• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.5_3
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• pp.1053-1066
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• 2020

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is primarily released through industrial, residential, and transportation activities, and creates secondary air pollutants through chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Long-term exposure to SO₂ can result in a negative effect on the human body causing respiratory or cardiovascular disease, which makes the effective and continuous monitoring of SO₂ crucial. In South Korea, SO₂ monitoring at ground stations has been performed, but this does not provide spatially continuous information of SO₂ concentrations. Thus, this research estimated spatially continuous ground-level SO₂ concentrations at 1 km resolution over South Korea through the synergistic use of satellite data and numerical models. A stacking ensemble approach, fusing multiple machine learning algorithms at two levels (i.e., base and meta), was adopted for ground-level SO₂ estimation using data from January 2015 to April 2019. Random forest and extreme gradient boosting were used as based models and multiple linear regression was adopted for the meta-model. The cross-validation results showed that the meta-model produced the improved performance by 25% compared to the base models, resulting in the correlation coefficient of 0.48 and root-mean-square-error of 0.0032 ppm. In addition, the temporal transferability of the approach was evaluated for one-year data which were not used in the model development. The spatial distribution of ground-level SO₂ concentrations based on the proposed model agreed with the general seasonality of SO₂ and the temporal patterns of emission sources.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2003

This study was conducted to evaluate distribution and behavior characteristics of heavy metals for tidal flat sediments in the Saemankeum area. The value of heavy metal contents in the tidal flat sediments were higher than that surveyed in 1994, but showing that it's lower when compared with the value of Shiwha lake. Enrichment factors in the tidal flat sediments showed below 1 except for Pb and Zn. Metal excesses was appeared that Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn lacked and Pb, Zn were high. The correlation analysis between heavy metals and organic matters was found high positive relationship (r=0.424$\~$0.839), especially correlation coefficient between ignition loss and oxide Al, Fe, Mn showed high positive relationship above 0.7. The correlation analysis between Brain size and hear metals was found that as grain size was small, heavy metals contents were increased. Correlation coefficient between silt and heavy metals except for Cu, Pb showed high positive relationship as 0.552$\~$0.732.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.278-295
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• 2021

China's shutdown due to COVID-19 in 2020 reduced air pollutant emissions, which is located on the windward side of South Korea. The positive temperature anomaly and negative zonal wind anomaly from northern Mongolia to South Korea through eastern China presented warm and stationary air masses during January and February 2020. Decreased concentrations of PM10, NO₂, and O₃ were measured at Seokmo-ri and Pado-ri, located in the central-western region of South Korea, due to decreased emissions in China from January to March 2020. After China's shutdown from January to March 2020, in Pado-ri, the ratio of monthly average concentrations in that period with those of PM10 and O₃ in the last four years decreased by approximately 0.7-4.7% and 9.2-22.8%, respectively. In January 2020, during the Lunar New Year holidays in China, concentrations of PM10, NO₂, and O₃ at Seokmo-ri and Pado-ri decreased just as much as it did during the same period in the last four years. However, average concentrations in January 2020 decreased before and after the Lunar New Year holidays in China when compared with those in January of the last four years. In Seokmori, ratios of actual and predicted values (${\bar{O}_s$/M) for PM10, NO₂, and O₃ concentrations were calculated as 70.8 to 89.7%, 70.5 to 87.1%, and 72.5 to 97.1%, respectively, during January and March 2020. Moreover, those of Pado-ri were 79.6 to 93.5%, 67.7 to 84.9%, and 83.7 to 94.6%, respectively. In January 2020, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) data showed a higher distribution than that of the last four years due to photochemical reactions in regions from northern Mongolia to eastern China and the Korean Peninsula. However, the decrease in AOD values compared with those of the last four years was attributed to the decrease in emissions of precursors that generate secondary aerosols in China during March 2020.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.211-220
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• 2022

Poultry are exposed to extremely high levels of oxidative stress as a consequence of the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by endogenous and exogenous stressors, such as high-stocking densities, thermal stress, environmental and feed contamination, along with factors associated with intensive breeding systems. Oxidative stress promotes lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, and inflammation, which can have detrimental effects on the health of birds. During the course of evolution, birds have developed antioxidant defense mechanisms that contribute to maintaining homeostasis when exposed to endogenous and exogenous stressors. The primary antioxidant defense systems are enzymatic and non-enzymatic in nature and play roles in protecting cells from ROS attack. Recently, plant flavonoids, which have been established to reduce oxidative stress, have been attracting considerable attention as potential feed additives. Flavonoids are a group of polyphenolic compounds that can be stabilized by binding structural compounds with ROS, and can promote the elimination of ROS by inducing the expression of antioxidant enzymes. However, although flavonoids can contribute to reducing lipid peroxidation and thereby enhance the antioxidant capacity of birds, they have low solubility in the gastrointestinal tract, and consequently, it is necessary to develop a delivery technology that can facilitate the effect intestinal absorption of these compounds. Furthermore, it is important to determine the dietary levels of flavonoids by assessing the exact antioxidant effects in the gastrointestinal tract wherein the concentrations of dietary flavonoids are highest. It is also necessary to examine the expression of transcriptional factors and vitagenes associated with the efficient antioxidant effects induced by flavonoids. It is anticipated that the application of flavonoids as natural antioxidants will become a particularly important field in the poultry industry.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2024

Fishing net waste (FNW) constitutes over half of all marine plastic waste and is a major contributor to the degradation of marine ecosystems. While current treatment options for FNW include incineration, landfilling, and mechanical recycling, these methods often result in low-value products and pollutant emissions. Importantly, FNWs, comprised of plastic polymers, can be converted into valuable resources like syngas and pyrolysis oil through pyrolysis. Thus, this study presents a process for generating high-purity hydrogen (H₂) by catalytically pyrolyzing FNW in a CO₂ environment. The proposed process comprises of three stages: First, the pretreated FNW undergoes Ni/SiO₂ catalytic pyrolysis under CO₂ conditions to produce syngas and pyrolysis oil. Second, the produced pyrolysis oil is incinerated and repurposed as an energy source for the pyrolysis reaction. Lastly, the syngas is transformed into high-purity H₂ via the Water-Gas-Shift (WGS) reaction and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA). This study compares the results of the proposed process with those of traditional pyrolysis conducted under N₂ conditions. Simulation results show that pyrolyzing 500 kg/h of FNW produced 2.933 kmol/h of high-purity H₂ under N₂ conditions and 3.605 kmol/h of high-purity H₂ under CO₂ conditions. Furthermore, pyrolysis under CO₂ conditions improved CO production, increasing H₂ output. Additionally, the CO₂ emissions were reduced by 89.8% compared to N₂ conditions due to the capture and utilization of CO₂ released during the process. Therefore, the proposed process under CO₂ conditions can efficiently recycle FNW and generate eco-friendly hydrogen product.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.304-312
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• 2024

This study was conducted to characterize strain Y10, isolated from discarded chicken feathers. Strain Y10 was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens through phenotypic and 16S rRNA gene analysis. B. amyloliquefaciens Y10 exhibited plant growth-promoting activities, including the production of fungal cell-degrading enzymes (cellulase, lipase, protease, and pectinase), siderophores, ammonia, and indoleacetic acid. Furthermore, strain Y10 was able to inhibit the mycelial growth of several phytopathogenic fungi. When 0.1% sucrose as a carbon source and 0.05% casein as a nitrogen source were added to the basal medium, adjusted to pH 10, and cultured at 35℃, the degradation rate of chicken feathers by strain Y10 was about two times higher than that of the basal medium, with the feathers almost completely degraded in four days. Strain Y10 also degraded various keratin substrates, including duck feathers, wool, and human nails. It was confirmed that the feather hydrolyzates prepared using strain Y10 exhibited antioxidant activities, such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (EC₅₀ = 0.38 mg/ml) and superoxide dismutase-like activity (EC₅₀ = 183.7 mg/ml). These results suggest that B. amyloliquefaciens Y10 is a potential candidate for the development of bioinoculants and feed additives applicable to the agricultural and livestock industries, as well as the microbiological treatment of keratin waste.