• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.600-605
• /
• 2019

Background: The leaves and roots of Panax ginseng are rich in ginsenosides. However, the chemical compositions of the leaves and roots of P. ginseng differ, resulting in different medicinal functions. In recent years, the aerial parts of members of the Panax genus have received great attention from natural product chemists as producers of bioactive ginsenosides. The aim of this study was the isolation and structural elucidation of novel, minor ginsenosides in the leaves of P. ginseng and evaluation of their antiinflammatory activity in vitro. Methods: Various chromatographic techniques were applied to obtain pure individual compounds, and their structures were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance and high-resolution mass spectrometry, as well as chemical methods. The antiinflammatory effect of the new compounds was evaluated on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Results and conclusions: Two novel, minor triterpenoid saponins, ginsenoside $LS_1$ (1) and 5,6-didehydroginsenoside $Rg_3$ (2), were isolated from the leaves of P. ginseng. The isolated compounds 1 and 2 were assayed for their inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, and Compound 2 showed a significant inhibitory effect with $IC_{50}$ of $37.38{\mu}M$ compared with that of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine ($IC_{50}=90.76{\mu}M$). Moreover, Compound 2 significantly decreased secretion of cytokines such as prostaglandin $E_2$ and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$. In addition, Compound 2 significantly suppressed protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. These results suggested that Compound 2 could be used as a valuable candidate for medicinal use or functional food, and the mechanism is warranted for further exploration.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.118-125
• /
• 2019

Swimming performance of fish is an important factor in the survival of fish. Also, swimming performance of fish is used in the form of habitat, or as a condition to consider when creating a fish ladder. However in Korea, researches in swimming performance of Korean freshwater fish were scarce and inadequate in some part, thus fish ladders were installed without considering their swimming performance. Therefore, in this study, we measured swimming performance of 4 Korean freshwater fish species to consider importance of swimming performance test. The fish used in this study were Carassius auratus, Zacco koreanus, Gnathopogon strigatus, Acheilognathus lanceolata intermedia species which was collected during October to November, 2018 at Geum River, and measurement for swimming speed of each fish was done by using $Loligo^{(R)}$ System, swim tunnel respirometer in January to February of 2019. The average value of the burst critical swimming speed ($U_{crit}$) for each species was $0.8{\pm}0.04m\;s^{-1}$ for C. auratus, $0.77{\pm}0.04m\;s^{-1}$ for Z. koreanus, $0.95{\pm}0.04m\;s^{-1}$ for G. strigatus, $0.73{\pm}0.03m\;s^{-1}$ for A. lanceolata intermedia and the average value of prolonged critical swimming speed was $0.54m\;s^{-1}$ for C. auratus, $0.67m\;s^{-1}$ for Z. koreanus, $0.7m\;s^{-1}$ for G. strigatus, $0.54m\;s^{-1}$ for A. lanceolata intermedia. Since the fish used in this experiment were collected from a small part of the water system in Korea and there were only 4 species, they were not enough to represent the species that inhabit the entire Korean water system. It will be necessary to continue evaluating the swimming performance of other freshwater species in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.558-572
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to classify the types of degraded areas of Mt. Jirisan section in Baekdudaegan and survey the actual condition of each damage type to use it as basic data for the direction of the restoration of damaged areas according to damage type based on the vegetation information of reference ecosystem. The analysis of the Mt. Jirisan section's actual degraded conditions showed that the total number of patches of degraded areas was 57, and the number of patches and size of degraded areas was higher at the low average altitude and gentle slope. Grasslands (deserted lands) and cultivated areas accounted for a high portion of the damage types, indicating that agricultural land use was a major damage factor. The survey on the conditions of 14 degraded areas showed that the types of damage were classified into the grassland, cultivated area, restoration area, logged-off land, and bare ground. The analysis of the degree of disturbance (the ratio of annual and biennial herb, urbanized index, and disturbance index) by each type showed that the simple single-layer vegetation structure mostly composed of the herbaceous and the degree of disturbance were high in the grassland and cultivated land. The double-layer vegetation structure appeared in the restoration area where the pine seedlings were planted, and the inflow of naturalized plants was especially high compared to other degraded areas due to disturbances caused by the restoration project and the nearby hiking trails. Although the inflow of naturalized plants was low because of high altitude in bare ground, the proportion of annual and biennial herb was high, indicating that all surveyed degraded areas were in early succession stages. The stand ordination by type of damage showed the restoration area on the I-axis, cultivated area, grassland, logged-off land, and bare ground in that order, indicating the arrangement by the damage type. Moreover, the stand ordination of the degraded areas and reference ecosystem based on floristic variation showed a clear difference in species composition. This study diagnosed the status of each damage type based on the reference ecosystem information according to the ecological restoration procedure and confirmed the difference in species composition between the diagnosis result and the reference ecosystem. These findings can be useful basic data for establishing the restoration goal and direction in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.108-118
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study was to provide baseline ecological data for the conservation of the Manchurian trout habitat through the investigation of the growth status of Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis, and Pearson's correlation analysis (PCA) between the B. lenok tsinlingensis population and the use of the land around Gyebangcheon stream. Sampling was conducted twice in July, September, and October 2018. During the July and September surveys, 882 individuals belonging to 13 species from six families were collected. The dominant species was Rhynchocypris kumgangensis and the subdominant species was Zacco koreanus. The total number of B. lenok tsinlingensis collected was 99. The results of the length-weight relationship in the B. lenok tsinlingensis population were analyzed with a regression coefficient b value of 3.1272 and a condition factor (k) value of 0.0006. Therefore, the growth condition of B. lenok tsinlingensis was regarded as fairly good. The QHEI(Qualitative habitat evaluation index) value in the B. lenok tsinlingensis habitat was 119.5(±0.5)-153.5(±0.5), indicating optimal-suboptimal conditions. As a result of the HIS (Habitat suitability index) analysis, it was confirmed that the optimal habitat for B. lenok tsinlingensis was 0.45-0.55m and >1 m in water depth, 0.55-0.65 m s^-1 in water velocity, and boulder in the substrate. The ratio of the land use in this study site was analyzed as 66.26-96.31% for forest and grassland areas, 0.00-23.79% for agricultural areas, 0.00-4.19% for urbanized areas, and 3.69-8.87% for others. Correlation analysis of the number of B. lenok tsinlingensis and various factors revealed statistically significant correlations between QHEI and forest and grassland areas, agricultural areas, and urbanized areas.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2021

This study aimed to evaluate preferences of Bukhansan dulegil using sentiment analysis, a natural language processing technique, to derive preferred and non-preferred factors. Therefore, we collected blog articles written in 2019 and produced sentimental scores by the derivation of positive and negative words in the texts for 21 dulegil courses. Then, content analysis was conducted to determine which factors led visitors to prefer or dislike each course. In blogs written about Bukhansan dulegil, positive words appeared in approximately 73% of the content, and the percentage of positive documents was significantly higher than that of negative documents for each course. Through this, it can be seen that visitors generally had positive sentiments toward Bukhansan dulegil. Nevertheless, according to the sentiment score analysis, all 21 dulegil courses belonged to both the preferred and non-preferred courses. Among courses, visitors preferred less difficult courses, in which they could walk without a burden, and in which various landscape elements (visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.) were harmonious yet distinct. Furthermore, they preferred courses with various landscapes and landscape sequences. Additionally, visitors appreciated the presence of viewpoints, such as observation decks, as a significant factor and preferred courses with excellent accessibility and information provisions, such as information boards. Conversely, the dissatisfaction with the dulegil courses was due to noise caused by adjacent roads, excessive urban areas, and the inequality or difficulty of the course which was primarily attributed to insufficient information on the landscape or section of the course. The results of this study can serve not only serve as a guide in national parks but also in the management of nearby forest green areas to formulate a plan to repair and improve dulegil. Further, the sentiment analysis used in this study is meaningful in that it can continuously monitor actual users' responses towards natural areas. However, since it was evaluated based on a predefined sentiment dictionary, continuous updates are needed. Additionally, since there is a tendency to share positive content rather than negative views due to the nature of social media, it is necessary to compare and review the results of analysis, such as with on-site surveys.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.27-42
• /
• 2020

Startup accelerators have emerged as new investment entities that help early startups, which are not easy to survive continuously due to lack of funds, commercialization capabilities, and experiences. As their positive performance on early startups and the ecosystem has been proven, the number of early startups which want to receive their investment is also increasing. However, they are vaguely preparing to attract accelerators' investment because they do not have any information on what factors the accelerators consider important. In addition, researches on startup accelerators are also at an early level, so there are no remarkable prior studies on factors that decide on investment. Therefore, this study aims to help startups prepare for investment attraction by looking at what factors are important for accelerators to invest, and to provide meaningful implications to academia. In the preceding study, we derived five upper level categories, 26 lower level accelerators' investment determinants through the qualitative meta-synthesis method, secondary data analysis, observation on US accelerators and in-depth interviews. In this study, we want to derive important implications by deriving priorities of the accelerators' investment determinants. Therefore, we used AHP that are evaluated as the suitable methodology for deriving importance and priority. The analysis results show that accelerators value market-related factors most. This means that startups that are subject to investment by accelerators are early-stage startups, and many companies have not fully developed their products or services. Therefore, market-related factors that can be evaluated objectively seem to be more important than products (or services) that are still ambiguous. Next, it was found that the factors related to the internal workforce of startups are more important. Since accelerators want to develop their businesses together with start-ups and team members through mentoring, ease of collaboration with them is very important, which seems to be important. The overall priority analysis results of the 26 investment determinants show that 'customer needs' and 'founders and team members' understanding of customers and markets' (0.62) are important and high priority factors. The results also show that startup accelerators consider the customer-centered perspective very important. And among the factors related to startups, the most prominent factor was the founder's openness and execution ability. Therefore, it can be confirmed that accelerators consider the ease of collaboration with these startups very important.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.41-54
• /
• 2021

This study targets the urban park corresponding to the core areas (Hubs) of Green Infrastructure and estimates their value utilizing the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and determines the planning factors which affect them. The research aims to provide basic data for supporting the value improvement in the planning stage for urban parks representing green infrastructure. The primary purpose of this research is to derive variables that affect economic value and planning factors to improve the use-value of urban parks, one of the Hubs of the green infrastructure. In this study, Sejong Lake Park, located in Sejong City, is the target site. This study collected the responses of 105 people by conducting a survey on the intention to pay for the use-value and the planning factors that affect it, targeting visitors to Sejong Lake Park. The study conducts Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) on this survey responses. The results are as follows: first, as a result of analyzing the variables which affect willingness to pay for use-value, residence and age influence the willingness to pay significantly among socioeconomic characteristics. Next, the survey responses of Double-bounded dichotomous choices (DB-DC) CVM are converted into variables through statistic techniques. Furthermore, the variables are used for a Logit model to draw coefficients. The average willingness to pay per person for the use-value of Sejong Lake Park using the derived coefficients was approximately found to be 8,597 won. Therefore, as of 2019, Sejong Lake Park, with a total of 430,000 visitors, is estimated to have an annual economic value of 3.7 billion won. Third, the average Likert scale of the planning factor affecting the decision to pay for the economic value of Sejong Lake Park was the highest along the waterfront landscape, and the convenience facilities and waterfront landscape showed the highest willingness to pay, 10,000 won. In the range between 2,500 won and 5,000 won, the waterfront area ranks highest. Therefore, it can be said that visitors to Sejong Lake Park take account of the economic value of using the waterfront landscape the most. This study is meaningful as a thesis on use-value and the planning factors that affected value evaluation results of urban parks, and the analysis of the correlation between the planning factors of urban parks as hubs located in urban areas.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.105-116
• /
• 2021

In the city of high population density crowded with buildings, Urban Heat Island (UHI) is intensified, and the city is vulnerable to thermal comfort. The maintenance of vacant land in downtown is treated as a factor that undermines the residential environment, spoils the urban landscape, and decreases the economic vitality of the whole region. Therefore, this study compared the effects on microclimate in the surrounding area according to the development scenarios targeting the vacant land in Songhyeon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The status quo, green oriented, building oriented and green-building mediation scenarios were established and ENVI-met was used to compare and analyze the impact of changes in wind speed, air temperature and mean radiant temperature (MRT) within 1 km of the target and the target site. The result of inside and 1 km radius the targeted area showed that the seasonal average temperature decreased and the wind speed increased when the green oriented scenario was compared with the current state one. It was expected that the temperature lowered to -0.73 ℃ or increased to 1.5 ℃ in summer, and the wind speed was affected up to 210 meters depending on the scenario. And it was revealed that green area inside the site generally affects inside area, but the layout and size of the buildings affect either internal and external area. This study is expected to help as a decision-making support tool for developing Songhyeon-dong area and to be used to reflect the part related to microclimate on the future environmental effects evaluation system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.49 no.6
• /
• pp.49-63
• /
• 2021

The Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children who means preschoolers is an educational facility that achieves holistic growth by experiencing forests, and it should not be completed by installing specific facilities in the forest environment, but should be a space where preschoolers can play freely in the forest environment themselves. This study comprehensively evaluated the current status of Seoul Forest Visitor Centers for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to enhance the effectiveness of forest experience. Through the theoretical review, seven spatial elements that enhance the effect of forest experience and six areas composing outdoor play areas were derived to prepare an analysis table for current status evaluation, and field survey studies were conducted on 24 centers in Seoul. Through expert interviews, the physical status was examined from the perspective of childhood education and the experiences of the users were summarized. As a result of the study, the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children is classified into six types according to the location characteristics and spatial structure, and has the characteristics of each type. The effectiveness of forest experience can be enhanced by identifying and revealing the environmental strengths of individual centers. In the case of outdoor experience learning zones, the proportion of exercise play areas was very large. By evenly organizing the forest experience space for each area, it will be possible to provide more diverse experiences to preschoolers. However, the status of uniform facility-oriented cannot be viewed as a fragmentary factor that lowers the effect of forest experience. The key to increasing the effect of forest experience by inducing creative activities is the spatial composition that considers the surrounding natural environment. Facilities should be a medium to help preschoolers' interest move into the forest. This study prepared data to understand the average physical status of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children and suggested space improvement measures to increase the effectiveness of forest experience. This can be used as basic data for research to improve the quality level of the Seoul Forest Visitor Center for Little Children about 10 years after the project was implemented.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2023

Myriophyllum spicatum L. has been used as an ornamental in ponds and aquariums, and as a folk remedy for inflammation and pus. Nevertheless, the biological activity and underlying mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects are unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extract of Myriophyllum spicatum L. (EMS) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Antioxidant activity of EMS was assessed by radical-scavenging effects on ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals. As inflammatory response parameters produced by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells were quantified to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of EMS. Our results showed that EMS increased FRAP and DPPH radical-scavenging activity. In EMS-treated RAW 264.7 cells, the production of NO, PGE₂, TNF-α and IL-1β was significantly inhibited at the non-cytotoxic concentration. In addition, EMS significantly attenuated LPS-stimulated the toll-like receptor (TLR) 4/myeloid differentiation protein (MyD) 88 signaling pathway, and inhibited nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB). Positive correlations were noted between anti-inflammatory activity and antioxidant activity. In conclusion, it was indicated that EMS suppresses the transcription of inflammatory factors by inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby suppressing LPS-stimulated inflammation in RAW 264.7 cells. This study highlights the potential role of EMS against inflammation and associated diseases.