• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1230-1239
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• 2010

Five bacterial species, capable of degrading the recalcitrant organic compounds (ROCs) diethyleneglycol monomethylether (DGMME), 1-amino-2-propanol (APOL), 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), diethyleneglycol monoethylether (DGMEE), tetraethyleneglycol (TEG), and tetrahydrothiophene 1,1-dioxide (sulfolane), were isolated from an enrichment culture. Cupriavidus sp. catabolized $93.5{\pm}1.7$ mg/l of TEG, $99.3{\pm}1.2$ mg/l of DGMME, $96.1{\pm}1.6$ mg/l of APOL, and $99.5{\pm}0.5$ mg/l of NMP in 3 days. Acineobacter sp. catabolized 100 mg/l of DGMME, $99.9{\pm}0.1$ mg/l of NMP, and 100 mg/l of DGMEE in 3 days. Pseudomonas sp.3 catabolized $95.7{\pm}1.2$ mg/l of APOL and $99.8{\pm}0.3$ mg/l of NMP. Paracoccus sp. catabolized $98.3{\pm}0.6$ mg/l of DGMME and $98.3{\pm}1.0$ mg/l of DGMEE in 3 days. A maximum $43{\pm}2.0$ mg/l of sulfolane was catabolized by Paracoccus sp. in 3 days. When a mixed culture composed of the five bacterial species was applied to real wastewater containing DGMME, APOL, NMP, DGMEE, or TEG, 92~99% of each individual ROC was catabolized within 3 days. However, at least 9 days were required for the complete mineralization of sulfolane. Bacterial community diversity, analyzed on the basis of the TGGE pattern of 16S rDNA extracted from viable cells, was found to be significantly reduced in a conventional bioreactor after 6 days of incubation. However, biodiversity was maintained after 12 days of incubation in an electrochemical bioreactor. In conclusion, the electrochemical reduction reaction enhanced the diversity of the bacterial community and actively catabolized sulfolane.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2020

Iodine exists as a trace element in seawater, with total iodine being generally constant at about 0.45-0.55 μM. Almost all of this iodine occurs in two main forms: iodate and iodide. Iodate is the thermodynamically stable form under normal seawater conditions, and thus should be the only iodine-containing species in the water column. However, iodate concentrations are found to vary considerably, being generally greater at depth and lower at the surface, while iodide concentrations follow the reverse pattern, being anomalously accumulated in the euphotic zone and decreasing with depth. The fact that iodide concentrations follow a depth dependence corresponding to the euphotic zone suggests that biological activity is the source of the reduced iodine. Nonetheless, the nature and source of iodate reduction activity remains controversial. Here, using a combination of field and laboratory studies, we examine some of the questions raised in our and other previous studies, and seek further correlations between changes in iodine speciation and the presence of marine macro- and microalgae. The present results indicate that microalgal growth per se does not seem to be responsible for the reduction of iodate to iodide. However, there is some support for the hypothesis that iodate reduction can occur due to release of cellular reducing agents that accompany cell senescence during phytoplankton bloom declines. In addition, support is given to the concept that macroalgal species such as giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) can take up both iodide and iodate from seawater (albeit on a slower time scale). We propose a mechanism whereby iodate is reduced to iodide at the cell surface by cell surface reductases and is taken up directly as such without reentering the bulk solution.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 1985

A polarograph with specially designed cell compartment usable in kinetic study of the mitochondrial respiration of a small sized sample was made, and its performance and experimental conditions were examined. An applied potential (ca-1.2V vs. SCE) which gives rise to the second step reduction of oxygen caused a considerable level of a residual current independent of oxygen, which is temporarily interpreted as the reduction current of the membrane-bound redox material(s) of mitochondria. A potential corresponding to the first slop reduction of oxygen (ca-0.4V vs SCE) did not produce the residual current. Thus, it is suggested that a measurement of oxygen concentration in a sample of mitochondria and submitochondrial particles by using dropping mercury electrode should be done with an applied potential of about -0.4V vs SCE. Consumption of oxygen by mitochondria was observed to follow practically zero order kinetics. Its rate constant exhibited the proportional relationship with the respiratory activity of mitochondria. Usefulness of tile instrument was properly demonstrated in the work on the temperature effect on the respiration of mitochondria isolated from several plant 4issues which were selected on the basis of chilling susceptivity.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.726-732
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• 2016

Clustering analysis is widely used in data mining to classify data into categories on the basis of their similarity. Through the decades, many clustering techniques have been developed, including hierarchical and non-hierarchical algorithms. In gene profiling problems, because of the large number of genes and the complexity of biological networks, dimensionality reduction techniques are critical exploratory tools for clustering analysis of gene expression data. Recently, clustering analysis of applying dimensionality reduction techniques was also proposed. PCA (principal component analysis) is a popular methd of dimensionality reduction techniques for clustering problems. However, previous studies analyzed the performance of PCA for only full data sets. In this paper, to specifically and robustly evaluate the performance of PCA for clustering analysis, we exploit an improved FCBF (fast correlation-based filter) of feature selection methods for supervised clustering data sets, and employ two well-known clustering algorithms: k-means and k-medoids. Computational results from supervised data sets show that the performance of PCA is very poor for large-scale features.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.269-276
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• 2016

Carbon-supported ordered Pt-Ti alloy nanoparticles were prepared as a durable and efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) via wet chemical reduction of Pt and Ti precursors with heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the prepared electrocatalysts with Ti precursor molar compositions of 40% (PtTi40) and 25% (PtTi25) had ordered $Pt_3Ti$ and $Pt_8Ti$ structures, respectively. Comparison of the ORR polarization before and after 1500 electrochemical cycles between 0.6 and 1.1 V showed little change in the ORR polarization curve of the electrocatalysts, demonstrating the high stability of the PtTi40 and PtTi25 alloys. Under the same conditions, commercial carbon-supported Pt nanoparticle electrocatalysts exhibited a negative potential shift (10 mV) in the ORR polarization curve after electrochemical cycling, indicating degradation of the ORR activity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.196-203
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• 2008

Durability of geosynthetics for soil reinforcement is accounted for creep and creep rupture, installation damage and weathering, chemical and biological degradation. Among these, the long-term creep properties have been considered as the most important factors which are directly related to the failure of geosynthetic-reinforced soil(GRS). However, the creep test methods and strain limits are too various to compare the test results with each other. The most widely used test methods are conventional creep test, time-temperature superposition and stepped isothermal method as accelerated creep tests. Recently developed design guidelines recommend that creep-rupture curve be used to determine the creep reduction factor($RF_{CR}$) which is a conservative approach. In this study, the different creep test methods were compared and the creep reduction factors were estimated at different creep strain limits of 10% of total creep strain and creep rupture. In order to minimize the impact of creep strain to the GRS structures, the various creep reduction factors using different creep test methods should be investigated and then the most appropriated one should be selected for incorporating into the design.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.206-212
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• 1999

In order to isolate a Fe(III)-reducer from the natural environment, soil samples were collected from various patty fields and enriched with ferric citrate as a source of Fe(III) under anaerobic condition. Since the enrichment culture was serially performed, the Fe(III)-reduction activity was serially diluted and cultivated on an agar plate containing lactate and ferric citrate in an anaerobic glove box. A Gram negative, motile, rod-shaped and facultative anaerobic Fe(III)-reducer was isolated based on its highest Fe(III)-reduction activity, Bacterial growth was coupled with oxidation of lactate to Fe(III)-reduction, but the isolate fermented pyruvate without Fe(III), The isolate reduced an insoluble ferric iron (FeOOH) as well as a soluble ferric iron (ferric citrate). Using the BBL crystal enteric/non-fermentor identification kit and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the isolate was identified as Shewanella putrefaciens IR-1.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1877-1884
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• 2017

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been suggested as a primary candidate for cell therapy applications because they have self-renewal and differentiation capabilities. Although they can be expanded in ex vivo system, clinical application of these cells is still limited because they survive poorly and undergo senescence or apoptosis when transplanted and exposed to environmental factors such as oxidative stress. Thus, reducing oxidative stress is expected to improve the efficacy of MSC therapy. The milk protein lactoferrin is a multifunctional iron-binding glycoprotein that plays various roles, including reduction of oxidative stress. Thus, we explored the effect of lactoferrin on oxidative stress-induced senescence and apoptosis of human MSCs (hMSCs). Measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) revealed that lactoferrin inhibited the production of hydrogen peroxide-induced intracellular ROS, suggesting lactoferrin as a good candidate as an antioxidant in hMSCs. Pretreatment of lactoferrin suppressed hydrogen peroxide-induced senescence of hMSCs. In addition, lactoferrin reduced hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis via inhibition of caspase-3 and Akt activation. These results demonstrate that lactoferrin can be a promising factor to protect hMSCs from oxidative stress-induced senescence and apoptosis, thus increasing the efficacy of MSC therapy.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.533-539
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• 2014

Mine wastes such as acid mine drainage (AMD) can cause the detrimental effects on surrounding environment, thereby eventually threatening human health. Main objective of this study was to evaluate the neutralizing effect of fly ash (FA) as a stabilizing material AMD. Field plot was constructed in a coal waste depot which has caused aluminium-whitening adjacent to the stream. Different mixing ratios of FA were applied on a top of the soil, and then the physicochemical properties of runoff and soil were monitored. Constructed plots were as following: control (mine waste only (W)), mine waste + 20% ($w\;w^{-1}$)of FA (WC20M), mine waste + 40% ($w\;w^{-1}$)of FA (WC40M), and WC40M dressed with a fresh soil at the top (WC40MD). Result showed that initial pH of runoff in control was 5.09 while that in WC40M (7.81) was significantly increased. For a plot treated with WC40M, the concentration of Al in runoff was decreased to $0.22mg\;L^{-1}$ compared to the W as the control ($4.85mg\;L^{-1}$). Moreover, the concentration of Fe was also decreased to less than half at the WC40M compared to the control. Application of FA can be useful for neutralizing AMD and possibly minimizing adverse effect of AMD in mining area.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2019

Di- and tri-methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3K4me2 and H3K4me3, respectively) are epigenetic markers of active genes. Complex associated with Set1 (COMPASS) mediates these H3K4 methylations. The involvement of COMPASS activity in secondary metabolite (SM) biosynthesis was first demonstrated with an Aspergillus nidulans cclA knockout mutant. The cclA knockout induced the transcription of two cryptic SM biosynthetic gene clusters, leading to the production of the cognate SM. Monascus spp. are filamentous fungi that have been used for food fermentation in eastern Asia, and the pigment Monascus azaphione (MAz) is their main SM. Monascus highly produces MAz, implying that the cognate biosynthetic genes are highly active in transcription. In the present study, we examined how COMPASS activity modulates MAz biosynthesis by inactivating Monascus purpureus cclA (Mp-cclA) and swd1 (Mp-swd1). For both ${\Delta}Mp-cclA$ and ${\Delta}Mp-swd1$, a reduction in MAz production, accompanied by an abated cell growth, was observed. Suppression of MAz production was more effective in an agar culture than in the submerged liquid culture. The fidelity of the ${\Delta}Mp-swd1$ phenotypes was verified by restoring the WT-like phenotypes in a reversion recombinant mutant, namely, trpCp: Mp-swd1, that was generated from the ${\Delta}Mp-swd1$ mutant. Real-time quantitative Polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the transcription of MAz biosynthetic genes was repressed in the ${\Delta}Mp-swd1$ mutant. This study demonstrated that MAz biosynthesis is under the control of COMPASS activity and that the extent of this regulation is dependent on growth conditions.