• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.568-574
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• 2011

Measuring tray as a component in irrigation control system using drainage electrodes was designed and applied for tomato perlite bed culture, and the effectiveness of the irrigation control system was investigated in terms of cultural development and cultivation costs. Five different types of measuring trays equipped with drainage electrodes were tested and the traditional tray was used as the control equipped with time clock. After the first experiment, "Tube-2" was removed because of instability of water content in the substrate. After second experiment, "Tube-1" was removed because of instability of water content in the substrate and low plant yields. In third experiment, "Up-Board" exhibited the best stability in water contents and yields as well as efficiencies in water and fertilizer utilization. The "Up-Board" was the most economical and the easiest system among the tested trays. Therefore, the "Up-Board" system was concluded as the excellent design to apply for the control method using drainage electrodes for tomato perlite bed culture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.782-787
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• 2015

In this study, we developed an assay system for missense mutations in human phenylalanine hydroxylases (hPAHs). To demonstrate the reliability of the system, eight mutant proteins (F39L, K42I, L48S, I65T, R252Q, L255V, S349L, and R408W) were expressed in a mutant strain (pah^-) of Dictyostelium discoideum Ax2 disrupted in the indigenous gene encoding PAH. The transformed pah - cells grown in FM minimal medium were measured for growth rate and PAH activity to reveal a positive correlation between them. The protein level of hPAH was also determined by western blotting to show the impact of each mutation on protein stability and catalytic activity. The result was highly compatible with the previous ones obtained from other expression systems, suggesting that Dictyostelium is a dependable alternative to other expression systems. Furthermore, we found that both the protein level and activity of S349L and R408W, which were impaired severely in protein stability, were rescued in HL5 nutrient medium. Although the responsible component(s) remains unidentified, this unexpected finding showed an important advantage of our expression system for studying unstable proteins. As an economic and stable cell-based expression system, our development will contribute to mass-screening of pharmacological chaperones for missense PAH mutations as well as to the in-depth characterization of individual mutations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.737-744
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• 2007

Recently, one of the most interesting topic in the field of wastewater treatment is the disposal of excess sludge. The new concept of excess sludge reduction with recirculation of solubilized sludge via effective microorganisms for cell disruption within the wastewater treatment process has been developed in this study. The alkalophiles for degradation of sludge cell wall were isolated as Exiguobacterium sp., which could be more effectively solubilized sludge in the anaerobic condition. The SCOD of solubilized excess sludge by Exiguobacterium sp. was up to about 2,000mg/L and average TN and TP concentration of solubilized component were 117mg/L and 58mg/L, respectively and C/N ratio was more than 17. To investigate the effects of solubilized sludge by alkalophiles on excess sludge reduction and nutrient removal efficiency, the pilot plant of $DF^{(S)}-MBR$ process, combined with membrane bioreactor and sludge solubilization tank, was operated. In the control run(without sludge solubilization), the daily sludge production was about 4.54 kgMLVSS/day. However, in the $DF^{(S)}-MBR$(with sludge solubilization), the daily sludge production was decreased to 1.39kgMLVSS/day. The effluent quality satisfied the effluent regulation in both cases. Furthermore, the $DF^{(S)}-MBR$ showed relatively better TN removal efficiency in spite of high influent loading. So we concluded that the solubilized excess sludge by alkalophiles was effectively degraded in the MBR process as the carbon source and 70% of sludge reduction efficiency can be achieved.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.386-389
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• 2006

Silage is a major component of cattle rations, so the improvement of silage quality by the inoculation of lactic acid bacteria is of great interest. In this study, commercially distributed Lactobacillus plantram and Lactobacillus rhamnousas NGRI 0110 were used for ensilaging of guinea grass. The four treatments used were a control silage, a silage with cellulase addition, a silage with cellulose+L. plantram addition, and a silage with cellulose + NGRI 0110 addition. Silage quality, voluntary intake, nutrient digestibility, and the characteristics of ruminal fluid of wethers were investigated. Silage to which lactic acid bacteria were added showed low pH and acetic acid concentration and the highest lactic acid content. Dry matter and organic matter digestibility were significantly (p<0.05) increased by cellulase addition and significantly (p<0.05) higher values were observed in L. plantram- and NGRI 0110-added silage. Voluntary intake of NGRI 0110-added silage was the highest and that of control silage was the lowest. We concluded that the observed ability of NGRI 0110 to tolerate low pH and to continue lactic acid fermentation in high lactic acid concentration had also occurred in actual ensilaging. The results indicate that the addition of lactic acid bacteria might improve silage quality and increase digestibility and voluntary intake. The potential for improvement by NGRI 0110 was higher than that to be gained by the use of commercially available lactic acid bacteria.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.394-405
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to develop a nutrition policy on food and nutrition labeling and education systems for fast food and carbonated soft drinks in Korea by identifying the fast food and soft drink use and by examining nutrition policies and labeling in Korea and other countries. Fast food is defined as food dispensed quickly at a restaurant generally offering a limited menu of inexpensive items, which may be mostly not nutritious. It is a growing component of the Korean diet, especially on children and adolescent population. Low nutrient dense beverages such as carbonated drinks are also increasing in the children and adolescent's diet in Korea and concern has been raised that these beverages may replace more nutritious beverage and provide empty calories. According to 2001 Korean national health and nutrition survey, fast food and carbonated soft drinks were most popular among 13 - 19 years old adolescents. Thirty six and 72 percent of adolescents consumed hamburger and carbonated beverage equal to or more than once a week, respectively. In United States, all processed food including soft drinks should disclose full nutrition information by nutrition labeling requirement.. Restaurant foods are not required to provide nutrition information currently, but legislation on mandatory nutrition labeling of fast foods with other restaurant foods has been proposed currently in US. The sales of foods of minimal nutritional value, such as soft drinks, in the nation's schools is regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture. Nutrition information about fast food in US has been provided by fast food companies, non-profit organizations, hospitals and government through internet, booklet and brochure, etc, but the information is available from only a few resources in Korea. This study suggests a nutrition policy on fast food and soft drink use which includes establishing mandatory nutrition labeling and developing nutrition education materials and programs by web-site, booklet and government and school programs in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.203-215
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• 2017

This study was carried out to compare the major nutrient components and antioxidant activities of Stachys sieboldii Miq leaf and root powders. For proximate compositions, crude protein and crude fat contents of leaf powder were higher than those of root powder, whereas contents of crude ash and carbohydrates were lower in leaf powder. The content of glutamic acid was greater in amino acids of leaf and root powders, and contents of total amino acids and essential amino acids were higher in leaf powder compared with root powder. Root powder contained a higher level of total unsaturated fatty acids than leaf powder. Total contents of organic acids were higher in leaf powder; tartaric acid was the major organic acid in leaf powder, and malic acid was the major organic acid in root powder. The content of vitamin A was higher in leaf powder than in root powder. However, vitamin E content was higher in root powder than in leaf powder. Total mineral contents of leaf powder were higher than those of root powder, and mineral contents of leaf and root powders were in the order of K>Ca>Mg. Extract yields of leaf and root powders were 27.21% and 58.51%, respectively. Total polyphenols and total flavonoids of leaf extract were 236.35 mg/g and 1.90 mg/g, respectively, which were higher than those of root extract. The $IC_{50}$ values of leaf and root ethanol extracts based on DPPH hydroxyl scavenging were 0.69 mg/mL and 5934.31 mg/mL, respectively, and antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts from all Stachys sieboldii Miq parts dose-dependently increased. These results suggest that Stachys sieboldii Miq can be recommended as an edible functional food material.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.459-470
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• 2010

In this study, we analyzed fish tolerance guilds in mainstems and tributaries of 65 streams and rivers arid their relations to water quality using dataset sampled from April to November, 2009. For the study, water quality parameters including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), electric conductivity (EC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N), nitrate nitrogen ($NO_3$-N) and phosphate phosphorus ($PO_4$-P) were analyzed in the laboratory and also tolerance ranges in 3 category fishes of sensitive, intermediate, and tolerant species with high abundance were analyzed. According to fish guild analysis, tolerant species was 58% of the total community and the proportion of omnivore species was 63% of the total, indicating a degradation of habitats and water quality. Water quality was shown typical longitudinal gradients from the headwater to the down-river; TN and TP increased toward the down-rivers except for the big point-source area and ionic contents, based on, electric conductivity showed same pattern. Tolerance guild analysis of 9 major species with high abundance indicated that sensitive groups had narrower tolerance range in the water quality than the groups of intermediate and tolerant species. In contrast, tolerant groups including Zacco platypus, Carassius auratus, and Opsarichthys uncirostris amurensis had wider tolerance ranges than the groups of sensitive and intermediate species. Thus, each group was evidently segregated from the tolerance levels. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) employed for the relations of water quality to fish species in each groups suggests that water quality had highest eigenvalues with fish species in the 1st axis of the PCA and nitrogen (TN, $NH_3$-N, $NO_3$-N) and phosphorus (TP) were key components differentiating three groups of sensitive, intermediate and tolerance guilds.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.357-362
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• 2015

Background : A series of studies were conducted to optimize adventitious root induction in vitro from explants of Astragalus membranaceus using various nutrient media supplemented with plant hormones. Methods and Results : Levels of active components were analyzed from adventitious roots induced under different media conditions. Among the different media conditions, Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with $1.0mg{\cdot}{\ell}^{-1}$ indole-3-butyric acid resulted in the greatest adventitious root induction rate. The amount of the major active component of the adventitious roots of Ama1, calycosin-7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside was higher than that of other adventitious root samples. Conclusions : These results suggest that the adventitious roots of A. membranaceus could be used for the commercial production of medicines.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.390-394
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• 2003

In the post-genome period, the technique for identifying gene expression has been progressed to high throughput screening. In the field of molecular nutrition, the use of screening techniques to clarify molecular function of specific nutrients would be very advantageous. In this study, we have evaluated Zn-regulated gene expression in Zn-deficient, homocystein-treated EA.hy926 cells, using cDNA microarray, which can be used to screen the expression of many genes simultaneously. The information obtained can be used for preliminary assessment of molecular and signaling events modulated by Zn under pro-atherogenic conditions. EA.hy926 cells derived from human umbilical vein endothelial cells were cultured in Zn-adequate (control, 15 $\mu$M Zn) or Zn-deficient (experimental, 0 $\mu$M Zn) Dulbecco's MEM media under high homocysteine level (100 $\mu$M) for 3 days of post-confluency. Cells were harvested and RNA was extracted. Total RNA was reverse-transcribed and the synthesized cDNA was labeled with Cy3 or Cy5. Fluorescent labeled cDNA probe was applied to microarray slides for hybridization, and the slide was then scanned using a fluorescence scanner. The expression of seven genes was found to be significantly decreased, and one significantly increased, in response to treatment of EA.hy926 cells with Zn-deficient medium, compared with Zn-supplemented medium. The upregulated genes were oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, cell cycle-related genes and transporter genes. The down-regulated gene was RelB, a component of the NF-kappaB complex of transcription factors. The results of this study imply the effectiveness of cDNA microarray for expression profiling of a singly nutrient deficiency, namely Zn. Furthur study, using tailored-cDNA array and vascular endothelial cell lines, would be beneficial to clarify the molecular function of Zn in atherosclerosis, more in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.155-155
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• 2019

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) models have been developed for assessing agricultural management efforts and their effects on soil and water at the field scale as well as more complex multi-subarea landscapes, whole farms, and watersheds. National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju, Korea, has modified a key component of APEX application, named APEX-Paddy for simulating water quality with considering appropriate paddy management practices, such as puddling and flood irrigation management. Calibration and validation are an anticipated step before any model application. Simple techniques are essential to assess whether or not a parameter should be adjusted for calibration. However, very few study has been done to evaluate the ability of APEX-Paddy to simulate the impact of multiple management scenarios on nutrients loss. In this study, the observation data from experimental fields at Iksan in South Kora was used in calibration and evaluation process during 2013-2015. The APEX auto- calibration tool (APEX-CUTE) was used for model calibration and sensitivity analysis. Four quantitative statistics, the coefficient of determination ($R^2$),Nash-Sutcliffe(NSE),percentbias(PBIAS)androotmeansquareerror(RMSE)were used in model evaluation. In this study, the hydrological process of the modified model, APEX-Paddy, is being calibrated and tested in predicting runoff discharge rate and nutrient yield. Field-scale calibration and validation processes are described with an emphasis on essential calibration parameters and direction regarding logical sequences of calibration steps. This study helps to understand the calibration and validation way is further provided for applications of APEX-Paddy at the field scales.