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The Evaluation of Various Conditions in the Cryopreservation of Primordial Germ Cells on Korean Native Chicken (Ogye) (한국재래닭(오계)의 원시 생식 세포의 냉동 보존에 있어서 여러 조건의 평가)

  • Kim, Hyun;Cho, Young Moo;Han, Jae Yong;Choi, Sung Bok;Byun, Mi Jeong;Kim, Young Sin;Ko, Yeoung-Gyu;Seong, Hwan-Hoo;Kim, Sung Woo
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.249-259
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    • 2014
  • Cryopreserving cells which are maintaining their viability are the very complex process. This study has been carried out in order to find the effects of cryopreservation steps and freezing media on the rates of viability of cryopreserved chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs). PGCs obtained from the germinal gonade of 5.5~6 day (stage 28) chick embryos of Korean Ogye (KO) and Commercial breeds (C), using the MACS method were suspended in a freezing medium containing a freezing and protecting agents (e.g. dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG)). Gonads were harvested from stage 28 chick embryos and pooled in groups of 5, 10, 15, 20E embryos, contributing gonads to the cell suspension. The gonadal cells, including PGCs, were then frozen in 1 of the following cryoprotectant treatments : 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 0% cryoprotectant (DMSO, EG, PG) as a control. Effects of exposure to slow freezing and vitrification, with different concentrations of the cryoprotectant solution, were examined. After vitrification and slow freezing, survival rates of the frozen-thawed PGCs from the 10% EG plus FBS treatment were 85.63%, and 66.14% (p<0.05), respectively. The viability of PGCs after freeze-thawing was significantly higher for 10% EG plus FBS treatment than for 10% PG + FBS treatment (p<0.05) (85.63% vs 66.81%) by vitrification. This study established a method for preserving chicken PGCs that enables systematic storage and labeling of cryopreserved PGCs in liquid ($LN_2$) at a germplasm repository and ease of entry into a data base. In the future, the importance for this new technology is that poultry lines can be conserved while work is being conducted on improving the production of germline chimeras.

The Effects of Ascorbic Acid on Full-thickness Skin Wound Healing in Dogs (개에서 Ascorbic Acid가 피부 결손창 치유에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim Jung Hun;Cheong Jongtae;Park Hyun Jeong;Kim Jae Hoon;Lee Kyoung-kap;Son Won-geun;Kang Tae-young;Yun Young-min;Hwang Kyu-kye;Park Jong-Cook;Lee Joo Myoung
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.342-347
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    • 2005
  • This study was designed to assess the healing effects of ascorbic acid on full-thickness skin wound in dogs. Four $2.5\pm2.5cm$ full-thickness skin wounds were created bilaterally on the dorsolateral aspect in each of 5 dogs. The ten wounds were treated with ascorbic acid solution in the experimental group, and the ten wounds were treated with $0.9\%$ saline in the control group. The wound healing area was measured every other day for 3 weeks after the wounding. Statistical analysis was conducted with the paired t-test. On the $1^{st},\;3^{rd},\;5^{th},\; 7^{th},\;9^{th},\;11^{th},\;13^{th},\;15^{th},\;17^{th},\;19^{th},\;21^{st}days$, the wound healing rates were $12.6\pm9.6\%,\;9.5\pm9.8\%,\;18.9\pm9.0\%,\;39.2\pm5.4\%,\;62.2\pm4.6\%,\;86.9\pm1.9\%,\;92.9\pm1.8\%,\;96.6\pm1.6\%,\;99.1\pm0.5\%,\;99.8\pm0.2\%,\;99.9\pm0.1\%$ in the experimental group, and $9.1\pm6.0\%,\;9.2\pm6.0\%,\;12.2\pm5.0\%,\;41.3 \pm6.3\%,\;54.2\pm9.2\%,\;81.0\pm2.6\%,\;85.7\pm2.8\%,\;92.3\pm1.5\%,\;96.1\pm0.7\%,\;98.0\pm0.8\%,\;99.5\pm0.2\%$ in the control group On the $15^{th}$ day, the wound closed above $99\%$ in 2 dogs of the experimental group. On the $17^{th}$ day, the wound closed above $99\%$ in 3 dogs of the experimental group. On the $19^{th}$ day, the wound closed above $99\%$ in 5 dogs of the experimental group, and 2 dogs of the control group. On the $21^{st}$ day, the wound closed above $99\%$ in 5 dogs of the experimental group, and 4 dogs of the control group. The wound healing rate of the experimental group was $2\~4$ days faster than that of the control group. The tensile strength was $4,169\pm1,107g/cm^2$ in the experimental group, and $2,438\pm637g/cm^2$ in the countrol group on the$21^{st}$ day after wounding. Tensile strength was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p<0.05). The histopathological findings of the experimental group were similar to those of the control group on the $1^{st},\;3^{rd}\;and\;5^{th}$days. Inflammation and revascularization of the experimental group were similar to those of the control group on the $9^{th},\;13^{th}\;and\;21^{st}$days. The formation of collagen and reepithelialization were more developed the experimental group than in the control group on the $9^{th},\;13^{th}\;and\;21^{st}$days. Significantly higher wound healing rate, tensile strength and better histopathological findings were observed in the experimental group than in the control group. These results suggest that the topical application of ascorbic acid on full-thickness skin wounds can promote wound healing process.

Analytical studies of bovine mastitis management by standard plate counts(SPC) and somatic cell counts(SCC) (젖소 유방염 관리에 따른 세균 및 체세포수 등급 실태 조사 분석)

  • 허정호;정명호;박영호;조명희;이주홍
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.285-300
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    • 1998
  • 1. The number of average milking cows, clinical forms of mastitis, mastitis-developing cows, and cows killed by mastitis a year were 25.7, 1.8(7%), 6.3(26%), and 2.7(10.1%)heads, respectively. The annual grade changes of standard plate counts(SPC) and somatic cell counts(SCC) showed the grade 1A of SPC diminished sharply from April to August, we think it was due to the lack of proper management in farming season and the grade 3 of SCC indirectly influenced increased in huge during August. 2. The average number of parturitions of farms was 2.3, but 50% of below 1 parturition were 22 farms(31%), 50% of above 3 parturitions were 16(23%) out of 71 farms. According to grades of the number of parturitions of milking cows per each farm, the farms' grades recording 3 parturitions and 50% were little bit excellent. 3. The actual situation research of foremilking CMT revealed 35 out of 74 farmer didn't do CMT Among them(35 out of 74 farmers), 80% did not test thanks to the troublesome process of the CMT. SCC grade 3, among farms who did foremilking CMT once or twice a month and who did not were 29% and 40% respectively and SPC grade 1A were 55% and 9%, respectively. 4. The research of actual situation on milking management let us know 29 farms(39%) did not do lastmilking, 37 farms(49%) usually did overmilking, and 34 farms(46%) did milking for 4 or 5 minutes. Grades according to average requiring times of milking showed SCC grade 1 of farms milking within 7 minutes was 11% and SPC grade 1A was 34%, on the other side, farms milking more than 7 minutes were 0% in SCC grade 1 and 13% in SPC grade 1A. Grades according to the starting time of milking after rubbing teats showed SPC grade 1A of farms starting milking at about 1 minute and over 2 minutes were 50% and 20%, respectively. 5. The research of actual situation on hygienic milking management uncovered 65 farms(88%) were using one towel which was used in washing teats and udders to wash more than 3 to 4 cows, and 53 farms(72%) were using one dried towel to dry udders not for each cow but for more than 3 to 4 cows after washing. Also, on milking turns disclosed 30 farms(40%) were milking cows in the order of incoming without isolation of a dominant group. According to grades of towels used in washing teats and udders, farms using a towel for each cow were 56% and a towel for over 3 cows were 31% in SPC grade 1A. According to using-or-not grades of dried towels after washing udders, farms using a towel for each cow were 79% and a towel for over 3 cows were 21% in SPC grade 1A. 6. Farms doing teat-dipping before milking were 7(10%), not doing teat-dipping after milking, or doing sometimes were 9(12%), and doing right after milking were 57(77%). And farms doing teat-dipping after dry cows and before delivery were 21(28a ). Farms using bethadine as an antiseptic solution were 70(95%), 40 farms(59%) diluted it with water as weak as 5 to 10 times, and on drying cows 64 farms(87%) slowly did it more than 2 days. Grade 1A of SPC of farms doing teat-dipping at every milking was 38%, farms doing occasionally or not was 33%, and farms doing it right after milking was 37% and doing after milking more than 5 cows was 20%. Grade 1A of SPC among farms diluting bethadine 5 times and diluting 5 to 10 times with water were 36% and 33%, respectively, and Grade 3 of SCC were 35% and 32%, respectively. 7. Studies on nonlactating period medical treatment, as the cows were on dry, 54 farms treated with their own hands.73 farms(98%) had bovine mastitis treated for themselves. And on applying medicines against mastitis, 55 farmers chose them on the basis of their own experience, 42 farms(57%) were treated more than 3 days. 41 farms(55%) dumped away the mastitis infected milk separately, 24 farms(32%) were feeding and milking at the same time. 8. Fifty-six farms(76%) always washed and disinfected milking machines after milking. Farms using the milking machines at low, or variable vacuum pressures, or at the vacuum pressure, set at the moment of its installation were 31(42%), and farms that did not know pulsation ratio were 27(37%). Farms changing liners when they were torn 8(11%), 58 farms(78%) said they checked milking system when there were wrong with them, 31 farms(42%) changed milking hoses when they found out problems, and 42 farms(57%) cleaned vacuum and milking systems when they felt dirty. The SPC grade 1A of farms washing and sterilizing milking machines was 38% and farms only washing was 28%.

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STUDIES ON THE CYSTINE COMPONENT IN THE SERICULTURAL PROTEINS OF BOMBYX MORI L. (가잠사단백질의 각과정에서의 Cystine 성분에 대한 연구)

  • Choe, Byong-Hee
    • Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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    • v.2
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    • pp.1-31
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    • 1962
  • The purpose of this treatise is to prove the presence of cystine in silk fiber through wide sampling throughout all the sericultural processes of Bombyx mori.; also to show that disulfide cross linkages exist in the silk fiber. The conclusions reached were as follows: 1. Crystalline cystine was obtained from silk fibroin using Folin's Method. 2. Analytical data showing the cystine content of silk fiber and its related materials were obtained using Sullvan's Method as follows: Material Percent Cystine A. Mulberry leaf protein 0.175 B. Silkworm egg 0.33 C. Silkworm Body, matured, fat extracted, without silk gland 0.41 D. Silk gland, matured 1.23 E. Silkworm feces none F. Silkworm pupa, fat extracted 0.30 G. Silkworm moth, fat extracted 0.60 H. Raw Silk 0.22 I. Fibroin 0.175 J. Sericin 0.30 3. The presence of cystine in the silkworm was substantiated the existence of 0.175 % methionine in mulberry leaves and 0.12% methionine in the silk gland. 4. Part of the sulfhydryl compounds in the silk gland is believed to transfer to serine and methionine, with the former being secreted into the liquid silk finally as silk fiber and the latter used for nutritive purposes in the growing of silk gland tissue. 5. The cystine content is variable by mulberry species, silkworm species, sex, breeding process, and other culturing environments. 6. Hybrid silkworms require more nutritive amino acids for effective growth than the original parents, and secrete less of them as silk fiber. 7. From such an observation, the amino acid composition of silk fiber is believed to be fairly flexible. Cystine if included in the amorphous part of the fiber, especially in sericin. 8. The result from enriching the silkworm diet with pure cystine or wool cystine did not result in any advantage, therefore it is believed that the natural cystine and methionine contents in the mulberry leafaregoodenoughforsilkwormnutrition. 9. The disulfide cross linkage in silk fiber was verified by using the Harris Method. Contraction took place following the treatment of the fiber with various salts and acids. Comparisons were made with wool fiber. 10. During these experiments, the fibrious structure of silk fiber and the net-globular liquid form were photographed microscopically. It is believed that the globules of liquid silk are net-formed by the inter attraction of the OH ion of the globular peptide and the H ion of water as shown by the hair cracking behavior of the film. The net-globular protein precipitation from the mulberry protein solution showed that mulberry is a proper diet for the formation of fibrous protein in the silk fiber. 11. The significance of the presence of cystine in silk fiber as emphasized in this paper should result in modification of the general conception that cystine is absent from this fiber. NOTICE: A part of this treatise was presented at the annual Korea Sericultural Society meeting held in 1961.

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Mobile Contents Transformation System Research for Personalization Service (개인화 서비스를 위한 모바일 콘텐츠 변환 시스템 연구)

  • Bae, Jong-Hwan;Cho, Young-Hee;Lee, Jung-Jae;Kim, Nam-Jin
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.119-128
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    • 2011
  • The Sensor technology and portable device capability able to collect recent user information and the information about the surrounding environment haven been highly developed. A user can be made use of various contents and the option is also extending with this technology development. In particular, the initial portable device had simply a call function, but now that has evolved into 'the 4th screen' which including movie, television, PC ability. also, in the past, a portable device to provided only the services of a SMS, in recent years, it provided to interactive video service, and it include technology which providing various contents. Also, it is rising as media which leading the consumption of contents, because it can be used anytime, anywhere. However, the contents available for the nature of user's handheld devices are limited. because it is very difficult for making the contents separately according to various device specification. To find a solution to this problem, the study on one contents from several device has been progressing. The contents conversion technology making use of the profile of device out of this study comes to the force and profile study has been progressing for this. Furthermore, Demand for a user is also increased and the study on the technology collecting, analyzing demands has been making active progress. And what is more, Grasping user's demands by making use of this technology and the study on the technology analyzing, providing contents has been making active progress as well. First of all, there is a method making good use of ZigBee, Bluetooth technology about the sensor for gathering user's information. ZigBee uses low-power digital radio for wireless headphone, wireless communication network, and being utilized for smart energy, automatic home system, wireless communication application and wireless sensor application. Bluetooth, as industry standards of PAN(Personal Area Networks), is being made of use of low power wireless device for the technology supporting data transmission such as drawing file, video file among Bluetooth device. With analyzing the collected information making use of this technology, it utilizes personalized service based on network knowledge developed by ETRI to service contents tailor-made for a user. Now that personalized service builds up network knowledge about user's various environments, the technology provides context friendly service constructed dynamically on the basis of this. The contents to service dynamically like this offer the contents that it converses with utilizing device profile to working well. Therefore, this paper suggests the system as follow. It collects the information, for example of user's sensitivity, context and location by using sensor technology, and generates the profile as a means of collected information as sensor. It collects the user's propensity to the information by user's input and event and generates profile in the same way besides the gathered information by sensor. Device transmits a generated profile and the profile about a device specification to proxy server. And proxy server transmits a profile to each profile management server. It analyzes profile in proxy server so that it selects the contents user demand and requests in contents server. Contents server receives a profile of user portable device from device profile server and converses the contents by using this. Original source code of contents convert into XML code using the device profile and XML code convert into source code available in user portable device. Thus, contents conversion process is terminated and user friendly system is completed as the user transmits optimal contents for user portable device.

Studies on the Morphological Characteristics and Life History of the Chili Fish, Cultriculus eigenmanni (Jordan et Metz) (1) On the Egg Development and the Fry in the Larval Stage (치리(Cultriculus eigenmanni)의 형태 및 생활사에 관한 연구 I. 난발생과 부화자어에 대하여)

  • KIM Eul-Bae;KIM Young-Gill
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.151-156
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    • 1984
  • The Chili fish, one of the most common species of the freshwater fishes, is distributed in the river basins of the western coast of Korea. However, any studies on this fish, especially its development or life history, have not been made so far. The authors, therefore, carried out an experiment to reveal some characteristics of egg develoment and fry in this fish. For accomplshing this study, we caught some adult Chili fish by means of a casting net at raceway in the vicinity of Kunsan in June and July, 1983; then, we injected 0. 1 cc Gonadotrophic hormone 1,000 unit solution (Puberogen) in order to induce the spawning on the abdominal cavity of male and female respectively, Approximately 12 hours after injection, the artificially fertilized eggs by using of the dry method and the naturally fertilized eggs were observed simultaneously in the aquarium ($30{\times}50{\times}70cm$). The fertilized eggs, in spherical shape, were sperative, demersel, adhesive nature and $1.38{\sim}1.59\;mm$ in diameter. The light yellow yolk was opaque and $1.17{\sim}l.27\;mm$ in diameter. The hatching of eggs took place at 29.5 hours after fertilization under the condition of $23.5{\sim}25.0^{\circ}C$ water temperature. Basically there were not found so many different aspects in comparison with the common species of Cyprinidae in the development process of eggs : however, there were a few noticable characteristics, that is, pigment cells, eye balls and blood circulation are invisible, or the velocity of egg development is rapid, seemed similar to the Loach's egg. Newly hatched larvae with the yolk sac (2.39 mm in size) were $3.87{\sim}3.99\;mm$ in total length and their myotome number was expressed as 28+15=43. About 20 hours after hatching, a caudal and a pectoral fin as well as an anus began to orgin. In addition, a few malanophore showed on the upper regin of the yolk sac of the larvae whose size was 4.73 mm in total length. The larvae developed about 5.02 mm in total length, and the median fin fold in the abdomen extended forward to two thirds or beyond of the yolk sac at 50 hours after hatching. Simultaneously, the eye balls and mouth also appeared. After 3 days, the yolk sac nearly disappeared, and the larvae (5.4 mm in total length) with perfect eye balls began to swim for themselves for the first time. Also, the specialization between the gill arches and the ailmentary canal, the development of each fins except dorsal fin as well as the blood circulation obviously distinguished in this stage. The larvae whose total length was 5.68 mm was very brisk: also, the development of the dorsal fin rudiment, nearly perfect formation of each organs and the function of the upper and lower jaws were noticeably observed 5 days after hatching.

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An Empirical Study on the Success Factors of Implementing Product Life Cycle Management Systems (제품수명주기관리 시스템 도입의 성공요인에 관한 실증연구)

  • Kim, Jeong-Beom
    • Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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    • v.37 no.12
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    • pp.909-918
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    • 2010
  • To analyze the national competitiveness of Korea leads to the conclusion that global high-tech enterprises have been playing leading and pulling roles in making Korea in line with advanced countries even though the country is lacking in various natural resources. The characteristics of these companies above are as follows; Firstly, these enterprises continue to accumulate core technologies and know-how with highly competent human resources and well-organized management. Secondly, they are well structured and equipped with information technology infrastructures which are, for example, ERP, SCM, CRM, and PLM. Among them PLM is considered to be the principal core information technology infra in manufacturing industry. The urgent task of manufacturing industry recently is to develop new products to accept various needs of consumers, and to launch the products in time to market, which requires the manufactures to be equipped with product development infra and system to upgrade product fulfillment and mass production system in a short period. The introduction of PLM System is a solution of core strategy as a manufacturer for collaboration, global development, reengineering of manufacturing system, the innovation and efficiency of manufacturing process, and product quality improvement. The purpose of this study is to analyze the success factors of introducing PLM System and its practicing effectiveness. And the results of empirical study are as follows; (1) Technical success factors positively impact system quality and user satisfaction, (2) Organizational success factors positively impact system quality, but does not impact user satisfaction, (3) Environmental success factors positively impact system quality and user satisfaction, (4) System quality positively impacts user satisfaction, (5) User satisfaction positively impacts the effectiveness of implementing PLM systems, but system quality does not impact it.

Enhancement of the Deformable Image Registration Accuracy Using Image Modification of MV CBCT (Megavoltage Cone-beam CT 영상의 변환을 이용한 변환 영상 정합의 정확도 향상)

  • Kim, Min-Joo;Chang, Ji-Na;Park, So-Hyun;Kim, Tae-Ho;Kang, Young-Nam;Suh, Tae-Suk
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.28-34
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    • 2011
  • To perform the Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART), a high degree of deformable registration accuracy is essential. The purpose of this study is to identify whether the change of MV CBCT intensity can improve registration accuracy using predefined modification level and filtering process. To obtain modification level, the cheese phantom images was acquired from both kilovoltage CT (kV CT), megavoltage cone-beam CT (MV CBCT). From the cheese phantom images, the modification level of MV CBCT was defined from the relationship between Hounsfield Units (HUs) of kV CT and MV CBCT images. 'Gaussian smoothing filter' was added to reduce the noise of the MV CBCT images. The intensity of MV CBCT image was changed to the intensity of the kV CT image to make the two images have the same intensity range as if they were obtained from the same modality. The demon deformable registration which was efficient and easy to perform the deformable registration was applied. The deformable lung phantom which was intentionally created in the laboratory to imitate the changes of the breathing period was acquired from kV CT and MV CBCT. And then the deformable lung phantom images were applied to the proposed method. As a result of deformable image registration, the similarity of the correlation coefficient was used for a quantitative evaluation of the result was increased by 6.07% in the cheese phantom, and 18% in the deformable lung phantom. For the additional evaluation of the registration of the deformable lung phantom, the centric coordinates of the mark which was inserted into the inner part of the phantom were measured to calculate the vector difference. The vector differences from the result were 2.23, 1.39 mm with/without modification of intensity of MV CBCT images, respectively. In summary, our method has quantitatively improved the accuracy of deformable registration and could be a useful solution to improve the image registration accuracy. A further study was also suggested in this paper.

Sorption Studies of $Cd^{2+}$ on Calcite: Kinetics and Reversibility (방해석의 $Cd^{2+}$ 흡착현상에 대한 연구)

  • Yoon, Hyeon;Reeder, Richard J.
    • Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.104-113
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    • 2002
  • The sorption of Cd$^{2+}$ on calcite was studied in aqueous solutions of several electrolytes. The Cd$^{2+}$ concentration, 10$^{-8}$ M, was kept well below saturation with respect to CdCO$_3$(s). Sorption behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ in different ionic strengths of NaClO$_4$solutions shows that sorption is independent of ionic strength. This result suggests that Cd$^{2+}$ sorption on calcite surface is of a specific nature, and adsorption is controlled by an inner-sphere type of surface complex. Two stages in the sorption behavior could be identified: an initial rapid uptake, followed by slower uptake reaching a maximum steady state by 145 hrs. No evidence was observed for surface precipitation, although it can not be entirely ruled out. Desorption of Cd$^{2+}$ from the calcite surface after resuspension into Cd-free solution is initially very rapid, but depends partly on the previous sorption history. Desorption behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ show that an initial rapid desorption followed either by slow uptake reaching a maximum, as in the adsorption experiments, or slowing desorption to reach a steady state minimum. This irreversible behavior of Cd$^{2+}$ sorption and desorption may act as one of the controls for regulating the mobility of dissolved Cd$^{2+}$ natural aqueous systems. Calculated adsorption partition coefficients suggest that overall sorption and desorption process in the concentration range are controlled by d single mechanism.ingle mechanism.

Are Bound Residues a Solution for Soil Decontamination\ulcorner

  • Bollag, Jean-Marc
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.111-124
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    • 2003
  • Processes that cause immobilization of contaminants in soil are of great environmental importance because they may lead to a considerable reduction in the bioavailability of contaminants and they may restrict their leaching into groundwater. Previous investigations demonstrated that pollutants can be bound to soil constituents by either chemical or physical interactions. From an environmental point of view, chemical interactions are preferred, because they frequently lead to the formation of strong covalent bonds that are difficult to disrupt by microbial activity or chemical treatments. Humic substances resulting from lignin decomposition appear to be the major binding ligands involved in the incorporation of contaminants into the soil matrix through stable chemical linkages. Chemical bonds may be formed through oxidative coupling reactions catalyzed either biologically by polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases, or abiotically by certain clays and metal oxides. These naturally occurring processes are believed to result in the detoxification of contaminants. While indigenous enzymes are usually not likely to provide satisfactory decontamination of polluted sites, amending soil with enzymes derived from specific microbial cultures or plant materials may enhance incorporation processes. The catalytic effect of enzymes was evaluated by determining the extent of contaminants binding to humic material, and - whenever possible - by structural analyses of the resulting complexes. Previous research on xenobiotic immobilization was mostly based on the application of $^{14}$ C-labeled contaminants and radiocounting. Several recent studies demonstrated, however, that the evaluation of binding can be better achieved by applying $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-labeled xenobiotics in combination with $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-NMR spectroscopy. The rationale behind the NMR approach was that any binding-related modification in the initial arrangement of the labeled atoms automatically induced changes in the position of the corresponding signals in the NMR spectra. The delocalization of the signals exhibited a high degree of specificity, indicating whether or not covalent binding had occurred and, if so, what type of covalent bond had been formed. The results obtained confirmed the view that binding of contaminants to soil organic matter has important environmental consequences. In particular, now it is more evident than ever that as a result of binding, (a) the amount of contaminants available to interact with the biota is reduced; (b) the complexed products are less toxic than their parent compounds; and (c) groundwater pollution is reduced because of restricted contaminant mobility.

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