• Title/Summary/Keyword: Excrement

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Use of Nitrate and Ferric Ion as Electron Acceptors in Cathodes to Improve Current Generation in Single-cathode and Dual-cathode Microbial Fuel Cells (Single-cathode와 Dual-cathode로 구성된 미생물연료전지에서 전류발생 향상을 위한 전자수용체로서의 Nitrate와 Ferric ion의 이용)

  • Jang, Jae Kyung;Ryou, Young Sun;Kim, Jong Goo;Kang, Youn Koo;Lee, Eun Young
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.40 no.4
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    • pp.414-418
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    • 2012
  • The quantity of research on microbial fuel cells has been rapidly increasing. Microbial fuel cells are unique in their ability to utilize microorganisms and to generate electricity from sewage, pig excrement, and other wastewaters which include organic matter. This system can directly produce electrical energy without an inefficient energy conversion step. However, with MFCs maximum power production is limited by several factors such as activation losses, ohmic losses, and mass transfer losses in cathodes. Therefore, electron acceptors such as nitrate and ferric ion in the cathodes were utilized to improve the cathode reaction rate because the cathode reaction is very important for electricity production. When 100 mM nitrate as an electron acceptor was fed into cathodes, the current in single-cathode and dual-cathode MFCs was noted as $3.24{\pm}0.06$ mA and $4.41{\pm}0.08$ mA, respectively. These values were similar to when air-saturated water was fed into the cathodes. One hundred mM nitrate as an electron acceptor in the cathode compartments did not affect an increase in current generation. However, when ferric ion was used as an electron acceptor the current increased by $6.90{\pm}0.36$ mA and $6.67{\pm}0.33$ mA, in the single-cathode and dual-cathode microbial fuel cells, respectively. These values, in single-cathode and dual-cathode microbial fuel cells, represent an increase of 67.1% and 17.6%, respectively. Furthermore, when supplied with ferric ion without air, the current was higher than that of only air-saturated water. In this study, we attempted to reveal an inexpensive and readily available electron acceptor which can replace platinum in cathodes to improve current generation by increasing the cathode reaction rate.

Water Quality Variations due to Tidal Change in the Lower Part of the Nagdong River (조석에 따른 낙동강 하류수질의 변화)

  • KIM Yong-Gwan;CHANG Dong-Suck;MOON Hong-Young
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.109-118
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    • 1985
  • This experiment was carried out to evaluate the water quality in the lower part of the Nagdong river in Korea. Three hundred and sixty water samples were collected from the 15 stations from December 1981 to November 1982 by tide(see Fig.1). Water temperature, pH, chloride ion, salinity, total coliform, fecal coliform, viable cell count and the composition of coliform were observed to evaluate the water quality. The variations of water temperature was ranged from $2.0^{\circ}C\;to\;29.5^{\circ}C$ and as mean value from $15.8^{\circ}C\;to\;18.9^{\circ}C$. The range of pH was 6.00-8.88 and 7.20-7.96 as mean value. The concentration of chloride ion from St. 1 to 5 was higher as 17.51-771 mg/l in flood tide than 13.12-264.58 mg/l in ebb tide. Specially, water quality at St.1 (Samrangjin) which located about 46 km far from Hadan was also influenced by tide. Salinities of water in flood tide were a litte higher ($11.05{\sim}31.08\%0$) than those of in ebb tide ($7.80{\sim}29.28\%0$). Total coliform MPN's ranged from 3.6/100 m/l to 460,000/100ml. The geometric mean value of the upper area (included St. $1{\sim}3$) was $259{\sim}538/100ml$, that of the middle area (included St. $4{\sim}6$) was $1,097{\sim}39,544/100ml$ for it leveled heavy contamination. Specially, in the ebb tide St. 10 was influenced by St. 6 and 7. In the upper area, the geometric mean value of fecal coliform MPN's was $109{\sim}199/100ml$ but in the area in cluded St. 5, 6 and 7 were heavily contaminated by domestic sewage, waste water from the factories area and bird's excrement. Composition of coliform was $17\%$ Escherichia coli group, $33\%$ Citrobacter freundii group, $28\%$ Enterobacter aerogenes group and $21\%$ others. Plate count of samples was varied from <30 to $3.9{\times}10^4/ml$ during the study period.

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A Survey on the Workplace Environment and Personal Protective Equipment of Poultry Farmers (양계 농업인의 작업장 환경 및 개인보호구 착용 실태조사)

  • Kim, Insoo;Kim, Kyung-Ran;Lee, Kyung-Suk;Chae, Hye-Seon;Kim, Sungwoo
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.40 no.6
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    • pp.454-468
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    • 2014
  • Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.

Study on Amenity and Economical Efficiency of Multi-functionality on the Grassland (초지형 축산의 어메니티 및 경제성 평가에 관한 연구)

  • Cheon, D.W.;Lee, S.Y.;Park, M.S.;Park, H.S.;Hwang, K.J.;Yun, S.H.;Ko, M.S.
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.297-312
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    • 2007
  • This study is conducted to evaluate economical value of Jeju grassland and validity of its preservation, and draw up several measures to support. To measure its economical value, this study examined its environmental value and social and cultural value. For environmental value, this study used replacement method while it applied CVM method, a widely used method, to assess social and cultural value and two-level two-best choice selection method, which ask questions by assuming virtual circumstances to avoid reflecting some biased opinions. Jeju grassland has multiple functions-environmental functions such as preventing soil corrosion and flood, handling animal excrement, and purifying air, and social and cultural functions such as promoting physical and mental health and providing recreation places. From the results of the feasibility study, Jeju grassland's annual multiple functions are assessed to have a total $397,115{\sim}418,995$ million won worth. In addition, it is found that Jeju visitors recognize Jeju grassland for its functions to contribute to public interests. That is, they think it can provide attractive views and educational and recreational places and promote emotional development. Especially, many people presented their ideas that it be continuously preserved since it is worthwhile for us and our next generations. To preserve grassland's cultural resource, which create a huge economic value like this, the Government has to support a certain amount of financial aid for turning to a better grassland environment and its maintenance to realize environment-friendly livestock farming on Jeju Island and promote its tourism industry and consequently, add more value to Jeju.

Water Quality and Hydrochemistry of Natural Springs and Community Wells in Daejeon Area (대전지역 자연샘물 및 공동우물의 수질 및 수리화학적 특성)

  • 정찬호;박충화;이광식
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.35 no.5
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    • pp.395-406
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    • 2002
  • The sixty natural springs and community wells used as a drinking water in the Daejeon area are mainly located at the parks and the natural green districts. The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of water quality and the contamination of the springs and the wells, and to suggest the management strategy for the springs and wells. For this study, we undertook water quality data from Daejeon City. According to the statistic analysis of water quality data, unacceptable rate as a drinking water was about 28 percent in 1999 and 24.5 percent in 2000, respectively. Major unacceptable factor is coliform, and others are bacteria, yersinia, color, turbidity, Fe and F. The unacceptable rate shows a roughly positive relationship with precipitation, that is, it shows highest rate during a rainy season between June and September. The major contamination source is likely to be the excrement of wild animals around natural springs and wells. Most of springs are vulnerable to the contamination of coliform and bacteria because of short residence time and shallow circulation in subsurface environment. The water samples collected from 31 springs or wells show weak acidic pHs, the electrical conductivity ranging from 63 to 357 $\mu\textrm{S}$/cm, and the hydrochemical types of Na(Ca)-HC0$_3$ and Ca-HC0$_3$. The groundwater samples of low total dissolved solid(TDS) belong to Na(Ca)-HC0$_3$. type, and the groundwater of high total dissolved solid is shifted towards Ca-HC0$_3$ type in the chemical composition. These hydrochemical characteristics indicate that most natural springs is in the early stage of geochemical evolution. The natural springs should be closed during a rainy season, which shows a high contamination rate. We suggest that a protection barrier around the springs should be built to keep wild animals away from the springs.

Investigations on Conditions Required for Decomposition and Disinfection of infected Poultry under Different Fermentation Systems (발효방법에 의한 감염가금의 분해 및 발효소독 특성에 관한 연구)

  • Hong, J.T.;Yu, B.K.;Kim, H.J.;Lee, S.H.;Park, K.S.;Oh, K.Y.;Kim, D.G.;Lee, J.J.
    • Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.153-160
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    • 2010
  • Recently, the treatment of dead poultry has become more important issue because, the infected poultry, which was buried under the ground, causes environmental contaminations such as steep water and reek occurrence, etc. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the type of treatment and the composting methods influencing to the characteristics on decomposition and fermentative disinfection of dead poultry with poultry manure and sawdust. The results of the port tests showed that amputated poultry treated by the cut-sterilization were not only more decomposed, with less smell compared to the non-treated poultry carcass. When we treated thermophilic microorganism such as bacillus in this amputated poultry, the temperature of treated poultry increased much fester, the fermentation temperature didn't rise and not maintained constantly for long time due to the small size of the fermentation port. On the other hand, we did fermentation test by the layered disposal method with more poultry. In this experiment, the temperature of fermented poultry rose to $54^{\circ}C$ in a day and maintained around $55^{\circ}C$ during four weeks period. With less odor outside the experiment room. further. Also, we inoculated AI virus, ND virus in the excrement for studying the effect of fermentative disinfection. The result of the test revealed that AI virus was destructed within 60 minutes and ND virus was destructed within 30 minutes at the temperature of $56^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the investigations revealed scope of composting method for steam sterilized infected poultry in the originated area mixed with poultry manure, sawdust by thermophilic microorganism could increase the effectiveness of fermentative disinfection and decrease the environmental contamination.

What Is a Monster Narrative? Seven Fragments on the Relationship between a Monster Narrative and a Catastrophic Narrative (괴물서사란 무엇인가? - 괴물서사에서 파국서사로 나아가기 위한 일곱 개의 단편 -)

  • Moon, Hyong-jun
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.50
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    • pp.31-51
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    • 2018
  • The concept of 'monsters' have become popular, again, in recent times. A number of 'monster narratives' that discuss monsters such as zombies, humanoids, viruses, extraterrestrials, and serial killers have been made and re-made in popular media. Noting such an interesting cultural context, this article attempts, first, to find out some essential prototypical elements of a monster narrative and, second, to relate it with a catastrophic narrative. Correspondingly, the word 'monster' has been used as a conceptual prototype category that denies universal and clear definition, which makes it as one of the most widely used and familiar subjects of the use of metaphor. The prototypical meanings of various monster figures can be converged on a certain creature of being in this way held out as bizarre, curious, and abnormal. The monster figure that surpasses existing normality is also connected to 'abjection,' such as something that is cast aside from the body such as the bodily functions seen in its associated blood, tears, vomit, excrement, or semen, and so on. Nevertheless, both the monster figure and abjection produce disgust and horror in the minds of ordinary spectators or readers of media using this metaphor to heighten excitement for the viewers. The abject characteristic of the monster figure also has something in common with the posthuman figure, meaning to apply to a category of inhuman others who are held outside of the normal category of human beings. In the similar vein, it is natural that the most typical monster figures in our times are posthuman creatures embodied in such forms as seen with zombies, humanoids, cyborgs, robots, and so on. In short, the monster figure includes all of the creatures and beings that disarray normalized humanist categories and values. The monster narrative, in the same sense, is a type of story that tells about others outside modern, anthropocentric, male-centered, and Westernized categories of thought. It can be argued that a catastrophic narrative, a literary genre which depicts the world where a series of catastrophic events demolish the existing human civilization, ought to be seen as a typical modern-day monster narrative, because it also discounts and criticizes normalized humanist categories and values as is the result of the monster narrative. Going beyond the prevailing humanist realist narrative that are so familiar with existing values, the catastrophic narrative is not only a monster narrative per se, but also a monstrous narrative which disrupts and reinvents currently mainstream narratives and ways of thinking.

Report on the Eradication of Nutria (Myocastor coypus Molina, 1782), an Invasive Alien Species, from Jeju-do, South Korea - Case of Songdang-ri, Jeju-si - (제주도 침입외래생물 Nutria (Mycastor coypus Molina, 1782)의 퇴치 사례 보고 - 제주시 송당지역의 사례 -)

  • Ga-Ram Kim;Jun-Won Lee;Seon-Mi Park;Sung-Hwan Choi;Young-Hun Jung;Hong-Shik Oh
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.36 no.6
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    • pp.582-591
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    • 2022
  • This study was conducted to eliminate Myocastor coypusMolina, 1782 (Nutria) from Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, South Korea. Habitat identification and eradication were carried out from September to November 2013, and a survey was carried out until June 2022 to check whether the eradication was successful. The habitat was identified with unmanned cameras, interviews, and literature surveys, and the capture was performed using the trapping method with food to attract nutria to the habitat area. The study area for the follow-up survey, which was set relatively wide considering nutria's home range, included wetlands and rivers within 4.0 km2 of the habitat area (eradication area). As a result, nutria's habitat was confirmed only at Songdang Ranch, Songdang-ri, of Jeju Island, with traces of habitat (footprints, excrement, and burrows) confirmed in waterways and ponds within the pasture. Eight individuals were captured, including four females, three males, and one individual in too advanced a state of decay to identify the sex. The follow-up survey thoroughly investigated the habitat and its surroundings, focusing on three areas with permanent water, Seongeup Reservoir, Cheonmi Creek, and Molsuni Pond, but no signs of habitat were identified. Therefore, it is determined that nutria inhabiting Jeju Island has been completely eradicated. It is believed that the successful eradication of nutria in the Jeju Special Autonomous Region was possible due to a synergy between 1) the eradication of nutria at the beginning of the settlement phase through rapid capture after confirming the nutria habitat and 2) the delayed expansion period because of rare presence of wetlands, where water is constantly stagnant, on Jeju Island. These results imply that quickly identifying the ecological characteristics of the species and preventing disturbances before they or at the beginning of the ecological disturbance through control and eradication at the initial stage of settlement before the expansion stage is an effective measure to cope with the influx of alien species.