• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2019

Terrestrial Gross Primary Production (GPP) is the largest global carbon flux, and forest ecosystems are important because of the ability to store much more significant amounts of carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems. There have been several attempts to estimate GPP using mechanism-based models. However, mechanism-based models including biological, chemical, and physical processes are limited due to a lack of flexibility in predicting non-stationary ecological processes, which are caused by a local and global change. Instead mechanism-free methods are strongly recommended to estimate nonlinear dynamics that occur in nature like GPP. Therefore, we used the mechanism-free machine learning techniques to estimate the daily GPP. In this study, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN) were used and compared with the traditional multiple linear regression model (LM). MODIS products and meteorological parameters from eddy covariance data were employed to train the machine learning and LM models from 2006 to 2013. GPP prediction models were compared with daily GPP from eddy covariance measurement in a deciduous forest in South Korea in 2014 and 2015. Statistical analysis including correlation coefficient (R), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean squared error (MSE) were used to evaluate the performance of models. In general, the models from machine-learning algorithms (R = 0.85 - 0.93, MSE = 1.00 - 2.05, p < 0.001) showed better performance than linear regression model (R = 0.82 - 0.92, MSE = 1.24 - 2.45, p < 0.001). These results provide insight into high predictability and the possibility of expansion through the use of the mechanism-free machine-learning models and remote sensing for predicting non-stationary ecological processes such as seasonal GPP.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.255-263
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• 2019

Glycyrrhizae radix is one of the most frequently prescribed ingredients in Oriental medicine, and Glycyrrhizae radix extract has been shown to exert anti-cancer effects. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of programed cell death (apoptosis) by Glycyrrhizae radix are poorly defined. In the present study, it was examined the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis by water extracts of Glycyrrhizae radix (GRW) in human bladder T24 cancer cells. It was found that GRW could inhibit the cell growth of T24 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death, as evidenced by the formation of apoptotic bodies, DNA fragmentation and increased populations of annexin-V positive cells. The induction of apoptotic cell death by GRW was connected with an up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax protein expression and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL), and inhibition of apoptosis family proteins (XIAP, cIAP-1 and cIAP-2). In addition, apoptosis-inducing concentrations of GRW induced the activation of caspase-9, an initiator caspase of the mitochondrial-mediated intrinsic pathway, and caspase-3, accompanied by proteolytic degradation of PARP. GRW also induced apoptosis via a death receptor-mediated extrinsic pathway by caspase-8 activation, resulting in the down-regulation of total Bid and suggesting the existence of cross-talk between the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. Taken together, the present results suggest that GRW may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the control of human bladder cancer cells.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.37-71
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• 2021

Rapeseed is a typical winter crop, and its freezing stress tolerance is a major feature for winter survival. Therefore, it is important to comprehend clearly the physical and molecular mechanisms of rapeseed under freezing stress conditions. This study investigates the physical and transcriptome changes of two rapeseed lines, 'J8634-B-30' and 'EMS26', under cold acclimation and freezing temperature treatments. The proline content of 'J8634-B-30' at 5 ℃ increased 8.7-fold compared to that before treatment, and there was no significant change in that of 'EMS26' RNA-sequencing analysis revealed 5,083 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of 'J8634-B-30' under cold acclimation condition. Among the genes, 2,784 (54.8%) were up-regulated and 2,299 (45.2%) were down-regulated. The DEGs of 'EMS26' under cold acclimation condition were 5,831 genes, and contained 2,199 up-regulated genes (37.7%) and 3,632 down-regulated genes (62.3%). Among them, only DEGs annotated in the cold response-related signaling pathways were selected, and their expression in the two rapeseed lines was compared. Comparative DEGs analysis indicated that cold response related signaling pathways are proline metabolism and ABA (Abscisic acid) signaling. And ICE (Inducer of CBF expression) - CBF (C-repeat-binding factor) - COR (Cold-regulated) signaling were the significantly differentially expressed transcripts in the two rapeseed lines. The major induced transcripts of 'J8634-B-30' induced P5CS (Δ'-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase), which is related to proline biosynthesis, PYL (pyrabactin resistance-like protein, ABA receptor) and COR413 (cold-regulated 413 plasma membrane 1). In conclusion, these result provide a foundation for understanding the mechanisms of freezing stress tolerance in rapeseeds. Further functional studies should be performed on the freezing stress-related genes identified in this study, which can contribute to the transgenic and molecular breeding for freezing stress tolerance in rapeseed.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2021

This study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics, phenolic concentration and antioxidant capacity of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) sprout and investigate the possibility of using super absorbent polymer (SAP) as a medium in hydroponic cultivation in a plant factory. The control was used a commercial sprout cultivation tool (19 × 14 × 9 cm, W × D × L), and a treatment (SAP) was added on the cultivation tool to compare the effect of SAP. Safflower sprouts were immersed in a distilled water at 30 ℃ for 5 hours, and then grown in a plant growth chamber. The temperature and relative humidity were maintained at 25 ± 1℃ and 70 ± 4%, respectively. The light condition was maintained at 35 ± 6 μmol·m-2·s-1 (12h). Amaranth sprouts were grown in a plant growth chamber maintained with temperature of 25 ± 2℃, relative humidity of 70 ± 5% and light condition of 188 ± 10 μmol·m-2·s-1 (16h). A physical and chemical characteristic of SAP, and a germination rate, growth characteristics and secondary metabolites were analyzed in both safflower and amaranth. There was no significant effect on SAP in a germination rate, growth and secondary metabolites of safflower compared to the control, whereas amaranth grown under SAP was higher in germination rate, dry weight, phenolic concentration, and antioxidant capacity compared to the control. As a result, this study was suggested that cultivation of sprouts using SAP would be possible in a plant factory, and further studies on SAP on plant physiological response are required.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.603-608
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• 2021

The purpose of this perspective research is to discuss the potential role of exercise-interventions in COVID-19, terms of prevention and prognosis in the periods of the COVID-19 vaccine. SARCO-CoV-2. COVID-19 was detected as a new virus causing severe cardiovascular and respiratory complications. It emerged as a global public health emergency and national pandemic. It caused more than 1 million deaths in the first 6 months of the pandemic and resulted in huge social and economic fluctuations internationally. Unprecedented stressful situations, such as COVID-19 blue and COVID-19 red impact on many health problems. In healthy individuals, COVID-19 infection may induced no symptoms (i.e., asymptomatic), whereas others may experience flu-like symptoms, such as ARDS, pneumonia, and death. Poor health status, such as obesity and cardiovascular and respiratory complications, are high risk factors for COVID-19 prevention, occurrence, and prognosis. Several COVID-19 vaccines are currently in human trials. However, the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines, including potential side effects, such as anaphylaxis (a life-threatening allergic reaction) and rare blood clots, still need to be investigated. On the basis of direct and indirect evidence, it seems that regular and moderate physical exercise can be recommended as a nonpharmacological, efficient, and safe way to cope with COVID-19. Physical inactivity and metabolic abnormalities are directly associated with reduced immune responses, including reduced innate, CMI, and AMI responses. Due to prolonged viral shedding, quarantine in inactive, obese and disease people should likely be longer than physical active people. Multicomponent and systemic exercise should be considered for the obese, disease, and elderly people. More mechanism research is needed in this area.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.251-267
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• 2021

Remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) are empirically related with gross primary productivity (GPP) in various spatio-temporal scales. The uncertainties in GPP-VI relationship increase with temporal resolution. Uncertainty also exists in the eddy covariance (EC)-based estimation of GPP, arising from the partitioning of the measured net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) into GPP and ecosystem respiration (RE). For two forests and two agricultural sites, we correlated the EC-derived GPP in various time scales with three different near-surface remotely sensed VIs: (1) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), (2) enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and (3) near infrared reflectance from vegetation (NIRv) along with NIRvP (i.e., NIRv multiplied by photosynthetically active radiation, PAR). Among the compared VIs, NIRvP showed highest correlation with half-hourly and monthly GPP at all sites. The NIRvP was used to test the reliability of GPP derived by two different NEE partitioning methods: (1) original KoFlux methods (GPP_Ori) and (2) machine-learning based method (GPP_ANN). GPP_ANN showed higher correlation with NIRvP at half-hourly time scale, but there was no difference at daily time scale. The NIRvP-GPP correlation was lower under clear sky conditions due to co-limitation of GPP by other environmental conditions such as air temperature, vapor pressure deficit and soil moisture. However, under cloudy conditions when photosynthesis is mainly limited by radiation, the use of NIRvP was more promising to test the credibility of NEE partitioning methods. Despite the necessity of further analyses, the results suggest that NIRvP can be used as the proxy of GPP at high temporal-scale. However, for the VIs-based GPP estimation with high temporal resolution to be meaningful, complex systems-based analysis methods (related to systems thinking and self-organization that goes beyond the empirical VIs-GPP relationship) should be developed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2022

The human thermal environment in an apartment complex located in Seoul was quantitatively analyzed to devise methods to modify human heat-related stresses in landscape and urban planning. Microclimatic data (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and short- and long-wave radiation) were collected at 6 locations [Apt-center, roof (cement), roof (grass), ground, playground, and a tree-lined road] in the late spring and summer, and the data were used to estimate the human thermal sensation, physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and universal thermal climate index (UTCI). As a result, the playground location had the highest thermal environment, and the roof (grass) location had the lowest. The mean difference between the two locations was 0.8-1.1℃ in air temperature, 1.8-4.0% in relative humidity, and 7.5-8.0℃ in mean radiant temperature. In open space locations, the wind speed was 0.4-0.5 ms-1 higher than others. Also, a wind tunnel effect happened at the Apt-center location during the afternoon. For the human thermal sensation, PET and UTCI, the mean differences between the playground and roof (grass) locations were: 5.2℃ (Max. 11.7℃) in late spring and 5.4℃ (Max. 18.1℃) in summer in PET; and 3.0℃ (Max. 6.1℃) in late spring and 2.6℃ (Max. 9.8℃) in summer in UTCI. The mean differences indicated a level change in PET and 1/2 level in UTCI, and the maximum differences showed greater changes, 2-3 levels in PET, and 1-1.5 levels in UTCI. Moreover, the roof (grass) location gave 4.6℃ PET reduction and a 2.5℃ UTCI reduction in late spring, and a 4.4℃ PET reduction and a 2.0℃ UTCI reduction in the summer when compared with the roof (cement) location, which results in a 2/3 level change in PET and a 1/3 level in UTCI. Green infrastructure locations [roof (grass), ground, and a tree-lined road] were not statistically significant in the reduction of PET and UTCI in thermal environment modifying effects. The implementation of green infrastructure, such as rooftop gardens, grass pavement, and street tree planting, should be adopted in landscape planning and be employed for human thermal environment modification.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.300-309
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• 2021

This study was conducted to develop food and medicinal products containing useful components of Lentinula edodes in Codonopsis lanceolata and Platycodon grandiflorus for use as herbal medicine. We manufactured C. lanceolata (FCLM) and P. grandiflorus (FPLM) extract fermented with L. edodes mycelium. The effect of the two fermented products on proximate composition, free sugar, organic acid, 𝛽-glucan, ergothioneine, ergosterol, and vitamin D₂ levels, and 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell growth were studied. The proximate composition analysis results showed that the crude fiber and crude fat content in FCLM was higher than that in FPLM, and the crude protein and soluble nitrogen content in FPLM was higher than that in FCLM. Free sugar analysis detected arabinose, glucose, and sucrose in both FCLM and FPLM, and the total free sugar content was high in FPLM. The organic acid content was lower in FCLM and FPLM compared to C. lanceolata and P. grandiflorus before fermentation. The 𝛽-glucan content was higher than that of L. edodes used as a control in both fermented products, FCLM and FPLM. The content of ergothioneine, an antioxidant, was higher in FCLM than in FPLM. Ergosterol content was highest in L. edodes which was used as a control, and the two fermented products showed similar content. Vitamin D₂ was detected only in FCLM and FPLM, and FPLM (0.58±0.01 mg%) showed a higher vitamin D₂ content than FCLM (0.47±0.01). FCLM and FPLM showed a higher level of cell viability for 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes compared to non-fermented C. lanceolata and P. grandiflorus. In addition, FCLM and FPLM inhibited 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation more than C. lanceolata and P. grandiflorus before fermentation, which may exert an anti-obesity effect.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.361-368
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• 2021

The objective of this study was to establish technology for removing bacteria with human- and eco-friendly material. Staphylococcus aureus as an important component for balanced equilibrium among microbiomes, was cultured under various concentrations of phosphate. Experimental observation relating to physical properties was performed in an addition of phosphate buffer. Statistically minimum value of size and hardness using atomic force microscope was observed on the matured biofilm at 5 mM concentration of phosphate. As a result of absorbance for the biofilm tagged with dye, concentration of biofilm was reduced with phophate, too. To identify whether this reduction by phosphate at the 5 mM is caused by counter ion or not, sodium chloride was treated to the biofilm under the same condition. To elucidate components of the biofilm counting analysis of the biofilm using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry was employed. The secondary ions from the biofilm revealed that alteration of physical properties is consistent to the change of extracellular polymeric substrate (EPS) for the biofilm. Viscoelastic characterization of the biofilm using a controlled shear stress rheometer, where internal change of physical properties could be detected, exhibited a static viscosity and a reduction of elastic modulus at the 5 mM concentration of phosphate. Accordingly, bacteria at the 5 mM concentration of phosphate are attributed to removing the EPS through a reduction of elastic modulus for bacteria. We suggest that the reduction of concentration of biofilm induces dispersion which assists to easily spread its dormitory. In conclusion, it is elucidated that an addition of phosphate causes removal of EPS, and that causes a function of antibiotic.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.384-392
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• 2022

The objective of this study was to estimated nitrogen content and chlorophyll using RGB, Hyperspectral sensors to diagnose of nitrogen nutrition in apple tree leaves. Spectral data were acquired through image processing after shooting with high resolution RGB and hyperspectral sensor for two-year-old 'Hongro/M.9' apple. Growth data measured chlorophyll and leaf nitrogen content (LNC) immediately after shooting. The growth model was developed by using regression analysis (simple, multi, partial least squared) with growth data (chlorophyll, LNC) and spectral data (SPAD meter, color vegetation index, wavelength). As a result, chlorophyll and LNC showed a statistically significant difference according to nitrogen fertilizer level regardless of date. Leaf color became pale as the nutrients in the leaf were transferred to the fruit as over time. RGB sensor showed a statistically significant difference at the red wavelength regardless of the date. Also hyperspectral sensor showed a spectral difference depend on nitrogen fertilizer level for non-visible wavelength than visible wavelength at June 10th and July 14th. The estimation model performance of chlorophyll, LNC showed Partial least squared regression using hyperspectral data better than Simple and multiple linear regression using RGB data (Chlorophyll R²: 81%, LNC: 81%). The reason is that hyperspectral sensor has a narrow Full Half at Width Maximum (FWHM) and broad wavelength range (400-1,000 nm), so it is thought that the spectral analysis of crop was possible due to stress cause by nitrogen deficiency. In future study, it is thought that it will contribute to development of high quality and stable fruit production technology by diagnosis model of physiology and pest for all growth stage of tree using hyperspectral imagery.