• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.168-181
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• 2024

Constructed wetlands (CWs) deliver a range of ecosystem services, including the removal of contaminants, sequestration and storage of carbon, and enhancement of biodiversity. These services are facilitated through hydrological and ecological processes such as infiltration, adsorption, water retention, and evapotranspiration by plants and microorganisms. This study investigated the correlations between microbial populations, soil physicochemical properties, and treatment efficiency in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF CW) treating runoff from roads and parking lots. The methods employed included storm event monitoring, water quality analysis, soil sampling, soil quality parameter analysis, and microbial analysis. The facility achieved its highest pollutant removal efficiencies during the warm season (>15℃), with rates ranging from 33% to 74% for TSS, COD, TN, TP, and specific heavy metals including Fe, Zn, and Cd. Meanwhile, the highest removal efficiency was 35% for TOC during the cold season (≤15℃). These high removal rates can be attributed to sedimentation, adsorption, precipitation, plant uptake, and microbial transformations within the CW. Soil analysis revealed that the soil from HSSF CW had a soil organic carbon content 3.3 times higher than that of soil collected from a nearby landscape. Stoichiometric ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the inflow and outflow were recorded as C:N:P of 120:1.5:1 and 135.2:0.4:1, respectively, indicating an extremely low proportion of N and P compared to C, which may challenge microbial remediation efficiency. Additionally, microbial analyses indicated that the warm season was more conducive to microorganism growth, with higher abundance, richness, diversity, homogeneity, and evenness of the microbial community, as manifested in the biodiversity indices, compared to the cold season. Pollutants in stormwater runoff entering the HSSF CW fostered microbial growth, particularly for dominant phyla such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which have shown moderate to strong correlations with specific soil properties and changes in influent-effluent concentrations of water quality parameters.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.161-175
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• 2008

The soil developed from volcanic ash in Jeju Island, Korea, were classified as typical Andisols. The soils had acidic pH, high water contents, high organic matters and clay-silty textures. The crystalline minerals of the samples were mainly composed of ferromagnesian minerals such as olivine and pyroxene, and iron oxides such as magnetite and hematite derived from basaltic materials. A large amount of gibbsite was found at the subsurface horizon as a secondary product from the migration of excessive aluminum. In addition, our study has shown that considerable amounts of poorly ordered minerals like allophane and ferrihydrite were present in Jeju soils. The contents of $SiO_2$ were lower than those of other soil orders, but $A1_2O_3$ and $Fe_2O_3$ contents were higher. These results are some of the important chemical properties of Andisols. The contents of heavy metals were in the range of $84{\sim}198$ for Zn, $56{\sim}414$ for Ni, $38{\sim}150$ for Co, $132{\sim}1164\;mg\;kg^{-1}$ for Cr, which are higher than the worldwide values in most of the soils. Some soil samples contained relatively high levels of Cr exceeding 1000 mg/kg. Mean reduction capacity of the Jeju soils was $6.53\;mg\;L^{-1}$ reduced Cr(VI), 5.1 times higher than that of the non-volcanic ash soils from inland of Korea. The soil reduction capacity of the inland soils had a good correlation with total carbon content (R = 0.90). However, in spite of 20 times higher total carbon contents in the Jeju soils, there was a week negative correlation between the reduction capacity and the carbon content (R = -0.469), suggesting that the reduction capacity of Jeju soils is not mainly controlled by the carbon content and affected by other soil properties. Correlations of the reduction capacity with major elements showed that Al and Fe were closely connected with the reduction capacity in Jeju soil (R = 0.793; R = 0.626 respectively). Moreover, the amounts of Ni, Co and Cr had considerable correlations with the reduction capacity (R = 0.538; R = 0.647; R = 0.468 respectively). In particular, in relation to the behavior of redox-sensitive Cr, the oxidation of the trivalent chromium to mobile and toxic hexavalent chromium can be restricted by the high reduction capacity in Jeju soil. The factors controlling the reduction capacity in Jeju soils may have a close relation with the andic soil properties explained by the presence of considerable allophane and ferrihydrite in the soils.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.14-22
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• 2006

Laboratory column experiment for simultaneous removal of Cd and Cr(VI) were conducted using newly developed material of Fe-loaded zeolite having both reduction ability and sorption capacity. The solution containing Cd and Cr(VI) was injected into the column and the breakthrough curves (BTCs) for the contaminants were observed at the effluent port. Cd breakthrough was not initialized until Cr(VI) breakthrough was completed. Therefore it could be concluded that overall efficiency of Fe-loaded zeolite should be determined by the reactivity for Cr(VI). The relative concentration of Cr(VI) BTC increased to the unit value while initial breakthrough was delayed and the propagation of breakthrough was slowed. In order to quantitatively describe the shape of Cr(VI) BTC, new parameters of ${\alpha}\;and\;{\beta}$ designated to be shape parameters, were defined and applied in contaminant transport concentration. These parameters were employed to represent the degree of initial breakthrough delay and the degree of breakthrough propagation, respectively. As initial contaminant concentration increased, ${\alpha}$ decreased, which indicated the delay of BTC's initiation. And as initial contaminant flow rate increased, ${\beta}$ decreased, which represented the faster propagation of the BTC. From these results, Fe-loaded zeolite was found to be an effective reactive material for PRBs against heavy metals having different ionic forms in groundwater. And it could be expected that as groundwater flows faster, the propagation of breakthrough would be faster and as contaminant concentration is higher, the initial point of breakthrough would appear earlier.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.366-377
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• 2002

This study investigated the ecological environment of Dongguneung, which royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty aye in. The aim of this study is to do an effective preservation, management and restoration of the royal tomb and garden of the Joseon Dynasty distributed in Seoul and Kyunggi Province through using the data of Dongguneung. In general, Dongguneung contains the predominant Oak class such as Quercus serrata-Quercus mongolica community, while a flatland surrounding its control office, which is often flooded with the rainy season in summer, is mainly Alnus japonica community, Pinus densiflora community ranges around the royal tomb. The subcommunity of Quercus serrata -Quereus mongolica community is distributed into Robinia pseudo-acacia, Pinus rigida, Pinus koraiensis, Carpinus laxiflora and typical subcommunity and so on. In particular, Robinia pseudo -acacia, Pinus rigida and Pinus koraiensis subcommunity, and Alnus japonica community were forested. The soil class of Dongguneung was mainly a sandy loam and its pH was an average of 4.67 (from 4.36 to 5.68). The content of heavy metals including Cu, Pb and Zn etc. in the soil was about twice as much as the natural content in the forest soil. The content of organism and total nitrogen in the topsoil layer was the average of 4.87% and 0.21% respectively, slightly higher than those (organism； 4.55%, total nitrogen； 0.20%) of the forest soil generated from granite bedrock. Cation exchange capacity as the indicator of soil fertility was 15.0 cmol $kg^{-1}$, higher than that in the granite forest soil. However among base exchangeable cations, contents of $Ca^{2+}$ (2.07 cmol $kg^{-1}$), $Mg^{2+}$ (0.40 cmol $kg^{-1}$) and K+ (0.25 cmol $kg^{-1}$) were slightly lower than that. The above results could reflect the need of soil fertilization and liming for the improvement of nutritional status and buffer process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1326-1333
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• 2007

For preparing the basic ingredients of Gomtang-like products from the extracts of salmon frame, the extraction conditions of salmon frame were examined, and the characteristics of the extracts were compared with commercial Gomtang. Based on the crude protein, Ex-N and sensory attributes, the extractions were optimized by extracting pretreated-salmon frame in 12 times (v/w) of water for 12 hrs, before filtering with cheese cloth to yield 3 times the volume of the raw material. The concentrations of heavy metals in extracts from salmon frame were below the safety limits suggested by KFDA. The mai or amino acids were glutamic acid and aspartic acid as the free amino acids, and glycine, proline, and glutamic acid as the total amino acids. The calcium and phosphorus contents were 18.0 mg/100 mL and 33.1 mg/100 mL, respectively, and they accounted for 20% and 18% of the recommended daily allowance for mineral intake. The angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was improved by incubation with Flavourzyme for 4 hrs and its $IC_{50}$ was 2 mg/mL. The results above suggested that the enzymatic hydrolysates from extracts of salmon frame could be used as a basic ingredient for preparing Gomtang-like products.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2013

The thermotolerant methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is an attractive model organism for various fundamental studies, such as the genetic control of enzymes involved in methanol metabolism, peroxisome biogenesis, nitrate assimilation, and resistance to heavy metals and oxidative stresses. In addition, H. polymorpha has been highlighted as a promising recombinant protein expression host, especially due to the availability of strong and tightly regulatable promoters. In this study, we investigated the possibility of employing human serum albumin (HSA) as the fusion tag for the secretory expression of heterologous proteins in H. polymorpha. A set of four expression cassettes, which contained the methanol oxidase (MOX) promoter, translational HSA fusion tag, and the terminator of MOX, were constructed. The expression cassettes were also designed to contain sequences for accessory elements including His8-tag, $2{\times}(Gly_4Ser_1)$ linkers, tobacco etch virus protease recognition sites (Tev), multi-cloning sites, and strep-tags. To determine the effects of the size of the HSA fusion tag on the secretory expression of the target protein, each cassette contained the HSA gene fragment truncated at a specific position based on its domain structure. By using the Green fluorescence protein gene as the reporter, the properties of each expression cassette were compared in various conditions. Our results suggest that the translational HSA fusion tag is an efficient tool for the secretory expression of recombinant proteins in H. polymorpha.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.341-350
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• 2015

Skin carrys out protective role against harmful outer environment assaults including ultraviolet radiation, heavy metals and oxides. Especially, ultraviolet-B (UVB) light causes inflammatory reactions in skin such as sun burn and erythma and stimulates melanin pigmentation. Furthermore, the influx of UVB into skin cells causes DNA damage in keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts, inhibition of extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis which leads to a decrease in elasticity of skin and wrinkle formation. It also damages dermal connective tissue and disrupts the skin barrier function. Prolonged exposure of human skin to UVB light is well known to trigger severe skin lesions such as cell death and carcinogenesis. Haloarcula vallismortis is a halophilic microorganism isolated from the Dead Sea, Its growth characteristics have not been studied in detail yet. It generally grows at salinity more than 10%, but the actual growth salinity usually ranges between 20 to 25%. Because H. vallismortis is found mainly in saltern or salt lakes, there could exist defense mechanisms against strong sunlight. One of them is generation of additional ATP using halorhodopsin which absorbs photons and produces energy by potential difference formed by opening the chloride ion channel. It often shows a color of pink or red because of their high content of carotenoid pigments and it is considered to act as a defense mechanism against intense UV irradiation. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of the halophilic microorganism, H. vallismortis, extract was investigated. It was found that H. vallismortis extract had protective effect on DNA damage induced by UV irradiation. These results suggest that the extract of halophilic bacterium, H. vallismortis could be used as a bio-sunscreen or natural sunscreen which ameliorate the harmful effects of UV light with its anti-inflammatory and DNA protective properties.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2000

Waste newspapers was used as an amendment to adjust the moisture of household food wastes for composting. The mixture of household food wastes and waste newspapers was composted in an especially designed small home composter, where the early fed composting materials were discharged early. The temperature inside composting materials was influenced very much by that of outside, because the composter was not insulated. Accordingly, the higher the outside temperature was, the higher the decomposition rate was. The temperature inside composting materials did not reach to optimum, because the amount of composting materials added in the composter everyday was too little, and it caused too high water content of discharged compost after 15 weeks. Therefore, it was required that the composter must be insulated to maintain the higher temperature. The inorganic compounds$(K_2O,\;CaO,\;MgO,\;P_2O_5)$ and heavy metals(Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Hg, As) were accumulated obviously in produced compost, when dry recycled compost was reused as the amendment for adjusting the moisture.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

The health benefits associated with consumption of fresh produce have been clearly demonstrated and encouraged by international nutrition and health authorities. However, since fresh produce is usually minimally processed, increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has also led to a simultaneous escalation of foodborne illness cases. According to the report by the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 10 people suffer from foodborne diseases and 420,000 die every year globally. In comparison to other processed foods, fresh produce can be easily contaminated by various routes at different points in the supply chain from farm to fork. This review is focused on the identification and characterization of possible sources of foodborne illnesses from chemical, biological, and physical hazards and the applicable methodologies to detect potential contaminants. Agro-chemicals (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides), natural toxins (mycotoxins and plant toxins), and heavy metals (mercury and cadmium) are the main sources of chemical hazards, which can be detected by several methods including chromatography and nano-techniques based on nanostructured materials such as noble metal nanoparticles (NMPs), quantum dots (QDs) and magnetic nanoparticles or nanotube. However, the diversity of chemical structures complicates the establishment of one standard method to differentiate the variety of chemical compounds. In addition, fresh fruits and vegetables contain high nutrient contents and moisture, which promote the growth of unwanted microorganisms including bacterial pathogens (Salmonella, E. coli O157: H7, Shigella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus) and non-bacterial pathogens (norovirus and parasites). In order to detect specific pathogens in fresh produce, methods based on molecular biology such as PCR and immunology are commonly used. Finally, physical hazards including contamination by glass, metal, and gravel in food can cause serious injuries to customers. In order to decrease physical hazards, vision systems such as X-ray inspection have been adopted to detect physical contaminants in food, while exceptional handling skills by food production employees are required to prevent additional contamination.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2000

Because the household garbage had high water contents, it is difficult to compost it without an additive. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate possibility of using the waste newspapers as a humidity conditioner for the household garbage composting. The maximum temperature was $66.0^{\circ}C$ in spring, $69.2^{\circ}C$ in summer, $60.9^{\circ}C$ in fall and $56.0^{\circ}C$ in winter for composting periods. The seasonal pH value reached around 8.5 after 1 week and then repeated fluctuation at the narrow range in spring and fall, while it was stabilized at the range of $8{\sim}9$ after increasing to 8.5 after 1 week in winter. The water content was reduced little in winter, while decreased significantly in the other seasons. The water content after 8 weeks was 22.2% in spring, 47.6% in summer, 25.5% in fall and 72.5% in winter. The mass was reduced rapidly during the first week of each season, but it did not show much decrease. The volume reduced after 8 weeks to 59%, 32%, 27%, and 34% in spring, summer, fall and winter respectively. Organic matter content decreased over the four seasons. Nitrogen contents were in the range of 0.7% to 2.2% during the four seasons. The contents of inorganic compounds based on dry matyter were in the range of $0.94{\sim}2.59%\;P_2O_5$, $1.23{\sim}1.87%\;CaO$, $0.37{\sim}0.46%\;MgO$, $0.55{\sim}1.98%\;K_2O$. Concentration of heavy metals(Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Zn, As) based on dry matter were less than the limiting value of the by-product compost.