• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.35-43
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• 2014

The application of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodology to analyze the environmental burden of appling the digestates to corn field including different swine waste treatment systems was investigated. The first part of LCA is an inventory of parameters used to emissions released due to the system under investigation. In the following step, the Life Cycle Impact Assessment, the inventory data were analyzed and aggregated in order to finally get one index representing the each environmental burden. Each corn field applied with the aerobic and anaerobic digestates including different swine waste treatment systems was used as an example for the life cycle impact analysis. With analyzing the agricultural environmental burden, it observed that the effect of corn field applied aerobic digestate including digestion system was 7.6 times higher at eutrophication effects, but global warming potential effect was 0.9 times less than its applied anaerobic digestate.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.239-249
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• 2013

Subclinical vitamin $B_{12}$ deficiency is common in the elderly worldwide. We investigated the change of serum vitamin $B_{12}$ concentration with aging and compared anthropometric data and clinical health indicators between normal (${\geq}$ 340 pg/mL) and low (< 340 pg/mL) serum vitamin $B_{12}$ groups in 470 Korean women aged 65 years and over living in a rural area. Serum vitamin $B_{12}$ concentration showed inverse correlation with age (r = -0.0992, p < 0.05). The normal $B_{12}$ group showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit compared to the low $B_{12}$ group, however, no difference in mean corpuscular volume was observed between the two groups. The normal $B_{12}$ group showed significantly lower serum homocysteine concentration (p < 0.01) and prevalence of vitamin D (p < 0.01) or folate deficiency (p < 0.001). Bone mineral density (T-score) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the normal $B_{12}$ group, compared with that in the low $B_{12}$ group, and showed positive correlation (r = 0.1490, p < 0.01) with serum vitamin $B_{12}$ concentration after adjusting for age, body weight, and body mass index. No differences in anthropometric data, physical activity, and smoking and drinking habits were observed between the two groups. In conclusion, it could be suggested that older female adults with normal serum vitamin $B_{12}$ level would be less anemic and osteoporotic and more resistant to hyperhomocysteinemia associated chronic diseases than those with low serum vitamin $B_{12}$ level.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 2012

The rapid urbanization caused drastic temperature changes in Korea. Excessive urbanization and development result in unpredictable and abnormal climate change all over the world. These changes are reflected in Korean government policy and research about cities, such that various research endeavors have been undergone recently. There are lots of ways to improve the urban environment; the easiest way to solve the urban heat effect problem is to make green spaces within the city. Even though we can't enlarge green spaces over the city limitlessly, it is desperately need for a methodology to efficiently create green space in limited area. Based on awareness of issues as mentioned earlier, we would like to propose landscaping method that can increase thermal comfort in the same area. For this study, simulating the change of temperature, mean radiant temperature, PMV were done due to number of species planted in apartment complex. To increase the reliability of the simulation, first above all, field measurement for temperature change was performed in apartment complex, where residential building are arranged in the form of ㄷ. And based on this data, Envi-met simulation was performed varying 1-7 kinds of species divided by grass, shrubs, arbor (deciduous, conifers) planted in apartment complex. As a result, there was a change less than $1^{\circ}C$ with the increasing number of species in daytime, but the average radiation temperature about $6-7^{\circ}C$ was reduced. In addition, PMV index was improved by more than 0.5 point. Thermal comfort indicator improved significantly depending on the number of species during the day, on the other hand, there were no significant changes at night. As a consequence, this study has shown that not single-species planting but mixed planting varied the number of species would improve the thermal comfort in the same area of landscaping space at daytime.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.295-305
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• 2004

After the Rio declaration on environment and development in 1992, developed countries are undertaking "environmentally sustainable transportation (EST)" projects. To meet the needs for EST, current transportation policies in Korea are rapidly reforming and one of its concerns is modernizing and upgrading railway freight system. Planning new railroad construction projects is increasing and subsequent environmental impact assessment (EIA) demands improvements, especially in both the EIA and decision making systems. In this paper, we discuss the present status of EIA for railroad construction projects, especially, by analyzing the EIA documents for the last six years. The EIA for railroad construction projects accounts for only 4.9% of total 918 project EIAs during 1998-2003, and the portion is gradually increasing. Major environmental concerns for EIA in railroad construction projects were geomorphological and ecological changes, protection of rare organisms, air pollution, water pollution, waste management, and noise, etc. We compared characteristics of environmental impacts of railroad construction with those of vehicle road construction, based on environmental and construction-planning indicators appeared in Environmental Impact Statements. Railroad construction usually requires longer tunnels and bridges for a given length than those for vehicle road construction. In addition, the amounts of geomorphological and ecological changes (road-cutting, embankment, devegetation, etc.) in railroad construction were generally less than 50% of those in vehicle road construction. To develop environmentally friendly railway systems, monitoring studies for environmental impacts of railroads such as habitat fragmentation and road kills, dispersal of alien plants, tunnelling effects on groundwater and vegetation, and noise impacts are highly recommended.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.598-603
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• 2012

Beef qualities which can be properly predicted by time-temperature integrator (TTI), a chromatic indicator, were selected in terms of its similarity of temperature dependence between beef qualities and TTI, denoted by Arrhenius activation energy ($E_a$). The high similarity is required to afford accurate prediction. A devised enzymatic TTI based on laccase (an oxidase), which catalyses the oxidation on 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) producing color development, was applied. The factors of beef quality, such as volatile basic nitrogen (VBN), pH, color (CIE $L^*$, $a^*$), Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), Pseudomonas spp. count, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count were considered for the selection. $E_a$ (55.48 kJ/mol) of the TTI was found to be similar to those of the beef qualities (all referred) in the order of LAB count (53.54 kJ/mol), CIE $a^*$ value (61.86 kJ/mol), pH (65.51 kJ/mol), Pseudomonas spp. Count (44.54 kJ/mol), VBN (67.98 kJ/mol), WBSF (40.67 kJ/mol), and CIE $L^*$ value (33.72 kJ/mol). The beef qualities with more similar $E_a$ to that of the TTI showed less difference between real and TTI predicted levels. In conclusion, it was found out that when applying TTI to food packages, their $E_a$ similarity should be checked to assure accurate estimation of food quality levels from TTI response.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.213-221
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• 2019

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate gender and age differences in hygienic behavior among the general population, focusing on hand-washing habits and the microbial load of hands. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey and a separate microbial examination were performed. The Pearson's correlation between hand-washing habits and microbial load was analyzed. Results: In the questionnaire survey on hand-washing habits, gender differences were found in hand-washing frequency, use of hand-washing agents, and hand drying methods (p<0.05). Age differences were found in numbers of washing parts of the hands and also in hand drying methods (p<0.05). Females showed better habits washing hands than did males, as did older people compared to younger. In the microbial examination of indicator bacteria on their hands, younger people tended to show a higher load of total aerobic bacteria than did the older, and females showed a higher load of total coliforms than did males (p<0.05). There were significant relationships between the load of total aerobic bacteria and hand-washing frequency, duration, and method of turning-off water (p<0.05). Conclusions: Although females were expected to show a better practice of hand-washing than were males based on the survey results, they showed a higher level of total coliforms in the hand examination. The older age group showed better hand-washing habits than did the younger age group and had less total aerobic bacteria on their hands. These inter-gender and age differences highlight the need for development and implementation of gender-and age-specific educational programs or campaigns.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.956-965
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• 2019

Objective: The main goal of this study was to provide a morphological indicator that could be used to select high-quality oocytes of appropriate meiotic and developmental capabilities in pig. The higher quality of immature oocytes, the higher success rates of in vitro maturation (IVM) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Thus, prior to the IVM culture, it is important to characterize oocytes morphologically and biochemically in order to assess their quality. Two of the largest indicators of oocyte quality are the presence of cumulus cells and status of chromatin. To investigate the effects of porcine oocyte chromatin configurations on the developmental capacity of blastocysts, we assessed oocyte chromatin status according to follicle size and measured the developmental potency of blastocysts. Methods: To sort by follicle size, we divided the oocytes into three groups (less than 1 mm, 1 to 3 mm, and more than 3 mm in diameter). To assess chromatin configuration, the oocytes were assessed for their stages (surrounded nucleolus [SN] germinal vesicle [GV], non-surrounded nucleolus [NSN] GV, GV breakdown, metaphase I [MI], pro-metaphase II [proMII], and metaphase II [MII]) at different maturation times (22, 44, and 66 h). To assess the development rate, oocytes of each follicle size were subjected to parthenogenetic activation for further development. Finally, GV oocytes were grouped by their chromatin configuration (SN, SN/NSN, and NSN) and their global transcriptional levels were measured. Results: SN GV oocytes were more suitable for IVF than NSN GV oocytes. Moreover, oocytes collected from the larger follicles had a greater distribution of SN GV oocytes and a higher developmental capacity during IVM, reaching MII more quickly and developing more often to blastocysts. Conclusion: Porcine oocytes with high-level meiotic and developmental capacity were identified by analyzing the relationship between follicle size and chromatin configuration. The porcine oocytes from large follicles had a significantly higher SN status in which the transcription level was low and could be better in the degree of meiotic progression and developmental capacity.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.305-319
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• 2000

A total of 50 diatom species and 1 subspecies belonging to 31 genera except Chaetoceros resting spores were identified in the 45 sediments subsampled from a gravity core GH98-1223 collected from the western Hokkaido Island located in the northeastern East Sea (Sea of Japan). The most dominant species is Thalassionema nitzschioides (Grunow) Hustedt, ranging 29 to 59% of the total assemblages, and most species including Denticulopsis seminae (Simonsen and Kanaya) Simonsen and Pseudoeunotia doliolus (Wallich) Grunow were less than 5% in average. Frequencies of cold-water species are generally higher than those of warm-water species and the vertical distribution of cold-water species was largely opposite to that of warm-water species in spite of ecological habitat difference. Frequency of cold-water species, D. seminae is reverse to that of P. doliolus, an indicator of the Tsushima Warm Current, which is consistent with diatom temperature value (T$_{d}$ value). The variation of T$_{d}$ values shows that the upper part of core with greater-than-average T$_{d}$ values represents postglacial warming trend. These T$_{d}$ values clearly demonstrate that the study area located in the northern part of the East Sea is gradually influenced by Tsushima Warm Current. In addition, the zig-zag variation in the lower part reflects the unstable seawater for diatom habitat. Chaetoceros resting spores indicating productivity and upwelling was 5.3 to 40%, with maximum peak at 80 cm. Chaetoceros resting spores/Chaetoceros vegetative cells, an indicator of relative amounts of biogenic material in the sediments was high at the upper 80 cm level, corresponding to the change of T$_{d}$ values. On the basis of diatom assemblages, the northeastern part of East Sea has experienced the effects of Tsushima Warm Current during the postglacial period of Holocene, which is similar to the modem climatic environment. However, the variation of P. doliolus reflects that the intensity of Tsushima Warm Current has been oscillated in the East Sea.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.228-238
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• 1994

The change of sea-level is a good indicator of the change of climate during the Quaternary period. The sea-levels in the world have been changing very irregularly during that time. The pattern of the Quaternary sea-level change was assumed to be a stochastic fractal in this study. We measured fractal dimensions of the Holocene sea-levels of the Hudson river estuary and the Delaware coast. A box counting method gave almost the same values. i.e., D=1.358 for the Hudson sea-level changes and D+1.346 for the Delaware sea-level changes. the ability of the inverse method of fractal interposea-levels. IFIF reproduction the realistic sea-levels for the both of them. The delaware sea-level data made less statistical errors for the interpolation of IFIF than the Hudson and the Delaware sea-levels. IFIF reproduction the realistic sea-levels for the both of them. The Delaware sea-level data made less statistical errors for the interpolation of IFIF than the Hudson sea-level data. This suggests that the Delaware sea-level data are more reliable than the Hudson sea-level data was calculated from the fractal dimension of the Delaware sea-level data. Fractal interpolation functions (FIF) was used to reconstruct the peleosea-levels of the Korean coasts and the Atlantic Ocean coasts of the United States. The Korean Peleosea-level change generacted by FIF is different from the peleosea-level change of the eastern U.S.. The Korean peleosea-levels are much higher than the eastern U.S. Paleosea-levels, comparing to each other from the present to 8,000 BP.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.35.1-35.16
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• 2023

Defining the molecular dynamics associated with T cell differentiation enhances our understanding of T cell biology and opens up new possibilities for clinical implications. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of CD5 expression in CD8⁺ T cell differentiation and explored its potential clinical uses. Using PBMCs from 29 healthy donors, we observed a stepwise decrease in CD5 expression as CD8⁺ T cells progressed through the differentiation stages. Interestingly, we found that CD5 expression was initially upregulated in response to T cell receptor stimulation, but diminished as the cells underwent proliferation, potentially explaining the differentiation-associated CD5 downregulation. Based on the proliferation-dependent downregulation of CD5, we hypothesized that relative CD5 expression could serve as a marker to distinguish the heterogeneous CD8⁺ T cell population based on their proliferation history. In support of this, we demonstrated that effector memory CD8⁺ T cells with higher CD5 expression exhibited phenotypic and functional characteristics resembling less differentiated cells compared to those with lower CD5 expression. Furthermore, in the retrospective analysis of PBMCs from 30 non-small cell lung cancer patients, we found that patients with higher CD5 expression in effector memory T cells displayed CD8⁺ T cells with a phenotype closer to the less differentiated cells, leading to favorable clinical outcomes in response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. These findings highlight the dynamics of CD5 expression as an indicator of CD8⁺ T cell differentiation status, and have implications for the development of predictive biomarker for ICI therapy.