• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.120-131
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• 2022

Microcystins (MCs) are cyano-toxins mainly produced by cyanobacteria in the genera of Microcystis, Anabaena, and Oscillatoria. The concentrations of MCs in the water bodies and fish tissues taken from the four weirs (Ipo, Gangjeong-goryeong, Baekje, and Juksan) in the four main rivers in Korea, and the health risk of human due to consumption of toxin-detected fish was examined. The maximum values of MCs concentration in the water samples were as follows: Juksan (3.261 ㎍ L^-1), Gangjeong-goryeong (1.014 ㎍ L^-1), Baekje (0.759 ㎍ L^-1), and Ipo (0.266 ㎍ L^-1) weirs. The MC-RR concentration was the highest among the MCs, and MC-YR was not detected. MCs of 0.222~9.808 ㎍ g^-1 dry weight were detected in the liver of 3 out of 215 fishes of 16 species, and below the detection limit in muscle. As a result of comparing the feeding characteristics of the collected fishes and toxin concentrations in water and fish tissue, it was concluded that the biomagnification of MCs through the food chain did not occur. It was judged that there was no health risk due to the consumption of the fish detected the toxin, based on the amount of the fish intake of the Korean people and the allowable daily intake of MCs. However, in order to reduce the health risk due to MCs, further studies should be conducted to analyze the concentration of MCs contained in fish tissues collected at various times in the area dominated by harmful cyanobacteria to obtain data on the exposure of MCs due to fish consumption. In addition, it is necessary to establish the management guidelines for MCs in fish tissues.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2022

Purpose: Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began, new variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have emerged, and distinct epidemic waves of COVID-19 have occurred for an extended period. This study aimed to analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with COVID-19 from the third wave to the middle of the fourth epidemic wave in Korea. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of hospitalized patients aged ≤18 years with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. The study periods were divided into the third wave (from November 13, 2020 to July 6, 2021) and the fourth wave (from July 7 to October 31, 2021). Results: Ninety-three patients were included in the analysis (33 in the third and 60 in the fourth waves). Compared with the third wave, the median age of patients was significantly older during the fourth wave (6.7 vs. 2.8 years, P=0.014). Household contacts was reported in 60.2% of total patients, similar in both periods (69.7 vs. 55.0%, P=0.190). Eighty-one (87.1%) had symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among these, 10 (12.3%) had no respiratory symptoms. Anosmia or ageusia were more commonly observed in the fourth epidemic wave (10.7 vs. 34.0%, P=0.032). Most respiratory illness were upper respiratory tract infections (94.4%, 67/71), 4 had pneumonia. The median cycle threshold values (detection threshold, 40) for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and envelope (E) genes of SARS-CoV-2 were 21.3 and 19.3, respectively. There was no significant difference in viral load during 2 epidemic waves. Conclusions: There were different characteristics during the two epidemic waves of COVID-19.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.253-264
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated the occurrence of viral diseases in the early growth stage of soybean to establish management practices. We collected 83 soybean samples showing abnormal symptoms, approximately 3-4 weeks after seeding in the breeding field of the National Institute of Crop Science. Viruses were detected in the collected samples using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and metatranscriptome analysis of all those samples. The incidence of viral diseases in the field was less than 1% overall and up to 50% in certain cultivars and lines. RT-PCR and metatranscriptome analysis detected Soybean yellow mottle mosaic virus (SYMMV), Soybean mosaic virus (SMV), Soybean yellow common mosaic virus, Peanut stunt virus, and soybean geminivirus A (SGVA). Among these detected viruses, SYMMV and SMV were identified as major viruses causing infection in the early growth stage of soybean, with detection rates of 53.7% and 42.6%, respectively. Soybeans infected with SYMMV showed typical mosaic symptoms, whereas those infected with SMV showed a variety of symptoms such as mosaic, mottle, stunt, and chlorotic spots. Transmission characteristics of these viruses are variable, such that SMV is primarily transmitted by seeds, whereas SYMMV could be transmitted by insects, soil, and seeds. In this study, SGVA was detected in the early growth stage of soybean, and research on the current status and its effects on soybean after the early growth stage should be conducted.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.896-910
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• 2022

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmissible and potentially fatal virus. So far, most comprehensive analyses encompassing clinical and transcriptional manifestation have concentrated on the lungs. Here, we confirmed evident signs of viral infection in the lungs and spleen of SARS-CoV-2-infected K18-hACE2 mice, which replicate the phenotype and infection symptoms in hospitalized humans. Seven days post viral detection in organs, infected mice showed decreased vital signs, leading to death. Bronchopneumonia due to infiltration of leukocytes in the lungs and reduction in the spleen lymphocyte region were observed. Transcriptome profiling implicated the meticulous regulation of distress and recovery from cytokine-mediated immunity by distinct immune cell types in a time-dependent manner. In lungs, the chemokine-driven response to viral invasion was highly elevated at 2 days post infection (dpi). In late infection, diseased lungs, post the innate immune process, showed recovery signs. The spleen established an even more immediate line of defense than the lungs, and the cytokine expression profile dropped at 7 dpi. At 5 dpi, spleen samples diverged into two distinct groups with different transcriptome profile and pathophysiology. Inhibition of consecutive host cell viral entry and massive immunoglobulin production and proteolysis inhibition seemed that one group endeavored to survive, while the other group struggled with developmental regeneration against consistent viral intrusion through the replication cycle. Our results may contribute to improved understanding of the longitudinal response to viral infection and development of potential therapeutics for hospitalized patients affected by SARS-CoV-2.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.17-27
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• 2023

Weeds are one of the factors that reduce crop yield through nutrient and photosynthetic competition. Quantification of weed density are an important part of making accurate decisions for precision weeding. In this study, we tried to quantify the density of weeds in images of maize fields taken by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). UAV image data collection took place in maize fields from May 17 to June 4, 2021, when maize was in its early growth stage. UAV images were labeled with pixels from maize and those without and the cropped to be used as the input data of the semantic segmentation network for the maize detection model. We trained a model to separate maize from background using the deep learning segmentation networks DeepLabV3+, U-Net, Linknet, and FPN. All four models showed pixel accuracy of 0.97, and the mIOU score was 0.76 and 0.74 in DeepLabV3+ and U-Net, higher than 0.69 for Linknet and FPN. Weed density was calculated as the difference between the green area classified as ExGR (Excess green-Excess red) and the maize area predicted by the model. Each image evaluated for weed density was recombined to quantify and visualize the distribution and density of weeds in a wide range of maize fields. We propose a method to quantify weed density for accurate weeding by effectively separating weeds, maize, and background from UAV images of maize fields.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.276-285
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• 2023

This work investigated the viral infection in jujube plants in Korea. A total of 61 samples with the symptoms of putative viral infection were collected from experimental fields and orchards. Thereafter, the samples were subjected to metatranscriptome analysis, Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis, and nucleotide sequence analysis. These analyses identified the presence of two DNA viruses, jujube-associated badnavirus (JuBV), jujube mosaic-associated virus (JuMaV), and one RNA virus, jujube yellow mottle-associated virus (JYMaV). All samples collected were confirmed to be infected by at least one of the three viruses, with most showed multiple infections. The detection rates of JuBV, JYMaV, and JuMaV were 100%, 90.2%, and 8.2%, respectively. Only three combinations of viral infections were found: 9.8% of samples showed single infection of JuBV, 82.0% showed double infection of JuBV+JYMaV, and 8.2% showed triple infection of JuBV+JYMaV+JuMaV. Sequence analysis of the three viruses showed very high homology with respective virus isolates reported in China. This study is predicted to provide fundamental data to produce virus-free jujube seedlings and represents the first report of JuBV and JuMaV infection in Korea.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.185-209
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• 2023

With the advent of the 4th industrial revolution, various technologies have received much attention. Technologies related to the 4th industry include the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR), 3D printers, and robotics, and these technologies are often converged. In particular, the robotics field is combined with technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, VR, and digital twins. Accordingly, much research using robotics is being conducted, which is applied to distribution, airports, hotels, restaurants, and transportation fields. In the given situation, research on human-robot interaction is attracting attention, but it has not yet reached the level of user satisfaction. However, research on robots capable of perfect communication is steadily being conducted, and it is expected that it will be able to replace human emotional labor. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss whether the current human-robot interaction technology can be applied to business. To this end, this study first examines the trend of human-robot interaction technology. Second, we compare LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic modeling and BERTopic topic modeling methods. As a result, we found that the concept of human-robot interaction and basic interaction was discussed in the studies from 1992 to 2002. From 2003 to 2012, many studies on social expression were conducted, and studies related to judgment such as face detection and recognition were conducted. In the studies from 2013 to 2022, service topics such as elderly nursing, education, and autism treatment appeared, and research on social expression continued. However, it seems that it has not yet reached the level that can be applied to business. As a result of comparing LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic modeling and the BERTopic topic modeling method, it was confirmed that BERTopic is a superior method to LDA.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.289-301
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• 2023

Forests within watersheds are essential in maintaining ecosystems and are the central infrastructure for constructing an ecological network system. However, due to indiscriminate development projects carried out over past decades, forest fragmentation and land use changes have accelerated, and their original functions have been lost. Since a forest's structural pattern directly impacts ecological processes and functions in understanding forest ecosystems, identifying and analyzing change patterns is essential. Therefore, this study analyzed structural changes in the forest landscape according to the time-series land cover changes using the FRAGSTATS model for the dam watershed of the Geum River upstream. Land cover changes in the dam watershed of the Geum River upstream through land cover change detection showed an increase of 33.12 square kilometers (0.62%) of forests and 67.26 square kilometers (1.26%) of urbanized dry areas and a decrease of 148.25 square kilometers (2.79%) in agricultural areas from the 1980s to the 2010s. The results of no-sampling forest landscape analysis within the watershed indicated landscape percentage (PLAND), area-weighted proximity index (CONTIG_AM), average central area (CORE_MN), and adjacency index (PLADJ) increased, and the number of patches (NP), landscape shape index (LSI), and cohesion index (COHESION) decreased. Identification of structural change patterns through a moving window analysis showed the forest landscape in Sangju City, Gyeongsangbuk Province, Boeun County in Chungcheongbuk Province, and Jinan Province in Jeollabuk Province was relatively well preserved, but fragmentation was ongoing at the border between Okcheon County in Chungcheongbuk Province, Yeongdong and Geumsan Counties in Chungcheongnam Province, and the forest landscape in areas adjacent to Muju and Jangsu Counties in Jeollabuk Province. The results indicate that it is necessary to establish afforestation projects for fragmented areas when preparing a future regional forest management strategy. This study derived areas where fragmentation of forest landscapes is expected and the results may be used as basic data for assessing the health of watershed forests and establishing management plans.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.110-118
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• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the physiology of optimal reproductive age in Hanwoo for protection to decrease of reproductivity and improvement of production of offspring. Thirty two cows were devided into 4 groups of treatments : T1(12 months of age and 0.5kg daily gain), T2(12 months of age and 0.8kg daily gain), T3(15 months of age and 0.5kg daily gain) and T4(18 months of age and 0.5kg daily gain). The days of the first heat of treated cows were 263.3±6.4 days and average weight was 181.1±11.3kg. The conception rates of first insemination were 25%(T1) and 75%(T4), and the number of insemination of T3 and T4(both 1.5) was lower than those of T1 and T2(2.3 and 2.4), respectively. With regard to estrus return after the first parturition, T1, T2, T3 and T4 showed 66.2,76.7, 62.4 and 68.5 days, respectively, indicating the average days of estrus return was 65.7. Plasma progesterone(P4) concentration was nearly the same during the observation periods of treated cows and P4 began to be detected after 12months. Only 5(15.6%) out of 32cows showed normal estrus cycle and ovulation before 12 months. During the peri-parturition period, P4 concentration was rapidly decreased and there was no detection of P4 from parturition to 40 days after milking. P4 would be released again on 45 day after parturition. The results imply that the optimal reproductive age of Hanwoo heifers would be around at the 14 months of age, 110cm height and 265kg weight.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.237-244
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• 2022

Chrysanthemum plants are one of the most economically important plants in South Korea. Both virus and viroid can cause diseases and economic damage to the plants. In this study, we investigated the detection of seven viruses and two viroids in 350 chrysanthemum plants cultivated in Yesan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. Two viruses, chrysanthemum virus B (CVB) and tomato aspermy virus (TAV), and two viroids, chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid (CChMVd) and chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), were detected in this study. The two viruses were detected in six samples and one sample, respectively. The two viroids were detected in 97 samples and 21 samples, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of the CVB-CN-Y, TAV-CN-Y, CChMVd-CN-Y, and CSVd-CN-Y obtained in this study showed 83.7-86.9%, 99.2-100.0%, 94.4-99.5%, and 95.7-99.7% identity, respectively, compared to their other strains/isolates. The CVB-CN-Y and TAV-CN-Y showed the greatest nucleotide sequence homology to CVB-GS1 and three TAV isolates (TAV-V, TAV-P, and TAV-ChJ), respectively. The CChMVd-CN-Y and CSVd-CN-Y showed the greatest nucleotide sequence homology to CChMVd-Horst and four CSVd isolates (Au1.1, K4pop, Sagae, and Tochigi), respectively. This study is the report on the infection rate of viruses and viroids in chrysanthemum plants cultivated in Yesan-gun in 2021.