This study was conducted to determine the optimum conditions for the treatment of polyamine to promote pollen germination and improve the fruiting rate by overcoming fertilization defects in low-temperature strawberry cultivation. The optimum temperature for pollen germination of strawberries was 30 for Seolhyang and 25 for Maehyang, and Seolhyang had a higher pollen germination rate than that of Maehyang. The addition of polyamines, namely spermine and putrescine to the medium improved the pollen germination rate and spermine treatment showed a better effect than putrescine treatment. The proper polyamine type and treatment concentration for enhancing the potency of pollen germination was 500 μM of spermine for both Seolhyang and Maehyang, which improved the pollen germination rate by 19-23% compared with that of the control. However, combined treatment of spermine and putrescine, resulted in a lower germination rate lower than that of the single treatment. Our results indicated that the treatment of polyamines during flowering in protected cultivation of strawberrise can improve the fruiting rate by overcoming the problem of poor pollen germination due to low temperature.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of defoliation treatment on the growth and yield of strawberries. There was a remarkable growth in the above-ground part and root of untreated strawberry plants possibly due to higher amount of photosynthesis, while overall plant growth was suppressed as the level of defoliation treatment increased. In both the “Seolhyang” and “Maehyang” cultivars examined, defoliation treatment resulted in small fruits and a low number of fruits per plant. Notably, 50% defoliation significantly reduced the number of fruits per plant to 8.2, compared to 13.8 in untreated plants. Defoliation treatment also negatively influenced the fruit quality including color, sugar content, and solid-acid rate. However, no significant changes in fruit firmness was observed in either cultivar. Therefore, retaining enough leaves without defoliation treatment can be important to increasing fruit yield, producing high quality fruits and saving labor required for defoliation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shading on the growth and productivity of strawberries. Photosynthesis was normally achieved under natural light without shading treatment, and vegetative growth of under- and aboveground part of strawberry plants were excellent. Strawberry fruit productivity and quality were different depending on shading conditions. In natural light, they were improved possibly by balanced vegetative and reproductive growth. However, under light-shading conditions with insufficient sunshine, photosynthetic activity deteriorated and carbohydrate production was therfore inadequate; this adversely affected plant height and quality. The negative effects were more pronounced at 50% shading condition. Shading treatments resulting in insufficient sunshine had a detrimental impact on plant productivity and growth; this implies that proper shading conditions could heip improve yield and fruit quality.

In this study, we investigated the influences of abnormal high temperature on growth, yield and physiologically active substances of the strawberry. General strawberry cultivars in the 20℃ growth condition showed much better growth of leaf number, length, diameter along with plant height, compared with those in 22.5℃ or 25℃. But the cultivars of both ‘Sulhyang’ and ‘Mehyang’ showed good growth and development at 25℃ with the roots showing great growth at 20℃. The quality and yield of the strawberry were best in the 20℃ growth condition, but the merchantability deteriorated in the 25℃ high temperature condition. As for the content of the physiologically active substances of the strawberry, it increased at 20℃, the optimum growth temperature, but decreased at 25℃. The physiologically active substances in the strawberry differed among the cultivars, the contents of cyanidin-3-glucoside, cinchonine, ellagic acid and cinnamic acid higher in the ‘Mehyang’, whereas the content of fisetin is higher in the ‘Sulhyang’ cultivar.Consequentially, the high temperature in summer has a negative effect on the physiological active ingredients of the strawberry, which was increased in the strawberry cultivated at proper temperature, and high quality strawberry production was possible.

A Cultivation method to minimize the damage caused by high temperatures was studied by investigating the effects of groundwater cooling treatment on the growth, yield, and quality of strawberries. In the groundwater cooling treatment, the daily average temperature of the rhizosphere was reduced from 26.9°C to 24.9°C . The root length increased by 0.3–9.2 cm, depending on the cultivar and growth period. The leaf number, leaf area, leaf length, leaf diameter, and plant height also increased, especially in the cultivars ‘Seolhyang’ and ‘Maehyang’, resulting in higher fresh and dry weights. The number of fruit per plant increased from 7.7 to 12.5 in ‘Seolhyang’, and the fruit weight increased by 0.3 g in ‘Seolhyang’ and 1.3 g in ‘Maehyang’. The fruit hardness increased, but no significant difference in fruit coloration was observed. The sugar content of the fruit was improved by 0.2–0.3 °Brix. Therefore, groundwater cooling of the rhizosphere was effective in improving the growth and productivity of strawberries under abnormally high temperature conditions and can be considered a cost-efficient cooling system.

The purpose of this study was to develop environmentally friendly black dye by comparing Ketapang and Gallnut, that have been traditionally used as a black dye. As a result of FT-IR and UV-Vis spectrophotometer analysis, Ketapang was characterized by condensed tannin, while Gallnut showed hydrolyzable tannin. Due to the dyeability characteristic analysis, the color fastness of the non-mordant dye was slightly lowered to grades 1-3. In the dry-cleaning fastness test, both non-mordant and iron mordant were excellent, in grade 4-5, and the daylight fastness was excellent grade 3-5 too. The L* values of Ketapang were 26.93 (pre-mordant) and 29.39 (post-mordant), which were higher than those of Gallnut, 41.90 (pre-mordant) and 43.02 (post-mordant), indicating that Ketapang was more easily colored as a black dye than Gallnut.

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of spermine treatment on the growth, yield and quality in strawberry under low-temperature condition, and thereby develop a chemical method to minimize damages by low temperature in greenhouse cultivation. Spermine treatment significantly improved the growth of strawberry in terms of leaf number, leaf area, leaf length, leaf diameter, plant height and plant weight. The highest effect was observed in the 250 uM spermine treatment and the effect tended to be maintained during the entire growth period of 90 days. Fresh weight and dry weight were significantly different depending on the concentrations of spermine. Strawberry plants treated with 250 uM spermine showed higher fresh weight and dry weight compared to untreated control plants during the growth period. Fruit weight, fruit length and fruit diameter were relatively higher when treated with 100 μM spermine compared to other treatments. The fruit yield was the highest with 14 fruits per plant at 250 μM spermine treatment and the coloration of the fruit was the best at this treatment with the Hunter a and b values of 46.56 and 28.75, respectively. The hardness of strawberry fruit tended to increase higher than 2N at 250 μM and 500 μM 250 uM spermine treatment. The sugar content of strawberries treated with 250 μM spermine was 9.5 ° Bx which was 1.6 ° Bx higher compared to that in untreated control. However, spermine treatment did not affect the acidity of fruit and it remained 0.68-0.76% regardless of treatment concentrations. These results suggest that spermine treatment has a positive effect on the growth and productivity of strawberry fruit under abnormal low-temperature condition. The positive effect was the highest at 250 μM spermine treatment and gradually decreased in the order of 100 μM, 500 μM, and untreated control.

The experience of natural dyeing is expected to be effective in promoting health through good exercise, in giving emotional stability based on the functional aromatic components of the dyeing material, and in improving self-esteem and increasing positive experiences through the behavior of creation. A natural dyeing material easily found around us, artemisia has long been used in food and Oriental medicine and was recently found to contain antioxidative, anticancer, deodorizing, antibacterial, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetes substances through chemical analysis. It has also been reported that group reminiscence therapy using the fragrance of artemisia is effective in relieving pain and depression and in promoting ego integrity in the elderly population. This study aimed to make a comparative analysis of dyeability, washing fastness, and deodorization between Artemisia princeps, Artemisia iwayomogi, and Artemisia annua, all of which are considered to be healthful and functional dyeing materials, among about thirty domestic plants in the genus of Artemisia and to provide basic data concerning natural dyeing in mind-peace education for the silver generation. The fabric dyed and post-mordanted at 80℃ for 40 minutes showed the greatest surface color variation; in this condition, artemisia princes (32.29) gave the greatest color difference, followed by artemisia iwayomogi (31.07) and artemisia annua (26.17). While all the types of artemisia were excellent in washing fastness, dry-cleaning fastness, and rubbing fastness at the fourth- or fifth-grade, light fastness was at the third grade for artemisia princes, at the second to third grade for artemisia annua, and at the second grade for artemisia iwayomogi; therefore, artemisia princes was found to give better fastness than the other two types of artemisia. In determining functionality of the fabric dyed with artemisia, deodorization test also found that the fabric dyed with artemisia princes had 20% higher deodorization.

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cough, indigestion, circulatory problems and pain. The associated anti-inflammatory effect of this agent is achieved via the inhibition of Nf-kB signaling, a property that has been demonstrated to effectively control the symptoms of various skin disorders, including atopic dermatitis. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of Sea Buckthorn in reducing the production of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activated nitric oxide (NO) by inhibiting the Nf-kB pathway, as measured by the symptoms of atopic dermatitis (AD) occurring secondarily to inflammation and immune dysregulation. Our data demonstrate that Sea Buckthorn significantly decreased the LPS-induced production of NO (p〈0.001). Atopic dermatitis was induced by repeated application of 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene to the dorsal skin of mice. Topical application of 5% Sea Buckthorn extract improved the symptoms of AD, specifically reducing disease severity scores, scratching behaviors and epidermal thickness. When compared to the control group, animals treated with Sea Buckthorn exhibited increased serum IL-12 levels and decreased serum TNF-α, IL-4 and IL-5 levels. Such a modulation of biphasic T-helper (Th)1/Th2 cytokines may result in a reduction in serum IgE levels. Our findings suggest that mechanism of action of Sea Buckthorn in the treatment of AD is associated with a marked anti-inflammatory effect as well as an inhibition of Th2-mediated IgE overproduction via the modulation of biphasic Th1/Th2 cytokines. Such results suggest that topical Sea Buckthorn extract may prove to be a novel therapy for AD symptoms with few side effects.

Indoor air quality has been addressed as an important atmospheric environmental issue and has caught attention of the public in recent years in Korea. Good indoor air quality in classrooms favour student's learning ability, teacher and staff's productivity according to other studies. In this study, each classroom at four different schools was chosen for comparison of indoor and outdoor air quality by means of source generation types such as new constructed classroom, using of cleaning agents and purchased furniture. Temperature, relative humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) and particulate matter with diameter less than 10 ㎛ (PM10) were monitored at indoor and outdoor locations during lesson. HCHO was found to be the worst among parameters measured in new constructed classroom, HCHO and TVOCs was worst in classroom with new purchased furniture, and TVOCs was worst in classroom cleaned by cleaning agents. Indoor CO2 concentrations often exceeded 1500 ppm indicating importance of ventilation. Active activity of students during break time made the PM10 concentration higher than a lesson. Improvements and further researches should be carried out considering indoor air quality at schools is of special concern since children and students are susceptible to poor air quality.

A species of facultative photo-organotrophic, purple, non-sulfur bacterium was isolated from the 47 point at west and south coast of Korea in September 2001. Separated 13 samples of changes with red color under 28～32 ℃, 3000 lux, anaerobe conditions for 7 days cultivated in basal medium. For pure isolation from 13 samples, we used agar-shake tube method (0.4 % agar) and separated 5 strains through 13-repetition test. EGH-24 and EGH-30 was identified as the same strain through the RAPD(Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA)-PCR of strain EGH-9, EGH-13, EGH-23, EGH-24, EGH-30. Four isolates cultivated in synthesis wastewater for wastewater biodegradation test. EGH-24 was selected with efficient wastwater treating strain. Based on the results obtained from morphology, nutrient requirements, major bacteriochlorophyll content, 16S-rDNA phylogenetic analysis, EGH-24 strain may be identified as a new strain of the genus Rhodobacter and named Rhodobacter sp. EGH-24.