• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2019

As tumors develop, they encounter microenvironmental stress, such as hypoxia and glucose depletion, due to poor vascular function, thereby leading to necrosis, which is observed in solid tumors. Necrotic cells are known to release cellular cytoplasmic contents, such as high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), into the extracellular space. The release of HMGB1, a proinflammatory and tumor-promoting cytokine, plays an important role in promoting inflammation and metabolism during tumor development. Recently, HMGB1 was shown to induce the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis. However, the underlying mechanism of the HMGB1-induced EMT, invasion, and metastasis is unclear. In this study, we showed that noninvasive breast cancer cells MCF-7 formed tightly packed, rounded spheroids and that the cells in the inner regions of a multicellular tumor spheroid (MTS), an in vitro model of a solid tumor, led to necrosis due to an insufficient supply of O2 and glucose. In addition, after 7 d of MTS culture, the EMT was induced via the transcription factor Snail. We also showed that HMGB1 receptors, including RAGE, TLR2, and TLR4, were induced by MTS culture. RAGE, TLR2, and TLR4 shRNA inhibited MTS growth, supporting the idea that RAGE/TLR2/TLR4 play critical roles in MTS growth. They also prevented MTS culture-induced Snail expression, pointing to RAGE/TLR2/TLR4-dependent Snail expression. RAGE, TLR2, and TLR4 shRNA suppressed the MTS-induced EMT. In human cancer tissues, high levels of RAGE, TLR2, and TLR4 were detected. These findings demonstrated that the HMGB-RAGE/TLR2/TLR4-Snail axis played a crucial role in the growth of the MTS and MTS culture-induced EMT.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.229-240
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• 2021

The Global Ocean Data Assimilation and Prediction System (GODAPS) in operation at the KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) is introduced. GODAPS consists of ocean model, ice model, and 3-d variational ocean data assimilation system. GODAPS assimilates conventional and satellite observations for sea surface temperature and height, observations of sea-ice concentration, as well as temperature and salinity profiles for the ocean using a 24-hour data assimilation window. It finally produces ocean analysis fields with a resolution of 0.25 ORCA (tripolar) grid and 75-layer in depth. This analysis is used for providing a boundary condition for the atmospheric model of the KMA Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 5 (GloSea5) in addition to monitoring on the global ocean and ice. For the purpose of evaluating the quality of ocean analysis produced by GODAPS, a one-year data assimilation experiment was performed. Assimilation of global observing system in GODAPS results in producing improved analysis and forecast fields with reduced error in terms of RMSE of innovation and analysis increment. In addition, comparison with an unassimilated experiment shows a mostly positive impact, especially over the region with large oceanic variability.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.289-296
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• 2008

BPES (Blepharophimosis/Ptosis/Epicanthus inversus Syndrome) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in FOXL2. Affected individuals have premature ovarian failure (POF) in addition to small palpebral fissures, drooping eyelids, and broad nasal bridge. FOXL2 is a member of the forkhead family transcription factors. In FOXL2-deficient ovaries, granulosa cell differentiation dose not progress, leading to arrest of folliculogenesis and oocytes atresia. Using yeast two-hybrid screening of rat ovarian cDNA library with FOXL2 as bait, we found that small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO)-conjugating E2 enzyme UBE2I protein interacted with FOXL2 protein. UBE2I also known as UBC9 is an essential protein for processing SUMO modification. Sumoylation is a form of post-translational modification involved in diverse signaling pathways including the regulation of transcriptional activities of many transcriptional factors. In the present study, we confirmed the protein-protein interaction between FOXL2 and UBE2I in human cells, 293T, by in vivo immunoprecipitation. In addition, we generated truncated FOXL2 mutants and identified the region of FOXL2 required for its association with UBE2I using yeast-two hybrid system. Therefore, the identification of UBE2I as an interacting protein of FOXL2 further suggests a presence of novel regulatory mechanism of FOXL2 by sumoylation.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.52-64
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• 2023

As cities continue to develop rapidly, overcrowding, pollution, and urban sanitation problems arise, and the need to separate conflicting uses is emerging. From this perspective, there is no disagreement that urban land use should be planned. Therefore, all activities in land space must be predicted in advance and planned so that land use can be rationally established. This study used the constructed data to compare and analyze the use distribution characteristics of residential, commercial, and industrial areas in Busan Metropolitan City to identify the building area status, total floor area, and floor area ratio by use zone in districts and counties in Busan Metropolitan City. As a result, it was found that the residential area accounted for the largest proportion of the area by use zone at 51%, and that the residential area accounted for the largest proportion at 63% of the total floor area by use zone. And the analysis was conducted using a specialization coefficient that can identify regional characteristics based on land use composition ratio. Because it is difficult to determine the trend of the entire region just by counting the absolute value of the area, the area composition ratio was calculated and compared. Looking at the residential facilities among the specialization coefficients by use area, it is above 1.0 except for Gijang-gun, Sasang-gu, Saha-gu, and Jung-gu. Commercial facilities are over 1.0 except for Gijang-gun, Gangseo-gu, Nam-gu, Sasang-gu, and Saha-gu. Looking at industrial facilities, you can see that the industrial complex distribution area is Gangseo-gu (2.5), Gijang-gun (1.22), Sasang-gu (2.06), and Saha-gu (1.64). In addition, it was found that business facilities and educational welfare facilities were evenly distributed. Land use analysis was conducted through simulation of the current status of building heights according to each elevation in each use area and the height of buildings in each use area. In general, areas over 80m account for more than 43% of Busan City, showing that the distribution of use areas is designated in areas with high altitude due to the influence of topographical conditions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-298
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• 2023

Continuous research efforts are being devoted to unmanned mobile platforms for lunar exploration. There is an ongoing demand for real-time information processing to accurately determine the positioning and mapping of areas of interest on the lunar surface. To apply deep learning processing and analysis techniques to practical rovers, research on software integration and optimization is imperative. In this study, a foundational investigation has been conducted on real-time analysis of virtual lunar base construction site images, aimed at automatically quantifying spatial information of key objects. This study involved transitioning from an existing region-based object recognition algorithm to a boundary box-based algorithm, thus enhancing object recognition accuracy and inference speed. To facilitate extensive data-based object matching training, the Batch Hard Triplet Mining technique was introduced, and research was conducted to optimize both training and inference processes. Furthermore, an improved software system for object recognition and identical object matching was integrated, accompanied by the development of visualization software for the automatic matching of identical objects within input images. Leveraging satellite simulative captured video data for training objects and moving object-captured video data for inference, training and inference for identical object matching were successfully executed. The outcomes of this research suggest the feasibility of implementing 3D spatial information based on continuous-capture video data of mobile platforms and utilizing it for positioning objects within regions of interest. As a result, these findings are expected to contribute to the integration of an automated on-site system for video-based construction monitoring and control of significant target objects within future lunar base construction sites.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.105-115
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• 2016

This study was carried out to establish the optimum forest management plan for the Cryptomeria japonica plantations in southern inland and Jeju island in Korea. Sixty seven circular sample plots of 0.04ha were established and we surveyed vegetation structure and growth characteristics from three layers(upper, middle, and lower). As a result of cluster analysis obtained by importance values of each tree species, the community type of C. japonica stands were classified into C. japonica group(C1) and C. japonica-C obtusa group. C. obtusa community were also sbudivided into P. thunbergii-Q. serrata group(C2) and Q. serrata-C obtusa group(C3). In tree layers importance value(IV) of C. japonica were 97.2% in C1, 80.7% in C2, and 47.6% in C3 and in sub-tree layers IV were 8.9% in C1, 15.2% in C2, and 5.7% in C3. Especially in C3 there are bamboo species (Smilacina japonica var. lutecarpa and Pseudosasa japonica) it is necessary for us to control them. In shrub layers C. japonica were found in C1(9.2%) and C2(7.0%), but except for C3. In tree layer species diversity indices of each community ranged from the lowest 0.059 in C1 to the highest 0.548 in C3. Dominance ranged from 0.958 in C1 to 0.393 in C3 which may caused by interspecific competition. Current annual increment of diameter growth ranged from 7.01mm/yr to 8.04mm/yr. As a result of our study we recommend the application of proper thinning and pruning for C1 and C2.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2023

Recently, due to the influence of climate change, the occurrence of damage to heavy rain is increasing around the world, and the frequency of heavy rain with a large amount of rain in a short period of time is also increasing. Heavy rains generate a large amount of outflow in a short time, causing flooding in the downstream part of the mountainous area before joining the small and medium-sized rivers. In order to reduce damage to downstream areas caused by flooding, it is very important to calculate the outflow of mountainous areas due to torrential rains. However, the sewage network flooding analysis, which is currently conducting the most analysis in Korea, uses the time and area method using the existing data rather than calculating the rainfall outflow in the mountainous area, which is difficult to determine that the soil characteristics of the region are accurately applied. Therefore, if the rainfall is analyzed for mountainous areas that can cause flooding in the downstream area in a short period of time due to large outflows, the accuracy of the analysis of flooding characteristics that can occur in the downstream area can be improved and used as data for evacuating residents and calculating the extent of damage. In order to calculate the rainfall outflow in the mountainous area, the rainfall outflow in the mountainous area was calculated using MIKE SHE among the MIKE series, and the flooding analysis in the downstream area was conducted through MIKE 21 FM (Flood model). Through this study, it was possible to confirm the amount of outflow and the time to reach downstream in the event of rainfall in the mountainous area, and the results of this analysis can be used to protect human and material resources through pre-evacuation in the downstream area in the future.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_4
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• pp.1097-1109
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• 2023

Urban is an area where small-scale changes to individual buildings occur frequently. An existing urban building database requires periodic updating to increase its usability. However, there are limitations in data collection for building changes over a wide urban. In this study, we check the possibility of detecting building changes and updating a building database by using satellite images that can capture a wide urban region by a single image. For this purpose, building areas in a satellite image are first extracted by projecting 3D coordinates of building corners available in a building database onto the image. Building areas are then divided into roof and facade areas. By comparing textures of the roof areas projected, building changes such as height change or building removal can be detected. New height values are estimated by adjusting building heights until projected roofs align to actual roofs observed in the image. If the projected image appeared in the image while no building is observed, it corresponds to a demolished building. By checking buildings in the original image whose roofs and facades areas are not projected, new buildings are identified. Based on these results, the building database is updated by the three categories of height update, building deletion, or new building creation. This method was tested with a KOMPSAT-3A image over Incheon Metropolitan City and Incheon building database available in public. Building change detection and building database update was carried out. Updated building corners were then projected to another KOMPSAT-3 image. It was confirmed that building areas projected by updated building information agreed with actual buildings in the image very well. Through this study, the possibility of semi-automatic building change detection and building database update based on single satellite image was confirmed. In the future, follow-up research is needed on technology to enhance computational automation of the proposed method.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.61-79
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• 2023

This study is a case study of overseas banana farms as a global agricultural startup that has hardly been attempted so far in terms of paradigm shift in the industry, beyond regional limitations. It was researched for the purpose of revealing the success factors of 'global agricultural startup' in terms of business process, entrepreneurship, and management dimensions learned through direct participation and observation at the local level. In order to study global agricultural startups, this study also conducted a comparative analysis of global startups (global startups) and global agricultural startups(global agricultural startups). In fact, the analysis consists of 'definition', 'components', and 'success factors', and we want to confirm the difference between the two concepts that can be distinguished. The case analysis tried to maximize the advantages of 'participatory action research' by directly observing and experiencing banana farms. In the case of banana farm cases, by dividing them into preparation process for farm development and farm development and management process, various variables considered in farm management were explained through the whole process of farm management. Through the process of overcoming and responding to specific failure cases, we tried to secure the reliability and validity of the research, and the case studies related to entrepreneurship, management, and organization analyzed by applying them by subdividing them into theoretical areas belonging to components and management that were theorized in existing preceding studies. This study is almost the first study on the process of creating a local entry business by directly moving the head office overseas rather than entering overseas agriculture as a subsidiary, joint venture or overseas corporation. In particular, it is a unique case that corresponds to agriculture in terms of region(Africa), scale(startup), and industry that have not been introduced so far as a global agricultural startup. In terms of entrepreneurship, it also concretely exemplified how entrepreneurship components such as innovativeness, risk-taking propensity, proactiveness, vision sharing, social contribution, leadership, etc., which have not been attempted so far in agricultural cases, are manifested and effective. The management and cultural aspects also went beyond the argument that only cultural aspects are important in overseas business, and also confirmed individual failure cases and their responses in recruitment, job, wage, retirement, development, organizational structure management, etc. As a result, there is significance and implications of this study in that it provides theoretical confirmation as well as practical and responsive basis for 'entrepreneurship', 'farming management', and 'management' aspects in overseas agricultural startup business operation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.17-26
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• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.