Search

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the short Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I). Methods: The Korean version of the short FES-I was developed through the FES-I translation protocol. Participants for the psychometric tests included 300 older adults (100 visiting a senior welfare center, 100 registered as frail elderly in a public health center, and 100 visiting an orthopedic department at a university hospital after hip-fracture surgery). The psychometric tests included content, construct, criterion validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Results: One factor of the seven items was validated and explained by 79.4% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the model fit and convergent validity. Mean scores according to fall history were also significantly different. Correlation analysis confirmed criterion validity with a single item of fear of falling (r=.76, p<.001). There were reliable internal consistencies with Cronbach’s ⍺ coefficients of .95 and, .93, and the ICC (Intra-class Correlation Coefficient) for test-retest reliability was .95. Conclusion: This scale showed excellent validity and reliability in Korea. It is useful to measure fear of falling for older adults in clinical or community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition (KPAIC-15) for people with dementia. Methods: Participants in this study were 200 patients with dementia in two long-term care hospitals in the Republic of Korea. The PAIC-15 was translated into Korean using the process for the translation and adaptation of instruments developed by the World Health Organization. Three bilingual nursing professionals carried out this process. The construct validity, convergent validity, Cronbach’s ⍺, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest reliability of the translated instrument were evaluated. IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 and AMOS 26.0 were used for data analysis. Results: In the confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, the KPAIC-15 exhibited an adequate model fit, with three factors accounting for 72.13% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of the KPAIC-15. The scale had a Cronbach’s ⍺ of .91, an inter-rater reliability of .75 (p<.001), and a test-retest reliability of .71 (p<.001). Conclusion: The findings show the KPAIC-15 is valid and reliable for use in the pain assessment of people diagnosed with dementia in the Republic of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In traditional criminal cases, there is a limit to information collection because information on the subject of investigation is provided only with personal information held by the national organization of legal. Surface web-based OSINT(Open Source Intelligence), including SNS and portal sites that can be searched by general search engines, can be used for meaningful profiling for criminal investigations. The Korean-style OSINT workflow can effectively profile based on OSINT, but in the case of individuals, OSINT that can be collected is limited because it begins with "name", and the reliability is limited, such as collecting information of the persons with the same name. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper defines information related to individuals, i.e., equivalent information, and enables efficient and accurate information collection based on this. Therefore, we present an improved workflow that can extract information related to a specific person, ie., equivalent information, from OSINT. For this purpose, different workflows are presented according to the person’s profile. Through this, effective profiling of a person (individuals) is possible, thereby increasing reliability in collecting investigation information. According to this study, in the future, by developing a system that can automate the analysis process of information collected using artificial intelligence technology, it can lay the foundation for the use of OSINT in criminal investigations and contribute to diversification of investigation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare agronomic and seed traits of 135 common bean landraces originating from Korea, Bulgaria, and El Salvador, we evaluated 20 morphological traits and performed principal component analysis (PCA). In the PCA, the first and second principal components accounted for 55.15% and 15.97% of the total variance, respectively. The first component showed a strong positive correlation with seed size and 100-seed weight, whereas the second component produced a strong negative correlation with days to flowering and days to maturity, indicating that these traits may explain the differences between landraces originating from different countries. Landraces from Korea showed higher variation in days to flowering and days to maturity; those from Bulgaria produced larger and heavier seeds; those from El Salvador produced smaller and lighter seeds and flowering and maturity occurred earlier. In addition, the landraces from El Salvador had relatively lower diversity compared to those from other countries, as they were grouped within a small cluster in the PCA. These evaluation results may provide important information for selecting breeding materials, and diversity analyses of landraces from different countries provide information for securing genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with increased ‘untact’ services and with unstable household economy, the bike insurance fraud is expected to surge. Moreover, the fraud methodology gets complicated. However, the fraud detection model for bike insurance is absent. we deal with the issue of skewed class distribution and reflect the criterion of fraud detection expert. We utilize a balanced random-forest algorithm to develop an efficient bike insurance fraud detection model. As a result, while the predictive performance of balanced random-forest model is superior than it of non-balanced model. There is no significant difference between the variables used by the experts and the confirmatory models. The important variables to detect frauds are turned out to be age and gender of driver, correspondence between insured and driver, the amount of self-repairing claim, and the amount of bodily injury liability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As artificial intelligence services targeting humans increase, social demands are increasing that artificial intelligence should also be made on an ethical basis. Following this trend, the government and businesses are preparing policies and norms related to artificial intelligence ethics. In order to establish reasonable policies and norms, the first step is to understand the public's perceptions. In this paper, social data and news comments were collected and analyzed to understand the public's perception related to artificial intelligence and ethics. Interest analysis, emotional analysis, and discourse analysis were performed and visualized on the collected datasets. As a result of the analysis, interest in "artificial intelligence ethics" and "artificial intelligence" favorability showed an inversely proportional correlation. As a result of discourse analysis, the biggest issue was "personal information leakage," and it also showed a discourse on contamination and deflection of learning data and whether computer-made artificial intelligence should be given a legal personality. This study can be used as data to grasp the public's perception when preparing artificial intelligence ethical norms and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sleep disorders, increasingly prevalent in the general population, induce impairment in daytime functioning and other clinical problems. As changes in cortical excitability have been reported as potential pathophysiological mechanisms underlying sleep disorders, multiple studies have explored clinical effects of modulating cortical excitability through non-invasive brain stimulation in treating sleep disorders. In this study, we critically reviewed clinical studies using non-invasive brain stimulation, particularly transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for treatment of sleep disorders. Previous studies have reported inconsistent therapeutic effects of TMS and tDCS for various kinds of sleep disorders. Specifically, low-frequency repetitive TMS (rTMS) and cathodal tDCS, both of which exert an inhibitory effect on cortical excitability, have shown inconsistent therapeutic effects for insomnia. On the other hand, high-frequency rTMS and anodal tDCS, both of which facilitate cortical excitability, have improved the symptoms of hypersomnia. In studies of restless legs syndrome, high-frequency rTMS and anodal tDCS induced inconsistent therapeutic effects. Single TMS and rTMS have shown differential therapeutic effects for obstructive sleep apnea. These inconsistent findings indicate that the distinctive characteristics of each non-invasive brain stimulation method and specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying particular sleep disorders should be considered in an integrated manner for treatment of various sleep disorders. Future studies are needed to provide optimized TMS and tDCS protocols for each sleep disorder, considering distinctive effects of non-invasive brain stimulation and pathophysiology of each sleep disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breeding wheat cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiency is crucial for sustainable agriculture. In this study, 130 durum wheat accessions from 53 countries were cultivated under two nitrogen fertilization levels to investigate variations in agronomic traits and identify accessions suitable for low-nitrogen conditions. Under no nitrogen fertilization, SPAD value (-99.2), flag leaf length (−15.8 mm), grain area (−0.52 mm² ), grain length (−0.27 mm), thousand-grain weight (+5.2 g), and grain protein content (−4.2%) showed significant differences compared to that under standard nitrogen fertilization. Among these traits, the SPAD value exhibited a strong positive correlation with protein content in the absence of nitrogen fertilization, suggesting its potential as an indicator for selecting germplasm with superior nitrogen use efficiency. Hierarchical cluster analysis, based on the differences in the six traits under the two nitrogen fertilization levels, classified the 130 durum wheat accessions into three groups (Groups 1, 2, and 3). Accessions in Group 2 exhibited superior adaptability under no nitrogen fertilization compared with those in the other two groups. We identified seven accessions in Group 2 that exhibited minimal decreases in SPAD values and protein content under no nitrogen fertilization for use in wheat breeding programs aimed at developing cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, crossbreeding between Asian rice (O. sativa) and African rice (O. glaberrima) has become an important solution for hunger refugees and food problems in Africa by improving grain yield. O. glaberrima exhibits important traits such as stress tolerance, and genetic diversity evaluation and structural analysis of agronomic traits have been conducted. In this study, 11 yield-related agricultural traits were analyzed in 45 lines of O. sativa and 28 lines of O. glaberrima under Korean climatic conditions. Through cluster analysis using the investigated yield-related traits, O. sativa and O. glaberrima were grouped into clusters by characterizing the remaining traits, except for the number of spikelets, grain width, and grain thickness. The number of spikelets was highly influenced by the environment and had the greatest variation, whereas grain width showed the least variation. In addition, rice yield components are quantitative traits, and in breeding to improve yield, it is important to analyze the interaction of agricultural traits and the influence of the environment to maintain an optimal balance and improve plant potential. Although O. sativa was found to exhibit different agricultural traits depending on its ecotype, it still belonged to the same group when clustered. The results of this study provide basic information on the yield-related agronomic characteristics of O. sativa and O. glaberrima under Korean climatic conditions, suggesting that O. glaberrima can be used as breeding material to diversify Korean rice genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breeders typically use core collections of a specific trait or core collections selected by a few genotypes to efficiently select breeding materials or to study functional genes. As a result, many accessions have been deemed redundant or duplicated and are no longer considered for use. This study aimed to investigate the agronomical characteristics and genetic diversity of 1,514 previously unused and unstudied wheat germplasms and to confirm their value as breeding materials using population structure analysis. The performance of these wheat germplasms was compared with that of 8,878 wheat breeding materials and 72 known Korean wheat cultivars. The results of agronomic trait diversity comparison showed that the germplasm populations used for breeding research did not completely encompass the unused germplasm populations. The agronomic traits of wheat germplasms varied greatly. ANOVA and PCA results revealed the greatest differences in growth habits (CV=0.339), panicle length (CV=0.330), and awn length (CV=0.296). To accurately assess the value of unused wheat germplasms as breeding materials, 106 SSR markers were extracted from the analysis of four representative Korean cultivars: Geuru, Geumgang, Uri, and Jokyoung. Among these, 24 SSR markers were chosen, and 129 wheat resources were subjected to population structure analysis, which revealed five subpopulations. Most of the 34 germplasms that originated in Korea were distributed in subpopulation 1 (18 accessions, 52.9%) and subpopulation 4 (12 accessions, 35.3%). Subgroups 2, 3, and 5 differed significantly in agronomic traits and genotypes, indicating their potential as breeding materials. The findings of this study could serve as a foundation for breeders and aid in the discovery and utilization of new wheat breeding materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a member of the genus Tobamovirus, is one of the most threatening pathogens affecting commercial pepper production, and it is classified into pathotypes P1,2 and P1,2,3. As chemical and physical treatments show limited success in controlling PMMoV, resistant pepper varieties are considered the most effective means of disease control. Two hundred pepper germplasms, including 167 accessions of Capsicum chinense and 5 reference accessions known as resistant L alleles, were assessed using a bioassay to select germplasms resistant to PMMoV. Six accessions, including IT261210, were resistant to both PMMoV pathotypes P1,2 and P1,2,3 as they developed necrotic local lesions only on inoculated leaves, whereas no symptoms were observed on the upper leaves. Moreover, RT-PCR results of the upper leaves of these accessions were also negative. Thus, the identified accessions may be a novel source of genetic resistance against present or emerging new pathotypes and may be useful for differentiating L alleles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, genotype analysis was conducted using the Fluidigm system with 13 SNP markers related to anthracnose, powdery mildew, phytophthora root rot, cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), potyvirus, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) resistance. A total of 25,350 data points were obtained, 8.2% of which indicated resistance genotypes. Resources having perfect resistance genotype to each disease-related molecular marker set were 58 accessions for anthracnose, 57 for powdery mildew, 246 for phytophthora root rot, and 765 for CMV. There was no resource having a perfect resistance genotype of all three potyvirus-related molecular SNP markers including pvr1, pvr2 (123457), and pvr2 (689). Thirty-seven accessions for pvr1, 349 accessions for pvr2 (123457), and 23 accessions for pvr2 (689) were identified as resources with resistance genotype. No resource with the TMV-resistance genotype was found in this study. The resources with complex resistance genotypes of anthracnose and powdery mildew were 55 accessions, and they were mainly Capsicum baccatum. Among these, seven accessions had a three-disease combined resistance genotype with phytophthora root rot. Thirty-six accessions, 16 accessions, and nine accessions each had resistance genotypes of the three potyvirus-related markers. These resources also had CMV and phytophthora root rot resistance genotypes, and they were mainly Capsicum chinense. The statistical analysis considering the evaluated resistance genotypes, revealed that the anthracnose resistance genotype showed a tendency to be linked with powdery mildew resistance genotype. The potyvirus-related marker pvr1 was positively correlated with Phytophthora root rot markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, composition and agronomic traits, including yield-related traits, were investigated and compared among 35 Korean landrace germplasm for two years (2019 and 2020). The contents of 12 isoflavones were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography, and agronomic trait data were collected according to the Rural Development Administration criteria. Comparing isoflavone composition between the two years, all isoflavones, except glycitein, were generally higher in 2019. The values of yield-related and major agronomic traits decreased in most accessions in 2020. ANOVA showed highly significant differences (p<0.001) in genotypes, years, and genotype-by-year interaction for all isoflavones, the number of pods per plant, and 100-seed weight. The number of seeds per pod, days to flowering, and days to maturity also showed significant differences among genotypes, as well as between the two years. Correlation analysis revealed that daidzin and genistin were positively correlated with their malonylated form. Malonyl daidzin was also positively correlated with malonyl genistin levels. The accessions with the least variation in the total isoflavone content were IT 153844 (907.5 µg/g, 898.6 µg/g) and IT 252252 (663.2 µg/g, 636.4 µg/g). Some of the evaluated landraces will be a promising genetic source for developing soybean varieties with high levels of environmental stability in isoflavone content and agronomic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]