Copper metal is widely used in tubes installed in sprinkler water services because of its excellent corrosion resistance. Copper corrosion is considered to be insignificant in water system and the incident of copper pipeline failure is relatively low. However, pitting corrosion is a major problem with all copper tubes. In this study, leaked sprinkler copper tubes were collected from three different locations and examined on the causes of pitting corrosion of copper tubes in sprinkler water plumbing systems. Electrochemical tests such as potentiodynamic polarization, as well as surface and chemical analyses were performed. Results show that pitting corrosion of copper tubes were found as Type I pitting that the carbon film formed on the copper tubes have a harmful effects, causing the pinhole failure in the pipe and resulting in leakage of water. The contermeasures on Type I pitting corrosion of copper tubes were proposed.

Black chokeberries (scientific name Aronia melanocarpa) have been reported to have major effects due to anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer capabilities. In this study, we investigated the anti-wrinkle effects of A. melanocarpa, including collagenase inhibition effects and their molecular biological mechanisms, such as oxidative stress-induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, and activator protein (AP)-1 expression and/or phosphorylation. In collagenase inhibition activity, the ethyl acetate fraction of black chokeberry (AE) was 77.2% at a concentration of 500 μg/ml, which was a significant result compared to that of Epigallocatechin gallate (positive control, 83.9% in 500 μg/ml). In the reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay, the AE produced 78% of ROS in 10 μg/ml and 70% of ROS in 75 μg/ml, which was a much lower percentage than the ROS production of H2O2-induced CCRF S-180II cells. In the MTT assay, cell viability was increased dose-dependently with AE in H2O2-induced cells. In protein expression by western blot assay, the AE suppressed the expression and phosphorylation of MMPs (MMP-1, -3, -9), MAPK (ERK, JNK, and p38), and AP-1 (c-Fos and c-Jun), and expressed the pro-collagen type I in H2O2-induced cells. These results suggest that black chokeberries have anti-wrinkle and collagen-production effects, and they may be used in applications for material development in the functional food and cosmetic industries.

To test applicability to the Hanwoo traceability system, twenty microsatellite markers were selected and analyzed. MSA, CERVUS, FSTAT, GENEPOP, API_CALC and PHYLIP software was employed serially to estimate heterozygosity, polymorphic information content, F-statistics, identity probability, exclusion probability and genetic distance. Eleven microsatellite markers (TGLA53, TGLA227, ETH185, TGLA122, BM4305, INRA23, ILSTS013, BMS1747, BM2113, BL1009, and ETH3) were selected based on their high heterozygosity values. Identity probability using these markers is one hundred times higher than when using

The number of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae is known to be an unfixed trait among mammals. This study focused on the relationship between numerical variations of cervical (CER), thoracic (THO), and lumbar (LUM) vertebrae and the total number of vertebrae (TNV) and carcass traits in Jejunative black pigs (JBPs), Landrace pigs, and their intercrossed F2 population. There were no numerical variations in CER vertebrae. On the other hand, the numbers of THO and LUM vertebrae and the TNV varied in all three populations. Of the traits investigated in the three populations, only the means±SE of the LUM vertebrae did not show statistical significance (p>0.05). The carcass weights (CW), meat color (MC), marbling score (MS), backfat thickness (BFT), carcass length (CLE), THO vertebrae, and TNV all showed statistical significance (p<0.05). The JBP had 14-16 THO vertebrae, 5-6 LUM vertebrae, and 27-29 TNV. The Landrace pigs had 15-16 THO vertebrae, 5-7 LUM vertebrae, and 28-29 TNV. The F2 population had 14-17 THO vertebrae, 5-7 LUM vertebrae, and 27-30 TNV. In the F2 population, increased numbers of THO vertebrae and TNV were associated with a significant increase in the CW, CLE, and BFT (p<0.05). In particular, the increase in the TNV was caused by an increase in the number of THO rather than LUM vertebrae. Although the animals with a greater number of THO and TNV had thicker backfat, they had a longer CLE and a heavier CW. Both these traits are economically more important than the level of backfat when determining the productivity level. These results suggest that genetic selection to increase the number of vertebrae, especially in Landrace pigs, JBPs, and their related populations, may be an excellent strategy for improving productivity.