• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2015

Due to the heightened ambient $PM_{2.5}$ levels, the whole citizen of Japan, especially dwellers in Fukuoka Prefecture, start to make attention to the particulate matter (PM) of indoor environments. This study was aimed to thoroughly estimate the characteristics of indoor PM collected in five Japanese homes located in Fukuoka Prefecture. Simultaneous indoor measurements of PM were intensively made at five homes using filter-pack samplers, particle counters, and $PM_{2.5}$ monitors for a day in springtime, 2012. Major ionic and carbonaceous components were also analyzed. The time series fluctuation of PM number concentration was gradually decreased by 6 AM and then it was rapidly increased by 8 AM in all indoor sites. The maximum level of $PM_{2.5}$ was measured at the morning time (8 AM-9 AM) when the resident's behavior was fast and strenuous. The Indoor/Out-door (I/O) ratio for the giant PM larger than $5.0{\mu}m$ was 1.16. It was possible to identify PM types and estimate the resident's behavior through the comparison the theoretically calculated and the measured retention times for several types of PM in an indoor site. The theoretically reconstructed mass concentration of $PM_{2.0-0.3}$ suggested that the portion of $PM_{2.5}$ in indoor was quietly occupied by $PM_{0.3}$ or the PM inherently originated from indoor environment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.195-195
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• 2003

It is well known that diesel exhaust particulate matter contains mutagenic PAHs, such as benzo[${\alpha}$]pyrene, benz[${\alpha}$]anthracene, chrysene, etc. Therefore it is suspected that these chemicals act on estrogen receptor and reveal endocrine-disrupting effects. Recent attention has focused on causative chemicals of endocrine-disrupting effects. We examined the estrogenic activity of respirable diesel exhaust particulate matter derived from diesel powered vehicle. PM2.5 diesel exhaust of vehicle was collected using a high volume sampler equipped with a cascade impactor. Diesel exhaust samples were fractionated according to EPA methods. The presence of estrogenic and antiestrogenic chemicals in PM 2.5 diesel exhaust was determined using E-screen assay. To quantitatively assess the estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities in diesel exhaust particulate matter, estradiol equivalent concentration (bio-EEQ) was calculated by comparing the concentration response curve of the sample with those of the estrogen calibration curve. Weak estrogenic activities and strong antiestrogenic activities were detected in the crude extract and moderately polar fractions. Higher antiestrogenic potency was observed with higher EROD activities in aliphatic and aromatic compounds fraction. In conclusion, estrogenic/antiestrogenic-like activities were present in diesel exhaust particulate matter. However, the health consequences of this observation was unknown, the presence of these activities may contribute to and exacerbate adverse health effect evoked by diesel exhaust particulate matter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.301-306
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• 2010

DME(Di-Methyl Ehter, $CH_3OCH$) is currently attracting worldwide attention due to its environmentally friendly characteristics. Until now it was researched as a major alternative fuel of diesel automobile because it is a clean fuel producing low soot. Therefore, in this study, in order to investigate the effect of DME mixing on number density and size of soot particle, DME has been mixed in opposed-flow ethylene diffusion flame with the mixture ratios 5%, 14% and 30%. A laser extinction/scattering technique has been adopted to measure the volume fraction, number density, and size of soot particles. The experimental results showed that the soot concentration of mixture flames with the mixture ratios 5% and 14% produces soot more, even though that of 30% was decreased. This means that even though DME has been known to be a clean fuel for soot formation, the mixing of DME in diffusion flame of ethylene, where acetylene maintains high concentration in soot formation regions, could produce enhanced production of soot.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2005

Very little research has been carried out on safflower seed for the prevention and treatment of the bone deficiency diseases, including osteoporosis, which are supported by scientific evidences. In the present study, $3{\mu}l$ of 0.1% dried crude extract or $2{\mu}l$ of 0.1% dried aqueous fraction were shown to significantly accelerate the rate of differentiation of osteoblast. Also, the crude extract and aqueous fraction increased the $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ of the cultured osteoblast cells: $3{\mu}l$ of 0.1% dried crude extract and $2{\mu}l$ of 0.1% dried aqueous fraction significantly increased the $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ of the cultured osteoblast cells ($8{\times}10^{-4}$) to the extent that it deserves a considerable attention. Furthermore, the crude extract and aqueous fraction increased the $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ of the cultured osteoblast cells, and $300{\mu}M$ $Cd^{2+}$, specific calcium channel blocker, completely blocked the increase. Therefore, the increased $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ of the cultured osteoblast cells by safflower seed component continued to activate calcium channel.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.491-499
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• 2017

The chemical structures of perfluorinated compounds(PFCs) have unique properties such as thermal and chemical stability that make them useful components in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Two of these PFCs, perfluorooctane sulfonate(PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA), have received attention and were the most commonly detected. In this study it was analyzed the concentrations of 8 PFCs in samples were collected from drinking water treatment plants for 5 years(2012-2016). PFOS and PFOA were also high concentration and frequency. The mean concentrations of PFOA and PFOS were detected $0.0026-0.0069{\mu}g/L$ and $0.0009-0.0024{\mu}g/L$ in samples from drinking water treatment plants. These were relatively lower or similar compared to PFOS concentrations in Osaka(Japan). In general, these levels are below health-based values set by international authoritative bodies for drinking water. These results will be serve as the first monitoring data for PFCs in drinking water and be useful for characterizing the concentration distribution and management of PFCs in future studies.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.43-49
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• 2007

The metals we are familiar with(Al, Ag, Au, Cu, Cd, Co, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, etc) are common elements and conservative pollutants. Although metals are often vital constituents of the metabolism of living organisms(trace elements}, a number of them are toxic if their concentration exceeds a certain threshold. It has long been recognized that measurements of trace metals in natural waters are often subject to large errors in terms of precision and accuracy. Since 1975 in US and European countries, seawater concentration of many trace metals have been shown to be factors of 10-1,000 lower than those previously accepted. Vertical profiles have been found to be consistent with known biological, physical and/or geochemical processes. These are resulted from major advances in analytical instrumentation and methodology for trace elements, and greater attention has been given to assuring the elimination of contamination during sampling, storage, and analysis.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.395-403
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• 2013

Plant factory has drawn attention in many countries in the world due to capability of environmental control not only for better yield and quality, but also for increase in functional and medicinal components of the products. In this paper, an experimental plant factory was constructed for various tests under different environmental conditions, and the operations were evaluated. A production room was constructed with adiabatic materials with dimensions of $6,900{\times}3,000{\times}2,500$ mm ($L{\times}W{\times}H$). Four sets of $2,890{\times}600{\times}2,320$ mm ($L{\times}W{\times}H$) production frame unit, each with 9 light-installed beds and an aeroponic fertigation system, resulting in 36 beds, were prepared. Accuracy and response were evaluated for each environmental control component with and without crops. Air temperature, humidity, $CO_2$ concentration, light intensity, frequency, and duty ratio, fertigation rate and scheduling were controllable from a main control computer through wireless communication devices. When the plant factory was operated without crop condition, the response times were 8 minutes for change in temperature from 20 to $15^{\circ}C$ and 20 minutes from 15 to $20^{\circ}C$; 7 minutes for change in humidity from 40 to 65%; and 4 minutes for change in $CO_2$ concentration from 450 to 1000 ppm. When operated for 24 hours with crop cultivation; average, maximum, and minimum values of temperatures were 20.06, 20.8, and $18.8^{\circ}C$; humidity were 66.72, 69.37, and 63.73%; $CO_2$ concentrations were 1017, 1168, and 911 ppm, respectively. Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density was increased as the distance from the light source decreased, but variability was greater at shorter distances. Results of the study would provide useful information for efficient application of the plant factory and to investigate the optimum environment for crop growth through various experiments.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.588-597
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• 2016

Little attention has been paid to the functional aspect of the flower petal of Paeonia lactiflora, compared to that of its root. To determine the components of flower petal of Paeonia lactiflora, we conducted the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) MASS spectrophotometric analysis. We detected the 24 different types of ingredients from the 70% ethanol extracts of flower petal of peonia lactiflora cv. ‘Red Charm’. The main compounds were quercetin glucopyranosides, methyl gallate, paonioflolol and kaemperol glucopyranosides. We further tested its functional activity. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of the extracts was 87.9-90.4% at 0.1mg/ml. This result showed that these flower extracts have approximately 5-fold stronger antioxidant potential than a previous report with root extracts (Bang et al. 1999). The result of tyrosinase inhibition assay of Paeonia lactflora extract was almost similar to that of arbutin except significantly higher effect in the coral sunset extract at 0.1% concentration. Hyaluronidase inhibition assay showed 76.5% inhibition at 5% concentration of this flower extract, indicating that Peaonia lactiflora flower extracts have the major anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and brightening effects. Taken together, these results suggest these three Paeonia lactiflora species extracts might provide the basis to develop a new natural brightening agent.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.192-197
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• 2014

Red-emitting nitride phosphors recently attracted considerable attention because of their high thermal stability and high color rendering index properties. For excellent phosphor of white light-emitting-diode, ternary nitride phosphor of $Sr/SmSi_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ with different $Eu^{2+}$ ion concentration were synthesized by solid state reaction method. In this work, red-emitting nitride $Sr/SmSi_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ phosphor was successfully synthesized by using multi-step high frequency induction heat treatment. The effects of molar ratio of component and experimental conditions on luminescence property of prepared phosphors have been investigated. The structure and luminescence properties of prepared $Sr/SmSi_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ phosphors were investigated by XRD and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The excitation spectra of $Sr/SmSi_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ phosphors indicated broad excitation wavelength range of 300 - 550 nm, namely from UV to visible area with distinct enhanced emission peaks. With an increase of $Eu^{2+}$ ion concentration, the peak position of emission in spectra was red-shifted from 613 to 671 nm. After via multi-step heat treatment, prepared phosphor showed excellent luminescence properties, such as high emission intensity and low thermal quenching, better than commercial phosphor of $Y_3Al_5O_{12}:Ce^{3+}$. Using $Eu_2O_3$ as a raw material for $Eu^{2+}$ dopant with nitrogen gas flowing instead of using commercial EuN chemical for $Sr/SmSi_5N_8:Eu^{2+}$ synthesis is one of characteristic of this work.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.47-57
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• 2016

Purpose - This study's purpose is to investigate the market structure of the Korean duty free shop industry that has received recent attention from researchers and practitioners. By raising the question of whether or not the Korean duty free shop industry is unequivocally monopolistic, a wider viewpoint is provided. The study seeks to offer insights and managerial implications for marketers and policy makers who are in charge of regulating major Korean duty free shops. Research design, data, and methodology - The authors use secondary data from various sources, including Korea Customs Service and the Moodie Report, to investigate the structure of the duty free shop industry of Korea. Based on several theories, they present various criteria and statistical evidence such as K-firm concentration ratio, HHI, consumer substitutability, excess profit, and marketing costs. Results - In terms of consumer substitutability, it is difficult to confirm whether or not the Korean duty free shop industry is monopolistic. Notwithstanding monopoly characteristics in terms of market share, neither the company Lotte nor Shilla appear to have market dominating power. It is not easy for either of them to control prices or to achieve a much lower operational profit ratio due to a dominant bargaining power. Moreover, the license is not an economic rent. In this situation, it is not easy for these companies to obtain an excessive profit. Conclusions - Considering that most global duty free shops are trying to go upscale to improve bargaining power, it does not seem likely that rigid regulations are needed in the industry. Even though the Korean duty free industry ostensibly has a monopolistic structure, government and policy-makers should look beyond the surface. They should take global and other reasonable criteria into consideration when they establish or change regulation policies. Thorough understanding and appropriate support are needed for the Korean duty free shop industry. Additionally, duty free shops should position themselves as global companies struggling against unlimited international competition, rather than Korean domestic companies. At the same time, they need to give customers appropriate information about the benefits they provide.