• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6773-6779
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• 2014

Background: Nanotechnology opens new applications in many fields including medicine. Among all metallic nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles (silver NPS) have proved to be the most effective against a large variety of organisms including toxic cyanobacteria. Materials and Methods: Silver NPs were biosynthesized in vivo with different alga species namely, Spirulina piatensis, Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus oh/iquus following two scenarios. First: by suspending a thoroughly washed algae biomass in 1 mM aqueous $AgN0_3$ solution. Second: by culturing them individually in culture media containing the same concentration of $AgN0_3$. Silver NPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive analysis (EDX) and Fourier transform infra-red (FfIR) spectroscopy. The biosynthesized silver NPs were tested for cytotoxic activity against a cancer promoter cyanobacteruim Microcystis aeruginosa, considering effects on cell viability and chlorophyll content. Results: The surface plasmon band indicated the biosynthesis of silver NPs at ~400 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the silver NPs had a mean average size below 100 nm. Energy-dispersive analysis X-ray (EDX) spectra confirmed the presence of silver element. FfIR spectral analyses suggested that proteins and or polysaccharides may be responsible for the biosynthesis of silver NPs and (-COO-) of carboxylate ions is responsible for stabilizing them. The toxic potentialities ofthe biosynthesized silver NPs against the cancer promoter cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa showed high reduction in viable cells count and the total chlorophyll content. Conclusions: The potential activity of the biosynthesized silver NPs from the studied algae species against Microcystis aernginosa cells is expected to be mainly mediated by the release of silver ions (Ag+) from the particle surface and bioactive compounds as indicated by FfIR analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2015

In this study, manufacture of kitchen garden soil and its application on the growth of Lettuce has been performed. The optimal ratio of various raw materials for pH, total nitrogen, phosphate, cations, and salt content was found to be 49 : 35 : 10 : 5 : 1(w/w) in peatmoss, livestock manure, cocopeat, zeolite, and microbial fertilizer, respectively. In the growth experiment using Lettuce, the manufactured soil obtained 21% & 20% increase in leaf length and width, 17% increase in chlorophyll, and 22% in biomass, compared to the control.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.58-66
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• 2012

Brewers grain is a byproduct of beer brewing and consists primarily of grain husks, pericarp, and fragments of endosperm. Although this material is consumed by animals and used as fertilizer, a large amount of brewers grain is simply discarded. Therefore, new methods for utilizing this fibrous resource should be pursued. In this study, we examined the potential utilization of brewers grain as an additive in the paperboard industry by determining the chemical composition of brewers grain and the physical properties of brewers grain powders after grinding with two types of grinders. We found that brewers grain had a lower holocellulose content and higher lignin content and intermediate ash content when compared to other biomass materials, and did not contain any contaminants that would interfere with the papermaking process. Particles had a higher fiber length, less fiber width, and narrower shape factor distribution when ground by a blender type grinder than by a pin crusher type grinder. The blender type grinder was concluded to make regular brewers grain particles appropriate for papermaking.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.281-291
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• 2015

To clarify the effects of forest fire on the carbon budget of a forest ecosystem, this study compared the seasonal variation of soil respiration, net primary production and net ecosystem production (NEP) over the year in unburned and burned Pinus densiflora forest areas. The annual net carbon storage (i.e., NPP) was $5.75t\;C\;ha^{-1}$ in the unburned site and $2.14t\;C\;ha^{-1}$ in the burned site in 2012. The temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (i.e., $Q_{10}$ value) was higher in the unburned site than in the burned site. The annual soil respiration rate was estimated by the exponential regression equation with the soil temperatures continuously measured at the soil depth of 10 cm. The estimated annual soil respiration and heterotrophic respiration (HR) rates were 8.66 and $4.50t\;C\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ in the unburned site and 4.08 and $2.12t\;C\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ in the burned site, respectively. The estimated annual NEP in the unburned and burned forest areas was found to be 1.25 and $0.02t\;C\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$, respectively. Our results indicate that the differences of carbon budget and cycling between both study sites are considerably correlated with the losses of living plant biomass, insufficient nutrients and low organic materials in the forest soil due to severe damages caused by the forest fire. The burned Pinus densiflora forest area requires at least 50 years to attain the natural conditions of the forest ecosystem prior to the forest fire.

• ALGAE
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2002

Population dynamics of Anabaena and the anatoxin-a concentration were monitored with physicochemical parameters at 3 sites in the lower Naktong River from May to September in 2000. Total 4 species of Anabaena (A. flosaquae, A. smithii, A. ucrainica and A. mucosa) were identified with morphological characterisitcs. Anabaena flos-aquae was most abundant among the populations. The standing crop of Anabaena ranged from 10 to 11,220 cells · $ml^{-1}$ and biomass of Anabaena more 1,000 cells · $ml^{-1}$ was obseved once at St. Mulgeum and St. Seonam, twice at St. Hagueon out of total 9 samplings. There were not significant correlations between the standing crop of Anabaena and other physicochemical parameters such as temperature, nitrate, total nitrogen, phosphate, total phophorus and N/P ratios. The frequency of trichomes with akinetes was low and ranged from 0 to 4% in the total Anabaena population and A. smithii showed highest frequency of 2.8% among all species. The population at St. Seonam showed highest frequency of 1.4% among all sampling sties. The population in September showed the highest frequency of 3.0% among all sampling period. The frequency of trichomes with heterocysts was low and ranged from 1 to 87% inthe total Anabaena population and A. smithii showed highest frequency of 55.1% among all species. The population at St. Mulgeum showed highest frequency of 17.6% among all sampling sites. The population in August showed the highest frequency of 21.4% among all sampling period. The frequency of trichomes with akinetes and/or heterocysts was not related to all the physicochemical parameters of temperature, nitrate, total nitrogen, phosphate, total phosphorus and N/P ratios. The anatoxin-a concentations were determined in algal materials dominated by Microcystis and Anabaena from June though August by derivatization using 7-fluoro-4-nitro-2, 1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) and HPLC analysis with fluorimetric detection. All the concentrations were below the detection limit of 0.1 ㎍ · $l^{-1}$ in the present study.

• ALGAE
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.61-72
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• 2016

Arctic microalgae thrive and support primary production in extremely cold environment. Three Arctic green microalgal strains collected from freshwater near Dasan Station in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Arctic, were analyzed to evaluate the optimal growth conditions and contents of fatty acids. The optimal growth temperature for KNF0022, KNF0024, and KNF0032 was between 4 and 8℃. Among the three microalgal strains, KNF0032 showed the maximal cell number of 1.6 × 107 cells mL^-1 at 4℃. The contents of fatty acids in microalgae biomass of KNF0022, KNF0024, and KNF0032 cultured for 75 days were 37.34, 73.25, and 144.35 mg g^-1 dry cell weight, respectively. The common fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) analyzed from Arctic green microalgae consisted of palmitic acid methyl ester (C16:0), 5,8,11-heptadecatrienoic acid methyl ester (C17:3), oleic acid methyl ester (C18:1), linoleic acid methyl ester (C18:2), and α-linolenic acid methyl ester (C18:3). KNF0022 had high levels of heptadecanoic acid methyl ester (26.58%) and heptadecatrienoic acid methyl ester (22.17% of the total FAMEs). In KNF0024 and KNF0032, more than 72.09% of the total FAMEs consisted of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Oleic acid methyl ester from KNF0032 was detected at a high level of 20.13% of the FAMEs. Arctic freshwater microalgae are able to increase the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids under a wide range of growth temperatures and can also be used to produce valuable industrial materials.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 2006

Ash amendment to manure holds potential as a method to neutralize manure for reducing odor and reduce phosphorus (P) solubility in runoff from fields where manure has been applied. This review focuses on the literature published about ash characteristics and their environmental uses. There is no uniform physico-chemical definition of the selected ashes (coal fly ash-CFA, wood ash-WA, and rice hull ash-RHA) used in various studies. These ashes vary greatly in their acidity (pH<6.0) or alkalinity (pH>12.5) based on the conditions at which they were farmed and the composition of the ash source. CFA amendment to manure reduced manure-P solubility and application of CFA amended manure to agricultural soils is a method to improve water quality WA may prove to be a valuable manure odor control amendment since WA contains a high level of carbon. A major biomass source is rice hull (husk) which provides an ash source (RHA). The .ice hull and RHA are sources of silica, compromising about 20% and 60%, respectively. So far research has been directed at the use of CFA, WA and RHA as soil amendments, but there is potential use of these materials as manure additives to sequester P and reduce odors.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1617-1624
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• 2008

Chitin and chitosan, which is deacetylated form of chitin, are one of the most abundant biomass on the earth. They showed various biological activities including antimicrobial activity, heavy metal chelating, immune system activation, and have very diverse applications in food, pharmaceutical, medicinal, and environmental industry. There have been reported many chitin/chitosan-hydrolyzing enzymes, their structures and genes from three domains, archaea, bacteria, and eukarya. Carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes are classified in CAZy (Carbohydrate Active Enzymes) database according to their amino acid sequence similarity. Interestingly, chitinases and chitosanases are classified in various glycosyl hydrolase(GH) families, GH2, GH5, GH7, GH8, GH18, GH19, GH20, GH46, GH48, GH73, GH75, GH80, GH84, and GH85. Here, we review characteristics and structures of chitin/chitosan hydrolyzing enzymes according to glycosyl hydrolase families in order to provide information about gene mining.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 2008

Forestry education in vocational high schools is one of the fundamental keys for achieving sustainable forest management. However, support systems for forestry education have not been well developed in Japan. Forest research institutes, which have accumulated relevant information, should have sufficient ability to develop new educational programs in this field. This study examined the possibility of support systems for forestry technical education by a research institute. Educational programs for vocational high schools were developed, and the programs were examined for their practical applications through a workshop for these teachers. We set the following five requirements for the programs: They should 1) incorporate new contents related to sustainable forest management, 2) be based on forestry education textbooks, 3) meet recent demands of the schools and society, 4) allow participants to learn through actual practice and experience, and 5) utilize readily available teaching materials. With these criteria, we developed the following two educational programs: (a) Forest management program to teach advanced techniques, (b) A timber-program to teach about biomass resources. The workshop was held on July $28^{th}$, 2007 with ten teachers attending. The programs were very interesting, who gave them high average evaluation of 4.6 on a scale of 1 to 5. Only a few issues need to be resolved before classroom instruction can begin, such as making wood structure easier to understanding for some teachers, and obtaining base maps of school forests. In conclusion, forest research institutes can effectively support forestry education by providing and implementing programs based on scientific information.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.7
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• pp.191-201
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• 2017

Background: Limited availability of corn stover due to the competing uses (organic manure, animal feed, bio-materials, and bioenergy) presents a major concern for its future in the bio-economy. Furthermore, biomass research has exhibited different results due to the differences in the supply of enzymes and dissimilar analytical methods. The effect of the two leading pretreatment techniques (dilute acid and alkaline) on glucose yield from three corn stover fractions (cob, stalk, and leaf) sourced from a single harvest in Uganda were studied at temperatures 100, 120, 140, and $160^{\circ}C$ over reaction times of 5, 10, 30, and 60 min. Results: From this study, the highest glucose concentrations obtained from the dilute acid (DA) pretreated cobs, stalks, and leaves were 18.4 g/L (66.8% glucose yield), 16.2 g/L (64.1% glucose yield), and 11.0 g/L (49.5% glucose yield), respectively. The optimal pretreatment settings needed to obtain these yields from the DA pretreated samples were at a temperature of $160^{\circ}C$ over an incubation time of 30 min. The highest glucose concentrations obtained from the alkaline (AL) pretreated cobs, stalks, and leaves were 24.7 g/L (81.73% glucose yield), 21.3 g/L (81.23% glucose yield), and 15.0 g/L (51.92% glucose yield), respectively. To be able to achieve these yields, the optimal pretreatment settings for the cobs and stalks were $140^{\circ}C$ and for a retention time of 30 min, while the leaves require optimal conditions of $140^{\circ}C$ and for a retention time of 60 min. Conclusions: The study recommends that the leaves could be left on the field during harvesting since the recovery of glucose from the pretreated cobs and stalks is higher.