• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.578-587
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• 2022

Korea, as the world's 7^th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has raised the national greenhouse gas reduction target as international regulations have been strengthened. As it is possible to utilize coastal and marine ecosystems as important nature-based solutions (NbS) for implementing climate change mitigation or adaptation plans, the blue carbon ecosystem is now receiving attention. Blue carbon refers to carbon that is deposited and stored for a long period after carbon dioxide (CO₂) is absorbed as biomass by coastal ecosystems or oceanic ecosystems through photosynthesis. Currently, there are only three blue carbon ecosystems officially recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses. However, the results of new research on the high CO₂ sequestration and storage capacity of various new blue carbon sinks, such as seaweeds, microalgae, coral reefs, and non-vegetated tidal flats, have been continuously reported to the academic community recently. The possibility of IPCC international accreditation is gradually increasing through scientific verification related to calculations. In this review, the current status and potential value of seaweeds, seagrass fields, and non-vegetated tidal flats, which are sources of blue carbon on the east coast, are discussed. This paper confirms that seaweed resources are the most effective NbS in the East Sea of Korea. In addition, we would like to suggest the direction of research and development (R&D) and utilization so that new blue carbon sinks can obtain international IPCC certification in the near future.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.97-109
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• 2022

This study focused on the physicochemical effects of bottom ash dissolved precipitation on the soil and groundwater environment. The iced column and percolation experiments showed that most of the bottom ash particles were drained as the ash-dissolved solution, while the charcoal powder was filtered through the soil. Ion species of Al, As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Fe, Mn, Ca, K, Si, F, NO₃, SO₄ were analyzed from the eluates collected during the 24 h column test. In the charcoal powder eluates, a high concentration of K was detected at the beginning of the reaction, but it decreased with time. The concentrations of Al and Ca were observed to increase with time, although they existed in trace amount. In the bottom ash eluates, the concentrations of Ca and SO₄ decreased by 30 mg·L^-1 and 67 mg·L^-1, respectively, over 24 h. It is regarded that the infiltration patterns of the bottom ash and biochar in the unsaturated zone were different owing to their particle sizes and solvent properties. It is expected that a significant amount of the bottom ash will mix with the precipitation and percolate below the water table, especially in the case of thin and highly permeable unsaturated zone. The biochar was filtered through the unsaturated zone. The biochar did not dissolve in the groundwater, although it reached the saturation zone. For these reasons, it is considered that the direct contamination by the bottom ash and biochar are unlikely to occur.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.444-451
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• 2022

Recently, long-term cultivation is becoming more common with the increase in tomato hydroponics. In hydroponics, it is very important to supply an appropriate nutrient solution considering the nutrient and moisture requirements of crops, in terms of productivity, resource use, and environmental conservation. Since seasonal environmental changes appear severely in long-term cultivation, it is so critical to manage irrigation control considering these changes. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of irrigation volume on growth and yield in tomato long-term cultivation using coir substrate. The irrigation volume was adjusted at 4 levels (high, medium high, medium low and low) by different irrigation frequency. Irrigation scheduling (frequency) was controlled based on solar radiation which measured by radiation sensor installed outside the greenhouse and performed whenever accumulated solar radiation energy reached set value. Set value of integrated solar radiation was changed by the growing season. The results revealed that the higher irrigation volume caused the higher drainage rate, which could prevent the EC of drainage from rising excessively. As the cultivation period elapsed, the EC of the drainage increased. And the lower irrigation volume supplied, the more the increase in EC of the drainage. Plant length was shorter in the low irrigation volume treatment compared to the other treatments. But irrigation volume did not affect the number of nodes and fruit clusters. The number of fruit settings was not significantly affected by the irrigation volume in general, but high irrigation volume significantly decreased fruit setting and yield of the 12-15th cluster developed during low temperature period. Blossom-end rot occurred early with a high incidence rate in the low irrigation volume treatment group. The highest weight fruits was obtained from the high irrigation treatment group, while the medium high treatment group had the highest total yield. As a result of the experiment, it could be confirmed the effect of irrigation amount on the nutrient and moisture stabilization in the root zone and yield, in addition to the importance of proper irrigation control when cultivating tomato plants hydroponically using coir substrate. Therefore, it is necessary to continue the research on this topic, as it is judged that the precise irrigation control algorithm based on root zone-information applied to the integrated environmental control system, will contribute to the improvement of crop productivity as well as the development of hydroponics control techniques.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2020

Education is one of the priority sectors specified in Tanzania, and it has committed to provide 11 years of compulsory free basic education for all from pre-primary to lower secondary level. Despite the Government's efforts to provide free basic education to all children, there are 2.0 million (23.2 per cent) out of 8.5 million children at the primary school age of 7-13, who are out of school in Tanzania. The ICT class should be offered as a regular class in all secondary schools in Tanzania, recommended by the ministry of education. However, many schools are struggling to implement this mandate. Most of schools offer the ICT class with theory without any real hardware. Some schools were given with computers but they were not maintained for operation. There is a huge task to make ICT education universal. Main issues include: remoteness (off-grid area), lack of ICT teachers, lack of resources such as hardware, infrastructure, and lack of practical lessons or projects to be used at schools. An innovative blended ICT/STEM education program is being conducted not only for Tanzanian public and private/international schools, but also for out-of-school adolescents through institutions, NGO centers, home visits and at the E3 Empower academy center. For effective STEM education to take place and remain sustainable, more practical curriculum, and close-up teacher support need to be accompanied concurrently. Practical, project-based simple coding lessons have been developed and employed that students experience true learning. The effectiveness of the curriculum has been demonstrated in various project centers, and it showed that students are showing new interests in exploring new discovery, even though this was a totally new area for them. It has been designed for an easy replication, thus students who learned can repeat the lessons themselves to other students. The ultimate purpose of this project is to have IT education offered as universally as possible throughout the whole Tanzania. Quality education for all children is a key for better future for all. Previously it was hoped that education with discipline will improve the active learning. But now more than ever, we believe that children have the ability to learn on their own with given proper STEM education tools, guidelines and environment. This gives promising hope to all of us, including those in the developing countries.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.359-375
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• 2022

Purpose: Adult Korean men belonging to the main economically active population are known to have long sedentary hours. This study was undertaken to determine the difference and relevance of sedentary hours on the nutrition, diet, and health status of adult men, and to suggest how to prevent health risk factors. Methods: Subjects (n = 1,068) were classified into 4 groups based on their sedentary hours, ranging from the first quartile (Q1) having the least hours spent sitting, to the fourth quartile (Q4) spending the longest hours. Results: Subjects belonging to Q4 had the lowest average age, the largest waist circumference, and the highest level of education. Among those engaged in economic activities, the ratio of white-collar workers was significantly higher in Q4. Accordingly, the rate of not doing high-intensity or moderate-intensity physical activity while working was also the highest in Q4. A significant difference was obtained in the drinking frequency between groups, but this was found to be associated with the average working hours rather than sedentary hours. The proportion of not doing aerobic exercise was higher with longer sitting hours. The highest diagnosis of diabetes (8.8%) was obtained in the Q4 group. Among the factors related to cardiovascular disease, only low density lipoprotein-cholesterol showed a significant difference, with Q4 being significantly higher than Q1. Considering energy and nutrient intake, vitamin B₁ and calcium intake were the lowest in the group with the longest sitting hours, as well as the least consumption of vitamin C than the recommended estimated average requirement. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the health and nutritional status of Korean adult men are affected by sedentary hours. This should be recognized as a health risk factor and guidelines need to be developed for sedentary lifestyle management.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.221-229
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• 2022

This study was aimed to investigate spatial and vertical characteristics of greenhouse environments according to the location of the environmental sensors, and to investigate the correlations between temperature, light intensity, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration according to the type of greenhouse. Temperature, relative humidity (RH), CO₂, and light sensors were installed in the four-different vertical positions of the whole canopy as well as ground and roof space at the five spatial locations of the Venlo greenhouse. Also, correlations between temperature, light intensity, and CO₂ concentration in Venlo and semi-closed greenhouses were analyzed using the Curve Expert Professional program. The deviations among the spatial locations were larger in the CO₂ concentration than other environmental factors in the Venlo greenhouse. The average CO₂ concentration ranged from 465 to 761 µmol·mol^-1 with the highest value (646 µmol·mol^-1) at the Middle End (4ME) close to the main pipe (50Ø) of the liquefied CO₂ gas supply and lowest (436 µmol·mol^-1) at the Left Middle (5LM). The deviation among the vertical positions was greater in temperature and relative humidity than other environments. The time zone with the largest deviation in average temperature was 2 p.m. with the highest temperature (26.51℃) at the Upper Air (UA) and the lowest temperature (25.62℃) at the Lower Canopy (LC). The time zone with the largest deviation in average RH was 1 p.m. with the highest RH (76.90%) at the LC and the lowest RH (71.74%) at the UA. The highest average CO₂ concentration at each hour was Roof Air (RF) and Ground (GD). The coefficient of correlations between temperature, light intensity, and CO₂ concentration were 0.07 for semi-closed greenhouse and 0.66 for Venlo greenhouse. All the results indicate that while the CO₂ concentration in the greenhouse needs to be analyzed in the spatial locations, temperature and humidity needs to be analyzed in the vertical positions of canopy. The target CO₂ fertilization concentration for the semi-closed greenhouse with low ventilation rate should be different from that of general greenhouses.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.218-226
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• 2022

As a result of the recent social transformation towards a hydrogen economy and carbon-neutrality, the demands for hydrogen energy have been increasing rapidly worldwide. As such, eco-friendly hydrogen production technologies that do not produce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are being focused on. Among them, ammonia (NH₃) is an economical hydrogen carrier that can easily produce hydrogen (H₂). In this study, Ru/Al₂O₃ catalyst coated onmetallic monolith for hydrogen production from ammonia was prepared by a dip-coating method using a catalyst slurry mixture composed of Ru/Al₂O₃ catalyst, inorganic binder (alumina sol) and organic binder (methyl cellulose). At the optimized 1:1:0.1 weight ratio of catalyst/inorganic binder/organic binder, the amount of catalyst coated on the metallic monolith after one cycle coating was about 61.6 g L^-1. The uniform thickness (about 42 ㎛) and crystal structure of the catalyst coated on the metallic monolith surface were confirmed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Also, a numerical optimization regression equation for NH3 conversion according to the independent variables of reaction temperature (400-600 ℃) and gas hourly space velocity (1,000-5,000 h^-1) was calculated by response surface methodology (RSM). This model indicated a determination coefficient (R²) of 0.991 and had statistically significant predictors. This regression model could contribute to the commercial process design of hydrogen production by ammonia decomposition.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.204-212
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• 2022

The LID technique began to be applied in Korea after 2009, and LID facilities are installed and operated for rainwater management in business districts such as the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and LH Corporation, public institutions, commercial land, housing, parks, and schools. However, looking at domestic cases, the application cases and operation periods are insufficient compared to those outside the country, so appropriate design standards and measures for operation and maintenance are insufficient. In particular, LID facilities constructed using LID techniques need to maintain the environment inside LID facilities because hydrological and environmental effects are expressed by material circulation and energy flow. The LID facility is designed with the treatment capacity planned for the water circulation target, and the proper maintenance, vegetation, and soil conditions are periodically identified, and the efficiency is maintained as much as possible. In other words, the soil created in LID is a very important design element because LID facilities are expected to have effects such as water pollution reduction, flood reduction, water resource acquisition, and temperature reduction while increasing water storage and penetration capacity through water circulation construction. In order to maintain and manage the functions of LID facilities accurately, the current state of the facilities and the cycle of replacement and maintenance should be accurately known through various quantitative data such as soil contamination, snow removal effects, and vegetation criteria. This study was conducted to investigate the current status of LID facilities installed in Korea from 2009 to 2020, and analyze soil changes through the continuity and current status of LID facilities applied over the past 10 years after collecting soil samples from the soil layer. Through analysis of Saturn, organic matter, hardness, water contents, pH, electrical conductivity, and salt, some vegetation-type LID facilities more than 5 to 7 years after construction showed results corresponding to the lower grade of landscape design. Facilities below the lower level can be recognized as a point of time when maintenance is necessary in a state that may cause problems in soil permeability and vegetation growth. Accordingly, it was found that LID facilities should be managed through soil replacement and replacement.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-203
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• 2022

Cultivation of tomatoes in Korea grown in soil covers 89% of the total area for tomato cultivation. Tomatoes grown in soil often encounter various environment stresses including not only salt stress and soil-borne diseases but also cold stress in the winter season. This study was conducted to comparatively analyze the performance of rootstocks with cold stress by measuring the growth, yield, and photosynthetic efficiency in tomatoes grown in soil. The rootstocks were used 'Powerguard', 'IT173773', and '20LM' for the domestic rootstock cultivars and 'B-blocking' for a control cultivar. The tomato cultivar 'Red250' was used as the scion and the non-grafted tomatoes. Stem diameter, flowering position, leaf length, and leaf width were investigated for the growth parameters. The stem diameter of the non-grafted tomatoes decreased by 15% compared to the grafted tomatoes at 80 days after transplanting when exposed to low temperatures of 9-14℃ for 14 days. The leaf length and width of the non-grafted tomatoes were the lowest with 42.4 cm and 41.8 cm at 80 days after transplanting. The total yield per plant was the highest in tomato plants grafted on 'Powerguard' with 1,615 g and lowest in non-grafted tomatoes with 1,299 g. As the result of measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, PI_ABS and DI₀/RC, which mean the performance index and dissipated energy flux, 'Powerguard' was the highest with 3.73 in PI_ABS and the lowest with 0.34 in DI₀/RC, whereas non-grafted tomatoes was the lowest with 2.62 in PI_ABS and the highest with 0.41 in DI₀/RC at 80 days after transplanting. The stem diameter has positive correlation with PI_ABS, while it has negative correlation with DI₀/RC. The results indicate that can be analyzed by chlorophyll fluorescence parameters can be used for analyzing the differences in the growth of tomato plants grafted on different rootstocks when exposed to cold stress.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.417-427
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated in vitro immuno-stimulatory and anti-obesity activity of fruit (LIF), leaves (LIL) and stems (LIS) from Lonicera insularis Nakai in mouse macrophages RAW264.7 cells and mouse pre-adipocytes 3T3-L1 cells. LIF, LIL and LIS increased the production of immunostimulatory factors such as nitric oxide (NO), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and activated phagocytosis in RAW264.7 cells. Inhibition of toll-like receptor 2/4 (TLR2/4) partly blocked LIF, LIL and LIS mediated production of immunostimulatory factors. In addition, inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling attenuated the production of immunostimulatory factors induced by LIF, LIL and LIS. Based on these results of this study, LIF, LIL and LIS is thought to activate macrophages the production of immunostimulatory factors and phagocytosis through toll-like receptor 2/4 (TLR2/4) and MAPKs signaling pathway. In anti-obesity study, LIF reduced the lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells. LIF increased the protein phosphorylation expressions such as AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) related to the lipolysis of the adipocytes. In addition, LIF increased the expression of proteins involved in energy metabolism and brown adipose tissues differentiation such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coativator 1α (PGC-1α) and PR domain-containing16 (PRDM16). These results suggest that LIF is involved in lipid accumulation inhibition through expressing the proteins such as lipolysis and differentiation of white adipocytes to brown adipocytes.