• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2019

This study was conducted to apply natural river technologies to levees and examine the results. The new eco-friendly bio-polymer was applied, a combination of eco-friendly biopolymers and soil, to levee slope to enhance durability and eco-friendliness and to establish reinforcement measures against unstable levees due to overtopping. A semi-prototype levee of 1 m in height, 3 m in width, with a 1:2 slope and 5 m length, was constructed at the Andong River Experiment Center. The bio-soil mixed with the biopolymer and the soil at an appropriate ratio was treated with a 5 cm thickness on the surface of levee to perform the stability evaluation according to overtopping. Using the pixel-based analysis technique using the image analysis program, the breached area of levee slope was calculated over time. As a result, the time for complete decay occurs more than 12 times than that of ordinary soil levee. Therefore, when the new substance is applied to the surface of levee, the decay delay effect appears to be high.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.574-583
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• 2003

There have been a lot of research efforts on development of active food packaging structures and materials in the form of plastic films and containers, along with investigating novel polymers and bioactive compounds for packaging purpose, in order to improve storage stability and safety of foods during distribution and sale. Recently, great interests focus on antimicrobial package films, as an active packaging system, made from synthetic plastic polymer% and natural biopolymers containing various antimicrobial substances for food packaging applications. In this active system, substances are slowly released onto the food surface. However, antimicrobial activity as well as physical properties of the films can be significantly influenced by several factors such as polymer matrix, antimicrobial compounds, and interactions between polymers and compounds. Thus, this study reviews present status of antimicrobial food packaging films in overall performance aspects including types of polymers and active substances, test for antimicrobial activity, and changes in mechanical and antimicrobial properties by preparation method.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.56-69
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• 2022

Silk is a unique natural biopolymer with outstanding biocompatibility, high mechanical strength, and superior optical transparency. Due to its excellent properties, silk has been widely reported as an ideal biomaterial for several biomedical applications. Recently, fluorescent silk protein, a variant of native silk, has been reported as a biophotonic material with the potential for bioimaging and biosensing. Despite the realization of fluorescent silk, the traditional degumming process of fluorescence silk is crude and often results in fluorescence loss. The loss of fluorescent properties is attributed to the sensitivity of silk fibroin to temperature and solvent concentration during degumming. However, there is no comprehensive information on the influence of these processing parameters on fluorescence evolution and decay during fluorescent silk processing. Therefore, we conducted a spectroscopic study on fluorescence decay as a function of temperature, concentration, and duration for fluorescent silk cocoon degumming. Sodium carbonate solution was tested for degumming the fluorescent silk cocoons with different concentrations and temperatures; also, sodium carbonate solution is combined with Alcalase enzyme and triton x-100 to find optimal degumming conditions. Additionally, we conducted a molecular dynamics study to investigate the fundamental effect of temperature on the stability of the fluorescent protein. We observed degumming temperature as the prime source of fluorescent intensity reduction. From the MD study, fluorescence degradation originated from the thermal agitation of fluorescent protein Cα atoms and fluctuations of amino acid residues located in the chromophore region. Overall, degumming fluorescent silk with sodium carbonate and Alcalase enzyme solution at 25 ℃ preserved fluorescence.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 2020

Rising sea levels along the coast from global warming causes the increase of wave energy along the coast. This rise in sea levels results in relatively deep water levels, which would incur the loss of sand that had not occurred in the past from erosion in coastal areas. Generally, it has been challenging to protect against coastal erosion, and the slope, cross-sectional shape, and materials are selected for the site conditions depending on the change in external forces. However, the application of counter measures based on insufficient understanding of the phenomenon is causing various damage, indicating the need for technological development and converging technologies to improve credibility. In this study, we developed eco-friendly permeable biopolymer concrete blocks to control the coastal erosion by using the Bio-Coast, an effective porous structure that mitigates the destructive erosion caused by the rising sea levels. The hexagonal design of Bio-Coast was derived from the honeycomb, columnar joints, and clover, which are durable and stable structures in nature, and the design was changed to apply bumps on the Bio-Coast filling in the form of a clover to reduce wave overtopping and run-up. Applying the field condition of beaches on the east coast of Korea, the block weight and size were decided and the prototype blocks were manufactured and are ready for field placement. In particular, it is intended to protect coastal areas from destructive erosion by natural and artificial external forces, and to extend the design to river,s lakes, and natural walking trails, to improve the efficiency of quality control and process control through the use of blocks.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.293-297
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• 1993

Chitosan is a natural chelating agent. It is derived from chitin which is a cellulose-like biopolymer distributed widely in nature, expecially in shellfish, insects, fungi, and yeast. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether orally given water soluble chitosan can eliminate intraperitoneally injected radiostrontium (Sr-85) in mice. Water soluble chitosan and usual food was mixed as 10:90 by weight. The mixed food were fed for 60 (group 1) or 90 days (group 2). No chitosan was given to the control group. Each group consists of 5 mice. Sr-85 ($0.2{\mu}Ci$) was intraperitoneally injected after completion of prefeeding of usual or mixed food. The same food was given for more 5 days. The animals were sacrificed at the 6th day. Isolated spines, skulls, femurs, tibias, teeth, and tails were counted by a gamma counter. The retention of Sr-85 in bones was significantly lowere in the prefeeding groups (p<0.01). It was lowest in the 90 day prefeeding group. Therefore, prefeeding of water-soluble chitosan was effective on the removal of intraperitoneally injected radiostrontium.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.123-129
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• 1993

Chitosan is known to be one of the natural chelating agents. It is derived from chitin which is a cellulose-like biopolymer distributed widely in nature, especially in shellfish, insects, fungi, and yeast. There are two forms of chitosans, water soluble and insoluble, The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether water soluble chitosan can be applied to reduce the bioabailability of radios-trontium in foods. We compared the effect of water soluble and insoluble chitosans on the absorption of ingested radiostrontium ($^{85}Sr$). Three percent water soluble and insoluble chitosan solutions were given orally, and immediately after $^{85}SrCl_2$ ($0.2{\mu}Ci$) was administered to rats using a orogastric tube. In one group water soluble chitosan solution was given for additional 4 days. And in control group no chitosan was given. Each group consisted of 6 rats. The whole-body retention of $^{85}Sr$, determined by in vivo counting method, was lower in water soluble chitosan group than that of water insoluble chitosan group and that of control. Urinary excretion of $^{85}Sr$ in chitosan-treated rats was higher than that of control. And 5 day ingested group of water soluble chitosan showed least whole body retention of $^{85}Sr$. In conclusion water soluble chitosan was more effective in reducing bioavailability of ingested radiostrontium in the gastrointestinal tract than insoluble chitosan.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.97-104
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• 2018

In recent years, more than 5,000 tons of sargassum honeri have been infested in the southern coast and the coast of Jeju Island, causing serious damage to the farms and fisheries, and environmental problems. The alginate contained in the sargassum honeri is a natural polymeric substance mainly used for medicines and foods. However, since there is no way to utilize it in large quantities, a study was carried out to utilize bio polymer obtained from sargassum honeri in producing polymer mortar for repairing deteriorated infrastructures. From the tests of setting time, it was found that the L0BP12 mixture containing 12% of bio polymer increased the setting time by 20% as compared with the L12BP0 mixture using only synthetic polymer. From the tests of water absorbtion, the LOBP12 combination decreased by 0.36% compared to Plain-URHC using ultra rapid hardening cement. This indicated that the watertightness of the mortar was increased by the incorporation of the bio polymer. In the compressive and flexural strength tests, the strength decreased as the amount of bio polymer increased. The incorporation rate of the maximum bio polymer satisfying the KS F 4042 standard was determined to be 12%. In addition, the bond strength of the mortar produced with biopolymer was higher than that of Plain-URHC specimens, and it was confirmed that incorporation of bio polymer improves bond strength of mortar.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.851-870
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• 2000

The major goals of periodontal therapy is the functional regeneration of periodontal supporting structures already destructed by periodontal disease as well as the reduction of signs and symptoms of progressive periodontal disease. There have been many efforts to develop materials and therapeutic methods to promote periodontal wound healing. There have been increasing interest on the chitosan made by chitin. Chitin is second only to cellulose as the most abundant natural biopolymer. It is a structural component of the exoskeleton of invertebrates(e.g., shrimp, crabs, lobsters), of the cell wall of fungi, and of the cuticle of insects. Chitosan is a derivative of chitin made by deacetylation of side chains. Many experiments using chitosan in various animal models have proven its beneficial effects. The aim of this study is to evaluate the osteogenesis of chitosan on the calvarial critical size defect in Sprague Dawley rats. An 8 mm surgical defect was produced with a trephine bur in the area of the midsagittal suture. The rats were divided into two groups: Untreated control group versus experimental group with 50mg of soluble chitosan gel. The animals were sacrificed at 2, 4 and 8 weeks after surgical procedure. The specimens were examined by histologic, histomorphometric and radiodensitometric analyses. The results are as follows: 1. The length of newly formed bone in the defects was $102.91{\pm}25.46{\mu}m$, $219.46{\pm}97.81{\mu}m$ at the 2 weeks, $130.95{\pm}39.24{\mu}m$, $212.39{\pm}89.22{\mu}m$ at the 4 weeks, $181.53{\pm}76.35{\mu}m$ and $257.12{\pm}51.22{\mu}m$ at the 8 weeks in the control group and experimental group respectively. At all periods, the means of experimental group was greater than those of control group. But, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. 2. The area of newly formed bone in the defects was $2962.06{\pm}1284.48{\mu}m^2$, $5194.88{\pm}1247.88{\mu}m^2$ at the 2 weeks, $5103.25{\pm}1375.88{\mu}m^2$, $7751.43{\pm}2228.20{\mu}m^2$ at the 4 weeks and $8046.20{\pm}818.99{\mu}m^2$, $15578.57{\pm}5606.55{\mu}m^2$ at the 8 weeks in the control group and experimental group respectively. At all periods, the means of experimental group was greater than those of control group. The experimental group showed statistically significant difference to the control group at the 2 and 8 weeks. 3. The density of newly formed bone in the defects was $14.26{\pm}6.33%$, $27.91{\pm}6.65%$ at the 2 weeks, $20.06{\pm}9.07%$, $27.86{\pm}8.20%$ at the 4 weeks and $22.99{\pm}3.76%$, $32.17{\pm}6.38%$ at the 8 weeks in the control group and experimental group respectively. At all periods, the means of experimental group was greater than those of control group. The experimental group showed statistically significant difference to the control group at the 2 and 8 weeks. These results suggest that the use of chitosan on the calvarial defects in rats has significant effect on the regeneration of bone tissue in itself