• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.45.1-45.7
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• 2022

Food security will be affected by climate change worldwide, particularly in the developing world, where the most important food products originate from plants. Plants are often exposed to environmental stresses that may affect their growth, development, yield, and food quality. Auxin is a hormone that plays a critical role in improving plants' tolerance of environmental conditions. Auxin controls the expression of many stress-responsive genes in plants by interacting with specific cis-regulatory elements called auxin-responsive elements (AuxREs). In this work, we performed an in silico prediction of AuxREs in promoters of five auxin-responsive genes in Zea mays. We applied a data fusion approach based on the combined use of Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and fuzzy sets. Auxin has a direct impact on cell membrane proteins. The short-term auxin response may be represented by the regulation of transmembrane gene expression. The detection of an AuxRE in the promoter of prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) in Z. mays and the 3-fold overexpression of this gene under auxin treatment for 30 min indicated the role of POP in maize auxin response. POP is regulated by auxin to perform stress adaptation. In addition, the detection of two AuxRE TGTCTC motifs in the upstream sequence of the bx1 gene suggests that bx1 can be regulated by auxin. Auxin may also be involved in the regulation of dehydration-responsive element-binding and some members of the protein kinase superfamily.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.1314-1326
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• 2023

Sheep and goats can efficiently convert low quality forage into high-quality meat which contains specific nutrients and quality traits. Carcass traits and quality attributes of sheep and goat meat depend upon several factors and one of most effective strategies amongst these is feeding regimens. In this review, the major aspects of feeding regimens affecting growth rate, carcass traits and quality attributes of sheep and goat meat are thoroughly discussed, with a particular focus on physical-chemical composition, flavor profile, and fatty acid (FA) profile. Grazing lambs and kids receiving concentrate or under stall-feeding systems had greater average daily gain and carcass yield compared with animals reared on pasture only. However, growth rate was higher in lambs/kids grazing on pastures of improved quality. Moreover, the meat of grazing lambs receiving concentrate had more intense flavor, intramuscular fat (IMF) content, and unhealthy FA composition, but comparable color, tenderness, juiciness, and protein content compared to that of lambs grazed on grass only. In contrast, meat of concentrate-fed lambs had more intense color, greater tenderness and juiciness, IMF and protein contents, and lower flavor linked to meat. Additionally, the meat of kids grazed on concentrate supplementation had higher color coordinates, tenderness, IMF content and unhealthy FA composition, whereas juiciness and flavor protein content were similar. In contrast, kids with concentrate supplementation had superior color coordinates, juiciness, IMF content and unhealthy FA composition, but lower tenderness and flavor intensity compared to pasture-grazed kids. Thus, indoor-finished or supplemented grazing sheep/goats had higher growth rate and carcass quality, higher IMF content and unhealthy FA composition compared to animals grazed on grass only. Finally, supplementation with concentrate increased flavor intensity in lamb meat, and improved color and tenderness in kid meat, whereas indoor-fed sheep/goats had improved color and juiciness as well as reduced flavor compared to pasture-grazed animals.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.941-950
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• 2022

This study was conducted to provide data and stem information to establish a local volume table of Cryptomeria japonica in Jeju Island. Stem analysis was performed on 26 trees by selecting two average trees from each site of the 13 plots of C. japonica stands in 2021 and 2022. During the analysis stage, one outlier tree was rejected, and a total of 260 observations of the specific stem height of 25 trees were used. Of the seven major taper equation models applied for parameter estimation and statistical verification, the Muhairwe 1999 model was found to be the best fit and selected as the optimal model. Stem shape-related estimates were acquired through the selected model, and sectional measurements according to the Smalian formula applied at an interval of 10 cm from the height of the stem were used to develop a volume table. A paired t-test comparison between the C. japonica volume obtained from the present study and those selected from the current yield table by NIFoS(2020), revealed significant differences (p<0.05), highlighting the necessity of a local volume table for C. japonica in Jeju Island.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-33
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• 2021

Successful sediment management at the watershed scale requires an understanding of the erosion, transport and sedimentation processes at the specific site scale. However, studies on the sediment runoff characteristics in a small uppermost watershed, which serves as a sediment supply function, are very rare. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate the fluctuations in major sediment supply areas and sediment runoff in the uppermost mountain small watershed, and for this purpose, ArcSWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tools with GIS interface) was applied to the Woldong reservoir catchment located in Gosam-myeon, Anseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. The model results were manually calibrated using the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir sedimentation rate from 2005 to 2007. It was estimated that annual average of 34.4 tons/year of sediment was discharged from the Woldong reservoir basin. This estimate almost coincided with the monitoring data of the Woldong reservoir during the low flow period but tended to be somewhat underestimated during the high flow period. Although the SWAT model does not fully reflect the erosion process of gully and in-channel, this underestimation is probably due to the spatial connectivity of sediment transport and the storage and reactivation of the sediment being transported. Most of the forested hillslopes with a well-developed organic horizon were evaluated as having a low risk of erosion, while the places with the highest risk of erosion were predicted to be distributed in the logged area with some weeds or shrubs (classified as pasture) with relatively steeper slopes, and in the bare land. The results of this study are expected to be useful in developing strategies for sediment control and reservoir management.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.201-201
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• 2022

Rice bakanae disease is a serious global threat in major rice-cultivating regions worldwide causing high yield loss. It is caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium fujikuroi. Varying degree of resistance or susceptibility to bakanae disease had been reported among Korean japonica rice varieties. We developed a modified in vitro bakanae disease bioassay method and tested 31 Korean japonica rice varieties. Nampyeong and Samgwang varieties showed highest resistance while 14 varieties including Junam and Hopum were highly susceptible with 100% mortality rate. We carried out mapping QTLs for bakanae disease resistance with four F2:F3 populations derived from the crosses between Korean japonica rice varieties. The Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) markers developed in our laboratory based on the SNPs detected in Korean japonica rice varieties were used in genotyping F2 plants in the populations. We found four major QTLs on chromosome 1, 4, 6, and 9 with LOD scores of 21.4, 6.9, 6.0, and 60.3, respectively. In addition, we are doing map-based cloning of the QTLs on chromosome 1 and 9 which were found with Junam/Nampyeong F2:F3 population and Junam/Samgwang F2:F3 population, respectively. These QTLs will be very useful in developing bakanae disease resistant high quality rice varieties.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2024

Molded pulp products has become more attractive than traditional materials such as expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) owing to low-priced recycled paper, environmental benefits such as biodegradability, and low production cost. In this study, various design factors regarding compression and cushioning characteristics of the molded pulp cushion with truncated pyramid-shaped structural units were analyzed using a test specimen with multiple structural units. The adopted structural factors were the geometric shape, wall thickness, and depth of the structural unit. The relative humidity was set at two levels. We derived the cushion curve model of the target molded pulp cushion using the stress-energy methodology. The coefficient of determination was approximately 0.8, which was lower than that for EPS (0.98). The cushioning performance of the molded pulp cushion was affected more by the structural factors of the structural unit than by the material characteristics. Repeated impacts, higher static stress, and drop height decreased the cushioning performance. Its compression behavior was investigated in four stages: elastic, first buckling, sub-buckling, and densification. It had greater rigidity during initial deformation stages; then, during plastic deformation, the rigidity was greatly reduced. The compression behavior was influenced by structural factors such as the geometric shape and depth of the structural unit and environmental conditions, rather than material properties. The biggest difference in the compression and cushioning characteristics of molded pulp cushion compared to EPS is that it is greatly affected by structural factors, and in addition, strength and resilience are expected to decrease due to humidity and repetitive loads, so future research is needed.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.456-477
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• 2024

With information technology's rapid development, the Internet faces serious security problems. Studies have shown that malware has become a primary means of attacking the Internet. Therefore, adversarial samples have become a vital breakthrough point for studying malware. By studying adversarial samples, we can gain insights into the behavior and characteristics of malware, evaluate the performance of existing detectors in the face of deceptive samples, and help to discover vulnerabilities and improve detection methods for better performance. However, existing adversarial sample generation methods still need help regarding escape effectiveness and mobility. For instance, researchers have attempted to incorporate perturbation methods like Fast Gradient Sign Method (FGSM), Projected Gradient Descent (PGD), and others into adversarial samples to obfuscate detectors. However, these methods are only effective in specific environments and yield limited evasion effectiveness. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a malware adversarial sample generation method (PixGAN) based on the pixel attention mechanism, which aims to improve adversarial samples' escape effect and mobility. The method transforms malware into grey-scale images and introduces the pixel attention mechanism in the Deep Convolution Generative Adversarial Networks (DCGAN) model to weigh the critical pixels in the grey-scale map, which improves the modeling ability of the generator and discriminator, thus enhancing the escape effect and mobility of the adversarial samples. The escape rate (ASR) is used as an evaluation index of the quality of the adversarial samples. The experimental results show that the adversarial samples generated by PixGAN achieve escape rates of 97%, 94%, 35%, 39%, and 43% on the Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Convolutional Neural Network and Recurrent Neural Network (CNN_RNN), and Convolutional Neural Network and Long Short Term Memory (CNN_LSTM) algorithmic detectors, respectively.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.920-935
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• 2024

Embryo transfer plays a crucial role in enhancing the breeding value of livestock; it has been applied in Hanwoo cattle, which is a popular breed for beef production in Korea. Both in vivo-derived (IVD) and in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos are used for this purpose; however, IVP embryos have been preferred recently owing to advancements in ovum pick-up (OPU) technology and genomic selection. Despite technological advancements, comprehensive data on large-scale OPU/IVEP/embryo transfer in Hanwoo cows are lacking. In this study, 16 elite Hanwoo donor cows were selected on the basis of specific criteria. Oocytes were retrieved from 241 cows using OPU. The collected cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were matured, fertilized, and cultured in vitro to produce transferable embryos. Embryos were classified according to their developmental stage and then transferred to 675 recipient cows. A total of 3,317 COCs were collected, with an average of 13.76 COCs per cow. The number of transferable embryos produced per cow was 3.7. Hanwoo OPU-derived IVP embryos exhibited a higher production yield than the global average, indicating a stable IVEP environment. Both fresh and frozen IVP embryos yielded similar conception rates; hence, the use of vitrified-thawed embryos in transfer plans feasible. However, frozen-thawed embryos at Stage 7 had a lower conception rate than those at earlier stages. There was no significant difference between the conception rates of sexually mature heifers and postpartum cows used as recipients. The male-to-female offspring ratio increased as the developmental stage progressed. Seasonal effects on conception rates were not observed; however, higher abortion rates and a higher proportion of male offspring were observed during winter. This study provides valuable data for the Korean embryo transfer industry, enabling more strategic growth of the domestic Hanwoo embryo industry.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2195-2207
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• 2024

To enhance skeletal dosimetry in conjunction with the adult mesh-type reference Korean phantoms (MRKPs), Korean/Asian photon fluence-to-skeletal dose response functions (DRFs) were established utilizing an updated version of micro-CT-based detailed bone models from Tsinghua University. These bone models were incorporated into the MRKPs using the parallel geometry feature of Geant4. We calculated bone-site-specific electron absorbed fractions and used them to generate DRFs, following a similar methodology employed for ICRP-116 DRFs that have been used with the ICRP reference phantoms for skeletal dosimetry. To assess dosimetric implications of the Korean/Asian DRFs, we calculated RBM and BE doses for the MRKPs exposed to photon beams in the antero-posterior direction using the Korean/Asian and ICRP-116 DRFs. For energies ≥200 keV, the Korean/Asian DRFs-based skeletal doses exhibited excellent agreement with the ICRP-116 DRFs-based skeletal doses, attributed to the existence of charged particle equilibrium across the bone site. Conversely, significant differences of up to ~2.3 times were observed at lower energies, due to differences in the skeletal tissue distributions of bone models used to derive the Korean/Asian and ICRP-116 DRFs. The DRFs established in this study are expected to yield more accurate skeletal doses for Korean and Asian populations compared to the ICRP-116 DRFs.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.499 -508
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• 2024

In this paper, we investigate hierarchical time series forecasting that adhere to a hierarchical structure when deriving predicted values by analyzing segmented data as well as aggregated datasets. The occurrences of food poisoning by a specific pathogen are analyzed using zero-inflated Poisson regression models and negative binomial regression models. The occurrences of major, miscellaneous, and overall food poisoning are analyzed using Poisson regression models and negative binomial regression models. For hierarchical time series forecasting, the MinT estimation proposed by Wickramasuriya et al. (2019) is employed. Negative predicted values resulting from hierarchical adjustments are adjusted to zero, and weights are multiplied to the remaining lowest-level variables to satisfy the hierarchical structure. Empirical analysis revealed that there is little difference between hierarchical and non-hierarchical adjustments in predictions based on pathogens. However, hierarchical adjustments generally yield superior results for predictions concerning major, miscellaneous, and overall occurrences. Without hierarchical adjustment, instances may occur where the predicted frequencies of the lowest-level variables exceed that of major or miscellaneous occurrences. However, the proposed method enables the acquisition of predictions that adhere to the hierarchical structure.