• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.127-145
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• 1998

Unlike water or air quality standards that have been established by legislation using potential human health impact as the primary criterion, soil quality depends on the soils primary function and its relevant environmental factors, which is much more site- and soil specific. A properly characterized soil quality assessment system should serve as an indicator of the soil capacity to produce safe and nutritious food, to enhance human and animal health, and to overcome degrative processes. For our proposed example, a high quality soil with regard to maintaining an adequate soil productivity as a food production resources must accommodate soil and water properties, food chain, sustainability and utilization, environment, and profitability, that (i) facilitate water transfer and absorption, (ii) sustain plant growth, (iii) resist physical degradation of soil, (iv) produce a safe food resources, (v) cost-effective agricultural management. Possible soil quality indicators are identified at several levels within the framework for each of these functions. Each indicator is assigned a priority or weight that reflects its relative importance using a multi-objective approach based on principles of systems to be considered. To do this, individual scoring system is differentiated by the several levels from low to very high category or point scoring ranging from 0 to 10, And then weights are multiplied and products are summed to provide an overall soil quality rating based on several physical and chemical indicators. Tlne framework and procedure in developing the soil quality assessment are determined by using information collected from an alternative and conventional farm practices in the regions. The use of an expanded framework for assessing effects of other processes, management practices, or policy issues on soil quality is also considered. To develop one possible form for a soil quality index, we should permit coupling the soil characteristics with assessment system based on soil properties and incoming and resident chemicals. The purpose of this paper is to discuss approaches to defining and assessing soil quality and to suggest the factors to be considered.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2024

This study investigated the microbial contamination of agricultural, livestock, and marine ingredients in 55 meal kits distributed across Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Of the 55 meal kits, 48 contained agricultural ingredients, 43 contained livestock ingredients, and 16 contained marine ingredients. The detection rate of the total aerobic bacteria in the agricultural, livestock, and marine products was 100%. The average numbers of the total aerobic bacteria were 6.57 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g in the agricultural products, 4.60 log CFU/g in the livestock products, and 5.47 log CFU/g in the marine products. The coliform detection rates in the agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 81.25%, 69.77%, and 43.75%, respectively. The average numbers of coliforms were 2.83 log CFU/g in the agricultural products, 1.34 log CFU/g in the livestock products, and 1.12 log CFU/g in the marine products. Escherichia coli was detected in 13 livestock products (30.23%), with levels ranging from 0.70 to 2.36 log CFU/g. Contrastingly, E. coli was detected in only one marine product (6.25%) and was not detected in any agricultural products. The detection rates of fungi in agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 97.92%, 93.02%, and 93.75%, respectively. The average numbers of fungi were 3.82 log CFU/g for the agricultural products, 2.92 log CFU/g for the livestock products, and 2.82 log CFU/g for the marine products. The isolation rates of foodborne pathogens from the agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 35.42%, 37.21%, and 31.25%, respectively. Forty-five foodborne pathogens of seven species, including Bacillus cereus and Salmonella spp., were isolated from the raw materials of the agricultural, livestock, and marine products in 55 meal kits. To prevent foodborne diseases caused by meal kits, it is necessary to focus on washing, heating, and preventing cross-contamination during cooking.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.361-371
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• 2015

To understand the impact of 2015 spring drought on crop production of DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), we analyzed satellite and weather data to produce 2015 spring outlook of rice paddy field and rice growth in relation to weather anomaly. We defined anomaly of 2015 for weather and NDVI in comparison to past 5 year-average data. Weather anomaly layers for rainfall and mean temperature were calculated based on 27 weather station data. Rainfall in late April, early May, and late May in 2015 was much lower than those in average years. NDVI values as an indicator of rice growth in early June of 2015 was much lower than in 2014 and the average years. RapidEye and Radarsat-2 images were used to monitor status of rice paddy irrigation and transplanting. Due to rainfall shortage from late April to May, rice paddy irrigation was not favorable and rice planting was not progressed in large portion of paddy fields until early June near Pyongyang. Satellite images taken in late June showed rice paddy fields which were not irrigated until early June were flooded, assuming that rice was transplanted after rainfall in June. Weather and NDVI anomaly data in regular basis and timely acquired satellite data can be useful for grasping the crop and land status of DPRK, which is in high demand.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2021.06a
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• pp.143-143
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• 2021

Climate change indicators, mainly frequent drought which has happened since the drought of 1994, 1995, and 2012 causing the devastating effect to the agricultural sector, and could be more disruptive given the context of climate change indicators by increasing the temperature and more variable and extreme precipitation. Changes in frequency, duration, and severity of droughts will have enormous impacts on agriculture production and water management. Since both the possibility of drought manifestation and substantial yield losses, we are propositioning an integrated method for evaluating past and future agriculture drought hazards that depend on models' simulations in the Hung-up watershed. to discuss the question of how climate change might influence the impact of extreme agriculture drought by assessing the potential changes in temporal trends of agriculture drought. we will calculate the temporal trends of future drought through drought indices Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, Standardized Precipitation Index, and Palmer drought severity index by using observed data of (1991-2020) from Wonju meteorological station and projected climate change scenarios (2021-2100) of the Representative Concentration Pathways models (RCPs). expected results confirmed the frequency of extreme agricultural drought in the future projected to increase under all studied RCPs. at present 100 years drought is anticipated to happen since the result showing under RCP2.6 will occur every 24 years, RCP4.5 every 17 years, and RCPs8.5 every 7 years, and it would be double in the largest warming scenarios. On another side, the result shows unsupportable water management, could cause devastating consequences in both food production and water supply in extreme events. Because significant increases in the drought magnitude and severity like to be initiate at different time scales for each drought indicator. Based on the expected result that the evaluating the impacts of extreme agricultural droughts and recession could be used for the development of proactive drought risk management, policies for future water balance, prioritize sustainable strengthening and mitigation strategies.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.105-111
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• 2013

Probability distribution of microbes in wastewater is a crucial factor to be determined for microbial risk assessment associated with its reuse. The objective of this study was to investigate probability distribution of an indicator microorganism in wastewater. Daily total coliform counts measured from nationwide wastewater treatment plants in 2010 by the Ministry of Environment were used for statistical analysis. Basic statistics and probability distributions were estimated in the three different spatial scales using the MS Excel software and FARD2006 model. Overall, wastewater from manure and livestock treatment plants demonstrated greater median coliform counts than from sewage and village treatment plants. Generalized logistic (GLO) and 2-parameter Weibull (WBU2) appeared to be the two probability distributions that fitted best for total coliform numbers in wastewater. The study results of microbial statistics and probability distributions would provide useful data for quantitative assessment of microbial risk from agricultural wastewater reuse.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.121-131
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• 2018

Climate change has caused changes in environmental factors that have a direct impact on agriculture such as temperature and precipitation. The meteorological disaster that has the greatest impact on agriculture is drought, and its forecasts are closely related to agricultural production and water supply. In the case of terrestrial data, the accuracy of the spatial map obtained by interpolating the each point data is lowered because it is based on the point observation. Therefore, acquisition of various meteorological data through satellite imagery can complement this terrestrial based drought monitoring. In this study, Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) was used as satellite data for drought determination. The ESI was developed by NASA and USDA, and is calculated through thermal observations of GOES satellites, MODIS, Landsat 5, 7 and 8. We will identify the difference between ESI and other satellite-based drought assessment indices (Vegetation Health Index, VHI, Leaf Area Index, LAI, Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI), and use it to analyze the drought in South Korea, and examines the applicability of ESI as a new indicator of agricultural drought monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.220-226
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• 2005

We investigated the effect of $O_3$ on the photosynthetic characteristics of oriental plane (Platanus orientalis L.) that is used as a side tree or ornamental tree in Korea. Two-year-old oriental plane seedlings were transplanted to pots and transferred into a closed $O_3$ chamber, Photosynthetic pigment content and photosynthetic characteristics of leaves were measured every three weeks during 100 ppb $O_3$ fumigation. There was no visible foliar injury by $O_3$ exposure and the content of photosynthetic pigments did not show significant differences between control and $O_3$-treated seedlings. But photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and water use efficiency in leaves of $O_3$-treated seedlings were reduced after six weeks of ozone fumigation. In addition, reduction of carboxylation efficiency and photochemical efficiency was observed in leaves of $O_3$-treated seedlings after three weeks and six weeks. In accordance with our results, carboxylation efficiency, the most sensitive parameter to $O_3$ stress, was considered to be a suitable indicator of $O_3$ sensitivity.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.483-488
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• 2023

The status of residual pesticides was investigated in four pepper seed oil samples and 36 pepper-flavored oil samples oil distributed on the market from August to December 2022. A total of 179 pesticides were monitored in 40 samples, and 14 pesticides were detected in 39 of the samples, with a detection range of 0.01-2.16 mg/kg. In chili seed oil, 10 pesticides were detected 27 times with a range of 0.11-2.16 mg/kg, and in pepper-flavored oil, 9 pesticides were detected 94 times with a range of 0.01-0.80 mg/kg. The most frequently detected pesticides were tebuconazole, ethion, and difenoconazole, with ethion being detected in large concentrations in products using Chinese raw materials. Ethion, an unregistered pesticide in the Republic of Korea, has not been detected in the Gyeonggi-do area in the past 10 years. It is thought that the detection of ethion can be utilized as an indicator of products made in China. Peppers are a representative agricultural product for which many pesticides are used, and if the pesticides transferred to pepper seeds are not removed, the probability of detecting various types of pesticides in pepper seed oil is very high. Therefore, continuous research is needed to ensure the safety of pepper seed oil.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2017

This study is a basic research with the aim of developing the method of judging the leakage zone by grasping the habitat characteristic of agricultural reservoir slope in inhabiting characteristics appear differently according to natural inhabiting environment. To this end, this study is intending to investigate slope vegetation using a quadrat technique at Sinheung reservoir located at Gwangsi-myeon, Yesan-gun, Chungnam, and to perform the analysis of importance value using relative frequency and relative coverage, etc. Also, this study intended to present the necessity of having to consider the eco-system of the relevant region in time of a reservoir slope afforestation for the time to come by suggesting that the reservoir slope vegetation after a stable period becomes similar to the regional vegetation by comparing this study result with the existing research which carried out the analysis of importance value of forest vegetation for Yesan Region. The reservoir slope vegetation is similar to the indicator species which appear in the regional forest vegetation, so there was a need to select afforestation species in the light of this in time of slope afforestation. As a result of the analysis of the importance value, this study grasped that there was an emergence characteristic similar to the vegetation at a birthplace of a forest fires because growth and development of forest trees, and perennial plants were restricted by annually implemented brush-cutting work, etc.; however, indigo plant and bush clover, etc. were found to show the characteristic differing from this. Consequently, this study was able to confirm that there is the necessity of having to create the Importance Value Table suited for reservoir slopes by region through a lot more data construction in the near future.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1836-1840
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• 2008

Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides that are produced by bacteria and toxic to bacterial strains closely related to the producer strain. It has previously been reported that Bacillus thuringiensis strain NEB17 and Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki BUPM4 produce the bacteriocins thuricin 17 (3,162 Da) and bacthuricin F4 (3,160.05 Da), respectively. Here, we demonstrate that these bacteriocins have functional similarities and show a similar spectrum of antimicrobial activities against indicator strains. We also studied the effects of sterilization methods on the recovery and biological activities of these bacteriocins. They were completely degraded by autoclaving and the two were similarly affected by the tested filter membranes. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyestersulfone (PES), and cellulose acetate (CA) are suitable for filter sterilization of these bacteriocins. The two bacteriocins were stable across a range of storage conditions. These data will facilitate their utilization in food preservation or agricultural applications.