• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.257-270
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• 2022

This study evaluated the hydraulic factors contributing to the decreasing groundwater levels across Jeju island. Time-series data for groundwater level, precipitation, and groundwater usage and information on land use were acquired, and the correlations among them were analyzed to evaluate the causes of the decreasing groundwater. The effects of precipitation and groundwater usage on the fluctuations of groundwater level were quantified using response surface analysis and sensitivity analysis, and methods for groundwater quantity management by region were proposed. The results showed that the rate of groundwater decrease in the western region was larger than that in the eastern region. For the eastern region, the influence of precipitation was large and the rate of decrease in the groundwater level was relatively small. The geological formation of this part of the island and continuous seawater intrusion suggest that although the absolute amount of groundwater extracted for use was large, the decrease in the groundwater level was not seen to be great due to an increase in pressure by seawater intrusion. Overall, precipitation and groundwater usage had the greatest effect on the amount of groundwater in the western region, and thus their data would be most useful for informing groundwater management, whereas other factors (e.g., sea level and the location of the freshwater-seawater transition zone) must be considered when understanding Jeju's eastern region. As the characteristics of groundwater level fluctuations in the eastern and western regions are distinct, an optimal management plan for each region should be proposed to ensure the efficient management of groundwater quantity.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.338-349
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate whether modular community planting, which entailed planting a variety of species of seedlings at high density, was more effective in restoring natural forests than the existing mature tree planting. We also investigated whether the planting density of the modular community planting facilitates growth or improves the tree layer coverage. We conducted outdoor experiments in which the samples were divided into a mature tree planting plot (control plot), where mature trees were planted at wide intervals, and a modular community planting (MCP) plot (treatment plot), where multiple seedlings were planted in high density. The MCP plot was further divided into the plot in which 3 seedlings were planted per m² and the plot of 1 seedling per m². We measured the specimens' survival rate, growth rate (tree height, crown width, and root collar diameter), and cover rate for 26 months from May 2019 and the predicted future tree height growth using the measured tree height. The survival rate and relative growth rate of the MCP were higher than those of the mature tree planting plot. The vertical coverage rate of the tree crown in the MCP exhibited complete coverage of the ground before 23 months, while the coverage rate of the mature tree planting decreased due to transplantation stress. The seedlings in the MCP, which were planted at high density, grew well and were predicted to grow higher than the mature trees in the large tree planting plot within 5 to 6.5 years after planting. It was due to multiple species, seedlings, high-density planting, and planting foundation improvements, such as soil enhancement and mulching. In other words, the seedlings planted in the MCP had a higher survival rate as their environmental adaptation after planting was better, and their early growth was also larger than the trees in the mature planting plot. The high-density mixed planting of various native species not only mitigated the inter-complementary environmental pressures but also facilitated growth by inducing competition between species. Moreover, the planting foundation improvement effectively increased the seedlings' viability and growth rate. A reduction in follow-up management costs is expected as the tree layer coverage sharply increases due to the higher planting density. In the MCP (3 seedlings per m² and 1 seedling per m²), the tree height growth was promoted with the higher planting density, and the crown width and root collar diameter tended to be larger with the lower planting density, but these differences were not statistically significant.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.337-347
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• 2021

This study is a qualitative study conducted to provide basic data for therapists working in long-term care hospitals to improve their countermeasure strategies for new infectious diseases and improvement of the treatment room infection management system, and to help therapists understand their infection management work. Colaizzi's phenomenological research method was applied as the research method. Telephone interviews were conducted with nine occupational therapists and physical therapists working in nursing hospitals. The contents of the interview were recorded with the consent of the study subjects, and additional confirmation was received by email. The recorded content was analyzed after transcription, and the meaning and nature of the experience coping with COVID-19 were described. The content was organized into 6 themes, 17 main meaning and 49 meaning units. In accordance with the COVID-19 situation, the infection control system has been strengthened by reinforcing infection control education in nursing hospitals, practicing infection control, and supervising infection control outside business hours. It was found that the treatment environment was changed due to the restriction of treatment activities by practicing distancing in the treatment room, adjusting rest and meal times during working hours, and strengthening infection control. In addition, the therapist's role has been expanded and the paradigm of treatment has changed, such as considering the untact intervention, and they have experienced cohort quarantine, pre-tested for COVID-19, vaccinations, and side effects from COVID-19. However, due to the infection work, the therapist's work burden is increased, and the person is experiencing fear, depression, and work stress from the spread of COVID-19. They were also aware of the need for nursing hospital care personnel support, such as guaranteeing rest after vaccination and providing infection control tools and equipment. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for human and physical support for the development of infectious disease response strategy programs in nursing hospital treatment rooms and for infection control in nursing hospitals.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-203
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• 2022

Cultivation of tomatoes in Korea grown in soil covers 89% of the total area for tomato cultivation. Tomatoes grown in soil often encounter various environment stresses including not only salt stress and soil-borne diseases but also cold stress in the winter season. This study was conducted to comparatively analyze the performance of rootstocks with cold stress by measuring the growth, yield, and photosynthetic efficiency in tomatoes grown in soil. The rootstocks were used 'Powerguard', 'IT173773', and '20LM' for the domestic rootstock cultivars and 'B-blocking' for a control cultivar. The tomato cultivar 'Red250' was used as the scion and the non-grafted tomatoes. Stem diameter, flowering position, leaf length, and leaf width were investigated for the growth parameters. The stem diameter of the non-grafted tomatoes decreased by 15% compared to the grafted tomatoes at 80 days after transplanting when exposed to low temperatures of 9-14℃ for 14 days. The leaf length and width of the non-grafted tomatoes were the lowest with 42.4 cm and 41.8 cm at 80 days after transplanting. The total yield per plant was the highest in tomato plants grafted on 'Powerguard' with 1,615 g and lowest in non-grafted tomatoes with 1,299 g. As the result of measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, PI_ABS and DI₀/RC, which mean the performance index and dissipated energy flux, 'Powerguard' was the highest with 3.73 in PI_ABS and the lowest with 0.34 in DI₀/RC, whereas non-grafted tomatoes was the lowest with 2.62 in PI_ABS and the highest with 0.41 in DI₀/RC at 80 days after transplanting. The stem diameter has positive correlation with PI_ABS, while it has negative correlation with DI₀/RC. The results indicate that can be analyzed by chlorophyll fluorescence parameters can be used for analyzing the differences in the growth of tomato plants grafted on different rootstocks when exposed to cold stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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• no.41
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• pp.3-12
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of forest play activities on children's emotional vocabulary change. Forest play activities were conducted for 498 children aged 4 to 5 years old who visited the environmental training in G city for forest play activity for 1 hour. As a result, positive vocabulary was significantly improved from 0.95±0.78 before forest play to 1.15±1.21 after forest play(p=.003) and negative vocabulary was significantly decreased from 1.27±1.58 to 0.41±1.10(p=.000). In the case of male children, positive vocabulary was increased significantly from 0.96±0.82 to 1.36±1.24(p=.000), in the case of negative vocabulary, it decreased significantly from 1.42±1.74 to 0.55±1.30(p=.000). In the case of female children, negative vocabulary was significantly decreased from 1.12±1.37 to 0.26±0.26(p=.000), but the positive vocabulary increase was not significant(p=.851). As a result of age, for a 4-year-old children, positive vocabulary did not show significant difference between before and after forest play(p=.471), and negative vocabulary was significantly increased from 1.04 ± 1.42 before forest play to 0.41±1.16 after forest play(p=.000). For a 5-year-old children, positive vocabulary was increased significantly from 0.96±0.85 to 1.23±1.21(p=.001) and negative vocabulary was decreased significantly from 1.41±1.65 to 0.41±1.06(p=.000). As a result of this study, it was found that play activities using various natural objects in the forest were directly related to nature, resulting in positive vocabulary increase and negative vocabulary decrease.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.496-509
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the general characteristics, chronic diseases, health behavior, mental health, and nutritional status of young-old women based on their vitality. Methods: This study used data from the 2019 and 2021 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The subjects were 1,113 young-old women aged 65 to 74 years old. The health-related quality of life concept with an 8-item questionnaire was used to measure the quality of life. Subjects were categorized into 4 groups (always, often, sometimes, never) based on their vitality. General characteristics, chronic diseases, health behavior, dietary behavior, food intake, and nutrient intake were compared among the groups. Results: Age, education level, household income, employment, fruit intake, dietary supplements, abundance of food, and nutrition labeling recognition were associated with the vitality of the subjects. Young-old women with arthritis, diabetes, and osteoporosis displayed lower vitality. Moreover, subjective health status, exercise, activity restrictions, and average daily sitting hours were related to vitality, while no significant difference was found in vitality between smoking and drinking. In terms of mental health factors, higher vitality was associated with 6-8 hours of sleep, lower stress levels, and reduced depression. The high-vitality group exhibited a higher intake of potatoes, starch, mushrooms, fruits, meat, milk, animal oils, and beverages than the low-vitality group. Additionally, the group with higher levels of vitality showed a higher intake of protein, fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-6 fatty acids, dietary fiber, sugars, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and riboflavin. Conclusion: This study suggests that the vitality of young-old women is related to socioeconomic factors, health behavior, mental health, and food intake. To maintain a vibrant lifestyle in elderly women, it is necessary to have social and economic stability, prevent arthritis, diabetes, and osteoporosis, exercise regularly, get sufficient sleep, maintain mental health, and have a balanced diet.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.452-461
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• 2024

This study evaluated the in vitro antioxidant activities of ethanolic Polygonum multiflorum (P. multiflorum) extracts and their cytoprotective effects on H₂O₂-induced HT22 and SK-N-MC cells. Among ethanolic extracts of P. multiflorum, the 40% ethanolic extract of P. multiflorum exhibited high total phenolics and flavonoid contents, with 105.68 mg of GAE/g and 28.92 mg of RE/g, respectively. The 40% ethanolic extract of P. multiflorum showed a high 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) inhibitory effect. The 40% ethanolic extract of P. multiflorum also showed efficient inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and acetylcholinesterase. Moreover, the 40% ethanolic extract of P. multiflorum reduced oxidative stress and increased cell viability in H₂O₂-induced HT22 and SK-N-MC cells as determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetra-zoliumbromide (MTT) and 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA) assay. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) identified 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-beta-D-glucoside (TSG) as the bioactive compound in the 40% ethanolic extract of P. multiflorum.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.57 no.8
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• pp.509-518
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• 2024

Flash drought is a rapid-onset drought that occurs rapidly over a short period due to abrupt changes in meteorological and environmental factors. In this study, we utilized satellite-based soil moisture product from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2(AMSR2) ascending X-band to calculate the weekly Flash Drought Intensity Index (FDII). We also analyzed the characteristics of flash droughts on the Korean Peninsula over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2022. The analysis of monthly spatial distribution patterns of the irrigation period across the Korean Peninsula revealed significant variations. In North Korea (NK), a substantial increase in the rate of intensification (FD_INT) was observed due to the rapid depletion of soil moisture, whereas South Korea (SK) experienced a significant increase in drought severity (DRO_SEV). Additionally, regional time series analysis revealed that both FD_INT and DRO_SEV were significantly high in the Gangwon province of both NK and SK. The estimation of probability density by region revealed a clear difference in FD_INT between NK and SK, with SK showing a higher probability of severe drought occurrence primarily due to the high values of DRO_SEV. As a result, it is inferred that the occurrence frequency and damage of flash droughts in NK are higher than those in SK, as indicated by the higher density of large FDII values in the NK region. We analyzed the correlation between DRO_SEV and the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) across the Korean Peninsula and confirmed a positive correlation ranging from 0.4 to 0.6. It is concluded that analyzing overall drought conditions through the average drought severity holds high utility. These findings are expected to contribute to understanding the characteristics of flash droughts on the Korean Peninsula and formulating post-event response plans.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.384-395
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• 2023

Since transpiration plays a key role in optimal irrigation management, knowledge of the irrigation demand of crops like tomatoes, which are highly susceptible to water stress, is necessary. One way to determine irrigation demand is to measure transpiration, which is affected by environmental factor or growth stage. This study aimed to estimate the transpiration amount of tomatoes and find a suitable model using mathematical and deep learning models using minute-by-minute data. Pearson correlation revealed that observed environmental variables significantly correlate with crop transpiration. Inside air temperature and outside radiation positively correlated with transpiration, while humidity showed a negative correlation. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Polynomial Regression model, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Long short-term Memory (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) models were built and compared their accuracies. All models showed potential in estimating transpiration with R² values ranging from 0.770 to 0.948 and RMSE of 0.495 mm/min to 1.038 mm/min in the test dataset. Deep learning models outperformed the mathematical models; the GRU demonstrated the best performance in the test data with 0.948 R² and 0.495 mm/min RMSE. The LSTM and ANN closely followed with R² values of 0.946 and 0.944, respectively, and RMSE of 0.504 m/min and 0.511, respectively. The GRU model exhibited superior performance in short-term forecasts while LSTM for long-term but requires verification using a large dataset. Compared to the FAO56 Penman-Monteith (PM) equation, PM has a lower RMSE of 0.598 mm/min than MLR and Polynomial models degrees 2 and 3 but performed least among all models in capturing variability in transpiration. Therefore, this study recommended GRU and LSTM models for short-term estimation of tomato transpiration in greenhouses.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.257-264
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• 2009

A neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been widely used to create animal model for Parkinson's disease (PD) due to its specific toxicity against dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Since DA signals modulate a broad spectrum of CNS physiology, one can expect profound alterations in neuroendocrine activities of both PD patients and 6-OHDA treated animals. Limited applications of 6-OHDA injection model, however, have been made on the studies of hypothalamuspituitary neuroendocrine circuits. The present study was performed to examine whether blockade of brain catecholamine (CA) biosynthesis with 6-OHDA can make any alteration in the transcriptional activities of hypothalamus-pituitary hormone genes in adult male rats. Three-month-old male rats (SD strain) were received 6-OHDA ($200{\mu}g$ in $10{\mu}\ell$ of saline/animal) by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection, and sacrificed after two weeks. To determine the mRNA levels of hypothalamuspituitary hormone genes, total RNAs were extracted and applied to the semi-quantitative RT-PCRs. The mRNA levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme for the catecholamine biosynthesis, were significantly lower than those from the control group (control:6-OHDA=1:0.72${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001), confirming the efficacy of 6-OHDA injection. The mRNA levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in the hypothalami from 6-OHDA group were significantly lower than those from the control group (GnRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.39${\pm}$0.03AU, p<0.001; CRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.76${\pm}$0.07AU, p<0.01). There were significant decreases in the mRNA levels of common alpha subunit of glycoprotein homones (Cg$\alpha$), LH beta subunit (LH-$\beta$), and FSH beta subunit (FSH-$\beta$) in pituitaries from 6-OHDA group compared to control values (Cg$\alpha$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.81${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001; LH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.68${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.001; FSH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.84${\pm}$0.05AU, p<0.001). Similarly, the level of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) transcripts from 6-OHDA group was significantly lower than that from the control group (control: 6-OHDA=1:0.86${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.01). The present study demonstrated that centrally injected DA neurotoxin could downregulate the transcriptional activities of the two hypothalamus-pituitary neuroendocrine circuits, i.e., GnRH-gonadotropins and CRH-ACTH systems. These results suggested that hypothalamic CA input might affect on the activities of gonad and adrenal through modulation of hypothalamus-pituitary function, providing plausible explanation for frequent occurrence of sexual dysfunction and poor stress-response in PD patients.