To investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of submerged culture using Cordyceps militaris mycelium, culture-including mycelia was extracted and lyophilized into postbiotics (hot-water extract; CM-HW). HW was fractionated into crude polysaccharide (CM-CP) by ethanol precipitation, and CM-CP was further dialyzed into CM-DCP by dialysis with running water using 12~14 kDa dialysis tube. When the cytotoxicity of subfractions against cells was assessed, no subfraction had a cytotoxic impact that was substantially different from the control groups. In an inflammatory model using LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, CM-DCP significantly decreased IL-6 and MCP-1 production levels compared to the LPS-control group. CM-DCP also inhibited IL-6 and IL-8 secretion in HaCaT keratinocytes stimulated with TNF-α and IFN-γ. In the meanwhile, the neutral sugar content and mannose ratio of anti-inflammatory CM-DCP were higher than the other fractions, and CM-DCP contained β-1,3/1,6-glucan of 216.1 mg/g. High pressure size exclusion chromatography revealed that CM-DCP contained molecules with a molecular weight range of 5.6 to 144.0 kDa. In conclusion, postbiotics of C. militaris mycelium significantly promoted anti-inflammatory activity, suggesting that neutral polysaccharides including Glc and Man contribute to the anti-inflammation in RAW 264.7 or HaCaT cells.

To enhance the bioavailability and bioactivities of mixed herbal medicines (RW), they were fermented with lactic-acid bacteria isolated from kimchi into postbiotics (FRW). Then, from the results of the 16s rRNA sequencing analysis, lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi were identified to be of two species, namely Lactobacillus sakei and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. The FRW prepared from the RW were extracted using hot water (HW) and 70% EtOH (EtOH) for comparison of their macrophage-stimulating activities. Based on a comparison of the activities of the FRW extracts, nitric oxide (NO) production of HW was significantly higher than that in EtOH. An analysis of the chemical properties of the extracts showed that HW had higher contents of neutral sugar and uronic acid than EtOH as well as contained a large amount of glucose. In addition, crude polysaccharide (CP) was prepared to enhance the macrophage-stimulating activity. The FRW-CP not only secreted immunostimulatory mediators but also increased the expression of immunostimulatory genes (iNOS, TNF-α, MCP-1, and IL-6). The fractionated FRW-CP contained about 90% neutral sugars, and these sugars were mainly composed of glucose, galacturonic acid, and arabinose. Thus, FRW prepared by fermentation of RW with kimchi lactic acid bacteria were found to be immunostimulatory modulators.

After liquid culture of Phellinus baumii (P. baumii) mycelium (LPBM) was prepared, LPBM was fractionated into A∼E fraction (A; hot-water extract of liquid culture including mycelia, B; crude polysaccharide of A, C; hot-water extract of mycelia, D; crude polysaccharide of C, and E; crude polysaccharide of culture broth) to evaluate for possibility as functional materials with immunostimulatory activity. In macrophage stimulatory activity, E fraction as postbiotics significantly increased secretion of NO and IL-12 from RAW 264.7 cells. Next, when the splenocytes of C3H/HeN mice were primary cultured, E fraction showed significantly mitogenic activity with enhancing mitogen-related cytokines (IFN-γ and TNF-α) production from splenocyte. E fraction also potently stimulated GM-CSF production from Peyer’s patch cells as well as Peyer’s patch-mediated bone marrow cell proliferation. In addition, the immunostimularoy E fraction contained neutral sugar (73.8%), uronic acid (10.6%), protein (7.8%), and polyphenol (7.5%), and mainly consisted of glucose (39.1%), galactose (21.7%), mannose (11.1%), galacturonic acid (9.9%), and arabinose (8.9%) as component sugars. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that postbiotics including exopolysaccharide fractionated from liquid culture of the P. baumii mycelium could enhanced immunostimulatory activity.

Maca roots (Lepidium meyenii) are an important medicinal herb that have long been used by the Andes-indigenous peoples and South Americans. In Korea, recently, it has attracted attention as a health food material because of nutritional values and physiological activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the industrial applicability of maca (red and golden varieties; R&G) as immunostimulating materials. In the macrophage stimulating assay using RAW 264.7 cells at 125~500 μg/mL of non-cytotoxicity doses, G-HW showed the most potent production of TNF-α, IL-6 and nitric oxide compared to red maca or the other extracts. The general component analysis results showed that all extracts comprised more than 90% neutral sugars with small amounts of uronic acid and protein. Meanwhile, component sugar analysis showed the difference in the content of uronic acids of cold- and hot-water extract. Additionally, the further fractionation of G-HW into crude polysaccharide (G-CP) greatly enhanced the macrophage stimulating activity, and G-CP contained macromolecules over 144 kDa, comprised mainly of glucose and galacturonic acid (51.0 and 34.9%). In conclusion, crude polysaccharide from maca showed industrial applicability as immunostimulating material, and especially golden maca showed higher macrophage stimulating activity than red maca.

To investigate the industrial availability of liquid fermentation (PL-ferment) by Phellinus linteus mycelium as a postbiotics for the inhibition of inflammation, PL-ferment was fractionated into culture supernatant (CS), hot-water extract (HW) from PL-ferment, EtOH-precipitate (CP) fractionated from HW, and the dialysate (DCP) of CP. Compared to the other fractions, DCP which is expected to contain exopolysaccharide (EPS) as the major component, significantly decreased the production of NO, IL-6, and MCP-1 in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells, and IL-6 and IL-8 in TNF-α and IFN-γ-induced HaCaT cells. The general component analysis results showed that no significant difference in components was observed between the fractions, whereas sugar composition analysis revealed that DCP had decreased glucose and increased mannose contents compared to the other fractions. This suggests that mannose played an important role in the anti-inflammatory activity of the active fraction, DCP. Molecular weight distribution analysis revealed that DCP was mainly composed of low-molecular-weight material-removed high-molecular-weight polysaccharides of 18–638 kDa, suggesting that EPS originated from P. linteus EPS. In conclusion, our results suggest that the DCP of P. linteus mycelium fermentation using the anti-inflammatory activity could be used industrially as postbiotic material.

To utilize Malus pruniforia Borkh. as a functional material, cold-water (CW), hot-water (HW), and 70% ethanol (EtOH) extracts were prepared, and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were compared. The antioxidant activity of the HW extract evaluated by ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging and FRAP activity was significantly effective. The total polyphenol content of the HW extract was also higher by 15.5±0.7 mg GAE/g extract compared to other extracts. The EtOH extract showed significantly decreased TNF-α (39.8%), IL-6 (65.5%), and NO (34.9%) levels in RAW 264.7 cells compared to the LPS-induced control group. The levels of IL-6 (21.1%) and IL-8 (19.3%) were significantly decreased by treatment of EtOH extract in HaCaT keratinocytes induced with TNF-α and IFN-γ. The UHPLC-MS results indicated that the EtOH extract might have chlorogenic acid and phlorizin as the major compounds. This was validated using HPLC-DAD, which showed that the EtOH extract had higher levels of chlorogenic acid and phlorizin (1,185±58 and 470±10 μg/g extract, respectively). In conclusion, the present study suggested that the anti-inflammatory activity of the EtOH extract was more effective than the CW and HW extracts, and chlorogenic acid and phlorizin could be used as indicator compounds and functional substances.

Centella asiatica (CA) has been widely used as herbal plants. It is a valuable resources. The aim of the present study was to evaluate physiological activities of solvent extracts from CA cultivated in Chungju, Korea (Good tiger care). After preparing water (cold-water, CA-WE; hot-water, CA-HWE) and EtOH extracts (50% EtOH, CA-50E; 70% EtOH, CA-70E), their total polyphenol, flavonoid, and triterpenoid contents, and anti-oxidant activities, and anti-inflammatory activities were examined and compared. CA-70E showed the most potent anti-oxidant activity based on ABTS radical scavenging activity and reducing ability assays, while CA-50E and CA-70E showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity. Among major triterpenoid glycosides present in CA, madecassoside and asiaticoside contents were found to be the highest in CA-70E, and madecassic acid and asiatic acid were the highest in CA-50E. In LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, CA-70E showed the highest TNF-α inhibitory activity, although CA-50E and CA-70E similarly inhibited nitric oxide production. Ethanol extracts significantly inhibited IL-6 and IL-8 production more than water extracts using TNF-α/IFN-γ-stimulated HaCaT cells, indicating its better inhibitory against skin inflammation. Therefore, Chungju-CA EtOH extract, especially 70% EtOH extract, has high physiologically active ingredients and potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, suggesting its industrial application as a functional material.

Global fitting functions for Fe-selective chlorination in ilmenite(FeTiO2) and successive chlorination of beneficiated TiO2 are proposed and validated based on a comparison with experimental data collected from the literature. The Fe-selective chlorination reaction is expressed by the unreacted shrinking core model, which covers the diffusion-controlling step of chlorinated Fe gas that escapes through porous materials of beneficiated TiO2 formed by Fe-selective chlorination, and the chemical reaction-controlling step of the surface reaction of unreacted solid ilmenite. The fitting function is applied for both chemical controlling steps of the unreacted shrinking core model. The validation shows that our fitting function is quite effective to fit with experimental data by minimum and maximum values of determination coefficients of R2 as low as 0.9698 and 0.9988, respectively, for operating parameters such as temperature, Cl2 pressure, carbon ratio and particle size that change comprehensively. The global fitting functions proposed in this study are expressed simply as exponential functions of chlorination rate(X) vs. time(t), and each of them are validated by a single equation for various reaction conditions. There is therefore a certain practical merit for the optimal process design and performance analysis for field engineers of chlorination reactions of ilmenite and TiO2.

Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy is predominantly produced by carbothermic reduction. In this study, silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore to produce Fe-Si-Cr alloy is suggested. As reductants, silicon and silicon carbide are evaluated by thermochemical calculations, which prove that silicon carbide can be applied as a raw material. Considering the critical temperature of the change from the carbide to the metallic form of chromium, thereduction experiments were carried out. In these high temperature reactions, silicon and silicon carbide act as effective reductants to produce Fe-Si-Cr ferroalloy. However, at temperatures lower than the critical temperature, silicon carbide shows a slow reaction rate for reducing chromite ore. For the proper implementation of a commercial process that uses silicon carbide reductants, the operation temperature should be kept above the critical temperature. Using equilibrium calculations for chromite ore reduction with silicon and silicon carbide, the compositions of reacted metal and slag were successfully predicted. Therefore, the mass balance of the silicothermic and carbothermic mixed reduction of chromite ore can be proposed based on the calculations and the experimental results.

우리나라는 삼국시대부터 한자를 유입하여 표기 문자로 사용하였지만, 중국과 달리 표기문자와 음성 언어를 달리하는 이원적 구도를 지니고 있었다. 조선시대 한글이 창제된 이후에도 한자가 표기문자의 대표적 수단이었기 때문에, 지식인들 은 한자나 한자어로 된 물명을 어떠한 우리말로 대체시킬 것인지 고민하지 않을 수 없었다. 이에 조선후기 실학자들은 소중화의식의 확장․고증학의 발달 등의 영 향으로 철학적 담론이나 경세적 주제 외에도, 자학․물명에 관한 연구를 진행하였 다. 그 과정에 물명을 우리말로 풀이한 다양한 저서 『物譜』․『才物譜』 등이 출현 하였다. 그런데 과연 18세기 조선사회에서 통행되고 있던 한자나 한자어로 된 물명이 과연 우리말과 일치했던 것일까? 아울러 당시 통용되었던 물명류의 저작이 과연 철저한 고증을 거치고 오류를 시정한 다음 저술된 것일까? 라는 의문은 여전히 남아 있다. 본고는 이점에 유의하여 李家煥(1742～1801, 자 廷藻, 호 貞軒․錦帶)을 주목 하고자 한다. 이가환은 茶山 丁若鏞(1762～1836)과 함께 18세기 조선의 대표적 실학자이다. 하지만 1801년 辛酉邪獄에 연루되어 죽음을 맞이했던 비운의 인물이 기도 하다. 그는 문학이나 천문․수학 방면에서 두각을 드러내면서 正祖(1752～ 1800)에게 깊은 신뢰를 받았다. 이 외에도 그는 한자교육과도 관련 있는 자학이나 물명에도 관심이 깊었다. 이에 필자는 그간 주목받지 못했던 이가환의 저작 『貞軒瑣錄』과 ｢雜說｣을 중심으로, 李家煥의 物名에 관한 관심과 그 실천적 면모를 살펴 보고자 하였다. 『정헌쇄록』은 일본 동양문고 『東稗洛誦 續』에 전하고 있고, ｢잡설｣ 은 국내 국립중앙도서관에 소장된 『詩文艸』에 수록된 것으로 두 저작은 상호 관련 된 작품이다. 『貞軒瑣錄』과 ｢雜說｣은 물명류의 저서 형태를 띤 것도 아니고 물명 을 우리말로 직접 풀이한 것도 아니다. 『정헌쇄록』은 이가환의 독서 잡기류로, 그 안에는 의복․음식․제도․가옥에 관한 기록 외에도 우리말과 물명의 어원을 고증 한 부분이 있다. 이에 반해 ｢잡설｣은 한자나 한자어로 된 물명 등에 대한 정확한 재해석과 오류 시정이 핵심을 이룬다. 곧 이가환은 이 두 저작에서 물명의 원뜻은 무엇이고 우리말은 무엇인가를 철저히 고증하면서, 18세기 時俗에서 잘못 사용하 고 있는 오류를 지적하고 보완하고자 하였다. 따라서 이 두 저작에는 학문 제영역 과 일상에서의 이가환의 철저한 탐구심과 고증적 학문태도가 돋보인다. 아울러 당 대 이루어지고 있는 物名에 관한 문제점과 방향도 읽을 수 있다. 이가환은 철저한 고증을 토대로 물명을 비롯하여 기타 영역에서도 原義를 철저 히 궁구하는 학적 자세가 필요하며, 절대 오류를 답습하거나 견강부회를 하는 식의 학습태도를 지양해야 한다고 판단했다. 왜냐하면 물명이나 기타 한자어 연구는 단 순 물명에 그치는 것이 아니라, 생활을 영위하는 예절과 교양이면서 국가의 경영 곧 백성들의 목숨을 좌우할 수 있는 근거가 된다고 생각했기 때문이다. 이가환이 제기했던 이 같은 문제의식과 방향은 비단 物名 분야에 국한된 문제일 뿐 아니라, 학문 제반 영역에서 궁구해야할 자세로 생각된다. 이 외에도 『정헌쇄록』과 ｢잡설｣ 은 1795년경에 작성된 것으로, 丁若鏞의 『竹欄物名考』(19C)․李學逵의 『物名類解』(19C)․柳僖의 『物名攷』(1824年) 등의 저작에도 영향을 주었다. 곧 이가환은 1801년 삶을 마감했지만, 그의 정신과 학문은 그의 조카 이학규․후배 정약용 등에 이어져 조선후기 실학의 또 다른 지류를 마련하였던 것이다.

본 연구에서는 학교급에 따른 한국 학생의 인공지능(Artificial Intelligence, AI)에 대한 태도를 차이를 분석하였다. 이러한 연구를 위하여 총 6,324명의 학생을 대상으로 학교급에 따라 AI에 대한 태도를 측정할 수 있는 검사 도구를 적용하였다. 또한, 학교급, 성별, AI 직·간접 경험, AI 교육 경험, AI 관심, 프로그래밍 언어 경험, AI 활용 빈도에 따른 AI에 대한 태도의 차이를 분석하였다. 연구 결과, 학교급과 성별, AI의 직·간접적 경험, AI에 대한 관심, 프로그래밍 언어 경험은 AI에 대한 태도에 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 특히, 학교급이 높으며, 성별이 남성이며, AI의 직, 간접적 경험이 있으며, AI에 대한 관심이 높으며, 블록과 텍스트 기반 프로그래밍 언어를 모두 경험한 학생일수록 AI에 대한 태도가 긍정적인 것으로 나타났다. 반면에 AI 교육 경험과 AI 활용 빈도는 AI에 대한 태도는 유의한 영향을 주지 못하였다. 본 연구 결과는 한국 학생의 AI에 대한 태도에 미치는 요인을 학교급에 따라 분석하였는데 의의가 있다.