• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.397-403
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• 2015

Heavy metals reduce the photosynthetic efficiency and disrupt metabolic reactions in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, by replacing the metal ions in metalloproteins that use essential metal ions, such as Cu, Zn, Mn, and Fe, as co-factors, heavy metals ultimately lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These, in turn, cause destruction of the cell membrane through lipid peroxidation, and eventually cause the plant to necrosis. Given the aforementioned factors, this study was aimed to understand the physiological responses of rice to cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) toxicity and the effect of essential metal ions on homeostasis. In order to confirm the level of physiological inhibition caused by heavy metal toxicity, hydroponically grown rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Dongjin) plants were exposed with $0-50{\mu}M$ cadmium (Cd, $CdCl_2$) and arsenic (As, $NaAsO_2$) at 3-leaf stage, and then investigated malondialdehyde (MDA) contents after 7 days of the treatment. With increasing concentrations of Cd and As, the MDA content in leaf blade and root increased with a consistent trend. At 14 days after treatment with $30{\mu}M$ Cd and As, plant height showed no significant difference between Cd and As, with an identical reduction. However, As caused a greater decline than Cd for shoot fresh weight, dry weight, and water content. The largest amounts of Cd and As were found in the roots and also observed a large amount of transport to the leaf sheath. Interestingly, in terms of Cd transfer to the shoot parts of the plant, it was only transported to upper leaf blades, and we did not detect any Cd in lower leaf blades. However, As was transferred to a greater level in lower leaf blades than in upper leaf blades. In the roots, Cd inhibited Zn absorption, while As inhibited Cu uptake. Furthermore, in the leaf sheath, while Cd and As treatments caused no change in Cu homeostasis, they had an antagonist effect on the absorption of Zn. Finally, in both upper and lower leaf blades, Cd and As toxicity was found to inhibit absorption of both Cu and Zn. Based on these results, it would be considered that heavy metal toxicity causes an increase in lipid peroxidation. This, in turn, leads to damage to the conductive tissue connecting the roots, leaf sheath, and leaf blades, which results in a reduction in water content and causes several physiological alterations. Furthermore, by disrupting homeostasis of the essential metal ions, Cu and Zn, this causes complete heavy metal toxicity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.252-257
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• 2001

To get the basic information for the water quality improvement and control of water resource at Mankyeong river stream, the water quality in four site of main stream and three site of branch stream at the upper stream were investigated mainly from February to August in 2000. The water temperature was affected by depth, flow rate of the water, and air temperature, and ranged 6.4 to $30.8^{\circ}C$. The pH, DO and BOD values of the water was $5.9{\sim}9.7$, $4.6{\sim}14.50\;mg/L$, and $0.1{\sim}11.8\;mg/L$ range, respectively. The content of total nitrogen, $NO_3-N$ and $NH_4-N$ was $1.19{\sim}10.61\;mg/L$, $1.00{\sim}5.93\;mg/L$, and ND $(non\;detected){\sim}2.79$ mg/L, respectively. The concentration of total phosphorus was ND to 1.14 mg/L. The concentration of Cl ion was $3.5{\sim}196.4\;mg/L$. The content of Fe and Mn was $0.002{\sim}0.100\;mg/L$ and $ND{\sim}0.04\;mg/L$, respectively. The contents of heavy metal Cd, Cu, and Zn were $ND{\sim}0.03\;mg/L$, $ND{\sim}0.05\;mg/L$, and $0.001{\sim}0.17\;mg/L$, respectively. Pb was not detected in all the samples. The pH, total nitrogen contents, and total phosphorus content were frequently exceeded the water quality standard for agriculture. The degree of water pollution was very varied by the sampling place. The water quality was generally polluted in the dry season more than in rainy season. The highest level of water pollution observed in the area of Samyea Bridge among the 7 sites.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.192-196
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• 2003

Objective of this study was to investigate the influences of harvest index and percolation water quality as irrigated the discharge waters from an industrial and a municipal wastewater treatment plants and seawater (1:5 seawater: tap water) as alternative water resources during tillering stage for drought stress. There were four different treatments such as the discharge water from an industrial (textile dyeing manufacture plant) wastewater treatment plant (DIWT), discharge water from the municipal wastewater treatment plant (DMWT), seawater (1:5) and groundwater as a control. For the initial chemical compositions of alternative waters, it appeared that higher concentrations of COD, $Mn^{2+}$, and $Ni^+$ in DIWT were observed than reused criteria of other country for irrigation, and concentrations of $EC_i$, Cl, and $SO_4$ in seawater were higher than that for irrigation. Harvest index was not significantly different between DIWT and DMWT with different irrigation periods in two soil types, but that of seawater (1:5) is decreased with irrigation periods in clay loam soil and not different between 10 days and 20 days of irrigation periods in sandy loam soil. For percolation water qualities, values of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) are increased with prolonging the irrigation periods of seawater (1:5) and DIWT, but those of DMWT were almost constant through the cultivation periods regardless of the irrigation period in both soil types. EG of percolation waters is eventually increased with prolonging days after irrigation regardless of irrigation periods in both soil types. Therefore, it might be concluded that there was potentially safe to irrigate the discharge water from municipal wastewater treatment plant relative to harvest index, SAR and $EC_i$ values of the ground water through the rice cultivation period at tillering stage for drought period.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.522-531
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to establish the optimal medium composition for enhancing L(+)-lactic acid (LLA) production using response surface methodology (RSM). Lactobacillus paracasei SRCM201474 was selected as the LLA producer by productivity analysis from nine candidates isolated from kimchi and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Plackett-Burman design was used to assess the effect of eleven media components on LLA production, including carbon (glucose, sucrose, molasses), nitrogen (yeast extract, peptone, tryptone, beef extract), and mineral (NaCl, K₂HPO₄, MgSO₄, MnSO₄) materials. Glucose, sucrose, molasses, and peptone were subsequently chosen as promising media for further optimization studies, and a hybrid design experiment was used to establish their optimal concentrations as glucose 15.48 g/l, sucrose 16.73 g/l, molasses 39.09 g/l, and peptone 34.91 g/l. The coefficient of determination of the equation derived from RSM regression for LLA production was mathematically reliable at 0.9969. At optimum parameters, 33.38 g/l of maximum LLA increased by 193% when compared with MRS broth as unoptimized medium (17.66 g/l). Our statistical model was confirmed by subsequent validation experiments. Increasing the performance of LLA-producing microorganisms and establishing an effective LLA fermentation process can be of particular benefit for bioplastic technologies and industrial applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.785-792
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• 2020

ʟ-Theanine, found in green tea leaves has been shown to positively affect immunity and relaxation in humans. There have been many attempts to produce ʟ-theanine through enzymatic synthesis to overcome the limitations of traditional methods. Among the many genes coding for enzymes in the ʟ-theanine biosynthesis, glutamylmethylamide synthetase (GMAS) exhibits the greatest possibility of producing large amounts of production. Thus, GMAS from Methylovorus mays No. 9 was overexpressed in several strains including vectors with different copy numbers. BW25113(DE3) cells containing the pET24ma::gmas was selected for strains. The optimal temperature, pH, and metal ion concentration were 50℃, 7, and 5 mM MnCl₂, respectively. Additionally, ATP was found to be an important factor for producing high concentration of ʟ-theanine so several strains were tested during the reaction for ATP regeneration. Baker's yeast was found to decrease the demand for ATP most effectively. Addition of potassium phosphate source was demonstrated by producing 4-fold higher ʟ-theanine. To enhance the conversion yield, GMAS was additionally overexpressed in the system. A maximum of 198 mM ʟ-theanine was produced with 16.5 mmol/l/h productivity. The whole-cell reaction involving GMAS has greatest potential for scale-up production of ʟ-theanine.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.590-603
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• 2006

Size-and time-resolved aerosol samples were collected using an eight-stage Davis rotating unit for monitoring (DRUM) sampler from 23 March to 29 April 2001 at Gosan, Jeju Island, Korea, which is one of the super sites of Asia-Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment(ACE-Asia). These samples were analyzed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence for 3-hr average concentrations of 19 elements including Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, and Pb. The size-resolved data sets were then analyzed using the positive matrix factorization(PMF) technique to identify possible sources and estimate their contributions to particulate matter mass. PMF analysis uses the uncertainty of the measured data to provide an optimal weighting. Twelve sources were resolved in eight size ranges($0.09{\sim}12{\mu}m$) and included continental soil, local soil, sea salt, biomass/biofuel burning, coal combustion, oil combustion, municipal incineration, nonferrous metal source, ferrous metal source, gasoline vehicle, diesel vehicle, and volcanic emission. The PMF result of size-resolved source contributions showed that natural sources represented by local soil, sea salt, continental soil, and volcanic emission contributed about 79% to the predicted primary particulate matter(PM) mass in the coarse size range ($1.15{\sim}12{\mu}m$) while anthropogenic sources such as coal combustion and biomass/biofuel burning contributed about 58% in the fine size range($0.56{\sim}2.5{\mu}m$). The diesel vehicle source contributed mostly in ultra-fine size range($0.09{\sim}0.56{\mu}m$) and was responsible for about 56% of the primary PM mass.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.471-482
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• 2008

This study was carried out to investigate the contamination characteristics of surface water, soil water and groundwater around and in antimony waste landfill site in Wonsung-ri, Yeonki-kun, Chungnam. The waste disposed in the study was excavated and transported to the other site in several years ago. For this study, we collected 35 water samples including groundwater, soil water and surface in the study site and also collected 2 groundwater samples from a comparison site. The data of chemical analysis of soil water samples show the antimony concentration of $48.75{\sim}74.81\;ppb$, which is much higher than groundwater in a comparison site and is highly excess than regulation level for a drinking water of some advanced countries. A relatively high antimony concentration was detected in three stream water samples nearby landfill site and two groundwater samples. Fe and Mn contents in soil water and stream water were measured as maxium 6.5 mg/L and 7.3 mg/L, respectively. Although other heavy metals of water samples in the study site are higher concentration than water sample of comparison site, their absolute levels are lower than regulation level for a drinking water. The chemical data of water samples are plotted widely from Ca - $HCO_3$ type to Ca - ($Cl +SO_4+NO_3$) type. Some groundwater show high contents of potassium and nitrate, which would come from fertilizer and sewage. Conclusively, some heavy metals including antimony have been still remained under the soil surface of the landfill site in the past. These metals have leaked out into nearby stream and groundwater system, and threaten the ecology, crops and the health of residents in this site. Therefore, the government have to prepare the strategy to prevent the diffusion of heavy metals into aquatic environment and have to process the reclamation work for contaminated site. It is also necessary to make a regulation level of the antimony concentration for a drinking water and soil environment in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1377-1383
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• 2008

A bacterium producing non- or partially digestible dextran was isolated from kimchi broth by enrichment culture technique. The bacterium was identified tentatively as Leuconostoc sp. strain SKY. We established the response surface methodology (Box-Behnken design) to optimize the principle parameters such as culture pH, temperature, and yeast extract concentration for maximizing production of dextran. The ranges of parameters were determined based on prior screening works done at our laboratory and accordingly chosen as 5.5, 6.5, and 7.5 for pH, 25, 30, and $35^{\circ}C$ for temperature, and 1, 5, and 9 g/l yeast extract. Initial concentration of sucrose was 100 g/l. The mineral medium consisted of 3.0 g $KH_2PO_4$, 0.01 g $FeSO_4{\cdot}H_2O$, 0.01 g $MnSO_4{\cdot}4H_2O$, 0.2 g $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.01 g NaCl, and 0.05 g $CaCO_3$ per 1 liter deionized water. The optimum values of pH and temperature, and yeast extract concentration were obtained at pH (around 7.0), temperature (27 to $28^{\circ}C$), and yeast extract (6 to 7 g/l). The best dextran yield was 60% (dextran/g sucrose). The best dextran productivity was 0.8 g/h-l.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.119-120
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• 2004

Urban groundwater has a unique hydrologic system because of the complex surface and subsurface infrastructures such as deep foundation of many high buildings, subway systems, and sewers and public water supply systems. It generally has been considered that increased surface impermeability reduces the amount of groundwater recharge. On the other hand, leaks from sewers and public water supply systems may generate the large amounts of recharges. All of these urban facilities also may change the groundwater quality by the recharge of a myriad of contaminants. This study was performed to determine the factors controlling the recharge of deep groundwater in an urban area, based on the hydrogeochemical characteristics. The term ‘contamination’ in this study means any kind of inflow of shallow groundwater regardless of clean or contaminated. For this study, urban groundwater samples were collected from a total of 310 preexisting wells with the depth over 100 m. Random sampling method was used to select the wells for this study. Major cations together with Si, Al, Fe, Pb, Hg and Mn were analyzed by ICP-AES, and Cl, N $O_3$, N $H_4$, F, Br, S $O_4$and P $O_4$ were analyzed by IC. There are two groups of groundwater, based on hydrochemical characteristics. The first group is distributed broadly from Ca-HC $O_3$ type to Ca-C1+N $O_3$ type; the other group is the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type. The latter group is considered to represent the baseline quality of deep groundwater in the study area. Using the major ions data for the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type water, we evaluated the extent of groundwater contamination, assuming that if subtract the baseline composition from acquired data for a specific water, the remaining concentrations may indicate the degree of contamination. The remainder of each solute for each sample was simply averaged. The results showed that both Ca and HC $O_3$ represent the typical solutes which are quite enriched in urban groundwater. In particular, the P$CO_2$ values calculated using PHREEQC (version 2.8) showed a correlation with the concentrations of maior inorganic components (Na, Mg, Ca, N $O_3$, S $O_4$, etc.). The p$CO_2$ values for the first group waters widely ranged between about 10$^{-3.0}$ atm to 10$^{-1.0}$ atm and differed from those of the background water samples belonging to the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type (<10$^{-3.5}$ atm). Considering that the p$CO_2$ of soil water (near 10$^{-1.5}$ atm), this indicates that inflow of shallow water is very significant in deep groundwaters in the study area. Furthermore, the P$CO_2$ values can be used as an effective parameter to estimate the relative recharge of shallow water and thus the contamination susceptibility. The results of our present study suggest that down to considerable depth, urban groundwater in crystalline aquifer may be considerably affected by the recharge of shallow water (and pollutants) from an adjacent area. We also suggest that for such evaluation, careful examination of systematically collected hydrochemical data is requisite as an effective tool, in addition to hydrologic and hydrogeologic interpretation.ion.ion.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.510-523
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• 2020

This study analyzed groundwater quality in hydroponic cultivation facilities. Through this study, the possibility of groundwater use was evaluated according to the quality of the groundwater for hydroponic cultivation facilities. Good groundwater quality, on average, is pH 6.61, EC 0.27 dS/m, NO3-N 7.64 mg/L, NH4+-N 0.80 mg/L, PO4-P 0.09 mg/L, K+ 6.26 mg/L, Ca2+ 18.57 mg/L, Mg2+ 4.38 mg/L, Na+ 20.85 mg/L, etc. All of these satisfy the water quality standard for raw water in nutrient cultivation. But in the case of farmers experiencing problems with groundwater quality, most of the items exceeded the water quality standard. As a result of the analysis, it was judged that purifying groundwater of unsuitable quality for crop cultivation, and using it as raw water, was effective in terms of water quality and soil purification. If an agricultural water purification system is constructed based on the results of this study, it is judged that the design will be easy because the items to be treated can be estimated. If a purification system is established, it can use groundwater directly in the facility and for horticulture. These study results will be available for use in sustainable agriculture and environments.