• Title/Summary/Keyword: economic plants

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Current status in calcium biofortification of crops (작물의 생합성 칼슘 함량 증대 연구 현황)

  • Lee, Jeong-Yeo;Nou, Ill-Sup;Kim, Hye-Ran
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.39 no.1
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    • pp.23-32
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    • 2012
  • Calcium is an essential nutrient for living organisms, with key structural and signaling roles. Its deficiency in plants can result in poor biotic and abiotic stress tolerance as well as reduced crop quality and yield. Calcium deficiency in humans causes various diseases such as osteoporosis and rickets. Biofortification of calcium in various food crops has been suggested as an economic and environmentally advantageous method to enhance human intake of calcium. Recent efforts to increase the levels of calcium in food crops have used calcium/proton antiporters ($CAXs$) and modified one to increase calcium transport into vacuoles through genetic engineering. It has been reported that overall calcium content of transgenic plants has been increased in their edible portions with some adverse effects. In conclusion, biofortification of calcium will add more value in crops as well as will be beneficial for animal and human. Therefore, more fundamental studies on the mechanisms of calcium ion storage and transporting are essential for more effective calcium biofortification.

A Feasibility Test for Flaw Detection in Overlay Weld of Reactor Upper Head Penetration Using Time of Flight Diffraction Technique (TOFD 기법을 활용한 원자로 상부헤드관통부 오버레이 용접부 결함 검출 가능성 평가)

  • Lee, Jeong Seok;Kim, Jin Hoi
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.15-19
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    • 2014
  • A Failure or degradation of reactor upper head penetration is a recurring problem due to long term operation at nuclear power plants. And a flaw in the reactor upper head penetration has caused unplanned plant shutdown for repair as well as high economic impact on the plants. Consequently, a detection of flaws is of the utmost importance. Prior to the replacement of reactor upper head penetration, some utilities have repaired the flaws of reactor upper head penetration generated by overlay weld. Until now, only the base metal in reactor upper head penetration has been inspected according to 10 CFR 50.55a and ASME code case N-729-1. Accordingly, it is difficult to detect manufacturing defects and repair defects in overlay weld. This paper presents a case study on the application of Time of Flight Diffraction technique for reactor head penetration mockup with artificial flaws in overlay weld. This study offers a way to understand the flaws detected in reactor upper head penetration overlay weld.

Host Plant-Antheraea mylitta Interactions and Its Effect on Reproductive and Commercial Parameters

  • Rath, S.S.;Singh, G.S.;Singh, S.S.;Singh, M.K.;Suryanarayana, N.;Vijayaprakash, N.B.
    • International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.205-209
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    • 2008
  • Impact of food plant on reproductive and commercial parameters in Antheraea mylitta, a polyphagous insect of economic importance was studied upon feeding the insect larvae on the same host plants for six continuous generations. A. mylitta larvae were fed upon Terminalia tomentosa, Terminalia arjuna and Zizyphus jujuba and restricted them to the same host plant for six generations to document the quantitative improvement in reproductive and commercial parameters. The parameters showed significant improvement in all the host plants studied over their respective controls. Fecundity among the reproductive parameters was highly improved than others (85.9% in T. tomentosa; 58% in T. arjuna and 49.7% in Z. jujuba). Likewise in commercial parameters, the shell weight in male showed the highest improvement (by 52.9%, 45.8% and 42.1% in T. tomentosa; T. arjuna and Z. jujuba respectively). On the other hand, the shell ratio percentage in female recorded the lowest improvement. The values for all characters were recorded a decline in T. arjuna and Z. jujuba fed ones over T. tomentosa, except that of shell ratio percentage in female has registered an increase in Z jujuba fed. The study thus revealed the comparative superiority of T. tomentosa over T. arjuna and Z. jujuba.

Construction of Infectious cDNA Clone of a Chrysanthemum stunt viroid Korean Isolate

  • Yoon, Ju-Yeon;Cho, In-Sook;Choi, Gug-Seoun;Choi, Seung-Kook
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.68-74
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    • 2014
  • Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), a noncoding infectious RNA molecule, causes seriously economic losses of chrysanthemum for 3 or 4 years after its first infection. Monomeric cDNA clones of CSVd isolate SK1 (CSVd-SK1) were constructed in the plasmids pGEM-T easy vector and pUC19 vector. Linear positive-sense transcripts synthesized in vitro from the full-length monomeric cDNA clones of CSVd-SK1 could infect systemically tomato seedlings and chrysanthemum plants, suggesting that the linear CSVd RNA transcribed from the cDNA clones could be replicated as efficiently as circular CSVd in host species. However, direct inoculation of plasmid cDNA clones containing full-length monomeric cDNA of CSVd-SK1 failed to infect tomato and chrysanthemum and linear negative-sense transcripts from the plasmid DNAs were not infectious in the two plant species. The cDNA sequences of progeny viroid in systemically infected tomato and chrysanthemum showed a few substitutions at a specific nucleotide position, but there were no deletions and insertions in the sequences of the CSVd progeny from tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

Seasonal Dynamics of Marine Benthic Communities in Intertidal Zone of Gwangyang Bay, Southern Coast of Korea

  • Yoo, Jong-Su
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.519-528
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    • 2003
  • Species composition and community structure of marine benthic community were studied in the intertidal zone of Jijindo Island, Gwangyang Bay. A total of 85 species of benthic marine plants including the 5 Cyanophyta, 9 Chlorophyta, 13 Phaeophyta, 56 Rhodophyta and 2 Magnoliophyta that were listed. The community structure was represented by Gelidium divaricatum in the upper zone, Celidium divalicatum and Ulva pertusa in the middle, and Ulva pertusa, Chondria crassicaulis, Chondracanthus intermedia and Sargassum thunbergii in the lower intertidal zone. The dominant species in the rnscro-zoobenthic community were Chthamalux challengeri in the upper and middle, Littorina brevicula between the upper and middle, and Mytilus edulis and Crassostrea gigas in the middle and lower intertidal zones. The economic benthic organisms such as Undaria pinnatifida, Mytilus edulis, and Crassostrea gigas found in the lower intertidal zone were frequently disturbed due to their collection by local resident. Therefore, it is necessary to record the correct information pertaining to these cases. The species diversity indices estimated kom different sources were quite different. They were 2.22 derived from frequency, 1.67 based on coverage, 2.17 based on sum of frequency and coverage and 2.04 derived from importance value. Species diversity and number of algal species in Gwangyang Bay have noticeably decreased, compared with their previously reported status. It is estimated that their decreases were caused by changes in the marine environment, especially pertaining to the polychaete community resulting from reclamation and dredging activity undertaken for the industrial development.

A Feasibility Study for Flaw Detection in J-groove Weld of Reactor Upper Head Penetration Using Time of Flight Diffraction UT Technique (TOFD UT 기법을 활용한 원자로 상부헤드관통부 J-groove 용접부 결함 검출 가능성 평가)

  • Lee, Jeong Seok;Lee, Tae Hun;Kim, Yong Sik
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.1-5
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    • 2015
  • A failure or degradation of reactor upper head penetration is a troublesome problem at Nuclear Power Plants. A flaw in the reactor upper head penetration can result in unplanned plant shutdown for repair, and cause serious economic losses on the plants. Consequently, a detection of flaws is a matter of more importance. Until now, only the base metal, not including J-groove weld, in reactor upper head penetration has been inspected in accordance with 10 CFR 50.55a and ASME code case N-729-1 requirements. Accordingly, it is rather difficult to detect manufacturing defects and repair defects in J-groove weld. This paper presents a case study on the application of Time of Flight Diffraction UT technique to examine the J-groove weld in reactor head penetration using reactor head penetration mockup with artificial flaws. We expect that this study result will offer a way to understand the non-destructive examination technology for J-groove weld in reactor upper head penetration.

Research on Tobacco Plant Diseases in Korea : An Overview (우리 나라 담배 병 연구의 어제와 오늘)

  • Kim, Jung-Hwa
    • Research in Plant Disease
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.78-83
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    • 2002
  • Tobacco diseases have not been recorded until 1900s in Korea, where tobacco plants were introduced at early 1700s. Practical researches on the disease have been conducted since mid 1960s. Major ten tobacco diseases were mosaic caused by tobacco mosaic virus·potato virus Y·cucumber mosaic virus, bacterial wilt, hollow stalk, wild fire caused by angular leaf spot strain, black shank, brown spot, powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. But their annual occurrences were varied according to changes of tobacco varieties and their cultivating practices. As no useful chemicals, several biological tactics have been developed to control the viral or bacterial diseases that give significant economic damages on sustainable crop yield, but not practicable to field farming condition yet. Transgenic tobacco plants containing foreign disease resistant genes have been developed by current bio-technology, but not released to farmers yet. Though some disease-resistant tobacco varieties have been developed by the conventional breeding technology and currently used by farmers, their disease controlling efficacy have been diminished by occurrence of the new strain or race. Future research on tobacco diseases has been focused on technical development to produce high quality tobacco with less production cost, which leads Korean tobacco industry to keep its competence against foreign industry and decreasing overall market.

Epigenetic regulation of fungal development and pathogenesis in the rice blast fungus

  • Jeon, Junhyun
    • 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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    • 2018.05a
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    • pp.19-19
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    • 2018
  • Fungal pathogens have huge impact on health and economic wellbeing of human by causing life-threatening mycoses in immune-compromised patients or by destroying crop plants. A key determinant of fungal pathogenesis is their ability to undergo developmental change in response to host or environmental factors. Genetic pathways that regulate such morphological transitions and adaptation are therefore extensively studied during the last few decades. Given that epigenetic as well as genetic components play pivotal roles in development of plants and mammals, contribution of microbial epigenetic counterparts to this morphogenetic process is intriguing yet nearly unappreciated question to date. To bridge this gap in our knowledge, we set out to investigate histone modifications among epigenetic mechanisms that possibly regulate fungal adaptation and processes involved in pathogenesis of a model plant pathogenic fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. For functional and comparative analysis of histone modifications, a web-based database (dbHiMo) was constructed first to archive and analyze histone modifying enzymes from eukaryotic species whose genome sequences are available. Based on the database entries, we carried out functional analysis of genes encoding histone modifying enzymes. Here I provide examples of such analyses that show how histone acetylation and methylation is implicated in regulating important aspects of fungal pathogenesis. Current analysis of histone modifying enzymes is followed by ChIP-seq and RNA-seq experiments to pinpoint the genes that are controlled by particular histone modifications. We anticipate that our work will provide not only the significant advances in our understanding of epigenetic mechanisms operating in microbial eukaryotes but also basis to expand our perspective on regulation of development in fungal pathogens.

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Preliminary Results-Nature as Metaphor : Innovative Visualization of Accounting Information with Lotus Plants

  • Raungpaka, Voraphan;Savetpanuvong, Phannaphatr;Tanlamai, Uthai
    • Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.1-14
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    • 2013
  • Learning accounting has always been a challenge for non-accounting students and managers. Understanding accounting information requires more than a numerical description of financial and income statements. Current accounting practice presents accounting reports in the form of tables with values or in two or three dimensional graphs generated by a spread sheet program. The present study proposes an alternative visualization with metaphor from nature as a learning device for novice users and managers. After surveying various kinds of plants, the lotus flower was chosen as an attractive analogy because every part of the plant from leaves to roots is usable and can have economic value. Moreover, lotus flowers, whether man-made or natural, can easily be part of a familiar, natural ecology representing both beauty and serenity. Results from online survey respondents (n = 220) showed that there was no significant difference on overall usability of the Lotus visualization between expert users and novice users. However, verbally-oriented users differed Significantly from visually-oriented users in their usability assessment, perceived usefulness, and intention to use the Lotus visualization.

A Study on the As-Built Leakage Diagnosis of Main Steam Drain Valves for Nuclear Power Plants by Multi-measuring Technique (다중계측기법을 이용한 원전 주증기배수밸브의 현상태 누설진단에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Sung-Young;Kim, Young-Bum;Kim, Do-Hyeong;Lee, Sang-Gok
    • Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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    • 2008.11b
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    • pp.2606-2611
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    • 2008
  • The high energy fluid leakage from the high temperature and high differential pressure drop system of NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants) decreases efficiency and consequently leads to considerable economic loss due to less power production. Also, the leakage possibly damages critical parts of components such as valve and trim with the effect of cavitation, flashing, and erosion, etc. and deteriorates its performance. Thus, in this study, we diagnosed the as-is leakage for four (4) main steam drain valves and two (2) steam traps of Yonggwang 1,2 units during normal operation by using multi-measuring technique and observed the occurrence of fine leakage. In the course of measuring fluid leakage, the sign of fine leakage is estimated to be the leakage from orifice. By converting the leakage to energy loss, it is equivalent to the amount of several hundred thousand won per each unit, which supports the basis for the justification of fine leakage.

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