• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.102-111
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• 2022

Among protected areas, National Parks are rich in biodiversity, and the benefits of ecosystem services provided to human are higher than the others. Ecosystem service evaluation is being used to manage the value of national parks based on objective and scientific data. Ecosystem services are classified into four services: supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural. The purpose of this study is to evaluate habitat quality among supporting services. Habitat Quality Model of InVEST was used to analyze. The coefficients of sensitivity and habitat initial value were reset by reflecting prior studies and the actual conditions of protected areas. Habitat quality of 21 national parks except Hallasan National Park was analyzed and mapped. The value of habitat quality was evaluated to be between 0 and 1, and the closer it is to 1, the more natural it is. As a result of habitat quality analysis, Seoraksan and Taebaeksan National Parks (0.90), Jirisan and Odaesan National Parks (0.89), and Sobaeksan National Park (0.88) were found to be the highest in the order. As a result of comparing the area and habitat quality of 18 national parks except for coastal-marine national parks, the larger the area, the higher the overall habitat quality. Comparing the value of habitat quality of each zone, the value of habitat quality was high in the order of the park nature preservation zone, the park nature environmental zone, the park cultural heritage zone, and the park village zone. Considering both the analysis of habitat quality and the legal regulations for each zone of use, it is judged that the more artificial acts are restricted, the higher the habitat quality. This study is meaningful in analyzing habitat quality of 21 National Parks by readjusting the parameters according to the situation of protected areas in Korea. It is expected to be easy to intuitively understand through accurate data and mapping, and will be useful in making policy decisions regarding the development and preservation of protected areas in the future.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2010

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the biologically adverse effect of increased carbon dioxide in seawater on marine bacteria, Vibrio fischeri. We measured the bioluminescence and cell density at every 6 hours for 24 hours of the whole incubation period after exposing test microbes to a range of $CO_2$ concentration such as 380(Control), 1,000, 3,000, 10,000 and 30,000 ppm, respectively. Significant effect on relative luminescence(RLU) of V. fischeri was observed in treatments with $CO_2$ concentration higher than 3,000 ppm at t=12 h. However, the difference of RLU among treatments significantly decreased with the incubation time until t=24 h. Similar trend was observed for the variation of cell density, which was measured as optical density using spectrophotometer. The results showed that a significant relationship between $CO_2$ concentration and bioluminescence of test microbes was observed for the mean time. However, the inhibition of relative bioluminescence and also cell density could be recovered at the concentration levels higher than 3,000 ppm. The dissolved $CO_2$ can be absorbed directly by cell and it can decrease the intracellular pH. Our results implied that microbes might be adversely affected at the initial growing phase by increased $CO_2$. However, they could adapt by increasing ion transport including bicarbonate and then could make their pH back to normal level. Results of this study could be supported to understand the possible influence on marine bacteria by atmospheric increase of $CO_2$ in near future and also by released $CO_2$ during the marine $CO_2$ sequestration activity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.329-334
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• 2008

The antioxidant activity and the qualitative analysis of Acanthopanax sessiliflorum Seeman were studied by partially purified extract using various methods: extraction by using ethanol solutions and temperatures, and absorption to Diaion HP20 column chromatography using 10%, 20%, 40%, 60% ethanol solutions. Major constituents, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, eleutheroside E, was determinated by HPLC method in Acanthopanax sessiliflorum S. 10% and 20% ethanol solutions contain chlorogenic acid (3.020$\pm$0.080%, 20.500$\pm$1.150%, respectively). 40% ethanol solution contains caffeic acid and eleutheroside E (12.270$\pm$0.360%, 1.670$\pm$0.140%, respectively). Diaion HP20 fractions (10%, 20%, 40%, 60% ethanol solutions) showed the scavenging activity of radicals and reactive oxygen species with the $IC_{50}$ values of $81.534{\pm}0.992{\mu}g/ml$, $1.748{\pm}0.098{\mu}g/ml$, $11.487{\pm}1.768{\mu}g/ml$, $21.960{\pm}0.547{\mu}g/ml$ against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazly radical and $1713.548{\pm}34.565{\mu}g/ml$, $131.419{\pm}2.235{\mu}g/ml$, $200.681{\pm}2.444{\mu}g/ml$, $757.897{\pm}6.868{\mu}g/ml$ against superoxide radicals in the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system, respectively. Especially, 20% and 40% ethanol fractions showed more antioxidant activity than dl-$\alpha$-tocopherol. These results suggest that Acanthopanax sessiliflorum S. extract and Diaion HP20 fractions may be useful as a potential source of nutraceutical and cosmetic products.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2009

The objective of the study was to develop a hybrid technology integrating biological and physicochemical technologies to efficiently remediate arsenic contaminated lands such as abandoned mine area. The tailing soil samples contaminated with As at a high level were obtained from Songchon abandoned mine, and the content of arsenic and heavy metals as well as physicochemical properties and mineral composition were investigated. In addition, two sets of sequential extraction methods were applied to analyze chemical speciations of arsenic and heavy metals to expect their leachability and mobility in geoenvironment. Based on these geochemical data of arsenic and heavy metal contaminants, column-type experiments on the bioleaching of arsenic were undertaken. Subsequently, experiments on the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching and electrokinetics were accomplished and its removal efficiency of arsenic was compared with that of the individual electrokinetic process. With the results, finally, the feasibilty of the hybrid technnology was evaluated. The arsenic removal efficiencies of the individual electrokinetic process (44 days) and the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching (28 days) and electrokinetics (16 dyas) were measured 57.8% and 64.5%, respectively, when both two processes were operated in an identical condition. On the contrary, the arsenic removal efficiency during the bioleaching process (28 days) appeared relatively lower (11.8%), and the result indicates that the bioleaching process enhanced the efficacy of the electrokinetic process as a result of mobilization of arsenic rather than removed arsenic by itself. In particular, the arsenic removal rate of the electrokinetics integrated with bioleaching was observed over than 2 times larger than that obtained by the electrokinetics alone. From the results of the study, if the bioleaching which is considered a relatively economic process is applied sufficiently prior to electrokinetics, the removal efficiency and rate of arsenic can be significantly improved. Consequently, the study proves the feasibility of the hybrid process integrating both technologies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.607-613
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• 2010

Osteoporosis is a disease involving a decrease in bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures. The MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblastic cell line is a well-accepted model of osteogenesis in vitro. Pine needles have long been used as a traditional health-promoting medicinal food in Korea. In this study, MTT assay, the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and collagen synthesis of osteoblast cells were investigated to determine the effects of pine needle extracts on cell proliferation and differentiation. Pine needle extracts were prepared using hexane, ethanol and water. The effects of the pine needle extracts were examined by comparing the results with those of commercial agents, such as proanthocyanidin. The MC3T3-E1 cells exposed to proanthocyanidin showed increased proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. The cells exposed to the hexane extract showed a similar increase in proliferation to that observed with proanthocyanidin. The hexane extract showed the highest ALP activity. Moreover, a supplement of pine needle extracts induced collagen synthesis in MC3T3-E1 cells. The pine needle extract produced the highest level of collagen synthesis at concentrations of $10{\sim}50\;{\mu}g/ml$. These results indicate that pine needle extracts have an anabolic effect on bone by promoting osteoblastic differentiation, and may be used in the treatment of common metabolic bone diseases.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.13-27
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• 1993

In order to determine the protein requirements of the Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli six isocaloric diets containing crude protein level from 20\%\;to\;60\%$ were fed to two groups of fish, small and large size, with the initial average body weight of 8 g and 220 g respectively. White fish meal was used as a sole protein source. Daily weight gain, daily protein retention. daily energy retention, feed efficiency, protein retention efficiency and energy retention efficiency were significantly affected by the dietary protein content (p< 0.05). The growth parameters (that is, daily weight gain, daily protein retention and daily energy retention) increased up to $44\%$ protein level with no additional response above this point. The protein requirements were determined from daily weight gain using two different mathematical models. Second order polynomial regression analysis showed that maximum daily weight gain occurred at $56.7\%\;and\;50.6\%$ protein levels for the small size group and the large size group, respectively. However the protein requirements, determined by the broken line model, appeared to be about $40\%$ for both groups. Nutrient utilization also suggested that the protein requirements of both groups were close to $40\%$. When daily protein intake was considered, daily protein requirements per 100g of fish, estimated by the broken line model, were 0.99g and 0.35g for the small and large size groups respectively. Based on these results, a $40\%$ dietary crude protein level could be recommended for the optimum growth and efficient nutrient utilization of the Korean rockfish weighing between 8g and 300g.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.482-489
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• 2012

Visual monitoring is hard to apply on fish because they are living in a water system. To overcome this problem, acoustic telemetry, which is effective for underwater monitoring, is often used for studying fish behaviors, such as movement distance, route and patterns. In this study, in order to monitor the movement pattern of Squaliobarbus curriculus (family Cyprinidae), we used acoustic telemetry and identified the home range and movement distances. A total of nine individuals were released at two different locations: one is at the estuary barrage (Sc1~3) and the other is at the lower part of Baekjae Weir (Sc4~9), located in Geum River. Approximately, a 70 km section from the estuary barrage was investigated. Fish, which were released at the estuary barrage, utilized up to 12.7 km upstream as home range from the release site. At the lower part of Baekjae Weir, most of the fish moved and stayed within a 7.2 km downstream area, except for Sc6, which moved 53.4 km (linear maximum distance from release site) downstream from the release site. Relatively small sized fish (Sc7~9) did not show any movement. Accumulated movement distance significantly correlated with the standard length of S. curriculus ($r_s$=0.715, p=0.03). Moreover, the standard length of moving fish was significantly larger than that of not moving fish (Mann-Whitney U test, p=0.024). Therefore, the movement distance of S. curriculus has been correlated with fish size; movement distance was increased with the standard fish length. Although the sample size of monitored fish was small, various meaningful data were collected by acoustic telemetry. Consequently, this technique could be a method available for effectively monitoring the behavior and ecology of native Korean and endemic species.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1027-1035
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• 2015

A strain GP32 which produces a highly viscous extracellular polysaccharide was conducted with soil samples and identified as Pseudomonas species. The culture flask conditions for the production of extracellular polysaccharide by Pseudomonas sp. GP32 were investigated. The most suitable carbon and nitrogen source for extracellular polysaccharide production were galactose and (NH₄)₂SO₄. The optimum carbon/nitrogen ratio for the production of extracellular polysaccharide was around 50. The optimum pH and temperature for extracellular polysaccharide production was 7.5 and 32℃, respectively. In batch fermentation using a jar fermentor, the highest extracellular polysaccharide content (15.7 g/l) was obtained after 70 hr of cultivation. The extracellular polysaccharide produced by Pseudomonas sp. GP32 (designated Biopol32) was purified by ethanol precipitation, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) precipitation, and gel permeation chromatography. Biopol32, which has an estimated molecular weight of over 3×10⁷ datons, is a novel polysaccharide derived from sugar components consisting of galactose, glucose, gulcouronic acid and galactouronic acid in an approximate molar ratio of 1.85 : 3.24 : 1.00 : 1.42. The solution of Biopol32 showed non-Newtonian characteristics. The viscosity of Biopol32 exhibited appeared to be higher at all concentration compared to that of zooglan from Zoogloea ramigera. An analysis of the flocculating efficiency of Biopol32 in industry wastewater (food, textile, and paper wastewater) revealed chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction rates 58.4-67.3% and suspended solid (SS) removal rates 82.6-91.3%. Based on these results, Biopol32 is a possible candidate for industrial applications such as wastewater treatment.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.438-447
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• 2017

Flowering is one of the most important development traits related to the production of Brassica rapa crops. After planting, a sudden low temperature triggers premature flowering, which leads to a reduction in the yield and quality of harvested production. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of flowering control is important in the agricultural productivity for preventing Brassica rapa crops. Vernalization is generally known as the main factor of flowering in the Brassica plant. However, in the subspecies of Brassica rapa, some accession such as Yellow sarson and Komatsuna display the flowering phenotype without vernalization. Circadian genes, which diurnally regulate plant physiology, have a role for photoperiodic flowering but are related to the regulation of the vernalizarion mechanism. In this report, the 22 B. rapa accession were divided into two groups, vernalization and non-vernalization, and the sequenced circadian gene, BrPRR1s. Among them, the BrPRR1b gene was found to have deletion regions, which could classify the two groups. The PCR primer was designed to amplify a short band of 422bp in the vernalization type and a long band of 451bp in the non-vernalization type. This primer set was applied to distinguish the flowering types in the 43 B. rapa accession and 4 Brassica genus crop, Broccoli, cabbage, mustard, and rape. The PCR analysis results and flowering time information of each crop demonstrated that the primer set can be used as marker to discern the flowering type in Brassica crops. This marker system can be applied to the B. rapa breeding when selecting the flowering character of new progenies or introducing varieties at an early stage. In addition, these results displayed that the circadian clock genes can be a good strategy for the flowering control of B. rapa crops.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the extent of pain response and objective response to palliative radiotherapy (RT) for bone metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma according to RT dose. Materials and Methods: From January 2007 to June 2010, palliative RT was conducted for 103 patients (223 sites) with bone metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment sites were divided into the high RT dose and low RT dose groups by biologically effective dose (BED) of 39 $Gy_{10}$. Pain responses were evaluated using the numeric rating scale. Pain scores before and after RT were compared and categorized into 'Decreased', 'No change' and 'Increased'. Radiological objective responses were categorized into complete response, partial response, stable disease and progression using modified RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors) criteria; the factors predicting patients' survival were analyzed. Results: The median follow-up period was 6 months (range, 0 to 46 months), and the radiologic responses existed in 67 RT sites (66.3%) and 44 sites (89.8%) in the high and low RT dose group, respectively. A dose-response relationship was found in relation to RT dose (p=0.02). Pain responses were 75% and 65% in the high and low RT dose groups, respectively. However, no statistical difference in pain response was found between the two groups (p=0.24). There were no differences in the toxicity profiles between the high and low RT dose groups. Median survival from the time of bone metastases diagnosis was 11 months (range, 0 to 46 months). The Child-Pugh classification at the time of palliative RT was the only significant predictive factor for patient survival after RT. Median survival time was 14 months under Child-Pugh A and 2 months under Child-Pugh B and C. Conclusion: The rate of radiologic objective response was higher in the high RT dose group. Palliative AT with a high dose would provide an improvement in patient quality of life through enhanced tumor response, especially in patients with proper liver function.