• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2020

In an internal document, CORONA-VIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) PLAN, release developed stated that "on January 22, 2020, Palau Ministry of Health activated its emergency operations center, and since then has prepared and put in place measures in response to this global pandemic." The actions eventually led to the closure of most flights coming into Palau as a method to protect its population. The population of is at high risk with COVID19 due to the very elevated rate of NCD's, as well as the limited access to proper testing and treatment facilities. Increased use of traditional medicines in the population has reduced the co-morbidities by reducing risk factors. Furthermore, the expansion of tradtional NCD therapies, especially that of DAK reduce pressure due to obesity and diabetes therefore allowing for unimpaired immune systems to combat deadly infectious diseases such as COVID19.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.106-106
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• 2019

The leaves of Phaleria nisidai Kaneh. have been used as a beverage for tonic and immune-enhancing effect in Palau. Recently, extract of the plants showed anti-diabetic effect in clinical trial and possibility could be used as a medicine for diabetes. However, in vitro and in vivo experiments which elucidate cytotoxicity and biological mechanism have not been studied yet. To begin the series of in vitro and in vivo anti-diabetic studies, we evaluated cell viability of pancreatic beta cell lines to figure it out toxicity of the extract. The leaves of Phaleria nisidai were extracted with distilled water and 70% EtOH, and followed by evaporation and lyophilization. And, MIN6 and RIN-m5F cell lines were used for assessment of cell viability. MTT assay was adopted to evaluated a toxicity. Any of extract and concentration used in this study did not show cytotoxicity in the cell lines. Furthermore, morphological change was not observed. These results means Phaleria nisidai might be a medicinal resource when further biological and safety studies would be performed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.591-597
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• 2022

In this paper, we analyzed linkbudget with comparing actual received level of telemetry system at Palau Tracking Station. Because Palau Tracking Station participated in the launch mission for the first time and lack of verification tests for antenna tracking and signal reception performance, we analyzed the linkbudget more accurately by predicting transmit antenna polarization gain according to the trajectory and attitude of launch vehicle. The analysis results were used to analyze signal reception range, antenna operation angle and LHCP/RHCP received level. The actual received level of the antenna was similar to the linkbudget result as a result of the launch mission operation.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.319-326
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• 2009

Analysis of four microsatellite markers from Mud Crab Scylla serrata revealed that there is high level of genetic diversity within this species. Genetic diversity of S. serrata was calculated using allele diversity, observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity (Het-exp), polymorphic information content, gene differentiation and Nei's $D_{A}$ distance. Mean polymorphic information content value was 0.797, which reflected high level of polymorphism across the loci of S. serrata. The Palau population has the highest genetic diversity (Het-exp=0.871), while the Kosrae population has the lowest genetic diversity (Hetexp=0.806). However, the geographical genetic distance among S. serrata populations from Yab, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, and Palau were low (0.2009${\sim}$0.3350). These results suggest that despite their wide distribution, S. serrata are no different in geographical genetic diversity within the five sampled locations.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.615-625
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• 2021

The coastal areas around Palau Island and Tonga Island, near the Pacific equator, consist of coral reefs, mangrove and seaweed. In particular, understanding the optical properties of sea surface water in coral reef habitats helps improve the accuracy of remote sensing based habitat mapping and identify tropical ecosystem characteristics. Here, we collected spectral characteristics of sea surface water of Palau Island and Tonga Island and analyzed the concentration of suspended matters, absorption coefficient, and remote sensing reflectance to understand the seawater characteristics of the coral reef habitats. Based on the results of the suspended matter concentration analysis, we developed and verified an empirical algorithm to derive the concentration from satellite data using remote sensing reflectance of three bands, 555, 625, 660 nm, showed a high determinant coefficient, 0.98. In conclusion, coral reef habitats in tropical regions are characterized by CASE-I water in terms of the marine optics with oligotrophic properties, and require monitoring using continuous collection and analysis of field data.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.303-310
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• 2020

Four new merohexapenoids named calyxaprenols A-D (1 - 4), together with the known compound haliclotriol A (5), have been isolated from the marine sponge Calyx sp. which was collected from the southwest islands of Palau. Based on comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, calyxaprenols A (1) and B (2) were determined to be pentacyclic hexaprenoids that are appended to a glycolic acid-substituted phenol moiety, whereas calyxaprenols C (3) and D (4) possess a tricyclic hexaprenoid skeleton joined to a hydroquinone ring. Identification of new merohexaprenoids from a Calyx sponge expands the known taxonomic distribution of this sparsely distributed class of marine metabolites and increases the chemical diversity described for this genus of marine sponge.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.643-654
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• 2023

The West Philippine Basin, an oceanic basin half the size of the Philippine Sea Plate, lies in the western part of the plate and south of the Korean Peninsula on the Eurasian Plate. It subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Islands bordering the Ryukyu Trench and the Philippine Trench with 25-50% of this basin already consumed. However, the history of the opening of the basin's southern region has been a topic of debate. The non-transform discontinuity formed during the seafloor spreading is similar to the transform fault boundaries normally perpendicular to mid-ocean ridge axes; however, it was created irregularly due to ridge propagations caused by variations of mantle convection attributable to magma supply changes. By analyzing high-resolution multi-beam echo-sounding data, we confirmed that the non-transform discontinuity due to the propagating rift evolved in the entire basin and that the abyssal hill strike direction changed from E-W to NNW-SSE from the fossil spreading center. In the early stage of basin extension, the Amami-Sankaku Basin was rotated 90 degrees clockwise from its current orientation, and it bordered the Palau Basin along the Mindanao Fracture Zone. The Amami-Sankaku Basin separated from the Palau Basin while the spreading of the West Philippine Basin began with a counter-clockwise rotation. This indicates that the non-transform discontinuities formed by a sudden change in magma supply due to the drift of the Philippine Sea Plate and simultaneously with the rapid changes in the spreading direction from ENE-WSW to N-S. The Palau Basin was considered to be the sub-south of the West Philippine Basin, but recent studies have shown that it extends into an independent system. Evidence from sediment layers and crustal thickness hints at the possibility of its existence before the West Philippine Basin opened, although its evolution continues to be debated. We performed a combined analysis using high-resolution multi-beam bathymetry and satellite gravity data to uncover new insights into the evolution of the West Philippine Basin. This information illuminates the complex plate interactions and provides a crucial contribution toward understanding the opening history of the basin and the Philippine Sea Plate.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1379-1387
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• 2017

This paper presents a comparison of homogenization techniques implemented in the APOLLO3 platform for transport core calculations: standard scalar flux weighting and new flux-moment homogenization, in different combinations with (or without) leakage models. Besides the historical B1-homogeneous model, a new B-heterogeneous one has indeed been implemented recently in the two/three-dimensional-transport solver using the method of characteristics. First analyses have been performed on a very simple Sodium Fast Reactor core with a regular hexagonal lattice. They show that using the heterogeneous leakage model in association with flux-moment homogenization strongly improves the prediction of $k_{eff}$ and void reactivity effects. These good results are confirmed when the application is done to the fissile assemblies of the more complex CFV (Low Void Effect) core of the ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration) project of sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor (Generation IV).

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2002

A lot of clones of the genus Dioscorea species have been introduced from some tropical and subtropical regions since 1997. The aim of this study was to determine characteristics of the production process in yams(Dioscorea spp). By utilizing 51clones of water yams(Dioscorea spp), some morphological characteristics were investigated at the field. Intraspecific genetic relationship of 51 variation types of the Yam classified by their external morphological characteristics such as leaf and tuber shape were assessed by DNA using random and specific primers. D. Alata and D. opposita were showed different relationship between yield and the growth of their aboveground parts. This suggests that even in the same species there were differences in yield volume and translocation of assimilation products, depending on the types. D. alata were distinguished from others Dioscorea species at 62% level in AFLP analysis. Also in principal component analysis, D. alata were showed the class from II to V.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.48-69
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• 2001

A lot of clones of the genus Dioscorea have been introduced from some tropical and subtropical regions since 1997. In 33 clones of water yams (Dioscorea alata L.), some morphological characteristics were investigated at the field. Variation ranges of the total weight and tuber number per stump were within the ranges from 90 to 2,147 g with an average of 610 g ; and 1.3-4.7 with an average of 2.8, respectively. The color tones observed on the tuber-flesh were sorted into 3 color-categories, i.e., white, pale brown and pale purple, and those on leaves were sorted into 3 color-categories, i.e., green, heavy green and purplish green. Intraspecific genetic relationship of 19 variation types of the Yam classified by their external morphological characteristics such as leaf and tuber shape was assessed by DNA using random and specific primers. Twenty two out of 113 primers (100 random[10-mer] primers, two 15 mer [M13 core sequence, and (GGAT)4 sequence]) had been used in PCR-amplification. Only 12 primers, however, were successful in DNA amplification in all of the analyzed plants, resulting in 93 randomly and specifically amplified DNA fragments. The analyzed taxa showed very high polymorphisms(69 bands, 71.0%), allowing individual taxon to be identified based on DNA fingerprinting. Monomorphic bands among total amplified DNA bands of each primer was low under the 50%. Similarity indices between accessions were computed from PCR(polymerase chain reaction) data, and genetic relationships among intraspecific variations were closely related at the levels ranging from 0.66 to 0.90.