• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.322-327
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• 2022

Fucoidans were degraded by hydrogen peroxide under the electron beam (2.5 MeV) with various radiation doses (5 kGy, 10 kGy, 15 kGy, and 20 kGy) at room temperature. The degradation property was analyzed with a gel permeation chromatography (GPC-MALLS) method. An average molecular weight of fucoidan decreased from 99,956 at the irradiation dose of 0 kGy to 6,725 at the irradiation dose of 20 kGy. The solution viscosity of fucoidans showed a similar pattern to the molecular weight change. The number of chain breaks per molecule (N) increased with increasing the irradiation dose and concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The radiation yield of scission value markedly increased with increasing the irradiation dose up to 15 kGy. Also a 10% hydrogen peroxide concentration was more efficient than that of 5%. The structures of degraded fucoidan samples were studied with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that the degradation process did not significantly change the chemical structure or the content of sulfate group. The sulfur content of each sample was determined with an Elemental Analyzer. With increasing the concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the ratios of sulfur/carbon, hydrogen/carbon, and nitrogen/carbon slightly decreased. The antioxidant activities of fucoidans were investigated based on hydroxyl radical scavenging activities. The ability of fucoidan to inhibit the hydroxyl radical scavenging activity was depended on its molecular weight.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.13
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• 2023

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a Gram-negative aerobic diplococcus bacterium that primarily causes sexually transmitted infections through direct human sexual contact. It is a major public health threat due to its impact on reproductive health, the widespread presence of antimicrobial resistance, and the lack of a vaccine. In this study, we used a bioinformatics approach and performed subtractive genomic methods to identify potential drug targets against the core proteome of N. gonorrhoeae (12 strains). In total, 12,300 protein sequences were retrieved, and paralogous proteins were removed using CD-HIT. The remaining sequences were analyzed for non-homology against the human proteome and gut microbiota, and screened for broad-spectrum analysis, druggability, and anti-target analysis. The proteins were also characterized for unique interactions between the host and pathogen through metabolic pathway analysis. Based on the subtractive genomic approach and subcellular localization, we identified one cytoplasmic protein, 2Fe-2S iron-sulfur cluster binding domain-containing protein (NGFG RS03485), as a potential drug target. This protein could be further exploited for drug development to create new medications and therapeutic agents for the treatment of N. gonorrhoeae infections.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3764-3774
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• 2024

In accordance with Regulatory Guide 1.207, Rev.1, fatigue assessments must be conducted considering the influence of primary coolant environment in nuclear reactors. Environmental fatigue, resulting from corrosion in the primary coolant, is evaluated in air fatigue life assessments through the application of an environmental fatigue correction factor. This environmental fatigue correction factor depends on sulfur content, operating temperature, dissolved oxygen, and strain rate. It remains constant for sulfur content, operating temperature, and dissolved oxygen, while strain rate introduces potential errors based on the analysis method. The current fatigue evaluation procedure for air, following ASME B&PV Code Sec.III, NB-3200, employs elastic analysis with a simplified elastic-plastic correction factor(Ke). However, Ke factor is considered excessively conservative, prompting less conservative alternatives proposed by JSME, RCC-M, ASME Code Case N-779. This study applied both ASME Ke and JSME Ke for fatigue evaluations considering environmental effects. Additionally, fatigue assessments accounting for elastic-plastic effects were conducted using Neuber and Glinka methods, compared with actual experiments. The analysis systematically examined changes in fatigue life and the environmental fatigue correction factor due to plastic effects in environmental fatigue evaluations.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.274-282
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• 2004

This study focused on the development of high performance catalyst for autothermal reforming (ATR) of gasoline to produce hydrogen. The ATR was carried out over MgO/Al2O3 supported metal catalysts prepared under various experimental conditions. The catalysts before and after reaction were characterized by N2-physisorption, CO-chemisorption, SEM and XRD. The performance of supported multi-metal catalysts were better than that of supported mono-metal catalysts. Especially, it was observed that the conversion of iso-octane over prepared Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst was 99.9 % comparable with commercial catalyst (ICI) and the selectivity of hydrogen over the prepared catalyst was 65% higher than ICI catalyst. Furthermore, it was identified that the sulfur tolerance of prepared catalyst was much better than ICI catalyst based on the ATR reaction of iso-octane containing sulfur of 100 ppm. Therefore, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst can be applied for a fuel reformer, hydrogen station and on-board reformer in furl cell powered vehicles.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.423-437
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• 2008

Until comparatively lately, the annual time series of the $SO_2$ concentration had been shown in a decreasing trend in Ulsan as well as other Korean cities. However, the high concentration of $SO_2$ was frequently found in the specific countermeasure region including the national industrial complex such as Mipo and Onsan in the Ulsan city for the period of $2001{\sim}2004$. There are many conditions that can influence the high concentration of $SO_2$ at monitoring sites in Ulsan, such as: First, annual usage of the fuel including sulfur increased in comparison with the year before in spite of the fuel conversion policy which wants to use low sulfur oil less than 3% and LNG. Second, point source, such as the power plants and the petroleum and chemistry stacks, was the biggest contributor in $SO_2$ emission, as a analyzed result of both the air quality modeling and the stack tole-monitoring system (TMS) data. And third, the air pollutants that occurred in processes of homing and manufacturing of the fuel including sulfur were transported slow into a special monitoring site by accumulating along the frontal area of see-breeze. It was concluded that Ulsan's current environmental policy together with control methods should be changed into the regulation on total amount of emission, including a market-based emission trading with calculating of atmospheric environmental critical loads, for the $SO_2$ reduction like the specific countermeasure for the $O_3$ and PM10 reduction in the Seoul metropolitan area. And this change should be started in the big point sources of $1{\sim}3$ species because they are big contributors of Ulsan's $SO_2$ pollution. Especially it is necessary to revitalize of the self-regulation environmental management. Other control methods for sustaining the $SO_2$ reduction are as follows: maintenance of the fuel conversion policy, reinforcement of the regional stationary source emission standard, and enlargement of the stack TMS.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.466-473
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• 2001

A bacterium was isolated from soils in Suwon, Korea for the purpose of H$_2$S removal using a biofilter system. The isolate was gram-negative, rod-shaped, catalase-positive, motile, and the isolated bacterium showed a positve in utilizing energy sources including citrate, mannitol, sucrose, fructors, and trehalsoe. Based on its biochemical characteristics it was identified as Burkholderia(Pseudomonas) cepacia. The growth rate of the bacterium in thiosulfate medium with yeast extract was 0.15 hr$\^$-1/ and generation time was 4.6 hr. The cell productivity was 8.05 mg/L$.$h and the isolate grew logarithmically up to 12 hr. The maximum rate of sulfur oxidation was 0.18 g-S/L$.$h. The optimum pH and temperature for the growth of the bacterium were 7.0 and 30$\^{C}$, respectively. The pH range for the growth of B. cepacia was 5.0-8.0. The oxidation rate of thiosulfate was lowered by a substrate thiosulfate when the concentration was higher than 0.12 M. both growth rate and sulfur oxidation rate of Burkholderia(Pseudomonas) cepacia was enhanced about 1.5 times with the addition of 0.2% yeast extract. The removal of hydrogen sulfide was investigated by immobilized B. cepacia with Ca-alginate. The maximum rate removal for H$_2$S was 6.25 g$.$㎤ $.$h$\^$-1/ when 12 L/h of flow rate was supplied. From this study suggest the immobilized B. cepacia could have a potential for H$_2$S removal.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-35
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• 2010

To learn more about the calibration properties of reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs) by the combination of gas chromatography(GC)-pulsed flame photometric detector (PFPD) and thermal desorption method, a series of calibration experiments were conducted on the basis of both internal and external calibration approaches. For these experiments, gaseous standards of 4 RSCs ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, and DMDS) were prepared at two different concentration levels of both low (10, 20, 50,and 100 ppb) and high ranges (100, 200, 500, and 1000 ppb) along with $CS_2$ as an internal standard. First, the external calibration results were compared between fixed standard volume (FSV) and fixed standard concentration (FSC) method. Secondly, FSV-based calibration results were compared between external and internal calibration results. As FSV method suffers from sensitivity variations less significantly than FSC, the former is recommended to maintain the consistency in GC-TD sensitivity for RSC analysis. In addition, when the calibration data were examined in terms of RSE between external and internal calibration data, the results were not consistent enough to show improvements in internal method. Hence, diverse efforts are desirable to optimize the reproducibility in terms of GC-TD sensitivity for RSC analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 1991

The study was performed to select a adaptable tree species under stressed field conditions where there are a industrial plants operating with a number of smoke stacks emitting pollutants, such as hydrogen fluoride and sulfur dioxide. As a result of the study, a tree species selected are due to construct a forest belt in a zones near industrial plants to reduce the concentrations of air pollutants. The concentrations of atmospheric hydrogen fluoride and sulfur dioxide were very higher at experimental sites near industrial plants (air-pollution sites) than at control site. The leaves of 7 tree species grown at air pollution sites contained more sulfur and, specially, fluorine than at those control site. Among the tested tree species, Ligustrum japonicum Thunb. and Euonymus japonica Thunb. grown at air pollution sites did not at all break out a foliar injury but appeared to be healthy, as well as those grown at control site. Acer pseudo-sieboldianum Kom., Pinus virginiana Mill., Larix leptolepis Gordon., Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc., Pinus strobus L., Picea abies Karst and Ligustrum obtusifolium Sieb. et Zucc., however, showed a severe fluoride-type foliar injury such as necrosis on tip or margin of leaves, etc. Fluorine found in leaves was proved to be correlated to sulfur found in leaves whereas index of foliar injury hadn't a good correlation to pollutants found in leaves. It appears that Euonymus japonica Thunb., Ligustrum japonica Thunb., Platanus acerifolia Willd, Chamaecyparis pisifera Endl., Populus tomentiglandulosa T. Lee and Sophora japonica L. grown at both experimental sites had a high value of percent survival whereas Pinus virginiana Mill., Pinus koraiensis Sib. et Zucc., Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm. and Alnus hirsuta Rupr. had an extremely low value of that. In comparison with control site, the percent tree height increments in Chamaecyparis pisifera Endl., Ligustrum japonicum Thunb., Quercus acutissima Carruth., Populus tomentiglandulosa T. Lee, Pinus thunbergii Parl and Euonymus japonica Thunb. and the percent upmost root diameters in Populus tomentiglandulosa T. Lee, Chamaecyparis pisifera Endl., Euonymus japonica Thunb., Ligustrum japonicum Thunb., Betula platyphylla var. japonica Hara and Pinus thunbergii Parl. cultivated at air polluted sites showed very high value above 90%, respectively. A significant negative correlation (r=-0.662) was recognized between the index of foliage injury and the percent collective character, which was the mean of tree characters such as percent survival, percent tree height increment and percent upmost root diameter increment which compared to those at air polluted site with those at control site. Based on the percent collective character Ligustrum japonicum Thunb., Euonymus japonica Thunb., Chamaecyparis pisifera Endl., Populus tomentiglandlosa T. Lee, Betula platyphyla var. japonica Hara and Platanus occidentalis L. have large value about 90%, respectively. Therefore, the results indicate that this tree species are adaptable species in air polluted regions. For better understanding of the adaptable tree species, furthur studies concerning the effects of various air pollutants on the tree growth are required.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.57-65
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• 2013

The development of the oil refining industry has resulted in an annual 120 million tons of sulphur, which is a by-product of the desulphurization process. To exploit this abundance, the applications of sulphur must be expanded. as excellent durability of reuse of leftover sulphur which has high potential for utilization in construction materials, the study is actively in progress. Meanwhile, there has been active research on semi-rigid pavements that draw on the strengths and overcome the weaknesses of asphalt and concrete pavements. Acrylate is used to prevent cracking but involves a high cost, thus, an alternative material is required. As such, this study presents methods on the reuse of leftover sulphur and examines the engineering performance of grout containing sulfur polymer emulsion (SPE) for use in semi-rigid pavements. Our analysis shows that grout in which 30% of acrylate is replaced with SPE has superior properties in terms of time of flow and strength compared to regular grout. However, performance declined when more than 50% of acrylate was replaced by SPE, indicating that the optimum replacement level is 30%. Through SEM analysis, we found that grout with utra harding cement in this study at three hours had similar hydration properties to that of Type 1 Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) at seven days, and maintained the properties regardless of grout containing SPE. OPC and grout with a replacement level of 30% displayed similar levels of chloride invasion resistance, whereas grout without SPE was far less resistant. Within the scope of this paper, the optimum replacement level of acrylate with SPE was found to be 30% in consideration of various properties such as time of flow, strength, and chloride invasion resistance.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.293-303
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• 2020

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is a typical health hazard, resulting in about 7 million premature deaths each year. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of the major air pollutants, and the combustion process with sulfur-containing fuels generates it. Measuring SO2 generation in large combustion environments in real time and optimizing reduction facilities based on measured values are necessary to reduce the compound's presence. This paper describes the concentration measurement for SO2, a particulate matter precursor, using a wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS). This study employed a quantum cascade laser operating at 7.6 ㎛ as a light source. It demonstrated concentration measurement possibility using 64 multi-absorption lines between 7623.7 and 7626.0 nm. The experiments were conducted in a multi-pass cell with a total path length of 28 and 76 m at 1 atm, 296 K. The SO2 concentration was tested in two types: high concentration (1000 to 5000 ppm) and low concentration (10 ppm or less). Additionally, the effect of H2O interference in the atmosphere on the measurement of SO2 was confirmed by N2 purging the laser's path. The detection limit for SO2 was 3 ppm, and results were compared with the electronic chemical sensor and nondispersive infrared (NDIR) sensor.