• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2008

A series of anion exchange composite membranes were prepared and characterized for electro-dialysis process used in the removal of toxic anion and cation polutants in groundwater or wastewater. The membranes were prepared as follows; first, porous poly(ethylene) (PE) substrates were fully impregnated with monomer mixtures with various ratio of vinylbenzylchloride (VBC), divinylbenzene (DVB) and ${\alpha},\;{\alpha}$-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN). Second, they were thermally polymerized to yield crosslinked poly(VBC-DVB)/PE composite membranes. Finally, the membranes were treated in trimethylamine (TMA)/acetone to give $-N^+(CH_3)_3$-containing poly(VBC-DVB)/PE membranes. The basic membrane properties such as ion exchange capacity (IEC), electric resistance and water content of the resulting membranes were measured as a function of VBC/DVB and TMA/Acetone content. As a result, the composite membranes showed lower electric resistance, lower water content and higher IEC than commercial anion exchange membranes (AMX, Astom) due to thin PE substrates, indicating that the composite membranes could be successfully applied to the electrodialysis for water treatment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 2013

Biochar amendment to agricultural soil is regarded as a promising option to mitigate climate change and enhance soil quality. It could sequester more carbon within the soil system and increase plant yield by changing soil physicochemical characteristics. However, sustainable use of biochar requires comprehensive environmental assessment. In this sense, it is important to measure additional greenhouse gas emission from soils after biochar addition. We investigated emissions of $CO_2$, $N_2O$, and $CH_4$ from incubated soils collected from rice paddy and cultivated grassland after amendment of 3% biochar (wt.) produced from rice chaff. During incubation, soils were exposed to three wet-dry cycles ranging from 5~85% soil gravimetric water content (WC) to investigate the changes in effect of biochar when influenced by different water levels. The $CO_2$ emission was reduced in biochar treatment compared to the control at WC of 30~70% both in rice paddy and grassland soils. This indicates that biochar could function as a stabilizer for soil organic carbon and it can be effective in carbon sequestration. The $N_2O$ emission was also reduced from the grassland soil treated with biochar when WC was greater than 30% because the biochar treated soils had lower denitrification due to better aeration. In the rice paddy soil, biochar addition resulted in decrease in $N_2O$ emission when WC was greater than 70%, while an increase was noted when WC was between 30~70%. This increase might be related to the fact that available nutrients on biochar surface stimulated existing nitrifying bacterial community, resulting in higher $N_2O$ emission. Overall results imply that biochar amendment to agricultural soil can stabilize soil carbon from fast decomposition although attention should be paid to additional $N_2O$ emission when biochar addition is combined with the application of nitrogen fertilizer.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1143-1153
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• 2016

Plant biomass, photosystem II (PSII) photochemical activity, photosynthetic function, and zinc (Zn) accumulation were investigated in a sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (Sorghum bicolor ${\times}$ S. sudanense) exposed to various Zn concentrations to determine the elimination capacity of Zn from soils. Plant growth and biomass of the sorghum-sudangrass hybrid decreased with increasing Zn concentration. Symptoms of Zn toxicity, i.e., withering and discoloration of old leaves, were found at Zn concentrations over 800 ppm. PSII photochemical activity, as indicated by the values of $F_v/F_m$ and $F_v/F_o$, decreased significantly three days after exposure to Zn concentrations of 800 ppm or more. Photosynthetic $CO_2$ fixation rate (A) was high between Zn concentrations of 100-200 ppm ($22.5{\mu}mol$ $CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$), but it declined as Zn concentration increased. At Zn concentrations of 800 and 1600 ppm, A was 14.1 and $1.8{\mu}mol$ $CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$, respectively. The patterns of stomatal conductance ($g_s$), transpiration rate (E), and water use efficiency (WUE) were all similar to that of photosynthetic $CO_2$ fixation rate, except for dark respiration ($R_d$), which showed an opposite pattern. Zn was accumulated in both above- and below-ground parts of plants, but was more in the below-ground parts. Magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe) concentrations were significantly low in the leaves of plants, and symptoms of Mg or Fe deficiency, such as a decrease in the SPAD value, were found when plants were treated with Zn concentrations above 800 ppm. These results suggest that the sorghum-sudangrass hybrid is able to accumulate Zn to high level in plant body and eliminate it with its rapid growth and high biomass yield.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.161-170
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• 2014

Newmark-type deformation analysis has rarely been done in Korea due to the popularity of simple pseudo-static limit equilibrium analysis and detailed time-history FE/FD dynamic analysis. However, the Korean seismic dam design code updated in 2011 prescribes Newmark-type deformation analysis as a major dynamic analysis method for the seismic evaluation of fill dams. In addition, a design PGA for dynamic analysis is significantly increased in the code. This paper aims to study the seismic evaluation of four existing large fill dams through advanced FEM/Newmark-type deformation analyses for the artificial earthquake time histories with the design PGA of 0.22g. Dynamic soil properties obtained from in-situ geo-physical surveys are applied as input parameters. For the FEM/Newmark analyses, sensitivity analyses are performed to study the effects of input PGA and $G_{max}$ of shell zone on the Newmark deformation. As a result, in terms of deformation, four fill dams are proved to be reasonably safe under the PGA of 0.22g with yield coefficients of 0.136 to 0.187, which are highly resistant for extreme events. Sensitivity analysis as a function of PGA shows that $PGA_{30cm}$ (a limiting PGA to cause the 30 cm of Newmark permanent displacement on the critical slip surface) is a good indicator for seismic safety check. CFRD shows a higher seismic resistance than ECRD. Another sensitivity analysis shows that $G_{max}$ per depth does not significantly affect the site response characteristics, however lower $G_{max}$ profile causes larger Newmark deformation. Through this study, it is proved that the amplification of ground motion within the sliding mass and the location of critical slip surface are the dominant factors governing permanent displacements.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 2020

Sialic acid, which is contained in about 60-160 mg/kg in the edible bird's nest (EBN), is known to facilitate in the proper formation of synapses and improve memory function. The objective of this study is to extract effectively the sialic acid from edible bird's nest using affinity bead technology (ABT). After preparing the non-polar polymeric bead "KJM-278-28A" having a porous network structure, and then desorbed sialic acid was concentrated and dried. The analysis of the physicochemical properties of bead "KJM-278-28A" showed that the particle size was 400-700 ㎛, the moisture holding capacity was 67-70%, the surface area (BET) was 705-900 ㎡/g, and the average pore diameter 70-87 Å. The adsorption capacity of the bead "KJM-278-28A" for sialic acid was shown a strong physical force to bind sialic acid to the bead surface of 400 mg/L. In addition, as a result of analyzing the adsorption and desorption effects of sialic acid on water, ethanol, and 10% ethanol on the bead, it was confirmed that desorption effectively occurs from the beads when only ethanol is used. As a result of HPLC measurement of the separated sialic acid solution, a total of four sialic acid peaks of N-acetyl-neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), α,β-anomer of Neu5Ac and N-glycoly-neuraminic acid were identified. Through these results, it was confirmed that it is possible to separate sialic acid from EBN extract with efficient and high yield when using ABT.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-33
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• 2021

Successful sediment management at the watershed scale requires an understanding of the erosion, transport and sedimentation processes at the specific site scale. However, studies on the sediment runoff characteristics in a small uppermost watershed, which serves as a sediment supply function, are very rare. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the fluctuations in major sediment supply areas and sediment runoff in the uppermost mountain small watershed, and for this purpose, ArcSWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tools with GIS interface) was applied to the Woldong reservoir catchment located in Gosam-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. The model results were manually calibrated using the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir sedimentation rate from 2005 to 2007. It was estimated that annual average of 34.4 tons/year of sediment was discharged from the Woldong reservoir basin. This estimate almost coincided with the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir during the low flow period but tended to be somewhat underestimated during the high flow period. Although the SWAT model does not fully reflect the erosion process of gully and in-channel, this underestimation is probably due to the spatial connectivity of sediment transport and the storage and reactivation of the sediment being transported. Most of the forested hillslopes with a well-developed organic horizon were evaluated as having a low risk of erosion, while the places with the highest risk of erosion were predicted to be distributed in the logged area with some weeds or shrubs (classified as pasture) with relatively steeper slopes, and in the bare land. The results of this study are expected to be useful in developing strategies for sediment control and reservoir management.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.350-359
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• 2016

We performed fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch (EFB) in the range of temperature from $400{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ and 1.3 s of residence time. The effect of temperature on the yields and physicochemical properties of pyrolytic products were also studied. Elemental and component analysis of EFB showed that the large amount of potassium (ca. 8400 ppm) presents in the feedstock. Thermogravimetric analysis suggested that the potassium in the feedstock catalyzed degradation of cellulose. The yield of bio-oil increased with increasing temperature in the range of temperature from $400{\sim}500^{\circ}C$, while that of gas and biochar decreased and showed monotonous change each with increasing temperature. When the EFB was pyrolyzed at $550^{\circ}C$, the yield of bio-oil and char decreased while that of gas increased. Water content of the bio-oils obtained at different temperatures was 20~30% and their total acid number were less than 100 mg KOH/g oil. Viscosity of the bio-oils was 11 cSt (centistoke), and heating value varied from 15 to 17 MJ/kg. Using GC/MS analysis, 27 chemical compounds which were classified into two groups (cellulose-derived and lignin-derived) were identified. Remarkably the concentration of phenol was approximately 25% based on entire chemical compounds.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.303-303
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• 2017

Japanese agriculture has faced to several threats: aging and decrease of farmer population, global competition, and the risk of climate change as well as harsh and variable weather. On the other hands, the number of large scale farms is increasing, because farm lands have been being aggregated to fewer numbers of farms. Cost cutting, development of efficient ways to manage complicatedly scattered farm lands, maintaining yield and quality under variable weather conditions, are required to adapt to changing environments. Information and communications technology (ICT) would contribute to solve such problems and to create innovative technologies. Thus we have been developing an early warning and decision support system to reduce weather and climate risks for rice, wheat and soybean production in Japan. The concept and prototype of the system will be shown. The system consists of a weather data system (Agro-Meteorological Grid Square Data System, AMGSDS), decision support contents where information is automatically created by crop models and delivers information to users via internet. AMGSDS combines JMA's Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) data, numerical weather forecast data and normal values, for all of Japan with about 1km Grid Square throughout years. Our climate-smart system provides information on the prediction of crop phenology, created with weather forecast data and crop phenology models, as an important function. The system also makes recommendations for crop management, such as nitrogen-topdressing, suitable harvest time, water control, pesticide spray. We are also developing methods to perform risk analysis on weather-related damage to crop production. For example, we have developed an algorism to determine the best transplanting date in rice under a given environment, using the results of multi-year simulation, in order to answer the question "when is the best transplanting date to minimize yield loss, to avoid low temperature damage and to avoid high temperature damage?".

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.150-155
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• 2001

The hull dehydration in dough stage did not serious affect the rice yield though grain appearance texture may decline by severe occurrence of the symptom. As to white head in heading stage of rice, the occurrence of hull dehydration in 1998 was directly affected by high temperature, low air humidity and sometimes of strong wind and sunshine in early September. At harvest stage, 1,000-grain weight of brown rice was not found to be significantly different between the hull dehydrated grains and normal ones. That reason can be considered that the hull dehydration occurred hill was not injured on the leaf and rachis branches therefore the function of assimilation and translation of rice plant was not affected. The ratio of imperfect rice kernel such as green, cracked and white belly increased. The increase of cracked rice by the hull dehydration may caused by concurrent dehydration of kernel, or by insufficient water supply into kernel due to breaking of vascular bundles in glume.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2022

Background: Studies on the existence and activation of antioxidants in the wild Erigeron canadensis are still incomplete. Purposes: The activity of antioxidant substances was studied by extracting E. canadensis with ethyl alcohol. Methods: After washing the wild turfgrass, extraction with ethyl alcohol was used to investigate the activity of antioxidant substances using various analytical instruments. Results: The highest yield ratio of the extract was 49.3%, and it varied according to temperature and ethyl alcohol ratio. The 50:50 of water to ethyl alcohol at 180℃ was the highest yield. 100% survival rate was in the untreated group and 98-100% in the experimental group at 50 ppm or more of the extract. There was no cytotoxicity at almost all concentrations. The extract of 25 ppm was suppressed by 42% in the test group. The extract of 50 ppm reduced the free fatty acid content by 15%. Cell viability was 20% at the extract concentration of 50 ppm and 24% at 100 ppm. At an extract of 500 ppm, the free oxygen scavenging ability using DPPH and ABTs was 90-98%. When the changes in the free radical scavenging activity of DPPH and ABTs were observed in three dimensions, the antioxidant activity tended to increase at 85℃ as the temperature increased. However, at 85~130℃, it showed a rather decreasing tendency as the temperature increased. Conclusions: There were antioxidants in the ethyl alcohol extract of the wild grass, there was almost no cytotoxicity and suppressed NO production, and the scavenging function of free oxygen was also high. These results provide primary data for the various natural healing uses of the extracts of the turfgrass.