• Title/Summary/Keyword: natural population

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Whole-Genome Characterization of Alfalfa Mosaic Virus Obtained from Metagenomic Analysis of Vinca minor and Wisteria sinensis in Iran: with Implications for the Genetic Structure of the Virus

  • Moradi, Zohreh;Mehrvar, Mohsen
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.37 no.6
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    • pp.619-631
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    • 2021
  • Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), an economically important pathogen, is present worldwide with a very wide host range. This work reports for the first time the infection of Vinca minor and Wisteria sinensis with AMV using RNA sequencing and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction confirmation. De novo assembly and annotating of contigs revealed that RNA1, RNA2, and RNA3 genomic fragments consist of 3,690, 2,636, and 2,057 nucleotides (nt) for IR-VM and 3,690, 2,594, and 2,057 nt for IR-WS. RNA1 and RNA3 segments of IR-VM and IR-WS closely resembled those of the Chinese isolate HZ, with 99.23-99.26% and 98.04-98.09% nt identity, respectively. Their RNA2 resembled that of Canadian isolate CaM and American isolate OH-2-2017, with 97.96-98.07% nt identity. The P2 gene revealed more nucleotide diversity compared with other genes. Genes in the AMV genome were under dominant negative selection during evolution, and the P1 and coat protein (CP) proteins were subject to the strongest and weakest purifying selection, respectively. In the population genetic analysis based on the CP gene sequences, all 107 AMV isolates fell into two main clades (A, B) and isolates of clade A were further divided into three groups with significant subpopulation differentiation. The results indicated moderate genetic variation within and no clear geographic or genetic structure between the studied populations, implying moderate gene flow can play an important role in differentiation and distribution of genetic diversity among populations. Several factors have shaped the genetic structure and diversity of AMV: selection, recombination/reassortment, gene flow, and random processes such as founder effects.

Influence of Community Vegetable Gardens on the Settlement in Residential District and Community Spirit of Local Residents from Perspective of Urban Regeneration

  • Hong, In-Kyoung;Yun, Hyung-Kwon;Jung, Young-Bin;Lee, Sang-Mi
    • Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.139-148
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    • 2020
  • Urban problems raised by the concentration of population in urban areas have caused residents to migrate to other regions while causing other problems such as deteriorated infrastructure, traffic and environmental pollution problems in existing urban areas. As an alternative to improve this phenomenon, urban regeneration has emerged, and under the assumption that creating community vegetable gardens is effective in revitalizing cities considering their physical, social and cultural environment, frequency and descriptive analyses were conducted on the vegetable gardens in Jungnosong-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, Korea to examine differences in the components of the surrounding environment and the settlement, and community spirit of the two groups comprised of 30 and 35 persons who did not and did participate in gardening respectively. Regression analysis were conducted to determine whether there were changes in community spirit after participating in gardening. As a component of the surrounding environment, gardening and fence management were found to be important for both the groups, and they seemed to have high satisfaction with their residence because they wanted to continue to live in their neighborhood. Overall, the satisfaction evaluation results showed that those who participated in gardening showed a higher satisfaction level than those who did not. Based on the changes in community spirit after participating in the activity, it was found that there was a high level of perception in all the components, indicating that the gardening had a positive effect on the cultivation of community spirit. As such, the spaces called vegetable gardens are not only for doing physical activities but also as shared conversation topics, and through the activities in the gardens, changes in the awareness of local residents can be brought about through the formation of social networks and natural communication between neighbors. It can be concluded that they encourage residents to actively participate in improving the urban environment through activities such as planting.

KAB: Knowledge Augmented BERT2BERT Automated Questions-Answering system for Jurisprudential Legal Opinions

  • Alotaibi, Saud S.;Munshi, Amr A.;Farag, Abdullah Tarek;Rakha, Omar Essam;Al Sallab, Ahmad A.;Alotaibi, Majid
    • International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.346-356
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    • 2022
  • The jurisprudential legal rules govern the way Muslims react and interact to daily life. This creates a huge stream of questions, that require highly qualified and well-educated individuals, called Muftis. With Muslims representing almost 25% of the planet population, and the scarcity of qualified Muftis, this creates a demand supply problem calling for Automation solutions. This motivates the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve this problem, which requires a well-designed Question-Answering (QA) system to solve it. In this work, we propose a QA system, based on retrieval augmented generative transformer model for jurisprudential legal question. The main idea in the proposed architecture is the leverage of both state-of-the art transformer models, and the existing knowledge base of legal sources and question-answers. With the sensitivity of the domain in mind, due to its importance in Muslims daily lives, our design balances between exploitation of knowledge bases, and exploration provided by the generative transformer models. We collect a custom data set of 850,000 entries, that includes the question, answer, and category of the question. Our evaluation methodology is based on both quantitative and qualitative methods. We use metrics like BERTScore and METEOR to evaluate the precision and recall of the system. We also provide many qualitative results that show the quality of the generated answers, and how relevant they are to the asked questions.

Strategies to prevent the new infectious diseases from an ecological perspective

  • Lee, Chang Seok
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.46 no.3
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    • pp.172-182
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    • 2022
  • Background: The coronavirus problem is an ecological problem stemming from a sudden change in the relationship between parasites and hosts. Ecologists judge organisms that are established out of their original territory as exotic species. Unlike in their original habitat, these exotic species become very aggressive in their newly settled habitat. Coronavirus infection damage was bigger in Europe or the United States than that in the country of its origin, China, and its neighboring countries. Therefore, coronavirus infection damage resembles the damage due to the invasive species. Results: Exotic species are found in places with similar environmental conditions to those of their origin when introduced to other ecological regions. However, there are few ecological ill effects in their place of origin, while the damage is usually severe in the ecological regions in which it is introduced. According to historical records, exotic infectious diseases, such as European smallpox and measles, also showed a similar trend and caused great damage in newly established places. Therefore, it is expected that measures to manage exotic species could be used for the prevention of exotic infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. Conclusions: Prevention comes first in the management of exotic species, and in order to come up with preventive measures, it is important to collect information on the characteristics of related organisms and their preferred environment. In this respect, ecosystem management measures such as exotic species management measures could be used as a reference to prevent and suppress the spread. To put these measures into practice, it is urgently required to establish an international integrated information network for collecting and exchanging information between regions and countries. Furthermore, a systematic ecosystem-management strategy in which natural and human environments could continue sustainable lives in their respective locations may serve as a countermeasure to prevent infectious diseases.

Flora of Naesorak in Soraksan National Park (설악산국립공원 내설악지역의 관속식물상)

  • Kim, Yong-Shik;Lim, Dong-Ok;Chun, Seung-Hoon;Kang, Ki-Ho;Shin, Hyun-Tak
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.415-432
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    • 1998
  • The flora of Nasorak in the Soraksan National Park were botanically surveyed. This area has very rich and diverse flora; 656 taxa with 94 families, 320 genera, 552 species, 1 subspecies, 96 varieties and 7 forms in the region of Oesorak. The population of Asarum maculatum of Aristolochiaceae was recorded for the first time in this region. In the view of phytogeograghy, the 18 taxa such as Pinus pumila of Pinaceae, Leontopodium coreanum of Compositae, Leontice micoryncha of Berberidaceae and Rhododendron aureum of Ericaceae, etc. were recorded as northern elements, while the taxa such as Asarum maculatum of Aristolochiaceae, Styrax japonica of Styracaceae and Carex siderosticta of Cyperaceae as southern elements.

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Target-free vision-based approach for vibration measurement and damage identification of truss bridges

  • Dong Tan;Zhenghao Ding;Jun Li;Hong Hao
    • Smart Structures and Systems
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.421-436
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    • 2023
  • This paper presents a vibration displacement measurement and damage identification method for a space truss structure from its vibration videos. Features from Accelerated Segment Test (FAST) algorithm is combined with adaptive threshold strategy to detect the feature points of high quality within the Region of Interest (ROI), around each node of the truss structure. Then these points are tracked by Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) algorithm along the video frame sequences to obtain the vibration displacement time histories. For some cases with the image plane not parallel to the truss structural plane, the scale factors cannot be applied directly. Therefore, these videos are processed with homography transformation. After scale factor adaptation, tracking results are expressed in physical units and compared with ground truth data. The main operational frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes are identified by using Subspace Stochastic Identification (SSI) from the obtained vibration displacement responses and compared with ground truth data. Structural damages are quantified by elemental stiffness reductions. A Bayesian inference-based objective function is constructed based on natural frequencies to identify the damage by model updating. The Success-History based Adaptive Differential Evolution with Linear Population Size Reduction (L-SHADE) is applied to minimise the objective function by tuning the damage parameter of each element. The locations and severities of damage in each case are then identified. The accuracy and effectiveness are verified by comparison of the identified results with the ground truth data.

The Roles of Epigenetic Reprogramming in Age-related Diseases (노화관련 질환에 대한 후성유전의 역할)

  • Seonhwa Hwang;Gyeongmin Kim;Hye Kyung Kim;Min Hi Park
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.33 no.9
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    • pp.736-745
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    • 2023
  • Aging is a complex biological process characterized by a gradual decline in cellular and physiological functions. This natural process is associated with age-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, and hypogonadism, which are significant health concerns among older individuals and can significantly impact their quality of life. Researchers have found that epigenetic markers play a crucial role in regulating aging and age-related diseases. Epigenetic markers are heritable gene expression alterations that do not change in the DNA sequence. This review focuses on the involvement of various epigenetic marks, such as RNA methylation, DNA methylation, and microRNAs (miRNAs), in regulating gene expression patterns associated with age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, and hypogonadism. These epigenetic alterations can lead to the dysregulation of specific genes and signaling pathways, contributing to the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, and hypogonadism. Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind these epigenetic modifications is essential for both the aging population and individuals seeking ways to promote overall well-being. By gaining deeper insights into how epigenetic marker alteration occurs during aging and age-related diseases, researchers can potentially develop targeted therapeutic strategies to alleviate the impact of these conditions and improve the quality of life for older individuals.

Exploring the Complexities of Dams' Impact on Transboundary Flow: A Meta-Analysis of Climate and Basin Factors

  • Abubaker Omer;Hyungjun Kim
    • Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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    • 2023.05a
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    • pp.177-177
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    • 2023
  • The impacts of dams on transboundary flow are complex and challenging to project and manage, given the potential moderating influence of a broad range of anthropogenic and natural factors. This study presents a global meta-analysis of 168 studies that examines the effect magnitude of dams on downstream seasonal, annual flow, and hydrological extremes risk on 39 hotspot transboundary river basins. The study also evaluates the impact of 13 factors, such as climate, basin characteristics, dams' design and types, level of transboundary cooperation, and socioeconomic indicators, on the heterogeneity of outcomes. The findings reveal that moderators significantly influence the impact of dams on downstream flow, leading to considerable heterogeneity in outcomes. Transboundary cooperation emerges as the key factor that determines the severity of dams' effect on both dry and wet season's flows at a significance level of 0.01 to 0.05, respectively. Specifically, the presence of water-supply and irrigation dams has a significant (0.01) moderating effect on dry-season flow across basins with high transboundary cooperation. In contrast, for wet-season flow, the basin's vulnerability to climate extremes is associated with a large negative effect size. The various moderators have varying degrees of influence on the heterogeneity of outcomes, with the aridity index, population density, GDP, and risk level of hydro-political tension being the most significant factors for dry-season flow, and the risk level of hydro-political tension and basin vulnerability to climate extremes being the most significant for wet-season flow. The results suggest that transboundary cooperation is crucial for managing the impacts of dams on downstream flow, and that various other factors, such as climate, basin characteristics, and socioeconomic indicators, have significant moderating effects on the outcomes. Thus, context-specific approaches are necessary when predicting and managing the impacts of dams on transboundary flow.

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Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anticancer Activity of Guarana and Graviola in Human Colon Cancer (과라나와 그라비올라가 인체 대장암에 미치는 항산화 및 항암효과에 대한 연구)

  • Lee, Myeong-Seon
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.217-223
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    • 2019
  • Colon cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosis in worldwide. There are growing interests in the health benefits associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially for the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular or other chronic diseases. The objective of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant and anticancer activities of natural product, guarana(GR) and graviola(GV) in human colon carcinoma HCT-116 cells. MTT assay, flow cytometry analysis were employed to investigate the anticancer mechanism and DPPH assay was determined to the antioxidant activity to scavenge free radicals in extract of these. All two extracts showed significantly antioxidant activity at 50mg/ml of concentration. GR and GV reduced HCT-116 cell proliferation in a dose dependent manner. Specially GR treatment(96.65±3.71) also significantly increased the sub-G1 population more than GV(79.58±2.87) treatment in HCT-116 at the concentration of 10mg/ml, as shown by flow cytometry assay. Statistical analyses revealed GR and GV exhibited significantly high (P < 0.05) cytotoxicity in HCT-116. These findings indicate that GN and GV may serve as novel therapeutic agents for colon cancer treatment and future leads for drug development.

Comparative Study of US-China Discourse on Cross-border Data Regulation and Cybersecurity: Focusing on ASEAN Development Assistance Cases (미·중 초국경 데이터 규제와 사이버안보 담론 비교: 아세안 개발원조 사례를 중심으로)

  • Kayeon Lee
    • Informatization Policy
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.89-108
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    • 2023
  • Science, technology and innovation (STI) has expanded the activity of actors from the traditional physical territory to the cyberspace. Data-driven platform services and markets advance new discussions on cross-border cooperation and cyber security, as well as discourse on sovereignty in cyberspace. These changes are also affecting the hegemony competition between the US and China. In particular, competition for aid to developing countries that are located along major resource transportation routes, such as natural gas and deep sea resources, is fierce. ASEAN is not only a geopolitical military and security point where the US and China powers collide, but its population of 600 million has great potential for the development of the digital economy due to its data resources. In this regard, this article aims to connect the discourse of liberalism and authoritarianism with data regulation and cybersecurity in international development cooperation, and derive implications for ASEAN integration through this. This study has significance as a convergence study that links international political issues related to big data in terms of global governance.