• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 2021

Objective: This study was conducted to assess the level of pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (PAG) in whole and skim milk samples, and its suitability for early pregnancy diagnosis in goats. Methods: A two-step sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system for estimation of milk PAG was developed and validated, which employed caprine-PAG specific polyclonal antisera. Whole and skim milk samples (n = 210 each) from fifteen multiparous goats were collected on alternate days from d 10 to d 30, and thereafter weekly till d 51 post-mating. PAG levels in milk samples were estimated by ELISA and the pregnancies were confirmed at d40 post-mating by transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS). Results: The level of PAG in whole and skim milk samples of both pregnant and nonpregnant goats remained below the threshold values until d 24 after mating. Thereafter, PAG concentration in whole and skim milk increased steadily in pregnant goats, whereas it continued below the threshold in non-pregnant does. The PAG profiles in whole and skim milk of pregnant goats were almost similar and exhibited strong positive relationship (r = 0.891; p<0.001). Day 26 post-mating was identified as the first time-point for significantly (p<0.05) higher milk PAG concentration in pregnant goats than to non-pregnant goats. When compared to TRUS examination for pregnancy diagnosis, the accuracy and specificity of PAG ELISA using whole and skim milk samples were 94.5% and 95.4%; and 95.3% and 100%, respectively. The high values of area-under-curve (0.904 [whole milk] and 0.922 [skim milk]), demonstrate outstanding discrimination ability of the milk assays. Among the sampling dates chosen, d 37 post-mating was identified as the best suitable time point for collection of milk samples to detect pregnancy in goats. Conclusion: The PAG concentration in whole and skim milk of goats collected between days 26 and 51 post-breeding can be used for the accurate prediction of pregnancy and may be useful for assisting management decisions in goat flocks.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.147-161
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• 2021

Through photogrammetry techniques, what current researches can achieve at present is rough 3D mesh and color map of objects, rather than usable photo-realistic 3D assets. This research aims to propose a new method to create photo-realistic 3D assets that can be used in the field of visualization applications. The new method combines photogrammetry with computer graphics modeling. Through the description of the production process of three objects in the real world - "Bullet Box", "Gun" and "Metal Beverage Bottle," it introduces in details the concept, functions, operating skills and software packages used in the steps including the photograph object, white balance, reconstruction, cleanup reconstruction, retopology, UV unwrapping, projection, texture baking, De-Lighting and Create Material Maps. In order to increase the flexibility of the method, alternatives to the software packages are also recommended for each step. In this research, 3D assets are produced that are accurate in shape, correct in color, easy to render and can be physically interacted with dynamic lighting in texture. The new method can obtain more realistic visual effects at a faster speed. It does not require large-scale teams, expensive equipment and software packages, therefore it is suitable for small studios and independent artists and educational institutions.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1787-1799
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• 2022

Objective: Choline deficiency, one main trigger for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is closely related to lipid metabolism disorder. Previous study in a choline-deficient model has largely focused on gene expression rather than gene structure, especially sparse are studies regarding to alternative splicing (AS). In modern life science research, primary hepatocytes culture technology facilitates such studies, which can accurately imitate liver activity in vitro and show unique superiority. Whereas limitations to traditional hepatocytes culture technology exist in terms of efficiency and operability. This study pursued an optimization culture method for duck primary hepatocytes to explore AS in choline-deficient model. Methods: We performed an optimization culture method for duck primary hepatocytes with multi-step digestion procedure from Pekin duck embryos. Subsequently a NAFLD model was constructed with choline-free medium. RNA-seq and further analysis by rMATS were performed to identify AS events alterations in choline-deficency duck primary hepatocytes. Results: The results showed E13 (embryonic day 13) to E15 is suitable to obtain hepatocytes, and the viability reached over 95% by trypan blue exclusion assay. Primary hepatocyte retained their biological function as well identified by Periodic Acid-Schiff staining method and Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay, respectively. Meanwhile, genes of alb and afp and specific protein of albumin were detected to verify cultured hepatocytes. Immunofluorescence was used to evaluate purity of hepatocytes, presenting up to 90%. On this base, choline-deficient model was constructed and displayed significantly increase of intracellular triglyceride and cholesterol as reported previously. Intriguingly, our data suggested that AS events in choline-deficient model were implicated in pivotal biological processes as an aberrant transcriptional regulator, of which 16 genes were involved in lipid metabolism and highly enriched in glycerophospholipid metabolism. Conclusion: An effective and rapid protocol for obtaining duck primary hepatocytes was established, by which our findings manifested choline deficiency could induce the accumulation of lipid and result in aberrant AS events in hepatocytes, providing a novel insight into various AS in the metabolism role of choline.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.210-217
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• 2022

Boron(B) is a rare resource used for various purposes such as glass, semiconductor materials, gunpowder, rocket fuel, etc. However, Korea depends entirely on imports for boron. Considering the global boron reserves and its current production rate, boron will be depleted on earth in 50 years. Thus, a process including proper adsorbent materials recovering boron from seawater is demanded. This research proposed carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN(polyacrylonitrile) mats as promising materials to adsorb boron in aqueous solution. First, the mechanism of boron adsorption on carbonized nanofibers was investigated by DFT(density functional method)-based molecular modeling and the calculated energetics demonstrated that the boron chemisorption on the nitrogen-doped graphene surface by a two-step dehydration is possible with viable activation energies. Then, the electrospun PAN mats were stabilized in air and then carbonized in an argon atmosphere before being immersed in the boric acid aqueous solution. Analytically, SEM(scanning electron microscopy) and Raman measurements were employed to confirm whether the electrospinning and carbonization of PAN mats proceeded successfully. Then, XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) peak analysis showed whether the intended nitrogen-doped carbon nanofiber surface was formed and boron was properly adsorbed on nanofibers. Those results demonstrated that the carbonized nanofibers prepared from electrospun PAN mats could be feasible adsorbents for boron recovery in seawater.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1054-1062
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• 2022

The population of Korea's solar salt-producing regions is rapidly aging, resulting in a decrease in the number of productive workers. In solar salt production, salt collection is the most labor-intensive operation because existing salt collection vehicles require human operators. Therefore, we intend to develop an unmanned solar salt collection vehicle to reduce manpower requirements. The unmanned solar salt collection vehicle is designed to identify the salt collection status and location in the salt plate via color detection, the color detection performance is a crucial consideration. Therefore, an image processing algorithm was developed to improve color detection performance. The algorithm generates an around-view image by using resizing, rotation, and perspective transformation of the input image, set the RoI to transform only the corresponding area to the HSV color model, and detects the color area through an AND operation. The detected color area was expanded and noise removed using morphological operations, and the area of the detection region was calculated using contour and image moment. The calculated area is compared with the set area to determine the location case of the collection vehicle within the salt plate. The performance was evaluated by comparing the calculated area of the final detected color to which the algorithm was applied and the area of the detected color in each step of the algorithm. It was confirmed that the color detection performance is improved by at least 25-99% for salt detection, at least 44-68% for red color, and an average of 7% for blue and an average of 15% for green. The proposed approach is well-suited to the operation of unmanned solar salt collection vehicles.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.313-321
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• 2022

As 5G is getting developed, people are getting interested in immersive content. Some predicts that immersive content may be implemented in real life such as holograms, which were only possible in movies. Holograms, which has been studied for a long time since Dennis Gabor published the basic theory in 1948, are constantly developing in a new direction with digital technology. It is developing from a traditional optical hologram, which is produced by recording the interference pattern of light to a computer generated hologram (CGH) and a digital hologram printer. In order to produce a hologram using a digital hologram printer, holographic element (Hogel) image must first be created using multi-view images. There are a method of directly photographing an actual image and a method of modeling an object using 3D graphic production tool and rendering the motion of a virtual camera to acquire a series of multi-view images. In this paper, we propose a new method of getting image, which is one of the visual effect, VFX, producing multi-view images using chroma key composition. We shoot on the green screen of actual object, suggest the overall workflow of composition with 3D computer graphic(CG) and explain the role of each step. We expected that it will be helpful in researching a new method of image acquisition in the future if all or part of the proposed workflow to be applied.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.842-850
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• 2023

Pyrrolnitrin, pyrrolomycin, and pyoluteorin are functional halogenated phenylpyrrole derivatives (HPDs) derived from microorganisms with diverse antimicrobial activities. Pyrrolnitrin is a secondary metabolite produced from L-tryptophan through four-step reactions in Pseudomonas fluorescens, Burkholderia cepacia, Serratia plymuthica, etc. It is currently used for the treatment of superficial dermatophytic fungal infections, has high antagonistic activities against soil-borne and foliar fungal infections, and has many industrial applications. Since pyrrolnitrin is easily decomposed by light, it is difficult to widely use it outdoors. As an alternative, fludioxonil, a synthetically produced non-systemic surface fungicide that is structurally similar and has excellent light stability, has been commercialized for seed and foliar treatment of plants. However, due to its high toxicity to aquatic organisms and adverse effects in human cell lines, many countries have established maximum residue levels and strictly control its levels. Pyrrolomycin and pyoluteorin, which have antibiotic/antibiofilm activity against Gram-positive bacteria and high anti-oomycete activity against the plant pathogen Pythium ultimum, respectively, were isolated and identified from microorganisms. This review summarizes the biosynthesis and production of natural pyrrolnitrin derived from bacteria and the characteristics of synthetic fludioxonil and other natural phenylpyrrole derivatives among the HPDs. We expect that a plethora of highly effective, novel HPDs that are safe for humans and environments will be developed through the generation of an HPD library by microbial biosynthesis and chemical synthesis.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.499-503
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• 2024

Broadcasting programs are provided to various media such as Internet replay, OTT, and IPTV services as well as self-broadcasting. In this case, it is very important to provide keywords for search that represent the characteristics of the content well. Broadcasters mainly use the method of manually entering key keywords in the production process and the archive process. This method is insufficient in terms of quantity to secure core metadata, and also reveals limitations in recommending and using content in other media services. This study supports securing a large number of metadata by utilizing closed caption data pre-archived through the DTV closed captioning server developed in EBS. First, core metadata was automatically extracted by applying Google's natural language AI technology. The next step is to propose a method of finding core metadata by reflecting priorities and content characteristics as core research contents. As a technology to obtain differentiated metadata weights, the importance was classified by applying the TF-IDF calculation method. Successful weight data were obtained as a result of the experiment. The string metadata obtained by this study, when combined with future string similarity measurement studies, becomes the basis for securing sophisticated content recommendation metadata from content services provided to other media.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.99-115
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• 2024

A worldwide effort is underway to utilize urban parks as a means ofresponding to climate change, providing various benefits to citizens. However, it also has several negative effects, such as an increase in pollen allergies. These negative impacts have been defined as ecosystem disservices and discussed globally, although the discussion remains insufficient domestically. In particular, pollen allergies have been discussed as a typical ecosystem disservice, with negative impacts such as an increase in symptoms attributed to higher pollen production or the growth of trees with higher antigenicity. The WHO reports that approximately 30% of the world's population suffers from pollen allergies. Many recent studies indicate that the harm induced by pollen allergies is expected to increase due to changes in the climate and thermal environment. In this context, we aim to diagnose the allergenicity of current urban parks and assess changes according to climate change scenarios. To achieve this goal, we assess pollen allergenicity in Seoul Children's Grand Park using the Urban Green Space Allergenicity Index (IUGZA) as the first step towards discussing ecosystem disservices. We found that the IUGZA value in the target area exceeds the threshold suggested in previous research, causing harm due to pollen allergies and is expected to increase according to climate change scenarios. We conclude that this result indicates that social harm from pollen allergies in urban parks may increase due to climate change. Therefore, we emphasize the necessity of discussing ecosystem disservices in the composition of urban parks.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2011

The importance of aquafarming is increasing all over the world, however the coastal environment in the semi-closed inner bay has been aggravated due to the long term production and the high stocking density. For the sustainable aquafarming, there is a requirement for a eco-friendly fishery management by the estimation of ecological carrying capacity. The model development and application is still in the initial step, because it has to consider the whole ecosystem and all culture activities. As an alternative, there is a requirement for ecological indicator to assess the ecological performance. This study tried the estimation of ecological carrying capacity using ecological indicator. The production and the facility of the oyster farms was 4,935M/T, $49ind./m^3$ in Geoje-Hansan Bay(2008). Filtration pressure indicator was 0.203 which could provide a guidance on the present level of culture development. According to the environmental characteristics and the present oyster farms in Geoje-Hansan Bay, the newly assessed filtration pressure for the acceptable ecological carrying capacity was 0.102. Consequently, ecological carrying capacity in Geoje-Hansan Bay was 2,480M/T, $25ind./m^3$ and this represents the level of culture that can be introduced into Geoje-Hansan Bay without leading to significant changes to ecological process, species, populations or communities. Our study utilized the ecological indicator to estimate ecological carrying capacity of oyster farming for sustainable productivity and this could be the scientific basis for the eco-friendly fishery management.