• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.56-64
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• 2023

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient required for plant growth and crop production. However, N in soil is usually insufficient for plant growth. Thus, chemical N fertilizer has been extensively used to increase crop production. Due to negative effects of N rich fertilizer on the environment, improving N usage has been a major issue in the field of plant science to achieve sustainable production of crops. For that reason, many efforts have been made to elucidate how plants regulate N uptake and utilization according to their surrounding habitat over the last 30 years. Here, we provide recent advances focusing on regulation of N uptake, allocation of N by N transporting system, and signaling pathway controlling N responses in plants.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1147-1156
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to analyze examples of green infrastructure presented by the American Society of Landscape Architects as a part of basic research to assess hub green spaces in cities. With the specific goal of green infrasturcture in mind, the study samples were classified according to their purpose: 'humanities', 'hydrology', 'ecology', and 'environment'. Based on this we assessed the elements of planning for the target sites and obtained the following results. With regard to the aspect of humanities, planning urban hub green spaces was related to the satisfaction in leisure activities and the 'quality of life' that people expect to enjoy at parks or other green areas in general. Rather than focusing on direct and visible benefits, which might come from green infrastructure's technological elements, people hoped that parks and green areas have macroscopic values. For hydrological characteristics, the 'ecologically manages stormwater' was applied the most in planning hub green spaces in cities, and it mainly took the form of technological elements or factors. Third, the planning elements pertaining to ecological characteristics were identified as a combination of strategies and technological elements that 'reintroduces native plants' and 'habitat for wildlife'. As for the plans to instill eco-friendly aspects, the study found that the research on air, climate, weather, heat reaction, soil, energy efficiency, and use and application of resources is important. However, it was difficult to measure the potential quantitative benefits of 'reusing or recycling materials', 'reducing urban heat', and 'cooling air temperature'. The result of this study is meaningful in that it can be used for the assessment of urban hub green spaces in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.647-652
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• 2018

Extracts from bay leaves, Chongbaek (Allium fistulosum L.), Hutgae (Hovenia dulcis Thunb.) fruit, and green tea, using Soju (Korean alcohol, $30^{\circ}$) as a solvent were analyzed for their antioxidative properties. The eels were evenly coated with the extract concentration equivalent to 2% of their total weight and dried for 15 hours at $35^{\circ}C$ using an air blower. The DPPH radical scavenging effect, acid value and peroxide value of semi-dried eel, and linoleic acid peroxidation of eel oil were investigated. The highest level of DPPH radical scavenging was found in green tea extracts, followed by Hutgae fruit extract and bay leaves extract (p<0.05). The acid value and peroxide value of Hutgae fruit extracts coated eels refrigerated for 21 days were the lowest followed by the green tea extract coated eels. During the 20 days reaction period, all four kinds of extracts analyzed were found to effectively decrease linoleic acid peroxidation. Among them, Hutgae fruit and green tea extracts decreased the peroxide content of eel oil steadily and for a longer period when compared to other extracts. In conclusion, pre-application of Hutgae fruit and green tea extracts on eels before drying was found to be effective in delaying peroxidation in eels during the drying process and refrigeration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.357-364
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• 2014

This study aimed to determine effects of the use of water-retention additive, hydrophilic polymer, for extensive green roofs on growth of Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii and Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald and Gold' for woody plants, and Carex kobomugi and Carex pumila for herbaceous plants. Five different contents of hydrophilic polymer including 0% (Control), 1.0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, and 10% (polymer: medium (w/w), dry weight basis) were added to each of the container filed with a 100 kg of growth medium. Ten of plants were transplanted in each of square container ($1m(L){\times}1m(W){\times}0.3m$ (H)) built on the roof platforms in randomized complete block design in the $20^{th}$ of May, 2013. In results, excessively high volumetric soil water content, about 97-98%, was found in the substrate under elevated hydrophilic polymer concentration of at least 2.5%, during the entire growing period. The moisture content of the substrate containing 1.0% of hydrophilic polymer was higher about 20% in the range between 70% and 80%, compared tho that of Control substrate in the range between 50% and 60%, for 27 days after transplanting prior to abundant rainfall, indicating that the application of hydrophilic polymer to the extensive green roof substrate is effective to eliminate drought condition by retaining water in the substrate. Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald and Gold' and Carex kobomugi resulting in higher plant growth with 2.5% than those of the other treatment plants. Juniperus chinensis var. sargentii was observed the highest growth under 1.0% hydrophilic polymer treatement, and Carex pumila was founded the best growth with Control respectively. Plants that grown in both the 1.0% and 2.5% hydrophilic polymer survived all, while the plants that grown in the 5.0% and 10% hydrophilic polymer died after 3 months. These results suggest that advantage of the addition of hydrophilic polymer may be greater in drought-tolerant plants, but the mixture proportion of hydrophilic polymer should be determined according to the different features of the plant species being grown.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.563-572
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• 2021

Background and objective: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restricted daily life, forcing people to spend time indoors. With the growing interest in mental health issues and residential environments, 'pet plants' have been receiving attention during the unprecedented social distancing measures. This study aims to analyze the change in trends of pet plants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide basic data for studies related to pet plants and directions of future development. Methods: A total of 2,016 news articles using the keyword 'pet plants' were collected on Naver News from January 1, 2018 to August 15, 2019 (609 articles) and January 1, 2020 to August 15, 2021 (1,407 articles). The texts were tokenized into words using KoNLPy package, ultimately coming up with 63,597 words. The analyses included frequency of keywords and topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to identify the inherent meanings of related words and each topic. Results: Topic modeling generated three topics in each period (before and during the COVID-19), and the results showed that pet plants in daily life have become the object of 'emotional support' and 'healing' during social distancing. In particular, pet plants, which had been distributed as a solution to prevent solitary deaths and depression among seniors living alone, are now expanded to help resolve the social isolation of the general public suffering from COVID-19. The new term 'plant butler' became a new trend, and there was a change in the trend in which people shared their hobbies and information about pet plants and communicated with others in online. Conclusion: Based on these findings, the trend data of pet plants before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 can provide the basis for activating research on pet plants and setting the direction for development of related industries considering the continuous popularity and trend of indoor gardening and green hobby.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.521-535
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study investigated plant type and color preference and conducted a psychological assessment for gardening activities of firefighters in a high-risk occupational group. Methods: A survey was conducted on 117 firefighters aged 39.01±9.17 in Sunchang in March 2020 to examine their preferences in plant type and color and conduct a psychological assessment of firefighters on gardening activities. Results: For plant experience and awareness, plant-related event showed the highest score, followed by plant preference tendency and plant growing experience. The level of plant gardening activities was higher among older age and higher job position. As a result of examining the quality of life according to the demographic characteristic with WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument), it was found that the quality of life was higher among the 20s-30s than 50s, firefighter position than fire lieutenant or higher, those with higher average monthly income, and the singles group than married (p < .05). The administration group showed lower scores than the fire suppression group working in the field, showing statistical significance. Most firefighters showed high preference for herbal plants among the 12 types of flowering plants, in the order of Rosmarinus officinalis>Lavandula spp.>Mentha piperita, Calendula officinalis. Pelargonium spp. was preferred the least out of the flowering plants, Lycopersicon esculentum was preferred the most out of 12 types of vegetable plants, while Angelica acutiloba was preferred the least statistical significance. For the preference of plant colors, yellow was the most preferred color, followed by white, blue, orange, red, and green, showing statistical significance. For the psychological survey responses of emotion words toward 6 plants colors, it was found that 'bright' was the emotion felt most strongly by the white, yellow, and orange groups, 'calm' and 'comfortable' by the green and blue groups, and 'fancy' by the red group. Conclusion: The effect of agro-healing programs can be increased by using mostly yellow plants when creating indoor healing gardens at the workplaces of fire officials in a high-risk occupational group, and using herbal plants and Lycopersicon esculentum in the gardens for agro-healing activities.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.291-297
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• 2018

Vertical farming systems offer many advantages in urban spaces. They have also been proposed as an engineering solution to increase the productivity per unit area of cultivated land by extending crop production in the vertical dimension. However, soil water retention is a major constraint affecting the plant environment. This study analyzed the effects of growth environment of Tropaeolum majus and Fragaria spp., on the vertical farming system, by using four different types of cover material types including sphagnum moss (Control), a shading net (S.N.), multi-layered fabric (M.L.F.), and non-woven fabric (N.W.F.). The volumetric soil moisture contents and plant characteristics were investigated from May to September 2014. Plant materials were individually cultivated in hanging baskets measuring $30{\times}17{\times}17cm$, filled with a mixture of soil and perlite, and placed at 1.5m height. Each treatment was performed in quadruplicate and consisted of five plants, amounting to a total of 20 plants. The analysis indicated that different covers were associated with multiple functions and soil water retention improvements may have a positive impact on the vertical farming system. The difference in soil water retention increased in the following order: M.L.F. > Control > N.W.F. > S.N.. Furthermore, the differences in plant height and survival rate increased in the following order: M.L.F. > Control > N.W.F. > S.N. Therefore, M.L.F yielded satisfactory good response for the vertical farming system of cover materials. Our results clearly demonstrate that vertical spaces represent an attractive alternative to urban farming and suggest that further increases in yield may be achieved via different cover materials in vertical farming using hanging baskets.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.164-184
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• 2003

Objectives : This study was designed to establish a characteristic discrimination of internal and external morphological standard of original plants and herbal states in Pogostemonis and Agastachis Herba. Methods : In this studies, the external-internal morphological standards were determined by using stereoscope and butanol series. Results : 1. The external characteristics: Pogostemon cablin has hairs and brown-like in stem, elliptical fruit. On the other hand, Agastache rugosa has no hairs and red-like in stem, obovatic trigone fruit. 2. The physical characteristics: Pogostemon cablin is gray in whole, has hairs in stem and numerous hairs of ash in leaf. On the other hand, Agastache rugosa is yellow-green in whole, has no hairs in stem. Specially the latter has deep-green colour and numerous hairs presenting mostly at lower epidermis in leaf. 3. The physical characteristics in currents: Pogostemon cablin is brown, has hairs and round-like stem. On the other hand, Agastache rugosa is green or yellow-green, has no hairs and tetragon in stem. 4. The internal characteristics: Pogostemon cablin has progressed spongy tissue in epidermal cell of leaf and many rank of epidermal cell in stem. On other hand, Agastache rugosa has I rank palisade tissue in leaf and few rank of epidermal cell in stem. In the external shape, it was possible that herbs were distinguished according to artificial cIassification and that same genus-degree of relatedness among herbs could be distinguished by more precise and active observation. In the shape of real herbs, I compared current herbs in market with original herbs which were just collected or were on the course of drying. In addition, it was possible that the internal shape could be identified by using microscope after butanol series. Conclusion : Though it was impossible to make distinction of herbs which are not current in my search contents, this search contents will be a standard for applying herbs in the future. An Additional standard establishment including physiochemical reaction and gene research is required in order to supplement the fault of this search.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.928-933
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• 2009

In an effort to discover an antiviral substance against noroviruse (NV), which causes gastroenteritis illness world-wide, several plants including spices and herbs were evaluated for their antiviral activities against feline calicivirus (FCV) as a surrogate for NV. Among them, methanolic extract of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) exhibited significant antiviral activity against FCV. After treatment with green tea extract (3.13 mg/ml) for 1 hr, FCV was completely inactivated. The antiviral activity of green tea extract against FCV was also determined to be dose and time- dependent. The results obtained in this study suggested that green tea will be effective in the prevention of food-borne diseases caused by NV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.109-117
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• 2013

This study was carried out to investigate the changes of plant species and soil physicochemical properties on green roofs established at Seoul Women's University in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The plant species and soil properties were investigated in 2013. The areas of green roof sites ranged $90{\sim}100m^2$. There were floras of vascular plants of 12 families, 20 genera and 22 species in the 2005 site, 24 families, 37 genera and 38 species in the 2006 site, 14 families, 27 genera and 31 species in the 2007 site. The total number of plant species decreased in the 2005 and 2006 sites and increased in the 2007 site since established. High proportion of dispersal type was barochory in the 2005 and 2006 site, and autochory in the 2007 site. And the proportion of the compositae family was high in the introduced plants over the sites for the all study sites. Average pH and organic matter concentration of green roof soil were ranged from 5.25 to 5.96 and 7.17 to 8.96% in study sites. The organic matter concentration and pH of green roof soil were lower in 2013 than in the three establishment years. Carbon concentration of green roof soil in the three study sites were ranged from 4.16 to 5.30% and total soil carbon in 10cm depth were ranged form 1.57 to $1.98kg/m^2$.