Biopiracy, largely defined as misappropriation and intellectual property control of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge, has long had profound adverse impacts on the lives of the people and communities in developing countries, including Southeast Asia, one of the global biodiversity hotspots. Given that patents are the main means used in most biopiracy cases to exploit resources and knowledge, this article will discuss its feasibility as the other policy instrument to tackle biopiracy in Southeast Asia and suggest how it should be established and/or improved. For this purpose, this article examines two policy instruments in the patent regime that can be and have been used to address the aforementioned problem: compulsory licensing and the disclosure requirement. Based on the analysis of these two instruments, this article discusses why compulsory licensing is an unlikely means of tackling the problem and suggests how a disclosure requirement can be established or improved to tackle biopiracy in the region.

The conditions for minimizing dyes and additives when dyeing cellulose fibers such as linen, ramie, and hemp fabrics were obtained using glucose, an organic reducing agent. Dyeability and colorfastness were measured through repeated dyeing. The overall surface dyeing concentration followed the linen>hemp>ramie order, and most of the colors were in the range of PB (PurpleBlue). As the glucose concentration increased, the blue series was strengthened, and the color was dark and clear. It was determined that glucose the concentration of 4g/L was appropriate for minimizing the amount of dye. When the dyeing temperature was 30℃, the surface dyeing concentration was the highest, and the color was dark and clear. Although the dyeing concentration increased as NaOH concentration increased, 3g/L (pH 12.37) was considered appropriate for the minimum NaOH concentration, which becomes gradual after the dyeing concentration increased rapidly. It was found that the surface dyeing concentration, when repeated six times for 5 min, was better than that of dyeing once for 30 min. Washing, rubbing, and perspiration colorfastness were all found to be excellent in grades 4–4-5, and colorfastness to light was excellent in grades 5 of linen and hemp and grade 4 of ramie.

The purpose of this study is to classify the body types of obese men in their 50–60s and compare them with those of obese middle-aged men in their 30–40s. The 3D anthropometric data of obese men aged 50 to 60 years from the 6th Size Korea. The data are analyzed using SPSS 25.0 for Windows, and descriptive statistics, χ2 test, correlation analysis, and cluster analysis are used to classify obese body types. As a result of the study, five factors are extracted to determine body types, which are classified into three obese body types through cluster analysis. 1) a large physique and consequently large circumference and height; 2) A short upper body length, short height, and thick belly; 3) the lowest rate of obesity and relatively flat abdominal curve. For the 30–40s group, Type1 showed the highest rate at 55.6%, whereas for the 50s group, Type3 showed the highest rate at 49.3%, and for 60s group, Type2 showed the highest rate at 41.2%. The classification accuracy of the discriminant function for each type is 94.7%, indicating relatively high accuracy. Furthemore, the recently changed obese body type are analyzed by comparing it with the 3D anthropometric data of 8th Size Korea, which will contribute to the utilization of basic data for manufacturing apparel for obese men.

In this study, natural dyeing using Polygonum tinctoria was performed with linen, ramie, and hemp, which are biodegradable cellulose fibers, considering environmental aspects. In particular, the impacts of alkali NaOH and reducing agent Na2S2O4 were examined, and the possibilities of minimizing the use and reusing the dye were explored. The surface dye concentrations were found to be in the following order: hemp>linen>ramie. With the increase in all additives, the L* value decreased, and the ⊿E and K/S values increased gradually. When Na2S2O4 was 1g/L, the surface color of the dye appeared uniformly from the NaOH concentration of 0.4g/L (pH 10.84). When NaOH was 0.4g/L, the K/S values of linen and ramie increased rapidly after 0.4g/L of Na2S2O4, and hemp maintained a stable color from 0.6g/L of Na2S2O4. With the increase in the dye concentration from 1 to 6g/L, all the fibers were dyed uniformly. The K/S value increased or higher doubled upon repeated dyeing six times for 5 min than when dyed only once for 30 min. Therefore, the linen, ramie, and hemp fibers dyed repeatedly exhibited good washing, rubbing, and colorfastness to perspiration, which was rated between 4 and 4–5, and that to light was rated as 5. Moreover, no discoloration due to sunlight was observed. Finally, linen exhibited a bacterial reduction of 99.9%, thereby indicating its excellent antibacterial property.

In this paper, we report and discuss the semi-permanently hydrophilic (SPH) treatment of polyester fabric using plasma polymerization and oxidation based on atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (APDBD) technology. SiOxCy (-H) was coated on polyester fabric using Hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (HMCTSO) as a precursor, and then plasma oxidation was performed to change the upper layer of the thin film to SiO2-like. The degradation of hydrophilicity of the SPH polyester fabrics was evaluated by water contact angle (WCA) and wicking time after repeated washing. The surface morphology of the coated yarns was observed with scanning electron microscopy, and the presence of the coating layer was confirmed by measuring the Si peak using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The WCA of the SPH polyester fabric increased to 50 degrees after 30 washes, but it was still hydrophilic compared to the untreated fabric. The decrease in hydrophilicity of the SPH fabric was due to peeling of the SiOxCy(-H) thin film coated on polyester yarns.

The surge in food delivery systems during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic necessitated this study of heavy metal migration from food contact materials (FCMs). A total of 104 samples of FCMs, comprising 51 polypropylene (PP), 21 polyethylene (PE), and 32 polystyrene (PS) samples of six different types of FCMs (containers, covers, table utensils, cups, pouches, and wrappers) used for food delivery distributed in Korea, were collected and investigated for migration of three heavy metals (Pb, Cd, and As) using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine whether they complied with Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Utensils, Containers, and Packages. Acetic acid (4%, v/v) was used as the food simulant, and tests were performed at 100oC (in harsh conditions) for 30 min. Linearity of Pb, Cd, and As showed acceptable results with a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.9999. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of Pb, Cd, and As were 0.001, 0.001, and 0.001 μg/L and 0.002, 0.003, and 0.003 μg/L, respectively. Accuracy and precision results complied with the criteria presented in the European Commission Joint Research Centre guidelines. The average concentration of Pb, Cd, and As migration detected in a total of 104 samples was 0.009–0.260 μg/L, which was very low compared with the migration specification set in the Standards and Specifications for Utensils, Containers, and Packages. The maximum level of Pb corresponded to 0.23% of the migration limit. There were no samples exceeding the limit. Thus, this study confirmed that the heavy metal contents of FCMs used for delivery food distributed in Korea were safely managed. The data from this study represent an invaluable source for science-based safety management of hazardous heavy metals migrating from FCMs used in the food delivery industry.