본 연구는 낙엽활엽수종인 이팝나무(Chionanthus retusa) 잎의 흡음 성능을 평가하고자 하였다. 잎을 주재료로 하여 재료의 크기와 두께 및 건조 조건을 달리해 흡음재를 제조하였다. 중간형 측정관(100㎐-3200㎐)을 적용한 관내법(Impedance tube method)을 이용하여 흡음율을 측정하였 다. 총 18개의 조건에서 측정된 흡음율을 분석하였다. 기건엽 조건(MC 13.92%)과 생엽 조건(MC 162.04%)의 흡음율은 두께가 증가함에 따라 크게 향상되었다. 흡음율은 밀도의 증가에 비례하는데, 부피당 밀도가 더 높은 생엽조건의 두께별 흡음율이 더 높게 나타났다. 생엽 조건군에서 크기 0.5 × 0.5㎠의 2.50㎝ 두께에서 평균 흡음율은 0.643으로 가장 높게 나타났으며, 각 시험처리 조건별 흡음재의 주파수 대역별 흡음율은 기건엽 조건의 두께 1.75㎝에서 가장 높게 나타났다. 이상의 연구결과로부터 전반적인 흡음율은 1000㎐ 이상의 대역에서 더 높은 성능을 보였다.

이 연구는 코르크보드를 보강하여 건축부재 및 놀이기구의 안전부재 등으로 폭넓게 활용할 것을 목적으로 코르크보드의 중층에 금속, 유리섬유, 탄소섬유를 삽입하여 보강한 3종의 코르크복합보드를 제조하였고, 코르크복합보드의 수분흡수에 따른 치수안정성 및 접착층 박리성능을 조사하였다. 코르크복합보드의 흡수율은 0.37% - 0.45%의 범위에 있었고, 코르크보드에 비해 0.61배 - 0.74배의 낮은 값을 나타내었다. 코르크복합보드의 두께팽창률은 0.92% - 1.58%의 범위에 있었고, 코르크보드 보다 1.4 - 2.4배의 높은 값을 나타내었다. 그러나 이 값들은 일반 목질보드보다 현저히 낮았고, KS규격의 12%이하를 하회하는 것이 확인되었다. 코르크복합보드의 준내수 및 내수침지박리시험후의 접착층박리율은 0%로 전혀 접착층의 박리가 일어나지 않아 우수한 내수성을 나타내었고, 흡수율과 흡수두께팽창률은 상온침지에 비해 다소 증가하였으나, 목질보드에 관한 KS규격을 하회하는 우수한 치수안정성을 나타내는 것이 확인되었다.

Roridin E, a constituent of Podostroma cornu-damae, has excellent medicinal properties and exhibits powerful anticancer effects. However, being a poisonous mushroom, P. cornu-damae is difficult to find in its natural environment. Therefore, only a limited amount of roridin E is isolated from P. cornu-damae. We isolated roridin E from mycelial culture medium of P. cornu-damae and examined its effects on five breast cancer cell lines. The purity of the isolated roridin E was 96%. It exhibited anticancer effects on all five breast cancer cell lines, with an IC50 of at least 0.0006 mg/L. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the investigation of effects of roridin E isolated from the mycelium of P. cornu-damae mushrooms on five breast cancer cell lines. However, safety issues should be investigated and addressed in future studies before roridin E is used in clinical settings.

Cordyceps militaris, a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, has multiple health-promoting effects. It is used as a herbal remedy and health food in Asian countries. Cultured mycelia are often used as a substitute for natural C. militaris. In the present study, the mycelia and fruiting bodies of artificially cultured C. militaris were analyzed using a metabolomics approach. The protein and crude fat contents of the mycelia were substantially higher than those of the fruiting bodies. The top three abundant amino acids in the mycelia were proline (3.9 g/100 g), aspartic acid (2.9 g/100 g), and glutamic acid (2.7 g/100 g). The carbohydrate content was similar in the fruiting bodies and mycelia. Analysis revealed that both the fruiting bodies and mycelia are rich in phenolic compounds and exhibit antioxidant activity. Further, six metabolites were significantly different between the mycelia and fruiting bodies. The levels of Ca, glucose, Mg, and Se were higher in the mycelia than in the fruiting bodies. In contrast, mannitol and Zn were more abundant in the fruiting bodies. The current study provides a comprehensive metabolic profile of the mycelia and fruiting bodies of artificially cultured C. militaris. Such an exercise is potentially important for understanding the metabolism of C. militaris and facilitating the use of cultured mycelia as a supplement to C. militaris fruiting bodies in traditional Chinese medicine.

Bamboo forests are fast-growing, renewable resources, and their carbon sequestration potential has attracted increasing attention. Although bamboo can be used for many purposes, bamboo forests in Korea represent a generally underutilized resource. The main objective here was to perform an assessment of the physical and mechanical characteristics of different species of bamboo found in Korea. The main species of domestic bamboo are Phyllostachys bambusoides, P. pubescens, and P. nigra; we measured the air-dried density for each of the species, with obtained values of 0.89 g/cm2, 0.79 g/cm2, and 0.83 g/cm2, respectively, giving the density order of P. bambusoides > P. pubescens > P. nigra, with P. bambusoides having the highest density. We then measured the compressive strength of each species, which were 802.84 kgf/cm2, 624.69 kgf/cm2, and 743.77 kgf/cm2, respectively, in the order of P. bambusoides > P. pubescens > P. nigra, with P. bambusoides having the highest compressive strength. Volume and maximum load decreased with increasing node height in the three bamboo species, whereas air-dried density and compressive strength increased. Our results thus add to the pool of essential knowledge about Korean bamboo species, and consequently to the development of a potentially valuable domestic resource in Korea.

Distribution and abundance of species are influenced by their environmental condition. Among various environmental factors, a vegetation is one of the most influential factors, because it is used as habitats as well as food resources. Arthropods including insects play a important role in forest ecosystems as grazers, scavenger, predators, etc. Deciduous and coniferous forests have different plant community composition, resulting in different environmental condition. In this study, we collected arthropod communities at two different deciduous and coniferous forest stands in the Mountain Gariwang. At each stand, three different sampling methods were used: soil core for soil macroinvertebrate, pitfall trap for wandering insects, and sweeping net for insects in the shrups. Therefore, sampling was conducted at vertical habitats in the forest. The results showed that there were no difference in the number of orders from soil at both coniferous and deciduous stands. However, the abundance was higher at coniferous stand than at deciduous stand. Collembola was the dominant taxa in soil. Meanwhile, there were no statistically significant differences of community composition between coniferous stand and deciduous stands. Multivariate analyses was conducted to characterize differences of communities at different stands as well as vertical distribution in forest.