• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
• /
• v.9B no.5
• /
• pp.663-672
• /
• 2002

In this paper, Using an automatic tracking system, behavior of an aquatic insect, Chironomus sp. (Chironomidae), was observed in semi-natural conditions in response to sub-lethal treament of a carbamate insecticide, carbofuran. The fourth instar larvae were placed in an observation cage $(6cm\times{7cm}\times{2.5cm)}$ at temperature of $18^\circ{C}$ and the light condition of 10 time (light) : 14 time (dark). The tracking system was devised to detect the instant, partial movement of the insect body. Individual movement was traced after the treatment of carbofuran (0.1ppm) for four days 2days : before treatment, 2 days : after treatment). Along with the other irregular behaviors, "ventilation activity", appearing as a shape of "compressed zig-zag", was more frequently observed after the treatment of the insecticide. The activity of the test individuals was also generally depressed after the chemical treatment. In order to detect behavioral changes of the treated specimens, wavelet analysis was implemented to characterize different movement patterns. The extracted parameters based on Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) were subsequently provided to artificial neural networks to be trained to represent different patterns of the movement tracks before and after treatments of the insecticide. This combined model of wavelets and artificial neural networks was able to point out the occurrence of characteristic movement patterns, and could be an alternative tool for automatically detecting presences of toxic chemicals for water quality monitoring. quality monitoring.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.220-225
• /
• 2020

Hair is made of proteins containing various amino acids. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is believed to be responsible for the most damaging effects of sunlight, and also plays an important role in hair aging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in morphological and chemical structures after ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation of human hair. The UVB-irradiated hair showed characteristic morphological and structural changes, compared to those of the normal hair. The result from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray diffractometer (EDX) showed that the scale of UV-irradiated hair appeared to be rough and the amount of oxygen element was higher than that of the normal hair. Fluorescence and three dimensional (3D) topographical images were obtained by a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). In 3D images, the green emission intensity of normal hair was much higher than that of fluorescing UVB-irradiated hair. The intensity of green emission reflects the intrinsic fluorescence of hair protein. Also, a fluorescent imaging method using fluorescamine reagent was used to identify the free amino groups resulting from a peptide bond breakage in UVB-irradiated hair. Strong blue fluorescence of UVB-irradiated hair, which indicates a very high level of amino groups, was observed by CLSM. Therefore, the fluorescamine as an extrinsic fluorescence could provide a useful tool to identify the peptide bond breakage in UVB-irradiated hair. Infrared image mapping was also employed to assess the cross-sections of normal and UVB-irradiated specimens to examine the oxidation of disulfide bonds. The degree of peak areas with strong absorbance for the disulfide mono-oxide was spread from the outside to the inside of hair. The spectroscopic techniques used alone, or in combination, launch new possibilities in the field of hair cosmetics.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.133-136
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare a conventional culture method and real-time PCR for the detection of Yersinia enterocolitica (Y. enterocolitica) in sausage and in vegetable salad. Food samples inoculated with Y. enterocolitica were enriched in peptone-sorbitol bile-broth, and swabs were then streaked onto cefsulodin-irgasan-novobiocin agar. Biochemical tests for suspected colonies were performed with an API 20E strip. In parallel, real-time PCR was performed, targeting the 16S rRNA gene using 1 mL of enrichment broth. In sausage, the number of positive samples detected by culture method (49 out of 60) was similar (p>0.05) with that of real-time PCR (50 out of 60). However, the number of positive samples of real-time PCR (26 out of 60) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of the conventional culture method (6 out of 60) in vegetable salad. Real-time PCR could be an effective screening tool for detecting Y. enterocolitica, particularly in food samples with high levels of background flora, such as a vegetable salad.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.91-99
• /
• 2005

Acid Rock Drainage(ARD) is the product formed by the atmospheric(i.e. by water, oxygen and carbon dioxide) oxidation of the relatively common iron-sulphur mineral pyrite($FeS_2$). ARD causes the acidification and heavy metal contamination of water and soil and the reduction of slope stability. In this paper the generation characteristics and the prediction of ARD of various cut slopes were studied. An attempt to classify the rocks into several groups according to their acid generation potentials was made. Acid Base Accounting(ABA) tests, commonly used as a screening tool in ARD predictions, were performed. Fourteen rock samples were classified into PAF(potentially acid forming) group and four rock samples into NAF(non-acid forming) group. The chemical analysis of water samples strongly suggested that ARD with high content of heavy metals and low pH could pollute the ground water and/or stream water.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.25-34
• /
• 2020

Electrochemical Quartz Crystal microbalance is a tool that is capable of measuring nanogram-scale mass change on electrode surface. When applying alternating voltage to the quartz crystal with metal electrode formed on both sides, a resonant frequency by inverse piezoelectric effect depends on its thickness. The resonant frequency changes sensitively by mass change on its electrode surface; frequency increase with metal dissolution and decrease with metal deposition on the electrode surface. The relationship between resonant frequency and mass change is shown by Sauerbrey equation so that the mass change during metal dissolution can be measured in real time. Especially, it is effective in the case of reaction mechanism and rate studies accompanied by precipitation, volatilization, compound formation, etc. resulting in difficulties on ex-situ AA or ICP analysis. However, it should be carefully considered during EQCM experiments that temperature, viscosity, and hydraulic pressure of solution, and stress and surface roughness can affect on the resonant frequency. Application of EQCM was shown as a case study on leaching of platinum using aqueous chlorine for obtaining activation energy. A platinum electrode of quartz crystal oscillator with 1000 Å thickness exposed to solution was used as leaching sample. Electrogenerated chlorine as oxidant was purged and its concentration was controlled in hydrochloric acid solution. From the experimental results, platinum dissolution by chlorine is chemical reaction control with activation energy of 83.5 kJ/mol.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.1035-1041
• /
• 2011

Salinity of soil under the plastic film houses in Korea is known as a significant factor to lower the crop production and to hamper the sustainable agricultural land management. In this study we propose a field monitoring technique to examine the methods applied to minimize the adverse effect of salts in soil based on the relationship between soil electrical characteristics and soil properties. Field experiments for 4 different treatments (water only, fertilizer only, DTPA only, and DTPA and fertilizer together) were conducted on soils at the plastic film house built for cultivating a cucumber plant located at Chunan-si, Chungchungnam-do in Korea. The electrical resistivity was measured by both a dipole-dipole and wenner multi-electrodes array method. After the electrical resistivity measurement we also measured the soil water content, temperature, and electrical conductivity on surface soil. The resulted image of the interpreted resistivity by the inversion technique presented a unique spatial distribution depending on the treatment, implying the effect of the different chemical components. It was also highly suspected that resistivity response changed with the nutrients level, suggesting that our proposed technique could be the effective tool for the monitoring soil water as well as nutrient during the cropping period. Especially, subsoils under DTPA treatment at 40 to 60 cm depth typically presented lower soil water accumulation comparing to subsoils under non-DTPA treatment. It is considered that DTPA resulted in increase of a root water uptake. However, our demonstrated results were mainly based on qualitative comparison. Further experiments need to be conducted to monitor temporal changes of electrical resistivity using time lapse analysis, providing that a plant root activity difference based on changes of soil water and nutrients level in time.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.12-17
• /
• 2007

This study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of nonpoint source pollutants discharge from a small rural watershed. A typical rural area in Gongju City, Korea, was selected as the research site. Water quality and quantity in streams and rainfall samples were analyzed periodically from May to October 2005. Pollutant loads were estimated from a nonpoint source pollution model (AvSWAT, Arcview Soil and Water Assessment Tool). During the rainy season, from June 26 to 30 September 2005 and the dry season, before 26 June and after 30 September 2005, biological oxygen demands and chemical oxygen demands accounted for 91.3% and 93.7% of annual load, respectively, while total-N and total-P were 97.1% and 91.1% of annual load, respectively. The observed stream flow was $66.5m^3sec^{-1}$, while simulation stream flow was $66.2m^3sec^{-1}$. That can be assumed that simulation can be used to estimate the stream flow without practical measurement. However, the runoff trend following the occurrence of a storm event was not recorded properly.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.121-131
• /
• 2021

Magnesium (Mg) present in carbonate minerals as impurities has been used as a geochemical proxy to infer the environmental conditions where the minerals precipitated. The reliability of Mg geochemical proxies requires fundamental understanding of Mg incorporation into minerals based on accurate speciation of Mg ²⁺ in the crystal structure, which is determined mainly by application of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). However, high uncertainties are involved in interpreting the XAS spectra of minerals containing trace amount of Mg ²⁺. Because density function theory (DFT) can predict an XAS spectrum for a crystal structure, DFT calculations can reduce the uncertainties in the interpretation of the XAS spectrum. In this study, we calculated ab initio Mg K-edge absorption spectra of Mg silicates and (hydr)oxides based on DFT and analyzed the correlation between the calculated spectra and Mg structural parameters. Our ab initio Mg K-edge absorption spectra well reproduced the key features of the experimental spectra. The absorption-edge positions of the calculated spectra showed the weak positive correlation with the average Mg-O bond distance or Mg effective coordination number. The current study shows that DFT-based core-level spectroscopy method is a powerful tool in providing standard Mg K-edge spectra of diverse Mg minerals and determining the Mg chemical species within carbonate minerals.

• Particle and aerosol research
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.107-117
• /
• 2020

Based on the airborne measurement results over a coal fired power plant and steel work in Dangjin city, SO2 emission amounts of each site are estimated (top-down emission). Airborne measurements were carried out on May-June and October-November 2019. The estimated SO2 emission in 2019 for the power plant was 1502.1 kg/hr and that for the steel work was 2850.5 kg/hr, higher as much as a factor of 2.5 and 2.0, respectively, than the emission amounts provided by both facilities (bottom-up emission). The outcomes strongly illustrates that well designed airborne observations can serve a quantitative diagnostic tool for bottom-up emission estimates. Further research direction to improve the reliability of the top-down emission estimates is suggested.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.716-722
• /
• 1995

Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used as a tool for the rapid, accurate and nondestructive assay of small grain and forage quality analysis. The objective of this study was to establish the rapid, easy and accurate analysis method for major components of covered barley using NIRS system. NIRS used in this study was filter type instrument, Neotec 102. To obtain a useful calibration equation, standard regression between the data was analyzed by chemical analysis and by NIRS method. Standard errors of prediction (SEP) and simple correlations for unknown samples were calculated using obtained equation. SEPs for starch, $\beta$-glucan, protein and ash contents were 2.75%, 0.64%, 0.26% and 0.19%, respectively. The simple correlations for starch, $\beta$-glucan, protein and ash contents were 0.932, 0.588, 0.984 and 0.867, respectively. It was concluded that the NIRS method would be applicabl for the rapid determination of starch, protein and ash contents in barley grains.