• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.331-344
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• 2018

Lotic organisms in streams are affected by natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as increase of heavy rainfall event caused by climate change and flow regime change caused by weir constructions. Based on domestic and foreign literature, 157 Korean benthic macroinvertebrate taxa were selected species as potential lotic candidates. Three shoreline sites (total 54 samples) were surveyed consecutively before ('08~'09), during ('10~'12) and after ('13~'16) the construction of the weirs (Gangcheon, Yeoju and Ipo weir) in the Namhan-River for tracing changes of lotic communities. As a result, water flow of the Ipo-wier and water quality variables such as T-N, T-P, BOD5, etc. of the weir section revealed no significant changes. Physical habitat conditions such as the flow velocity and streambed substrate evidently changed. Particulary, flow velocity measured at sampling points along with each microhabitat drastically decreased and particle size of streambed substrate steadily decreased after weir constructions. Lotic organisms also decreased after construction, especially Hydropsychidae (insecta: Trichoptera) acutely decreased from $3,526ind.\;m^{-2}$ to $2ind.\;m^{-2}$ As a result of CCA, lotic species such as Hydropsyche valvata, Hydropsyche kozhantschikovi, Cheumatopsyche brevilineata, Cheumatopsyche KUa, Macrostemum radiatum, etc. correlated with the flow velocity, streambed substrate. Therefore, the decrease of the flow velocity and substrate size after weir construction seemed to be closely related to the decrease of the individual abundances of the lotic organisms independently of water quality. In order to evaluate the influence of the ecosystem on the flow regime change more accurately, it is necessary to study the indicator species based on the resistance or preference of the flow.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.710-718
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• 2021

Placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PD-MSCs) are promising candidates for cell-based therapy in regenerative medicine. The migration and homing potential of PD-MSCs to injured sites is a critical property of MSC engraftment. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been shown to regulate the critical functions of MSCs, such as proliferation, survival, and migration. The objective of the present study was to identify the miRNA and target genes involved in PD-MSCs homing in a bile duct ligation (BDL) rat model. We selected candidate miRNAs targeting genes for PD-MSCs homing based on microarray analysis. PD-MSC engraftment in BDL-injured rat liver was identified by immunofluorescence assay and human-specific Alu gene expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) one week after transplantation. Compared with migrated naïve PD-MSCs under hypoxic and normoxic conditions (Hyp/Nor), the transplanted group with PD-MSCs (Tx) showed distinct differences in miRNA expressions in BDL-injured rat liver. We also validated the miRNAs and their target genes for PD-MSCs homing. The expressions of integrin α4 (ITGA4) and integrin α5 (ITGA5) target genes for miR-199a-5p and miR-148a-3p were significantly upregulated in the Tx group (p<0.05). In addition, integrin β1 (ITGB1) and integrin β8 (ITGB8) were upregulated by suppressing miR-183-5p and miR-145-5p, respectively. These results demonstrated that PD-MSCs regulate miRNA expression related to the integrin family for their homing effects on the BDL-injured rat liver. The findings further suggest that miRNA-mediated regulation of the integrin family contributes to the therapeutic efficacy of PD-MSCs in the rat hepatic fibrosis model by BDL.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.371-381
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• 2020

The Ministry of Environment (ME) is planning to adopt in 2020 the IUCN regional Red List for "Guidelines for listing and delisting rare & endangered species and management of endangered Species System". The ME designated 377 species of vascular plants on the regional Red List. In a previous study it had been suggested that 103 species from this list are candidates for the regional Red List. With respect to a possible Red List, we assessed 59 species (after excluding 34 additional NA species and ten endemic species). These assessments indicated that 16 species are at the "threatened" level. Of those, one species is Critically Endangered, ten are Endangered, and five are Vulnerable. A further four species are classified as Near Threatened, 30 as Of Least Concern, and nine as Data Deficient. We found that most of the assessments proposed by the Ministry of Environment were not supported by scientific data, including quantitative geographic data (over 70%) in Criteria B. In order to determine the endangered species belonging to the orchid family, it is necessary to obtain records of illegal activities or data on overcollection. The current problem with the Ministry of Environment Red List has been the lack of management of scientific data on species showing a trend in decreasing population in the mid- to long-term; thus, there is a lack of critical resources for policy-makers. The ME legally designated categories and assessment, and the lack of expertise in failing to comply with the legal law by itself. The key to presenting an accurate overview of the state of Korean flora is to fill the information gaps with respect to significant geographical and taxonomical biases in the quality and quantity of data. By regularly updating the qualified data, we will be able to track the changes in the conservation status of the flora and inform the necessary conservation policies.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.3
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• pp.11-37
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• 2021

Korean ginseng is the one of the most famous medicinal herbs globally and has long been a representative item of East Asian trade, including across China and Japan. Since Joseon (1392-1910) ginseng trade was entirely controlled by the state, The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty are a valuable resource that can shed light on the history of the ginseng industry at that time. By studying the subsection "The Veritable Records of King Sejong" (世宗實錄), when ginseng was used even more widely, we assess the purpose and scale of its trade in the 15th century, identify its original listing in the geographical appendix, develop a distribution map, and explore similarities to current ginseng cultivation areas. During the reign of King Sejong (1418-1450), ginseng was sent to China as a tribute 101 times, with a combined weight of 7,060 kilograms, with less than one-third of that amount given to Japan and Okinawa. It was used to cover the travel expenses of foreign envoys and servants, but this can be seen to gradually decrease after the regnal mid-term, primarily due to a decrease in the amount of ginseng being collected. At the time, there were 113 areas of naturally growing ginseng as listed in the records' geographical appendix, including 12 recorded in the 'tributes' category: Yeongdeok-gun, Yeongju, and Cheongsong-gun in Gyeongsangbuk-do; Ulju-gun and Ulsan in Gyeongsangnam-do; Jeongeup, Wanju-gun, and Jangsu-gun in Jeollabuk-do; Hwasun-gun in Jeollanam-do; Goksan-gun and Sinpyeong-gun in Hwanghaebuk-do; Jeongju and Taecheon-gun in Pyeonganbuk-do; and Jaseong-gun and Junggang-gun in Jagang-do. A total of 101 places are recorded in the 'medicinal herbs' category, located throughout the mountains of the eight Joseon provinces, except the islands. In comparison with current ginseng cultivation sites, many of these historical areas are either consistent with or adjacent to contemporary locations. The geographical appendix to "The Veritable Records of King Sejong" was compiled in the early days of the king's reign (1432) when there was a lot of wild ginseng. The appendix is a valuable resource that indicates the possibility of growing ginseng on the Korean Peninsula in the future. The apparently natural habitats in the south, where ginseng is not currently cultivated, could be candidates for the future. Moreover, areas in the north where ginseng has not been grown, except Kaesǒng, could be a good alternative under sustainable inter-Korean exchange should cultivation sites move north due to climate warming.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.723-736
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• 2022

In this study, monthly precipitation forecasting models that can predict up to 12 months in advance were constructed for the Geum River basin, and two statistical techniques, multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN), were applied to the model construction. As predictor candidates, a total of 47 climate indices were used, including 39 global climate patterns provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and 8 meteorological factors for the basin. Forecast models were constructed by using climate indices with high correlation by analyzing the teleconnection between the monthly precipitation and each climate index for the past 40 years based on the forecast month. In the goodness-of-fit test results for the average value of forecasts of each month for 1991 to 2021, the MLR models showed -3.3 to -0.1% for the percent bias (PBIAS), 0.45 to 0.50 for the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and 0.69 to 0.70 for the Pearson correlation coefficient (r), whereas, the ANN models showed PBIAS -5.0~+0.5%, NSE 0.35~0.47, and r 0.64~0.70. The mean values predicted by the MLR models were found to be closer to the observation than the ANN models. The probability of including observations within the forecast range for each month was 57.5 to 83.6% (average 72.9%) for the MLR models, and 71.5 to 88.7% (average 81.1%) for the ANN models, indicating that the ANN models showed better results. The tercile probability by month was 25.9 to 41.9% (average 34.6%) for the MLR models, and 30.3 to 39.1% (average 34.7%) for the ANN models. Both models showed long-term predictability of monthly precipitation with an average of 33.3% or more in tercile probability. In conclusion, the difference in predictability between the two models was found to be relatively small. However, when judging from the hit rate for the prediction range or the tercile probability, the monthly deviation for predictability was found to be relatively small for the ANN models.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.413-422
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• 2022

To identify rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars suitable for Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.)-rice double cropping systems, we investigated the yield and grain quality of four different midseason maturing rice cultivars ('Daebo', 'Haepum', 'Haiami', and 'Samdeog') and four midseason-to-late maturing rice cultivars ('Hyunpoom', 'Saeilmi', 'Saenuri', and 'Samkwang') in single rice cropping and Italian ryegrass-rice double cropping systems in paddy fields of Miryang, South Korea. We found that organic matter and available P₂O₅ content slightly decreased, whereas Na content increased, in the soil where Italian ryegrass was cultivated during winter compared to that in the soil that remained fallow during winter. The pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, and contents of K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and Na⁺ decreased, whereas the available P₂O₅ content slightly increased, in the soil where rice was harvested in both single and double cropping systems. However, compared to the optimum soil conditions for rice cultivation, available P₂O₅ and K⁺ content were high and Mg²⁺ content was low in both single and double cropping systems. At the heading stage, the culm length and leaf color slightly increased in most of the rice cultivars, whereas the panicle length and number slightly decreased, in the double cropped system. After harvesting, spikelet number and milled rice yield did not show a significant difference between single and double cropping systems. However, the ripened grain rate and weight per thousand grains increased slightly in the 'Saeilmi' and 'Samkwang' cultivars but remained either stable or slightly low in other cultivars in the double cropping system. The milled rice yield was high (> 500 kg/10a) in 'Daebo' and 'Haepum' among midseason maturing rice cultivars, and in 'Saeilmi' and 'Saenuri' among midseason-to-late maturing rice cultivars, in both single and double cropping systems. The head rice rate was high in midseason maturing rice cultivars in the double cropping systems, reaching > 70% in 'Haepum' and 'Haiami' cultivars, whereas it decreased in most midseason-to-late maturing rice cultivars (excluding 'Samkwang' cultivar), in double cropping systems. Particularly, it exceeded > 70% in the 'Saenuri' cultivar in both single and double cropping systems. The protein content in milled rice increased, whereas the amylose content either remained stable or slightly increased, in double cropping systems. The Toyo taste value decreased in all midseason-to-late maturing rice cultivars and slightly increased in the 'Daebo' and 'Haiami' cultivars among midseason maturing rice cultivars in double cropping systems. However, Toyo taste values in the 'Haepum', 'Haiami', and 'Saenuri' cultivars exceeding > 80% in both single and double cropping systems. Therefore, we recommend 'Haepum', 'Haiami', and 'Saenuri' cultivars as candidates for Italian ryegrass-rice double cropping systems due to high yield, head rice rate, and Toyo taste value.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

This study compared and reviewed the recognition determinants by applying the OECMs criteria, focusing on old big trees, plant of natural monument that are natural heritage under the national heritage system of the Cultural Heritage Administration, and the results are as follows. First, among the protected areas designated and managed by government agencies according to each protection purpose, it is necessary to actively introduce new conservation measures, OECMs, to fulfill the Biodiversity strategy for 2030 while the land area is already saturated. Second, the OECMs are geographically defined areas(CBD, 2018), not currently recognized as a protected areas, governed and managed in a way that achieves positived sustained and effective contribution to in situ conservation of biodiversity. Since the selection of term, the scope of application criteria, and the context of interpretation are inevitably different, it is necessary to separately legislate and establish related laws of the OECMs suitable for each country's situation. Third, as a result of reviewing the OECMs criteria for plant of natural monument, the final 58 potential resources were recognized. Important elements among the OECMs criteria are that buffer zones should be spaced apart from designated zones to secure a certain area, and that economic activities through commercial production should not occur and meet biodiversity standards. Among the potential candidates, 23 areas were analyzed to be geographically isolated and independent, such as Forest of Oriental Arborvitae in Do-dong, Daegu, and forest types such as Carstor Aralia of Gungchon-ri, Samcheok and Forest of Common Camellias in Maryang-ri, Seocheon. As a result of reviewing the application of OECMs criteria for plant of natural monument, it was confirmed that the functions as a traditional uses were specialized among the values of biodiversity, and ecosystem services and cultural and spiritual values were inherited through Korea's unique culture of old big trees and Dangsan ritual. In terms of biodiversity criteria, it can be used as an important factor in connecting human and natural ecosystem networks without the discovery of new species.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.37-83
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• 2020

This paper presents the results of 'The Survey on the 21^st National Assembly members' conducted by the Korean Association of Party Studies (KAPS) and the Hankyoreh following the 21^st Korean National Assembly Election. Since the 16^th Korean National Assembly Election, the KAPS has surveyed the candidates and/or the elected regarding their views on major policy issues and perceived self-ideology, which has contributed to our understanding of overtime changes in ideology of political parties in South Korea and their members. This year's survey includes 21 questions on the four major policy issue areas including foreign policy, economy, social issues and cultural issues as well as their perceived ideology. Among the 300 elected, 197 participated in the survey. The results suggest that the Justice Party is most liberal, the United Future Party is most conservative, and the Democratic Party is in the middle on average in terms of issue preference and perceived ideology. Compared to the preceding National Assembly, the partisan gap continues to appear salient in foreign policy, economy, and the cultural issues. In contrast, the gap narrows down in the social issues because the members of the Democratic Party embrace more conservative preference. It is noteworthy to examine whether this shift leads to cooperative decision making on social policies between liberal and conservative parties in the upcoming National Assembly. The composite policy preference index of individual assembly members, on the other hand, shows significant difference among members of different parties. Political parties in South Korea has evolved from a group of people from the same region into a group of people with distinctive policy preferences.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.51-65
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• 2021

The HR policy in the public sector was closed and operated mainly on written tests, but in 2006, a new evaluation, promotion and education system based on competence was introduced in the promotion and selection system of civil servants. In particular, the seniority-oriented promotion system was evaluated based on competence by operating an Assessment Center related to promotion. Competency evaluation is known to be the most reliable and valid evaluation method among the evaluation methods used to date and is also known to have high predictive feasibility for performance. In 2001, 19 government standard competency models were designed. In 2006, the competency assessment was implemented with the implementation of the high-ranking civil service team system. In the public sector, the purpose of the competency evaluation is mainly to select third-grade civil servants, assign fourth-grade civil servants, and promotion fifth-grade civil servants. However, competency assessments in the public sector differ in terms of competency assessment objectives, assessment processes and competency assessment programmes compared to those in the private sector. For the purposes of competency assessment, the public sector is for the promotion of candidates, and the private sector focuses on career development and fostering. Therefore, it is not continuously developing capabilities than the private sector and is not used to enhance performance in performing its duties. In relation to evaluation items, the public sector generally operates a system that passes capacity assessment at 2.5 out of 5 for 6 competencies, lacks feedback on what competencies are lacking, and the private sector uses each individual's competency score. Regarding the selection and operation of evaluators, the public sector focuses on fairness in evaluation, and the private sector focuses on usability, which is inconsistent with the aspect of developing capabilities and utilizing human resources in the right place. Therefore, the public sector should also improve measures to identify outstanding people and motivate them through capacity evaluation and change the operation of the capacity evaluation system so that they can grow into better managers through accurate reports and individual feedback

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1015-1024
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• 2023

Antibiotics have greatly contributed to the treatment and prevention of bacterial diseases in humans, animals, and fish. However, antibiotic misuse has led to the emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. In addition to antibiotic discovery research, efforts are being made to combat such multidrug-resistant bacteria using antimicrobial agents, antioxidants, host immune enhancement, probiotics, and bacteriophages, as well as various symptomatic therapies. To discover novel bioactive compounds, it is crucial to adopt approaches that incorporate fresh ideas, new targets, innovative techniques, and untapped resources. Halophytes are plants that grow in high-salt soils and are known to adapt to salt-induced stress through unique metabolic processes that produce secondary metabolites. This study aimed to investigate the effects of extracts of halophytes native to Korea on oxidative stress and to determine whether they exert inhibitory activity against biofilms, which are major pathogenic factors of infectious bacteria. The Acinetobacter baumannii strain ATCC 17978, a representative drug-resistant bacterium, was used to measure anti-biofilm activity. The results showed that Aster spathulifolius, Carex kobomugi, Rosa rugosa, and Asparagus cochinchiensis exerted strong antioxidant and anti-biofilm effects without affecting bacterial growth itself. The halophytes used in this study are promising candidates for the development of pharmaceutical agents with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.