• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-2
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• 2017

Acquiring a selective growth advantage by breaking the proliferation barrier established by gatekeeper genes is a centrally important event in tumor formation. Removal of the mammalian Hippo kinase Mst1 and Mst2 in hepatocytes leads to rapid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) formation, indicating that the Hippo signaling pathway is a critical gatekeeper that restrains abnormal growth in hepatocytes. By rigorous genetic approaches, we identified an interacting network of the Hippo, Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin and Notch signaling pathways that control organ size and HCC development. We found that in hepatocytes, the loss of Mst1/2 leads to the activation of Notch signaling, which forms a positive feedback loop with Yap/Taz (transcription factors controlled by Mst1/2). This positive feedback loop results in severe liver enlargement and rapid HCC formation. Blocking the Yap/Taz-Notch positive feedback loop by Notch inhibition in vivo significantly reduced the Yap/Taz activities, hepatocyte proliferation and tumor formation. Furthermore, we uncovered a surprising inhibitory role of Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling to Yap/Taz activities, which are important in tumor initiation. Genetic removal of ${\beta}$-catenin in the liver of the Mst1/2 mutants significantly accelerates tumoriogenesis. Therefore, Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling, known for its oncogenic property, exerts an unexpected function in restricting Yap/Taz and Notch activities in HCC initiation. The molecular interplay between the three signaling pathways identified in our study provides new insights in developing novel therapeutic strategies to treat liver tumors.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.625-630
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• 2004

Granular media filtration is used almost universally as the last particle removal process in conventional water treatment plants. Therefore, superb particle removal efficiency is needed during this process to ensure a high quality of drinking water. However, every particle can not be removed during granular media filtration. Besides the pattern of particle attachment is different depending on physicochemical aspects of particles and suspension. Filtration experiments were performed in a laboratory-scale filter using spherical glass beads with a diameter of 0.55 mm as collectors. A single type of particle suspension (Min-U-Sil 5) and alum coagulation was used to destabilize particles. The operating conditions were similar to those of standard media filtration practice: a filtration velocity of 5 m/h. More favorable particles, i.e., particles with smaller surface charge, were well attached to the collectors especially during the early stage of filtration when zeta potential of particles and collectors are both negative. This selective attachment of the lower charged particles caused the zeta potential distribution (ZPD) of the effluent to move to a more negative range. On the other hand, the ZPDs of the effluent moved from more positive to less positive when the surface charge of particles was positive and this result was thought to be caused by ion transfer between particles and collectors.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.349-359
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• 1992

Studies were carried out on the selective removal of inorganic salts such as NaCl and $Na_2SO_4$ from dye solution, using counter diffusion-reverse osmosis and nanofiltration, respectivey. For the dye solution used in the experiments, 1 to 30% of salts were removed by counter diffusion while the loss of dye molecules was less than 0.3%. The separation factors by one pass operation were 10-500 according to ionic species. In five successive operations, removals of anion($Cl^-$) increased but those of cation($Na^+$) decreased due to the Donnan effect. Effects of feed flow rate on removal efficiencies of various ions were also observed at constant flow rate of stripping water. Reverse osmosis of desalted dye solution by counter diffusion was conducted to prepare highly concentrated liquid dyes. The rejection efficiency of dye molecules was greater than 99%. For the rejection efficiency of chloride ion, experimental values were compared with theoretical ones based on solution-diffusion model. Two stage diafiltration was performed in nanofiltration. The rejection efficiency of chloride ion was continuously decreased due to the Donnan dialysis and even negative rejection was observed. The Donnan effect was more pronounced in the second diafiltration.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.237-242
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• 2021

Simultaneous removal technologies of multi-pollutants such as particulate matters (PMs), NOx, SOx, VOCs and ammonia have received consistent attention due to the enhancement of pollutant abatement efficiency in addition to the stringent environmental regulation and emission standard. Pretreatment of insoluble NO by an ozone oxidation can be considered to be more effective route for saving space occupation as well as operation cost in comparison with that of traditional selective catalytic reduction (SCR) process. Moreover the primary advantage of ozone oxidation process is that the simultaneous removal with acidic gas including SOx is also available. Herein, we highlight recent studies of multi-pollutant abatement via ozone oxidation process and the promising research topics for better application in industrial sectors.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2005

Removal of NO contained in automobile exhaust gas was accomplished by the non-selective catalyst reduction method. The catalysts were prepared through loading of a specific amount of Ag into ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$. The conversion of $NO_x$ was studied by varying the temperatures, $O_2$ concentrations and $SO_2$ concentrations for the prepared catalysts. The influence of the structure of catalyst to $NO_x$ conversion was followed through the analysis of the physical properties of the prepared catalysts. Experiments were conducted on each of the catalysts by varying the reaction conditions to find an optimum condition. The catalyst $Ag/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ shows a highest $NO_x$ conversion when the Ag content was 2 wt% and a reaction temperature of about $450^{\circ}C$. and after conducting the experiments, samples of before and after experiments analyzed using XRD, XPS, TPR, and UV-Vis DRS experiments. The result indicated that when Ag oxide content could not be maintained well at high temperatures $NO_x$ conversion decreased.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1329-1336
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• 2007

This study was carried out to develop an efficient process abating high NO concentration. A hybrid process of selective catalytic reduction(SCR) and activated carbon fiber(ACF) adsorption was newly designed and tested. Used ACF in NO adsorption was regenerated by simultaneously applying heat and vacuum. The result of ACF regeneration was for superior in the desorption condition at $140^{\circ}C$ and vacuum 600 mmHg. A commercial catalyst was used at the conditions of reaction temperature at $300^{\circ}C$, $NH_3/NO$ mole ratio = 1.0 for SCR process. NO evolved from ACF regeneration reactor could be removed by SCR reactor up to 98%. But high concentration of NO was exhausted from SCR reactor for one minute when the flue gas of NO 300 ppm and deserted NO from ACF regeneration were simultaneously treated by the same SCR reactor. Therefore, it is necessary to use additional small sized SCR reactor or to increase $NH_3$ concentration for a short time along with NO concentration rather than to mix flue gas with the gas evolving from ACF regeneration at fixed $NH_3$ inlet concentration. The hybrid process of SCR and ACF showed high NO removal efficiency over 80% at any time courses. Through the repeated cycles, stable DeNOx efficiency was maintained, indicating that the hybrid process would be a good countermeasure to the spotaneously high NO concentration instead of increasing the SCR capacity.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.645-652
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• 1996

Selective catalytic oxidation of $H_2S$ to elemental sulfur using $TiO_2/SiO_2$ catalysts was investigated in this study. The reaction test with pure $TiS_2$ and $Ti(SO_4)_2$ and cyclic temperature operation revealed that $TiO_2$ had a good resistance to sulfation and sulfidation, which are known as the main cause of catalytic deactivation in sulfur recovery process. With the increase of $TiO_2$ loading amount in $TiO_2/SiO_2$ catalysts, the conversion of $H_2S$ increased and the selectivity of elemental sulfur was very slightly decreased. As the ratio of $O_2/H_2S$ increased, the selectivity to elemental sulfur was drastically decreased. In the presence of 10 vol.% water vapor to a stoichiometric mixture of $H_2S$ and $O_2$($H_2S$= 5 vol.% O=2.5 vol.% ), both activity and selectivity of 10 wt.% $TiO_2/SiO_2$ catalyst are decreased, but it still showed more than 80% of sulfur yield.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.398-403
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• 2012

Selective nitrification and granulation have been carried out in a pilot scale air-lift sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for stable and economical nitrogen removal from wastewater. The SBR showed about 100% nitrification efficiency up to 1.0 kg ${NH_4}^+-N/m^3{\cdot}d$, about 90% efficiency at 1.0-2.0 kg ${NH_4}^+-N/m^3{\cdot}d$, and it was less than 90% when the load was higher than 2.0 kg ${NH_4}^+-N/m^3{\cdot}d$. Nitrite accumulation was induced by selective inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria by free ammonia inhibition and dissolved oxygen limitation. For the purpose, high nitrite ratio (> 0.95) was obtained by keeping the pH higher than 8.0 and dissolved oxygen lower than 1.5 mg/L. In addition, sludge granulation was achieved by keeping reactor settling time to 5 minutes to wash out poor settling sludge and to promote the growth of granulation sludge. The operation accelerated sludge granulation and the sludge volume index (SVI) decreased and stably maintained to less than 75 in 60 days.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.20-28
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• 2015

This work investigated the size and shape effect of ${\gamma}$-alumina-supported metal oxides on the hydrocarbon selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides. Several metal oxides including Ag, Cu and Ru were used as the catalysts, and n-heptane as the reducing agent. For the Ag/${\gamma}$-alumina catalyst, the $NO_x$ reduction efficiency in the range of $250{\sim}400^{\circ}C$ increased as the size of Ag decreased (20 nm>50 nm>80 nm). The shape effect of metal oxides on the $NO_x$ reduction was examined with spherical- and wire-shape nanoparticles. Under identical condition, higher catalytic activity for $NO_x$ reduction was observed with Ag and Cu wires than with the spheres, while spherical- and wire-shape Ru exhibited similar $NO_x$ reduction efficiency to each other. Among the metal oxides examined, the best catalytic activity for $NO_x$ reduction was obtained with Ag wire, showing almost complete $NO_x$ removal at a temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. For Cu and Ru catalysts, considerable amount of NO was oxidized to $NO_2$, rather than reduced to $N_2$, leading to lower $NO_x$ reduction efficiency.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.507-514
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• 2023

The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) was investigated in a catalyst (Ag/γ-Al₂O₃) packed dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor. The intermittent generation of plasma in the catalyst bed partially oxidized the hydrocarbon reductant for NO_x removal to several aldehydes. Compared to using the catalyst alone, higher NO_x conversion was observed with the intermittent generation of plasma due to the formation of highly reductive aldehydes. Under the same operating conditions (temperature: 250 ℃; C/N: 8), the NO_x reduction efficiencies were 47.5%, 92%, and 96% for n-heptane, propionaldehyde, and butyraldehyde, respectively, demonstrating the high NO_x reduction capability of aldehydes. To determine the optimal condition for intermittent plasma generation, the high voltage on/off cycle was adjusted from 0.5 to 3 min. The NO_x reduction performance was compared between continuous and intermittent plasma generation on the same energy density basis. The highest NO_x reduction efficiency was achieved at 2-min high voltage on/off intervals. The reason that the intermittent plasma discharge exhibited higher NO_x reduction efficiency even at the same energy density, compared to the continuous plasma generation case, is that the intermediate products, such as aldehydes generated from hydrocarbon, were more efficiently utilized for the reduction of nitrogen oxides.