• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2020

Objective: Minerals are one of the important nutrients for supporting the growth of sheep grazing in the highland, northwest of China. The experiment was conducted to investigate the relationship of both macro and micro minerals in sheep grazing in the highlands of six districts located in the Qilian Mountain of China. Methods: Samples of herbage (n = 240) and soil (n = 240) were collected at random in a "W" shape across the area designated for harvesting from 24 farms, where the sheep commonly graze in October (winter) for mineral analyses. In addition, serum samples were taken via jugular vein from 20 sheep per farm from 24 farms (n = 480 samples in total) for serum minerals analyses. Mean values of macro and micro minerals were statistically compared among districts and the correlations among soil-plant-animal were statistically analyzed and correlations were regressed, as well. Results: The results revealed that there were variations for both macro and micro minerals among districts. Statistical analysis of the correlation coefficients between herbage and sheep were significantly different for most of the minerals but not for P, Cu, and Se. Many correlation regression coefficients were found significantly different among minerals of herbage, soil, and sheep serum especially those of K, Na, Fe, Mn, and Zn (between herbage and sheep serum), and Fe and Mn (between herbage and soil), Na, Fe, Mn, and Zn (between soil and sheep serum), respectively. The regression coefficient equations derived under this experiment for prediction of Ca (R² = 0.618), K (R² = 0.803), Mg (R² = 0.767), Na (R² = 0.670), Fe (R² = 0.865),Zn (R² = 0.950), Mn (R² = 0.936), and Se (R² = 0.630), resulted in significant R² values. Conclusion: It is inferred that the winter herbage minerals in all the districts were below the recommended levels for macro minerals which indicated there would be some mineral deficiencies in sheep grazing the herbage in these regions. Supplemental minerals may therefore play an important role in balancing the minerals available from the herbage in winter and would lead to increased productivity in sheep on the highland areas of China. These findings could be potentially applied to the other regions for improving the livestock productivity.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.33-42
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• 2023

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a crucial parameter for assessing environmental conditions in aquatic ecosystems. However, commercial in situ dataloggers for oxygen optodes can be relatively expensive and limited in their specifications. In this paper, we present a novel design for a DO datalogger system based on the control boards family with RP2040 MCU chipset. Our design includes two types of dataloggers: a simple logging system and a programmable system for sampling rates via magnetic switches underwater for divers. We provide detailed descriptions of the system, including the MicroPython source code and drawings to aid in construction. We also discuss the various applications of our DO datalogger system in monitoring dissolved oxygen concentration in coastal waters and assessing the benthic metabolism of aquatic ecosystems. Our DO datalogger system provides an affordable and flexible option for researchers to accurately monitor DO concentrations in aquatic environments, and thereby improve our understanding of these complex ecosystems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.23 no.2_1
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• pp.125-137
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• 2020

Tracking micro-sized insects is one of the challenges of protecting ecosystems and biodiversity. In this study, we propose an approach for the autonomous tracking of micro-sized flying insects, and develop an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based robotic system. The Kalman filter is applied to the received signal strength emitted from radio telemetry to estimate the position while reducing the measurement error and noise. The autonomous tracking strategy is a method in which the UAV rotates at one point to measure the signal strength and control its position in the strongest direction of the signal. We also design a system architecture comprising a tracking sensor system and a UAV system for micro-sized insects. The estimation and autonomous tracking of the target position by the proposed system are verified and evaluated through dynamic simulation. Therefore, in this study, we propose and validate a UAV-based tracking system for micro-sized flying insects, which has not been proposed in studies conducted thus far.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.281-285
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• 2007

Cold environments, including polar and alpine regions, are colonized by a wide diversity of micro-organisms able to thrive at low temperatures. There is evidence of a wide range of metabolic activities in alpine cold ecosystems. Like polar microorganisms, alpine microorganisms playa key ecological role in their natural habitats for nutrient cycling, litter degradation, and many other processes. A number of studies have demonstrated the capacity of alpine microorganisms to degrade efficiently a wide range of hydrocarbons, including phenol, phenol-related compounds and petroleum hydrocarbons, and the feasibility of low-temperature bioremediation of European alpine soils by stimulating the degradation capacity of indigenous microorganisms has also been shown.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2009

Dryland species and ecosystems have developed unique strategies to cope with low and sporadic rainfall. They are highly resilient and recover quickly from prevailing disturbances such as fires, herbivore pressure and drought. Dryland people have engineered pastoral and farming systems, which are adapted to these conditions and have sustained the livelihoods of dryland people for centuries. In this article, we present the status of potentials and threats to dryland biodiversity and explore options for its conservation and sustainable use. Findings of the research can be summarized as follows: (i) The ecosystem goods and services are highly valued by the community but mechanism for wise use of the resources has disappeared, (ii) forests are under the ownership of the government but the local community is the realistic custodian of the forests through village leaderships and environmental committees; (iii) the immediate major threat to dryland biodiversity held in the forests appears to be the degradation of ecosystems and habitats caused by new and powerful forces of environmental degradation such as large scale irrigation of rice farms, poverty-induced overexploitation of natural resources, and disappearance and ignorance of traditional institutions for management of dryland biodiversity. These new forms of disturbances often overpower the legendary resilience of dryland ecosystems and constitute potentially serious threats to dryland biodiversity. Forests, wetlands and oases all of which are micro hot spots of dryland biodiversity, appear to be particularly vulnerable hence the need to set up some rules and regulations for sustainable utilization of these resources.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.61-66
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• 2024

Micro-plastics are synthetic high-differentiation chemicals of less than 5mm in size, and are deposited not only on the sea surface but also on the coast. If these micro-plastics are not properly separated from the sand, they can threaten marine ecosystems. Thus, in the present study, we aimed to apply cyclone separator to the micro-plastic retrieval in order to predict the movement of particles according to the formation of the cyclone separator by applying the centrifugal force of the particle in accordance with the rotational movement of the air. The cyclone separator has three shapes, the first one is a typical interconnected cyclone separator. The second is the horn form, except for the cylinder in a regular cyclone separator, and the third is a form that increases the horn's height twice in the second. The numerical analysis simulation of the Cyclone separator used the Fluent software package. The output speed of the Cyclone separator was 5 to 13m/s at 1m/s intervals. The simulated particles include sand, Styrofoam, PET, PP, and PU. Sand particles are assigned a fixed diameter of 2mm, while other particles have a diameter of 3mm. As a result of the analysis, the first form was not separated from plastic. The Styrofoam separation efficiency in the second showed its highest efficiency at 72.7% at 7m/s, and the efficiency decreased after 12m/s as the sand particles were mixed into the plastic attachment location. In the third form, the separation efficiency of Styrofoam at 12m/s was highest at 67.9%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.481-492
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• 1999

Asian-Australasian region comprises of 82 countries spread over varying agro economic zones, habitats and ecosystems varying from dry hot to humid tropics and cold deserts. The literacy standards vary from very low to almost 100 percent. On the basis of economic development there are 4 countries Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Korea which are developed countries, rest are in varying states of development and growing economically very rapidly. Based on Agro ecosystems and farming practices, we have chosen four countries for indepth study in this paper namely China, Thailand, Indonesia and India. They represent 70% of the bovine and poultry population of the region. This paper makes a comparative study of the grain and roughage production and utilization at present and in 2000 A.D. by examining information on feed rates demand patterns and feed requirements in these four countries keeping in view the size and growth of bovine and poultry population and dietary pattern of the people. It has been observed, there has so far been no country level detailed study on the livestock feed requirements. Apart from conceptual discrepancies, most of the estimates given in various reports brought out by the national governments and international agencies do not have any scientific basis. Hence an inter-country comparison is virtually impossible on the basis of the available information. We have however, attempted to analyse the dietary pattern in the different countries, feedgrains requirements, availability of feed based on the information available from the various published and unpublished reports. We have given an inter-country comparison of feed rate and feed requirements which, however, needs to be tested by carrying out a micro level study in each selected country.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.999-1014
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of long-term care insurance(macro-system) on family relationship(micro-system)s' change based on ecosystems theory. Data come from the second(2007) and the fourth(2009) Korean Welfare Panel Study(KWPS). Experimental group is the beneficiary using long-term care insurance and the member of household in their households, and control group is the non-beneficiary not using long-term care insurance and the member of household in their households. The main findings of difference-in-difference model analysis are as follows. First, the ecosystems theory is a theory examining the correlation between long-term care insurance and family relationship. Second, the effects of long-term care insurance is not income effect but independent effect. This result shows that the meaning of family has faded away and family relationship has been weaken and that long-term care insurance has not complete characteristics as a social insurance. Thus, system reforms of long-term care insurance is highly needed for system comprehensiveness, coverage, adequacy, and service accessibility and is changed into family-friendly social policy.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.201-218
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate climatological variations from the sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a), and phytoplankton size class (PSC), using NOAA AVHRR, SeaWiFS, and MODIS data in the South Sea of Korea (SSK) and East China Sea (ECS). 26-year monthly SST and 13-year monthly Chl-a and PSC data, separated by whole and nine-different areas, were used to understand seasonal and inter-annual variations. SST and Chl-a clearly showed seasonal variations: higher SST and Chl-a were observed during the summer and spring, and lower values occurred during the winter and summer. The annual and monthly SST over 26 years increased by $0.2{\sim}1.0^{\circ}C$. The annual and monthly Chl-a concentration over 13 years decreased by $0.2{\sim}1.1mg/m^3$. To determine more detailed spatial and temporal variations, we used the combined data with monthly SST, Chl-a, and PSC. Between 1998 and 2010, the inter-annual trend of Chl-a decreased, with decreasing micro- and nano-size plankton, and increasing pico-size plankton. In regional analysis, the west region of the study area was spatially and temporally correlated with the area dominated by decreasing micro-size plankton; while the east region was less sensitive to coastal and land effects, and was dominated by increasing pico-size plankton. This phenomenon is better related to one or more forcing factors: the increased stratification of ocean driven by changes occurring in spatial variations of the SST caused limited contributions of nutrients and changed marine ecosystems in the study area.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.267-277
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• 2004

Effects of elevated $CO_2$ on soil microorganisms are known to be mediated by various interactions with plants, for which such effects are relatively poorly documented. In this review, we summarize and syn­thesize results from studies assessing impacts of elevated $CO_2$ on soil ecosystems, focusing primarily on plants and a variety the of microbial processes. The processes considered include changes in microbial biomass of C and N, microbial number, respiration rates, organic matter decomposition, soil enzyme activities, microbial community composition, and functional groups of bacteria mediating trace gas emission such as methane and nitrous oxide. Elevated $CO_2$ in atmosphere may enhance certain micro­bial processes such as $CH_4$ emission from wetlands due to enhanced carbon supply from plants. How­ever, responses of extracellular enzyme activities and microbial community structure are still controversy, because interferences with other factors such as the types of plants, nutrient availabilitial in soil, soil types, analysis methods, and types of $CO_2$ fumigation systems are not fully understood.