• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.733-737
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• 2018

Cucurbitacin-I, a natural triterpenoid derived from Cucurbitaceae family plants, exhibits a number of potentially useful pharmacological and biological activities. Indeed, the previous study demonstrated that cucurbitacin-I reduced the proliferation of colon cancer cells by enhancing apoptosis and causing cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. CD44, a type I transmembrane protein with the function of adhering to cells, mediates between the extracellular matrix and other cells through hyaluronic acid. Recent studies have demonstrated that an overexpression of the CD44 membrane receptor results in tumor initiation and growth, specific behaviors of cancer stem cells, the development of drug resistance, and metastasis. The aim was to examine the effect of cucurbitacin-I on CD44 expression human ovarian cancer cells because the effect of cucurbitacin-I on CD44 expression has not been reported. The expressions of CD44 mRNA and protein were detected using a quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and a Western blot analysis, respectively. Treatment with cucurbitacin-I inhibited the expression of CD44 mRNA and protein. A subsequent analysis revealed that cucurbitacin-I blocked the phosphorylation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor kappa-B ($NF-{\kappa}B$), which are key regulators of CD44 expression. Taken together, the data demonstrate that cucurbitacin-I regulates the AP-1 and $NF-{\kappa}B$ signaling pathways, leading to decreased CD44 expression.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.491-495
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• 2004

The existing shattering-resistant sesames had low adaptability and yield potential in Korean environment. Great improvements have been made in these shattering-resistant sesames. We take an optimistic view of success for development of shattering-resistant sesames with high yield potential and superior agronomic characters. This study was carried out to investigate cause of shattering resistance and testing method of effective shattering habit. Shattering-resistant sesames had some specific tissue structures. Shattering resistance of placenta adhesion (PA) sesames was caused by strong seed holding of placenta in capsule, and that of seamless (SL) sesames was caused by nonexistence of seam in capsule. Shattering resistance of indehiscent(ID) sesames resulted because they had thicker mesocarp barrier at the zone of dehiscence compared with that of normal varieties. SL, ID and PA sesames had some variation plants who had high shattering rate. This was judged that evolution direction of these sesames means direction that shattering habit increase. Effective drying method in order to measure shattering resistance was drying condition over 20 days in natural temperature $(20^{\circ}C)$ and 10 days in drying oven $(40^{\circ}C)$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.218-224
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• 2005

Antioxidant enzymes are related to the resistance to various abiotic stresses including salinity. Barley is relatively tolerant to saline stress among crop plants, but little information is available on barley antioxidant enzymes under salinity stress. We investigated temporal and spatial responses of activities and isoform profiles of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), non-specific peroxidase (POX), and glutathione reductase (GR) to saline stress in barley seedlings treated with 200 mM NaCl for 0, 1, 2, 5 days, respectively. In the control plant, hydrogen peroxide content was about 2-fold higher in the root than in the shoot. Under saline stress, hydrogen peroxide content was decreased drastically by 70% at 2 d after NaCl treatment (DAT) in the root. In the leaf, however, the content was remained unchanged by 2 DAT and increased about 14 % at 5 DAT. In general, the activities of antioxidant enzymes were increased in the root and shoot under saline stress. But the increase was more significant and consistent in the root. The activities of SOD, CAT, APX, POX, and GR were increased significantly in the root within 1 DAT, and various elevated levels were maintained by 5 DAT. Among the antioxidant enzymes, CAT activity was increased the most drastically. The significant increase in the activities of SOD, CAT, APX, POX, and GR in the NaCl-stressed barley root was highly correlated with the increased expression of the constitutive isoforms as well as the induced ones. The hydrogen peroxide content in the root was most highly correlated with the CAT activity, indicating an increased role of CAT in hydrogen peroxide detoxification under salinity stress. In addition, the results suggest the significance of temporal and spatial regulation of each antioxidant isoform in determining the competence of the antioxidant capacity under saline stress.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.311-322
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• 2015

The study was conducted on growth and yield of potatoes in a wick hydroponic culture as affected by concentration of aqueous extracts in order to develop natural agricultural resources using Persicaria longiseta. Each 500 ml of distilled water (control) and P. blumei extracts (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) was applied to potato plants at 5 d intervals from 1 d after potato transplanting. The potatoes with P. blumei extract emerged 1 d earlier and had 0.3 to 0.4 more stem numbers per plant compared with those of control plot. The plant height was higher in plots with P. blumei extract than in control in early stage of potatoes (50 d), but there was no significant difference observed after mid-stage of potatoes (70 and 90 d). The stem diameter and fresh weight of potatoes estimated a higher values in plots with P. blumei extract than in control plots, although there was no statistical difference. The 100% P. blumei extract increased by up to $13.8kg/m^2$ of potato yield. The numbers of tubers in classes of < 5 g and 5 to 30 g per plant did not show a specific trend among experimental treatments while it in class of > 30 g was much higher in plots with P. blumei extract than in control plot. Accordingly, the P. blumei extract had a positive effect on the growth and yield of potatoes, could be applied as of eco-friendly fertilizers

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.196-204
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• 2019

Rice panicle blast occurred severely in southern provinces of Korea in 2014. The proportion of panicle blast incidence area to cultivated area of rice were 11.0% and 14.6% in Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, respectively. To identify the causal factors of the outbreak, we investigated weather conditions in August, amount of cultivated area of mainly grown cultivars, and nitrogen contents in plants with different disease incidences in 2014. 'Saenuri,' 'Ilmibyeo,' 'Unkwang,' 'Dongjin 1 ho,' 'Nampyeongbyeo,' and 'Hwangkeumnuri' were mainly grown cultivars. Monthly average of daily air temperature in August 2014 was 3.2℃ and 3.1℃ less than 2018 in Haenam and Miryang, respectively. Rainfall in August 2014 was 70.0% and 42.0% greater than 2018 in Haenam and Miryang, respectively. The numbers of blast warning days in August calculated nationwide using a forecast model for blast infection were higher in 2014 than in 2018, and they were in high level throughout the country in 2014. Nitrogen contents in plant samples from high-incidence plots were significantly higher than those from low-incidence plots. Consequently, excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers was the main factor for the disease outbreak at the level of specific farms, in addition to the collective cultivation of susceptible cultivar, low temperatures and frequent rainfalls in August.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.2169-2175
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• 2009

This research aims to evaluate the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure and provides a list of case studies in order to help understand the applicability of eco-efficient water infrastructure to Asia and the Pacific. A set of indicators have been explored to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure for the region on a micro and macro scale. The core idea of eco-efficiency, 'more value with less impact (on the environment)', has proven to be applicable in management of water infrastructure. The fundamental elements in eco-efficient water infrastructure should encompass physical infrastructure and non-physical infrastructure, which is more needed particularly in Asian countries. The case studies have demonstrated the applicability of the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure. The Republic of Korea has provided the case of the eco-friendly approaches to enhance dam management and its innovative solutions how to use water more efficiently through state-of-art technologies. The experiences of Singapore are some of the best evidence to establish eco-efficient water infrastructure, for instance, the NEWater project via application of cutting edge technologies (recycled water) and institutional reform in water tariff systems to conserve water as well as enhance water quality. A list of indicators to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure have been discussed, and the research presents a myriad of project cases which are good to represent eco-efficiency in water infrastructure, including multipurpose small dams, customized flood defense systems, eco-efficient ground water use, and eco-efficient desalination plants. The study has presented numerous indicators in five different categories: 1) the status of water availability and infrastructure; 2) production and consumption patterns of freshwater; 3) agricultural products and sources of environmental loads; 4) damages from water-caused natural disaster; and 5) urban water supply and sanitation. There are challenges as well as benefits in such indicators, since the indicators should be applied very carefully in accordance with specific socio-economic, political and policy contexts in different countries in Asia and the Pacific Region. The key to success of establishment of eco-efficient water infrastructure in Asia primarily depends on the extent to which each country is committed to balancing its development of physical as well as non-physical water infrastructure. Particularly, it is imperative for Asian countries to transform its policy focus from physical infrastructure to non-physical infrastructure. Such shift will help lead to implementation of sustainable in Asian countries.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1084-1096
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• 2010

In this study, class criticism by elementary school teachers was analyzed on the subject of science classes by beginner teachers. And then the viewpoints and characteristics of the class criticism were investigated. Teachers for class criticism consisted of six members, including two each of low- and high-career teachers. The viewpoints were analyzed in comparison with all the teachers. The subject of class criticism was 'Activity of leaves in plants', which is in the seventh unit of the science textbook for fifth grade elementary students of the first semester. The result of this study was as follows. Teachers criticized the science class mainly with three codes of viewpoints: motivation, inquiry focused on student, and summary of the results, where viewpoints consisted of 18 codes. They criticized the class by factors on a standard checklist and their criticism was characterized by partial situation and context. Low-career teachers criticized the class with the viewpoint in sympathy with the beginner teachers and criticized the class with the viewpoint of recollecting their teaching experience as beginners. While high-career teachers criticized the class mainly overall situations rather than specific matters. The result of this study can be used as basic data for a program of professional development and teacher education for science classes.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_1
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• pp.199-215
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• 2020

A seagrass that is marine vascular plants plays an important role in the marine ecosystem, so periodic monitoring ofseagrass habitatsis being performed. Recently, the use of dronesthat can easily acquire very high-resolution imagery is increasing to efficiently monitor seagrass habitats. And deep learning based on a convolutional neural network has shown excellent performance in semantic segmentation. So, studies applied to deep learning models have been actively conducted in remote sensing. However, the segmentation accuracy was different due to the hyperparameter, various deep learning models and imagery. And the normalization of the image and the tile and batch size are also not standardized. So,seagrass habitats were segmented from drone-borne imagery using a deep learning that shows excellent performance in this study. And it compared and analyzed the results focused on normalization and tile size. For comparison of the results according to the normalization, tile and batch size, a grayscale image and grayscale imagery converted to Z-score and Min-Max normalization methods were used. And the tile size isincreased at a specific interval while the batch size is allowed the memory size to be used as much as possible. As a result, IoU was 0.26 ~ 0.4 higher than that of Z-score normalized imagery than other imagery. Also, it wasfound that the difference to 0.09 depending on the tile and batch size. The results were different according to the normalization, tile and batch. Therefore, this experiment found that these factors should have a suitable decision process.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2008

Protoplasts from cabbage and radish were isolated and fused symmetrically by PEG treatment. The PEG treated mixture of high concentrated protoplasts produced lots of micro-calli after $2{\sim}3$ weeks. The microcalli developed to normal calli and shoots were regenerated from the calli. A total of 218 shoots were regenerated, but none of them contained the NWB-CMS specific DNA marker, indicating that the transfer of the radish NWB-CMS character into cabbage did not occur. However, ISSR analysis revealed that the cell fusion between protoplasts from radish and cabbage was occurred (3 out of 208 plantlet). The fused regenerants possessed the characteristics of source plants used for protoplast fusion. After vernalization, three regenerants were flowered with white petal color as seen in radish. Only three seeds were able to obtain from one regenerant by backcrossing with the cabbage pollen.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

There would be a possibility of uranium contamination around the nuclear power plants and the underground waste disposal sites, where the uranium could further migrate and diffuse to some distant places by groundwater. It is necessary to understand the biogeochemical behaviors of uranium in underground environments to effectively control the migration and diffusion of uranium. In general, various kinds of microbes are living in soils and geological media where the activity of microbes may be closely connected with the redox reaction of nuclides resulting in the changes of their solubility. We investigated the adsorption and precipitation behaviors of dissolved uranium on some solid materials using hydrogen gas as an electron donor instead of organic matters. Although the effect of hydrogen gas did not appear in a batch experiment that used granite as a solid material, there occurred a reduction of uranium concentration by 5~8% due to hydrogen in an experiment using bentonite. This result indicates that some indigenous bacteria in the bentonite that have utilized hydrogen as the electron donor affected the behavior (reduction) of uranium. In addition, the bentonite bacteria have showed their strong tolerance against a given high temperature and radioactivity of a specific waste environment, suggesting that the nuclear-biogeochemical reaction may be one of main mechanisms if the natural bentonite is used as a buffer material for the disposal site in the future.