• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2023

Biological pump processes generated by diatom production in the surface water of the Southern Ocean play an important role in exchanging CO₂ gas between the atmosphere and ocean. In this study, the biogenic opal content of the sediments was measured to elucidate the variation in the primary production of diatoms in the surface water of the Southern Ocean since the last glacial period. A piston core (COR-1bPC) was collected from the Conrad Rise, which is located in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. The sediments were mainly composed of siliceous ooze, and sediment lightness increased and magnetic susceptibility decreased in an upward direction. The biogenic opal content was low (38.9%) during the last glacial period and high (73.4%) during the Holocene, showing a similar variation to that of Antarctic ice core ΔT and CO₂ concentration. In addition, the variation of biogenic opal content in core COR-1bPC is consistent with previous results reported in the Antarctic Zone, south of the Antarctic Polar Front, in the Southern Ocean. The glacial-interglacial biogenic opal production was influenced by the extent of sea ice coverage and degree of water column stability. During the last glacial period, the diatom production was reduced due to the penetration of light being limited in the euphotic zone by the extended sea ice coverage caused by the lowered seawater temperature. In addition, the formation of a strong thermocline in more extensive areas of sea ice coverage led to stronger water column stability, resulting in reduced diatom production due to the reduction in the supply of nutrient-rich subsurface water caused by a decrease in upwelling intensity. Under such environmental circumstances, diatom productivity decreased in the Antarctic Zone during the last glacial period, but the biogenic opal content increased rapidly under warming conditions with the onset of deglaciation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.658-671
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• 2018

Objective: Nandrolone decanoate (ND) is an anabolic-androgenic steroid frequently used for clinical treatment. However, the inappropriate use of ND results in the reduction of serum testosterone level and sperm production. The suppressive effect of ND on testosterone production has not been investigated in detail. The present study was designed to examine the effect of ND on the expression of steroidogenic enzymes in the rat testis. Methods: Male Sprague Dawley rats at 50 days of age were subcutaneously administrated with either 2 or 10 mg of ND/kg body weight/week for 2 or 12 weeks. The changes of transcript and protein levels of steroidogenic enzymes in the testis were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting analyses, respectively. Moreover, immunohistochemical analysis was employed to determine the changes of immunostaining intensity of these enzymes. The steroidogenic enzymes investigated were steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, cytochrome P450 side chain cleavage enzyme, $17{\alpha}-hydroxylase$, $3{\beta}-hydroxysteroid$ dehydrogenase, and cytochrome P450 aromatase. Results: The treatment of ND resulted in depletion of Leydig cells and sloughing of germ cells in the testis. The ND treatment caused significant expressional decreases of steroidogenic enzymes at transcript and protein levels, and the destructive effects of ND on the testis were more apparent with a higher dose and a longer period of the treatment. Evident reduction of immunostaining intensity present in Leydig cells was clearly detected by the ND treatment. Conclusion: The exposure to ND in young male results not only in histological changes of the testis but also in aberrant gene expression of testicular steroidogenic enzymes, consequently leading into the reduction of testosterone production in the testis and thus likely disruption of spermatogenesis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.611-616
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• 2011

The impacts of ultrasonic pretreatment on the biodegradability of domestic sewage sludge were evaluated through a series of anaerobic digestion experiments in batch system. The gas and methane production from the sludge samples pretreated by an ultrasonic tool with different durations were measured with time. Although the biogas production increased with the extent of sludge solubilization and the period of ultrasonic pretreatment, the enhancement of sludge biodegradability was much more sensitive to the pretreatment for the relatively short periods. Most of the enhanced biodegradability by the pretreatment was appeared in the early stage of anaerobic digestion, less than 6 days. The maximum biogas production per day was observed between 4 to 6 days when the sludge was pretreated less than 10 minutes while it was obtained in the beginning for the sludge pretreated longer periods. The results suggest that the repeated alternation of low strength ultrasonic pretreatment and anaerobic digestion may be more effective than the combination of one time pretreatment for a relatively long period and following anaerobic digestion.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.27-37
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• 2017

In this study, an artificial solar simulator composed of a 2.5 kW Xe-Arc lamp and mirror reflector was used to carry out the solar thermal two step thermochemical water decomposition cycle which can produce high efficiency continuous hydrogen production. Through various operating conditions, the change of hydrogen production due to the possibility of a dual-zone reactor and heat recovery were experimentally analyzed. Based on the reaction temperature of Thermal-Reduction step and Water-Decomposition step at $1,400^{\circ}C$ and $1,000^{\circ}C$ respectively, the hydrogen production decreased by 23.2% under the power off condition, and as a result of experiments using heat recovery technology, the hydrogen production increased by 33.8%. Therefore, when a thermochemical two-step water decomposition cycle is conducted using a dual-zone reactor with heat recovery, it is expected that the cycle can be operated twice over a certain period of time and the hydrogen production amount is increased by at least 53.5% compared to a single reactor.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.263-267
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• 2003

Solid-state fermentation of lovastatin by Aspergillus terreus was investigated using commercially available 1.2 L polypropylene bottle designed for mushroom cultivation. Moist solid raw materials such as com, rice, and soy bean were tested and com was found to be most suitable for an economical production of lovastatin. 50% or higher water addition prior to the sterilization of com was effective for the maximal lovastatin production. About 0.5% (w/w) lovastatin content in dried cells and corn mass was obtained after 20 days of solid-state fermentation at 30$^{\circ}C$. For safety concerns, aflatoxin Bl and citrinin levels after fermentation were assayed but they were not detected. Lovastatin containing cells and corn residue after fermentation were autoclaved, dried, crushed, and fed to chicken for a period of 3 weeks. Approximately 20% reduction of blood cholesterol level of chicken was observed.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2004

Gasification is the essential technology that can meet the interim hydrogen demand of large quantity before entering the hydrogen economy. Although the hydrogen production that is based upon the pure renewable energy like wind and solar power will eventually prevail, the interim mass production of hydrogen for the next ten to twenty years will come from the technologies that can demonstrate the economic feasibility in production cost with a high potential in minimizing CO$_2$ generation and in improving plant efficiency. Particularly, feedstock such as natural gas, coal, petroleum residual oil, wastes, and biomass appears to be utilized in Korea as hydrogen source, at least during the short and medium period of time, owing to the advantage in production cost. Because one of the main reasons behind the recent hydrogen issue is the reduction requirement of CO$_2$ that would be controlled according to the climate change protocol, hydrogen production technologies must be developed to yield the minimal CO$_2$ generation.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2020

Rice is very sensitive to high temperatures during the reproductive stage, particularly during the flowering and anthesis periods. To determine how high temperatures result in sterility during the flowering period in Korean rice cultivars, groups of 11 cultivars were subjected to different temperature regimes (24, 28, 30, and 33℃) during the flowering stage using sunlit phytotrons. At an average of 33℃, all 11 rice cultivars reached anthesis earlier than at the other temperatures. Microscopy analyses revealed significant differences in pollen germination and pollen viability in cultivars grown at 33℃ compared to those cultured at lower temperatures. At 33℃, the cultivars had significantly lower fertility rates (47% reduction) than cultivars grown at 24℃. These findings are important as rice pollination and fertility depend on the pollen viability and germination. The present study shows that rice fertility is negatively affected by excessively high temperatures.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.353-363
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• 2015

In unlimited competitive period changed every time, domestic manufacturing industry feels a crisis between China and Japan, who are leaping to manufacturing strong countries with worldwide manufacturing factories. In this situation, many companies make an effort to learn and introduce Toyota production method drawing innovation of production method and reduction of many costs for high quality, but most of cases were failed. The reason for the failure should be that correct understanding and application of TPS corporate culture were insufficient and job attitude was not considered when applying Toyota production system. Therefore, the purposes of this thesis are to arrange major contents based on relative documents of precedent researchers, conduct a survey for employees of middle and small scaled manufacturers who introduced Toyota production system, analyze changes of enterprises' job attitude by introduction of TPS corporate culture and the effects on company's management results through the various analyses for grasping relationship among TPS corporate culture, job attitude and management results, introduce Toyota production system more effectively and suggest measures to maximize company's long-term management results.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2002

This study was performed to investigate the effects of recombinant BST formulation treatment on the milk yield, milk components, mastitis, and general cow health condition when the formulations of retinyl palmitate, cholecalciferol and rBST were administered after the peak period of milk production. The milk yields of treatment groups (Group I, II, III and IV) were increased from 21.5% to 29.0% than that of control group. There was significant difference in milk production between treatment group II, IV and control group (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in milk production between treatment group I, III and control group (P<0.05). And the addition of retinyl palmitate and cholecalciferol into rBST formulation did not increase the milk yield. The milk of treatment groups with sustained-release rBST did not show significant difference in milk components (milk fat, protein, lactose, and solid not fat). However, there were minor changes, primarily in fat content of milk, during the first few weeks of rBST administration. There was no incidence of clinical mastitis between rBST treatment groups and control group. Addition of high and medium concentration of retinyl palmitate and cholecalciferol into sustained-release rBST formulation was efficient in reduction of somatic cell count in milk. There was great energy deficit in all treatment groups compared with control group during the early study period. Thus, the body condition score of all treatment groups showed lower value than control group. No evidences of metabolic health problems, such as ketosis, milk fever, and downer cow were observed. Incidence of general lameness did not appear on all treatment groups during 140 days of this study.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1690-1698
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• 2006

In order to investigate the effect of dissolved oxygen (DO) level on AVM $B_{1a}$ production by a high yielding mutant of Streptomyces avermitilis, five sets of bioreactor cultures were performed under variously controlled DO levels. Using an online computer control system, the agitation speed and aeration rate were automatically controlled in an adaptive manner, responding timely to the oxygen requirement of the producer microorganism. In the two cultures of DO limitation, the onset of AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthesis was observed to casually coincide with the fermentation time when oxygen-limited conditions were overcome by the producing microorganism. In contrast, this phenomenon did not occur in the parallel fermentations with DO levels controlled at around 30% and 40% throughout the entire fermentation period, showing an almost growth-associated mode of AVM $B_{1a}$ production: AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthesis under the environments of high DO levels started much earlier than the corresponding oxygen-limited cultures, leading to a significant enhancement of AVM $B_{1a}$ production during the exponential stage. Consequently, approximately 6-fold and 9-fold increases in the final AVM $B_{1a}$ production were obtained in 30% and 40% DO-controlled fermentations, respectively, especially when compared with the culture of severe DO limitation (the culture with 0% DO level during the exponential phase). The production yield ($Y_{p/x}$), volumetric production rate (Qp), and specific production rate (${\bar{q}}_p$) of the 40% DO-controlled culture were observed to be 14%, 15%, and 15% higher, respectively, than those of the parallel cultures that were performed under an excessive agitation speed (350 rpm) and aeration rate (1 vvm) to maintain sufficiently high DO levels throughout the entire fermentation period. These results suggest that high shear damage of the high-yielding strain due to an excessive agitation speed is the primary reason for the reduction of the AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthetic capability of the producer. As for the cell growth, exponential growth patterns during the initial 3 days were observed in the fermentations of sufficient DO levels, whereas almost linear patterns of cell growth were observed in the other two cultures of DO limitation during the identical period, resulting in apparently lower amounts of DCW. These results led us to conclude that maintenance of optimum DO levels, but not too high to cause potential shear damage on the producer, was crucial not only for the cell growth, but also for the enhanced production of AVM $B_{1a}$ by the filamentous mycelial cells of Streptomyces avermitilis.