• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.9-16
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• 2022

Objectives : In the Korean Pharmacopoeia 12th edition (KP 12) and the Korean Herbal Pharmacopoeia (KHP), two authentic herbal medicines are described, namely Bang-gi (Cheong-pung-deung) and Mok-bang-gi, respectively. In China, Bun-bang-gi is also used as herbal medicine. This study was conducted to develop a molecular authentication tool for distinguishing the three herbal medicine used as Bang-gi, which are Sinomeni Caulis et Rhizoma (Rhizome of Sinomenium acutum), Stephaniae Tetrandrae Radix (Root of Stephania terandra), and Cocculi Radix (Root of Cocculus trilobus). Methods : Twelve samples of three species (four samples of S. acutum, five samples of S. tetrandra, and three samples of C. trilobus) were collected from different habitats. The sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were obtained and comparatively analyzed to design the species-specific sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) primers. The specificity of each pair of SCAR primers that amplified species-specific amplicon was evaluated for establishing the singleplex and multiplex PCR assay tools. Results : The singleplex SCAR markers show discriminability in C. acutum, S. tetrandra, and C. trilobus. These SCAR markers were also efficiently authenticated three species in the multiplex SCAR amplification using single PCR reaction. Furthermore, these PCR assay methods were applicable to authenticate dried herbal medicines distributed in the markets. Conclusions : The SCAR markers and PCR assay tools help discriminate the three herbal medicines used as Bang-gi at the species levels and provide a reliable genetic method to prevent the inauthentic distribution of these herbal medicines.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 2022

The genus Prunus (family: Rosaceae) consists of over 400 plant species and exhibits vast biodiversity worldwide. Given the wide distribution of this genus, its taxonomic classification is important. Anatomical characteristics are conserved and stable and can therefore be used as an important tool for the taxonomic characterization of plants. Therefore, this study aimed to assess and document the anatomical characteristics of the leaf, stem, and seed of P. africana using micrographs and photographs for possible use in the identification, quality control, and phylogenetic analysis of the species. The anatomical sections of a young stem revealed a cortex consisting of isodiametric parenchyma cells, druse crystals, primary vascular bundles, and pith. The mature stem bark majorly consisted of the rhytidome, with the periderm densely arranged in multiple layers; a cluster of stone cells; and sclerenchyma. The leaf sections were hypostomatic, with stomata sizes ranging from 18.90-(22.34)-26.90 × 15.41-(18.40)-21.22 ㎛. The leaf sections showed the presence of characteristic druse crystals, vascular bundles, and mesophyll layers. The pericarp contained the epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, with their thickness being approximately 350-400, 300-350, and 30-50 ㎛, respectively. In addition, it contained a seed testa with a thickness of approximately 50-60 ㎛. The morphological and anatomical characteristics observed in P. africana leaves, stems, and seeds in this study could serve as useful data for the taxonomic identification of this species.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.301-311
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• 2023

This research aims to identify the role that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can play in achieving the economic goals of the vision of Saudi Arabia 2030. The study relied on descriptive analysis, designing a standard model, and analyzing it using the Eviews9 program. The study also adopted the questionnaire as a tool for data collection. The study area covered Alkharj and Hawtat Bani Tamim governorates. The sample size of the study was 142 participants. The study's results confirmed the existence of a significant impact of changes in independent variables (X1, X2, X3, X4), which are (GDP, non-oil exports, number of employees, and public revenues), respectively. The dependent variable (Y) represents the number of small and medium-sized businesses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, it was found that 61.3% of small and medium-sized enterprises in the governorates of Al-Kharj and Hawtat Bani Tamim operate in the commercial sector. Most study participants concur that SMEs significantly lowered the unemployment rate and helped boost the GDP rate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The obstacles and difficulties facing the establishment of these enterprises were financial problems, marketing problems, and corporate monopoly. Furthermore, most of the small and medium l enterprises faced financing problems.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2022

The static strength and fatigue crack resistance of the aircraft skin structures depend on the materials used and joint type. Most of the commercial aircraft's skin panel structures are made from aluminium alloy and carbon fibre reinforced epoxy. In this study, the fatigue resistance of four joint configurations (metal/metal, metal/composite, composite/composite and composite/metal) with riveted, adhesive bonded, and hybrid joining techniques are investigated with experiments and finite element analysis. The fatigue tests were tension-tension because of the typical nature of the loads on aircraft skin panels susceptible of experimenting fatigue. Experiment results suggest that the fatigue life of hybrid joints is superior to adhesive bonded joints, and these in turn much better than conventional riveted joints. Thanks to the fact that, for hybrid joints, the adhesive bond provides better load distribution and ensures load-carrying capacity in the event of premature adhesive failure while rivets induce compressive residual stresses in the joint. Results from FE tool ABAQUS analysis for adhesive bonded and hybrid joints agrees with the experiments. From the analysis, the energy release rate for adhesive bonded joints is higher than that of hybrid joints in both opening (mode I) and shear direction (mode II). Most joints show higher energy release rate in mode II. This indicates that the joints experience fatigue crack in the shear direction, which is responsible for crack opening.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.61-72
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• 2023

Accurate estimation of forest carbon stocks is important in establishing greenhouse gas reduction plans. In this study, we estimate the spatial distribution of forest carbon stocks using machine learning techniques based on high-resolution remote sensing data and detailed field survey data. The high-resolution remote sensing data used in this study are Landsat indices (EVI, NDVI, NDII) for monitoring vegetation vitality and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data for describing topography. We also used the forest growing stock data from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) for estimating forest biomass. Based on these data, we built a model based on machine learning methods and optimized for Korean forest types to calculate the forest carbon stocks per grid unit. With the newly developed estimation model, we created forest carbon stocks maps and estimated the forest carbon stocks in South Korea. As a result, forest carbon stock in South Korea was estimated to be 432,214,520 tC in 2020. Furthermore, we estimated the loss of forest carbon stocks due to the Donghae-Uljin forest fire in 2022 using the forest carbon stock map in this study. The surrounding forest destroyed around the fire area was estimated to be about 24,835 ha and the loss of forest carbon stocks was estimated to be 1,396,457 tC. Our model serves as a tool to estimate spatially distributed local forest carbon stocks and facilitates accounting of real-time changes in the carbon balance as well as managing the LULUCF part of greenhouse gas inventories.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.111-120
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• 2006

In this research, numerical simulations by PFC considering discrete element method are conducted to predict experimental results of large triaxial compression test with rockfill material for dam construction. For generation of compacted assembly with specific grain size distribution and initial material porosity, the clump logic method and expansion of generated particles are adapted. To predict stress-stain behavior of large triaxial test, discrete particle modelling is applied with micro parameters which are chosen by calibration process. It is expected that distinct particle modelling method could be used as a useful tool to investigate micro and macro behavior associated with geotechnical problems and develop a numerical laboratory.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.4
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• pp.473-486
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• 2023

Nowadays, urban centers are increasingly vertical, making architects and engineers look for more efficient tools to analyze the effects of wind on tall buildings. Topology optimization can be used as an efficient tool for the design of bracing systems. Therefore, this work obtained the wind loads that act in the CAARC building, following the Brazilian standard NBR 6123/1988 and using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Four loading situations were considered, using the SIMP and BESO methods to optimize two-dimensional structures. A comparison between the SIMP and BESO methods is presented, showing the differences in the geometry of the solution found by both methods, the percentage variation in the objective function values and the dimensionless processing time. The solutions obtained through the loads obtained by the Brazilian standard are also compared with the numerical solutions obtained by CFD. The results show that the BESO method presented more rigid structures compared to the SIMP method. The bracing structures obtained with the SIMP method always present similar patterns in the distribution and quantity of bars, in contrast to the BESO method where no characteristic topology pattern was observed. It was concluded that even though the structures obtained by the BESO method presented greater stiffness, the SIMP method was less susceptible to the methodology used for the determination of wind loads. Additionally, it was evident the great potential that the combination topology optimization and computational wind engineering have in the design of bracing systems of high functional and aesthetic standards.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

Purpose : This study examined the relationship between oral health management behavior and subjective health perception by using a tool that measures health-related quality of life named EQ-5D. The findings are expected to provide fundamental data for developing diverse programs, including health- and oral-health-related educational media, to ultimately enhance people's health-related quality of life. Methods : Adults over the age of 20 were extracted from the raw materials of the 8th national health and nutrition examination survey conducted in 2019. Among them, 4034 were finally chosen as the study subjects after checking the response distribution of relevant questions and excluding inadequate samples. Variables included general characteristics, health management behavior, oral health management behavior, subjective health perception, and EQ-5D level. Cross-tabulation test, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and linear regression analysis were conducted using SPSS 25.0. Results : EQ-5D, which measures the level of health-related quality of life, was high when the subjects had a medical check-up experience, no experience of unsatisfactory medical service, and did not get an influenza vaccination (p<.001). The quality of life was higher when the subjects received dental inspections, did not require treatment, and used oral care goods (p<.005). Health-related quality of life was also higher when the subjective health level and subjective oral health level were high. Conclusion : Results indicate that subjective health, oral health perception level, and quality of life together were high when people had a regular check-up, did not neglect treatment, and used oral care goods. Considering the findings of this study, check-up programs that are customized for each age group are necessary. Health-related quality of life could be enhanced through the provision of diverse medical services and active efforts to prevent any medical blind spot.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.273-283
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• 2022

Banking and finance is a broad term that incorporates a variety of smaller, more specialized subjects such as corporate finance, tax finance, and insurance finance. A virtual assistant that assists users in searching for information about banking and finance terms might be an extremely beneficial tool for users. In this study, we explored the process of searching for information, seeking opportunities, and developing a virtual assistant in the first stages of starting learning and understanding Vietnamese to increase effectiveness and save time, which is also an innovative business practice in Use-case Vietnam. We built the FIBA2020 dataset and proposed a pipeline that used Natural Language Processing (NLP) inclusive of Natural Language Understanding (NLU) algorithms to build chatbot applications. The open-source framework RASA is used to implement the system in our study. We aim to improve our model performance by replacing parts of RASA's default tokenizers with Vietnamese tokenizers and experimenting with various language models. The best accuracy we achieved is 86.48% and 70.04% in the ideal condition and worst condition, respectively. Finally, we put our findings into practice by creating an Android virtual assistant application using the model trained using Whitespace tokenizer and the pre-trained language m-BERT.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.70.1-70.1
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• 2021

We examine the HI gas kinematics and distributions of galaxy pairs in group or cluster environments from high-resolution Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) WALLABY pilot observations. We use 32 well-resolved close pair galaxies from the Hydra, Norma, and NGC 4636, two clusters and a group of which are identified by their spectroscopy information and additional visual inspection. We perform profile decomposition of HI velocity profiles of the galaxies using a new tool, BAYGAUD which allows us to separate a line-of-sight velocity profile into an optimal number of Gaussian components based on Bayesian MCMC techniques. Then, we construct super profiles via stacking of individual HI velocity profiles after aligning their central velocities. We fit a model which consists of double Gaussian components to the super profiles, and classify them as kinematically cold and warm HI gas components with respect to their velocity dispersions, narrower or wider 𝜎, respectively. The kinematically cold HI gas reservoir (M_cold/M_HI) of the paired galaxies is found to be relatively higher than that of unpaired control samples in the clusters and the group, showing a positive correlation with the HI mass in general. Additionally, we quantify the gravitational instability of the HI gas disk of the sample galaxies using their Toomre Q parameters and HI morphological disturbances. While no significant difference is found for the Q parameter values between the paired and unpaired galaxies, the paired galaxies tend to have larger HI asymmetry values which are derived using their moment0 map compared to those of the non-paired control sample galaxies in the distribution.