• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.46-58
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• 2015

Informal engineering education program for high school students was developed to cultivate engineering literacy using the human resources and facilities of university. Plant factory, a smart farming technology, was selected as a main theme, and the novel engineering camp program involving engineering design activities and intra-linter-team works was planned. The camp program was applied to 38 high school students in an active learning classroom. Five teams were constructed according to elemental technologies such as biotechnology, information-communication technology, energy engineering, mechanical engineering and architectural engineering, and the students were participated in intra- and inter-team activities to achieve the final goal of 'the construction of a plant factory in school'. The team works were conducted according to the eight steps of engineering design process (identifying the problem and need, identifying criteria and constraints, brainstorming possible solutions, selecting the best possible solution, constructing a prototype, testing and evaluating the solution, communicating the solution, and refining design). Participants' satisfaction survey showed that the satisfaction on the contents of engineering design was 4.48 on 5-point Likert scale. The participants' satisfaction on creative activity and systematic methodology was 4.43 on 5-point Likert scale. 97% of participants responded positively to team works, and 92% of participants were satisfied with career mentoring activity supplied by undergraduate/graduate students. These results indicates that the engineering camp program involving engineering design activity and intra-/inter-team works can contribute to cultivate engineering literacy such as creativity, problem solving ability, collaboration, communication skills for high school students, and to increase their interests in engineering fields.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.320-331
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• 2013

The National Center for AgroMeteorology (NCAM) has designed a risk management solution for individual farms threatened by the climate change and variability. The new service produces weather risk indices tailored to the crop species and phenology by using site-specific weather forecasts and analysis derived from digital products of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). If the risk is high enough to cause any damage to the crops, agrometeorological warnings or watches are delivered to the growers' cellular phones with relevant countermeasures to help protect their crops against the potential damage. Core techniques such as scaling down of weather data to individual farm level and the crop specific risk assessment for operational service were developed and integrated into a cloud based service system. The system was employed and implemented in a rural catchment of 50 $km^2$ with diverse agricultural activities and 230 volunteer farmers are participating in this project to get the user-specific weather information from and to feed their evaluations back to NCAM. The experience obtained through this project will be useful in planning and developing the nation-wide early warning service in agricultural sector exposed to the climate and weather extremes under climate change and climate variability.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.299-303
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• 2016

Salmonella spp. and Brucella spp. can cause considerable diseases on both humans and animals. In addition, these microorganisms cause the economic loss in animal farming and food industry. In this study, the disinfection efficacy of a disinfectant spray, composed to grapefruit seed extract, citric acid, malic acid and benzalkonium chloride, was evaluated against S. Typhimurium and B. ovis. A bactericidal efficacy test by broth dilution method was used to determine the lowest effective dilution of the disinfectant following exposure to test bacteria for 30 min at $4^{\circ}C$. The disinfectant and test bacteria were diluted with hard water (HW) or organic matter suspension (OM) according to treatment condition. On HW condition, the bactericidal activity of the disinfectant spray against S. Typhimurium and B. ovis was 5 and 4 fold dilutions, respectively. On OM condition, the bactericidal activity of the disinfectant spray was 2 and 1 fold dilutions against S. Typhimurium and B. ovis, respectively. As the disinfectant spray possesses bactericidal efficacy against foodborne pathogens such as S. Typhimurium and B. ovis, the disinfectant spray can be used to control the spread of bacterial diseases.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2016

Purpose: This study measured and analyzed the PTO (power take off) torque of a transplanter according to the planting conditions during field operation. Methods: A torque measurement system was constructed with torque sensors to measure the torque of a PTO shaft, a measurement device to acquire sensor signals, and a power controller to provide power for a laptop computer. The field operation was conducted at four planting distances (26, 35, 43, and 80 cm) and two planting depths using the transplanter on a field with similar soil conditions. One-way ANOVA with planting distance and Duncan's multiple range test at a significance level of 0.05 were used to analyze the PTO torque. The torque ratio was calculated based on the minimum torque using the average PTO torque measured under each planting condition. Results: The average torques on the PTO shaft for planting distances of 26, 35, 43, and 80 cm at a low planting depth were 11.05, 9.07, 7.04, and 3.75 Nm, respectively; the same for planting distances of 26, 35, 43, and 80 cm at a middle planting depth were 12.20, 9.86, 7.94, and 4.32 Nm, respectively. When the planting distance decreased by 43, 35, and 26 cm, the torque ratio at a low planting depth increased by 88, 142, and 195%, respectively. When the planting distance decreased by 43, 35, and 26 cm, the torque ratio at the middle planting depth increased by 84, 128, and 182%, respectively. Conclusions: PTO torque fluctuated by planting distance and depth. Moreover, the PTO torque increased for short planting distances. Therefore, farmers should determine the planting conditions of the transplanter by considering the load and durability of the machine. The results of this study provide useful information pertaining to the optimum PTO design of the transplanter considering the field load.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.285-290
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• 2016

In rural area, our farmers confront decreasing benefits owing to imported crops and increased cost. Recently, the government encourage the 6th Industry that merges farming, rural resources, and information and communication technology. Therefor the government makes an investment in supplying 'smart greenhouse' in which a farmer monitor growing crops and environment information to control growing condition. The objective of this study is developing an Moving Monitor and Control System for crops in green House. This system includes a movable sensing unit, a controlling unit, and a server PC unit. The movable sensing unit contains high resolution IP camera, temperature and humidity sensor and WiFi repeater. It rolls on a rail hanging beneath the ceiling of a green house. The controlling unit contains embedded PC, PLC module, WiFi router, and BLDC motor to drive the movable sensing unit. And the server PC unit contains a integrated farm management software and home pages and databases in which the images of crops and environment informations. The movable sensing unit moves widely in a green house and gathers lots of information. The server saves these informations and provides them to customers with the direct commercing web page. This system will help farmers to control house environment and sales their crops in online market. Eventually It will be helpful for farmers to increase their benefits.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.861-866
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• 2023

Unlike conventional smart farms that require chemical fertilizers and large spaces, aquaponics farming, which utilizes the symbiotic relationship between aquatic organisms and crops to grow crops even in abnormal environments such as environmental pollution and climate change, is being actively researched. Different crops require different environments and nutrients for growth, so it is necessary to configure the ratio of aquatic organisms optimized for crop growth. This study proposes a method to measure the degree of growth based on area and volume using image processing techniques in an aquaponics environment. Tilapia, carp, catfish, and lettuce crops, which are aquatic organisms that produce organic matter through excrement, were tested in an aquaponics environment. Through 2D and 3D image analysis of lettuce and real-time data analysis, the growth degree was evaluated using the area and volume information of lettuce. The results of the experiment proved that it is possible to manage cultivation by utilizing the area and volume information of lettuce. It is expected that it will be possible to provide production prediction services to farmers by utilizing aquatic life and growth information. It will also be a starting point for solving problems in the changing agricultural environment.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.188-202
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• 2022

In the insect industry, as the scope of application of insects is expanded from pet insects and natural enemies to feed, edible and medicinal insects, the demand for quality control of insect raw materials is increasing, and interest in securing the safety of insect products is increasing. In the process of expanding the industrial scale, controlling the temperature and humidity and air quality in the insect breeding room and preventing the spread of pathogens and other pollutants are important success factors. It requires a controlled environment under the operating system. European commercial insect breeding facilities have attracted considerable investor interest, and insect companies are building large-scale production facilities, which became possible after the EU approved the use of insect protein as feedstock for fish farming in July 2017. Other fields, such as food and medicine, have also accelerated the application of cutting-edge technology. In the future, the global insect industry will purchase eggs or small larvae from suppliers and a system that focuses on the larval fattening, i.e., production raw material, until the insects mature, and a system that handles the entire production process from egg laying, harvesting, and initial pre-treatment of larvae., increasingly subdivided into large-scale production systems that cover all stages of insect larvae production and further processing steps such as milling, fat removal and protein or fat fractionation. In Korea, research and development of insect smart factory farms using artificial intelligence and ICT is accelerating, so insects can be used as carbon-free materials in secondary industries such as natural plastics or natural molding materials as well as existing feed and food. A Korean-style customized breeding system for shortening the breeding period or enhancing functionality is expected to be developed soon.