Under the irradiation of radiofrequency wave, the dipole materials vibrate as microwave phase changes. This causes friction between adjacent molecules and enables an unique characteristics of interior heating of the materials. Using this principle, when harmful material pass through anthracite- bed which play a role as a absorber of radiofrequency wave, the material can be easily decomposed by the microwave energy. To remove benzene vapour and other solvents in the process of industry, we examined decomposition of benzene in this manner. It was found that benzene was decomposed to the methane, ethane, propane and butane, etc. during passing through the carbon-bed under the microwave impingement and distribution of methane in the products reached about 85 vol.%. The decomposition rate of benzene was high within 5 minutes from start of reaction. For a lower concentration of benzene gas, general cases in the field of industry, almost complete decomposition of benzene is believed possible and this method is surely expected to be useful for the prevention of air pollution and improvement of ambient condition.

SO2 and NO gases that come from the flue gases of most of all industrial combustion processes are harmful to everything include person and industrial facilities. For the simplification of the environmental clean-up processes, we studied the decomposition process by microwave. The microwave can destroy molecules into elementary atoms and offers energy to the atoms to react with carbons. Since the microwave is not absorbed into quartz tube and metallic chamber, the air pollution gases can be removed with much lower energy than in the case of conventional methods. We studied the decomposition of SO2 and NO gases on the carbon beds by microwave. In the microwave field, the gases can be decomposed to form other compounds, such as elementary sulfur, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. It was found that CO gas is formed at higher temperature than is CO2 gas, so it needs to control the bed temperature depend on products that we want to get.

Panax ginseng C.A. meyer (family: Araliaceae) is a perennial crop that has been widely used as a traditional medicine in Korea. Various P. ginseng cultivars exhibit a range of morphological and physiological traits as well as genetic diversity. To elucidate the differences of primary metabolism underlying such genetic diverstiy, we performed primary metabolite profiles in adventitious roots from five Panax ginseng cultivars using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis revealed eight primary metabolites as biomarkers and allowed us to classify the five cultivars into three groups. We selected three cultivars to represent each group and analyzed their transcriptomes by Illumina sequencing. We inspected 100 unigenes involved in seven primary metabolite biosynthesis pathways and found that 21 unigenes encoding 15 enzymes were differentially expressed among the three cultivars. Integrated analysis of transcriptomes and metabolomes revealed that the ginseng cultivars differ in primary metabolites as well as in the putative genes involved in the complex process of primary metabolic pathways. Our data derived from this integrated analysis provide insights into the underlying complexity of genes and metabolites that co-regulate flux through these pathways in ginseng.

Panax Ginseng is a perennial medicinal plant originated from North-east asia. Because of its well-known tonic effects mainly from ginsenosides, various types of processed ginseng products have been distributed around the world. Here, we analyzed secondary metabolite profiling of adventitious roots of 5 korean ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong (CP), Sunhyang (SH), Gopoong (GO), Sunun (SU), and Cheongsun (CS). At the same time, the profiles of relative gene expressions related to ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway were compared among ginseng cultivars. Secondary metabolite profiles were revealed by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS from extracts of bioreactor derived adventitious roots of five ginseng cultivars. Using principal component analysis, secondary metabolite profiles of ginseng cultivars were categorized into three groups. Metabolites with high VIP values were annotated using known database and standards compounds. Relative gene expression of ginsenoside related gene were analyzed using realtime PCR. The three groups had distinct metabolite contents. Furthermore, gene expression profiles related to ginsenoside were also different, which might contribute diverse secondary metabolite composition of ginseng cultivars. Further integrated analysis would provide a relationship between genetic background of ginseng cultivars and secondary metabolite profiles.

Biodiversity is closely related to the conservation of ecosystems. Ecosystems provide more subtle, but equally essential, services. Microorganisms decompose human's waste and renew the soils that produce our food crops. Biodiversity in Korean paddies encompass 54 families and 107 species of freshwater invertebrates. In terms of the number of aquatic insects affected by different sources, the order starting with the highest population was swine slurry > chemical fertilizer > fresh straw with reduced fertilizers > control. The number of freshwater invertebrate and aquatic macro-invertebrate in surface water of the plots without insecticidal application were 2 and 2.1 times greater than in fields receiving insecticide applications, respectively. The soil microfungal flora of the 85 isolates paddy fields in Korea was 30 species in 13 genera and 11 isolates were unidentified yet. Agricultural policy should be changed to assist the conservation of biodiversity because until now the agricultural ecosystems have been negatively affected from the development of high-yield varieties to enhance food production, and the expansion of fertilizer and chemical use. For the conservation of agricultural ecosystems, agricultural practices with less investment and more resource saving, as well as enhancing the safety of agricultural and livestock products are essential. Finally, this paper was written for the contribution for the development of environmentally friendly farming systems with neighboring or whole ecosystems.