• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.253-259
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• 2012

Disposal of high amount of coal combustion by-products, such as fly ash and bottom ash, is of a great concern to the country, due to the huge treatment cost and land requirement. On the other hand, those coal-ash wastes are considered to have desirable characteristics that may improve physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. Especially, compared with fly ash, bottom ash has a larger particle size, porous surface area, and usable amount of micronutrients. In the present study, we examined bottom as a soil amendment for mitigating $CO_2$ emission and enhancing carbon sequestration in soils fertilized with organic matter (hairy vetch, green barely, and oil cake fertilizer). Through laboratory incubation, $CO_2$ released from the soil was quantitatively and periodically monitored with an enforced-aeration and high-temperature respirometer. We observed that amendment of bottom ash led to a marked reduction in $CO_2$ emission rate and cumulative amount of $CO_2$ released, which was generally proportional to the amount of bottom ash applied. We also found that the temporal patterns of $CO_2$ emission and C sequestration effects were partially dependent on the relative of proportion labile carbon and C/N ratio of the organic matter. Our results strongly suggest that amendment of bottom ash has potential benefits for fixing labile carbon as more stable soil organic matter, unless the bottom ash contains toxic levels of heavy metals or other contaminants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.182-190
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• 2015

This study was conducted to evaluate the removal efficiencies of organic matter and pharmaceuticals and to identify the removal mechanism of pharmaceuticals using sand obtained from Hwangryong River in Jangsung. Batch and column studies were used to simulate managed aquifer recharge (MAR) systems. All experiments were performed using field effluent containing pharmaceuticals from Damyang Wastewater Treatment Plant as an influent. Based on the removal results of organic matter and pharmaceuticals from the batch and column experiments, soil organic matter (SOM) and microbial activity were found to effectively remove target contaminants. The removal of organic matter was found to increase under biotic conditions. Neutral and cation pharmaceuticals (iopromide, estrone, and trimethoprim) exhibited removal efficiencies higher than 70% from natural sand and baked sand media in batch and column studies. Carbamazepine persisted in the sand batch and column studies. Anion pharmaceuticals (ketoprofen, ibuprofen, and diclofenac) can be removed under conditions featuring high SOM and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations in the sand surface. Based on the experimental Batch and column results, biodegradation and sorption were found to be important mechanisms for the removal of pharmaceuticals within the simulated MAR systems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.893-899
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• 2008

Changes in spectroscopic characteristics and pyrene binding coefficients of terrestrial dissolved organic matters(DOM) were investigated during microbial incubation. The incubation studies were conducted for 21 days using a leaf litter DOM and a soilderived DOM with an inoculum from a river. The dissolved organic carbon(DOC), the specific UV absorbance(SUVA), the synchronous fluorescence spectra, and the pyrene organic carbon-normalized binding coefficient(K$_{oc}$) of the DOM were measured at the incubation days of 0, 3, 7, 14 and 21. After the 21-day incubation, DOC were reduced to 61% and 51% of the original concentrations of the litter DOM and the soil-derived DOM, respectively. Comparison of the spectroscopic characteristics before and after the incubation revealed that the SUVA, the fulvic-like fluorescence(FLF), the humic-like fluorescence(HLF) of the different DOM were enhanced by the incubation whereas the protein-like fluorescence(PLF) was reduced. This indicates that more aromatic and humic-like compounds were enriched during the biodegradation process while biodegradable and weak carbon structures were depleted. Irrespective of the DOM sources, SUVA values showed a positive relationship with pyrene K$_{oc}$ with a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The FLF and HLF also exhibited good correlations with K$_{oc}$ values although different regression equations were obtained from the different DOM. Our results suggest that the selected spectroscopic characteristics could be good estimation indices for the changes of the binding reactivity of DOM for hydrophobic organic contaminants during biodegradation process.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2016

As of many organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls are ubiquitous organic contaminants, which can be found in the most environmental matrices. Their toxic effects include endocrinedisrupting activity. Most researches with these toxicants performed with mixtures of congeners, namely Aroclor and related study has been done in complex environmental matrix, rather than single biosystems or pure congeners. 5 congeners were synthesized and their fates in pure microbial culture (Aspergillus niger) were determined in this study. Among biphenyl and synthetic congeners, biphenyl, PCB-1 (2-chlorobiphenyl), and PCB-3 (4-chlorobiphenyl) were rapidly transformed to hydrophilic metabolites, followed by PCB-38 (3,4,5-trichlorobiphenyl), while the degradation of PCB-126 (3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl) was not observed. The amounts of transformation for biphenyl, PCB-1, PCB-3, and PCB-38 were 65, 38, 52, and 2% respectively. The major metabolites of the above congeners were identified as mono- and di-hydroxy biphenyls, which are known to give adverse endocrinological effects.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.657-672
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• 2008

The purposes of this study are to investigate the hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwaters around Keumsan municipal landfill, and to evaluate the contaminant dispersion from the landfill and its environmental impact. To achieve these goals, groundwater quality logging, hydrochemical analysis, multivariate statistical analysis, and contaminant transport modeling were performed. The water quality logging indicated a leaking from the landfill at the depth of 4-12m around a leachate sump. Electrical conductivity data indicated that groundwaters within 70-100m from landfill were affected by the landfill leakage. Principal components 1 and 2 obtained from principal components analysis (PCA) reflect the influence of leachate and the characteristics of aquifer media, respectively. The results of principal component analysis also indicated the natural attenuation processes such as cation exchange, sorption, and microbial biodegradation. The modeling results showed that groundwater flow westward along a valley from the landfill and contaminants transport accordingly.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 2012

Bovine serum contains various nutrients and growth factors that can be potentially used in biological experiments, drug manufacturing process and food industry. However, almost all the bovine blood has been wasted during slaughter process in Korea, thus there is a high demand for alternative uses of the wasted sera. In order to produce high quality and safe sera, it is necessary to screen zoonotic pathogens as well as other microbial contaminants to prevent any downstream contamination. The present research has been undertaken to assess biological safety of Hanwoo sera by determining microbiological contamination during slaughtering and handling processes. Serological tests have been performed to detect bacteria, mycoplasma and virus contamination in total of 52 Hanwoo sera. No sera were found to be contaminated with mycoplasma or virus, but only two sera were found to be contaminated with Bacillus thuringiensis. The present result shows that Hanwoo sera obtained from slaughtering process are biologically safe and have potentials to be developed as a biological reagent. Moreover, the methods employed in our study may provide basic standard for microbiological screening methods once wasted Hanwoo sera gain industrial values.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.1032-1040
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• 2004

Biological, physical, and chemical hazards in raw manufacturing processes of Saengshik, powdered raw grains and vegetables, were analyzed to identify critical control points (CCPs). In raw materials, total plate and coliform counts ranged 2.82-8.23 and $1.40-6.57\;{\log}_{10}\;CFU/g$, respectively. In final products, total plate counts, except for Lactobacillus spp., were $1.51-7.40\;{\log}_{10}\;CFU/g$. During processing steps, both total plate and coliform counts decreased after washing, whereas no changes were observed after freeze-drying. Physical hazards, such as contents of metal and other contaminants, and chemical hazards, such as moisture content, were assessed. Suggested CCPs for Saengshik were: washing process for controlling microbial contamination, freeze-drying process for controlling moisture content to prevent deterioration and growth of microorganisms, and pulverization process for controlling contamination of foreign substances such as metals. These results will provide guideline to apply HACCP system standards to this product.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 1997

In order to reduce energy input in direct ethanol production from raw starch by co-immobilized Aspergillus awamori(A) and Zymomonas mobilis(Z), A-Z 36 culture system which was changed to anaerobic after 36 h of aerobic fermentation without sterilization was investigated. This immobilized cell system can not be carried out under unsterile conditions because of growth of microbial contaminants from original medium. Among some food additives such as sorbic acid, benzoic acid, dehydroacetic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, Vantocil IB and Neupectin-L, Vantocil IB and Neupectin-L were a potent antibacterial agent in A-Z 36 culture cell system and were not affected in hydrolysis of substrate as compared with the case of control. Ethanol yield(6.9 g/l) in system of addition of 0.1% Neupectin-L was slightly higher than that in control(6.4 g/l). When 2% starch was fed five times in fed-batch culture with 0.1% Neupectin-L, ethanol yield and productivity were 34 g/l and 2.0 g/l/day, respectively.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.249-261
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• 2014

This study was performed in order to grasp the trends of elementary school children and their parents on their purchasing behavior of processed foods, awareness of food additives and its education experience by analyzing the safety assessment reports of food additives in 2008~2013. The most important factor in purchasing processed foods was safety in both groups followed by nutrition in parents and taste in children, respectively. While purchasing foods, the first item that is checked has been shifted from food additives to the origin of the products. Parents still perceived food additives as the most hazardous factor for food safety; however, recently, children began to regard microbial contaminants as being most hazardous, which is regarded as a desirable educational effect. The most concerned food additives were preservatives, synthetic seasoning and colorants in both groups. However, the awareness level on food additives still remained low as 3.0~3.1/5.0 for parents and 2.4~2.9/5.0 for children. Educational experience on food additives increased in children from 12% in 2008 to 25% in 2013; however, it decreased in parents from 23% in 2008 to 15% in 2013. Information needs for food additives by education and promotion were very high both in parents (4.2~4.5) and children (3.8~4.1). Both groups had an interest in the safety, legal standards of food additives, and foods with food additives, in order. The most reliable resource institutions on food additives were university/research institute and hospital for parents, but, hospital and government for children. The preferred media on food additives were TV and the internet for parents, and school newsletter and TV for children. Overall, the above results demonstrated that the perceptions on food additives did not change much with parents during the last 6 years; however, children's perceptions began to show improvement with the increase of educational experience. Hence, the government needs to make efforts to increase the trust level of consumers by developing educational tools and providing educational experiences including mass media for the promotion of risk communication on food additives.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.895-903
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• 2007

As for the increasing demanding on the development of direct-ecological landfill monitoring methods, it is needed for critically defining the condition of landfills and their influence on the environment, quantifying the amount of enzymes and bacteria mainly concerned with biochemical reaction in the landfills. This study was thus conducted to understand the fates of contaminants in association with groundwater quality parameters. For the study, groundwater was seasonally sampled from four closed unsanitary landfills(i.e. Cheonan(C), Wonju(W), Nonsan(N), Pyeongtaek(P) sites) in which microbial diversity was simultaneously obtained by 16S rDNA methods. Subsequently, a number of primer sets were prepared for quantifying the specific gene of representative bacteria and the gene of encoding enzymes dominantly found in the landfills. The relationship between water quality parameters and gene quantification were compared based on correlation factors. Correlation between DSR(Sulfate reduction bacteria) gene and BOD(Biochemical Oxygen Demand) was greater than 0.8 while NSR(Nitrification bacteria-Nitrospira sp.) gene and nitrate were related more than 0.9. A stabilization indicator(BOD/COD) and MTOT(Methane Oxidation bacteria), MCR(Methyl coenzyme M reductase), Dde(Dechloromonas denitrificans) genes were correlated over 0.8, but ferric iron and Fli(Ferribacterium limineticm) gene were at the lowest of 0.7. For MTOT, it was at the highest related at 100% over BOD/COD. In addition, anaerobic genes(i.e., nirS-Nitrite reductase, MCR. Dde, DSR) and DO were also related more than 0.8, which showing anaerobic reactions generally dependant upon DO. As demonstrated in the study, molecular biological investigation and water quality parameters are highly co-linked, so that quantitative real-time PCR could be cooperatively used for assessing landfill stabilization in association with the conventional monitoring parameters.