• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.197-206
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• 2016

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen of considerable genetic diversity with varying pathogenicity. Initially, we found that the strain M7 was far less pathogenic than the strain Lm850658 though both are serovar 4a strains belonging to the lineage III. Comparative genomic approaches were then attempted to decipher the genetic basis that might govern the strain-dependent pathotypes. There are 2,761 coding sequences of 100% nucleotide identity between the two strains, accounting for 95.7% of the total genes in Lm850658 and 92.7% in M7. Lm850658 contains 33 specific genes, including a novel 20K prophage whereas strain M7 has 130 specific genes, including two large prophages (38K and 44K). To examine the roles of these specific prophages in pathogenicity, the 20K and 38K prophages were deleted from their respective strains. There were virtually no differences of pathogenicity between the deletion mutants and their parent strains, although some putative virulent factors like VirB4 are present in the 20K region or holin-lysin in the 38K region. In silico PCR analysis of 29 listeria genomes show that only strain SLCC2540 has the same 18 bp integration hotspot as Lm850658, whereas the sequence identity of their 20K prophages is very low (21.3%). The 38K and 44K prophages are located in two other different hotspots and are conserved in low virulent strains M7, HCC23, and L99. In conclusion, the 20K and 38K prophages of L. monocytogenes serovar 4a strains Lm850658 and M7 are not related to virulence but contribute to genetic diversity.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.181-184
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• 2010

Osmolarity of culture media is one of the most important factors affecting in vitro development. This study was conducted to investigate the DNA methylation status of Pre-1 and satellite sequence in pig nuclear transfer (pNT) embryos produced under different osmolarity culture conditions. Control group of pNT embryos was cultured in PZM-3 for six days. Other two treatment groups of pNT embryos were cultured in modified PZM-3 with 138 mM NaG or 0.05M sucrose (mPZM-3, 320 mOsmol) for two days, and then cultured in PZM-3 (270 mOsmol) for four days. Previous our studies have reported that pNT embryos cultured in both hypertonic media showed significantly higher blastocyst formation rate than that of control. The DNA methylation status of the satellite sequences in blastocyst was characterized using bisulfite-sequencing technology. The satellite region had a similar methylation pattern of in vivo blastocyst among two culture groups excepting the control group. Each level of methylation is that the satellite DNA moderately methylated (43.10% of PZM-3; 56.12% of NaCl; 55.06% of sucrose; 60.00% of in vivo embryos). As a result of the sequence of PRE-1, CpG methylation pattern was similar to three groups, including in vivo group. In case of the satellite DNA region, the osmolarity conditions were affected CpG DNA methylation status while PRE-1 sequence was not affected CpG DNA methylation in pNT blastocyst stage. These results indicate that the modification of osmolarity in a culture media may influence to spatially change of DNA methylation of repetitive sequence for pNT embryo development.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.47-61
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• 2007

In SCM (supply chain management), companies are pursuing a new approach through which overall functions within the supply chain, ranging from material purchase to production, distribution, and sales are designed, planned, and managed in an integrated way. The core functions among them are production planning and distribution planning. As these problems are mutually related, they should be dealt with simultaneously in an integrated manner. SCM is large-scale and multi-stage problems. Also, its various kinds of internal or external factors can, at any time, dynamically bring a change to the existing plan or situation. Recently, many enterprises are moving toward an open architecture for integrating their activities with their suppliers, customers and other partners within the supply chain. Agent-based technology provides an effective approach in such environments. Multi-agent systems have been proven suitable to represent domains such as supply chain networks which involve interactions among manufacturing organization, their customers, suppliers, etc. with different individual goals and propriety information. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent system based on the genetic algorithm that make it possible to integrate the production and distribution planning on a real-time basis in SCM. The proposed genetic algorithm produced near optimal solution and we checked that there is a great difference in the results between integrated planning and non-integrated planning.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2017

This study examined factors affecting the analysis of motility of chicken semen. The viability of spermatozoa was estimated using varying dilution ratios and supplementation with BSA or fatty acid free (FAF)-BSA as protein sources in semen diluent. Fresh semen was examined after preparing dilutions in beltsvile poultry semen extender (BPSE) of 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 at $25^{\circ}C$. The motility of incubated semen at each dilution was observed at 3 min (89.9%, 69.9% and 53.2%), 30 min (86.7%, 71.4% and 51.7%), 1 h (89.5%, 74.0% and 53.5%) and 3 h (78.5%, 66.5% and 45.7%), respectively. The addition of BSA or FAF-BSA to BPSE diluent significantly increased the viability of semen in 1/32 dilution with results of 53.2% (control), 84.8% (BSA) and 92.9% (FAF-BSA) (p<0.05). This phenomenon was also observed in the dilution of frozen semen, where FAF-BSA treatment increased the viability of thawed semen from 17.6% to 34.0% in a 1/8 dilution (p<0.05). When the protein sources were used in the dilution, the survival rates of diluted chicken semen were also increased with time lapse. These results show that FAF-BSA may act to protect chicken semen and is suitable as a basic component of chicken semen diluent for the method of analyzing rooster semen after freezing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3493-3498
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• 2015

Objective: To assess associations between codon 72 polymorphisms (Pro or B and Arg or b alleles) of the TP53 gene and lung cancer risk among Bangladeshis. Materials and Methods: The distribution of the BB, Bb, and bb genotypes and the frequencies of the B and b alleles were determined by PCR-RFLP method using DNA extracted from leucocytes of 50 confirmed lung cancer patients and 50 age-matched controls and the data were analysed. Results: The ratio of BB, Bb, and bb genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium except for the male patients (${\chi}2=4.6$). The B allele is overrepresented among all patients (OR=2.0, p=0.02) and the female patients (OR=4.1, $p{\leq}0.01$) compared to the controls. The BB/bb ratio was also higher among the patients (OR=3.0, p=0.03). The relative risk of cancer for having BB over bb genotype was 1.8 (p=0.04) but no effect was observed for the Bb genotype. The B allele was overrepresented among patients with adenocarcinomas (OR=2.4, $p{\leq}0.01$) and squamous cell carcinomas (OR=2.7, $p{\leq}0.01$) over the controls but the difference was not significant for those with small cell lung carcinomas (OR=1.1, p=0.66). The B allele was overrepresented among patients age 50 or younger (OR=2.7, $p{\leq}0.01$), but not for older patients (OR=1.7, p=0.07), and among smokers compared to the controls (OR=1.8-10.0, $p{\leq}0.01-0.03$). However, no correlation between increasing pack-years and lung cancer was observed. Conclusions: The Pro/Pro (BB) genotype and the B allele are risk factors for lung cancer among Bangladeshis, particularly for people under age 50, women and smokers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1224-1232
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• 2020

Objective: The QingYu pig is well known for its excellent meat quality attributes in Sichuan province, China. In order to improve its production efficiency, the determination of genetic factors contributing to quantifiable economic traits of livestock is important. Moreover, the cross-breeding of QingYu pigs with western breeds possessing strong growth attributes is an efficient way to improve the performance of this breed. Methods: Here, the genetic parameters of several important reproductive traits of QingYu pigs were estimated, include total number born (TNB), number born alive, litter birth weight, individual birth weight, number of piglets weaned, litter weaning weight, and individual weaning weight. The data was analyzed using the ASReml 3.0 software (NSW Inc., Sydney, Australia). Furthermore, the effects of crossing Berkshire with QingYu (BQ) pigs on carcass and meat quality traits, as well as the effects of slaughter weight on carcass and meat quality of BQ were characterized. Results: QingYu pigs exhibited superior reproductive traits. The TNB available to QingYu pigs was more than 8 per parity. The observed repeatability of the reproductive traits of the QingYu pigs was between 0.10 and 0.23. The significantly correlated genetic and phenotypic of reproduction traits were consistent. Interestingly, the BQ pigs exhibited improved carcass quality, with a significant increase in loin muscle area, lean percentage and reduction in sebum percentage. As a result, BQ had higher L_45min, lower cooking scores, and lower drip loss. In addition, the loin muscle area, body length, and sebum percentage were significantly higher in 90 and 100 kg animals. Cooking loss showed a significant increase at 80 kg, and marbling increased significantly from 90 kg. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that QingYu pigs exhibit excellent reproductive properties and heritability of these traits. Crossing with Berkshire is an efficient strategy to improve the carcass and meat quality of QingYu pigs for commercial operations. Furthermore, it appears as though the optimal slaughter weight of BQ pigs is at approximately 90 kg.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2008

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is very difficult to obtain stable production of qualified ginseng roots because of variable stresses in soil environments. High salt concentrations in the ginseng nursery soil environment of Korea is one of important reducing factors for the stable production of quality ginseng. These studies were accomplished to identify the growth rate and production of ginsenoside from ginseng hairy root against NaCI. In the MS liquid culture, the highest contents and productivity of ginsenosides were appeared at 4 week after onset of the treatment of 0.1 M NaCI. And 0.24 M NaCI was more effective on the growth of ginseng hairy root under light condition than dark condition. Plants generally produce secondary metabolites in nature as a defense mechanism against pathogenic and insect attack. In this study, NaCI acts as a kind of stress as well as elicitor for production of ginsenosides.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.434-441
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• 2018

High-density genetic linkage mapping is critical for undertaking marker-assisted selection and confirming quantitative trait loci, as well as helping to build pseudomolecules of genomes. We constructed a genetic map using 94 $F_1$ populations generated from the interspecific cross between Korean cultivar "Wonwhang" (Pyrus pyrifolia, NCBI BioSample SAMN05196235) and European cultivar "Bartlett" (Pyrus communis). We designed a total of 24,267 SSR markers based on the genome sequences of "Wonwhang" for this. To select the markers that are linked to the traits important in pear breeding programs, SSR-containing genomic sequences were subjected to nucleotide sequence homology searches, which resulted in 510 SSR markers with high similarity to genes encoding proteins with putative functions such as transcription factors, resistance proteins, flowering time, and regulatory genes. Of these, 70 markers showed polymorphisms in parents and segregating populations and were used to construct a genetic linkage map, together with the unpublished 579 SNPs obtained from genotyping by sequencing analysis. The genetic linkage map covered 3,784.2 cM and the average distance between adjacent markers was 5.8 cM. Seventy SSR markers were distributed across 17 chromosomes with more than one locus.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.4D
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• pp.351-360
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• 2010

In 2010, the number of registered vehicles reached almost at 17.48 millions in Korea. This dramatic increase of vehicles influenced to increase the number of traffic accidents which is one of the serious social problems and also to soar the personal and economic losses in Korea. Through this research, an enhanced intersection hazard prediction model by combining Genetic Algorithm and Artificial Neural Network will be developed in order to obtain the important data for developing the countermeasures of traffic accidents and eventually to reduce the traffic accidents in Korea. Firstly, this research has investigated the influencing factors of road geometric features on the traffic volume of each approaching for the intersections where traffic accidents and congestions frequently take place and, a linear regression model of traffic accidents and traffic conflicts were developed by examining the relationship between traffic accidents and traffic conflicts through the statistical significance tests. Secondly, this research also developed an intersection hazard prediction model by combining Genetic Algorithm and Artificial Neural Network through applying the intersection traffic volume, the road geometric features and the specific variables of traffic conflicts. Lastly, this research found out that the developed model is better than the existed forecasting models in terms of the reliability and accuracy by comparing the actual number of traffic accidents and the predicted number of accidents from the developed model. In conclusion, it is expect that the cost/effectiveness of any traffic safety improvement projects can be maximized if this developed intersection hazard prediction model by combining Genetic Algorithm and Artificial Neural Network use practically at field in the future.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2024.07a
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• pp.1321-1321
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• 2024

Concrete arch dams, unlike conventional concrete gravity dams, have thin arch-shaped cross sections and must be designed considering a three-dimensional shape. In particular, double-curvature arch dams, which have arch-shaped vertical and horizontal sections, require careful consideration during design due to their unique shape. Although stress analysis is complex, and various factors need to be considered during the design, these dams offer economic advantages as they require less material. Consequently, numerous double-curvature arch dams have been constructed worldwide, and ongoing research focuses on optimizing their shapes. In this study, an efficient optimization algorithm was developed for the shape optimization of concrete arch dams with double-curvature using genetic algorithms and improved population initializing technique. The developed technique utilized domain knowledge in the field of arch dams to generate an excellent initial population. To assess the relevance of domain knowledge, an investigation was conducted on the accumulated knowledge and empirical formulas from literature. Two pieces of domain knowledge can be gleaned from the iterative structural design experiences associated with arch dams. First, it concerns the thickness of the central cantilever of an arch dam. For minimum tensile stress, it is best to make the thickness as thin as possible at the dam crest and gradually become thicker as it goes down. The second aspect concerns the sliding stability of the arch dam, which depends on the central angle of the horizontal section. This angel is important for stability because the plane arch serves to transfer the hydraulic load from the reservoir to both abutments. Also, preliminary design formulas for arch dams from a manual written by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) were used. On the other hand, since domain knowledge is based on engineering experiences and data from existing dams, its usability should be verified by comparing it with the results of design optimization performed by classic genetic algorithms. To validate the performance of the optimization algorithm with the improved population initialization technique, a test site with an existing dam was selected, and algorithmic application tests were conducted. Stress analysis is performed for each design iteration, evaluating constraints and calculating fitness as the objective function. The results confirmed that the algorithm developed in this study exhibits superior performance in terms of average fitness and convergence rate compared to classic genetic algorithms.