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Web crawlers collect and index the vast amount of data available online to gather specific types of objective data such as news that researchers or practitioners need. As big data are increasingly used in a variety of fields and web data are exponentially growing each year, the importance of web crawlers is growing as well. Web servers that currently handle high traffic, such as portal news servers, have safeguards against security threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In particular, the crawler, which causes a large amount of traffic to the Web server, has a very similar nature to DDoS attacks, so the crawler's activities tend to be blocked from the web server. A peer-to-peer (P2P) crawler can be used to solve these problems. However, the limitations with the pure P2P crawler is that it is difficult to maintain the entire system when network traffic increases or errors occur. Therefore, in order to overcome these limitations, we would like to propose a hybrid P2P crawler that can collect web data using the cloud service platform provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The hybrid P2P networking distributed web crawler using AWS (HP2PNC-AWS) is applied to collecting news on Korea's current smart work lifestyle from three portal sites. In Portal A where the target server does not block crawling, the HP2PNC-AWS is faster than the general web crawler (GWC) and slightly slower than the server/client distributed web crawler (SC-DWC), but it has a similar performance to the SC-DWC. However, in both Portal B and C where the target server blocks crawling, the HP2PNC-AWS performs better than other methods, with the collection rate and the number of data collected at the same time. It was also confirmed that the hybrid P2P networking system could work efficiently in web crawler architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In assessing the impact of climate change, the use of a multimodel ensemble (MME) is required to quantify uncertainties between scenarios and produce downscaled outlines for the simulation of climate under the influence of different factors including topography. This study of climate change scenarios from 13 global climate models (GCMs) assesses the impacts of future climate change. Unlike South Korea, North Korea lacks studies using climate change scenarios of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) and only recently did the country start the projection of extreme precipitation episodes. As such, one of the main purposes of this study is to predict changes in the average climatic conditions of North Korea in the future. The result of comparing downscaled climate change scenarios with observation data for a reference period indicates the high applicability of the MME. Furthermore, this study classifies climatic zones by applying the Köppen–Geiger climatic zones classification to the MME, which is validated for future precipitation and temperature. The result suggests that the continental climate that covers the inland area for the reference climate is expected to shift into the temperate climate. Moreover, the coefficient of variation (CV) in the temperature ensemble is particularly low for the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, and, accordingly, a high possibility of the shifting climatic zone of the coast is predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory approaches in agroforestry combine land, labor, and knowledge, by blending local experience with external expert support for sloping land restoration. We describe and analyze over a decade of bottom-up agroforestry development processes that today are influencing national policies. In the 1990s, after economic upheaval following the collapse of trade with the USSR (Soviet Union) rapid conversion of sloping lands to agriculture, in association with heavy rainfall events, caused widespread erosion and landslides. In response, pilot scale 'user groups' obtained rights-to-use, rights-to-harvest and rights-to-plan or access to sloping lands for tree products and food. All three rights were novel in the DPR Korea and jointly contributed to success, together with active research support. Innovations in double-cropping annual food crops together with non-competitive contour strips of valuable fruits (aronia berry: Aronia melanocarpa) and/or high-value timber (larch: Larix leptolepis) emerged as preferred local agroforestry systems. Broad support for agroforestry practices has now emerged within the Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection as well as a number of universities and research centres. Further development will require increased engagement with agricultural and horticultural agencies, while the social dimensions of participatory agroforestry continue to provide rich learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the principles, intentions and the military-first politics set forth by the nuclear program of North Korea. It can be noted that the country's official principle of its program is to advance its nuclear energy industry for peaceful means and to ensure a nuclear deterrent against the U.S. for security. However, it has been speculated that it is trying to enhance its negotiating power as to the U.S. with its nuclear program as provided in its military-first policy.

The aquatic extract of Dendropanax morbifera (DP) is typically consumed as a beverage in Korea and China and is also used in various traditional medicines. However, the functional role of DP on diabetes-induced renal fibrosis is unclear. Here, the protective effects of DP extract against diabetes-induced renal fibrosis were evaluated. Streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally in rats to induce diabetes. After 5 days, DP extract (25 mg/kg/day) and metformin (50 mg/kg/day) were administered orally to diabetic rats for 28 days. DP administration protected both body and organ weight loss in STZ-treated diabetic rats. Significant improvements in serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, and oxidative stress parameters were observed in diabetic rats by DP administration. DP extract markedly protected diabetic-induced histopathological damages in the kidney and pancreas. A significant reduction was observed in microalbumin, kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), selenium binding protein-1 (SBP1), and pyruvate kinase muscle isozyme M2 (PKM2) levels in the urinary excretion of diabetic rats after the administration of DP extract. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and fibrosis marker levels were significantly reduced in the kidney of diabetic rats. Our results strongly indicate that DP extract exhibits protective activity against diabetes-induced renal fibrosis through ameliorating oxidative stress and inflammation. Therefore, we suggest that DP extract can be used as a preventive agent on the progression of diabetic nephropathy and renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinus densiflora (Korean red pine) is widely distributed in East Asia and considered one of the most important species in Korea. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of P. densiflora was sequenced by combining the advantages of Oxford Nanopore MinION and Illumina MiSeq. The sequenced genome was then compared with that of a previously published conifer plastome. The chloroplast genome was found to be circular and comprised of a quadripartite structure, including 113 genes encoding 73 proteins, 36 tRNAs and 4 rRNAs. It had short inverted repeat regions and lacked ndh gene family genes, which is consistent with other Pinaceae species. The gene content of P. densiflora was found to be most similar to that of P. sylvestris. The newly attempted sequencing method could be considered an alternative method for obtaining accurate genetic information, and the chloroplast genome sequence of P. densiflora revealed in this study can be used in the phylogenetic analysis of Pinus species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]