• Mycobiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2014

Red ginseng (Panax ginseng), a Korean traditional medicinal plant, contains a variety of ginsenosides as major functional components. It is necessary to remove sugar moieties from the major ginsenosides, which have a lower absorption rate into the intestine, to obtain the aglycone form. To screen for microorganisms showing bioconversion activity for ginsenosides from red ginseng, 50 yeast strains were isolated from Korean traditional meju (a starter culture made with soybean and wheat flour for the fermentation of soybean paste). Twenty strains in which a black zone formed around the colony on esculin-yeast malt agar plates were screened first, and among them 5 strains having high ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity on p-nitrophenyl-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside as a substrate were then selected. Strain JNO301 was finally chosen as a bioconverting strain in this study on the basis of its high bioconversion activity for red ginseng extract as determined by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis. The selected bioconversion strain was identified as Candida allociferrii JNO301 based on the nucleotide sequence analysis of the 18S rRNA gene. The optimum temperature and pH for the cell growth were $20{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ and pH 5~8, respectively. TLC analysis confirmed that C. allociferrii JNO301 converted ginsenoside Rb1 into Rd and then into F2, Rb2 into compound O, Rc into compound Mc1, and Rf into Rh1. Quantitative analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography showed that bioconversion of red ginseng extract resulted in an increase of 2.73, 3.32, 33.87, 16, and 5.48 fold in the concentration of Rd, F2, compound O, compound Mc1, and Rh1, respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 1988

Optimal conditions for the formation and regeneration of protoplasts of the cellulolytic fungus Penicillium verruculosum were investigated. Among the various commercial cell wall lytic enzymes tested, 0.5%(w/ v) Novozym 234 was the most effective for protoplast formation. The highest yield of protoplast exceeding 4.5$\times$10$^6$/m$\ell$ obtained when 400mg of 20 hr-old mycelia was incubated with 0.5%(w/v) Novozym 234 at 3$0^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr. The best osmotic stabilizer for the isolation and re-generation of protoplasts was 0.7M sorbital (pH 5.6) and 0.6M MgSO$_4$(pH 5.6), respectively. When 0.6M MgSO$_4$was added as osmotic stabilizer to the complete medium, the maximum regeneration frequency obtained was 4.6-27.8%. Micromorphological change of giant protoplasts into hyphae was observed during incubation in the regeneration liquid medium.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.713-722
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• 2000

This study analysed error of measurement and reproducibility for particle size analysis by the laser diffraction spectrometer. Laser diffraction spectrometers has become a very important method of particle size analysis. This measuring method has the advantage of simple operation, good reproducibility and rapid analysis. A feeding and dispersing system have been developed, which allows mass throughputs between 0.1~23 g/min in flowing air and 1.4~35% in flowing liquid. It has been used as a feeder unit for wet and dry particle size analysis from diffraction patterns. Relevant parameters, such as particle shape, particle size, dispersion, flow rate, concentration were analysed for measuring error. And system parameters of instruments for measurement of dynamic processes, eg, measuring time, focal plane, injection pressure drop and dispersion effect by the ultrasonic and mixing of preliminary treatment, were also discussed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1242-1248
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• 2017

Several medicinal plants are ethnomedically used in Korea as agents for treating infection, anti-inflammation, and pain relief. However, beyond typical inhibitory effects on cell growth, little is known about the potential anti-biofilm activity of these herbs, which may help to prevent cavities and maintain good oral health. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities of the methanol extracts of 37 Korean medicinal plants against dental pathogens Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans, which synergize their virulence so as to induce the formation of plaque biofilms in the oral cavity. The antimicrobial activities were investigated by broth dilution and disk diffusion assay. The anti-biofilm and antioxidant activities were evaluated based on the inhibitory effect against glucosyltransferase (GTase) and the DPPH assay, respectively. Among 37 herbs, eight plant extracts presented growth and biofilm inhibitory activities against both etiologic bacteria. Among them, the methanol extracts (1.0 mg/ml) from Camellia japonica and Thuja orientalis significantly inhibited the growth of both bacteria by over 76% and over 83% in liquid media, respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of these methanol extracts were determined to be 0.5 mg/ml using a disk diffusion assay on solid agar media. Biofilm formation was inhibited by more than 92.4% and 98.0%, respectively, using the same concentration of each extract. The present results demonstrate that the medicinal plants C. japonica and T. orientalis are potentially useful as antimicrobial and anti-biofilm agents in preventing dental diseases.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.630-637
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• 2019

The present study aimed to investigate the potential of Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) and Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) in improving the properties of bio-concrete. E. faecalis and B. cereus strains were obtained from fresh urine and an acid mire water at cell concentration of 1.16×10¹² and 1.3×10¹² cells mL^-1, respectively. The bacterial strains were inoculated in a liquid medium into the concrete with 1, 3 and 5% as replacement of water cement ratio (w/c). The ability of E. faecalis and B. cereus cells to accumulate the calcite and the decrement of pores size within bio-concrete was confirmed by SEM and EDX analysis. The results revealed that E. faecalis exhibited high efficiency for increasing of compressive and splitting tensile strength than B. cereus (23 vs. 14.2%, and 13 vs. 8.5%, respectively). These findings indicated that E. faecalis is more applicable in the bio-concrete due to its ability to enhance strength development and reduce water penetration.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-240
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• 2010

Coal gasification is heading for a great future as one of the cleanest energy sources, which can produce not only electricity and heat, but also gaseous and liquid fuels from the synthesis. The work focuses on 300MW shell type one-stage entrained flow coal gasifier which is used in the Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle(IGCC) plant as a reactor. As constructing an IGCC plant is considerably complicated and expensive compared with a pulverized-coal power plant, it is important to determine optimum design factors and operating conditions using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. In this study, the results of numerical calculations show that $O_2$/Coal ratio, 0.83, Steam/Coal ratio, 0.05, coal particle diameter, $100{\mu}m$, injection angle, $4^{\circ}$ (clockwise) are the most optimum in this research.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.251-259
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• 2018

Metal hydride based hydrogen storage under moderate temperature and pressure gives the safety advantage over the gas and liquid storage methods. Still solid-state hydrogen storage including metal hydride is below the DOE target level for automotive applications, but it can be adapted to stationary or miliary application reasonably. In order to develop a modular solid state hydrogen storage system that can be applied to a distributed power supply system composed of renewable energy - water electrolysis - fuel cell, the heat transfer and hydrogen storage characteristics of the metal hydride necessary for the module system design were investigated using AB5 type metal hydride, LCN2 ($La_{0.9}Ce_{0.1}Ni_5$). The planetary high energy mill (PHEM) treatment of LCN2 confirmed the initial hydrogen storage activation and hydrogen storage capacity through surface modification of LCN2 material. Expanded natural graphite (ENG) addition to LCN2, and compression molding at 500 atm improved the thermal conductivity of the solid hydrogen storage material.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.654-662
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• 1996

Bacterial strains which degrade crude oil were isolated by liquid culture from oil-spilled soil, and four isolates were selected among them. The strain Hl7-1 was finally selected after testing emulsifying activity and oil conversion rate. The strain Hl7-1 was identified as a Nocardia sp. based on the test for morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics. It appears to be highly specialized for growth on crude oil in minimal salts medium since it showed preference for oil or degradation products as substrates for growth. It was found that it could grow on at least fifteen different hydrocarbons. The optimum cultural and environmental conditions were seeked. Cell growth and emulsification activity as a function of time were also determined. Crude oil degradation and the reduction of product peak was identified by the analysis of remnant oil by gas chromatography after 3 days of cultivation. Approximately 83% of oil were converted into a form no longer extractable by organic solvents.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.885-891
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• 2010

Thermal management is important for enhancing the performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and is taken into account in the design of PEMFCs. In general, cooling pates with circulating liquid coolant (water) are inserted between several unit cells to exhaust the reaction heat from PEMFCs. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to characterize the uniform cooling performance of parallel multipass serpentine flow fields (MPSFFs) that were used as coolant flow channels in PEMFCs. The cooling performances of conventional serpentine and parallel flow fields were also evaluated for the purpose of comparison. The CFD results showed that the use of parallel MPSFFs can help reduce the temperature nonuniformity, and thus, can favorably enhance the performance and durability of PEMFCs.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-41
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• 1992

A new and unique class of nonionic surfactants was synthesized by reacting biological a-tocopherol with ethylene oxide for functional cosmetics. The structures were confirmed by Hl-UMR, FT-lR, TLC and elemental analysis. POV and conjugated diene value study for EPO showed POE(n)TE had antioxidative effect similar to tocopheryl acetate Protective effect on cell membrane in photohemolysis of POE(5)TE, POE(10)TE and POE(18)TE were slightly lower than tocopherol but higher than nonoxynol-12, and POE(10)TE had UV absorption power comparable with tocopherol and homosalate. Biological activity of the hydrophobic group of the new surfactants make them unique and different from those of conventional nonionic surfactants Systematic safety evaluations of POE(n)TEs on the skin and eye proved that they are as safe as tocopherol. The results of physicochemical study showed POE(10)TE had the lowest CMC value, POE(18)TE had the maximum surface tension reduction and the highest foam volume and POE(n)TEs had various HLB values by the degree of ethoxylation. The test resul Is of technological and practical applications of these surfactants for cosmetics showed some POE(n)TEs were superior to conventional surfactants. POE(5)TE in W/O emulsions, POE(10)TE and POE(12)TE in O/W emulsions, POE(12)TE in dispersions, POE(18)TE in solubilizations and POE(50)TE in gelations were shown to be excellent which was considered due to the structural characteristic and formation of liquid crystals of POE(n)TEs. By the development and applications of these excel lent multi-functional surfactants, innovative functional cosmetics were successfully formulated.