• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.345-350
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• 2015

The toxicity of red mud (RM) pellets for water purification was evaluated using Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and Daphnia magna in a lab-scale experiment. According to the algal growth inhibition test, both specific growth rates and relative growth rates of P. subcapitata decreased, and the growth inhibition rates increased ($R^2=0.97$, p<0.001) as the concentration of RM pellets in the aqueous solution increased (>1.6 g/L). Also, based on the acute toxicity evaluation test on D. magna, toxic unit (TU) values ranged between 0.00 and 2.83, and increased with an increase in the concentration of RM pellets in the aqueous solution. A correlation analysis indicated that the pH of RM pellets was statistically correlated with TU values ($R^2=0.77$, p=0.02). The environmental implication from this study is that the concentration of RM pellets in an aqueous solution needs to be lower than 4.4 g/L to keep the maximum permissible TU value less than 1.0.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.183-193
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• 1997

The amount and kinds of radionuclide contained in waste volume should be known to prepare for occupational exposure management, perform safety assessment and finally to license a repository. Although the volume of filters and resins are small, activities of them comprise most of the radioactivity that made during power generation. This study aims at developing a method of estimating the radionuclide accumulation at the filters and resins of coolant systems. In this study, accumulated amount of radionuclides is estimated by a computer program which makes use of instantaneous decontamination factor, DF, instead of average DF. A FORTRAN program was developed for the estimation. Data from in-plant source-term measurements at Rancho-Seco nuclear power plant in the United States are employed for verification of the estimating method. And experimental data are employed, too. The instantaneous-DF-method showed smaller error than the average-DF-method. Accumulated amount of radionuclides can be calculated with only the DF and the radionuclide concentration, which are measured periodically according to the operating guide. However, especially, when the operating condition of nuclear power plant changes rapidly, the measuring term of DF and radionuclide should be shortened to ensure the accurate estimation.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.442-448
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• 2006

Human lactoferrin (hLf) is an iron-binding glycoprotein that has been considered to play many biological roles in the human, including the stimulation of the immune system, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects, and regulation of iron absorption. We generated transgenic Siberian ginseng (Acanthopanax senticosus) cell cultures producing a functional hLf protein using the signal peptide sequence from the endoplasmic reticulum and driven by an oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter which is highly expressed in plant cell cultures. The production of hLf increased proportionally to cell growth and showed a maximal level (up to 3.6% of total soluble protein) at the stationary phase in suspension cultures. Full-length hLf protein was identified by immunoblot analysis in transgenic cell cultures of Siberian ginseng. Recombinant hLf (rhLf) was purified from suspension cells of Siberian ginseng by ammonium sulfate precipitation, cation-exchange and gel filtration chromatography. N-terminal sequences of rhLf were identical to native hLf (nhLf). The overall monosaccharide composition of rhLf showed the presence of plant specific xylose while sialic acid is absent. Antibacterial activity of purified rhLf was higher than that of nhLf. Taken together, we anticipate that medicinal Siberian ginseng cultured cells, as demonstrated by this study, will be a biotechnologically useful source for commercial production of functional hLf not requiring further purification.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2010

With the completion of genome sequencing of several organisms, attention has been focused to determine the function and functional network of proteins by proteome analysis. The recent techniques of proteomics have been advanced quickly so that the high-throughput and systematic analyses of cellular proteins are enabled in combination with bioinformatics tools. Furthermore, the development of proteomic techniques helps to elucidate the functions of proteins under stress or diseased condition, resulting in the discovery of biomarkers responsible for the biological stimuli. Ultimate goal of proteomics orients toward the entire proteome of life, subcellular localization, biochemical activities, and their regulation. Comprehensive analysis strategies of proteomics can be classified as three categories: (i) protein separation by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) or liquid chromatography (LC), (ii) protein identification by either Edman sequencing or mass spectrometry (MS), and (iii) quanitation of proteome. Currently MS-based proteomics turns shiftly from qualitative proteome analysis by 2-DE or 2D-LC coupled with off-line matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and on-line electrospray ionization (ESI) MS, respectively, to quantitative proteome analysis. Some new techniques which include top-down mass spectrometry and tandem affinity purification have emerged. The in vitro quantitative proteomic techniques include differential gel electrophoresis with fluorescence dyes, protein-labeling tagging with isotope-coded affinity tag, and peptide-labeling tagging with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation. In addition, stable isotope labeled amino acid can be in vivo labeled into live culture cells through metabolic incorporation. MS-based proteomics extends to detect the phosphopeptide mapping of biologically crucial protein known as one of post-translational modification. These complementary proteomic techniques contribute to not only the understanding of basic biological function but also the application to the applied sciences for industry.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.79-87
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• 2014

The enrichment with nutrients in rivers and lakes becomes serious problems in Korea. As the environmental friendly solution, the phytoremediation are getting more attention and the water hyacinth could be a strong candidate plant for this. Water hyacinth is a free floating freshwater plant proven to be a effective plant used for a purification of a polluted lakes, sewage wastewater, and livestock wastewater. The biggest obstacles for application of water hyacinth in Korea could be the disposal of the water hyacinth before winter, because there is no feasible use for the water hyacinth until now. In this study, the characteristics of water hyacinth were deeply investigated for providing background data to develop appropriate application of the water hyacinth. The water hyacinth was fractioned three parts, leaf, air blader, root of which morphological properties were evaluated with microscope and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The water contents of each parts of the water hyacinth were 87% for leaf, 96.5% for air bladder, 94.6% for root. The chemical compositions of each parts were also measured and showed around 29% of hot water extract in leaf and air bladder, 42% holocellulose for leaf, 47% holocellulose for air bladder. The application of water hyacinth biomass without root parts to papermaking provided bulkier structure, but the tensile strength was decreased.

• FLOWER RESEARCH JOURNAL
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2011

Acorus calamus is an indigenous hydrophyte used as phytoremediation and water purification as well as medicinal herb. Irradiation of gamma ray was performed to investigate the effect on radioresistance of A. calamus on in vitro. Various doses (20-500 Gy) of gamma rays were irradiated to in vitro plantlets. The effect of irradiation was studied on survival rate, shoot formation and growth rate. The survival and multiplication rate was remarkably decreased with the increase of radiation dose. The growth of plantlets was significantly increased in comparison to the control at low doses. The hermetic effect of radiation was appeared in A. calamus. It was significantly decreased or interrupted above 250 Gy. The mean 50% lethal dose ($LD_{50}$) was extremely high as 240 Gy. We conclude that A. calamus had remarkably high radioresistance compared with other plant species.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2018

Backgrounds: The main purpose of this research was to assess changes in vegetation structure, wetland index, and diversity index for a 15-year-old created wetland in Jincheon, South Korea. The created wetland consists of four sub-wetlands: a kidney-shaped wetland, a ditch, an ecological pond, and a square wetland. Vegetation and water depth data were collected at each site in 1999 and 2013, and Shannon diversity and wetland indices were calculated. Results: The total number of plant species increased from 18 in 1999 to 50 in 2013, and the ecological pond in 1999 and the ditch in 2013 presented the highest diversity indices (2.5 and 3.2, respectively). Plant species were less diverse in 1999 than in 2013, presumably because these initial wetlands were managed periodically for water purification and installation of test beds. The proportion of wetland plants, including obligate wetland and facultative wetland species, decreased from 83 to 56%, whereas upland plants, including obligate upland and facultative upland species, increased from 17 to 44%. After ceasing water supply, water depth in all four sub-wetlands declined in 2013. Thus, upland plants established more readily at these sites, resulting in higher diversity and lower wetland indices than in 1999. Conclusions: The major floristic differences between 1999 and 2013 were an increase in the number of upland plants and a decrease in wetland species. Although wetland indices were lower in 2013, the created wetland performed important ecosystem functions by providing habitats for wetland and upland plants, and the overall species diversity was high.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.267-274
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• 2022

This paper is a result of research conducted on the 800,000 m³/d capacity of A Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and 400,000 m³/d capacity of B WTP plant in operation in the Nakdong River region. We evaluated the effect of algae broom on the WTP operation based on the running data of both WTP and the data on the pre-oxidation process field test for algae control using sodium permanganate (SPM) at the B WTP. The study results showed that during the algal bloom period, the coagulant dose increased by 102% in A WTP and 58% in B WTP, respectively, and the chlorine dose also increased by 38% and 29%, respectively, which may affect Total trihalomethane (THM) production. Data such as algal populations and Chl-a, residual chlorine and THM, algal populations, and ozone dose appeared also highly correlated, confirming that algal broom affects WTP operations, including water quality and chemical dosage. As a result of the field test of B WTP, THMs appeared lower than that of the control, suggesting the possibility of the SPM pre-oxidation process as an alternative to algae-related water quality management. Furthermore, in terms of GHG emissions due to energy consumption, it was observed that the pre-oxidation process using SPM was approximately 10.8%, which is a very low ratio compared to the pre-ozonation process. Therefore, these results suggest that the SPM pre-oxidation process can be recommended as an alternative to low-carbon water purification technology.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2003

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the effects of pebble size on the small-scale sewage treatment apparatus by natural purification method that consisted of aerobic and anaerobic plot. pH and EC in both plots varied minimally regardless of pebble size. DO in aerobic plot increased as the pebble size decreased. That in the anaerobic plot was slightly less in comparison with that of the aerobic plot but varied minimally, $2.4{\sim}5.1\;mg/L$ regardless of pebble size. Under all experimental conditions, removals of BOD, COD and turbidity in anaerobic plot were more than 98, 91 and 98, 98% respectively. Removals of T-N and T-P increased as pebble size decreased. Under all experimental conditions, removals of T-N and T-P in anaerobic plot were about $45{\sim}59$ and $480{\sim}96%$, respectively. Judging from the above results, it should be considered that the optimum pebble size and pebble permeability in both plot was $2{\sim}4$ and $0.1{\sim}4\;mm$, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.508-523
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• 2017

This study monitored the changes before and after restoration of ecological stream focusing on the places which are applied Sustainable Structured wetland Biotop (SSB) system and ecological Fish-way for restoration of Maeno stream. A total of 11 species and 191 individuals of fishes were founded out which were not verified inhabitation before restoration at SSB wetlands. Especially, it was could identified that micro habitat and healthy Fish-way was created because the restored target species, Microphysogobio yaluensis and Iksookimia koreensis were identified that habitation was monitored in SSB wetland. Amphibian have been restored to a number of Rana nigromaculata found in and around wetlands at the time of the third survey, which is highly active after restoration. Specified endangered species class 1 and natural monuments designated by the Ministry of Environment, Lutra lutra lutra, as a Mammalian, uses the wetlands and ecological Fish-way as habitat areas, and the his habitat is restored. In the case of Flora, vascular plants emerging in the survey area were increased to 7 and 13 species before restoration and 15 and 19 species directly after restoration, and 22 species and 33 species after restoration. Vegetation after restoration was found to be a basic producer of various ecosystems and a plant community that contributes to the purification of water quality such as Phragmites japonica communities. As the result of water quality monitoring, the average of treatment efficiencies were BOD 64.3%, T-N 47.2%, T-P 80.7%. Successful treatment of the nonpoint pullution source, which is a limiting factor to disturb the ecosystem, creatively restored the target species in the water quality class I, II.