• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

Many anticancer agents as well as ionizing radiation have been shown to induce autophagy which is originally described as a protein recycling process and recently reported to play a crucial role in various disorders. In HCT116 human colon cancer cells, we found that curcumin, a polyphenolic phytochemical extracted from the plant Curcuma longa, markedly induced the conversion of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-I to LC3-II and degradation of sequestome-1 (SQSTM1) which is a marker of autophagosome degradation. Moreover, we found that curcumin caused GFP-LC3 formation puncta, a marker of autophagosome, and decrease of GFP-LC3 and SQSTM1 protein level in GFP-LC3 expressing HCT116 cells. It was further confirmed that treatment of cells with hydrogen peroxide induced increase of LC3 conversion and decrease of GFP-LC3 and SQSTM1 levels, but these changes by curcumin were almost completely blocked in the presence of antioxidant, N-acetylcystein (NAC), indicating that curcumin leads to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, which results in autophagosome development and autolysosomal degradation. In parallel with NAC, SQSTM1 degradation was also diminished by bafilomycin A, a potent inhibitor of autophagosome-lysosome fusion, and cell viability assay was further confirmed that cucurmin-induced cell death was partially blocked by bafilomycin A as well as NAC. We also observed that NAC abolished curcumin-induced activation of extracelluar signal-regulated kinases (ERK) 112 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), but not Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). However, the activation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK seemed to have no effect on the curcumin-induced autophagy, since both the conversion of LC3 protein and SQSTM1 degradation by curcumin was not changed in the presence of NAC. Taken together, our data suggest that curcumin induced ROS production, which resulted in autophagic activation and concomitant cell death in HCT116 human colon cancer cell. However, ROS-dependent activation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK, but not JNK, might not be involved in the curcumin-induced autophagy.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2009

We confirmed methane production and reduction of pollution during anaerobic digestion of milk waste and analyzed the economic potential of using milk waste as a renewable energy source. The milk waste sludge was obtained from the Pasteur milk factory and processed by anaerobic digestion to produce methane. The methane production from two completely mixed tank reactors with an effective capacity of 6 ${\ell}$, 15 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT), and a mid-temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ averaged 4.11 ${\ell}$/day. The total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) during production decreased from an initial 31,416 mg/${\ell}$ to 13,500 mg/${\ell}$, showing a maximum TCOD removal efficiency of 60%. When HRT was reduced to 12 days, methane production increased by 44% under a high-temperature condition of $55^{\circ}C$. An economic analysis based on these results was applied to a Korean milk factory of typical size and demonstrated that the installation of an anaerobic digester could provide sufficient economic profit.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the feasibility for the use of environmental-friendly materials and the effective recycling of spent mushroom compost(SMC) after cultivation of Button Mushroom, Agaricus bisporus. SMC of white button mushroom contained diverse microorganisms including fluorescent Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp., Tricoderma sp. and Actinomycetes. These isolates showed the extensive antifungal spectrum against plant pathogen. Among of the isolates, fungal pathogen such as Alternaria brassicicola, Phytophtora melonis, Phytophthora capsici and Colletotichum gloeosporioides strong showed strong antagonistic activity. 45.8% of the isolates were actively colonized on the pepper root and 5.8% showed rhizosphere competent of >$5{\times}10^2cfu\;root^{-1}$. The plant growth promotion ability of the collected isolates were tested in pot experiments using red pepper seedling. Among them, 62.7% showed pepper growth promoting ability and growth of pepper root showed superior to the control. The germination of pepper treated with aqueous extracts of non-harvest SMC completely inhibited at concentration of more than 33%. The sterilization of SMC resulted in higher inhibition of germination and early growth of pepper. These results suggest that spent mushroom compost(SMC) of Button Mushroom may have adequately the feasibility for the use with environmental-friendly materials.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2004

These studies were conducted to investigate the effects of feeding dried leftover food (DLF) on growth, feed conversion and carcass characteristics of growing and finishing pigs. In experiment 1, seventy-five three-way cross-hybrids ($Yorkshire{\times}Landrace{\times}Duroc$) pigs weighing approximately 22 kg of body weight on average were assigned to five treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had three replications with five pigs per replication. All pigs were fed experimental diets for 60 days. In experiment 2, seventy-five three-way cross-hybrids pigs weighing approximately 70 kg of body weight were fed experimental diets for 49 days. Each treatment had three replications with five pigs per replication. The treatments included 1) group offered control diet without DLF, 2) group offered diet containing DLF at 25%, 3) group offered diet containing DLF at 50%, 4) group offerred diet containing DLF at 25% with 10% higher protein level and 5) group offerred diet containing DLF at 50% and 20% higher protein level. Average daily gain of growing pigs was highest in control group among all the treatment groups except group offered diet containing DLF at 25% with no significant difference (P>0.05). Feed intake of DLF-offered groups were lower than that of control group while feed intake of groups fed diets containing DLF at 50% with 20% higher protein level was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of control group. Feed conversion of growing pigs was not significantly different amont treatments although it seemed to be slightly improved in groups fed diets containing DLF at 25%. Average daily gain of finishing pigs fed diets containing DLF was significantly lower than that of control group. However there was no significant differences in average daily gain between groups fed diets containing DLF at 25% with 10% higher protein level and control group (P>0.05). Feed intakes were significantly decreased in DLF-fed groups compared to control group while there was no significant differences in feed intake between groups fed diets containing DLF with 10% and 20% higher protein levels and control group (P>0.05). Feed conversion was lowest in groups fed diets containing DLF at 25% with 10% higher protein level. However, there were no significant differences in feed conversion between groups fed diets containing DLF at 25% with 10% higher protein level and control group. Feed conversion of groups fed diets containing DLF at 50% was significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.05). Carcass weight was decreased with increasing levels of DLF in the diets. There were no significant differences in dressing percentage, backfat thickness and carcass grade among treatments. Feed cost per 1 kg body weight gain of finishing pigs was lowest in groups fed diets containing DLF at 25% with 10% higher protein level.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 2003

The combined effect of bioaugmentation of dechlorinating bacterial cultures and addition of iron powder($Fe^0$ on reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene(PCE) and other chlorinated ethylenes in a artificially contaminated soil slurry(60micromoles PCE/kg soil). Two different anaerobic bacterial cultures, a pure bacterial culture of Desulfitobacterium sp. strain Y-51 capable of dechlorinating PCE to cis-1,2-dechloroethylene(cis-DCE) and the other enrichment culture PE-1 capable of dechlorinating PCE completely to ethylene, were used for the bioaugmentation test. Both treatments introduced with the strain Y-51 and PE-1 culture (3mg dry cell weight/kg soil) showed conversion of PCE to cis-DCE within 40days. The treatments added with $Fe^0$(0.1-1.0%) alone to the soil slurry resulted in extended PCE dechlorination to ethylene and ethane and the dechlorination rate depended on the amount of $Fe^0$ added. The combined use of the bacterial cultures with $Fe^0$(0.1-1.0%)) showed the higher PCE dechlorination rate than the separated application and the pattern of PCE dechlorination and end-product formation was different from those of the separated application. When 0.1% of $Fe^0$ was added with the cultures, the treatments with the strain Y-51 and $Fe^0$ resulted in cis-DCE accumulation from PCE dechlorination, but the treatment with the enrichment culture and $Fe^0$ showed the more extended dechlorination via cis-DCE. These results suggested that the combined application of and the bactrial culture, specially the complete dechlorinating enrichment culture, is practically effective for bioremediation of PCE contaminated soil.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

The current environmental problem is that environmental pollution is accelerating due to the generation of large amounts of waste and indiscriminate consumption of energy. Fossil fuels, a representative energy production fuel, are burned in the process of producing energy, generating a large amount of greenhouse gases and eventually causing climate change. In addition, the amount of waste generated worldwide is continuously increasing, and environmental pollution is occurring in the process of waste treatment. One of the methods for simultaneously solving these problems is the energy recovery from and reduction of organic wastes. Sewage sludge generated in sewage treatment plants has been treated in various ways since ocean disposal was completely prohibited, but the amount generated has been continuously increasing. Since the sewage sludge contains a large amount of organic materials, it is desirable to recover energy from the sewage sludge and reduce the final discharged waste through anaerobic digestion. However, most of the excess sludge is a mass of microorganisms used in sewage treatment, and in order for the excess sludge to be anaerobically digested, the cell walls of the microorganisms must be destroyed first, but it takes a lot of time to destroy the cell walls, so high rates of biogas production and waste reduction cannot be achieved only by anaerobic digestion. Therefore, the pre-treatment process of solubilizing excess sludge is required, and the thermal solubilization process is verified to be the most efficient among various solubilization methods, and high rates of biogas production and waste reduction can be achieved by anaerobic digestion after destroying cell walls the thermal solubilization process. In this study, when pretreating TS 10% thickened excess sludge through a thermal solubilization system, a study was conducted on solubilization characteristics according to retention time and operating temperature variables. The experimental variables for the retention time of the thermal solubilization system were 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, and 120 minutes, respectively, while the operating temperature was fixed at 160℃. The soulbilization rates calculated through TCOD and SCOD derived from the experimental results increased in the order of 12.11%, 20.52%, 28.62%, and 31.40%, respectively. And the variables according to operating temperature were 120℃, 140℃, 160℃, 180℃, and 200℃, respectively, while the operating retention time was fixed at 60 minutes. And the solubilization rates increased in the order of 7.14%, 14.52%, 20.52%, 40.72%, and 57.85%, respectively. In addition, TS, VS, T-N, T-P, NH₄⁺-N, and VFAs were analyzed to evaluate thermal solubilization characteristics of thickened excess sludge. As a result, in order to obtain 30% or more solubilization rate through thermal solubilization of TS 10% thickened excess sludge, 120 minutes of retention time is required when the operating temperature is fixed to 160℃, and 170℃ or more of operating temperature is needed when the operating time is fixed to 60 minutes.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2014

Waste cement generated from recycling processes of waste concrete is a potential raw material for mineral carbonation. For the $CO_2$ sequestration utilizing waste cement, this study was conducted to obtain basic information on the aqueous carbonation methods and the characteristics of carbonate mineral formation. Cement paste was made with W:C= 6:4 and stored for 28 days in water bath. Leaching tests using two additives (NaCl and $MgCl_2$) and two aqueous carbonation experiments (direct and indirect aqueous carbonation) were conducted. The maximum leaching of $Ca^{2+}$ ion was occurred at 1.0 M NaCl and 0.5 M $MgCl_2$ solution rather than higher tested concentration. The concentration of extracted $Ca^{2+}$ ion in $MgCl_2$ solution was more than 10 times greater than in NaCl solution. Portlandite ($Ca(OH)_2$) was completely changed to carbonate minerals in the fine cement paste (< 0.15 mm) within one hour and the carbonation of CSH (calcium silicate hydrate) was also progressed by direct aqueous carbonation method. The both additives, however, were not highly effective in direct aqueous carbonation method. 100% pure calcite minerals were formed by indirect carbonation method with NaCl and $MgCl_2$ additives. pH control using alkaline solution was important for the carbonation in the leaching solution produced from $MgCl_2$ additive and carbonation rate was slow due to the effect of $Mg^{2+}$ ions in solution. The type and crystallinity of calcium carbonate mineral were affected by aqueous carbonation method and additive type.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.348-354
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: Globally, concern about emerging infectious diseases of livestock is growing. For the disposal of the animal carcass, it is necessary to recycle the carcass into an agriculturally usable product. The objective of this study was to investigate the composting conditions of liquid by-product obtained from degradation of animal carcass. METHODS AND RESULTS: Optimum conditions of liquid fertilizer were investigated using different microorganisms, pHs, and volumes of microorganisms (Lactobacillus rhamnosus+Pichia deserticola). Based on the results from the optimum conditions, compost maturity and quality of liquid fertilizer were evaluated for 112 days. The compost maturity of liquid fertilizer were higher in the order of LP(Lactobacillus rhamnosus + Pichia deserticola) > BC(Bacillus cereus) > BS(Bacillus subtilis). The optimum condition under different volumes of LP was injection of 0.5 mL/100 mL. The compost maturity under different pHs were higher in the order of pH 7 > $$5{\geq_-}9{\frac{._-}{.}}11$$. The liquid by-product at 56 days after composting was completely decomposed. The concentrations of T-N, T-P and $K_2O$ in liquid fertilizer at 56 days were 0.94, 0.17 and 3.78%, respectively, and the sum of those concentrations was 4.89%. CONCLUSION(S): Liquid fertilizer of by-product using pig carcass was decomposed with optimum conditions(LP, pH 7, injection of 0.5 mL/100 mL) in 56 days after composting, and was suitable for official standard of commercial fertilizer.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 1999

Applications of chitosan are related to molecular weight and degree of deacetylation(DOD) of chitosan completely. The molecular weight and DOD were greatly affected by the concentration of solution time and temperature. The degree of demineralization was not significantly different at $50^{\circ}C\;and\;70^{\circ}C$ after 30 minutes. Deproteinization decreased as process time increased. The nitrogen content was reached to 6.92% after 90 minute at $80^{\circ}C$, which is similar to theoretical nitrogen content of chitin. The DOD was 82.84% after 2 hours reaction and increased as the reaction time increased in the process. Viscosity and molecular weight are increased as recycling number of concentrated NaOH solution increased. Chemical, biological and physical properties of chitosan depend on the DOD and molecular size of the molecule. Tensile strength of the films from acetic acid solutions was between $28.9{\sim}33.6$ MPa and was generally higher than that of the films from lactic acid. Elongation of the films from lactic acid was between $97.0{\sim}109.7%$ and was generally higher than that of the films from the acetic acid. Water vapor permeability of the films prepared from lcetic acid solutions was between $1.9{\sim}2.3ng{\cdot}m/m^2{\cdot}s{\cdot}Pa$ and was generally higher than that of the films from the acetic acid.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.279-287
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• 1995

The vertical profiles of natural ²¹⁰Pb, ²¹⁰Po and ²³⁴Th activities were measured for the upper 100 m of water column at three stations in the middle region of the Korean East Sea during May 1992. And the distribution of these radionuclides was discussed associated with the formation of warm eddy or water mass. The main thermocline was maintained between the depth of 50 and 100 m at the southern station (Sta. A1), and between the depth of 10 to 50 m at the coastal station of Sockcho (Sta. B10). Contrastingly, a main thermocline at Sta. A10, which locates near the center of warm eddy, was observed below 230 m depth. Between 50 and 220 m depth of Sta. A10 is there a relatively homogeneous water mass of 10.1${\pm}$0.5$^{\circ}C$, which is significantly higher in temperature and lower in nutrient than the other two stations. It seems to be due to sinking of the warm surface water in which nutrients were completely consumed. Both ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po show the highest concentration at Sta. A1 and the lowest at Sta. B10 among the three stations. Also, the ²¹⁰Pb activity is generally higher in the upper layer than in the lower layer, while ²¹⁰Po activity represents the reversed pattern at all three stations. At Sta. A1 and Sta. B10, the activities of ²¹⁰Po relative to its parent ²¹⁰Pb were deficient in the water column above the main thermocline, but were excess below the thermocline. However, the station near the center of warm eddy(Sta. A10), shows no excess of ²¹⁰Po in the depths below 50 m, although its defficiency is found in the upper layer like the other stations. At Sta. A1 and b10. ²³⁴Th activities are slightly lower in the surface mixed layer than in the deeper region However, at Sta. A10, ²³⁴Th activity in the upper 30 m is higher than below 50 m or in the same depth of the other stations, probably because of the high concentration of particulate matter. The residence time of ²¹⁰Po in the surface mixed layer at Sta. A10 is 0.4 year, much shorter than at the other two stations(about one year). Above 100 m depth, the residence times of ²³⁴Th range from 18 to 30 other two stations(about on year). Above 100 m depth, the residence times of ²³⁴Th range from 18 to 30 days at all stations, without significant regional variation. The percentages of recycled ²¹⁰Po within the thermocline are 39% and 92% at Sta. A1 and Sta. B10, respectively. Much higher value at Sta. B10 may be due to a thin thickness of the mixed layer as well as the slower recycling rate of ²¹⁰Po in the main thermocline.