• Title/Summary/Keyword: Green health industry

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Functions and values of sulfated polysaccharides from seaweed

  • D. P. Nagahawatta;N. M. Liyanage;Thilina U. Jayawardena;Fengqi Yang;H. H. A. C. K. Jayawardena;M. J. M. S. Kurera;Fahe Wang;Xiaoting Fu;You-Jin Jeon
    • ALGAE
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.217-240
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    • 2023
  • Sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) isolated from seaweed have emerged as remarkable bioactive compounds with a wide spectrum of biological activities and have substantial value in the scientific and industrial domains. The current study explores the diverse biological activities of SPs and their relationship with their structures. This aids in an in-depth examination of the multifaceted biological activities of SPs, including anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties, which underpin their potential health benefits. Furthermore, the current study explores the complicated properties of SPs, with their extraction methodologies and techniques for precise characterization. Elucidation of the commercial significance of SPs derived from brown, red, and green seaweed by highlighting their potential applications has emphasized their importance in human well-being. Further, this review emphasizes the challenges needed to overcome research and industrial innovations for SPs. Collaboration among researchers, industry stakeholders, and regulatory authorities can overcome these challenges and elevate the potential of SPs to revolutionize industries such as pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food, and biotechnology.

A Study on Industry-specific Sustainability Strategy: Analyzing ESG Reports and News Articles (산업별 지속가능경영 전략 고찰: ESG 보고서와 뉴스 기사를 중심으로)

  • WonHee Kim;YoungOk Kwon
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.287-316
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    • 2023
  • As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

The Impact of Power Plants on the Environment and Region - Focus on Incheon Area according to the 3rd Electric Support Action Plan - (발전소 증설이 환경, 지역사회 및 경제에 미치는 영향 - 제 3차 전력 수급계획에 의한 인천 지역의 화력발전소 증설을 중심으로 -)

  • Jung, Chang Hoon;Pokarel, Rajib;Lee, Hee Kwan
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.195-208
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    • 2009
  • The power plant is well known to influence air pollution as well as emission of green house gas. Because of increasing demand on electricity, the government set up the electric support action plan every 2 years. In this research, the impacts of power plants on the environment and region was studied. The study was focused on the establishment of power plant in Incheon area based on the 3rd electric support action plan. According to the 3rd electric support action plan, almost 80% of power plant in metropolitan area is planned to be built in Incheon area. The main influences of establishment of power plant are emissions of $SO_x$, $NO_x$ and PM and exceed the allocated local industry emissions, which means the emission allocation of other industry is difficult. In additions, the power plant exhaust $CO_2$ much more than other types of fuel such as waterpower generation, atomic power station. Although several supports are given in local government, these cannot cover the whole cost due to establishment of power plant. Subsequently, this study suggest the additional policy based on local consideration is needed and the current electricity distribution system should be reconsidered fundamentally in the lang term.

Significance of Viable but Nonculturable Escherichia coli: Induction, Detection, and Control

  • Ding, Tian;Suo, Yuanjie;Xiang, Qisen;Zhao, Xihong;Chen, Shiguo;Ye, Xingqian;Liu, Donghong
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.417-428
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    • 2017
  • Diseases caused by foodborne or waterborne pathogens are emerging. Many pathogens can enter into the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state, which is a survival strategy when exposed to harsh environmental stresses. Pathogens in the VBNC state have the ability to evade conventional microbiological detection methods, posing a significant and potential health risk. Therefore, controlling VBNC bacteria in food processing and the environment is of great importance. As the typical one of the gram-negatives, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a widespread foodborne and waterborne pathogenic bacterium and is able to enter into a VBNC state in extreme conditions (similar to the other gram-negative bacteria), including inducing factors and resuscitation stimulus. VBNC E. coli has the ability to recover both culturability and pathogenicity, which may bring potential health risk. This review describes the concrete factors (nonthermal treatment, chemical agents, and environmental factors) that induce E. coli into the VBNC state, the condition or stimulus required for resuscitation of VBNC E. coli, and the methods for detecting VBNC E. coli. Furthermore, the mechanism of genes and proteins involved in the VBNC E. coli is also discussed in this review.

A Study on the Concentration of Fine Particles and Heavy Metals in Iron Works (제철소 주변지역의 대기 중 미세먼지 및 중금속 농도에 관한 연구)

  • Cho, Tae-Jin;Jeong, Man-Ho;Jeon, Jun-Min;Son, Bu-Soon
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.401-409
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    • 2009
  • The results of particulate matters level and heavy metal concentration, which surveyed in Gwang-Yang, Dang-Jin steel industry area, are as follows; The $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$ of exposure area are $22.3{\mu}g/m^3$, $40.4{\mu}g/m^3$ each in Kum-Ho dong, and $28.1{\mu}g/m^3$, 51.5 each in Jung dong. The $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$ of control area are $16.4{\mu}g/m^3$, $29.5{\mu}g/m^3$ each in Bonggang-myeon. The level is higher in exposure area than control area. In case of Dang Jin, the concentration of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ is higher in exposure area than control area ($PM_{2.5}-20.4{\mu}g/m^3$, $PM_{10}-39.2{\mu}g/m^3$). The Pb level of Dang Jin area is higher in exposure area ($0.13{\mu}g/m^3$) than control area ($0.1{\mu}g/m^3$) and both Gwang-Yang and Dang-Jin area lower level than the Guideline level of Korea EPA.

Degenerative myopathy of the supracoracoideus (DMS) in turkeys and broiler chickens, Review (칠면조와 육계에서 청색증 발생기전에 관한 고찰)

  • Song, Hee-Jong;Lee, Myung-Woo;Ryu, Kyeong-Sun;Jang, Hyung-Kwan
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.161-166
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    • 2008
  • Deep pectoral myopathy (DPM), also known as Oregon muscle disease or green muscle disease, was first described in 1968 by Dickinson et al as "degenerative myopathy" in turkeys. Even though this condition was first recognized in adult meat-type turkey and chicken breeders, it is becoming more and more common in meat-type growing birds. DPM occurs exclusively in birds that have been specially selected for breast muscle development. It is generally recognized that DPM is an ischemic necrosis that develops in the deep pectoral muscle (supracoracoideus or pectoralis minor muscle) mainly because this muscle is surrounded by inelastic fascia and the sternum, which do not allow the muscle mass to swell in response to the physiological changes occurring when muscle are exercised, as in wing flapping. The lesion does not impair the general health of birds and is generally found during cut-up and deboning, moreover, it can be both unilateral or bilateral, affecting just one or both pectoralis minor muscle, respectively. No public health significance is associated to DPM, but it is aesthetically undesirable. The fillet should be removed, whereas the rest of the carcass is still fit for human consumption. However, the required trimming operations determine the downgrading of the products and produce an economic loss for the industry, especially because it affects the more valuable part of the carcass. The incidence of DPM increases with market weight in broilers, with more cases reported in higher-yielding strains and in males. Increased bird activity (flock nervousness, flightiness, struggle, and wing flapping) induced by factors such as feed or water outages, lighting programs and intensity, human activity, and excessive noises in and around chicken houses should be looked at as a trigger for the development of DPM in broiler. However, most of the studies conducted to evaluate the incidence of DPM in poultry are concerned with parental commercial breeding stocks under experimental conditions (Bianchi et al. 2006. Poult Sci 85 : 1843-1846). There is a possible genetic relationship between the selection for large-breasted birds and this condition. Management procedures that discourage excessive wing flapping would reduce the incidence (Jordan and Pattison. 1998. Poultry diseases. 398-399).

A Diagnostic Study of safety education in elementary schools based on PRECEDE Model (PRECEDE 모형을 이용한 일부 초등학교 안전교육의 진단적 연구)

  • 백경원;이명선
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.35-47
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    • 2001
  • As the complexity of the our environment is further complicated by advancements in industry and increase in vehicle traffic flow, the incidents of injury causing accidents are on the rise. Consequently, there is increasing emphasis on the importance of systematic and continual safety education for injury preventive behaviors. This study investigates safety related problems of elementary school students based on the PRECEDE model, proposed by Green et al.(1980 Green), to comprehensively identify the requirements of school safety education. The identified requirements were used to diagnose the current state of elementary school safety education through the analysis of multidimensional factors. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 594 sixth grade students from randomly selected 4 schools in Seoul to examine their injury preventive behaviors and to determine the educational diagnosis variables that affect it. The duration of the survey was 3 weeks starting from April 12, 1999 to May 8, 1999. A summary of the survey results are presented below; 1. Situations in which accidents have occurred were, in their order of frequency, ‘during play or sports activities within the school grounds’ was most frequent at 59.6%, ‘during play on local streets’ at 49.5%, and ‘traffic accidents’ at 41.6%. 2. Categorization of the injury preventive behavior showed that ‘not playing at high traffic flow locations such as streets and construction sites’ had the higher level of observance, while ‘wearing of helmets and joint protection devices during playing’ was least observed. 3. Considering injury preventive behaviors in relation to educational diagnosis variables indicated, for predisposing factors, lower ‘perception to injury accidents’ (p〈0.001) combined with higher ‘concerns for injury accidents’(p〈0.001), ‘practice of preventive behavior’(p〈0.001), and ‘the level of safety knowledge’(p〈0.001) resulted in significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. For enabling factors, higher ‘perceived level of the school safety education’ (p〈0.001) and ‘availability of safety education resources’(p〈0.01) indicated significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. For the reinforcing factor, frequent exposure to ‘safety education brochure’ (p〈0.01) and ‘audio-visual material for safety education’(p〈0.01) combined with more ‘regional safety education’ (p〈0.01), ‘home safety education’ (p〈0.01), ‘school safety education’(p〈0.001), and, ‘parents’ observance of preventive behaviors' (p〈0.001) showed significantly higher observance of injury preventive behaviors. 4. An analysis of the factors that affect injury preventive behaviors showed that the enabling factor ‘awareness of school safety education’ had the highest correlation with injury preventive behaviors followed by factors, in their order of significance, ‘practice of preventive behavior’, ‘perception to injury accidents’, ‘level of safety knowledge’, ‘parents’ observances of preventive behaviors', and ‘concerns for injury accidents.’

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Typology of Korean Eco-sumers: Based on Clothing Disposal Behaviors (관우한국생태학적일개예설(关于韩国生态学的一个预设): 기우복장탑배적행위(基于服装搭配的行为))

  • Sung, Hee-Won;Kincade, Doris H.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.59-69
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    • 2010
  • Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.

Current status on global sweetpotato cultivation and its prior tasks of mass production (세계 고구마 재배현황 및 대량생산의 선결과제)

  • Kim, Ho Soo;Lee, Chan-Ju;Kim, So-Eun;Ji, Chang Yoon;Kim, Sung-Tai;Kim, Jin-Seog;Kim, Sangyong;Kwak, Sang-Soo
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.45 no.3
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    • pp.190-195
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    • 2018
  • Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] represents an attractive starch crop that can be used to facilitate solving global food and environmental problems in the $21^{st}$ century. It can be used as industrial bioreactors to produce various high value-added materials, including bio-ethanol, functional feed, antioxidants, as well as food resources. The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced sweetpotato as one of the ten 'super foods' for better health, since it contains high levels of low molecular weight antioxidants such as vitamin-C, vitamin-E and carotenoids, as well as dietary fiber and potassium. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also reported that sweetpotato is the best bioenergy crop among starch crops on marginal lands, that does not affect food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that world population in 2050 will be 9.7 billion, and require approximately 1.7 times more food than today. In this respect, sweetpotato will be a solution to solving problems such as food, energy, health, and environment facing the globe in the $21^{st}$ century. In this paper, the current status of resources, and cultivation of sweetpotato in the world was first described. Development of a new northern route of the sweetpotato and its prior tasks of large scale cultivation of sweetpotato, were also described in terms of global food security, and production of high-value added biomaterials.

Development of Liquid Phase Product from Red Ginseng and Medicinal Herbs for Alcoholic Beverage (홍삼 및 기능성 소재를 이용한 주류첨가용 액상제제 개발)

  • Kim, Do-Hee;Cho, Yang-Hee;Cho, Jae-Seon;Ham, Tae-Sik;Lee, Jong-Wan;Rhee, Chul
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.45-51
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    • 2004
  • This study was conducted to investigate the effect of crude saponin of red ginseng and aqueous extracts from several medicinal herbs on the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase(ALDH) in alcohol metabolism. In order to develop a liquid phase product a model product was prepared using functional plants. In case of red ginseng crude saponin, and some medicinal herbs(Puerariae radix, the flower of Puerariae lobata, the fruits of Hovenia dulcis Thunb., Morus alba L.) the relative activity of ADH was significantly increased, which was from 104~114%. The relative activity of ALDH was also significantly increased in the cases of the fruits of Hovenia duicis Thunb., Morus alba L. which was from 102∼106%. To improve of soju flavours by addition of liquid phase product, it is prepared three samples added a given content (0.28%) of chik, ssanghwa and kyungokgo flavour. The total acceptability test showed significant differences among three samples, and it is observed that the sample added ssanghwa flavour get the best grade. As the second acceptability test, the preference of ssanghwa flavoured sample, sample without flavour and a similar product in market was compared. There was no significant difference among three samples.