• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.633-638
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• 2011

Mn substituted La, Sr or Ba-hexaaluminate were prepared by $(NH_4)_2CO_3$ co-precipitate method and calcined at $1,200^{\circ}C$ for 5 h. Catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction and $N_2$ physisorption and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared to $SrMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ and $BaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$, $LaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ in which La located at mirror plane showed better crystallinity and high surface area, 13 $m^2/g$. $LaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ revealed well developed plate-like structure which is characteristic structure of hexaaluminate. The catalytic activity of methane combustion increased in the following order: $LaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ > $SrMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ > $BaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ and was dependent on surface area of catalysts. 60 wt% $CeO_2/LaMnAl_{11}O_{19}$ calcined at $700^{\circ}C$ showed enhanced methane activity and methane was oxidized completely at low temperature ($700^{\circ}C$). It was confirmed that addition of ceria seems to be effective for the low and middle temperature combustion of methane. But, after calcination at high temperature of $1,200^{\circ}C$, it lost the promoting effect of ceria due to increase of ceria particle size and it had a limit to applying to the high temperature catalytic combustion.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.365-371
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• 2014

In the present study, we investigated the biological activities of Xylosma congesta leaf ethanol extract (XCO) using a variety of in vitro and cell culture model systems for anti-melanogenic, anti-wrinkle, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities. First, XCO markedly inhibited ${\alpha}$-melanocyte stimulating hormone-stimulated melanin synthesis in B16F10 cells. Secondly, XCO marginally induced procollagen synthesis in CCD-986SK cells. Thirdly, XCO dose-dependently suppressed lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 cells. XCO did not affect cell viability at different concentrations used in this study, indicating that XCO-mediated inhibition of melanin, procollagen and NO synthesis is not mediated by cytotoxicity. Finally, XCO was found to exert anti-oxidant effect. Taken together, these findings demonstrate for the first time that XCO possesses anti-melanogenic, anti-wrinkle, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities, and suggest further evaluation and development of XCO as a functional supplement or cosmetic that may be useful for whitening skin, reducing wrinkles and treating inflammatory responses.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.378-391
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to determine temporal patterns and longitudinal gradients of water chemistry at eight artificial reservoirs and ten streams within the Han-River watershed along the main axis of the headwaters to the downstreams during 2009~2010. Also, we evaluated chemical relations and their variations among major trophic variables such as total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chlorophyll-a (CHL-a) and determined intense summer monsoon and annual precipitation effects on algal growth using empirical regression model. Stream water quality of TN, TP, and other parameters degradated toward the downstreams, and especially was largely impacted by point-sources of wastewater disposal plants near Jungrang Stream. In contrast, summer river runoff and rainwater improved the stream water quality of TP, TN, and ionic contents, measured as conductivity (EC) in the downstream reach. Empirical linear regression models of log-transformed CHL-a against log-transformed TN, TP, and TN : TP mass ratios in five reservoirs indicated that the variation of TP accounted 33.8% ($R^2$=0.338, p<0.001, slope=0.710) in the variation of CHL and the variation of TN accounted only 21.4% ($R^2$=0.214, p<0.001) in the CHL-a. Overall, our study suggests that, primary productions, estimated as CHL-a, were more determined by ambient phosphorus loading rather than nitrogen in the lentic systems of artificial reservoirs, and the stream water quality as lotic ecosystems were more influenced by a point-source locations of tributary streams and intense seasonal rainfall rather than a presence of artificial dam reservoirs along the main axis of the watershed.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2009

It is well-known that unregulated over-expression of foreign gene may have unwanted physiological or toxic effects in transgenic animals. To circumvent these problems, we constructed retrovirus vector designed to express the foreign gene under the control of the tetracycline-inducible promoter. However, gene expressions in the tetracycline-inducible expression system (Tet system) are not completely regulated but a little leaky due to the inherent defects in conventional Tet-based systems. A more tightly controllable regulatory system can be achieved when the advanced versions ($rtTA2^SM2$) of rtTA and a minimal promoter in responsive components (pTRE-tight) are used in combination therein. In this study, we tried to produce human thrombopoietin (hTPO) from various target cells and transgenic chickens using the retrovirus vector combined with Tet system. hTPO is the primary regulator of platelet production and has an important role in the survival and expansion of hematopoietic stem cells. In a preliminary experiment in vitro, higher hTPO expression and tighter expression control were observed in chicken embryonic fibroblast (CEF) cells. We also measured the biological activity of the hTPO using Mo7e cells whose proliferation is dependant on hTPO. The biological activity of the recombinant hTPO from CEF was higher than both its commercial counterpart and hTPO from other target cells. The recombinant retrovirus was injected beneath the blastoderm of non-incubated chicken embryos (stage X). Out of 138 injected eggs, 15 chicks hatched after 21 days of incubation. Among them, 8 hatched chicks were hTPO positive. When the Go transgenic chicken was fed doxycycline (0.5 mg per 1 gram of feed), a tetracycline derivative, hTPO concentration of the transgenic chicken blood was 200 ng/mL. Germline transmission of the transgene was confirmed in sperm of the Go transgenic roosters. These results are informative to establish transgenic chickens as bioreactors for the mass production of commercially valuable and biological active human cytokine proteins.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.380-391
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• 1993

The experimental study was made to propose the treatment method of wastewater in the high-density fish culture system. The BOD to COD ratios of effluents were almost same to 0.65 in the eel-farm, but were various in the farm rearing together with tilapia etc. A BOD rate curve of the eel-farm effluent could be described mathematically by the equation, $BODu=14.1(1-10^{-0.222t})+30.9(1-10^{-0.035(t-8)})$. Nitrification in Biological Fluidized Bed(BFB) system to treat the fish-farm wastewater could be reduce ammonium level up to $65{\sim}79\%$ when ammonium loading rates were between 0.014 and 0.075g $NH_4/g$ BVS-day. Nitrification efficiency was decreased by organic matters in the wastewater when ammonium loading was low(0.014 g $NH_4/g$ BVS-day). T-N removal ratios were decreased to increase loading in denitrification process, because of low C/N ratio. Based on much higher biological mass concentrations, BFB system takes many advantages of a practical viewpoint, such as stability of treatment efficiency and reduction of necessary site area for the facility, as compared with conventional treatment systems.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2015

To set up unicellular cyanobacterial strains with photo-biological $H_2$ production potential, live samples were repeatedly collected from 68 stations in the coastal zone of Korea for the four years since 2005. Among 77 cyanobacterial strains established six (KNU strains, CB-MAL002, 026, 031, 054, 055 and 058) were finally chosen as the excellent strains for $H_2$ production with $H_2$ accumulation over 0.15 mL $H_2\;mL^{-1}$ under general basic $H_2$ production conditions as well as positive $H_2$ production for more than 60 hr. To explore optimum procedures for higher $H_2$ production efficiency of the six cyanobacterial strains, the inter-strain differences in the growth rate under the gradients of water temperature and salinity were investigated. The maximum daily growth rates of the six strains ranged from 1.78 to 2.08, and all of them exhibited $N_2-fixation$ ability. Based on the similarity of the 16S rRNA sequences, all the test strains were quite close to Cyanothece sp. ATCC51142 (99%). The six strains, however, were grouped into separate clades from strain ATCC51142 in the molecular phylogeny diagram. Chlorophyll- a content was 3.4~7.8% of the total dried weight, and the phycoerythrin and phycocyanin contents were half of those in the Atlantic strain, Synechococcus sp. Miami BG03511. The growth of the six strains was significantly suppressed at temperatures above the optimal range, $30{\sim}35^{\circ}C$, to be nearly stopped at $40^{\circ}C$. The growth was not inhibited by high salinities of 30 psu salinity in all the strains while strain CB055 maintained its high growth rate at low salinities down to 15 psu. The euryhaline strains like CB055 might support massive biotechnological cultivation systems using natural basal seawater in temperate latitudes. base seawater. The biological and ecophysiological characteristics of the test strains may contribute to designing the optimal procedures for photo-biological $H_2$ production by unicellular cyanobacteria.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2006

Objective of this research was to remove the accumulated salts in the plastic film house soils by installing the perforated PVC (${\phi}10cm$) underdrainage pipes at 50 cm depth of soils with cultivating vegetables. Efficiency of the underdrainage pipes was assessed based on the changes of soil chemical properties such as pH, EC, and cations, and growth and yield parameters of the vegetables between the two treatments; the control and the underdrainage pipe treatments. The EC of the underdrainage pipes installed soils after two growing seasons were in the ranges of $1.42-2.88dS\;m^{-1}$ but those of the control were in the ranges of $3.86-4.53dS\;m^{-1}$, indication the underdrainage pipes effectively removed the accumulated salts in soils. The pHs of the control soils and the underdrainage pipe installed soil were in the ranges of 7.2-7.5 and 6.9-7.3, respectively. There was a significant correlation between pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils ($CEC=17.107{\times}pH-106.2$, $r^2=0.759$, P < 0.05). The ECs of the soils at different depths were compared between the two treatments after cultivating vegetables with lettuce-lettuce-garland chrysanthemum rotation systems. The ECs of the control soils at depths of 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, and 40-50 cm were 3.45, 3.47, 3.03, 2.03, and $2.28dS\;m^{-1}$, respectively, with decreasing with soil depths. On the other hand, the respective ECs of the underdrainage pipes installed soils were 2.43, 2.52, 2.28, 4.00, and $4.23dS\;m^{-1}$ with increasing with soil depths. This might be derived from the salts moved downward with the draining water into the subsoil. The order of cations moved downward was Mg > Ca > K, based on the ratios of cations at specific depth over those at the surface soil. The survival rates of lettuce after 15 days of transplanting in the underdrainage pipe installed soils were 98.2% as compared to 86.6% of the control. The underdrainage pipe treatment also increased the diameter of the lettuce stalk from 12.9mm of the control to 13.7mm. Overall results demonstrated that the installment of the underdrainage pipes in the subsoils of the salt accumulated plastic film house soil effectively removed the salts by leaching downward,resulting in lowering soil EC and enhancing the growth and yield of vegetables.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2009

The consumption of "ready-to-eat" agricultural products is recently increasing and the safety of these agricultural products is forefront of public concerns. The 120 samples of paprikas, strawberries and tomatoes, which are the representative exported agricultural products, were purchased at the department stores and discount stores in Daejeon. And we determined the microbiological and parasitological contamination level of these agricultural products using culture media, multiplex PCR, commercial bacterial detection kit and microscopy, and also evaluated the decontamination method. Mean counts of total aerobic bacteria from these agricultural products ranged from $1.3{\times}10^4$ CFU/g to $1.8{\times}10^5$ CFU/g, and mean counts of coliforms ranged from $1.4{\times}10^3$ CFU/g to $9.6{\times}10^3$ CFU/g. There was no significant difference in the level of bacterial contamination between the agricultural products from department stores and the ones from discount stores. Strawberry showed the highest contamination level for the bacteria and we also found the unidentified parasite eggs. Enterobacter cloacae was the most frequently isolated bacteria strain, but no food poisoning pathogenic bacteria except Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the products by multiplex PCR. Compared to unwashed products, tab water-washed ones showed 80% decrease of the counts of total aerobic bacteria on the agricultural products, and the rates decreased more by incorporating detergent or ultrasonic wave treatment. We concluded that the biological contamination levels among paprikas, strawberries and tomatoes were the highest in strawberries, but there were not significant difference according to distribution systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.127-137
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• 2007

To confirm whether or not the Electrochemical Disinfection System (EDS) meet with the D-2 regulation established by IMO (International Maritime Organization), the biological treatment efficacy of the EDS was assessed using three groups of natural marine plankton (bacteria, $10-50\;{\mu}m$ and $>50\;{\mu}m$ sized organisms). Influent water was passed through the EDS under the flow velocity ($23.8\;m^3/hr$) and test design was consisted of control (no treatment) and experimental (10 ppm and 30 ppm) condition for total residual chlorine (TRC). And the biological condition of the influent water followed the standards established by the guidelines for the approval of ballast water management systems. The disinfection efficacy of the $10-50\;{\mu}m$ sized organisms (phytoplankton) was assessed by three kinds of measurements using photomicroscope, epifluorescence microscope and fluorometer (fumer Designs 10-AU). After being passed through the EDS, all motile phytoplankton lost their motility under photomicroscope, the colour of chlorophyll fluorescence fumed from red into green under epifluorescence, and the high chlorophyll fluorescence (Expt. 1: 6.95, Expt. 2: 7.11) detected by fluorometer decreased into value not detected. These results indicated phytoplankton community was totally killed after electrochemical disinfection treatment. Survivorship of the larger organisms than $50\;{\mu}m$ was determined based on the appendage's movement under a stereomicroscope. Natural assemblage collected from ambient seawater was killed shortly after being passed through the EDS, whereas some Artemia remained alive. However, no live Artemia was found after 24 hour further exposure to each TRC concentration (10 and 30 ppm) under darkness. After electrochemical treatment, the target bacteria such as aerobes, coliform and Escherichia coli were completely killed on the basis of CFU (colony forming unit) on Petrifilm plate ($3\;M^{TM}$) after 48 hr incubation. Moreover, no regrowth was found in the three groups of plankton during five days under additional exposure to the treated water. These results indicated that the disinfection efficiency of the EDS on the three groups of plankton satisfy D-2 regulation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

Total upland area for cultivating the vegetable crops in the Alpine soils of Northeastern South Korea has been extending its limit to meet the increasing demand of vegetable food in recent decades. About 70% of these alpine soils are located in over 7% of the slope and most of vegetable crops have been cultivated intensively without practicing the best management systems. Thus, soil erosion and continuous cropping system have degenerated the soil fertility and shown detrimental effects on water quality. We initiated an intensive and extensive investigation to characterize the fertility problems encountered in these uplands. Objectives of this paper were to characterize the fertility status in the Alpine soils cultivated with vegetable crops for many years and to provide the recommendations for adequate soil management measures including fertilization and erosion control. Soils in general have good drainage with textural classes of loam or sandy loam. Their topographical characteristics tended to lead them to shallow plow layers, and the steepness of the terrain created erosion hazard. Of the soils examined, about 11% of uplands over 30% gradient was found in need of an urgent reforestation. A high content of gravel and firm hardness of soil attributed to inhibit the utilization of farm machinery and plant-root development. The average soil pH 5.6 was slightly low relative to pH 5.70 of the national average. Organic matter content was high compared with 2.0% of national average, but decreased with the prolonged cultivation periods. Available $P_2O_5$ concentration was unusually high due to the consequence of over dose application with chemical and organic fertilizers. Exchangeable cations as Ca, Mg, and K were appeared to be decreased in these regions with prolonging the cultivation periods. There were no significant differences in cation exchange capacity (CEC) and electrical conductivity (EC) among locations. Heavy metal contents were mostly lower than the threshold of danger level designated by Soil Environment Conservation Law of South Korea. Results indicated that a proper countermeasure and the best management practice should be immediately implemented to conserve the top soil and fertility in the Alpine regions.