• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.146-150
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• 2020

Assistive technologies for people with disabilities are often marginalized in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In this paper, we intend to present the possibility of acquiring tactile information through the tactile display adapting an electromagnetic actuator. The multi-layered display designed for tactile communication has innovatively narrowed the size and spacing of cells in order to express pictures, maps, and graphics. This display has enabled the visually impaired to touch two-dimensional information combining with other assistive technologies so that. It would also provide a technical source of access to STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) so that students will perform better and be better prepared for advanced education. Moreover, it can be applied to public infrastructure and transportation in smart-city projects on the globe. Hence, this paper introduces the principle of Electromagnetic-actuator and how it can be utilized in many diverse areas.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.461-470
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• 2021

Infection is one of the major mortality causes throughout the globe. Nuclear medicine plays an important role in diagnosis of deep infections such as osteomyelitis, arthritis infection, heart valve and heart prosthesis infections. Techniques such as labeled leukocytes are sensitive and selective for tracking the inflammations but they are not suitable for differentiating infection from inflammation. Anionic linear-globular dendrimer-G₂ was synthesized then conjugation to gemifloxacin antibiotic. The structures were identified by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, C-NMR, LC-MS and DLS. The toxicity of gemifloxacin and dendrimer-gemifloxacin complex was compared by MTT test. Dendrimer-G₂-gemifloxacin was labeled by Technetium-99m and its in-vitro stability and radiochemical purity were investigated. In-vivo biodistribution and SPECT imaging were studied in a rabbit model. Identify and verify the structure of the each object was confirmed by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, C-NMR and LC-MS, also, the size and charge of this compound were 128 nm and -3/68 mv respectively. MTT test showed less toxicity of the dendrimer-G₂-gemifloxacin than free gemifluxacin (P < 0.001). Radiochemical yield was > %98. Human serum stability was 84% up to 24 h. Biodistribution study at 50 min, 24 and 48 h showed that the complex is significantly absorbed by the intestine and accumulation in the lungs and affects them, finally excreted through the kidneys, biodistribution results are consistent with results from full image means of SPECT/CT technique.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.762-774
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• 2022

The COVID 19 pandemic resulted in a considerable influence on the world economy. Being a big sector of the economy, the food supply chain struggled. The meat supply chain was most notably affected as every part of the supply chain from farm to shelf was closely inter-related. With the closure of businesses and restaurants the demand for at home food from grocery stores increased. Meat production facilities were impacted when the virus spread to the workers causing facilities to close or line speeds to slow. The combination of these two issues, in turn, led to there being less meat on the shelves. With less meat animals being harvested, there was less demand for livestock leading to farmers having an excess in slaughter ready animals. The decreased demand for livestock led to economic issues as money was lost in multiple sections of the supply chain. Aside from the economy and supply chain issues, other issues include concerns over the safety of meat products due to decreased safety protocols to increase line speed. Additionally, concerns of animal welfare with the excess of animals being culled were raised due to decreased capacity in processing facilities. While this review paper mainly focuses on characterizing the impact of COVID 19 on the meat supply chain in the USA, the compiled information should be able to provide practical insights to the meat/food industry across the globe to develop potential mitigating strategies against the COVID 19 and/or any similar pandemic incidences in the future.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2022

Background: Due to the rapidly changing climatic conditions, South Korea faces the grand challenge of exotic species. With the increasing human movement, the influx of alien species to novel regions is prevalent across the globe. The latest research suggests that it is easy to prevent the introduction and establishment of alien species rather than controlling their spread and eradication. Like other countries, the Korean Ministry of Environment released a list (in 2018) of 45 potential risky exotic fish species considered likely to be invasive candidate fish species if they ever succeed in entering the Korean aquatic ecosystems. Results: The investigation into the invasion suitability traits showed that potential risky fish species could utilize those features in becoming invasive once they arrive in the Korean aquatic ecosystems. If the novel species establish viable populations, they are likely to incur higher economic costs, damage the native aquatic fauna and flora, and jeopardize the already perilled species. Furthermore, they can damage the installed infrastructure, decline overall abundance and biodiversity, and disturb the ecosystem services. Here we reviewed the list of fish species concerning their family, native origin, preferred aquatic biomes, main food items, current status in Korea, and potential threats to humans and the ecosystems. Data shows that most species are either already designated as invasive in the neighboring counties, including Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and China, or originate from these countries. Such species have a higher climate match with the Korean territories. Conclusions: Therefore, it is exceptionally essential to study their most critical features and take regulatory measures to restrict their entry. The incoming fish species must be screened before letting them in the country in the future. The regulatory authorities must highlight the threatening traits of such species and strictly monitor their entrance. Detailed research is required to explore the other species, especially targeting the neighboring countries fish biodiversity, having demonstrated invasive features and matching the Korean climate.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4062-4080
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• 2022

COVID-19, a highly infectious disease, has affected the globe tremendously since its outbreak during late 2019 in Wuhan, China. In order to respond to the pandemic, governments around the world introduced a variety of public health measures including contact-tracing, a method to identify individuals who may have come into contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, which usually leads to quarantine of certain individuals. Like many other governments, the South Korean health authorities adopted public health measures using latest data technologies. Key data technology-based quarantine measures include:(1) Electronic Entry Log; (2) Self-check App; and (3) COVID-19 Wristband, and heavily relied on individual's personal information for contact-tracing and self-isolation. In fact, during the early stages of the pandemic, South Korea's strategy proved to be highly effective in containing the spread of coronavirus while other countries suffered significantly from the surge of COVID-19 patients. However, while the South Korean COVID-19 policy was hailed as a success, it must be noted that the government achieved this by collecting and processing a wide range of personal information. In collecting and processing personal information, the data minimum principle - one of the widely recognized common data principles between different data protection laws - should be applied. Public health measures have no exceptions, and it is even more crucial when government activities are involved. In this study, we provide an analysis of how the governments around the world reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate whether the South Korean government's digital quarantine measures ensured the protection of its citizen's right to privacy.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.312-334
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• 2023

In large-scale computing, cloud computing plays an important role by sharing globally-distributed resources. The evolution of cloud has taken place in the development of data centers and numerous servers across the globe. But the cloud information centers incur huge operational costs, consume high electricity and emit tons of dioxides. It is possible for the cloud suppliers to leverage their resources and decrease the consumption of energy through various methods such as dynamic consolidation of Virtual Machines (VMs), by keeping idle nodes in sleep mode and mistreatment of live migration. But the performance may get affected in case of harsh consolidation of VMs. So, it is a desired trait to have associate degree energy-performance exchange without compromising the quality of service while at the same time reducing the power consumption. This research article details a number of novel algorithms that dynamically consolidate the VMs in cloud information centers. The primary objective of the study is to leverage the computing resources to its best and reduce the energy consumption way behind the Service Level Agreement (SLA)drawbacks relevant to CPU load, RAM capacity and information measure. The proposed VM consolidation Algorithm (PVMCA) is contained of four algorithms: over loaded host detection algorithm, VM selection algorithm, VM placement algorithm, and under loading host detection algorithm. PVMCA is dynamic because it uses dynamic thresholds instead of static thresholds values, which makes it suggestion for real, unpredictable workloads common in cloud data centers. Also, the Algorithms are adaptive because it inevitably adjusts its behavior based on the studies of historical data of host resource utilization for any application with diverse workload patterns. Finally, the proposed algorithm is online because the algorithms are achieved run time and make an action in response to each request. The proposed algorithms' efficiency was validated through different simulations of extensive nature. The output analysis depicts the projected algorithms scaled back the energy consumption up to some considerable level besides ensuring proper SLA. On the basis of the project algorithms, the energy consumption got reduced by 22% while there was an improvement observed in SLA up to 80% compared to other benchmark algorithms.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.563-573
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• 2022

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) is a globally important bacterial pathogen of walnut trees that causes substantial economic losses in commercial walnut production. Although prophages are common in bacterial plant pathogens and play important roles in bacterial diversity and pathogenicity, there has been limited investigation into the distribution and function of prophages in Xaj. In this study, we identified and characterized 13 predicted prophages from the genomes of 12 Xaj isolates from around the globe. These prophages ranged in length from 11.8 kb to 51.9 kb, with between 11-75 genes and 57.82-64.15% GC content. The closest relatives of these prophages belong to the Myoviridae and Siphoviridae families of the Caudovirales order. The phylogenetic analysis allowed the classification of the prophages into five groups. The gene constitution of these predicted prophages was revealed via Roary analysis. Amongst 126 total protein groups, the most prevalent group was only present in nine prophages, and 22 protein groups were present in only one prophage (singletons). Also, bioinformatic analysis of the 13 identified prophages revealed the presence of 431 genes with an average length of 389.7 bp. Prokka annotation of these prophages identified 466 hypothetical proteins, 24 proteins with known function, and six tRNA genes. The proteins with known function mainly comprised prophage integrase IntA, replicative DNA helicase, tyrosine recombinase XerC, and IS3 family transposase. There was no detectable insertion site specificity for these prophages in the Xaj genomes. The identified Xaj prophage genes, particularly those of unknown function, merit future investigation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.3054-3070
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• 2023

Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) are widely utilized around the globe from different base forms as it is one of the most dependable renewable resources that technological advancements have offered. However, different perceptions of the usage of NPPs emerged from different generations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acceptance of nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy among Generation Z in the Philippines by utilizing an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) approach. An online questionnaire which consisted of 31 items was distributed using a purposive sampling approach and 450 respondents of Generation Z voluntarily answered. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that the knowledge regarding NPP had significant effects on risk perception and benefit perception which subsequently led to subjective norms. In addition, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms had significant effects on behavioral intention which led to nuclear acceptance. Interestingly, the respondents perceived the benefit of NPP as slightly higher than the perceived risk. With these, it was clear that the commissioning Nuclear Power Plant must consider as an alternative source of electric energy in the Philippines. Moreover, this study is one of the first studies that investigated the acceptance of NPP among Generation Z. Lastly, the model could be a basis to strengthen the acceptance strategy of opening NPP among Generation Z, particularly in developing countries.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

Holding the longest observation data from April 1904, Busan is one of the essential points to understand the climate variability of the Korean Peninsula without missing data since implementing the modern weather observation of the South Korea. Busan is featured by coastal areas and affected by various climate factors and fluctuations. This study aims to investigate climate variability and changes in climatic variables, extremes, and several weather indexes. The statistically significant change points in daily mean rainfall intensity and temperature were found in 1964 and 1965. Based on the change point detection, 117 years were divided into two periods for daily mean rainfall intensity and temperature, respectively. In the long-term temperature analysis of Busan, the increasing trend of the daily maximum temperature during the period of 1965~2021 was larger than the daily mean temperature and the daily minimum temperature. Applying Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition, daily maximum temperature is largely affected by the decadal variability compared to the daily mean and minimum temperature. In addition, the trend of daily precipitation intensity from 1964~2021 shows a value of about 0.50 mm day^-1, suggesting that the rainfall intensity has increased compared to the preceding period. The results in extremes analysis demonstrate that return values of both extreme temperatures and precipitation show higher values in the latter than in the former period, indicating that the intensity of the current extreme phenomenon increases. For Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (effective humidity), increasing (decreasing) trend is significant in Busan with the second (third)-largest change among four stations.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.291-298
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• 2022

COVID-19 has spread across the world in the last two years, confining people to their homes and shutting down businesses and markets. The world is currently experiencing a catastrophic economic and social crisis. To benefit people and to protect them, industries invented new products. These products were made by small and medium-sized businesses across the globe. In South Asia, there was also a rigorous lockdown, people were laid off, and SMEs adopted E-commerce to assist clients and customers. Therefore, the study aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on E-commerce adoption through open innovation strategies in South Asian countries. 500 respondents were selected through an online questionnaire to collect data from different countries of South Asia. The prominent countries are; India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The results of the study show that perceived compatibility and complexity have a positive influence on E-commerce adoption. In normal circumstances, however, the open innovation model is feasible. Knowledge and experience sharing and management attitude have a moderate impact on E-commerce adoption. These results are beneficial for researchers and SME managers in South Asia to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and increase the number of skilled people employed. This study suggests that SMEs should hire skilled workers to upgrade their systems.