• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.166-174
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• 2016

In order to find an efficient bacterial strain that can carry out nitrification and denitrification simultaneously, we isolated many heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria from wastewater treatment plant. One of isolates NS13 showed high removal rate of ammonium and was identified as Alcaligenes faecalis by analysis of its 16S rDNA sequence, carbon source utilization and fatty acids composition. This bacterium could remove over 99% of ammonium in a heterotrophic medium containing 140 mg/L of ammonium at pH 6-9, $25-37^{\circ}C$ and 0-4% of salt concentrations within 2 days. It showed even higher ammonium removal at higher initial ammonium concentration in the medium. A. faecalis NS13 could also reduce nitrate and nitrous oxide by nitrate reductase and nitrous oxide reductase, respectively, which was confirmed by detection of nitrate reductase gene, napA, and nitrous oxide reducase gene, nosZ, by PCR. One of metabolic intermediate of denitrification, $N_2O$ was detected from headspace of bacterial culture. Based on analysis of all nitrogen compounds in the bacterial culture, 42.8% of initial nitrogen seemed to be lost as nitrogen gas, and 46.4% of nitrogen was assimilated into bacterial biomass which can be removed as sludge in treatment processes. This bacterium was speculated to perform heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification simultaneously, and may be utilized for N removal in wastewater treatment processes.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.31-38
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• 1987

The present study was carried out to determine the effect of the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of paddy soil on the adsorption and desorption of $Sr^{90}$ from absorbed soils. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Most of the adsorbed $Sr^{90}$ was exchangeable and water soluble. $Sr^{90}$ extracted by ammonium acetate was very high compared to the water soluble fractions, and the ammount decreased with the increase of calcium application, but increased proportionally with the increase of $Sr^{90}$ treatment. 2. The distribution of $Sr^{90}$ in paddy soil depend on the soil type. Average-distribution rates of water soluble, exchangeable and non-exchangeable fractions of $Sr^{90}$ in the soils were 28.6%, 59.3% and 12.1% respectively. 3. The non-exchangeable from of $Sr^{90}$ was high in the soils of high illite and low vermiculite content. 4. The desorption of $Sr^{90}$ from adsorbed soils decreased with the increase of pH and ex-cations of the soils, but increased with the amount of organic matter and clay content in the soil.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2018

Laguna Lake is the largest inland fresh water body in the Philippines. It primarily serves as a site for aquaculture, hydropower, transportation, and water supply industries. Due to Laguna Lake's diverse functionalities, competition among water users became prominent. Water quality began to deteriorate due to various pollutant contributions in this process, thereby affecting the soundness of the aquatic ecosystem. This study was conducted to evaluate the current water quality management policy from the viewpoint of ecological environment through the evaluation of the water quality of Laguna Lake. Concentrations of water pollutants such as ammonia ($NH_3$), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chloride ($Cl^-$), pH, and total suspended solids (TSS) exceeded the water quality standards of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The water quality of the lake was also affected by the pollutant load due to agriculture and urban stormwater runoff in the watershed. The salinity and contaminated water from Pasig River also affected the water quality of Laguna Lake. Long-term water quality analysis showed that the water quality of Laguna Lake is also influenced by rainfall-related seasonal variations. The results of the water quality analysis of Laguna Lake indicated that the environmental management techniques of the Philippines should be changed from the conventional water management into an integrated watershed management scheme in the future. It is therefore necessary to study and introduce advanced watershed management measures in the Philippines based from the policies of other developed countries.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.221-226
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• 2011

The gene encoding 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase (mgtA) from Thermotoga neapolitana was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in order to investigate whether this enzyme was capable of producing cycloamylose for industrial applications. MgtA was purified to homogeneity by HiTrap Q HP and Sephacryl S-200 HR column chromatographies. The size of the enzyme as determined by SDS-PAGE was about 52 kDa, which was in good agreement with its deduced molecular mass of 51.9 kDa. The optimal temperature and pH for the activity of the 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase was found to be $85^{\circ}C$ and 6.5, respectively. The enzyme hydrolyzed the 1,4-$\alpha$-glucosidic bonds in oligomeric 1,4-$\alpha$-glucans and transferred oligosaccharides (maltotriose being the shortest one) to acceptor maltodextrins. However, the enzymes had no activity against pullulan, glycogen, and other di- or trioligosaccharides with rare types of $\alpha$-bond. MgtA is distinguished from 4-$\alpha$-glucanotransferase from Thermotoga maritima in that it can convert maltotriose into maltooligosaccharides. The treatment of glucoamylase after the reaction of MgtA with maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose, or maltohexaose as sole substrate revealed that MgtA yielded linear maltooligosaccharides instead of cycloamylose.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.737-741
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• 2005

In this study, the effect of copper content on the NO removal efficiency by Cu/MCM-41 has been investigated. MCM-41 was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis using a gel mixture of colloidal silica solution and cetyltrimethylammonium. Cu/MCM-41 was manufactured with copper content (5, 10, 20, and 40%) in Cu(II) acetylacetonate. The surface properties of MCM-41 were investigated by using pH, XRD, and FT-IR analyses. $N_2/77K$ adsorption isotherm characteristics, including the specific surface area and micropore volume were studied by BET's equation and Boer's t-plot methods. NO removal efficiency was confirmed by gas chromatography technique. From the experimental results, the MCM-41 was analyzed to have the surface functional groups of Si-OH and Si-O-Si and the characteristic diffraction lines (100), (110), (200), and (210) corresponding to a hexagonal arrangement structure. The copper content supported on MCM-41 appeared to increase the NO removal efficiency in spite of decreasing the specific surface areas or micropore volumes. Consequently, it was found that the copper content in Cu/MCM-41 played an important role in improving the NO removal efficiency, which was mainly attributed to the catalytic reactions.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.572-580
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• 2018

Biologically active substances including gamma-aminobutryric acid (GABA) were added into whey by co fermentation using Bacillus subtilis HA and Lactobacillus plantarum EJ2014. The first fermentation using B. subtilis HA with 5% monosodium glutamate (MSG) and 2% glucose enhanced the production of poly-${\gamma}$-glutamic acid (PGA), resulting in higher consistency of $4.09Pas^n$ as well as whey protein peptides. After the second fermentation using L. plantarum EJ2014, the remaining MSG (3.40%) as a precursor was completely converted to 2.21% GABA. Furthermore, the lactose content in whey decreased from 6.73 to 3.68% after co-fermentation, and the tyrosine content increased from 20.47 to 38.24%. Peptides derived of whey proteins were confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Viable cell counts of B. subtilis and L. plantarum were 5.83 log CFU/mL and 9.20 log CFU/mL, respectively. Thus, co-fermentation of whey could produce the novel food ingredient fortified with biologically active compounds including GABA, ${\gamma}$-PGA, peptides, and probiotics.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.53-61
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• 2018

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the most widely used process that can convert the organic fraction of waste activated sludge (WAS) into biogas. However, most researched actual methane yields of anaerobic digester (AD) on lab scale is lower than theoretical ones. Bioelectrochemical, anaerobic digester was used to increase methane yield from waste activated sludge. The influence of anaerobic digestion sludge and raw sludge mixing ratio (3:7, 5:5) on methane yield and organic matter removal efficiency were explored. As a result, when the mixing ratio of bioelectrochemical anaerobic sludge was 5:5 compared with 3:7, the highest methane yields were 294.2 mL $CH_4/L$ (0.63 times increase) and 52.5% (7.5% increase), the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester(5:5) was more stable in the pH, t otal alkalinity and VFAs, respectively. These results showed that the increase in the mixing ratio of anaerobic digestion sludge was found to be effective for maintaining the stable performance of bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 1978

In an attempt to elucidate the fate of 3,4-DCA and TCAB in various French soils, uniformly $^{14}C-ring-labeled$ 3,4-DCA and TCAB mere utilized and the following results obtained. 1) The rate of breakdown of $^{14}C-3,4-DCA$ into $^{14}CO_2$ was relatively higher in the early stage than that in the later stage. In 6 months of incubation in alkaline soil (pH 7.9), the rate was as high as 6.5% at dose 1 (1.5 ppm) and as low as 1.92% at dose 2(94 ppm), whereas in organic acid soil (pH 5.5) the rate was 4.91% at dose 1 and 4.24% at dose 2, respectively, without making any great difference between the two levels. 2) At dose 1, 47.70% of the initial radioactivity of $^{14}C-3,4-DCA$ was bound to soil in organic acid soil and 29.49% bound in alkaline soil, whereas at dose 2, 38.40% in organic acid soil and 20.30% in alkaline soil, respectively. 3) The amount of formation of $^{14}C-TCAB$ from $^{14}C-3,4-DCA$ seems to depend largely on the concentration of 3,4-DCA applied rather than on soil types. At dose 2, the amount was 50% of the total radioactivity extracted in organic acid soil and 30% in alkaline soil, corresponding to 1.8% and 1.4% of the initial radioactivity applied to soil, respectively. Cis-TCAB also seemed to be formed at dose 2 in both soils. Meanwhile, at dose 1, even though $^{14}C-TCAB$ was detected in trace on tlc and glc in both soils, the amount does not exceed 2 to 3% of the radioactivity extracted, corresponding to 0.05 to 0.1% of the initial radioactivity. 4) The rate of breakdown of $^{14}C-TCAB$ into $^{14}CO_2$ ranged from 0.05 to 0.20% in all the four soils. Most of the applied $^{14}C-TCAB$ remained intact after 3 months, not producing any detectable metabolites. 5) The fact that much more $^{14}C-TCAB$ was adsorbed to alkaline soil than to the other soils strongly indicates that in alkaline condition trans-isomer was converted tocisisomer which has the higher adsorption affinity than the former.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.945-951
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• 2013

Changes in fermentation properties and ornithine levels of Baechu Kimchi by storage conditions were investigated. After making and fermenting Kimchi at $15^{\circ}C$ for 32 hr (S1), 36 hr (S2), 40 hr (S3), 44 hr (S4), and 48 hr (S5) during the first 10 days of storage. The Kimchi samples are subsequently stored in the -$1^{\circ}C$ Kimchi refrigerator for up to 60 days. Changes in the pH values and lactic acid contents of S4 and S5 samples are slightly bigger than the S1, S2 and S3 samples which have no significance differences. According to lactic acid bacteria (LAB) number, all samples show the largest augmentation according to the number of Lactobacilli during the first 20 days of storage. After 20 days of storage, the S4 and S5 samples show larger accumulations of LAB than S1, S2 and S3 samples. The Weissella genus is predominated at the 40 day of storage in the S5 sample. Ornithine levels are increased up to 170mg per 100 g during the storage period of 40~50 days in the S5 sample. However, the increase of ornithine levels in S1, S2 and S3 samples is smaller than those of the S4 and S5 samples. These results indicate that the conditions of Kimchi fermentation, which is 48 hr at $15^{\circ}C$ before storage, is proved to be the most superior for ornithine levels within the Kimchi refrigerator.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.680-688
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• 2016

This study analyzed the changes in physicochemical components of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) fermented with Phellinus linteus. Moisture content, pH, total acidity, total reducing sugar content, extraction yield, free sugar content, free amino acid and isoflavonoid (calycosin, formononetin) were investigated. The moisture content was increased during fermentation with Phellinus linteus. The pH level increased while the total acidity significantly decreased during fermentation. The reducing sugar content were in the range of 0.32~0.61%. The extraction yield using water was higher than that using 80% ethanol. The major free sugars were identified as glucose, fructose, sucrose and the content of free sugars decreased through fermentation. However, the glucose and sucrose contents of the water extracts were increased. In addition, the free amino acid increased significantly during fermentation. Finally, calycosin and formononetins contents in water extracts of after 30 days of AM fermentaion with Phellinus linteus were (3.91 mg/100 g) and (1.38 mg/100 g), respectively. These results suggest that fermentation with Phellinus linteus could be used to increase the bioactivity of AM. The mycelium-fermented AM could be a valuable source of functional material and edible resource for industry.