• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.567-587
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• 2018

A severe haze event occurred in October 2015 in Gwangju, Korea. In this study, the driving chemical species and the formation mechanisms of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution were investigated to better understand the haze event. Hourly concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$, organic and elemental carbon, water-soluble ions, and elemental constituents were measured at the air quality intensive monitoring station in Gwangju. The haze event occurred was attributed to a significant contribution (72.3%) of secondary inorganic species concentration to the $PM_{2.5}$, along with the contribution of organic aerosols that were strongly attributed to traffic emissions over the study site. MODIS images, weather charts, and air mass backward trajectories supported the significant impact of long-range transportation (LTP) of aerosol particles from northeastern China on haze formation over Gwangju in October 2015. The driving factor for the haze formation was stagnant atmospheric flows around the Korean peninsula, and high relative humidity (RH) promoted the haze formation at the site. Under the high RH conditions, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ were mainly produced through the heterogenous aqueous-phase reactions of $SO_2$ and $NO_2$, respectively. Moreover, hourly $O_3$ concentration during the study period was highly elevated, with hourly peaks ranging from 79 to 95ppb, suggesting that photochemical reaction was a possible formation process of secondary aerosols. Over the $PM_{2.5}$ pollution, behavior and formation of secondary ionic species varied with the difference in the impact of LTP. Prior to October 19 when the influence of LTP was low, increasing rate in $NO_3{^-}$ was greater than that in $NO_2$, but both $SO_2$ and $SO{_4}^{2-}$ had similar increasing rates. While, after October 20 when the impact of haze by LTP was significant, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations increased significantly more than their gaseous precursors, but with greater increasing rate of $NO_3{^-}$. These results suggest the enhanced secondary transformation of $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ during the haze event. Overall, the result from the study suggests that control of anthropogenic combustion sources including vehicle emissions is needed to reduce the high levels of nitrogen oxide and $NO_3{^-}$ and the high $PM_{2.5}$ pollution occurred over fall season in Gwangju.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.781-797
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• 2023

Recently, there has been a rapid response from mineral-demanding countries for securing critical minerals in a high tech industries. Graphite, while overwhelmingly dominated by China in production, is changing in global supply due to the exponential growth in EV battery sector, with active exploration in East Africa. Rare earth elements are essential raw materials widely used in advanced industries. Globally, there are ongoing developments in the production of REEs from three main deposit types: carbonatite, laterite, and ion-adsorption clay types. While China's production has decreased somewhat, it still maintains overwhelming dominance in this sector. Recent changes over the past few years include the rapid emergence of Myanmar and increased production in Vietnam. Nickel has been used in various chemical and metal industries for a long time, but recently, its significance in the market has been increasing, particularly in the battery sector. Worldwide, nickel deposits can be broadly classified into two types: laterite-type, which are derived from ultramafic rocks, and ultramafic hosted sulfide-type. It is predicted that the development of sulfide-type, primarily in Australia, will continue to grow, while the development of laterite-type is expected to be promoted in Indonesia. This is largely driven by the growing demand for nickel in response to the demand for lithium-ion batteries. The global lithium ores are produced in three main types: brine lake (78%), rock/mineral (19%), and clay types (3%). Rock/mineral type has a slightly higher grade compared to brine lake type, but they are less abundant. Chile, Argentina, and the United States primarily produce lithium from brine lake deposits, while Australia and China extract lithium from both brine lake and rock/mineral sources. Canada, on the other hand, exclusively produces lithium from rock/mineral type. Vanadium has traditionally been used in steel alloys, accounting for approximately 90% of its usage. However, there is a growing trend in the use for vanadium redox flow batteries, particularly for large-scale energy storage applications. The global sources of vanadium can be broadly categorized into two main types: vanadium contained in iron ore (81%) produced from mines and vanadium recovered from by-products (secondary sources, 18%). The primary source, accounting for 81%, is vanadium-iron ores, with 70% derived from vanadium slag in the steel making process and 30% from ore mined in primary sources. Intermediate vanadium oxides are manufactured from these sources. Vanadium deposits are classified into four types: vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM), sandstone-hosted, shale-hosted, and vanadate types. Currently, only the VTM-type ore is being produced.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.208-227
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to analyze secondary science teachers' planning process for an integrated science lesson. For this study, relevant references were collected from various sources, including literatures, previous studies regarding integrated science education, and individual studies. Two teachers (one from middle school and the other from high school) participated and 'the five-step instructional design' was adopted from former studies in this subject. The teachers were asked to develop an instructional plan based on 'the design' provided. While the consultation provided a framework for an instructional plan, the teachers were asked to take a leading role in terms of selecting the chapter to be taught; analyzing the course structure; and making detailed teaching plans. In the course of consultations, discussions, records, and analysis were organized into a journal. Based on the journal, the aspects of the planning process, including difficulties and problems faced by teachers, were analyzed in-depth. From the study, it could be observed that both high school and middle school teachers face various difficulties in preparing for the integrated science lesson. Among other things, the teachers emphasized the difficulties in the stages of selecting the topic, collecting the relevant information, and restructuring and organizing the lecture contents.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.543-553
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• 2010

Almost five million citizens a day are using subways as a means of traffic communication in the Seoul metropolitan. As the subway system is typically a closed environment, indoor air pollution problems frequently occurs and passengers complain of mal-health impact. Especially $PM_{10}$ is well known as one of the major pollutants in subway indoor environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the indoor air quality in terms of $PM_{10}$ and to quantitatively compare its source contributions in a Seoul subway platform before and after installing platform screen doors (PSD). $PM_{10}$ samples were collected on the J station platform of Subway Line 7 in Seoul metropolitan area from Jun. 12, 2008 to Jan. 12, 2009. The samples collected on membrane filters using $PM_{10}$ mini-volume portable samplers were then analyzed for trace metals and soluble ions. A total of 18 chemical species (Ba, Mn, Cr, Cd, Si, Fe, Ni, Al, Cu, Pb, Ti, $Na^+$, $NH_4^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, and ${SO_4}^{2-}$) were analyzed by using an ICP-AES and an IC after performing proper pre-treatments of each sample filter. Based on the chemical information, positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was applied to identify the source of particulate matters. $PM_{10}$ for the station was characterized by three sources such as ferrous related source, soil and road dust related source, and fine secondary aerosol source. After installing PSD, the average $PM_{10}$ concentration was decreased by 20.5% during the study periods. Especially the contribution of the ferrous related source emitted during train service in a tunnel route was decreased from 59.1% to 43.8% since both platform and tunnel areas were completely blocked by screen doors. However, the contribution of the fine secondary aerosol source emitted from various outside combustion activities was increased from 14.8% to 29.9% presumably due to ill-managed ventilation system and confined platform space.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.431-446
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• 2018

In this study, chemical characteristics of $PM_{2.5}$ samples collected in an agricultural area in Nonsan of Korea were investigated focusing on of black carbon, 3 inorganic ions and 22 trace elements. It was found that the relative error and relative standard deviation of many trace elements fell below 10%, which indicates good analytical accuracy and precision. The mean values of $PM_{2.5}$ in an agricultural area were exceeded by new Korean air quality standard of March 2018. The concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ was well correlated with those of black carbon and ions. The concentrations of trace elements were in a wide range of seven orders of a magnitude. Based on these $PM_{2.5}$ data sets, a total of 6 sources were identified using PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization; secondary aerosol (34.4%), soil/road dust (20.1%), biomass burning (16.9%), incineration/fuel combustion (13.2%), vehicle exhaust(12.2%), sea-salt (3.17%). Results of our study indicate that it is very important to control illegal burning activities in agricultural area.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.675-687
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• 2005

In this study, the cyclone/denuder/filter pack sampling system was used to measure the daily concentrations of water soluble inorganic compounds of fine ($D_{p}< 2.5\;{\mu}m$) and coarse ($D_{p}<10{\mu}m$m) size fractions of aerosol and related gases at Gosan super site during ABC-EAREX 2005. The mean concentrations for $HNO_{3},\;HNO_{2},\;NH_{3}$, were 0.39, 0.08, and $0.29\;{\mu}g/m^3$. respectively. Average concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium in $PM_{2.5}$ were 3.39, 1.06, and $1.04\;{\mu}g/m^3$, which occupied about $26\%$ of total $PM_{2.5}$ mass. In particular, more than half of these ionic species were found in size of less than $2.5\;{\mu}m$. Gas phase nitric acid concentrations have shown high correlation coefficient with $HNO_{2}$(R=0.80) and $O_{3}$(R=0.78), implying the active photochemical reactions from its precursors. Equivalent molar ratios between major ion components, $NH_{4}\;^{+}/nss\;SO_4\;^{2-},(0.83\;for\;PM_{2.5},\;0.86\;for\;PM_{10})$, revealed that the existing forms of the secondary aerosols were probably $(NH_{4})_{2}SO_{4}\;and\;(NH_{4})_{3}H\;(SO_{4})_{2}$. Especially, $(NH_{4}\;^{+}+K^{+}+Ca^{2+}+Mg^{2+})/(NO_{3}\;^{-}+nss\;SO_{4}\;^{2-}) (0.99\;for\;PM_{2.5},\;1.05\;for\;PM_{10})$ indicated that some of them existed not only as $NH_{4}NO_{3}$ but also as $CaSO_{4}\;or\;KNO_{3}$, which pointed out the probability of influences from the abundant soil components during Asian dust (AD) periods. These neutralized types of secondary aerosols showed that pollutants could be aged and transported from a distance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.396-403
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• 2009

Male broiler chicks were fed graded levels of organic zinc (zinc-methionine) supplementation to investigate the effects of partial or complete substitution of the organic zinc source for inorganic ones on the development of lymphoid organs and immunological responses. A total of 450 day-old male broilers were distributed into groups of 10 chicks and randomly assigned to nine experimental diets during a 42-day feeding trial. Dietary treatments consisted of two basal diets supplemented with 40 mg/kg added zinc as feed-grade Zn sulfate or Zn oxide in which, Zn was replaced with that provided from zinc-methionine (ZnMet) complex at the levels of 25, 50, 75 or 100%. Two randomly-selected birds from each pen replicate were bled and then slaughtered by cervical cutting on the final day of the trial to measure leukocyte subpopulations and relative weights of lymphoid organs. Among lymphoid organs, only thymus weight was affected (p<0.05) by dietary treatments. The sulfate-supplemented birds were heavier (p<0.01) in relative weight of thymus than oxide-supplemented birds. The 10 days of age-assessed cutaneous hypersensivity reaction was stronger in chicks fed ZnMet-containing diets. Dietary ZnMet supplementation caused (p<0.05) an increase in proportion of lymphocytes and consequently a decrease in heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. Diet fortification by zinc-methionine complex increased (p<0.01) Newcastle antibody titer at 19 days of age. Also, a similar response was observed in antibody titers at 6 and 12 d after infectious bronchitis vaccine administration. There was no significant effect of replacement of dietary zinc on antibody titer against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) at the 6th d post-vaccine inoculation; however, at d 12 after vaccination, ZnMet-fortified diets improved antibody titer against IBDV. Although dietary inclusion of ZnMet had no marked effect on primary antibody titer against sheep erythrocytes, effective responses were observed during secondary reaction from the viewpoint of both total antibody and immunoglobulin Y (IgY) titers. From the present findings, it can be concluded that dietary supplementation with organic zinc improves both cellular and humoral immune responses. It is necessary to replace 75% of supplemental inorganic zinc with organic ZnMet complex to achieve the optimum immunological responses in broiler chicks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.290-290
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• 2017

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most consumed staple food crop which is energy source as carbohydrate and also is considered as the important antioxidant sources including various phenolic compounds. According to the increasing demand of healthy life, the concern to antioxidant also is increasing because of its health-promoting effect. Phenolic compounds are one of the plant secondary metabolites class, which shows various benefits to preventing or treating chronic diseases. In this study, we have measured the total phenol content from total 647 rice samples using the Floin-Ciocalteau method, and then were selected 30 rice genetic resources classified with high, middle, and low group on the basis of total phenol content. The average of the total phenol content of each group was high-group ($6892.9{\pm}488.5{\mu}g\;GAE/g$) > middle-group ($1428.1{\pm}76.0{\mu}g\;GAE/g$) > low-group ($97.6{\pm}11.4{\mu}g\;GAE/g$). The selected rice samples were analyzed with LC-MS/MS to find the composition and concentration of individual phenolic in rice grain. High-group and middle-group contained large amounts of protocatechuic acid and (+)-catechin whereas low-group showed limited amount. Among high-group samples, rice samples with black pericarp color (IT 174089, IT 220079, and IT 259958) had high content of peonidin-3-O-glucoside. Further, these black rice samples were special since polydatin, rarely found stilbenoid in rice grain, was detected. Overall, both the sum of phenolic acid and the sum of flavonoid were high-group > middle-group > low-group. Also, each group exhibited different phenolic compositions; high-group consisted of flavonoid more than phenolic acid, middle-group and low-group was comprised of phenolic acid rather than flavonoid, and non-pigmented rice was composed by fully phenolic acid. The total phenol content had positive relationships with the sum of phenolic compound (r = 0.64), the sum of flavonoid (r = 0.74) at the significance level of p < 0.0001. In addition, protocatechuic acid and quercetin showed positive correlation with above phenolic composition parameters; in order, r = 0.98, 0.65 for protocatechuic acid and r = 0.73, 0.78 for quercetin (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, the total phenol content assay showed the possibility of utilization as a phenolic composition indicator in rice grain. Also, this result was suggested study pigment on other material.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2001

Deterioration of pod and seed quality by pod and stem blight and purple blotch is a serious problem in the production of vegetable soybean. Major inoculum sources for the causal pathogens, Phomopsis spp. and Cercospora kikuchii, are soybean straw and debris. Phomopsis spp. have been known to be either limited for hyphal growth or latent in immature soybean tissues. In this experiment, cultural practices using these ecological traits of the pathogens were applied as a control measure. In plastic mulching, seed infection was remark ably reduced by drip irrigation as compared to overhead sprinkling, but not reduced in no mulching cultivation. Control value of plastic mulching was 28.0% for pod and stem blight and 29.3% for purple blotch, which was lower than that of benomyl application. By the first week in June, 78% of overwintered soybean straw examined contained matured alpha spores in pycnidia, acting as primary inoculum. Secondary inoculum of phomopsix spp. was observed abundantly throughout from mid June to September on fallen cotyledons from current crops and subsequently was found on petiole debris. Consequently, both plastic mulching and drip irrigation were effective to some extent for controlling pod and stem blight and purple blotch without significant reduction in soybean yield, and the cultural practices in combination with field sanitation resulted in removing more the secondary inoculum.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1249-1256
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• 2017

In our search for new sources of bioactive secondary metabolites from Streptomyces sp., the ethyl acetate extracts from endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 afforded five active diketopiperazine (DKP) compounds. The aim of this study was to characterize the bioactive compounds isolated from endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 and evaluate their bioactivity against multiple drug resistance (MDR) bacteria such as Enterococcus raffinosus, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp., and their cytotoxic activities against the human hepatoma (HepaRG) cell line. The production of secondary metabolites by this strain was optimized through Thornton's medium. Isolation, purification, and identification of the bioactive compounds were carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance, and cryopreserved HepaRG cells were selected to test the cytotoxicity. The results showed that endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 produces four active DKP compounds and an acetamide derivative, which were elucidated as $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Val-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Leu-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Phe-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Val-{\text\tiny{L}}-Phe)$, and N-(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-octyl)-acetamide. These active compounds exhibited activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus ATCC 43300 and Enterococcus raffinosus, with low toxicity against human hepatoma HepaRG cells. Endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 has the ability to produce DKP derivatives biologically active against some MDR bacteria with relatively low toxicity against HepaRG cells line.