• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.43-56
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• 2019

Irrigated and flooded rice paddy contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that affect climate. This in turn affects the supply and reliability of the water needed for rice production. This dynamic makes current rice production methods foreseeably less sustainable over time while having other undesirable effects. Intermittent irrigation by a means of the system of rice intensification (SRI) and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) methods was reviewed to reduce global warming potential (GWP) from 29% to 90% depending on site-specific characteristics from flooded rice paddy and analyzed to be a promising option for enhancing the productivity of water as well, an increasingly constraining resource. Additional benefits associated with the SRI/AWD can be less arsenic in the grain and less degradation of water quality in the run-off from rice paddies. Adoption and expansion of intermittent irrigation of SRI/AWD may require costly public and private investments in irrigation infrastructure that can precisely make irrigation control, and the involvement and upgrading of water management agencies and farmer organizations to enhance management capabilities. Private and public collaboration as a means of earning carbon credit under the clean-development mechanism (CDM) with SRI/AWD for industries to meet as a part of their GHG emission quota as well as a social contribution and publicity program could contribute to adopt intermittent irrigation and rural investment and development. Also, inclusion of SRI and AWD in programs designed under CDM and/or in official development assistance (ODA) projects could contribute to climate-change mitigation and help to achieve UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1077-1100
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• 2018

The present study analyzed the effect of firms' external research and development (R&D) on corporate productivity, while investigating the moderating effect of firm size on the external R&D-productivity nexus. In the empirical analysis, we estimated South Korean manufacturing firms' total factor productivity (TFP) using the firm level data drawn from the Survey of Business Activities (Korea National Statistical Office) for the years 2006-2015. Thereafter, focusing on the role of external R&D and its interaction with the firm size in determining firms' TFP, the productivity function was estimated as well. To this end, we used ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regression to highlight the heterogeneous impacts of external R&D by companies' productivity level. Empirical results confirmed that firms' external R&D significantly enhanced corporate productivity in all manufacturing industries, from high-tech to low-tech. The moderating effect of firm size in determining the productivity effect of external R&D was not as prominent as in the case for internal R&D, which exhibited some degree of the size premium in the productivity-enhancing effect. These results suggest that regardless of the firm size, external R&D can be an important channel for corporate productivity improvement, and can be a particularly effective strategy for SMEs with relatively limited internal R&D capacities.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.277-289
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• 2019

Objectives: This study examined the practices of a community meal program for older adults in rural areas during the agricultural off-season. Methods: A survey was conducted from December 12 to December 22, 2016. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 150 cooking volunteers, who had participated in the community meal program in 50 villages. A total of 114 responses were returned from 44 villages and used for data analysis. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the volunteers of eight villages. Results: Most of the cooking volunteers were 50 years old or older and they participated in serving older adults meals for good will. The cooking volunteers perceived that the older adults in their community did not eat various foods, had difficulties in grocery shopping, and frequently consumed salty foods. During the agricultural off-season, 40.9% of villages served the older adults meals 6-7 days a week and 95.5% provided meals for lunch. An average of 21 to 40 older adults were served meals in each village. The cooking volunteers reported that the food preparation and meal service times were sufficient, recipes provided were useful, and menus met the preference of the older adults. At the end of the program, they felt proud of serving meals for older adults in the community. An increased awareness of healthy eating, interest in health, and consumption of nutritious meals, a decrease in loneliness among older adults, and the promotion of fellowship in the community were rated highly. The cooking volunteers expected additional support for cooking personnel and insisted that the program should be provided for the entire agricultural off-seasons. Conclusions: The community meal program during the agricultural off-season for the elderly in rural areas was effective in improving the dietary life of older adults, relieving their feelings of isolation, and promoting fellowship of the community. The volunteers felt workload due to a shortage of volunteers but answered that they were rewarded by helping older adults in their community.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.201-214
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• 2019

The concept of ecosystem services is important for the effective management of regional ecological resources. Multiple ecosystem services provided by regional ecosystems are represented as ecosystem service bundles, which define the co-occurrent ecosystem services in a specific region. Bundles provide useful information to identify regional characteristics of ecosystem services and categorize sub-regions with similar patterns of ecosystem service provision. We assessed eleven ecosystem services using modeling approaches and statistical data and produced bundles of cities in Gyeonggi-do.We also conducted principal component analysis and cluster analysis to categorize these cities according to the characteristics of ecosystem services. The results indicated that the cities in Gyeonggi-do were categorized into three groups depending on the types of provision,regulation, and cultural services, and were designated as urbanized, urban-forest, agriculture, or forest cities. These groups were influenced by land use patterns reflecting regional social-environmental features. The results provide useful information for identifying regional ecosystem services and facilitate decision-making in regional ecosystem service management.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.28-55
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• 2010

Currently, the natural monument system of Korea for naming and designation of natural monuments is based on "Chosun Natural Monument Conservation Acts for Treasure, Ancient Landmark, and Natural Beauty" enacted in 1934 during Japanese colonization period. The framework of natural monument system is still in effect, which is pointed out as a problem. The Dangsan forests and Bibo forests are Korean traditional cultural resources representing countryside of Korea. Cultural Heritage Administration follows and relies on the 'Limsu of Chosun' (1938), a report written by a Japanese, for naming and classification of natural monuments. A Dangsan forest at Yesong-ri was named "Yesong-ri evergreen forest" in 1938. They followed the naming system of "evergeen forest" until today. The objective of this study is to review the issues and problems of 'Limsu of Chosun' and natural monument naming system begun during Japanese occupation period, and suggest an alternative to the current situation where naming natural monument accordingly without discretion. Eighteen dangsan forests bibo forests were selected for examination and analysis. The names of the dangsan forests bibo forests were evaluated to find out whether various aspects of the forests are reflected in the name. The study suggests that many forests and old trees designated as natural monument should be named as "~Dangsan forest", "~Dangsan forest Bibo forest", or "~Dangsan tree" with consistency accordingly. The new names will bring a momentum to overcome the limitation of natural monument naming system continued since Japanese occupation period, and also enhance the value of Dangsan forests and Bibo forests as Korean traditional and cultural landscapes.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.395-411
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• 2020

Background: This study investigated the anti-obesity effect of the flavonoid rich fraction (FRF) and its constituent, rutin obtained from the leaf of Morus alba L., on the lipid accumulation mechanism in 3T3-L1 adipocyte and C57BL/6 mouse models. Methods and Results: In Oil Red O staining, FRF (1,000 ㎍/㎖) treatments showed inhibition rate of 35.39% in lipid accumulation compared to that in the control. AdipoRedTM assay indicated that the triglyceride content in 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with FRF (1,000 ㎍/㎖) was reduced to 23.22%, and free glycerol content was increased to 106.04% that of the control. FRF and its major constituent, rutin affected mRNA gene expression. Rutin contributed to the inhibition of Sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) gene expression, and inhibited the transcription factors SREBP-1c, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ), CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). In addition, the effect of FRF administration on obesity development in C57BL/6 mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) was investigated. FRF suppressed weight gain, and reduced liver triglyceride and leptin secretion. FRF exerted potential anti-inflammatory effects by improving insulin resistance and adiponectin levels, and could thus be used to help counteract obesity. The mRNA expressions of PPAR-γ, FAS, ACC, and CPT-1 were determined in liver tissue. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis was also performed to evaluate the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in epididymal adipose tissue. Compared to the control group, mice fed the HFD showed the up-regulation in PPAR-γ, FAS, IL-6, and TNF-α genes, and down-regulation in CPT1 gene expression. FRF treatement markedly reduced the expression of PPAR-γ, FAS, IL-6, and TNF-α compared to those in HFD control, whereas increased the expression level of CPT1. Conclusions: These results suggest that the FRF and its major active constituent, rutin, can be used as effective anti-obesity agents.

• Journal of Internet of Things and Convergence
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.27-32
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• 2020

Along with the aging of the population, the number of dementia patients is increasing, and the social and economic burden is also increasing. Currently, the effective way to manage dementia patients is to identify patients with dementia early. However, in rural and island areas where medical staff are scarce, there is a problem that it is difficult to visit a hospital and get an early examination. Therefore, we propose a remote early detection system for dementia to solve the problems. The remote dementia early diagnosis system is a system that allows a patient to receive examination and treatment from a remote dementia expert using remote medical technology based on real-time image communication. The remote early diagnosis system for dementia consists of a local client system used by medical staff at health centers in the island, an image server that transmits, stores and manages images, and an expert client used by remote dementia experts. The local client subsystem satisfies the current medical law's remote collaboration by allowing the patient to use it with the health center's medical staff. In addition, expert clients are used by dementia experts, and can store/manage patient information, analyze patient history information, and predict the degree of dementia progression in the future.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2021

Vitamin E and K are essential micronutrients required by our body in small amounts for proper metabolic functions; however, the content of vitamin E and K commonly consumed in foods has not been comprehensively defined. In this study, the contents of vitamins E and K in sea algae and vegetables were analyzed and the analytical methods were validated. The α-tocopherol equivalent (α-TE) and vitamin K1 content in sea algae ranged from 0.15 to 1.14 mg/100 g and from 11.91 to 1,629.5 ㎍/100 g, respectively. In addition, α-TE and vitamin K1 of vegetables were detected in the range of 0.02-2.48 mg/100 g and 16.15-979.60 ㎍/100 g, respectively. In particular, β- and γ-tocopherol and α- and β-tocotrienol were detected in several vegetables. The analytical methods were accurate and reproducible. These results provide reliable data on the vitamin E and K contents of foods consumed in Korea for the development of National Standard Food Composition Database.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.100-107
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• 2021

An agrivoltaic system (AVS) is a system of innovation that comprises productions of photovoltaic power and agricultural crops on the same area. However, the decline in crop yield will be fatally occurred because the pigments of crop absorbs less light energy under AVS. In addtion, the photosynthetic capacity of crop grown under the partial shading of AVS is not well reported. In this study, the electron transport rate (ETR) and non-photochemical fluorescence quenching (NPQ) of soybean and rice under the AVS in Boseong and Naju was investigated using chlorophyll fluorescence measurement. The ETR value of soybean and rice under AVS were not significantly differed by location. It represents that the photophosphorylation rate of the crops is not critically different. It means that the decreases in total photosynthesis under AVS were mostly affected by the amount of light absorbed by leaves. Under AVS the photosynthesis of crops will be lower than field crops grown in open fields. This is because the crops under AVS observed higher NPQ, which means that the available energy cannot distribute to photophosphorylation reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.241-262
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• 2021

This paper reviewed the necessity of a information and communication technology (ICT)-based smart livestock system as a development strategy for the animal life industry in the future. It also predicted the trends of livestock and animal food until 2050, 30 years later. Worldwide, livestock raising and consumption of animal food are rapidly changing in response to population growth, aging, reduction of agriculture population, urbanization, and income growth. Climate change can change the environment and livestock's productivity and reproductive efficiencies. Livestock production can lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, water pollution, animal welfare, and human health problems. To solve these issues, there is a need for a preemptive future response strategy to respond to climate change, improve productivity, animal welfare, and nutritional quality of animal foods, and prevent animal diseases using ICT-based smart livestock system fused with the 4th industrial revolution in various aspects of the animal life industry. The animal life industry of the future needs to integrate automation to improve sustainability and production efficiency. In the digital age, intelligent precision animal feeding with IoT (internet of things) and big data, ICT-based smart livestock system can collect, process, and analyze data from various sources in the animal life industry. It is composed of a digital system that can precisely remote control environmental parameters inside and outside the animal husbandry. The ICT-based smart livestock system can also be used for monitoring animal behavior and welfare, and feeding management of livestock using sensing technology for remote control through the Internet and mobile phones. It can be helpful in the collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of a wide range of information that farmers need. It can provide new information services to farmers.