• Journal of The Korean Digital Architecture Interior Association
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.25-32
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• 2007

Cities should be developed and managed deliberately since reckless development and selfish expansion deteriorate the quality of life in the cities by creating various problems in transportation, residence and environment. In particular, the semi-agricultural zones have been designated in order to address such problems as the overpopulation caused by the influx of people into the cities and promote balanced regional development and eco-friendly cultivation of the land across the nation. But the problems of metropolitan areas, such as the overpopulation and lack of infrastructure, are spreading even to the semi-agricultural zones, which should be the last areas to be developed into cities. We should blame the indolence of our policies on land first, rather than the selfish cities that slip from the grip of the law. This study concludes that the self-agricultural zones should be developed and managed with plans by the public sector rather than the autonomous development by the private sector.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2005

Cultural, morphological and pathogenic variation in Indian isolates of Ascochyta rabiei, the causal agent of blight of chickpea, was investigated. Fungal isolates representative of seven agroclimatic regions in north western plain zones (NWPZ) of India showed variation in colony colour as mouse gray with green hue, light mouse gray with slate gray centre and gray with dark brown centre, when grown on chickpea dextrose agar (CDA). Conidiomatal color of the isolates varied from brown to slate gray and black. The number of conidiomata and conidia formed on CDA ranged from 49.7 to 90.7 and $5.5\times10^4\;to\;3\times10^5cm^{-2}$, respectively. The size of conidiomata and conidia of A. rabiei isolates varied from $274\times232{\mu}m\;to\;156\times116{\mu}m$, and from $14.0\times6.2{\mu}m\;to\;10.7\times4.6{\mu}m$, respectively. Fourteen A. rabiei isolates from the seven agroclimatic regions of NWPZ were evaluated for their virulence on 180 chickpea genotypes in controlled environment. Cluster analysis based on the disease rating on a 1-9 scale indicated higher similarity coefficient (> 0.65) between isolates from different agroecological regions, while few isolates from the same region had less similarity. The 14 isolates were grouped into eight pathotypes at > 0.5 similarity coefficient. Sixteen genotypes were identified as probable differentials to distinguish A. rabiei isolates.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.296-300
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• 2005

Human-induced soil salinity is becoming a major threat to agriculture across the world. This salinisation occurs in both irrigated and rain-fed agricultural zones with the highest proportions in the arid and semi-arid environments. Livestock can play an important role in the management and rehabilitation of this land. There are a range of plants that grow in saline soils and these have been used as animal feed. In many situations, animal production has been poor as a result of low edible biomass production, low nutritive value, depressed appetite, or a reduction in efficiency of energy use. Feeding systems are proposed that maximise the feeding value of plants growing on saline land and integrate their use with other feed resources available within mixed livestock and crop farming systems. Salt-tolerant pastures, particularly the chenopod shrubs, have moderate digestible energy and high crude protein. For this reason they represent a good supplement for poor quality pastures and crop residues. The use of salt-tolerant pasture systems not only provides feed for livestock but also may act as a bio-drain to lower saline water tables and improve the soil for growth of alternative less salt tolerant plants. In the longer term there are opportunities to identify and select more appropriate plants and animals for saline agriculture.

• Journal of The Korean Digital Architecture Interior Association
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2007

Virtues and advantages of urban areas would be tarnished if benefits and convenience of the cities were overwhelmed by the logics of selfish development and reckless expansion. Reckless development, which is not limited to a certain point of time and space, has become a social and environmental problem for a long period of time, taking advantage of legal and administrative loopholes. In the metropolitan area surrounding the capital, especially Yongin, where semi-agricultural zones have been developed recklessly, serious problems have already emerged including the lack of infrastructure, environmental contamination, destruction of scenic landscapes, encroachment of good farmland and forest and invitation of natural disasters. This study assumed all these problems as the consequence of the inadequacy of the legislative system and analyzed the causes. The study also suggests some countermeasures. Most of all, a "planning-first, development-later" practice should be brought into place so that various experts could participate for a detailed planning. Public development should also be expanded so that beneficial public facilities could be set up in the first place. A system for reasonable development charges should also be come up with. In this process, the role of the administrators becomes yet more important for a long-term, systematic planning of future cities, accompanied by public housing developments.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.251-273
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• 2020

Soil degradation has become a major worldwide environmental problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid climate zones due to irregular rainfall and the intensity of storms that frequently generate heavy flooding. The main objective of this study is the use of geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to quantify and to map the soil losses in the Wadi Saida watershed (624 ㎢) through the revised universal soil loss equation model and a proposed model based on the surface erosive runoff. The results Analysis revealed that the Wadi Saida watershed showed moderate to moderately high soil loss, between 0 and 1000 t/㎢/year. In the northern part of the basin in the region of Sidi Boubkeur and the mountains of Daia; which are characterized by steep slopes, values can reach up to 3000 t/㎢/year. The two models in comparison showed a good correlation with R = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.43; the use of the erosive surface runoff parameter is effective to estimate the rate of soil loss in the watersheds. The problem of soil erosion requires serious interventions, particularly in basins with disturbances and aggressive climatic parameters. Good agricultural practices and forest preservation areas play an important role in soil conservation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.122-142
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• 2012

The importance of rainfed areas and animal agriculture on productivity enhancement and food security for economic rural growth in Asia is discussed in the context of opportunities for increasing potential contribution from them. The extent of the rainfed area of about 223 million hectares and the biophysical attributes are described. They have been variously referred to inter alia as fragile, marginal, dry, waste, problem, threatened, range, less favoured, low potential lands, forests and woodlands, including lowlands and uplands. Of these, the terms less favoured areas (LFAs), and low or high potential are quite widely used. The LFAs are characterised by four key features: i) very variable biophysical elements, notably poor soil quality, rainfall, length of growing season and dry periods, ii) extreme poverty and very poor people who continuously face hunger and vulnerability, iii) presence of large populations of ruminant animals (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep), and iv) have had minimum development attention and an unfinished wanting agenda. The rainfed humid/sub-humid areas found mainly in South East Asia (99 million ha), and arid/semi-arid tropical systems found in South Asia (116 million ha) are priority agro-ecological zones (AEZs). In India for example, the ecosystem occupies 68% of the total cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock populations. The area also produces 4% of food requirements. The biophysical and typical household characteristics, agricultural diversification, patterns of mixed farming and cropping systems are also described. Concerning animals, their role and economic importance, relevance of ownership, nomadic movements, and more importantly their potential value as the entry point for the development of LFAs is discussed. Two examples of demonstrated success concern increasing buffalo production for milk and their expanded use in semi-arid AEZs in India, and the integration of cattle and goats with oil palm in Malaysia. Revitalised development of the LFAs is justified by the demand for agricultural land to meet human needs e.g. housing, recreation and industrialisation; use of arable land to expand crop production to ceiling levels; increasing and very high animal densities; increased urbanisation and pressure on the use of available land; growing environmental concerns of very intensive crop production e.g. acidification and salinisation with rice cultivation; and human health risks due to expanding peri-urban poultry and pig production. The strategies for promoting productivity growth will require concerted R and D on improved use of LFAs, application of systems perspectives for technology delivery, increased investments, a policy framework and improved farmer-researcher-extension linkages. These challenges and their resolution in rainfed areas can forcefully impact on increased productivity, improved livelihoods and human welfare, and environmental sustainability in the future.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.510-518
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• 2013

This study aims to demonstrate the effect of farming technology on introducing medicinal plants (MP) and wild food plants (WFP) into a traditional agricultural system within peri-urban zones. Field investigations and semi-structured focus group interviews conducted in the Buhozi community showed that 27 health and nutrition problems dominated in the community, and could be treated with 86 domestic plant species. The selected domestic MP and WFP species were collected in the broad neighboring areas of the Buhozi site, and introduced to the experimental field of beans and maize crops in Buhozi. Among the 86 plants introduced, 37 species are confirmed as having both medicinal and nutritional properties, 47 species with medicinal, and 2 species with nutritional properties. The field is arranged in a way that living hedges made from Tithonia diversifolia provide bio-fertilizers to the plants growing along the hedges. The harvest of farming crops does not disturb the MP or WFP, and vice-versa. After harvesting the integrated plants, the community could gain about 40 times higher income, than from harvesting farming crops only. This kind of field may be used throughout the year, to provide both natural medicines and foods. It may therefore contribute to increasing small-scale crop producers' livelihood, while promoting biodiversity conservation. This model needs to be deeply documented, for further pharmaceutical and nutritional use.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.214-219
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• 2010

In order to evaluate the benefits of global warming on the double cropping with staple crops in North-Korea, four aspects such as the increasing rate of air temperature, the wintering temperatures for winter crops, the causing temperature of cool injury to rice and the securing of accumulated temperature for the double cropping in the different agricultural climate zones were analyzed by comparing the differences between the past 22 years from 1973 to 1994 and the recent 5 years from 2002 to 2006. The warming rate in recent daily mean air temperature of $8.96^{\circ}C$ in North Korea was higher by $0.64^{\circ}C$ than that in the past with large regional variations ranging from $1.06^{\circ}C$ in Samjiyeon of northern inland semi-alpine zone to $12.26^{\circ}C$ in Jangjeon of east central coastal zone. With the accumulated temperatures of more than $3,150^{\circ}C$ and $2,650^{\circ}C$, it was possible to apply the double cropping patterns with winter wheat and for cropping patterns with spring potato, respectively, to the whole region except for the northern inland semi-alpine zone. However, the wintering temperature higher than $-15^{\circ}C$ of average daily minimum air temperature of January, cropping patterns were impossible to northern inland semi-alpine zone and most regions of the northern mountainous zone. The days passed by below $17^{\circ}C$ in daily mean air temperature, causing the spikelet sterility at meiotic stage of rice in July, were a lot recorded from 21 to 29 days in northern inland semi-alpine zone and from 2 to 10 days in east-northern coastal zone, respectively. Therefore, a reasonable utilization of heat / temperature resources would relieve the limiting factors in double cropping for stable production of staple crops in North-Korea.