• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.277-283
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• 2020

The smoke hazard assessment of building materials focusing on smoke performance index-II (SPI-II) and smoke growth index-II (SGI-II) was investigated. The test species used were Japanese cedar, spruce, lauan, and red pine. The smoke characteristics of wood specimen were investigated using a cone calorimeter (ISO 5660-1). SPI-II was measured after the combustion reaction increased by 1.31~2.15 times based on red pine. The fire risk by SPI-II increased in the order of spruce, lauan, Japanese ceda, and red pine. SGI-II increased by 1.18~2.55 times compared to that of Japnese ceda. The fire risk caused by SGI-II increased in the order of Japanese ceda, spruce, lauan, and red pine. CO_mean concentrations were ranged from 58 to 133 ppm, which was higher than permissible exposure limits of the occupational safety and health administration (OSHA), 50 ppm. Therefore, woods such as red pine containing various volatile organic substances, were considered to be highly smoke hazardous due to low SPI-II and high SGI-II.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Many recent studies have focused on maintaining a healthy life by preventing and/or postponing the aging process. Numerous studies have reported that continuous exposure to reactive oxygen species can stimulate skin aging and that excessive accumulation of fat can cause an impaired skin barrier and tissue structure alterations. Thus, the maintenance of antioxidant homeostasis and the suppression of adipose accumulation are important strategies for skin anti-aging. Here, we prepared three types of extracts [whole juice, acetone-perchloric acid (PCA), and ethanol] from 20 fruits and medicinal herbs native to the Gyeongnam area of Korea. The total phenolic content of each extract was analyzed, and we observed higher total phenolic contents in the medicinal herbs. Consistent with this, the results of the oxygen radical absorbance activity capacity assay indicated that the in vitro antioxidant activities of the medicinal herb extracts were stronger than those of the fruit extracts. The fruits and medicinal herbs had strong effects on cell-based systems, including $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress in human keratinocytes and 3T3-L1 lipid accumulation. Nishimura Wase persimmon, Taishu persimmon, wrinkled giant hyssop, sweet wormwood, Chinese cedar, red perilla, tan shen, hiyodori-jogo, and cramp bark may be natural anti-aging materials with effective antioxidant and anti-adipogenic activities. Taken together, our findings may provide scientific evidence supporting the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals from fruits and medicinal herbs.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2013

This study focused on a comprehensive and detailed interpretation for the springtime air quality influenced by both artificial (particulate matter (PM) and asbestos) and biological (pollen) sources in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. An intensive measurement of PM was conducted at four characteristic sites (i.e., a heavy traffic area, a residential area, an industrial area, and a desolate area) in the Fukuoka Prefecture during spring of 2007. Analysis of major ionic species in $PM_{2.5}$ was performed by an Ion Chromatography, and asbestos and pollen were identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). $PM_{2.5}$ concentration ($65.3{\mu}gm^{-3}$) measured in an industrial area (site C) was extraordinarily high compared to those monitored in other areas; it greatly exceeded the Japan's $PM_{2.5}$ criteria (a daily average of $35{\mu}gm^{-3}$). NOAA's HYSPLIT dispersion model suggests that this high level of $PM_{2.5}$ monitored at site C is unlikely to affect the Asian continent. The ambient concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$-related anions ($NH_4{^+}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO_4{^{2-}}$) and their relative contributions to $PM_{2.5}$ were also investigated in four study areas. The concentrations of these major water-soluble ions exhibit not only strong spatial dependence but also different ratios to each other. Asbestos fiber (crocidolite and amosite) concentration values changed in the range of 2.5 to 14.4 f per liter of air. The number of pollen grains showed that Cedar ranked higher in concentration than other types of pollen, with the maximum concentration at site A.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.167-176
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• 2008

Airborne pollen is known as one of the major causal agents to respiratory allergic reactions. Daily number of pollen grains was monitored using Burkard volumetric spore traps at seven locations including Seoul and Jeju during 1997-2007. Pollen grains were observed throughout the year especially from February to November. They showed similar distribution patterns of species among locations except in Jeju, where Japanese cedar vegetation is uniquely found. Peak seasons for pollen grains from trees and weeds were March to May and August to October, respectively. Tree pollens were mainly composed of pine, oak, alder, and birch. Weed pollens were mainly from Japanese hop, Worm wood, and ragweed. Diameter of pollen grains, which has a typical range of $20{\sim}60{\mu}m$, has close relationship with allergenicity. Allergenicity of tree and weed pollens is higher than that of grass pollens in general. In the case of trees and shrubs, pine trees account for about 70% of all tree pollens. However, pine pollens are weak allergens. The remaining 30% of tree pollens, including alder trees, white birches, and oaks, are moderate to strong allergens despite the smaller numbers. Grass and weeds are also highly likely to cause allergies. Especially, the pollens of Wormwood and Japanese hop are highly likely to cause allergies. Daily fluctuations in the number of pollens have to do with a variety of meteorological factors, such as temperature and rainfall.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.33-36
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• 2009

Globose to clavate base-ball sized, pear shaped, fruiting bodies were found under the Himalayan cedar, Cedrus deodora at less fertile and poor sandy poor soil in the campus of Gyeongsang National University in Jinju, Korea. The fruiting body was at first, round to club-shaped, usually with a narrow, rooting base with yellowish rhizomorphs attached to it and lack a volva and a sterile base. The peridium of fruiting body was tough and crusty. The peridioles were white pea-like capsules in a blackish matrix. The color change to darker tints of brown at the top of the exterior peridium reflected the gradual ripening of the interior gleba and peridioles, which proceeded from the top downward to become a mass of spore dust, appearing as cinnamon brown at the apex of the vertical section. At around this stage, the peridium cracked open linearly, exposing the gleba with powdery spores mass released from overmatured peridioles. Spores were more or less round, warty or spiny, 10 to $12{\mu}m$; globose, cinnamon brown in powdery mass, with spines up to $2{\mu}m$ long. The thin peridium ruptured further in response to the disintegration of the peridioles, releasing the powdery spores, which proceeded until whole fruiting body disappeared leaving the dry spore dust coats in the vicinity. The absence of a capillitium is a distinctive characteristic that distinguishes the specimen from other puff-ball fungi and from most of earthballs. Based on the above characteristics, the specimen was identified as Poslithus tinctorius.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.504-513
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• 2021

In this study, cross-laminated wood panels were manufactured with four softwoods and three hardwoods with the goal of efficiently predicting the static strength performance using dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOE) and simultaneously revealing the dynamic performance of cross-laminated wood panels. The effect of the density of the species on the dynamic MOE of the laminated wood panels was investigated. Moreover, the static bending strength performance was predicted nondestructively through the correlation regression between the dynamic MOE and static bending strength performance. For the dynamic MOE, the parallel- and cross-laminated wood panels composed of oriental oak showed the highest value, whereas the laminated wood panels composed of Japanese cedar showed the lowest value. In all types of parallel- and cross-laminated wood panels, the density dependence was confirmed, and the extent of the density dependence was found to be greater in the P_⊥ and C_⊥ types with perpendicular-direction laminae in the faces than in the P_∥ and C_∥ types with longitudinal-direction laminae in the faces. Our findings confirmed that a high correlation exists at a significance level of 1% between the dynamic modulus and static bending modulus or bending strength in all types of laminated wood panels, and that the static bending strength performance can be predicted through the dynamic MOE.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2018

Disease occurrence in apple cultivars on 13-30 apple orchards from April to October 1992-2010 was investigated at 30 days intervals in Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam and Jeonbuk provinces of Korea. Apple cultivar 'Fuji' was found most susceptible and is being damaged by cedar apple rust, scab, gray mold, Alternaria blotch and Marssonia blotch as major leaf diseases that were observed. The percentage of occurrence of these leaf diseases varies from every year. This variation is based on different rainfall and temperature conditions, cultivation, root stock and changed system of fungicide spray during the particular year and season.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.265-276
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• 2019

In our previous study, the LeNet3 model successfully classified images from the transverse surfaces of five Korean softwood species (cedar, cypress, Korean pine, Korean red pine, and larch). However, a practical limitation exists in our system stemming from the nature of the training images obtained from the transverse plane of the wood species. In real-world applications, it is necessary to utilize images from the longitudinal surfaces of lumber. Thus, we improved our model by training it with images from the longitudinal and transverse surfaces of lumber. Because the longitudinal surface has complex but less distinguishable features than the transverse surface, the classification performance of the LeNet3 model decreases when we include images from the longitudinal surfaces of the five Korean softwood species. To remedy this situation, we adopt ensemble methods that can enhance the classification performance. Herein, we investigated the use of ensemble models from the LeNet and MiniVGGNet models to automatically classify the transverse and longitudinal surfaces of the five Korean softwoods. Experimentally, the best classification performance was achieved via an ensemble model comprising the LeNet2, LeNet3, and MiniVGGNet4 models trained using input images of $128{\times}128{\times}3pixels$ via the averaging method. The ensemble model showed an F1 score greater than 0.98. The classification performance for the longitudinal surfaces of Korean pine and Korean red pine was significantly improved by the ensemble model compared to individual convolutional neural network models such as LeNet3.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2021

In recent years, the use of cross laminated timber (CLT) has been evolving. In addition, CLT manufactured with various species such as Japanese cedar has been developed to utilize the local resources in each country. However most factories in Japan produce CLT by bonding the laminae in width direction for orthogonal layers, where grain of element is perpendicular to the grain of outer layer, and this process is considered to be one of the factors that reduce productivity. A new wood based material (hereinafter referred to as Ply-lam) using wooden panel such as plywood for the orthogonal layer was developed in order to improve productivity in CLT manufacturing and improve quality. Japanese cypress lamina was used for the parallel layer, where grain of element is parallel to the grain of outer layer, of CLT and Korean larch plywood was used for the orthogonal layer, in order to effectively use Korean larch and expand the utilization of Japanese cypress. The cross-sectional construction of the Ply-lam was 5-layers 5-plies, and the dimensions were 1000 mm (width) × 150 mm (depth) × 4000 mm (length). As a performance evaluation of the manufactured Ply-lam, strength tests such as out-of-plane bending, in-plane bending, out-of-plane shearing and in-plane shearing tests were carried out. As the result of this study, Ply-lam composed of Japanese cypress lamina panels and Korean larch plywood showed very higher out-of-plane bending strength compared to the standard strength of CLT. And the result obtained in other tests seems to show a sufficiently high value.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.629-646
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• 2013

This study was conducted to investigate effects of terpenoids-rich plant extracts (TRPE) on the in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics and methane production. The ruminal fluid was collected from a cannulated Hanwoo cow fed concentrate and timothy in the ratio of 6 to 4. The TRPE as Mint (Mentha arvensis var. piperascens), Pine (Pinus densiflora), Japan cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum), Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtuse) and Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) were used in this study. The 15 mL of mixture, contains McDougall buffer and rumen fluid in the ratio of 2 to 1. The mixture was dispensed anaerobically 50 mL serum bottles and it is contained 0.3 g timothy substrate and 5% TRPE. The bottles were incubated at $39^{\circ}C$ for 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours. The pH value decrease by increased incubation times and the pH values at all times were significantly (p<0.05) higher in treatments than in control. The digestibility of dry matter at 3 hours was significantly (p<0.05) higher in mint treatment than in control. Productions of total gas and carbon dioxide at before 12 hours was significantly lower (p<0.05) in treatments than in control. The methane production at 24 hours was significantly (p<0.05) lower in treatments than in control. The concentrations of acetic acid and propionic acid at 24 hours were significantly higher (p<0.05) in mint and pine treatments than in control. In conclusion, the terpenoid-rich plant extracts were shown to decreased methane emission and without adversely affected ruminal fermentation. Therefore, the terpenoid-rich plant extracts as mint and pine were shown to decreased methane production and it has potential possibility for ruminal fermentations.