• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.213-231
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This study intends to provide decision-making information to improve efficiency by analyzing the management efficiency of smart greenhouse business entities and identifying factors that affect the efficiency based on input and output. Methods: The subjects of analysis were business entities for cultivating strawberries in smart greenhouses in Jeolla region (northern and southern Jeolla provinces), and the analysis focused on the management performance of the 2019-2020 crop period (year). Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) was applied as an analysis method for efficiency analysis, Quantile Regression(QR) analysis was applied as a factor affecting the efficiency. Results: The reason for the efficiency gap between business entities was that there were many business entities that did not minimize the input cost at the current level of output, and the area where the variance among business entities was large was the fixed cost per 10a. In the results of the affecting factor analysis, it was found that the seed-seedlings cost, fertilizer cost, other material cost, and employment and labor cost had a negative (-) effect on the efficiency, and that the repair and maintenance cost had a positive (+) effect. Conclusion: Therefore, to achieve the efficiency of scale, it is necessary to reduce the input scale to an appropriate level. In the case of business entities with low efficiency by quartile, the seed-seedlings, fertilizer, and other material costs reduce expenditures, and repair maintenance costs can improve efficiency by increasing expenditures.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.63 no.2
• /
• pp.339-353
• /
• 2021

This study aimed to assess the causality of different climate variables on the production of whole crop maize (Zea mays L.; WCM) in the central inland region of the Korea. Furthermore, the effect of these climate variables was also determined by looking at direct and indirect pathways during the stages before and after silking. The WCM metadata (n = 640) were collected from the Rural Development Administration's reports of new variety adaptability from 1985-2011 (27 years). The climate data was collected based on year and location from the Korean Meteorology Administration's weather information system. Causality, in this study, was defined by various cause-and-effect relationships between climatic factors, such as temperature, rainfall amount, sunshine duration, wind speed and relative humidity in the seeding to silking stage and the silking to harvesting stage. All climate variables except wind speed were different before and after the silking stage, which indicates the silking occurred during the period when the Korean season changed from spring to summer. Therefore, the structure of causality was constructed by taking account of the climate variables that were divided by the silking stage. In particular, the indirect effect of rainfall through the appropriate temperature range was different before and after the silking stage. The damage caused by heat-humidity was having effect before the silking stage while the damage caused by night-heat was not affecting WCM production. There was a large variation in soil surface temperature and rainfall before and after the silking stage. Over 350 mm of rainfall affected dry matter yield (DMY) when soil surface temperatures were less than 22℃ before the silking stage. Over 900 mm of rainfall also affected DMY when soil surface temperatures were over 27℃ after the silking stage. For the longitudinal effects of soil surface temperature and rainfall amount, less than 22℃ soil surface temperature and over 300 mm of rainfall before the silking stage affected yield through over 26℃ soil surface temperature and less than 900 mm rainfall after the silking stage, respectively.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.63 no.2
• /
• pp.85-96
• /
• 2021

Irrigation return flow is defined as the excess of irrigation water that is not evapotranspirated by direct surface drainage, and which returns to an aquifer. It is important to quantitatively estimate the irrigation return flow of the water cycle in an agricultural watershed. However, the previous studies on irrigation return flow rates are limitations in quantifying the return flow rate by region. Therefore, simulating irrigation return flow by accounting for various water loss rates derived from agricultural practices is necessary while the hydrologic and hydraulic modeling of cultivated canal-irrigated watersheds. In this study, the irrigation return flow rate of agricultural water, especially for the entire agricultural watershed, was estimated using the SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) module from 2010 to 2019 for the Madun reservoir located in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do. The results of SWMM simulation and water balance analysis estimated irrigation return flow rate. The estimated average annual irrigation return flow ratio during the period from 2010 to 2019 was approximately 55.3% of the annual irrigation amounts of which 35.9% was rapid return flow and 19.4% was delayed return flow. Based on these results, the hydrologic and hydraulic modeling approach can provide a valuable approach for estimating the irrigation return flow under different hydrological and water management conditions.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.268-277
• /
• 2021

Background: Most antipsychotic drugs studies have been mainly conducted on side effects, randomized clinical trials, utilization rates, and trends. But there have been few studies on the influencing factors in elderly patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influencing factors on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Methods: Active ingredients of antipsychotic drugs in Korea were selected according to the Korean Pharmaceutical Information Center (KPIC)'s classification. Data source was Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) claims data in 2020 and target patient group was the elderly patient group. We extracted patients who have been prescribed one or more antipsychotic drugs and visited only one medical institution. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, t-test, negative binomial regression. Results: A number of outpatients were 245,197 and prescriptions were 1,379,092. Most characteristics of patients were 75-85 year's old, female, health insurance type, no disease (dementia, schizophrenia), atypical drugs, cci score (>2) and characteristics of medical institution were neurology in specialty, rural region, general hospitals. Results of regression showed that patient's characteristics and medical center characteristics had significant effect on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that national policy of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients, with the consideration of the patients' and medical institutions' characteristics, is needed.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.172-178
• /
• 2022

The graft cactus (Gymnocalycium mihanovichii) continues to be exported to more than 20 countries worldwide. In April 2021, typical bacterial symptoms of soft rot were observed in the graft cactus (cv. Yeonbit) in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, resulting in economic losses in cactus production. The stems turned dark brown and the flowers were covered with black rot. The bacterial strain designated as KNUB-01-21 was isolated from infected stems and flowers. The results of the morphological and biochemical tests of the isolate were similar to those of Pectobacterium brasiliense. For molecular analysis, the 16S rRNA region and three housekeeping genes (dnaX, leuS, and recA) of the strain KNUB-01-21 were amplified. Based on the results of the molecular analysis and morphological and biochemical tests, KNUB-01-21 was identified as P. brasiliense. The pathogenicity of KNUB-01-21 on graft cactus was confirmed by an inoculation test. Artificial inoculation using P. brasiliense KNUB-01-21 produced soft rot symptoms on the grafted cactus, and the same bacterium was re-isolated and re-identified. This is the first report of P. brasiliense causing soft rot in graft cactus in Korea.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.56-69
• /
• 2022

Silk is a unique natural biopolymer with outstanding biocompatibility, high mechanical strength, and superior optical transparency. Due to its excellent properties, silk has been widely reported as an ideal biomaterial for several biomedical applications. Recently, fluorescent silk protein, a variant of native silk, has been reported as a biophotonic material with the potential for bioimaging and biosensing. Despite the realization of fluorescent silk, the traditional degumming process of fluorescence silk is crude and often results in fluorescence loss. The loss of fluorescent properties is attributed to the sensitivity of silk fibroin to temperature and solvent concentration during degumming. However, there is no comprehensive information on the influence of these processing parameters on fluorescence evolution and decay during fluorescent silk processing. Therefore, we conducted a spectroscopic study on fluorescence decay as a function of temperature, concentration, and duration for fluorescent silk cocoon degumming. Sodium carbonate solution was tested for degumming the fluorescent silk cocoons with different concentrations and temperatures; also, sodium carbonate solution is combined with Alcalase enzyme and triton x-100 to find optimal degumming conditions. Additionally, we conducted a molecular dynamics study to investigate the fundamental effect of temperature on the stability of the fluorescent protein. We observed degumming temperature as the prime source of fluorescent intensity reduction. From the MD study, fluorescence degradation originated from the thermal agitation of fluorescent protein Cα atoms and fluctuations of amino acid residues located in the chromophore region. Overall, degumming fluorescent silk with sodium carbonate and Alcalase enzyme solution at 25 ℃ preserved fluorescence.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.451-470
• /
• 2022

Recently, the environment has been recognized as an important factor in increasing competitiveness in the industry. In agriculture and rural areas, the environment is becoming important in terms of the competitive advantage of agricultural products and continued regional development. This study intended to provide farmers with basic data for the continuous development of local agriculture through exploratory studies of environmental behaviors and regional development. In this study, 107 questionnaires were used for analysis of farmers in Jinan County to analyze the impact of farmers' environmental consciousness on regional development, and the research model was verified using a structural equation model. As a result of the analysis, it was analyzed that among the components of the environmental consciousness of farmers, environmental health has a statistically significant positive effect on environmental behaviors, while environmental interest and soil environment do not have an impact. The environmental behaviors of farmers have not been shown to be statistically significant to regional development. As a result of the analysis of this research, first, it is necessary to foster at the local level by establishing a customized fostering system for each village and region, such as education and technical support to vitalize the participation of young farmers and small and medium-sized farmers through the establishment of an Eco-friendly agricultural organization support system. It is necessary to raise public awareness of the public good function of agriculture and expand opportunities for sharing the value of Eco-friendly agriculture.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.489-504
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study examined socio-economic differences in diverse food consumption among children 6-23 months of age in South Asia and Southeast Asian countries. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data from Demographic and Health Surveys in four countries in South Asia (n = 15,749) and four countries in Southeast Asia (n = 10,789) were used. Survey-design adjusted proportions were estimated for the following 10 food items: grains, legumes, dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV), vitamin A-rich fruits, vitamin A-rich vegetables, other fruits and vegetables (OFV), fish, meat, dairy, and eggs. An equity gap was defined as an arithmetic difference in the proportion of each food item consumed in the past 24-hours between the wealthiest and lowest quintiles and between rural and urban areas, denoted by percentage points (pp). RESULTS: The consumption of most of the 10 food items was higher in the wealthiest quintiles and urban areas across eight countries. The size of equity gaps was greater in Southeast Asia than in South Asia, particularly for vitamin A-rich fruits (3.3-30.0 pp vs. 0.3-19.6 pp), vitamin A-rich vegetables (12.1-26.7 pp vs. 2.4-5.9 pp), meat (17.7-33.4 pp vs. 3.4-13.4 pp), and dairy (14.7-32.5 pp vs. 3.3-11.4 pp). However, the size of equity gap in egg consumption was greater in Southeast Asia than South Asia (11.2-19.8 pp vs. 11.0-26.7 pp). Relatively narrower gaps were seen in the consumption of grains (0.3-12.9 pp), DGLV (0.6-12.4 pp), and fish (0.1-16.8 pp) across all countries. CONCLUSIONS: Equity gaps in food consumption differed by socio-economic status and region. Reducing equity gaps in nutrient-rich foods and utilizing regionally available food resources may increase child dietary quality.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.199-205
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND: The freezing injury by pruning can be reduced by suspending pruning work when severe cold weather (-23 to -49℃) is forecast. Minimum air temperature of the study area, Gunwi region at February 3, 2012 was -21.9℃, and the subzero temperature continued until April 8, 2012. This study was conducted in two years to investigate the effect of delaying winter pruning until full bloom on shoot growth and fruit quality of 'Fuji'/M.9 apple trees. METHODS AND RESULTS: The time of pruning were March 26 for dormant, April 3 for bud break, and May 2 for full bloom. The winter pruning at full bloom significantly reduced fruit weight for two years compared with the control (winter pruning at dormant), and shoot growth was reduced only in the following year. There was no significant effect of delaying winter pruning at bud break on soluble solid content, fruit red color, return bloom, and pruning weight for two years compared with the control. CONCLUSION(S): These results indicated the delaying winter pruning at bud break of 'Fuji'/M.9 apple tree did not offer any disadvantage over comparable dormant pruning, since the fruit quality was not affected. The delayed pruning at full bloom resulted in decreased fruit weight, though shoot growth, fruit quality, and return bloom were not affected by the delayed pruning. So, the delayed pruning should be considered carefully only for the fruit tree orchards in diseases.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.113-116
• /
• 2010

The Acacia seyal Del. var. seyal belongs to family Mimosaceae is known locally as gum Talha tree. It is a multipurpose tree species occurs throughout the African gum belt in Savannah mostly in pure forest. In Sudan it thrives on heavy clay soils that receive an annual rainfall between 400-800 mm. It is an important source of rural energy (fuelwood and charcoal) and forage. As mentioned by Nair (2007) the economic damage causes by insect in natural forest often difficult to judge due to no enough research attention The tree is frequently affected by biotic factors among them the insect pests. During a survey in the 1980's the tree was severely infested by the longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae) severely infesting other Acacia species, but the ecological data are overlooked. Therefore, the objective of the study was to assess infestation characteristics and to determine environmental factors triggering the attack of longhorned beetles. A temporary random sampling technique was applied to observe the damage characteristics of the longhorned beetles on tree species during May-July 2007. Five sample plots occupies by A. seyal were taken in Kordofan region directly observed for the presence of hole of emergence of the longhorned beetles, presence of dusts, presence of insect stages, girdling as well as other characteristics of damage. The study results indicate that the infestation rate of trees in the sampled sites ranged between zero and 23.08%. Further ecological researches are recommended.