• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2006

This study was conducted to find a system for screening organic resources with 16 species, 62 samples which were selected to randomizing point from city, province and industrial areas in the whole country. Content of organic matters were $65.3%{\sim}98.0%$ in all samples so that they were largely over than 60%, raw material regulation of compost. Concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were $0.7{\sim}4.8%\;and\;0.8{\sim}5.0$, they could look for effect of the nitrogen and phosphorus supply as a raw material of compost. In case of 8 elements concentrations of heavy metal, they were too high to use as raw materials of compost which were over to regulation limit in Cu, Cr, Ni, and As from fiber industry, Ni from food company and leather industry, and the others are adapt to limit levels. HEM contents fro the highest to $113mg\;kg^{-1}$ from liber industry and PAHs content were the highest to $3,462ug\;kg^{-1}$ from paper-mill manufacture. Distribution of PAHs concentiations were naphthalene>phenanthrene>pyrene>fluoroanthene>acenaphthene. $Microtox{(R)}\;EC_{50}$ values for bioassay were pharmaceutical company>paper-mill manufacture>industrial area sewage sludge>fiber industry>urban sewage sludge>metropolitan sewage sludge. HEM between Zn, Cu, and Ni was significant at the 99% and between Cd was significant at the 95%, Microtox between Hg and BEM significant at the 95%.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1521-1531
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• 2008

After pigs was fed by commercial diets supplemented with various concentrations (0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5%) of the fermented mushroom by-product of Pleurotus eryngii, the meat qualities and the serum lipid compositions of the individual pig groups were investigated. The levels of total lipid, total cholesterol, and triglyceride in the serum were significantly lower when the pigs were fed with the diet supplemented with 1.5% fermented mushroom by-product than those of the control pigs. HDL-, LDL-, and VLDL-cholesterol contents in the serum exhibited no significant difference between the pig group fed by the diet containing the fermented mushroom by-product and the control group. In comparison to the control group, the pig group fed by the diet supplemented with 1.5% fermented mushroom by-product showed significantly lower level of AI, CRF, GOT, and LDH values in the serum, whereas the difference in the level of antioxidant activity of the serum was not significant. Sensory evaluation regarding color, off-flavor, tenderness, juiciness, and overall acceptability also showed that the pork from the pig group fed by the diet supplemented with the fermented mushroom by-product ($0.5{\sim}1.5%$) was better than that from the control group. Although enhancement in the lghtness ($a^*$) value of the pork was significant in 20 days of storage at $4^{\circ}C$, the redness ($L^*$) value was not significantly differential during the storage periods regardless of the supplementation of the fermented mushroom by-product into the diet. The cooking loss of the pork from the pig group fed by the diet supplemented with the fermented mushroom by-product (1% and 1.5%) decreased in the storage 10 days, but it increased in the storage 20 days. After storage for 20 days at $4^{\circ}C$, shear force of the pork obtained from the pigs fed by the diet supplemented with $1%{\sim}1.5%$ fermented mushroom by-product appeared to become significantly lower than that of the control. There were, however, no significant changes between two groups in the level of moisture content, crude lipid, and pH during the storage period. Although the TBARS content was enhanced in all groups during the storage period, the enhancement appeared to be more significant in the pork from the pig group fed by the diet containing the fermented mushroom by-product in comparison to the control. On the other hand, the ratio of UFA/SFA for the pork obtained from the individual pig groups showed no considerable diet-associated alterations during the storage period.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.123-137
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• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.619-624
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• 2011

Tea extract (TE) has been shown to have anti-tumor properties in a wide variety of experimental systems. We evaluated green tea extract (GTE) as a biochemical modulator for the antitumor activity of cisplatin and doxorubicin in the treatment of human lung cancer A549 cells. Cells were grown in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum and two antibiotics (100 units/mL penicillin and $100\;{\mu}g$/mL streptomycin). Two types of TE, epigallocatechin galate (EGCG) and GTE, were used in this experiment. The cells were seeded at $1{\times}10^4$ cells/well in the RPMI-1640 media with or without TE ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) and then treated with different concentrations of doxorubicin ($0{\sim}14\;{\mu}g$/mL) or cisplatin ($0{\sim}35\;{\mu}g$/mL). After incubation in 5% $CO_2$ at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr, cell viability was determined with a MTT assay. We used a Western blot to detect the influence of EGCG and GTE on the expression of p53 and caspase-3 genes in the A549 cells. A549 cell viability decreased to 15% with a $10\;{\mu}g$/mL concentration of cisplatin, and to 21% with a $8\;{\mu}g$/mL concentration of doxorubicin, as measured with the MTT assay. However, pre-treatment of the cells with EGCG ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) or GTE ($100\;{\mu}g$/mL) resulted in decreased cell viability with $6\;{\mu}g$/mL of cisplatin and $4\;{\mu}g$/mL of doxorubicin. There was no apparent change in cell viability between EGCG or GTE administration in cisplatin- or doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity in A549 cells. The levels of p53 and caspase-3 in the A549 cells increased with both EGCG and GTE treatment. We found that GTE could potentially affect cisplatin- or doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity of A549 cells, which may be useful in the chemotreatment of cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.348-356
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• 2008

For the effective use of rainbow trout, the seasoned and dried rainbow trout slice (SR) was prepared and its characterization was compared with the commercial skipjack tuna (CSS) and pork products (CSP) by determining chemical components and sensory evaluation. The moisture content of SR, 20.5%, was lower, and the lipid content of SR, 7.5%, was higher than those of commercial products, CSS and CSP. The protein content of SR (41.4%) was higher than that of CSS (28.6%), but lower than that of CSP (50.1%). The water activity of SR was 0.654, which was lower than those of CSS and CSP, 0.724 and 0.771, respectively. According to the results, the color of SR was lower in lightness and redness and higher in browning index and ${\Delta}$E value than that of commercial products. The texture of SR was harder than that of CSS, but softer than that of CSP. According to the result of taste value, the taste of SR was stronger than that of CSP, while weaker than that of CSS. The mineral (Ca, P, and Fe), total amino acid contents, and the n-3/n-6 of SR showed significant levels in nutrition and health functional senses.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.192-201
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• 2016

Recently, Psychrobacter sp. ArcL13 strain showing the extracellular lipase activity was isolated from the Chuckchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean. However, due to the low expression levels of the enzyme in the natural strain, the production of recombinant lipase is crucial for various applications. Identification of the gene for the enzyme is prerequisite for the production of the recombinant protein. Therefore, in the present study, a novel lipase gene (ArcL13-Lip) was isolated from Psychrobacter sp. ArcL13 strain by gene prospecting using PCR, and its complete nucleotide sequence was determined. Sequence analysis showed that ArcL13-Lip has high amino acid sequence similarity to lipases from bacteria of some Psychrobacter genus (84-90%) despite low nucleotide sequence similarity. The lipase gene was cloned into the bacterial expression plasmid and expressed in E. coli. SDS-PAGE analysis of the cells showed that ArcL13-Lip was expressed as inclusion bodies with a molecular mass of about 35 kDa. Refolding was achieved by diluting the unfolded protein into refolding buffers containing various additives, and the highest refolding efficiency was seen in the glucose-containing buffer. Refolded ArcL13-Lip showed high hydrolytic activity toward p-nitrophenyl caprylate and p-nitrophenyl decanoate among different p-nitrophenyl esters. Recombinant ArcL13-Lip displayed maximal activity at $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.0 with p-nitrophenyl caprylate as a substrate. Activity assays performed at various temperatures showed that ArcL13-Lip is a cold-active lipase with about 40% and 73% of enzymatic activity at $10^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$, respectively, compared to its maximal activity at $40^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1564-1570
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• 2016

The present study investigated the immunomodulatory effects of high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan on macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, and T cell-mediated factors. Effect of high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan on cytotoxicity in macrophages was investigated. Using macrophages, cytotoxicity of high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan was evaluated by MTT assay. We treated high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan at concentrations of 10, 50, 100, 150, 200, and $250{\mu}g/mL$ in macrophages. High-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan did not affect macrophage viability. Phagocytic activity was assessed using zymosan. Activity of high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan on macrophages significantly increased as compared with zymosan. We treated high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan to murine NK cells co-incubated with YAC-1 cells. High-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan resulted in significantly increased activity of NK cells as compared with the control. In addition, treatment of macrophages with high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan resulted in significantly increased activity of T cell-mediated cytokine (IL-2, IL-12, $IFN-{\gamma}$, and $TNF-{\alpha}$) levels and CD4+/CD8+ T cells as compared with the control. In conclusion, high-purity ${\beta}$-1.3/1.6-glucan could enhance the immune response through activation of macrophages, NK cells, and T cell-mediated factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.630-637
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• 2012

This study was performed to investigate the effects of puffed and fermented red ginseng on blood glucose-related biomarkers in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Male Sprague-Dawley diabetic rats were orally injected with 0.85% NaCL as a diabetic control (DC), 300 mg/kg general red ginseng (RG), 300 mg/kg puffing red ginseng fermented by mixed strain culture of $Bifidobacterium$ $breve$ and $Lactobacillus$ $delbrueckii$ (BL), and 300 mg/kg puffing red ginseng fermented by $Enterococcus$ $faecalis$ (EF) for 5 weeks. The blood glucose level of group BL was significantly lower maintained than in groups DC and RG for the experimental period (p<0.05). It was also significantly lower than in groups DC, RG, and EF at the 5th week (p<0.05). In the oral glucose tolerance test, the blood glucose of group BL was maintained the lowest level (p<0.05), and the area under the blood glucose curve (AUC) was also significantly lower in group BL than in group DC (p<0.05). The fasting blood glucose and insulin levels after the experiment were significantly low in group BL (p<0.05), and the HOMA-IR was more significantly low in groups BL and EF than in group DC (p<0.05). Also, the HbA1c content of group BL was significantly low than in groups DC and RG (p<0.05). The serum TC level was significantly decreased in groups RG, BL, and EF than in group DC (p<0.05), and the LDL-C content was significantly low in group BL than in group DC (p<0.05). From the findings, it was shown that the puffed and fermented red ginseng made using a mixed strain culture of $B.$ $breve$ and $L.$ $delbrueckii$ could improve blood glucose-related biomarkers.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.596-606
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• 2019

The study investigated the physiochemical properties and the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the sea tangle (Saccharina japonica) in a water extract before (STWE) and after (STFL) fermentation with Lactobacillus brevis. The pH values of STWE and STFL were 6.18 and 4.16, and the sugar contents were $8.50^{\circ}Brix$ and $7.40^{\circ}Brix$, respectively. The main free amino acids of STWE and STFL were glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and alanine, and the ${\gamma}$-amino butyric acid (GABA) content was increased by fermentation. The total polyphenol contents of STWE and STFL were 498.29 and 615.77 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/ml, respectively. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities of STWE and STFL were markedly increased in a dose-dependent manner, and revealed about 89.89% and 96.94% activities, respectively, at 10% concentration (p<0.05). The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities of STWE and STFL were also markedly increased in a dose-dependent manner, and the activity of STFL was significantly increased when compared with STWE (p<0.05). The anti-inflammatory activity was examined in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. STWE and STFL decreased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which had levels of about 189.90% and 174.69% at 1% concentration, respectively (p<0.05). The contents of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha ($TNF-{\alpha}$) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), were decreased more by addition of STFL than by addition of STWE. The STWE and STFL showed high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and these activities were increased by fermentation. Therefore, sea tangle extracts can be used as functional food materials.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.217-227
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• 2006

Micronutrient status in soils and crops of plastic film house and their relationship were investigated. Total 203 plastic film houses were selected (red pepper, 66; cucumber, 63; tomato, 74) in Yeongnam region and soil and leaf samples were collected. Hot-water extractable B and 0.1 N HCl extractable Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn in soil samples and total micronutrients in leaf samples were analyzed. Contents Zn, Fe, and Mn in most of the investigated soils were higher than the upper limits of optimum level for general crop cultivation. Contents of Cu in most soils of cucumber and tomato cultivation were higher than the upper limit of optimum level, but Cu contents in about 30% of red pepper cultivation soils were below the sufficient level. Contents of B in most soils of cucumber and tomato were above the sufficient level but in 48% of red pepper cultivation soils B were found to be deficient. Micronutrient contents in leaf of investigated crops were much variable. Contents of B, Fe, and Mn were mostly within the sufficient levels, while in 71% of red pepper samples Cu was under deficient level and in 44% of cucumber samples Cu contents were higher than the upper limit of sufficient level. Contents of Zn in red pepper and cucumber samples were mostly within the sufficient level but in 62% of tomato samples Zn contents were under deficient condition. However, any visible deficiency or toxicity symptoms of micronutrients were not found in the crops. No consistent relationships were found between micronutrient contents in soil and leaf, and this indicates that growth and absorption activity of root and interactions among the nutrients in soil might be important factors in overall micronutrient uptake of crops. For best management of micronutrients in plastic film house, much attention should be focused on the management of soil and plant characteristics which control the micronutrient uptake of crops.