase, since the half-saturation constant ($K_s$) of CODH was about half of that of hydrogenase. In broken cells, both enzymes became significantly more sensitive to $O_2$ compared to the unbroken cells, while $k_{d,max}/K_s$ increased 37-fold for hydrogenase and 6.7-fold for CODH. When whole cells were incubated under anaerobic conditions after being exposed to air for 1 h, hydrogenase activity was recovered more than 90% in 2 h suggesting that the deactivation of hydrogenase by $O_2$ was reversible. On the contrary, CODH activity was not recovered once deactivated by $O_2$ and the only way to recover the activity was to synthesize new CODH. This study indicates that $O_2$ sensitivity of $H_2$ production activity of Citrobacter sp. Y19 is an important drawback as in other $H_2-producing$ bactria.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2017

Background: In oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production contributes to cellular dysfunction and initiates the apoptotic cascade. Autophagy is considered the mechanism that decreases ROS concentration and oxidative damage. Propofol shows antioxidant properties, but the mechanisms underlying the effect of propofol preconditioning (PPC) on oxidative injury remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated whether PPC protects against cell damage from hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced oxidative stress and influences cellular autophagy. Method: COS-7 cells were randomly divided into the following groups: control, cells were incubated in normoxia (5% $CO_2$, 21% $O_2$, and 74% $N_2$) for 24 h without propofol; $H_2O_2$, cells were exposed to $H_2O_2$ ($400{\mu}M$) for 2 h; $PPC+H_2O_2$, cells pretreated with propofol were exposed to $H_2O_2$; and 3-methyladenine $(3-MA)+PPC+H_2O_2$, cells pretreated with 3-MA (1 mM) for 1 h and propofol were exposed to $H_2O_2$. Cell viability was determined using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide thiazolyl blue (MTT) reduction. Apoptosis was determined using Hoechst 33342 staining and fluorescence microscopy. The relationship between PPC and autophagy was detected using western blot analysis. Results: Cell viability decreased more significantly in the $H_2O_2$ group than in the control group, but it was improved by PPC ($100{\mu}M$). Pretreatment with propofol effectively decreased $H_2O_2$-induced COS-7 cell apoptosis. However, pretreatment with 3-MA inhibited the protective effect of propofol during apoptosis. Western blot analysis showed that the level of autophagy-related proteins was higher in the $PPC+H_2O_2$ group than that in the $H_2O_2$ group. Conclusion: PPC has a protective effect on $H_2O_2$-induced COS-7 cell apoptosis, which is mediated by autophagy activation.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2016

Commercial synthetic resins with great amount of hydrogen atoms were investigated for neutron shielding aggregates. Total three types of resins were considered in this study: high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), and ultra molecular weight polyethylene (UPE). When these resins replaced 20, 40, 60 vol% of fine aggregates, mechanical properties were first evaluated including compressive and tensile strengths, and then image/microstructure analyses such as cross-section analysis, SEM, and X-ray CT were performed. The results showed that the compressive and tensile strengths decreased with the increase of replacement ratio of HDPE and PP, which was found through image analysis that it was closely related to the distribution of resins at the failure surface of test specimens. The strength reduction of UPE was quite small compared to HDPE and PP but it abruptly increased when the replacement level exceeded 60 vol%. The results of microstructure analyses indicated that the replacement level significantly affected the amount of air void so that it is critical to determine the reasonable amount of UPE to make cementitous materials for neutron shielding.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2016

Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is an energy conversion device in which charging and discharging are alternatively carried out by oxidation and reduction reactions of vanadium ions with different oxidation states. VRFB consists of electrolyte, electrode, ion-exchange membrane, etc. The role of ion-exchange membranes in VRFB separates anolyte and catholyte and provides a high conductivity to hydrogen ions. Recently much attention has been devoted to develop ideal ion-exchange membranes for VRFB. A number of developed ion-exchange membranes should be evaluated to find out ideal ion-exchange membranes for VRFB. Long-term durability test is a crucial characterization of ion-exchange membranes for commercialization, but is very time-consuming. In this study, the life time prediction protocol of ion-exchange membranes in VRFB cell tests was developed through short-term single cell performance evaluation (real total operation time, 87.5 hrs) at three different current densities. We confirmed a decrease in test time up to 96.2% of real durability tests (expected total operation time, 2,296 hrs) and 5~6% of relative error discrepancy between the predicted and the real life time in a unit cell.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2B
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• pp.187-192
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• 2011

Nitrate nitrogen is common contaminant in groundwater aquifers, its concentration is regulated many countries below 10 mg/L as N (As per WHO standards) in drinking water. An attempt was made to get optimal results for the treatment of nitrate nitrogen in groundwater by conducting various experiments by changing the experimental conditions for ZVI bipolar packed bed electrolytic cell. From the experimental results it is evident that the nitrate nitrogen removal is more effective when the reactor conditions are maintained in acidic range but when the acidic environment changes to alkaline due to the hydroxide formed during the process of ammonia nitrogen there by increasing the pH reducing the hydrogen ions required for reduction which leads to low effectiveness of the system. In the ZVI bipolar packed bed electrolytic cell, the packing ratio of 0.5~1:1 was found to be most effective for the treatment of nitrate nitrogen because ZVI particles are isolated and individual particle act like small electrode with low packing ratio. It is seen that formation of precipitate and acceleration of clogging incrementally for packing ratio more than 2:1, decreasing the nitrate nitrogen removal rate. When the voltage is increased it is seen that kinetics and current also increases but at the same time more electric power is consumed. In this experiment, the optimum voltage was determined to be 50V. At that time, nitrate nitrogen was removed by 94.9%.

• Composites Research
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.355-359
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• 2019

The high efficient water splitting system should involve the reduction of high overpotential value, which was enhanced by the electrocatalytic reaction efficiency of catalysts, during the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) reaction, respectively. Among them, transition metal-based compounds (oxides, sulfides, phosphides, and nitrides) are attracting attention as catalyst materials to replace noble metals that are currently commercially available. Herein, we synthesized optimal monodisperse Co₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ PBAs by FESEM, and confirmed crystallinity by XRD and FT-IR, and thermal behavior of PBAs via TG-DTA. Also, we synthesized monodispersed Co₃O₄ nanocubes by calcination of Co₃[Co(CN)₆]₂ PBAs, confirmed the crystallinity by XRD, and proceeded OER measurement. Finally, the synthesized Co₃O₄ nanocubes showed a low overpotential of 312 mV at a current density of 10 mA·cm^-2 with a low Tafel plot (96.6 mV·dec^-1).

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.125-140
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• 2010

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to examine from various angles the protective effect of Gastrodia elata Blume (GEB) against nerve cell death induced by $\beta$-amyloid by using the cell line SH-SY5Y, which is commonly utilized for toxicity testing in nerve cells, and to find out its mechanism of action. Methods : To begin with, as a result of assessing the rate of cell survival by employing MTT reduction assay, the treatment with $\beta$-amyloid at different concentrations caused cytotoxicity, which was inhibited by preprocessing GEB extract. In addition, after $\beta$-amyloid was processed with the cell SH-SY5Y, apoptosis progressed, which was reduced effectively by processing GEB extract. Results : When cytotoxicity was caused by using hydrogen peroxide, a representative ROS, in order to examine the antioxidant effect of GEB, its protective effect was also observed. Apart from ROS, reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are also known to play a crucial role in nerve cell death. The treatment with the NO donor SNAP increased the production of nitric oxide and the expression of iNOS, which was also inhibited by GEB extract. Meanwhile, as an attempt to find out the mechanism of action explaining the antioxidant effect, the intracellular antioxidant enzyme expressions were measured by RT-PCR, which showed that GEB extract increased the expressions of heme oxygenase-1, GAPDH and $\gamma$-glutamate cysteine ligase. Lastly, GEB extract had a protective effect against impaired memory induced by scopolamine in animal models (in vivo). Conclusions : These findings indicate that GEB has a protective effect against the death of cranial nerve cells, suggesting possibilities for the prevention and treatment of AD.