Microalgae are unicellular microorganisms inhabiting various ecosystems of the world, including marine and freshwater systems and extreme environments. Only a few species have been actively used as food. Microalgae are attracting attention as a means of biological CO2 reduction because they play an important role in absorbing atmospheric CO2 through their rapid growth by photosynthesis in water. Besides, microalgae are considered to be an eco-friendly energy source because they can rapidly produce biomass containing a large quantum of lipids that can be converted into biodiesel. Several microalgae, such as Chlorella spp., Spirulina spp. and Haematococcus spp. have already been commercialized as functional health supplements because they contain diverse nutrients including proteins, vitamins, minerals, and functional substances such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), β-glucan, phycocyanin, astaxanthin, etc. Moreover, they have the potential to be used as food materials that can address the protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) which may occur in the future due to population growth. They can be added to various foods in the form of powder or liquid extract for enhancing the quality characteristics of the foods. In this review, we analyzed several microalgae which can be used as food additives and summarized their characteristics and functions that suggest the possibility of a role for microalgae as future food.

Large-scale cultivation of Microcystis aeruginosa in different light conditions was conducted for verifying the cell growth in a greenhouse system. Environmental and chemical parameters of the large-scale culture medium were measured for analyzing the interaction between M. aeruginosa and its symbiotic bacteria. During cultivation, a difference in cell growth pattern was observed between control (natural light) and lightlimited groups (reduction of blue, green, and blue/green light, respectively). Comparing the control group, the light reduced groups showed slow and delayed cell growth through the cultivation period. Also, there is differences in the consuming pattern of total nitrogen and total phosphorus which indicated that the possibility of interaction between M. aeruginosa and symbiotic bacteria.

The carbon anode material for lithium-ion battery was prepared by pyrolysis fuel oil and waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) additive. The pitch was synthesized as a medium material for carbon anode by heat treatment. The waste PET additive improved the softening point and thermal stability of the pitch. La and Lc of the anode material (heat-treated pitch) increased at higher treatment temperature but decreased by waste PET additive. The electric capacity was evaluated based on effects of defective cavity and developed graphite interlayer, respectively. When the La and Lc of the anode material decreased, the electric capacity by cavity increased based on defective graphite structure. Therefore, the addition of waste PET causes the improved capacity by the cavity. The anode material which has a high efficiency (over 95%) and C-rate (95%, 2 C/0.1 C) was obtained by controlling the process of heat treatment and PET addition. The mechanism of lithium-ion insertion was discussed based on effects of defective cavity and developed graphite interlayer.

Recently, a study of prognosis and health management (PHM) was conducted to diagnose failure and predict the life of air craft engine parts using sensor data. PHM is a framework that provides individualized solutions for managing system health. This study predicted the remaining useful life (RUL) of aeroengine using degradation data collected by sensors provided by the IEEE 2008 PHM Conference Challenge. There are 218 engine sensor data that has initial wear and production deviations. It was difficult to determine the characteristics of the engine parts since the system and domain-specific information was not provided. Each engine has a different cycle, making it difficult to use time series models. Therefore, this analysis was performed using machine learning algorithms rather than statistical time series models. The machine learning algorithms used were a random forest, gradient boost tree analysis and XG boost. A sliding window was applied to develop RUL predictions. We compared model performance before and after applying the sliding window, and proposed a data preprocessing method to develop RUL predictions. The model was evaluated by R-square scores and root mean squares error (RMSE). It was shown that the XG boost model of the random split method using the sliding window preprocessing approach has the best predictive performance.

본 연구는 학부모를 대상으로 식품첨가물 및 보존료에 대한 인식 수준과 정보요구도를 파악하고 이를 바탕으로 학부모의 식품첨가물 및 보존료에 대한 올바른 이해와 안전한 식생활을 위한 교육자료를 개발하고자 하였다. 2014년 서울 경기지역 초등학생을 둔 학부모 381명을 대상으로 식품첨가물 및 보존료에 대한 인식 및 정보요구도에 대한 설문조사를 수행한 결과 응답자 중 가공식품 구입시 안전성을 가장 중요한 요소라고 응답하였으며, 41.5%가 식품 첨가물을 가장 식품안전을 위협하는 것이라고 응답하였으며, 식품 첨가물 중에서는 보존료가 가장 위험하다고 응답하였다. 그러나 응답자의 90.6%가 식품첨가물 및 보존료에 대한 교육 경험이 없다고 응답하였다. 설문결과와 학부모들의 정보요구도에 따라 교육홍보책자인 ‘보존료 바르게 알기’를 개발하였다. ‘보존료 바르게 알기’는 ‘보존료란 어떤 물질인가요?’, ‘보존료는 어떤 종류가 있나요?’, ‘보존료는 안전한가요?’, ‘가공식품, 어떻게 섭취해야 하나요?’, ‘식품첨가물은 식약처가 철저히 관리하고 있어요’ 등의 5장으로 구성하여 소비자인 학부모들이 알고싶어하는 내용들을 알기 쉽고 재미있게 전달할 수 있도록 구성하였다. 개발된 교육홍보책자를 초등학교 학부모에게 시범 적용한 결과, 사전 18.9%만이 보존료가 무엇인지 알고 있다고 응답한 수준에서 사후 90.9%가 그 역할을 이해하고 72.7%가 안전하다고 응답하여 개발된 책자가 보존료에 대한 이해도를 크게 높이고 보존료에 대한 오해를 바로잡을 수 있는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 따라서 본 연구에서 개발된 교육홍보책자는 학부모를 비롯한 일반소비자들에게 보존료에 대한 이해를 높일 수 있는 효과적인 정보전달매체로 활용될 수 있을 것이다.

Childhood obesity causes a higher risk of obesity, premature death and disability in adulthood. In addition, obese children experience an increased risk of respiratory problems, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects. This study aimed to investigate how an exercise intervention affects health-related physical fitness and inflammatory-related blood factors in obese children after. We hypothesized that there would be positive effects on serum levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), connecting peptide(C-peptide) and resistin, as well as in muscle and cardiovascular-related physical capacities, after an exercise intervention in obese children. Thirty-seven obese children haveperformed health-related fitness tests and provided blood samples for the analysis of changes in circulating biomarkers, both before and after an 8-week exercise intervention, which includes stretching, aerobic exercise, resistance exercise and sports games. The results indicate that exercise training beneficially affects body compositions, especially percentage body fat and muscle mass, without influencing to body weight and height. The results of the physical fitness tests show that muscle and cardiovascular capacity were increased in obese children in response to exercise training. Simultaneously, the exercise training decreased circulating levels of C-peptide, which equated to a “large” effect size. Although there were no significant effects on the levels of IGF-1 and resistin, they show a “small” effect size. Therefore, our findings suggest that the exercise intervention have beneficial effects on body composition and physical fitness levels in obese children, whichmight be associated with the decline in circulating C-peptide.