• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.306-313
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• 2014

Nanoporous $TiO_2$ films are commonly used as working electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). So far, there have been attempts to synthesize films with various $TiO_2$ nanostructures to increase the power-conversion efficiency. In this work, vertically aligned rutile $TiO_2$ nanorods were grown on fluorinated tin oxide (FTO) glass by hydrothermal synthesis, followed by deposition of an anatase $TiO_2$ film. This new method of anatase $TiO_2$ growth avoided the use of a seed layer that is usually required in hydrothermal synthesis of $TiO_2$ electrodes. The dense anatase $TiO_2$ layer was designed to behave as the electron-generating layer, while the less dense rutile nanorods acted as electron-transfer pathwaysto the FTO glass. In order to facilitate the electron transfer, the rutile phase nanorods were treated with a $TiCl_4$ solution so that the nanorods were coated with the anatase $TiO_2$ film after heat treatment. Compared to the electrode consisting of only rutile $TiO_2$, the power-conversion efficiency of the rutile-anatase hybrid $TiO_2$ electrode was found to be much higher. The total thickness of the rutile-anatase hybrid $TiO_2$ structures were around $4.5-5.0{\mu}m$, and the highest power efficiency of the cell assembled with the structured $TiO_2$ electrode was around 3.94%.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.466-477
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• 2018

In this study, the anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts of different parts of Hovenia dulcis such as leaves, stems, and roots were investigated. Among them, the roots extract (RE) showed the most potent suppressive effect against pro-inflammatory mediators in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophage cells. RE induced dose-dependent reduction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and concomitantly reduced the production of NO and $PGE_2$. Additionally, pre-treatment with RE significantly suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$), interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$, and IL-6, as well as mRNA levels. Moreover, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) were also strongly attenuated by RE in RAW264.7 cell. Furthermore, RE induced HO-1 expression through nuclear translocation of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and increase HO-1 activity in RAW264.7 macrophages. Therefore, these results indicate that RE strongly inhibits LPS-induced inflammatory responses by blocking NF-kB activation, inhibiting MAPKs phosphorylation, and enhancing HO-1 expression in macrophages, suggesting that RE of H. dulicis and a major component, 27-O-protocatechuoylbetulinic acid could be applied as a valuable natural anti-inflammatory material.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.211-218
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• 2018

Instant face lifting cosmetics contain various film forming agents for stretching the wrinkles on the skin surface. But, most of the film-forming polymers have sticky feels. And they are easily scrubbed out when skin is rubbed on. In this study, we focused on the influence of sodium silicate that has rapid film forming effect on skin surface and immediate wrinkle reducing effect. Sodium silicate, also known as water glass or soluble glass, is a compound containing sodium oxide and silica. Sodium silicate is a white powder that is readily soluble in water, producing an alkaline solution. Sodium silicate is stable in neutral and alkaline solutions. The sodium silicate solution hardens by drying in air and rapidly forms a thin film. When the solution is applied to the skin, the fine membrane coating is formed by water evaporation and ionic bond re-formation. It also makes the strong siloxane (Si-O) bonding on the skin surface. When these fixation properties are applied to cosmetics, they can give remarkable skin tightening effect. The sodium silicate solution can provide the lifting effect by forming a film on skin at a proper concentration. But, skin irritation may be caused with too high concentration of sodium silicate. We studied a desirable range of the sodium silicate concentration and combination with other fixatives for skin care formulation that has no sticky feels and no scrubbing out phenomenon. Immediate lifting gel was developed by using sodium silicate and various thickening systems. Among of the various thickeners, aluminum magnesium silicate showed the best compatibility with sodium silicate for rapid lifting effect. This instant physical lifting gel was confirmed as a low stimulating formula by skin clinical test.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 2008

Introduction : Korean red ginseng has been shown to have an preventive effect on atheroma formation and enhancing effect on nitric oxide synthesis in endothelial cell inducing vasodilatation. However, there are few studies showing the effect of Korean red ginseng on blood pressure and vascular(endothelial) pathologic changes together. We designed this study to show changes of blood pressure and vascular pathologic findings with Korean red ginseng administration compared with Chinese red ginseng and control for 3 months in rats. Materials and methods : We studied the in vitro hypotensive effect and effect on vascular pathologic changes of Korean red ginseng compared with Chinese red ginseng and control. Rats were randomly assigned to three groups(Korean red ginseng, Chinese red ginseng and control) and evaluated by blood pressure and aortic vascular(endothelial) pathologic changes monthly during 3-month administration. All results were analyzed by paired T-test, ANOVA and post-hoc. Results : Blood pressure lowering effect was noted on Korean red ginseng and Chinese red ginseng compared to control. Especially, in Korean red ginseng group, hypotensive effect was showed in first and second month, but, in Chinese red ginseng group, it was just noted in first month. In case of vascular(aortic endothelial) pathologic finding, endothelial wall thickening and elastic fiber tearing were noted in Chinese red ginseng group compared with Korean red ginseng group and control with statistical significance.(p<0.05) Discussion : These results suggested Korean red ginseng could have more hypotensive effect and maintenance rather than Chinese red ginseng. And the difference of hypotensive effect between Korean red ginseng and Chinese red ginseng might has some association with difference of vascular pathologic findings in each group. However, further evaluation and research of other mechanism will be needed to convince this hypothesis.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 1979

A literature review is made on the physical and chemical characteristics of clay minerals in acidic solutions from the mineralogical and hydrometallurgical viewpoints. Some of the important characteristics of clays are their ability to cation exchange, swelling, and incongruent dissolution in acidic solutions. Various clay minerals can take up metallic ions from solution via cation exchange mechanism. Generally, cation exchange capacity increases in the following order : kaolinite, halloysite, illite, vermiculite, and montmorillonite. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake such as copper by clay minerals is strongly inhibited by hydrogen and aluminum ions and thus is not economically significant factor for recovery of metals such as uranium and copper. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake is substial. Swelling is minimal at lower pH, possibly due to lattice collapse. Swelling may be controllable with montmorillonite type clays by exchanging interlayer sodium with lithium and/or hydroxylated aluminum species. The effect of add on clay minerals are : 1. Division of aggregates into smaller plates with increase in surface area and porosity. 2. Clay-acid reactions occur in the following order: (i) $H^+$ replacement of interlayer cations, (ii) removal of octahedral cations, such as Al, Fe, and Mg, and (iii) removal of tetrahedral Al ions. Acid attack initiates, around the edges of the clay particles and continued inward, leaving hydrated silica gel residue around the edges. 3. Reaction rates of (ii) and (iii) are pseudo-1st order and proportional to acid concentration. Rate doubles for every temperature increment of $10^{\circ}C$. Implications in in-situ leaching of copper or uranium with acid are : 1. Over the life span of the operation for a year or more, clays attacked by acid will leave silica gel. If such gel covers the surface of valuable mineral surfaces being leached, recovery could be substantially delayed. 2. For a copper deposit containing 0.5% each of clay minerals and recoverable copper, the added cost due to clay-acid reaction is about 1.5c/lb of copper (or 0.93 lbs of $H_2SO_4/1b$ of copper). This acid consumption by clay may be a factor for economic evaluation of in-situ leaching of an oxide copper deposit.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.1 s.182
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• pp.1-14
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• 2007

The Guemseong mine is located near the southern margin of the Jurassic Jecheon granitoids collectively with the Cambro-Ordovician mixed dolostone-limestone series of the Yeongweol Group, Choseon Supergroup. Here, two spatially distinct types of skarn formation have been observed. The upper transitional skarn is the calcic Mo skarn which has the mineral assemblage of $garnet+hedenbergite+epidote{\pm}wollastonite{\pm}magnetite{\pm}hematite{\pm}amphibole{\pm}chlorite{\pm}vesuvianite$ within the calcite marble. On the other hand, the lower proximal skarn occurs as a discordant magnesian Fe skarn at the contact of Mo-bearing aplitic cupolas with unidirectional solidification texture(UST) within the dolomitic marble. The magnesian Fe skarn has the mineral assemlage $olivine+diopside+magnetite+tremolite+serpentine+talc+chlorite{\pm}phlogopite$. The formation of two different types of skarn and ore mineralization in Geumseong mine have been attributed to multistage and complex metasomatic replacements that ultimately resulted in silicate-oxide-sulfide sequence of metasomatism. An early prograde stage with anhydrous skarn minerals such as olivine, clinopyroxene and/or garnet with magnetite, formed from high temperature (about $500^{\circ}\;to\;400^{\circ}C$) at an environmental condition of low $CO_2$ fugacity ($XCO_2<0.1$) and 0.5 kbar. The later retrograde stage with hydrous silicates such as amphibole, serpentine, phlogopite, epidote and chlorite with molybdenite or hematite, termed from relatively lower temperature (about $400^{\circ}\;to\;300^{\circ}C$).

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.147-168
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• 2014

The soil geochemical exploration was carried out targeting around Tri Le area far from about 30 km with northwestern direction from Que Phong within Nghe An province. The interval of sampling are horizontal 200 m interval with 23 line and longitudinal 300 m with 10 line, resulting in 228 soil samples. Based on the result of the soil geochemical exploration, the detailed pitting survey was carried out targeting the grid point with high TREO content, resulting in 75 soil samples within 7 pits. The geology of survey area are consisted of Ban Chieng biotite granite complex and granitic gneiss intruding Ban Khang formation comprising of quartz schist and marble. Main mineralization in the study area have the characteristics of occurrence with tin, ruby and REE-bearing monazite and xenotime to be thought as occurring at the alteration zone of granite complex. In order to elucidate the source rock of monazite and xenotime confirmed from heavy sand, soil geochemical exploration was carried out. As a analysis result with ICP-MS on the soil samples from the soil geochemical exploration, total REE oxide content of background amount to about 2 times of crustal abundance, enriching the heavy rare earth(about 2 times) and light rare earth(about 1.5 times). As a analysis result with ICP-MS on the soil samples from the soil detailed pit survey, we only identified outcrop considering as economic weathered granite body at the grid point 1-10 pit among 7 pits. As a synthetic consideration on the soil geochemical exploration and detailed pit survey, we tentatively designated Tri Le area as no promising target for REE. In 2014, we have the plan to carry out the soil geochemical exploration targeting the extended economic REE ore body in Quy Chau as project area from 2011 to 2012.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.67-74
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• 2020

In this study, various constituents and biological activities of different parts of asparagus were analyzed and compared. The Ca content was high in the leaves, K was significantly high in the top 25 cm of the spear, and Fe and Na were significantly high in the roots. The ascorbic acid, rutin, total polyphenol, and total flavonoid contents were high in the leaves, and the asparagine and glutathione contents were significantly high in the top 25 cm of the spear and roots, respectively. The bottom 5 cm of the spear had the highest saponin content compared with all other parts. The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities were the highest in the leaves. The bottom 5 cm of the spear had the highest α-amylase inhibitory activity, whereas the stem showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity. These results suggest that the usually inedible parts of asparagus may be highly valuable as high-quality functional components owing to their antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.229-234
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• 2012

Disinfecting contaminated swine manure with FMD (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) and pathogenic viruses is very important for maintaining sanitized environment. However, very few research reported on this subject, especially post-disinfection to utilize the wastes as a renewable resource. This research is carried out to obtain basic information for chemical treatment in FMD SOP (Standard Operating Procedure, Korea) of contaminated swine manure. Using lime, sodium hydroxide, citric acid and hydrochloric acid, described in FMD SOP, the effects of chemical treatments on livestock manure were compared in this paper. Four combinations of alkali-acid treatments and four kinds of acid-alkali combinations were tested to find out the effective method. Total coliform bacteria in contaminated swine manure, $1.6{\times}10^4$ CFU/100 ml, decreased to the range of 1/1000~1/100 in all treatments. Some specific disinfectants increases BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and EC(Electric Conductivity), especially, alkaline treatments increases ammonia level than acid treatments. These findings suggest that the treatment methods should be considered as an important environmental factor in post-disinfection of contaminated animal manure with pathogenic microorganisms.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 1979

In the first paper of the series the five soil fertility factors were evaluated by means of principal component analysis and varimax method. They are interpreted as representing, 1) skeletal available phosporus status, 2) organnic matter status, 3) salt status 4) base status, and 5) free oxide status. In order to resynthesize such fragmented information for the overall soil fertility evaluation, the method of multiple regression analysis was adopted, using the five factor scores and yield data for Korean paddy soils as independent and dependent variables respectively. As test of linear models with different combinations of independent variables the results of t-test of regression coefficient were revealed that the organic matter status (FII) has no relevance to the yield of paddy and that the free oxides and salt supply has by it self only an insignificant contribution to the yield. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) revealed its multiple regression analysis was as low as 0.43. Introduction of quadratic terms to the linear model bettered the result. Thus multiple correlation coefficient (R) was increased as 0.59. Therefore, a coefficient of determination 0.35 was obtained by a quadratic model with interaction terms among the five fertility constituents. Generally we think that the fertility factor has more contribution to raise the rice yield in paddy and that the failure of yield prediction by fertility factor scores was caused by one of follows; 1) the roughness of the yield inspection, and 2) missextraction of fertility constituents. The second step in this study, assuming that the residuals by multiple regression analysis were due to factors other than soil fertility, we can now proceed to predicting the yield from the field characters with the classified fertility groups by means of Hayashi's theory of quantification No. 1. Such variables as fertility groups (FTYG), water availability (WATER), soil drainage (DRNG), climatic zone (CLIZ), surface soil's stickiness (STCKT), surface soil's dry consistence (DCNST), and surface soil's texture (FTEXT) are taken up as the explanatory variables. The quantification appears reasonable; the well to extremely well in soil drainage, very sticky of surface soil, inefficiency in water availability, coarse texture, and very hard to extremely hard dry consistence in soil are detrimental to the rice yield. The R was as high as 0.90 for the set of variables. But the given explanatory variables in this study were not quite effective in explaining rice yield. The method developed seems to be promising only if properly collected data are available. Conditions that should be satisfied in the yield inspection obtained from common cultivator for the purpose of deriving a prediction equation were put forward.