• Healthcare Informatics Research
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.300-308
• /
• 2018

Objectives: Prompt detection is a cornerstone in the control and prevention of infectious diseases. The Integrated Disease Surveillance Project of India identifies outbreaks, but it does not exactly predict outbreaks. This study was conducted to assess temporal correlation between Google Trends and Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) data and to determine the feasibility of using Google Trends for the prediction of outbreaks or epidemics. Methods: The Google search queries related to malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, and enteric fever for Chandigarh union territory and Haryana state of India in 2016 were extracted and compared with presumptive form data of the IDSP. Spearman correlation and scatter plots were used to depict the statistical relationship between the two datasets. Time trend plots were constructed to assess the correlation between Google search trends and disease notification under the IDSP. Results: Temporal correlation was observed between the IDSP reporting and Google search trends. Time series analysis of the Google Trends showed strong correlation with the IDSP data with a lag of -2 to -3 weeks for chikungunya and dengue fever in Chandigarh (r > 0.80) and Haryana (r > 0.70). Malaria and enteric fever showed a lag period of -2 to -3 weeks with moderate correlation. Conclusions: Similar results were obtained when applying the results of previous studies to specific diseases, and it is considered that many other diseases should be studied at the national and sub-national levels.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.169-182
• /
• 2019

Temporal and spatial variations in surface ozone concentrations in Busan were investigated by using observation data from urban air quality sites during 2001-2016. The annual ozone concentrations showed a significant increasing trend of $+0.40ppb\;yr^{-1}$ in this period, with a more rapid increase of $+0.81ppb\;yr-1$ since 2010. For the monthly analysis, the increase in ozone concentration was the greatest in August ($+0.68ppb\;yr-1$). These ozone trends were due mainly to rising temperature ($+0.05^{\circ}C\;yr^{-1}$) and weak decreasing precipitation ($-6.42mm\;yr^{-1}$). However, the extreme weather events (heat wave, localized heavy rain, etc.) lead to an increase in short-term variability of ozone since 2010. The relatively low ozone concentrations in the downtown area were caused by high NOx emissions from mobile sources. The increases in ozone concentrations were observed at most of the air quality monitoring sites due to the reductions in anthropogenic emissions of NOx during 2001-2015. However, in the southern coastal area, lower rates of increase in ozone concentrations were observed by $-0.10{\sim}0.25ppb\;yr^{-1}$ due to the significant NOx emitted by ships in the Busan port and Busan new port.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.155-166
• /
• 2021

Objectives: Driven by a growth of single-person households and individualized lifestyles, solo dining in restaurants is an increasingly recognizable trend. However, a research gap exists in the comparison of solo and group diners' menu-decision making processes. Based on the self-control dilemma and the temporal construal theory as a theoretical framework, this study compared the ordering intentions of solo vs. group diners with healthy vs. indulgent (less healthy) entrées. The mediating role of consumption orientation and the moderating role of amount of menu nutrition information were further explored to understand the mechanism and a boundary condition. Methods: A scenario-based online survey was developed using a 2 (dining social context: solo vs. with others) × 3 (amount of menu nutrition information: no nutrition information vs. calories vs. calories/fat/sodium), between-subjects, experimental design. Consumers' level of nutrition involvement was controlled. A nationwide survey data (n = 224) were collected from a crowdsourcing platform in the U.S. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance, independent t-test, univariate analysis of covariance, and moderated mediation analyses. Results: Findings reveal that solo (vs. group) diners have less (vs. more) intentions to order indulgent menu items due to a more utilitarian (vs. more hedonic) consumption orientation in restaurant dining. Findings also show that solo (vs. group) diners have more (vs. less) intentions to order healthy menu items when the restaurant menu presented nutrition information including calories, fat, and sodium. Conclusions: The findings contribute to the literature of foodservice management, healthy eating, and consumer behavior by revealing a mechanism and an external stimuli of solo vs. group diners' healthy menu-decision making process in restaurants. Furthermore, the findings provide restauranteurs and health professionals with insights into the positive and negative impacts of menu nutrition labelling on consumers' menu-decisions.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.46 no.4
• /
• pp.184-193
• /
• 2021

Background: The radionuclides released by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident 9 years ago are still being monitored by various research teams and the Japanese government. Comparison of different surveys' results could help evaluate the exposure doses and the mechanism of radiocesium behavior in the urban environment in the area. In this study, we clarified the relationship between land use and temporal changes in the ambient dose rates (air dose rates) using big data. Materials and Methods: We set a series of 1 × 1 km² meshes within the 80 km zone of the FDNPP to compare the different survey results. We then prepared an analysis dataset from all survey meshes to analyze the temporal change in the air dose rate. The selected meshes included data from all survey types (airborne, fixed point, backpack, and carborne) obtained through the all-time survey campaigns. Results and Discussion: The characteristics of each survey's results were then evaluated using this dataset, as they depended on the measurement object. The dataset analysis revealed that, for example, the results of the carborne survey were smaller than those of the other surveys because the field of view of the carborne survey was limited to paved roads. The location factor of different land uses was also evaluated considering the characteristics of the four survey methods. Nine years after the FDNPP accident, the location factor ranged from 0.26 to 0.49, while the half-life of the air dose rate ranged from 1.2 to 1.6. Conclusion: We found that the decreasing trend in the air dose rate of the FDNPP accident was similar to the results obtained after the Chernobyl accident. These parameters will be useful for the prediction of the future exposure dose at the post-accident.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.10
• /
• pp.3717-3723
• /
• 2022

For the first time, two-dimensional temporal behavior of the edge localized mode (ELM) filament is measured in the edge tokamak plasma with a multi-channel electrical probe array (MCEP). MCEP, which has 16 floating probes (4 × 4), is mounted at the far scrape-off layer (SOL) region in the KSTAR. An electron temperature and an ion flux are measured by sideband method (SBM), which can achieve two-dimensional measurements with high time resolution. Furthermore, temporal evolutions of the electron temperature and the ion flux are obtained during the ELM occurrence. In the H-mode period, short spikes from ELM bursts are observed in measured plasma parameters, and the trend is similar to that of typical Hα signal. Interestingly, when blob-like ELM filaments crash the probe, the heat flux is significantly higher in a local region of the probe array. The results show that our probe array using the SBM can measure the ELM behavior and the plasma parameters without the effect of the stray current caused by the huge device. This study can provide valuable data needed to understand the interaction between the SOL plasma and the plasma facing components (PFCs).

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2023.05a
• /
• pp.314-314
• /
• 2023

Extreme climate events can have a large impact on human life by hampering social, environmental, and economic development. Global circulation models (GCMs) are the widely used numerical models to understand the anticipated future climate change. However, different GCMs can project different future climates due to structural differences, varying initial boundary conditions and assumptions about the physical phenomena. The multi-model ensemble (MME) approach can improve the uncertainties associated with the different GCM outcomes. In this study, a comprehensive rating metric was used to select the best-performing GCMs out of 11 CMIP5 and 13 CMIP6 GCMs, according to their skills in terms of four temporal and five spatial performance indices, in replicating the 21 extreme climate indices during the baseline (1975-2017) in South Korea. The MME data were derived by averaging the simulations from all selected GCMs and three top-ranked GCMs. The random forest (RF) algorithm was also used to derive the MME data from the three top-ranked GCMs. The RF-derived MME data of the three top-ranked GCMs showed the highest performance in simulating the baseline extreme climate which was subsequently used to project the future extreme climate indices under both the representative concentration pathway (RCP) and the socioeconomic concentration pathway scenarios (SSP). The extreme cold and warming indices had declining and increasing trends, respectively, and most extreme precipitation indices had increasing trends over the period 2031-2100. Compared to all scenarios, RCP8.5 showed drastic changes in future extreme climate indices. The coasts in the east, south and west had stronger warming than the rest of the country, while mountain areas in the north experienced more extreme cold. While extreme cold climatology gradually declined from north to south, extreme warming climatology continuously grew from coastal to inland and northern mountainous regions. The results showed that the socially, environmentally and agriculturally important regions of South Korea were at increased risk of facing the detrimental impacts of extreme climatology.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.37 no.8
• /
• pp.1367-1376
• /
• 2024

Objective: Parathyroid hormone like hormone (PTHLH), as an essential factor for bone growth, is involved in a variety of physiological processes. The aim of this study was to explore the role of PTHLH gene in the growth of antlers. Methods: The coding sequence (CDS) of PTHLH gene cDNA was obtained by cloning in sika deer (Cervus nippon), and the bioinformatics was analyzed. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to analyze the differences expression of PTHLH mRNA in different tissues of the antler tip at different growth periods (early period, EP; middle period, MP; late period, LP). Results: The CDS of PTHLH gene was 534 bp in length and encoded 177 amino acids. Predictive analysis results revealed that the PTHLH protein was a hydrophilic protein without transmembrane structure, with its secondary structure consisting mainly of random coil. The PTHLH protein of sika deer had the identity of 98.31%, 96.82%, 96.05%, and 94.92% with Cervus canadensis, Bos mutus, Oryx dammah and Budorcas taxicolor, which were highly conserved among the artiodactyls. The qRT-PCR results showed that PTHLH mRNA had a unique spatio-temporal expression pattern in antlers. In the dermis, precartilage, and cartilage tissues, the expression of PTHLH mRNA was extremely significantly higher in MP than in EP, LP (p<0.01). In the mesenchyme tissue, the expression of PTHLH mRNA in MP was significantly higher than that of EP (p<0.05), but extremely significantly lower than that of LP (p<0.01). The expression of PTHLH mRNA in antler tip tissues at all growth periods had approximately the same trend, that is, from distal to basal, it was first downregulated from the dermis to the mesenchyme and then continuously up-regulated to the cartilage tissue. Conclusion: PTHLH gene may promote the rapid growth of antler mainly through its extensive regulatory effect on the antler tip tissue.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.21-28
• /
• 2024

Present study aimed to investigate the temporal changes in expression of some reproductive hormones in testis, originally found in hypothalamus and pituitary. Rats were sacrificed on postnatal day 23 (PND23; immature), pubertal (PND53) and PND 81 (young adult). The testicular RNAs were extracted, and semi-quantitative PCRs for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), kisspeptin 1 (KiSS1), pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), LH subunits and LH receptor were performed. Transcript levels of GnRH and KiSS1 at PND23 were significantly higher than levels of PND53 and PND81 (p<0.001). PACAP mRNA level at PND23 was significantly lower than those of PND53 and PND81 (p<0.001). The mRNA levels of both testis type and pituitary type luteinizing hormone β subunit (tLHβ and pLHβ, respectively) at PND23 were significantly lower than levels of PND53 and PND81 (p<0.001). The mRNA level of glycoprotein hormone common alpha subunit (Cgα) at PND23 was significantly lower than those of PND53 and PND81 (p<0.001). Present study revealed the intratesticular expression of KiSS1 and GnRH showed a very similar trend while the expression of PACAP in the testis showed reversed pattern. The expressions of LHβ subunits (tLHβ and pLHβ) were very low during immature stage then increased significantly during puberty and early adulthood. Our attempt to study the local role(s) of intratesticular factors will be helpful to achieve precise understanding on the testis physiology and pathology.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.114-121
• /
• 2017

Real-time monitoring of hourly concentrations of atmospheric Radon-222 ($^{222}Rn$, radon) and some gaseous pollutants ($SO_2$, CO, $O_3$) was performed throughout 2013-2014 at Gosan station of Jeju Island, one of the cleanest regions in Korea, in order to characterize their background levels and temporal variation trend. The hourly mean concentrations of radon and three gaseous pollutants ($SO_2$, CO, $O_3$) over the study period were $2216{\pm}1100mBq/m^3$, $0.6{\pm}0.7ppb$, $211.6{\pm}102.0ppb$, and $43.0{\pm}17.0ppb$, respectively. The seasonal order of radon concentrations was as fall ($2644mBq/m^3$)$${\sim_\sim}$$winter ($2612mBq/m^3$)>spring ($2022mBq/m^3$)>summer ($1666mBq/m^3$). The concentrations of $SO_2$ and CO showed similar patterns with those of radon as high in winter and low in summer, whereas the $O_3$ concentrations had a bit different trend. Based on cluster analyses of air mass back trajectories, the air mass frequencies originating from Chinese continent, North Pacific Ocean, and the Korean Peninsula routes were 30, 18, and 52%, respectively. When the air masses were moved from Chinese continent to Jeju Island, the concentrations of radon and gaseous pollutants ($SO_2$, CO, $O_3$) were relatively high: $2584mBq/m^3$, 0.76 ppb, 225.8 ppb, and 46.4 ppb. On the other hand, when the air masses were moved from North Pacific Ocean, their concentrations were much low as $1282mBq/m^3$, 0.24 ppb, 166.1 ppb, and 32.5 ppb, respectively.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.209-216
• /
• 2015

It has been about 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, which contaminated large area with radioactive materials. It is necessary to assess radiation dose to establish evacuation areas and to set decontamination goal for the large contaminated area. In this study, we assessed temporal trend of radiation dose to the public living in the large area contaminated with radioactive materials after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The dose assessment was performed based on Chernobyl model and RESRAD model for two evacuation lift areas, Kawauchi and Naraha. It was reported that deposition densities in the areas were $4.3{\sim}96kBq\;m^{-2}$ for $^{134}Cs$, $1.4{\sim}300kBq\;m^{-2}$ for $^{137}Cs$, respectively. Radiation dose to the residents depended on radioactive cesium concentrations in the soil, ranging $0.11{\sim}2.4mSv\;y^{-1}$ at Kawauchi area and $0.69{\sim}1.1mSv\;y^{-1}$ at Naraha area in July 2014. The difference was less than 5% in radiation doses estimated by two different models. Radiation dose decreased with calendar time and the decreasing slope varied depending on dose assessment models. Based on the Chernobyl dosimetry model, radiation doses decreased with calendar time to about 65% level of the radiation dose in 2014 after 1 year, 11% level after 10 years, and 5.6% level after 30 years. RESRAD dosimetry model more slowly decreased radiation dose with time to about 85% level after 1 year, 40% level after 10 years, and 15% level after 30 years. The decrease of radiation dose can be mainly attributed into radioactive decays and environmental transport of the radioactive cesium. Only environmental transports of radioactive cesium without consideration of radioactive decays decreased radiation dose additionally 43% after 1 year, 72% after 3 years, 80% after 10 years, and 83% after 30 years. Radiation doses estimated with cesium concentration in the soil based on Chernobyl dosimetry model were compared with directly measured radiation doses. The estimated doses well agreed with the measurement data. This study results can be applied to radiation dose assessments at the contaminated area for radiation safety assurance or emergency preparedness.