This study was conducted to investigate changes in immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration, nutrient content, and microbial communities of fresh and heat-treated Holstein colostrum collected from a colostrum bank operated by a local agricultural technology center in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. Of the 16 colostrum samples, 8 were heated at 60℃ for 30 min under a pressure of 0.9–1 bar. The colostrum samples were stored at −70℃ until use, at which time they were thawed at 50–55℃ in a water bath to analyze IgG levels, chemical composition, and microbiome, which was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq-PE250 platform. The IgG concentrations were similar in fresh and heat-treated colostrum. The fat, protein, and lactose contents also did not differ in these samples. However, somatic cell count (SCC) was lower in heat-treated colostrum than those in fresh colostrum (p<0.05). At the phylum level for the microbiome of fresh colostrum, Proteobacteria (44.16%) was the most abundant taxa, followed by Bacteroidota (33.26%), Firmicutes (10.04%), Actinobacteriota (7.14%), and a marginal difference in the order of abundance was observed in heat-treated colostrum. At the genus level, bacteria belonging to Sphingomonas, Delftia, Ochrobactrum, Simplicispira, and Lactobacillus were more abundant (p<0.05) in the heat-treated colostrum, while the abundance of Acinetobacter in the fresh colostrum was four times more (p<0.05) than that in the heat-treated colostrum. Our results demonstrated that heating does not affect IgG level and colostrum composition but reduces SCC (p<0.05), suggesting that heat-treated colostrum can potentially be put to further use (e.g., feeding Hanwoo calves) without compromising its quality. Differences in the microbiome between the fresh and heat-treated colostrum were limited. Further studies are required to extensively investigate the quality and safety of colostrum collected from dairy farms to ensure better utilization and processing at a local agricultural technology center.

Since rice is the main food in Korea, there are no regulations on corn milling yet. Corn is known as one of the world's top three food crops along with wheat and rice, and it is known that 3.5 billion people worldwide use corn for food. In addition, corn mills are not developed or sold in Korea, but the use of corn mills is increasing significantly in many countries in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, as Korea's rice mill import increases, Korea's KAMICO (Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative) and domestic company A agreed to develop a corn mill jointly with PHilMech, an organization affiliated with the Philippine Ministry of Agriculture. However, research on corn milling was very insignificant, so the development was carried out based on the technology of Korea's rice mill. Rice milling is performed by peeling off the skin of rice and producing brown or white rice, so it is carried out by removing the skin and cutting the skin. On the other hand, in the corn mill, the skin of the corn is peeled, pulverized and selected to produce main products suitable for edible use. Therefore, in order to develop a corn mill, processes such as peeling, transfer, grinding, sorting, and by-product separation are required, and suitable parts must be developed. In addition, the performance must be gradually improved through experiments in which corn is repeatedly milled. The Philippines produces 7.98 million tons/year of corn, which is about 100 times that of Korea, and is mostly consumed as a staple food. This is about 10% of the total crop production in the Philippines. In addition, the main cultivation complexes of corn are the mountainous regions of Tarlac or Pangasinan, and the produced corn is 72.4% of the so-called yellow corn called Arabel and Sarangani, and the remaining 27.6% are known as white corn. In this study, it was intended to produce grains of 2.5 mm or less suitable for food for yellow corn and to develop a corn mill for 200 kg per hour. Detailed conditions for development are stipulated as more than 55% of the main product recovery rate, more than 31% of the by-product recovery rate, less than 5% of the raw material loss rate, and more than 80% of the embryo dislocation rate. In this study, to achieve this, the overall process of the corn mill was developed, and the optimal conditions for the corn mill were obtained through the development of parts and empirical tests to improve performance. In addition, it was intended to achieve the development goal by evaluating and analyzing the performance of each part so that it did not conflict.

Hypertension is characterized by excessive renin-angiotensin system activity, leading to blood vessel constriction. Several synthetic compounds have been developed to inhibit renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). These drugs often have adverse side effects, driving the exploration of plant protein-derived peptides as alternative or supplementary treatments. This study assessed the phenolic compound and amino acid content and the antioxidant and antihypertensive activity of 5 South Korean staple crops. Sorghum had the highest phenolic compound content and exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. Millet grains, particularly finger millet (38.86%), showed higher antihypertensive activity than red beans (14.42%) and sorghum (17.16%). Finger millet was found to contain a large proportion of branched-chain, aromatic, and sulfur-containing amino acids, which are associated with ACE inhibition. In particular, cysteine content was positively correlated with ACE inhibition in the crops tested (r=0.696, p<0.01). This study confirmed that the amino acid composition was more correlated with the antihypertensive activity of grains than the phenolic compound content. Finger millet mainly contained amino acids, which have higher ACE inhibitory activity, resulting in the strongest antihypertensive activity. These findings underscore the antihypertensive potential of select crops as plant-based food ingredients, offering insight into their biological functions.

This comprehensive study delves into the intricate process of exfoliating and functionalizing boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) extracted from hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and meticulously explores their potential application within epoxy composites. The extensive research methodology encompasses a sequence of treatments involving hydrothermal and sonication processes aimed at augmenting the dispersion of BNNSs in solvents. Leveraging advanced analytical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and FTIR spectroscopy, the study rigorously analyzes a spectrum of changes in the BNNS’s properties, including layer count variations, interlayer interactions, crystal structure modifications, and the introduction of functional groups. The research also rigorously evaluates the impact of integrating BNNSs, specifically glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-functionalized BNNSs, on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites. The conclusive findings exhibit notable enhancements in thermal properties, predominantly attributed to the enhanced dispersion of fillers and enhanced interactions within the epoxy matrix. This pioneering work illuminates the wide potential of functionalized BNNSs for significantly enhancing the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites, paving the way for advanced materials engineering and practical applications.

The present study was aimed to estimate the effect of ensiling period and bacterial inoculants on chemical compositions and fermentation characteristics on rye silage harvested at delayed stage. Rye (Secale cereale L.) was harvested after 20 days of heading stage (29.4% dry matter, DM). The harvested rye forage was applied with different inoculants following: applications of distilled water (CON), Lactobacillus brevis (LBB), Leuconostoc holzapfelii (LCH), or mixture of LBB and LCH at 1:1 ratio (MIX). Each forage was ensiled into 20 L mini bucket silo (5 kg) for 50 (E50D) and 100 (E100D) days in triplicates. The E50D silages had higher in vitro digestibilities of DM (IVDMD, p<0.001) and neutral detergent fiber (IVNDFD, p=0.013), and lactate (p=0.009), and acetate (p=0.011) than those of E100D, but lower pH, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and yeast. By inoculant application, LCH had highest IVDMD and IVNDFD (p<0.05), while MIX had highest lactate and lowest pH (p<0.05). The CON and LCH in E50D had highest LAB and yeast (p<0.05), whereas LBB in E100D had lowest (p<0.05). Therefore, this study concluded that LCH application improved the nutrient digesbility (IVDMD and IVNDFD) of lignified rye silage, and longer ensiling period for 100 days enhanced the fermentation characteristics of silage compared to ensiling for 50 days.

This study was conducted to estimate the effect of different cutting lengths on fermentation characteristics and aerobic stability of whole crop rice (WCR) silage. The WCR was harvested at the yellow ripe stage (43.7%, DM), and then cut at 5 (R05), 10 (R10), and 20 cm (R20) of the theoretical length of cut with no cut WCR (R60). Each forage was ensiled into 20 L mini bucket silo (5 kg) for 150 days in quadruplicates. The cutting lengths were not affected the chemical compositions of WCR silage (p > 0.05). The pH (p < 0.001) and concentration of ammonia-N (p = 0.022) in WCR silage were increased linearly with the increase of cutting length. The concentration of lactate had quadratic effect (p = 0.007), which was highest in R20 silage (p < 0.05). The concentration of acetate was increased linearly (p = 0.014), but the concentration of butyrate was decreased linearly (p = 0.033). The lactic acid bacteria count was decreased linearly (p = 0.017), and yeast count had quadratic effect (p = 0.009), which was the highest in R20 silage (p < 0.05). Aerobic stability had strong quadratic effect (p < 0.001), which was the highest in R20 silage (p < 0.05). In conclusion, R60 silage had highest pH by a linear increase of ammonia-N concentration and led to low aerobic stability. While R20 silage had the lowest pH by high lactate concentration and led to high aerobic stability.

Human and material resource planning is one representative example of Operations Research. Resource planning is important not only in civilian settings but also in military ones. In the Air Force, flight scheduling is one of the primary issues that must be addressed by the personnel who are connected to flight missions. However, although the topic is of great importance, relatively few studies have attempted to resolve the problem on a scientific basis. Each flight squadron has its own scheduling officers who manually draw up the flight schedules each day. While mistakes may not occur while drafting schedules, officers may experience difficulties in systematically adjusting to them. To increase efficiency in this context, this study proposes a mathematical model based on a binary variable. This model automatically drafts flight schedules considering pilot’s mission efficiency. Furthermore, it also recommends that schedules be drawn up monthly and updated weekly, rather than being drafted from scratch each day. This will enable easier control when taking the various relevant factors into account. The model incorporates several parameters, such as matching of the main pilots and co-pilots, turn around time, availability of pilots and aircraft, monthly requirements of each flight mission, and maximum/minimum number of sorties that would be flown per week. The optimal solution to this model demonstrated an average improvement of nearly 47% compared with other feasible solutions.

The Eurytoma maslovskii conduces the unexpected plum dropping. It stayed overwinter inside the pits of the dropped plums and able to oviposit on plum surface when the diameter of the plums are over 16 mm prior to endocarp hardening. To control this harmful pests is too much essential to plum orchard. Therefore, the plum seed crusher (PSC) was designed and developed according to the purpose of perishing the pests through destroying the dropped plums. The rocks and the weeds were removed from the plum orchard prior to the test. Manually operated plum seed crusher picked-up the dropped plums from the ground and crushed them. The performance of PSC was evaluated by applying 2.5 and 3.0 km/h travelling speeds, and controlling the gaps; 18, and 28 mm intervals between plum pick-up discs. The test result showed the plum pick-up rate was 98±2.0%, and 92±5.3% with the machine travelling speed of 3.0 km/h in laboratory. Further, it changed to 95±8.7%, and 93±5.8% when the travelling speed was used 2.5 km/h. In both cases of test plum pick-up discs were maintained 18 mm, and 28 mm gap intervals, respectively. Furthermore, in field conditions, pursuing to similar gap intervals, the plum pick-up rate was 94±4.0%, and 92±2.0% with the speed of 3.0 km/h albeit it showed 92±4.0%, and 90±3.5% when the speed was decreased to 2.5 km/h. The maximum plum pick-up rate was found at 18 mm disc intervals with 3.0 km/h travelling speeds. The crushing teeth were selected 8 mm in height by repeated test to destroy the plum seeds. The result showed 100% crushing efficiency was facilitated to entire tests at 280 RPM crushing speeds regardless of plum sizes and shapes. This machine is preferred for the farmers to control the damage of plums by preventing the propagation of the identified pests.