• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.518-526
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• 2019

Background: Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly expanding new technology involving challenges to occupational health. Here, metal exposure in an AM facility with large-scale metallic component production was investigated during two consecutive years with preventive actions in between. Methods: Gravimetric analyzes measured airborne particle concentrations, and filters were analyzed for metal content. In addition, concentrations of airborne particles <300 nm were investigated. Particles from recycled powder were characterized. Biomonitoring of urine and dermal contamination among AM operators, office personnel, and welders was performed. Results: Total and inhalable dust levels were almost all below occupational exposure limits, but inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry showed that AM operators had a significant increase in cobalt exposure compared with welders. Airborne particle concentrations (<300 nm) showed transient peaks in the AM facility but were lower than those of the welding facility. Particle characterization of recycled powder showed fragmentation and condensates enriched in volatile metals. Biomonitoring showed a nonsignificant increase in the level of metals in urine in AM operators. Dermal cobalt and a trend for increasing urine metals during Workweek Year 1, but not in Year 2, indicated reduced exposure after preventive actions. Conclusion: Gravimetric analyses showed low total and inhalable dust exposure in AM operators. However, transient emission of smaller particles constitutes exposure risks. Preventive actions implemented by the company reduced the workers' metal exposure despite unchanged emissions of particles, indicating a need for careful design and regulation of the AM environments. It also emphasizes the need for relevant exposure markers and biomonitoring of health risks.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2003

This research aims the production of anti-tumor substances through in vitro culture of hairy roots transformed by Agrobacterium rhizogenes in Artemisia sylvatica MAX and the effect of culture conditions on optimum growth of hairy roots. We investigated the optimum medium, pH, carbon source, sucrose, light, Fe and polyamine conditions of various lines of hairy roots (NK3, NK4, YX. NK3-10) induced from Artemisia sylvatica to increase the optimum growth of hairy roots. MS medium was the best for optimum growth of hairy root clone, NK3-S10. The optimum culture period was 4 weeks for NK3-S10. The optimum sucrose concentration was 3.5%. The optimum concentration of FeSO$_4$, spermine and spermidine was 0.1 mM, 10 mM and 100 mM, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.490-490
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• 2011

Graphene, hexagonal network of carbon atoms forming a one-atom thick planar sheet, has been emerged as a fascinating material for future nanoelectronics. Huge attention has been captured by its extraordinary electronic properties, such as bipolar conductance, half integer quantum Hall effect at room temperature, ballistic transport over ${\sim}0.4{\mu}m$ length and extremely high carrier mobility at room temperature. Several approaches have been developed to produce graphene, such as micromechanical cleavage of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite using adhesive tape, chemical reduction of exfoliated graphite oxide, epitaxial growth of graphene on SiC and single crystalline metal substrate, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis. In particular, direct synthesis of graphene using metal catalytic substrate in CVD process provides a new way to large-scale production of graphene film for realization of graphene-based electronics. In this method, metal catalytic substrates including Ni and Cu have been used for CVD synthesis of graphene. There are two proposed mechanism of graphene synthesis: carbon diffusion and precipitation for graphene synthesized on Ni, and surface adsorption for graphene synthesized on Cu, namely, self-limiting growth mechanism, which can be divided by difference of carbon solubility of the metals. Here we present that large area, uniform, and layer controllable graphene synthesized on Cu catalytic substrate is achieved by acetylene-assisted CVD. The number of graphene layer can be simply controlled by adjusting acetylene injection time, verified by Raman spectroscopy. Structural features and full details of mechanism for the growth of layer controllable graphene on Cu were systematically explored by transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.2 s.121
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• pp.109-114
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• 2007

In mass production of seed-potato plantlets, the processes for in vitro propagation and ex vitro acclimatization with a high cost should be improved by a culture system with environmental control using scaled-up culture vessels. The experiment was conducted to design a hydroponic culture system for enhancement of growth and development of seed-potato (Solanum tuberosum) plantlets cultured under photoautotrophic (without sugar in culture medium) conditions with controlled light intensity and ventilation rate. The culture system was consisted of scaled-up culture vessels, ventilation pipes, a multi-cell tray and an environmental control system (ECS) for optimum controlling in temperature, light intensity, ventilation rate, and culture-medium supply. Growth and development of the plantlets was significantly increased under the ECS compared with a conventional culture system (CCS) of photomixotrophic culture (with sugar in culture medium) using small scale vessels. For 21 days, leaf area of the plantlets was expanded more than 2 times, and number of internodes also approximately 4 times greate. under the ECS. In addition, the photoautotrophic growth in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) and chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) plantlets was greater more than 2 times compared with the CCS.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2012

Suspension culture is a useful tool for culturing embryonic stem (ES) cells in large-scale, but the stability of pluripotency and karyotype has to be maintained $in$ $vitro$ for clinical application. Therefore, we investigated whether the chromosomal abnormality of ES cells was induced in suspension culture or not. The ES cells were cultured in suspension as a form of aggregate with or without mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), and 0 or 1,000 U/ml leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) was treated to suspended ES cells. After culturing ES cells in suspension, their karyotype, DNA content, and properties of pluripotency and differentiation were evaluated. As a result, the formation of tetraploid ES cell population was significantly increased in suspension culture in which ES cells were co-cultured with both MEFs and LIF. Tetraploid ES cell population was also generated when ES cells were cultured alone in suspension regardless of the existence of LIF. On the other hand, the formation of tetraploid ES cell population was not detected in LIF-free condition, in which MEFs were included. The origin of tetraploid ES cell population was turned out to be E14 ES cells and not MEFs by microsatellite analysis and the basic properties of them were still maintained despite ploidy-conversion to tetraploidy. Furthermore, we identified the ploidy shift from tetraploidy to near-triploidy as tetraploid ES cells were differentiated spontaneously. From these results, we demonstrated that suspension culture system could induce ploidy-conversion generating tetraploid ES cell population. Moreover, optimization of suspension culture system may make possible mass-production of ES cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.35-40
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• 2005

The demand for small and high-capacity optical data storage devices has rapidly increased. The areal density of optical disk is increased using higher numerical aperture objective lens and shorter wavelength source. A wafer-scale stacked micro objective lens with a numerical aperture of 0.85 and a focal length of 0.467mm for the 405nm blue- violet laser was designed and fabricated. A diffractive optical element (DOE) was used to compensate the spherical aberration of the objective lens. Among the various fabrication methods for micro DOE, the UV-replication process is more suitable for mass-production. In this study, an 8-stepped DOE pattern as a master was fabricated by photolithography and reactive ion etching process. A flexible mold was fabricated for improving the releasing properties and shape accuracy in UV-molding process. In the replication process, the effects of exposing time and applied pressure on the replication quality were analyzed. Finally, the shapes of master, mold and molded pattern were measured by optical scanning profiler. The deviation between the master and the molded DOE was less than 0.1um. The efficiency of the molded DOE was measured by DOE efficiency measurement system which consists of laser source, sample holder, aperture and optical power meter, and the measured value was $84.5\%$.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.652-664
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• 2008

In this study, a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan was developed for the sanitary mass production of commercial Korean rice cake products (Gaepidduk, Injulmi, and Julpyon). The microbiological properties of manufacturing flow were evaluated in order to develop the HACCP Plan. The moisture contents of the rice cakes ranged between 36.2${\sim}$55.3%, whereas the water activity of all samples ranged between 0.954${\sim}$1.0. Microorganisms testing was conducted during various phases of the product flow of Korean rice cake preparation, and included assessments of food equipment, work environment, and cooking employees on a small scale. During the manufacture of Injulmi, Julpyon and Gaepidduk, CCPs were purchasing & storage, steaming and cooling, molding, and holding in the A and B manufactories. At the critical limit of CCPs, storage was conducted below at $5^{\circ}C$ in soybean powder, oil, and paste with redbeans. The steaming process was conducted above at $99^{\circ}C$ for 40 min. Cooling and holding processes were conducted for 2 hours below at $15^{\circ}C$. The molding process included sanitary education for foodhandlers and training for operators. Thus, certain prerequisite programs had to be implemented prior to the implementation of the HACCP system. High levels of bacterial contamination were detected in the aprons worn to work by some employees. Additionally, periodic sanitary education for foodhandlers and training for operators or managers was required. Cross contamination by materials was expected at the place where materials were processed or stored.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.639-643
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• 2021

In this study, fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) nanoparticle as an adhesive for fabricating a three-dimensional multilayered microfluidic device was studied. The formation of evenly distributed FEP nanoparticles layer with 3 ㎛ in thickness on substrates was achieved by simple spin coating of FEP dispersion solution at 1500 rpm for 30 s. It is confirmed that FEP nanoparticles transformed into a hydrophobic thin film after thermal treatment at 300 ℃ for 1 hour, and fabricated polyimide film-based microfluidic device using FEP nanoparticle was endured pressure up to 2250 psi. Finally, a three-dimensional multilayered microfluidic device composed of 16 microreactors, which are difficult to fabricate with conventional photolithography, was successfully realized by simple one-step alignment of FEP coated nine polyimide films. The developed three-dimensional multilayered microfluidic device has the potential to be a powerful tool such as high-throughput screening, mass production, parallelization, and large-scale microfluidic integration for various applications in chemistry and biology.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.205-225
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• 2021

Due to the large-scale production and use of synthetic chemicals in industralized countries, various chemicals are found in the aquatic environment, which are often termed as micropollutants. Effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as one of the major sources of these micropollutants. In this article, the current status of occurrence and removal of micropollutants in WWTPs and their management policies and options in domestic and foregin countries were critically reviewed. A large number of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and industrial chemicals are found in WWTPs' influent, and are only partially removed by current biological wastewater treatment processes. As a result, some micropollutants are present in WWTPs' effluents, which can negatively affect receiving water quality or drinking water source. To better understand and assess the potential risk of micropollutants, a systematic monitoring framework including advanced analytical tools such as high resolution mass spectrometry and bioanalytical methods is needed. Some Western European countries are taking proactive approach to controlling the micropollutants by upgrading WWTP with enahnced effluent treatment processes. While this enahnced WWTP effluent treatment appears to be a viable option for controlling micropollutant, its implementation requires careful consideration of the technical, economical, political, and cultural issues of all stakeholders.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1905-1911
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• 2020

Homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) catalyzes the reversible conversion of ʟ-aspartate-4-semialdehyde to ʟ-homoserine in the aspartate pathway for the biosynthesis of lysine, methionine, threonine, and isoleucine. HSD has attracted great attention for medical and industrial purposes due to its recognized application in the development of pesticides and is being utilized in the large scale production of ʟ-lysine. In this study, HSD from Bacillus subtilis (BsHSD) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity for biochemical characterization. We examined the enzymatic activity of BsHSD for ʟ-homoserine oxidation and found that BsHSD exclusively prefers NADP+ to NAD+ and that its activity was maximal at pH 9.0 and in the presence of 0.4 M NaCl. By kinetic analysis, Km values for ʟ-homoserine and NADP+ were found to be 35.08 ± 2.91 mM and 0.39 ± 0.05 mM, respectively, and the Vmax values were 2.72 ± 0.06 μmol/min-1 mg-1 and 2.79 ± 0.11 μmol/min-1 mg-1, respectively. The apparent molecular mass determined with size-exclusion chromatography indicated that BsHSD forms a tetramer, in contrast to the previously reported dimeric HSDs from other organisms. This novel oligomeric assembly can be attributed to the additional C-terminal ACT domain of BsHSD. Thermal denaturation monitoring by circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to determine its melting temperature, which was 54.8℃. The molecular and biochemical features of BsHSD revealed in this study may lay the foundation for future studies on amino acid metabolism and its application for industrial and medical purposes.