KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD | ISSN 2765-0626 | Volume 2 | Issue 1 | Oct. 2021 by Education Association for Software Empowerment

INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD ISSN 2765-0626 | Volume 2 | Issue 1 | Oct. 2021

These days, research needs to find more effective and creative solutions for various challenges of sustainable development that demand crossing two or more disciplines which can generate new knowledge and drive innovation. ‘KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD’ is one of the platforms HOBY Korea provides with young scholars to explore knowledge and research skills across disciplines. This youth interdisciplinary journal provides middle school and high school students with an opportunity of publishing their research papers or research proposals in various academic fields to encourage them to continue developing intellectual curiosity, broadening the perspective towards social phenomena and global issues, and enhancing creative problem-solving skills. In Volume 2 Issue 1, research papers produced by participants of HOBY Korea’ 2021 Global Youth Academic Enrichment Program and research papers and research proposals selected for ‘2021 HOBY Korea International Young Scholars Conference’ were published. We thank all the authors who contributed to this issue.

We support the will, passion, and efforts of teenagers who do any kind of research activities regardless of how skilled they are or how significant or small their researches are.

TABLE OF CONTENTS RESEARCH PAPERS – SCIENCE 6

Mathematical Analysis of Simple Solid and Liquid Systems Kim, Kyung Dong

siRNA Targeting BRAFV600E Mutation Induces Skin Cancer Cell Death Kim, Young Doo

Golden Wheel Spider-inspired Soft Robot Kim, Wooseok

Spinal Fusion Surgery in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Complications and Side Effects Post Surgery Kim, JeongBin

Photocatalytic and Anti-bacterial Properties of Carbon dots and TiO2/CuxO compound Kim, Chae Young

Statistical Analysis of Effective Outdoor Air Cleaner Distribution on Roadsides with a Comparison between Environmental Variables and Air Quality Index Nam, Yihyun

Study on the Food Safety of Honey Produced from Urban Beekeeping Moon, Seongwon

Prediction of Ecosystem Damage Daused by Climate Change Park, Yunki

A Study on the Spatial Distribution of Air Pollutants in Seoul Metropolitan City Park, Junseo David

Next Computer and Satellite System with Quantum Park, Joshua

110

Comparison in Image Quality with Filtered Back Projection and Image Denoising Yang, Yaeji

123

Bacteria in the Textile Industry: Prospective Species that Could Be Used to Produce Actinorhodin-like Natural Dyestuffs Yu, Sun

150

New Appropriate Technology Platform for Post COVID Untact Era Lee, Seungju

165

Development of Eco-friendly DNA Embedded Concrete with Plastic Waste from Fishing Line Lee, Jun

173

The Function and Mechanism of Photodetector Lee, Changmin Pablo

184 206 226 238

Developing an Effective Inter-Communicative Detecting and Alert System for Falls in the Elderly for Prevention of Major Injuries Lim, Eunjun (Kris) A Study of Speckle Noise Reduction Filters Jung, Juyeon Analysis of Image Processing Methods in Enhancement of Low Dose X-Ray Images Generated in a Simulated Environment Cha, Jeonghyun Effect of Different Decibels (dB) on the Growth of Hydroponic Plants Choi, Seunghee (Judy)

RESEARCH PAPERS – SOCIAL SCIENCES 252 258

270

278

287 309 315

333

Online Forum Moderation with One-shot Learning Posts Gu, Hyowon Cultural Differences Reflected in Translation of the English and Korean Languages; Reinterpreting Literature & Works of Media Kim, Kyeol How Does Child Development Take Place in Accordance with Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory? Kim, Siyeon The Expansion of Fandom and Hallyu: The Growth of Related Industries in the Korean Wave Kim, Jiwon Are Hate Comments Freedom of Expression? Focusing on the regulation of malicious comments Kim, Hajoon Vaccine Hesitancy and COVID-19 Pandemic Kim, Hye Jun South Korean Education Culture and its Impact on High School Student-Teacher Relationships and Students’ Mental Health Lubiniecki, Sophia The future existence of an entity will depend on the practice of non-financial elements: environment, social, and governance. Min, Kyeong Won

342

The Relationship between Liberalism and Gender Equality Park, Soyeon

346

Effectiveness of ESG Management in Korea Companies Son, Suyun & Cho, Minseo

366

Cultural Stereotypes Limiting Video Game Acceptance in the United States Shin, Jeongwon

373

Education as a Factor towards Social Mobility: Its Benefits and Systematic Wrongs Yang, Edward

385

Comparison of Artificial Intelligence and Human Motivation Yoo, Seoyeon

393

Urbanization in China and Its Resultant Environmental Impacts Lee, Katherine S.

399

Corporate Bailout during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the 2007 Global Financial Crisis Choi, Jang Kyung

412

The Linguistic Roots of World Views Choi, Jaehyo (Daniel)

RESEARCH PROPOSALS 420

429

435

Removal of BIRC2 Gene Located in MCF-7 Cells by using CRISPR-Cas9: The Interrelationship between CXCL9 and BIRC2 in Oncological Perspective Kwon, Nahee & Park, Sion Do films depicting violent crimes increase violent psychology in audiences in different countries? Park, Sujeong Biodegradable Nanofiber Disinfecting Wounds & Accelerating the Blood Coagulation Process Seong, Wonkyoung(Ariel) & Kwon, Minwoo

441

Naturally Induced Alveoli-on-a-chip model of Pulmonary Fibrosis Song, Minkyung (Katie)

449

The Relationship Between Affective Neural Activity, Restricted Interest, and Age of Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Females Lee, Seungmyoung

458

Prospect of a Four Weekday Policy in the Perspective of a Health and Wellbeing Policy Jang, Yoorim

466

473

Housing Price on the Move: Housing Policy Comparison among Countries and Policy Suggestion Jang, Haram & Sung, Jaeyong & Choi, Yoojeong Advisory and Implementation for Green, Resilient, and Sustainable Recovery from COVID-19 Jeon, Sechan

478

Brain Tumor-on-a-chip for the treatment of Glioma Jung, Michelle

488

Human Asthma-on-a-Chip: Modeling and Developing a Long-term Treatment Jung, Selice

497

The Construction of Patient-specific Artificial Pancreas Tissue for Type 1 Diabetes Chung, Yehwan (Kyle)

505

Path Optimization within an Interior Space or Building: Application of a Shortest-Path Algorithm Choi, Justin

Research is creating new knowledge. - Neil Armstrong

Research Papers - Science

Mathematical analysis of simple solid and liquid systems

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Kyung Dong

Daegu International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: When Hans Christian Ørsted confirmed in 1820 (via his “Experiments on the effect of a current of electricity on the magnetic needles”) that an electric current creates a magnetic field, the way that science interpreted the known universe was revolutionized. Maxwell’s Equations of Electromagnetism were developed in the late nineteenth century as a succinct mathematical interpretation of the forces that dictated the laws of nature. Among these formulas, Gauss’s Law elucidated the fundamental property of magnetic dipoles, that like charges repel and opposite charges attract. This study was inspired by the aforementioned properties of electricity and magnetism in different ionic compounds. More specifically, a lack of rigorous analysis on the patterns between everyday phenomena such as surface tension and how different fluids responded to various types of force motivated this research. Various molecular structures were represented in terms of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional lattices to calculate its energy values. The scientific literature related to this investigation implied that chemical systems could be scrutinized based on their molecular integrity and how they reacted to different forces. As a result, different fluids were selected for research based on their intramolecular bonds and their structural integrity. While most of this experimentation was theoretical, different calculation methods from calculus, stoichiometry, and number theory were implemented for the sake of rigor. It was conclusively found that the Lennard-Jones Potential (alternatively known as 12-6 potential), albeit useful for describing molecular structures in terms of their thermophysical architecture, was not accurate enough for describing molecules in particular circumstances. However, the results of this study implied that specific calculations could provide a more precise measure of certain properties of molecules. These findings display potential in being able to compute more complex chemical systems in terms of their force fields, leading to a more sophisticated understanding of matter overall.

Keywords: Molecular structure, energy values, lattice, Lennard-Jones Potential

1. Introduction The atom is the most basic and arguably fundamental unit of matter. To understand the chemical properties of bulk systems, a good place to start is by considering the interactions between two atoms. To do so, the first step would be to create an appropriate model for solids and liquids to understand the bulk properties. The simplest way to simulate the bulk system was to simply add up the chemical interactions one by one until the values converged. The chemical properties we deal with in this study are force and energy, meaning that they can be expressed as e! e" r" e! e" E=k r F=k

Both formulas and all other chemical properties decrease numerically when the distance between two chemical species increases. So, if the system we make is large enough (in other words, made up of more atoms), the calculated chemical property will converge to the actual value. Given that P denotes bulk property, this could be written as lim

#$#%&' #)*&→,

P#$#%&' = P-&./

Thus, calculating all of the relationships of these systems will require n(n − 1)/2 calculations, where n is the number of chemical species included in the whole system. In order to simplify these calculations, mathematical optimization using the properties of sequence addition and integer numbers was used. This way, a converging sequence can be achieved faster than simply summing up the calculations. Extrapolating this method to liquid systems then turns this addition problem into an integration problem.

2. Methods, Results and Explanations Various chemical systems were analyzed and calculated. The first few systems can simply be mathematically derived, but the more complex chemical structures were analyzed using methods that will be elaborated on down below. The systems are explained inductively, going from one-dimensional matter to three-dimensional matter.

2.1. 1D lattices with cations and anions A one-dimensional lattice for cations and anions can be drawn as follows. Note that this array of ions below is purely theoretical, and will serve only as a model for the calculations to follow.

To calculate the lattice energy of the whole system, we first need to calculate the energy of a single atom. The energy of this atom can be written in the form of an infinite series. Let the radius of the cation and anion be denoted as r0 and r. , respectively. The diameter of

each atom can thus be expressed as (r0 + r. )/2. Let this value be denoted as d. A single cation will begin interacting with anions with distance d, cations with distance 2d, anions with distance 3d and so on. This can be expressed in the form of an equation: 2 2 2 2 E#)12/& 0.%)31 = k & e" 5− + − + 7 d 2d 3d 4d The same applies for an arbitrary anion: 2 2 2 2 E#)12/& .1)31 = k & e" 5− + − + 7 d 2d 3d 4d Therefore, the total energy of this chemical system can be calculated as the addition of the energy of a single anion and a single cation (this energy is what has been calculated for a single unit cell in one dimension) E%3% =

E#)12/& .1)31 + E#)12/& 0.%)31 1 1 1 1 = 2k & e" 5− + − + 7 2 d 2d 3d 4d 2k & e" 1 1 1 1 = 5− + − + 7 d 1 2 3 4

This sum of series can be calculated by using a series of equations: x" x" x" ln(1 + x) = x − + − … 2 3 4 E%3%

2k & e" 1 1 1 1 k & e" = 5− + − + 7 = (2 ln 2) d 1 2 3 4 d

So, the energy of a one-dimensional lattice can be calculated using the above formula.

2.2. 2D and 3D simple lattices (NaCl) NaCl, or table salt, has a basic cubic structure, making it a relatively simple example to start with. We can first start with the calculations for the two-dimensional lattice.

The energy for a single cation can be calculated using the following equation. The energy each atom contains should be computed and added. Cation-cation interactions would translate to addition, and cation-anion interaction would be subtraction (this is expressed as (−1)45$ ). Let the aforementioned atom be located at (0,0) on a coordinate plane. Then,

the interaction between the (x, y) positioned ion and the atom would be d>x " + y " E#)12/& 0.%)31

k & e" = ? d

@ 4,$89,,(4,$)<(=,=)

(−1)45$ A (x " + y " )!/"

The equation is a sum of series with two different variables x and y except the point of (0,0) (the formula diverges at this point). For the three-dimensional lattice, we will get a similar equation in the form of a two-dimensional lattice. The main interest goal is to derive the simplified equation for the three-dimensional lattice so so as to generalize these results to other compounds (the equation for two-dimensional structures can be easily taken from three-dimensional equations by considering the z − axis points as constant). The energy of a single cation for the three-dimensional lattice is as follows. E#)12/& 0.%)31

k & e" = " ? d

@ 4,$,*89,,(4,$,*)<(=,=,=) ,

(−1)45$5* A (x " + y " + z " )!/"

(−1)45$5* k & e" = " ?@ @ @ " A (x + y " + z " )!/" d *89, $89, 489,

The objective now is to calculate the converging function of E. We have three variables x, y, z in the equation above to represent the three dimensions. To reduce the number of parameters (effectively reducing the number of variables involved in the series’ addition) we could incorporate results from the previous section. We obtained the equation of one dimensional lattice energy already. Then, we could think of the three-dimensional lattice as sums of one-dimensional lattices in different directions as the picture below.

By adding all the energies for the one-dimensional lattices, the energy of the system (in lattice form) can be calculated. Thus, we need to check whether all of the lattice points have been accounted for in the previously added one-dimensional lattice or not (for instance, (2,2,2) is included in the 1D lattice of (1,1,1)). This way, the calculation process can be simplified rather than manually calculating and adding all the energies for all lattice points. ,

E%3%

(−1)45$ 2ln2 k & e" = ? @ A (x " + y " + z " )!/" d (4,$,*)∈?

Considering this, the sum can be expressed as the above, where set A is a set of pairs of

integers that the greatest common divisor is 1 ((1,1,1), (1,1,2), (1,1,3), (2,2,1), (2,3,5) and so on…).

The graph above is a graph displaying the calculation times for a bounded system such that −n < x, y, z < n . This graph illustratest that our method of calculation (using onedimensional lattice calculation) converges faster to the converging value -1.758… (This is the value of total energy multiplied by d/k & e" ) during the given period of time. The converging value meets the lattice energy of NaCl, substantiating the claim that our calculation methods are reliable.

2.3. Analyzing different lattice structures In the previous sections, we calculated the lattice energy of basic cubic structures, specifically the lattice for NaCl. This compound was a repeating atom sequence even in three dimensions, which made calculations very simple. However, such a simple case is quite rare, and other chemical structures are generally more complex. In an attempt to analyze these compounds, a new method was created to calculate the lattice energy of irregular or complex structures. CsCl, or caesium chloride, was calculated as an example and meant to be generalized. The structure of the CsCl ion lattice is shaped as following figure.

By setting the lattice constant as d (the length of each side of the cube), we get the @ @ @ coordinate of the cation as (" , " , ") and the coordinate of anion as (d, 0,0), (0,0,0), (0,0, d), (0, d, 0), (d, d, 0), (0, d, d), (d, 0, d), (d, d, d) . The whole lattice structure can be considered a repeating arrangement of this cube. So, the coordinate of the

cation in the unit cell at (x, y, z) is denoted as (xd + " , yd + " , zd + ") and the anion can be denoted as (xd, yd, zd). Given this, the energy between the unit cells-one located at the origin and another located at some point (x, y, z)-will be calculated first by using vector representations.

Each unit cell consists of 9 (8 anions and 1 cation) subatomic particles, and the chemical species has in total 9 × 9 = 81 chemical relationships. The cation-cation interaction can be expressed as the following: (while r⃗/.%%)0& is the distance vector of two different unit cells and r⃗0.%)31 is a distance vector of cation in the lattice) r⃗0.%)3190.%)31 = r⃗/.%%)0& + r⃗0.%)31 − r⃗0.%)31 = (xd, yd, zd) E0.%)3190.%)31 =

ke" ‖r⃗0.%)3190.%)31 ‖

Similarly, for cation-anion interactions, the expression is as follows: (16 total interactions, each alternating ± includes 2 relations) d d d r⃗0.%)319.1)31 = r⃗/.%%)0& − r⃗0.%)31 + r⃗.1)31 = (xd ± , yd ± , zd ± ) 2 2 2 E0.%)3190.%)31 =

ke" ‖r⃗0.%)319.1)31 ‖

The interaction between anions are represented as an equation of, in total, 64 interactions, with each alternating ± including 8 interactions) r⃗.1)319.1)31 = r⃗/.%%)0& − r⃗.1)31 + r⃗.1)31 = (xd ± d, yd ± d, zd ± d) E.1)319.1)31 =

ke" ‖r⃗.1)319.1)31 ‖

Since each anion is included in only 1/8 of the unit cell, the weight of 1/8 of the unit cell should be multiplied for each energy value of the cation-anion interaction and 1/64 should be multiplied for anion-anion interactions. This way, we can calculate the energy of interactions between unit cells. We would denote the calculated energy as EA1)%0&//9A1)%0&// (x, y, z), since the energy depends on the unit cell’s coordinate.

EA1)%0&//9A1)%0&// (x, y, z)

1 1 = @ E0.%)3190.%)31 + @ E0.%)319.1)31 + @ E.1.)319.1.)31 8 64

Then, we can add the unitcell-unitcell interaction for all possible unit cells coordinates (x, y, z) = (−∞, −∞, −∞)~(∞, ∞, ∞). Moreover, to get the total energy, we also need to consider the internal energy of the unit cell. So, the total potential energy unit cell produces is: ~(1,1,1)

EA1)%0&// = [ lim

1→,

EA1)%0&//9A1)%0&// ] + E)1%&-1./

(4,$,*)8(91,91,91)

This method of calculation can reduce the complexity of the calculation, providing a way to account for all ions in the system without adding them all separately. The calculated values of the energy versus n (size of the system) is drawn as follows.

This graph shows that the value of total energy converges to −1.7475 (The lattice energy divided by d/k & e" ). We can also see that the increase of n makes the energy of the system to converge to the real lattice energy value. This calculation process can be expanded to general lattice structures: EA1)%0&//9A1)%0&// (x, y, z) 1 ke" 1 ke" = @ + @ ‖r⃗0.%)3190.%)31 ‖ b ‖r⃗0.%)319.1)31 ‖ a " 1 ke + @ ‖r⃗.1)319.1)31 ‖ c such that a, b and c are the weight of each interactions. The weight can be calculated as multiplying the fraction of one atom and the other. For instance, anion-anion interaction for CsCl is as 1/64 because each anion is included 1/8 in each unit cells.

2.4. Expanding the method to liquid systems So far, all the chemical systems investigated were discrete systems (which can be described

as integers). In this section, we will expand the calculation to continuous systems and check whether our method could explain the nature of continuous systems too. This section will provide brief calculations for single models in space to demonstrate that this moleculebased mathematical calculation can be also used in continuous systems. To accomplish this, the addition done for previous investigations will now be changed to integration form. To validate this method, the surface tension of the molecule will be calculated. For water, surface tension can be drawn as the schematic diagram shown below (the blue line being the surface). A single water molecule on the surface will only feel force from other water molecules from half of the side (opposite the surface side). To calculate the surface tension, the sum of all forces with the molecule of interest and other molecules were added.

The potential of the two previously used compounds are similar, but much weaker than ionion interactions. The potential of two molecules in distance r with no dipole moment (nonpolar molecule) will be calculated using the Lennard-Jones potential. σ !" σ E VCD = 4ε[Y [ − Y [ ] r r The equation for force is the derivative of the equation for potential. So, the interaction between two molecules are: FCD (r) =

dVCD d σ !" σ E σ!" σE = 54ε \Y [ − Y [ ]7 = 4ε ^−12 _ !F ` + 6 _ G `a dr dr r r r r σ!" σE = 24ε ^−2 _ !F ` + _ G `a r r

Now, by setting the surface as xy surface, intuitively we can know that the total interaction force for the molecule would be the direction of −z since the total force is symmetric to z axis. The next step is to add all the −z parts of the force applied to the molecule of interest and integrate.

This process would be more complicated when calculated on the Cartesian plane since the force depends solely on the distance. However, the polar plane offers a simpler alternative. The first step is to add all the −z parts of the force vector for distance r. The z part of force vector is

F* (r, θ) = 24ε ^−2 _

σ!" σE ` + _ `a cosθ r!F rG

Then, the total sum of molecules on imaginary distance r can be calculated by integrating for all angles θ. Thus, the volume for each θ is 2πr " sinθdrdθ As a result, the sum of all of the atoms of distance r from r + dr is H "

H "

σ!" σE F* (r) = N f F* (r, θ)dθ = N f 24ε ^−2 _ !F ` + _ G à cosθ(2πr " sinθ)drdθ r r = = H/" !" E σ σ = 48Nπr " ε ^−2 _ !F ` + _ G à dr f cosθsinθdθ r r = !" E σ σ = 24Nπr " ε ^−2 _ !F ` + _ G à dr r r where N is the number density of the molecule, which is the concentration of molecules in a unit volume. When the equation is integrated once more with respect to r from d= to infinity, the total z fragment of force is derived. This integration will include all the interactions with molecules. Here, d= denotes the closest molecule, which can also be understood as the term of minimum distance between two molecules possible in such system. This value can be derived from the number density, considering all the molecules are dispersed equidistantly. ,

σ!" σE ` + _ `a dr r!F rG , σ!" σE σE σ!" = 24Nπε f r " ^−2 _ !F ` + _ G `a dr = 24Nπε _ I − != ` r r 4d= 5d= @!

F4,%3% = f 24Nπr " ε ^−2 _ @!

The equation is valid for molecules that are liquid, homogeneous, and nonpolar molecules whose potential can be estimated by the Lennard-Jones potential. Now we can use real values to validate the result. Toluene and benzene are used for calculation.

constants σ (Å) ε (K) MW (molecular weight, g/mol)

benzene 5.35 412.3 78.11

toluene 5.92 410 92.14

ρ (density, g/L)

876

867

The number density can be found by dividing density by molecular weight, then multiplying to Avogadro number. Furthermore, the value of d= can be calculated by " dispersing the number of molecules in unit volume. 10/ √N (cm).

constants σ (Å) ε (K) N (#/L) d= (Å)

benzene 5.35 412.3 6.75 × 10"I 5.29

toluene 5.92 410 5.66 × 10"I 5.41

The calculation gives the total force for each atom, and when compared with true values, it lays in a reasonable interval. In this section, integrating the whole volume of these liquids and calculating the sum of their forces gave us the derivative of the surface tension equation. Surface tension can be defined as a force that pulls the surface to the opposite side. When the values are plugged in and each unit is converged to MKS units, we can calculate the benzene’s surface tension as 0.00232 N/m and toluene as 0.00190 N/m. The real values of surface tension are 0.00290 N/m and 0.00284 N/m. While the model we created was pointedly erroneous, the values were still relatively coherent with the behaviors of the two compounds. Given this, it’s arguable that the Lennard-Jones potential is not perfectly accurate and not a good approximation for molecules too close or too far away intramolecularly. We also found that the increase of d= leads to a decrease in surface tension. Although it is indisputable that the surface tension model proposed in this paper is far from perfect, the implications it holds does not just pertain to predicting the actual energy or force. Instead, it works as a model to show that molecule level calculation can also be applied to continuous systems via integration. Moreover, it is a meaningful approach given how the surface tension equation was not derived using any other calculation method. The error in this method seemingly comes from the assumption that all molecules are fixed in one place, which is not true. Nevertheless, this model can be further expanded to different potential functions. If the potential is given as a function of distance, by adding all the forces applied to the atom in interest, we can further get bulk or surface stationary properties such as energy, force, surface area and viscosity using the similar method (though, this method will require far more rigorous calculation and perhaps some approximation.)

3. Conclusion In this report, the energy equations for lattices of solids and liquids were derived. The lattice energy of a system could be calculated by adding the series consisting of each axis and able to derive the lattice energy of the solid systems. This method of calculation was then shown to be viably generalized to the liquid, continuous systems. The values that were calculated, compared to the real values, had good reliability for solids but showed some

error for liquid molecules. The reason for this might be that in liquid systems, the molecules are generally more dynamic. Ultimately, the results of this study implied that model-based mathematical calculations can provide a more precise measure of various properties of molecules tied to the total energies of molecular compounds. This form of approximation via lattice modeling shows potential in being useful when computing more complex chemical systems using a bottom-up approach. A goal for further research would thus be to account for fluid dynamics by using the extra axis of time and calculating the partial movements for each molecule. This way, we might be able to understand time dependency in chemical systems.

4. References [1] Atkins; et al. (2010). Shriver and Atkins' Inorganic Chemistry (Fifth ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 978-1-4292-1820-7. [2] David Arthur Johnson, Metals and Chemical Change, Open University, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2002, ISBN 0-85404-665-8 [3] Jones, J. E. (1924). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character, 106(738), 441-462. [4] Oersted, H. C. (1820). "Experiments on the effect of a current of electricity on the magnetic needles". Annals of Philosophy. London: Baldwin, Craddock, Joy. 16: 273.

siRNA Targeting BRAFV600E Mutation Induces Skin Cancer Cell Death Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Young Doo

St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Melanoma represents the most aggressive and the deadliest form of skin cancer. Current therapeutic approaches include surgical resection, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, biochemotherapy, and targeted therapy. In this study, the anti-tumor effect of siRNA targeting BRAFV600E oncogene was investigated in melanoma cell line harboring BRAFV600E mutation. Human melanoma A375SM was transfected with siRNA targeting BRAFV600E. Then, viable cell count assay was performed to quantify cancer cell viability. Targeting BRAFV600E using small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly decreased cell viability by inducing cell death. This result from the present study provides an insight into the potential effectiveness of siRNA targeting therapy and personalized cancer treatments.

Keywords: Biology, Molecular Biology, Melanoma, siRNA, Cancer Therapy

Introduction Melanoma is a prominent cause of death around the world. Each year, about 16,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed. Even worse, melanoma remains a significant problem even to the present day. 1 It was estimated about 6,850 people’s causes of death in the U.S. in 2020 will be due to melanoma. Also, the number of cases of melanoma is predicted to be about 196,060 in the U.S. in 2020. However, despite melanoma prevailing as a prevalent problem, there are a limited number of options available for patients to treat advanced melanoma. Two of the options, conventional chemotherapy and immunomodulation therapy (interleukin 2 or interferon-gamma) have only yielded low response rates of 5-19%. Recently, treatments have been developed to target genetic mutations in patients’ tumors and immune checkpoint inhibitors. 2

The DNA of a melanoma contains many mutations. These mutations can cause melanoma tumors to grow and induce metastasis to migrate cancer cells to other patients’ organs. Therefore, one approach to melanoma treatment involves chemotherapy that can target the cancer cells with mutations. 3 BRAF inhibitors and MEK inhibitors are commonly used drugs in melanoma treatment. BRAF inhibitors are known to shrink and slow the growth of primary melanoma and metastatic melanoma in patients with BRAF mutations. The most common drugs for BRAF inhibitors include vemurafenib, dabrafenib, and encorafenib. The MEK gene is closely connected to the BRAF gene, so many drugs targeted to MEK also treat melanoma with BRAF mutations. Trametinib, cobimetinib, and binimetinib are widely used drugs known for MEK inhibitors. The most common treatment method is to combine MEK inhibitor with BRAF inhibitor. 4 This combination has been known to be more effective than the use of either chemotherapy drug alone. When the drugs are used together, it shows high rapid response rates to shrink tumors in many patients with BRAF mutant melanoma. Many medications for the treatment of melanoma are specific and targeted toward melanoma with mutations at BRAF gene. The drugs are specific toward mutations at sequence 600 on the BRAF gene (V600E), where almost one-third of studied cases of melanoma with BRAF gene mutation had changes in. Therefore, in this study, the anticancer effect of siRNA targeting BRAFV600E mutation on melanoma was investigated.

Methods Cell lines and cultures Human skin cancer cell line A375SM was obtained from the Korean Cell Line Bank (Seoul, Korea). A375SM cells were maintained in Gibco RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Thermo Fisher) and 1% penicillin and streptomycin in a 5% atmosphere at 37 oC. Cells were kept in culture for ten or fewer passages, and cell phenotypes were verified in every experiment. RNA interference There were three treatments for each cell; first, the control with 15 pmol of RNAi that does not target any sequence and 0.7 μl of RNAiMAX Reagent; second (labeled #1) with 30 pmol of siM and 1.5 μl of RNAiMAX^2 Reagent; third (labeled #2) with 15 pmol of siM and 0.7 μl of RNAiMAX^2 Reagent. RNAis and RNAiMAX^2 Reagent were prepared separately, each diluted with 50 μl of RPMI without FBS, which is a substance that inhibits aggression of transfection reagent and siRNA. Then, the two separate tubes were combined together in one tube. After, the tube was diluted with 400 μl of culture medium. Total RNA purification To extract RNA from the samples, R-buffer (mixed with mercaptoethanol) and 70% ethanol were mixed with the lysate. The cells were pipetted to ensure they were not clumped together. The samples were loaded into the column, then centrifuged at 13,000rpm for 30 seconds. After the waste collected at the bottom part was emptied, 700 μl of Washing buffer A was added, followed by centrifuging of columns at 13,000rpm for 30 seconds. This process was repeated

once more with Washing buffer B. Then 50 μl of the elution buffer was directly added onto the membrane of the column. After centrifuging the columns, the bottom tubes, which contained the extracted RNA, were kept while the other parts were disposed of. cDNA synthesis 14.5 μl of extracted RNA and 20 μl of OligdT15 were added into smaller tubes, which were incubated at 70 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes and 4 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, 2.0 μl of retrovirus buffer, 2.0 μl of dNTP, and 0.5 μl of retrovirus enzyme were mixed together. Then the solution with RT enzymes was added into the incubated tubes. Finally, the combined tubes with RT enzymes and extracted RNA were incubated at 25 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes, 42 degrees Celsius for 1 hour and 70 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. RT-PCR 150 μl of water was added to the tubes with primers and vortexed for 5 minutes. Then, for further dilution of the solution, an additional 80 μl of water were combined with 20 μl of solution containing primers and water. The 6 capsules (3 original, 3 further diluted) were frozen for later use. For the PCR reaction, 10 reactions worth for each type of primer (mutant BRAF and GAPDH) were made. For each tube, 1 μl of each cDNA template, 1 μl of F primer (forward), 1 μl of R primer (reverse), 2 μl of 10x reaction buffer, 2 μl of 10mM dNTP, 0.5 μl of Taq DNA polymerase and 12.5 μl of water was put in. Total of 18 tubes were made, 9 for mutant BRAF and 9 for total BRAF. Then, the tubes were put into the PCR machine for 35 cycles. Agarose Gel Electrophoresis The 1.3% Agarose gel was made by mixing 1.3g Agarose and 100ml of TBE buffer, which was diluted by 400ml of water and 100ml of TBE. Then the mixed Agarose and TBE buffer was microwaved and added with 5 μl of Red Safe Solution. Then, the Agarose gel was poured into the gel caster and hardened. There were 12 samples used: GAPDH primers and Mutant BRAF primers for cell lines A375SM and A375SM. Agarose gel with 12 wells was loaded with 10 μl of sample into each well, but DNA ladder was not loaded. Then, after about 20 minutes, a picture of the bands was taken. After, the gel was put back into the buffer solution and taken a picture after 5 additional minutes. Cell Viability Test The cells were trypsinized and the number of viable cells was measured by counting cells stained with acridine orange/propidium iodide, an apoptosis indicator, with the Luna-FL Dual Fluorescence Cell Counter (Logos Biosystems).

Results and Discussion

Figure 1. mRNA expression level of BRAFV600E mutant on A375SM cell line. To confirm that siRNA targeting BRAFV600E degrades this mutant mRNA, RT-PCR was performed to check whether siBRAFV600E degrades the target mRNA. The relatively less clear banding pattern showed siRNA transfection and target degradation was successful (Figure 1). The relative mRNA expression level of BRAFV600E was analyzed with the normalization of the band intensity by GAPDH (Figure 1B).

Figure 2. Effect of siRNA targeting BRAFV600E on the number of live cells and percentage of live cells. (A) The number of live cells was analyzed by cell counting assay. (B) Percentage of live cells were analyzed by the Luna-FL Dual Fluorescence Cell Counter. Student t-test was used to calculate statistical significance. To find the role of siRNA targeting BRAFV600E on cell viability, number of live cells and percentage of live cells were analyzed by the cell counter. Treatment of A375SM cells with siRNA targeting BRAFV600Esignificantly decreased the number of live cells and percentage of live cells (p <0.0001). This result demonstrates that the siRNA treatment on mutated BRAF effectively decreased cancer cell proliferation. Thus, targeting BRAFV600E mutation, which induces cell death, may represent an improved treatment strategy. However, a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying melanoma will aid with developing personalized cancer treatments.

Conclusion The present study demonstrated that BRAFV600E knockdown by using siRNA induces cancer cell death in melanoma cells. The treatment of siRNA targeting BRAFV500E resulted in both decreased cancer cell proliferation. Future studies are required to develop an efficient and safe delivery system for siRNA-based therapy.

Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr. Woo Rin Lee from the University of Suwon for his advice and support for this research.

References (1) (2) (3) (4)

Davis, L. E.; Shalin, S. C.; Tackett, A. J. Current State of Melanoma Diagnosis and Treatment. Cancer Biol. Ther. 2019, 20 (11), 1366–1379. Domingues, B.; Lopes, J. M.; Soares, P.; Pópulo, H. Melanoma Treatment in Review. Immunotargets Ther. 2018, 7, 35–49. Jenkins, R. W.; Fisher, D. E. Treatment of Advanced Melanoma in 2020 and Beyond. J. Invest. Dermatol. 2021, 141 (1), 23–31. Dossett, L. A.; Kudchadkar, R. R.; Zager, J. S. BRAF and MEK Inhibition in Melanoma. Expert Opin. Drug Saf. 2015, 14 (4), 559–570.

Golden wheel spider-inspired Soft Robot

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Wooseok

Seoul International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: This experiment focused on creating a soft robot that was capable of rolling as a type of locomotion. Inspired by the Golden wheel spider, a robot using pneumatic actuators was created to imitate the rolling motion of the spider. While the Golden wheel spider mainly uses its eight legs to move and run, it also utilizes rolling as an efficient mechanism of locomotion, such as when outrunning its predators during a chase. Commercial grade elastomer was used to create the entire body, giving it a soft texture and flexibility. An extra bending pneumatic network was added onto the body to increase the degree of freedom regarding the rolling motion.

Keywords: spider-inspired, soft robot, rolling, pneumatic, elastomer

Introduction

Figure 1. a) Golden wheel spider b) rolling on sand. c, d) Golden wheel spider-inspired hardrobots

The optimization of nature is a widely known concept that could be observed in multiple different life forms. Due to the repetition of natural selection that occurred for the past few billion years, many organisms we see today are capable of efficiency that ensures their survivability. One of the key aspects that determine this survivability of organisms is their locomotion. The golden wheel spider is unique in terms of its ability to roll on surfaces in order to maximize energy efficiency while also maintaining adequate speed. More specifically, this ability to roll allows the golden wheel spiders to outrun the pompilid wasps, predators that they cannot compete against in terms of speed by simply crawling [1]. Thus, it could be said that this unique ability to increase speed on sand by rolling is a key trait of the golden wheel spiders that ensure their survival. In the case of this experiment, soft matter, a field of science which uses metamaterials with unique physical and material properties when subject to a stimulus, was utilized to recreate the rolling motion of the golden wheel spiders. Elastomer, a type of soft material with a deforming function, was utilized to as the key component. More specifically, the inflation of pneumatic channels through syringes was used as the main source of the rolling motion, thus mimicking this feature from nature.

Materials and Methods

Figure 2. Using elastomers to create a completely soft rotating robot. a) Complete soft robot with four inflating legs and a square body. b) Mold for the body, c) inflating legs, d) and steering mechanism.

The commercial elastomer ‘Dragon Skin 10 Medium’ was used as the main material for the body, inflating legs, and the steering mechanism of the prototype. The molds for the different components of the prototype were printed using a SLA 3D printer. After mixing the material and the hardener with a 1:1 ratio, the combined Dragon Skin 10 Medium mixture was poured into the different molds for each of the main components of the prototype (main body, legs, and steering mechanism) and was left to cure for a day at room temperature. After the substance solidified, the components were removed from their respective molds and were attached to each other using small amounts of Dragon Skin 10 Medium as an adhesive. The resulting structure was once again left to cure for a day in room temperature. In order to conduct the experiment, multiple tygon tubes were used to connect the inflating component with syringes so that air could be pumped separately into the compartments within the legs. Results

Figure 3. Mock-up design of a rotating robot using four legs. a) Before actuation, b) pushingone leg with a wooden stick, c) after the stick is pushed, the robot successful rotates 90 degrees while moving forwards.

A mock-up version of the golden wheel spider-inspired robot was created beforehand in order to test the overall viability of the concept. The mock-up design consisted of four legs attached to a small cubic body at the center, with each of the legs having a “foot” attached to them for increased stability. The legs were made of the plastic bodies of cotton swabs, and the “feet”

were made of cut PVC films. As the mock-up design was created mainly in order to experiment the viability of incorporating the rolling concept of the golden wheel spider into a mechanical body, a simple motion experiment was conducted. The legs were manually pushed upwards using a wooden bar, which in turn caused the structure to rotate and displaced the center of mass forwards. After completing the rotational motion of 90 degrees, the structure returns to the equilibrium state. Thus, motion experiment involving the mock-up design was proven to be effective in terms of moving forwards, under the assumption that an adequate upward force

is provided on the back leg. Figure 4. Soft rotating robot in motion. a) Free body diagram showing all the forcesacting on the soft robot during rotation. b) Sequence of rotation robot before pressurization, c) during pressurization to rotate 90 degrees while moving forwards, d) and after.

Using the results of the mock-up design as the basis, a prototype version made entirely of the soft material stated in the materials and methods section was created with the purpose of more effectively recreating the rolling feature of golden wheel spiders. The soft material not only allows the usage of inflation as a source of energy for motion, but also increases the flexibility of the structure and decreases the overall size and weight of the body. As mentioned above, all actuation was done through pressurizing the channels by using a syringe. The equation ∑ #! : %&! = () + (+ − - − ./012 represents force in the y-direction in the free body diagram shown in Fig. 4a. Acceleration in the y-direction, &! = "#$"%&'(&)*+,-, shows how each force affects the resultant force. In this case, moving from !

position Fig. 4b to 4c would have a positive acceleration upwards due to the change in the center of mass, but when viewed from Fig. 4b to 4d, there would be no net force change inthe y-direction as it returns to its original position. The equation ∑ #. : %&. = # − .1342 represents force in the x-direction. The acceleration in the x-direction, &# = /&),01-, is !

dependent on the pressure force, friction, and the angle A it has with the ground. Maximizing friction force F would enable the structure to roll in a more efficient manner. Thus, designing the structure to maximize the contact area of the inflating segment with the ground would be crucial in terms of determining the performance of the soft robot. In addition, the angle Awith the ground is also crucial, as the force directed to the x-direction is a key determining factor for rotation, rather than the force acting in the y-direction.

Figure 5. Steering component added to initial soft rotating robot. a) Steering component isattached to the body. b) When rotating, the steering component can inflate to push the ground in order to change the direction of motion, thus increasing the degree of freedom.

While the initial prototype design is capable of movement through the rolling motion, it lacks the ability to change directions other than the forward-backward movement. In order to increase the degree of freedom and complexity of the motion, a second inflating pneumatic compartment was attached perpendicular to the initial four legs for the purpose of functioning as a steering mechanism. By bending towards the ground and eventually touching it, the perpendicular inflating compartment significantly increases friction with the floor once actuated. This uneven friction on one side of the body during the rolling motion causes the body to tilt towards the point of friction, much like drifting cars that turn on curves. By adding a steering mechanism, it enables the soft robot to move in a 2D plane in both the x- axis and yaxis. Conclusion In this experiment, a robot inspired by the rolling motion of the golden wheel spider was designed and manufactured. The robot was mainly composed of elastomers, a type of soft material that increases flexibility while decreasing weight. In contrast to hard robots, soft robots can also absorb impact from surroundings due to its capability to deform, in addition to

the previously mentioned benefits. The main intention was to create a robot capable of the rolling motion, yet a steering mechanism was also added to increase the degree of freedom of locomotion, from movement limited to a single axis, to movement in a plane. Numerous future applications using this concept of generating a rolling motion using inflating chambers exist, with an example being a larger version that is capable of motion only using pressure as a mode of actuation for vehicles. Reference [1] Joh R. Henschel, “Spiders Wheel to Escape,” South African Journal of Science 86(3) (1990)

Spinal Fusion Surgery in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Complications and Side Effects Post Surgery

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, JeongBin

Korea International School Jeju

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

I. Introduction Scoliosis is defined as a three-dimensional distortion or deformity of the spine characterized as a lateral curvature in the coronal plane of beyond 10°. Scoliosis can be classified into three significant types: congenital, syndromic, and idiopathic [1]. In this review paper, we will specifically focus on idiopathic scoliosis. Idiopathic scoliosis has no known cause. As a progressive condition, idiopathic scoliosis gets worse over time if left untreated. To track the progression of scoliosis, Cobb angle is used as a standard measurement. Idiopathic scoliosis can be partitioned based on the onset period: infantile patients from age 0 to 3, juvenile from age 4 to 10, and adolescents from age more than 10. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most well-known and common spinal deformity in which 1-3% of children aged 10-16 years will havesome degree of spinal curvature. The surgical treatment is a way to straighten the spine curvature, easing the back pain. Severe scoliosis has a curve of 45 degrees or more. Thus, surgery is recommended in adolescentswith a curve that has a Cobb angle greater than 45°-50°. One of the most common surgeries for AIS is spinal fusion. Spinal fusion is the surgery that realigns and fuses together the curved vertebrae to heal into a single, solid bone. This surgery aims to stop curve progression by achieving a solid fusion, correct the deformity, and work on corrective appearance. The success rate of stable spinal fusion and rectification of spinal distortion is exceptionally high in experienced hands. The average curve adjustment is roughly 70%, and the probability of complications has been around 2 to 3 percent [2].

Although spinal fusion surgery is the most widely recognized surgical treatment for severe scoliosis in adolescents, there are side effects and risks associated with spinal fusion. It is pertinent to acknowledge risk factors before deciding if the spinal fusion surgery for AIS is a suitable choice for patients. The aim of this review was to identify side effects and complicationsthat the patients should consider before going under the spinal fusion surgery. II. Methods I have performed a systematic literature search using the MEDLINE (PUBMED) and Embase databases using the following search strategy: (((((((Scoliosis) AND (surgery)) AND (spinal fusion for scoliosis)) OR (spinal fusion)) AND (idiopathic)) OR (spine manipulation)) AND (surgery for spinal fusion) between Jan.2016 - Jan.2021 The search query was filtered to include only articles written in English. Studies were included in the analysis if they identified specific risk factor(s) for spinal fusions for scoliosis in general. Articles that described AIS were included only. All references within these articles were reviewed for additional articles that met inclusion criteria. In addition, studies that looked at JIS and nonhuman studies were excluded. The identified articles’ reference lists were not evaluated to retrieve additional information. Level of evidence was set using the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery guidelines. III. Summary A total of 1,033 articles concerning spinal fusion for AIS patients were located in Medline (797) and Embase (236) databases using the search strategy. There were 21 duplicate articles existing. Of these articles, 793 were not further reviewed because, based on their abstracts, did not meet one or more of the inclusion criteria. The full text of 203 articles was reviewed. Of these, 28 were found to meet all the inclusion criteria. A flow diagram of the searchprocess is presented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Article selection process. The details of these studies are summarized in the supplementary data section of this manuscript

IV. Identified Risk Factors Relevant articles identified from the search are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of risks identified Although some of the risks and complications were particular to only one article, four of the factors were consistently repeated in the literature: poor pulmonary function was mentioned as amajor risk factor in six studies [3-8], significant blood loss in five studies [913], coronal imbalance in five studies [14-18], urinary retention in five studies[cite], and reoperation in two studies[cite]. These main risks are discussed in detail below. Notably, many papers pointed out more than one risk factor, more than one complications, or a combination of them. Poor pulmonary function Six articles described poor pulmonary function as a postoperative risk factor [3-8]. Three of these articles were prospective studies using radiographic and tomography to monitor a patient's pulmonary function after anterior and posterior spinal surgery. The first study was a prospective radiographic and chart review of pulmonary function inpatients who underwent three different anterior spinal surgery approaches for AIS in order to evaluate the impact on pulmonary function in patients with AIS after anterior surgical interventions, including fusion, 2 years after surgery. The study consisted of a total of 131 AIS patients - 68 in the thoracotomy group, 44 in the thoracoscopic group, and 19 in the thoracoabdominal group. Inclusion criteria were AIS, age 10 to 21, and minimum followup of 2years and the patients who had prior spinal surgery were excluded from the data [3].The study findings demonstrated that spinal surgery resulted in a slight decline in pulmonary function at 2-year follow up in both the thoracotomy and thoracoscopy meanwhile those with an open thoracotomy experienced a significantly decline. Specifically, the study showed that the thoracotomy group had significant decrease in both forced expiratory volume in 1 second

(FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), -10.97% and -12.97% respectively compared to thoracoscopic group which resulted in -4.40% and -4.73%. Also, percent-predicted total lung capacity (TLC) in the thoracoscopic group increased (3.19%) but decreased in the thoracotomygroup (-8.00%). Bullmann et al. [4] prospective studied a sample of total 69 adolescent idiopathic thoracic scoliosis: forty patients in the anterior group treated with standard double thoracotomy and 29 patients in the posterior group treated with a pedicle screw-based posterior instrumentation with additional rib hump resection called thoracoplasty. The pulmonary function was evaluated preoperatively, on the 12th postoperative day, and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months during the follow-up. This study demonstrated a correlation between opening of the chest wall and the deterioration of pulmonary function. In the anterior group, the deterioration in pulmonary function immediately after the operation (from Vcmax/FEV1 75.3%/71% preoperatively to 38.5%/36.1% postoperatively) was more evident than in the posterior group (Vcmax/FEV1 71.6%/65.7% preoperatively to 47.7%/48.4% postoperatively). The substantial trauma causes severe deterioration in the anterior group with double thoracotomy in contrast to rib hump resection. A prospective study by Hayashi et al. [5] determined the incidence of pleural fluid (PF)and its associated risk factors after posterior corrective spinal fusion (PCSF) in patients with AIS. A total of 76 AIS patients, 71 female and five male patients with the mean age of 16.2years, who underwent PCSF and followed up for a minimum of 1 year were enrolled in thisstudy and all had a right convex curve in the thoracic spine. PF was detected in 54 cases at one-week post-surgery. It accumulated bilaterally in 36 cases, only in the right thorax in 13 cases, and only in the left in five cases. This indicates a significant difference between the depthof PF on the right and left sides (P<0.001). Also, the study concluded that a higher number of fused levels (OR: 3.88, 95% CI: 1.31-11.47) was an independent risk factor of PF. In summary, 6 papers included a total of 276 patients who had identified poor pulmonaryfunction as a major complication post spinal surgery. In the recent studies that used radiographic and tomography to verify complications on pulmonary, there is an agreement that both anterior and posterior spinal surgeries resulted in deterioration of pulmonary function. Deterioration of pulmonary function was specifically more for thoracotomy compared to the thoracoscopic groupgiven the value of FEV1, TLC, Vcmax, and PF. This concludes that for patients with severe and restrictive pulmonary pain, instrumentation in combination with thoracoplasty is more preferred than the procedure that involves thoracotomy. Poor coagulative function Coagulative function is defined as a process that changes circulating substances withinthe blood into an insoluble gel. In our review, five articles identified loss of blood volume as apostoperative complication during spinal fusion surgery in AIS patients [913]. Fernandez et al. [9] prospectively studied the putative prognostic factors for

intraoperative blood loss and perioperative blood transfusion in AIS patients undergoing posterior spine fusion.Prognostic factors include clinical characteristics, surgical factors, and preoperative assessment of overall coagulation and fibrinolytic functions in plasma. The preoperative evaluation of the functions can be determined using the Clot Formation And Lysis (CloFAL) assay. A total of 74 patients with a median age of 14.8 years (SD=2.2) was investigated. Univariate linear regression and multivariable linear regression were performed to identify predictors of Estimated Blood Loss EBL (EBL/kg). The increase in pre-measured coagulation using CloFAL analysis in adolescent scoliosis patients is independently associated with reduction in blood loss during surgery. In particular, a 10% increase in CloFAL CI (coagulation index) is associated with a 3% decrease in the geometric mean of EBL/kg (P=0.01) [9]. Jain et al. [10] retrospectively studied the loss of blood volume during spinal fusion surgery in patients with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect aperson's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. In his work, multivariate analysis demonstrated that the use of unit rod constructs and greater preoperative coronal curves were significant risk factors for loss of 1 blood volume (LOBV) during surgery. The results illustrate that the incidence of LOBV was 39.7%. Compared with patients with pedicle screw-rod constructs, patients with unit rod constructs had 12.6-fold higher odds of LOBV (P < 0.01). Thus, for each 1-degree increase in coronal curve magnitude, the odds of LOBV increased1.03-fold (P <0.01). Shin et al. [11] conducted a retrospective analysis of an administrative database to elucidate the effect of glycemic control on surgical outcomes of idiopathic scoliosis patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery. The study analyzed complications and outcomes variables among 3 cohorts: nondiabetic patients, controlled diabetics, and uncontrolled diabetics. As a result, controlled diabetics showed a significant increase in the incidence of Acute Renal Failure (ARF), meanwhile uncontrolled diabetics showed a significant increase in the incidence of acutebleeding (hemorrhage) after surgery. Koerner et al. [12] retrospectively investigated the association between intraoperative blood loss and the need for transfusion among patients with AIS undergoing posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion. A review was conducted on consecutive patients with AIS who had undergone posterior spinal fusion from July 1997 to February 2013. The results demonstrated that for AIS patients undergoing instrumental posterior spinal fusion, periapical fracture surgery did not significantly improve major curve correction. However, it increased all measurements ofblood loss and transfusion needed during surgery. Estimated blood loss, normalized blood loss, and autologous blood retrieved were higher in patients who underwent periapical Ponte osteotomies (P < 0.0001, P < 0.001, P < 0.01). The mean major curve correction was 64% in patients without osteotomies, and 65% in patients with osteotomies (P=0.81). Therefore, the presence of osteotomies does not affect the mean major curve correction. Dong et al. [13] prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed the risk factors for blood transfusion in adolescent patients with scoliosis undergoing scoliosis surgery. Allogeneic blood transfusions are given for inadequate oxygen carrying capacity and

correction for coagulation shortage. With idiopathic scoliosis, Ponte osteotomy (odds ratio=6.0860) and segments of spinal fusion longer than 11.5 vertebrae (odds ratio=1.293) were risk factors for allogeneic blood transfusion. Consequently, the impairment of blood fusion, a potentially life-saving procedure, could cause the coagulation to malfunction. Coronal imbalance Five articles identified coronal imbalance and malalignment as a complication forpost-operative spinal surgery [14-18]. Hayashi et al. [14] studied a sample of 51 AIS patients - 48 females and 3 males with mean age 16.0 years - who underwent posterior spinal fusion with the placement of pedicle screw (PS) constructs at thoracic level. Clinical and radiographic follow-up of patients was conducted for a minimum of 2 years, and their postoperative progress was evaluated. The results indicated that Cervical Lordotic Angle (CLA) increased significantly from preoperatively to 2 years after the surgery, specifically -5.4° ± 14° to the 2 year follow up measurement of -1.7 ° ± 11° (p=0.019). Preoperative small CLA and thoracic kyphosis (TK) measurements were independent risk factors of postoperative cervical hyperkyphosis. Similar findings were also reported by Anari et al. [15] who retrospectively studied and prospectively collected data. They studied a sample of 954 AIS patients with severe coronal imbalance (SCIB; >4cm) 2 years after posterior spinal fusion. In the study, thoracic curve stiffness was a strong risk factor for severe postoperative coronal imbalance, which was associated with poor health-related quality of life measures. The sign of being severely imbalanced was shown by nine of 954 patients (0.9%) at 2 years. Pre-operative curve flexibilityof <20% was associated with 23.8 times greater odds of SCIB (95% CI; p=0.008). In a prospective study by Louer Jr et al. [16], fifty-one patients with fusions for AIS who had been followed for at least 10 years were identified. The results indicated that instrumented main thoracic and thoracolumbar/lumbar curves were corrected by an average of 51% and 60% respectively at 10 years. The uninstrumented, compensatory curve had gradual spontaneous correction that approached the magnitude of the fused curve at 5 years postoperatively, with thecorrection maintained at 10 years. This led to improved coronal imbalance with no patient undergoing secondary operations. In summary, 5 papers identified coronal imbalance and malalignment as the possible complications after the spinal surgery. Although it is shown that spinal fusion led to longterm aid for the AIS patient described above by Louer Jr et al, the indication of increased CLA revealsthe risk of coronal imbalance post surgery. Therefore, it can be said that the increased preoperative thoracic curve stiffness should raise surgeon awareness for altering surgical approach to minimize the risk of severe postoperative coronal balance. Urinary retention Five articles identified urinary retention as one of the complications for spinal fusionsurgery for scoliosis [19-23]. A study conducted by Harris et al. [19] evaluated 5864 AIS patients to find out

whether certain patient, surgical, and recovery-related factors may be associated with extended length of stay (LOS) following posterior spinal fusion for AIS. On multivariate analysis, factors associatedwith extended LOS were: wound problems (OR 13, p<0.001), respiratory problems (OR 7.9, p<0.001), urinary tract infection (OR 6.0, p<0.001), and constipation (OR 2.4, p<0.001). A second retrospective cohort study by Knight et al. [20] aimed to investigate postoperative urinary retention (POUR) following posterior spinal fusion (PSF) for AIS and the effects of postoperative analgesia and mobility on retention. The study conducted adolescents (11-18 years) undergoing elective PSF for AIS at a single institution (20122018). POUR is defined as the inability to void >8h after catheter removal. The results demonstrated that among 136 patients, 21 (15.4%) experienced POUR. On the day of catheter removal, 24 patients had notattempted ambulation; these patients had a 2.5 times higher rate of POUR than those who were walking (30% vs 12%, p=0.04). POUR resolved in all patients within a median duration of 0.5 days and a range of 0 to 12 days. The third article by Matsumoto et al. [21] included 83 patients who had undergone posterior fusion surgery for scoliosis. The study evaluated the perioperative complications within3 months. The results show that viral enteritis and a urinary tract infection were found in seven cases. In a retrospective analysis by Berry et al. [22], 7252 children aged ≥5 years with an underlying complex chronic condition undergoing spinal fusion in 41 children’s hospitals. Theresults illustrated that urinary tract infection added $14272 (95% CI ) and 3.5 days (95% CI) tohospitalization cost and LOS, respectively. The prospective cohort study by Keskinen et al. [23] studied 111 consecutive patients (mean age 16 years, range 11-21 years) undergoing PSF for AIS were screened after removal of urinary catheter postoperative for inability to void and residual volume of urinary bladder. 51 (46%) of the patients were either unable to void or had a clinically significant amount of residualvolume after voiding, and these 51 patients required intermittent catheterization for a mean of 2 days. 30 patients (27%) had POUR, a residual volume of 300 mL or more. Two (1.8%) of the patients experienced urinary tract loss (mean 625 mL vs. 462 mL, p=0.020) and longer operationtime (mean 3.3h vs.2.8h, p=0.009) as compared with those not having urinary retention. In summary, five papers claim that urinary tract loss and urinary retention is a significantrisk factor for spinal fusion surgery shown by the development of POUR after PSF for AIS affects one in six patients. VI. Discussion Our review identified four main risk factors for spinal fusion surgery for AIS patients (Table 1). Poor pulmonary function was highly repeated in the literature. 8 prospective studies contribute significantly to the results of our review [cite]. These studies all used radiographic andtomography to monitor a patient's pulmonary function after anterior and posterior spinal surgery and investigated a very similar population: AIS patients who chose surgical approaches. As a result, they provide reliable evidence regarding the complications

and side effects of spinal surgeries. Although the four main risk factors for spinal fusion surgery are well accepted, one of themain questions that needs to be weighed is the risks we should consider when we do not undergothe surgery. Many choose to wear braces in order to prevent the progression of scoliosis. However, there is a limitation to the brace method. Wearing a brace can be effective when a scoliosis curve's Cobb angle is relatively small and manageable. Yet, when the Cobb angle is greater than 45°-50°, surgical approach is a better option. Several researchers have evaluated theeffectiveness of bracing in idiopathic scoliosis with curves above 40° and to verify the mechanical and biological parameters which go beyond the simple bend value expressed in Cobb degrees. In 2019, Aulisa et. al [29] concluded that in subgroups with Perdriolle <20° at baseline, the average reduction was 16.02° Cobb, while in cases with Perdriolle ≥20° at baseline, the meancorrection was 8.4° Cobb. In subgroups with Risser 02 at baseline, the average reduction was 14.7° Cobb, while in cases with Risser 3-4 at baseline, the mean correction was 6.7° Cobb. This suggests that the brace methods are better for AIS patients if the rotation is lower than 20 and Risser is between 0-2. Braces can prevent progression however cannot directly correct the spinal curve like surgical approaches. Another important question is which is the most severe complication. The most severe complication, and one of the most common complications is decrease in pulmonary function. A study conducted by Wen et. al [30] tried to explore the relationship between lung function reduction and HRQOL in middle-age and older people and identify which domain of HRQOL was impacted by lung function level. Lung function is an important parameter for complete evaluation of respiratory system function, including airway ventilation capacity and physical condition. Decline in lung function has been used in the clinic diagnosis of airway dysfunction ordiseases including CRDs. Decreased lung function is associated with reduced ventilation and oxygen intake, especially during intense activity. In addition, reduced lung function could also affect other body functions such as sleep. All of these might have an adverse effect on HRQOL. Moreover, the results revealed that each unit increase in FVC was associated with a 1.31, 1.76, 1.10, 1.40, 0.96 score increase in the total HRQOL, physical health domain, psychological state domain, social relationships domain and environment domain scores, respectively (p < 0.05). With regard to FEV1, it was associated with a 1.06, 1.64, 1.21 score increase in the total HRQOL, physical health domain and social relationships domain scores, respectively (p < 0.05).This therefore indicates that lung reduction not only affects physical health but also social life ingeneral. Furthermore, we have to consider the different groups of people who undergo the surgerybecause they may differ in consequences like complications and side effects after the surgery. A study by Farber et. al [31] determined the impact of posterior spinal fusion on pulmonary function parameters in patients with severe neuromuscular disease: muscular dystrophies and spinal muscular atrophy. The results showed that after spine surgery for scoliosis, all patients with spinal muscular atrophy and most patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy lost vital capacity, while the patients with merosin deficient muscular dystrophy gained vital capacity, withthe mean change in vital capacity from pre- to post spine

surgery was a loss of 0.63 L for the spinal muscular atrophy patients, a loss of 0.36 L for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, and a gain of 0.23 L for the merosin deficient patients. Similar findings were reported by Cho et. al [32] who quantified the exact impact of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) on operative complications and additional surgeries associated with spinal deformity surgery. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in the number of major or minor complications or additional surgeries between the two groups. There was no significant difference in postoperative glucose regulation in the NIDDM groups (+) and (-). Group C reported significant improvements in scores on final follow-up in all Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) areas and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Groups with NIDDM reported improvements in all areas except mental health and pain areas. However, there were no significant pre- and post-operation differences between NIDDM andGroup C in SRS and ODI scores. There is therefore a question mark on the true benefits for the patients by the decision toinclude patients with different symptoms other than scoliosis, considering the high chance thesepatients are going to have more severe side effects and complications post spinal fusion surgery. The present review did not assess the question of influence of spinal fusion surgery on the patient quality of life; however, some articles point to the fact that spinal fusion surgery has apsychological and social burden and this should be factored into the decisionmaking of the patients. To summarize, although spinal fusion surgery for AIS patients is an effective way to correct curve progression, there are some specific subgroups of patients that have a much higher risk of complications of the spinal fusion surgery. The patients with severe neuromuscular disease had a high risk: the mean change in vital capacity from pre to post spine surgery was a loss of 0.63 L for the spinal muscular atrophy patients, and a loss of 0.36 L for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. Conclusion This analysis of the literature on spinal fusion for AIS patients identified four main risks and complications that happen post-spinal fusion surgery. Furthermore, several studies concluded that there was a severe effect if the patients have a different disease. This information can be used to better counsel high-risk patients about the potential for unsuccessful outcomes with spinal fusion surgery. As a whole, it is important for the AIS patients to carefully consider the complications and risk factors before undergoing the spinal fusion surgery. Reference [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22264320/ [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29763083/ [3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19956028/ [4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22534955/

[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28399556/ [6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31177339/ [7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32584916 [8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31311602/ [9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31532041 [10]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27261969/ [11]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27764054/ [12]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24859581/ [13]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33402158/ [14]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28128704/ [15]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32500442/ [16]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31045663/ [17] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30312273/ [18]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31402830/ [19]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31925765/ [20]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32077085/ [21]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31435534/ [22]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28153850/ [23]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29153469/ [24]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31053312/ [25]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31045663/ [26]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30302887/ [27]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28837459/ [28]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28658045/ [29]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29517186/ [30]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6352019/#:~:text=diseases%20including%2 0CRDs.-,Decreased%20lung%20function%20is%20associated%20with%20reduced%20ventilat ion%20and%20oxygen,an%20adverse%20effect%20on%20HRQOL. [31]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32012473/

[32]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22343274/

Photocatalytic and Anti-bacterial Properties of Carbon dots and TiO2/CuxO compound

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Chae Young

Cheongshim International Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: The necessity of sterilization products using eco-friendly materials that are less harmful to the human body is needed, and TiO2/CuxO and Carbon dots have the potential shown in prior research on materials with organic decomposition, antibacterial and deodorizing capabilities. This study focused on the photocatalytic property of carbon quantum dots. The goal of this study is to directly synthesize Carbon dots and TiO2/CuxO and Carbon-dots complexes using organic matter, then find the mixture that shows the optimal photocatalytic efficiency, and then explore their possibilities in application for sterilization. The organic compound treatment using Microwave oven resulted in carbon dots confirmed by UV photoluminescence property of the fabricated solutions. Carbon dots made from Citric Acid showed brightest photoluminescent. Regarding the photocatalytic property, Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO mixture showed best Methylene Blue removal. TiO2/CuxO, Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO and Carbon dot alone all showed anti-bacterial property.

Keywords: Carbon-dots, Citric Acid, photocatalyst, photoluminescent, TiO2

1. INTRODUCTION Interest in personal hygiene has grown due to COVID-19 pandemic. Viruses have various routes of infection and can be transmitted directly or indirectly. According to research by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, the coronavirus can survive up to 28 days in paper banknotes, glass and stainless steel at a room temperature of 20°C [1]. Therefore, in order to prevent infection of the highly contagious corona virus, sterilization is important and a lot of mobile phone and article disinfection devices are currently sold in the market. However, UV sterilization products have a disadvantage in that sterilization efficiency is low due to the relatively high price and low output. Also, some UV sterilizers emit a wavelength which is harmful to the skin and eye [2]. The necessity of sterilization products using eco-friendly materials that are less harmful to the human body is needed, and TiO2/CuO and Carbon dots have the potential shown in prior research on materials with organic decomposition, antibacterial and deodorizing capabilities [3][4]. This study focused on the photocatalytic property of carbon quantum dots. Photocatalyst reaction is enhancement of organic matter decomposition into carbon dioxide and water by absorbing light, although the substance does not change before and after the reaction. Materials with photocatalytic activity have excellent capabilities in air and water purification, deodorization, and antibacterial functions. The goal of this study is to directly synthesize Carbon dots and TiO2/CuO and Carbon-dots complexes using organic matter, then find the mixture that shows the optimal photocatalytic efficiency, and then explore their possibilities in application for sterilization.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1. Carbon Quantum Dot Quantum dot is a nanomaterial with a size of 10 nm or less composed of hundreds to thousands of atoms. When UV rays are irradiated to quantum dots, particles show different colors depending on the size of the particles even if they are of the same composition. Elements such as cadmium, cadmium sulfide, and indium phosphide, which have strong such properties, are used in electronic devices applications. However, since heavy metal particles are used in such quantum dots, research is underway to explore materials which are more biocompatible, ecofriendly and high stability. Carbon, which accounts for most of the constituent elements in the human body, has been studied as the candidate material. C-dots (Carbon dots, Carbon Quantum dots, Carbon nanodots) have been discovered where interest in the carbon nanostructures has increased and extensive research has progressed since its discovery in 2004 during the separation and purification of Single Wall Carbon Nanotube (SWCNT). C-dots have the characteristics of quantum dots, such as photoluminescence, but it is composed of carbon and can be synthesized with materials that are readily available in nature. Due to its excellent biocompatibility, they are not only used in

the research of many biotechnology such as bio-imaging and medicine.

Fig. 1. Shape of Carbon dot and example of carbon layout with passivation agent [5]

Carbon quantum dots are known to have an optical band gap in the visible light region, and when certain conditions are met, a light emission phenomenon can be observed. In general, it emits light between blue and green when irradiated with ultraviolet light. It is known that the orbital due to the internal carbon double bond and various chemical functional groups on the surface play an important role in this luminescence phenomenon, but the exact principle is still unknown [6]. 2.2. Synthesis Method of Carbon Dots The method of manufacturing carbon quantum dots can be largely divided into a top-down method and a bottom-up method. The top-down method is a method of making carbon quantum dots by cutting large raw materials into small pieces. Carbon quantum dots are manufactured by slicing pure carbon lumps such as graphene or carbon nanotubes to a desired size using electric arc, laser, or physicochemical methods, and then reacting the surface with a passivation agent to treat them. The bottom-up method uses single molecules or polymers smaller in size than carbon quantum dots as a raw material and by treatment processes, the carbon in the raw material is combined to make carbon quantum dots. Citric acid, amino acids, or hydrocarbon compounds can be used as raw materials, and they are polymerized to make a large compound when energy is injected into the compound to increase the temperature. Methods of external energy injection for the carbonization process include acid treatment, thermal pyrolysis, hydrothermal reaction, microwave reaction, and laser beam irradiation. [7] In this experiment, carbon dots will be thermally decomposed using a microwave oven to carbonize them with a microwave. However, this method is an efficient method in terms of process and economy, but has a disadvantage in that the yield is lower than other methods. As a solution to this, we will use ethylenediamine (EDA) as a passivation agent to increase the quantum yield of carbon dots. Ethylenediamine (EDA) is a strong basic substance with the molecular formula of C2H4(NH2)2, and the molecular weight of 60.1.

Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of top-down and bottom-up approaches for C-dot preparation [8]

2.3. Photocatalytic Activity When a titanium dioxide photocatalyst receives ultraviolet light (400 nm), electrons and electron holes are formed to generate hydroxyl radicals (-OH) and superoxide (O2-) with strong oxidizing power. These hydroxyl radicals and superoxide oxidize and decompose organic compounds into water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). In this way, pollutants in the air and the water can be oxidized and decomposed into water and carbon dioxide gas. Also, since bacteria are organic compounds, they can be decomposed and sterilized by the strong oxidative action of the photocatalyst. Recently, it has been reported that copper compounds having a divalent oxidation number (CuS, CuSe, etc.) exhibit photocatalytic properties that oxidize and decompose VOCs even in the visible region due to its narrow band gap. The divalent copper compound nanoparticles have already been used as a material exhibiting the quantum dot effect by binding to TiO2 [3][4]. Carbon dots, which are emerging as a new type of photocatalyst due to their broad wavelength absorbance, excellent photoluminescence properties, and electron transport ability, are used as either a single photocatalyst or as a composite catalyst. Composites can be formed in combination with metals, metal sulfides, metal oxides, bismuth-based semiconductors, or other traditional photocatalysts [9]. To quantify the photocatalytic property, degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) can be used as the medium. MB is an organic compound containing a benzene ring and it strongly absorbs light in the vicinity of 660 nm. The degree of photocatalytic activity can be quantitatively confirmed by examining the extent to which the absorption peak size at 660 nm decreases [10].

Fig. 3 Schematic of Photocatalytic reaction of Carbon dots [9]

3. EXPERIMENTALS 3.1 Carbon Dot Fabrication Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose and Citric acid were selected as the base material to create Carbon dots. The 1 g of each base materials were mixed with 20 ml of deionized water and 0.7 ml of EDA. Then the solutions were treated in 700Watt microwave oven for 150 seconds. The resulting materials were irradiated with 365nm UV light to see their fluorescence character. The solution with brightest fluorescent character was chosen as the Carbon dot test sample. All solutions were inserted into UV-Vis Spectrometer and the absorptions were measured at 350nm. The fluorescent spectrum should have been measured by a Fluorometer to calculate quantum efficiency, but could not be done due to lack of access to a Fluorometer. 3.2 Synthesis of TiO2/CuxO Composite and Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO Composite 5 g of Anatase TiO2 particles were mixed with 100 ml of distilled water in a flask, then 0.1 g of CuCl2 was added and reacted for 1 hour at 90 - 95°C while stirring. After the reaction was completed, 8 ml of 1% NaOH solution was added to adjust the pH of the entire solution. Then 6 drops of 1% glucose solution was added to this solution using a spoid and the mixture was stirred and reacted at 90 - 95°C for 1 hours. The resulting mixture was a TiO2/CuxO composite. 10 ml of TiO2/CuxO composite was mixed with 2 ml of selected Carbon dot solution to make Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO composite. 3.3 Photocatalytic Activity Test Photo-oxidative removal of MB was investigated by irradiating the suspension under artificial visible light at room temperature with continuous stirring. 0.1% MB solution was mixed with deionized water in ratio 1:6 as reference, and with TiO2/CuxO composite solution in ratio 1:6, and with TiO2/CuxO composite and Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO composite in ratio 1:3:3. The mixture was at rest for 30 minutes for the powder to settle, and absorption was measured at 660 nm using UV-vis spectrometer. The solutions were placed under sunlight and the change in the concentration of MB in the solution was measured at 30 minute intervals for 120 minutes.

3.4 Anti-bacterial Property Test Carbon dots, TiO2/CuxO and Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO composite particles that were produced in the above experiment were tested for antibacterial properties. Agar medium with 10ml deionized water and 0.5 g of agar powder without any additive were made as Reference. Agar media with 8 ml deionized water, 0.5 gm of agar powder and 2 ml carbon dots, TiO2/CuxO and Carbon dot/TiO2/CuxO composite particles were made. Bacteria collected from unwashed cell phones surface by smearing with sterile cotton swap were mixed with deionized water and the contaminated water were smeared on the agar media. The agar media were incubated for 3 days at 37°C. The cultured strain on the agar media were inspected visually and the primary result for antibacterial activity was derived.

4. RESULTS 4.1 Carbon Dot Fabrication The fabricated C-dots from Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose and Citric acid were placed in quarts vial and irradiated with 365nm UV light. C-dot solution from Fructose and Glucose showed dark yellow color and that from Sucrose were almost transparent and that from Citric acid were light yellow. When irradiated with UV, all showed some fluorescence but C-dot solution from Citric acid showed brightest color. C-dot solution from Citric acid was selected for further tests.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. fabricated C-dot solution and photoluminescence results (a) without UV irradiation Fructose(1), Glucose(2), Sucrose(3), Citric acid(4) (b) with 365nm UV irradiation

4.2 Photocatalytic Activity Test Reference Vials were made with following solutions: Reference Vial 1 with MB only, Vial 2 with MB and TiO2/CuxO, Vial 3 with MB and Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO, Vial 4 with MB and Citric Acid Carbon dots. After calibration, each vial was measured and the absorbance values were measured. By visual observation, Vial 1, 2 and 4 did not show much difference, but Vial 3 showed disappearance of MB at the bottom part of the vial. The absorbance results are shown in Table 1. Reference Vial 1 did not show significant value change. Vial 2 and 3 had over-thelimit value at 0 minute, and Vial 3 gave largest drop of the value. Vial 4 also showed some drop of absorbance but smaller than Vial 3.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 5 Solution Vials before and after sunlight irradiation for 2 hours (a) before irradiation Reference Vial(1) with MB only, Vial (2) with MB and TiO2/CuxO, Vial (3) with MB and Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO, Vial (4) with MB and Citric Acid Carbon dots (b) sunlight irradiation for 2 hours

Table 1. Absorbance value at 660nm wavelength Solution\Time Reference Vial (2) Vial (3) Vial (4)

0 min 2.8 2.8

30 min 2.6 3.5 3.4 2.7

60 min 2.6 3.3 3.0 2.5

90 min 2.7 3.3 3.1 2.6

120 min 2.7 3.2 2.6 2.5

4.3. Anti-bacterial Property Test The reference petri dish with agar showed some bacterial growth. Petri dishes with TiO2/CuxO, Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO, and Citroc Acid Carbon dots mixture showed no bacterial growth.

Fig. 6 Bacterial Growth from agar containing different solutions

5. CONCLUSION The organic compound treatment using Microwave oven resulted in carbon dots confirmed by UV photoluminescence property of the fabricated solutions. Carbon dots made from Citric Acid showed brightest photoluminescent. Photocatalytic property of carbon dots from Citric Acid was examined using Methylene Blue powder, and compared to TiO2/CuxO compound. Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO mixture showed best photocatalytic property. TiO2/CuxO, Carbon dots/TiO2/CuxO and Carbon dot alone all showed Anti-bacterial property. Further study to utilize carbon dots for pollution removal and virus infection suppression is in need.

References [1] Riddell, S., Goldie, S., Hill, A., Eagles, D., Drew, T. W. (2020). The effect of temperature on persistence of SARS-COV-2 on common surfaces. Virology Journal, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-020-01418-7 [2] Capritto, A. (July 8, 2020.). Does UV light kill coronavirus? Here's what the science says. CNET. https://www.cnet.com/health/can-uv-light-protect-you-from-covid-19/ [3] Cho, S., Lee, Y.-I., Kim, L.-H., &amp; Jung, D. (2013). Photocatalytic and Antipathogenic effects of TiO2/CuxO. Journal of the Korean Chemical Society, 57(4), 483–488. https://doi.org/10.5012/jkcs.2013.57.4.483 [4] Yuan, C. (2016). Study on preparation and photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/TiO2 composites by precipitation method. Proceedings of the 2016 5th International Conference on Environment, Materials, Chemistry and Power Electronics. https://doi.org/10.2991/emcpe-16.2016.134 [5] Yang, Y., Wu, D., Han, S., Hu, P., Liu, R. (2013). Bottom-up fabrication of photoluminescent carbon dots with uniform morphology via a soft–hard template approach. Chemical Communications, 49(43), 4920. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3cc38815h

[6] Carbonaro, C.M., Chiriu, D., Stagi, L., Casula, M.F., Thakkar, S.V., Malfatti, L., Suzuki, K., Ricci, P.C., Corpino, R. (2018) Carbon Dots in Water and Mesoporous Matrix: Chasing the Origin of their Photoluminescence. J. Phys. Chem. C 122, 25638–25650. [7] Kwon, B., Jeong, G., Jeong, W., Park, J., Chae, A., In, I. (2018) Recent Trends in Synthesis and Application of Carbon Quantum Dots, Polymer Science and Technology 26(4), 297 – 303 [8] Wang, J., Liu, G., Leung, K., Loffroy, R., Lu, P.-X., &amp; J. Wáng, Y. (2015). Opportunities and challenges of Fluorescent Carbon dots in Translational optical imaging. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 21(37), 5401–5416. [9] Chu, K.-W., Lee, S., Chang, C.-J., &amp; Liu, L. (2019). Recent progress of carbon dot precursors and photocatalysis applications. Polymers, 11(4), 689. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11040689 [10] Rahman, M. A., &amp; Islam, T. S. A. (2016). Synthesis and characterization of copper oxide composite and study of composite mediated photo-oxidative degradation of methylene blue under visible light. International Letters of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy, 63, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilcpa.63.29

Statistical Analysis of Effective Outdoor Air Cleaner Distribution on Roadsides with a Comparison between Environmental Variables and Air Quality Index

Author 1

Full Name

Nam, Yihyun

Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Air quality is an important factor of a city since bad air quality can cause tremendous health problems, including asthma, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular disorders. Also, the economic loss due to the inactivation of external activities of most people is another problem. Until now, passive measurements such as decreasing traffic, recommending people to stay home, and wearing filtered masks were recurrently implemented. Using an air purification device outdoors can be an active solution for the bad air quality in metropolises, and multiple past cases prove the effectiveness of outdoor air cleaning. Based on my invention of a roadside air cleaner, including a filter, fan, and air quality sensor that connects with the meteorology system, this research aimed to simulate a possible distribution of this device in Seoul, Korea, by calculating zone-specific indices. As a part of an attempt to apply the outdoor air cleaning system invention in reality, four main variables were considered and correlated with the air quality data. The Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index (RACNI) and Ideal Distance between Purifiers Index (iDBP) were calculated based on the data, and an outdoor air cleaner distribution model was created. According to prior research, the ideal distance between air-cleaning devices was 30 meters, and it was adjusted from 14.5~36.9 meters based on the RACNI and iDBP index of each district in this research. The study concluded that the number of factories in the district had a stronger relationship with the air quality of each zone than other indices.

I. INTRODUCTION Air is the most basic substance required for humans to live. Pollutions resulting from automobile exhaust and factory smog, however, have contaminated the air these days. Clean air is essential for human well- being. Air contamination causes health problems, including lung cancer [1], chronic kidney disease [2], asthma, and pneumonia, leading to death or severe effects in life. Eco-friendly practices include abandoning factories, coal power plants, and gasoline vehicles to eliminate the source of air contaminants in the long term [3]. On the other hand, air cleaning methods on the market tend to solve the short-term problem directly. [4] Most air cleaners include dust filters and a one-way electric fan that sucks particle-laden air and produces purified air. However, air purifiers had been used mainly indoors as a substitute for ventilation and had not been implemented outdoors very often. Seoul, Korea, the testbed for the air purifier simulation in this research, has the worst air quality compared to other countries and cities. According to the statistics provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [5], Korea had the highest mean population exposure to Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 (particles less than 2.5 μm) (μg/m^3) value of 27.4 among the 38 OECD countries in 2019. Korea is also one of the two countries where the PM2.5 mean exposure value exceeds 25, along with Turkey. These statistics show that there should be a solution to the bad air quality of Korea, which is the worst among all 38 OECD countries. Besides long-term solutions for better air quality, such as odd-even driving restrictions and factory shutdown, the outdoor air cleaner can be a good short-term solution. Also, when compared to the capital cities of main OECD countries (U.S.A., France, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan), the mean population exposure to PM2.5 (very fine dust) (μg/m^3) value 27.9 was the highest. Moreover, the mean PM2.5 exposure value of the capital area of Seoul (Seoul, Gyeonggido, and Inchon) is almost twice when compared to that of the second-highest city (Berlin, Germany). Last year, I invented a novel method to purify air outdoor on roadsides that double as a meteorology data center [6]. The outdoor air cleaner, which is my invention, is a 1.5-meter tall square-shaped device composed of High-Efficiency Particulate Absorber (HEPA) filters, a polarized-media sheet, an air quality sensor, and a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that adjusts the operation of the device and sends the air quality information to the meteorology center. The patent (Korea, 10-2020-0058472) includes the device design, the system of outdoor purification connected with data sensors and meteorology center, and the concept of outdoor air cleaning in roadsides of urban areas. Regarding the concept of air purification outdoors, previous research, including Bachler et al. [7], confirmed that outdoor air cleaners have a clear effect on air quality improvement. Also, Bachler's research showed the optimal configuration of air purifiers in a certain area and the change in PM values. Since an experiment implementing my invention is practically hard to execute, the values drawn from Bachler's research will be used for a reference in deciding the arrangement of my device.

Bachler et al. [7] introduces ambient air filtration as an approach to lower pollution concentration in urban hotspots. Seventeen outdoor filtration devices with a total flow rate of 10K m3/hrs were installed beside the highway at Stuttgart to reduce PM10 dust concentration within 300m*50m area around urban pollution hotspot. After 466 hours, the PM10 rate decreased 10.4%. Total flow rate 10,000m3/h means that it can cover approx. 1,000m2 area outdoors in urban districts. This value, verified by this study, is used as an average distance between devices (about 30 meters, when conversed to linear distance). Mayer [8] analyzed metropolitan air pollutions caused by natural and anthropogenic conditions. The path of air pollution consists of emission and transmission of air. Motor traffic is the main cause of air pollution, and it is temporally variable according to the official air-quality station in Stuttgart, Germany. The paper also suggests a qualitative overview of world city's air qualities. Motor traffic value should be one of the variables that differentiate the density of the device. Also, the overview could be used in introducing the relative air quality of Seoul compared with other metropolises. Noh et al. [9] evaluated a room air cleaner performance index Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) based on the number of device installations and filter type. This research referred to CADR to evaluate the air cleaning performance index. Noh proved that air purifier filters higher than Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERV) 11 are required indoors when 100% outdoor air was supplied. In comparison, a filter with a level lower than MERV11 is required when the recirculation airflow ratio exceeds 70%. Since this research discusses outdoor air purifiers, it can be reasonably inferred that high-level filters like HEPA (filters with high MERV ratings- specified in H13 and H14) are needed in outdoor purifiers. Noh et al. [10] evaluated the variance of CADR and effective air cleaning ratio and concluded that most experimental CADR values were lower than the stated values of CADR. Noh introduces a newly defined concept of Effective Air Cleaning Ratio (EACR), which shows the ratio of real CADR to stated CADR. Also, Noh proved that the CADR value decreases as the particle size increases. This research gives a good reason for installing a first-level filter in front of HEPA filters to enhance the CADR value of the roadside cleaner in this research Nelson et al. [11] evaluated the average concentration difference between air cleaners using Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni-normalized multiple comparison test. The research used a mathematical model that does not require real-time data. Kim et al. [12] developed a novel test method for air cleaners' gas removal performance using Fourier-transfer infrared measurements (FTIR) and CADR calculation. Kim proved that the new methods differentiated the performance more efficiently after testing with 18 air cleaners. Gas problems are important outdoors because of car emissions and factory smog. As this research used ammonia, acetic acid, acetaldehyde, and toluene as test cases, this research should also think about ways to eliminate outdoor gases along with dust elimination. Mølgaard et. al. [13] introduces a new CADR test in indoor air cleaners with different filters using indoor aerosol modeling. For 100nm particles, the CADR value for a three- filter-based cleaner was higher than the ion generator and electrostatic precipitator. One should use multiple filters in the device for enhanced CADR value.

Nabinger et al. [14] characterized the performance of gaseous air cleaners using semi real-time concentration measurement and balanced mass analysis. The experiment revealed that the amount of contamination loading and air mixing was an important factor. This research shows the importance of good air circulation through fans and clean, uncontaminated filters.

FIGURE 1 | Product shots of 4 cases of air-purifying devices installed outdoors. The place of installation was Xi'an, China; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Stuttgart, Germany; and Theodor-Heuss-Ring, Kiel, Germany, starting from a). a) was installed in the city's center as a huge tower; b) was put in the middle of the park; c) and d) at the roadside.

Figure 1 a) is a height 100m air purifier built in the city's center. The installation cost was $1.7M, but there is minimal operational cost since it uses convection current of air in filtering, naturally inducing the hot, contaminated air by a glass hothouse below towards the top of the device with a filter. Its cleaning ability is 10,000,000m3/day, and the operation resulted in a 15% decrease of fine dust density at the adjacent 10km2. Figure 1 b) is a 7-meter "smog-free tower" installed to eliminate smog in urban areas of Beijing due to dense industries. Placed in the center of a park, it had a 45% decrease effect in PM10 and 25% on PM2.5 in the adjacent radius of 10 meters. It has an air-purifying ability of 30,000 m3 per hour and 720,000 m3 per day.

Figure 1 c) is an outdoor fine dust filtration device MANN+HUMMEL installed on the roadside of a highway in Stuttgart. [15] Bachler's research [7] explains the installation project and the specific results of air cleaning. Figure 1 d) is an air purifier produced by the company Purevento [16]. Six outdoor air purifiers, "City Air Cleaner," in the city ring road of the Theodor-Heuss-Ring region. Based on the installation map provided, the devices were installed in approximately 40 to 50 meters distance. It is interesting how it also includes a space for advertisement, which can be a good solution for replenishing the expensive maintenance cost of the device. Compared with the cases, my air purifier has a data sensor that collects air quality and meteorology data that connects with the data center. The connection feature also sends the status of the discrete filter to the administrator, making the maintenance easier. Moreover, the distribution of the air purifier will be based on scientific research introduced later on, which is an attempt that was not done in past cases according to accessible materials about the cases. Despite the unreal, unscientific-looking concept of outdoor air purifiers perceived by some people, there are already many cases of air-cleaning devices installed outdoors. Figure 1 shows some installation cases of air purifiers outdoors. Before the research, I hypothesized that districts with many cars and factories would correlate the most with air quality and thus need an air purifier installed in a shorter interval. Based on my invention of a roadside air cleaner with a filter, fan, and air quality sensor that connects with the meteorology system, this research aims to simulate an optimal spatial distribution of this device in Seoul by calculating zone-specific indices. Four main variables are considered and correlated with the air quality data as part of an attempt to apply the outdoor air cleaning invention in reality. Based on the data, air quality index is calculated for each district of Seoul, and an outdoor air cleaner distribution model is created. The form of the air purifier unified with a Particle Matter (PM) and meteorology sensor gives much more precise data, each covering a smaller area. The patent includes a system concept that sends the data in real-time to the main server via a wireless connection, delivering more accurate weather and PM data to mobile phones and weather briefing screens on roads. The rest of the paper will be organized as follows: II. Methods; III. Results; IV. Discussion and conclusion; V. References.

I. METHODS A. The roadside air purifier device

FIGURE 2 | Roadside Air Purifier with Data Sensor. The left panel is the electronic schematic, and the right panel is the representative blueprint of the patent. The patent includes an air-cleaning feature and a data acquisition feature.

The roadside air purifier is a 1.5-meter device with an air cleaning and data collection feature. The device, configurable via a top lid, includes three 40X40 cm H14 High-Efficiency Particulate Absorber (HEPA) filters, a polarized media sheet, and a mesh for collecting dust particles. A filter frame made out of plastic stabilizes all the internal filters in their original place. A high-speed fan is included in the backside of the filter, withdrawing the contaminated air toward the filter. A pressure sensor is embedded between the filter to measure the pressure of the air passing, and if the values are too low, the device judges that the filter should be replaced. A Central Processing Unit (CPU), communication module, and a spare battery are built into the device, sending the air quality and meteorology data to the central data center from the PM and weather sensor. Information needed in maintenance, such as the filter replacement cycle detected by the pressure sensor, can be sent to the maintenance administrator through the network. These zonespecific pieces of information collected could be sent to mobile devices and weather status boards located on roads. A display is installed in the front part of the device, which prints the real-time PM10 value. A code display is located in the bottom part of the façade of the device so that only authorized administrators can handle the device based on the variable Serial Number (S/N) and prevent theft or harm of the device by pedestrians.

TABLE 1 | Cost Analysis of the outdoor air purifier. The total estimated cost is similar to that of an indoor air purifier with a large covering area. If the outdoor air purifiers are produced in bulk, the cost will decrease.

Parts

Cost (USD)

Fan

Casing

100

Structure

100

Filter

30 * 3 = 90

Operating System

200

Display

Sensors

100

Total

710

The estimated cost of the outdoor air purifier device is shown in Table 1. The entire anticipated cost is comparable to that of a large-coverage home air purifier. The cost of outdoor air purifiers will be reduced if they are produced in large quantities. Especially, the cost of the filter can be reduced when purchased in bulk by the maintenance office. The original plan of the research was to calculate the air purifying ability by an index called Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR). However, there were practical difficulties in making a real product model and properly calculating the device's ability. Instead, this research refers to Bachler's research [7] about outdoor air purifiers test- operated on the highway of Stuttgart, Germany. The experiment of the research distributed their device at a distance of 30 meters. As this research attempts to make a model of distribution based on other environmental variables, the indices that deduce the ideal distance between the devices of each district of Seoul were adjusted to meet the mean distance of 30 meters. Specific information is further introduced.

B. Correlation between air quality and other indices TABLE 2 | Statistical Data used in this research. Name

Source

Registered Factories in each district of Korea [17] 2021, Factory On Number of vehicle registration of each district in Seoul [18]

2021/5, Seoul-si Open Data Square 2021/7, Seoul Atmospheric environment information 2021/7, Seoul Atmospheric environment information

PM2.5 values of each district in Seoul [19] PM10 values of each district in Seoul [20] Population of Districts in Seoul [21]

2021/8/5, Seoul-si Open Data Square

Seoul Floating Population Survey Report 2015 [22]

2015, National Information Society Agency & Seoul- si Government

Before computing the indices representing the ideal distance between devices in each district, the data that could be possibly included as a variable in the index were considered. These data also provide a thorough understanding of the characteristics of the city from multiple viewpoints. Table 2 lists some data used in research. The data "Registered Factories in each district of Korea [17]" includes the list of all registered factories in Korea. The number of factories in each district was counted and used as data. The data "Number of vehicle registration of each district in Seoul [18]" and "Population of Districts in Seoul [21]" is a chart about the number of vehicles registered and the population of each district. The data "PM2.5 values of each district in Seoul [19]" and "PM10 values of each district in Seoul [20]" was a record of average PM10 and PM2.5 values per day of each district. The average value of 31 days of July 2021 was used in this research. Finally, the data "Seoul Floating Population Survey Report 2015 [22]" reports the pedestrians in Seoul, including their size and characteristics. The 2015 report was used because it was the latest version available.

FIGURE 3 | Map of Seoul with the name of each district. Seoul is composed of 25 districts.

Figure 3 shows the map of Seoul. Seoul is the capital and the largest city of Korea, with a population of little less than 10 million people. Of these districts, Jongno and Jung-gu are the business-centered districts, and Yeongdeungop, Guro, and Jungnang are typically regarded as Seoul's industrial districts. Based on the districts shown in the map, an ideal air purifying device installation interval is computed using the RACNI index based on environmental variables (PM2.5, PM10, floating population, and the number of factories). Figure 4 shows the choropleth map of each data. Vehicles are registered mainly in Gangseo, Gangnam, and Songpa. On the other hand, Factories are mainly located in Yeongdeungpo, Guro, Geumcheon, and Jungnang. The floating population is high in central

business districts such as Jung-gu and Jongno. The population is concentrated in Gangnam, Gangseo, and Nowon, whereas Jung-gu and Jongno have a smaller population. Correlation between these data and the PM10 value of each district were computed in this research as shown in table 2 and figure 6 (scatterplot) using Microsoft Excel and TI nspire CX CAS. C. Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index Several data are chosen as a formula variable for the Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index (RACNI) based on the correlation strength. The formula takes the y = m * a + n * b shape, where a, b represents the variables, m and n as the pie that each variable takes, and y as the index value. After the RACNI values for each district are computed as a one-digit value, an appropriate multiplier is applied to meet the mean index value of 30 (meter), which is a value referenced from Bachler's research as stated earlier. A formula for the Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index is developed. The variables 'number of factories,' 'air quality,' and 'floating population' were chosen as the three variables to be included in the index. Each variable was regarded as of equal importance. Thus the same multiplier of 0.33 (or 0.34) was applied. The air quality variable was composed of PM2.5 (very fine dust) and PM10 (fine dust) density with the same weighted value; thus, each was multiplied by 0.17, half of 0.34. Although 'floating population' had a low correlation coefficient of 0.07 with the PM10 data, the data is closely related to the number of the beneficiary by the installation of the device. These results are shown in figure 8. Each data has a different scope of numbers. For example, the floating population has a scope of 7,000 to 10,000, while the number of factories varies from 30 to 3000. For example, if the raw numbers are applied directly to the formula, theoretically, the floating population will be about 20 times more effective in the index. To fix this misrepresenting, the centuple of the raw value of one district divided by the sum of all raw values of 25 districts were used instead. This value means the percentage the district holds of the sum of values. Also, some data like the 'number of factories' show an exponential shape, as shown in figure 7, while other data are relatively linear. This nonlinear shape means that if these values are used directly in the index formula without calibration, the 'number of factory' variable will affect the index more than originally designed. Thus, a square root was applied to the 'number of factory' variable to ensure the credibility and accuracy of the index.

III. RESULTS A. Correlation between air quality and other indices

FIGURE 4 | Choropleth Map of variables drawn by pandas library in Python. (Thicker colors indicate a higher value of the Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index.) TABLE 3 | Multivariable Correlation between PM10 density and other variables. The datum "number of factories in the district" showed the strongest correlation out of the four data.

Rsq: 0.015, 0.005, 0.000, 0.045 (anticlockwise starting from ‘Number of Vehicles’) FIGURE 5 | Scatterplot of Correlation between PM10 density and other variables drawn by TI-nspire CX CAS. Although four variables do show a positive correlation, they are relatively weak. Of the four variables, the number of the factory had the strongest correlation with the PM10 density values.

FIGURE 6 | Bar Graph of variables. Of the four variables, the graph of the number of factories showed an exponential shape. Thus, a square root was applied for the values for calibration.

The results are shown in the scatterplot (figure 6) and table 3. The scatterplot shows that all four data (number of vehicles, number of factories, floating population, and population of districts) show a positive correlation with the PM10 value. It confirms that the possible regression line points right-upward. However, according to the multivariable regression table in Table 3, a strong correlation was not found in any of the data with PM10. The correlation coefficient of the "number of factory" data was 0.21. The rest of the data had a value less than 0.2, which indicates a 'weak relationship.' These correlation coefficients indicate a weak relationship between PM10 value and floating population, population & factories, and some relationship with the number of factories in the district. The extremely high correlation between the population and number of vehicles (0.89) supports the similarity between the correlation value of the number of vehicles and population with PM10 values.

B. Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index (RACNI)

FIGURE 7 and FIGURE 8 | The formula of Roadside Air Cleaning Necessity Index (RACNI) and Ideal Distance Between Purifier (iDBP) index. High RACNI indicates a high need for roadside air cleaning. The multiplier five was decided to make the mean of iDBP 30, which is a value referenced from Bachler [7].

TABLE 4 | RACNI and iDBP index values of each district of Seoul. iDBP varied from 14.5 to 36.9.

The resulting formula for RACNI is shown in figure 8.

C. Ideal Distance Between Purifier index (iDBP) RACNI, varying from 2.61 to 7.08, shows the necessity of roadside air cleaning based on floating population, air quality (PM2.5, PM10), and the number of factories (with square root applied). To convert this index to an Ideal Distance Between Purifiers (iDBP), the RACNI is deducted from 10 and multiplied by 5. The deduction process is included to flip the rank of numbers, which means that the district with high needs would have a low ideal distance between purifiers or dense installation of those devices. For instance, we can interpret that Seongbuk with a RACNI of 2.61 has a low need for roadside air purification, while Jongno with a RACNI of 26.35 has a higher need. iDBP varied from 14.5 to 36.9, Jung-gu having the smallest number and Seongbuk the largest. The resulting formula of iDBP is shown in figure 8. Some possible models based on the iDBP value are shown in figure 9

Figure 9 | Model of installation in different districts of Seoul based on iDBP values of each district. The images are added from Naver Map.

Figure 10 | Choropleth map of the Roadside Air Cleaner Necessity Index (RACNI). Business Districts and Industrial districts show a high value of RACNI, which can be explained as the high value of each floating population and number of factories.

IV. DISCUSSION / CONCLUSION I hypothesized that districts with many cars and factories would have the most correlation with air quality and thus need an air purifier installed in a shorter interval. The hypothesis was proven partially true, as while the data' number of the factory' had a relatively strong correlation, the population did not. This can be explained as a discrepancy between the number of cars' registered' and the number of cars being used on the roads. Based on the iDBP values, three installation simulation locations were introduced using Naver Map based on three different levels of iDBP values. Three districts with high, medium, and low iDBP values were chosen. In the first location model (Eunma Apt. Jct., Daechi-dong) located in Gangnam-gu, the air purifiers are installed approximately 29 -meters (or m) in the distance. On the second location model (Samgaksan HS, Gilum- dong) located in Seongbuk-gu, the air purifiers are installed at approximately 37 meters. Lastly, on the third location model (Uljiro 3-ga Stn., Uljiro 3-ga) located in Gangnam-gu, the air purifiers are installed approximately 15 meters in distance. The simulation locations models show how the devices could be installed on the roadside at different distances based on the floating population, air quality, and the number of factories. In the research, PM10 values with other variables showed a low correlation coefficient. This coefficient can be understood as a lack of sample used in the calculation. About thirty values (one value from each district) were used to show the correlation by the scatterplot (see Fig. 5.) and the coefficient value (See Table 3.). In statistics, the sample size must at least

exceed 30 to anticipate a reliable result. Multiple values from different time periods in each district can be included in the dataset for better statistics to fix this issue. Before the research, I hypothesized that districts with many cars and factories would have the most correlation with air quality and thus need an air purifier installed in a shorter interval. The hypothesis was proven partially true, as while the data' number of the factory' had a relatively strong correlation, the population did not. This can be explained as a discrepancy between the number of cars' registered' and the number of cars being used on the roads. The RACNI values of each district seem to represent well the need for roadside air cleaning of each district, reflecting the regional characteristics of each. Although each district of Seoul shows similar characteristics, it would be better to calculate the RACNI value for each town for accuracy. Since the public data does not provide detailed air quality data for each town, this can be done by independent measurement. Since this was the first concept of this research, and I tried measuring the air quality on each junction of town, it was timeconsuming and laborious. The independent measurement must be done with enough people and a professional measuring instrument. Also, as the value of air quality easily fluctuates, the measurement should be done several times in one place to assure statistical reliability. In future research, I would like to have a chance to produce a mockup of the invention. Research such as the effect of installation in the city in various ways could be shed light on. The effect could include air quality, size of meteorology and air quality data, etc. Also, the mockup will help people understand how exactly the device works. Additionally, other data could be correlated and included as a variable in the index. For example, the adjacency from the river can be good data related to the air quality because water is known for improving the air quality. Since these are not provided in the public dataset by Seoul, these data must be obtained independently. Independently obtained data can go through a statistical significance process that ensures if the values were not drawn by chance. This research referred to the air quality of another research. In future research, I would like to calculate the air cleaning ability of the device by myself and apply it to the index computation. This will help to produce a more accurate value. Moreover, I would like to elaborate the formula of the indices in a more elaborate way, well-reflecting as many relevant variables as possible. As the current formula simply adds up several variables with arbitrary weight, the value may not be accurate. The weight of each variable can be modified based on a more scientific approach. Higher-level mathematics, including calculus, could be applied to ensure accuracy and precision. Finally, based on the RACNI and the iDBP index, a full map of Seoul filled with the roadside air cleaner could be made and simulated by technologies.

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Study on the Food Safety of Honey Produced from Urban Beekeeping

Author 1

Full Name

Moon, Seongwon

Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Urban beekeeping, raising honeybees in a city, helps restore the ecosystem of a barren city by creating an environment in which honeybees can live. However, since urban honey produced from urban beekeeping comes from flowers contaminated with urban air and soil, it may be questionable if it is safe to eat. This study was conducted to resolve these doubts. A previous study on nine heavy metals and two radioactive materials was first reviewed to verify the food safety of urban honey. Next, the ingredients of eleven veterinary medicines (five antibiotics, five pesticides and one parasiticide) and one toxic substance were analyzed using 250g of urban honey produced for this study. Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used in ten out of twelve analyses. Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet photometric detection (LC-UV) and Liquid Chromatography-Fluorescence Detection (LC-FD) were used in the remaining two. The analyses followed the Animal Drug Test Act and the Hazardous Substance Test Act of the Korean Food Standards Codex made by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). The result showed that residual veterinary medicines and toxic substances were undetected, indicating that the urban honey produced for this study was harmless. In Particular, even the trace amounts of residual veterinary medicines permitted by the MFDS were not found. It shows that the urban honey produced for this study proves very safe to eat. However, there is a limitation; this result cannot be generalized to the whole urban honey because few studies analyze its ingredients.

Keywords: urban beekeeping, honey, food safety, chromatography, LC-MS/MS

1. Introduction A quote says, "If bees disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live." Though the expression is somewhat exaggerated, the quote warns that the disappearance of bees could lead to the extinction of mankind. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2008, v), 71 of the 100 crops that supply 90% of food in 146 countries are pollinated by bees. Therefore, if bees disappear, about 70% of the crops used by mankind for food will disappear without bearing fruit. Furthermore, noncrops pollinated by bees will also not pass on seeds to the next generation, eventually threatening the ecosystem itself and thus posing a threat to humanity. Hence, saving bees is a way to protect human life. Urban beekeeping refers to raising honeybees in a city. Though it is easy to think that cities are unsuitable for beekeeping due to the pollution, hot and dry climate along with less pesticide spray can provide a suitable condition to raise honeybees. Urban beekeeping can contribute to the restoration of urban ecosystems and increase biodiversity by creating an environment where honeybees can live. Once a virtuous cycle is formed through urban beekeeping, as shown in Figure 1, the city environment can be more prosperous(Urban Bees Seoul 2017, 7). In particular, by raising honeybees at school, students can feel the dignity of life and extend interest in local ecosystems. Recently, urban beekeeping is actively underway at some schools in urban areas, such as Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, as shown in Figure 1.

a) b) Figure 1. a) Virtuous Cycle of Urban Beekeeping. b) Student beekeeping club ‘Buzz Buzz’ operating the urban apiary at Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages. This study was assisted by the club. According to Urban Bees Seoul (2017, 8-41), urban beekeeping is already taking place in many cities at home and abroad, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The Status of Foreign and Domestic Urban Beekeeping Foreign

Domestic In Korea, urban beekeeping started under local governments such as the Seoul Metropolitan Government. It has recently spread rapidly to the private sector.

Urban beekeeping is widely performed in major cities around the world. ① New York Intercontinental New York Barclay Hotel New York Hilton Midtown Hotel The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farms ② London Buckingham Palace the Natural History Museum London Stock Exchange Fortnum & Mason (department store) ③ Paris Musée d'Orsay Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral ④ Tokyo The Ginza Honey Bee Project ⑤ Others L.A., Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Johannesburg, Sydney, Melbourne, Istanbul, Hong Kong

① Public Office National Assembly British Embassy Seoul ② Public Park Seoul Forest Park World Cup Park ③ Organization or Company Korea Scout Association Hyundai Card Corp. CJ Logistics Seoul Branch ④ Hotel Handpicked Hotel Ibis Budget Ambassador Hotel Dongdaemun ⑤ University Seoul National University Soongsil University ⑥ High School Songdo High School Bugok High School Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages

As bees are environmentally sensitive species, honey differs in quality depending on where it is produced. Because urban honey is made in a poor city environment, it may cause the question, "Is not urban honey covered in pesticides or heavy metals?" It is doubtful whether honey harvested from city flowers contaminated with tiny dust and heavy metals can be safe to eat. If this suspicion cannot be cleared, urban honey's popularization will be a long way off. Hence, a study that verifies the safety of urban honey is essential for the industrialization of urban beekeeping. 2. Study on the Food Safety of Urban Honey 250g of honey samples were collected directly from the urban apiary at Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages to verify the food safety of urban honey. This study was assisted by a student beekeeping club ‘Buzz Buzz’ operating the urban apiary.

2.1 Getting Honey Samples from School Beekeeping

k) l) Figure 2. a) Installing hives. b-c) Assembling a trap and net against hornets. d) Learning beekeeping. e-f) Taking out frames and inspecting bees. g-h) Feeding pollen patties and sugar water. i-k) Extracting, filtering out and collecting honey. l) Getting 250g of honey samples.

2.2 Review of a Previous Study 'The Report on the Test Results of Heavy Metals in Honey(1st&2nd)' was released in July 2014. According to the report (Seoul Research Institute of Public Health and Environment 2014, 1-5), harmful heavy metals such as Pb, As, Cd and Cr were undetected in the urban honey produced in Seoul. Radioactive materials such as 131I and 134CS+137CS were undetected, too. Other heavy metals, which are harmful only when consumed excessively, were undetected or detected in trace amounts, showing no significant differences from honey in rural areas. In summary, the urban honey produced in Seoul proved safe to eat regarding nine heavy metals and two radioactive materials. The investigation was conducted between May and July 2014 for nine honey produced in Seoul and four produced in rural areas, including Gangwon Province and Jiri Mountain. ICPMS(Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and GFAAS(Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) were used to analyze heavy metals. The analyses followed the Hazardous Substance Test Act of the Korean Food Standards Codex made by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety(MFDS). Table 2. Test Results for Heavy Metals and Radioactive Materials in Seoul Honey Substance

MRL (mg/kg)

Result

0.10

N.D.

0.10

N.D.

0.05

N.D.

Iodine (131I)

300

Type

1 2

5 6 7

Hazardous

Heavy Metal Conditionally Harmful

Radioactive Materials

Average 1.3 (rural honey 5.1) Average 1.3 (rural honey 1.3) Average 0.3 (rural honey 0.6) Average 0.3 (rural honey 0.3) N.D. (rural honey N.D.) N.D.

Cesium 100 N.D. ( CS+137CS) MRL = Maximum Residue Limit (defined by the MFDS); N.D. = Not Detected 11

134

2.3 Food Safety of Urban Honey for Veterinary Medicines and Toxic Substances Veterinary medicines such as antibiotics, pesticides and parasiticides can cause harm if they are accumulated in the human body. In addition, toxic substances which come from the nectar of azaleas can lead to coma or death if consumed in large quantities at once. Hence, besides the heavy metals and radioactive materials, this study aims to evaluate the food safety of urban honey by focusing on other harmful substances such as veterinary medicines and toxic substances. 2.3.1 Method Honey is a mixture, a substance made of two or more pure substances without losing their original properties. The ingredients that make up the mixture can be separated by the unique characteristics of pure substances such as melting point, boiling point, density and solubility. The method of analyzing ingredients using the different moving speeds of the pure substances is called chromatography. The term was first used in 1906 by Russian botanist Mikhail Tsvet who came up with the technique for separating plant pigments (Son 2011, 199). It combines "chroma," a Latin word for color and "graphein," a word for the record. Chromatography can effectively separate the ingredients when the properties of the ingredients are similar or their amount is tiny. Thus, it is one of the most suitable methods for separating the ingredients of honey. 2.3.2 Paper Chromatography Ingredients with similar nature or tiny amounts in a mixture can be separated by chromatography. Depending on the type of analyst column in which the ingredient permeates, it is classified into several types: paper, liquid and gas chromatography.

b) a) c) Figure 3. a) Drawing the line at the same height on a filter paper using water-based color markers. b) The filter paper was secured to the bar, and the end of it was soaked into water. c) Marker ink, which appeared to be one color, was separated into pigments of several colors as it moved along with water.

The speed at which each ingredient permeates an analyst column along with solvent varies depending on the substance. However, the ratio for the height of the solvent and ingredients is constant, which is called the Retention factor (Rf). For example, in the previous experiment, if the red pigment rises 10cm and the blue one rises 5cm when the water rises 20cm, the Rf (red)=10÷20=1/2=0.5 and Rf (blue)=5÷20=1/4=0.25. If tested on the same solvent and analyst column, the Rf is always constant even if the height of solvent or ingredient changes. Therefore, if the Rf can be calculated for any unknown ingredient, the identity of the substance can be figured out, as shown in Figure 4.

If x is unknown and Rf (x) = 15÷30 = 1/2 = 0.5, x is not blue but red Figure 4. The Calculation and Utilization of Rf (Retention factor) Rf (red) = 10÷20 = 1/2 = 0.5

Rf (blue) = 5÷20 = 1/4 = 0.25

2.3.3 Ingredient Analysis of Urban Honey Just as the pigments in marker ink were separated by paper chromatography, the ingredients of honey can be analyzed by liquid chromatography. However, since expensive equipment and expertise are needed for actual analysis, the Korea Beekeeping Agricultural Cooperative (KBAC) was commissioned to conduct the test. In the Central Research Institute of KBAC, unknown ingredients are first separated by liquid chromatography. The separated ingredients are then analyzed by mass spectrometry sequentially (Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry or LC-MS/MS). When a sample passes through an analyst column along with solvent that flows into the device, several ingredients are separated sequentially by the different moving speeds caused by the ionic or the polarity of the ingredient molecules. Then, within two mass spectrometers joined alongside, as energy is applied constantly to the ingredients, they break into several fragment ions with unique masses. By the unique patterns and proportions of these fragment ions, the identity of the substance is finally figured out.

e) Figure 5. a) Commissioning the Korea Beekeeping Agricultural Cooperative. b) Requesting the ingredient analysis for 250g of urban honey samples produced for this study. c) Basic test. d) Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). e) Honey test report issued. Between October 27 and November 9 in 2020, the ingredient analysis of eleven veterinary medicines and one toxic substance was conducted on 250g of urban honey samples produced for this study. The eleven veterinary medicines are five antibiotics (oxytetracycline, neomycin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, nitrofuran), five pesticides (amitraz, coumaphos, fluvalinate, bromopropylate) and one parasiticide (cymiazole). The toxic substance is grayanotoxin III. Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used in ten out of twelve analyses. For the remaining two, Liquid Chromatography-Fluorescence Detector (LCFD) was used for streptomycin and Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet photometric detection (LC-UV) for flumethrin. The detector here refers to a device that uses fluorescence or ultraviolet absorbance characteristics to detect the trace amounts of ingredients separated by liquid chromatography. The analyses followed the Animal Drug Test Act and the Hazardous Substance Test Act of the Korean Food Standards Codex made by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). On November 10, 2020, the results of ingredient analysis were reported from the Central Research Institute of KBAC. Residual veterinary medicines and toxic substances were undetected, showing that the urban honey produced for this study was harmless. In particular, even the trace amounts of residual veterinary medicines permitted by the MFDS were not found. It showed that the urban honey produced for this study was very safe to eat.

Table 3. Test Results for Veterinary Medicines and Toxic Substances in Urban Honey Produced for This Study Substance 1

MRL (mg/kg)

Result

oxytetracycline

0.30

N.D.

neomycin

0.10

N.D.

chloramphenicol

N.D.

streptomycin 2

N.D.

nitrofuran

N.D.

amitraz

0.20

N.D.

coumaphos

0.10

N.D.

fluvalinate

0.05

N.D.

flumethrin 3

0.01

N.D.

bromopropylate

0.01

N.D.

cymiazole

1.00

N.D.

grayanotoxin III

N.D.

Type

Antibiotic

Veterinary Medicine

7 8

11 12

Pesticide

Parasiticide Toxic Substance

MRL = Maximum Residue Limit (defined by the MFDS); N.D. = Not Detected 1 For substances except for streptomycin and flumethrin, Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used 2 For streptomycin, Liquid Chromatography-Fluorescence Detector (LC-FD) was used 3 For flumethrin, Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet photometric detection (LC-UV) was used

3. Conclusion 3.1 Summary and Achievement Honeybees collect nectar, sugar-rich liquid from flowers. Worker bees make honey by regurgitating the collected nectar. Several worker bees pass the nectar from mouth to mouth and repeat swallowing and spitting several times. Through this process, harmful ingredients in the nectar are filtered out, making urban honey safe. In this study, a previous study conducted by the Seoul Research Institute of Public Health and Environment was first reviewed. According to the study, harmful heavy metals and radioactive materials were undetected. The result showed that the urban honey produced in Seoul was safe to eat. Next, the ingredients of eleven veterinary medicines and one toxic substance were analyzed using 250g of urban honey produced for this study. LC-MS/MS, LCFD and LC-UV were used for the analyses. The result showed that residual veterinary medicines or toxic substances were undetected, indicating that the urban honey produced for this study was harmless. In particular, even the trace amounts of residual veterinary medicines permitted by the MFDS were not found. It showed that the urban honey produced for this study was very safe to eat. In summary, despite the urban pollution, honey produced by urban beekeeping was safe to eat, proving indirectly that honey purification through filtration by worker bees was powerful. This study, which shows the food safety of honey produced by urban beekeeping, is expected to contribute to urban honey’s industrialization. Ensuring the safety of urban honey leads to more consumption, and more consumption eventually leads to mass production. As more people commit to urban beekeeping to produce urban honey, the bee population can be preserved. It helps to proceed with more active pollination and eventually protect mankind. 3.2. Limitation The food safety of urban honey produced for this study has been verified. However, there is a limitation; this result cannot be generalized to the whole urban honey because few studies analyze its ingredients. Though urban beekeeping has been more popular, it is still considered not a business but a hobby. As a result, there are few studies for the ingredient analysis of urban honey. Hence, it is unlikely that this study alone will generalize that honey produced from urban beekeeping is safe. 3.3 Further Studies Honeybees are classified into Western and Eastern species (Kim 2012, 88-90). The common honeybees in Korea are Western ones. In the urban apiary at Gyeonggi Academy of Foreign Languages, Western honeybees have been raised since 2020. However, the more severe crisis in bee population is not in Western but Eastern honeybees. Since 2009, nearly 75

percent of the Eastern honeybees have died as the Korean Sacbrood Virus (KSBV) has spread across the country (Choi 2020, 76-79). Though Eastern honeybees are more gentle and resistant to cold than Western ones, they often abandon their existing homes quickly when the habitat was worsened or attacked. For this reason, few studies have been conducted on Eastern honeybees because they are harder to raise than Western ones. By raising both Eastern and Western honeybees from 2021, this study would be extended by comparing ecological differences and analyzing the quality of honey produced by the two species. Table 4. Western Honeybees vs. Eastern Honeybee (Kim 2018, 73-75) Western Honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Eastern Honeybee (Apis cerana)

Body Color

dark yellow near orange

black and white streaks repeated

Body Size

12~14mm

10~13mm

Honeycomb Cell

5mm

4.7mm

Tongue Length

6.5mm

5.3mm

Honey Harvest

several times a year

once a year

Appearance

In 2020, because beekeeping started late and the weather got colder earlier than usual, honey samples were collected only once. As a result, more diverse analyses could not be done. In 2021, with samples obtained differently on harvest times, locations and bee plants, more diverse analyses such as comparing the differences in the ingredients of different samples and estimating their causalities will be done. Last, the health of worker bees in the urban area is a concern. The repeating regurgitations of worker bees make urban honey safe as harmful ingredients in the nectar are filtered out. However, those ingredients would be accumulated in the body of worker bees. Of course, as the life expectancy of worker bees is short, harmful ingredients rarely affect the bee population.

However, as it is clear that honey is made from such sacrifices of worker bees, research on their health status would be needed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Choi, Woori. 2020. 달콤한 나의 도시양봉: 외롭고 바쁘고 고된 도시인, 벌과 눈 맞다[My Sweet Urban Beekeeping: A Lonely, Busy, Tired Citizen's Eye Contact with Bees]. Seoul: Wood Pencil Books. [2] FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2008. “Tools for Conservation and Use of Pollination Services: Initial Survey of Good Pollination Practices.” www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agphome/documents/Biodiversitypollination/SURVEY_DEC_08_Small.pdf [3] Kim, Hwang. 2012. 꿀벌이 없어지면 딸기를 못 먹는다고?[We Cannot Eat Strawberries if Honeybees Disappear?] Seoul: Changbi Publishers, Inc. [4] Kim, Jina. 2018. 도시 양봉을 하다: 쉽게 배우는 도시 양봉[Urban Beekeeping: Easy-tolearn Urban Beekeeping]. Seoul: Jeonwon Publishing Co. [5] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 2015. “Safety Management of Veterinary Medicines that Remain in Food!! What Are You Curious about?” Modified November 25. https://mfds.go.kr/brd/m_227/view.do?seq=21472&srchFr=&srchTo=&srchWord=&srchTp=&it m_seq_1=0&itm_seq_2=0&multi_itm_seq=0&company_cd=&company_nm=&page=18 [6] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 2021. “Korean Food Standards Codex.” Modified March 25. http://www.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/foodcode/01_01.jsp [7] Seoul Research Institute of Public Health & Environment. 2014. “The Report on the Test Results of Heavy Metals in Honey(1st&2nd).” Modified July 28. http://opengov.seoul.go.kr/sanction/2148771 [8] Son, Yeongun. 2011. 55 핵심개념으로 꽉잡는 중학화학[Middle School Chemistry Completed with 55 Key Concepts]. Seoul: Geuldam Publishers. [9] Urban Bees Seoul. 2017. “Urban Beekeeping: Everything about Beekeeping that Anyone Learns Easily.” Modified December 1. http://urbanbeesseoul.com/story/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/도시양봉법_누구나-쉽게배우는-도시양봉의-모든-것.pdf

Prediction of ecosystem damage caused by climate change

Author 1

Full Name

Park, Yunki

St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Brief Introduction Scientists around the world are trying to come up with a plan to maintain global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius (e.g., IPCC 2015[1]) before the Industrial Revolution. It also tried to keep this through the Paris Convention, and the recent withdrawal of the U.S. in the Trump era resolved the issue of the validity of the Paris Convention by rejoining the Biden era. Let me predict what problems human beings will face with rising climate change temperatures and what additional problems are likely to arise in the future. While looking at the changes, we have examined the emissions and growth of carbon dioxide over the past 200 years, and we can see that China's rapid industrialization has a significant impact on global warming. The migration of mosquitoes, bees, and insects near the equator before global warming will destroy ecosystems and create new ecosystems due to rising temperatures. It also introduced cases in which simple migration causes mosquitoes and insects to die due to problems such as temperature and natural enemies, and changes ecosystems by reading territorial wars. In other words, malaria mosquitoes near the African equator have survived above the 38th parallel, causing problems in the summer, and the ice has melted in Afghanistan, which is covered by Mount Boerum, and pleased animals and livestock. The table data in this study will be correlated with Python programming and are currently prepared. In addition, the company is planning to print incident incidents as a world map for the past 10 years. And I wanted to know the effective output result by entering the data.

Hypothesis Settings Humanity begins to industrialize and use fossil fuels to create a variety of problems, especially if we do not reduce the impact of Co2 on global warming by 88% [1], it is not El Niño [2]. I thought the phenomenon would be more severe. Methodology 1) Time series analysis of temperature changes from past to present The third report of the IPCC showed that the average global temperature rose 0.6°C over the past 100 years from 1901 to 2000. The fourth report showed that the average global temperature has risen 0.74℃ over the past 100 years (1906-2005). The temperature rise curve has been steeper in the past decade. Eleven of the twelve hottest times since 1850 have been concentrated in the last 12 years. Figure1. Time series graph of global warming over the past 140 years.

Data Source: NASA 2) Comparison of temperature changes in the southern half and temperature changes with the northern half shows that China's industrialization and the emergence of industrialized countries using Co2 in the northern half of India are largely affected by China's industrialization. I graphically represented this. That is industrialization in the direction of reducing the impact of climate change.

Figure3. A major component of global warming gas.

Data Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

China emits the most warming gases, and Korea is one of the world's seventh-largest emitters of carbon dioxide.

Figure3. No. 1 country on CO2 emissions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions#:~:text=Historical%20 annual%20CO2%20emissions%20for%20the%20top%20six%20countries%20and%20confederations

2) Regional studies on the global coastline rise and the change in the distribution of water-poor countries Case studies through comparison of the damage caused by past typhoons and the current extent of damage; and Review accuracy with simulating What is sea level rise? It is a phenomenon in which glaciers melt due to global warming caused by climate change and finally sea water levels rise [3]. The melting of floating icebergs or floating ice does not affect the sea-level rise. This is because the volume increases only as much as the submerged part due to the principle of buoyancy. The Arctic, Antarctic ice, and land ice glaciers melt and flow into the sea [4]. This is because the seawater temperature increases, and the volume of the seawater increases. This leads to rising sea levels. The higher the temperature, the melting of ice on the continent and flowing into the sea, and the higher the temperature, the bigger the volume of seawater. Eventually, global warming affects both the amount and volume of seawater, raising the sea level. Sea Level Height Simulation Site: http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=33.8339,129.7265&z=12&m=9 Data provided by NASA

Figure4. Jason series of satellites launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to measure sea level. The study compared the satellite data with climate model calculations. © NASA [5]

Figure5. Sea level rise height over the past 100 years

Sunstroke and heatstroke

Chart 1. Observed sea level rise rate and contribution due to various factors Causes of sea level rise

Cause of sea-level rise The rate of sea-level rise (mm/year)

1961-2003

1993-2003

Thermal expansion

0.42±0.12

1.6±0.5

Glaciers and ice caps

0.50±0.18

0.77±0.22

Greenland Ice Sheet

0.05±0.12

0.21±0.07

Antarctic ice sheet

0.14±0.41

0.21±0.35

Total factors contributing to sea level rise

1.1±0.5

2.8±0.7

Observed sea level rise

1.8±0.5a

3.1±0.7a

Difference

0.7±0.7

3.1±0.7a

(from observations minus the sum of the climate contribution estimates

3) Completing a predictive model for damage and disaster through Mean Standard Development Error (MSE) method through time series analysis. Once every two years, Elinor and Phenomenon developed strongly. Houston’s water froze and the factory certiPhenomenonficate failed to operate for a month, causing massive damage. It is related to the heat cycle of the local district. As the

cold seawater of the Arctic Ocean spreads from the bottom to the top near the coast of Peru, the seawater cools overall, and the hot land cools along with it. But if this doesn't happen constantly, the seawater won't cool down, so the temperature on land will rise. When land is hot, water evaporates to form clouds, which spray a lot of rain in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, heavy rains and floods occur in Latin America, adjacent to the eastern Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, on the west side of the Pacific Ocean, where the Korean Peninsula is located, there is a drought and hot land, leading to hot summer weather. Last year, due to the influence of Super El Nino suffered from drought in the Summer and heavy snow in the southern part of the country in winter. Figure.6. Forecast of global average temperatures in the early and late 21st century compared to 1980-1999. The figures on the center and right are B1 (top), A1B (center), A2 (bottom)The scenario-based average of multiple AOGCM models is the 10-year average for 2020-2029 (central) and 2090-2099 (right). The picture on the left is... An indication of the uncertainty expressed by the relative probability of global average warming estimated by several AOGCM and global system model studies over the same period. C. Some studies only present results for some or various model versions of SRES scenarios. Therefore, the curve shown in the picture on the left. The number is due to the difference in the available results.

Prediction of ground temperature by atmospheric marine bonding model

Since July 24, 2009, the day when the night is low (6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day) is referred to as a tropical night. Global and continental temperature changes Figure 7. (WGI) Global and Continental Temperature Change Comparison of observed continental- and global-scale changes in surface temperature with results simulated by climate models using natural and anthropogenic forcing. Decadal averages of observations are shown for the period 1906–2005 (black line) plotted against the center of the decade and relative to the corresponding average for 1901–1950. Lines are dashed where spatial coverage is less than 50%. Blue shaded bands show the 5–95% range for 19 simulations from 5 climate models using only the natural forcing due to solar activity and volcanoes. Red shaded bands show the 5–95% range for 58 simulations from 14 climate models using both natural and anthropogenic forcing.

Result According to the process so far and data from 200 years ago to the present, the record temperature in the Northern Hemisphere has been rising in recent two decades. In addition, Co2 usage increased proportionally increased. It has been reached that reducing the use of vegetables 2 - reducing the use of fossil fuels - reduces the causes of global climate change. Then we need to discuss how much fossil fuels should be reduced. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations lead to cascading effects via six of the other key climate indicators that perpetuate warming and contribute to high impact events, risking the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)(e.g State of the Global Climate 2020 Risk of impact https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/6942683c7ed54e51b433bbc0c50fbdea)

Conclusion As the last plot shows, we are in a dangered position right now. If this temperature trend continues like that, events might be catastrophic. When we say the overall global temperature change is 1.5C ∘ -2C ∘ it might not seem like a big deal, but it is. It's because, as we have seen, this temperature change is not evenly distributed around our planet, as our bar plot shows temperature levels change at different rates for each continent. This change might lead to destructive anomalies and unexpected changes. Reference [1] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change https://www.ipcc.ch/ [2] Global warming https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A7%80%EA%B5%AC_%EC%98%A8%EB%82%9C%ED %99%94 [3] Another El Niño on the horizon? 07/12/2018 https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/Another_El_Nino _on_the_horizon [4] https://www.climatecentral.org/ [5] Climate Central has many tools for evaluating sea level rise and coastal flood risk. https://sealevel.climatecentral.org/

[6] NASA.gov brings you the latest news, images, and videos from America's space agency, pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research [7] The Korean Peninsula is amid abnormal weather damage. https://www.sisajournal.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=156150 [8] Sangdo Park Global Warming and Climate Change: An Overview of Technological Solutions, 2006.04 1~12p [9] IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In：Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. http://www.greenfacts.org/en/climate-change-ar4/figtableboxes/figure-4.htm [10] Global&Continental Temperature Changes https://www.kaggle.com/azxc9595/global-continental-temperature-changes [11] Trends in continental temperature and humidity directly linked to ocean warming Michael P. Byrnea, b,1 and Paul A. O’Gormanc a Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, United Kingdom; b Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, 8092 Z ¨ urich, Switzerland; and ¨ C Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 Edited by Isaac M. Held, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton, NJ, and approved March 20, https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/115/19/4863.full.pdf

A Study on the Spatial Distribution of Air Pollutants in Seoul Metropolitan City

Author 1

Full Name

Park, Junseo David

Korea International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Air pollution negatively affects people’s health and quality of life. Therefore, many countries around the world including Korea have made various efforts to reduce air pollution and protect the environment. This study examined the spatial distribution of air pollutants and analyzed the correlation between various kinds of air pollutants in Seoul such as fine dust (PM10), ultrafine dust (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Air pollution concentrations by autonomous districts were measured using the inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation tool of the Geographic Information System (GIS). The main results are as follows. First, the concentrations of air pollutants in Korea are generally higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards. Second, this study proves regional differences in air pollution concentration depending on the type of air pollutants. Third, there are high correlations between various air pollutants. This study is expected to help establish air pollution prevention policies for each autonomous district in Seoul in the future.

Keywords: Air pollutants, Spatial distribution, Geographic Information System, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO, O3, SO2

1. Introduction Globally, aimless and careless urbanization and urban sprawl have caused an increase in automobiles and industrial facilities, resulting in various urban environmental problems [1]. Among them, air pollution is threatening the health of urban residents worldwide due to various reasons such as an increase in factory facilities, automobile use, and fossil fuels [2]. In particular, exposure to air pollution has negative effects on mortality, cardiovascular morbidity, respiratory health, and fertility in women [3-5]. Additionally, exposure to air pollution can impede lung development and promote respiratory diseases in children and adolescents, which can accumulate into adulthood and increase cardiopulmonary mortality and diseases [6]. Accordingly, the WHO and the international community have made efforts to reduce air pollution by setting air quality standards. According to the WHO, about 4.2 million people die each year from diseases related to air pollution and about 91% of the world's population lives in urban areas where air quality levels exceed the WHO standards. [7]. In the case of Korea, rapid economic growth has resulted in a global economic powerhouse in a short period of time. However, this improvement has had negative effects of worsening air pollution in Seoul and its surrounding areas. In the case of Seoul, the concentration of PM10, an air pollutant that has recently received a lot of environmental attention, is steadily increasing. The PM2.5 concentration, which has been designated as a class 1 carcinogen by the WHO, has been on the rise since the start of observation in 2013. The concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) mainly generated in automobiles, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) mainly emitted from fuel combustion and industrial processes are similar to those of particulate matter. As such, major air pollutants tend to be similar or worse compared to the past, and strategies and policy solutions to reduce air pollution in the city are desperately needed. Therefore, this study aims to examine the spatial distribution and regional differences of various air pollutants including particulate matter, and to analyze the correlation between air pollutants in Seoul Metropolitan City, the capital of Korea.

2. Literature Review According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s glossary of statistical terms [8] is defined as “the presence of contaminant or pollutant substances in the air that does not disperse properly and that interfere with human health or welfare, or produce other harmful environmental effects.” In Korea, the Clean Air Conservation Act was first enacted in 1980 to mitigate the issues of air pollution. This Act was enacted to manage and conserve the atmospheric environment in a proper and sustainable manner to provide a healthy and comfortable environment. Air pollutants are found in the air in two major forms: a gaseous form of gases and in a solid form from particulate matters suspended in the air [9]. Gaseous matters are produced at the time of combustion, synthesis, and decomposition of matter. Particulate matters are produced at the time of crushing, sorting, piling, reloading, mechanically treating, combusting, synthesizing, or decomposing matter. Air pollution is closely related to urban characteristics such as population, land use,

transportation, and industrial activity [10]. Thus, research on air pollution and urban environmental characteristics is continuously being conducted universally. For example, Liu et al. [11] conducted a study to inspect the spatial variation of PM2.5 and NO2 in Shanghai, China. They found that only NO2 concentration was found to be high in the residential areas and the concentration of all pollutants was high in the industrial areas, regardless of the type of air pollutant. Weichenthal et al. [12], who observed the spatial distribution of ultrafine particles in Toronto, Canada, found that parks and open spaces seemed to lower the concentration of ultrafine particles. In addition, Farrel et al. [13] investigated that waterfront areas seemed to have lower PM 2.5 concentration. Rivera et al. [14], who analyzed the spatial distribution of PM2.5, showed that higher density of residential areas, correlated with higher concentration of PM2.5. In particular, economically disadvantaged groups and social minority groups were more likely to live in areas with high air pollution, thus seriously harming their health [15]. Consequently, it is important to understand the relationship between socio-economically disadvantaged groups and their exposure to air pollution [16]. These Environmental inequalities can have critical negative influences on socio-economically disadvantaged minority group’s health. Hence, these issues deprive the need for continued attention and research on air pollution.

3. Methods 3.1 Study Area and Air-monitoring Stations Seoul Metropolitan City, the capital of Korea, has a population of around 9.9 million people as of 2020 and a population density of 16,375 people per square kilometer. Seoul’s land area (605.68 ㎢) remains mostly for residential use (53.58 %), followed by parks and open spaces (38.69 %), commercial uses (4.24 %), and industrial uses (3.28 %). Figure 1 shows the locations of monitoring stations of air pollutants that are distributed across Seoul Metropolitan City. Seoul has 46 air-monitoring stations in operation, including 31 urban and 15 roadside airmonitoring stations. One out of 46 air-monitoring stations is located outside of Seoul, but it is still located relatively close to Seoul. The height of air-monitoring stations is deliberately set in the range between 1.0 m to 10 m above the ground. Spatial information on air-monitoring stations and air pollutant concentrations were obtained from the integrated air environment information system, which provides highly reliable measurement data on the outdoor air quality levels nationwide under the Korean Ministry of Environment [17]. Finally, this study examined the spatial distribution of air pollution concentrations in the 25 autonomous districts (Gu) of Seoul Metropolitan City by the different types of air pollutants and is expected to help establish air pollution prevention policies for each autonomous district in Seoul in the future.

Figure 1. Air-monitoring stations in Seoul

3.2 Spatial Measures of Air Pollutants In Korea, air pollutants officially measured by the Air Korea under the Korean Ministry of Environment are fine dust (PM10), ultrafine dust (PM2.5), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). This study examined the annual average of the concentrations of the six air pollutants provided by the Seoul Air Quality Information System. First, 46 air-monitoring stations in Seoul were geocoded with the use of the geocoding tool of GIS. Next, the 2018 average concentrations of six air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO, SO2, O3) measured at each air-monitoring station were spatially joined with the data of each air-monitoring station. The GIS base map was first rasterized in units of 50 m × 50 m to measure the concentrations of air pollutants more precisely. An inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation was performed to measure the air pollution concentration [18]. This method is an appropriate analysis by GIS to reasonably calculate the values of unmeasured points [19]. Finally, the air pollution concentrations by the different types of air pollutants from the IDW interpolation were measured at the autonomous district (Gu) level through the GIS zonal statistics tool.

4. Results 4.1 Descriptive Statistical Analysis of Air Pollutants Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the air pollutants. The average concentrations of air pollutants were calculated based on the average of all the administrative districts (Gu) in Seoul. The average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in Seoul were 23.85 and 42.31 μg/m³,

respectively. These concentration levels were more than double the WHO’s recommended PM2.5 and PM10 annual averages of 10 and 20 μg/m³, which indicates that Seoul ’s particulate matter contamination was very serious in 2018. PM2.5 and PM10 include inhalable particles that are small enough to penetrate the thoracic region of the respiratory system. According to the WHO report [20], for the health of Seoul citizens, there is an urgent need for effective and practical policies to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 for the environment and public health. Particulate matters are air pollutants that have a serious negative influence on people's health. Furthermore, the average concentrations of NO2, CO, O3, and SO2 were 0.032, 0.545, 0.021, and 0.005 ppm, respectively. The NO2 concentration was also higher than the WHO standard of 0.021 ppm. Table 1. Descriptive statistics Air pollutant

Unit

Mean

Std. Dev

Min.

Max.

WHO standard

PM2.5

μg/m³ μg/m³ ppm ppm ppm ppm

23.85

1.389

21.73

27.50

42.31

2.447

38.14

47.18

0.032

0.004

0.022

0.036

0.021

0.545

0.040

0.421

0.607

n/a

0.021

0.002

0.018

0.025

n/a

0.005

0.000

0.004

0.006

n/a

PM10 NO2 CO

O3 SO2

4.2 Spatial Distribution of Air Pollutants Figures 2–7 show the spatial distributions of the air pollutants measured in an autonomous district (Gu) in the Seoul Metropolitan City through spatial interpolation. Overall, the GIS maps demonstrated that there were spatially significant differences in the air pollution concentrations depending on the type of air pollutants. In other words, it suggested that regional characteristics in Seoul have different effects on each air pollutant. Therefore, it means that it is necessary not only to make efforts to reduce air pollution generally in Seoul, but also to reduce air pollution within each autonomous districts (Gu). Looking at the spatial distribution of each air pollutant, PM2.5 shows a high concentration level in the western regions of Seoul, and relatively low concentration level in the northern and eastern regions. Although the spatial distribution of PM10 is slightly different from that of PM2.5, it shows a similar spatial distribution pattern. The NO2 concentration appeared to be partially and evenly high throughout Seoul. Interestingly, the spatial distribution of O3 concentration seems to be opposite to that of NO2, although both O3 and NO2 are serious air pollutants harmful to humans. It is necessary to establish resilient and effective environmental policies according to the degree of negative impacts of air pollutants on humans for each type of air pollutant. The CO concentration was high in the eastern and southern regions. SO2 showed spatial distribution similar to those of PM2.5 and PM10. Finally, the fact that all air pollutants have different influences by spatial characteristics by regions requires more in-depth research and policy development on regional effects depending on the type of air pollutants in the future.

Figure 2(a). Spatial distribution of PM2.5

Figure 2(b). Spatial distribution of PM2.5

Figure 3(a). Spatial distribution of PM10

Figure 3(b). Spatial distribution of PM10

Figure 4(a). Spatial distribution of NO2

Figure 4(b). Spatial distribution of NO2

Figure 5(a). Spatial distribution of CO

Figure 5(b). Spatial distribution of CO

Figure 6(a). Spatial distribution of O3

Figure 6(b). Spatial distribution of O3

Figure 7(a). Spatial distribution of SO2

Figure 7(b). Spatial distribution of SO2

4.3 Correlation Analysis Between Air Pollutants As shown in Figure 2–7, PM2.5 and PM10 are the same type of air pollutants, but their spatial distributions are different. This result suggests the need of examining the correlation between air pollutants to establish a more effective air pollution reduction plan. Table 2 shows the result of correlation analysis between various air pollutants. PM2.5 and PM10 are air pollutants of the same nature and showed a very high correlation coefficient (r = 0.835, p < 0.01). However, a high negative correlation coefficient (r = –0.727, p < 0.01) was found

between NO2 and O3. NO2 had a moderate positive correlation with PM10 (r = 0.556, p < 0.01), and SO2 had a moderate positive relation with PM2.5 (r = 0.605, p < 0.01). Air pollutants other than CO had a positive or negative correlation with each other, whereas CO had no correlation Table 2. Correlation analysis

PM2.5

PM10

PM2.5

PM10

0.416*

NO2

–0.287

–0.727** *

NO2

0.044

0.403

–0.254

0.190

0.556**

–0.480*

0.835**

SO2

–0.061

0.199

SO2

–0.405

0.605

1 0.420* *

p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01

with other air pollutants. Therefore, it can be inferred that the pollutant source of CO is different from that of other air pollutants.

5. Conclusion Air pollution negatively affects people’s health and the quality of life. Therefore, many countries around the world have made various efforts to reduce air pollution and protect the environment. Korea has also recently come up with various policies and interventions to reduce air pollution. In addition, since air pollution has spatial properties, there are differences in the concentration of air pollutants depending on the region. Therefore, this study examined the spatial distribution of air pollutants and analyzed the correlation between various air pollutants in Seoul, Korea. The main results are as follows. First, the concentrations of air pollutants in Korea are generally higher than the WHO air quality standards. In particular, the concentration levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were more than double the WHO standards. Therefore, Seoul needs to pay continuous attention to sustainable policies to reduce air pollution. Second, this study proves regional differences in air pollution concentration depending on the type of air pollutants. This means that each local government as well as the Seoul Metropolitan Government must make an effort to effectively reduce air pollution. Third, there is a high correlation between various air pollutants. This suggests that it is necessary to develop more effective pollution reduction policies by understanding the causal properties of air pollutants. The urban facilities, environments, and services provided by the urbanization process of the city allowed for comfortable life. However, side effects such as air pollution from aimless and careless urbanization caused great harm to human life. Therefore, it is necessary to improve quality of life through constant efforts to reduce air pollution.

References [1] Kim, D.; Chen, Z.; Zhou, L.-F.; Huang, S.-X. Air pollutants and early origins of respiratory diseases. Chronic Dis. Transl. Med. 2018, 4, 75–94. [2] Hvidtfeldt, U.A.; Sorensen, M.; Geels, C.; Ketzel, M.; Khan, J.; Tjonneland, A.; RaaschouNielsen, O. Long-term residential exposure to PM2.5, PM10, black carbon, NO2, and ozone and mortality in a Danish cohort. Environ. Int. 2019, 123, 265–272. [3] Brook, R.; Rajagopalan, S.; Pope, A.; Brook, J.; Bhatnagar, A.; Diez-Roux, A. et al. Particulate matter air pollution and cardiovascular disease: an update to the scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2010, 121, 2331–2378. [4] Gray, S.C.; Edwards, S.E.; Miranda, M.L. Assessing exposure metrics for PM and birth weight models. J. Exposure Sci. Environ. Epidemiol. 2010, 20, 469–477. [5] Brugha, R.; Grigg, J. Urban air pollution and respiratory infections. Paediatr Respir Rev. 2014, 15,194–199. [6] Veras, M.M.; Oliveira Alves, N.; Fajersztajn, L.; Saldiva, P. Before the first breath: prenatal exposures to air pollution and lung development. Cell Tissue Res. 2016, 367, 445–455. [7] World Health Organization (WHO). Available online: https://www.who.int/airpollution/ambient/health-impacts/en/ (accessed on 12 August 2021). [8] Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Glossary of Statistical Terms. Available online: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/ (accessed on 14 August 2021). [9] Annual report of air quality in Korea 2017. Available online: https://www.airkorea.or.kr/web/detailViewDown?pMENU_NO=125 (accessed on 15 August 2021). [10] Choi, Y.; Moon, S.H.; Yim, H.K. Assessing the impact of the factors of urban characteristics on air pollution using panel model. J. Korea Plan. Assoc. 2007, 42, 191–202. (In Korean) [11] Liu, C.; Henderson, B.H.; Wang, D.; Yang, X.; Peng, Z. A land use regression application into assessing spatial variation of intra-urban fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations in City of Shanghai, China. Sci. Total Environ. 2016, 565, 607–615. [12] Weichenthal, S.; Van Ryswyk, K.; Goldstein, A.; Shekarrizfard, M.; Hatzopoulou, M. Characterizing the spatial distribution of ambient ultrafine particles in Toronto, Canada: A land use regression model. Environ. pollut. 2016, 208, 241–248. [13] Farrell, W.; Weichenthal, S.; Goldberg, M.; Valois, M.-F.; Shekarrizfard, M.; Hatzopoulou, M. Near roadway air pollution across a spatially extensive road and cycling network. Environ. Pollut. 2016, 212, 498–507. [14] Rivera, M.; Basagaña, X.; Aguilera, I.; Agis, D.; Bouso, L.; Foraster, M.; Medina-Ramón, M.; Pey, J.; Künzli, N.; Hoek, G. Spatial distribution of ultrafine particles in urban settings: A land use regression model. Atmos. Environ. 2012, 54, 657–666. [15] Yanosky, J.D.; Schwartz, J.; Suh, H.H. Associations between measures of socioeconomic position and chronic nitrogen dioxide exposure in Worcester, Massachusetts. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2008, 71, 1593–1602. [16] Clougherty, J.E.; Kubzansky, L.D. A framework for examining social stress and susceptibility to air pollution in respiratory health. Environ. Health Perspect. 2009, 117, 1351–1358. [17] Seoul Air Environment Information System. Available online: https://cleanair.seoul.go.kr/ (accessed on 10 July 2021).

[18] Ko, D.; Park, S. A Study on the Influences of Neighborhood Built Environment on Air Pollutants in Seoul. J. Korean Reg. Dev. Assoc. 2019, 31, 123–140. (In Korean) [19] Calle, C.I.; Buhler, C.R.; McFall, J.L.; Snyder, S.J. Particle removal by electrostatic and dielectrophoretic forces for dust control during lunar exploration missions. J. Electrostat. 2009, 67, 89–92. [20] World Health Organization (WHO). Health Effects of Particulate Matter. Available online: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/189051/Health-effects-of-particulatematter-final-Eng.pdf (accessed on 13 August 2021).

Next Computer and Satellite Systemwith Quantum

Author 1

Full Name

Park, Joshua

Yongsan International School of Seoul

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Since German physicist Werner Heisenberg announced the uncertainty principle, the study of quantum physics started to gather the interest of other scientists. The argument between Einstein and Bohr over quantum theory became an important checkpoint in quantum physics, and important theories such as quantum entanglement and quantum tunneling were discovered. Even after these discoveries, quantum mechanics are still left as a study researched by the minority of geniuses. Research on quantum computing advanced after the development of superconductors in absolute zero temperature for the usage of qubits, where a company named D-Wave Systems made the first quantum computer and opened the era of quantum computing. Furthermore, China has succeeded in using quantum communication devices that used quantum entanglement to contact with their satellite “Micius” and proved that quantum cryptography is a viable technology. Google’s sycamore processor proved quantum supremacy through the Peter Shor algorithm, computing a process in 200 seconds where the current supercomputer would take 10 thousand years to process it. After quantum supremacy was proven, companies such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft started a cloud system with a quantum hybrid system. The cloud system also enhanced the computing speed of an artificial intelligence, which was proven by comparison with the classical Ai system. We have proved theoretical evidence of quantum and other possible problems by using Google’s quantum system which has connections with AI systems.

Keywords: Quantum Supremacy, Qubit, Superconductor, Quantum Entanglement, Peter Shor Algorithm, Quantum tunneling

I. Introduction Quantum computer technology has been studied in a variety of ways since the past.The most important materials in this debate are a complete conductor with no resistance to direct current. For example, if an electric current flows through a superconductor loop as shown in the figure below, the supercurrent flowing along the superconductor does not attenuate and flows forever. In addition, superconductors [1] and the presence of qubits [2] which make up the superconductors are also vital materials. In other words, under certain conditions, a material with zero resistance to current and antimagnetic occurs. Not only is the electrical resistance zero, but there must be a complete antimagnetic (Meisner effect) that completely offsets the internal magnetic field. It is the basic unit of calculation with quantumcomputers. It is also known as quantum bit. A typical computer processes and stores information in bits of 0 and 1, while a quantum computer processes and stores information inbits of 0 and 1 simultaneously. Figure 1. The image illustrates how a qubit occupies two states at one time.

Due to qubit's phenomenon, quantum computers have an edge over classical computers in several application areas. In security [3] (e.g 한국 인터넷 진흥원 2020 vol 80,p4,김승주/ 고려대학교 정보보호대학원 교수), applications to various industries using quantum optimization by the Grover algorithm [4] (e.g. Markus Reiher, Nathan Wiebe, Krysta M Svore, Dave Wecker, and Matthias Troyer, "Elucidating Reaction Mechanisms on Quantum Computers", PNAS, 114:7555-7560 (2017) and apply quantum mechanics to identify challenges into new domains [5]. In particular, we will discuss whether it is applicable [6] to the multi-purpose mobility industry [7] (e.g. Bank of Korea said, "Automotive Industry Accelerates Big Blur…"Future cars and new logistics industries↑"2021.06.14) as well as

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technologies known as key technologies in the next generation industry [8] (e.g. Bank of Korea said, "Automotive Industry Accelerates Big Blur…"Future cars and new logistics industries↑"2021.06.14). Ⅱ. Main Body Ⅱ-1. Differences and misunderstandings between classical and quantum computers. Quantum computers are capable of four states of combination (00, 01, 10, 11) at once while classical computers must operate in sequence [10]. As a result, quantum computers are expected to be able to process at least twice as fast mathematically as computers that use binary codes in (0, 1) in sequence. However, represented by Schrodinger’s cat, the quantum superposition phenomenon [11] and quantum entanglement [10] suggests that quantum computers can process things more than twice the speed of a classical computer. This quantum advantage [12] is demonstrated by Google's sycamore. Figure 2. Could Schrödinger’s cat exist in real life? Our research may provide the answer

Figure 3. Google’s Sycamore Quantum chip

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The RSA encryption algorithm is found to be weak in factorization by Shor and requires a change to the encryption algorithm once every 10 years, which has recently beenreplaced by quantum cryptography using Shor’s factorization [14].

Figure 4. Mathematical Shape Implementation of RSA Cryptography

Passwords are RSA cryptographic algorithm principles. RSA encryption algorithmsare found to be vulnerable to small factor decomposition by Shor and are encrypted every 10 years. It has recently been replaced by quantum cryptography [14], which uses Shor's sub- factor decomposition by requiring algorithm changes.

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Figure 5. Classical vs. Quantum factoring algorithms

Quantum computers can be used to generate quantum random numbers. What are quantum random numbers? Quantum is the minimum unit of physical quantity that can no longer be split. It is characterized by uncertainty, irreversibility, and unpredictability. Quantum random numbers are random numbers made by utilizing these characteristics. In other words, it is a number by substituting a number for a random phenomenon in nature. Communication devices that use quantum cryptographic generators [15] have also been made. Through these inventions, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) services, which are not cut off from the 3D holographic video service that 6G white papers commonly contain, will be widely distributed, and autonomous driving will become commonin unmanned aerial vehicles and cars. 6G is an essential technology to enable these services. In this era of 6G [16], full-scale use of quantum communication satellites [17] (e.g. China's quantum satellite systems 'spooky action' at record distance, Science 2017.07.07) might take place. Ⅱ-2. Estimated industries to which quantum computers are applied. 2-1) Google researchers say it is the present and future of quantum computing [18]. Prominent physicist John Preskill predicted that the era of "NISQ (Noisy, Intermediate-Scale, Quantum)" [19] would open in the near future. This means that a medium-sized quantum computer will be developed that reduces the error rate from the current 1% to 0.001%, utilizes 50 to 1000 qubits, and that the era of research will begin to make more practical use of quantum computing. Google researchers also said it is urgent tofind problems that can be solved with NISQ devices. For example, we predicted that molecular simulation, machine learning improvements and AI optimization, and other unimaginable fields would be newly possible within quantum computers.

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With the advent of this era, China succeeded in communicating 1260 km quantum via photon satellite communication as illustrated in figure 6. A Chinese research team succeeded in quantum cryptography communication using satellites in two areas 1,120km away. Although it had succeeded in transmitting and receiving three years ago, it is now said that it has reached the level where it can distribute quantum keys [18]. The realization of photon communication satellites might enable them to expand their boundaries. China is said to be competing with the United States in quantum mechanics and is now using the world's first photon communications satellite. With the advent of this era, China succeeded in 1,260 km of bilateral communication with photon satellite communication. Figure 6. Satellites successfully communicate quantum cryptography between Seoul and Tokyo

Data Source: Capture Nature

2-2) The future and way of the industry is expected to change due to quantumcomputing Quantum computers solve a wide range of problems across the industry, from optimization to simulation and machine learning. Tony Utley, president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, stated that "We're really looking forward to the future of quantum computing technologies that can dramatically improve computational performance, operational cost, and speed. With the commercial launch of Honeywell System Model H0, we look forward to working with organizations to explore how quantum computing can deliver value to our business." [20] The partnership between Microsoft's Azure Quantum and Honeywell will also make quantum computing much easier because it provides an open ecosystem for researchers and scientists to quickly and easily access Honeywell's quantum computing systems. An industry where quantum computers are intensively predicted to evolve [21]

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Aerospace When an aerospace company is faced with a number of complex problems, they can apply the principle of optimization to determine the optimal alternative for each route by considering variables, reducing the impact of outages. Another challenge is to select the best airport location for airlines across the country or around the world to preposition spare parts for airplanes. Quantum computing can help airlines find the best way to allocate resources to minimize theimpact on passengers, crew, and maintenance schedules. It seems that quantum computing can be used for new AI communication. The system is currently being commercialized and used by telecommunications companies, and supercomputers have not been hacked into. Random number generation is a critical security element in today’s connected world to ensure our safety and trusted communications. As the strength of any security system lies in the quality of the entropy source used for cryptographic keys, Random NumberGenerators must be invulnerable to prediction or bias and constantly provide true randomness. Quantum’s phenomena is not only available for decryption. It is also possible to construct a password in a quantum way, away from the existing sub-factor decomposition method. It's literally starting a battle of spears and shields. The shield is called 'Quantum Cryptography'. Quantum encryption is not a method of encrypting and later re-reading information like normal cryptographic communication in the process of distributing secret keys, but rather two users at a distance share the same secret key. At this time, the process of sending and receiving information to generate secret keys is carried out in quantum state, making no information about the keys available to third parties. This is called Quantum key distribution (QKD). This is also a special phenomenon of quantum mechanics. The previously described principle of uncertainty is that it is impossible to simultaneously measure different physical quantities, such as quantum overlap, where two or more particles are intertwined and the state change of one remotely separated particle is reflected in anotherat the same time. The principle of uncertainty is particularly important, in which the uncertainty of one physical quantity increases the moment one physical quantity is measured or observed. Therefore, if a hacker measures a quantum cryptographic key in the middle or observes information, it changes the quantum state and this changes the distribution of keys between the sender and receiver, indicating that there is a hacker. In addition, changing quantum states means changing passwords, so cloning is also fundamentally impossible.

Logistics and Robotics

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The key technology for artificial intelligence to develop comes from computing power (calculating power) and big data. The reason why artificial intelligence has recentlyrevived is that deep learning has significantly increased recognition performance, and the main reason for the significant increase in computing power and accumulated big data. Compute power will continue to grow over time and big data will accumulate rapidly, which is expected to further accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. If quantum computers become common, they will greatly contribute to the development of computing power. Quantum computing is expected to be applied to robotics. Quantum computing, which is sometimes referred to as quantum computation, quantum computation, and quantum computation, refers to a computer that can simultaneously have vast capacities and superparallel computations [23] based on quantum mechanical effects of atoms by considering a set of atoms as a memory.

Figure 7. Comparison of quantum and generic computers for hyper-parallel processing

Data source: http://qoqms.phys.strath.ac.uk/research_qc.html

Computer scientists have diagnosed that quantum computing will pave the way forrobots to learn more deeply and respond more quickly to stimuli from surrounding environments (e.g. Science World Report 2021.07.07). Quantum mechanical engineering, which employs quantum computing, is showing algorithms that deliver information quickly and safely. Research is underway to find a way to apply such quantum computing technologyto devices that contain robots, automation devices, and other artificial intelligence. These robotics are not the only technologies that can be used. Shipping and e-commerce companies' businesses depend on moving goods from one place to another efficiently and safely. This requires sensors on equipment across warehouses, factories

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and distribution centers, resulting in massive amounts of data. Machine learning algorithms import these data and use insights to make meaningful decisions. Quantum computing captures the most meaningful data and identifies the best place to build sensors to speed up the machine learning process. Quantum technology can also determine the most efficient path for employees or robots to travel in warehouses. Ⅱ-3. A Study on the Multi-Purpose Mobility Industry of AI and Quantum Computer Application Figure 8. Various technologies that apply to mobility

Quantum computers will advance the future in a variety of ways. Among them, it will be most successfully applied to the next generation of aggregate personal or group mobility technologies.[23] Current mobility industry [24] is a means of connectivity represented by cases (CASE. Connectivity, Autonomy, Sharing, Electrification). And the ultimate destination of the case is 'self-driving' in which the car moves on its own without a driver. However, combining information and communication, or ICT, is essential to create a complete world of free mobility. Therefore, automobile and ICT connections need active exchanges between internal and external information, and the movement of information must be made quickly, and the speed of information processing must be optimized. In this respect, utilizing 6G's communication [26] rather than 5G and quantum computing could lead to a fullfledged discussion of multi-use vehicles (MUV), or new transportation with the capabilities of flying, automobiles and ships. Although flying cars and amphibious vehicles are currently not invented, advancing towards this problem using quantum computers will enable safety for the passengers of the vehicle along with technology for safer driving such ashigh fuel consumption. In order to integrate this technology, we need to be able to process information very quickly. Quantum computers will make this possible.

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Ⅲ. Conclusion This study recognizes industrial technologies related to the development of quantum computer technology and believes that they are most suitable for the next generation and canbe utilized in several ways below by applying them to mobility technologies that are needed in various respects. 1. Suggest the shortest way to move using more advanced optimal paths to make the most of the energy use when moving by utilizing optimization of energy use, which isthe strength of quantum computing technology. 2. In particular, I think it is possible to efficiently utilize flight, takeoff, and landingmeasures using quantum computer technologies to prevent accidents. 3. Quantum computer technologies will provide optimal solutions using AI and IOTdevices.

Reference [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

http://acoms.atit.co.kr/~kss1/7s_2.html https://physicsworld.com/a/10-qubit-register-breaks-new-ground-in-quantum-computing/ https://www.kisa.or.kr › common › downloadAction Markus Reiher, Nathan Wiebe, Krysta M Svore, Dave Wecker, and Matthias Troyer, "Elucidating Reaction Mechanisms on Quantum Computers", PNAS, 114:7555-7560 (2017) Development of a STEAM Program to Learn the Principles of Quantum Mechanics byapplying the Gamification Mechanism Journal of the Korean Association of Information Education v.20 no.5, 2016, pp.507 - 518 Moon Sung-wook, a quantum computing technology that will lead the fourth industrial revolution, | Quantum Information Research Group of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology,Convergence Policy Research Center https://www.asiae.co.kr/article C.Scott and 3 other people https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/kr/Documents/insights/deloitte-anjinreview/06/kr_insights_deloitte-anjin-review-06_13.pdf

[9] IBS, Encyclopedia of Science, Talkative Quantum Computers,Misunderstandings and Facts. https://www.ibs.re.kr/cop/bbs/BBSMSTR_000000000901/selectBoardArticle.do?nttId=14100&p ageIndex=1 [10] https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%96%91%EC%9E%90_%EC%96%BD%ED%9E%98 [11] A Useful Quantum Dynamics Story - Schrodinger's Cat and Quantum superposition https://news.samsungdisplay.com/20561/https://theconversation.com/fr/topics/quantumsuperposition-61740 [12] “Google's quantum computer, and 'quantum advantage' Lee k.h,2019, 11.08” https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=92695 [13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem) [14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shor [15] https://quantum-computing.ibm.com/composer/docs/iqx/guide/shors-algorithm [16] https://www.sktinsight.com/122494 [17] https://www.idquantique.com/ [18] What technologies will 6G implement? http://dongascience.donga.com/news.php?idx=43166 [19] S&T GPS https://now.k2base.re.kr/portal/trend/mainTrend/view.do?poliTrndId=TRND0000000000031621 &menuNo=200004&pageIndex=50 [20] Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)

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Today, we are on the edge of a quantum revolution. The advent of quantum computers in the next decade will give mankind access to unparalleled processing power with all the advantages that this brings, however this also creates challenges as they will render much oftoday’s cybersecurity useless. So how can Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) help? https://www.idquantique.com/quantum-safe-security/overview/quantum-key-distribution/ [21] https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=92695 [22] Noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) algorithms, 21 Jan 2021 Kishor Bharti, Alba Cervera-Lierta, Thi Ha Kyaw, Tobias Haug, Sumner Alperin-Lea, Abhinav Anand, Matthias Degroote, Hermanni Heimonen, Jakob S. Kottmann, Tim Menke, Wai-Keong Mok, Sukin Sim, Leong-Chuan Kwek, Alán Aspuru-Guzik https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.08448v1 [23] https://www.honeywell.com/kr/ko/news/2020/07/how-quantum-will-transform-the-future-of-5industries [24] 슈뢰딩거 파동방정식 http://physica.gsnu.ac.kr/phtml/modern/q_mechanics/schrondinger/schrondinger4.html [25] Hs,Lee, Technological Trends and Industrial Applications of the Quantum Computers https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201918454914289.pdf [26] Personal Mobility, Can It Be the Next Generation of Mobility? 2019/07/23 Hyundai Capico https://news.hmgjournal.com/Tech/%EC%B0%A8%EC%84%B8%EB%8C%80-%EC%9D%B4 %EB%8F%99%EC%88%98%EB%8B%A8-%ED%8D%BC%EC%8A%A4%EB%84%90-%EB %AA%A8%EB%B9%8C%EB%A6%AC%ED%8B%B0 [27] The age of unbroken shields and quantum ciphers is here! [KISTI Science Fragrance]No. 3547, 2021.04.12 09:00 Choi Bung-kyu, a scientific columnist [28] Min Yeon-joo, Noh Hong-seung, Heo Sung-ho and others. Analysis of LogisticsTechnology Industry and Technology Trends” Korea translate institute [29] The age of unbroken shields and quantum ciphers is here! [KISTI Science Fragrance]No. 3547 2021.04.12 09:00 Choi Bung-kyu, a scientific columnist [30] Min Yeon-joo, Noh Hong-seung, Heo Sung-ho and others. “Analysis of LogisticsTechnology Industry and Technology Trends” Korea translate institute

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Comparison in Image Quality with Filtered Back Projection and Image Denoising

Author 1

Full Name

Yang, Yaeji

Saint Paul Academy Daechi

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Background: CT imaging is a widely used medical diagnostic method in figuring out a patient’s disease. To have a clear CT image, it goes through many modifications like reconstruction or filtering in order to produce precise images. Filtered Back projection used to be the most practical algorithm considering the amount of time it needed to be reconstructed and the quality of the image. Yet, other analytical reconstruction and iterative reconstruction has been newly found and made competing against the original technique. Purpose: This study is outlined to find out the most effective noise reducing technique in all 4 noises; poisson, gaussian, speckle and salt and pepper noise. Methods: The study applied the four noises on the phantom image that was created in the system Matlab. We then filtered back the projection and bilaterally filtered both phantom images that had the noise. We also added the bilateral filter on the filtered back projection phantom with the poisson and gaussian noises. The study also calculated the SNR, PSNR, and SSIM for all 16 images and compared the changes of the amount of noise it contained after the reconstruction and filters. All the process was followed by using the software Matlab. Results: For the poisson noise, the filtered back projection and bilaterally filtered phantom had the highest SNR value, and the phantom with only poisson noise had the highest PSNR value. For SSIM, the bilateral filter had the biggest value. For the gaussian noise, the filtered back projected phantom had the highest SNR value and the bilaterally filtered phantom had the biggest PSNR value. For SSIM the bilateral filtered and FBP applied had the biggest value. In the images for speckle noises, both fbp and bilateral filtering increased the SNR value; bilaterally filtered phantom had the biggest PSNR value. The SSIM value of the bilateral filter had the biggest value. The image with both filtered Back projection and bilateral filter had the highest SNR value for salt and pepper noises and bilaterally filtered phantom had the biggest PSNR value. Lastly the bilaterally filtered and FBP applied image had the biggest SSIM value of salt and pepper noise. Conclusion: Image denoising methods on filtered back projection did subtle enhancement in reducing noise but with no significant improvement.

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Keywords: SNR (Signal-to-noise ratio), PSNR (Peak signal-to-noise ratio), FBP (Filtered Back Projection), Bilateral Filter, Gaussian Noise, Poisson Noise, Speckle Noise, Salt and Pepper Noise, P-value, SSIM (Structural Similarity Index)

1. Introduction Filtered back projection is an analytic technique where an image goes through two processes: filtering the data and then back projecting it. Kak et al. [1] describes the filtering part, which could be visualized by weighting the projections in the frequency domain. The back projecting part is described as finding the elemental reconstructions corresponding to the filters. Filtered back projection is also the most popular and standard technique in reconstructing CT images. The biggest strength that FBP contains compared to other techniques is that it has a shorter reconstruction duration and could detect low contrast lesions. [2]

Fig.1) It is a diagram that shows the process of how a reconstructed image is produced by using FBP algorithm

Other reconstruction techniques like analytic and iterative reconstruction are slowly trying to replace FBP due to the flaws; amount of radiation and noise reduction. [3] FBP produces more radiation and cannot reduce more noise compared to other new techniques giving limitations and barriers. [4] The increase of CT images in young patients has brought the concerns in the radiation dose that is used in FBP. [5] To try to solve the limitations of FBP and enhance the produced image of the FBP, this study will focus on noise reduction by inserting image denoising techniques. Image denoising is a widely used technique that helps improve erupted images. Some details might be lost while this technique is applied, however it is important to leave valuable information from the image. [6] There are multiple techniques in image denoising; median filter, bilateral filter, gaussian filter, wiener filter. [7] In this study, specifically bilateral filter

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will be used in enhancing the image quality of a FBP applied image. Zhang et al.[7], proposed that the bilateral filter achieves the best results of SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) and PSNR (Peak Signal-to-noise Ratio) when the image contains gaussian noise and speckle noise. Both SSIM and PSNR are an indication of the image quality and the bilateral filter has achieved the highest out of other filters, showing that this filter may also perform highly in reducing noise in other noise and the image from FBP. This study will be trying to find out whether image denoising techniques can improve the image from FBP and if it does, is it really significant? 4 noises are going to be used in this study and by applying FBP, bilateral filter and applying both, the study will find out whether using the image denoising method is actually significant in reducing noises.

2. Methods 2.1 Inserting noise According to previous studies, it indicates that Poisson noise is the most likely noise to be distributed in a CT image. [8] For comparison this study will be using 3 more noises; Gaussian noise, Salt and Pepper noise, Speckle noise. Manson et al. [9] states that Poisson noise, Salt and Pepper noise, Speckle noise are the most common noises represented in x-ray. The 4 noises will be inserted in a shepp-logan phantom created in the software MATLAB. After this process there will be 4 noisy shepp-logan phantoms.

(a)

(b)

Fig.2) (a) is an image of a shepp-logan phantom with no noise and (b) is an example image of a shepp-logan phantom with Gaussian Noise inserted inserted

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3.2 Applying techniques After all the noisy images are created, each image will be applied to the FBP and Bilateral filter. For example, a gaussian noise-inserted shepp-logan phantom will be applied to an FBP, a bilateral filter and applied to both bilateral filter and FBP. This will create 3 noisy images at the end for each noise, making 12 images in total since there are 4 noises experimented.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig.3) (a) is an example of a shepp-logan phantom with gaussian noise which is bilaterally filtered (b) is an example of a shepp-logan phantom with gaussian noise which is applied FBP (c) is an example of a shepp-logan phantom with gaussian noise which is applied both FBP and bilateral filter

3.3 Measuring Noise In order to analyze the images created, SNR(signal to noise ratio), PSNR (Peak signalto-noise) and SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) were utilized to compare the changes of the amount of noise left. Signal to Noise ratio compares the level of a signal power to the level of a noise power, indicating a higher number of SNR means higher signal. Peak signal-to-noise ratio is a ratio of the maximum possible value of a signal and the noise of the image that misrepresents the original image. SSIM is another technique that measures the similarity between two images, So higher SNR and PSNR values are an indication of less noise in an image and clearer the image and a SSIM value closer to 1 indicates clearer the image.

3.4 Groups and variables The control groups are the phantom with noise, no other filters or applications, and the experimental group are the FBP and bilaterally filtered phantom images. The dependent variables are the noises already inserted in both images and the independent variables are the techniques, fbp and the bilateral filter. Another section will be for the image that contains both fbp and bilateral filters. The control group will be the image that is bilaterally filtered with the experimental group for the image that was applied to fbp and bilaterally filtered. The dependent

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variable with this section is the noise and the bilateral filter with the independent variable, fbp.

4. Results 4.1. Gaussian Noise

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 4) (a) is a noisey phantom with gaussian noise. (b) is a phantom with gaussian noise that is bilaterally filtered. (c) is a phantom with gaussian noise that is reconstructed with filtered back projection (d) is a phantom with gaussian noise that is bilaterally filtered and applied to the filtered back projection.

Fig.5) The table shows the PSNR and SNR value for each photo in Fig.4.

From the PSNR values in Fig.5, there are about 4 things we could observe. First of all we could observe that a bilaterally filtered phantom has a higher PSNR than the phantom with gaussian noise. This means that the bilaterally filtered phantom has less noise than the phantom with gaussian noise. Second, the filtered back projected phantom has a smaller value of PSNR than the phantom with gaussian noise, meaning that phantom with gaussian noise has less noise than FBP phantom. This also indicates that FBP did not help in reducing gaussian noise. Also, the bilaterally and FBP phantom has a smaller value of PSNR than the phantom with gaussian noise meaning that applying both techniques did not reduce noise but increased it. Lastly, the PSNR value of the bilaterally and FBP phantom is smaller than the FBP phantom and the bilaterally filtered phantom. This means that adding both bilateral filter and FBP did not decrease noise.

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Now the SNR values in Fig.5, there are 4 things that could be observed. According to the change of the SNR (Signal to noise ratio) value we can estimate that there is less noise in the bilaterally filtered phantom compared to the phantom with only gaussian noise. Second, the change between FBP (filtered back projection) and the phantom with gaussian noise increased, indicating that FBP reduced some amount of gaussian noise. Also, comparing the SNR value of bilaterally filtered phantom and filtered back projection phantom, the latter one has bigger data. This means that the FBP (filtered back projection) can reduce more noise than the bilateral filter. Lastly, The change between the FBP phantom and the bilaterally FBP phantom, FBP phantom’s SNR (Signal to noise ratio) value, is bigger. This means that adding a bilateral filter on top of the FBP (filtered back projection) did not reduce noise but added noise making the signal weak.

4.2. Poisson Noise

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig.6) (a) is a noisey phantom with poisson noise inserted to the image. (b) is a phantom with poisson noise that is bilaterally filtered. (c) is a phantom with poisson noise that filtered back projection is applied. (d) is a phantom with poisson noise that is bilaterally filtered and applied to the filtered back projection.

Fig.7) The table shows the PSNR and SNR value for each photo in Fig.6.

From the PSNR values in Fig.7 there are about 4 things that we can notice. First, the PSNR value of the phantom with poisson noise is bigger than the PSNR of the bilaterally filtered phantom. The bilateral filter was not able to reduce the poisson noise but increase it. Second, the PSNR value of the FBP applied phantom is smaller than the phantom with poisson

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noise, concluding that the FBP was not able to reduce poisson noise. Also, the PSNR value of the FBP and bilateral applied phantom is smaller than the PSNR of phantom with poisson noise. This concludes that applying both filters does not reduce poisson noise. Last, the PSNR value of bilaterally filtered and FBP applied phantom is smaller than both PSNR value of bilaterally filtered phantom and FBP phantom. From the SNR values in Fig.7 we can first object that the SNR value of the bilaterally filtered phantom is slightly bigger, meaning that the amount of noise is reduced and the signal of the image is increased. Also, the FBP (filtered back projection) phantom has a bigger SNR value compared to the phantom with poisson noise. Meaning that FBP was able to reduce the amount of noise and increase signal. Third, comparing the bilaterally filtered phantom and the filtered back projection phantom, the SNR value of the FBP phantom is bigger. This means that FBP is a technique that can reduce more poisson noise than a bilateral filter. Last, the bilateral filter and FBP applied phantom has a bigger SNR value than the FBP applied phantom. This means that the bilateral filter did help reduce the poisson noise when it was applied to the FBP applied phantom.

4.3. Speckle Noise

(a)

(b)

(c).

(d)

Fig.8) (a) is a noisey phantom with speckle noise. (b) is a phantom with speckle noise that is bilaterally filtered. (c) is a phantom with speckle noise in which a filtered back projection is applied. (d) is a phantom with speckle noise that is bilaterally filtered and applied to the filtered back projection.

Fig.9) The table shows the PSNR and SNR value for each photo in Fig.8.

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Through the PSNR values in Fig 9, 4 things could be observed. The PSNR value of a bilaterally filtered phantom is bigger than the phantom with speckle noise. We can indicate that the bilateral filter did reduce speckle noise from the phantom. Second, the PSNR value of FBP phantom is smaller than the PSNR value of the phantom with speckle noise. This means that FBP was not able to reduce speckle noise. Third, the phantom that has both bilateral filter and FBP has a smaller PSNR value than the phantom with speckle noise. It means that the techniques were not able to reduce the noise. Last, the bilateral and FBP applied phantom’s PSNR value is smaller than both bilateral filter phantom and FBP phantom. We can indicate that applying both techniques does not efficiently reduce speckle noise than using them individually. Through the SNR values in Fig 9, about 4 things could be observed. Comparing the SNR value, we can know that the value of a bilaterally filtered phantom is smaller than the value of the phantom with speckle noise. It indicates that when adding a bilateral filter onto the phantom with speckle noise, it will not reduce the speckle noise but add more noise causing the SNR value to decrease. Second, the SNR value of FBP phantom has also been reduced compared to the value of the phantom with only speckle noise. Meaning that FBP was not able to reduce the noise. Also compared with the bilateral filtered phantom, the FBP phantom did have a higher SNR value meaning that it had a smaller amount of noise. Yet, it doesn’t mean that it was able to reduce more noise than the original due to the higher SNR value compared to the original phantom with only speckle noise. Last, the phantom that was both bilateral filtered and FBP has a bigger SNR value compared to the FBP phantom, meaning that bilateral filter did help in reducing speckle noise on top of the FBP. However, this also doesn’t mean that FBP or bilateral filter reduce more noise than the original phantom due to the smaller SNR value.

4.4. Salt and Pepper Noise

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 10) (a) is a noisey phantom with salt and pepper noise. (b) is a phantom with salt and pepper noise that is bilaterally filtered. (c) is a phantom with salt and pepper noise that is reconstructed with filtered back projection (d) is a phantom with salt and pepper noise that is bilaterally filtered and applied to the filtered back projection.

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Fig.11) The table shows the SNR value for each photo in Fig.10

From the PSNR value in Figure 11, the PSNR value of a phantom with salt and pepper noise is smaller than the bilaterally filtered phantom. We can know that by applying a bilateral filter, the salt and pepper noise is reduced. Second, the PSNR value of the FBP phantom is smaller than the phantom with salt and pepper noise. This indicates that the FBP does not reduce salt and pepper noise. Third, the phantom that has both bilateral filter and FBP has smaller PSNR value than the phantom with salt and pepper noise. This means that applying both techniques does not reduce salt and pepper noise. Last, the phantom where both bilateral filter and FBP is applied has a slightly bigger PSNR value than the FBP phantom. However, it is still smaller than the phantom with salt and pepper and the bilateral filtered phantom. We can notice that applying both filters can reduce more noise than the one where only FBP is applied. However, it does not reduce more noise than the bilateral filter and the original photo. From the SNR value in Figure 11, the SNR value of the bilaterally filtered phantom is smaller compared to the phantom with only salt and pepper noise. It means that the salt and pepper noise were not reduced through a bilateral filter but more noise was added, reducing the amount of signal. Second, the SNR value of the phantom with salt and pepper noise and the FBP phantom is identical. It means that there was no change in the noise and signal. Third, the FBP applied phantom has a bigger amount of SNR compared to the bilaterally filtered phantom, meaning that more noise was reduced in the FBP applied phantom. Last, the bilaterally filtered and FBP applied phantom has the biggest SNR value out of the values in the figure indicating that using both FBP and bilateral filter reduced the most noise.

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4.5. SSIM Values

Fig.12) SSIM values for all the images that were applied filters

Examining the SSIM values of the gaussian noise, it seems that bilateral filtered and filtered back projected image has the biggest number, indicating that it has the best image quality since it is closest to the number 1. For poisson noise it seems that image that was bilaterally filtered has the biggest SSIM value meaning that it’s image quality is the best out of other options. For speckle noise the result was similar with poisson noise; bilateral filtered image has the biggest SSIM value. For Salt and Pepper noise the bilateral filtered and filtered back projected image has the SSIM value meaning that it has the best image quality.

4.6. P-values To find out how significant the values are, p-values were measured. Unfortunately, the phantom with both FBP and bilateral filtered were not statistically significant.

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Fig.13) P-values and significance of the filtered images.

5. Discussion / Conclusion FBP has been the most widely used technique in CT images until more developed techniques like iteration reconstructions and analytic reconstruction were found. The original hypothesis was that the phantom applied with FBP and bilateral will be able to reduce more noise than using them individually. The hypothesis, unfortunately, was not supported by the study. The data above did not have an exact correlation with the amount of noise and the technique used to reduce them. There were only individual characteristics in the reduction of noise. So, some of the noise was reduced most when both the techniques were used but on the other hand, neither or one of the techniques was able to reduce most noise. This study can state the effect a bilateral filter has in the reduction of noise when it is used with other techniques too like FBP. More research needs to be made, but this study can show that a bilateral filter does have some impact in reducing noise compared to when it is not used. Even if the impact it has shown were not as significant, more studies could be based on it and develop possibly more efficient filters. However there were some errors and possible problems in this study: 1) The PSNR value may contain errors. The PSNR values and SNR values contradicted each other when analyzing the data. It is assumed that the size of the images may have caused some strange correlation and numbers in the PSNR values. Since the bigger the size of an image, the bigger the PSNR and the smaller the image size is the smaller the PSNR value. 2) The image used in the study was a single shepp-logan phantom. The study could have contained more samples like real CT images or more different types of phantoms. This error may have brought less accuracy due to the small sample it used.

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After this study, comparing an image with FBP and bilateral filter and a MBIR image could be a future research since it is not clear how much of a difference in SNR and PSNR a bilateral filtered FBP and an MBIR contains. Instead of MBIR (model-based iterative reconstruction), any type of iterative reconstruction like ASIR (adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction) could be inserted.

6. References [1] A. C. Kak and Malcolm Slaney, Principles of Computerized Tomographic Imaging, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2001 [2] Onur, Tuğba Özge. “An Application of Filtered Back Projection Method for Computed Tomography Images.” AKJournals, Akadémiai Kiadó, 2021, p.194–200, https://doi.org/10.1556/1848.2021.00231 [3] Fareed, A., Vavere, A. L., Zimmermann, E., Tanami, Y., Steveson, C., Matheson, M., Paul, N., Clouse, M., Cox, C., Lima, J., & Arbab-Zadeh, A. (2017). Impact of iterative reconstruction vs. filtered back projection on image quality in 320-slice CT coronary angiography: Insights from the CORE320 multicenter study. Medicine, 96(48), e8452. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000008452 [4] Eric C. Ehman, MD LifengYu, PhD, Armando Manduca, PhD Amy K. Hara, MD Maria M. Shiung, BA Dayna Jondal, BA, David S. Lake, MS, Robert G. Paden, MS, Daniel J. Blezek, PhD Michael R. Bruesewitz, RT Cynthia H. McCollough, PhD David M. Hough, MD, Joel G. Fletcher, MD, Methods for Clinical Evaluation of Noise Reduction Techniques in Abdominopelvic CT1, RadioGraphics 2014; 34:849–862 [5] Willemink, M.J., Noël, P.B. The evolution of image reconstruction for CT—from filtered back projection to artificial intelligence. Eur Radiol 29, 2185–2195 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5810-7 [6] Fan, L., Zhang, F., Fan, H. et al. Brief review of image denoising techniques. Vis. Comput. Ind. Biomed. Art 2, 7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42492-019-0016-7 [7] Chillarón, Mónica et al. “Evaluation of image filters for their integration with LSQR computerized tomography reconstruction method.” PloS one vol. 15,3 e0229113. 3 Mar. 2020, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229113 [8] Neal Patel, Perry Alagappan. Denoising of Computed Tomography Scans, http://stanford.edu/class/ee367/Winter2020/report/patel_alagappan_report.pdf [9] EN Manson, V Atuwo Ampoh, E Fiagbedzi, J H Amuasi, J J Flether, C Schandorf. Image Noise in Radiography and Tomography: Causes, Effects and Reduction Techniques. Curr Trends Clin Med Imaging. 2019; 2(5): 555620. DOI:10.19080/CTCMI.2019.02.555620 [10] Lifeng Yu, PhD Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN Shuai Leng, PhD Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Image Reconstruction Techniques, https://www.imagewisely.org/Imaging-Modalities/ComputedTomography/Image-Reconstruction-Techniques

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[11] Fan, L., Zhang, F., Fan, H. et al. Brief review of image denoising techniques. Vis. Comput. Ind. Biomed. Art 2, 7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42492-019-0016-7 [12] Umme Sara1, Morium Akter2, Mohammad Shorif Uddin, et al. Image Quality Assessment through FSIM, SSIM, MSE and PSNR—A Comparative Study.Journal of Computer and Communications, Vol.7 No.3, March 2019. 10.4236/jcc.2019.73002

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Bacteria in the Textile Industry: Prospective Species that Could Be Used to Produce Actinorhodin-like Natural Dyestuffs Author 1

Full Name

Yu, Sun

The International School Bangalore

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: A myriad of researches emphasizing the harmful effects of synthetic dyestuffs to both the environment and the h uman body have made it imperative to find alternative sources of pigment. Many scientists have suggested rever ting to more classical methods of dying material and extracting natural pigments from vegetables or fish. Howev er, this approach produces a lot of waste since only the specific pigment is used after using up acres of land or w aterbody to rear sources for such natural pigments. One recently experimented pigment for use as fabric dye is a ctinorhodin, a pigmented antibiotic widely known to be produced by Streptomyces coelicolor. In a recent researc h conducted by Natsai Chieza, actinorhodiin was successfully used to dye fabric in colors ranging from red to pi nk to purple and blue, and produces close to zero waste. This success in dying fabric with bacteria-sourced pigm ents raised a question of whether other bacteria could also be used to produce actinorhodin or actinorhodin-like pigments for use as dyestuffs. This research used three different data-based methods to shortlist five possible ba cteria species that could be used to produce actinorhodin for use in the textile industry. The analysis of the FAS TA sequence of the very last enzyme responsible for the production of actinorhodin in S. coelicolor using BLAS T and ClustalW generated homologues in bacterial species Streptomyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces anthocyanicus, and Streptomyces lividans TK24 among many others, A structural analysis of the enzyme molecule using Phyre 2 identified homologues in Streptomyces sp. HKI0576 and Paracoccus denitrificans.

Keywords: actinorhodin, genetic analysis, biosynthesis, Streptomyces, natural dyes

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1. Introduction Actinorhodin is a pigmented antibiotic produced by Streptomyces coelicolor. S. coelicolor has gained much significance in the discipline of Genetics, being the model organism for the phyl um Actinobacteria as well as being the first Streptomyces species to have its full genome sequ enced. Its antibiotic properties have also fascinated biologists. Another breakthrough research conducted by Ginko Bioworks has identified S. coelicolor to be a viable source of biosynthetic pigments. Actinorhodin, which is naturally produced by S. coelicolor, turns blue or red depen ding on the pH of its surroundings, while genetic modification of actinorhodin’s biosynthetic pathway has allowed the production of kalafungin, which is yellow in colour. S. coelicolor als o produces a range of other pigments, which are either blue or red in colour, whose feasibility as dyestuffs are also being investigated by biologists across the world. The major benefits of e mploying biosynthetic dyes as opposed to commercial, synthetic dyestuffs is that a wide range of biosynthetic dyes pose little threat to the human system and to the environment, whereas m any common synthetic dyes have been proven to impact both human systems and the natural e nvironment negatively. Since the application of actinorhodin in the production of everyday go ods has been established in the field, I decided to investigate the alternative sources of actinor hodin, or actinorhodin-like pigments in the Streptomyces genus. In order to do this, I made act ive use of presently available databases for obtaining information such as the biosynthesis pat hway of actinorhodin and the genetic sequences administrating the synthesis of actinorhodin i n S. coelicolor, and any homologues of actinorhodin produced by other species of the Strepto myces genus that could also be applied to commercial use. For instance, there are open source s online that detail the steps of protein synthesis across different organisms. These databases a lso contain FASTA sequences of proteins involved in such synthesis pathways. BLAST analy sis is conventionally conducted using the FASTA sequences of proteins to locate genes that co uld be responsible for production of similar pigments in other Streptomyces species. Finally, a database software can be used to look up homologues of such proteins in other species. Thesis Statement: Homologues of ActVA in Streptomyces species are the most likely sub stitutes for actinorhodin production for application in the textile industry. 2. Background 2.1 Adverse effects of synthetic dyes on the human and environmental systems Synthetic dyes have been developed and used in a myriad of industries such as paint, food, pri nting, photography, leatherworks, petroleum products and so much more1. Among this seemin gly endless list of applications for dyes, the textile industry is one that is, quite literally, in dire ct contact with us humans. With the increasing global population, rising disposable income an d recent trends in fast fashion, the textile industry is also the biggest user of dyes. This makes it all the more important to ensure that dyes used to dye fabric in the textile and fashion indust ry have no adverse effects on both human and environmental systems. For instance, arsenic w 1

Shabbir, M. (Ed.). (2019). Textiles and Clothing. doi:10.1002/9781119526599

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as a chemical substance used to dye fabric a vivid shade of green, and was loved and used to d ye wallpapers and ball gowns in Victorian England, and caused innumerable cases of death fro m arsenic poisoning2. Current synthetic dyes do not pose as immediate threats as arsenic to he alth and environment, but still have been found to be the causes of many environmental and he alth problems now. Today, over 3600 dyes are produced, which contain about 8000 chemicals 3 . Many dyes and chemicals frequently used in the textile industry were found to pose huge en vironmental threats45.The conventional dying process churned up more than 79 billion cubic m etres of wastewater in 20156, which contains many toxic chemicals and dye residues. Many of these dyes are highly water-soluble, which means they can be easily absorbed into sewers and carried into other water bodies and ecosystems and persist there. These substances form prod ucts which are toxic, hazardous and can even be carcinogenic, meaning it can cause cancer7. E ven if they aren’t directly harmful to the ecosystems that they enter, many of these substances are also dark in color and create a high biochemical oxygen demand, which lowers visibility a nd dissolved oxygen concentrations for the organisms that populate the ecosystems89. Certain synthetic dyes, when absorbed through the skin or inhaled directly, can cause redness, rash, w heals, respiratory and circulatory problems, and are classified as respiratory/ skin sensitizers10, 11 . Some synthetic dyes can be the cause of anaphylaxis and genetic mutation(genotoxic), interfer ing with the body’s normal metabolic activities12,13,14. Hence, it is not only important for the e nvironment that we develop ‘safer’ alternatives to synthetic dyes, but also for public health an d safety.

Bartrip, P. W. J. “How Green Was My Valance?: Environmental Arsenic Poisoning and the Victorian Domesti c Ideal.” The English Historical Review, vol. 109, no. 433, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 891–913. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/574537. 3 Kant, R., Textile dyeing industry an environmental hazard. Nat. Sci., 4, 1, 22–26, 2012. 4 Yusuf, M., Ahmad, A., Shahid, M., Khan, M.I., Khan, S.A., Manzoor, N., Mohammad, F., Assessment of colorimetric, antibacterial and antifun- gal properties of woollen yarn dyed with the extract of the leaves of henna (Lawsonia inermis). J. Cleaner Prod., 27, 42–50, 2012. 5 Kestioglu, K., Yonar, T., Azbar, N., Feasibility of physico-chemical treatment and advanced oxidation process es (AOPs) as a means of pretreatment of olive mill effluent (OME). Proc. Biochem., 40, 2409–2416, 2005. 6 “Water & Clothing.” The Conscious Challenge, https://www.theconsciouschallenge.org/ecologicalfootprintbib leoverview/water-clothing. Accessed 15 Sept. 2021. 7 Kaushik, P. and Malik, A., Fungal dye decolourisation: Recent advances and future potential. Environ. Int., 35, 127–141, 2009. 8 Seesuriyachan, P., Takenaka, S., Kuntiya, A., Klayraung, S., Murakami, S., Aoki, K., Metabolism of azo dyes by Lactobacillus casei TISTR 1500 and effects of various factors on decolorization. Water Res., 41, 5, 985–992, 2007. 9 Hao, O.J., Kim, H., Chiang, P.C., Decolorization of wastewater. Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 30, 4, 449–5 05, 2000. 10 VRM11.8088-Final Report, European Commission (Draft no.7). Study on the Link between Allergic Reaction s and Chemicals in Textile Products (January 7, 2013). 11 Working together for safer colorants, https://etad.com/en/ 12 Yusuf, M., Shabbir, M., Mohammad, F., Natural colorants: Historical, processing and sustainable prospects. Nat. Prod. Bioprospect., 7, 123–145, 2017. 13 Yusuf, M., Shahid, M., Khan, M.I., Khan, S.A., Khan, M.A., Mohammad, F., Dyeing studies with henna and madder: A research on effect of tin (II) chloride mordant. J. Saudi. Chem. Soc., 19, 64–72, 2015. 14 VRM11.8088-Final Report, European Commission (Draft no.7). Study on the Link between Allergic Reaction s and Chemicals in Textile Products (January 7, 2013).

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2.2 Recent research done on natural dyes Following this line of thought, many researchers have come up with different dyes that can be used to dye fabric in the textile industry. For instance, scientists have suggested reverting to t raditional methods of dying fabric using natural substances called carotenoids extracted from natural material such as plan ts and microorganisms. Carotenoids have three variations of color, with red coming from pig ments lycopene, astaxanthin, tunaxanthin, delta-carotene and bixin, which come from papaya, pink grapefruit, tomato15, red cabbage, salmon, trout shrimp and lobster; yellow produced by lutein, violaxanthin, crocin, neoxanthin, zeaxanthin, alpha-cryptoxanthin and alpha-carotene d erived from wild cabbage, lettuce, spinach, paprika, pumpkin, marigold, and saffron; orange, which is mainly beta-carotene found in carrot, tomato, sweet potato16, yellow maize, pepper, s tarfruit, persimmon, and papaya. Microorganisms such as Phaffia rhodozoa, Haematococcus pluvialis, red basidiomycetous (yeast), Agrobacterium aurantiacum, Xanthophyllomyces dend rorhous, and Bradyrhizobium171819 also produce carotenoids that can be used in the textile ind ustry. In conjunction with locating sources for these natural dyes, several methods for extracti ng and dying fabric with carotenoids were also developed. However, these methods require th e presence of a full-grown plant or fish to extract the pigment from. After extracting the pigm ents, the fabric again has to go through the dying process, which uses up large amounts of wat er. Considering that farming plant or fish of any kind take up a lot of area as well as water, fer tilizer or feed, these ‘natural’ methods of acquiring pigments cannot be seen as an economic a lternative. On the other hand, natural dyes that have not been used before were also discovered, by scient ists such as Natsai Audrey Chieza20. Utilizing the production of pigmented metabolites by Stre ptomyces coelicolor, Chieza devised a method of growing the bacteria directly onto the fabric for coloration. This method eliminated the need to grow plants in fields just to extract caroten oids, while battling the water consumption and harmful chemical waste that comes with the cu rrent standard dying processes21. Actinorhodin is a pH-dependent secondary metabolite, and c an change color ranging from red to blue depending on the pH of the environment that the acti norhodin-producing S. coelicolor is placed in. In contrast to the aforementioned natural dyeing 15

Rojas-Garbanzo, C., Gleichenhagen, M., Heller, A., Esquivel, P., Schulze- Kaysers, N., Schieber, A., Caroten oid profile, antioxidant capacity, and chromoplasts of pink guava (Psidium guajava L. Cv. ‘Criolla’) during fruit ripening. J. Agric. Food Chem., 65, 18, 3737–3747, 2017. 16 Enfissi,E.,Nogueira,M.,Bramley,P.M.,Fraser,P.D.,Theregulationofcarot- enoid formation in tomato fruit. Plan t J., 89, 4, 774–788, 2017. 17 Barredo, J.L., García-Estrada, C., Kosalkova, K., Barreiro, C., Biosynthesis of astaxanthin as a main carotenoi d in the heterobasidiomycetous yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous. J. Fungi, 3, 3, 44, 2017. 18 Thuan, T.K. and Thuy, T.T., Determination of the pigment carotenoid astaxanthin content in the cells of the yeast strain Phaffia rhodozyma NT5 used as additive foods in aquaculture. Tap Chi Sinh Hoc, 29, 1, 82–88, 201 4. 19 Biswal, S., Oxidative stress and astaxanthin: The novel supernutrient carotenoid. Int. J. Health Allied Sci., 3, 3, 147–153, 2014. 20 Seetal Solanki. “We Are Not Materialistic Enough.” Fusion Journal, no. 18, 2020, pp. 4–8, https://doi.org/10. 3316/informit.275954322960394. 21 Scott Chimileski. “Bacterial Dyes in Fashion.” American Society for Microbiology, 4 Nov. 2017, https://asm.o rg/Articles/2017/November/bacterial-dyes-in-fashion.

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methods, since the bacteria release the pigment directly onto the fabric, there is less waste wa ter involved in the dying process. And since bacteria do not take up as much space as plants or fish, and have fewer survival requirements, they can be cultured within the textile factory itse lf. In many ways, this alternative method of growing dyes directly onto the fabric using bacter ia is an option worth exploring for the future of the textile industry. 2.3 Characteristics of actinorhodin Actinorhodin is an antibiotic with bacteriostatic properties on gram positive bacteria22. It is a secondary metabolite produced by Streptomyces coelicolor, which means it is not directly nee ded for the survival of the organism23. Actinorhodin is normally a blue-pigmented, redox-acti ve pigment, but it is pH-responsive and can change its color ranging from red to blue dependi ng on the pH of the environment it is placed in24. This color-changing property of actinorhodi n has also been used to detect the presence of fungi-produced acids25, apart from being outlin ed as a possible alternative for fabric dye in Natsai Chieza’s work.

Figure 1. Structure of actinorhodin26

S. Mak and J. R. Nodwell, “Actinorhodin is a redox-active antibiotic with a complex mode of action against Gram-positive cells,” Mol Microbiol, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 597–613, Nov. 2017, doi: 10.1111/mmi.13837. 23 Mosunova, Olga, et al. “The Biosynthesis of Fungal Secondary Metabolites: From Fundamentals to Biotechno logical Applications.” Encyclopedia of Mycology, edited by Óscar Zaragoza and Arturo Casadevall, Elsevier, 20 21, pp. 458–76. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.21072-8. 24 G. Liu, K. F. Chater, G. Chandra, G. Niu, and H. Tan, “Molecular Regulation of Antibiotic Biosynthesis in St reptomyces,” Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 112–143, Mar. 2013, doi: 10.112 8/MMBR.00054-12. 25 D. Manikprabhu and K. Lingappa, “γ Actinorhodin a natural and attorney source for synthetic dye to detect ac id production of fungi,” Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 163–168, Apr. 2013, doi: 10.10 16/j.sjbs.2013.01.004. 26 National Center for Biotechnology Information. "PubChem Compound Summary for CID 441143, Actinorhod in" PubChem, https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Actinorhodin. Accessed 8 October, 2021.

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2.4 Possible areas for further development This led me to wonder if there were more sources of actinorhodin or similar pigments that cou ld be utilized in the textile industry. The first candidates for such alternative sources of actinor hodin are other bacteria of the Streptomyces genus. Not only are these bacteria genetically clo sest to Streptomyces coelicolor of all organisms, they are also a group of organisms that are kn own to produce the most amount of commercially/ medically useful chemical substances. Am ong those substances, there are bound to be pigments, which can provide mankind with alterna tives to dying fabric, which could have different colors and perhaps better performance as a dy estuff. The standard S. coelicolor colony has the specific growth rate of 0.1h-1 in bench scale r eactors27 and 0.03±0.008 h-1 in small scale production conditions28: there may be other bacteri a which grow faster or more controllably, or produce a wider range of pigments that are bright er and larger in quantity than that currently produced by S. coelicolor. 2.5 Databases and programs used in this study In order to examine possible sources of actinorhodin-like substances, I made use of secondary data and machine-learning based protein imaging software, namely MetaCyc, BLAST, Clustal W and Phyre2. METACYC MetaCyc introduces itself as ‘a highly curated metabolic database that contains metabolic path ways, enzymes, metabolites, and reactions from all domains of life29. It provides information o n the metabolic pathways of different organisms such as biosynthesis of pigments. It allows th e user to view the metabolic cycle/ chain in a variety of different views that show the reactants , enzymes and other chemicals affecting the reaction. BLAST BLAST, short for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, is a program that compares the FAST A sequences of proteins (including enzymes) and shows the percentage and regions of similari ty for the user to interpret. The NCBI website30 which provides the BLAST program also has an option to generate a list of homologues of the target protein based on the percentage similar ity between the homologue and the protein whose FASTA sequence is entered into the query b ox.

Borodina, Irina, et al. “Antibiotic Overproduction in Streptomyces Coelicolor A3(2) Mediated by Phosphofruc tokinase Deletion.” Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 283, no. 37, Elsevier, Sept. 2008, pp. 25186–99. www. jbc.org, https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M803105200. 28 Sohoni, Sujata Vijay, et al. “Robust, Small-Scale Cultivation Platform for Streptomyces Coelicolor.” Microbi al Cell Factories, vol. 11, no. 1, Jan. 2012, p. 9. BioMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2859-11-9. 29 MetaCyc: Metabolic Pathways From All Domains of Life. https://metacyc.org/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. 30 Information, National Center for Biotechnology, et al. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021.

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CLUSTALW ClustalW is a software that generates a phylogenetic tree based on the FASTA sequences of th e proteins entered into the query box31. The format of the phylogenetic tree, e.g. branch length and axes, as well as the format of the image file can be changed on the website before downlo ading the phylogenetic tree as an image. The phylogenetic tree allows the user to establish evo lutionary relationships between each protein entered in the software, although no percentage o r region of similarity are generated as in the NCBI website. The results of the ClustalW analy sis could also be used to find the conserved regions of the enzyme, which in turn can provide i nformation on which domains of the enzyme are important. PHYRE2 Phyre2 is an artificial-intelligence driven, deep-learning-based online program that produces 3 D structures of proteins based on the FASTA sequences entered into the query box32. Similar t o the NCBI database, Phyre2 also generates a list of the most structurally similar homologues of the protein. It has to be noted that in Phyre2’s case, however, the homologues are selected n ot according to the FASTA sequence but using the estimated 3D structure of the protein and it s homologues strictly. 3. Main Findings 3.1 Finding the biosynthesis pathway responsible for actinorhodin production in S. coelic olor Firstly, the biosynthesis pathway of actinorhodin in Streptomyces coelicolor was found by run ning a search in MetaCyc. The enzymes involved in the production of actinorhodin were foun d by choosing the ‘All compounds, enzymes’ view after searching ‘actinorhodin biosynthesis’ pathway in the main search bar. This produced the following sequence of enzymes involved i n the production of actinorhodin:

About CLUSTALW. https://www.megasoftware.net/mega4/WebHelp/part_ii__assembling_data_for_analysis/b uilding_sequence_alignments/clustalw/hc_clustalw.htm. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. 32 Hameduh, Tareq, et al. “Homology Modeling in the Time of Collective and Artificial Intelligence.” Computat ional and Structural Biotechnology Journal, vol. 18, Jan. 2020, pp. 3494–506. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.csbj.2020.11.007.

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Figure 2. Biosynthesis pathway for actinorhodin The enzymes involved in the production of actinorhodin were organized in chronological ord er, using the MetaCyc database to find subunits and synonyms: Table 1. Enzymes involved in biosynthesis of actinorhodin in S. coelicolor Enzyme type II minimal act PKS formed of

Synonyms

Accession Code SCO5087 (MetaCyc)

min PKS; minimal PKS

1. Subunit of 3-oxoacyl -[acp]-synthase: keto

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acyl synthase

ActI-1; ketosynthase; actinor hodin polyketide β-ketoacyl synthase α subunit; KS; KSα SCO5088 (MetaCyc)

2. Subunit of 3-oxoacyl -[acp]-synthase: chai n length factor

ActI-ORF2; CLF; KSβ; actin orhodin polyketide beta-keto acyl synthase beta subunit; C IF SCO5089 (MetaCyc)

3. actinorhodin polyketi actinorhodin polyketide synt de synthase acyl-carr hase acyl carrier protein; AC ier protein PPKS; act ACP; ActI-3 SCBAC28G1.12c; KR

SCO5086

ketoreductase (ActIII)

aromatase (ActVII)

SCBAC28G1.16; actVII-OR SCO5090 F4; actinorhodin polyketide synthase bifunctional cyclas e/dehydratase; ARO

Acts 2 times in the biosynthe SCO5091 4-(3'-acetyl-5'-hydroxy-4'-ox sis pathway o-1',4'-dihydronapthalen-2'-y l)-3-oxobutanoate-[PKS-acp ActIV;CYC ] thiolase (ActIV) SCBAC20F6.15

SCO5072 (MetaCyc)

hydroxylacyl-CoA dehydrog enase (ActVI-1) SCBAC20F6.17; ActVI-OR (S)-4-(3'-acetyl-5'-hydroxy-4 F3 '-oxo-1',4'-dihydronapthalen2'-yl)-3-hydroxybutanoate c yclase (ActVI-3)

SCO5074 (MetaCyc)

SCBAC20F6.16; ActVI-OR F2

SCO5073 (MetaCyc)

enoyl reductase (ActVI-2)

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SCBAC28G1.01; SCBAC20 SCO5075 (MetaCyc) (S)-DNPA isomerase (ActVI F6.18; ActVI-ORF4 -4)

medermycin 6-monooxygen ase (ActVA-5)

Acts 2 times in the biosynthe SCO5080 sis pathway SCBAC28G1.06; actVA-OR F5 -

At this point the identity of t he dimerase is still not know n.

ActVA

In short, the biosynthesis chain of actinorhodin starts with 8 malonyl-coenzyme A being modi fied by 3-oxoacyl-[acp]-synthase and ends with the action of ActVA. Since enzymes are specific, we could find the producer of actinorhodin by finding the produc er of the last enzyme involved in actinorhodin production. Following this logic, possible cand idates for the production of actinorhodin were investigated using three different methods:

3.2 Method 1: Homology search using BLAST The FASTA sequence was first found out using the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information): actVA 5 [Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)] GenBank: CAA41641.1 >CAA41641.1 actVA 5 [Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)] MSEDTMTQERPSLTAHARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVDAVLRAGFAAHFVP VAHGGRAATFGELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQAELWSDGPDALIVGALMPLG RAEKTPGGWHVSGTW PFVSVVDHSDWALICAKVGEEPWFFAVPRQEYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPDAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWTAGRLAGPTGQN AVSSQDRVVYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGSATGVLVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFASAGT RAQAQDSPMQRLWR DVHAAGSHIGLQFGPGAALYAGELLRRSNDG

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A protein sequence BLAST was carried out using the search query above and the top 12 hom ologues of actinorhodin and their producer bacteria were organized from the highest percent i dentity. Of these, Streptomyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces anthocyanicus, and Streptomyces livi dans TK24 seem to be the best candidates for producing actinorhodin for application in the te xtile industry. 3.3 Method 2: Constructing a phylogenetic tree using ClutalW Next, I entered the FASTA sequences of the top 12 actVA-5 -like enzymes from section 3.2 i nto the ClustalW software along with the FASTA sequence of the actVA-5 enzyme itself, to produce the phylogenetic tree as follows: Figure 2. Phylogenetic tree of actVA-5 and its genetic homologues

The phylogenetic tree shows a clearer picture of the evolutionary relationship among the hom ologues including the enzyme in focus (actVA-5). Streptomyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces anth ocyanicus, and Streptomyces lividans TK24 are the most probable alternatives to S. coelicolor for the production of actinorhodin. This confirms the results of the BLAST analysis of Strept omyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces anthocyanicus, and Streptomyces lividans TK24 producing th e most similar homologues to actVA5. 3.4 Method 3: Structural homologue search using Phyre2 The structural homologues of actVA-5 were found using Phyre2. The FASTA sequence for actVA-5 was entered into the query box and the following results were given: Figure 3. Screenshot of Phyre2 results for actVA-5

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The top 3 structural homologues according to confidence were looked for their predicted FAS TA sequences: With this, one possible alternative source of actinorhodin of the Streptomyces genus (Strepto myces sp. HKI0576) and two that are not necessarily of the genus Streptomyces (Paracoccus denitrificans, Acinetobacter baumannii) were also obtained. 4. Discussion 4.1 Key Findings Here we show by using secondary data, several Streptomyces species and one non-Streptomy ces species that would be the most likely producers of actinorhodin based on their chemical a nd structural makeup. Using the FASTA sequences of enzymes produced in bacteria, three St reptomyces species were identified as the most likely substitutes for S. coelicolor: Streptomyc es sp. RK76, Streptomyces anthocyanicus, and Streptomyces lividans TK24. By mapping the s tructure of the final enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of actinorhodin, three additional spe cies Streptomyces sp. HKI0576, Paracoccus denitrificans and Acinetobacter baumannii were identified. 4.2 Underlying Assumptions The research was carried out under the assumption that the data entered in the databases are a ccurate, and that the 3D protein structure mapping generated using Phyre2 was reliable enoug h to be used to compare enzymes.

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Another assumption backing this study is that the more similar the FASTA sequence of two en zymes are, the more similar their functions would be. However, this may not be the case in rea l life since a difference in just one amino acid can change the primary level of the protein and hence the overall conformation of the protein. The Phyre2 method revolves around a similar a ssumption, that if two enzymes have the same structure, they must have the same Furthermore , even if two proteins have exactly the same structure, they may be responsible for different fu nctions depending on the type of organism or environment that they are subjected to. 4.3 Strengths and Weaknesses The strengths of this study are that: 1. All existing bacteria existing in the NCBI/ Phyre2 databases were considered and not j ust a handful of bacteria, thus increasing the reliability of the research. 2. The enzymes found by methods 1 and 2 (using the FASTA sequence), namely those fo und in Streptomyces sp. RK76 and Streptomyces anthocyanicus are explicitly named ‘a ctinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA’, which further suggests that they are involved in the production of actinorhodin. 3. The three structural homologues obtained via Phyre2 all had confidence of 100, with c onfidence meaning ‘probability (from 0 to 100) that the match between your sequence and this template is a true homology’33. The weaknesses of the methodology are: 1. The research is based on aforementioned assumptions (the more similar the FASTA se quence or structure of two enzymes are, the more similar their functions would be) that are not always true in real world context. 2. On a similar note, there may be other bacterial species that are better suited for actinor hodin production than the Streptomyces species, but were ignored because of their diff erence in protein sequence or structure from that of S. coelicolor’s actVA-5. 3. This methodology revolves around secondary research and provides no empirical evid ence to back the claim made, i.e. that other Streptomyces species can be used to produc e actinorhodin for a low-risk textile purpose. 4. The research covers only enzymes that are entered in the NCBI databases- although th e databases cover a wide range of proteins, it is not possible to have an entry or a full g enetic analysis of all enzymes that exist, and hence some possible producers of actinor hodin may have been ignored.

Kelley LA et al. “The Phyre2 Web Portal for Protein Modeling, Prediction and Analysis.” Nature Protocols, v ol. 10, 2015, pp. 845–58, http://www.sbg.bio.ic.ac.uk/phyre2/html/help.cgi?id=help/interpret_normal#detailed.

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4.4 Possible Applications and Real-world Implications Actinorhodin has already been successfully used to dye fabric in a research conducted by Nat sai Chieza. Hence the results of this study point to the possible options that may be considere d to dye fabric in the textile industry. To take it further, since actinorhodin is a pigment, it cou ld also be used to color surfaces such as furniture and leather if the proper surface-finishing m ethod is developed. Actinorhodin may not be an ideal candidate for use as everyday paint sinc e it is sensitive to pH changes and may change color, but this characteristic may make it appli cable as an innovative art medium such as color-changing paint. It has to be taken into consid eration that the concept of non-toxic bacteria-produced pigments is newly emerging in the fiel d, and may not be an immediate, feasible replacement for the innumerable pigments that are i n use in various industries at day. This may lead to a need to use a mix of synthetic and bacter ia-produced pigments in the industry, and the interaction between the chemicals used in the sy nthetic dyes and the pigment-producing bacteria will require much investigation and discussio n. And in the case of factories actually adopting bacteria-produced dyes, governments could c onsider employing subsidies to encourage transition from synthetic dyes. 4.5 Unanswered Questions and Further Research Following the weakness of the study, further research remains to be conducted to collect empi rical evidence about the suitability of S. coelicolor: Streptomyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces ant hocyanicus, and Streptomyces lividans TK24, then Streptomyces sp. HKI0576 and Paracoccu s denitrificans as industrial sources for actinorhodin. The most widely accepted method of doi ng this would be to generate plasmids with the modified enzymes and insert them into the bac terium. More research also needs to be done on the final processing that the fabric goes under in the c ase of using actinorhodin to dye the material. For instance, adding the bacteria directly onto th e fabric limits its applications in the textile industry, and may raise safety concerns. In contras t, a method for the pigment to be captured outside the material could be developed. Similarly, the methods for finishing surfaces such as furniture, leather and plastics to hold the actinorho din pigments in place could take the application of bacteria-sourced pigments to another level . Although this research had only covered actinorhodin, due to its unique, wide color spectrum and precursory success in its application as a fabric dye, Streptomyces coelicolor produces an even greater number of colored pigments that could also be studied for potential as dyestuffs: Table 2. Pigments produced by S. coelicolor S.No. Pigment

Color

Related Study/s

Red/ blue

G. Liu, K. F. Chater, G. Chandra, G. Niu, and H. Tan, “Molecular Regulation of Antibiotic Biosynthesis in Streptomyces,” Microbiology

Actinorhodin

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and Molecular Biology Reviews, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 112–143, Mar. 2013, doi: 10.1128/MM BR.00054-12. S. Mak and J. R. Nodwell, “Actinorhodin is a redox-active antibiotic with a complex mode of action against Gram-positive cells,” Mol M icrobiol, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 597–613, Nov. 2 017, doi: 10.1111/mmi.13837. 2

Undecylprodigiosin

Red

N. Stankovic, L. Senerovic, T. Ilic-Tomic, B. Vasiljevic, and J. Nikodinovic-Runic, “Prope rties and applications of undecylprodigiosin a nd other bacterial prodigiosins,” Applied micr obiology and biotechnology, vol. 98, Feb. 201 4, doi: 10.1007/s00253-014-5590-1.

Kalafungin GM coelicolor

Yellow

“In Living Color: Bacterial Pigments as an Un tapped Resource in the Classroom and Beyond .” https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article? id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000510 (accessed A ug. 06, 2021).

Spore pigment (unnamed)

grey

G. H. Kelemen, P. Brian, K. Flärdh, L. Chamb erlin, K. F. Chater, and M. J. Buttner, “Develo pmental Regulation of Transcription of whiE, a Locus Specifying the Polyketide Spore Pigm ent in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2),” J Bacte riol, vol. 180, no. 9, pp. 2515–2521, May 199 8, Accessed: Aug. 06, 2021. [Online]. Availab le: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC107196/

GM spore pigment (unnamed)

“greenish” G. H. Kelemen, P. Brian, K. Flärdh, L. Chamb erlin, K. F. Chater, and M. J. Buttner, “Develo pmental Regulation of Transcription of whiE, a Locus Specifying the Polyketide Spore Pigm ent in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2),” J Bacte riol, vol. 180, no. 9, pp. 2515–2521, May 199 8, Accessed: Aug. 06, 2021. [Online]. Availab le: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC107196/

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Gammaactinorhodin And other “actinorho din congeners”

blue

L. V. Bystrykh, M. A. Fernández-Moreno, J. K. Herrema, F. Malpartida, D. A. Hopwood, a nd L. Dijkhuizen, “Production of actinorhodin -related ‘blue pigments’ by Streptomyces coeli color A3(2),” J Bacteriol, vol. 178, no. 8, pp. 2238–2244, Apr. 1996, doi: 10.1128/jb.178.8. 2238-2244.1996.

phenocyclinone

blue

5-hydroxyaloesapona blue rin

A. Ali, M. Ali, S. R. Mir, K. Zaman, and S. Su ltana, “SECONDARY METABOLITES PRO DUCED DURING THE GERMINATION OF STREPTOMYCES COELICOLOR AND FR OM THE LEAVES OF OXALIS DEBILIS,” p. 7. L. V. Bystrykh, J. K. Herrema, W. Kruizinga, and R. M. Kellogg, “5-Hydroxyaloesaponarin II, a minor blue pigment in an actinorhodin-ne gative mutant of Streptomyces coelicolor A3( 2),” Biotechnology and applied biochemistry, vol. 26, pp. 195–201, Dec. 1997, doi: 10.1111/ j.1470-8744.1997.tb01331.x.

From this, we can also see that a little tweak in the enzyme may produce a related molecule th at has a slightly different colour. So homologues of actV5 might produce other colored pigme nts, and it would be great to find a range of pigments. 5. Conclusion Thesis Statement: Homologues of ActVA in Streptomyces species are the most likely subs titutes for actinorhodin production for application in the textile industry. In both methods of locating homologues using the FASTA sequence and the structure of actin orhodin, the homologues of highest similarity were found in other Streptomyces species. Given that many of the homologues discovered have as high as 99% plus percent identity, and that some of them are even explicitly named actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA (produ ced by Streptomyces sp. RK76, Streptomyces anthocyanicus), there is high possibility that ho

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mologues of actVA in other Streptomyces bacteria can be used as substitutes for actinorhodin production for application in the textile industry.

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7. Appendix 7.1 Homologues of actinorhodin found via BLAST, in decreasing order of percent identi ty Homologue 1 (per. ident=99.48%) actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces sp. RK76] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_210983945.1 >WP_210983945.1 actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces sp. RK76] MSEDTMTQERPSLTAHARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVDSVLRAGFAAHFVP VAHGGRAATFGELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQAELWSDGPDALIVGALMPLG RAEKTPGGWHVSGTW PFVSVVDHSDWALICAKVGEEPWFFAVPRQEYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPDAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWTAGKLAGPTGQN AVSSQDRVVYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGSATGVLVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFASAGT RAQAQDSPMQRLWR DVHAAGSHIGLQFGPGAALYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 2 (99.48%) actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces anthocyanicus] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_193486401.1 >WP_193486401.1 actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces anthocyanicus] MSEDTMTQERPSLTAHARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVDSVLRAGFAAHFVP VAHGGRAATFGELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGRAELWSDGPDALIVGALMPLG RAEKTPGGWHVSGTW

142

PFVSVVDHSDWALICAKVGEEPWFFAVPRQEYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPDAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWTAGKLAGPTGQN AVSSQDRVVYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGSATGVLVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFASAGT RAQAQDSPMQRLWR DVHAAGSHIGLQFGPGAALYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 3 (99.21%) hydrolase [Streptomyces lividans TK24] GenBank: EFD66969.1 >EFD66969.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces lividans TK24] MAGQDRLDPEGPGMSEDTMTQERPSLTAHARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVV DAVLRAGFAAHFVPV AHGGRAATFGELVEPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGRAELWSDG PDALIVGALMPLGRA EKTPGGWHVSGTWPFVSVVDHSDWALICAKVGEEPWFFAVPRQEYGIVDSWYPMG MRGTGSNTLVLDGVF VPDARACTRAAIAAGLGPDAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSW TAGKLAGPTGQNAVS SQDRVVYEHTLARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGSATGVLVGRGARDCALAAEL LTAATDRLFASAGTR AQAQDSPMQRLWRDVHAAGSHIGLQFGPGAALYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 4 (99.21%) actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces anthocyanicus] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_191850718.1 >WP_191850718.1 actinorhodin polyketide dimerase ActVA [Streptomyces anthocyanicus] MSEDTMTQERPSLTAHARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVDAVLRAGFAAHFVP VAHGGRAATFGELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMTAYLPDEGRAELWSDGPDALIVGALMPLG RAEKTPGGWHVSGTW PFVSVVDHSDWALICAKVGEEPWFFAVPRQEYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPDAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWTAGKLAGPTGQN AVSSQDRVVYEHTLAR

143

ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGSATGVLVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFASAGT RAQAQDSPMQRLWR DVHAAGSHIGLQFGPGAALYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 5 (91.86%) hydrolase [Streptomyces violaceoruber] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_107056384.1 >WP_107056384.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces violaceoruber] MSEDAMTQERSPLAAGARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVRAVLQGGFAAHFV PVAHGGRAATFTELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQGELWSAGPDALIVGALMPLG RAERTAGGWHVSGTW PFVSVVDHSDWALVCAKAGEEPWFFAVPRQAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIS AGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWIAAKLAGPTGQNA VSSQDRVLYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAEVADAGGVTGELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFACAGT RAQTQDSPLQRLWR DVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 6 (91.08%) hydrolase [Streptomyces cyaneus] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_128437313.1 >WP_128437313.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces cyaneus] MSEDAMTQQTQEIQARSPLVAGAHRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVRAVLEAGF AAHFVPVAHGGRAA TFAELVEPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQSELWSDGPDALIVGA LMPLGSAEKTAGGW HLSGTWPFVSVVDHSDWALVCAKAGEEPWFFAVPRDAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGS NTLVLDGVFVPDSRAC TRAAIAAGVGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWIAAKLAG PTGQNAVSSQDRVLY EHTLARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGGVTGELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRL FASAGTRAQSQDSP LQRLWRDVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

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Homologue 7 (90.81%) hydrolase [Streptomyces cellulosae] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_107061701.1 >WP_107061701.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces cellulosae] MSEDTMTQERSPLAAGARRIAELAGKRASDAEQQRRLSPDVVRAVLQGGFAAHFVP VAHGGRAATFTELV EPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQGELWSAGPDALIVGALMPLG RAERTASGWHVSGTW PFVSAVDHSDWALVCAKAGEEPWFFAVPRQAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLDG VFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTAWITAKLAAPTGQN AVSSQDRVLYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGGVTGELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFTCAGT RAQTQDSPLQRLWR DVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 8 (90.18%) hydrolase [Streptomyces cyaneochromogenes] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_126394738.1 >WP_126394738.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces cyaneochromogenes] MSGDAMTQERPPLAAGAGRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVRAVLQAGFAAHFV PVAHGGRAATFAELV EPVAVLGEACSSTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQAELWAAGPDALIVGALMPLG RAERTAGGWHVSGTW PFVSVVDHSDWALVCAMAGQEPWFFAVPRQAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTLVLD GVFVPDARACTRAAIA AGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWIAAKLAGPTGQNA VSSQDRVLYEHTLAR ATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGGVTGELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFASAGT RAQTEDSPLQRFWR DVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSTDG

Homologue 9 (89.74%) hydrolase [Streptomyces regalis] GenBank: KUL30607.1

145

>KUL30607.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces regalis] MAGEDRLGPDGCGMSAGAMTQETQQIPAAREPSPLEAGARRIAELAGKRAADAEQ QRRLSPDVVSAVLQA GFAAHFVPVAHGGRAATFAELVEPVAVLGEACASAAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDE GQAELWSAGPDALIV GALMPLGRAEKTAGGWQVSGTWPFVSVVDHSDWALVCAKAGKEPWFFAVPRQAY GIVDSWYPMGMRGTGS NTLVLDGVFVPDSRACTRAAIAAGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARG AAAVWTSWIAEKLA GPTGQNAVSSQDRVLYEHTLARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAEVADAGGVTGELVGRGA RDCALAAELLTAATD RLFACAGTRAQAQDSPMQRFWRDVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 10 (89.61%) hydrolase [Streptomyces regalis] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_107120033.1 >WP_107120033.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces regalis] MTQETQQIPAAREPSPLEAGARRIAELAGKRAADAEQQRRLSPDVVSAVLQAGFAA HFVPVAHGGRAATF AELVEPVAVLGEACASAAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPDEGQAELWSAGPDALIVGAL MPLGRAEKTAGGWQV SGTWPFVSVVDHSDWALVCAKAGKEPWFFAVPRQAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNT LVLDGVFVPDSRACTR AAIAAGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWIAEKLAGPT GQNAVSSQDRVLYEH TLARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAEVADAGGVTGELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFA CAGTRAQAQDSPMQ RFWRDVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 11 (89.32%) hydrolase [Streptomyces caeruleatus] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_107122849.1 >WP_107122849.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces caeruleatus] MSEDAMTQETQERSSLVAGARRIAGLAGKRTAEAEQQRRLSPDVVRAVLDAGFAA HFVPVAHGGRAATFA ELVEPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPQEGRAELWSDGPDALIVGALM PLGRAERTAGGWQVS

146

GTWPFVSVVDHSDWALVCAMAGQEPWFFAVPREAYGIVDSWYPMGMRGTGSNTL VLDGVFVPDGRSCTRA AIASGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVWTSWIAAKLAGPTG QNAVSSQDRVLYEHT LARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGGVTAELVGRGARDCALAAELLTAATDRLFAS AGTRAQTEDSPLQR LWRDVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

Homologue 12 (89.32%) hydrolase [Streptomyces caeruleatus] GenBank: KUO04494.1 >KUO04494.1 hydrolase [Streptomyces caeruleatus] MAGQDRLGPDGPGMSEDAMTQETQERSSLVAGARRIAGLAGKRTAEAEQQRRLSP DVVRAVLDAGFAAHF VPVAHGGRAATFAELVEPVAVLGEACASTAWYASLTASLGRMAAYLPQEGRAELW SDGPDALIVGALMPL GRAERTAGGWQVSGTWPFVSVVDHSDWALVCAMAGQEPWFFAVPREAYGIVDSW YPMGMRGTGSNTLVLD GVFVPDGRSCTRAAIASGLGPGAEAICHTVPMRAVNGLAFALPMLGAARGAAAVW TSWIAAKLAGPTGQN AVSSQDRVLYEHTLARATGEIDAAQLLLERVAAVADAGGVTAELVGRGARDCALA AELLTAATDRLFASA GTRAQTEDSPLQRLWRDVHAAASHIGLQFGPGATLYAGELLRRSNDG

7.2 Homologues of actinorhodin found via Phyre2, in decreasing order of confidence

Homologue 1 Confidence 100, percent identity 27% >c5mr6R_ TDIRSETAELRAELVERVHKFGPVFADGVAEGERERRLPDATVRAIDQSQLAMLWT AKSYGGLETDVRTMSEVAKVLSHYCPSTSWVVNNVNGSNLLASKFPRAALDEVFG DAPGAKLASVFAAAGTAVRTPGGYRLTGSWPYGTGILHDDWAILVAREVDADGEP VGGLSMLVPARDLTVEDTWHTVGMRATGSHTVVLRDTFVPEHRVISGELQRSRESA TDLGLPPLFRTAAIAAMAVVCASVVLGAGQAARALVVEKAPTRGIAPSKYTRQTDS RTFVSSLGRTALSIDAAEMHVARAATALDDAAYDAVALPDSELLRIRGDVGQAVSL VTTALDELLWAHGAASFAESNPLQRYWRDANTAARHAMLNVHVGHELYGGSFFGL DPIVPSL

147

identified as XiaF protein [Streptomyces sp. HKI0576] GenBank: CCH63732.1 >CCH63732.1 XiaF protein [Streptomyces sp. HKI0576] MTMTDIRSETAELRAELVERVHKFGPVFADGVAEGERERRLPDATVRAIDQS QLAMLWTAKSYGGLETDV RTMSEVAKVLSHYCPSTSWVVNNVNGSNLLASKFPRAALDEVFGDAPGAKL ASVFAAAGTAVRTPGGYRL TGSWPYGTGILHDDWAILVAREVDADGEPVGGLSMLVPARDLTVEDTWHTV GMRATGSHTVVLRDTFVPE HRVISGELQRSRESATDLGLPPLFRTAAIAAMAVVCASVVLGAGQAARALVV EKAPTRGIAPSKYTRQTD SRTFVSSLGRTALSIDAAEMHVARAATALDDAAYDAVALPDSELLRIRGDVG QAVSLVTTALDELLWAHG AASFAESNPLQRYWRDANTAARHAMLNVHVGHELYGGSFFGLDPIVPSL

Homologue 2 Confidence 100, percent identity 26% >c2jbtA_ IRLVYTHAQTPDVSGVSMLEKIQQILPQIAKNAESAEQLRRVPDENIKLLKEIGLHRAF QPKVYGGLEMSLPDFANCIVTLAGACAGTAWAFSLLCTHSHQIAMFSKQLQDEIWL KDPDATASSSIAPFGKVEEVEGGIILNGDYGWSSGCDHAEYAIVGFNRFDADGNKIYS FGVIPRSDYEIVDNWYAQAIKSSGSKMLKLVNVFIPEYRISKAKDMMEGKSAGFGLY PDSKIFYTPYRPYFASGFSAVSLGIAERMIEAFKEKQRNRVRAYTGANVGLATPALM RIAESTHQVAAARALLEKTWEDHRIHGLNHQYPNKETLAFWRTNQAYAVKMCIEA VDRLMAAAGATSFMDNSELQRLFRDAHMTGAHAYTDYDVCAQILGRELMGMEPD PTMV identified as >sp|Q6Q272.1|HPAH_ACIBA RecName: Full=p-hydroxyphenylacetate 3-hydroxylas e, oxygenase component; AltName: Full=4-HPA 3-hydroxylase; AltName: Full=4-HP A 3-monooxygenase large component; AltName: Full=p-hydroxyphenylacetate 3-hyd roxylase C2 component MENTVLNLDSDVIHACEAIFQPIRLVYTHAQTPDVSGVSMLEKIQQILPQIAKN AESAEQLRRVPDENIK LLKEIGLHRAFQPKVYGGLEMSLPDFANCIVTLAGACAGTAWAFSLLCTHSH QIAMFSKQLQDEIWLKDP DATASSSIAPFGKVEEVEGGIILNGDYGWSSGCDHAEYAIVGFNRFDADGNKI YSFGVIPRSDYEIVDNW YAQAIKSSGSKMLKLVNVFIPEYRISKAKDMMEGKSAGFGLYPDSKIFYTPYR PYFASGFSAVSLGIAER

148

MIEAFKEKQRNRVRAYTGANVGLATPALMRIAESTHQVAAARALLEKTWED HRIHGLNHQYPNKETLAFW RTNQAYAVKMCIEAVDRLMAAAGATSFMDNSELQRLFRDAHMTGAHAYTD YDVCAQILGRELMGMEPDPT MV Homologue 3 Confidence 100, percent identity 17% >c6es9A_ MPADTPSALLALAGEALPELESLQSRATEALRALVAPAGKPQPALLEQHQHAAHALS WLTTYVESIRQLSGWAGRLAEAGNLGRIEALILQIGLGEYLGQIAGGIPMSQTEFARL SDLELDWQPGEAAAKLMRGNTAPARAELARLMQDNHGRATFGATGLDEDLEMIRD QFRRYAEERVIPNAHEWHLKDQLIPMEIIEELAELGVFGLTIPEEFGGLGLSKASMVV VTEELSRGYIGVGSLGTRSEIAAELILCGGTEAQKAKWLPGLASGEILSTAVFTEPNTG SDLGSLRTRAVRDGEDWVVTGNKTWITHAQRTHVMTLLARTDPETTDWRGLSMFL AEKEPGTDDDPFPTPGMTGGEIEVLGYRGMKEYELGFDGFRIKGENLLGGEPGRGFK QLMETFESARIQTAARAVGVAQSAAEIGMRYAVDRKQFGKSLIEFPRVADKLAMMA VEIMIARQLTYFSAWEKDHGRRCDLEAGMAKLLGARVAWAAADNALQIHGGNGFA LEYAISRVLCDARILNIFEGAAEIQAQVIARRLLD identified as acyl-CoA/acyl-ACP dehydrogenase [Paracoccus denitrificans] NCBI Reference Sequence: WP_011749115.1 >WP_011749115.1 acyl-CoA/acyl-ACP dehydrogenase [Paracoccus denitrificans] MKDMPAMPADTPSALLALAGEALPELESLQSRATEALRALVAPAGKPQPALL EQHQHAAHALSWLTTYVE SIRQLSGWAGRLAEAGNLGRIEALILQIGLGEYLGQIAGGIPMSQTEFARLSDL ELDWQPGEAAAKLMRG NTAPARAELARLMQDNHGRATFGATGLDEDLEMIRDQFRRYAEERVIPNAH EWHLKDQLIPMEIIEELAE LGVFGLTIPEEFGGLGLSKASMVVVTEELSRGYIGVGSLGTRSEIAAELILCGG TEAQKAKWLPGLASGE ILSTAVFTEPNTGSDLGSLRTRAVRDGEDWVVTGNKTWITHAQRTHVMTLLA RTDPETTDWRGLSMFLAE KEPGTDDDPFPTPGMTGGEIEVLGYRGMKEYELGFDGFRIKGENLLGGEPGR GFKQLMETFESARIQTAA RAVGVAQSAAEIGMRYAVDRKQFGKSLIEFPRVADKLAMMAVEIMIARQLT YFSAWEKDHGRRCDLEAGM AKLLGARVAWAAADNALQIHGGNGFALEYAISRVLCDARILNIFEGAAEIQA QVIARRLLD 149

New Appropriate Technology Platform for Post COVID Untact Era

Author 1

Full Name

Lee, Seungju

Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract. COVID-19, which started in 2020, has drastically changed the world. Travels have been minimized and only the essential movements are being done. One of the key factors in developing appropriate technology (AT) is identifying local conditions by directly visiting the region and communicating with the locals. However, this is very limited in the current situation. Therefore, this paper presents effective method for developing AT non-face-to-face facing the post-COVID era. The study first recognizes the key elements of success and failure of AT by analyzing total of 6 ATs. Factors identified were: perfectly understanding the situations of the local, being human friendly, and approaching as a form of business, not as a pure aid. Using those factors, the paper ultimately suggests PROBLEM, a new AT platform for the post COVID era. PROBLEM connects AT developers and local residents. Locals upload their situations and problems they are experiencing and the technology developers can fully understand the local conditions. In addition, direct Q&A with locals and AT developers is available through the application. It is highly accessible and can be used by anyone without much care. PROBLEM, which effectively connects developers and users and enables two-way communication, is expected to be a highly useful platform in the post-corona era.

Keywords. Appropriate technology, Platform, Untact, Post COIVID-19, Sustainability

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1. Introduction 1.1 Topic of Study and Background COVID-19, which started in 2020, has drastically changed the world. Travels have been minimized, and only the essential movements are being done. Flights have been canceled up to 50% compared to the previous year, and the cancellation rate of overseas travel reached 75.3%. About half past 2021, vaccines are slowly spreading, but as the variant virus still exists, it is predicted that returning to the pre-corona era will be difficult. The word "postcorona era" arose; it is necessary to adapt to a new lifestyle. Various online platforms emerged for alternative online meetings during the current time. People persist in their jobs through various online spaces such as Skype, Zoom, and Google Meet. Ways of living have also changed, and the Appropriate Technology (AT) field is not an exception. AT is a technology or product that is made in consideration of the level of infrastructure in the community. It aims maximum efficiency with minimum resources and costs. It is a human centered and environmentally friendly technology. One of the crucial factors in developing AT is identifying local conditions. Traveling to the region and experiencing the culture of that region and communicating with the locals is a vital part of the developing process. However, due to COVID-19, traveling to other areas has been limited. Therefore, this paper introduces a platform that can facilitate information sharing among operators without moving to other regions through big data collection. In this process, the success or failure factors of existing appropriate technologies are analyzed so that relevant information can be fully communicated through the platform. 1.2 Purpose There are two main objectives. 1) Learn about the success or failure factors of appropriate technology and 2) introduce a new platform. 2. Body 2.1 Concept and History of Appropriate Technology Appropriate Technology(AT) is a technology or product made in consideration of the level of infrastructure in the community. It is one solution to technology delays, a phenomenon in which the speed of change in non-material culture cannot catch up with the pace of change in material culture. The term "appropriate technology" was coined in the 1960s by British economist E.F. Schumacher. Schumacher argued that intermediate technology was needed to solve the polarization between rich and poor for proper development. Intermediate technology has changed its name to appropriate technology; AT uses local resources, small capital, and relatively simple technologies to promote small-scale production activities by local people. The prerequisites for appropriate technology are availability, operability, and specificity. Prices should be as low as possible to be economical and available as local resources can be utilized. Operability for convenient use and specificity to adapt to the local environment is essential.

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Initially developed to address poverty in the third world, it is now being developed as an alternative technology to address environmental problems. AT is a very flexible technology that can be applied not only to the developing countries but also to developed countries. In 1976, the Carter administration set up the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) to install solar panels in the White House. AT experienced a fall in the 1980s. This was because it was known as being ineffective in solving social and economic problems. Recognized as an ideal technology rather than a realistic technology, AT declined, and large-scale tasks for developing large technologies were adopted. AT re-emerged as Paul Polack established the International Development Enterprises (IDE). A new perspective on appropriate technology has emerged, changing from a market-oriented perspective rather than a traditional humanitarian approach. Previously, the way appropriate technology was applied was mainly through donations. However, Pollock altered the trend of appropriate technology, arguing that it should be developed from the perspective of a sober businessman, not from a sheer donation. Paul Pollock saw the users as business targets and customers, rather than the people in need, and developed into technologies to meet their needs. Naturally, the appropriate technology has changed to guarantee maximum design and quality at a minimum price. Appropriate technology has become more and more notable as part of sustainable development in line with the Millennium Development Goals announced by the United Nations in 2000. Various corporations like UK's "Practical Action" and Germany's "Deutsche Gesellschaft for Internationale Zusammenarbeit" (GIZ) are currently working on this. In particular, practical action has helped the developing countries through the development of appropriate technologies in various fields, including renewable energy, food production, farm industry, water, and construction, in Peru, Kenya, and Sudan. Like this, the appropriate technology is being applied to such a wide range and is expected to pioneer harsh environments such as Mars in the future. 2.2 Elements of Success of Appropriate Technology 2.2.1 Success 2.2.1.1 G-saver 2.2.1.1.1 Concept

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G-saver preserves the heat of the stove inside the Ger, the traditional Mongolian house. This reduces heating costs and reduces air pollution by increasing thermal efficiency by simply attaching it to a stove. The idea came from ondol, a traditional Korean heating device, storing heat for a long time. If you put stones in the middle of the stove like ondol, the stone absorbs heat from the stove, so it remains warm for a long time by slowing down the heat emission rate. In addition, pollutants from the stove are almost filtered through the Figure １ <G-saver> smoke-reducing substances inside the G-Saver. G-Saver helped prevent respiratory diseases by reducing carbon dioxide by about 44.5% and carbon monoxide by 46.5%. It also reduced heating costs by about 45% by increasing thermal efficiency. Professor Kim Man-gap of Korea developed this technology. 2.2.1.1.2 Why Succeed The biggest success factor is that G-Saver is a region-friendly technology created through thorough communication with locals. It uses materials such as stone, mud, and iron that are readily available in Mongolia. Before visiting Mongolia, Professor Kim Man-gap investigated environmental and health problems caused by Ger and sought effective solutions through communication with the locals. As a result, we were able to clearly identify the materials and lifestyles that were readily available in the area and had the advantage of being locally friendly. It also established a social enterprise called Good Sharing to promote sustainability by distributing G-Saver to low-income families and providing jobs to Mongolian residents. 2.2.1.2 pot-in-pot cooler 2.2.1.2.1 Concept A pot-in-pot cooler is an eco-friendly food storage where small earthenware is placed in a large earthenware, and the soil soaked in water is filled in between. The water evaporates and cools the interior, allowing the temperature to remain about 10 degrees lower than the surrounding temperature. In the case of fruits, they can be stored at room temperature for Figure ２ about a week, but if you use a pod-in-pot cooler, the storage <Pot-in-pot cooler> period can be extended to about a month. It is effective in dry areas. However, it is hard to expect much effect in places where water is rare or humid. It was designed by Mohammed Bah Abba in Nigeria. The people in Nigeria economically benefitted from the use of pot-in-pot coolers because there were no transportation, water, and electricity in rural Nigeria, which worried farmers about the storage of harvested agricultural products. The price is only about $2 per cent.

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2.2.1.2.2 Why Succeed There is no formalized form. Thus, it does not matter whether it takes a different shape depending on the region and user. It can be effectively applied to various areas because it can be made using two pots, soil, and water without extra cost and material. It had little to do with the materials available in the area so that it could be spread over a large area. Its price is about $2, so there's no burden on people buying and using it. It is ecofriendly because it does not use fossil fuels, and there is no noise. The manufacturing method is simple, so it can be self-made and used, and it can be used permanently as long as the potteries are not broken, thereby ensuring sustainability. 2.2.1.3 Scheffler cooker 2.2.1.3.1 Concept The Schaeffler Cooker is a tool that collects solar energy to cook. Invented in 1986 by Wolfgang Schaeffler of Germany, it uses a giant concave mirror-shaped reflector to collect solar energy in one place to supply the heat needed for cooking. The highest temperature is around 1450 degrees, and the energy conversion efficiency is about 35%. In the past, the direction of the concave mirror was fixed, but now it is much more efficient Figure ３ by introducing Haliostat, a technology that tracks the sun. The <Scheffler cooker> technology is most prevalent in India, which accounts for 90% of India's solar systems. This technology is designed to solve various problems caused by the use of firewood in countries such as India. Because firewood is not used by Scheffler cooker, it can reduce the time to pick up firewood and reduce the amount of smoke generated during the cooking process. In doing so, women who were often exposed to crimes in finding firewood could reduce the risk of crime. 2.2.1.3.2 Why Succeed There are two main factors for success. The inventor did not patent for the technology, and the follow-up management was very well done. Wolfgang Schaeffler, the inventor, did not issue a patent in hopes that poor and needy people would widely use the technology. Thus, with no extra cost for usage, Scheffler cooker spread much wider. Considering there are technologies that are limited in distributing technologies due to patent and price problems, the fact that anyone can make and use without paying a separate patent has excellent efficiency. In addition, Wolfgang Scheffler was responsible for follow-up management. He continuously visited India and taught people how to make those cookers. Through this, if the cooker breaks down, local people can fix it and use it themselves, which ensured sustainability.

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2.2.2 Failure 2.2.2.1 Roundabout Play Pump 2.2.2.1.1 Concept Roundabout Play Pump is a technology that incorporates the function of pumping water onto a playground roundabout, a children's ride. This technology was conceived from the idea of children pumping water up while playing. When children play with the play pump, using the power from that, the water underground is pulled up and stored in the water tank; the stored water is available to residents. If the water is overflowing from the water tank, the water flows back underground, and the circulation repeats. This technology was invented by Figure ４ <Roundabout Play a non-profit organization called Playpump International Pump> to improve the water scarcity problem and to increase the accessibility of water. It received attention at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which resulted in financial support of around 20 billion won for 4,000 installations worldwide for more than 10 million people. About half, or 2,000 Playpumps, were installed in sub-Saharan Africa and cost about $14,000 per machine. 2.2.2.1.2 Why Failed Playpump failed due to various factors. First, the play pump was installed without prior consultation with local residents, who will be the practical users. There was antipathy because it was different from the original way locals used to live. Also, it needs a similar amount of force to the original method for kids, and when the children stop playing on it, the machine stops spinning; no consistency. Moreover, one thing the developers overlooked here is that African children don't have enough time to play. The traditional manual pump method takes 28 seconds to collect 20L of water, while using this device, it takes about 3 minutes and 7 seconds, about six times more. The Playpump was reduced to a nuisance, and the well in which the Playpump was installed could not be used without the pump, adding to the inconvenience. Also, when it broke down since the materials for repairs could not be obtained locally, it was just abandoned. And because of the high price, it could not be installed or repaired without donations. Due to a lack of insight into local situations and lack of sustainability, the technology failed, losing both its original goal of fun and efficiency. 2.2.2.2 Lifestraw

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2.2.2.2.1 Concept A Lifestraw is a small portable water purifier hanging around the neck. It is about 25 cm in size and can purify about 99.9% of microorganisms and parasites and 98.2% of bacteria through four levels of filters. The first filter is a filter with a hole of 100 micrometers. The second filter is a polyester filter with 15 micrometers, an iodine-treated ion exchange resin, and activated carbon. Both odors and bacteria are filtered out. Danish entrepreneur Torben Vestergaard Fransdsen designed it to solve the problem of disease caused by drinking contaminated water. One device Figure ５ <Lifestraw> can purify about 700L of water overall, thus eradicate starvation through reduced medical costs, prevent diseases through safe drinking water, and produce various effects such as reducing infant mortality and strengthening the immune system. It was mainly distributed to Africa. 2.2.2.2.2 Why Failed The most significant factor of failure is that the price of Lifestraw was too high. It is about $25 per straw, which is not that high for developed countries. But it was very high for African residents considering that the daily hourly wage is about $5.5 for people in Africa. The price of LifeStraw was too high to be distributed in large quantities, and as a result, only a small amount was paid to some. Unfair distribution has become a problem, causing people to loot each other, even kill, to occupy the Lifestraw. It is now used as a hobby camping product in developed countries. 2.2.2.3 Q-drum 2.2.2.3.1 Concept Q-drum is a large water bottle in a cylindrical form with a hole in the middle. It can be dragged through a string in between the hole. In the desert, it takes a lot of time to pick up water with a bucket, and there is a limit to the amount that can be transported at once. Q-drum is a technology that helps transport large amounts of water at once. It is effective Figure ６ <Q-drum> because it is rolled for movement. It can carry up to 50L of water at a time. When fully filled, the bucket weighs 54.5 kilograms, but the user feels only 4.5 kilograms, making it convenient for both children and women who are relatively weak. This technology allows children to concentrate more on their studies and allows adults to focus more on their other work. It was invented in 1963 by brothers Hans Hendrikse and costs about $60 per piece. Made of LLDPE, a type of plastic, it is durable. 2.2.2.3.2 Why Failed

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There are three significant problems with Q-drums. First, internal cleaning is difficult because of the shape of the barrel. Because the barrel is round, there was a problem cleaning every corner. Secondly, the cost is considerable. Considering that African people's daily wage is $5.5, $60 is quite burdensome. Consequently, it was delivered in donations, not purchases, and did not achieve sustainability. Secondly, there is a limit to obtaining materials in the region, which makes it less sustainable. Although Q-drums are made of a relatively common plastic, they cannot be easily obtained in Africa, so they are left unattended once they are broken. They did not have sustainability because it was a structure that local people could not repair and use directly. 2.3 Analysis of Existing Platforms 2.3.1 Kopernik 2.3.1.1 Concept Kopernik is a platform that connects appropriate technology to donors and the poorest. Previously, the way in which developing countries were helped was unilateral. However, the fact that oneFigure ７ sided aid reduces self-reliance and has no sustainability and rather <Kopernik> has adverse effects was known. To solve this problem, Toshi Nakamura, who worked for the UN Indonesia branch, co-founded Kopernik in 2010. Kopernik is a platform of directly connecting developers and users to exchange complementary help. If a company with the appropriate technology makes a proposal to Kopernik, it reviews the technology or product and posts an introduction on its website, and starts public fundraising when the residents who have seen it request for it. When the fundraising is completed, it delivers money to companies, and companies deliver the technology to residents in underdeveloped countries. Kopernik deals with appropriate technology products in various fields such as energy, information and communication, water, and health that are scattered around the world. About 120 technologies, including glasses and cooking stoves, have been introduced to more than 20 countries. Kopernik proposes three main models. First, Kopernik selects the cost-effective appropriate technology for countries to use. Secondly, Kopernik connects grassroots NGOs and donors working locally over the internet, and thirdly, developers are responsible for the burden and create a sustainable system for as many people as possible. Kopernik maximized the efficiency of donations by matching necessary items where they are needed, and solved the problems of existing unilateral aid. 2.3.1.2 Limitation The most significant limitation is that it is one-sided communication. Kopernik is a platform for finding people who want to use technology, and it is a platform for

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developers rather than users. Of course, both sides benefit, but users have a narrower choice. The limitation is that people choose and take technologies that have already been developed. Even if there is a problem that local people feel, they cannot solve the problem unless solutions are posted on Kopernik. Locals have no choice but to wait for developers to notice problems and develop technologies. 2.3.2 HoneyBee Network 2.3.2.1 Concept HoneyBee Network is a non-profit crowdsourcing model that commercializes ideas that poor farmers have acquired in their lives, giving them economic benefits. It was founded in 1993 by Professor Kumar Gupta. It is a network where experts visit Figure ８ <HoneyBee Network> rural areas to discover ideas through conversations with farmers and support patenting their ideas or attracting investors to commercialize them and fill out contracts. About 190,000 ideas have been posted, and the network is spread in more than 70 countries, including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Peru. 2.3.2.2 Limitation There is some lack of accessibility. Only when employees of the HoneyBee Network are aware of the region's problems can the problems be registered on the website. Residents of less well-known areas have limitations that they cannot express their problems. There is a limitation that HoneyBee Network does not only play a role as a platform but rather mediate between developers and users as intermediaries. HoneyBee Network has a similar platform with YouTube but more limited. Unlike YouTube that uploaders and viewers can use without restrictions and intermediaries, HoneyBee Network needs to hire people for maintenance and management. If there is a problem with these managers, the HoneyBee Network will not work smoothly, and the connection between the developer and the user will weaken. 2.4 Introduction of a New Platform 2.4.1 Concept A new platform was devised to address the existing limitations mentioned above and develop an appropriate technology-developing method for the post-corona era. PROBLEM is a platform that can be used freely by anyone without the need for intervention by intermediaries. When downloading PROBLEM, anyone can use it freely regardless of region. The platform is divided into sections by country and can be easily used by both developers and residents. When residents register problems they experience in their lives, they see them and develop technologies with ideas. If developers have any questions, they can ask questions directly to local residents and receive answers. This characteristic allows

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developers to make enough region-friendly technologies and thoroughly understand the situation in the area. Each tab of countries contains a combination of English and the country's language. Applications are distinguished by screens that local residents and appropriate technology engineers can see. The following is a screen flow chart that engineers see. Screen1> world_map / world_map_list > (region name)_info> (region name)_QA > (region name)_additionalQ

Figure ９ <Screen1>

Figure １０ <world_map>

Figure １１ <world_map_list>

Press the ‘Click to Start button’ on the first screen to move on to the world_map / world_map_list. On this screen, if the user clicks on the pin that is blooming on the world map, the region name appears above, and if the user presses it for more than two seconds, info page, where the basics of the region are written, will open. Alternatively, if the user presses the ‘see in list’ button, the user can go to the world_map_list screen and view information about countries in the form of a list.

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Figure １２ <Korea_info>

Figure １３ <Kor_basic>

Figure １４ <Korea_problem>

The web page runs inside the application, and Google Sheet can be viewed inside the app. If the user wants to go to the info page and have an extensive view of each screen, the user can click on the 'big screen' button. If the user does not have the information they are looking for, go to the Q&A page through the 'Q&A' button.

Figure １５ <Korea_QA>

Figure １６ <Korea_addtQ> Figure １７ <Phili_info>

Users can check the Q&A that others send and receive previously, and if there is no information to be found, the technician can leave questions. The local residents will answer

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the questions. Below is the screen users can see when they select the 'the Philippine' button.

Figure １８ <Phili_basic>

Figure １９ <Phili_prob>

Figure ２０ <Phili_addtQ>

The following is a screen flow chart that local residents see. Screen1>admin_login> admin_addproblem> (depending on region) Addproblem_(region name)

Figure ２１ <Screen1>

Figure ２２ <admin_lo>

Figure ２３ <adm_youradm>

On Screen1, press the 'admin' button to go to the login page. At this time, if users type in

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the given ID and password, addpromblem window pops up. If users click the 'Go to add problem' button, it will lead to a Google form about the survey on the problems they face. If the 'Go to see problem' is selected below, they are automatically logged out and navigated to the page that the technician sees.

Figure ２４ <admin_addp> Figure ２５ <Addpr_Kor> Figure ２６ <Addpr_phili>

If the locals choose the country they live in, they will move to the Addproblem screen. When the locals fill in the Google Form, it automatically displays on the sheet that the technician sees. Google Form has a total of three questions. The first is to choose areas of discomfort, including hygiene, life, water resources, food, energy, etc. The second question is about the name of your city, and the third question is about the inconvenience you are experiencing. The response will be displayed sorted by the area of discomfort. 2.4.2 Limitation of PROBLEM and Future Improvement The limitation is that there should be at least one manager in each country. This is why only the Philippines is currently eligible. PROBLEM needs someone to act as an administrator for each country tab. The biggest management targets are spreadsheets that record problems and spreadsheets that record Q&As. Since the response is recorded even if it is not related to the region's problem, a manager should regularly view and classify irrelevant contents. Later, PROBLEM will address this limitation and expand the scope of the application. 3. Conclusion 3.1 Elements for Successful Appropriate Technology Various technologies have poured out since the concept of appropriate technology was first

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presented by Schumacher in the 1960s. However, there are not many things that are practically helpful to the people. There are three main factors necessary to create the proper technology that is truly needed: i.

Developers need to have a complete grasp of the conditions in the area. Developers need to know the essence of the problem, what needs to be done, and what resources they can use. When the technology meets locals' needs and the locals can repair the device independently, sustainability can only be achieved.

ii.

The dissemination of appropriate technology should be considered as a business concept, not a donation concept. Simply donating and supporting technology to the local people is a short-term solution, as can be seen in the case of Lifestraw, and is not a good solution in the long run. The technology that helps create jobs for the people of the region like G-Saver and helps the people of the region repair and maintain technology independently is indeed a desirable appropriate technology.

iii.

It should be easy to use. No matter how good the technology is, it cannot be helpful if it is not easy for locals to use. It should be swept naturally without significantly changing one's existing lifestyle and should be able to permeate people's daily lives naturally.

3.2 New Platform In the COVID-19 era, movements are limited, and traveling to the place and understand the region's condition has become difficult. The paper identified the limitations of existing appropriate technology platforms and created an application entitled PROBLEM to solve this problem. With PROBLEM, people can connect the appropriate technology technicians and local residents more effectively. Local residents leave inconveniences on Google sheets, and engineers can see this, exchange questions and answers with local residents, and create appropriate technologies for local situations. It is effective because it does not require any intervention or management, as long as only an administrator can sort out content unrelated to the topic. In addition, PROBLEM has the advantage of being highly accessible because it is available regardless of region. The paper is planning to expand its coverage in the future. PROBLEM, which effectively connects developers and users and enables interactive communication, is expected to be a highly effective platform for the post-corona era.

Reference [1] “Appropriate Technology.” Appropriate Technology - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. Accessed June 23, 2021. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetarysciences/appropriate-technology.

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[2] Pearce, Joshua M. “The Case for Open Source Appropriate Technology.” Environment, Development and Sustainability 14, no. 3 (2012): 425–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-0129337-9.

[3] “Appropriate Technology.” Google µµ¼. Google. Accessed June 23, 2021. https://books.google.co.kr/books?hl=ko&lr=&id=Uj5dDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=appr opriate%2Btechnology&ots=101c1IbGp5&sig=NOePQHdp30rJY6E5zzm1qbPeiDc&redir_esc= y#v=onepage&q=appropriate%20technology&f=false.

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Development of Eco-friendly DNA Embedded Concrete with Plastic Waste from Fishing Line

Author 1

Full Name

Lee, Jun

Phillips Exeter Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract Discovering eco-friendly and durable concrete that also provides ways to measure hardness is important to alleviate environmental and societal damages. Cement production, which is an integral part of creating concrete, causes enormous greenhouse gas emissions into the air. An idea of using waste plastic particles and fishing gears floating in the ocean to use them as aggregates to strengthen the concrete was devised to minimize the costs. The drop test method was used to measure the hardness of concrete. The concrete mixed with the plastics tends to be stronger than the concrete without it. Since UV light weakens the concrete and induces DNA fragmentation, we used silica encapsulated plasmid DNA for insertion in the concrete to serve as an indicator to determine the concrete’s strength, density, and age. An experiment comparing concrete with and without DNA was also conducted. As a result, silica encapsulated plasmid DNA was successfully inserted into the concrete and remained stable at room temperature. Reduced DNA integrity was only observed on UV irradiated concrete. Overall, this research proved that plastic waste from the fishing lines could enhance the stiffness of the concrete as well as encapsulate DNA can be used for the UV damage indicator for concrete.

Keywords: Material Science; Environmental Science; Concrete; Plastic waste; DNA encapsulation

Introduction Concrete production creates a massive carbon dioxide (CO2) emission while heating limestone to manufacture a liquid form of Portland cement called clinker. 1 As the limestone is heated, carbon atoms disassociate and react with oxygen to create CO2. However, environmental problems in the concrete industry have not been addressed in a serious manner. 2 Although people are aware of major environmental issues, such as reducing plastic waste, sustaining marine life, and replacing coal consumption vehicles with electric cars, not many civilians are aware of what is surrounding us: buildings and pavements made of concrete. 3

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Lost and abandoned fishing lines and nets cause most of the plastic pollution in the ocean. 4 More than 600,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots, and traps used in fishing are abandoned in the sea every year. 5 The floating fishing gears are exposed to UV light and broken down into microplastics, small plastic particles of less than five millimeters. Increasing scientific evidence showed that marine organisms ingest microplastics, such as organic chemicals that induce toxic substances including polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins directly from seawater and lower trophic levels. 5 Industrial wastes, such as irons and steels, are used as concrete aggregates to maintain density and increase strength. 6 Previous researchers tried to determine the composition at which plastic-enhanced concrete displays maximum strength. 7 This research showed a general decrease in strength as the percent composition of plastic increased. No strength improvements were discovered for plastic composition beyond 1.5 % by volume. 7 While the concrete puts surrounding environments in danger, it also poses a threat to humanity. Building collapses occurred both in Miami and Gwangju, South Korea, and took away the lives of innocent people. 8,9 However, finding ways to create eco-friendly concrete while keeping concrete rigid becomes complex. It is ironic that to make concrete stronger, more cement is needed, which implies larger amounts of CO2 will be released into the atmosphere. The amount of sand added to the mixture makes concrete fragile, although it may be more eco-friendly than cement-based concrete. Concrete is damaged and weakened after being exposed to UV light as time goes on. Given that the UV light interferes with bonds between nucleotide, growth, and replication of DNA and DNA can be embedded into the plastic, we devised an idea to use microplastics collected from the ocean as an aggregate to strengthen the concrete.10,11 We also thought of inserting plasmid DNA in the concrete and comparing the one exposed to UV light and without it. The ultimate goal of this experiment is to test if it is possible to create eco-friendly concrete but also serves as an indicator of the age, density, and hardness of concrete.

Methods Concrete synthesis and drop test Portland cement, 13 mm gravel, 25 mm gravel, coarse sand (sand mill), soft sand, fly ash, ground granulated slag, and a concrete firm donated admixture. (Figure 1) Total 600 grams of concrete were mixed with the ratio of 3:2:1 among sands, gravel, and cement (including the fly ash and ground granulated slag). Then, two cups of 50 mL of purified water were poured just enough to wet the mixture. Then, a half cup of admixture was added as well. The liquid form of the concrete mixture was poured into six plastic weight boats (100 ml). To run the experiment, out of six containers, half of the mixtures, three cups of concrete were mixed with plastics from a fishing line. one percent and three percent of plastics of the overall concrete mixture were used. Then, 500 µl of plasmid DNA was added dropwise in the middle of the concrete samples by a micropipette. Two days were required to solidify the mixtures fully. We

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conducted a drop test at 25 cm above the ground. The concrete with and without microplastics was dropped to the ground until it broke into pieces. DNA encapsulation, DNA analysis using agarose electrophoresis, and UV radiation To stabilize the DNA inside the concrete, we used the silica sol-gel technique for DNA encapsulation. The sol-gel technique restricts the sample mobility similarly to frozen storage. The previous research showed that tetramethoxy silane (TMOS) was used for silica sol-gel for DNA storage at room temperature. 12 This technique can store the DNA even after 210 days at room temperature. To prepare the silica sol-gels, the previous protocol was used. 0.25 ml TMOS was mixed with 9.75 ml of TE buffer to produce a 2.5% v:v solution. The solution was transferred to a 50 ml centrifugal tube and covered with parafilm to minimize pressure accumulation during the microwave process. The tube was microwaved for 30 s, shaken gently inside a hood to mix for 15 s, microwaved for 10 s, shaken gently inside a hood to mix for 15 s, microwaved for 10 s, and then left inside a hood to cool for 10 min. After plasmid DNA was added to the silica sol-gel, 500 µl of encapsulated DNA samples were added to each concrete block. UV light was used to irradiate the concrete samples containing encapsulated DNA. 3 h UV irradiation was applied to the concrete samples.

Results and Discussion Concrete synthesis

Figure 1. The process of concrete synthesis. 1) Concrete mixtures were mixed well in the steel tray. 2) The concrete mixture with water and admixture. 3) Concrete solidification after 48 h.

Figure 1 (left image) shows the concrete mix of coarse and soft sands, 13 mm gravels, and Portland cement, along with fly ash and ground granulated slag. This mixture is before purified water is poured. As shown in figure 1 (middle image), after two cups of purified water and a half cup of admixture were added to the mixture, it was poured into six different plastic weight boats. Flattening and softening the surface before they hardened were important keys to

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creating firm and smooth surface concrete. Each concrete was covered by cooking foil to prevent the surface from being oxidized.

Figure 2. Prototype of synthesized concrete block.

The concrete in figure 2 shows when the concrete is solidified after two days at room temperature. The concrete’s surface was smooth. There were no empty spaces or holes that could have lowered the density. However, while the concrete itself was hard, the edges were weak. When the cooking foil did not cover the liquid form of concrete, the surface oxidized and showed light and pale colors than the ones with the foil. Even more, when the concrete was not mixed well, the surface proved to be coarse and had a lot of holes on the surface.

Figure 3. The surface of the concrete with or without plastic. The arrow indicates the plastic particles embedded inside the concrete.

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Figure 3 compares the concrete with and without plastics. The picture on the right shows the plastics were well mixed. Some were fixed and embedded on the surface. But when it was scraped to test whether the DNA was damaged after exposure to UV light, the plastics did not come off. While some plastics were in the concrete, due to low density, they floated to the surface.

Concrete Drop test

Figure 4. The drop test analyzed the stiffness of synthesized concrete with or without plastic particles. Student t-test, p < 0.05 (*).

The drop test was performed to analyze the stiffness and durability. The concrete was dropped from 25 cm high above the ground. The number of drops to breakage was measured and analyzed in figure 4. The 1st trial result indicates that the concrete with 1% plastic particles from fishing gear significantly increased its stiffness. The 2nd trial result also shows that there was a significant increase in stiffness on concrete with 3% plastic particles.

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Figure 5. The plastic particles still connected the broken concrete particles. The red arrow indicates the linkage between the concrete particles.

The picture in figure 6 shows the concrete broken into pieces after a couple of drop test trials. The plastics were firmly stuck in the concrete and held the concrete together. Although the concrete was shattered into pieces after several drops, some pieces still connected because of the interlinked plastics.

UV irradiation on DNA encapsulated concrete

Figure 6. Silica sol-gel encapsulated DNA was embedded in the concrete, and the integrity of DNA was analyzed using the agarose gel electrophoresis analysis.

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After generating the silica sol-gel encapsulated DNA, it was added inside the concrete. After the concrete was solidified for two days at room temperature, the concrete particles were scrapped to collect the DNA samples. After vortexing for 10 min to allow the DNA to solubilize in the water, the samples were loaded in the agarose gel. Two samples of concrete without DNA, two samples of concrete with DNA, two samples of UV irradiated concrete with DNA were prepared. The result indicates that encapsulated DNA plasmid showed the highest dark band intensity, indicating the highest DNA concentration among the samples. The samples from concrete without DNA did not show any DNA bands, but the samples from concrete with DNA showed the DNA band. However, the band intensity was relatively lower when it was embedded inside the cement. After the concrete was irradiated under the UV light for 3 h, DNA was degraded and showed no bands in figure 6.

Conclusion In conclusion, we developed and tested eco-friendly concrete. Microplastics were used as aggregates to strengthen the material, and DNA became a viable tool to analyze the surface. This experiment aimed to address the issue of finding a balance between maintaining high rigidity and alleviating environmental harms, such as global warming and CO2 emission. We hope to aid in sustaining marine life by collecting fishing lines and microplastics. Also, we strengthen the concrete without adding too much weight to it. Having easy access to analyze the DNA implanted in old concrete by scraping the face will increase the chances to prevent sudden building collapses in the United States and South Korea. This newly designed concrete can appeal to entrepreneurs working in the concrete industry because concrete mixed with plastics proved to be rigid. Even more, technologies that collect microplastics in the ocean have already been developed. Diluting the DNA is not a difficult task either; once the concrete is mixed with the encapsulated DNA in silica sol-gels using tetra-methoxy silane (TMOS), a liquid form of plasmid DNA successfully blended with concrete. The lack of radical changes in the concrete industry has raised awareness of environmental problems caused by concrete production. For example, limestone is still used as the primary source of cement manufacturing. The prototype of environmental and stable concrete is a breakthrough to enhance the material aspect of the concrete, taking more ownership and burdens of concrete industry owners to save the world.

Acknowledgments I thank my mentor Dr. Lee who has guided me along the way to completing my concrete research successfully. I would also like to thank my parents, who have supported me to continue to explore the fields of concrete.

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References [1] Myhr, A.; Røyne, F.; Brandtsegg, A. S.; Bjerkseter, C.; Throne-Holst, H.; Borch, A.; Wentzel, A.; Røyne, A. Towards a Low CO2 Emission Building Material Employing Bacterial Metabolism (2/2): Prospects for Global Warming Potential Reduction in the Concrete Industry. PLoS ONE 2019, 14 (4), e0208643. [2] Marinković, S.; Radonjanin, V.; Malešev, M.; Ignjatović, I. Comparative Environmental Assessment of Natural and Recycled Aggregate Concrete. Waste Manag. 2010, 30 (11), 2255– 2264. [3] Galan, I.; Andrade, C.; Mora, P.; Sanjuan, M. A. Sequestration of CO2 by Concrete Carbonation. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44 (8), 3181–3186. [4] Moore, C. J. Synthetic Polymers in the Marine Environment: A Rapidly Increasing, Long-Term Threat. Environ. Res. 2008, 108 (2), 131–139. [5] Akdogan, Z.; Guven, B. Microplastics in the Environment: A Critical Review of Current Understanding and Identification of Future Research Needs. Environ. Pollut. 2019, 254 (Pt A), 113011. [6] Siddique, R.; Khatib, J.; Kaur, I. Use of Recycled Plastic in Concrete: A Review. Waste Manag. 2008, 28 (10), 1835–1852. [7] Schaefer, C. E.; Kupwade-Patil, K.; Ortega, M.; Soriano, C.; Büyüköztürk, O.; White, A. E.; Short, M. P. Irradiated Recycled Plastic as a Concrete Additive for Improved Chemo-Mechanical Properties and Lower Carbon Footprint. Waste Manag. 2018, 71, 426–439. [8] Park, T. W. Inspection of Collapse Cause of Sampoong Department Store. Forensic Sci. Int. 2012, 217 (1–3), 119–126. [9] Miami building collapse: What could have caused it? - BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57651025 (accessed Sep 8, 2021). [10] Mullenders, L. H. F. Solar UV Damage to Cellular DNA: From Mechanisms to Biological Effects. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 2018, 17 (12), 1842–1852. [11] Daily briefing: 3D-printed bunny embedded with DNA instructions to replicate itself https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03815-7 (accessed Sep 8, 2021). [12] Narvaez Villarrubia, C. W.; Tumas, K. C.; Chauhan, R.; MacDonald, T.; Dattelbaum, A. M.; Omberg, K.; Gupta, G. Long-Term Stabilization of DNA at Room Temperature Using a One-Step Microwave Assisted Process. emergent mater. 2021, 1–8.

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The function and mechanism of photodetector

Author 1

Full Name

Lee, Changmin Pablo

Seoul International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Introduction Light has been a key source for a long era; however, the usage of light has been changing within society as it is practical for current technology. Before humanity discovered a fire, people relied on natural light as darkness was their major trouble. After they were civilized and created a whole society, sunlight had been a key source for a time as people created the sun clock. However, after the scientific revolution, scientists were able to discover the particle “photon,” which is a quantum of light. The idea of quantum mechanics, which deals with the microscopic world, started to get used for various fields of science, and one of them is a photodetector. For a long time, photodetectors were used, in simple terms, to detect photons. They detect the presence of an elementary particle photon and convert optical signals into electrical signals. This conversion can be a result of several effects, such as photoelectric effect or photovoltaic effect. Through taking electrical signals that were converted, which are known as photocurrent, the device can detect the light. There are several types of photodetectors. Most commonly known photodetector is photodiode, and it is widely used with the LED. There are other photodetectors such as Metalsemiconductor-metal photodetector, phototransistor, photoconductive detector, etc. These photodetectors have their own pros and cons. In the current science field, photodetectors are being used in several ways: they are used as spectrophotometers, which are for the purpose to check how much light the chemical sample absorbs, or as an optical storage device, where all reading and writing activities are performed by light.

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Within this paper, the mechanism and function of the P-N photodiode will be covered. Moreover, in order to deeply understand the content, the simulator with diodes will be conducted. Even though the diode generates light with charge carriers and photodiodes generate photocurrent with incident photons, they both are two terminal devices that function in much similar way. But, in order to understand diodes, we first need to discuss the photoelectric effect, which is a key mechanism that converts the incident photons into photocurrents within the photodiode. Then, to talk about the semiconductor, which plays an important role in photodiodes, the band theory will be illustrated. After doing so, the idea of a semiconductor will be discussed, and finally, to understand the simulation, the I-V curve will be explained. Photoelectric Effect Photoelectric effect, which is a key source for a mechanism of photodetector, can be explained as the transition from the photon to the photoelectron. This occurs as when photons are incident on the metal surface, and when photons hit the metal surface, the photoelectrons get emitted. These produced photoelectrons are called photoelectric currents, and this is the key source of how the photodetector ‘detects’ the existence of certain light. The mechanism behind the photoelectric effect is related to the valence electrons, which are the electrons that are present in the outermost shell of an atom. Within the element, valence electrons are the electrons that are within the highest energy level among occupied states. These valence electrons can be removed if the electron absorbs enough energy by incident photons. In such a case for a photodetector, if light hits the metal surface, the photodetector will emit the electrons, which will result in photoelectric emission or effect. This ejection of electrons from the metal surface due to the incident photons is called external photoelectric effect. However, the photoelectric emission does not always occur when the light hits the metal surface. In order to emit the electrons from the metal surface, the frequency of the incident photon has to be greater than the minimum frequency, which is called threshold frequency. This threshold frequency is different for different materials. The frequency of the photon is directly proportional to its energy; high-frequency photons have greater energy than the low-frequency photons. This means that the photons with sufficient energy can be an alternative explanation for the trigger behind the photoelectric effect. Moreover, the frequency of photons is proportional to the kinetic energy of emitted electrons. High-frequency photons result in high-velocity photoelectrons, and low-frequency photons result in low-velocity photoelectrons. Maximum kinetic energy of photoelectron = h f - W f = frequency of the photon W = the work function of the metal surface h = Planck’s constant However, the electric current does not increase as the frequency of photons increases. This also means that the high kinetic energy of photoelectrons doesn’t always result in high electric current. The reason behind this is because each incident photon generates only a single electron. To increase the electric current, one can increase the light intensity, which is proportional to the number of photons sent over a given interval of times.

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Different from what external photoelectric effect does, the internal photoelectric effect occurs within the metal surface, without any ejection of electrons. After sufficient absorption of photons, the free electrons within the metal can be created. This effect increases the conductivity of the solid. Band Theory To further investigate the mechanism behind the photodetector, band theory must be mentioned. Band theory describes the states of electrons, for the solid materials, can have certain values of energy within specific ranges. Within band theory, there are two types of bands: conduction band and valence band. And, the certain line called Fermi level, stays below the bottom of the conduction band above the valence band. The gap between the valence band and the conduction band is called the band gap, which has different length/size for all solids. First of all, in specific, Valence Band is a band of electron orbitals where electrons jump out of when it gets excited. Normally, when there has been no transmission of energy to the solid, the electrons stay within this area. Simply put, the valence band is the outermost electron orbital of an atom of the solid. When a certain amount of energy gets transferred to an atom, electrons from the valence band get excited and move up to the conduction band. In order to move up to the conduction band, these electrons have to absorb sufficient energy, which will let them overcome the band gap, which is an area between the conduction band and valence band. When the electrons arrive within the conduction band, it also means that those electrons have enough energy to move freely in the material. This means that the solid, which consists of these atoms, will be able to conduct the electricity. Why is it important to understand the mechanism of the band theory? It is because insulators, conductors, and semiconductors have different fermi levels and size of band gap. For an insulator, the band gap is wide, and the transmission of electrons from valence band to conduction band is extremely hard. Due to this reason, the insulator does not conduct electricity. In contrast, metal, which conducts electricity, has almost no band gap between the conduction band and valence band. In fact, some of them overlap. The semiconductor has a band gap size, smaller than the insulator, but wider than the conductor. This means that the semiconductor can conduct the electricity, but it also might not conduct the electricity if the energy isn’t sufficient to let the electrons move from valence band to conduction band. This semiconductor gets utilized in photodetectors.

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Semiconductor

Pure semiconductor, which is also called intrinsic semiconductor, are semiconductors that are created with a single type of atom with four valence electrons. They are mostly created with silicon (Si) or germanium (Ge) as these atoms are relatively common and as they have a stable structure. They have comparatively low electrical conductivity. Also, at a temperature of 0K, the Fermi level is in exactly between the conduction band and valence band. By adding an impurity to pure semiconductors, one can change the property of the semiconductors. These types of semiconductors are called extrinsic semiconductors. In particular, extrinsic semiconductors can be classified to n-type and p-type. A P-type semiconductor has an impure atom, which contains 3 valence electrons. For instance, the impurities that get added in P-type semiconductors are aluminium (Al) and boron (B). As these impurities contain only three valence electrons, atoms with 4 valence electrons (Si, Ge, etc.) lack a single valence electron, and create an electron hole. In contrast, a N-type

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semiconductor has an impure atom that contains 5 valence electrons. Most commonly added impurities for N-type semiconductor are phosphorus (P) and arsenic (As). Within an N-type semiconductor, as only 4 out of 5 valence electrons will be shared, additional electrons will be created. Photodiode Now that we understand the basic mechanism and semiconductor, to further understand the photodetector, the photodiode and I-V curve will be discussed. The most commonly known type of semiconductor photodetector is photodiode, which contains P-N junction. It is highly compact and linear, has effective quantum efficiency, and generates nearly one electron per single photon. Moreover, in real life, it can be useful as it has a long lifetime, works in very small voltage, and creates low noise. and within the some photodiodes, P and N junctions are connected in reverse bias, which results in a depletion region at the P-N junction. This means that there are neither large numbers of holes or electrons, which leads to inhibition within the current flow. If an incident photon has greater energy than the band gap, then covalent bond breaks, and electrons and hole pairs are created. This results in causation of internal photoelectric effect, which leads to creation of photocurrent. I-V Curve To further explain the characteristics of photodiodes regarding the current and voltage, the I-V curve, which stands for current-voltage characteristic curve, must be observed. As it has been stated, P and N junctions are biased, which means that positive voltage is on Njunction and negative voltage is on P-junction. Therefore, it means that negative voltage is being applied to the photodiode regarding the current within the junction. The I-V Curve for the reverse biased will be within the negative voltage and negative current, which is in the 3rd quadrant.

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As there is inhibition within the current flow, theoretically, the amount of current that flows will be close to zero. However, as we can see from the upper graph, there will be a tiny amount of current, which can be measured in mirco-amperes. This small amount of current that gets created when there is no light is called dark current, or it can be called reverse leakage current. If the light hits the photodiode, the total current that the diode will give is the sum of dark current it creates and photocurrent. This means that as the photodiode produces more dark current, the sensitivity of the photodiode will decrease. After a sufficiently high value of the reverse bias voltage gets applied to the photodiode, the photodiode will start to overheat and malfunction. Within this moment, there will be the flow of maximum current within the diode. If the diode is rather connected in a forward bias, then it means that the negative voltage is applied to the N-junction and the positive voltage is applied to the P-junction. When there is no light present, then the I-V curve for the forward biased diode will stay within the first quadrant.

In case of a forward biased diode, as it has a comparatively thin depletion layer, the diode itself will allow rather high currents to pass through. The point within the I-V curve where there is a sudden increase in current is “knee point.” Photovoltaic Mode vs. Photoconductive Mode The photodiode can function in following modes: photovoltaic mode and photoconductive mode. The main difference between these two modes is that for photovoltaic mode, the diode is not connected to the power source, whereas for the photoconductive mode, the diode is connected to the power source. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and they function in different ways.

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For the photovoltaic mode, as the diode is not connected to the power source, the diode is not biased. When the photon with energy higher than the band gap hits the photodiode, the electrons get excited and head to cathode terminal, while hole pairs head to anode terminal. This creates a potential difference between these two terminals, which leads to creation of the photocurrent. The advantage of photovoltaic mode is the reduction of dark current, since applying a reverse-bias voltage increases the dark current. However, as the diodes that have photovoltaic mode aren’t biased, they have less leakage of dark current. In contrast, for the photoconductive mode, an external reverse bias is applied to the diode. When the photon hits the photodiode, it creates a pair of electrons and holes, and the current measured through the circuit implies the existence of a photon. An external reverse bias within the pn junction widens the depletion region, which leads to two beneficial effects within the photodiode. First of all, as the depletion region is wider, the photodiode is more sensitive. Secondly, it reduces the photodiode’s junction capacitance, which is advantageous for responding to rapid variations within the light. Simulator To further study about the photodiode, the reverse biased diode and forward biased diode were designed within the simulator. For all of the circuits below, for voltage flow, there is 1 voltage. 1. Reverse Biased Diode

Within this image, we can know that this is a simple reverse biased diode as positive voltage is getting applied to the N-junction and negative voltage is getting applied to the Pjunction. For the left image, the current source has been added in order to emulate the effect of added light. In the right image, it is simply connected reverse biased, and the current that flows within the circuit is in the unit of nanoampere.

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2. Forward Diode

In order to create a forward biased diode, it was rather simple as positive voltage gets applied to the P-junction and negative voltage gets applied to the N-junction. For this diode, there seemed to be no change within the overall electric current flow when we added current source, as adding 10 microampere wasn’t significant for this diode. For Forward Biased Diode, the I-V curve was created by manipulating the voltage from 0.1 to 0.9. For the result, it would be better to look at circuits that don’t contain current source. 1. Reverse Biased Diode Current

Voltage Drop(VD)

Resistance

Electric Power(P)

Voltage Source

171.435nA

5.833MΩ

-171.435nW

Diode

-171.435nA

-1V

171.435nW

2. Forward Biased Diode Current

Voltage Drop (VD)

Resistance

Electric Power(P)

Voltage Source

42.61A

23.469mΩ

-42.61W

Diode

42.61A

42.61W

Comparison between Forward Biased Diode and Reverse Biased Diode Current

Voltage Drop(VD)

Electric Power(P)

Reverse Biased Diode

-171.435*10-9A

-1V

171.435*10-9W

Forward Biased Diode

42.61A

42.61W

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Through these simulations, two results came out. First of all, for the reverse biased diode, the current comes out in the negative form due to the negative voltage. This was also seen within the I-V curve, as the reverse biased diode I-V curve was within the 3rd quadrant. Secondly, the fact that the reverse biased diode has a thicker depletion region than forward biased diode gets shown within these simulations. This can be seen from the huge difference in current between reverse biased diode and forward biased diode. 1. Forward Biased Diode Voltage(V)

Current(A)

0.1

1.013*10-6

0.2

8.017*10-6

0.3

56.416*10-6

0.4

390.907*10-6

0.5

2.7093*10-3

0.6

18.678*10-3

0.7

129.088*10-3

0.8

892.127*10-3

0.9

6.165

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By looking at the I-V curve for the Forward Biased Diode, the knee point and the band gap energy can be estimated. Within the data table, when the voltage changes from 0.7 V to 0.8 V, the increase within the current gets dramatically larger. This can be also seen within the graph as there is huge difference within the slope for the tangent line between the voltage of 0.7V and 0.9V. Therefore, it can also be estimated that the band gap energy is between somewhere 0.7V and 0.9V. Conclusion Within this paper, further study about the mechanism of the photodetector, photoelectric effect and band theory has been discussed. Photoelectric effect, in short, turns incident photons into photocurrent. There are two different photoelectric effects, and they are external photoelectric effect and internal photoelectric effect; key difference between these two effects is that external photoelectric effect ejects an electron while internal photoelectric effect creates free electrons within the metal, which increases the conductivity of the solid. After so, band theory had been explored as it is needed to explain the difference in insulators, conductors, and semiconductors. They all have different fermi levels and size of band gap, and semiconductors, which can either conduct or don’t conduct electricity, are solids that can be used for photodetector. Lastly, to conduct a simulation with a photodetector, we choose photodiode for the simulation as it is the most commonly used photodetector. With the basic information of photodiodes, the I-V curve of photodiodes and difference between reversed/forward biased diodes gets also discussed. Regarding the simulation, we have compared reverse biased diodes and forward biased diodes. Within the forward biased diode, there was extremely higher current flowing than the reverse biased diode, and I-V curve for the forward biased diode was able to be drawn in a graph. However, the I-V curve for the reverse biased diode wasn’t able to be drawn as the diode within the simulator was in ideal condition. In future, to conduct a better experiment, the diode will be reverse biased, and the I-V curve will come out as we expect.

Works Cited [1] Electronics Tutorial, Basic Physics, Online Tests, Computer Basics, Concepts of Physics, www.physics-and-radio-electronics.com/blog/photoelectric-effect/. [2] Paul Falstad, www.falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html?ctz=CQAgjAzCAMB00IQVhBWAWJAmd6xgE4kIlos kwQkAOcK6KgUwFp8AoAExF1oiwZ7gAbAywgOjAGYBDAK4AbAC5sA7t3S0wI1P2ENo qnQy0M+xgmIiGzR9b10GAbrYjR0twmP3djMP3CRrXVd3GxsDAEsqMEs3aLFPf3hEaAI09 IzMgkNBGwpY9wM1QRN48AsYNiA. [3] “Avalanche Effect.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/science/avalanche-effect.

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[4] “Band Theory.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/science/band-theory. [5] “Conduction Band.” Conduction Band - Energy Education, energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Conduction_band. [6] “Difference between Diode and Photodiode (with Comparison Chart).” Electronics Coach, 14 Sept. 2018, electronicscoach.com/difference-between-diode-andphotodiode.html#ComparisonChart. [7] Libretexts. “6.8D: Band Theory of Semiconductors.” Chemistry LibreTexts, Libretexts, 3 Feb. 2021, chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Inorganic_Chemistry/Map:_Inorganic_Chemistry_(Housecrof t)/06:_Structures_and_energetics_of_metallic_and_ionic_solids/6.08:_Bonding_in_Metals_and _Semicondoctors/6.8D:_Band_Theory_of_Semiconductors. [8] “PHOTODIODE BASICS.” Wavelength Electronics, Wavelength Electronics, 11 Feb. 2020, www.teamwavelength.com/photodiode-basics/. [9] “PHOTODIODE BASICS.” Wavelength Electronics, Wavelength Electronics, 11 Feb. 2020, www.teamwavelength.com/photodiode-basics/. [10] “PN Junction Diode and Diode Characteristics.” Basic Electronics Tutorials, 27 Aug. 2020, www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_3.html. [11] Paschotta, Dr. R&uuml;diger. “Photoelectric Effect.” Photoelectric Effect, Explained by RP Photonics Encyclopedia; External, Internal, Photodetectors, RP Photonics, 28 July 2021, www.rp-photonics.com/photoelectric_effect.html. [12] Says:, Ranjeet, et al. “Photodiode : Construction, Types, Working &amp; Its Applications.” ElProCus, 1 Dec. 2020, www.elprocus.com/photodiode-working-principle-applications/. [13] Solutions, Cadence PCB, et al. “Forward Bias vs. Reverse Bias and Their Effects on Diode Functionality.” Forward Bias vs. Reverse Bias and Their Effects on Diode Functionality | Advanced PCB Design Blog |, 25 Jan. 2021, resources.pcb.cadence.com/blog/2020-forwardbias-vs-reverse-bias-and-their-effects-on-diode-functionality. [14] “Valence Band.” Valence Band - Energy Education, energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Valence_band.

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Developing an Effective Inter-Communicative Detecting and Alert System for Falls in the Elderly for Prevention of Major Injuries

Author 1

Full Name

Lim, Eunjun (Kris)

Second Baptist School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract In this research paper, we propose a communication system that can detect falls of the elderly with high accuracy without misinterpreting them with daily impacts and immediately notify their guardians in the event of an actual fall. As Korea becomes an aging society, the fall rate of the elderly is increasing. In the event of a sudden fall accident, the elderly themselves are in a difficult situation to take urgent action on their own especially when they are severely injured. If their guardian fails to immediately take the necessary measures, it can be fatal to the elderly. The fall prevention method proposed in previous studies can indirectly prevent falls, but their suggested countermeasures are impractical. Suggested prevention mechanisms from previous studies are too complex to become practical, exhibit low accuracy rates, and are limited to usage in certain places. Therefore, to solve this problem, the author developed a warning system that could immediately notify the guardian the location and the direction of the fall by utilizing smartphones, wireless communication, and shoes, which most users have access to in their daily lives. This proposed system is practical for daily use as its usage is not restricted by location and various measures are implemented to filter out false fall detections. Cellphone’s three-axis acceleration sensor and satellite sensor are utilized in mountainous areas (where wireless communication is not possible) and pressure sensor and three-axis acceleration sensor that are inserted into the user’s indoor and outdoor shoes are used in daily life (where wireless communication is available) to detect and alert falls of elders with high accuracy. For further usage of these shoes, if these shoes are provided to elderly families in affiliation with the hospital's fall prevention program, it will significantly reduce the incidence of falls for the elderly, and if falls do occur, necessary measures would be able to promptly take place to help the elderly. These measures would overall enhance the elderly’s health conditions, life expectancies and reduce significant portions of their medical costs.

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Keywords: elderly fall, alert mechanism, wireless communication, three-axis acceleration sensor, sensor, pressure sensor, Arduino, MIT AppInventor

Introduction This paper looks into the potential of an accurate system for detecting falls in the elderly and alerting emergency responders and patient’s families of the fact. As Korea is rapidly becoming a super-aged society, falls in the elderly increase. Thus, a system that immediately alerts emergency responders and family members is much needed in our society. However, there have not been many concerted efforts made. Previous efforts that have been made in this area of research towards the detection of falls has been mostly inaccurate and limited in terms of space and range. This paper looks into solving such problems with the utilization of cell phones and wireless communication. In places where wireless communication works smoothly, shoes with pressure sensors and three-axis accelerometers can be used. In mountains where wireless communication is often blocked, three-axis accelerometers and satellite sensors in phones can be utilized to detect falls and alert emergency responders and families of elderlies. Distributing the shoes mentioned above with pressure sensors and three-axis accelerometers and linking fall detection and alert systems with fall prevention programs would reduce the time it takes for emergency responders to reach fall victims, and this would, in turn, increase the health and life spans of the elderly and bring a decrease in medical fees. Research Background South Korea is already an aging society with 14% of its population aged 65 and older. Thanks to medicine and improved living standards, the ratio of people sixty-five and older are expected to grow to 20% by 2026. This would make South Korea a super-aged society.1 With this rapid increase of the elderly population, accidents among the elderly are increasing as well. Of these, falls are prevalent, and they are the number two reason for fatal accidents among the elderly. Death from falls is the number five reason for death of the elderly after cancer.2 13% of the elderly die when they fall. Not all falls lead to death, but the injuries are a grave issue as well. Every year 30% of people 65 and older fall and 40%of those 80 and older fall. Of these fall victims, around 10% suffer from fractures in their spines, coxas and wrists. There is severe damage in the form of cerebral hemorrhage. All of this leads to severe economic and social damage.3 1

Chunjae Education Inc. “Chunja Learning Encyclopedia” under, “Super aged society.” Bae, “Joongangilbo Health Media”under, “No.2 reason of Death in Elderly, Falls.” 3 Medical Nurses Association, “Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research,” under Clinical Practice Guideline for Assessment and Prevention of Falls in Adult People.” 2

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Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many elderly people are staying home. Thus, many of them are alone without the aid of family or other caretakers like social workers. This means more people experience fall when there is no one to help them. When the elderly falls, there is already a high chance of serious injury like fractures. This risk can be greatly aggravated when the victim of the fall can not get help as they are immobile from the accident. As of present, there has been much progress in the research of assisting devices and shock mitigation but so far very little has been done in the realm of detecting the impact of falls nor has much research been conducted on alerting such falls. Research Purposes and Testing Goals Research Purposes The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a system that can accurately detect and alert falls of the user and can be applied in everyday life. The standards for abnormal impacts must be investigated and fall alert system that is effective must be developed. Testing Goals Setting criteria for abnormal impact that implicate falls, measuring the impact of falls and setting a minimum impact threshold for what makes for a fall, finding methods of detecting a fall, developing an impact detection app using App Inventor, distinguishing normal impact in everyday life from that of a fall and increasing its accuracy are all testing goals. Stepping patterns will be studied using Arduino boards and pressure sensors. Measured values will be drawn from pressure sensors and types of graphs to be used will be investigated. Graphs will be studied to detect and measure users' stepping patterns. When it comes to studying the direction of falls, using Arduino boards and acceleration sensors, each direction of falls will be designated an axis on graphs. (Ex: axis x, y, z) The acceleration signals of these axes will be measured and analyzed. Perturbations in the acceleration signal of these axes that come from falls will be used to create a detection system of falls and their directions. Preliminary Research: Terminology and Preceding Research Terminology Fall: An act of falling or collapsing; a sudden uncontrollable descent. Falls happen while walking, getting onto beds, climbing stairs, using the bathroom, when any other time

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positional changes are made and while using mobility aids like wheelchairs, canes and walkers.4 Impulse: Impulse is a term that quantifies the overall effect of a force acting over time. The newton-second (also Newton second; symbol: N⋅s or N s) is the derived SI unit of impulse as shown in Figure1. It is dimensionally equivalent to the momentum unit kilogram-meter per second (kg⋅m/s) used to measure momentum.5

Figure 1: impulse and momentum Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR): FSRs are sensors that allow you to detect physical pressure, squeezing, and weight and are distinguished by their operation principles. There are mechanical, electronic and semiconductor FSRs.6 FSRs primarily use resistive touch technology (sensing pressure) or capacitive touch technology (sensing electrodes). When it comes to resistive touch technology, usually there is a glass panel covered with special films and a resistive touch overlay that senses pressure. The capacitive touch technology uses the fact that the human body is a dielectric material as a part of a capacitor. Capacitive touch screens are covered with transparent conductive metals that sense electrical field change that happens when touched by a finger, as shown in Figure 27.

Happy Campus, Falls in the Elderly Prevention Education Material, under “Falls in the Elderly Prevention Education Material.” 5 Sarvazyan, Armen, PY, “Ability of skeletal muscle to protect bones and joints from external impacts: Acoustical assessment ( Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2015) 6 Global World Encyclopedia, under “Pressure Sensor” 7 https://fieldscale.com/learn-capacitive-sensing/intro-to-capacitive-touch-sensors/

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Figure 2 the principle of the capacitive touch sensor Accelerometer: An accelerometer is an electromechanical device used to measure acceleration quantity as shown in Figure 3. The sensors used in an accelerometer measure acceleration and impact.8 The unit used is standard gravity (g), and the range can vary greatly depending on the sensor.

Figure 3 The example of the Accelerometer and its principle GPS: Global Positioning System; a radionavigation-satellite service. It can accurately tract locations all over the world. 9 Radio waves from artificial satellites are detected and used to automatically tract locations. Basically GPS utilizes trilateration, which uses two points to find the location of a third point in between the two points by measuring the sides of the triangles formed when all the points are connected. The third point is the unknown point to be found and the other two are the artificial satellite and GPS receiver.

8 9

U.A. Bakshi,“Instrumentation Engineering”( A.V.Bakshi Technical Publications, 2009) Korea Aerospace Research Institute, under “GPS.”

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Figure 4 GPS satellite Arduino Uno: An open-source microcontroller board based on the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by Arduino.cc10 as shown in figure 5. It is like a simple version of a computer main board where diverse sensors, parts and equipment can be connected. With the right software, the controller board can move things like robots, so it can be considered open ware hardware.

Figure 5 Arduino Uno: An open-source microcontroller board

Makerspace, under “Arduino.”

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Blynk: Blynk is an IoT(Internet of Things) platform that connects clouds, apps and hardware like Arduino Uno.11

Figure 6. Blynk Platform Preceding Research The following research is about falls in the elderly and how to prevent them. However, there is not much meaningful information on the detection of falls or what to do when they actually happen. In ‘Geriatric Hospital Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude toward Falls, and Fall Prevention Activities,’12 the knowledge, attitude towards falls of nurses in geriatric hospitals, the measures they take to prevent them, and how these all actually prevented falls was studied. It turns out the nurses' knowledge and attitude did effectively prevent the falls of patients, but this did not lead to a means of being helpful when the falls did occur regardless. Fall prevention education programs using videos proved to be useful in terms of attitudes towards falls, prevention behaviors, and satisfaction among elderly inpatients13. However, this did not give a practical solution when patients actually experienced fall. In ‘A Study on the Type and Intervention of Exercise to Prevent Falls in the Elderly’, 14 exercise programs tailored to a person's physical strength in terms of time and intensity were looked into in that they may have the potential to have a positive or negative effect on fall prevention. However, same as the research mentioned before, this paper did not look into what could be done when falls actually happen. In ‘Design and Implementation of Robot-Based Alarm System of Emergency Situation Due to Falling of The Elderly’,15 there is a four-legged robot armed with a sensor node that could detect falls and in emergencies send those concerned videos so that they could call 119 (an emergency phone number). In this way an effective system to deal with falls was created, 11

Blynk, under “Intro.” Kim, Seo, ”Geriatric Hospital Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude toward Falls, and Fall Prevention Activities, “2. 13 Kang, Song, ‘’Effects of Fall Prevention Education Program on Attitudes, Prevention Behaviors, and Satisfaction among Elderly Inpatients,”49~50. 14 Ahn,Lee, “A Study on the Type and Intervention of Exercise to Prevent Falls in the Elderly,” 25 - 37. 15 Park , Lim, Kim Yu, “Design and Implementation of Robot-Based Alarm System of Emergency Situation Due to Falling of The Elderly”,781 - 788. 12

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but there were problems. First, privacy issues having to do with the robot videotaping the elderly 24/7, second, the sensor node had to be worn at all times and finally, there had to be people on the standby 24/7 to alert emergency services for this to work. In ‘Fall Detection of the Elderly through Floor Vibrations’ 16 a system of detecting falls from vibrations on the floors of homes was devised as most falls happen at homes. But analyzing the info from the piezoelectric film, operational amplifier and filter circuit and sending it to a computer proved too complicated to be commercialized. In ‘An Efficient Methodology of Fall Detection for Ubiquitous Healthcare’, 17 a healthcare device worn at the wrist is mentioned. It increases the chances of fall detection by analyzing the sounds from falls and with an acceleration sensor. However, for the following reasons it was considered impractical for commercial use; as it relied on sounds, there was an issue of privacy and sounds from everyday life were often mistaken as the sounds of a fall. The paper ‘Fall detection system based internet of things’18 used IoT with Blueinno sensor modules and connected them to smart devices via bluetooth. However, it only has an acceleration sensor so the false fall recognition rate is high. As we can conclude from all the previous research, when it comes to detecting and preventing falls in the elderly, the systems and equipment devised so far have proven problematic. Some required that complicated equipment be installed into users' floors and other parts of homes. Some had to be worn at all times on places like the wrist and would be uncomfortable. Some required the background noise to be recorded and could thus pose a threat to the user’s privacy. The biggest problem is that most of the solutions offered have to do with fall prevention only indirectly and little to do with directly stopping falls from happening and could hardly be of help when they do happen. The existing fall detectors had high false recognition rates so they were not very useful. All of these reasons were why the existing advances in the area were not suitable for nursing homes, hospitals and homes. This is how the idea of shoes with a fall detection system that could easily be worn came to be. Such shoes could be a simple and comfortable yet practical solution to detecting and alerting fall amongst the elderly. Research Methods: Utilization of App Inventor for the Development of a Fall Detection App and Finding a Sensory Threshold for Falls Materials: Smartphone, MIT App Inventor 16

Kim, Yu, Baek, “Fall Detection of the Elderly through Floor Vibrations,”134 - 139. Kim, “An Efficient Methodology of Fall Detection for Ubiquitous Healthcare”,133 - 140. 18 Jeong, Cho, “Fall Detection System based Internet of Things”, 546~2553. 17

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Figure 7. App Inventor design Process: After accessing http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/, add two 'start' and 'stop' buttons on the designer screen. Six labels will be added below, and then the x, y, and z-axis accelerations will be displayed on the right label, respectively. Add an empty label below it so that the sum of the absolute values of the three-axis acceleration is displayed there. Next, add an acceleration sensor and a clock. These are included in invisible components. Pressing the ‘start’ button on the block coding screen activates the clock and the ‘stop’ button deactivates the app. The Global variable ‘absSum’’s initial value has to be set to a ‘0’. Once the clock gets activated, the x, y, z axes is added to the absolute value of the acceleration value. Then the absSum variable is calculated based on the formula below. absSum=ㅣ x+y+z ㅣ When the absSum goes over 30, the clock is deactivated, and the ‘Label’ on the lower side show the sums. After many tests, in order to detect a fall, an absSum referential value is set.

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Figure 8. App Inventor block coding for accelerometer Afterwards when the fall is detected, the fall is informed along with the location of the fall victim to a designated number. Utilization of Pressure Sensors to Count Steps Materials: Arduino uno board, FSR, breadboard, resistance(200Ω) Process: On the left side, the Arduino 5V pin is connected to one lead of FSR directly and then the other side lead of FSR connected to one lead of 200Ω Resistor. The other lead of 200Ω Resistor is connected to the GND pin of Arduino. Another wire is connected from the point between FSR and 200Ω Resistor to Arduino A0 pin as shown in Figure 9. Every 0.1 seconds the FSR’s resistance value is checked and the numbers are coded to be uploaded on the serial monitor. The FSR is pressed with the hands to check how the resistance values change. In this fashion the coding to count steps is done.

Figure 9. Arduino FSR walk_count

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Table 1. arduino code for fsr sensor read void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); } void loop() { int fsr=analogRead(A0); Serial.println(fsr); delay(100); }

Utilization of Acceleration Sensors to Detect the Direction of Falls Materials: Arduino Uno, 3-axis Accelerometer Process: The Arduino supplies the electric power to the accelerometer sensor as shown in figure 10. The A1, A2, A3 pins are used for the signal input ports for each axis of the accelerometer sensor. Every 0.1 seconds the 3 axis values are measured. (x axis is roll, or right and left movement, y axis is pitch, or up and down movement and z axis is for yaw). Every 0.1 seconds the 3 input values of these axes are checked, and the numbers are coded to be uploaded on the serial monitor. These numbers are checked to see how they change according to the direction of falls.

Figure 10. ESP32 FSR_accelometer_direction_Connections

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Figure 11. Actual FSR connected to Arduino Uno Table 2. Arduino code for accelerometer value signal acquisition void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); } int x; int y; int z; void loop() { x=analogRead (A1); y=analogRead (A2); z=analogRead (A3); Serial.print (x); Serial.print (","); Serial.print (y); Serial.print (","); Serial.println (z); delay(100); }

Production of Fall Detection Shoes Using ESP32 WIFI Materials: ESP32 board, smartphone, Blynk app, FSR, 3 axis accelerometer, shoes

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Process: The FSR is connected to an ESP32 board by the 34 pin. The 3 axis accelerometer is connected to it by the 35 pin. The values of both are checked every 0.1 Seconds. The Blynk app is run on the smartphone. A new project on it called ‘Impact_calculation is created’ and ESP32 is picked as the board. An auth token will be emailed. For the two value displays made on the widget box, the first Value Display designates virtual pin V2 and the second Value Display designates virtual pin V3. Using the Arduino IDE software, a library from the Blynk site is downloaded and added. This has samples that can be used on the ESP32 board. Of these, the ESP32_WIFI (the sample code) can be selected. When creating a new project on Blynk, with the new auth token, password codes can be added with wifi nearby. After checking the FSR value on the 34 pin, the value is put into the Blynk virtual pin V2. After checking the Y axis value of the 3 axis accelerometer, the FSR value on 34 pin is inserted into the Blynk virtual pin V3. After checking the input values, a threshold number is found and the algorithm is finished. Table 3. Arduino code for ESP32_Blynk #define BLYNK_PRINT Serial #include <WiFi.h> #include <WiFiClient.h> #include <BlynkSimpleEsp32.h> // Auth Token char auth[] = "8VHd_-lqT9pgBjzjFC-aeo5LjhUph315"; // Your WiFi credentials. char ssid[] = "----------"; char pass[] = "---------"; int y; int fsr; int fsr_count; WidgetLED led1(V1); BlynkTimer timer; void setup(){ Serial.begin(9600); Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass); timer.setInterval(100L, sensorValue);

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} void sensorValue(){ fsr=analogRead(34); y=analogRead(35); Blynk.virtualWrite(V2, fsr); Blynk.virtualWrite(V3, y); } void loop(){ Blynk.run(); timer.run(); } Research Results: Utilization of App Inventor for the Development of a Fall Detection App and Finding a Sensory Threshold for Falls When the absSum value exceeded over 30, the clock stopped and the app deactivated to show the absSum value. As the smartphone was dropped from all sorts of angles and heights, an appropriate number was reached. The threshold value of 30 that was set initially was enough to respond to a small gesture such as taking a smartphone out of one’s pocket.

Figure 12. Fall Detection absSum=40

When the threshold was set at a 40, the response came at about the push of a hand, not nearly as strong as a fall.

Figure 13. Threshold set at 40

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When the threshold was set at an 80, the response came at a very hard fall.

Figure 14. Fall Detection absSum=80

After several trials, the final absSum number was set at a 60 which is about that of a light fall.

Figure 15. Fall Detection absSum=60

Utilize the App Inventor to perfect and finish the fall detection app.

Figure 16. Fall Detection Code by App Inventor The code above was designed so that when the x+y+z acceleration absolute value exceeds 60, an impact detection message is sent to emergency responders and family members

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with the location of the fallen person . The designated numbers to which this information is sent can be set in advance.

Figure 17. Fall Detection and SMS sending Utilization of Pressure Sensors to Count Steps: The graph in Figure 18 shows the impact detected from pressure sensors in the soles of the users’ shoes over a certain amount of time.

Figure 18. FSR value graph The resolution of the Analog digital converter (ADC) in Arduino is 10 bit so that the code varies from 1 to 1023^21 ((2^10-1)^21). The impact from step based measurement value was set at 160. In order to count only once when the numbers exceeded 160, a separate state variable was used so that like a toggle switch the sensor switched from high to low so that steps could be counted like the code below.

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Table 4. Arduino code for walk count void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); } int count=0; int state=LOW; void loop() { int fsr=analogRead(A0); if(state==LOW && fsr>160){ state=HIGH; count++; Serial.println(count); } else if(fsr<=160){ state=LOW; } delay(100); }

Utilization of Acceleration Sensors to Detect the Direction of Falls: By changing the direction of acceleration sensors the measures of the x,y,z axes (X axis is roll, or right and left movement, y axis is pitch or up and down movement and z axis is for yaw) are recorded and serial plotters were used to make graphs measuring the changes in the measures of the x, y, z axes. Like in the graph below, when the y axis is at a perpendicular angle with the ground and the sensor, usually the stats were 331, 264, 339. When the sensor fell left and right, the x and y stats changed drastically and when it fell back and forth the z and y stats changed. Thanks to these numbers, it was possible to guess the measured values of the 3 axis accelerator. For example, if the x axis was around 330 and went to 380 while the y axis went to a 260 to a 330, it means the sensor fell to the left.

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Table 5. accelerometer 3-axis fall_direction X

Normal

331

264

339

Fall_Left

388

330

335

Fall_Right

266

330

347

Fall_Front

336

338

260

Fall_Back

332

334

398

Figure 19. Accelerometer 3-axis fall_direction graph (blue : x, red : y, green : z) 1) Normal 2) Fall_Left 3) Fall_Right 4) Fall_Front 5) Fall_Back According to the graph, when things are normal, the y axis is around 260 and whenever it falls over it changes to 330 and over. Therefore, whenever the shoes’ y axis numbers go over, we can speculate that something has happened.

Production of Fall Detection Shoes Using ESP32 WIFI:ESP32 board, accelerating sensor and FSR:

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Unlike the Arduino Uno, ESP32 board’s ADC has a 12bit resolution and it returns a number range of 0 to 4095(2^12-1)*22. This means the y axis value of the acceleration sensor had to be adjusted to 1700 in the case of a fall and the FSR to 2000 when walking . During the test the ESP32_WiFi sample had to be changed to finish the code. Wifi_ssid, wifi_password, and auth_token typed in with the Blynk app started the wireless serial communication. Same as with other experiments for this product, the sampling time impact measurement was 0.1 seconds. In the ESP32 board, the pre FRS value was put in pin34, and in pin35 the accelerometer’s y axis value was put into. With the wifi provided from the EPS32 board and the Blynk app, the V2(FSR) measures and V3 (y axis measures) would be sent.

Figure 20. fall detect shoes When the y axis acceleration of the shoes shows signs of a fall, the Blynk app sends a fall detect message along with an LED light to emergency responders and family members numbers. When everything is normal, the LED lights do not light up and say ‘Normal.’

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Table 6. Arduino code for ESP32 fall detect //This is only the actual part of code that are activated if(fsr<2000) {//when shoes are taken off. fsr_count++; //count } else{//when there is pressure when walking fsr_count=0; } //when the y axis acceleration points to a fall when walking if(fsr_count<20 && y>1700) { led1.on(); Blynk.virtualWrite(V0, "Fall Detect"); } else{ led1.off(); Blynk.virtualWrite(V0, "Normal"); //when the y axis is within normal range it is set at "Normal" } }

Figure 21. Blynk App capture

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Conclusion This paper focuses on the materialization of a product that can detect the falls of the elderly and alert them to emergency responders. In places where wireless communication works smoothly, shoes with pressure sensors and 3 axis accelerometer sensors can be used. In mountains where wireless communication is often blocked, 3 axis accelerometer sensors and satellite sensors in phones can be utilized to detect falls of the elderly and to alert emergency responders and families of them. In order to detect falls, various tests were conducted by dropping cell phones in order to differentiate falls from impacts from everyday life. Then shoes with 3 axis accelerometers, FRS and ESP32 boards that provide wifi installed in them were devised. The critical point of impact for what would be a step is found so that what is beyond that or a fall was detected from changes in the changes in y axis measures of the three-axis accelerometer. The fact that there was a fall would be alerted to emergency responders and family members' phones via the Blynk app. The phones would light up. Moreover, the three-axis accelerators and the sensors would deliver the changes in the x, y, z axis measurement changes which would tell which direction the person fell. There are many merits to these shoes. The parts can be integrated into a small chip so all this equipment can be set into sneakers, indoor slippers, flip flops and bathroom slippers. Even in a place where wireless data doesn't work so well, if the user has a smartphone it's enough to alert people immediately of any falls. And as there is a distinction between impact from a fall and that of something in everyday life like the shoes falling off of the feet or falling out of a cabinet, the false recognition rate is low. All of this makes for a potentially useful product. In the future, fall detectors with smaller chips and equipment could be developed for more comfort. With these new developments working in tandem with preventive measures mentioned in the preliminary research such as educational programs for nurses and exercise programs for the elderly, we can hope for a great reduction of falls in the future.

Bibliography Chunjae Education Inc. “Chunja Learning Encyclopedia” under, “Super aged society.” (n.d) https://koc.chunjae.co.kr/Dic/dicDetail.do?idx=36882. Bae Ji young, “Joongangilbo Health Media”under, “No.2 reason of Death in Elderly, Falls.”April 14th, 2017.https://jhealthmedia.joins.com/article/article_view.asp? pno=18486.

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Medical Nurses Association, “Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research”,under Clinical Practice Guideline for Assessment and Prevention of Falls in Adult People.”2008. Happy Campus, Falls in the Elderly Prevention Education Material, under “Falls in the Elderly Prevention Education Material.”July 26, 2016.https:// www.happycampus.com/report-doc/16588409/. Global World Encyclopedia, under “Pressure Sensor”,(n.d) https://100.daum.net/encyclopedia/view/24XXXXX46993. Korea Aerospace Research Institute, under “GPS.”(n.d) https://www.kari.re.kr/prog/ stmaplace/list.do?stmaplace_gubun=4&mno=sub07_02_0. Makerspace, under “Arduino.(n.d). https://www.makerspaces.com/arduino-uno-tutorial-beginners/. Blynk, under “Intro.”(n.d).https://docs.blynk.cc. Sang-hee Kim, Jimin Seo, ‘’Geriatric Hospital Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude toward Falls, and Fall Prevention Activities ’, Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing Vol. 19, no.2.2017. Kang Yeong ok, Song La yun, ‘’Effects of Fall Prevention Education Program on Attitudes, Prevention Behaviors, and Satisfaction among Elderly Inpatients, Korean Journal of Adult Nursing, Vol.30, no.1, 49~50.2018. Ahn Song-ee, Lee Dae taek, “A Study on the Type and Intervention of Exercise to Prevent Falls in the Elderly”, Journal of Coaching Development v.8 no.3 25 - 37.2006. Park Cheol ho, Lim Dong ha, Kim Nam ho, Yu Yu sub, ‘Design and Implementation of Robot-Based Alarm System of Emergency Situation Due to Falling of The Elderly’, Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering v.17 no.4 , 781 788.2013. Kim Dong wan, Yu Jong Hyun, Baek Seung hwa, Fall Detection of the Elderly through Floor Vibrations Journal of IKEEE v.18 no.1, 134 - 139.2014. Kim Nam sub, ‘An Efficient Methodology of Fall Detection for Ubiquitous Healthcare’, Journal of Advanced Information Technology and Convergence Volume 8, no.8 133 - 140 .2010. Pil-Seong Jeong, Yang-Hyun Cho (2015), ‘Fall Detection System based Internet of Things’, Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering Vol. 19 No. 11, 2546~2553.2015.

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A Study of Speckle Noise Reduction Filters Author 1

Full Name

Jung, Juyeon

Seoul Foreign School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

______________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Ultrasonography has been widely used to image the organs and tissues of the human body. However, regardless of its many advantages, ultrasound images lack in quality due to unavoidable speckle noise, which can lead to inaccurate diagnosis. This paper presents a comparative study of various commonly used speckle noise reduction filters. The purpose is to identify the optimal filter to be used in ultrasonography. We first described the individual filters and determined their limitations and benefits. Then, we created a dataset of grayscale images and applied grayscale and speckle noise to remove bias. Next, we compared the denoised images through qualitative and quantitative analysis using MSE and SSIM values. Ultimately, we identified the limitations of the study and proposed possible future research areas. Keywords: Speckle noise, Image denoising, Mean filter, Median filter, Lee filter, Wiener filter, Frost filter, image processing

______________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Image processing is concerned with the operation of removing noise from an input image. It has been commonly applied in medical imaging, especially in ultrasound imaging. Ultrasonography is a diagnostic imaging technique that uses high-frequency sound waves to image the tissues and organs inside the human body [1]. Ultrasonography has been steadily growing and in demand due to its characteristics of being free of radiation risk and effective in cost [2]. Unfortunately, ultrasound images lack in quality due to the unavoidable speckle noises [2]. Speckle noises are degrading noises produced from particles larger than the wavelength reflecting and creating scattered acoustic waves that cause constructive and destructive interferences [3]. Due to this phenomenon, detecting specific and fine details from ultrasound images is difficult and could lead to inaccurate diagnosis [4]. Mean filter is an existing method to remove speckle noise from images. It is a sliding window spatial filter that replaces the value of each pixel with the mean value of its neighboring pixels. The limitations of this method is the fixed window size regardless of the local characteristics of the image, the blurring edges due to the filter interpolating new values for the edge pixels, and one unrepresentative pixel affecting the mean value of its neighbours [5]. 206

Another filter that is commonly used is the median filter, which is a non-linear filter where the center pixel is replaced with the median value of its neighboring pixels. However, the Median filter is relatively complex to compute and longer to process because an extra step is needed to sort all values numerically [1]. Lee proposed the Lee filter, which works on the variance basis to perform smoothing operation if the variance of the area is low and not on high variance areas like the edges [6]. Therefore, the Lee filter is able to preserve the edges, but lacks the ability to remove speckle noises on the edges [1]. Wiener suggested the Wiener filter, which computes a statistical estimate of the signal of a degraded image and minimizes the mean square error between the estimated signal and the signal of desired noiseless image [7][8]. However, the Wiener method also requires long computation time to process [1]. Frost et al. proposed the frost filter, which removes multiplicative noise from the image by replacing the centre pixel with exponentially-averaged weighted sum of values of neighboring pixels [9] . Based on the variance esteem, the filter is able to preserve the details on the edges, but at the same time, unable to denois the speckle noise on the edges [10]. Despite the limitations, the study aims to apply and evaluate the common filters used for suppression of speckle noise to determine the optimal denoising filter. We will use a variety of shapes and grayscale colors to create the original images. Prior to applying the filters, the original images will be degraded using the same noise level to remove bias. The evaluation will be done through quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative analysis will utilize the Structural Similarity Index Metrics and Mean Squared Error performance evaluators to distinguish the extent of similarity between the original image and the filtered image. 2. Methodology 2.1) Speckle Noise Prior to applying the filters, the speckle noise was applied like shown in Fig. 1. to prevent images having different noise levels to each other and to remove bias. Then, the images were converted to grayscale images to simulate the ultrasound images with speckle noise and again remove biases. Speckle noise is a pattern of random intensity caused by constructive and destructive interferences of waves. Speckle noise has a granular pattern and is a multiplicative noise [1]. Thus, the general equation of the speckle noise is shown in Equation 1: I (m, n) = R(m, n)

u(m, n) (1)

Where I (m, n) is the corrupted image, u(m, n) is the multiplicative noise, and (m, n) values indicate the image spatial coordinates [11].

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Some characteristics of Speckle noises are that the Speckle noises are multiplicative noises that are directly proportional to the local gray level in any area. Also, the signal and noise are statistically independent, and a single pixel’s sample mean and variance are equal to the local area’s variance and mean [1].

FIG. 1. Speckle noise applied on the original image of size 720 x 960 2.2) Mean filter Mean filter is a linear filtering technique that replaces each pixel with the average of the gray levels intensity of its neighboring pixels. Therefore, the images were pre-processed to gray-scale encoding [1]. Since the Mean filter averages the neighboring values of pixels, it does not fully remove the speckles, but reduces it by blurring and smoothing the image. This consequently leads to loss of details in the image [12]. Moreover, when the Mean filter reaches an edge, it interpolates new values for the pixels and the edges will blur [13]. The experiment utilized a 5x5 square kernel with all the weights being 1/25. The mathematical representation of the mean filter is shown in Equation 2: A(i, j ) =

1 mn

∑ ∑ f (k, l) k ml n

(2) Where m n is the window size or the number of surrounding pixels, A(i, j ) indicates the new image pixels, and f (k, l) is the old image pixels.

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FIG. 2. Mean filter applied on the noisy image of size 720 x 960 using a 5x5 kernel 3.3) Median filter Median filter is a non linear filter that replaces each pixel with the median value of the gray levels of its neighboring pixels [1]. The median is obtained by sorting all the neighboring pixel values into numerical order and then replacing the center pixel with the median value [12]. Due to this additional step of sorting, extra time is needed to process the median filter. However, the median value is not affected by a single very unrepresentative pixel value in the surrounding pixels [12]. Therefore, it is effective in preserving the details. Moreover, the Median filter does not interpolate new unrealistic values for the pixels on the edges, so the Median filter is good at preserving sharp edges [1]. This research utilized a 5x5 square kernel. The Median filter mathematical model is as shown below in Equation 3: M (x, y ) = median(g(s, t), where s, t

(3)

Where M (x, y ) is pixels of the filtered image, (x, y ) indicates the center, g (s, t) is pixels of the image with noise, and S xy is the area of the kernel.

FIG. 3. Median filter applied on the noisy image of size 720 x 960 using a 5x5 kernel

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3.4) Lee filter The Lee filter is a filter developed by Jong Sen Lee in 1981 and has an adaptive nature. To reduce the mean-square error (MSE), the enhancement done by the Lee has an inversely proportional relationship with the variance of a region [1]. Therefore, no enhancing process is done in an area where variance is completely high like on the edges and effective smoothing is done on low variance regions including the flat and homogeneous regions. Due to this, the Lee filter preserves the details on the edges, but is also non-effective in removing the speckle noise [12]. The research utilized a 5x5 square filter window. The model for the Lee filter is shown below in Equation 4: L(i, j ) = I m + W (Cp

I m)

(4) Where L(i, j ) refers to the filtered image, I m indicates the mean intensity of filter window, and C p is the center pixel. W is the window filter, which is represented by W = σ 2 (σ 2 + p2 ) , where σ 2 is the variance and p2 is the additive noise variance.

FIG. 4. Lee filter applied on the noisy image of size 720 x 960 using a 5x5 kernel 3.4) Frost filter Frost filter is a linear, convolutional filter proposed by Frost in 1982. It is an exponentially-weighted average filter used to remove multiplicative noise [12]. The filter utilizes a n-by-n square kernel and each pixel is replaced by the weighted sum of values in the neighborhood pixels in the kernel. The weighting factor decreases as the filter moves away from the center pixel and increases with variance between the local standard variation and the local mean of the corrupted image [14]. The research utilized a 5x5 square kernel for this filter. The mathematical model for the Frost filter is shown below in Equation 5:

210

F = ∑ K ae

a|t|

nxn

Where, n is the moving kernel size, K is a normalized constant, and |t| = || X a is denoted with the equation a =

( )( )

(5) | | X 0 | + | Y + Y 0 || .

σ2

4 nσ 2

where I indicates the local mean, σ is the local variance, and σ is the image coefficient of variation value.

FIG. 5. Frost filter applied on the noisy image of size 720 x 960 using a 5x5 kernel 3.5) Wiener filter Wiener filter is a sort of linear filter invented by Nobert Wiener during the 1940s. The filter cannot reconstruct frequency components degraded by the noise, but can suppress the noise [12]. The filter minimizes the mean square error through inverse filtering and noise smoothing [14]. It performs high pass filtering and low pass filtering. High pass filtering is deconvolution by inverse filtering, and low pass filtering removes noise with a compression operation [15]. The Wiener filter assumes the characteristics of the desired signal and reduces noise by comparing the desired noiseless image [16]. The research utilized a 5x5 square kernel for this filter. The mathematical model for the Wiener filter is shown below in Equation 6:

W (u, v ) =

[

H(u,v)

[

H(u,v)2 +

P n(u,v) P a(i,v)

]

G(u, v ) (6)

Where, W (u, v ) is the filtered image, H (u, v ) is the Fourier transform of the point-spread function, H (u, v ) * is the conjugate complex. P a(u, v ) is the power spectrum of the signal process, obtained by taking the Fourier transform of the signal autocorrelation. Pn(u,v) is the power spectrum of the noise process, obtained by taking the Fourier transform of the noise autocorrelation.

211

P n(u,v)

When the signal is very strong compared to the noise, P a(i,v)

0 and W (u, v) becomes

H 1 (u, v ) or the inverse of H (u, v ) . When the signal is very weak relative to the noise, W (u, v ) becomes close to 0.

FIG. 6. Wiener filter applied on the noisy image of size 720 x 960 using a 5x5 kernel Table 1: Summary of speckle noise removal filters with their advantages and limitations Filter

Advantages

Limitations

Median filter

The filter preserves the edges, Extra time is needed for the and one unrepresentative pixel computation to sort the values in does not affect the median numerical order. value.

[12]

Mean filter

The filter is optimal for reducing random noise.

One unrepresentative pixel does affect the mean value, and it could over-smooth images with high noise.

[17]

Lee filter

The filter can minimize speckle noise from low variance regions, and it can preserve edges.

The filter is not effective in removing speckle noise at edges.

[1]

Frost filter

The filter keeps a good balance between preserving the edges and segmentation.

The filter cannot provide good edge preservation.

[1]

Wiener filter

The filter destroys the speckle noise efficiently.

It is very difficult to obtain a perfect restoration for the random nature of the noise, and requires long computational time.

[18] [19]

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References

3.6 Applied Algorithm

FIG. 7. Structure and Block Diagram of the Implemented Algorithm The overall process of evaluating the filters was divided into three stages like shown in Figure 7. In Stage 1, the dataset was first prepared by experimenting with different available shapes and colors. All images were 720 x 960 px. We created 10 different datasets with varying complexity, ranging from just a single circle with black background to a Korean flag using different borders. We made the background of all 10 datasets dark grey to black to resemble ultrasonography images. Then, the grayscale was applied to remove bias and decrease complexity. The speckle noise was also added to ensure that all datasets have the same intensity of noise. In Stage 2, each filter was added to the output images from Stage 1. The filters followed codes from the mathematical functions shown from Equation 2 to 6. In Stage 3, the filtered images were evaluated using the performance evaluators proposed in 3.7. The qualitative and quantitative results from the evaluation were used to determine the optimal filters.

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3.7 Performance Evaluators To obtain quantitative results to compare the denoising filters without bias, we decided to use the Structural Similarity Index Metrics (SSIM) and Mean-Squared Error (MSE) performance evaluators. 3.7.1 Structural Similarity Index Metrics (SSIM) The SSIM value calculates the similarity between the filtered and original image by using a sliding Gaussian window. Unlike MSE, SSIM considers the quality degradation caused by processing the images. The resulting value ranges between 0 and 1, where a value of 0 represents no structural similarity and a value of 1 indicates perfect structural similarity [1]. Thus, a SSIM value closer to 1 between the compressed image and the original image without noise would indicate an effective removal of noise. The mathematical model of SSIM value is given below in Equation 7: S SIM =

1 M

∑

(2u 1 +u 2 +C 1 )(2σ 1,2 +C 2 ) (u 12+u 22+C 1 )(σ 12+σ 22+C 2 )

(7) Where σ 1 and σ 2 are the standard deviations and u 1 and u 2 are the means of the filtered image and original image. σ 1,2 is the covariance between σ 1 and σ 2 . C 1 and C 2 are two variables to stabilize the division with weak denominators. 3.7.2 Mean-Squared Error (MSE) The MSE value indicates the cumulative squared error between the intensities of every pixel in the filtered and original image [1]. Lower MSE value means smaller difference between the filtered image and the original image. Thus, it represents how effectively the speckle noise was removed and how similar the compressed image is to the image before adding speckle noise. The mathematical model of MSE value is given below in Equation 8: M SE =

1 MN

︿

∑ ∑ [g(n, m)

g (n, m)]

n=1 m=1

(8) Where g(n, m) and g (n, m) represent the filtered and original image and M and N indicate the number of pixels horizontally and vertically. ︿

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4. Results 4.1 Quantitative Results Image A

Image B

Image C

Image D

Image E

Image F

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Image G

Image H

Image I

Image J

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Table 1. The MSE Value of Different Filters on Image A to H Processed with Speckle Noise Median filter

Mean filter

Wiener filter

Lee filter

Frost filter

Average

Image A

2.9131

6.2369

7.4873

6.2651

3.4923

5.2789

Image B

15.7338

64.0997

20.3805

64.0959

41.3539

41.13276

Image C

19.8997

72.3643

99.0073

72.8309

60.9145

65.00334

Image D

91.4566

78.2248

17.2558

73.9514

47.9648

61.77068

Image E

55.1411

42.5014

11.5509

40.9088

30.6429

36.14902

Image F

37.3742

95.868

14.1541

96.1622

58.5704

60.42578

Image G

22.2462

23.1118

20.6818

21.0943

14.9247

20.41176

Image H

67.7232

124.3821

73.2655

119.0966

96.7294

96.23936

Image I

78.3544

78.8566

65.4205

74.1284

60.6896

71.4899

Image J

57.0576

140.2604

37.7966

139.3493

89.2388

92.74054

Average

44.7900

72.5906

36.70003

70.78829

50.45213

Table 2. The SSIM Value of Different Filters on Image A to H Processed with Speckle Noise Median filter

Mean filter

Wiener filter

Lee filter

Frost filter

Average

Image A

0.9877

0.9871

0.9571

0.987

0.9918

0.98214

Image B

0.996

0.9878

0.9964

0.9878

0.9947

0.99254

Image C

0.9676

0.9764

0.9394

0.9766

0.9803

0.96806

Image D

0.7912

0.8913

0.9134

0.9025

0.9128

0.88224

Image E

0.8769

0.9349

0.9460

0.9418

0.9482

0.92956

Image F

0.9468

0.9637

0.9773

0.966

0.9736

0.96548

Image G

0.9026

0.9484

0.8844

0.954

0.9576

0.9294

Image H

0.8174

0.892

0.8809

0.9018

0.9095

0.88032

Image I

0.8013

0.8705

0.8964

0.8806

0.8936

0.86848

Image J

0.9809

0.9691

0.9913

0.9692

0.9875

0.9796

Average

0.90684

0.9421

0.93826

0.94673

0.95496

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4.2 Qualitative Results

Original Image a)

FIG. 8. a) is image F, applied with speckle noise. From b) to f) is the denoised image in an order of highest to lowest SSIM value (Wiener filter, Frost filter, Lee filter, Mean filter, Median filter respectively)

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5. Discussion For MSE, lower value is optimal as it indicates a smaller difference between the original image and the filtered image. For SSIM, value closer to 1 is optimal as it represents the higher similarity between the original image and the filtered image. Based on the MSE and SSIM values in Table 1 and Table 2, the following are observable. Based on the MSE values, the Median filter, Wiener filter, and the Frost filter result in images with the lowest error. Based on the SSIM values, the Wiener filter and the Frost filter result in images with the highest similarity index. Overall, on average, the Wiener filter results in images with the lowest MSE value of 36.70003 and the Frost filter results in images with the highest SSIM of 0.95496. Wiener filter and the Frost filter, like shown in Figure 8, also does a relatively effective job denoising the image while preserving the white border around the Sun. While the Wiener filter and the Frost filter result in the optimal filtered images based on the MSE and SSIM values, the results of other filters are notable to look at. The Median filter leads to the second lowest MSE value, but also the lowest SSIM value. This indicates that the error between the pixels of the original image and the Median filter denoised image is relatively small. However, the Median filter is not good at preserving the quality and details of the image. Such is supported by Figure 8, where the Median filter completely loses the details of the white border around the sun. On the other hand, the Mean filter and the Lee filter both have a high SSIM value and MSE value. The high MSE value of the Mean filter could be because the Mean filter often blurs the overall image, leading to quality degradation and higher difference with the pixels in the original image. The high MSE value of the Lee filter may be because generally, the Lee filter fails to remove speckle noise at the edges, leading to a higher error with the original image. To investigate the denoising ability of filters on different images, we used images with varying complexity. Based on the average SSIM and MSE value of Image A through J, it is shown that the values vary a lot based on the appearance of the original image. Based on the MSE value, Image B, a square on a gray border and black background, has the lowest average MSE value. Image H, four hearts with white borders on a gradient background, has the highest average MSE value. For the SSIM value, Image A, a simple circle on a black background, has the highest average SSIM value. Image I, light gray stripes on a gray background, has the lowest average SSIM value. The top 5 images with the highest SSIM value are Image A, B, C, F, and J, which all have a black background. Regardless of the complexity or color of the object in the image, images with dark background have higher SSIM values because the noise is less visible and less significant in the majority pixels of the image. Regardless of the black background, the filters, especially the Wiener filter, were still able to preserve the details and result in high SSIM values for Image J, a complex image with smaller-sized details. Thus, the filters’ ability to contain the details while

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denoising can be applicable for ultrasonography images, which require the preservation of details. The result shows abnormally large MSE values over a 100 for Image H and J, filtered with the Mean and the Lee filter. The average MSE value for both images also go over 90, which indicates that, overall, the majority of filters failed to efficiently denoise the speckle noise from these two images. Figure 9 depicts the comparison between the Wiener filter, Lee filter and the Mean filter. The Wiener filter resulted in the lowest MSE value of 37.7966, and the Lee filter and the Mean filter resulted in the highest MSE value of 140.2604 and 139.3493 respectively. By looking at Figure 9, the only clear difference between the Wiener filter and the Lee and Mean filter is the quality of the image. Lee and Mean filter results in images that are both blurry, contrasting to the Wiener filter’s sharp image. This is because the Mean filter averages the value of neighboring pixels, smoothing the image and the Lee filter smooths the image when the variance in the region is low. On the other hand, noise is more apparent in the Wiener filter. Due to this, the image processed with Wiener filter has a lower SSIM value than images processed with Lee filter and Mean filter. The same applies between the Median filter, Lee filter, and the Mean filter on Image H in Figure 10. Although the Lee filter and Mean filter are better at removing noise than the Median filter, the overall image quality decreases, leading to the MSE value going over 100. The limitation of the study is that the denoising ability of filters varies with the complexity of the images. Although the research identified the Wiener filter as the optimal filter, the Wiener filter did not result in the lowest MSE or the highest SSIM value for all images. This is because even though the Wiener filter is effective at preserving details, it is very difficult to obtain perfect restoration even on simple images using the Wiener filter [19]. As the disadvantages of using the Wiener filter is minor compared to other filters, the Wiener filter is still the preferable filter to use on denoising images. However, it might be advisable to also try applying and evaluating the filters on other images for future studies.

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FIG. 9. Side by Side Comparison between Wiener filter, Lee filter, and Mean filter on Image J

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FIG. 10. Side by Side Comparison between Median filter, Lee filter, and Mean filter on Image H 6. Conclusion In this paper, we compared and evaluated the denoising techniques of speckle noise on grayscale images. We first explained the filters and their mathematical functions, and then we processed the predetermined images using the filters and evaluated the performance of the filtered images using SSIM and MSE. Through the investigation, the Median filter, Wiener filter, and Frost filter result in images with low MSE value, indicating their effectiveness in preserving the details and image quality. The Wiener filter and the Frost filter lead to images with high SSIM value, indicating that they are good at removing the speckle noise and smoothing the image. Thus, overall, the Wiener filter is the optimal filter to use among the five filters as it is both good at preserving details and

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removing noise. We also found that the denoising ability of filters is affected by the background color of the image, where filters work more effectively on darker backgrounds than on brighter backgrounds. Although the use of filters on ultrasound images has been considered primarily here, the proposed Wiener filter is suitable for other medical applications such as x-ray images enhancement.

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References [1] Bafaraj, Ahmed S. “Performance Analysis of Best Speckle Filter for Noise Reduction in Ultrasound Medical Images.” Research India Publications, vol. 14, 2019. [2] Rosa , R., and F. C. Monteiro. “Performance Analysis of Speckle Ultrasound Image Filtering.” Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering: Imaging & Visualization, vol. 4, no. 3-4, 7 July 2014. [3] Achim, Alin, et al. “Novel Bayesian Multiscale Method for Speckle Removal in Medical Ultrasound Images.” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING, vol. 20, no. 8, Aug. 2001. [4] Khusna, Dina Arifatul, et al. “Performance Analysis of Edge and Detailed Preserved Speckle Noise Reduction Filters for Breast Ultrasound Images.” 2015 2nd International Conference on Information Technology, Computer, and Electrical Engineering (ICITACEE), 18 Oct. 2015, pp. 76–80. [5] Shao, Chonglei, et al. “An Improved Adaptive Weighted Mean Filtering Approach for Metallographic Image Processing.” Journal of Intelligent Systems, vol. 30, no. 1, 2021, pp. 470–478., doi:10.1515/jisys-2020-0080. [6] Lee, Jong-Sen. “Digital Image Smoothing and the SIGMA FILTER.” Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing, vol. 24, no. 2, Nov. 1983, pp. 255–269., doi:10.1016/0734-189x(83)90047-6. [7] Wiener, Norbert. “Extrapolation, Interpolation, and Smoothing of Stationary Time Series.” Cambridge: Technology Press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1949, doi:10.7551/mitpress/2946.003.0011. [8] Attlas, Nishtha, and Sheifali Gupta. “Reduction of Speckle Noise in Ultrasound Images Using Wavelet Techniques and Its Performance Analysis Engineering.” Paripex - Indian Journal Of Research, vol. 3, no. 5, 2012, pp. 68–71., doi:10.15373/22501991/may2014/24. [9] Frost, Victor S., et al. “A Model for Radar Images and Its Application to Adaptive Digital Filtering of Multiplicative Noise.” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, PAMI-4, no. 2, 1982, pp. 157–166., doi:10.1109/tpami.1982.4767223. [10] Kushwaha, Sumit. “An Efficient Filtering Approach for Speckle Reduction in Ultrasound Images.” Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal, vol. 10, no. 3, 2017, pp. 1355–1367., doi:10.13005/bpj/1240. [11] Aja-Fernández, Santiago, et al. “Automatic Noise Estimation in Images Using Local Statistics. Additive and Multiplicative Cases.” Image and Vision Computing, vol. 27, no. 6, 2009, pp. 756–770., doi:10.1016/j.imavis.2008.08.002. [12] Jaybhay, Jyoti, and Rajveer Shastri. “A Study of Speckle Noise Reduction Filters.” Signal & Image Processing : An International Journal, vol. 6, no. 3, 2015, pp. 71–80., doi:10.5121/sipij.2015.6306. [13] Song, Qingkun, et al. “Image Denoising Based on Mean Filter and Wavelet Transform.” 2015 4th International Conference on Advanced Information Technology and Sensor Application (AITS), 2015, doi:10.1109/aits.2015.17.

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[14] Singh, Inderjeet, and Lal Chand. “Image Denoising Techniques: A Review.” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), vol. 2, no. 4, Apr. 2013. [15] Khan, Mohammad Mahmudur, et al. “Digital Image Restoration In Matlab: A Case Study on Inverse and Wiener Filtering.” 2018 International Conference on Innovation in Engineering and Technology (ICIET), 23 Nov. 2018, doi:10.1109/ciet.2018.8660797. [16] V.P.ChandraSekharYadav, G., et al. “Performance of Wiener Filter and Adaptive Filter for Noise Cancellation in Real-Time Environment.” International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 97, no. 15, 2014, pp. 16–23., doi:10.5120/17084-7536. [17] Al-Ameen, Zohair, et al. “Latest Methods of Image Enhancement and Restoration for Computed Tomography: A Concise Review.” Applied Medical Informatics, vol. 36, no. 1, 31 Mar. 2015, pp. 1–12. [18] Benesty, Jacob, et al. “Study of the Widely Linear Wiener Filter for Noise Reduction.” 2010 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, 28 June 2010, doi:10.1109/icassp.2010.5496033. [19] Das, Sanjib, et al. “A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT NOISE FILTERING TECHNIQUES IN DIGITAL IMAGES.” International Journal of Engineering Research and General Science, vol. 3, no. 5, Oct. 2015.

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Analysis of Image Processing Methods in Enhancement of Low Dose X-Ray Images Generated in a Simulated Environment Author 1

Full Name

Cha, Jeonghyun

The Hotchkiss School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Unsharp Masking, histogram equalization filters, and Gaussian filters are used to enhance x-ray images. In this paper, a program is created to generate x-ray images. We then obtain multiple versions of the images by varying the number of photons sent by the emitter. Then, the images are processed with filters. Chi-square is used to determine which filter performs best in the ability to recreate the ideal image.

Keywords: Low Dose X-Ray Imaging, Unsharp Masking, Histogram Equalization, Gaussian Filtering, Image Enhancement

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1. Introduction Utilization of low-intensity x-rays can result in noisy images. When only a few x-ray photons reach a detector, the corresponding reading is affected by noise. Hence, greater intensity of xrays, through adjusting the mA, kVp, or the duration of the exposure time, may be required for diagnosis of obese patients. [1] Multiple filters have been applied to enhance low-dose x-ray images. [2-4] Comparison of various filters in low dose images of patients require participants to be exposed to unwanted doses of radiation. Hence the study proposes a program that will simulate x-ray propagation, including noise simulation by Poissonian noise. This paper will use simulated images that will be enhanced by a selection of filters. The enhanced image will be compared to the ideal image, generated with the same phantom without noise, by chi-square. 2. Related Work Work has been done to create programs that can generate x-ray images. [5] Our study requires the program to simulate the noise generated when obtaining an image. The program will simulate noise generation in x-ray images by applying Poissonian noise as done by Kengyelics et al. [5] Studies have used various filters to improve the sharpness or the contrast of the image. [2,6] Unsharp masking was employed in computer radiography systems and used to increase sharpness as proposed by Deng. [7] Histogram Equalization has also been used for image enhancement of x-rays, as used in Parveen et al. [6] Some studies may take another step by applying a filter that is also able to remove artifacts and noise; the study will use Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization, or CLAHE, to represent this case as used by Parveen et al [6]. There are other filters specifically designed to remove noise. Gaussian filter is a well-known filter to remove Gaussian noise and was used in MR image enhancement by Pawar et al. [8] 3. Methods and Materials The image processing algorithms as well as the generation of the simulated x-ray images were done in the Spyder programming environment. An ideal image was first computed with photon count set as 1000 and without noise. Additional images with Poissonian noise were generated by varying the photon count, starting from 100, and from 200 to 1600, in intervals of 200. The images were then processed with filters. The chi-square value of the filtered image in comparison to the ideal image was then calculated. Gaussian filter is a linear smoothing filter and is very effective for removing noise from a normal distribution. [8] However, it struggles to protect the edge of an image. [9] Unsharp Masking amplifies the sharp details and the contrast of the image. The details that are amplified by the program are found as the difference between the original and the blurred image obtained from the gaussian filter. [10] Histogram Equalization enhances the contrast by spreading out the intensity values of the global pixels, creating an image with a uniform distribution. [11] In practical terms, histogram equalization increases the contrast of the image. The output image from an x-ray has low contrast and has a relatively flat image. By enabling the image to exploit the entire dynamic

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range, the outlines become more visible, which will aid in extracting details that would traditionally be obtained through greater exposure of x-rays.

Fig 1: Left: Picture of Self X-Ray, untreated, Right: Image with HE treatment

Fig 2: Left: Histogram of Untreated Image in Fig 1 , Right: Histogram of HE-treatment Image in Fig 1 Adaptive Histogram Equalization utilizes the GHE function but works by dividing the image into tiles. Thus, it utilizes the histogram of a certain part of the image, not the histogram of the entire image. [12] This prevents the loss of detail from over-exposure of bright areas. The greater flexibility of the algorithm will help in handling dark and bright regions. Contrast Limiting AHE attempts to prevent amplification of noise by clipping and disturbing histogram bins above the defined contrast limit. Bilinear interpolation is then applied to remove artifacts. [12]

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Fig 3: Photo of Self X-Ray with Image Enhancement Filters Top Left to Bottom Right: CLAHE, Generic Equalize Histogram, Unsharp Masking, Gaussian 4. Creating the Simulation A demonstration of the x-ray production must be covered before explanation of the methods behind the simulation. Generated photons from the x-ray module are absorbed or transmitted through the body. The physical properties of the tissue determine the trajectory and the absorption of photons. [13] The number of photons received by the detector plate produces the image. [14]

The simulation calculates the number of photons hitting the detector by the following equation: ! = $ ∗ & ("#! ∗%"#" ∗(&"%)) Attenuation Model [15]

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M: The number of photons received by the detector N: The number of photons sent from the emitter '( : Attenuation Coefficient of the Object ') : Attenuation Coefficient of the Medium L: Distance between the source of the x-ray and the detector H: Distance traveled in the object The attenuation coefficient of the medium was adjusted to ensure consistent black backgrounds regardless of the number of photons. The attenuation coefficient of the object was set to produce the 50% intensity in the grayscale range when the photon count was set at 1000.

Fig 4: Visual Diagram of the System in 2D when detecting a cube A: When the photon does not intercept the object B: When the photon intercepts the object

Fig 5: Visual Diagram of the System in 2D when detecting a sphere

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Fig 6: Calculation for the length of the ray traveling in the sphere Using the Pythagorean Theorem, the following is calculated to compute for the length of the ray traveling in the sphere. ( = )* ) − , ) H: Distance traveled in the object D: The vertical distance between the point of interception and the center of the circle R: The radius of the circle When D = 0, it is assumed that the photon immediately hits the detector after leaving the circle. When D does not equal 0, the following equation is to calculate the length of travel in the medium after passing the object. - = *– ( L: Distance of travel in the medium after intercepting the object R: The radius of the circle H: Distance traveled in the object When the photon does not intercept the object, H becomes zero, hence only the attenuation coefficient of the medium is considered. When the photon does hit the object, both the attenuation of the medium and the object is taken into consideration. A lower number of photons received by the detector results in a brighter image. Conversely, the higher the number of photons, the darker the image becomes. The number of photons received is used to calculate the ratio of the said number to the predetermined maximum number of photons detected by the detector. This ratio is converted to grayscale which ranges from 0 to 255. Multiple factors must be considered when evaluating the quality of the x-ray image. Due to the condition of the simulation, only noise will be considered. The noises generated in x-ray imaging are known as mottle or quantum noise. Mottle results from a varying number of photons reaching the detector. [16] This creates noise or grains in the image. This variance is simulated through Poissonian noise. [17] The photon noise is created by the following equation.

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& "*+ /0, 1!

$ =

N: Number of photons measured in a sensor /: Predetermined number of photons per unit time interval (Calculated by time of exposure, speed of photon, and distance from the sensor to detector) t: Time of exposure k: Number of photons received This distribution simulates the effects of other signal-independent sources of noise during small photon counts and becomes a Gaussian model for larger counts. [17] Other factors, such as contrast, spatial resolution, and distortion influence image quality. [14] However, the simulation makes the following assumptions and defines certain conditions that allow these factors to be disregarded. The x-ray has a divergence pattern; the photons emitted from the center follow a linear path, and those sent from the outer area tend to spread out radially. [14] All the photons in the program are set to run parallel to each other, eliminating this condition. The program assumes all the photons to have equal energy, thus preventing low-energy photons from degrading the quality of the image from increasing scatter. [14] The program runs on a fixed 2000 by 2000 image, with each pixel representing the emitter and detector. As the photons are sent in a straight direction, there is no overlap of photons reaching between pixels. In other words, all photons that are sent by the emitter, excluding those that are artificially eliminated by the Poissonian noise and the attenuation model, will be received by the corresponding detector. This assumption also disregards cases when photons are deflected by tissues, thus all photons will either pass through the medium and hit the detector or the medium and the cube before hitting the detector in a straight line. Chi-squared will be used to compare the generated picture with enhancement to the ideal image. The ideal image was created from the picture created without noise with photon count set as 1000.

χ4) = 5

(7, − 8, )) 8,

7, : Observed value, or the pixel intensity from the enhanced image 8, : Expected value, or the pixel intensity from the ideal image ;) : Calculated Chi-squared value : For this study, this method will allow us to compare the intensity value of each pixel. The average chi-square value for all pixels was computed. Greater deviance of the values of the

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pixel to the original will result in a greater chi-square value. A lower amount of variance, or an image closer to the ideal image, will result in a lower output. 5. Results

Fig 7: Image Left: Photon Count = 400, Right, Photon Count = 1600

Fig 8: From left to right: Photon Count = 800 Original, Photon Count = 1200 Fig 7 demonstrates how more photons resulted in a brighter image, while fewer photons created a slightly darker image with greater noise. Throughout all trials, the black levels stayed consistent. A close analysis in the background area does show traces of noise but is not represented as well as the one in the area with the lighter color. The reader may not see this in the paper as the images are subject to compression.

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Fig 9: Photon Count = 1200 with Image Enhancement Filters: From top left to bottom right: CLAHE, Histogram Equalization, Unsharp Masking, Gaussian CLAHE and Histogram Equalization resulted in greater visible noise, followed by unsharp masking and Gaussian. Histogram Equalization has dramatically altered the histogram of the image by making the entire image brighter. Gaussian made the least changes in terms of the overall brightness of the image.

Fig 10: From top left to bottom right: Photon Count = 100,200,400,600,800,1000,1200,1400,1600 There is a visible lack of clear outlines in lower doses of photons, especially for images with photon count lower than 600. Furthermore, additional noise in the picture results in further degradation of the outline. Hence, greater amounts of photons are necessary to obtain the edges of the phantom, as shown with pictures with 600 photons and above.

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Fig 11: A collage displaying a selection of images with photon count (y-axis) and the imaging process applied (x-axis) Most images treated with Histogram Equalization lost gradient on the circle and with amplified noise in the background. CLAHE enhancement resulted in boxes on the circle. Both histogram methods demonstrated undesirable characteristics throughout this experiment. Unsharp Masking produced sharper outlines and demonstrated consistent results in low photon counts. Gaussian also showed comparable results.

Cube Photon Count

100

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

CLAHE

57.8407

43.5946

26.5461

14.2948

8.6372

3.3156

5.473

5.3729

4.1638

65.4209

49.9231

41.5196

36.4974

28.4757

17.6873

24.6135

26.3388

25.9263

Unsharp

35.2381

26.3284

16.2715

9.7134

7.3296

3.4728

3.2963

4.9271

4.2522

Gaussian

28.5465

20.1293

13.4813

8.9286

3.2195

0.0659

0.2634

0.1362

0.1427

Table 1: Chi-square results for program with cube set as phantom Sphere Photon Count

100

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

CLAHE

32.3079

14.3178

11.6043

7.9346

5.4257

2.3284

3.8468

3.9241

4.0348

61.5174

49.2962

42.0481

37.1852

24.7832

15.6917

18.2087

19.4113

19.9427

Unsharp

28.9063

9.1054

3.4794

3.1403

2.9054

1.2871

1.5762

1.7266

1.9325

Gaussian

24.3251

7.2586

2.8467

1.8465

1.7726

1.1766

1.4493

1.4162

1.5531

Table 2: Chi-square results for program with sphere set as phantom

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The chi-squared analysis indicates Gaussian as the most consistent performer, followed by Unsharp Masking. Histogram enhancement methods performed worse, especially as photon count decreased. This demonstrates that histogram enhancements may not be the ideal method for treating low-dose x-ray images. Our previous quantitative analysis pointed out a noticeable reduction of noise from increasing the photon count. However, the results show that the improvement is minor. Rather, the increased brightness, combined with less reduction in noise may have hindered from obtaining a lower chi-square value. 6. Conclusion and Limitations The paper compares image enhancement techniques processed in simulated x-ray images. One of the main limitations of the research is that results may be different on an irregular object, as x-ray images often encounter objects with complex and non-proportional dimensions. Additionally, further development of the program will be necessary to recreate divergence patterns and other distortions that influence image quality. Finally, the simulated program may not necessarily reflect findings from using x-ray photos of patients. It is important to acknowledge that even though we can analyse and compare the performance of filters, the study must also consider the more practical analysis as x-ray images are used to diagnose diseases. While the chi-square calculation may help in comparing how well the image compares to the ideal one, they may not necessarily correlate to how well can it be used by the user to focus on specific areas (i.e. looking at bone, tissue, organs).

References [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Raman, S. P., Mahesh, M., Blasko, R. V., & Fishman, E. K. (2013). CT scan parameters and

Radiation dose: Practical advice for radiologists. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 10(11), 840–846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2013.05.032. Delplanque, Maurice. “Contrast Enhancement of Micro Dose x-Ray Images.” 2014 IEEE 11th International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), www.academia.edu/50218025/Contrast_enhancement_of_Micro_Dose_X_ray_images. Lee, M. S., Park, C. H., & Kang, M. G. (2017). Edge enhancement algorithm for low-dose Xray fluoroscopic imaging. Computer methods and programs in biomedicine, 152, 45–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2017.09.010. Aach, Til & Kunz, Dietmar & Raoul, Florent & Makram Ebeid, Sherif. (1996). Noise Reduction and Image Enhancement Algorithms for Low-Dose X-Ray Fluoroscopy.. Proc. BVM.

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Kengyelics, S. M., Treadgold, L. A., & Davies, A. G. (2018). X-ray system simulation software tools for radiology and radiography education. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 93, 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2017.12. N. R. S. Parveen and M. M. Sathik, "Enhancement of Bone Fracture Images by Equalization Methods," 2009 International Conference on Computer Technology and Development, 2009, pp. 391-394, doi: 10.1109/ICCTD.2009.115. Deng, Guang. (2010). A Generalized Unsharp Masking Algorithm. IEEE transactions on image processing : a publication of the IEEE Signal Processing Society. 20. 1249-61. 10.1109/TIP.2010.2092441. Pawar, M., & Sale, D. (2017). MRI and CT Image Denoising using Gaussian Filter, Wavelet Transform and Curvelet Transform . IJESC. https://ijesc.org/upload/a0083266a7940acae202887abdfd75ab.MRI%20and%20CT%20Ima ge%20Denoising%20using%20Gaussian%20Filter,%20Wavelet%20Transform%20and%20 Curvelet%20Transform.pdf. Jiang, L., Han, Y., & Xie, B. (2019). Edge-Preserving image Smoothing via a total VARIATION Regularizer and a Nonconvex Regularizer. Procedia Computer Science, 154, 603–609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.06.095. Unsharp masking. Unsharp masking - skimage v0.19.0.dev0 docs. (n.d.). https://scikitimage.org/docs/dev/auto_examples/filters/plot_unsharp_mask.html. Histogram equalization. OpenCV. (n.d.). https://docs.opencv.org/3.4/d4/d1b/tutorial_histogram_equalization.html. Histograms - 2: Histogram Equalization. OpenCV. (n.d.). https://docs.opencv.org/master/d5/daf/tutorial_py_histogram_equalization.html. Rutherford, R. A., Pullan, B. R., & Isherwood, I. (1976). X-ray energies for effective atomic number determination. Neuroradiology, 11(1), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00327254. Sy, E. (2020, October 28). X-ray image production procedures. StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK564352/. M. Vadim (personal communication, August 6, 2021). Mahesh M. (2013). The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging, Third Edition. Medical physics, 40(7), 10.1118/1.4811156. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4811156. Hasinoff, S. W. (2012). Photon, Poisson noise . people.csail.mit.edu. https://people.csail.mit.edu/hasinoff/pubs/hasinoff-photon-2012-preprint.pdf.

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Effect of different Decibels (dB) on the growth of Hydroponic Plants

Author 1

Full Name

Choi, Seunghee (Judy)

Korea International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract Different types of music and sound have a strong influence on human beings, both mentally and physically. Similar to its effects on humans, acoustic waves also affect plants, and the impact can be quantified by measuring the growth of the plants. For instance, noise pollution is known to discourage plant growth. Hence, sound connects with uncountable science concepts and ideas. It was just recently discovered that sound waves foster gas absorption in water and induce mechanical force on the plant. As a result, with these findings as a basis, the research aimed to uncover the unrevealed correlation between science and sound. As a consequence, this paper discusses the specific investigation of the sound effect on the chemical reaction of water and its subsequent impact on the growth of hydroponic plants.

Keywords: Sound, Hydroponics, Noise Pollution

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INTRODUCTION Different types of music and sound have a strong influence on human beings, both mentally and physically. Comparably, music affects plants: classical music stimulates plant growth, while heavy metal music induces the release of stress hormones in plants, for example. This phenomenon is due to sound stimuli that cause both identifiable chemical and physical changes. Sound is the vibrations that travel continuously as a longitudinal wave that has specific diffusion and vibration directions, which then reach our ears [1]. Loud environmental noise or sound is detrimental to the growth and development of plants, decreasing their growth rate; specifically, smaller or newly grown plants are more sensitive to random noise environments [2]. Sound waves cause “stress” and have a negative effect on the growth and development of a plant. There are multiple stress factors for plants, and just abiotic stress leads to a reduction in an average yield of a plant by more than 50%, which is known as one of the major causes of loss in agricultural products worldwide [3]. As the relationship between sound and plant growth is evident, the research aims to future examine its impact on specifically hydroponics plants along with the consideration of other growth factors. In recent research done by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS, South Korea), the relationship between sound and chemical reactions was once again established with a result proving their hypothesis that audible sound controls chemical reactions between atmospheric gases and water [4]. The IBS research team conducted two experiments to test out the dissolution of two different atmospheric gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), and oxygen (O2). Placing Petri dishes with solutions of the redox couple of O2-sensitive methyl viologen (MV2+/MV+) and bromothymol blue (BTB) as a CO2-sensitive pH indicator on a sound-played speaker, the research team was able to visualize different surface wave patterns. The sound-generated water waves fueled and stimulated the dissolution of atmospheric gases and liquid, which indeed depicted different color changes in specific regions of the solution. The frequency and amplitude of the audible sound through the speaker supplied the energy sources into the interface, which then generated the oscillations and vibration of the fluid. The regions not affected by the streaming change color slowly compared to that of other parts of the solution that are less exposed to the audible sound. The research team’s findings act as the foundation of this laboratory experiment since a higher concentration of carbon dioxide allows the plants to become more productive and a higher oxygen concentration promotes healthy root growth. Making observations of how the different decibels of sound affect the chemical reaction of water and comparing the results with the growth of the hydroponic plants will allow us to examine the correlation between water and sound as well as its possible impact on the growth of hydroponic plants. Beside gas absorption in water, mechanical stresses on a shoot can affect plant growth, which is called thigmomorphogenesis. Thigmomorphogenesis, which originated from the Greek word thigma with the meaning to touch, represents the response from the mechanical sensation of touching [5]. For instance, plants respond to stimuli by the touch of raindrops. Plants are sensitive to various types of mechanical stimulus applied when germinating, which causes loss

239

of moisture or hardening, for instance, due to environmental changes including wind, light, and sound [6]. Therefore, running the experiment in an indoor plant environment setup, a windless and uninterrupted space, reduced the possible presence of physical and unintentional disturbance to the growth of the plants. This experiment involved sound waves, a pressure wave that gives mechanical force, directly affecting the growth of the plants. Sound waves reduce the boundary layer for better exchange of surrounding air around the leaf, helping leaves to absorb carbon dioxide and discharge water vapor. For example, with a thicker boundary layer around a leaf, the chemical molecules cannot be transferred quickly [7]. Thus, it is an interesting discovery to observe both the positive and negative impacts of sound on the plant growth rate. To establish the stated correlation, the study aimed to determine the effect of different decibels (dB) on the growth of hydroponic plants. The decibel of audible sound is the key variable investigated in this research. A previous study done by Ozlem Altuntas from Inonu University demonstrated the effects of different decibel sound levels on nutrient elements uptake and essential oil yield of plants [3]. To introduce hydroponics, hydroponics is a method of cultivating plants without soil, and instead with water and necessary nutrients. For the experiment, a floating technique is utilized as a liquid hydroponics method, in which the plant is grown in the solution culture and their roots are suspended in the nutrient solution as they grow. Additionally, the pot technique, using net hydroponic pots, is employed as the media culture method [8]. In other words, the research heavily depended on hydroponic systems with soilless culture―method of cultivation without using a nutrient solution or soil―for growing plants to apply the concept of sound that promotes more dissolution of atmospheric gases into water [9]. The experiment itself only involves hydroponics plants, but this allows us to open our perspective to other implications of sound, further developing our knowledge and understanding of water-sound correlation. Besides, exporting a distinctive sound related to hydroponics technology will allow us to obtain agricultural products in extreme conditions in the near future. In other words, the result will enhance our understanding of sound stimuli in plant life. There are unlimited connections between science and music, especially sound, that are still undiscovered. This specific investigation of the sound effect on the chemical reaction of water and its following impact on the growth of hydroponic plants will extend the application of sound and lead any potential experiments in the science field. Therefore, understanding the importance of the study and with the prior knowledge of sound and its impact on plants, it is reasonable to hypothesize that higher decibel sound levels will decrease the growth rate of spinach.

Methods and Materials Leaf Samples

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Spinach, a leafy green plant, is the chosen experimental hydroponic plant as it does not require excessive light. In addition to that, spinach is able to easily determine the growth by the color, shape, and texture of its leaves [10]. Spinach speeds in its growth when the carbon dioxide concentration increases in the culture media of hydroponic cultivation. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has a direct effect on the amount of growth and photosynthesis rate of the spinach: spinach consistently responds to increases in carbon dioxide concentrations. Similarly, the presence of oxygen plays a significant role in the process of respiration. In fact, the amount of oxygen available in the water of hydroponics setup determines the respiration rate of the spinach. The depletion of oxygen in the recirculation system is detrimental for the spinach as it stops respiration [11]. Since sound-generated water waves fuel the chemical reaction between air and water and enhance the dissolution of the atmospheric gases in specific regions, the experiment further explores the impact of sound in different regions that are affected by the oscillations and vibration through the growth rate of spinach. The spinach (B304578044, Dong Won Nong San Seed Co. Ltd., South Korea) used in the experiment originated in Japan, one of the major spinach-cultivating countries. This spinach is resistant to downy mildew, a disease from an oomycete pathogen called Peronospora farinosa [12]. When it is spread on spinach, it is detrimental to both the quality and quantity of production. Thus, downy mildew-resistant spinach, which can be harvested in all weather conditions, is planted for this experiment.

Experimental Setup Possible noise and vibration from outside sound sources had to be removed for better control, which led to the construction of a soundproof wall that can block external sound. A box-shaped chamber (60X60X60) is constructed, as depicted in Fig. 1, surrounded by soundproof papers and a hydroponics system placed inside. To provide enough air for the better photosynthesis of the plants, a silent fan is turned on and off every 30 minutes above the spinach spots. Since photosynthesis is a crucial metabolic process for the plants that are generated from light energy to energy-rich glucose in the chloroplast, it is crucial to control the air condition in each chamber [13]. Lastly, an identical speaker is installed on the upper side of the chamber to ensure a direct path of the sound wave from the speaker to the spinach spots. To view the temporal progress of plant growth, the front side of the container is made up of clear acrylic sheets.

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FIGURE 1. Schematic of Soundproof Chamber

Since the experiment is designed with the basis of a hydroponics plantation, a hydroponic planting machine (B07ZCVTTRS, Moistenland, China) is used to provide the best hydroponics environment. Each planting machine is placed in the soundproof chamber as depicted in Fig. 2, which shows three soundproof chambers without the acrylic cover (setup before the experiment). The speaker (B07RD3FNTN, Xiaomi, China) is attached above the spinach spots.

FIGURE 2. Three Soundproof units with Hydroponics Environment

Experimental Procedures Before being placed in the hydroponics system―for 8 days―the seeds are germinated in a cool environment with water provided every day. Spinach seeds may fail to germinate at a warm temperature, so the temperature for germination is kept around 21℃ to 24℃, with ice cubes underneath to maintain the cool temperature as shown in Fig. 3. After 8 days of the germination process, the roots start to appear as depicted in Fig. 4. Ready to be transplanted, the seeds are moved to the planting machine. Two seeds in each of the 12 pots are grown in a chamber, tested to collect the average growth rate for statistical analysis, and conclude with precise

242

experimental results. The planting machine contains a 4-liter water tank space underneath the spinach spots, so nutrient solutions (물푸레, Daeyu Co., Ltd, South Korea) are added every 7 days in the water tank of the hydroponic planting machine for better growth of the hydroponic plants.

FIGURE 3. Process of Seed Germination

FIGURE 4. 8 days after Seed Germination

Three different conditions are tested out using three identical soundproof chambers with different decibel levels: none, 30dB, 60dB. The control group is the group of spinach seeds that are not exposed to any audible sound, and the experimental groups are the spinach seeds that are tested under two other conditions with the exposure to the audible sound of a certain decibel level. A sound level meter is utilized to measure and control the decibel, and the spinach seeds are exposed to the audible sound of a specific decibel level for 3 hours every 24 hours. With reference to the study conducted by Ozlem Altuntas from Inonu University, which demonstrated sound application with different decibel levels affecting plants’ growth and nutrient element intake, 1000 Hertz (Hz) is chosen as the reference value for all three conditions for the experiment [3]. In other words, audible sound with 1,000 singularity frequency hertz is exposed for 7,200 seconds every day utilizing a sound generation technique in MATLAB

243

software. The significant difference between two low and high decibels of sound impacts the stimulation of plant growth in water, which results in different relative growth rates. In addition to sound stimulation, some factors affect the growth hormones of the plant such as water, temperature, and light. Therefore, it is crucial to set certain constant variables so that the effects from these constant variables can be disregarded for data analysis as the variables are controlled and kept constant throughout the experiment. The same type of spinach seed is planted because different species of plants may have different environmental factors, which cause them to behave differently and cause fluctuation in their rate of growth. The amount of the uptake water is controlled by a pump that automatically circulates the added water. While growing the plants, a circulating water pump circulates the water from the tank every 30 minutes to maintain the water fresh and to provide sufficient oxygen to the plant roots. Since the experiment is conducted indoors, it is easier to keep the temperature constant. Although the temperature may fluctuate minimally, the chambers are placed side-by-side in a line in the same room, so the change in the temperature would affect the result as all three chambers are influenced in the same way if necessary. Moreover, all three spinach seeds are exposed to light through the clear acrylic sheet in the front of the chambers. Still, there is a limitation in the access of light due to the condition of the indoor experiment. LED light is employed with the hydroponics system, which exhibits red and blue lights with specific wavelengths (480 nm, 675 nm) beneficial for the growth of the plants. These two-colored regions are pivotal energy sources in the light spectrum for their photosynthetic carbon dioxide assimilation, promoting the increase in production [14]. Thus, the seeds are exposed to light for 18 hours per day for photosynthesis and relaxed for 6 hours at night. The growth varies by exposure to different decibels of sound with other control variables constant to the same species of hydroponic plants. The independent variable of the laboratory experiment is the different decibel levels, whereas the growth rate of spinach serves as the dependent variable. For calculating the growth rate, every day, data is collected for the following measurements: the height of the roots (in millimeter) and number of leaves [15], [16]. The experiment is conducted for 23 days including the germination period. Figure. 4 displays one of the spinaches that grew as a result of the study. To analyze and examine the growth of the spinach more in-depth, graphs are generated with the data collected.

Results Figure 5 displays the average growth in the height of spinaches in each chamber for 15 days after the seed germination. Red, blue, and green colored lines represent the spinaches’ average height each day for no sound, 30 dB sound, and 60 dB sound, respectively. The linear fit function is applied to determine the average height growth rate of spinach (in millimeter per day), indicated as the slope, in the varying level of decibel sound exposed.

244

FIGURE 5. Graph of Plant Height over 15 days Figure 6 presents the average change in the number of leaves in each chamber for 15 days after the seed germination. To compare the difference in the growth rate as in the number of leaves, the slope of following linear functions.

FIGURE 6. Graph of Number of Leaves over 15 days Figure 7 depicts an anova test result on the height of 12 spinaches for each chamber on day 15, the last day of the data collection. With the MATLAB technique, one-way ANOVA reports a P-value of 0.000798.

245

FIGURE 7. ANOVA Test on Day 15

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION The experiment was designed to investigate the water-sound correlation and its impact on the growth of hydroponic plants using spinach. The hypothesis was that higher decibel sound levels will decrease the growth rate of spinach. As shown in Fig. 4, the spinaches that were exposed to audible sounds were compared to the control group without sounds. When the spinaches were grown without the application of sound, their average growth rate was 1.238 mm per day. However, the height grew 1.076 mm per day and 1.018 mm per day for the spinaches grown under the impact of 30 dB and 60 dB sound levels, respectively. Therefore, our findings show that the increase of decibel level has a negative effect on the growth of hydroponics plants as in height. This result can be explained through thigmomorphogenesis. The growth of hydroponic plants is affected by two stresses: biotic and abiotic stresses. A sound wave is also a pressure wave, one of the abiotic stress factors that affect the growth of hydroponic plants [17]. Plants are responsive to varying environmental stimuli, and for this experiment, the sound has played the role of potential mechanical stresses on the shoot of the spinach. The sound pressure in air compresses and relaxes air density as it propagates, thereby it exerts pressure vibrations on the plants. Thus, when the speaker plays the sound, hydroponic plants are exposed to high decibel sound waves, and the magnitude of normal stress increases. The growth and development of spinach are therefore expected to decline by the impact of mechanical force [3]. To confirm that the independent variable (the different levels of decibel sound) truly affected the growth rate of the spinach, the MATLAB technique was employed. One-way ANOVA

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reported that the P-value of 0.000798 for the comparison in the heights of 12 spinaches in each of the three conditions for day 15. As the P-value of the data shown in Fig. 7 is smaller than 0.01, there is a statistically significant difference between the dependent variables. In other words, the impact of audible sound on the growth of height from the experiment is not by random chance. The number of leaves grown for 15 days showed that spinaches in the application of 60 dB sound level grew a smaller number of leaves compared to the no sound and 30 dB group. Meanwhile, there was no greater difference in the number of leaves when comparing the result of the spinaches grown under 30 dB audible sound with that of the control group, as depicted in Fig. 6. Thus, it is interpreted that despite the negative influence of sound on the growth of hydroponic plants, the sound waves also had a minimal positive impact on the growth of the plant as a whole. There are two potential reasons as follows; The sound wave creates a vibration on the water surface, which stimulates the dissolution of carbon dioxide into the water in the water tank [4]. The higher concentration of carbon dioxide then may have supported the spinaches to grow more efficiently. In other words, the increase in the level of carbon dioxide in plants promotes rapid development in the area and the thickness of the leaf [18]. Furthermore, sound waves may have diminished the boundary layer around the leaf for better absorption of carbon dioxide [7]. Therefore, it is reasonable for a similar growth rate in the number of spinach leaves despite the negative impact of sound pressure on the growth of hydroponic plants. At a given level of stress, the force on an object or a plant change with its area. Force divided by its area yields stress, on the other hand, stress times the area equals force. When the spinach is in the stage of the sprout, the number of leaves is determined, and its area is small. Therefore, the force on the sprout is much smaller than the force on the leaves in the later stage. Nonetheless, the results are still inconclusive in finding the definite relationship that can deterministically explain the relationship between sound waves and hydroponic plants. In other words, more research can be conducted to define the relationship between decibel levels and the growth of hydroponic plants as the results are minute variations in the growth rate. As depicted in the last three figures, there was a significant difference in the growth rate of spinaches when exposed to 30 decibel sound and without sound. This hints for more tests with different sound levels between 0 and 30 decibels may yield better definite findings. Based on the experimental findings, further study with modifications can be conducted to certainly discern this correlation. In addition, with the use of a waterproof speaker, sound waves will generate greater water surface waves, which allows the nutrient in the water tank to move easier to the root of the hydroponic plants. It will then stimulate the dissolution of atmospheric gases into water and significantly affect the growth of hydroponic plants. Besides the experimental procedures, the variables tested may be altered as well in future experiments. When testing nutritional quality to determine which fruits or vegetables are healthy, four elements are evaluated: visual appearance, taste, aroma, and texture [19]. Current research only examined

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the growth rate with numerical measurements, but more factors may be scrutinized, understanding the impact of sound waves on the nutritional quality of hydroponic plants. Since the spinaches are newly grown and small, these spinaches may have been more responsive to the sound wave pressure [2]. The physical impact of the sound stimuli was clearly demonstrated through the results of the experiment. As this is just the beginning of understanding the world of sound, there is far more that needs to be investigated. Thus, future experiments with these adjustments will further expand our knowledge of the unimaginable impact of sound in our life.

REFERENCES [1] C. E. Speaks, Introduction to sound: acoustics for the hearing and speech sciences, Fourth edition. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, 2018. [2] M. E. Collins and J. E. K. Foreman, “THE EFFECT OF SOUND ON THE GROWTH OF PLANTS,” p. 8. [3] O. Altuntas and H. Ozkurt, “Effects of Different dB Sound Levels on The Plant Growth, Nutrient Elements Uptake and Essential Oil Yield of Mentha piperita,” J. Essent. Oil Bear. Plants, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 1345–1355, Nov. 2020, doi: 10.1080/0972060X.2020.1842254. [4] I. Hwang et al., “Audible sound-controlled spatiotemporal patterns in out-of-equilibrium systems,” Nat. Chem., vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 808–813, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.1038/s41557-020-0516-2. [5] C. Smriti and C. Uday, “MAN MADE SOUND WAVES AND THEIR IMPACT ON LIVING BEINGS – A REVIEW,” p. 5, 2018. [6] O. Zhdanov, M. R. Blatt, H. Zare-Behtash, and A. Busse, “Wind-evoked anemotropism affects the morphology and mechanical properties of Arabidopsis,” J. Exp. Bot., vol. 72, no. 5, pp. 1906– 1918, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.1093/jxb/eraa541. [7] O. Monje, M. Zebuhr, and G. W. Stutte, “Understanding Boundary Layers Surrounding Plant Organs to Reduce Indirect Effects of Microgravity on Plant Growth,” in Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments, League City, Houston, Texas, United States, Mar. 2004, pp. 340–345. doi: 10.1061/40722(153)48. [8] . M. D. S., “A REVIEW ON PLANT WITHOUT SOIL - HYDROPONICS,” Int. J. Res. Eng. Technol., vol. 02, no. 03, pp. 299–304, Mar. 2013, doi: 10.15623/ijret.2013.0203013. [9] M. Raviv, J. H. Lieth, and A. Bar-Tal, Eds., Soilless culture: theory and practice, Second edition. London San Diego, CA Cambridge, MA Oxford: Elsevier Academic Press, 2019. [10] A. Roughani and S. M. Miri, “The 2nd International Conference on Medicinal Plants, Organic Farming, Natural and Pharmaceutical Ingredients,” Org. Farming, p. 7, 2019.

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[11] M. Uchigasalci and J. R. Zabliski, “CORNELL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 108 RILEY-ROBB HALL ITHACA, NY 14853-570,” p. 220. [12] S. L. Kandel, B. Mou, N. Shishkoff, A. Shi, K. V. Subbarao, and S. J. Klosterman, “Spinach Downy Mildew: Advances in Our Understanding of the Disease Cycle and Prospects for Disease Management,” Plant Dis., vol. 103, no. 5, pp. 791–803, May 2019, doi: 10.1094/PDIS-10-181720-FE. [13] “Significance of photosynthesis in plant growth, development and bioproductivity,” p. 235. [14] M. Naznin, M. Lefsrud, V. Gravel, and M. Azad, “Blue Light added with Red LEDs Enhance Growth Characteristics, Pigments Content, and Antioxidant Capacity in Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Basil, and Sweet Pepper in a Controlled Environment,” Plants, vol. 8, no. 4, p. 93, Apr. 2019, doi: 10.3390/plants8040093. [15] K. Jeyasubramanian, U. U. Gopalakrishnan Thoppey, G. S. Hikku, N. Selvakumar, A. Subramania, and K. Krishnamoorthy, “Enhancement in growth rate and productivity of spinach grown in hydroponics with iron oxide nanoparticles,” RSC Adv., vol. 6, no. 19, pp. 15451–15459, 2016, doi: 10.1039/C5RA23425E. [16] S. Nxawe, C. P. Laubscher, and P. A. Ndakidemi, “Effect of regulated irrigation water temperature on hydroponics production of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.),” p. 5. [17] Y. Shavrukov, Y. Genc, and J. Hayes, “The Use of Hydroponics in Abiotic Stress Tolerance Research,” in Hydroponics - A Standard Methodology for Plant Biological Researches, T. Asao, Ed. InTech, 2012. doi: 10.5772/35206. [18] Managing Water Resources in the West Under Conditions of Climate Uncertainty: A Proceedings. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 1991, p. 1911. doi: 10.17226/1911. [19] D. M. Barrett, J. C. Beaulieu, and R. Shewfelt, “Color, Flavor, Texture, and Nutritional Quality of Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables: Desirable Levels, Instrumental and Sensory Measurement, and the Effects of Processing,” Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr., vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 369–389, May 2010, doi: 10.1080/10408391003626322.

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The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. -seneca

Research Papers - Social Sciences

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Online Forum Moderation with One-shot Learning Posts

Author 1

Full Name

Gu, Hyowon

School Name

Ivy Collegiate School

(Last Name, First Name)

Abstract: Popular networks such as GPT-3 have gained significant public attention for their perceived abilities. It is true that the GPT has great ability, however it is impossibly exaggerated as well. This paper provides an introductory level review of the pre-trained transformer network to dispel any misconceptions and covers a brief history of the rise of generative pre-trained transformer networks in popular culture. In order to properly illustrate the impact of AI-powered harassment, further elaboration is given to forum moderation culture and how it will be affected by pre-trained transformer networks by taking real-life examples of abuse. In this paper, we provided real-life examples such as u/gentlemetre’s infiltration of the r/AskReddit subreddit and HackerNews social engineering experiments. Further commentary is provided on the matter of commercializing and controlling access to pretrained networks by citing OpenAI’s GPT-3, and also how that has proven to be ineffective by open-source attempts such as GPT-J. Lastly, we presented output-detector models as a possible solution to making community management more approachable by breaking down the initially presented stakes.

Keywords: GPT-3, forum moderation, pre-trained transformers, AI harassment, value ethics

Introduction The Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) is a language model that is capable of producing high-quality text synthesis given minimal prompting (ref). While it may seem rather obtuse to many if presented in this form, it is in essence a super-powered autocomplete that can write complex philosophical essays, imitate other writers through prose, simulate human conversation, generate usable code in multiple programming languages, and much more – given a single textual prompt. Unlike its predecessors that were trained on far less (1.5 billion parameters for the case of GPT-2), GPT-3 is trained upon 175 billion machine learning parameters, a next-generation leap in its linguistic capabilities (ref). This means that the model can now produce far more complex and highly compelling results given a single text prompt,

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making it an excellent representation of one-shot learning while lowering the barrier of entry for individuals unfamiliar with code. However, given the public's inability to contend with the systematic fact-checking of news sites and news sites, the capabilities of GPT-3 and their ilk are more concerning than assuring (ref). The ability to generate factually incorrect information on a massive scale with the malicious intent to mislead and deceive individuals has been a problem far before the advent of the information age, but the sheer reach that these articles or GPT-3 powered commenter bots can have poses a significant hazard in the age of social media (ref). This is made especially more apparent when we factor in inappropriate biases that are baked in through the datasets. Which begs the age-old question: if anyone can let loose an artificial intelligence on the internet, and it succeeds in fooling humans into believing their responses are genuine, how can conventional content moderation approaches contend with the probable onslaught of AIpowered posters? There is no denying that the range of applications for transformer neural networks extend quite far, exceeding and outperforming their peers of yesteryear. Sadly, this admission has led to a variety of assumptions taken up by the general public, presumably concerning their abilities. These assumptions range from the popularized yet completely inaccurate notion of transformer networks already having achieved “true sentience” by possessing an “awareness” of their input data, to transformer networks being able to make decisions for their selfpreservation without the need for human intervention. Needless to say, the subject requires some academic clarification and solid definitions before elaborating on more complex societal analogues. Starting with the basis of machine learning as a concept, a widely accepted definition can be traced back to Radford (2018) ¹ stating that most machine learning systems “now excel (in expectation) at tasks they are trained for by using a combination of large datasets, highcapacity models, and supervised learning”. This offered explanation segues into an introduction to the first large-scale unsupervised transformer GPT-2, which will later be further elaborated upon. For the average reader however, simply understanding Radford's introduction is enough to get them up to speed. To accomplish tasks such as summarization and reading comprehension, data that demonstrate the desired result(s) are collected into datasets. Models are then trained on these datasets and tweaked to reproduce these desired behaviors, strictly under human purview. Due to the limited scope of this process, these models simply seek to imitate the desired result without any prior knowledge of the source material - technically striking down any claims of “sentience”. Further exploration can be made when examining the concept of “embodied AI”, which is a conscious rejection of traditional A-B decision making AI and instead the notion that AI models would make decisions according to different perceptual stimuli. Several academic approaches have been taken to define this notion of models being able to freely interact with natural human speech. These include an innate perception of the world around it in both egocentric (subject-object relationship) and allocentric (object-object holistic relationship) terms - to which current approaches have succeeded in

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narrow fields but unfortunately have not reached a level of accuracy while making judgements based off real data, while simultaneously conversing with humans through natural language processing. While this approach has resulted in some stunning results over the years, Radford accurately points out the limited scope of said approach - thus proposing “a more general system which can perform many tasks (...) without the need to manually create (datasets)”. This is the basis for what is commonly accepted as a definition for Generative Pretrained Transformers, better known as GPT models. By greatly expanding the size of their datasets while accounting for diversity, Vaswani reports that the model was able to adapt to a variety of situations without retraining rather than being limited to a select few tasks explicitly defined by human overseers (Vaswani, 2018)². Examples of its applicability are quite widely known - from drafting emails, to acting out conversations while assuming the role of wellknown celebrities, its capabilities have been well documented in the public psyche. Recent efforts have continued to upgrade the capabilities of the model; as seen in an attempt by OpenAI to commercialize a much larger successor model. Namely by increasing parameter count from GPT-2’s then-cutting edge 1.5 billion parameters to over 175 billion, the applicability and accuracy of the model saw a marked improvement - to a degree where its stewards have considered it to be a commercially viable solution. This means that the model can now produce far more complex and highly compelling results given a single text prompt, making it an excellent representation of one-shot learning while lowering the barrier of entry for individuals unfamiliar with code - albeit at the cost of pivoting to a closed commercial model. To combat this development, open source communities are developing alternatives trained on similarly sized sources, most notably in the case of GPT-J(Brown, 2020)³. By publicizing and openly sharing their methodology, contributors on the GPT-J project have seen strides in being able to condense models with large datasets, even to the point of running them as local applications without cloud-powered intermediaries. However, an ever-present point of caution always accompanying the democratization of knowledge is the increased possibility of abuse perpetrated by individuals or organizations, as well as the use of automated systems for the purpose of fraud or manipulation. Which leads back to the question: if anyone can let loose an artificial intelligence on the internet, and it succeeds in fooling humans into believing their responses are genuine, how can conventional content moderation approaches contend with the probable onslaught of AI-powered posters? The motivations behind deploying the bots are relatively clear when we examine trends relating to massively targeted attacks on internet forums – usually to deceive and brainwash others into compliance, or to intentionally harass and threaten particular individuals (Williams, 2005). Early internet discussion boards centered around accumulating social karma and served to exacerbated unwanted social behaviors in society such as dogpiling and targeted harassment, usually by personally targeting and extracting information from users. The breadth of reasons behind online harassment span a near infinite spectrum from personal grievances to the purpose of weaponizing harassment as entertainment. Forums such as Kiwi Farms are dedicated to targeting and rendering particular individuals unable to maintain any level of online presence which therefore necessitates moderation to a certain degree to prevent events like those

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preliminarily. Coupled with the raw efficiency of posters co-opting GPT networks for the purpose of overenundating and discrediting information, conventional approaches such as keyword filters or manual reviewing may no longer be effective with larger one-shot models that draw from a much larger pool, reducing the chances of being detected - as they shuffle words around and even reword sentences to avoid complete regurgitation. This seemingly impossible situation may prompt moderators to shut down public discourse, and by extension, free speech. Even in the present, there are several instances that have utilized GPT-3 to create posts on various social media sites. On Sept. 26, an unnamed student utilized a GPT-3 powered instance to generate philosophical responses to threads on the subreddit r/AskReddit. The bot continued to elude suspicion for over 3 weeks, attracting supportive responses from other (human) users, and would have maintained its elusive status – if not for the speed of which it posted. Creating lengthy posts at a breakneck 1 post per minute, it attracted suspicion and was exposed through publicization. Winston presents that commonly cited fears associated with built-in biases were present throughout the bot’s posts, displaying references to illegal drug consumption, self-harm, and various negative topics, stopping short of racism. This only begs the question of what these networks may create given more inflammatory prompts by their operators, a possibility that is often not dismissible every time built-in biases are discovered in results. The ability for users to directly dictate the content or set a general theme through short text prompts makes the creation of targeted hate speech en masse a real possibility, further backed up by reports of individuals abusing GPT-3 to secure highly scored positions on boards such as Ycombinator.com. Shynkarenka, an operator behind one of these hijackings showed little regard for the content generated, defending their actions in the name of “societal exploration” and that they were not responsible for the content generated by the model. While it is highly likely that Shynkarenka cherry-picked generated responses they deemed satisfactory enough for human purview, it introduces the issue of plausible deniability when it comes to moderating generated responses. Compared to human-written posts where there is a clear cause-and-effect, posters as seen in the case of Shynkarenka can now assert that they no longer bear responsibility for any unacceptable biases presented in generated responses. This has unfortunately been the case in several GPT-3 powered applications, such as the popular PhilosopherAI project that allowed users to interact with a facsimile of philosophers displaying racist and ableist attitudes unprompted - resulting in the project reverting to a private status until further work could be conducted. In contrast with PhilosopherAI, the GPT-powered choose-your-own-adventure service AIDungeon (which utilizes both GPT-2 and GPT-3 models, offering the latter as a paid option) enforced an ironclad censorship policy to prevent users from slanting their stories towards unsavory directions. This was unfortunately met with ire as their implementation of the policy was a rudimentary keyword ban and affected all users that would use banned keywords in a normal context. Furthering the issue was that the attempt to limit biases in generated responses was not curtailed by moderating user prompts, still generating responses with unwanted dialogue. Both OpenAI and Latitude, the stewards of the

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service, have continued to maintain that their implementation will stay for ad infinitum until a better solution is found.

Conclusion Extrapolating from the current cases that we have seen, it is not unreasonable to assume that responses from pretrained transformers would be able to successfully fool human audiences into supporting largely automated efforts that would obfuscate and hinder efforts to moderate sites of discussion, that subsequently would deviate and add unacceptable biases to the given prompts. These issues only serve to reinforce the current limitations that these models possess. Albeit the general-purpose approach allows for convincing responses to be generated, it fails to transcend its predecessors’ failures of embodied psychology, as it does not take into account accurate data and instead is closer to an accurate Markov chain. This has brought the unfortunate effect of positioning the GPT series of models as powerful and convincing companions for discussion, but hardly an accurate depiction of human cognition. These instances may spiral out of control due to open-source efforts to democratize the model. As evidenced through notable projects such as GPT-J and numerous forks of GPT-2, the principle behind creating these networks is no longer obscure knowledge that can be helmed by an allknowing steward. Nor are the reluctant policies of OpenAI to open GPT-3 for widespread commercial usage outside of a select few partners effective, as existing open-source efforts networks and even commercial competitors such as Google’s Switch Transformers improve upon GPT-3’s standards and upset an already precarious ethical balance. To combat this, academic efforts have been concentrated on creating output detectors to differentiate between human-written posts and pretrained transformers, such as bias probes developed by the University of Oregon (Clark, 2019). By offering tools that take the same principles as GANs and use them to discriminate results from pretrained transformers, discriminators can decrease workloads for moderators and make the task of autonomously moderated online forums less mentally taxing. Platforms integrating output detectors not only into moderator tool sets but also to detect AI-generated posts before posting is also a possibility to reduce instances of mass spam and harassment, although the reliability and cost of implementation would prove costly under exclusive corporate licensing. Although the task of combating what may come to be one of the most chaotic periods of forum moderation may seem daunting, it is reasonable to say that fighting fire with fire is the conclusion many have arrived at to prevent the total collapse of individually-moderated forums, and by extension, discussion on the internet.

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Reference [1] Papers with code - language models are unsupervised multitask learners. Language Models are Unsupervised Multitask Learners | Papers With Code. https://paperswithcode.com/paper/language-models-are-unsupervised-multitask. [2] Vaswani, A., Shazeer, N., Parmar, N., Uszkoreit, J., Jones, L., Gomez, A. N., ... & Polosukhin, I. (2017). Attention is all you need. Advances in neural information processing systems (pp. 5998-6008). [3] Brown, T. B., Mann, B., Ryder, N., Subbiah, M., Kaplan, J., Dhariwal, P., Neelakantan, A., Shyam, P., Sastry, G., Askell, A., Agarwal, S., Herbert-Voss, A., Krueger, G., Henighan, T., Child, R., Ramesh, A., Ziegler, D. M., Wu, J., Winter, C., … Amodei, D. (2020, July 22). Language models are few-shot learners. arXiv.org. https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.14165. [4] Williams, J. P., & Copes, H. (2005). “How edge are you?” Constructing authentic identities and subcultural boundaries in a straightedge internet forum. Symbolic Interaction, 28(1), 67-89. [5] Clark, J. (2021, June 21). Gpt-2: 6-month follow-up. OpenAI.

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Cultural Differences Reflected in Translation of the English and Korean Languages; Reinterpreting Literature & Works of Media

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Kyeol

School Name

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

Abstract: As globalization progresses, various cultures are being shared through various media works. In this process, language plays a crucial role as verbal expressions can change the direction of the message of the work. This study analyzed the core linguistic differences between Korean and English, looking into how these differences can represent each culture differently through media works, and saw what differences appear in people in distant cultures in perceiving works through linguistic expression. By conducting case studies with translation cases of literature, dramas, movies, and documentary works that were influential between English-speaking countries and Korea, we looked into why differences in language use reveal these cultural differences differently and what positive or negative effects this has.

Keywords: language, cultural differences, translation, works of media, social hierarchies

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1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose In recent years, the influence of Korean entertainment and media on the world has greatly expanded. As a result, just like how Western media is enjoyed through Korean subtitles, Korean entertainment has also become popular around the world as it is distributed in English subtitles. This paper conducts a case study by selecting the works that best reflect the characteristics of Korean society. Based on the fact that the same work and context can differ through the different linguistic ways of expression depending on the translated language and the social characteristics of the country, this paper focuses on how linguistic expression conveys the social background of other nations. In an era where various exchanges are increasing due to globalization, it is necessary to find the differences in how Korean entertainment and its cultural factors are interpreted in Western society. When identifying these differences, we believe that the foundation for more effective delivery of context can be laid in accordance to cultural differences. Comparing the case in which foreign works are translated into Korean and the case in which Korean works are translated into English, this paper examines how class societies such as gender and age are reflected in linguistic characteristics and how they are differently portrayed based on cultural difference. Translation of media has expanded from novels and movies to drama series and even documentaries, allowing people to experience linguistic differences in more diverse contexts. These discrepancies were predicted to be most prominent in the Korean and English languages, which reflect the different perspectives of social and familial structures through the existence/non-existence of "polite speech"(a certain form of speaking in the Korean language). The purpose of this paper is to identify the current idea of social hierarchy and equality in both societies and figure how such differences are supplemented and delivered to each other through media. The reasons behind ineffective delivery will be analyzed as well as the limitations of structural consciousness in each society. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1 The Social Atmosphere of South Korea It can be said that Confucian society has the greatest influence in fundamentally creating the cultural atmosphere of South Korea. Traditionally, men have been positioned as the center of the family. Men have participated in the majority of economic activities and represented the family, while women have played a role in establishing an interior of the family that they support rather than represent1. It can also be said that the teachings of Confucianism respecting the superiors and the atmosphere of Korea, which was a hierarchal society, influenced the implicit formation of the current social class structure (which is more implicit, yet still containing underlying dominance). The courtesy of older people is defined differently from that of in the similar age group, and the trend of "don't talk back to adults" applies not only to elders in the family, but also to social elders that we encounter in society (such as a workplace boss). As such, Korean society tends to have a clear vertical relationship, and due

Shim, Baeksup. 한국 유교 문화와 가족[Korean Confucianist Culture and Family]. 종교학연구 Vol. 24, pp. 53-72. 2005.

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to its long-term prevalence, it is usually accepted without much question2. 2.2 The Social Atmosphere of English-speaking Nations American society also had a lot of controversy about equality, but as the concept was introduced relatively quickly, it took influence at a similar pace compared to East Asian nations. Although there is still controversy over a male-centered society, female employment and gender-equal family structures such as dual-income families have developed. The struggle for human rights and equality, which has lasted since the 19th century, has long instilled an awareness of "equality" in American society, thus creating an independent relationship in which individuals in families view each other on an equal footing rather than a vertical one. The aspect of vertical relationships experienced in society itself may not be very different, but the dominance itself is not formally expressed through language. Regardless of who is older, the identical use of names and surnames gives a friendly and equal air. Even if an implicit vertical relationship exists, equivalence is aimed at surface level3. 2.3 Characteristics of the Korean Language Korean has a composition that gives great emphasis to formal polite speech. There are many forms of Korean polite speech; the ends of verbs are altered in order to express different intentions and social positions (e.g. -세요, -시오, -십시오) Communication can be completely different depending on how appropriate elevations are used to match each situation. The Korean language uses honorifics that revolve around both the listener and the subject(what is referred to in the conversation). Polite speech is most effective when the listener is identical to the subject4. The object of honorifics can be the person themselves, and there is also a way of raising a person by using honorifics on objects that are subject to the listener's actions. In other words, the honorifics in Korean can be observed in the actual structure of the language5. It also should be noted that Koreans use honorifics when they meet someone for the first time, disregarding other contexts such as age. Starting from there, the closer the relationship with the person becomes and the more often they communicate, the less the honorifics are used; but even in this case, an appropriate way of addressment is considered based on age and gender (A younger boy would call an older boy "Hyung", a younger girl "Oppa" to an older boy). As such, the way Koreans refer to people can be completely different depending on the person they communicate with. The language emphasizes and accepts the implicit classes formed by placing linguistic differences.

2 Lee, Youngja. 한국 사회의 가족주의와 페미니즘[Family in Korean society and feminism]. Syndromes and Awareness, 23(3), 107-222. 1999.

Yun, R.J., Lachman, M.E. Perceptions of Aging in Two Cultures: Korean and American Views on Old Age. J Cross Cult Gerontol 21, 55– 70. 2016.

Lee, Duwon. 영어의 청자존칭을 통해 본 사물주체존칭[Object-as-subject honorifics viewed through listener honorifics in English]. Humanity Science Research, 42, 201-223. 2014. 4

Kim, Hyemi. [한국에서 미국을, 미국에서 한국을, 새롭게 다시 보기]. 존댓말과 상호존중[[From Korea to America, from America to Korea, to see in new perspectives] Polite speech and mutual respect]. Saegajeong, 62, 45-49. 2015.

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2.4 Characteristics of the English Language Unlike Korean, there is no fixed honorific in English. There are polite methods of conveying words, but this is just an expression of "respect” and does not contain the premise of superiority6. Nevertheless, it is hard to say that there is no "polite speech" in English. It is only vague to define a certain form of words as an official method of polite speech because it is less grammatically pronounced than Korean. The most prominent method in English to add politeness to a sentence (in this case, when asking a favor) is to use euphemistic grammatical structure such as "will", "can", "would", etc. "Would" is the past tense of "will", but it can be used as an expression that has nothing to do with terms of time. It conveys consideration for the other person by using indirect expressions rather than direct expressions7. 3. Korean Social Characteristics Expressed Through English For Korean cases, analysis was based on "The Vegetarian", Han Kang's bestselling novel, and "Misaeng(Incomplete Life)", a drama series based on the original webtoon series by Taeho Yoon. "The Vegetarian" was selected in that it is quite rare for a full-length novel by a Korean writer to gain popularity in both domestic and foreign markets. When "The Vegetarian" won the 2016 Man Booker Prize, both the original and the translated versions were recognized for their literary value—therefore, it was considered to be a representative example a work that was acknowledged and absorbed by both Korean and Western society. The drama "Misaeng" gained explosive popularity at the time of its airing, as it was said to be a realistic and heartwarming work that unraveled the sorrow of office workers in Korea—well depicting the structure of the workplace and everyday conflicts within it, the usual stress factors of the Korean employee. "Misaeng", exported overseas as a part of the K-drama craze, was deemed as an appropriate second case to gain insight how a characteristic portrayal of Korean society was viewed in English-speaking cultures. 3.1 Case Study 1: "The Vegetarian", Han Kang Han's "The Vegetarian" depicts the oppression of women in Korea's patriarchal society. A total of three parts indicates direct and indirect violence and the two sisters' acceptance or rejection to it. Young-hye, the main character as well as the "vegetarian," lives within constant oppression by men. She is slapped by her father and raped by her husband, and is also the object of her brother-in-law's voyeuristic gaze8. Young-hye eventually chooses to abuse herself to detach her soul from her body that is subjected to violence and an abusive hierarchy. There are limitations in English, which is less formal, when expressing the family atmosphere of Korea, where wives use formal honorifics to their husbands, and the patriarchal weight derived from Confucian culture. The social atmosphere of the hierarchal relationship and male dominance is crucial to emphasize the repression of Young-hye's life9. Especially in 6 Yu, Kyong-Ae. "Culture-specific concepts of politeness: indirectness and politeness in English, Hebrew and Korean requests". vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 385-409. 2011.

Lee, Duwon. 영어의 청자존칭을 통해 본 사물주체존칭[Object-as-subject honorifics viewed through listener honorifics in English]. Humanity Science Research, 42, 201-223. 2014. 7

Han, K., & Smith, D. The Vegetarian. Hogarth. 2018.

Kim, Mihang. <채식주의자> 영어판 번역 논란, 페미니즘 관점서 새로 봐야[The necessity of the feminist lens to view the translation

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modern society in which gender equality is being emphasized, the resonance of such inequality and power struggles would create an uncomfortable air for readers, and this discomfort would be the key atmosphere that Han intended to deliver in her eco-feminist piece of fiction. If this unique coerciveness is not brought to life, the background of Young-hye's resistance resulting in refusing to eat cannot be established. Deborah Smith employed liberal translation greatly to effectively express this ecofeministic message to non-Korean readers. There were controversies—there have been accusations of "being a rewrite rather than a translation", and she later corrected approximately 60 misinterpretations, but her transcendent translation is overall noted to be consistent with the original novel's call for gender equality within societies10. In the dialogue "All trees are like brothers and sisters", the original novel uses "brothers" as a universal term for "people" in the Korean language, and Smith translates this term to indicate inclusiveness in English 11 . In addition, in certain scenes, doctors were identified as women and nurses as men, which are details not explicitly made in the original novel—these are settings that defy the conventional Korean stereotype that doctors, who are viewed as figures higher on the social ladder, are men, and nurses are mostly women. The characters also reflect Smith's transcendental translation. In-hye, Young-hye's older sister, is more submissive in the original story, but Smith recreates her personality as more independent and minimizes her conformity to patriarchal society12. This projection of ideal gender equality values on the characters themselves, rather than only showing the negative sides of when it is not achieved, intending a more direct delivery of message13. As such, the translation of "The Vegetarian" may be evaluated as failing to fully reflect Korea's patriarchal society forcing women to be compliant 14 . However, the work did not receive much attention in 2007 when it was published in Korea, and it was the translated version by Deborah Smith that began to gain popularity in 2016 when she won the Man Booker Award. This is perhaps due to the fact that feminism was relatively undervalued in Korea during the appearance of the original novel, as well as the translator's adaptations in delivery based on the different environment the work was to be approached. Although the atmosphere unique to Korean society was not fully conveyed, it was reinterpreted and delivered in a manner that is easily perceivable in English-speaking countries. 3.2 Case Study 2: "Misaeng(Incomplete Life)", Taeho Yoon Another emphasis in Korea is the hierarchy in social life. The structure itself may not be limited to Korea, but it is characterized by a stronger sense of authority and superiority "errors" of English version of "The Vegetarian"]. Hangyeore. 2021. 10 Kim, Mihang. <채식주의자> 영어판 번역 논란, 페미니즘 관점서 새로 봐야[The necessity of the feminist lens to view the translation "errors" of English version of "The Vegetarian"]. Hangyeore. 2021. 11

Han, K., & Smith, D. The Vegetarian. Hogarth. 2018.

Oh, Eungyo. 페미니즘 문학 번역의 시차 － 한강의 『채식주의자』 독역본 번역 비평을중심으로[The time difference in translating feminist literature—focusing on the evaluations of the translation of "The Vegetarian"]. Japanese Culture Studies, 28(0), 685-707. 2019.

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within the hierarchal society. This is because the superiority of the social "elders" and the submissive attitude expected of the socially "younger" people are emphasized, the hierarchy established by age or social experience15. The K-drama <Misaeng> is known to have well expressed this social hierarchy of the workplace and has drawn the hearts of many office workers—for portraying the injustices office workers endure, such as being forced to be lowered unconditionally in front of older or more experienced bosses or buyers who hold important agendas16. The key factor in this case is how this expression of culture is manifested in English, which does not formally/grammatically distinguish use of language between superiors and subordinates. Technically speaking, most communication in the workplace uses "polite speech" rather than being completely informal, so in matters of intention there may not be an extreme difference between Korean and English. However, if you compare communication outside the workplace with communication inside the workplace, the story is different. This is because unlike everyday life outside of the workplace where honorifics, informal speech and light communication coexist, most communication in the Korean workplace is required to be polite and formal 17 . Therefore, it is difficult to say that English translation without such an authoritative atmosphere perfectly captures the culture in the workplace. As previously expected, the way characters communicated did not change much depending on their position or age, when viewed through Netflix English subtitles for "Misaeng." The communication between the intern Geu-rae Jang and his colleagues, and even his senior and chief in the same department, are not seen as speaking in different forms. Rather, it even feels more friendly, such as using everyday colloquialisms(e.g. "Hurry up!") 18 . However, it can be said that the atmosphere of subtitles is too light and casual to fully reveal Geu-rae's uncomfortable situation where he does not know the company's discipline and cannot mingle with his already-experienced peers and seniors. The subtitles carry more of a tone of daily conversation rather than discomfort and superiority. When referring to a boss or someone in a higher position, the suffix '님[nim]' is used to uphold the listener/target19. The executive director, who has absolute authority in the drama, is called with this suffix in the Korean language(전무님) when his subordinates refer to him, but in the drama, there is just a straightforward expression of "the director"20. It can be said that the feeling of authority and pressure from the higher position is significantly reduced. Also, the language closest to honorifics used by the subordinate who answers the boss is "sir", an expression that is relatively scarcely used in conversation. This is an example of the fact that 15

Han, Dongki. 미국 회사문화의 이해: 한국과 미국 직장생활의 차이점[Understanding the American culture of the workplace: differences with Korea]. Kotra News of International Markets. 2014.

Lee, Seungmi. '미생' 직장인은 승진이 전부?…직장인 공감대 이끈다[Is promotion all for the employees in "Incomplete Life?" Relating with the company workers]. Joongang Newspaper. 2014. 17 Hwang, Hyungyu. 별명 부르고 ‘님’만 붙이면 바뀌나요... 여전한 기업 내 수직문화[Hierarchies still prevalent in the workplace]. E-daily. 2019. 18

Kim, W., & Yoon, T. 미생[Incomplete Life]. Netflix. 2014.

Lim, Jisun. 호칭 바꾸니... 의사소통 자유로워요, 호칭 바꿔도... 수직소통 그대로에요[Vertical communication still the same after changing titles of address]. Kyunghyang Newspaper. 2019. 20

Kim, W., & Yoon, T. 미생 [Incomplete Life]. Netflix. 2014.

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the concept of formal honorifics is less commercialized than Korea. Even in this environment of work, it can be seen that Korea's always polite and classoriented atmosphere is difficult to be expressed with an equal language regardless of the subject of English. 3.3 Differences in Delivery The commonality between the two examples studied in this part is that they contain the overwhelming discomfort of the relationship that is felt because it is vertically hierarchal. It can be said that the discomfort was revealed as a top-to-bottom relationship in language life, which led to the sympathy of Korean readers and viewers, letting them engaging with the work. The same works recreated into translated versions and English subtitles were freer and more equal in language and expression than the Korean version. Therefore, it is judged that the inequality and injustice that the work ultimately tried to convey were not fully expressed. It can be expected that the dramatic effect of the message would have been less, as the vertical atmosphere decreased and assimilated with the work changed the degree to which readers or viewers felt uncomfortable. The characteristics of Korean works, which emphasize the injustice of the situation by maximizing the negative aspects, have faded to some extent. But from a different perspective, although the translations didn't convey exactly the same atmosphere as the original, "The Vegetarian" and "Misaeng" could see that there was an effort to show inequality through flexible translation. Rather than expressing the negative parts in an extreme way, it can be said that it attempted to have a more profound effect on emotional flow of Western culture by expressing the message more directly. Although the directionality was expressed differently from the original, it can be thought that the effect of transcendent translation was shown in that it did not eventually deteriorate the content that was intended to be delivered. 4. English-speaking Cultures Expressed Through Korean In the past, Korea has imported Western media, which provided an opportunity for Korea to become more familiar with Western culture. However, there is some public opinion that it is difficult to draw engagement from the Korean public due to language forms, idiomatic expressions, and cultural differences. The Korean documentary about Greta Thunberg showed the implicit social distance formed by age, and "The Suicide Squad" revealed the perceptions of Koreans based on gender, both aspects that weren't observed in English forms. As both Korea and English-speaking nations were focused on Thunberg and the movie, they were deemed to be appropriate cases to identify the reactions of both areas. 4.1 Case Study 1: "Greta Thunberg", a Documentary Globally influential youth climate activist Greta Thunberg is recognized by the public for her strong manner of speech and confidence when speaking in front of national leaders despite her young age. In a speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in September 2019, she shouted "How dare you?" to heads of nations. Her character is clearly hardened in that she makes a straightforward and bold expression of her opinion to authorities who she accuses of needing to be more responsible in protecting the environment. The world applauded her confidence and courage, considering that her method of speech, even in the English-speaking world, where honorifics do not exist, is generally different from the way teenagers treat adults21.

Anonymous. 그레타 툰베리: 기후 변화를 놓고 세계 정상들과 한 판 붙은 10대[Greta Thunberg: confronting the world's

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These prominent characteristics were diminished as her words were translated into Korean. In a documentary titled "Greta Thunberg" hosted by KBS, Greta traveled directly to environmentally destroyed places around the world to publicize the problem of climate change, where she met and interviewed many environmental experts and scholars. KBS, which contains all of this process in the documentary, translated all adult experts' words to Greta without formal honorifics. Although she is globally influential, she is still an adolescent, which, in the Korean perspective, makes it more natural for Greta to use formal honorifics to adults while they do not, treating her as a child rather than an equal. Looking at the context, Greta's comments are mostly about the environment, and not content that makes formal honorifics essential when delivering information—nor is it context that puts Greta in a lower position22. Greta: "그렇게 되면 이 지역에는 어떤 위험이 있을까요?"(What are the risks in this area?) Expert: "산불에 취약해진다는 단점이 있지."23(There's a downside to being vulnerable to forest fires.) Greta's words are translated with honorific suffixes such as "요[yo]", the most common Korean honorific that lowers oneself when talking to an adult—while the expert's words do not contain any of these despite their equal status as individuals discussing environmental problems. If the goal was ultimately polite speech itself, it would have been more natural if the words of the experts followed the same structure as Greta's, using honorifics just as they would when addressing another adult. Greta of the documentary has a stronger image of a student questioning to an adult than a climate activist who has made strong claims in U.N. footage. Her essential appearance, which touched and attracted many people, has been tarnished24. 4.2 Case Study 2: "The Suicide Squad" Harley Quinn, the main character in the American anti-hero film "The Suicide Squad", plays the role of a bold, ruthless and eccentric heroine. Unlike the general heroine, her main characteristics are not ideal love or positivity, but extreme and intense images that show the colors of her own mental world. As the film became translated by translator Ji-hoon Park, the controversy spread nationwide that the character Harley Quinn had been tampered with. Her lines were translated with the addition of femininity and flirtatiousness, such as "저 오빠 맘에 든다"(meaning closer to "I like that sweetheart") or overused formal honorifics to provokers(suffixes such as "요", also mentioned in previous section). As the original Harley Quinn has characteristics far authorities regarding climate change]. BBC Korea. 2019. 22

Kim, Minjae. "어떻게 감히” 외친 툰베리... 반말 듣는 존재로 번역되다[Thunberg shouting "How dare you", translated into subordinate] Hangyeore. 2021. 23

Kim, Minjae. "어떻게 감히” 외친 툰베리... 반말 듣는 존재로 번역되다[Thunberg shouting "How dare you", translated into subordinate] Hangyeore. 2021. 24

Kim, Minjae. "어떻게 감히” 외친 툰베리... 반말 듣는 존재로 번역되다[Thunberg shouting "How dare you", translated into subordinate] Hangyeore. 2021.

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from being polite and sweet, her use of honorifics and intentionally expressed femininity was considered contrary to her role in "The Suicide Squad"25. Although it cannot be said that the character Harley Quinn is commercializing women, the intention can be seen a completely different light to a new audience depending on how the translator approaches the character. "Skyfall," also translated by Ji-hoon Park, is also a controversial work that has been accused of sexist translation. The line "She's pretty if you like that kind of stuff" is reinterpreted as "She's pretty, though she's sort of like a bean paste girl (a Korean sexist term for accusing overly extravagant women)". The main reason for the controversy was the use of the expression "Doenjang (bean paste) girl", accusing the fact that the expression itself was not needed in context26. This translation may vary depending on how the translator perceives the character, but it is necessary to focus on what role the mainstream movie heroine is generally believed to have. The heroine of the movie is often already targeted and commercialized in her own appearance. In the first place, not only were there not many movies in which villains play a major role like "The Suicide Squad", but we are also in a society in which prejudice on feminine attractiveness is widely accepted as a prerequisite for female characters in cinema. It is a translation that reflects the "confident attitude toward men" that "daring and bold women" would show, in order to enhance the merchantability of this particular character whose disagreeableness is more prominent than the amiable femininity that is popular in Korean mainstream entertainment27. 4.3 Differences in Delivery If the vertical relationship unique to Korea is not well expressed in English in the example of 3.1 and 3.2, it is the opposite case here. By changing the way of communication to meet the expectations of a vertical hierarchy through adapted translation, the unique tendency of characters and perception of equality has been tarnished. The purpose of the documentary was to portray Greta fighting for the environment with initiative and confidence, and the purpose of "The Suicide Squad" was to create a unprecedented unique heroine. However, through Korean translation, the extent to which each character is accepted by Koreans has become more natural and familiar. Reinterpreting the aspects of society as "youth" or "females" according to traditional Korean standards has staged Western characters into relationships and situations more familiar to Koreans in their unique social structure. Of course, it may not have tarnished the ultimate message of each work itself. The fact that Greta is striving for the environment, and the values such as ultimate happiness and loyalty implied in "The Suicide Squad" are not faded with minor changes in these characters. However, there is clearly a difference in the way the public accepts the message through a different air of delivery. Greta Thunberg is not represented through polite and courteous adolescence, but through her determination and passionate fighting for the Lee, Juhee. '수어사이드 스쿼드’, 기대작에 뿌려진 번역 논란["The Suicide Squad", a translation scandal on top of high expectations]. ET News. 2016.

Lee, Gayoung. '어벤져스3' 박지훈 번역가의 과거 오역 논란 사례들[Translator Jihun Park's past mistranslation cases]. Joongang Newspaper. 2018. 26

Oh, Gyunghan & No, Younghee. Netflix와 Youtube 플랫폼 내의 영화 자막오역 분석을 통한 번역 실태와 개선점: 한국어 번역본을

중심으로[The status quo of translation and necessary amendments; comparisons of movie mistranslation in Netflix and Youtube focusing on Korean translations]. Digital Integrated Studies, 19(3), 25-35. 2021.

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environment. Harley Quinn is not an amiable person who is loved for her feminine charm, but a person who raptures people with her unique and colorful personality and boldness. Even if the narrative of the work itself is the same, there may be a difference in impact and meaning when the narrative is released depending on the core characteristics that the individuals are portrayed through. Then why is Korea so focused on this form of implicit adaptation when it comes to translation? This is perhaps derived from the error of transcendent translation, or liberal translation. The era of understanding a language word for word has long passed, but Korean society still regard it as a key standard of linguistic competence to understand English naturally and idiomatically. Therefore, in the case of such works, Korean translation tends to focus on delivering as naturally and familiarly as possible, adapting content to the audience's usual thoughts and mindsets rather than bringing the implicit ideologies that come from Western culture. 5. Conclusion 5.1 Overview Due to the characteristics of Korean society where social hierarchy is more prominent, these social norms are also more evident in language. On the other hand, when trying to express Korean works in English, which makes hierarchy less prominent through linguistic form, there is a limit to the nuancing or understanding of the works of which message is amplified through the expression of hierarchy and dominance. In both languages, the concept of honorifics itself exists, but there is a difference in the way in which the relative is raised, and there is a difference in the perception of the 'superior'. Unlike Korean expression, which clearly shows vertical relations, the way of showing courtesy indirectly is prevalent in English. Therefore, there are limitations to fully expressing Korea's vertical family relationships and workplace environment in English. Apart from the limitations, however, the effect of transcendent translation to overcome these differences in culture by adapting to Western audiences can be deemed as successful in delivering the ultimate message the works intend. Similarly, when works from English-speaking countries are translated into Korean, it is also possible to observe cases in which Korean interpretations were added to convey meanings that were different from the original intentions. Some translations changed characters whose main characteristics are equality and confidence into submissive positions, and some characters that play a role as unique, independent heroes were driven into stereotypes regarding women. This degradation can be seen as a problem that tarnishes the message that the work seeks to convey, derived from the inequality that is a part of Korean society. 5.2 Limitations and Potential Amendments The key to the translation is how effectively content was delivered, so evaluation can be completely different depending on how the original meaning was interpreted and how it was accepted by the public after translation. Therefore, the criteria for effective translation in this study is largely dependent on public opinion and is difficult to establish numerical standards. Therefore, there is always room for interpretation that is different from the public opinion that the majority follows, and there is no concrete way of defining if it is correct or not. It is also true that there are not enough cases studied to determine that the difference in conveyed implicit meaning between Korean and English-speaking cultures comes from the

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difference in language itself. In addition to merely linguistical differences, there are social/cultural differences, so the public's perception of accepting the same content can also differ based on the timely trends and personal experiences—thus, there are diverse factors that can contribute to different interpretations. This study focused on language as it is one of the more objective factors with concrete distinctions but did not consider these other variables. Therefore, it is necessary to look at the tendency of import/export media in connection with consumer and public sentiment and its social derivations. 6. Bibliography (1) Anonymous. 그레타 툰베리: 기후 변화를 놓고 세계 정상들과 한 판 붙은 10 대[Greta Thunberg: confronting the world's authorities regarding climate change]. BBC Korea. 2019. (2) Choi, Yunyeong. 영어와 한국어의 총체적 대조분석 연구[Overall comparison of English and Korean] Theology&Ministry, 41, 237-261. 2014. (3) Han, Dongki. 미국 회사문화의 이해: 한국과 미국 직장생활의 차이점[Understanding the American culture of the workplace: differences with Korea]. Kotra News of International Markets. 2014. (4) Han, Kang. 채식주의자[The Vegetarian]. Changbi. 2007. (5) Han, K., & Smith, D. The Vegetarian. Hogarth. 2018. (6) Hwang, Hyungyu. 별명 부르고 ‘님’만 붙이면 바뀌나요... 여전한 기업 내 수직문화[Hierarchies still prevalent in the workplace]. E-daily. 2019. (7) Kim, Hyemi. [한국에서 미국을, 미국에서 한국을, 새롭게 다시 보기]. 존댓말과 상호존중[[From Korea to America, from America to Korea, to see in new perspectives] Polite speech and mutual respect]. Saegajeong, 62, 45-49. 2015. (8) Kim, Mihang. <채식주의자> 영어판 번역 논란, 페미니즘 관점서 새로 봐야[The necessity of the feminist lens to view the translation "errors" of English version of "The Vegetarian"]. Hangyeore. 2021. (9) Kim, Minjae. "어떻게 감히” 외친 툰베리... 반말 듣는 존재로 번역되다[Thunberg shouting "How dare you", translated into subordinate] Hangyeore. 2021. (10) Kim, Misun. 미디어 재현에 나타난 남성성과 젠더 이데올로기의 정치학[Masculinity in recreation of media and the politics of gender ideology]. Media, Gender, and Culture. 31(3), 97-137. 2016. (11) Kim, W., & Yoon, T. 미생[Incomplete Life]. Netflix. 2014. (12) Lee, Duwon. 영어의 청자존칭을 통해 본 사물주체존칭[Object-as-subject honorifics viewed through listener honorifics in English]. Humanity Science Research, 42, 201-223. 2014. (13) Lee, Gayoung. '어벤져스 3' 박지훈 번역가의 과거 오역 논란 사례들[Translator Jihun Park's past mistranslation cases]. Joongang Newspaper. 2018. (14) Lee, Juhee. '수어사이드 스쿼드’, 기대작에 뿌려진 번역 논란["The Suicide Squad", a translation scandal on top of high expectations]. ET News. 2016.

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(15) Lee, Seungmi. '미생' 직장인은 승진이 전부?…직장인 공감대 이끈다[Is promotion all for the employees in "Incomplete Life?" Relating with the company workers]. Joongang Newspaper. 2014. (16) Lee, Youngja. 한국 사회의 가족주의와 페미니즘[Family in Korean society and feminism]. Syndromes and Awareness, 23(3), 107-222. 1999. (17) Lim, Jisun. 호칭 바꾸니... 의사소통 자유로워요, 호칭 바꿔도... 수직소통 그대로에요[Vertical communication still the same after changing titles of address]. Kyunghyang Newspaper. 2019. (18) Oh, Eungyo. 페미니즘 문학 번역의 시차 － 한강의 『채식주의자』 독역본 번역 비평을중심으로[The time difference in translating feminist literature—focusing on the evaluations of the translation of "The Vegetarian"]. Japanese Culture Studies, 28(0), 685-707. 2019. (19) Oh, Gyunghan & No, Younghee. Netflix 와 Youtube 플랫폼 내의 영화 자막오역 분석을 통한 번역 실태와 개선점: 한국어 번역본을 중심으로[The status quo of translation and necessary amendments; comparisons of movie mistranslation in Netflix and Youtube focusing on Korean translations]. Digital Integrated Studies, 19(3), 25-35. 2021. (20) Shim, Baeksup. 한국 유교 문화와 가족[Korean Confucianist Culture and Family]. 종교학연구 Vol. 24, pp. 53-72. 2005. (21) Yu, Kyong-Ae. "Culture-specific concepts of politeness: indirectness and politeness in English, Hebrew and Korean requests". vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 385-409. 2011. (22) Yun, R.J., Lachman, M.E. Perceptions of Aging in Two Cultures: Korean and American Views on Old Age. J Cross Cult Gerontol 21, 55–70. 2016.

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How does child development take place in accordance with Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory? Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Siyeon

School Name

Chadwick International

(Last Name, First Name)

Abstract: Children naturally develop their sociological status by interfering with various cases that occur in the community. Social Cognitive Theory proposes that people’s perceptions among others are affected by personal factors (such as intelligence and education, personality and characteristics), behaviors, and the environment. Gender Schema Theory posits that children’s awareness of gender roles is taught within the community. Scientists and researchers have addressed the overall impact of the two prominent theories on children’s cognitive ability in social and gender areas. This research paper specifically addresses how Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory explain the relationship of environment to the development of a child.

Keywords: Child Development, Social Cognitive Theory, Gender Schema Theory, Gender Development

Overview of the Research Children in the growing stages are easily influenced by their surrounding environments. This is not only limited to one factor but rather many. These factors include physical environments, in which child is raised such as home environment and how they interact with friends and teachers in school. Although arguments suggest masculine and feminine genders are innate, both Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theorysuggest that gender is largely a product of nurture rather than nature. Thus, environmental factors and social interactions are a major influence on children’s personalities throughshaping how they perceive an object, idea, and even relationship with others. This research aims to trace how both the two renowned psychological theories, Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory, explain the relationship of environment to the development of a child.

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What is Social Cognitive Theory? To begin with, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) proposes that people’s decision-making, motivation, and dynamic interaction among others are affected by personal factors (such as intelligence and education, personality and characteristics), behaviors, and the environment. This theory was first introduced by Albert Bandura. SCT is used in the field of psychology, such as in psychological disorder treatment, education, and even marketing. Gender Schema Theory

Gender Schema Theory (GST) proposes that children learn about gender roles within their community. Schema refers to a perceptive concept that helps organize and interpret information. Hence, Gender Schema literally means the “broad imagery of gender.” Apart from gender equality issues, children unconsciously acquire how women and men have different roles in society. GST uses an information processing approach to explain how gender development occurs in children, in which gender schemas provide an important link between gender cognitions and gender-related behaviors. The relation between SCT and GST

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Cognition and gender have a strong relationship with one another. Social Cognitive Theory influences children’s understanding of gender. As babies, children are not able to acknowledge the difference between males and females. Children learn more about gender gradually as they get older in a natural manner. Children obtain knowledge as they grow affected by physical locations and other people’s behaviors. Meanwhile, gender identities can also affect children’s perception as well. For example, many students tend to play with others of the same gender, where boys play sports and girls chat on the benches. Hence, gender and children’s decisions intertwine and are closely related. Gender schema provides a guide for concepts of masculinity and femininity, including personal judgments about how people fit or fail to fit these schemas. Literature review Alyssa West’s “A Brief Review of Cognitive Theories in Gender Development” is based on the idea that cognitive theories attempt to explain the mechanisms and processes through which people develop an understanding of gender. Three cognitive theories were stated: Cognitive-Developmental Theory, Gender Schema Theory, and Social Cognitive Theory. West believes that all theories, especially Gender Schema Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, are excellent lenses through which to examine gender development in children. Her research found a considerable amount of overlapping evidence between these two theories. Gender Schema Theory explains how children are taught about gender roles within their culture. For example, when a traditional culture allows only men to go out of the house, the children will also naturally learn that only men are allowed to leave the house. The author states that Gender Schema Theory implicates self-esteem in children. This is because children learn to compare themselves against their gender schema and to evaluate their preferences, attitudes, behaviors, and personal attributes. Furthermore, Social Cognitive Theory also reveals important aspects relevant to gender development. Social Cognitive Theory holds that people are influenced to make choices based on personal, behavioral, and environmental factors. Personal factors refer to gender-related cognitions and self-regulatory influences. Behavioral factors include howpeople act toward opposite genders; one example could be flirting. Environmental factors are the social experiences with genders every day. West links the cognitive processes with social processes and concludes that both processes take part in a child’s understanding of gender development. At the stage of adolescence, people intuitively become more interested in the opposite sex due to the release of an excessive amount of hormone. Yet, depending on their social perceptions, diverse actions are taken by each individual when they encounter the opposite gender. Some struggle to even make eye contact, while some already plan up a date in a few minutes. Also, another may believe that talking to an unmarried person of the opposite gender is not acceptable. This phenomenon is related to the two renowned theories in the field of psychology: Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory. Hence, these theories explain the occurrences that exist in everyone’s life, whether or not they recognize it. Both of these theories have a crucial effect on people where they influence the choices, interactions, and motivation of human beings.

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Social cognitive theory and gender schema theory may seem to be distinctive theories, but they always correspond to each other. To prove the linkage between social cognitive theory and gender schema theory, two research papers will be observed for further proof. First, research by two professors from Italy in 2016 investigated factors affecting social cognition formation in preschoolers. Social cognition is the way people process, remember and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behavior and that of others. It predicts how social cognitions are formed and influenced at the stage of preschoolers, thus showing the relationship between children and social cognitive theory. Theexperiment focused on four effects: early childcare, maternal education, children’s linguistic competence, and parent’s country of birth. The experiment accompanied 118 Italian preschoolers and they were all individually assessed on four tests, ToM Storybooks, Test of Emotion Comprehension, Leiter-R, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. They were to assess children by Theory of Mind (ToM), Emotion Understanding (EU), non-verbal IQ, and verbal quotient (VQ). ToM concerns the mental states of oneself and others, and the ability tounderstand and predict their own behavior and that of other people (Frontier). EU is related toemotional competence, which uses emotions to understand and predict one's own and other people’s actions. Test of Emotion Comprehension is for 3-11 year-olds, which includes nine components: recognition, external cause, desire, belief, reminder, regulation, hiding, mixed, and morality. The Theory of Mind is to measure the social interaction of the child. The resultswere measured by the scores from each test and information of the family they belong to. Researchers gathered the results from these tests to find the social judgment the child has. The results from the tests revealed there is a close relationship between the learnings they receive from their parents. In addition, parents’ country of birth also had a significant effect on preschoolers, while early childcare and linguistic competence had a corresponding effect on maternal education. Maternal care had a crucial impact on babies, where the results of the social cognition of babies differed by the education status of the parent. Parents with higher education status tended to have babies with a higher understanding of social cognition. Also, parents’ country of birth was an important factor as depending on whether the parents were foreign or native to the country that they were living in, babies achieved different levels of social understanding. Most babies from native parents were at an advanced level of social judgment compared to babies from foreign parents. Type of early care and linguistic competence had a low impact on preschoolers when these factors were analyzed by themselves but were efficacious when they were analyzed along with maternal care. For example, the difference between homeschooling and center-based education in preschoolers’ social cognition was not noticeable; however, the education status of the parent who is responsible for homeschooling was the differentiating factor. Overall, the research aimed to discover the relationship between social cognition and the four factors that can be commonly seen in preschoolers’ environments where it was discovered that maternal care and parents’ country birth are the most influential. For the results, it is evident social cognitive theories do not just exist as an instinctive personality trait. The theories are built by the surroundings, andtherefore, the effect of these theories on individuals naturally differs based on their physical, mental, and historical status. Social Cognitive Theories are the most influential to children, who have no knowledge and are absorbing what they see and learn at every second.

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The graph shows that home-based educated children had a diminutive decrease in ToM score compared to center-based educated children. The ToM score for children taught by homeschooling was 54.5 and the ToM score for children taught by center-based education was 57.7. Hence, the experiment asserts that the type of early care is inconsequential in child development. Center-based education defines children who were taught professional educational systems, including preschool and daycare centers.

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This graph shows that children nurtured from native-born parents tend to have a stronger understanding of perception compared to children nurtured from foreign-born parents. Children from native-born parents had a ToM score of 56.65 while children from foreign-born parents had a ToM score of 49.92. Based on the results, the homeland of parentshas a significant impact on a child's growth in mental state. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that the environment of the children affects how children develop their cognition.

This graph shows that children from low education status parents had a noticeable low score compared to children from intellectual parents. Children from low education status had a ToM score of 52.92 while children from high education status had a ToM score of 58.45. The results show that the educational level that the parents have, in other words, their personal factors, are influencing the children's development. Therefore, the personal factors that children have such as their parent’s educational level explain how children’s development alter. Second, research by Professor Abigail Sullivan from Bard College in 2019 investigated Gender Schema Development by gender stereotype knowledge and recognition of gendered information in 15 children (11 girls and 4 boys) from the same nursery school. Gender Schema is the mental structure that organizes incoming information according to gender categories by how people learned about gender roles in their society. This research explores how gender stereotypes and gendered information affect the judgment people make, thus showing the relationship between cognitive theory and gendered information. The research first compared and contrasted the gender schema and cognitive development, which are how children obtain sex-typing. Sex-typing is the “process by which a society transmutes male and female into masculine and feminine” (Bem, 1981, p. 354) Gender Schema believes that sex-typing is obtained by children having the instinct to replicate the actions which were rewarded previously. Meanwhile, the theory of Cognitive Development believes that sextyping is formed after gender consistency is fixed. Gender consistency is when children usually

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6-7 years old understand their gender and recognize that it won’t change. For example, a child will recognize that she is a girl due to the people surroundingher and will naturally prefer long hair. To dive deeper into the main idea, the research paper included two experiments examining different fields of gender schema development. The firstexperiment was conducted by providing a set of information to 15 children where gender-typical and atypical information were randomly mixed. Gender typical information is information including gender stereotypes such as boys like trucks more than girls. Gender atypical information is information in an impartial manner of gender stereotypes, such as some girls like to play xylophones. The children were expected to listen to the randomly mixed set of information and to memorize them. The result turned out to be that there was no relationship between gendered information and memorization; girls do not tend to better memorize girl-related information and boys do not tend to better memorize boyrelatedinformation. The second experiment required children to categorize various keywords under “For Boys,” “For Girls,” or “For Boys and Girls.” Those keywords were also random, which included: yellow, red, kite, truck, etc. Many children—both boys and girls—categorized mostobjects under “For Boys and Girls.” Both results were shown neutral to gender stereotypes.

Most children were puzzled by how the words were only for boys and only for girls.Research proves that children did not believe that men and women are different as the existence of gender stereotypical information did not affect the ability of the children to memorize the information nor did they understand why daily-used words are meant for one specific gender. Thus, it shows children are not born with gender stereotypes; they areimpacted by the surrounding environment and contents. People naturally adopt gender roles which may later turn into gender stereotypes by constantly interfering with the same act in repetition.

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Conclusion The two theories: Social Cognitive Theory and Gender Schema Theory, explain that children establish their cognitions for various environments which impact how children grow mentally. Thus, children are easily influenced by exposure to conditions. Children also learn to judge based on their surrounding factors, including personal factors, behaviors, and the environment. Furthermore, learning about gender roles can also be built through interacting in their community. Based on the influences that children constantly interfere with, they naturally construct their own perceptions which are even used after they get older. Therefore, children are not born with natural judgment; children gradually build their own cognitions on gender and society by facing various factors, such as the homeland of parents, and the educational status of parents. References [1] APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. [2] Celinalui. “Gender Schema and Cultural Variations.” Let’s Get Psyched!, 15 Dec. 2013,https://letsgetpsyched.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/how-are-genderroles-developed/. [3] Cherry, Kendra. "How Cultural Norms Influence Behavior and Gender Value." VerywellMind, 9 May 2020, [4] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-schema-theory-2795205. [5] "Gender Schema Theory - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics." ScienceDirectTopicsScienceDirect, [6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/gender-schema-theory. Accessed 19 Sept.2021. [7] Jehan, Firdos, and Mustafa Kirmani. Psychosocial Models of Gender Development.http://oaji.net/articles/2015/1170-1438366404.pdf. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. [8] Paulus, Markus. "Social Cognition in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Experience andIndividual Differences." Frontiers, 28 Aug. 2016, https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01762/full. [9] Social Cognitive Theory Model - Rural Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Toolkit. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/2/theories-andmodels/social-cognitive. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. [10]The Social Cognitive Theory. https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mphmodules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories5.html. Accessed 19 Sept. 2021. [11]Sullivan, Abigail. Https://Digitalcommons.Bard.Edu/Cgi/Viewcontent.Cgi?Article=1005&context=senp roj_s2019. May 2019, p. 110, https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=senproj _s2019 [12]Vinney, Cynthia. "Gender Schema Theory Explained." ThoughtCo, 22 Aug. 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/gender-schema-4707892.

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The Expansion of Fandom and Hallyu: The Growth of Related Industries in the Korean Wave

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Jiwon

School Name

Apgujeong Middle School

(Last Name, First Name)

Abstract: Since the beginning of the Korean Wave, the emergence of the 4th king, Dae Jang Geum Lee Young Ae, the global big hit drama, Korea's cosmetics industry export trend, and Hallyu's recent analysis of dramas and true Kpop star BTS, and artist-oriented BIGBANG. By analyzing in detail the importance of communicating with fans through SNS and YouTube through BTS, which has emerged as a result of PSY's successful expansion of the Hallyu market around the world, time series analysis techniques for growth and related industries, THAAD retaliation, China's culture closure strategy, and Japan's anti-Korean Wave strategy. By analyzing indicators (cosmetics companies) on product exports through policies of diversification of markets in related industries due to the success of the Hallyu diversification strategy, we seek and consider ways to cooperate with companies that will lead to Korea's rising awareness and the expansion of Hallyu culture.

Keywords: Hallyu, beauty industry, BTS, industry growth

1. Introduction 1.1 Research motivation For about 15 years since Winter Sonata[1] aired on Japanese television in 2002, the Korean Wave began to spread to Asia and around the world. In the early days, drama-oriented Korean Wave occurred mainly in Japan and Southeast Asia. Over the next two to three years, the Korean Wave began to spread to Southeast Asia, the United States, and Europe through Japan, China, focusing on K-pop in the early 2010s, and gradually expanded around the world. Psy's Gangnam Style seemed to hit the highest point of the Korean Wave, ranking second on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks, and recently BTS (BTS) finally topped the

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Billboard Hot 200, surprising the world. He was also the only foreign singer since the Beatles in 2019 to top Billboard's top band with three consecutive albums. Recently, Korean dramas, movies, and entertainment programs have gradually been remade in the U.S. or spread to Europe, and the global Korean Wave has begun to become a huge phenomenon worldwide. It is intended to be a data analysis of what is the main industry of the next generation of Hallyu and what influences the development of related industries 1.2 Research Purpose In past papers, there were several comparisons of Hallyu in terms of culture and economy. Unlike previous papers, however, I will analyze Korean recognition, fashion, and cosmetics closely related to the Korean Wave through big data, compare the correlation coefficient with the Korean Wave, closely examine how to move forward, and present opinions on the continuing growth of the Korean Wave, rather than disappearing into the short-term boom of movies, music, and food in Japan, Hong Kong. 2. The Main Body 2.1 Theoretical Background Figure1. The graph of the Korean Wave population trend.

DATA SOURCE: Analysis of Korea International Exchange Report: graphic by: Origin

If it became a content enjoyed by 87 million people around the world in 2018 and remains a huge phenomenon enjoyed by more than 100 million people as of the end of 2019, it is common theory that Hallyu, which has the potential to continue to grow, correlates with exports of related industries. In line with this, we are trying to find out the development of Hallyu and related industries. According to the graph below, the population trend increases every year after the Korean Wave. In other words, the Arima model shows that the number of Korean Wave fans increases over time and that the increase in Korean Wave fans and the passage of time have a positive correlation.

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2.2 Korean Wave 1) The trend of Korean Wave in dramas after Winter Sonata (2003) The Korean Wave began in 2003 when Winter Sonata was aired on NHK in Japan and began to gain explosive popularity. The drama gained popularity throughout Kanto and Kansai Japan, increasing the number of middle-aged Japanese women visiting Korea and increasing their interest in Korea. Park Yong-ha, who is now late, also made his debut as a singer. Chart 1. Winter Sonata Japan Regional Broadcasting Ratings classification

the final episode

Average ratings

Kanto Area (Tokyo, etc.)

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'(# (%&

)**/*% & ..! *t (Osaka, etc.)&

!1# 2%&

'$# 3%&

Highest ratings 17.6% (Episode11)& 20.5% (Episode18)& &

With the popularity of Winter Sonata, Bae Yong-joon became a model for three CFs in Japan, & while Choi Ji-woo became a model for one CF. Also, Hallyu-related products were exported and sold to Japan. In the early days, many actor-related products began to be exported and invested in Bae's Key--east Entertainment company from Softbank. In 2018, Key-east was sold to SM Entertainment 2) The revival of the Korean Wave after Winter Sonata After Winter Sonata (Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo), Autumn Fairy Tales (Song Seungheon, Song Hye-kyo, Won Bin), Beautiful Days (Lee Byung-hun), Jang Dong-gun, and Stairway to Heaven (Kwon Sang-woo and Choi Ji-woo) became popular. The similarity between these dramas is the Winter Sonata series or the actor of Winter Sonata. We can find in common that it is Choi Ji-woo's work. At this time, The Face Shop achieved rapid growth by using Bae Yong-joon as a model and entered the road shop for the first time in Asia in 2004 and once topped the sales of road shops. Countless people are successfully evaluating The Face Shop growth and Hallyu male model strategies. As of November 2015, it had 1,792 global stores, but has now been sold to LG Household Health. 3) Expanded exports of Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian dramas (based on Daejanggeum) and cosmetics sales trends The second drama that expanded the Korean Wave in Japan and China and Asia is “Daejanggeum” which became a symbol of the Korean Wave as Korean dramas related to traditional materials and food became popular in Asia. "Daejanggeum," which had the highest rating of 55.5% when it aired in Korea in 2003, was exported to 91 countries around the world, unlike the existing Korean dramas staying in the Asian market. In 2013, Korea's cosmetics and Korean beauty industries entered Asian countries in earnest, with a 99% viewer rating when it aired in Bangladesh. During this period, the opening of an Asian road shop was the main focus of Korean cosmetics.

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4) A new turning point for the Korean Wave in 2019. The turning point of Hallyu broadcasting was not only a change in the video production system this year. Opportunities increased with the expansion of Over the Top (OTT) services and stable exports of finished products, along with visible achievements, extensive efforts to cope with changes in the media environment at home. Sales of products and intellectual property rights (hereinafter referred to as IP) and Hallyu have expanded. On the other hand, it can be treated as an aggressive strategic opportunity or threat to global OTT services. Nevertheless, the close bond between the Korean broadcasting industry, The global market is generally starting to be constant. Identify 2019 programs and signs of change. First, let's look at the status of Hallyu broadcasting. Based on detailed statistics, the 2019 status report...According to the report by the broadcasting industry, exports increased by an average of 1.0% for broadcasting programs. It increased by 6.7% to $327 million a year. Also, with the global export of large-scale works—OTT service like Netflix. Sales of large-scale works are as follows. It increased as large investors such as Netflix became major investors. On the other hand, the export volume of Hallyu terrestrial broadcasters has increased in exports of broadcasting program providers who have led video exports. Figure 2. Export of broadcast content by country Source: Yu, Kon-shik (2019). “Strategy and areas of improvement for overseas entry of broadcast content”. KABS Seminar. Created from data from Report on the Status of the Broadcasting Industry(2002~2018)

Data Source: 2019 Korean Wave White Paper (kofice)

5) Expanded exports of Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian dramas (based on Daejanggeum) and cosmetics sales trends The second drama that expanded the Korean Wave in Japan and China and Asia is “Daejanggeum” which became a symbol of the Korean Wave as Korean dramas related to traditional materials and food became popular in Asia. "Daejanggeum," which had the highest

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rating of 55.5% when it aired in Korea in 2003, was exported to 91 countries around the world, unlike the existing Korean dramas staying in the Asian market. In 2013, Korea's cosmetics and Korean beauty industries entered Asian countries in earnest, with a 99% viewer rating when it aired in Bangladesh. During this period, the opening of an Asian road shop was the main focus of Korean cosmetics. In addition, due to the expansion of cosmetics exports, total cosmetics exports increased due to a surge in cosmetics companies, causing each company's exports to decrease and cause deficits, while The Face Shop ], which succeeded in modeling Hallyu stars, received trillions of won in sales through corporate sales and Korean cosmetics brands were sold to L'Oreal Group in France. Figure 3. Trends in cosmetics exports from 2015 to 2020

Data source: www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20210205119500030

2.3 K-Pop 1) Appearance and growth of K-pop. K-POP announced the start of the Korean Wave in China with the appearance of HOT. Since then, the Korean Wave has begun to spread to Asia with the advent of TVXQ, Big Bang, Super Junior, and 2 PM. TVXQ's debut in Japan was as popular as Japanese singers in Japan. TVXQ entered Japan in 2005, gained popularity from the time the popularity of dramas gradually declined in 2007, gained popularity from 2008 to the present, and is the only artist with more than 1 million viewers in 2018. In addition, Biggest, a paid pen club, was launched in Japan, and it has the largest number of fan clubs as foreign singers. In addition, Big Bang can be said to be a true K-POP star who created fandom in each country through global concerts rather than in Japan. Super Junior gained more popularity than local singers in Japan and Taiwan. With the advent of YouTube and download sites such as Spotify, PSY has become the driving force behind the global expansion of K-pop with the mega-hit of the song "Gangnam Style" rather than a singer with fandom.

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Figure4. Singer Psy’s mega-hit song poster

Source: https://www.pnation.com/

2) BTS, appearance, and strategy through SNS and YouTube. We would like to find out how the Korean Wave will go in the future by analyzing the world's crush on hip-hop idols in their fifth year since their debut in 2013. It also examines whether their emergence and the expansion of the Korean Wave industry are proportional. Figure5. BTS

Source: https://www.facebook.com/bangtan.official

BTS' company is Big Hit Entertainment, founded in 2005. It's a small agency. It is not easy for such a "large" singer to come out of such a small agency. This is because the artist development system, global infrastructure, and public relations capabilities are inevitably weaker than those of large agencies. The way the producer chose was "Let's gather only the advantages of the

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three large agencies!" YG Entertainment: Respect the artist's autonomy: Let the artist work on his own songs, set album concepts, produce, and decide on his own schedule. The artist's individuality and capabilities are the most important, and all members can compose and write their own music 5 years after their debut by introducing a support system for artist's own music activities, borrowing SM Entertainment's "one source multi-use" business: artist portrait business, fuel revenue, etc. BTS is also active in all directions. JYP Entertainment: Music based on universality: Bang Si-hyuk, the representative producer of Big Hit, knew best about their growth symbolically through annual solo concerts and efforts to increase artist brand value through messenger emoticons and SNS channel communication. Producer Bang Si-hyuk has found a universal element that can be loved by as many people as possible around the world, so he quickly absorbed overseas fans while working on songs based on hip-hop genres that Westerners can listen to and applied sharp group dance elements close to performance to BTS albums. 3) Idols and strategies that have raised awareness abroad before their own country are used. In Korea, when most of them were not familiar with BTS, they had already grown into K-POP's representative idols in Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan. It was valid to continuously send a lot of content overseas through YouTube and Facebook. The majority of idols choose 1. Korea's high recognition 2. Using the global entry method as 'opposite'. In addition, many idols have emerged in Korea and try differentiated strategies amid competition. 4) A strategy to share empathy with teenagers. Another reason why they are loved by fans is that they share the best materials they can talk about through songs such as "School Series" and "Youth," and messages that teenage fans can sympathize with, as well as that BTS, a member of a small agency, grows with fans. In other words, a strategy to share the feeling of being a growing idol with teenagers is a success factor. Figure6. BTS is an album that expresses love and feelings for the fans.

Data Source: Big Hit Entertainment

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5) Globalization of BTS and Hallyu from 2017 to the present. Since BTS' debut, it has started to promote the global Korean Wave to the world by creating a global fandom called "Army" and winning the 2017 American Music Awards and the Billboard 2017 Top SNS, which Justin Bieber won for six consecutive years. As BTS won an award that Korean singers had never won on Billboard or an award that other than English-speaking singers had never won, the world began to shed light on the Korean Wave and express it as a huge cultural phenomenon. And in the YouTube era, Hallyu idols and Hallyu are more likely to become global. The transition from the era of listening music to the era seen has further globalized the popularity of Korean idols with the following factors. As the popularity of the Korean Wave continued, other related industries became popular, and direct popularity in the food and cosmetics industries expanded. The balance of personal, cultural, and leisure services has been steadily increasing, including $220 million in 2015 and $470 million in 2016, since turning to a surplus of $20 million for the first time in 2014. Last year, it posted a surplus of $260 million, the second-largest record ever. This is due to a significant increase in related exports as the popularity of Korean dramas and K-pop singers has spread across the world, including China and Japan. The fact that BTS (BTS) sold 603,307 albums in the U.S. album market last year is also a collection of international payments. Thanks to the increase in exports of Korean games, the balance of telecommunications, computers, and information services related to this is also on the rise. In 2018, it hit a record high of $2.11 billion in surplus. Figure7. Top 5 popular Hallyu contents.

Data source: Sportsseoul,com

Ⅲ. Summary 1. Research and significance The Korean Wave, related industries, and stars leading the Korean Wave were analyzed, and the history of the Korean Wave was studied, and there were results. In particular, studying KPOP's approach strategies such as Big Hit, other SM, and JYP, which are leading the Korean Wave recently, was also successful. We learned about the changes from the first start of the

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Korean Wave to the present BTS era and learned more about the Korean Wave. I learned that the globalization of the Korean Wave does not just talk about dramas and songs, but also affects the food, fashion, and beauty industries. 2 Research limitations and suggestions for new research This study studied the Korean Wave for a period of 20 years and learned Korean language and Taekwondo around the world, and as the Korean Wave developed its research on traditional Hanbok (Korean clothes), I would like to analyze the evaluation of foreigners in depth. In addition, I would like to investigate in detail how deeply BTS, which is called the king of the Korean Wave, affects society and the Korean Wave through individual research on BTS. In addition, BTS is ranked second in the global album market and has an economic ripple effect of more than 5.1 trillion won, not only with the influence of the album market, but also with recent albums. I think further research is needed as research on whether it affects fans and various people is insufficient.

Reference [1]

2017 Korean Wave ripple effect study (subtitle): A research report on the value analysis of the Korean Wave, the growth engine of the Korean Wave in the era of convergence (Korea Institute for International Cultural Exchange) http://eng.kofice.or.kr/

[2]

Hallyu Now Hallyu In-depth Analysis Report May 2019

[3]

2019 Korean Wave White Paper (kofice)

[4]

THAAD, subsequent Hallyu (subtitle): Hallyu Political Economy (kofice)

[5]

2017 Global Hallyu Trent (Kim Deok Joong, Nam Sang Hyun, Kim A Young)

[6]

Asian Drama Conference.

[7]

A Study on the Economic Effect of Hallyu (Jeon Jong-geun, Kim Seung-nyeon, Lee Hanseok, Lee Hyung-oh, and Kim Young-mi)

[8]

2015 Overseas Hallyu Survey (Korea Cultural Business Exchange Foundation)

[9]

Seoul Economic Daily June 08, 2019

[10]

https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1VKC7B8SU8

[11]

Big Hit Entertainment www.bighitcorp.com

[12]

Super Junior, Taiwan's "KKBOX" topped the Korean album chart for 200 weeks.A milestone that lasted for 4 years. 2021-09-03 18:19

[13]

https://www.wowtv.co.kr/NewsCenter/News/Read?articleId=A202109030300

[14]

sportseoul.com http://www.sportsseoul.com/

[15]

The top 5 moments for BTS and hanbok Dec 4, 2018 - 10:12 http://kpopherald.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=201812041010367494650_2

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Are Hate Comments Freedom of Expression? Focusing on the regulation of malicious comments

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Hajoon

Asia Pacific International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract Despite the government’s and web portals’ efforts to regulate online hate comments or malicious comments, the number of online hate comments has not changed much. Moreover, regulation of hate comments also faces difficulties because of the threat they pose to the Freedom of Expression. In this paper, I clarify the nature of the relationship between Freedom of Expression and malicious comments, or figuring out how one is interrelated to another, and questioning whether solving hate comments is equivalent to threatening the Freedom of Expression. By doing so, I also search for potential solutions to regulate malicious comments that do not pose a threat to Freedom of Expression. Therefore, the main research task for this paper is to consider hate comments in context to Freedom of Expression and determine in what ways we can solve the problem. In doing so, I first investigate whether Freedom of Expression justifies hate comments by looking into how Freedom of Expression relates to comments. Then, I examine what the problem of malicious comments is. Considering these two factors, I then weigh these two values to find out whether or not hate comments should be regulated or not, concerning Freedom of Expression. Finally, at the end of the paper, I look at in what direction of future solutions for hate comments can be based.

Keywords: Freedom of Expression, malicious comments, hate comments, regulation

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I. Introduction: Raising a Problem

Figure 1. The first prosecution report against hate comments in Korea

The above article (Figure 1) in Korean newspaper Hankyereh on January 23, 2006, reported the first case in which the prosecution decided to take legal action against hate comments or malicious comments (Mi-young Kim, 2006). The prosecution regarded the indictment of malicious commenters, commenting that "Despite the possible danger that Freedom of Expression can be threatened, I believe such decision will function as a social warning and an opportunity for commenters to reflect on themselves before they post, by which I hope them to recognize the maliciousness and assaults whose degree is what the general public cannot accept." (Hyun-ho Jo, 2006) One of the significant concerns in punishing malicious comments is that it may infringe upon the Freedom of Expression of the entire country. Due to such worries, regulations on malicious comments are not properly implemented as they may stifle the Freedom of Expression. In this paper, I look into the concerns in depth to see whether Freedom of Speech can justify online hate comments. To find this out, I clarify what Freedom of Expression is and examine how general comments can expand the Freedom of Expression. I then look at different aspects of online hate comments or malicious comments to find out the definition or different problems with malicious comments. After considering these two factors, I then weigh them against each other and determine if malicious comments can be justified by Freedom of Expression and, therefore, not be regulated or if they should be. Then, I move on to discover potential solutions to online hate comments. In doing so, because I do not hope to infringe the Freedom of Expression, I first look at past cases of solutions. The primary method that I take here is by bringing the causes of hate comments to the focus and finding different factors that can be removed.

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II. Freedom of Expression and malicious comments Here, I discuss how Freedom of Expression can support hate comments. First, I clarify what Freedom of Expression is. Second, I examine whether comments on the internet expand Freedom of Expression and, therefore, how hate comments may support the Freedom of Expression. Third, I look into whether malicious comments are Freedom of Expression by discovering the definition of malicious comments.

1. Freedom of Expression

Freedom of Expression is the fundamental right of an individual or group to express their views and ideas freely. Article 21 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea guarantees Freedom of Expression, saying, "All citizens shall have the Freedom of Speech and the Press and the Freedom of Assembly and Association." Furthermore, article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to Freedom of Opinion and Freedom of Expression. Emphasizing the importance of Freedom of Expression goes back to Socrates, but John Milton, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill in the Age of Enlightenment insisted on Freedom of the Press in earnest. Milton advocated Freedom of the Press as a means of discovering truth and called for freedom to know, speak and argue freely (John Milton, 1998). Locke argued that Freedom of Expression should be guaranteed because it is difficult to access the truth due to human weakness and limited understanding. He emphasized the need for diversity of public opinion because humans operate in a twilight zone of knowledge, where there is little truth or certainty in this world (John Locke, 2021). Mill insisted on Freedom of Expression as a means of discovering the truth and limited Freedom of Expression to the extent that it does not deprive others of their rights or hinder their pursuit of happiness (John Stuart Mill, 2020). Accordingly, in Article 21, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, a proviso clause stipulated that "the press or publication shall not infringe on the honor or rights of others, public morals or social ethics." In other words, Freedom of Expression can be limited. However, if the meaning of the statute restricting Freedom of Expression is ambiguous or has too abstract or broad sense, such provision is invalid due to lack of clarity (Mi-Kyung Jung, 1997). This is because regulations that are ambiguous or have too broad a meaning can restrict Freedom of Expression. Therefore, in media and publishing, the government cannot justify the regulation of a specific expression simply by claiming that it is worthless or harmful. The primary function of correcting the evils of expression is entrusted to the competitive mechanism of thought within civil society. (Easy-to-find life law information) This is because the regulation on expression was mainly used as a tool for the government to oppress the people, such as anti-government

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expression regulations or immoral expression regulations. The right to express freely has been defended through civil society's efforts against the regulation of expression (Junko Kotani, 2015). Now, in the field of information exchange called the Internet, all citizens can write comments to express their opinions and lead public opinion freely. During the Joseon Dynasty, people were prohibited and punished for speaking ill of their superiors. However, now people can talk about King's donkey ears before the King (Wan Lee, 2021).

2. Comments to expand Freedom of Expression

A comment is a short answer to the original text posted on the Internet. (Standard Korean Dictionary) Comments make interactive communication a typical characteristic. Offline media delivered information to readers in one direction, so the media had a solid right to form public opinion. It is difficult for readers who accept it to participate in the formation of public opinion directly. On the other hand, comments in Internet media are recognized as a means of communication that forms valuable information through active discussion among users about articles provided by the media. Comments played a significant role in revitalizing Freedom of Expression and critical views that have been suppressed in Korean society (Kijoong Kim, 2020). When reading the news, 86% of the respondents said they read the comments together (Gwan-cheol Jeong, 2019).

Figure 2. When using online content, comments are also read. Internet website 86%, SNS 61%, online video platform 68%

Survey period: 15~18. Oct. 2019

Opinion in public opinion. Hankook Research

Let's find out why people check comments and why people write them on the comment box of news on the portal site (Gahee Kim, 2019). 85.9% of the respondents checked the comments because they wanted to know what other people thought. The reason why people who wrote comments was that they wanted to express their opinions about the article clearly (72.8 %).

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Figure 3. Reasons why people check and write comments

Also, People don't just read a few significant comments. They also read minority comments. And people express their opinions on other people's comments with the Agree/Disagree button. (Donghan Lee, 2018) The term 'comment journalism' is used as comments often contain more information than articles. (Jiyoung Lim, 2020) When readers recognize news fairness, they are influenced by comments and articles themselves, and comments affect the evaluation of the media. (Eunjoo Lee and Yoonjae Jang, 2009) Expressions that are not restricted by law can be freely used in comments and are regulated by civil society's autonomy. Through comments, people express their opinions, listen to others, and shape public opinion. Society's autonomy is what comments contribute to expanding Freedom of Expression. However, incidents occur due to malicious comments that are not properly managed on Internet portal sites, Internet communities, and SNS.

3. Malicious comment and Freedom of Expression

The comments full of profanity, slander, discrimination, and hate threaten the positive function of the comments box. Blind criticism and violent comments are negative features of the comment box. (Jiyoung Lim, 2020) In the 2019 survey, regarding the ratio of good and malicious comments on internet websites, SNS, and online video platforms, 41% of good comments and 59% of malicious comments, respondents thought that malicious comments were more than good comments (Gwan-cheol Jeong, 2019) (Figure 4).

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Figure 4. Good comments vs Malicious comments

The number of police reports due to malicious comments is on the rise. According to the National Police Agency, the number of reports of cyber defamation and insults applied when reporting malicious comments jumped 87 %, from 8,880 in 2014 to 16,633 in 2019. It is about double in five years. Of the 8,093 cases reported in the six months in 2020, 5,220 offenders were arrested.

Figure 5. Number of occurrences and arrests of cyber defamation and insults

Malicious comments refer to comments intended to disparage others maliciously. People who post malicious comments are often called malicious commenters. On June 18, 2020, Naver developed a new malicious comment detection model under the name Cleanbot 2.0 and typified the expressions that appear in malicious comments as follows (Cleanbot 2.0, 2020). ① Profanity: general profanity

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② vulgar expression: a vulgar, low-grade expression that displeases others ③ Sexual expression: sexually provocative expression ④ Violent expression: expression of physical threats ⑤ Discriminatory expression: Discrimination based on region/race/country/religion, etc. ⑥ Demeaning expression: A derogatory expression that gives contempt and shame to the other person. Major portal sites in Korea, such as Naver, Daum, and Nate closed their comment box services in 2020 for entertainment and sports news articles where victims of malicious comments occurred. Naver, which accounts for the most significant percentage of comments, introduced Cleanbot to manage malicious comments in other posts such as political and social news articles. However, the expression of clever malicious comments that are not detected even with Cleanbot is increasing. As if to ridicule the efforts of major portal sites to block malicious comments, malicious commenters continue to cause harm due to the balloon effect of moving from portal sites to personal SNS or online communities (Han-nim Bae, 2020). The inability to share opinions on desired content because of malicious comments is proof that malicious comments are not Freedom of Expression but a device that suppresses Freedom of Expression. Examples of entertainment and sports news comment boxes closed due to malicious comments prove that malicious comments are not Freedom of Expression. Likewise, malicious comments such as abusive language and slander against others are not Freedom of Expression but just tools to suppress the victim's Freedom of Expression.

III. Why should malicious comments be regulated?

Is it difficult to operate the comment box as a place for writers to share information, accept criticism, and spread their logic through interactive communication with commenters? Suppose malicious comments should also be protected as Freedom of Expression. In that case, I dream of a public forum where we can argue with the opinions of malicious comments, find the basis for claims that were not revealed due to malicious language, and exchange opinions without using malicious language. 'Feel the times in your heart and realize justice' (Yak-yong Jeong, 2001). Being angry or swearing at something wrong is common sense. The problem is when the use of bad language goes out of context and interferes with communication. Rather than using bad words, the problem of inconvenience in communication is the reason why malicious comments should be regulated. In other words, it is necessary to regulate malicious comments that hinder Freedom of Expression. However, the reality can be seen from a large portal site that closes the comment boxes. The reason for closing the comment box is that the level of members is not at the stage of democratic discussion and promises to reopen the comment box after setting up a device to prevent

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malicious comments and education on a discussion. News comment boxes have been closed in many countries (Sora Jung, 2019). It was challenging to manage malicious comments properly, so the comment box was closed, and as a result, Freedom of Expression was restricted. Isn't it that burn your house to fright the mouse away? What should be the proper way to regulate malicious comments? The first reason for regulating malicious comments is that malicious comments cause casualties. Second, malicious comments infringe on Freedom of Expression. However, closing the comment box is a way of curtailing the Freedom of Expression of comments and regulating malicious comments. Therefore, it raises concerns that the regulation of malicious comments may infringe on Freedom of Expression. Examples of entertainment and sports news comment boxes closed due to malicious comments prove that malicious comments are not Freedom of Expression. Likewise, malicious comments such as abusive language and slander against others are not Freedom of Expression but just tools to suppress the victim's Freedom of Expression.

1. Malicious comments hurt people.

Freedom of Expression must not infringe on the honor or rights of others, public morals, or social ethics. The final clause of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes that no country, group, or individual has the right to destroy the rights and freedoms of others (HyoJe Cho, 2015). Malicious comments that you accidentally read while reading news comments on portal sites are so provocative that it makes you feel bad for the day. A college student who accidentally appeared on YouTube cannot sleep because of malicious comments disparaging her appearance. A friend who was running a personal SNS had no choice but to shut down the SNS because of malicious comments that came one day (Park Sang-hyun, 2019). One writer, who suffered from malicious comments, sent the manuscript to the media only after requesting that the comment box be removed. In the case of articles sent to portals, the writer gave up posting because it was impossible to remove comments on only specific articles. Another media company has had the experience of changing the name to anonymity to protect the author in the case of posts that are expected to receive a lot of malicious comments (Ji-young Lim, 2020). Sexual expressions and violent language are used in the comments section of Internet portal sites that adolescents can see. Cyberbullying, bullying, and school violence among students are growing under the influence of malicious comments (Byoung-chul Min, 2021). The personal lives and rumors of celebrities spread indiscriminately through the comments. The celebrities who complained of their difficulties due to malicious comments, such as Uni, Choi Jin-Sil, Sulli, and Gu Ha-ra, took their lives. In 2011, a Korean rapper named Tablo was attacked by people who believed that his Stanford graduation was false and wanted him to say so. In the process, malicious commenters threatened him and his family. Because of this, Tablo's father

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died of cancer due to stress. Claiming Freedom of Expression sometimes hurts the rights of the victim of malicious comments. Malicious comments limit the social activities of victims, resulting in economic damage and mental depression. Cases of harm to human life should be firmly punished with legal sanctions.

2. Malicious comments infringe on Freedom of Expression.

In this section, I look into the relationship between malicious comments and Freedom of Expression from a different perspective of how hate comments can become a threat to Freedom of Expression. The significance here is that I am looking at how hate comments oppose Freedom of Expression, not the common belief of how Freedom of Expression supports malicious comments. To look into this perspective, we must look into the drive behind the malicious comments. To do so, I first discuss some causes of malicious comments listed as options in the following survey (Kyung-seok Kim, 2019).

1) Reasons for writing/sharing/delivering malicious comments and Freedom of Expression

Respondents with experience in writing malicious comments cited "expression of dissatisfaction /disagreement about the behavior/speech of a particular object or the contents of a post (43.5%)" the most as the reason for their actions. Therefore, it can be interpreted that malicious commenters do not write to criticize/slandering a specific target but express their position/opinion on the post's content as the most important goal. It is not the cause of writing malicious comments, but rather the Freedom of Expression expressing opposition to posts using malicious language. Why do they use malicious language to express opinions? Many people use provocative language to pay attention to their opinions. This is caused by the order of sympathy in the comment box and the structure of the best comments, which can increase the opportunity to empathize only when one expresses one's opinion strongly. As such, malicious comments are written to gain attention to some degree. The problem created here is that online conversations will begin to prioritize extremeness over logic in their decision-making process under these circumstances. In turn, Freedom of Expression is hindered as illogical conversation leads to futile debates, meaning that it harms the Freedom of Expression. When I recall John Locke's Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Expression's primary goal was to function as a collective intelligence that leads to the best truth. Such a goal is made not likely under my analysis of how hate comments can hinder the Freedom of Expression. In other words, malicious comments hinder one of the significant goals of Freedom of Expression. Considering such, it seems logical for me to conclude that I must regulate online hate comments, but in a way that keeps the advantages given to Freedom of

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Expression from general comments.

Figure 6. Reasons for writing and sharing/forwarding malicious comments

Source: Kim Kyung-Seok, the weight of comments https://smcncad.com/635 2019.12

To solve these problems here before anything, first, education and campaigns are needed to turn malicious comments into articles of discussion through good comments or criticism. Second, I think it should change the way the comments are listed so that they do not express interest in the order of empathy. I think it would be better to leave personal writing and announce the direction of public opinion through statistical processing in a different way.

2) Some factors mentioned as the causes of malicious comments and Freedom of Expression

When asked what caused the malicious comments, respondents aged 14 to 59 chose anonymity as their priority-a system/structure of online (34.1%) that cannot control the generation of malicious comments. The second was a less severe punishment, the third was the personality of the malicious commenter, the fourth was the content of posts that induce malicious comments, and the fifth was the role of the comment box in the portal's revenue structure (Kyung-seok Kim, 2019). Let's examine whether the causes reported in the survey are the causes of malicious comments and see how they affect Freedom of Expression.

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Figure 7. Cause or liability for malicious

Source: Kim Kyung-Seok, the weight of comments 2019.12

(1) Internet characteristics: anonymity, non-face-to-face, collectivity

An online system that induces malicious comments is characterized by anonymity. In addition, non-face-to-face and collective nature, which are characteristics of the Internet, are mentioned as the causes of malicious comments, so let's look at them together.

① Anonymity

According to Naver data in 2016, the number of reports of malicious comments among news comments accounted for 2.3% of general news and 5.3% of entertainment news. On the other hand, malicious comments reported by communities such as cafes and blogs where anonymity is not guaranteed account for only 0.1% of the total. Anonymity is the basis for encouraging malicious comments (Gwan-cheol Jeong, 2019). According to the recommendations of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in November 1997, anonymous online communication is morally neutral, not good or bad in itself. The recommendations stated that both positive and malicious disinhibition coexists in the effect of anonymity. Therefore, it warned that focusing attention on the harmful effects of anonymity would not only hinder a good role of anonymity but could also seriously impede the development of the Internet itself (The positive and negative functions of anonymity, 2005). Anonymity is a necessary factor in the implementation of freedom of expression and creates

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the activation of comments. The Internet real-name policy, which was implemented in Korea between 2007 and 2012, was introduced as a policy to block anonymity as the cause of malicious comments. However, after the implementation of the policy, it was evaluated that the Internet real-name policy only reduced the activation of comments but did not contribute to the reduction of malicious comments. The Internet real-name policy was judged unconstitutional because it restricts freedom of expression. It can be seen that a method of regulation focusing on malicious comments itself is needed. Through this case, I think that regulating malicious comments has raised concerns that Freedom of Expression is undermined. The regulation of malicious comments should devise a way to increase Freedom of Expression.

② Non-face-to-face

Non-face-to-face is one characteristic that occurs in encounters through computer communication networks and acts without exposing one's face, etc. Experts point out that due to the non-face-to-face nature, multiple selves with different personalities from the offline self, which can be confirmed through direct face-to-face, may appear online. For example, in the case of a self with a violent personality, the tendency to use violence on the Internet may be more radical (Jinbonet, 2005). Non-face-to-face is an advantage of sharing information, expressing opinions, and confirming differences between each other regardless of time and space. This is a characteristic of information exchange in the Internet age, which breaks down the walls of countries, regions, and races, frees us from prejudice, and allows us to focus on communication about given information. Limiting non-face-to-face to reduce malicious comments is similar to considering that the responsibility of a car accident is not a driver but a vehicle. Rather, think about using non-face-to-face as a way to point out the lack of evidence of malicious comments, criticize illogicalities of malicious comments, and induce active discussions to recognize malicious comments(Seongsu Hong, 2015).

③ collectivity

Through the Internet, individuals form groups. My opinion is influenced by the first comment written in the comment section (Rösner.L., & Krämer.N.C. 2016). A small difference becomes the standard of right or wrong. Being different is wrong and exacerbates polarization. Now my group is carrying out a carpet bombing of a target with a different opinion of mine. Just as the government, which is an institution of power, has an army, malicious commenters have a numerical advantage. The diagram below shows how a group of malicious commenters equates to an institution of power. Freedom of Expression was created to prevent bad behavior

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by those in power and to protect the rights of the weak. On the other hand, malicious commenters make victims. Because of the anti-fans posting malicious comments, popular stars close their personal SNS, portals close entertainment and sports news comment boxes, specific posts cannot be posted and even discussed, and specific words are filtered (Seung-chan Yoo, 2016). Collective malicious commenters are an example of restricting the Freedom of Expression of others. Figure 8. How a group of malicious commenters equates to an institution of power.

However, several devices make these malicious commenters more powerful. First, provocative languages and emotion-shaking words attract attention by evoking greater empathy than calm essays and logical critical writings. Second, the best comments in the comment box arranged in order of empathy are already one group, which is difficult to oppose and would like to share if possible. Third, the news listing structure of portal sites where provocative articles take the headlines promotes a comment culture that responds as a group to provocative articles. The action that deleted real-time search word rankings to reduce its negative effect is proof of that. Fourth, there is a comment unit that uses collectivization politically, and there are political groups that manipulate public opinion through it. ( Young-ji Seo, 2017) Recognizing that there is a system for grouping individual commenters and exploiting the grouped commenters, I think it should be more clearly developed in the way in which individuals express their own opinions.

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(2) less severe punishment

Low punishment, vague punishment standards, and difficult-to-track IDs and nicknames are cited as the causes of malicious comments. Let's understand the actual situation according to each cause and find out the relationship between legal sanctions and Freedom of Expression.

① Low level of punishment

The low level of punishment is mentioned as the cause of malicious comments. The lack of legal sanctions is said to encourage malicious comments. (Please stop using malicious comments, 2019) Comments and fake news that cause great damage are fined only a few million won. So, malicious commenters write malicious comments again without feeling any guilt. <Table 1> Criminal law punishes libel/insults.

<Table 2> Provisions for the Punishment of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communication Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.

Source: Seongok Yoon, Celebrity's Malicious Comments Cases, and Improvement Plan KBI08-18

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According to the table above, the maximum punishment is marked as a prison sentence, but in reality, it is not common to impose a prison sentence, and in general, it is highly likely to be punished with a fine. (Law on malicious comments, 2017) In recent years, courts have imposed more severe penalties for Internet defamation cases. This is a measure that takes into account the fact that the damage spreads quickly and is widespread. (Yeon-jin Choi, 2017)

② Ambiguous punishment standards

Because the standards for whether it is insulting or defamation are ambiguous, the opinions of the police, courts, and lawyers may differ. In a 2015 Supreme Court case, the Supreme Court said, "If an expression is not capable of lowering the social evaluation of the other person's value, even if the expression is expressed rudely, it cannot be considered as a component of an insult." This has the duality of being a measure to minimize the risk that legal restrictions will infringe on Freedom of Expression. The debate on whether to protect Freedom of Expression or personal rights requires much debate in civil society. In any case, a process of consensus among citizens that sets legal standards based on lessons from the past, which resulted in the oppression of citizens by power, is essential when the legal restrictions are rushed.

③ ID, nickname (specificity) that is difficult to track

The charges of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act or insults under the Criminal Act are mainly applied to malicious commenters who post malicious comments online. However, most malicious comments against IDs or nicknames are acquitted in court while the victim's identity is not revealed to some extent because these provisions protect the person's external honor or social evaluation (Jiseon Chae, 2020). An example of a ruling that punishment is possible even if it is not a real name is a game ID, but there is a precedent that punishment is possible if people around them can relate the identity to the victim's relationship. It is said that malicious comments on Facebook and Instagram are difficult to track IP as sites with foreign addresses (Song Byung-gil, 2017). Since malicious comments are not only a problem for the Republic of Korea, we should create a system to track them through international agreements. But let's see if the legal approach is a way to regulate malicious comments in a way that extends Freedom of Expression. First, you can see how unintentionally they write malicious comments and how surprised they are to be drawn red lines (a sign indicating a criminal on administrative documents) when a lawsuit against malicious commenters progresses (Song Byung-gil, 2017). And more often than not, they were swayed by mob mentality and copied what someone was doing. Therefore, it seems appropriate to strengthen Internet etiquette education and campaign against the problems of malicious comments. Second, let's examine whether the crime

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prevention rate in the United States, which has strong punishments, is high. The chart shows a high incidence of violent crime in the United States. A strong punishment does not necessarily prevent malicious comments, given the example that hundreds of years of punishment, which can be seen occasionally in news articles, do not reduce their crimes.

Figure 9. Murder rates in OECD countries (homicides per 100,000 people)

Third, the approach through legal and institutional sanctions is discussed as the reason for the decline in the press freedom index and the contraction of Freedom of Expression during the previous administration. The Internet real-name policy in 2007, cyber insult punishment, and temporary measures under the Information and Communication Network Act provided 'justice' to remove and regulate malicious comments on celebrities. However, these policies were criticized for being intended to curb and punish citizens' Freedom of Expression, especially expressions that criticize the government and politicians (Seung-sun Lee, 2013). Legal sanctions are easy to be misunderstood as ways of suppressing the Freedom of Expression of the people and have experienced such misuse. The process of agreeing and establishing standards through regulations of civil society is necessary. Based on this, it is believed that how institutional, legal action is taken will be to protect Freedom of Expression and reduce the damage of malicious comments.

(3) Dissatisfaction/disagreement with provocative articles and posts in the media

6.4 % of malicious comments are written because of the behavior /speech of the target of malicious comments and the contents of the posts (Kyungseok Kim, 2019). Provocative media

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articles induce malicious comments. According to "Digital News Report 2020," co-published by the Korea Press Foundation and the Reuters Journalism Institute in the UK, the proportion of readers reading news on portal sites in Korea reached 73%. On the other hand, only 5 % of the respondents directly accessed the website of media companies and read articles. It is the lowest level in the world. This is possible because media companies form partnerships with portal sites such as Naver and provide articles. The reporter wrote provocative and unreasonable articles and gave sensational titles to get his articles to be viewed among many articles (Hyungdo Nam, 2019). Provocative and irrational articles with provocative titles encourage malicious commenters to become active.

Figure 10. 1st route for digital news use: search engines and news collection services

A friend of a medical student who died in the Han River was witch-hunted. After drinking together, his friend disappeared. A father’s blog in search of his missing son was released through the media. The allegations posted in the comment box at the bottom of the news have become headlines in the media and are reported as fact. The title of the article points and blames one person, and commenters who read it refer to his friend as a murderer. On the banks of the Han River where the body was found, a crowd of mourners gathered, and YouTubers broadcast there. Personal information of the friend was revealed, and his family was all condemned as murder sympathizers. Despite the police’s announcement of the accident, the number of malicious comments thrown at the friend and his family remained unchanged. Articles reporting only fragmented allegations have put the whole thing out of sight.

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Figure 11. Upon searching “Victim + Friend,”

Self-examination is required for provocative posts by the media, which are the cause of writing comments and the cause of expressing malicious comments. This is the reality in Korea, where exemplary damages against the media are becoming a hot topic. The reader, as well as the media, is creating malicious comments as a consumer and producer. It is necessary to check whether his/her malicious comments are provocative posts that make other readers write malicious comments.

(4) Comment box that exists for profit of the portal site.

Large portal sites such as Naver have closed comment boxes on the entertainment and sports news in 2020 as a measure against malicious comments. Experts cited advertising revenue as the biggest reason why Naver failed to give up its news and comment services. Domestic portal sites such as Naver and Daum make money the longer users stay in the portal. As traffic increases, the unit price of advertisements increases, and the sales of advertisements from them are the key revenue model. This is why portal sites maximize visitor and stay time using various contents such as news and videos (Jung Yun-hee, 2018). Nevertheless, Naver decided to close the comment box for the entertainment news, citing that current technical effort alone is insufficient to solve this problem. So, there are still malicious comments at the bottom of other news outlets (Naver 2020). After the recent death of George Floyd in the United States, something interesting has happened. Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is being boycotted by global companies for not taking any action against posts that incite hate and violence. The boycott, which was initially conducted by some self-employed people, has now expanded with large corporations such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Lego, Volkswagen, Unilever, AT&T, Verizon, Levi's, Lululemon, Patagonia, Adidas, and Puma. Of course, SNS is a business where Freedom of Expression is the basis for profit creation. However, when social media or platform companies tolerate

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erroneous expressions, you can check how society accepts them through boycotts. People who sympathized with the problem without government intervention showed self-correction (Kim Kwang-hoe, 2020). The portal is responsible for managing the comment box. Given the high proportion of the portal's total news consumption, it is natural to place the portal's responsibility. If you visit personal blogs, fan café, or an Internet community on educational topics, you cannot find any malicious comments. Rather than the members gathered there being highly intelligent and moral, it is not possible to write malicious comments on the site and if they do, they will be asked to be deleted or forced out. The reason that such management is not neglected is that the site can only exist. I believe that portals should also have the duty to manage comments on the reason for the existence of the site. Large portal sites that think they have done their part only by closing the comment box have abandoned Freedom of Expression.

IV. How to reduce malicious comments without violating Freedom of Expression.

Malicious comments damage people and threaten Freedom of Expression. In this regard, I will try to summarize some of the countermeasures suggested in the method of eliminating each cause of malicious comments. In particular, I would like to reconsider whether the countermeasures are beneficial to people and extend Freedom of Expression. First, claiming Freedom of Expression sometimes hurts the rights of the victims of malicious comments. Cases where malicious comments cause harm to human life should be firmly punished with legal sanctions. Second, to reduce the use of malicious language to express consent or opposition to posts, education and campaigns are needed to turn them into discussion through good comments or criticism. The method of listing the comments in a sympathetic order makes people use provocative language to get attention and needs to be improved. Everyone writes their own opinion. I think that the direction of public opinion should be announced separately through statistics. Third, let's look at the response to malicious comments caused by anonymity, non-face-toface, and collectivity as characteristics of the internet. Anonymity is morally neutral, which has the effect of expanding Freedom of Expression. Although non-face-to-face can create violence, consider using non-face-to-face as a way to point out the logic of malicious comments, criticize illogical comments, and induce active discussion to recognize malicious comments. Collectiveness is not the problem with the grouping of individual commenters itself, but I think that it is necessary to recognize the abuse of this and develop the method of expressing one's own opinion more clearly. Fourth, let's find out whether it is necessary to deal with malicious comments by adjusting the level of legal sanctions such as non-strong punishments. Legal sanctions are easy to be

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misunderstood as ways of suppressing the Freedom of Expression of the people and have experienced such misuse. The process of agreeing and establishing standards through regulations of civil society is necessary. Based on this, institutional and legal actions are considered to be a way to protect Freedom of Expression and reduce the damage of malicious comments. Fifth, self-reflection is required for provocative posts in the media that are the cause of writing comments and expressing malicious comments. In this regard, discussions on the revision of the Media Arbitration Act to apply punitive damages are in full swing in Korea these days. Readers are required to check their posts before posting so that their malicious comments do not cause other readers to write malicious comments. Sixth, portal sites that generate income through the comments are responsible for managing the comment box. The reason there is no neglect in management is that only then can the portal sites exist.

V. Conclusion

When I say not to use malicious comments, people ask if they should only use nice and pretty words. The opposite of malicious comments is normal comments. People can criticize and get angry. However, accusations and swearing are not normal words. Malicious comments with no basis are just feces that do not express anything. So, malicious comments are not Freedom of Expression. Malicious comments that suppress the Freedom of Expression of others have to be regulated. And the regulation should not diminish Freedom of Expression. Regulatory measures that may infringe on Freedom of Expression require a consensus of civil society. Efforts should be made to share opinions within civil society rather than the government or legal sanctions. In addition, the process of creating an independent management system within each portal site and Internet community and keeping the promise should be preceded. And each person posting a comment should check whether they have created malicious comments. We must not forget that Freedom of Expression is not given naturally but is a valuable asset that has been created little by little over a long history. It is up to us to protect our rights and avoid blocking our healthy expression with malicious comments.

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Bitna Kim, Han River college student friend, malicious commenters, Cheonji Ilbo. Jun.08.2021 Byoungchul Min, Virus of Cyberbullying? Here’s SUNFULL VACCINE. Jul 6.2021 Byung-gil Song, punishment for malicious comments, Yonhap News. Oct.28.2017 Cleanbot 2.0: AI to detect malicious comments (short sentences) that understands context.Jul.17. 2020 [5] Donghan Lee, Awareness and influence of comments. Hankook Research. Jun.04.2018 [6] Easy-to-find life law information [7] Eunjoo Lee and Yoonjae Jang, Effects of Others’ Comments on Internet News Sites on Perceptions of Reality, Korean Journal of Journalism, Volume 53 No. 4. 2009 [8] Gahee Kim, What kind of comment did you leave, Statistics Korea. Nov.25. 2019 [9] Gwancheol Jeong, Malicious comments, are they all right? Hankook Research. Nov.29. 2019 [10] Hannim Bae, Malicious commenters that do not decrease even if they block malicious comments, News Tomato, Aug.10. 2020 [11] HyoJe Cho, Freedom of Expression and Limitations of Expression, The Hankyoreh, Mar.03.2015 [12] Hyungdo Nam, Malicious comments raised by provocative articles, Money Today. Oct.17.2019 [13] Hyunho Jo, Netizens who wrote ‘malicious comments to ‘Lim Soo-kyung’, men over 40. Media Today. Jan. 26.2006 [14] Jinbonet, Non-face-to-face, Information and Human Rights. Dec.07.2005 [15] Jiseon Chae, malicious comments without vaccines. The Hankook Ilbo. Apr.03.2020 [16] Jiyoung Lim, How can the good influence of comments be possible? Sisa IN.Jan.13.2020 [17] John Locke, The Essential John Locke Collection, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Complete), The First & Second Treatises of Government. Jun.19. 2021 [18] John Milton/ Translated by Park Sang-ik, Areopagitica. Nanam. 1998 [19] John Stuart Mill/Translated by Minhee Gong, On Liberty, The classic. Nov. 2020 [20] Junko Kotani, Ji-eun Song, et al., The Limits of Freedom of Expression, Center for Public Interest and Human [21] Rights Law, Seoul National University. 2015 [22] Kijoong Kim. A cancerous mass of malicious comments raised by the Internet era. Korea Times. Oct.07.2020 [23] Kwanghoe Kim, Comments on entertainment news articles, is it freedom of expression or the spread of hate [24] driven by profit. Next Daily. Jul.09.2020 [25] Kyungseok Kim, The weight of comments. https://smcncad.com/635 Dec.2019 [26] Law on malicious comments. Jan.17.2017 [27] MiKyung Jung, U.S. Supreme Court final verdict unconstitutional of the Federal Communications Dignity Act, Maeil Business Newspaper. Jun. 27.1997 [28] Miyoung Kim, Prosecutors take legal action on all 25 ‘malicious commenters’ related to Lim Sookyung, Hankyoreh newspaper. Jan. 23.2006 [29] Please stop using malicious comments... The war against malicious comments, Yonhap News. Dec.01.2019 [30] Naver, Reasons for closing comment box on entertainment news. 2020 [31] Rösner, L., & Krämer, N. C. (2016) Verbal venting in the social web: Effects of anonymity and group norms on aggressive language use in online comments. Social Media+ Society 2 [32] Sanghyun Park, Malicious comments that have become a daily, Herald Economics. Oct.25.2019 [33] Seongok Yoon, Celebrity's Malicious Comments Cases and Improvement Plan KBI08-18

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Vaccine Hesitancy and COVID-19 Pandemic

Author 1

Full Name

Kim, Hye Jun

Cornerstone Collegiate Academy of Seoul

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the various factors that lead to vaccine hesitancy in the United States population in order to facilitate development of effective disease and virus prevention strategies in the future and also in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This paper first reviews the basic definition of coronavirus, how and when the covid-19 virus emerged, when it first penetrated to the United States, and the overall impact on the United States population. On the basis of necessary context needed to understand and analyze vaccine hesitancy in the United States during COVID-19 pandemic, this study presents three different factors that influences and causes vaccine hesitancy among US population which are racial/ ethnic group, political ideology, and sex. Then, this study provides supporting evidence by stating previous data collected or social experiments done to prove how each factor causes increase in vaccine hesitancy in the United States population. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the importance of analyzing possible factors that lead to vaccine hesitancy in order to implement effective prevention strategies during the current COVID-19 pandemic and during future disease outbreaks, pandemics, and epidemics. Furthermore, it also explains the further studies that need to be done in order to enhance the findings in this study. Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy

Introduction Despite continuous development of medicine and growth of the public!s scientific sophistication, vaccine resistance among United States residents still exists in the modern world. According to a study by Callagahn and colleagues, about 22 % of Americans always (8%) or sometimes (14%) identify themselves as "anti - vaxxers.” (Callaghan, Sylvester & Lunz-Trujillo, 2021) This relatively high percentage of "anti - vaxxers” in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic poses a barrier to effective virus prevention. However, this is not the first

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time vaccine hesitancy led to an ineffectiveness in virus prevention. In fact, this is not the only time vaccine hesitancy hindered an effective virus prevention. Over the past decade, a number of studies have reported the causes of vaccine hesitancy in order to increase protection against future virus outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. Based on these reports, causes of vaccine hesitancy are closely related to an individual's social, economic and political status, confidence, complacency and convenience. (MacDonald, 2015) Because causes of vaccine hesitancy are complex and content specific, varying across time, place and vaccine, it is difficult to examine all possible causes of vaccine hesitancy. In fact, due to its complexity, it is impossible to create one, firm solution to reduce vaccine hesitancy rate. Although scientists are unable to analyze every possible cause of vaccine hesitancy, by analyzing past virus outbreaks in the past, the United States will be able to Provide critical information to develop and implement innovative and effective virus prevention strategies. The goal of this paper is to identify different factors that led to vaccine hesitancy during COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate development of practical methods that could greatly reduce the rate of vaccine hesitancy. Background 1. COVID-19 Pandemic Coronavirus is a spherical, single stranded, enveloped RNA and covered with club shaped glycoprotein. The virus has four subtypes: alpha, beta, gamma and delta. (Kumar, 2020) some of them affect humans and others affect animals such as pigs, cats and dogs. On 31 Dec 2019, China informed WHO regarding pneumonia cases without known etiology. On 7 Jan 2020, Chinese research authorities isolated a new virus responsible for emerging pneumonia cases from the sea food market in Wuhan city, China; named as 2019nCov. After its emergence, it began to spread across the world, reaching the United States on 23 Jan 2020. Generally, the virus is spread through airborne droplets. (Kumar, 2020) and people most commonly get infected via close contact with a person who has symptoms of the virus such as high body temperature, new, continuous cough and loss of smell or taste. ("Main Symptoms of coronavirus”, 2021).

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The COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared by WHO on 11 March 2020 and is still ongoing. Although there were certain periods of reduced emergence of COVID-19 cases, new variants of coronavirus are causing COVID-19 cases to rise again. Currently, the pandemic is a still ongoing issue in the United States with total number of cases confirmed until 8 September 2021 being 40,382,181 and total number of deaths being 650,998. DAILY AVG. ON SEPT. 7

14-DAY CHANGE

Cases

152,393

40,382,181

Tests

1,531,296

16%

—

101,232

—

1,499

34%

650,998

Hospitalized

Deaths

TOTAL REPORTED

Figure 2. Number of cases, tests, hospitalization, and deaths in total, every 14 day and on a daily average. Factors of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy According to a survey of the U.S population conducted in October 2009 (N = 968), only 36.1% of the respondents expressed willingness to be vaccinated. (Mesch & Schwirian, 2015). In addition, Despite the constantly growing number of deaths from COVID cases in the United States, with a total of 666,559 deaths on 6 September, vaccine hesitancy against COVID-19 vaccines only seems to grow. (United States COVID, 2021) According to Machingaidze and colleagues, the United States had the lowest vaccine acceptance rate of 64.6% out of nine countries - Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, India, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia and the United States. (Machingaidze & Wiyongse, 2021). This section will focus on discussing how three factors influenced vaccine hesitancy of the US population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The three factors are: Racial/ethnic groups, political ideology, sex and existence of children in household. In each subsection, findings showing the impact of three factors will be provided. 1.

Racial/ Ethnic Groups Racial and ethnic minorities generally have higher vaccine hesitancy. According to a research by Khubchandani and colleagues, more than half of the survey respondents who

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displayed little to extreme vaccine hesitancy were identified as racial and ethnic minorities; 34% of vaccine hesitant respondents were African Americans and 29% were hispanics. Another statistical data further proves this statement. (Khubchandani et al., 2021) Willis and colleagues acquired statistical data showing that half of African American respondents reported their vaccine hesitancy, and their vaccine hesitancy rate was more than double the vaccine hesitancy rate in White respondents. (Macdonald, 2021) This could be explained with a variety of factors that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. One main factor contributing to a high rate of vaccine hesitancy among racial minorities is cost related concerns. Due to an economic downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, many African Americans and Hispanics were hit hardest with job and wage loss with 61% percent of Hispanic and 44% of African Americans having experienced some kind of job or wage loss.(Lopez, Rainie & Budiman, 2020) This ultimately has led to worsening of the financial and economic status of Hispanics and African American; two ethinc groups who already had the highest poverty rate before the COVID-19 pandemic. This ultimately left a severe degree of financial burden among ethnic minorities, causing them to be unable to have enough financial stability to provide themselves with healthcare services when needed, including vaccination to protect themselves from COVID-19 virus.

Figure 3. Overall poverty rate of people under the age of 18 by race and ethnicity, 2013 -2019 2.

Political Ideology Political ideology is another factor that causes vaccine hesitancy among United States residents. Although there is a commonly held belief about how liberals tend to lean towards anti vaccination attitude in the United States, there is strong evidence showing more anti vaccination tendency in conservatives. In fact, a survey on the effect of political ideology on vaccination attitudes done by Lupton and Hare displayed a higher probability of believing a link between vaccines and autism in conservatives than liberals. (Lupton, 2015) Furthermore,

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recent work has shown that exposure to anti-vaccination tweets by former President Donald Trump led to increased concern and hesitation about vaccinations among his supporters, the conservatives. (Fridman, Gerhson & Gneezy, 2021) An additional research done by Fridman and colleagues further strengthens the close relationship between one!s political ideology and vaccine hesitancy. By analyzing responses based on individual!s political affiliation, Fridman and colleagues observed a decreasing trend for all three vaccine measures from participants who identified themselves as Republicans (conservatives) while participants who identified themselves as Democrats did not show a significant trend for COVID-19 vaccination measures. (Fridman, Gershon & Gneezy, 2021)

Figure 4. Response of Democrats and Republicans on each vaccine measure. 3.

Sex and Existence of Children at Home Vaccine hesitancy was higher for females with its hesitancy rate 44% higher than that of males and 34% higher than people with children at home. In a study by Lazarus and colleagues, American participants who were male displayed a more positive response toward receiving COVID-19 vaccine compared to females in the United States. In addition, a study done by Malike and colleagues in May 2020 showed that males were more willing to accept COVID-19 vaccine with 72% of males showing positive response compared to women, with only 63% of women participants displaying positive, accepting response towards COVID-19 vaccination. (Khubchadani et al., 2021) Conclusion COVID-19 is one of the worst disease outbreaks in recent years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and vaccine hesitancy seems to remain constant, it is clear that there is still an overwhelming amount of sociological and scientific research to ascertain specific causes of vaccine hesitancy by analyzing more specific, and diverse group of people - not only within the United States population but in the worldwide scope. By having analyzing a broader model with more diverse and complex conditions will allow researchers, policy makers and world wide leaders to have deeper and better insight on how to implement effective measures,

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laws and policies to reduce the vaccine hesitancy and increase the effectiveness of various prevention methods - not only for COVID-19 pandemic but also for possible future disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. To further investigate, and expand this study, it is significant to observe and analyze causes behind other pandemics, epidemics and outbreak. This will enable researchers to have greater insight on the possible causes of vaccine hesitancy in general, thus allowing the society to better prepare and implement highly effective prevention strategies during future disease outbreaks. Reference [1] Fridman, A., Gershon, R., & Gneezy, A. (2021). COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy: A longitudinal study. PLOS ONE, 16(4), e0250123. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250123 [2] Khubchandani, J., Sharma, S., Price, J. H., Wiblishauser, M. J., Sharma, M., & Webb, F. J. (2021b). COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in the United States: A Rapid National Assessment. Journal of Community Health, 46(2), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00958-x [3] Kumar, D. (2020). Corona Virus: A Review of COVID-19. Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology. Published. [4] https://doi.org/10.14744/ejmo.2020.51418 [5] Lopez, M. H., Rainie, L., & Budiman, A. (2020, May 5). Financial and health impacts of COVID-19 vary widely by race and ethnicity. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/05/financial-and-health-impacts-of-covid-19vary-widely-by-race-and-ethnicity/ [6] Lupton, R. C. N. H. (2015, March 1). Conservatives are more likely to believe that vaccines cause autism. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkeycage/wp/2015/03/01/conservatives-are-more-likely-to-believe-that-vaccines-cause-autism/ [7] MacDonald, N. E. (2015). Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants. Vaccine, 33(34), 4161–4164. [8] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.036 [9] Mesch, G. S., & Schwirian, K. P. (2015). Social and political determinants of vaccine hesitancy: Lessons learned from the H1N1 pandemic of 2009–2010. American Journal of Infection Control, 43(11), 1161–1165. [10] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.06.031 [11] Motta, M., Callaghan, T., Sylvester, S., & Lunz-Trujillo, K. (2021). Identifying the prevalence, correlates, and policy consequences of anti-vaccine social identity. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 1–15. [12] https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2021.1932528 [13] New Variants of Coronavirus: What You Should Know. (2021, July 23). Johns Hopkins Medicine. [14] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/a-new-strain-ofcoronavirus-what-you-should-know [15] NHS website. (2021, September 6). Main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19). Nhs.Uk. [16] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/main-symptoms/ [17] United States COVID: 41,211,878 Cases and 669,057 Deaths - Worldometer. (2021). Worldometer. [18] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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South Korean Education Culture and its Impact on High school Student-Teacher Relationships and Students’ Mental Health

Author 1

Full Name

Lubiniecki, Sophia

School Name

Dulwich College Seoul

(Last Name, First Name)

Abstract: In South Korea, there has been an ongoing phenomenon of high suicide rates among students but low reported cases of mental health disorders, or other issues that could lead to such unfortunate deaths. This research tries to look into the correlation between these incidents and the academic pressure that students are put under. Using primary survey data sent out to Korean public high school students, information regarding their study patterns as well as their relationship with their parents and teachers was collected to determine the impact of the South Korean education culture on these relationships. The paper concludes that there seems to be a cycle of constant academic pressure and continuous contact with teachers can lead to the negative impact on students’ mental health. It is recommended to include a wider range of qualitative data looking into the individual experience in future studies, as well as data collected over a longer period of time as the students are under different levels of pressure based on the time of the semester.

Keywords: Education, mental health, high school, South Korea, student-teacher relationship

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1. Introduction In South Korea, citizens between the ages of 24-35 years old are some of the most highly educated in the world, with 70% within the group having finished a tertiary education in 2019, whereas countries like the US are at 50% for the same age group (OECD, 2021). This comes as a result of a stronger focus on education in the country during the last three to four decades that was used as a strategy to improve the country's economic rise from the 1980s (Deepti Mani et al, 2018). Yet, this highly prioritised education culture seems to come with a sobering effect on a different aspect of the country: deteriorating and damaged mental health. For example, as of 2021, South Korea has the fourth highest suicide rate in the world, of 28.6 out of every 100,000 people. There is general consensus that the cause of this high value is connected to the extreme pressure put on especially high school students to do thebest possible in their schools and get into top universities (World Population Review; World Health Organization). However, as the academic success of South Korea continues to grow, it only further increases the pressure on the following generation, who, in turn, end up spending most of their time studying. This limits their interaction with their parents and friends and instead means that the students spend a majority of their time in contact with their teachers or instructors. Ultimately, this leaves the relationship between teachers and their students more vital for both the students’ academic success but also their mental health. Although students, parents, and professionals alike have tried to speak up regarding this issue, an apparent social stigma within Korea surrounding mental health seems to be stopping any substantial changes, ultimately just further affecting the lives of students (Anita McKay, 2017).

1.1 Literature Review A study done by H.W Stevenson, S.Y Lee et al. (1985) showed a main difference between Eastern and Western mentalities when it came to raising a child. From a young age, East Asian families prioritise academic success and modify their children’s schedules and household values to achieve this as best as possible (p.733). Yet, the study shows that Western mothers focus significantly less on their children’s academic success compared to Eastern mentalities (734) and more on a “well rounded upbringing”. The prioritisation of academic success coming from Eastern parents is coined ‘education fever’ by Chong Jae Lee (2005) and is expressed through the extracurricular programmes where students attend academies or receive tutoring sessions for subjects in which they are struggling, outside of their regular school time (Chong Jae Lee, 2005). Due to the immense pressure and ‘education fever’, it is common for Korean students to stay in academic institutions, known as ‘hagwons’, until late at night every day. (Jihwan Ryu, 2017; Hagwons are a phenomenon that has come from the strong educational culture in South Korea, and parents spend more than USD15 billion annually on this private

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education, more than any other country in the world. (Borgen Project, 2017). Hagwons are private academic institutions that students are sent to outside of their regular public school, usually to improve themselves in a certain subject. Parents send their children to these academies for a wide range of topics, including English and math, but alsoto receive consultation on their future education at universities. Because hagwon class schedules can be customized to each student, they spend a lot, almost all of their free time in these institutions everyday. This leads to students’ academic success being their sole purpose in their lives until they go to university. As a result of this academic prioritisation being present in people’s lifestyle from a young age, there are unfortunate consequences regarding South Korean students’ mental health. Particularly, suicide amongst high schools students is a major issue; as of 2021, the country has one of the highest suicide rates in the world (World Population Review; World Health Organization, 2021). Research done by the National Youth Policy Institute in 2021 showed that one out of three students had considered suicide in the last year. 40% of Respondents answered academic problems as the reasoning, and 25.5% cited anxiety about their future and career as the reasoning (Chung Mo Yoo, 2021). Furthermore, many professionals even claim that there is a ‘psychological crisis’ among middle to high school students in the 21st century (Kim Hyun Bin, 2018). Yet, this ‘psychological crisis’ does not address a phenomenon regarding the statistics of mental wellbeing for Korea: Even though suicide numbers are noticably high, the annual prevalence of major depressive disorders (MDD) and other psychological illnesses are relatively low, with the prevalence of MDD in 2011 being at only 3.1% (Maeng Je Choe, 2015). This could be a result of the stigma surrounding mental health that is prevalent in society. Research done by James Watkins onthe mental health issue in South Korea showed that 78% of elderly Koreans see depression asa weakness, which, in turn, results in an inclination to avoid seeking help if they are underany mental pressure (James Watkins, 2018). Prof. Park Jong-Ik who teaches psychiatry at Kangwon National University claimed that “the atmosphere around mental health is not so good in terms of the perception about mental illness, government investment and budget allocation. With a rapidly aging society and a struggling economy taking priority on the national political agenda, people who suffer from mental illnesses, particularly those with more severe illnesses, are not a sought-after section of voters and funds are being allocated elsewhere” (Anita McKay, 2017). Professor Park’s statement gives an insight into the phenomenon of such high suicide rates and such low reports of depression rates, and proves that there are people aware of and looking into mental health related issues. Yet, there seems to be a lack of any substantial change for this unfortunate situation. Because students are expected to spend a major part of their time with studies, theyare also in a significantly higher contact with their teachers than their parents. This puts more pressure on the student-teacher relationships. A study done by Menghan Wu at the University of Windsor (2019) outlined a key difference in the role of a teacher in China and the US, however these results can be attributed to the general area of the East and the West.

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Wu concluded that Chinese elementary schools prioritized the teacher and placed higher value on them, instead of the student, leading to a more distant relationship between the two, and the ‘right to brag’ about having the job of a teacher. In the US, teaching styles are more catered to the student, and often teachers are not proud of their work conditions (Meghan Wu,2019). By using Geert Hofstede’s (1986) theoretical standpoint, Alice Yoo classifies Korea asa large power distance society; meaning in teacher/student conflicts, parents have to agree with the teacher over their own child, students are required to show respect to teachers outside of a classroom setting, along with other characteristics that prioritise the teacher over the student (Alice Yoo, 2014). While these studies reveal a key quality of the South Korean education culture that can be used to provide some reason as to why the education in the country is so intense for the student, there seems to be a lack of research regarding the effect that this has on the high school teacher-student relationships as well as its correlation with mental health. Overall, there seems to be a specific type of relationship in these Eastern Asian countries between the teachers and students with such rigorous academic standards. This led me to question the impact of the education culture on certain topics regarding South Korean high school students, and especially mental health. Thus, with this in mind, this paper willfocus on trying to answer and shed some light on the following research question: How is South Korea’s education culture related to the decreasing mental health among its high school students, and how does this strenuous culture influence student-teacher relationships?

2. Methods To answer the proposed research question, I will be making use of qualitative survey data. This data is used so I can collect a wider range of answers that are more descriptive to best suit the personal and sensitive nature of the research focus. In addition, because the topic of the survey is sensitive, the survey was made anonymous to ensure respondents’ comfort and, in turn, to increase the respondents’ honesty. The focus was specifically on Korea public high school students, as international students have a significantly easier academic lifestyle due to the cultural and social differences of those communities. By focusing on Korean students from Korean high schools, the answers are deemed to be more in tune with the specific Korean education culture as aforementioned. The survey consisted of 13 questions regarding students’ schedule and study habits (cf. Appendix 1 - Survey Questions). In order to maximize the number of respondents, the survey was sent out to several high school students in Seoul, as well as uploaded on online cafes where students gather to talk and chat with each other. Still, there were limitations present when trying to acquire more data. Unfortunately, with the ongoing pandemic, any schools that were still open into the middle of summer had to close. Additionally, as we have

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seen from previous literature, there is a current stigma on mental health in South Korea, which could mean that - though they were experiencing difficulties - the students could be inclined to not share this information. For this reason, the survey’s introduction nor its questions did not include a visible connection to mental health. With the above-mentioned limitations in mind, I did my best to spread the surveys as much as possible by sending it to personal contacts at Korean high school as well as handing copies to individuals who are in direct contact with students. In the end, a total of 39 respondents answered providing a good sample size to look into the topic at hand. The full answers can be found in Appendix 2. Because the survey was qualitative, meaning that the students were given open-ended questions, the answers were categorized into groups based on the answers’ similarities. The data was then organized into graphs to better create an overview of the findings (cf. Appendix 3 - Graph Overview).

3. Findings Out of the 39 students surveyed, 85% of them answered that they are enlisted in a hagwon and spent an average of 4 hours studying each day outside of their regular school period (cf. Appendix 3, Graph 5). 77% of respondents said that they have a good to great, even intimate, relationship with their hagwon teachers, whereas 50% of the respondents claimed to have an ‘average’ or ‘just normal’ relationship with their public school teacher; some even answered to having a typical student-teacher relationship (implying that the teacher is of higher thank than them) (cf. Appendix 2). This data indicates an apparent differentiation between the relationships that the students have with their high school teachersversus their hagwon teachers. The difference can come as a result of the amount of time that students spend with their hagwon teachers, as - by the nature of the hagwon - the students are under more meticulous supervision by their hagwon teachers. Another possible reasoning behind the different levels of relationship with the teachers can be correlated with the fact thathagwon teachers are usually younger (cf. chapter 1.1.). The students might be able to better connect with the teachers who are also perhaps more understanding of all the pressures the students are put through on a daily basis. Additionally, because of the smaller sizes (i.e. in terms of amount of students) of the hagwon classes, there is a higher chance of students beingable to interact one on one with their teachers as well as more opportunities for the teachersto check in on the students. When asked who the students turned to whenever they had any sort of problem or issue, 28% of respondents claimed to go to hagwon teachers to talk. Respondents who answered like this were also those who claimed to have a better relationship with their hagwon teacher than with their school teacher. This could be a result of the students spending more time and interacting more with the teachers than they do their parents. As seen from the data, respondents answered spending an average of 4-5 hours at hagwons, compared to 2-3 hours at home or with their parents. Additionally, as was mentioned earlier, hagwon

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teachers tend to have more influence on a student’s schedule and study habits, in comparison to their parents as a result of the nature of their work. Furthermore, 98% of respondents agreed to having their teachers’ phone numbers as well, further indicating that the connection with the teachers as their contact is not limited to just the time spent at school or hagwons, but actually transcends to their time outside of school as well. 25% of respondents claimed to not go to anyone, choosing to try to deal with the situation themselves (cf. Appendix 3, Graph 6). The surprisingly high number of respondents who try to deal with problems themselves could be seen as an indication of the stigma around ‘asking for help’; as, often, this can be related to being ‘weak’ and ‘vulnerable’. Additionally, based on the data, we can see that the students spend 4 hours on studying versus only 2-3 hours with their families as mentioned earlier. This could also have led to the children being put in a situation in which they are expected to solve any possible issues that they might have on their own. Out of the respondents who answered that they did not acquire external help when they had problems, 90% were first year high school students. This indicates that there couldbe a correlation between the year in which a student is in and their overall behaviour and outlook towards their life and academic career. Students in their senior year of high schoolare closer to university and, therefore, can be understood to be under much more pressure to succeed academically than first year students. Finally, as students are more connected with their hagwon teachers, a vulnerability can be found in their relationship. In order to get paid, hagwon teachers have to make sure that their students meet the parents’ set goal within the deadline. This inherent motivation behind the teaching in hagwons can lead to a higher level of pressure on the students from their teachers. Because of the high prices of the hagwons, parents expect results and can put teachers in a position in which they simply cannot afford to consider the students’ mental health. This way, a paradox can be created for the students who tend to go to their hagwon teachers for help, as these same teachers are under pressure to produce results instead of caretaking.

4. Conclusion Based on the study, a correlation can be found between the South Korean education system and the nature of student-teacher relationships. By looking at the collected survey data, it is found that teachers play a prominent role in students’ lives in terms of their schedules as well as academic decisions. Especially hagwon teachers are deemed highly influential in the students’ lives. 98% of respondents answered that they had their teacher’s phone numbers indicating that their contact is not limited to specific school hours. Because ofthe nature of hagwons as well as the high level of contact with their teachers, students are under constant academic pressure. Ultimately, this can affect the students’ mental health as

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they are left to deal with their issues with either peers or their teachers, with only 11% of the respondents answering that they go to their parents for help. This, in turn, perpetuates the cycle of academic pressure on the children. As a result of the economic aspect of hagwons, the paper argues that the student-teacher relationship is made vulnerable as the teachers are paid to provide a specific service within a fixed time period, and an additional focus on the students’ mental well-being is not always possible as it can compromise the ability to reach the goal. This can lead to situations in which they may prioritise their payment over the student’s peace of mind, thus potentially pushing them to work even harder. The study furtherfinds that the academic pressure on the students becomes more palpable in the later years of high school, as they get closer to having to make decisions about university. At this stage, thestudents seem to completely lose interest in other aspects of their lives and focus mostly on their studies as the students now fully become a part of the society’s expectations of their success. With the narrative that people are measured by their academic prowess, this potentially damages one’s sense of self-worth, ultimately leading to a generation of students who do not see themselves as complex, multifaceted beings. Instead, they are competitors fighting to produce the best tangible grades in a race to see who will come out on top.

5. Future Studies For future research, it is recommended to expand the data collection over several semesters as study habits can differ based on the time of the academic calendar. Additionally, a more extensive focus on the quality of the time students spend at home in terms of studying versus socializing with family could enlighten the research further. Through allocating more time and research into this inherent problem within the South Korean status quo, ideas for promoting positive social change could be produced, thus leading to a more open and understanding environment for students around the country.

References [1] Cho, Maeng Je, et al. “Prevalence and Correlates of DSM-IV Mental Disorders in South Korean Adults: The Korean Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study 2011.” Psychiatry Investigation, vol. 12, no. 2, 2 Feb. 2015. Psychiatry Investigation, www.psychiatryinvestigation.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.4306/pi.2015.12.2.164. [2] Kim, Hyun Bin. “More Students Commit Suicide Due to Excessive Stress.” The Korea Times, The Korea Times, 14 Oct. 2018, 16:46, www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/10/119_256871.html. [3] Lee, Chong Jae. “Korean Education Fever and Private Tutoring.” KEDI Journal of Educational Policy, vol. 2, no. 1, 2005. ProQuest, www.proquest.com/openview/9ad1f810fe0e328e3548175ad431715f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar &cbl=946348.

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[4] Mani, Deepti. “Education in South Korea.” WENR, World Education Services, 16 July 2021, wenr.wes.org/2018/10/education-in-south-korea. [5] Mckay, Anita. “Korea Neglecting Mental Health Issues: Experts.” The Korea Herald, The Korea Herald, 10 July 2017, 13:03, www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170710000535. [6] Ryu, Jihwan. “What Are ‘Hagwons’ to Students?” The Herald Insight, Digital Herald, 12May 2017, www.heraldinsight.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=430. [7] Stevenson, Harold W., et al. “Discussion.” Cognitive Performance and Academic Achievement of Japanese, Chinese, and American Children, Society for Research in Child Development, 1985, pp. 733–734. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1129761?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A0e227761c950a020dadd de2c773d6048&seq=16#metadata_info_tab_contents. [8] “Suicide Rating by Country.” World Population Review, World Health Organization, 2021, worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country. [9] Watkins, James. “South Korea's Mental Health Problem - That Koreans Don't Admit.” OZY, OZY, 9 Feb. 2018, www.ozy.com/around-the-world/south-koreas-mental-health-problem-that-koreans-dont-admi t/83629/. [10] Wu, Menghan. “A Comparative Research Study of Student-Teacher Relationships in Elementary School in China and America.” Scholarship at UWindsor, University of Windsor,University of Windsor, May 2019, scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=majorpapers. [11] Yoo, Alice Julianna. “The Effect Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Have on Student-Teacher Relationships in The Korean Context.” Journal of International Education Research, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 28 Mar. 2014, pp. 2–3, clutejournals.com/index.php/JIER/article/view/8519/8526. [12] Yoo, Chung Mo. “1 In 3 Young Students Felt Suicidal Due to Academic Burden: Poll.” Yonhap News Agency YNA, Yonhap News Agency, 19 Apr. 2021, 15:52, en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210419007000315

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Appendix 1 - Survey Questions in English and Korean What year in high school are you in? !" #$%& ' %( )*+? What time does your school start? %& ,- './ .0 1*+? What time does your school finish? %& ,- './ 23*+? Do you go to any academies (hagwon) after school? If yes, what times are your hagwons? %& ,- 4 %5/ 6*+? 789, %5: ;< 6*+? On average, how much time a day do you spend studying? =>?@ .7A BCDEF ?G/ ' .7 )*+? When you have a problem, who do you turn to for help? H<I JK L MN/O PQK R1*+? When you have a problem in school, who do you go to? %&/S H<I JK L MN/O 6*+? When you get sad or stressed out, who do you go to? TUVW XYZXI JK L MN/O 6*+? Do you have your teachers’ phone numbers? [\]^_ `ab cde f# Jg*+? What is your relationship with your teachers at school? %&/S [\]^h ij@ klg*+? What is your relationship with your teachers at hagwon? %5/S [\]^h ij@ klg*+? How would you describe your relationship with your parents? >mn ij@ klg*+?

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Appendix 2 - Survey answers grouped into categories What year in high school are you in? !" #$%& ' %( )*+?

Frequency

1st year

2nd year

3rd year

What time does your school start? %& ,- './ .0 1*+?

Frequency

07:50

08:00

08:10

08:20

08:30

08:40

08:50

09:00

09:10

What time does your school finish? %& ,- './ 23*+?

Frequency

3-4 PM

4-5 PM

5-6 PM

Past 6 PM

Do you go to any academies (hagwon) after school? If yes, what times are your hagwons?

Frequency

%& ,- 4 %5/ 6*+? 789, %5: ;< 6*+? Do attend hagwons

Do not attend hagwons

Average time spent at hagwons a day: 4-5 hours

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On average, how much time a day do you spend studying? =>?@ .7A BCDEF ?G/ ' .7 )*+?

Frequency

1-2 hours

2-3 hours

3-4 hours

4-5 hours

5 hours +

Total average: 4 hours a day When you have a problem, who do you turn to for help? H<I JK L MN/O PQK R1*+?

Frequency

Parents

Friend

Hagwon Teacher

School Teacher

Solve it myself

When you have a problem in school, who do you go to? %&/S H<I JK L MN/O 6*+?

Frequency

Teacher

Friend

Solve it myself

When you get sad or stressed out, who do you go to? TUVW XYZXI JK L MN/O 6*+?

Frequency

Friends

Siblings

Parents

Solve it myself

Do you have your teachers’ phone numbers? [\]^_ `ab cde f# Jg*+?

Frequency

Yes

325

What is your relationship with your teachers at school? %&/S [\]^h ij@ klg*+?

Frequency

Good Average

20 11

Typical student / teacher relationship Bad

5 3

What is your relationship with your teachers at hagwon? %5/S [\]^h ij@ klg*+?

Frequency

Very good

Good

Not close, but fine

Average

Don't go to hagwon

How would you describe your relationship with your parents? 부모와 관계는 어떻습니까? Very good / intimate

Good

Average

Not good / bad

On average, how many hours do you spend a day spending time with your family / parents? 가족과 하루 동안 평균적으로 몇 시간을 같이 보냅니까?

Frequency

1-2 hours

2-3 hours

3-4 hours

4-5 hours

5+ hours

Average daily time with family / parents: 2-3 hours

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Appendix 3 - Survey Answer: Graph Overview

Graph 1:

Graph 2:

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Graph 3:

Graph 4:

328

Graph 5:

Graph 6:

329

Graph 7:

Graph 8:

330

Graph 9:

Graph 10:

331

Graph 11:

Graph 12:

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The future existence of an entity will depend on the practice of non-financial elements: environment, social, and governance. Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Min, Kyeong Won

The Brynmawr School, Baltimore, Maryland

Abstract The environment, a non-financial component, will be one of keys to playing a central role in the survival and development of current companies. In particular, suitable examples can be seen in the resurgence of the shipbuilding industry due to (or because of) the recent development of electric vehicles by Tesla and the Korea LNG ship engine technology. This research paper will include a preliminary survey on the efforts of companies in technology development for such an environment and look into examples of companies receiving investmentby recent corporate investment funds in relation to this environment. This truly shows why the environment plays a key role in company development and success. The second significant aspect in the survival and development of current companies would be the incorporation of social responsibility. Companies that contribute to the country with a sense of corporate social responsibility and, to a certain extent, to local communities, have developed to become world renowned companies, being represented by the whole world. Most representative companies located in the Seattle area, - companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks-lead the development of local communities, receiving the respect, as they continue to help develop human resources of local universities, hire those human resources, and naturally help lead the development of universities. Overall, the companies play the role of a benefactor, affecting thecommunity. These companies are seen to be the largest, most successful renowned companies in the world. Thisonce again shows how much weight social responsibility, a non-financial element, can hold. Finally, the last non-financial element would be governance. Companies, or organizations with transparency in corporate governance are growing globally. Recently, Chinese companies are being expelled from the US stock market and SEC regulations are tightening. Currently, Chinese companies are being expelled in Korea due to instability in financial structure and instability in governance. This reasoning can also be the reasoning of the situation in the United States in relation to their relationship with China. This shows the very true danger of not being able to maintain or incorporate a transparent governance and financial structure, both a non-financial element. All this comes down to this. Although many might not be aware, it is truly important to note that ESG is an important factor in the future survival of companies. The importance is emphasized through the 'Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)' enacted by the United Nations in 2006. It is said that the ESG investment fund will raise 40 billion dollars in funding, but not only that, it would lead to the fact that the fund would increase more

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than twice every year. Through this study, this research paper will look into, and focus on the efforts of each country in establishing new standards in the national economy and how ESG affects companies in detail. Overall, this research paper will focus on how non-financial factors - environment, social, governance - affect the development and survival of current companies and see how current companies apply this into their corporate system.

Keywords: United Nations, Environment, Community development, transparent financial structure

I. Brief Introduction In a 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development report, the concept of "our common future" is more important than "the ability of future generations to meet their needs" (e.g. WCED, 1987:43) [1]Many of the problems caused by climate change have prevented human growth andglobal disease outbreaks and growth [2]The 2015 Paris Agreement [3] and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been reorganized to address these problems. With the inauguration of Joe Biden, the U.S. president, the return to the Paris climate agreement and the declaration of Carbon Neutral [4] by 2050, global movements on climate change have once again gained momentum. Most companies that are considered to have long-term growth potential are active in ESG. In the past,allocating management resources to ESG instead of facility investment was a priority, but now the view that companies should have a long-term eye for ESG and the physical strength to carry out short-term social tasks is gaining ground. Transparent management strategies caring for the environment and society are linked to improving corporate value. This is because brand influence can make it easier to secure management resources by increasing corporate value and raising funds through sustainable bonds. It also has the advantage of upgrading its crisis management capabilities to secure allies that support companies in times of crisis. There are 600 international ESG evaluation institutions, including Bloomberg[6], Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI)[7], and Investor's Business Daily (IBD)[8]and they are at the heart of new growth and investment strategies for companies and countries. ESG-related investment funds in countries around the world also amount to around 40, which is increasing.

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II. Main Body II-1. Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) Figure 1. UN-SDGs mark

Data source: UN

“The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” [8] 1. Ending all forms of poverty everywhere 2. End hunger, achieve food security, achieve improved nutrition and strengthen sustainable agriculture. 3. Ensuring a healthy life and promoting well-being for all ages; 4. Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all; 5. Achieving gender equality and enhancing the rights and interests of all women and girls 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. 7. Ensure access to reliable, sustainable and modern energy at an affordable price for all 8. Sustainable inclusive and sustainable economic growth, complete and productive employment, and the promotion of quality jobs for all; 9. Establish resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and promote innovation; 10. Reducing domestic and inter-country inequality 11. Creating inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and residences 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

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13. Emergency response to combat climate change and its effects 14. Conservation and sustainable use of ocean, sea, and marine resources for sustainable development; 15. Protecting land ecosystems, promoting restoration and sustainable use, preventing desertification of sustainable forest management, halting and restoring land waste, and halting biodiversity loss; 16. Promote a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development, ensure justice for all and establish an effective responsible and inclusive system at all levels 17. Reactivation of global partnerships for strengthening implementation and sustainable development

II-2. Differences and similarities between ESG and Sustainability concepts Sustainability is a rather forward-looking concept, subject to equitable utilization between current and future generations of natural and existing resources. On the other hand, ESG does not presuppose generational fairness, but it has the same sustainability and direction in terms of emphasizing non-financial factors to achieve the values that society should pursue. In addition, ESG and sustainability are similar in effect, in that each economic entity's good pursuit of ESG naturally improves the sustainability of society. There are several backgrounds behind ESG's recent rise to the limelight. Among these, the issue of climate change and the rapid rise of stakeholder capitalism [9] are considered important factorsbehind the current consensus among global intelligence. The latest Paris Agreement is a universal climate change system involving 195 countries, all of which are parties to the agreement, and has a strong influence on each country. The goal is to limit the average temperature increase of the Earth to 1.5 degrees[10]compared to before industrialization so that mankind can be more clearly aware of the temperature limit target. On the basic framework of the Paris Agreement, the "RE100" campaign has recently been highlighted. This is a voluntary movementat the private level, which aims to supply 100% of the company's electricity use with renewableenergy such as wind and solar power. Since the nonprofit The Climate Group began in 2014, 263 companies around the world, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and IKEA, have joined and are gradually expanding. In addition to corporate efforts, the Net-Zero Declaration continues at the government level. NETZERO[11] is an ambitious plan to offset greenhouse gas emissions and elimination, making net emissions zero. To this end, the UN recommended that countries submit the 2050 LongTerm Low Greenhouse Gas Employment Development Strategy (LEDS)[12] by the end of 2020, and the EU declared the world's first NET-ZERO in December 2019. As human efforts to prevent climate change find common ground around the world, ESG has recently seen a surge in interest as a means of measuring, evaluating and managing these efforts. Figure2. Percentage of greenhouse gas emissions by industry sector

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Data source: http://webzine.koita.or.kr/202103-specialissue

Figure3. Reasons to reduce to less than 1.5 degrees.[13]

Data source: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_SPM_version_report

II-3. Now in the midst of ESG innovation, and ESG management has learned from a variety of examples. Digital is key to implementing a circular economy". The combined ESG management of ESG and Digital Transformation, which is being attempted around the EU, is emphasized not only

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on the defensive side of risk avoidance but also on the strategic side of using it as a new business opportunity. Last year, the European Union announced a new industrial strategy to strengthen the EU's industrial competitiveness and secure global capabilities through climate neutralization and digitalization acceleration. CE is a continuous economic structure that recycles resources through management and regeneration at each stage beyond the linear economic structure of collection, production, consumption and disposal. The EU stresses that CE can play a leading role in reducing carbon emissions and waste and lowering production costs in the design, production, use and disposal process so that it can be implemented in a cleaner and more competitive way. It also predicts that 700,000 new jobs will be created in the EU by 2030 through various activities, including allowing consumers to receive information on durability, reuse and repairability of products. The EU has placed digital strategies at the heart of the European Green Deal 7[14]'s specific action plan, expecting DT to play a major role as the engine and catalyst for enabling such CE. DT is about revolutionizing traditional ways of working with the power of data. The EU is drawing a picture of completing the deal with the synergy created here by interlocking the two transformations: digital and circulation. II-3-2. E, S and G fulfill their respective responsibilities and create opportunities. ESG Management Is the Best Choice to Turn an Uncertain Future into a rosy Future major countries and companies are doing their best to differentiate ESG competitiveness in their own ways. As the importance of ESG is expected to be emphasized more in the next generation than now, efforts should be made in the future. According to a survey by CONE's "2019 Gen. Z Purpose Study",[15] 90% of Generation Z believes that companies should help solve ESG issues. Also, 75 per cent said they would personally check whether companies really follow that promise.[16] Figure4.human system

Data source : IPCC

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II-4. Result We analyzed ESG in many ways and looked at the company's future response. Companies around the world are proactively implementing ESG in a variety of ways, especially IT and oil companies. The automotive and chemical industries are also working hard to develop secondary batteries. In the future, each country is talking about lowering the temperature by 1.5 degrees[17], but it may try to lower the temperature further. Since sustainable growth of companies is related to the continuous growth of the country, it is necessary to provide support at the national level and designate next- generation industries as a policy. The U.S. and Europe are rapidly leading ESG investments, making them competitive. Figure4. “ESG” Google Trend 2016~2021

Data source : Google Trend

III. Conclusion We looked at the importance and sustainable growth of ESG from countries around the world, international organizations, investment funds, and various companies. From this assessment or sustainable growth perspective, we can see that environmental issues are related to sustainable growth, and next, social responsibility and contribution to the community are important issues in the company's survival. Also, I could see that the evaluation of young people is also an important criterion for corporate sustainability and job preference. ESG is not just about corporate management, but also because it is so closely related to human existence and continuous growth, I think the importance will continue to be emphasized in the future. Limitations and Improvements in Research This study is simply a research paper from ESG's perspective. The limitation of this study is that it is regrettable that it has not been able to maximize profits through ESG for more accurate data or learn more about changes in the automobile industry, the biggest industry in environmental issues, and China, the biggest problem of maximizing profits for shareholders.

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References [1] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milestones/wced [2] ESG: An acronym for environmental, social and governance, which first emerged in 2005 as an empirical criterion for assessing an entity's non-financial performance, rather than justification for doing good. https://mesin.tistory.com/60 [3] Paris Agreement: The Paris Agreement, the basis of the new climate system, was adopted at the 21st General Assembly of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP21), held in Paris, France in 2015. Under the agreement, 195 parties, which account for more than 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions, agreed to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a global longterm goal of trying not to raise global average temperatures by more than 2°C compared to preindustrial levels. Soyoung Lim Dealing with post-Covid19 Greenswan. Global trends in industry response Issue paper 2021-04 KIET [4] UNSDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): 17 common international targets for solving universal human problems (poverty, disease, education, gender equality refugees, conflict, climate change, energy, environmental pollution, water, biodiversity, economic and social issues (technology, labor, production, social structure, law, internal and external economies) by 2030. http://ncsd.go.kr/unsdgs [5] Carbon Neutral: To increase carbon dioxide uptake by as much as carbon dioxide emissions as to make real carbon dioxide emissions 'zero'. https://www.bloomberg.com/asia [6] https://www.msci.com/visualizing-investment-data/esg-investing-finding-your-motivation [7] ncsd.go.kr/ [8] https://unemg.org/our-work/supporting-the-sdgs/the-un-sustainable-developmentgoals/#:~:text=The%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals,more%20sustainable%20future%20fo r%20all.&text=The%20Goals%20interconnect%20and%2C%20in,Goal%20and%20target%20by%20 2030 [9] MUNHWA NEWSPAPER 2021 06. 08 http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2021060801033011000002#:~:%20text=%EC%9D%B 4%ED%95%B4%EA%B4%80%EA%B3%84%EC%%209E%90%20%EC%9E%90%EB%B3%B8% EC%A3%BC%EC%9D%98%20%28Stakeholder%20Capitalis%20m%29%EB%8A%94%20%EA% B8%B0%EC%97%85%EC%9D%B4%20%EB%8B%A8%EA%B8%B0%%2020%EC%84%B1%EA %B3%BC%EC%97%90%20%EA%B8%89%EA%B8%89%ED%95%B4%ED%95%20%98%EB%8 B%A4%EA%B0%80,%EC%9D%BC%EC%9C%BC%ED%82%AC%20%EB%95%8C%EB%20% A7%88%EB%8B%A4%20%EC%A3%BC%EC%A3%BC%20%EC%9E%90%EB%B3%B8%EC% A3%%20BC%EC%9D%98%20%28Shareholder%20Capitalism%29%EC%9D%98%20%EB%8C%8 0%EC%95%88%20%EC%9C%BC%EB%A1%9C%20%EA%B1%B0%EB%A1%A0%EB%90%9C %EB%8B%A4 [10] https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/briefing-net-zero-for-corporates?kw=+net-+zeroBroad&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9rzH3PSl8QIV-sEWBR3EbwDfEAAYASAAEgL6G_D_BwE [11] 2050 LEDS https://www.gihoo.or.kr/2050LEDS/intro.do [12] https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_SPM_version_report_LR.pdf [13] https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_SPM_version_report

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[14] https://www.keei.re.kr/web_keei/d_results.nsf/main_all/A5F55098EA9A551E492586160020F88E/$fi le/2001_%EC%88%98%EC%8B%9C_%EC%9C%A0%EB%9F%BD%20%EA%B7%B8%EB%A6%B0 %EB%94%9C%EC%9D%98%20%EB%8F%99%ED%96%A5%EA%B3%BC%20%EC%8B%9C% EC%82%AC%EC%A0%90.pdf [15] https://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/cone-gen-z-purpose-study [16] https://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/cone-gen-z-purpose-study ‘Holding Companies Accountable: 90% believe companies must act to help social and environmental issues and 75% will do research to see if a company is being honest when it takes a stand on issues.’ [17] IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. https://www.ipcc.ch/ [18] http://www.climate.go.kr/home/cooperation/lpcc.php [19] Google Trend. https://trends.google.com/trends/?

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The Relationship between Liberalism and Gender Equality

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Park, Soyeon

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy

Abstract: In The Feminist Critique of Liberalism, Nussbaum elucidates the affiliation between liberalism and feminism; for the sake of argument, liberalism should be understood as a strong belief in liberty and equality, while gender equality is an aftermath that naturally follows liberalism. Nussbaum refers to liberalism in Mill and Rawl’s tradition. She argues that the treatment of humans in liberalism must respect and promote liberty and must respect the equality of people as rational beings with individual choices. Nussbaum advocates equal opportunity, maintained by Rawl’s A Theory of Justice; Rawls attempts to reconcile freedom and equality. Furthermore, John Stuart Mill’s view on liberty and The Subjection of Women further supports the affiliation between liberalism and gender equality. Each of these ideas supporting the affinity between liberalism and gender equality encompasses certain objections. However, the liberalism and gender equality that Nussbaum, Rawls, and Mill argue renders the objections ineffective, thereby affirming “the relationship between liberalism and gender equality” as a relatively stronger and a more satisfactory argument. The research will first state the arguments for the affiliation of liberalism and gender equality, then their possible objections, followed by how the objections ultimately fail.

Keywords: Liberty, Equality, Gender, Liberalism, Rawls, Mill, Nussbaum

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In The Feminist Critique of Liberalism, Nussbaum elucidates the affiliation between liberalism and feminism; for the sake of argument, liberalism should be understood as a strong belief in liberty and equality, while gender equality is an aftermath that naturally follows liberalism. Nussbaum refers to liberalism in Mill and Rawl’s tradition. She argues that the treatment of humans in liberalism must respect and promote the liberty and must respect the equality of people as rational beings with individual choices. Nussbaum advocates equal opportunity, maintained by Rawl’s A Theory of Justice; Rawls attempts to reconcile freedom and equality. Furthermore, John Stuart Mill’s view on liberty and The Subjection of Women further supports the affiliation between liberalism and gender equality. Each of these ideas supporting the affinity between liberalism and gender equality encompasses certain objections. However, the liberalism and gender equality that Nussbaum, Rawls, and Mill argue renders the objections ineffective, thereby affirming “the relationship between liberalism and gender equality” as a relatively stronger and a more satisfactory argument. This paper will first state the arguments for the affiliation of liberalism and gender equality, then their possible objections, followed by how the objections ultimately fail. Mill’s view on liberty, as mentioned in On Liberty, addresses that the individual’s freedom is bound to the harm of others. One of his main arguments, the harm principle, proposes that an individual’s actions are free, provided that these actions do not harm the bystanders. If the action involves only the perpetuator and his or her own wellbeing, then the society has no right to intervene; however, individuals should not do serious damage to themselves or their property, for no one exists in isolation, harm done to oneself, and damaging the property affects the bystanders. Rooted in his view on liberty, Mill also argues for the affiliation of gender equality; under Mill’s view of liberalism, there should be no gender inequality. As mentioned in the lecture regarding The Subjection of Women, he especially views gender inequality as a “hindrance in human improvement”; gender inequality constrains liberty, which is a benefit in its own right. Mill would thus argue against gender inequality and propose that liberalism should ensure the existence of gender equality. In arguing for gender equality, Mill takes a different approach from inductive evidence and logical reasoning, and relies more on intuition. A potential objection to Mill’s argument may be that intuitions can explain what people commonly think of as concepts at least; however, understanding concepts cannot comprehensively explain reality. For instance, even if people had a clear and comprehensive concept on tooth fairies, it wouldn’t necessarily suggest that tooth fairies exist. In the same logic, even if people think that there is gender inequality and agree on the concept of gender inequality, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that there is gender inequality in the society. Hence, liberalism cannot “ensure the existence of gender equality,” unless it can prove that gender inequality violates the liberalist principles. Moreover, the harm principle would forbid the society to intervene to guarantee gender equality, since the existence of gender inequality cannot be proven. Many of concepts that people have a general consensus upon, however, are based on intuitions. People should not abide by certain concepts just because intuitions are limited in proving in proving the existence of concepts. For instance, freedom and love are a paragons of

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concepts based on intuitions. Nevertheless, people abide concepts such as love and freedom, through a conglomeration of people’s intuition and general consensus of on what the concepts should comprise of. If concepts were ignored were ignored on the grounds that they cannot be proven, there would be no progress; in the same logic, just because gender inequality cannot be proven, people wouldn’t “pretend” to not to know about it is and violate women’s liberty. Thus, ensuring gender equality does not violate the harm principle, within the understanding that people have about gender inequality, since gender inequality constrains women’s liberty; liberty is a benefit in its own right. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to reconcile freedom and equality; he argues for justice as fairness. He uses the distributive justice to develop his argument and appeals to the social contract. Justice as fairness is offered to cooperate with others, but also increase the benefits and reduce the burdens of cooperation; in it, people are neither altruists nor egoists. Also, human beings are rational in Rawl’s argument. Rawls argues, people should have a “principle of equal basic liberties” that ensure assets of liberal freedom. He also argues that people have the right obtain and manipulate based on their self sufficiency and moral capacity. However, people also want to live a worthwhile life with adequate freedom, wherever they end up. Thus, Rawls promotes the difference principle, which ensures that inequalities benefit the worst-off in the society. Hence, Rawl’s view of liberalism does not discriminate between males and females; rather, it enhances gender equality. As mentioned in class discussion regarding Rawl’s criticism by Nozick, a potential objection to this argument is that the original position idea begs the question against the entitlement theories. That is, the argument assumes as a premise the conclusion it is arguing for. Thus, the argument offers no progress. Does it follow that result A is just if the situation in which A arrived is just? In response, when Rawl sets up his argument, theory of justice was intended to describe basic structure of society. Hence, the objection regarding “begging the question” misses the point. Under the veil of ignorance, people do not know how they are entitled to their possessions. Moreover, behind the veil of ignorance, people are not asked to be just, but are asked what they want. Hence, the outcome must be a conglomeration of what people want. Rational people would not argue against their wellbeing; gender inequality should not exist, in Rawlsian liberalism. Thus, what is just is indeed a result of a society based on a just structure. The basic idea that Nussbaum gives is that liberalism can accommodate feminism, by reconciling liberalism with the radical versions of feminism. According to Nussbaum, assets of liberalism include values such as autonomy, rights, dignity, and self respect; she believes that feminism share these values that improved women’s lives. Radical feminists however, reject the affiliation of gender equality and liberalism on three grounds. First of all, extreme individualism in liberalism violates feminine values, which are socially oriented; feminists also believe that liberalism relies too much on self sufficiency, which promotes male dominant traditions.

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Nussbaum, however, points to the fact that the radical feminists cannot distinguish the difference between individualism and self-sufficiency; individualism doesn’t imply self sufficiency. The radical feminists also fail to recognize that self sufficiency is a good thing for women; if female were to take the “consistently individualistic” liberalist view it would indeed be beneficial for women because they were brought up to be bound by the family. As the society has become more liberal, the role of self sufficiency has allowed the women to break the gender stereotype and acquire a new status in the society. For this reason, emphasis on individual responsibility and self-sufficiency is good for women. Furthermore, this sort of individual responsibility is not necessarily linked to extreme individualism; feminists only look at the “sterile strands” of liberalism. Radical feminists’ second objection to the affinity between liberalism and feminism involves liberalism’s abstraction versus reality. The abstract view of rights does not consider adequately the concrete facts of tradition, history and individual differences. Liberalism has helped to reduce abuse of women in family situations due to its emphasis on personal rights in the abstract, which help women by extending rights into domains not previously included. The same case maybe observed in Mill’s argument regarding intuition. Moreover, Liberalism has traditionally been developed through historical disadvantages. Hence, concrete reality is not ignored in the liberal tradition. Liberalism’s emphasis on abstraction, dignity and self respect has helped the subjugation of women. Lastly, the radical feminists argue that liberalism is too rational, which ignores emotional attachments and puts too much emphasis on traditionally male virtues. Rationality, however, can benefit women as much as it constrains them. As shown in Rawl’s argument, rationality can give women equality. After all, liberalism should be understood as a strong belief in liberty and equality, while gender equality is an aftermath that naturally follows liberalism.

Bibliography [1] Mill, John Stuart. 1859. On liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. [2] Mill, John Stuart. 1869. The subjection of women. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer. [3] Nussbaum, Martha C. 1997. The Feminist Critique of Liberalism. [Lawrence, Kan.]: Dept. of Philosophy, University of Kansas. [4] Rawls, John. 2005. A Theory of Justice. London, England: Belknap Press.

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Effectiveness of ESG Management in Korea Companies

Author 1

Full Name

Son, Suyun

School Name

Daewon Foreign Language High School

Full Name

Cho, Minseo

Daewon Foreign Language High School

(Last Name, First Name)

Author 2

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: This study was conducted under the purpose of proving ESG management can help boost company wealth not only for multinational companies but also domestic ones as well. By evaluating the increasing global trend of ESG implementation and unique characteristics of Korean society that may affect the domestic ESG scene, we have identified the roots of the widespread misconception of ESG being harmful to company performance. We have analyzed two companies, Naver and SK Innovation, as examples of showing increased financial performance followed by the implementation of ESG management. Through this study, we hope for company owners, stockholders, or any other stakeholders in the economy to realize that ESG management, unlike its misunderstanding of being accomplished at the sacrifice of profit, is rather helpful for a company’s wealth. Also, we expect this study to contribute to the dispersion of ESG implementation to Korean companies and ultimately carry out a true sustainable society that lives up to the fundamental purpose of ESG.

Keywords: ESG management, environment, social activities, corporation, governance

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I. Introduction 1.1 Purpose With a certain amount of affluence attained and the increasing importance of social activism in today’s society, the priorities of one of the most influential actors in modern capitalistic society, companies, have shifted from pure profit generation to consideration of other surrounding factors of the civil reality. They now recognize and act on their social responsibilities even if it means the sacrifice of a portion of their profits, which is an economic phenomenon that could not have dared been imagined even a few decades ago. One of the ways such changes are manifest is the increasing implementation of ESG management. The emergence and implementation of ESG management is meaningful in that it reflects the evolved roles and responsibilities of companies in contemporary society. The old-fashioned goal of prioritizing profit with the sacrifice of society and environment does no longer work. Rather, companies nowadays are expected to take social responsibility even if it means generating less profit. This is due to the increased conscience and morals in consumption of the public. People no longer only buy what is the cheapest. Instead, people can afford the luxury to activate their morals in consumption, and because the impact of companies on our society is increasing by the day (and the people know it), the public is more reluctant to easily buy a product they know will kill people and animals on the other side of the planet. In fact, studies show 50% of consumers are influenced by the fact of whether a company practices sustainability or not, and the percentage is significantly higher among Generation Z and Millenials. This age proportion is important as they are the future generation, meaning if a company wants to be sustainable not only socially but also economically, ESG implementation is vital. In other words, ESG management is no longer an option but an obligation in today’s global economy. Regardless of its importance, however, companies are still reluctant to incorporate a rather novel management style of high risk in the fear that it may deteriorate their profits. At a glance, this seems sensible—ESG management means an increased expense for social responsibility that seems more to be charity work rather than contribute to money. However, recent studies have shown that ESG implementation and profits do in fact have a direct correlation with not only profit generation but also company investment. According to MSCI, between 2015-2018, the top 30 companies that were active in reducing emissions had an increase of 15% of company value while that of the bottom 30 companies reduced by 12%. Plus, Black Rock, one of the world’s biggest investment management cooperation, announced they would add a requirement of reducing 15% of emissions when they invest or take over a company, and would consider ESG in all active products. As such, statistics show that ESG has a positive effect on company wealth as opposed to social perception. However, while objective facts have shown that ESG management is beneficial to both the economic and social sectors of a company, the misconception of the public that ESG is detrimental to profit generation is still widespread, especially among older generations who consist a majority of influential investors and stockholders. Especially with those age groups being conservative and having a tendency to resist changes, they are one of the major impediments in the ESG implementation in Korean companies.

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As ESG is a relatively novel term, especially in Korea, it is mostly at a pioneering stage. Only a few major companies that can afford resources are the ones consisting most of the participants in the domestic ESG field, while others have doubt regardless of objective statistics. In order for a truly sustainable society and economy, there needs to be no distinction of such; all companies must be given the opportunity to at least try implementing one of the most essential management strategies in today’s economy without irrational fears stopping them. Through this study, we aim to prove that ESG works not only for huge multinational companies but also domestic ones by explaining the linkage of a company’s ESG performance and changes in its financial performance and eradicate unreasonable perceptions of ESG amongst the public. 1.2 Significance of Study As aforementioned, ESG management is being deemed as a necessary and definite strategy for a company to take on, and global companies are working towards that perception. But if Korean companies ignore such practices based on subjective misinterpretations of the correlation of ESG and profits, they will no longer have a place in the global economy which affects the national economy and power as well. In other words, the implementation of Korean ESG companies isn’t only a matter of its influence on the community--it is also a matter of national power . Therefore, by proving ESG is effective in financial performance for domestic companies as well, this study will contribute to eradicating misperceptions of ESG and spread ESG management among companies in Korea, ultimately attaining a genuine sustainable society both socially and economically.

II. Introduction of ESG Management 2.1 Definition of ESG ESG criteria refer to environmental, social, and corporate governance factors which are taken into consideration when socially-conscious investors and shareholders want to screen investments and assess a company’s impact on the world. Briefly explained, the E for environmental encompasses both indirect and direct effect that companies’ activities have on the environment. The S for social includes the impact that a company has in the community. The G for governance alludes to the company’s corporate governance - for example, shareholder rights and tax transparency. A company’s ESG management is usually assessed by a third-party organisation ESG performance. There are several authoritative rating agencies. In fact, Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) is mainly used by domestic and foreign companies as an ESG management evaluation indicator, as well as the Dow Jones (DJSI) sustainability index. 2.2 ESG Guidelines DJSI (Dow Jones Sustainability Indices) has been the world’s most well recognized ESG (Environment, Society, and Governance) evaluation. The DJSI World (Dow Jones Sustainability™ World Index) represents the top 10% of the largest 2500 companies in the S&P

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Global Broad Market Index based on long-term economic and ESG factors. The DJSI benchmarks consist of three geographical breakdowns: DJSI World (including DJSI Emerging Markets), DJSI Regions, and DJSI Countries. Indices within these geographical divisions use different starting universes and different percentiles to mark the “cut off” point in selecting the most sustainable companies (see Constituent Selection for details). This means that the emerging markets, country and regional indices are not simply sub-indices of the DJSI World, and there is no “roll up” of indices from country, to region, to world. The key factor in selecting constituents for any DJSI index is a company’s S&P Global ESG Score, calculated under SAM’s annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). If a company adds ESG profile points and preparedness, that’s its ESG score. Profile development assesses the exposure of an entity’s operations to observable ESG risks and opportunities, accounting for the governance structure in mitigating risks and capitalizing on opportunities. In the environmental sector, they look for greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution, water use, and land use. In the social sector, they look for workforce and diversity, safety management, customer engagement, and communities. Lastly for the governance sector, they have their criteria on corporation structure and oversight, codes and values, transparency and reporting, and cyber risks. With over 45 years of expertise in research, data and technology, MSCI enables its clients to make better investment decisions. They have their own unique criteria to assess a company's ESG rate. They assign percentage weights to each ESG risk, according to their assessment. Their ESG Ratings range from leader (AAA, AA), average (A, BBB, BB) to laggard (B, CCC). A company lagging its industry based on its high exposure and failure to manage significant ESG risks and a company with a mixed or unexceptional track record of managing the most significant ESG risks and opportunities relative to industry peers is included in the average range. For a company leading its industry in managing the most significant ESG risks and opportunities is in the leader part. To determine these ratings, MSCI evaluates thousands of data points across 35 key ESG factors. An environmental pillar is divided into 4 parts which are climate change, natural capital, pollution and waste, and environment opportunities. Climate change includes carbon emissions, product carbon footprint, financing environmental impact, and climate change vulnerability. Natural Capital includes water stress, biodiversity & Land use, and raw material sourcing. Pollution & water includes toxic emissions & waste, packaging material & waste, and electronic waste. Environmental opportunities include clean technology, green building and renewable energy. Secondly, the social pillar consists of human capital, product liability, stakeholder opposition, and social opportunities. Labor Management, health & safety, human capital development, and supply chain labor standards are included in human capital. On the product liability criteria, product safety & quality, chemical safety, consumer financial protection, privacy & data security, responsible investment, and ensuring health & demographic risk are the evaluation standards. For the stakeholder opposition, controversial sourcing and community relations are included. Lastly, for social opportunities, access to communication, access to finance, access to health care, and opportunities in Nutrition & Health are major criteria. Lastly, for the governance pillar, corporate governance which includes board, pay, ownership, and accounting and corporate behavior which includes business ethics and tax transparency are the two major criteria of

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evaluation. However there are problems in Korea that each evaluation agency has a significant difference in its evaluations and they do not clearly disclose the criteria for rating or scoring, other than the fact that evaluation indicators have increased steadily due to the latest management trends. The criteria for each indicator are ambiguous. If the agency puts the items about hiring females into the evaluation criteria, they need to give some guidelines to companies such as what percentage they should hire, but there are no such things. In result, people are saying that the more ESG management principles emerge, the happier only law firms and consulting firms that claim to be counseling roles will be. It also makes investors concerned that ESG's original intention to become a sustainable company by building trust with various stakeholders surrounding the company, not just for profit creation, will be reduced to a means of making money for those who claim to be evaluation institutions. The MSCI Korea ESG Leaders Index indicates companies with Environmental, Social and Governance performance relative to their sector peers. According to MSCI Korea ESG Index 2021, the top 10 constituents are Naver, Kakao Corporation, LG Chem, Samsung SDI corporation, KB financial group, Shinhan financial group, LG Electronics, LG Household & Health, SK Innovation corporation, and SK Telecom corporation. Four out of ten companies are corporations providing communication services and two of them are related to the financial sector. The Communication Services sector took 24.23%, materials for 14.68%, information technology for 14.04% and financials got 12.29%. Different from the MSCI Korea ESG Leaders Index, the MSCI Korea index is designed to measure the performance of the South Korean market with 103 constituents. Currently, there are about 360 ESG evaluation criteria across 70 countries around the world, but the ambiguity of ESG measurement institutions and criteria remains a challenge. Experts emphasized the necessity of a unified ESG evaluation standard. They said that a specific evaluation standard should be prepared to prevent confusion. Companies are struggling to come up with internationally unified ESG evaluation standards. At the World Economic Forum held in September 2020, the world's four largest accounting firms, developed a common ESG framework for companies to use, and published a report containing 21 key indicators and 34 expansion indicators. In December 2020, five organizations, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Commission (SASB), the International Integrated Reporting Commission (IIRC), the Climate Open Standards Commission (CDSB) and the Carbon Information Disclosure Project (CDP), announced plans to integrate ESG standards. 2.3 Why We Chose Naver and SK Innovation According to the MSCI Korea ESG Universal Index, Naver and SK Innovation were the leading Korean companies in terms of ESG Management. Naver and SK Innovation represent the communication services sector and the information technology sector respectively, while simultaneously containing unique characteristics of Korean business management. Due to these factors, we thought these two companies would be the best and exemplary

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representation of Korean ESG management and thus fit our topic.

III. Case1 – Naver 3.1 Company Introduction Naver is a leading internet search portal in South Korea began as a venture firm in 1999. Naver Corporation runs its search platform, commerce, and fintech business based on the “Naver” service. It has the nation’s largest internet data center. As an ICT company, it is expanding its business worldwide. Its ESG management is mostly focused on the environmental footprint of hardware infrastructure, data privacy, advertising standards & freedom of expression, data security and employee recruitment. 3.2 Environment Sector As Naver will construct their second data center and increase data usage in the 5G era, their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are forecast to increase. To solve these problems, they are trying to minimize such risks. In response, Naver established the "2040 Carbon Negative" with a goal of zero carbon emissions and started establishing a roadmap for annual implementation earlier this year. First, they are saving resources through E-contracts. Naver is reducing paper consumption, which in turn is leading to reduction of CO2 emissions, by switching from the paper-based contract to a full electronic contract. Second, their headquarters and the Data Center GAK have been built in consideration of the environment starting from the design. Opened in June 2013, their Data Center “GAK” lowers the impact of heat in an environmentally-friendly way. They are also operated in an ecofriendly way, trying to reduce energy by reducing electric power consumption in the summer, improving facility operations, and using renewable energy, such as geothermal heat/photovoltaic. It also uses Snow Melting method to save energy, which is a road heating system which uses waste heat in the wintertime, photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation and a natural cooling system using outside air. By installing sensors that detect temperature inside the Center so that they can optimize air flow. Not only for the energy but also considering water consumption, the Center makes more use of a water thermal storage system which stores electricity at night, then uses during the day. They are making efforts to reduce their water consumption while increasing water reuse. They use water-saving sanitary fixtures and rainwater. They are also known for using recycled energy by using LED lighting and electric vehicles. Not only their data center but also their headquarters, Green Factory’s energy consumption has fallen over the past three years. In 2020, they reduced their energy consumption by 5.86% and GHG emissions by 6.24% compared to the previous year. Their second office building, which is expected to be completed in 2021, also installed a geothermal system and photovoltaic system on the rooftop. The interiors are designed to use a panel cooling system to save energy. During construction, it is recycling at least 98% of construction sites and striving to reduce noise and dust pollution. Through their efforts, their power usage

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effectiveness level is at close to 1. Third, they established the ESG committee, which consists of three CEOs and three independent directors, so that the board can oversee climate-related risks and opportunities. The ESG Committee decides Naver’s long term climate change strategy and establishes a roadmap for the implementation of a carbon negative project. It conducts environmental education for executives and employees and tries to execute investments and raise capital for the implementation of climate change strategies of Naver. By carrying out execution management and supervision, they planned to publish reports to expand the disclosure of ESG information. Lastly, Naver issued "Sustainability Bond," a five-year foreign currency ESG bond worth $500 million, at an annual interest rate of 1.5 percent on March 23. Naver is the first among Internet/IT companies around the world to issue debut bonds as ESG bonds. ESG bonds are special purpose bonds issued for the purpose of socially responsible investment. Green Bonds used in eco-friendly business areas and Social Bonds used to solve social problems are classified as sustainable bonds.

Figure 1: Environmental Efforts made by Naver as part of their ESG management practices

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3.3 Social sector Their plans for social contributions include digital literacy, support for small and medium enterprises(SMEs), and Startups. First, Naver helps SMEs that have business with Naver through shopping platforms and suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic by easing the burden of commission and marketing fees through the Naver platform. By enhancing selfsustainability of early-stage online startups by providing financial support for training, consulting, and marketing expenses, and reducing the fee for opening a store at Naver Shopping. Naver assists SMEs’ efforts to go digital with various forms of online support related to Kiosk set-up, mobile ordering, delivery service management, and online employee training. They also offer free online consulting on such issues as labor, legal, and tax and help SMEs advance into the overseas market through direct contracts between partners and the company’s overseas subsidiaries. Naver's representative SME support program is "Project Flower." The project, which marks its fifth anniversary this year, is a project to create an online start-up. Currently, 450,000 online founders are active on the Naver platform, and Smart Store SME's smart store transactions amounted to 17 trillion won last year. In addition, the growth project of offline SME based on the neighborhood has begun in earnest, creating more than 100 neighborhood markets across the country. Second, they make a partnership with local agricultural, fishery, and livestock producers, and governments, so that they can help local producers. They provide management, education, and welfare support to enhance self-sustainability of relatively small suppliers. They are also supporting the growth of technology related start-ups by offering business space and development infrastructure support. They make equity investments in tech start-ups and help them attract investments. They provide work space free of charge. Related to the social factors, they also consist of employees from diverse backgrounds. They are taking the lead in creating an environment where employees can work freely with one’s own capabilities. Holding a program called Global Lunch once a month for foreign employees, they try to reflect various opinions. Their male-to-female ratio is about 65:35. They do not impose any glass ceiling limitations and salary discrepancy based on gender. 3.4 Governance Sector Naver is trying to increase shareholder value and gain market trust by communicating with shareholders and investors through various channels to advance its governance structure. They communicate with investors regarding various issues by conferences. Naver’s largest shareholder is the National Pension Service, and foreign shareholders. To increase shareholder value and gain market trust by communicating with them through a wide range of channels, they operate a separate IR page on their website in both Korean and English so that shareholders can easily access information. It publishes annual reports as well as sales reports, articles of association and audit reports at shareholders' meetings to help investors make decisions based on more accurate information. They also transparently disclose the governance system through the Corporate Governance Report. They Encouraged directors to attend Analyst Day so that they can expand communication opportunities with shareholders. In the future, they will further

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expand the participation of outside directors in major IR events to listen to what shareholders expect from Naver and actively reflect them on the board of directors to review various measures to make innovative and shareholder-friendly operations. In order to increase the predictability and transparency of shareholder return, they established and announced shareholder return policy in 2019. Naver pays cash dividends and implements stock repurchases every year. They also set the shareholder return at 30% of the average of the consolidated free cash flows for the previous two years to stabilize returns by reducing fluctuations. The board of Naver consists of 6 male and 1 female. By having separated roles of the CEO and Board Chairman, they ensured the independence of the board and transparency. It has five board sub-committees (Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Outside Director Nominating Committee, Risk Management Committee, and ESG Committee). The board is operated by directors who have extensive professional knowledge and experience in their fields. For ESG investors, data privacy risk has become a crucial metric in assessing the companies in which they invest. Naver has once had a personal information leakage incident in the process of providing receipts needed for year-end tax adjustment. After the incident, to make improvements they established a system preventing infringement during the data transmission process. And as the nation's largest search portal, it strictly applies privacy principles for its users. They created their own control services named Private Impact Assessment (PIA) and the Privacy Information Management System (nPIMS). Those systems manage risks, so that personal information protection can be fully established. Naver also operates a training system for their employees to enhance their awareness of personal information protection. They transparently discloses processing of user’s personal information at all times and collects minimum personal information in accordance with the purpose and responsibly manages personal information. Naver guarantees user’s freedom of expression and intellectual property rights by applying the policy regulations. For the company's ethical management, leaders in positions with considerable roles and responsibilities undergo separate ethical management training in the form of workshops every year. They also offered training to newly hired employees. In March, there was an online training designed to inform all employees of integrity related to corporate ethics, anti corruption,and human rights, and its significance. NAVER has established a system designed to prevent fraud risks in advance and detect them afterwards. As a part of these efforts, they are operating a “Self-Check System” that allows the employees themselves to build a culture of cautiousness to prevent serious fraud. The system, which is based on constant monitoring, frequently monitors unusual cases in the system across individuals, management support, business, and technology, and if any abnormal data is detected, a mail is sent to the relevant employee, who is then given an opportunity to provide an explanation. Further actions are taken as and when necessary. They are enhancing the effectiveness of monitoring by improving the monitoring scenarios, while expanding the scope of application, in a drive to boost our systematic countermeasures to corruption risks. NAVER continuously conducts surveys of all its partners to check that their transaction process with NAVER (selection of companies, terms

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of contracts, termination of contracts, etc.) is transparent and fair. NAVER also conducts an annual ethical awareness survey toward all its employees in order to check and monitor the corporation’s overall level of ethics on a regular basis. NAVER operates the Business Ethics Consulting Center to enable employees to receive consultation and to report employees unethical abuses of the rules and regulations, such as the unfair handling of work; the use of one’s position to make undue demands; the provision or receipt of money, goods, entertainment, or conveniences; interference in the business of partners; complaint related to payment; leakages of confidential information; and/or any other corrupt or unlawful conduct. The Business Ethics Consulting Center can be freely accessed through the Naver website in Korean and English, and reports can be made using a false name or anonymously. Complying with tax laws is an important part of management. To faithfully fulfill its tax payment duties in accordance with laws, Naver says that they strictly comply with domestic and overseas tax regulations in all our transactions. To prevent tax issues in special interest party transactions at home and abroad, they established a price policy and continued monitoring. To enhance transparency in tax burden for stakeholders, NAVER discloses tax-related information through business reports. In addition, for appropriate tax law application and protection of stakeholders, they conduct a final review by internal and external tax experts on major tax items, and comply with filing obligations. When conducting transactions, NAVER determines risks and makes decisions beforehand in consideration of opinions given by outside tax experts. To prevent the various tax risks that may arise from trading of goods and services, M&A, corporate restructuring, and transaction structure change, they make a final decision by comprehensively reviewing the results of examining task risks and various business decision factors. Lastly, Naver recently announced that it will introduce the "Stock Grand" system to strengthen employees' competitiveness in compensation. StockGrand is a stock compensation method that gives employees free shares held by the company. Naver will pay 10 million won worth of Naver shares to all employees except executives. Naver, which has been providing stock options worth 10 million won to all employees every year for three years from 2019 to this year, tries to share its performance with employees by adding StockGrand. 3.5 Limitation Naver's ESG management is well received by global rating agencies. Naver ranked second among Asian Internet/Software companies in the "ESG Report" published by Hong Kong-based securities firm CLSA in March. In addition, Naver also scored higher compared to global Internet companies, including major ESG evaluation agencies such as MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) and Sustainalytics. Naver is leading the new ESG era in Korea. The corporate governance reform conducted in 2017 has had the effect of increasing long-term corporate value. However, Naver needs a lot of development in the environment and governance sector. It was rated better than the industry average in energy usage and waste recycling rates, and the greenhouse gas emissions and water recycling rates were at the industry average level, but the

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fine dust emissions were three times larger than the industry average. Furthermore, the adequacy of executive/employee remuneration in the governance sector has been raised as a problem. The ratio of remuneration between executives and employees was 3.5 times larger than the industry average in the appropriateness of executive/employee conservation. ESG management that overcomes these problems seems to be necessary.

IV. Case2 – SK Innovation 4.1 Company Introduction SK innovation is a global energy and chemical company that runs battery and E&P businesses with 6 major subsidiaries: SK energy, SK global chemical, SK lubricants, SK incheon petrochem, SK trading international, and SK IE technology. They have established a value chain in the oil and chemical industry with the development of petroleum and invest in battery and material sectors. It was listed in the “DJSI World Company” for the 4 consecutive years. (DJSI World Company represents the top 10% of the largest 2500 companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index based on long-term economic and ESG factors.) 4.2 Environment Sector SK innovation is one of the most active companies participating in eco-friendly business models. SK innovation has focused on electric vehicle battery and related core materials business. It has pursued eco-friendly management by distributing infrastructure including SK gas stations, LPG stations and Netruck Houses. These stations enable electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling. Furthermore, they are in partnerships with global corporations to achieve Plastic to Chemical beyond Plastic to Fuel. SK energy developed Premium Asphalt which consists of fewer odors from ascon, less exhausted gases and less fine dust for the first time. It also reduces construction cost and leads to less damage to roads. SK energy is also trying to find ways to recycle waste ascon. SK global chemical developed high crystallinity plastic products which feature the same strength and shock absorption with less plastic content. The expansion of environment-friendly plastic sales contribute to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions while minimizing the use of resources. SK also made eco-friendly lubricants. It boasts a 3% better fuel efficiency than the existing ones, resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. SK global chemical has replaced an ozone layer with an ecofriendly one contributing to less pollutant emissions. Energy Storage System enables generated electricity to be saved through lithium-ion batteries and increases the efficiency of the electricity industry. SK innovation produces rechargeable batteries for automobiles and ESS. The lithium-ion batteries are supplied to automobile companies all over the world so that they can minimize the air pollution caused by CO2 emission. SK trading international also reduces pollutants during transportation. They are in charge of sales and procurement of raw material. And they have supported SMEs through participation in eco-friendly funds.

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Figure 2: Environmental Efforts Made by SK Innovation As Part of Their ESG Management Practices

4.3 Social Sector SK innovation strictly implements human rights protection to ensure no human rights violations occur in the process of business activities. They have systematically established various policies on human rights, SHE(safety, health, and environment), and code of conduct, and are periodically evaluating these and implementing improvement activities so that each policy can be effectively executed. For detailed operating instructions, they do not employ children and young people under the age of 15 to prohibit child labor, have no discrimination in employment on the grounds such as gender, race, nationality, ethnicity or religion and have no discrimination in employment conditions such as wage or promotion. Wages of employees are above the minimum level set forth by the labor laws of the country and try to provide standard working hours. SK innovation operates channels such as hotline, online, and offline to manage such human rights violence acts. It disclosed the human rights policies and human rights through the Sustainability Report and SK innovation website. SK innovation operates transparent hiring principles and procedures. They adopt blind screening to strictly block possible disadvantages by reason of academic background and gender. In addition, to promote corporate social responsibility, they additionally hire disabled persons. Their evaluating and compensating system is based on performance-based fair standards. SK innovation affiliates pay and bonus based on each employee’s job competency and work performance. The wage is strictly managed to be above the minimum level set by the labor laws of each country and the

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increase rate is set by reflecting domestic inflation rate. It complies with regular work hours and overtime hours set by each nation’s labor law and grants appropriate rest to employees. They are trying to create a flexible work environment by setting employees’ own office arriving and leaving hours and operating PC shut down service (access to the company internet is blocked at 7PM) to prevent overtime work. Based on the SK Management System, it has established the Code of Ethics. To strengthen monitoring and management of ethical management, it operates communication channels including ethics consultation office and ethical management website. It also makes public disclosure of key ethical issues. To measure the employees’ level of awareness for implementation of ethical management, they conduct ethical management training and survey. The Code of Ethics also includes information about protection policy. Personal information of the employees and customers are protected by minimizing chances of personal information leaks. SK innovation minimizes the number of employees processing personal information, and conducts network separation for work PCs. They operate a system to protect their information and provide security training for new employees. By classifying and managing core suppliers, they create a fair trade environment and manage the suppliers’ sustainability. When a violation of the Code of Ethics occurs, an SK employee or supplier both can report it through the Audit Office. They manage the supply chain by considering financial and non-financial factors. They consider not only price competitiveness, quality but also human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. They conduct supplier evaluation and monitor them on the ESG evaluation.

Figure 3: Governance Statistics About Employee Diversity Provided by SK Innovation

Figure 4: Social Contribution Activities Practiced by SK Innovation

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4.4 Governance Sector In terms of governance, SK Innovation is most concerned with the issues of the transparency of disclosure of company performance, tax-related problems, and is especially working on the transparency of the executive board. With the company president stepping down from the chair of the board last year, they decided it would be unjust for the CEO to be the chair of the board simultaneously as those two positions were supposed to keep in check with each other. Such consideration shows SK’s efforts to improve corporate governance policies. Additionally, other subsidiary companies including SK Hynix and SK Telecom executed the same policy of separating the CEO and chair of the board. SK Innovation and C&C took this one step further by appointing a board executive from outside the company. In their annual and sustainability report, they clearly disclosed their taxing by including information based on region and their profits before the taxes. Lastly, they tried to provide opportunities for investors to communicate with the company by stating the company’s financial state and profit on their reports. 4.5 Limitation In the case of SK, none of the ESG evaluation details received exceptionally good scores, but the average score was high because most of the items were evenly evaluated. In particular, the score in the "Society" category was 7.5 points, more than 30% higher than the overall average (5.7 points). It was recognized for simplifying the position system to comply with international standards and laws related to working conditions and to provide partner companies with free patent technology rights to form a horizontal and flexible organization. However, they acknowledged that SK Group was not good enough in terms of social rewards compared to other areas.

V. ESG and Profits 5.1 Importance of ESG In the past, neither business nor stakeholders paid much attention to ESG because it was hard to find a correlation between ESG and corporate value. However, due to the recent development of the Internet, corporate stakeholders can easily acquire all the information related to the company. Instead of simply receiving press releases and financial information from companies as before, you can find information related to companies anywhere on the Internet. And using this information, good companies sell more, and bad companies go on a boycott, which has an integrated impact on financial performance. As a result of a shift in the business paradigm surrounding corporate management, stakeholder capitalism has emerged and the demand for integrated management of financial/non-financial performance is required. In fact, investments that take into account non-financial information such as ESG are found to be highly successful.It is the financial investment industry that ESG is being used in earnest. Unlike in the past, when only financial performance such as sales and net profit were evaluated and found, ESG is now an indicator of corporate value and sustainability from a longer-term

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perspective, as in the above case. Investors from all over the world are also taking the lead in investing in ESG. As interest in sustainable development and ESG management has increased significantly, governments of each country are actively institutionalizing ESG-related policies. The number of new global ESG regulations increased from only 28 in 2016 to 210 in 2018. In particular, it has been increasing rapidly since 2016, increasing at an average annual rate of 66.9% from 2013 to 2015, but increasing at an average annual rate of 102.9% from 2016 to 2018. With these new policies, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made it mandatory for individual ESG funds to specify the ESG strategies and goals they pursue. In Asia, Japan is encouraging market participation by providing subsidies and giving practical incentives to ESG bond issuers. In China, companies that violate carbon emissions targets will also be subject to higher taxes and other measures, as companies will be given credit ratings in the environmental, political and social sectors. Lastly, Europe is establishing a "sustainable financial classification system standard", which is EU Taxonomy, that defines ESG, and it is expected that investment activities will be banned in the future if conditions are not met by mandating ESG disclosure for all financial companies from March 2021. Financial institutions will also step up to boost low carbon investment. To maintain or run their business, nowadays ESG management is mandatory. In addition, ESG management companies are receiving more investment as ESG management factors emerge rapidly based on funding and investment. The level of meeting ESG evaluation standards is reflected in loan interest rates, and various domestic and foreign companies have begun investing in ESG in earnest. Korea's national pension has also come up with a plan to expand ESG investment, and Norway's investment and loan screening are expanding in consideration of ESG elements by signing the UN PRI. And companies cannot ignore the inflow of funds into ESG investments, with global ESG bond issuance increasing and bond types diversifying, resulting in a 63% year-on-year increase of $484.1 billion in 2020. In addition, the participation of non-financial companies such as Hyundai Card and Woori Bank is also increasing in Korea, and according to the Korea Exchange, the net assets of ESG funds issued in Korea increased 2.6 times compared to two years ago. For example, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided not to fund fossil fuel-related projects from 2022, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund has also announced that it will restrict investment in coalrelated companies. In Korea, the National Pension Service has declared that it will invest 50% of its total assets in ESG-based by the end of 2022. ESG has emerged as an important factor in the value calculation of deal sourcing and m&a transactions. Large-scale deals are also actively underway in South Korea, with environments such as electric vehicle battery materials and waste disposal at the forefront. As of 2020, more than 40% of Korea's large M&As worth more than 500 billion won were ESGrelated M&As. For example, SK Engineering & Construction acquired a company called EMC Holdings, which handles water treatment and waste for 1.5 trillion won. ESG has become a major consideration in M&A. In the environment, all companies are cleaning up antienvironmental projects to solve environmental problems raised by the international community

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and non-profit organizations. In addition, in terms of society, all stakeholders have begun to be considered during mergers and acquisitions, and the relationship between franchisees, partners, and employee treatment of large companies are also being evaluated. As you can see from the sale of Hanwha and the decentralized coal project, it is better to dispose of projects with unethical and inhumane factors such as human rights violations and civilian damage. And in terms of government, it is very beneficial to run ESG to increase the value of your company in future M&A transactions because it also looks at the diversity of board composition and management corruption. As investment in consideration of non-financial factors such as ESG expands, companies are increasingly required to focus on managing ESG risks for smooth financing. According to the Global Risks Report released by the World Economic Forum, global risks 10 years ago were centered on financial risks, but in recent years, most of them are non-financial risks such as the environment and society. In other words, companies with well-managed ESG are likely to have the ability to cope with these non-financial global risks. In fact, if ESG is well managed, it is unlikely that companies with high energy efficiency will experience negative events such as embezzlement and corruption, and even if energy prices soar due to climate change, they can respond more reliably than other companies. ESG management enables companies to manage risks, increase sustainability, and achieve long-term corporate value gains while facilitating financing. In the current situation where non-financial risks are extremely important, companies can reduce these risks through ESG management, draw investments through ESG ratings, and generate long-term increases in corporate value. For these reasons, many corporations are conducting ESG management. Microsoft has been working on a project to build an undersea data center since 2015. When servers in existing data centers are heated, they cannot function properly and have to be cooled down continuously, which is said to use a huge amount of electricity. The company is pushing for a way to build a data center on the seabed to maintain temperatures without using electricity. Apple is also going to reflect ESG's management performance on executives' performance-based bonuses. The plan is to evaluate the level of efforts of executives on six key values, including environment, diversity, and integration among employees, and reflect them in performance-based bonuses. It seems to be clear that companies that are good at ESG management have good financial performance and show better corporate operational performance when considering ESG. A report released by Bank of America in 2019 also showed that the value premium between the top 20% companies with high ESG scores and the bottom 20% more than five times. In other words, corporate performance and ESG management can never be thought aside. ESG, which is never easy to push ahead with considering immediate benefits, is becoming the core for sustainable growth. In particular, it is no exaggeration to say that it is difficult to guarantee the future of companies unless they actively respond to ESG. 5.2 Correlation of ESG Management and Corporation Profits A small, gradual increase in corporate wealth and value is natural even without the implementation of ESG due to new technology development, concrete target consumers and

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more. However, for such significant rising wealth, we believe the implementation of ESG management had largely to do with this phenomenon. While there is no proper way to exactly evaluate what factors contributed to corporate wealth, it can be concluded with simple logic that for a sudden rapid increase, there must be a revolutionary or innovative change that was unprecedented in the company history. In 2017, which is when ESG management was first incorporated in Naver, there were no other significant developments of new technology that may have contributed to the large increase of corporate profit or value as we have seen above. In fact, it is rather thought to be natural for domestic portal websites such as NAVER to actually decrease in company wealth due to the emergence of numerous competitors and the characteristic of a portal website to have little room for impactful uniqueness. Naver’s share in the online portal market decreased over the period of 2017 to 2020 by 33.88%, from having a share of 90.12% and 56.24% respectively. Despite this decline in the market itself, however, the wealth of the company itself in terms of profits, value, or investments have continued to increase. This means that there were external factors irrelevant with the company performance contributing to such increase. We think that factor is ESG. With the implementation of ESG, Naver was able to gain an unique public image of being socially responsible and thus improve corporate image with a peculiar “kick” differing from other domestic portal sites. This led to a niche, but concrete target group of consumers and thus secured at least a certain amount of profits. Profits may not be limited to terms of usage of the portal site itself but also other public engagement such as investment. The increased rate of civil investors supports this case. Sustainable funds conducted by Naver overseas, pushed in $3.2 billion, which is more than six times the original amount of recruitment. It shows that ESG funds are trending and by executing ESG Management, corporations can earn financial profits. Naver will mainly use funds raised through sustainable bonds to strengthen ESG management, focuson eco-friendly projects and social contribution projects. Such reinvestment in ESG practices will help further enforce the sustainability of ESG management, ultimately leading not only sustainability of management but also profits. Also, with the implementation of ESG, companies can attain sustainability which is an increasingly important factor to consider in investing nowadays due to the rapidly changing modern economy scene. Overall, Naver was able to benefit in terms of corporate wealth by ESG management acting as a certain uniqueness in the overly common portal site discipline. For SK Innovation, ESG management largely influenced company wealth by improving their brand image. With increasing environmental awareness among society followed a movement for replacing fossil fuels and oil for renewable and energy. This phenomenon was attributed to the fact that oil was gaining a more and more negative image among the public with its environmentally harmful practices. These various factors would seem detrimental to corporate value and profit as people would consume their products, but contrary to this assumption, one can see their profits gradually increase over the years. This is because with SK Innovation working especially towards environmental aspects of ESG, they made up for their negative image of harming the environment. Rather, they now have a positive image of providing us with the comfort of oil while simultaneously being responsible to the society. This allows people, who were feeling somewhat uncomfortable, if not guilty, about using oil

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while being aware of its disastrous impacts on the planet to be guilt-free without the sacrifice of their convenience. In other words, SK Innovation, despite the shifting trend of replacing fossil fuels and oil to renewable and sustainable energy sources, attained sustainability and a resulted increased corporate wealth by improving their brand image through ESG management.

VⅠ. Conclusion 6.1 Summary ESG management is a recently emerging management strategy that is effective for companies to achieve sustainability not only for the corporations themselves but also for the society. Global companies have started to pioneer this novel strategy, and with their progress we now realize ESG management is no longer a choice but a necessity. Without its implementation, companies would lose competitiveness in the global economy where social responsibility is becoming one of the major aspects being considered. However, there is a rampant misconception amongst the public that ESG management is only attained at the expense of profit generation. This misconception is what impedes ESG implementation in Korea, and if this continues, Korean companies would lose their spots in the global economy which impacts the national political and economic power as well. This misconception, therefore, needs to be eradicated, which is what this study helps with. Through this study, one can clearly see through the two examples provided (Naver, SK Innovation) that ESG management actually improves corporate wealth through indirect factors such as investment or company image. In fact, those two examples explain the power of ESG management as those two companies are in the industries that are deemed to lose value over time but still managed to show an increase in terms of total wealth. Naver, a portal website, has been losing consumers which is a phenomenon resulting from the emergence of similar websites and thus losing uniqueness. However, Naver was able to gain back character and originality not by their product itself but through corporate management strategies of various ESG practices as mentioned above. SK Innovation, in theory, as being in the oil industry, is supposed to lose value as energy sources are being replaced with renewable and eco-friendly ones. Even in that situation, though, they managed to show continual increase by improving their corporate image as an oil company to a socially responsible company, freeing consumers from the prevailing guilt and encouraging consumption. Despite its proven effectiveness, as ESG management is still a newly introduced term in Korea, there is room for improvement that would further help improve the efficiency and profits. One common example of such problems we found that was exclusive for Korean companies was the lack of ‘governance’ factors in ESG practices, especially with SK Innovation. This leads to the unbalance of the three factors which should be harmonized. If this phenomenon prolongs, it will eventually lead to a clash of the three factors and thus fail to achieve true ESG management. Governance is especially important for companies such as SK Innovation that relies heavily on investors who consider transparency as a substantial factor. If

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such problems were fixed, ESG management would only improve and thus allow maximum efficiency, eradicating previous fears of the inability to generate profits. 6.2 Conclusion By evaluating two domestic companies, Naver and SK Innovation, we have proven that ESG management is indeed effective for company wealth to the extent that it may make up for the lost costs in company performance itself by contributing to more indirect factors such as attracting investors or an improved corporate image. We expect such results to abolish incorrect perceptions about ESG management that it is attained through the sacrifice of profits. By abolishing such misconceptions, we expect this study to contribute to ESG management becoming a widespread management strategy in the Korean economy and thus help foster a sustainable society and economy. There are limitations in that the two companies we have investigated is not a clear representation of the economic scene in Korea not only in terms of industry but also due to the fact that those two companies are companies deemed to be a major influential corporations in the domestic society and thus may differ for cases of smaller companies and MSMEs. These limitations, although unfortunate, may be an inevitable flaw for most ESG-related studies as ESG management is a relatively novel term in Korea. Smaller companies without as much resources are more reluctant as they are putting more at risk than big companies, so the actual execution of ESG among MSMEs itself is scarce, meaning there is insufficient data to conduct a research on. We hope to overcome these limitations through further studies handling more diverse industries and range of companies when ESG is more of a widespread management strategy and has a set place in the Korean economic scene.

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VⅡ. Reference [1] [Website] Amir Khwaja, 2021. ESG INVESTMENTS - A FIRST LOOK AT THE DEATAIL. https://www.clarusft.com/esg-investments-a-first-look-at-the-detail/. [2] [Website] BizSpring Inc, 2021. N/A. http://www.internettrend.co.kr/trendForward.tsp. [3] [Website] Dean Nicolls, 2019. Enhanced Due Diligence for Banks and Financial Institutions: KYC & AML Recommendations. https://www.jumio.com/enhanced-due-diligence-banks/. [4] [Website] MCI, 2021. MSCI Korea ESG Leaders Index. https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/dc381c69-2286-4422-b228-aa8bb88e9c8f. [5] [Website] MSCI, 2021. MSCI Korea Index. https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/e8fc2a89b809-4088-a807-4b9d9ec04abc. [6] [Website] Naver, 2020. Naver SASB Report 2020. https://www.navercorp.com/navercorp_/ir/sustainabilityReport/NAVER_2020_SASB_ENG_V2. pdf. [7] [Website] Naver, 2020. Naver TCFD Report 2020. https://www.navercorp.com/navercorp_/ir/sustainabilityReport/NAVER_2020_TCFD_ENG_V2. pdf. [8] [Website] N/A, 2021. Why interest in ESG investing is set to explode. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/why-interest-in-esg-investing-is-set-to-explode-1.1567634. [9] [Website] SK innovation, 2019. SK ESG report English. file:///C:/Users/fiona/OneDrive/%EB%B0%94%ED%83%95%20%ED%99%94%EB%A9%B4/ %EB%AF%B8%EA%B5%AD/%EB%85%BC%EB%AC%B8%20%EC%9E%90%EB%A3%8 C%EB%93%A4/SK%20innovation%20ESG%20Report%20(eng).pdf [10] [Website] SKinno News, 2020. SK Innovation in the list of DJSI World for the 4th consecutive year. https://skinnonews.com/global/archives/2614. [11] [Website] Sustainalytics, 2021. Company ESG Risk Ratings Naver Corp. https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/naver-corp/1016587142. [12] [Website] S&P Global Ratings, 2021. ESG Evalution Sustainable Practices Sustainable Returns.https://www.spglobal.com/_assets/documents/ratings/esg/esg_evaluation_brochure_digit al.pdf.

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Cultural Stereotypes Limiting Video Game Acceptance in the United States

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Shin, Jeongwon

Korea International School Jeju

Introduction The world is digitalizing rapidly, currently in a digital age1. This is proven by the vast increase in the percentage of U.S. citizens owning computers. Merely 60% of U.S. citizens owned computers in 2006 whilst nearly 89% owned a computer in 2016, showing a change of nearly 30% in just 10 years (Ryan, 2016). As such, technology is commonly used these days andhas become a major part of humans’ lives as an influential field. In fact, along with various otherjob professions such as surgeons, judges, and medicine physicians, which have always been influential in human history, computer science is considered to be one of the most promising fields as computer and information system managers range in one of the top 20 occupations withthe highest median annual pay with an approximate median annual wage of $150,000 (Publications, 2021). In order to become a competitive applicant for employment in computer science, there are specific requirements or skills required: collaborative working skills, computer and technology knowledge, the ability to analyze problems, and the ability to systematically approach work and problem-solving (Droste & Mayshak, n.d.). Surprisingly, these skills couldbe acquired through engaging in video games. As a rising field, computer science is providing more work opportunities for people and are needing a digitally literate workforce in order to continue technological development. Yet, acquiring a promising job in the field of computer science has become highly competitive. The most suitable people for the digitally literate workforce are current teens and people in their 20s, who have grown up closely with electronic present time, in which many things are done by computer and large amounts of information are available because of computer technology

devices compared to the upper generations who haven’t been in a rather close contact with

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electronic devices. Yet, outdated stereotypes surrounding video games in the United States restrain youth participation, making their opportunities more limited in the computer science industry. “There are fathers who remain baffled, some who told their kids video games would never pay the bills.” Jessica Ravitz, a professional esports player who has experienced the stereotypical thoughts of the public herself, pointed out that people tend to think playing video games are not going to be able to make their children have economic success. Considering such, should parents consider video games as a worthy use of time? This paper will answer this question by focusing on the controversies of the effects of video games on children playing them through the social, psychological, and economic perspective. Psychological Benefits of Video Games Parents advocate for what is considered “best” for their progeny and some parents, including Teddy Roosevelt, encourage engaging in beneficial activities as a leisure activity. Roosevelt stated in his letter to his first son that although sports is a good leisure activity, it should not be the major focus of a person’s life as there are more important things other than sports (Roosevelt, 1919). As such, parents are always seeking what is best for their progeny, wanting them to engage in what is beneficial for them. Sports has become the main target for thisarea of engagement that has benefits due to its psychological benefits. In fact, more than 50% of United States highs choolers engage in sports as a form of leisure activity (NFHS News, 2019). According to Alicia Garcia-Falgueras, professor of the Official College of Psychologists in Madrid and a doctor in neuroscience, engagement in sports can lead to physical well-being as it stimulates the release of endorphins, ultimately reducing stress levels (Falgueras, 2015). As highstress levels can affect a person in various negative ways, including various physical and psychological illnesses, such effects of reduced stress levels is a crucial benefit of sports that hasto be acknowledged. However, it is not a commonly shared perception that video games can also have benefitslike sports, not only being a harmful activity as it is usually thought to be. As it has been briefly discussed previously, video games can help develop players to build skills that are prerequisites for jobs in the field of computer science. For example, the ability to problem solve is a skill that a player can develop by playing video games. Benjamin Emihovich, a technology professor at the California State University, conducted research on undergraduates’ problem-solving skills, collecting scores from before and after twenty hours of gameplay over the course of 8 weeks. The tested sample was required to play a popular video game, Warcraft, a multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment (Emihovich, 2018). Comparing the scores of the tested sample on the problem-solving skills test, the results indicated that there was a significant difference. The tested sample scored approximately 5.02 higher after playing video games than before playing video games (Emihovich, 2018). This experiment indicates that there was a significant difference between the ability to problem solve before and after playing video games. Another experiment conducted by Shute and Ke, both professors at the Florida State University also speaks for problem-

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solving skills being able to be acquired through playing video games. They conducted research on problem-solving abilities before and after playing games, again recording results of brain solving abilities before and after the experimented samplehas played games. Like Emohovich’s study, their results also showed that participants showed a significant improvement on problem-solving, spatial skill, and persistence (Shute & Ke, 2014).As such, it has been proved through professional experimentation that engaging in video games improves problem-solving skills, a requirement in a computer science job. Social Skills Acquired from Video Games It has also been proved that video games improve social skills. Przybylski (2014), a professor at Oxford University and an expert in various fields such as technology and health, reported that 54% of gamers say gaming helps them connect with friends. Although it is true thatthis speaks in the perspective of gamers and might include some biases, it is a proven fact that many video games are accompanied with characteristics that help stimulate social connection. Alarge number of video games are multiplayer games in which players often have to cooperate with each other in order to successfully achieve the goal of the game, resulting in training the players’ cooperation skills. An experiment conducted by Badatala, Leddo, Islam, Patel, and Supaneni, all authorized researchers registered in researchgate, showed that high school studentswho played multiplayer video games that required them to work together had the highest cooperation score as compared to those who played singleplayer video games (Badatala, 2017).This shows that video games can improve cooperation skills of the player. To address another social advantage, it has been discovered that video games are able to help individuals face social difficulties such as the lack of ability to engage in face-to-face communication (Kowert, et al., 2014). This is because the text-based communication systems areaccompanied with the animosity of games. Games can reduce social inhibitions, removing social obstacles and allowing effective communication within these spaces for those with difficulty socializing. (Kowert, et al., 2014). However, one negative impact of this function is that anonymity can result in some people becoming impudent. This has been regarded as a huge problem in the United States, especially in regard to online predators. Online predators are classified as people approaching with impure intentions such as financial benefits and sexual activity (Zapal, 2019). Whilst the players themselves report that they have seen benefits from socializing in games, there have been players not agreeing with this. Instead, they warned the dangers of online socializing, insisting that there has to be further examination upon the onlinecommunication within video games.

Negative Consequences of Video Games Although video games have positive effects, training players for skills needed in future job fields, the negative effects video games bring has to be acknowledged. In order to prove that there are negative effects of video games, three medical experts, Kühn, Gallinat,

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and Mascherek conducted a study on the percentage of people addicted to video games among high school players, which showed that 17.2% of high school students were addicted to video games, playing more than 3 hours a day. Because there were negative effects observed, engagement in video games for more than 3 hours a day was made as the benchmark for addiction in this experiment. While adequate hours of video games of under 3 hours per day can result in strengthened skills of socializing and problem-solving, addiction can lead to various health problems and mental issues as well. In fact, according to Peter Grinspoon (2020), a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, gaming addiction is associated with sleep deprivation, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, depression, aggression, and anxiety. These drawbacks that can result from extensive hours of video gaming can be destructive to the player. Additionally, there are some people who turn to video games because they have problems adjusting to society. The main reason for this is because the recognition they receive in a digital society is different from that of reality (King & Delfabbro, 2009). Although this might be beneficial to them in that it can provide benefits regarding socializing, this increases the possibility of getting addicted to video games. In fact, people who play video games to avoid stress factors in reality or escape from the problems they face in reality tend to have a high risk for problematic use because playing video games helps them cope with stress (Seay et al., 2007).This illustrates a social drawback that video gaming can lead to further isolation from the world. These negative effects stimulate stigma and stereotypes by parents of older generations, putting their progeny at at restriction from gaining opportunity to improve skill-building and therefore jeopardize the potential of children becoming a workforce in a high potential field, ironically contradicting the fact that they advocate for what is considered “best” for their progeny. Conclusion As parents advocate for the “best” for their progeny and video games do provide childrenwith skills needed to succeed in the newly rising promising field of computer science, it can be concluded that yes, parents should consider video games as a worthy use of time. Yet, considering the potential consequences such as addiction and health issues, hours spent on gaming should be limited. According to a study conducted by Spanish investigators, benefits were seen when engaged in 8 hours of gaming a week while social and behavioral problems arose when engagement time went over the 8-hour mark (Mozes, 2016). Yet, because Mozes didnot cite the credibility of these Spanish investigators nor did not classify who they are, conclusions cannot be derived only by examining this source. Therefore, along with such experiment results, referring back to the experiment conducted by Kühn, Mascherek, and Gallinat indicating that 3 hours of gaming time would result in addiction, However, considering the ability of parents to control their children and the childrens’ acceptance of limiting gaming hours, such a solution might not be successful at all times. Conducting further research is another plausible solution. There are countless forms of video games and because all these video games have different skills needed, benefits and drawbacks resulting from them won’t be identical. Alan Mozes (2016), a health reporter,

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reported that previous research on the effects of violent video games showed that merely 10 to 20minutes of violent gaming could increase activity in the brain regions associated with anxiety, and emotional reaction, while reducing activity in the frontal lobes associated with emotion regulation and executive control simultaneously. As such, although some games can result in benefits, some other games might not, only harming the psychological state of the player. As there are either positive or negative effects from different types of games, there needs to be further research done on which types of games will be actually beneficial. Once these solutions have been implemented to the United States society, there would beclear changes in the perception of video games and peoples’ attitudes towards the acceptance of video games. There would be a clear distinction between beneficial and harmful types of video games, indicating that a more healthier video gaming society would be made. Ultimately, peoplewould no longer be held against acquiring skills needed for computer science jobs through engaging in video games. In conclusion, because of the outdated stereotypes usually existing within the older generation, young people are getting serious disadvantages from future economic success as they are getting restricted from one path of acquiring skills needed for such jobs in the computer science industry, a newly arising influential field. Therefore, the various psychological and socialbenefits of video games have to be acknowledged, moving people to the digital age, ultimately allowing people to play video games to the extent that they can acquire the associated benefits.

References [1] Badatala, A., Leddo, J., Islam, A., & Patel, K. & Surapaneni, P. (2017). The effects of playing cooperative and competitive video games on teamwork and team performance. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research. 2. 24-28. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311792939_The_effects_of_playing_cooperativ e_and_competitive_video_games_on_teamwork_and_team_performance/citation/download [2] Dictionary. (2021). Meaning of Digital Age in English. Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/digital-age [3] Droste, N. & Mayshak, R. (n.d.). How gaming can make you more employable. This. Deakin University. https://this.deakin.edu.au/career/how-gaming-can-make-you-more-employable [4] Emihovich, B. (2018). Improving Undergraduates' Problem-Solving Skills through Video Gameplay. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332341821_Improving_Undergraduates'_Proble mSolving_Skills_through_Video_Gameplay/citation/download [5] Falgueras, G. A. (2015). Psychological benefits of sports and physical activities. British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioral Science. www.sciencedomain .org

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[6] Grinspoon, P. (2020). The health effects of too much gaming. Harvard Health Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-health-effects-of-too-much-gaming-2020122221 645 [7] Kowert, R., Dmahidi, E & Quandt, T. (2014). The relationship between online video game involvement and gaming-related friendships among emotionally sensitive individuals. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4080869/ [8] Kühn, S., Gallinat, J., Mascherek, A. (2019). Effects of computer gaming on cognition, brain structure, and function: a critical reflection on existing literature. US National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6829166/ [9] Mozes, A. (2016). How much video gaming is too much for kids? WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20160927/video-gaming-kids#1 [10] NFHS News. (2019). Participation in high school sports registers first decline in 30 year. National federation of State High School Associations. https://www.nfhs.org/articles/participation-in-high-school-sports-registers-first-decline-in-30years/ [11] Przybylski, A. (2014). Electronic Gaming and Psychological Adjustment. Pediatrics. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/134/3/e716#:~:text=RESULTS%3A%20Lo w%20levels%20(%3C1,key%20indicators%20of%20psychosocial%20adjustment.&text=CON CLUSIONS%3A%20The%20links%20between%20different,of%20variance)%20 yet%20statistically%20significant [12] Publications. (2021). Highest Paying Occupations. U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/highest-paying.htm [13] Roosevelt, Theodore. (1919). Theodore Roosevelt's letter to his children. New York: Charles scirbner's sons. www.bartleby.com/53/ [14] Ryan, C. (2018). Computer and internet use in the United States: 2016. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/acs/ACS-39.pdf [15] University of Chichester. (2019). Esports gamers face same level of psychological pressure as pro-athletes. Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191112110315.htm#:~:text=ESPORTS% 20players%20competing%20in%20top,professional%20athletes%2C%20researchers%20 have%20revealed.&text=Poor%20communication%20between%20teammates%20was,w hen%20exposed%20to%20pressured%20environments [16] Shute, V., Ventura, M. & Ke, F. (2014). The Power of Play: The Effects of Portal 2 and Lumosityon Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills. Computers & Education. 80. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264992715_The_Power_of_Play_The_Effects_

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Education as a Factor towards Social Mobility: Its Benefits and Systematic Wrongs

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Yang, Edward

Korea International School

Abstract: Education is a key facet of social mobility, and many theories exist as to what exactly its role has become. Some believe its role to be beneficial; some believe it to be detrimental. To better understand this, however, the concept must be divided into two sections: on an individual and societal level. A higher level of education remains an effective means for income advancement: individuals with higher degrees will, on average, have a higher salary, have a wider availability of career paths, and often hold careers that are more stable. However, on a societal level, education may also serve as a factor against social advancement, especially when considering its high price and commitments. A post-secondary education is both expensive and time-consuming, thus preventing those with a lower income from fully engaging in it; this may lead only to reproduction within the upper class, and further stratification. Thus, education as a factor in facilitating social mobility and increasing one’s income is twofold: while it is effective in its role when applied, in the absence of it, the current state of education, especially in the United States, discourages mobility. This research will focus wholly on education’s role in facilitating or preventing social mobility, especially relating to income.

Keywords: Social Mobility, Education, Income, Stratification, Reproduction

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Introduction In the United States, the median income in 2019 for individuals with a bachelor’s degree was, on average, nearly 1.5 times that of individuals with only high school diplomas (at $30,000 compared to $44,000). Furthermore, bachelor degree holders had a 3.5 times lower poverty rate, and were more likely to be employed. This gap becomes more noticeable in the coming years, with these holders making $1.3 million in additional earnings on average over their lifetime, over their high school graduate peers (Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, 2019). According to data published in 2004, it was expected that more than 42 percent of all jobs in the United States would require a postsecondary degree (Morris); as of 2020, the number has risen to 65 percent, a 23 percent increase in only sixteen years. This steady increase is a noted pattern: in 1973, only 28 percent of jobs were held by individuals with a postsecondary education, with the above increase to 42 percent in 2004, and 59 percent in 2010 (Carnevale, Smith & Strohl, 2020). Thus, it is probable that the percentage of jobs being held by individuals with postsecondary degrees will only increase in the future; the role of a college (or further) education in determining one’s career and future selection of jobs (and in turn one’s socioeconomic status) will become even more significant. With this, the perception that a higher level of education will allow an individual to reach a higher social level income-wise will become more prevalent. This idea is not a modern phenomenon; ever since even the founding of the United States, for example, the role of an education in influencing one’s social status (mainly through the taking of imperial examination) was held in importance. The nation maintained no nobility or birthright; income determined one’s place in society, and education was seen as a method towards reaching a higher status. However, this perception has become more prevalent in recent times, and it is natural to assume that this perception will remain. Even now, this paper’s consideration and the conclusions drawn in it will be significant in influencing policy and allowing for a secondary view into the United States’ complex educational system. In the United States, social mobility has remained unchanged or decreased since the 1970s (Hungerford, 2011). While the government has no obligation to facilitate social mobility for every one of its citizens, even a slight decrease in it is worrying; even as absolute mobility occurs (and it has, looking at US living conditions since the 1970s), the demographic has remained similar, and no large changes have occurred. When income inequality is factored in, it is more concerning: in recent years, it is increasing and is becoming more permanent. This is led by the increase in “permanent inequality”- the advantaged becoming permanently better-off, while the disadvantaged becoming permanently worse-off (Brookings Institution, 2013). Society is becoming more stratified, something that is detrimental to society and its citizens; the significance of this fact cannot be denied or disregarded, especially in such a contentious state, as it is now. Yet with all this in mind, it becomes clear that with the current systems in place regarding educational barriers, it becomes increasingly difficult, as beneficial as education is on an individual level, for education to facilitate social mobility. Furthermore, as education cannot always be individual and is instead dependent on societal factors, it serves as a hindrance towards it on a larger level, as the systems in place preventing those with lower

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incomes from taking in such education is often final. As education in itself is an effective tool, but the system of it is often not, it leads to education becoming a tool for dividing social class further. Thus, I will attempt to look at education from two decidedly different sides: as both a benefit and a detriment. In this paper, I will be analyzing existing research from a variety of sources to formulate my conclusion and answer the extent to which education helps or hinders social mobility. On this topic, I will be examining education as two factors: the first on the effect it plays on individuals, purely as education, and second on a societal level, addressing its limitations and barriers. The sources of this research will be widespread. Included in this paper are field statistics, expert opinions, and census data; there is also the inclusion of text already written on this topic, which I will reference as both a motivator and demotivator towards my final argument. Addressing the key questions relating to education and social mobility, such as whether the individual benefits are able to trump the detrimental societal barriers towards education, will add another view to the questions relating to education as a facet to the problem (which is a popular topic among researchers, granted, but another opinion may become helpful), and inform policy regarding this matter on a state level. Only when all have been evaluated will a conclusion be made. The Relation Between Individual and Societal Effects of Education Preliminary Information Before going into the main argument of this report, I find it prudent to define some terms that will be crucial to understanding the intentions behind this paper. The focus of this paper will be on social mobility, and how (or how not) it is facilitated: the term is defined by Economic Policy Reforms (2010) as “the movement of individuals, families, households, or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society”. The most obvious of this would be through income; that will be the main focus for this report, and its relation to education. However, one’s social standing (often called “strata”) is not dependent solely on income: there are multiple socioeconomic factors that categorize an individual’s social strata, such as wealth, income, race, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status or derived power (Cole, 2019). Society in the United States is an open system for mobility; there are no guidelines, systems, or safeguards in place preventing one from attaining a higher social class. There are still limits to this, however, and it will be explained in a later portion of this paper. I will be examining this phenomenon in terms of relative mobility, not absolute mobility. In the simplest terms, relative mobility refers to an average American’s change in income compared to another average American; in comparison, absolute mobility refers to an individual’s change in living standards based on the conditions in America. Thus, this can be thought of as an individual vs. a collective change: I wished to examine this from an individual perspective, and weigh an individual’s mobility against another individual’s mobility. The reason for this can be seen in research conducted in 2012 by the Pew Economic Mobility Project: the majority of Americans, about 84 percent, exceeded their parents’ income. However, this is an absolute income gain, not a relative one: due to a myriad of factors, including inflation

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or changing price indexes, such an individual was not shown to be able to move up on the next rung of the economic ladder, their relative income and standard of living remaining similar to their parents’. Thus, it becomes clear why an individual evaluation must be made, and I will attempt to do so in the fullest. Furthermore, in this paper, I will be evaluating one’s social status, and mobility relating to it, by income. As aforementioned, there are many factors that determine one’s social status. However, some are not clearly measurable (and/or clear, universal indexes for determining the factor it plays on one’s social stratum are not developed), such as in race or ethnicity, or difficult to place within the context of social mobility, such as in the case of occupation. Income and general wealth, however, remains easy to measure and place within this context. In many, if not all cases, those who enjoy a higher social status tend to have larger incomes that reflect such a position. Thus, while this paper will attempt to determine the general effect education has on an individual’s social standing, the more specific focus of this paper will be on income, and how education influences such. Education as an Individual Benefit While it may seem as if education will always be a motivating factor in facilitating social advancement, this is only if this education is received. And not all education is always effective- a correct and high level of education is what is usually beneficial. It thus becomes harder to find data on this matter for the general population, not just those who receive education. However, if we consider education only as education in itself, it becomes an effective tool. Multiple reports have found that education promotes economic mobility. Over the past decades, it was proven that the median family income of adults aged 30 to 39 increased much more rapidly among those with college degrees or advanced degrees than among those who attained some college or less (Haskins, Holzer & Lerman, 2009). This figure was based on family income rather than individual earnings, owing to the fact that the measurement for intergenerational mobility is family income. Even when the focus is on individual income, however, the differences across educational groups and their trends over time are very similar to family income (Haskins, Holzer & Lerman, 2009).

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The above figure (Brookings, 1965-2006) shows the income differences between different educational groups. By 2006, the income difference between those who received professional or graduate degrees and those who did not even obtain a high school degree was nearly $70,000. There are starker differences between a four-year degree and a level of education lower than it; the income comparison between a four-year education and a lower level of education (two-year degree) is larger than any other, at nearly $20,000. The pattern remains clear: the higher the degree, and thus higher the level of education one receives, the higher the income. The potential bias in these sources may be noted. Individuals with education are more likely to be more intelligent, come from families with larger incomes, and have attended better schools (Duncan, et al., 2009). It may seem like an obvious mistake to attribute one’s future income to only education, while disregarding all other factors, which will undoubtedly play a role in an individual’s future income. Thus, to prove the validity of the earlier study, research was conducted by Ashenfelter and his colleagues with 27 empirical studies conducted in the US and abroad; it was found that while controlling these sources of bias did reduce the rate to which education played a role, but the trend, overall, held (Ashenfelter, Harmon & Oosterbeek, 2000). This return proves once again that education generates real-world advantages relating to income, even when the other differences between those with more or less education are eliminated. Such benefits of education are seen when looking at advancement through income brackets as a result of it. While nearly half of all adults with parents in the bottom quartile stay at the bottom without a college degree, those who obtain one, even if it is a two-year and not a four-year degree, quadruple their chance of moving to the top quartile, from 5 to 19 percent (Haskins, Isaacs & Sawhill, 2008). With these returns with a college education, it cannot be said that education in itself is ever detrimental to social advancement.

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Education as a Societal Barrier While receiving an education is a proven and effective method of inducing social advancement (through income means), the sheer cost to attaining it may serve as a factor against social advancement as a whole. This is especially true in the United States. Several large studies among developed nations have found the United States ranking among the lowest in social mobility, with 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of the income bracket staying there as adults, compared to the 25 percent in Denmark or 30 percent in the United Kingdom (DeParle, 2012). This trend remains stable, with the United States still lagging behind both above nations and multiple other developed nations in 2020 (Global Social Mobility Report, 2020). While public education remains completely tuition-free, the same is not true for most colleges in the United States. The average tuition for a 4-year institution at any school was $28,123 in 2019, and the price had more than doubled in the last twenty years. The tuition for private non- and for-profit institutions was even higher, with an average of $44,662 in 2019 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Out of all 35 OECD nations, this is the highest average cost of tuition (going off of the total tuition for private institutions in the United States as defined by the OECD, at $11,951); compared other nations such as Hungary ($1,164) or Japan ($8,269), university tuition in the United States remains higher than any other (OECD, 2017). Considering that the median household income in the United States was $68,703 in 2019 (United States Census Bureau, 2019), tuition payment is unsustainable for many, factoring household expenses and other various spending needs. As said by Hauser (2010), educational attainment works at freeing “individuals from the constraints of their social origins”. However, education in the United States is more inaccessible for the majority of the population, and it is becoming clearer that these societal constraints are taking their toll. College enrollment rates have decreased in recent years, from a total of 21 million students in 2010 to 19.6 million in 2018 (Hanson, 2021), being nearly a seven percent decline in rates of enrollment. While the rates of enrolled graduate students have slightly increased (about three percent), the enrollment of undergraduate students has decreased more than the total number of all students, at around nine percent (Hanson, 2021). Overall, college enrollment rates are dropping, and there are fewer students receiving such an education than ever before, with enrollment rates at its lowest since 2010.

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The above figure (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016) shows the difference in sheer enrollment rates between students with high, middle, and low incomes. By 2016, even with a near fifteen percent increase in enrollment rates for low-income students compared to 2013, the difference in rates between low and high-income students still reached up to 15%. An interesting phenomenon is that the enrollment rate for low-income families increased, and overtook, the enrollment rates for middle income families. On this personal level, social mobility is happening, to a degree. Yet enrollment rates within both low- and middle-income families remain very low compared to higher-income families. Furthermore, enrollment rates show no growth (rather, decline) within middle-income families. As enrollment rates for those that are not in the top 20 percent of family incomes converge, this further shows us that a college education remains prohibitively expensive for all but those with the highest of incomes; the class distinctions between low- and- middle-income families have become less evident, but in a rather negative light. We can assume that the individuals who received a college education (regardless of income bracket) saw improvements in their own income, as per the aforementioned statistics; however, the proportion of those who received such education would have been majority higher-income, with smaller proportions of those from lower-income families. Those higher on the income bracket are given an inherent advantage; the upper class may then pass these same advantages on to their children, as they may possess the necessary resources to pay for the costs of an elite school. The cycle then repeats, allowing for the upper class to maintain their existing social standing and/or advance further, something the lower/middle class are prevented from doing. Furthermore, college graduation rates have

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recently sharply increased for wealthy students but stagnated for lower-income students, with the highest income quartile seeing an 18 percent increase in the graduation rate in twenty years, the lower-income group saw only 4 percent (Greenstone et. al, 2013). This is no doubt due to the many advantages given to wealthier students before attending an institute of higher education. Thus, lower-income students cannot simply access higher education and improve social standing, as the systems in place deny access. While the denial of access due to income may not be a factor in admissions or applications if there is an alternate method of enrollment, the costs of taking in student loans are often high, and high school graduates often turn to work instead of education as a way to support oneself economically, leaving no room for true education. Thus, while education does nothing to hinder social mobility, access to it does. As Isabel Sawhill (2010) writes, “poor children tend to go to poor schools and more advantaged children to good schools”. Policies on higher education policies have only worked to establish and reinforce stratification by denying, not through direct means but indirectly, many the means to a higher education, and thus the opportunity for a higher income bracket (and in turn higher social standing). While a system of stratification should permit mobility (Neelsen, 1975), and does, the structure of society remains relatively fixed. These gaps in educational investment in students within the lower or upper class from universities accounts for their lower upwards social mobility. Conclusion In all, the role that education plays in terms of social order is complex, and no one answer can be given as to what position it occupies. As a factor in itself, education is a positive influence upon one’s income. As seen above, incomes increase more than 30 to 39 percent for even the lowest college degree (Haskins, Holzer & Lerman, 2009); for those who receive it, education is undoubtedly a useful tool in maintaining or improving the household’s income level compared to one’s parents. There are benefits, but as society organizes the access, it becomes detrimental to social mobility because access is so stratified. Education becomes not a tool for social mobility but for class reproduction leading to further stratification; access is denied for most who cannot afford the sheer cost of it, as has been the case for many generations. While recent data shows promising signs of increased college enrollment for even lowerincome families, the increase is too small and may be too late. The above findings have broad implications for many different issues. First is purely theory-based. Our current understanding of stratification requires that it be reproduced from generation to generation (Grusky, 2011). The findings prove that this is indeed true; without proven measures to increase college enrollment and graduation rate for those with lower incomes, education, as explained above, becomes an easy tool for class reproduction. Furthermore, the United States is currently defined by Grusky as an open stratification system, one that allows for mobility between, typically by placing value on the achieved status of individuals. However, my findings show that the United States is moving more towards a closed system of social mobility. Not only is achieved status becoming less important in favor of income, based purely on education, it is becoming much harder for an individual to rise in

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income brackets. With the method of such a rise being, itself, locked behind what some may call a “paywall”, mobility becomes an impossible task for many. That is not to say that reforms have not, or are not being, undertaken. Recently, United States President Joe Biden proposed the American Families Plan, which would spend nearly 300 billion dollars towards making community college free for all Americans (Tankersley and Goldstein, 2021), and promote free access to college. The plan would restore the top marginal income tax rate to (a pre-2017 level of) 39.6%, and double capital gains tax for individuals earning more than one million dollars (Tankersley, 2021), and thus be funded through taxes gathered from those who do not constitute low- or- middle-income; while it may face severe opposition in Congress, it may be a step to reducing educational inequality and lack of access. This will increase graduation rates, removing potential opportunity costs for attending a 2-or 4-year program at any college. Furthermore, many states have started to offer tuition free community college educations on their own, through programs such as the California Promise or the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program (Farrington, 2020), which may have contributed to the recent increase in college enrollment rates. With these changes and reforms, however, the problem itself has not been changed. According to Beth Akers, some of the factors still influencing access to colleges through higher tuition includes administrative bloat, overbuilding of campus amenities, a model dependent on high-wage labor, and the availability of standardized student loans (which may be beneficial for some, but is indeed contributing to the rise in college tuition); these cost inefficiencies persist (2020), and recent education reforms have not been successful in making the average college more affordable (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). It may be more effective for the federal government to seek the root causes towards the unaffordability of education on a national level instead of focusing on making college free or affordable through taxpayer money. These programs would help relieve or alleviate the social issues present, but these reforms may only be a temporary solution. Despite this paper’s conclusion, there are certain limitations that must be considered. First, this is in no way a complete overview of the paper’s topic. Social mobility is not limited to income, or one’s educational level; there are multiple factors that may be correlated that this paper does not address. It may thus be easier to see this research as an exploration into one aspect of social mobility, rather than a complete explanation of it. Second, the data or sources cited in the paper may have to be accounted for in terms of sample size or range. For example, college enrollment rates increased for lower-income families in the last twenty years: while I have concluded that this may be the result of a combination of state-level reform and shifting perspectives, the data’s inclusion of ‘low income’ may not be as broad, or as clear. The data taken to corroborate the overall argument is only be a small fraction of all data available, and the ones I have chosen may deviate in smaller ways from an overall conclusion: on a similar trend, but with smaller issues. Third, the assumptions made in this paper relating to the organization of American society and overall status as dictated by income may be inaccurate, at least in terms of education. This paper speaks of social status as dependent on one’s income, yet, as mentioned, there are many other factors that influences one’s social status, such as occupation, race, or sex. As I have not touched on such aspects, the argument that I have made

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should also be considered in terms of such other lenses, and I believe that is important to keep in mind when examining this research.

References [1] Ashenfelter, O., Harmon, C., & Oosterbeek, H. (2000). A review of estimates of the schooling/earnings relationship, with tests for publication bias. https://doi.org/10.3386/w7457 [2] Bureau, U. S. C. (2021, October 5). Income and poverty in the United States: 2019. The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-270.html. [3] Carnevale, A. P., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. (n.d.). Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020. Center for Education and the Workforce. Retrieved from https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Recovery2020.ES_.Web_.pdf. [4] College enrollment & student demographic statistics. EducationData. (2021, August 7). Retrieved from https://educationdata.org/college-enrollment-statistics. [5] de Brey, C., Snyder, T. D., Zhang, A., & Zillow, S. A. (2021). Digest of Education Statistics 2019. National Center for Educational Statistics, 55. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2021/2021009.pdf. [6] Deparle, J. (2012, January 5). Harder for Americans to rise from Lower Rungs. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/harder-for-americans-to-risefrom-lower-rungs.html?sq=mobility&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all. [7] Duncan, G., Kalil, A., Mayer, S. E., Tepper, R., & Payne, M. R. (2009). Chapter One. the Apple does not fall far from the Tree. Unequal Chances, 23–79. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400835492.23 [8] Edelson, D. (2020, February 27). How does a college degree improve graduates' employment and earnings potential?Association of Public & Land-grant Universities. Retrieved from https://www.aplu.org/projects-and-initiatives/college-costs-tuition-and-financialaid/publicuvalues/employment-earnings.html. [9] Education at a glance 2017. (2017). Education at a Glance. https://doi.org/10.1787/eag-2017-en [10] A family affair. (2010). Economic Policy Reforms, 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1787/growth2010-38-en [11] Farrington, R. (2021, June 30). These states offer tuition-free community college. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2020/03/25/these-states-offertuition-free-community-college/?sh=1cbf69c614cf. [12] Greenstone, M., Looney, A., Patashnik, J., Yu, and M., & Project, T. H. (2016, November 18). Thirteen economic facts about social mobility and the role of Education. Brookings. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/thirteen-economic-facts-about-socialmobility-and-the-role-of-education/. [13] Haskins, R. (n.d.). Education and Economic Mobility. Economic Mobility Project. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2016/07/02_economic_mobility_sawhill_ch8.pdf. [14] Haskins, R., Holzer, H., & Lerman, R. (2009). Promoting Economic Mobility by Increasing Secondary Education. Economic Mobility Project . Retrieved from https://www.pewtrusts.org//media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2009/pew_emp_promoting_upward_mobility.pdf.

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[15] Haskins, R., Isaacs, J. B., & Sawhill, I. V. (2016, July 28). Getting ahead or losing ground: Economic mobility in America. Brookings. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/getting-ahead-or-losing-ground-economic-mobility-inamerica/. [16] Hauser, R. M. (1998). Intergenerational Economic Mobility in the United States Measures, Differentials and Trends. Social Science Computing Cooperative - UW Madison. Retrieved from https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/publications/files/public/Hauser_Intergenerational.Econom ic.M.U.S_CDE_98-12.pdf. [17] Hungerford, T. L. (2011). Changes in income inequality among U.S. tax filers between 1991 and 2006: The role of wages, capital income, and taxes. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2207372 [18] Immediate College Enrollment Rate. (2018). The Condition of Education. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_CPA/coe_cpa_2018_05.pdf. [19] Krugman, P. (2012, January 15). The Great Gatsby curve. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/the-great-gatsbycurve/?mtrref=undefined&assetType. [20] Lueken, M. F., Garnett, N. S., Manning, T. R., & Akers, B. (2020, August 27). Four reasons why college is so expensive. Manhattan Institute. Retrieved from https://www.manhattaninstitute.org/new-approach-curbing-college-tuitioninflation?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3DEimrQmvP9KpfP6cWoidoACUZBXyefvqBA-WuCY1e6JXMUzGvPAgSew#notes. [21] Morris, L. M. (2004). Low-Income Women and the Higher Education Act Reauthorization. On Campus with Women . [22] The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76. [23] Neelsen, J. P. (1975). Education and Social Mobility. Comparative Education Review, 19(1), 129–143. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1187731. [24] Nicki Lisa Cole, P. D. (2019, September 3). The way people are ranked and ordered in society. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-social-stratification-3026643. [25] Panousi, V., Vidangos, I., Ramnath, S., DeBacker, J., & Heim, B. (2013). Inequality Rising and Permanent Over Past Two Decades. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20130525230108/http:/www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/lates t-conference/2013-spring-permanent-inequality-panousi. [26] Sawhill, I. (2006). Opportunity in America: The Role of Education. Opportunity in America. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20060913foc.pdf. [27] Tankersley, J. (2021, April 22). Biden will seek tax increase on rich to fund child care and Education. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/business/economy/biden-taxes.html. [28] Tankersley, J., & Goldstein, D. (2021, April 28). Biden details $1.8 trillion plan for workers, students and Families. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/us/politics/biden-american-families-plan.html. [29] Urahn, S. K., Currier, E., Elliott, D., Wechsler, L., Wilson, D., & Colbert, D. (2012). Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations. Economic Mobility Project. Retrieved from

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Comparison of Artificial Intelligence and Human Motivation

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Yoo, Seoyeon

Global Vision Christian School Mungyeong Campus

Abstract: According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, humans act according to their needs. Humans also act with an interest in the internal process itself, rather than solely based on external rewards. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is trained through a large amount of data and neural network learning. Unlike humans who are greatly affected by emotions and various circumstances, AI is neutral and objective. With no clear limitations and vast potential for development. AI has been receiving a lot of attention. Many futurists say AI will replace humans in areas that we, in the past, couldn’t imagine machines doing the work. However, there are still areas where AI cannot replace humans. Metacognition to judge one's thoughts and creativity, the power to come up with new ideas, still remains in human domains that artificial intelligence has not been able to enter. This paper explores the reinforcement of humans and AI and explores the original human realm. Furthermore, understanding the original human domain can suggest developing human competitiveness.

Introduction Motivation is the drive that stimulates a living body to act. According to Maslow, humans act out of desire (Maslow, 1972). Unlike other living things, humans act not only to be rewarded or to avoid disadvantages, but they also act out of satisfaction out of the actions themselves. On the other hand, artificial intelligence is generally defined as the property of machines that mimic human intelligence as characterized by behaviors such as cognitive ability, memory, learning, and decision making. Therefore, the purpose of a machine is to produce highly accurate results in the most effective way according to the set goals. So, can we conclude that humans are inferior to artificial intelligence? In this paper, we learn about the motivations that drive human and artificial intelligence behavior, and about meta-cognitive creativity, an ability only humans have.

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Human Motivation and Behavior: based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs Maslow's hierarchy of needs argues that needs are arranged hierarchically from lower to higher levels and that the next level of needs must be met to trigger their next demand. The first phase of Maslow’s is physiological needs, a basic need for food, clothing, and shelter, and to sustain fundamental human life. Next is a drive to escape from the fear of physical danger. The third Stage needs are "belongs and love’. As humans are social beings, we have a desire to belong to various groups and be accepted by different communities in the forms of friendship. The fourth level of desire is the desire to enjoy honor or power as a member of an organization. This need includes factors of internal respect, such as self-esteem, autonomy, and achievement. It also includes external factors, such as status, identification, and being the center of attention. The last of the hierarchy is the highest, one of a desire to achieve everything one can by fully exercising his or her talents and potential with self-actualization. It is a desire to exercise one's potential to the fullest, including a desire for growth and self-completion.

Figure 1.Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Motivation systems in human beings External motivation is something that drives people to act such that they gain compensation or avoid a disadvantage. Internal motivation, on the other hand, is gaining satisfaction with the act itself. Often with intrinsic motivation, the desire for and interest in the act keeps it going. External motivation has a great effect on short-term goal achievement, and internal motivation has a great effect on short-term and long-term goal achievement. For instance, one of the examples that utilize external motivation to promote action is the Saemaul Movement in South Korea. Saemaul Movement was a community-based integrated rural development program of South Korea in the 1970s which contributed to narrowing the development gap between urban cities and rural communities over that decade(Park, 2009 pg1). At that time, many villages were very underdeveloped after the Korean war. Accordingly, the government provided free cement for each village to build modern residential facilities and roads. In addition, the classes were divided into 3 classes such as basic, self-help and self-reliance villages to give better benefits to the successful villages,

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resulting in rapid growth in a short period. As a result, rural areas saw 166% expansion of village roads, 98% installation of electrical system installation in less than a decade after the Saemaul Movement. (Park, 2009 pg.8) In summary, the people of these regions were motivated by the improvement in the quality of life as facilitated by the economic support from the Korean government.

Figure 2. Saemaul Movement

Contrary to the Saemaul Movement, which achieved great economic development by stimulating external motivation, the Gwangju Democratic Movement symbolizes significance. The Gwangju Democratization Movement was a democratization movement of the Republic of Korea from May 18 to May 27, 1980, demanding the resignation of Chun Doo-hwan's dictatorship and the abolition of martial law. The government called it a "riot" and indiscriminately suppressed its citizens and their democratic movements. However, citizens of all ages, men, and women, came to the streets to protest against dictatorship, treated injured citizens, shared food among the protesters when the government brute force. These were acts of internal motivation for the public good at the risk of life.

Figure 3. May 18th Democratic Uprising

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Artificial Intelligence’s Motivation and Behavior: based on machine learning algorithm Humans and artificial intelligence have basic aspects in common in that they both have structures to convey, store, and process stimuli and information; central processing functions that manage information; requirements for energy sources to operate. However, human desire for reward and other emotions have great influence on human behavior. On the other hand, machines are not affected by irrelevant stimuli and produce accurate output through given algorithms. They are not influenced by seemingly unpredictable and erratic estimations and decisions as made by humans based on emotions. 1. Machine Learning Arthur Samuel (1959) claims that Machine Learning is a field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning uses algorithms to analyze data, learn from it, and make judgments or predictions based on what people have learned. Artificial intelligence learns from large amounts of data and algorithms to learn how to perform tasks. Machine learning is currently making great process in areas such as computer vision, but the limitation of artificial intelligence is that it requires massive stores of training data, it is a tedious process to label data, and it takes time to train. Algorithm of Machine Learning The algorithms of machine learning can be divided into three main categories: supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforced learning. Although each learning method is very different, it aims to achieve a high success rate through many iterations. 1. Supervised Learning Supervised learning is a way for training computers by telling them what the correct label is. There are correct inputs and outputs in supervised learning, which are divided into classification and regression. Classification problem produces an output variable that is a category. On the other hand, a regression problem produces an output variable that is a real value. Classification: Binary Classification and Multi-Label Classification Output categories that can be separated by yes and no are called binary classification. Differently, outputs that are not distinguished merely between yes and no are called multi-label classification. Regression Regression is the problem of predicting consecutive values based on the features of previous data. It is usually used to predict patterns and trends. Example of regression is stock market trends that can be predicted using machine learning.In fact, one reason why Linear Regression is so useful is that linear regression is fast. It also does not require tuning of parameters. However, it has a high variability on predictive accuracy, depending on the trend in the data. If the data shows a parabolic trend, then linear regression will not produce very accurate results when compared to parabolic regression.

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Application of Supervised Learning These predictive models are commonly used for forecasting results from values within a continuous range, such as stock price or exchange rate analysis. 2. Unsupervised Learning Unlike supervised learning, unsupervised learning is a training method that predicts the future by clustering similar data without giving the correct answer. Unsupervised learning allows the system to identify patterns within data sets on its own. As a result, we can classify new data when it is given as input. In sum, unsupervised learning is a process that allows you to classify data by similarities, patterns, and differences, and so on between data. Application of Unsupervised Learning Unsupervised learning is used in a variety of different areas ranging from medicine to public relations. In medical fields it is used to identify the distribution area and spread path of diseases through spatial cluster analysis of specific diseases, and in public relations, clustering is used to segment customers into identifiable groups. In addition, various clustering algorithms and methodologies are used to analyze data of interest in the field of statistics. 3. Reinforcement Learning If supervised and unsupervised learning has conducted learning in a static environment with no change in the environment, reinforcement learning gets either rewards or penalties for the action it performs to get the machine to do what the programmer wants. Its goal is to maximize the total reward. Reinforcement learning seems similar to supervised learning because the agent learns by receiving feedback from the environment, but it differs in that supervised learning the machine does not get reward from a human being. Process of Reinforcement Learning 1. Observes the current state of the environment given the defined agent and takes action based on it. 2. As the environment changes, defined entities receive rewards. 3. Based on this reward, the defined entity learns the behavior in the best action to gain more positive feedback. Application of Reinforcement Learning Reinforcement learning is currently being used in a variety of fields, including process control, network management, and robotics. AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence familiar to many of us, was developed using the basic rules of Go and reinforcement learning algorithms that learn 30 million game sets learned through their games and then train themselves. In addition, various research attempts using reinforcement learning are actively being conducted in autonomous vehicles and drones.

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Similarities between Human motivation and AI motivation Input and Output Both human and artificial intelligence respond to information that is entered. Abstract Information Processing: Artificial Neuron Network The human brain has more than 10 billion neurons connected in parallel through more than 10 trillion synapses. (Wang, 2003) Each of these synapses are the locations where each neuron receives an input signal from another neuron through a protoplasmic process and sends it through an axon to another neuron. Output signals occur when input signals are gathered and exceed a certain capacity. Just as biological neurons take inputs from several different neurons and store them in a cell body, then send outputs once reaching a certain capacity, artificial neural network neurons receive multiple inputs and activate at a certain level. The part where neon receives the input from the dentries is expressed as the value of X in perceptron, the weight of neuron's cell body is expressed as the sum of the product of the connection weight connected to each unit of X, and finally, if it exceeds the threshold, the part that carries the signal is expressed to obtain the output value by a function. Learning Obligation People and artificial intelligence also both need training at first. Both go through a certain system of processing, and this is done on the central processing unit corresponding to the brain and CPU, respectively. As the number of training iterations increases, the accuracy or efficiency of processing work gradually increases. Difference between Human motivation and AI motivation Metacognition Metacognition is a perception that allows people to recognize what they know and what they do not know to find and solve problems on people's own, and furthermore, it is a true metacognition that when one acknowledges his or her imperfection. However, machine learning does not have meta-cognitive capabilities because it cannot create rules or process things beyond actual data. It cannot continue to learn beyond original programming, and artificial intelligence can't explain the process about the results that artificial intelligence gets. Creativity Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. As mentioned above, the machine is given input and produces output accordingly. Without input, output cannot be produced, and only what is taught can be learned. Without instruction or input, output cannot be produced, to be specific, artificial intelligence cannot decide to do something new, find new ideas or concepts, or combine existing ideas or concepts unless specifically instructed to do so. As such, ideas and constructs like Democracy and selfrealization are uniquely human constructions.

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The efficiency and productivity of artificial intelligence are much higher than that of humans. Therefore, the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training (KRIVET) reported that by 2027, 52% of Korean jobs would be replaced by AI. As a result, it is clear that creativity, which is a unique and original ability of humans, is an increasingly important ability for humans to cultivate. Source of creativity was only in white matter until the default mode network, DMN was discovered. Basically, the connection between brain nerves is the white matter in the brain, but there is the DMN, a neural network that mediates creativity in areas such as problem solving and insight, which primarily works when the unconscious mind, when people are not doing anything. Also, DMN plays a big role in self-forming, memory, and decision making as well as creativity. Creativity is said to be closely related to whites matter such as frontal lobe, brain volume, bilateral stratum, right temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and right occipital lobe. This allows creative thinking to be possible because white matter connects neural circuits well to integrate information, resulting in a variety of higher-order cognitive functions (Takeuchi et al., 2010b). So a study of the roles of DMN in creative thinking could lead to a better understanding of how a human brain produces creative output and how such structures or processes relate to other parts of the nervous system. Conclusion Humans are social animals that think, understand and act for themselves. Of course, basic needs have a significant effect on what they do, but they do not act solely on rewards or desires. Humans act by assigning meaning in the act itself and are not solely goal-oriented. On the other hand, artificial intelligence, designed to mimic humans, acts through algorithms. The algorithms of machine learning are divided into three categories: supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforced learning. Supervised learning is a way of learning computers by telling them what the correct answer is, unsupervised learning is a way of predicting the future by clustering similar data, unlike supervised learning; reinforcement learning is not classifiable, as there is no fixed answer and there is no reward for your actions. Artificial intelligence obeys a given input and continues to learn to make the most accurate output. Unlike humans who are affected by emotions and the environment, artificial intelligence is valued for not being independent of the environment and for being accurate and usually without errors. Then, does the emergence and development of artificial intelligence make humans meaningless? No, I believe it stands that humans are more valuable than artificial intelligence because they are the only ones with metacognition and creativity. I believe that Meta-cognition, which means knowledge and control of one's cognitive activities, is the domain we humans need to develop and focus on. Artificial intelligence is unable to recognize what is wrong with itself, while humans have the ability to make and implement plans to supplement assessments from self-reflection. In addition, artificial intelligence can only output a given input, but humans can find new ideas or concepts without a given input, or combine existing ideas or concepts. These two abilities that only humans have, surpassing the values of other living things and artificial intelligence, remind us of human identity and greatness as artificial intelligence continues to develop.

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Reference [1] McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18). [2] Maslow, A. (1943). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Index of DOCS/Teacing {sp} Collection/Honolulu. [3] Pelletier, L. G., Tuson, K. M., Fortier, M. S., Vallerand, R. J., Briere, N. M., & Blais, M. R. (1995). Toward a new measure of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation in sports: The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS). Journal of sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(1), 3553. [4] Park, S. (2009). Analysis of Saemaul Undong: a Korean rural development programme in the 1970s. Asia-Pacific Development Journal, 16(2), 113. [5] Jung, G. H. (2017). Plan Research to Overcome Regionality of 5· 18 Democratization Movement: Focusing on biased distribution of academic paper writers and journals. Korea and Global Affairs, 1(2), 5-32. [6] Vatansever, S., Schlessinger, A., Wacker, D., Kaniskan, H. Ü., Jin, J., Zhou, M. M., & Zhang, B. (2021). Artificial intelligence and machine learning‐aided drug discovery in central nervous system diseases: State‐of‐the‐arts and future directions. Medicinal Research Reviews, 41(3), 1427-1473. [7] Vatansever, S., Schlessinger, A., Wacker, D., Kaniskan, H. Ü., Jin, J., Zhou, M. M., & Zhang, B. (2021). Artificial intelligence and machine learning‐aided drug discovery in central nervous system diseases: State‐of‐the‐arts and future directions. Medicinal Research Reviews, 41(3), 1427-1473. [8] Ayodele, T. O. (2010). Types of machine learning algorithms. New advances in machine learning, 3, 19-48. [9] Boden, M. A. (1998). Creativity and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, 103(1-2), 347356. [10] Wang, S. C. (2003). Artificial neural network. In Interdisciplinary computing in java programming (pp. 81-100). Springer, Boston, MA. [11] Crowder, J. A., & Shelli Friess MA, N. C. C. (2011). Metacognition and metamemory concepts for AI systems. In Proceedings on the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ICAI) (p. 1). The Steering Committee of The World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Applied Computing (WorldComp).

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Urbanization in China and Its Resultant Environmental Impacts

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Lee, Katherine S.

Seoul International School

I. Introduction In a world where virtually every country has started to urbanize, the UN Population Division notes that at least two-thirds of those in developing countries are expected to live in urban areas by the year 2050 (Montgomery, 2011). At the heart of this rapid expansion is China, whose recent economic boom has led to mass urbanization in the past couple of decades. As a country initially centered on agriculture, China’s urbanization has opened up a new world of technological advancements and economic opportunities for its people. But with the nation’s rapid transition to urban areas also comes a myriad of issues that threaten the stability of urbanization such as environmental harms. As former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher notes, the increasing rates of population growth and activities that humans tend to, such as polluting rivers and burning fossil fuels, has placed significant dangers to the global environment (Thatcher, 1989). The negative effects of this large-scale urbanization brought to China’s environment could pose potentially large threats to human health and the sustainability of China’s development, making it imperative for policymakers in China to create and revise strategies to tackle this issue (Chan, 2010). This situation that has arisen in China points to a critical question: What solutions would most effectively allow China to minimize the negative environmental impacts caused by urbanization? Despite the availability of unutilized land for government spending, central and municipal governments in China should cooperate to instead encourage more efficient urbanization to lessen the country’s resultant environmental impacts regarding pollution and energy consumption through the implementation of property taxes for remodeled infrastructure, better urban development planning in housing structures, and supervised regulations for clean water sources in urban areas.

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II. Tax Implementations One new policy that China should put into effect to undertake the environmental effects of urbanization is tax reforms, more specifically property taxes to remodel green building standards. Contrary to other developing countries, China does not have much control over tax implementations that defines the revenue that comes from land ownership and real estate; municipal or local authorities, in fact, barely have any legal hold on property taxes that can be placed on those who own property with land and housing structures. Out of the twenty four different taxes that China collects, the ones that generate the most revenue for the central and local governments are the value added tax (VAT), personal income tax, and business tax (Asian Development Bank, 2014). With much less of a focus on land and property when it comes to tax revenues, municipal governments’ monetary expenditures do not align with the rate of urban development that is actually needed for many of the cities that people are migrating to. Yang Dongfeng, a professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, finds that the ineffectual development of land in currently urbanizing cities and lack of incentives that municipal governments provide to property owners to incorporate more space and energy efficient infrastructure is what has resulted in a rise in gaseous waste and air pollution across residential and industrial land per capita (Dongfeng et al., 2013). The Chinese State Administration of Taxation (SAT) finds through an assessment model based on computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) that raised taxes on apartments and residences in large cities can lead to a raise in land related revenues that the government can use to finance the development of new housing and infrastructure in these urban area (Zhou, 2012). With taxes that are not redundantly levied based on income and are primarily targeted on industrial, commercial, or residential structures, the fiscal responsibility that landowners bear will be raised instead of simply leaving them to lax local policies. By increasing tax revenue through the revision of current tax focuses and passing new property and land economic policies through the central government, municipal governments will be able to increase their hold on the development of local infrastructure through raised revenue and provide incentives for land in urban areas to start being further developed upon for use that accommodates the growing urban population and doesn’t increase environmental harms like air pollution.

III. Urban Development Improvements In addition to initiating tax reforms, central and municipal governments should also work to improve urban development planning through the modification of housing structures in current cities to achieve more affordability and reduce the rising levels of energy consumption in high-density areas. By getting various municipalities across the country to enforce a nationwide system instituted by the central government called inclusionary housing, or inclusionary zoning, urbanization will expand to sustainably include lower-income migrants and residents in a way that won’t require that excessive government spending and efforts to utilize completely new plots of land outside of central urban city areas. China has invested huge sums of money into experimental projects such as “shantytown” redevelopment programs, the government announcing that it had used 144 billion dollars two thirds into 2018 to demolish

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and rebuild poorly structured housing in medium to smaller sized cities in China (Chen, 2018). While this program briefly provided those with lower incomes the opportunity to move into better residential housing, this initiative was intended more for the restimulation of China’s economy and has not been continued on as large of a scale since then; a new set of urban development policies with similar intent but better and more sustained execution could effectively reorganize the distribution of affordable housing while maintaining the inherent structure of cities and its energy consumption levels. Brantley Liddle, a research scientist at the National University of Singapore, finds through a production function model on energy use in correlation with urban/economic development that the rapid and wide-scale urbanization in China has inevitably led to a huge increase in city energy consumption, which the Chinese government has not necessarily addressed in terms of enforcing maximized energy efficiency (Liddle, 2013). Liddle notes that condensed housing structures across an area with higherdensity, particularly within urbanizing cities, can be effectively geared towards energy efficiency. This can be most realistically achieved with the mass furbishing of collective electricity and gas installments across inclusionary housing zones, which will ideally hold higher numbers of residents due to its increased affordability in comparison to a widely distributed set of residences. Approaching urbanization through an improved urban development housing plan to accommodate the large amount of population with medium to low income will increase the efficiency of urban expansion in China and lessen the inefficacious use of energy in cities.

IV. Water Quality Regulations China’s central government should also aid municipal governments in supervised regulations for water sources and sewage outlets in urban areas to prevent the continuation of water pollution and ensure a constant abundance of water supply. Especially in smaller cities still undergoing urbanization today, municipalities lack the resources or managerial capacity to effectively deal with the issues that urbanization may bring up, in this case environmental harms such as the transfer of polluted water sources within urban areas and between agricultural provinces as well (Montgomery, 2008). Montgomery also notes in his published Science article that many cities suffer from a lack of adequate water supplies, similarly calling for a more centered awareness on the need to tackle urbanization related problems (Montgomery, 2008). The lack of clean water supplies goes hand in hand with the polluted water sources that have largely resulted from the development of sewage outlets in protected areas for water facilities and fertilizers for agricultural use; in fact, these sources of pollution can lead to not enough clean water being able to be supplied to people living in urban areas, somewhat resulting in a vicious cycle of unclean or inaccessible water supply (Han et al., 2018). Instead of deriving water for cities from a multitude of sources, individual municipalities should select single clean water suppliers who also follow a set of guidelines including the ecological waterline protection, prohibition of sewage outlets built within water supply facilities, and other regulations to prevent extraneous water pollution travelling in and out of China’s cities. Regulations ensuring that cities are provided with hygienic and environmentally

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friendly sources of water will help reduce some of the environmentally harmful water pollution caused by China’s urbanization.

V. Counterclaim Given, some people believe that a more effective way of addressing the environmental impacts caused by urbanization would be the utilization of new plots of land; many point out that the high levels of population density in urban cities is enough to be environmentally friendly to a certain extent amidst China’s urbanization. By embarking on new infrastructure projects on completely undeveloped land, municipalities will have more firsthand control over developments in green infrastructure, whether it be to reduce gaseous waste and pollution over a large urban area or create filtering facilities for water sources into cities, as well as housing that will be available to residents who migrate to urban areas (Grumbine, 2014). The largescale movement of China’s population into urban cities has also introduced more effective ways of life such as public transportation in high density areas, using less energy and causing less pollution than what would otherwise be many more cars travelling to and from different provinces or regions (Seto, 2013). However, a report published by the United Nations Population Division shows that there is still a fair distribution of the population across lower density areas in the country that cannot account for the environmental efficiency of selective cities (UN Population Division, 2018). If taxes aren’t collected for established land or property and completely vacant land is used as an attempt to develop, government expenditures will increase too much without enough revenue for land development, landing them in further deficit without a clear accomplishment in green infrastructure improvements. Central governments need to take action by working with municipalities to pass tax legislation that ensures tangible improvements on already existing buildable land and helps reduce the gas emissions in those urban areas (Meng, 2018).

VI. Implications If these solutions are to be implemented as actual governmental policies in China, the municipal governments across the country will initially bear an immense economic burden to enforce pollution regulations and switch poorer quality housing areas to inclusionary housing zones. Infrastructure improvements will generally be supported by the newly property tax revenues that local governments will receive, although the policy will definitely take some time to be approved of and officially implemented in cities across China. After the solutions are implemented, urban hubs will probably see a gradual increase, or even a classified wave, of migrants moving into these areas and furthering the country’s process of urbanization.

VII. Conclusion China has done a tremendous job of urbanizing to accommodate parts of one of the

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world’s largest populations, all in a relatively short period of time. Although the nation is still urbanizing, however, an array of environmental harms such as pollution and high energy consumption has resulted from this urbanization. Through various new government initiatives that are remodeled from similar policy ideas, China’s central and municipal governments should cooperate to encourage more efficient urbanization to lessen the country’s resultant environmental impacts. The largely top-down approach of urban development in nations should be loosened, albeit revealing the need to also delve deeper into the research of the interrelationship between governmental strategies and urban growth. This will be especially crucial to developing countries such as Philippines and Vietnam: nations in Southeast Asia that are now rapidly urbanizing themselves. This paper conceptually suggests that these steps may be taken by implementing property taxes for infrastructure improvements, revising urban development planning to create more affordable housing structures, and passing strict regulations to ensure an abundant supply of unpolluted water in urban areas.

Works Cited [1] Chan, Kam Wing. “Fundamentals of China's Urbanization and Policy.” China Review, vol. 10, no. 1, 2010, pp. 63–93. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23462243. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020. [2] Chen, Yawen. "China Ploughs $144 Billion into Shantytown Redevelopment so Far in 2018." Reuters, 16 Aug. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-property-idUSKBN1L10WC. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020. [3] Cui, Linli, and Jun Shi. "Urbanization and Its Environmental Effects in Shanghai, China." Urban Climate, vol. 2, Dec. 2012, pp. 1-15, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212095512000156. Accessed 16 Nov. 2020. [4] Dongfeng, Yang, et al. “Urbanization and Sustainability in China: An Analysis Based on the Urbanization Kuznets-Curve.” Planning Theory, vol. 12, no. 4, 2013, pp. 391–405. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26166230. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020. [5] Grumbine, R Edward. “Assessing Environmental Security in China.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, vol. 12, no. 7, 2014, pp. 403–411. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43187837. Accessed 15 Nov. 2020. [6] Han, Hongyun, et al. “Challenging Issues over Sustainable Water Management in Coastal Area from China.” Journal of Coastal Research, 2018, pp. 946–958. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26543081. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020. [7] Karen, Seto. "What Should We Understand about Urbanization in China?" Yale Insights, 1 Nov. 2013, insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-should-we-understand-about-urbanization-in-china. [8] Liddle, Brantley. “The Energy, Economic Growth, Urbanization Nexus Across Development: Evidence from Heterogeneous Panel Estimates Robust to Cross-Sectional Dependence.” The Energy Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, 2013, pp. 223–244. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41970487. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020. [9] Meng, Lina, et al. "Impacts of Booming Economic Growth and Urbanization on Carbon Dioxide

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Emissions in Chinese Megalopolises over 1985-2010: An Index Decomposition Analysis." Energy Efficiency (1570646X), vol. 11, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 203–223. EBSCOhost, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=127003714&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 Nov. 2020. [10] Ming, Yin. “Energy Development and Urbanization in China.” Energy & Environment, vol. 26, no. 1/2, 2014, pp. 1–14. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43735334. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020. [11] Montgomery, Mark. “The Urban Transformation of the Developing World.” Science, Feb. 2008, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020. [12] Thatcher, Margaret. “Speech to United Nations General Assembly.” Nov. 1989, https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107817. Accessed 27 Nov. 2020. [13] World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018Report.pdf. Accessed 14 Nov. 2020. [14] Zhou, Wenji, et al. “Energy Consumption Patterns in the Process of China's Urbanization.” Population and Environment, vol. 33, no. 2/3, 2012, pp. 202–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41487958. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.

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Corporate Bailout during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from the 2007 Global Financial Crisis Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Choi, Jang Kyung

Singapore American School

Abstract In 2020, the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) hit the world economy, thereby hampering economic growth of most countries in the world. The United States and the Republic of Korea have been no exceptions. In order to maintain economic vitality, both the Trump administration and the Moon administration adopted corporate stimulus packages. Corporate bailout, in particular, has been one of the most important forms of government intervention due to its ability to prevent an economic collapse and the number of jobs that are able to be saved by preventing a bankruptcy of a large corporation. Yet, the corporate bailout also sparked heated debates between proponents and opponents of government intervention. Similarly, the 2007 global financial crisis led to an unprecedented level of government intervention in the financial market. During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the US government adopted similar measures, which mainly took form in the Federal Reserve buying corporate bonds. While proponents of such intervention claim that this financial aid from the government benefits the broader economy as a whole, critics often highlight the ethical concerns associated with such interventions. This thesis will analyze specific examples - especially from the United States and South Korea - in order to assess these claims. Using various economic and statistical methods, this thesis will conclude that corporate bailouts are necessary to prevent a stock market crash, which can cause an economic collapse, and to protect the countless jobs that will have been lost otherwise.

Keywords: Corporate Bailout, COVID-19, Global Financial Crisis, Corporate Bonds, the United States, the Republic of Korea, the Federal Reserve

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I. Introduction The 2007-8 global financial crisis and the recent COVID-19 pandemic brought many firms to their knees, very nearly triggering a financial and economic collapse which cost many people their jobs. By mid-2008, Wall Street titans Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed, sending the already shaken financial markets in free fall with US indexes suffering record losses. The devastation these bankruptcies had on the economy forced the Federal Reserve to put forth a comprehensive plan to prevent further bleeding, and the Wall Street bailout package was approved in October 2008. Yet, the bailout package incited severe public backlash, with many expressing their outrage at big corporations receiving support which they thought were immoral. Even to this day, government bailouts are among the most contentious topics in economics, as demonstrated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. When the Federal Reserve announced that they would be buying corporate bonds to combat the highly volatile stock and corporate debt markets, many were quick to denounce such practises - similar to the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis. Contrary to popular opinions that the central bank must intervene as “lender of last resort” in a crisis, this paper will argue that, although corporate bailouts do entail some significant unintended consequences, they are a necessary tool that governments should use to weather an economic crisis. To do so, this paper will analyse various corporations that did and did not receive government assistance and the consequences of those outcomes. By comparing the differing impacts of these decisions on the broader economy, this thesis will ultimately arrive at the conclusion that bailouts are pivotal in mitigating the brunt of an economic crisis. A multitude of sources were referenced to conduct this study. However, the majority of the referenced sources were news articles, especially due to the lack of published papers on the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Using these sources, the paper aims to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks of bailout packages, aiming to determine the true efficacy of such policies. That said, prior research was included to generalise the effects of a bailout, which can be extrapolated to the COVID-19 pandemic as well. The paper opens by solidifying the definition of a bailout. This is done to help mitigate potential confusion, as bailouts can take many different forms. The next section discusses the recipients and the non-recipients of corporate bailouts, analysing them for the implications that corporate bailouts have on the economy. In particular, I have chosen to compare Lehman Brothers with American International Group, of which the former did not receive government assistance and the latter did. The following sections compare the forms of government assistance provided in the US and South Korea, and apply it to pre-existing macroeconomic theories, deducing the necessity of such forms of government intervention.

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II. Body II-1. Defining a corporate bailout A bailout refers to a form of financial aid, typically issued during an economic crisis such as the Great Depression or the global financial crisis. It can take the form of loans or bonds and stock purchases by a government or a financially stable corporation. (Corporate Finance Institute) This bailout may turn out to be a success or a failure. Due to the bailout of General Motors, for instance, the taxpayers incurred a net loss of over $11 billion; of the $50 billion disbursed, they managed to return a little over $38 billion. (ProPublica, 2020). Proponents of corporate bailouts commonly argue that such forms of government intervention play an essential role in preventing layoffs while simultaneously making a profit (from the repayment of these financial aid), and allowing for a faster economic recovery. Yet, corporate bailouts remain to be a heavily contentious topic. Many also claim that these bailouts may negatively affect the economy, primarily due to companies misallocating the funds they receive (especially on excessive executive compensation and stock buybacks). They also express their concerns with the seemingly excessive cost associated with bailing out large corporations, which entails some moral concerns. Moreover, the bailout might excessively incentivize companies to take more risks, which is also referred to as a moral hazard. In history, there have been some noteworthy cases in the late 2000s, which notably include the cases of Lehman Brothers and the American International Group. These examples can shed light on the recent COVID-19 pandemic time period, when governments are also eager to intervene in markets. In the next section below, I will delve more into these case studies. II-2. Theory: A macroeconomic approach to the corporate bailout This paper is, by no means, an attempt to refute the existence of the various drawbacks to corporate bailouts. Admittedly, corporate bailouts are not the perfect solution. There inherently lies a multitude of problems with these bailouts - one of which is a problem known as moral hazard. This is especially a problem among large corporations that are “too big to fail”. These companies are incentivised to take risks (to maximise returns) because they know the government will bail them out if needed. Many economists claim that bailouts and the moral hazard problem form a vicious cycle that will increase the need for a future bailout. Moral hazard was most prominently seen in the 2008-9 Global Financial Crisis, during which many governments bailed out numerous financial institutions, mostly through loans. Furthermore, there exists cases where government assistance of a failing corporation would not have significant social and economic benefit - and hence would not make sense; for a bailout to be advisable, certain criterias must be met. Despite the significant drawbacks, government intervention - particularly in the form of bailouts - seems to be necessary in most economic crises. The commonly adopted Keynesian Economics Theory captures this perfectly. In direct contrast to the previously held belief that economies should be self-regulated (known as the Classical Economics Theory), Keynesian

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Economics encourages activist fiscal and monetary policies to manage the economy. In particular, it argues that governments should work to solve economic problems in the short run, rather than wait for them to be fixed by the free market over an extended period of time. One of the many things that John Maynard Keynes, the father of the Keynesian Economics Theory, argued for was the deficit spending in the labor intensive infrastructure projects to combat employment and stabilize wages during economic downturns, which shows a lot of parallel with the recent forms of corporate bailouts. The rapid demise of banks, in particular, could pose a serious problem for the economy as a whole, which further explains the need for a Keynesian approach during times of economic crisis. The bailout of banks, for example, is seen to have higher social benefits than private benefits, according to a study by Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). The CEPR explains that this is due to three primary reasons: “First, it affects uninformed depositors who do not have the incentives or the means to assess the risk they face. Second, the bank's knowledge of its customers, and especially of small corporations, is an asset that would be lost in a bankruptcy. Finally, the bankruptcy of one bank may generate a negative externality for all other banks through a contagion effect.” Such sentiments, that the benefits of a bailout often outweighs potential downsides, is expressed in a multitude of other studies. Numerous papers hypothesize that bailouts can, in fact, reduce systemic risk “either through a higher charter value effect (Cordella and LevyYeyati, 2003) or through a reduction in undiversifiable contagion risk across banks (Freixas, Parigi, and Rochet, 2000; Allen and Gale, 2001; Diamond and Rajan, 2005; Dell'Ariccia and Ratnovski, 2013; Choi, 2014),” just as the CEPR concluded). II-3. Case studies: corporate bailouts and the United States Here below, I will share three case studies that show us how the US administrations used the corporate bailout as a way to fight against economic depressions. First, two cases - one on Lehman Brothers and another on the American International Group (hereinafter AIG) - will be analyzed. Second, this thesis will introduce to readers a current corporate bailout case during the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases were selected to demonstrate that a strict ‘no bailout’ policy is not advisable, nor feasible, during times of economic crisis. The case studies are not to be interpreted as an extrapolation that bailouts are necessary for all failing corporations. Rather, they are to be interpreted as cases that highlight the certain criterias that warrants a bailout. 1) 2007-8 Financial Crisis: Lehman Brothers On Monday, September 15, 2008 the Lehman Brothers shook the world when it filed for bankruptcy. At the time, the Lehman Brothers was the 4th largest investment bank in the United States, employing over 25,000 people and managing assets totaling over $691 billion. Until this day, the bankruptcy marks the largest in US history. The collapse of Lehman Brothers was arguably the catalyst for the complete freeze of global money markets that followed. By

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Wednesday, September 17, just 2 days following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, investors withdrew an astounding $196 billion from their money market accounts, where businesses keep cash to fund daily operations. “Had this trend continued, the economy would have collapsed in just a few weeks” (Amadeo). The Fed chairman, Treasury Secretary, and the president of the New York Fed at the time (Ben S. Bernanke, Henry M. Paulson, and Timothy F. Geithner, respectively) claimed that Lehman Brothers “was in such a deep hole from its risky real estate investments” that the Federal Reserve was not legally authorised to intervene. However, “interviews with current and former Fed officials” directly contradict that claim. Indeed, a group within the New York Fed had come to a conclusion that Lehman Brothers was only narrowly solvent - and hence might have qualified for a bailout (Stewart). The fall of Lehman Brothers ultimately caused the loss of thousands of jobs, as well as put a severe strain on the global economy as a whole. To this day, the Fed’s decision to let Lehman go under is heavily debated. Warren Buffett recently revealed in an interview that if he “were chairman of the Fed,” he would’ve bailed them out “whether [he] could do it or not”. Buffett added that although “it would have been very tough to do” - especially given the public sentiment at the time - it would have been an act that should have been done “in the interest of the country.” According to the proponents of the corporate bailout, the uncontrolled demise of Lehman Brothers was a government failure. Those who are for the government intervention argue that the bailout was not only important but also mandatory. Such sentiment is further exemplified by Todd Keister, who authored Bailouts and Financial Fragility in 2010. Here, Keister argues that “when there is aggregate risk in the economy, it is efficient for some of this risk to be borne by the public sector.” He adds that a ‘strict no-bailout policy’ will not achieve the effective allocation of resources that is necessary during times of crisis. 2) 2007-8 Financial Crisis: AIG (American International Group) In contrast to the Lehman Brothers case, the US government instantly intervened in saving AIG with taxpayers’ money. The American International Group - most commonly known as AIG - was one of many corporations that received financial aid during the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis. During the crisis, the United States government took a controlling share of AIG in exchange for the $85 billion in assistance they provided under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). While the bailout seems excessively costly at first, its long term cost was much less than the initial payout. Ultimately, taxpayers made a profit of over $22.7 billion after the Treasury sold its last shares of this insurance giant (Webel, 2017). Even if the Treasury were to lose taxpayers’ money in the bailout of AIG (in an eventual bankruptcy, for example), it still would have been worthwhile for the Fed to bail them out, due to the significant economic implications their collapse would have. The former Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernake, emphasised that, as infuriated as he was with AIG’s undertaking of

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significant risks with unregulated products, the government had no choice but to bail out the insurance giant, as its bankruptcy would have caused a similar form of economic collapse that occurred with the demise of Lehman Brothers. AIG was so large at the time that its failure would have a profound impact on the entire global economy. As a major seller of credit default swaps (CDS), AIG’s bankruptcy would have also triggered the bankruptcy of the innumerable financial institutions that had bought these swaps. “When the government bailed out AIG, it did so in part to protect Goldman Sachs and AIG’s other counterparties, which collectively constituted the core of the financial system. Spreading the pain would have spread the dysfunction. Moreover, because so many of a bank’s creditors are depositors or others who can easily run, protecting creditors is often critical to promoting stability.” To those who were worried about the ripple effects that the demise of the AIG would have caused, saving the AIG was a must. Yet, not everyone agrees on the theoretical effects of the bailout. Although the proponents claim that the corporate bailout is essential to an economy in the period of economic downturns, opponents still think that the bailout is not a panacea, and rightfully so. There exists a few major flaws within the corporate bailout system - one of which is a problem known as moral hazard. Moral hazard refers to the “situation that arises when an individual has the chance to take advantage of a financial deal or situation, knowing that all the risks and fallout will land on another party” (“Moral Hazard - Overview, Origin, and Example”). In other words, one party is able to take advantage of another party if it chooses to do so. A lot of economists argue that the existence of bailouts may potentially alter future corporate behaviors, especially by incentivising them to take more risks (in an effort to produce greater returns). More specifically, “by allowing shareholders and creditors to avoid losses they agreed to bear,” these bailout policies may encourage companies to take on too much debt. This, in turn, “increases the fragility of the corporate sector,” which may warrant another government bailout in the future. Wharton finance professor Robert Inman believes that recipients of corporate bailouts will inevitably become “sloppy and inefficient” knowing that they will be bailed out in the future. One such example lies with American carmakers of the 1970s, says Gerald Faulhaber, a professor of management and public policy at Wharton. Faulhaber says that when American car manufacturers failed to compete with the Japanese counterparts, they received significant government help through protective tariffs. Despite this, he adds, the American companies did little to “respond with meaningful change.” In essence, he explains that “basically, they just took the money and ran” (“Are Government Bailouts Bad Business?”). Thus, according to the opponents of the corporate bailout, the government intervention will bring about a significant moral hazard issue. Furthermore, determining the exact criterias that warrants a bailout can be especially challenging. That said, it is generally agreed that the banking industry plays a pivotal role in the broader economy, warranting the need for government assistance during times of crisis. In particular, the banking industry is highly vulnerable to a ‘contagion effect’, which may exacerbate the economic condition rapidly. In short, the vulnerability of the banking industry lies with three points. First, the perceived fragility in the banking system may develop bank

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runs. Second, the “general distrust regarding the creditworthiness of counterparts leads to a halt in the uncollateralized interbank markets.” And third, as the liquidity gets squeezed, “banks are forced to sell some of their assets in the market, which puts downward pressure on the price of financial assets.” (2008, p. 85) 3) COVID-19: the US approach to the failing companies during the pandemic As we have seen from the above, the US government used the corporate bailouts to help the financial industry overcome the global financial crisis. About eleven years since then, the United States is again experiencing economic difficulties in the COVID-19 pandemic era. Here, the Trump administration is using corporate bailouts again to save some companies that have been hard-hit by the sudden economic downturns. On March 27 2020, The Congress passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES). Of the 2.2 trillion dollar budget, 877 billion dollars were allocated to aiding large and small corporations (Snell). This stimulus package, particularly those allocated to helping small businesses, primarily aims to help these businesses stay afloat without having to layoff their workers. It’s important to note that a stimulus differs, fundamentally, from a bailout. While a bailout refers to the financial support to a company (or, in some cases, countries) facing bankruptcies, a stimulus refers to an increase in government expenditures (a fiscal response). The idea is that a stimulus package will reverse (or prevent) an economic recession by increasing the overall spending of the economy. In particular, the objective is to compensate for the loss in spending that would have otherwise been done by the private sector under normal circumstances. The boosting of government spending (and hence the overall spending) will ultimately lead to an increase in aggregate demand, closing the output gap in the process. From the Small Business Administration (SBA) report released on July 6 2020, it’s clear that the stimulus package is having a significant impact on American employment rates. The SBA noted that the funding supported more than 51 million jobs, with the healthcare, scientific, technical services, construction, and manufacturing sector receiving the largest aid. “The Cares Act authorizes the Treasury Secretary to spend up to $877 billion in taxpayer money helping corporations, large and small. The Federal Reserve, using money authorized by the Cares Act and through its own initiative, has launched an array of programs to inject even more liquidity into the financial system and to help companies access the credit they need to survive. These interventions both replicate and expand on the tools used in 2008.” Businesses have taken at least half a trillion dollars in coronavirus aid from the American public, and the government is refusing to disclose which companies are getting the money. Yet, one thing is obvious - the corporate bailouts are back again during the COVID-19 pandemic era. II-4. Assessment of the necessity of a corporate bailout The government bailouts of the 2007-8 Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 proved to serve an essential role in stabilising the economy. In particular, the studies above demonstrate the efficacy of a bailout when preserving jobs. One direct consequence of bailing out a large

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corporation is the continuation of operation of that firm - which may employ thousands of workers. However, the implications of a bailout far extend the preservation of countless jobs. As seen with the unforeseen demise of the Lehman Brothers, uncontrolled bankruptcy of large corporations can inflict detrimental consequences on the economy that could have been prevented with suitable government interventions. Due to their sudden bankruptcy, panicked investors withdrew record amounts from their money market accounts, sending the stock market crashing down and very nearly causing the collapse of the US economy. AIG’s bailout serves as a testament to the US government’s realisation of the devastation that an uncontrolled bankruptcy of a big firm can have on the global economy. Knowing how interconnected AIG’s business was to other financial firms, the US government had no choice but to bail them out. II-5. Comparison between the United States and Korea We have witnessed thus far how the US government has used the corporate bailouts in order to boost the economy during the economic hardships. However, the principles of bailouts extend far beyond the domains of the US economy. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic era, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has been also using the corporate bailouts in order to rescue some faltering industries. Due to the fact that South Korea’s economy differs heavily from the traditional Here, this thesis would like to choose the airline industry of both the United States and Korea for further analysis. Through the analysis of both cases, this thesis will argue that both countries are staunch supporters of using corporate bailouts during the economic crisis. Through the bailout, these two countries aim to directly save a significant number of jobs and to prevent an economic collapse. Yet, one notable difference between the two governments was that the US government structured the loan to resemble a grant, whereas the Korean government intended its bailout to be a loan. For the United States airline industry, the US government has undertaken the following measures. Recently, the US government approved $46 billion in loans, in a desperate attempt to save the workforce. US lawmakers have also agreed to a $15 billion payroll assistance package, which will directly save 32,000 workers who were previously furloughed. It has been reported by the US Travel Association that “without immediate aid, 50% of all travel-supported jobs” will have been lost by December of 2020 - which amounts to a staggering 1.3 million jobs. In addition to the positive effects toward the labor market, this measure produced another positive effect for the stock market. Even before the loans were officially approved, the stock market has responded positively to the news. In response to the talks of another bailout, airline stocks have performed well. This rise in stock prices provided the stock market with a positive signal - that the stock market will stay safe during this economic hardship. Economic downturns, in general, let the stock prices fall down, and this might trigger a domino effect for the entire stock market. Yet, with the help of the US government, these airline stocks do not encounter a crashdown, which will save the entire market from a simultaneous crashdown. On August 5th, American Airlines Group rose 9.5%, United Airlines Holdings rose 4.5%, while Delta Air Lines saw a 3.1% increase in response to the bailout. This is in stark contrast to the downward trend that characterised these airline stocks previously. Amid growing concerns that

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the recovery of the airline industry will take time, US Airline stocks traded close to their all time lows. Similar to the United States, the South Korean economy was also hard hit by the pandemic. South Korean airlines have also been making significant operating losses due to the pandemic, which prompted the South Korean government to assist these corporations through a bailout package. Asiana Airlines, in particular, has been hemorrhaging money recently, forcing its parent company, Kumho Industrial, to put its 31 percent stake in Asiana up for sale (link). The pandemic only exacerbated their financial crisis, and Korean Air agreed to acquire Asiana Airlines for $2.2 billion. To aid this acquisition, Korean state owned bank KDB stated that it would “provide up to $971 million in liquidity”. This government assistance package comes after the International Air Transport Association reported that stated that the collapse of the Korean aviation industry would “result in loss of 160,000 jobs and cut 11 trillion won in the country’s GDP”. Investors reacted very positively to the bailout news. On November 16th, for instance, shares of Korean Airlines (KAL) jumped 23.2 percent on the expectation that the merger would boost its value. Since then, its stock price has demonstrated a consistent upward trend, indicating that investors are confident in the outlook of this merger.

III. Conclusion Government intervention at times of crisis is a heavily contentious topic - with avid supporters on both sides of the argument. While the process of bailing out corporations does entail some unintended consequences, namely the moral hazard problem, its immeasurable benefits ultimately outweigh its drawbacks. Corporate bailouts have proved to be an essential instrument that governments can use to induce a speedy economic recovery, especially by allowing the government to preserve existing jobs and by mitigating the full brunt of an economic collapse. As seen with the Lehman Brothers case, the uncontrolled collapse of a large corporation proved to have economic implications that are far more profound than what was anticipated; the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers caused the Reserve Primary Fund to “break the buck”, freezing up the entire credit market. The efficacy of bailouts have been demonstrated, time and time again, in the midst of the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the most notable being the bailout of AIG (during the global financial crisis) and airlines (during the pandemic). The South Korean and the American Airline industry, in particular, which we analysed in this study, showed very positive reactions to the government assistance packages. The bailout of the aviation industry in these countries directly saved thousands of jobs, and managed to restore investor confidence, as demonstrated by the dramatic rise in stock prices of the constituents. Corporate bailout - when used in an appropriate manner - can save an economy from a full collapse. In particular, through the case studies above, it becomes evident that firms that have high social value, and high social costs if they were to go under, such as banks and airlines, often necessitate the need for a bailout to prevent further exacerbation of the economic crisis.

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In particular, even a singular bankruptcy in the banking sector generates a negative externality, potentially putting the whole banking industry at risk. This is in contrast to the bankruptcy of a non-banking, industrial firm, which generates a positive externality by providing its competitors with the opportunity to increase their previously unattainable market share. While it may be true that this positive externality may apply to banking entities, it’s also true that negative impacts of the collapse of a bank will outweigh the positive impacts, especially in a systemic crisis. In short, socially valuable firms like banks are far too large and interconnected to fail; their demise will lead to significant economic repercussions that are best avoided through a bailout. Though this paper attempts to rationalise that a no-bailout policy during an economic crisis is not feasible, as demonstrated through a multitude of case selection, the paper lacks in that it does not make the conditions that necessitates a bailout very apparent. While banks are undoubtedly one class of entities that often warrants a bailout, there are also non-banking entities that may warrant a bailout under certain circumstances, which is not discussed in a comprehensive manner. In this particular paper, there was little attempt to rationalise those, albeit rare, cases.

Works Cited

[1] “Are Government Bailouts Bad Business?” Knowledge@Wharton, Oct 10, 2001, https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/are-government-bailouts-bad-business/ [2] Amadeo, Kimberly. “How the 2008 Lehman Brothers Collapse Affects You Today.” The Balance, https://www.thebalance.com/lehman-brothers-collapse-causes-impact4842338#citation-5\ [3] Amadeo, Kimberly. “What Is a Stock Market Crash?” The Balance, The Balance, 17 Sept. 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/stock-market-crash-examples-cause-impact-3305864. [4] Amadeo, Kimberly. “How the 2008 Lehman Brothers Collapse Affects You Today.” The Balance, The Balance, 16 Apr. 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/lehman-brothers-collapsecauses-impact4842338#:~:text=Impact%20of%20Lehman's%20Bankruptcy&text=10%EF%BB%BF%20Inve stors%20lost%20confidence,from%20their%20money%20market%20accounts. [5] “Bailout Takeover - Understanding How Bailout Takeovers Work.” Corporate Finance Institute, 12 Feb. 2020, www.corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/deals/bailouttakeover/.

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[6] Busson, Alex. “What Happens to Shares If a Company Needs a Government Bailout?” The Motley Fool, 24 Sept. 2020, www.fool.co.uk/mywallethero/share-dealing/learn/what-happensto-shares-if-a-company-needs-a-government-bailout/. [7] Amadeo, Kimberly. “What Did the Bank Bailout Bill Really Do?” The Balance, 26 Oct. 2020, https://www.thebalance.com/what-was-the-bank-bailout-bill-3305675 [8] Caplinger, Dan. “Coronavirus Bailout: As Stock Buybacks Disappear, Will the Market Fall Further?” The Motley Fool, 25 Mar. 2020, www.fool.com/investing/2020/03/25/coronavirusbailout-as-stock-buybacks-disappear-wi.aspx. [9] Chia, Jeremy. “Government Bailouts and What They Mean For Shareholders.” The Good Investors, 9 Sept. 2020, www.thegoodinvestors.sg/government-bailouts-and-what-they-meanfor-shareholders/. [10] Cirium. “Korean Air Raises $1.8 Billion from New Shares and Government Aid.” Flight Global, Flight Global, 14 May 2020, www.flightglobal.com/airlines/korean-air-raises-18billion-from-new-shares-and-government-aid/138364.article. [11] Cox, Jeff. “The Fed Is Buying Some of the Biggest Companies' Bonds, Raising Questions over Why.” CNBC, 29 June 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/the-fed-is-buying-some-of-thebiggest-companies-bonds-raising-questions-over-why.html. [12] Chu, Ben. “How the Lehman Brothers Collapse Sparked a Global Financial Crisis 10 Years Ago Today.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 12 Sept. 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/financial-crisis-2008-whylehman-brothers-what-happened-10-years-anniversary-a8531581.html. [13] Dell'Ariccia, Giovanni, and Lev Ratnovski. “Bailouts and Systemic Insurance.” IMF Working Paper, 2013, pp. 1–28. [14] Farmer, Roger E.A. “The Stock Market Crash of 2008 Caused the Great Recession: Theory and Evidence.” National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER Working Paper Series, 2011, pp. 1– 37. [15] Farrell, Sean. “Lehman Brothers Collapse: Where Are the Key Figures Now?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Sept. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/11/lehman-brothers-collapse-where-are-thekey-figures-now. [16] Hall, Jason. “6 Retail Stocks Skyrocketing on $2 Trillion Coronavirus Bailout Package.” The Motley Fool, 25 Mar. 2020, www.fool.com/investing/2020/03/25/6-retail-stocks-skyrocketingon-2-trillion-coronav.aspx [17] Hirsch, Lauren, and Jacob Pramuk. “Trump Administration Releases List of Companies That Received Most Money from Small Business Bailout Loans.” CNBC, 7 July 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/07/06/coronavirus-stimulus-list-of-ppp-small-business-loan-recipientsreleased.html.

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[18] Jahan, Sarwat, et al. “What Is Keynesian Economics?” International Monetary Fund, Sept. 3014, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2014/09/basics.htm. [19] Jahan, Sarwat, et al. “What Is Keynesian Economics?” International Monetary Fund , www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2014/09/basics.htm. [20] “Korean Air Pushes for a Government Bailout.” Korea JoongAng Daily, 2020, www.koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/04/02/industry/Korean-Air-pushes-for-a-governmentbailout/3075680.html. [21] “Korean Air to Take over Troubled Asiana Airlines for US$1.6 Billion.” CNA, 16 Nov. 2020, www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/korean-air-take-over-asiana-airlines-travel-covid-1913564768. [22] Kim, Cynthia, and Hyonhee Shin. “South Korea Doubles Coronavirus Rescue Package to $80 Billion.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 24 Mar. 2020, www.reuters.com/article/us-healthcoronavirus-southkorea-toll-idUSKBN21B05X. [23] Lowenstein, Roger. “Op-Ed: Airlines Don't Deserve Another Taxpayer-Financed Bailout.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2020, www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-1019/airlines-bailout-coronavirus-stimulus-bill. [24] Mazzucato, Mariana, et al. “Commentary: Government Bailouts Can Help Better Our Post Covid-19 Lives.” CNA, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/governmentbailouts-are-good-conditions-covid-19-companies-12927936. [25] “Moral Hazard - Overview, Origin, and Example.” Corporate Finance Institute, 18 May 2020, https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/moral-hazard/ [26] Peter Whoriskey, Douglas MacMillan. “'Doomed to Fail': Why a $4 Trillion Bailout Couldn't Revive the American Economy.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 Oct. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/business/coronavirus-bailout-spending/. [27] Pietsch, Bryan. “Here’s What You Need to Know about the $1.8 Trillion COronavirus Bailout Everyone Keeps Talking About.” Business Insider, 24 Mar. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-bailout-coronavirus-stimulus-package-explained-2020-3. [28] “S.Korea Adds 69 BLN USD Economic Stimulus Package over COVID-19.” Xinhua, 2020, www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-04/22/c_138998616.htm. [29] Shieber, Jonathan, and Alex Wilhelm. “Stocks Sharply Rebound as Markets Rally on Expectations of Government Bailout, Testing.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 13 Mar. 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/13/stocks-sharply-rebound-as-markets-rally-on-expectations-ofgovernment-bailout-testing/. [30] Snell, Kelsey. “What’s Inside The Senate’s $2 Trillion Coronavirus Aid Package.” NPR, 26 Mar. 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-trillioncoronavirus-aid-package

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[31] Stewart, James B. “Revisiting the Lehman Brothers Bailout That Never Was.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Sept. 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/business/revisiting-the-lehman-brothers-bailout-thatnever-was.html. [32] Sraders, Anne. “The Lehman Brothers Collapse and How It's Changed the Economy Today.” TheStreet, TheStreet, 12 Sept. 2018, https://www.thestreet.com/markets/lehman-brotherscollapse-14703153. [33] Yim, Hyun-su. “How Major South Korean Airlines Made Profits during Pandemic.” The Jakarta Post, 14 Aug. 2020, www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/08/14/how-major-south-koreanairlines-made-profits-during-pandemic.html. [34] Webel, Baird. “Government Assistance for AIG: Summary and Cost.” Congressional Research Service, 2017, pp. 1–22. [35] “Will Coronavirus Bailouts Save the U.S. Economy?” Knowledge@Wharton, 21 July 2020, https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-coronavirus-bailouts-rescue-u-s-economy/.

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The Linguistic Roots of World Views

Author 1

Full Name (Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Choi, Jaehyo (Daniel)

Bundang International School

Abstract The relationship between linguistic representation and human conceptions of the world is a complex one. One dominant hypothesis comes from Benjamin Lee Whorf. He is widely known as an advocate for the idea that differences between the structures of individual languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. This essay elaborates on the conventional understanding of Whorf with an analysis of multiple examples from different regions. An inspection of case studies from Australia, North America, Russia, Germany, Spain, China, and Korea demonstrates that there is good reason to accept his theory that, ‘World views originate from our linguistic orientation.’

Keywords: Relation, Linguistics, Perspective, Society, Development, Perception

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Introduction This article argues that language and culture are inextricably intertwined by presenting cultural examples of diverse language-speaking regions. The strong form of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, language influences thought rather than the reverse claims that people from different cultures think differently because of differences in their languages. Culture undoubtedly plays a vital role in the formation of language concerning both concrete and abstract concepts. According to Sitti Rabiah, the comprehension of surrounding cultures is a key to learning a language. She mentions that language cannot be separated from culture because language represents its nation and has a close relation to the attitude or behavior of groups of speakers of the languages. Under this scrutinization, the inseparable relationship between culture and language formation is proven. Therefore, the learning of language is pivotal for the development and evolution of cultural values. In this essay, I aim to consolidate that language formation is interdependent upon society’s culture by presenting numerous examples that I have researched in relation to various languages. More specifically,my focus will be on the different impact languages have on the culture of a specific region. Body First, Russian grammar includes the idiosyncrasy whereby nouns are classified by gender. Specifically, in Russian culture, material such as a chair or bed is considered feminine and described using feminine articles and grammar. In 2004, two speakers of different languages were asked to describe the same object although their languages classified them as different genders. For example, a key is considered masculine in German and feminine in Spanish. When they were asked to describe the key, German speakers described it as "hard," "heavy," "jagged," "metal," "serrated," and "useful.” On the other hand, Spanish speakers described the object as "golden," "intricate," "little," "lovely," "shiny," and "tiny". This example strongly suggests that the nature of the object as perceived by speakers of the two languages is influenced by the gender classification dictated by their language. This idea is also supported by Birner, an American linguist. Her field in linguistics focuses on the variety of words to express an object or concept. She focuses on how there are different ways to interpret color and mainly, how language shapes the way we think. People in the New Guinea region only have words for shades of light, not colors. They tend to focus on shade combinations rather than colors. However, it is believed that people in New Guinea can recognize the colors but their limitation in expressing them in words blocks them from communicating sharply compared to people whose language contains various color spectrums to express. As shown, if a particular region might not have adequate words to describe an existing object, others might interpret it differently. Second, these idiosyncrasies in linguistic culture apply to a handful of East Asian countries, too. Many Asian countries tend to avoid the usage of certain words in particular contexts due to their similarity in pronunciation to negatively connotated words. For example, this

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phenomenon is evident in China where the number 4, ! (Sì), is pronounced the same as the word for death, which is " (Sì). Consequently, in elevators of most non-modern buildings, the fourth floor is not represented by the number but instead labeled with the letter F, which abbreviates the number four. Alternatively, all designations of a fourth-floor are eliminated altogether. Not only does the number 4 affect minor things such as the elevator buttons, but also affects tail numbers. According to Jaffe, not only do the Chinese avoid the number four in general, but they also tend to avoid license plates that include the number four. Additionally, apartments or condominiums on the fourth floor tend to lose revenue. As seen in this graph provided by the NBER, the distribution of Beijing's tail number ‘4,’ doesn’t reach 2 percent while all the others average 11. Although people tend to think of numbers as especially neutral in connotation, clearly this is not the case for speakers of Chinese. Their language associates the number 4 with death, and they, therefore, structure their physical world in ways that allow them to eliminate that number in many places.

(This is the graph of Beijing Tail numbers in the year 2012, as you can see the number 4, which symbolizes death is evidently less popular compared to other numbers) Third, The Hopi are a Native American tribe who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi time controversy is an academic debate about how the Hopi language grammaticalized the concept of time and how the difference in language formation exemplifies linguistic relativity. Whorf claimed that, compared to English speakers, speakers of Hopi in Northeastern Arizona visualize the world differently because of the difference in the language they speak. For example, the Hopi language possesses various suffixes based on certain contexts. The sentence, Nu’ as saying, which originated from the Hopi language means all of the following: I tried to smile, I am smiling, I wanted to smile, and I was going to smile. Hopi grammar does not allow the duration of time to be marked in the same way as that of the English language. As we know, grammar tenses are expressed to show a certain period of happenings in communication. However, when these grammar tenses are missing in a

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particular language, there is a missing time frame in conversation. Thus, according to Whorf, “Hopi[s] do not consider the process of time passing to produce another new day, but merely as bringing back the daylight aspect of the world.” Subsequently, we can only think and express ourselves in whatever language we know and can utilize to let others understand our wants and desires so there must be to some extent a part of our thinking which is defined by our language. This illustrates how the Hopi language does not consider time as a particular concept shown through the composition of the language. Lastly, in Northern Queensland, a language called the ‘Guugu Yimithirr’ has no words to describe directions such as ‘left, right, front, and back.’ To give an example, if an indigenous was to describe a boy behind a house, instead of depicting the boy ‘Behind the house,’ they are most likely going to elaborate it as, “The northside of the house” (Birner). As such, people who only speak Guugu Yimithirr will think in ways distinctly different from the majority of people who indicate directions in relative terms. Result To summarize the outcomes for each research and experiment, it can be assumed that language does shape the way individuals of a particular language see the world. People who only speak Guugu Yimithirr will think in contrast compared to the majority of people who indicate directions conventionally. The Hopi language does not contain prefixes or suffixes that consider time inappropriate in a handful of countries. This shows that aspects of language per se shape how people think. Even minor deviations in grammar, such as the gender of the vocabulary, can affect people’s ideas and their way of depicting a situation. Both words have the rudimentary goal of expressing that the person is glad. To add on, in Korea, certain suffixes are used to show respect. For example, the word ‘안녕 (annyeong; meaning Hello, Hi)’ can be conjugated into the word ‘안녕하세요’ (annyeonghaseyo; also meaning Hello, Hi)’. The difference between these two words is that the second one has the suffix ‘요(yo)’ which indicates respecting the elderly. It can also be added when expressing for being formal. Therefore, the first variant of the word is commonly used by one's peers or those younger while the second one is used in reference to elders. The Hopis, the people of Northern Queensland, Russia, Germany, Spain, China, and Korea all share one thing in common. Their languages dominate their point of view on societal concepts. At the end of the day, the languages we speak profoundly shape the way we think, the way we see the world, and the way we live our lives.

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Conclusion In conclusion, language and culture are inextricably intertwined. Although it is easy for people to assume that the categories they use to understand the world and their place in it, the above examples clearly demonstrate that such is not the case. However, this essay anchors on the perspective that world views share common roots with languages. The relationship between languages and society is of importance due to the considerable amount of impact language makes in cognition. At the end of the day, it is of paramount importance to make certain that the language one uses affects not only the person but also the society that revolves around it.

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References

[1] “Benjamin Lee Whorf.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 July 2021, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lee_Whorf. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [2] Birner, Betty. “ Does the Language I Speak Influence the Way I Think?” Linguistic Society of America, Washington, DC., 2003. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [3] Birner, Betty. “Does the Language I Speak Influence the Way I Think?” Linguistic Society of America, 2003, www.linguisticsociety.org/content/does-language-i-speak-influence-way-i-think. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [4] Boroditsky, Lera. “How Language Shapes the Way We Think.” YouTube, YouTube, 2 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7wGAYP6k. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [5] Deutscher, Guy. “Does Your Language Shape How You Think?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [6] “Language Acquisition.” Linguistic Society of America, 1993, www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/faq-how-do-we-learnlanguage#:~:text=Children%20acquire%20language%20through%20interaction,but%20also%20 with%20other%20children.&text=This%20'baby%20talk'%20has%20simpler,l ots%20of%20rep. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [7] NativLang. “Does Time Work Differently in Different LANGUAGES? - Hopi Time.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 July 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6eXw0AAKZ8. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [8] Registad, Rakel. “(Pdf) Culture or Language: What Drives Effects of Grammatical Gender?” ResearchGate, Jan. 2015, www.researchgate.net/publication/276499650_Culture_or_language_What_drives_effects_of_gra mmatical_gender. Accessed 3 Aug 2021 [9] Jaffe, Eric. “How Chinese Superstition About the Number 4 Makes Beijing Traffic Worse. Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 28 Sept. 2015, 11:29 PM, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/201509-28/chinese-superstition-about-the-unlucky-number-4-makes-beijing-traffic-congestion-worse.

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"I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts." - Bill Gates

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Research Proposals

419

Research Proposal

Removal of BIRC2 Gene Located in MCF-7 Cells by using CRISPR-Cas9: The Interrelationship between CXCL9 and BIRC2 in Oncological Perspective Full Name

Kwon, Nahee

School Name

Ivy Collegiate School

Full Name

Park, Sion

Ivy Collegiate School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Keywords: CRISPR-Cas9, BIRC2, CXCL9, breast cancer

1. Problem Statement Cancer in modern days is a disease that medical and pathological scientists need to treat. It is a disease that involves uncontrollable cell growth in the body and a high chance of metastasis to other parts of the body. Since it could be caused practically everywhere in the human body, there are a variety of cancers. Due to its metastasis, it causes a high mortality rate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were approximately 10 million deaths in 2020. More specifically, the most common cancer in 2020 was 2.26 million cases of breast cancer, 2.21 million cases of lung cancer, 1.93 million cases of colon and rectum cancer, etc. Several factors cause cancer, and one of them is stimulated by genetic materials. Among the genetic materials, antiapoptotic genes inhibit apoptosis and cause cancer.

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2. Objectives and Aims BIRC2 gene inhibits CXCL9 expression in some cancer cells. Several studies say that CXCL9 molecules are beneficial to the immune system, but whether CXCL9 is helpful to prevent tumor growth is still undefined as CXCL9 molecules can be both tumor promoters and tumor suppressors. Generally speaking, the BIRC2 gene worsens the tumor progression. However, as CXCL9 molecules can act as a tumor promoter, it is questionable if this gene is helpful or harmful when it comes to inhibiting CXCL9 molecules for health. Therefore, the purpose of writing this proposal is to specify the relationship between CXCL9 and tumor progression more clearly by observing the progression of MCF-7 cultured in the experiment and to find the condition that makes CXCL9 molecules act as a tumor promoter. Furthermore, after elucidating their correlation, this research hopes to contribute to finding the new method to treat breast cancer treatment.

3. Background and Significance 3.1 Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR)- CRISPR associated protein 9(Cas9) CRISPR-Cas system is an immune system of prokaryotes, such as bacteria and archaea. When Bacteriophage or virus invades the prokaryotic cell, it injects its DNA into the host prokaryotic cell. After DNA is injected, Cas nuclease breaks down the DNA into small pieces, and then it is stored in the CRISPR locus as the spacer, which is the history of foreign DNA. When Bacteriophage or virus attacks the cell again, by using spacer DNA, it protects itself. CRISPR-Cas9 is a third-generation gene-editing technique that uses type II Cas protein, Cas9. The structure of the CRISPR-Cas9 consists of a complex of Cas9 and guide RNA(gRNA). Among them, the gRNA consists of CRISPR-RNA(crRNA) and trans-activating CRISPR RNA(tracrRNA). crRNA binds to the target DNA by using its RNA made by transcription of stored DNA, and tracrRNA supports crRNA to cleave target DNA by binding crRNA. To form a complex of Cas9 and gRNA, by using the Rec-I domain from Cas protein, it forms a complex. After formation, the complex requires a protospacer adjacent motif(PAM) sequence, which has a sequence of the PAM is NGG, where N can be any nucleotide, to recognize the target DNA site. When the presence of a particular PAM sequence in the target DNA, the Cas9-RNA complex binds to the target site. After binding, guide RNA in the Cas9-RNA complex and target DNA stranded complementary binds to each other. As a result, the HNH domain, which cleaves the target strand of DNA, and the RuvC domain, which cleaves the non-target strand of DNA, cleaves the target DNA that binds with guide RNA and opposite strands binds with guide RNA, and cause a double-strand break(DSBs). When DSBs occur, there are two main pathways for repairing DNA in eukaryotes. DSBs are mortal for cells because they cause cell death. Firstly, non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is the repair pathway that has high efficiency, but low precision and proceeds during the G1, S, and G2 phases of the cell cycle. It causes the insertion and deletion during the repair. Secondly, homology-directed repair(HDR) is the repair pathway that has high precision, but low efficiency. When there is a homologous DNA template to the DSBs region, HDR would occur by insertion of homologous DNA template from sister chromatids as donor DNA template. To use the sister chromatids, HDR could occur in the S and G2 phase only.

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3.2 Baculoviral IAP Repeat Containing 2 (BIRC2) gene 3.2.1 Basic information of BIRC2 There are 8 kinds of proteins found, inhibitors of apoptotic proteins(IAP), which prevent cells from apoptosis. Recently, numerous anticancer therapies are trying to inhibit IAPs. Baculoviral IAP Repeat Containing 2 (BIRC2) gene is the second of those proteins. Removal of BIRC2 is necessary as it not only suppresses the programmed cell death by constraining caspase, but also affects the immune system negatively. This gene accounts for the occurrence of several kinds of cancers, including lung cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma. Namely, absence of BIRC2 gene slows down the occurrence of malignant tumors. For example, people suffering from cancers have a higher percentage of BIRC2 gene than those who do not have diseases. 3.2.2 BIRC2 and apoptosis Most cells, compositions of organs in the body, divide themselves about 50-60 times, and apoptosis is followed after then. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, has several reasons why it is critical for health. Cells or tissues no longer needed, genetic damage, infection, aging, and signals from the outside trigger cells to die. When apoptosis begins, immune cells approach abnormal cells and combine proteins with the surface of abnormal cells to activate caspase, which cuts other several proteins. One phenomenon that occurs when caspase is activated is the division of DNA. Namely, after DNA is disintegrated, cells cannot carry their function and die. Presence of BIRC2 restrains caspase-3 activation. Therefore, cells cannot go to the stage of apoptosis and would have a higher percentage to grow tumors. 3.3 Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9) 3.3.1 CXCL9 as a tumor suppressor Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9) is cytokine that belongs to CXC chemokine family, paired with its receptor CXCR3, G protein-coupled receptor 9, and carries essential role when it comes to the replication, derivation, and activation of immune cells. For instance, the blockage of programmed death 1 (PD-1), which is used in anticancer therapies, requires the production of CXCR3 and CXCL9. Revelation of CXCL9 prevents oncogenesis through inhibiting angiogenesis. Also, CXCR3 is highly expressed on several types of T cells, including CD T cells. When CXCR3 is activated through binding of CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11, it helps in trafficking and functioning immune cells. 3.3.2 CXCL9 as a tumor promoter CXCL9 also acts as a tumor promoter. Autocrine CXCL9/CXCR3 signaling within tumor microenvironment can develop spread of cancer cells, formation of blood vessels that are necessary for tumors to be created, and tumorigenesis. Similar to immune cells trafficking, CXCL9 may attract cancer cells to carry metastasis out. There are three major sites derived from this receptor: CXCR3-A, CXCR3-B, and CXCR3-alt. It turns out that CXCR3-A helps tumor proliferation while CXCR3-B prevents it. Both CXCR3-A and -B attract CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11. 3.3.3 CXCL9 and BIRC2

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BIRC2 inhibits the function of CXCL9 and decreases the activation of CD T cells and NK cells. Compared to cancer cells with the BIRC2 gene, cancer cells without the BIRC2 gene have 5 times greater amount of CXCL9. Thus, it is generally accepted that BIRC2 increases cancer growth.

4. Research Design and Methods 4.1 Experimental materials In this research proposal, frozen MCF-7 is given from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), and CXCL9 powder is acquired from Prospec. Medium for this proposal is RPMI 1640 mixed with 10% FBS and 0.01 mg/mL human recombinant insulin. A pH sensor is used to measure pH of the solution. Other instruments include 100 mm cell culture dish, conical tube, serological pipet, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) for washing, 0.05% trypsinEDTA, 24 well plates, and a centrifuge. All of these are disinfected by ethanol. All cell culture is preceded in 37 °C, 5% CO2 incubator and all subculture is accomplished in the Biosafety Cabinet(BSC). When removing the BIRC2 gene, Cas9-sgRNA, or ribonucleoprotein (RNP) needs to be created. sgRNA and Cas9 nuclease are offered from Synthego. Also, when RNP complex is transfected into cells, Neon™ Transfection System and resuspension buffer from Thermo Fisher are used. 4.2 sgRNA design First of all, sgRNA is the artificial complex of crRNA and tracrRNA. To design sgRNA, by using Synthego CRISPR Design Tool, sgRNA should be selected according to the BIRC2 gene. The selection criteria are Cutsite, On-target Score, and Off-target. Gene

sgRNA sequence

Exon

BIRC2: ENST00000227758 (primary) (+)

ACCUGGGAAAAGUCUUUGGG

Exon 2

BIRC2: ENST00000227758 (primary) (+)

GCCUCCCAAAGACUUUUCCC

Exon 2

BIRC2: ENST00000227758 (primary) (+)

UGUUUUGAUACGAGGGACCU

Exon 2

BIRC2: ENST00000227758 (primary) (+)

AUGUUUUGAUACGAGGGACC

Exon 2

<Table 1: sgRNA candidate> Target Sequence

PAM

Cutsite

On Target Score

Off Target

ACCTGGGAAAAGTCTTTGGG

AGG

102,349,874

0.669

0,0,1,11,183

GCCTCCCAAAGACTTTTCCC

AGG

102,349,884

0.556

0,0,0,16,192

TGTTTTGATACGAGGGACCT

GGG

102,349,890

0.609

0,0,0,2,52

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ATGTTTTGATACGAGGGACC

TGG

102,349,891

0.493

0,0,0,1,53

<Table 2: Simulation Analysis> Through simulation of cleaving BIRC2, sgRNAs that have high on-target activity and low off-target potential are selected. Based on the result of simulation, the first sgRNA is selected in this proposal. 4.3 Research method MCF-7 cell lines need to be thawed as they are frozen when provided. Cell lines are put in the centrifuge with RPMI 1640 9 mL and are separated at RCF 125 xg for 5 minutes. Except cell pellets created, supernatants should be removed, and cell pellets are moved into the cell culture dish with RPMI 1640 9 mL in the incubator and cultured for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the medium must be eliminated and the dish must be washed with PBS. Cells are then segregated by using trypsin-EDTA 0.3 mL. 2 X 106 cells are collected and divided into two classes: For class 1, BIRC2 gene will be removed, and for class 2, the BIRC2 gene will not be removed. All cells must be washed with PBS and 1 X 106 cells are transfected and the BIRC2 gene is removed through electroporation. 4.3.1 Class 1 RNP is a Cas9-sgRNA complex and cuts the BIRC2 gene within cells through electroporation. To make this RNP, Cas9 nuclease 1 pmol and sgRNA 1 pmol need to be mixed together and put in 10 RNP reaction tubes. Resuspension Buffer R 5 μl/well is added to the mixture of each tube. Electroporation uses high voltage electric shock and makes a holes on the cell’s surface to inject chemical substances, drugs, or even DNA. In this research, compared to the original plasmid DNA injection method, this technology contributes to lowering proportion of variation and off target. RNPs are transfected by using the Neon™ Transfection System at the default value of 1700 V, 20 ms, and 1 pulse. When electroporation is done, cells in the RNP reaction tube are put into 10 wells. Cells for 5 wells in Class 1 are mixed with 0.5 μg of CXCL9; these cells are categorized into Group A, the experimental group of Class 1. Otherwise, CXCL9 is not added to the cells of other 5 wells in Class 1; these cells are classified into Group B, the control group of Class 1. 4.3.2 Class 2 The remaining 1 X 106 cells are not transfected through electroporation. Cells are put into 10 other wells. Through the same procedure, cells of 5 wells in Class 2 are mixed with 5 μg of CXCL9; these cells are categorized into Group C, the experimental group of Class 2. Contrarily, the remaining cells lack CXCL9; these cells are categorized into Group D, the control group of class 2.

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<Figure 3. The classes of the research> 4.3.3 Observation Cells of 4 groups are cultured and observe the number changed. The group with the greatest cell number should analyze the features that the other groups may not have, such as autocrine signaling and CXCR3 receptors.

5. Preliminary Results 5.1 Hypothesis Even though there are numerous studies that CXCL9 helps the activation of immune cells, especially CD T cells and CD56+ NK cells, it is assumed that CXCL9 contributes to the proliferation and the metastasis of cancer cells in this research proposal. Thus, if CXCL9 and BIRC2 are cultured with MCF-7, then CXCL9 will promote replication of cancer cells even with the presence of BIRC2.

6. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution 6.1 Anticipated results When cells of one of the groups are replicated enough that they fill 70-80% of the bottom of the cell plates, the experiment should be stopped and the result must be observed. The anticipated results would turn out that group C has the greatest number of changed cells and D follows after. The group with the second least number of cells would be A, and the group which has the least cancer cells would be B. 6.2 Discussion

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The reason why group B would have the least cancer cells is it has neither CXCL9 and BIRC2 gene, the contributors to the promotion of the cell proliferation. For group C, even though the BIRC2 gene inhibits CXCL9 mRNA and protein, it is assumed that the BIRC2 cannot inhibit all of the CXCL9 activation while CXCL9 is still contributing to the proliferation of cancer cells. Therefore, CXCL9 and BIRC2 in this group are both acting as a tumor promoter. Group D has the second greatest number of cells because BIRC2 would promote the growth of the cancer cells, and group A would have the same reason for CXCL9. However, the result might be changed in the real human body as there are immune cells which CXCL9 can also cope with. The change may be more significant for group A and D as CXCL9 in group A and D may act as a tumor suppressor. The number of CXCR3 on the cells’ surface may contribute to the proliferation of cells. Therefore, except group B, the group with the least number of cells, the result for group A, C, and D can vary according to CXCR3 and can be different in the body system where immune cells exist. 6.3 Potential contribution As cancer is the disease that is caused by uncontrollable cell replication, it can be occurred at any tissue or any organs. Among them, if breast cancer, the disease with the overexpressed BIRC2 gene, is found after stage 4, then the survival rate decreases to 34% significantly. In many cases with stage 4 breast cancer have used mastectomy but still with the low survival rate; however, if CRISPR-Cas9 is used for removal of BIRC2 gene, both the relapse into breast cancer and the mortality rate would decrease. For patients with cancer cells, there are several novel ways to treat cancer. First is to remove the BIRC2 gene by using CRISPRCas9. Many studies have proven that CXCR3-A promotes cell proliferation. Therefore, using an antagonist of CXCR3-A, or even removal of genes that cause the production of cancer cells would be another way to prevent the disease. Also, blockage of autocrine signaling, such as progesterone for breast cancer, would be critical.

Reference [1] “Addgene: CRISPR Guide.” Addgene, www.addgene.org/guides/crispr. Accessed 28 August 2021. [2] “Angiogenesis Inhibitors.” National Cancer Institute, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, 2 Apr. 2018, www.cancer.gov/aboutcancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy/angiogenesis-inhibitors-fact-sheet. Accessed 21 August 2021. [3] “BIRC2 Expression Impairs Anti-Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy Efficacy.” ScienceDirect, Cell Reports 25 Aug. 2020, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124720310585. Accessed 19 June 2021. [4] “Cancer.” Cancer, World Health Organization, 3 Mar. 2021, www.who.int/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/cancer. [5] “CXCL9: Evidence and Contradictions for Its Role in Tumor Progression.” PubMed Central (PMC), NCBI, 1 Nov. 2016,

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5119981/.Accessed 22 August 2021. [6] “CXCR3-CXCL9: It’s All in the Tumor.” Immunity, cell.com, 18 July 2019, https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(19)30233X?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS107476 131930233X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue. Accessed 20 June 2021. [7] “CXCR3 in Carcinoma Progression.” PubMed Central (PMC), 1 July 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4571436. [8] “CXCR3 in T Cell Function.” PubMed Central (PMC), 10 Mar. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065205. [9] “Electroporation of Cas9/Synthetic RNARibonucleoprotein (RNP) Complexes for CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing (Thermo NeonTMSystem).” Web cache, SYNTHEGO, 8 Dec. 2016, webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:C_JtFbQITs4J:https://www.biolegio.com/ media/4150/neon-electroporation-protocol.pdf+&cd=2&hl=ko&ct=clnk&gl=kr. Accessed 24 July 2021. [10] Grisham, Julie. “What Is Angiogenesis?” Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 12 Feb. 2020, www.mskcc.org/news/whatangiogenesis. Accessed 17 July 2021. [11] Hryhorowicz, Magdalena. “CRISPR/Cas9 Immune System as a Tool for Genome Engineering.” Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis, SpringerLink, 3 Oct. 2016, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00005-016-04275?error=cookies_not_supported&code=2982c0a2-282e-4f4e-8921-6d5655ed7652. Accessed 20 July 2021. [12] Karin, Nathan. “CXCR3 Ligands in Cancer and Autoimmunity, Chemoattraction of Effector T Cells, and Beyond.” Frontiers, 2020, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00976/full. [13] Kuo, Paula. “The Role of CXCR3 and Its Chemokine Ligands in Skin Disease and Cancer.” Frontiers, frontiers in Medicine, 25 Sept. 2018, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2018.00271/full. Accessed 14 July 2021. [14] Lee, Joonsun. “Using Sniper-Cas9 to Minimize Off-Target Effects of CRISPR-Cas9 Without the Loss of On-Target Activity Via Directed Evolution | Protocol.” JOVE, JOVE, 26 Feb. 2019, www.jove.com/t/59202/using-sniper-cas9-to-minimize-off-target-effects-crisprcas9-without. Accessed 16 June 2021. [15] Makuch-Kocka, Anna. “The BIRC Family Genes Expression in Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer.” MDPI, MDPI, 12 Feb. 2021, www.mdpi.com/14220067/22/4/1820. Accessed 16 July 2021. [16] NCBI, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 1 Jan. 2019,

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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5801162. Accessed 23 July 2021. [17] “Recommended Guides.” SYNTHEGO, https://design.synthego.com/#/design/results?genome=homo_sapiens_gencode_26_primary& nuclease=cas9&gene_id=ENSG00000110330&symbol=BIRC2 Accessed 20 August 2021. [18] Richard Heller, Ph.D., Huntington Potter, Ph. D. “Transfection by Electroporation.” PMC, NCBI, 8 Nov. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975437. Accessed 26 June 2021. [19] Saleem, Mohammad. “Inhibitors of Apoptotic Proteins: New Targets for Anticancer Therapy.” Wiley Online Library, C&B DRUG DESIGN, 1 Sept. 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cbdd.12176. Accessed 23 June 2021. [20] Shi Yong Neo, Andreas Lundqvist. “The Multifaceted Roles of CXCL9 Within the Tumor Microenvironment (Pp45-51).” SpringerLink, 15 Feb. 2020, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-36667-4_5 Accessed 25 June 2021. [21] “TransfeX Protocol - MCF7 Cells.” ATCC, ATCC, www.atcc.org/search#q=mcf7&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=12. Accessed 24 June 2021. [22] “The Role of CXCL13 and CXCL9 in Early Breast Cancer.” ScienceDirect, ELSEVIER, 1 Feb. 2020, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1526820919306676. Accessed 26 June 2021. [23] “What Is Cancer?” National Cancer Institute, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, 5 May 2021, www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer. Accessed 18 June 2021.

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Research Proposal

Do films depicting violent crimes increase violent psychology in audiences in different countries worldwide? Full Name

Park, Sujeong

North London Collegiate School Jeju

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: Increases in violent psychology is often considered to be due to an increasing number of films depicting violent crimes in film production centers. This paper finds out the relationships between whether films depicting violent crimes increase violent psychological tendencies. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis using film analysis and studies involving screening films and conducting questionnaires and interviews, we find that there may be possible changes in people's responses to viewing depictions of violent crimes in films based on country-specific and socialization factors. Our study reveals that the extent of violent psychology shifted through exposure to violent crime depicted on film may be dependent on one’s place, culture, and social upbringing.

Keywords: violence, psychology, crime, film, crime exposure

1. Introduction: In the current contemporary context of a supposedly “violent” and “aggressive” generation built upon a modern media culture that promotes criminality and violence, recognized by some modern stakeholders as the main reason of the criminalization of the youth and the generation, and coupled with the booming international film industry in many portions of the world, one must ask if films that depict violent crimes do actually affect the psyche of the audience the way everywhere; and does it make people more psychologically violent? Certain studies already explore the existence of a correlation between violent movies and violence. This study aims to explore whether there is an increased correlation between violent crime movies and violence based on if the film is set in or features elements of the audience members’ nationality or place of residence. Put simply, would a Hollywood film set in America affect an American national’s violent psychology more than such a film would affect, for

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example, a Japanese national and lifelong resident who has otherwise had minimal context of American culture and media? To better outline my interest in crime film and in how different peoples backgrounds change how they psychologically respond, I have posed the following main research proposal question: Do films depicting violent crimes increase violent psychology in audiences in different countries worldwide? We gain better insight into how people are affected by film and by seeing violence, how the portrayal of such crimes affects the psyche of different groups of a population, how crimes may be universal or locality specific, and how policy towards producing such films can be modified to allow or disallow the production of such films and what crimes may be conveyed most the mitigate any negative products from the violent criminal film. In this sense, this research project affects the decisions made by public-policy decision makers, psychologists, doctors, film directors, those in cinema, and media-based organizations. If a clearer understanding of the psychological aspects can be discovered in relation to film, we may better utilize such mediums to further societal and humanistic progress.

2. Literature review: Current knowledge surrounding this topic mainly focuses on the effect of violence and crime in films affecting the likelihood of increasing criminal and violent behavior. Most research focuses on how exposure to such cinema can lead to the promulgation of such behavior or sensitization to exposure to such behavior, both affecting the psychology of the audience. As well, some papers recognize a relationship between long-term exposure to such media and later stage likelihood towards criminal activity in teenage years (Huesmann et al., 2003). However, little has been researched on the positive effects of exposure and viewing of such cinema on the audience. There have been some deductions that convey a potential opposite effect on the increased violent psychology of the audience, based mostly on how crime rates go down soon after a screening of a violent movie and how specific crime rates have gone down with a rise of violence in films. Having said this, literature more often than not contends that exposure to such films increases violent psychology. There is little to no research based on how these psychological responses to violence on screen can be affected by locality, upbringing, and differences in cultural socializations. However, there is much research into how exposure to violence and crime films affects psychological behavior towards violent tendencies.

Younger generations who are active viewers who can be influenced or affected after watching a specific violent crime film, thus much literature surrounds how the portrayal of violence on film, often associated with crime cinema, can lead to increased aggressive behavior by children who watch it heavily in their youth (Huesmann et al., 2003).

Robbers (2005) stated that viewing criminal films changes opinions and policy orientation for people. Through experimenting the attitudes towards gun control among the student population prior to and after watching the film Bowling for Columbine, the source indicates that participants in the experimental group were significantly more in favor of gun control policies

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as well as more likely to assign dispositional attribution to criminal behavior. This literature is significant in identifying that crime and violence in films helps sway opinion and thus policy orientation for people.

The following paper by Hafeez (2017) conveys a desensitization effect of the audience which may contrast with Robbers (2005) deduction that viewing such films sensitize people to change their policy orientation, the two research studies reveal that the exposure to violence on screen has affected human psychological behaviours. Hafeez (2017) investigates whether the exposure to violent movies creates a desensitization effect on the audience. Experimenting the relationship between the increase in violence and the popular movies in India, the source utilises a selection of films and newspapers sampled from 1976 to 2006 for analysis. This literature is significant in identifying how country specific films and culture can affect how much a person’s psyche changes, especially in an international based film country context.

Thompson (2021) says that the education level of the audience affects how much a person’s psyche changes when watching cinema. This was evident by identifying the changes in the attitudes of young people towards social issues after watching a film. Postgraduate students' attitudes towards elderly have changed in a positive way whereas undergraduate students' attitudes have worsened. These opposite trends were due to the individual psychological characteristics, the experience of interaction with elderly people, and the attitudes towards elderly people before watching the movie. This conveys changes in education affecting their shift in psychological violence, even in the same location, indicating that education plays a factor in violent crime depictions in film increasing violent psychology in audiences, even within the same country and socialization.

Similarly, a psychological association was made by examining the effects on viewing violence on television among children and those who play violent video games have a desensitizing effect and the potential for aggression. The results were gathered by observing the participants from children to adulthood. Therefore, an association was made that children who watched many hours of violence on television since elementary showed a higher level of aggressive behavior when they were in elementary school and that exposure to violent video games is a risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior. This literature is significant as the exposure to both violence on television and violent video games increase aggression, and how different socializations and cultural and economic backgrounds may lead to great change in how people view television in their daily lives.

In contrast to papers conveying a psychological shift in the audience's behavior due to cinema, the following papers convey a lack of concrete changing behavior due to exposure to violent crime movies. Dahl and Vigna (2009) declared that viewing violent movies induce more violent crime in the short-term but also can reduce crime if other activities can be found,

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emphasizing the point that criminal films don't always lead to more crime. The results were analyzed by experimenting with the participants to watch a violent scene in a blockbuster movie. The results then showed that exposure to violent movies had three main effects on violent crime: reducing violent crime during the evening and the night hours or having no significant impact during the following exposures.

The following research paper by Brown (1996) outlines that exposure to violence on screen does not increase crime rate. Brown (1996) proclaims the association between exposure to violence in entertainment and violent behavior. By watching the violence on screen, the aggression increases and people might feel the fear of crime. However, there are many other variables which contribute to violent behavior. To put it another way, exposure to violence in entertainment does not cause violent behavior but has a risk that will be increased. This research is significant as we can find that two genders have different psychological effects from the association between violence on screen and violent behavior.

3. Research questions: With the research question ‘Do films depicting violent crimes increase violent psychology in audiences in different countries worldwide?‘, I wish to explore the relationship between films depicting violent crimes and the psychological effect it brings to the audience. As well, I would like to see if this psychological effect is the same for the same violent crime film in different parts of the world where due to socialization and cultural and historical backgrounds people may have different psychological and socialized results which lead to psychological reactions. To better deduce the answer, I plan to also explore how violent crime films play a role in if people's psyche are affected by such films, and if this change in psyche towards violent psychology is purely due to an innate psychological effect towards exposure or if it is a social and cultural effect. As well, questions surrounding the nature of the violent crime and its conveyance in the film affects the psychological effect it will have on the audience, and thus is important to explore further. Defining the aspects in study is crucial to question, as is questioning the nature of the films in question and the industries. Finally, questions about the social factors and their influence in promulgating violent psychology in depictions of violent crimes must be cleared to better answer the main research question. As well, a large question that must first be answered is if films with violent crimes do actually increase violent psychology in the viewers. Based on these deductions, the following sub-research questions must be put forward in order to answer our research paper question:

Defining the craft: ● What are violent criminal activities? Are they the same everywhere? Are they similar in all countries? What constitutes violent psychology, and how is it characterized and expressed in people? How do you categorize films?

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Nature of the film and the industry: ● Do different movie genres that both depict violent crimes evoke different levels of violent psychology? Do movies from the same genre and violent crime but filmed for different country audiences have similar representations of the violent crime? Is the film meant for international audiences or only domestic audiences? Who directed the film? Is the director from the respective country and how does he take elements from the local culture? Social factors at play: ● Does homogenization of laws due to international laws and reforms affect how similarly people will react to exposure to violent crime depictions? Does age, gender, education, or profession affect people's psychological shift, and to what degree? Is the psychological influence from films on the audience proportionate in demographic groups or the exposure to violent crime films by different stratas of society? 4. Methods: Due to the emotional nature that films aim to express and evoke emotions as well as the abstractness and interpretive nature of film, one must take an approach that incorporates a humanities-based perspective. For example, the psychological effect of violent crime films like American Psycho will shift from that of the gangster classic film The Goodfellas due to our social perceptions and ideas of crime. For this, I will analyse one movie from each of the major genres that include violent cinema between three of the largest international production centers, those being Hollywood, Bollywood, and Japanese cinema; utilizing contextual historical, cultural, social, political, and philosophical knowledge in the analysis. I will then form three groups of ten people: each group consisting of people who grew up, speak the language, and were socialized from their respective one international film production center location. These groups will watch each of the three respective movies. Pre-watching and post-watching interview questionnaires relating to their sociological and societal background and their personal background surrounding their personal hobbies will be conducted for each movie screening and after this, a focus group will be conducted.

5. Work plan: Firstly, the research proposal must be accepted. After this, I will be discussing with the relevant researchers. Then, I shall research criminal films to write a qualitative film analysis and a conduct study analysis. After this, I will conduct my quantitative analysis through prescreening interviews and questionnaires, followed by a movie screening, and post-screening interviews and questionnaires. The study participants will be screened to ensure their socialization and social affinity for the film production locality. Finally, after these individual interviews and questionnaires, I will conduct a focus group from each of the respective film production locations. From these questionnaires and interviews, I will collect raw data and write an analysis report. In the end revisions and re-readings will be made.

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References: [1] Brown, Melanie. “The Portrayal of Violence in the Media: Impacts and Implications for Policy.” Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 1996. [2] Dahl, Gordon, and Stefano DellaVigna. “Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?*.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 124, no. 2, 2009, pp. 677–734., doi:10.1162/qjec.2009.124.2.677. [3] Hafeez, Erum. View of Depiction of Violent Crimes in Bollywood Cinema and Its Impact on Pakistani Society, 2017, jhss-uok.com/index.php/JHSS/article/view/65/65. [4] Huesmann, L. Rowell, et al. “Longitudinal Relations between Children's Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977-1992.” Developmental Psychology, vol. 39, no. 2, 2003, pp. 201–221., doi:10.1037/00121649.39.2.201. [5] Markey, Patrick M., et al. “Violent Movies and Severe Acts of Violence: Sensationalism versus Science.” Human Communication Research, vol. 41, no. 2, 2014, pp. 155–173., doi:10.1111/hcre.12046. [6] Robbers, Monica. “The Media and Public Perceptions of Criminal Justice Policy Issues: An Analysis of Bowling for Columbine and Gun Control.” Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 2005. [7] Thompson, P D. “The Effect Cinema on the Youth.” International Digital Organization for Scientific Research, 2021.

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Research Proposal

Biodegradable Nanofiber Disinfecting Wounds & Accelerating the Blood Coagulation Process Full Name

Seong, Wonkyoung(Ariel)

School Name

Korea International School

Full Name

Kwon, Minwoo

Korea International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Keywords: Nanofiber, Polycaprolactone (PCL), B-Chitosan

1. Problem Statement Blood coagulation is a crucial step in treating wounds to prevent excess bleeding. If blood can be stopped at an early stage, death due to blood loss may be prevented. Furthermore, it is necessary to create a product that can sanitize the wound while also stimulating blood coagulation because sanitizing the wound will make sure it is not infected while also making sure foreign substances do not disrupt the healing process. Therefore, a band-aid that contains blood coagulation stimulators and disinfectants is a necessary component in our contemporary society.

2. Objectives and Aims Find a solution to problems in the human body caused by lack of blood coagulation and lack of attention on disinfecting the wound, and explore the medical implications the product can have and how it can serve as a product that is effective in extreme and normal conditions.

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Present tangible solutions that allow for wide application beyond humans to allow for successful treatment of other species with similar coagulation mechanics.

3. Background and Significance When the body detects bleeding, blood coagulation is stimulated by a series of steps in motion to accelerate the healing process of the wound. First, blood vessels shrink so that the amount of blood leaking out decreases, however, this process lasts only a few minutes. Then, the platelets in the body identify the opening of the wound and adhere to the wound. The attached platelets change their shape and are “activated”. In this process, the attached platelets trigger a chemical response where other platelets attach to form a platelet aggregation. Tissue factors trigger a response to the clotting factors near the wound to form fibrin. The fibrin strands form across the platelet plug that stabilizes the structure of the platelet (Labet & Thielemans, 2009). Calcium ions accelerate the formation of blood clots and triggering the formation of thrombin which stimulates coagulation activities (Park et al, 2014). If the blood clotting is excessive, a problem known as hypercoagulation, there are potential health hazards such as strokes, heart attack, and damage to organs. Normally, to prevent hypercoagulation, there are coagulation inhibitors that block the formation of fibrins so the blood clot does not grow further in size. However, the negative feedback loop merely restricts the blood clot from growing in size (LaPelusa et al, A). Fibrinolysis, a process where fibrin is broken down by plasminogen activators emitted from the vessel wall, allows the natural breakdown of the fibrins so the clot size decreases slowly over a period of time; once the wound is completely healed, fibrinolysis allows for complete removal of the clot. During wartime, when soldiers are shot, the primary solution to a gunshot would be to stimulate blood coagulation to prevent as much blood loss as possible. The amount of blood lost once the wound is opened is one of the three major factors that determine the survivability of an individual being shot, the other two being the location of the injury and how quickly medical services are available during the period of injury. However, it is also crucial to disinfect the wound at the same time, since stimulation of blood coagulation will have no point if the wound is left unsanitized and eventually infected(Joseph B, 2014). Additionally, people with hemophilia are currently treated with an injection of clotting factor concentrates into their bodies. If they do not have sufficient concentration, then a slight cut may cause immense blood loss(Treatment of Hemophilia). This product will resolve the problem these individuals experience because applying the bandaid will stimulate near-immediate blood coagulation and allow individuals to enjoy life without continuously injecting clotting factor concentrates like other people who do not have the same biological disorder. Furthermore, for some injuries of animals, including pets, the damage is severe to the point that it requires a long period of time for blood clots to form. This product may be a solution to treating the wound of animals, including those that are endangered, to ensure the animal can enjoy greater longevity. However, we need to take into consideration that animals are prone to thrombosis (which occurs when blood clots block veins and/or arteries), so that blood coagulation occurs well, in an orderly fashion, but does not block veins and/or arteries.

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Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biodegradable material that is effective in treating a wound. PCL has shown promising results of tissue regeneration(engineering). It is non-toxic and is malleable enough to be applied to any wound. PCL can be degraded via hydrolysis in its ester linkages (high-energy bond which releases a large amount of energy upon hydrolysis) in conditions such as the human body. PCL also has a high surface area and porosity; thus, it has received recognition for its use as an implantable biomaterial (Park et al, 2017).

4. Research Design and Methods Polycaprolactone fiber is a type of nanofiber that is known for its merits, especially for its applications in the medical field. Through electrospinning(e-spinning), a technique used to create nanofibers, PCL can be fabricated (Labet, 2019). B-Chitin& b-chitosan: Beta Chitin is located in the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as crustaceans, insects, myriapods, and arachnids. It is also found in the cell structure of algae and yeast, as well as in the cell walls of fungi. Chitin is usually extracted by acid treatment to dissolve the calcium carbonate and an alkaline solution to dissolve the proteins. Via acetylation, beta chitosan can be made from beta chitin. (Daraghmeh et al, 2011) Both beta chitosan and beta chitin are known for their effectiveness in wound healing; however, chitosan exhibits higher collagenase activity than beta- chitin, which is essential in collagenase activity. In addition, Beta Chitosan makes nanofibers hydrophilic, potentially accelerating blood coagulation. (Park et al, 2017). - Get a sample of b-chitin and b-chitosan - Apply the sample onto a sample wound and see the time it takes for the wound to coagulate compared to when left untreated to see b-chitin and b-chitosan effect on blood coagulation. Copper (II) Oxide: Copper(II) Oxide has demonstrated to have excellent antimicrobial properties against bacteria when in the form of nanoparticles. Copper itself has the greatest antimicrobial potential out of all metals. Copper (II) Oxide, in the form of nanoparticles, appears to be a brownish-black powder. It is usually synthesized by precipitation of copper chloride and copper nitrate (Sánchez-Sanhueza, 2016). - Place copper oxide particles with bacteria - See effects on bacteria population, and at the molecular level - Try multiple particle sizes of copper (II) oxide to identify the optimal size that is most resistant to bacteria Zinc Oxide: Zinc Oxide is known for its antimicrobial properties in the form of nanoparticles. Verify this property. Zinc has antibacterial properties and appears to be a white powder. Zinc oxide is synthesized through a double-replacement reaction of zinc nitrate and potassium hydroxide and extensive heating (El-Megharbel et al, 2021).

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- Place zinc oxide particles with bacteria - See effects on bacteria population, and at the molecular level - Try multiple particle sizes of zinc oxide to identify the optimal size that is most resistant to bacteria Calcium Carbonate: Calcium Carbonate is known to increase calcium levels in the blood, and calcium increases the rate of blood coagulation. Calcium Carbonate is synthesized using aqueous solutions of Calcium Chloride and Sodium Carbonate. After extensive drying, CaCO3 will undergo layer by layer self-assembly coating by being placed in a sodium alginate solution for a recommended three minutes. After washing, the previous step will be followed by placing the CaCO3 into a b-chitosan solution for a recommended three minutes. This will formulate a CaCO3 composite necessary for the final product (Kim et al, 2017). The effect of blood coagulation will be measured by evaluating the amount of platelets formed at a certain time interval and the rate in which the platelet aggregation is initiated. Creating the final product: After verifying the ideal particle size for each of the aforementioned materials, using electrospraying, control the size of each of the materials to apply the optimal size of nanoparticles (Boda et al, 2018). By electrospraying copper (II) oxide, zinc oxide, and calcium carbonate composite onto the PCL fiber, the final product of the PCL fiber can be an applicable product onto wounds to accelerate the healing process.

5. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution Nanoparticles of zinc oxide and copper oxide electrosprayed onto the nanofiber will be successful in exhibiting its qualities and will be able to disinfect a wide array of different wounds. Furthermore, the calcium carbonate will function in accelerating the process of blood, allowing for rapid blood clot formation. As a biodegradable form of nanofiber, this product will be both biodegradable and serve to be a novel form of technology in treating wounds. The nanofiber will be a part of a bandage that will be able to treat wounds with varying severities, especially ones that can cause extreme blood loss and can suppurate(fester) due to infection. With these applications, the bandage can be used in the medical field to eliminate deaths induced by immense blood loss. As a result, low levels of blood caused by excessive blood loss will no longer be a predominant reason for casualties. Furthermore, it will eradicate the need of applying other type(s) of disinfectants prior to applying bandages.

6. References [1] Boda, S., Li, X., & Xie, J. (2018). Electrospraying an enabling technology for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications: A review. Journal Of Aerosol Science, 125, 164-181. doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2018.04.002

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Journal of Odontostomatology, 10(3), 547–554. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718381x2016000300024 [15] Švachová, V., Khunová, V., Vojtová, L., & Pavliňák, D. (2016). Biodegradable poly (εcaprolactone)/gelatin nanofibers: Effect of tubular halloysite on structure and properties. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949634 [16] Treatment of Hemophilia | CDC. (2020). Retrieved 6 September 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hemophilia/treatment.html [17] What Causes Blood to Coagulate?. (2021). Retrieved 6 September 2021, from https://www.bleedingdisorders.com/about/how-blood-clots-coagulation [18] What Is Excessive Blood Clotting (Hypercoagulation)?. (2021). Retrieved 6 September 2021, from https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/venous-thromboembolism/what-is-excessive-bloodclotting-hypercoagulation

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Naturally Induced Alveoli-on-a-chip model of Pulmonary Fibrosis

Author 1

Full Name

Song, Minkyung (Katie)

BCC

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical tool, a human alveoli-on-a-chip that accurately mimics in vivo human alveoli that are naturally afflicted by IPF. Idiomatic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, fatal respiratory disease in which scarred tissues build up in the lungs and make breathing difficult. The disease has an estimated mortality rate of 150 deaths per million and kills patients in less than five years after diagnosis (Sayf). Despite its deadly human impact, there is no therapy for this disease and its exact cause is still unknown. Scientists must inquire about IPF as deeply as possible in order to develop safe therapies and drugs that not only relieve the symptoms but also fundamentally cure the disease. However, due to the lack of proper IPF models, developing drugs for IPF has been challenging. Thus, this research paper presents an alveoli-on-a-chip with naturally diseased three-dimensional cultured alveolar cells, a platform that would be used to develop and test drugs and therapies for IPF. This chip is designed to mimic the in vivo three-dimensional microenvironment and structure of alveoli using a lung organoid and recreate the abnormal features of IPF. Then, the physiological relevance of alveoli-ona-chip should be validated to test whether it can predict in vivo IPF response. Once proven, the IPF-on-a-chip using patient-derived IPF lung organoids and normal fibroblasts would be used to test FDA-approved drugs and further research about IPF treatments. This diseased model would be a novel platform for drug screening and discovering the exact cause of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Keywords: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, organoid, fibrosis, alveoli-on-a-chip, three-dimensional cell culture, drug screening, organ-on-a-chip

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Problem Statement Pulmonary fibrosis is one of the most dangerous respiratory diseases among senior adults (“Pulmonary”). It is a progressive, fatal disease that occurs when fibrosis, the development of an abnormal amount of fibrous tissue in an organ, happens within the alveoli (Budev). The alveolar air sacs and the tissues between alveoli are thickened (Figure 1). As a result, patients suffer from shortness of breath, persistent coughing, and finger clubbing, and, in severe cases, their life expectancy is shortened to less than five years (Sayf). In many cases, pulmonary fibrosis is an idiopathic disease, of which the exact cause is still unknown. The fact that is more concerning than the disease’s hazardous symptoms is the lack of treatment options (“The”). Pirfenidone and nintedanib are the only recently approved drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Although they reduce the rate of scarring of the lung tissue, they are only to relieve the symptoms and delay the progression of the disease, not eliminating the fundamental causes of the disease. Also, they both can cause serious side effects including energy loss, nausea, diarrhea, and heartburn (“Pirfenidone”). However, proper and reliable tools for developing more efficacious drugs for IPF are not currently available. To address the problem, this paper proposes new technology, a tool that more accurately resembles the human body to demonstrate IPF. Objectives and Aims

Aim 1

Developing an alveoli-on-a-chip. This paper will use lung organoids and lung fibroblasts to create bioengineered three-dimensional alveolar tissue.

Aim 2

Testing the feasibility of mimicking fibrosis on the alveoli-on-a-chip. The chip will be exposed to transforming growth factor-beta, or TGF-β, a factor known to induce IPF when activated (Coward et al.).

Aim 3

Developing a patient-derived alveoli-on-a-chip for drug testing. We will use patient-derived lung organoids and fibroblasts to naturally induce the IPFon the chip. Then, anti-fibrotic drugs, including pirfenidone and nintedanib, will be tested on this chip.

Background and Significance There are current models that simulate the human body affected by idiopathic

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pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by using living mammals to demonstrate the disease. Some of them induce PF on rodents by asbestos, which mimics epithelial cell injury, silica, which mimics fibroblastic foci, and bleomycin, which mimics macrophage NALP3 inflammasomeactivation (Moore). The most widely known model is the TGF-β-induced mice model. The overexpression of transforming growth factor-beta, or TGF-β has successfully triggered pulmonary fibrosis in a mouse. However, it was proven that mice do not naturally suffer from IPF unlike humans: they do not fully demonstrate a naturally-occurring version of pulmonary fibrosis. Mice models would not show exactly the same response as human responses to the drugs. Because of the limitations of animal models, they are not able to show human responses to drugs. Therefore, a naturally occurring model of IPF should be developed in order to treat patients with minimal side effects. To address this problem, this paper will propose an alveoli-on-achip with naturally existing three-dimensional alveolar cells, which will be a valuable platform to develop and test drugs and therapies for IPF. Research Design and Methods An organ-on-a-chip is a three-dimensional microfluidic cell culture platform that simulates the function of specific organ systems and their environment (Moyer). We will harness the power of this technology to fabricate the alveoli-on-a-chip. The greatest advantage of using this chip is the ability to precisely mimic the surrounding microenvironment of the cells since its structure allows air exchange and media flow that carries necessary nutrients. Unlike current animal or cell models, the alveoli-on-a-chip will precisely evaluate drug efficacy and predict the response of human alveoli to drugs. Itaccurately controls multiple systems of the alveoli such as chemical concentration gradient and fluid shear force. Aim 1: Developing an alveoli-on-a-chip First and foremost, it is essential to study in vivo lung structure and prioritize which features to mimic in the chip. The lung alveolus is an air sac-like structure made of two types of epithelial cells: type I pneumocyte (AT1) and type II pneumocyte (AT2) (Figure 2). AT1 cells are complex branched cells with multiple cytoplasmic plates that are attenuated and relatively devoid of organelles. (Ward). They are involved in the gas exchange surface between alveoli and capillaries. The type II cells protect the air sacsby acting as a progenitor for both type I and type II cells. In such a way, they respond to damage of the vulnerable type I cells (Evans).

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In addition, these cells maintain homeostasis in the alveoli by secreting pulmonary surfactant. The role of surfactant is especially important in lung breathing function. It reduces surface tension at the fluid interface, prevents alveolar collapse when inhaling and exhaling, kills pathogens, and modulates immune responses. For these reasons, type I and type II pneumocytes play vital roles in maintaining the functions and structure of the alveoli and the respiratory system. Considering the pathological aspects of pulmonary fibrosis, the structure of the alveoli can be summarized by three important components: the lung organoid. the fibroblast, and the capillaries. The first element, the lung organoid, is a group of self-organized lung stem cells that are grown in vitro and resemble the structure of the lung tissue. The lung organoid’s two advantageous features are that it is three-dimensional and that it contains both type I pneumocytes (AT1) and type II pneumocytes (AT2). The second element is the fibroblast: a cell found in the connective tissue that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and plays a key role in wound healing (Murray). During IPF, lung fibroblasts are activated by unknown causes and produce an excessive amount of extracellular matrix (ECM), a material that provides structural support to surrounding cells. As a result, lung and alveoli tissues grow thicker and become stiffer. Stiff lung tissues cannot expand as much as they should; hence, breathing becomes increasingly difficult. The third element is the capillary, a complex blood vessel network that surrounds the alveoli. Capillaries are the sites where the gas exchange occurs. When blood passes through the capillaries, it gives off carbon dioxide through the capillary walls and obtains oxygen before it flows toward the body. (“PULMONARY”)(“How”). Capillaries also serve as channels for nutrients for their own alveoli and white blood cells that contribute to immune response. However, blood capillary structures are not necessarily considered in the IPF chip because the primary condition of the chip is mimicking the microenvironment of IPF with alveoli and fibroblasts.

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To fabricate a reliable platform, the cell arrangement of the chip should mimic the in vivo structure as described above. As the lung organoid from a stem cell grows both AT1 and AT2 cells, the arrangement of these alveolar cells would be very similar to that of the in vivo human lung tissue (Barbuzano) (Figure 3a). In addition, the lung organoid and fibroblasts have to becocultured because in human alveoli, the two substances live in the sameenvironment and affect each other and pulmonary fibrosis is caused by malfunctioning fibroblasts. This in vitro alveoli tissue will be cultured in a hydrogel: a network of hydrophilic polymers that is a biocompatible platform to culture cells. Lung organoids will self-organize and form spherical structures, and fibroblasts would surround the lung organoid in the hydrogel. Its other advantages are that its stiffness is very similar to real lung tissue and that it can mimic the mechanical properties of the tissue. Among these physical features of the alveoli-on-a-chip, the most important one is the chip’s 3D structure. According to research conducted in 2018 by Abhishek Jain et al., for instance, a group of scientists successfully recreated a 3D cross-section of human alveoli consisting of an alveolar-capillary interface and vascular lumen (Figure 4). However, the model showed two clear limitations. Firstly, the flat-shaped epithelial surface failed to mimic the spherical, three-dimensional structure of human alveoli. Also, it is questionable whether the property of the epithelial cells was maintained during culture as it lacked spatial interactions. For these reasons, the alveoli-on-a-chip proposed in this paper will prove more effective than those previously proposed by others. Aim 2: Testing the feasibility of mimicking fibrosis on the alveoli-on-a-chip The ultimate goal of using this alveoli-on-a-chip is accurately mimicking humanalveoli afflicted with IPF. The first step towards this objective is exposing the alveoli-on-a-chip to the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) to induce pulmonary fibrosis (Figure 3b). TGF-β is one type of cytokine that plays an essential role in cell differentiation and regulation of cell growth (Wei). When its normal mechanism is disturbed, TGF-β promotes fibroblasts to produce an excessive amount of ECM. Therefore, the alveoli model with a TGF-β would trigger pulmonary fibrosis in this chip. There are two methods for examining if pulmonary fibrosis formed on the chip or not. One way is to measure the stiffness of lung tissues using tools like atomic force microscopy after TGF-β injection and compare it to the stiffness before inducing pulmonary fibrosis on the chip. As previous research has shown that with elastic modulus values ranging from approximately 2 kPa for normal tissue to approximately 17 kPa for fibrotic tissue, measuring the elastic modulus would significantly reveal the occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis (Wells). The expected result after the trigger of pulmonary fibrosis

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is an increase in the hardness of the lung tissues. The second method is a more common method calledimmunohistochemistry: the use of an antibody to stain a substance (Maity). ECM will be stained in hydrogel tomeasure the amount of this substance (Figure 5). The more ECM the hydrogel has, the thicker the tissue is. After confirming that the alveoli-on-achip injected with the growth factor works, a realistic model that better resembles the alveoli of actual patients will be created. Aim 3: Developing a patient-derived alveoli-on-a-chip for drug testing The next step is designing an alveoli-on-a-chip composed of IPF patient-derived lung organoids and fibroblasts. If this condition can naturally trigger fibrosis without the addition of biochemicals like TGF-β, this system will be used as a naturally diseased in vitro IPF model. After checking the occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis using previously described methods, new drug candidates can be tested on the chip. If the drug does not affect the survival rate of cells, it indicates that the drug toxicity is low. Since the disease hardens the lung tissue, drug efficacy can be proven by calculating the difference in elastic modulus. The Instron system would be an effective tool for measuring the decreased elastic modulus of the hydrogel containing the engineered lung tissue. Collectively, since the IPF-on-a-chip successfully mimics the in vivo structure and dynamics, it will be a reliable platform to test drug toxicity and efficacy. Moreover, examining naturally diseased models would be a great approach to figure out the pathological mechanism of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution The IPF-on-a-chip would demonstrate the in vivo responses of pulmonary fibrosis. When pulmonary fibrosis happens, the tissue stiffness would be increased and the survival rate of pneumocytes would decrease. Also, increased cell viability and reduced stiffness after injecting the effective drug would facilitate the screening of drug candidates at a preclinical level. If the alveoli-on-a-chip exhibits the expected results, it will make a significant contribution to the medical field. The model will address society’s paucity of knowledge, cure, and medicines about pulmonary fibrosis. Using this new alveoli-on-a-chip will enable people to develop a better understanding of the mechanism and ultimately develop efficacious drugs.

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Reference [1] Barbuzano, Javier. "Organoids: A New Window Into Disease, Development And Discovery". Harvard Stem Cell Institute, 2017, https://hsci.harvard.edu/organoids. Accessed 2 Aug2021. [2] Budev, Marie et al. "Pulmonary Fibrosis". CHEST Foundation, 2020, https://foundation.chestnet.org/lung-health-a-z/pulmonary-fibrosis/. Accessed 3 Aug2021. [3] Evans, Kelly V, and Joo-Hyeon Lee. “Alveolar wars: The rise of in vitro models to understandhuman lung alveolar maintenance, regeneration, and disease.” Stem cells translationalmedicine vol. 9,8 (2020): 867-881. doi:10.1002/sctm.19-0433 [4] Jain, A et al. “Primary Human Lung Alveolus-on-a-chip Model of Intravascular Thrombosis for Assessment of Therapeutics.” Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics vol. 103,2 (2018): 332-340. doi:10.1002/cpt.742 [5] Maity, Biswanath et al. “Immunostaining: detection of signaling protein location in tissues, cells and subcellular compartments.” Methods in cell biology vol. 113 (2013): 81-105. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407239-8.00005-7 [6] B. Moore, Bethany et al. “Animal models of fibrotic lung disease.” American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology vol. 49,2 (2013): 167-79. doi:10.1165/rcmb.20130094TR [7] Herrmann, Tobias. “Using Alveolar Epithelia as a Model for Coronavirus Infection.” PhysOrg, 10 Apr. 2020, phys.org/news/2020-04-alveolar-epithelia-coronavirusinfection.html. [8] “How Lungs Work.” Lung.Org, www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/how-lungs-work. Accessed 26 Aug. 2021. [9] “Microfluidic Chip Development for Organ-On-A-Chip - Creative Biolabs.” Creative Biolabs,microfluidics.creative-biolabs.com/microfluidic-chip-development-for-organ-on-a-chi p.htm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-syu2cXO8gIVAVZgCh2efAo0EAAYASAAEgKihvD_BwE. Accessed 26 Aug. 2021. [10] Murray, Lynne A., et al. “Fibroblasts.” Asthma and COPD (Second Edition), Academic Press, 30 Jan. 2009, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123740014000158. [11] “Pirfenidone: MedlinePlus Drug Information.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2017, MedlinePlus: We're sorry, we can't find the page you requested [12] “PULMONARY CAPILLARIES.” Icardio, icardio.ca/en/articles/anatomy/pulmonary-

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capillaries. Accessed 26 Aug. 2021. [13] "Pulmonary Fibrosis". Medlineplus, 2021, https://medlineplus.gov/pulmonaryfibrosis.html. Sayf, Alaa Abu. “What Is the Mortality Rate of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)?” Medscape, 16 July 2021, www.medscape.com/answers/301226-95979/what-is-the-mortalityrate-of-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosisipf#:~:text=Idiopathic%20pulmonary%20fibrosis%20(IPF)%20po rtends,deaths%20per%20million%20in%20women [14] Tanabe, Naoya, et al. “Pathology of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Assessed by a Combination of Microcomputed Tomography, Histology, and Immunohistochemistry.” The American Journal of Pathology, vol. 190, no. 12, 2020, pp. 2427–35. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.09.001." [15] “The Most Dangerous Lung Disease You've Never Heard Of". Healthcare-In-Europe.Com, 2018, https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/the-most-dangerous-lung-disease-you-ve-ne ver-heard-of.html. [16] Wei, Peng et al. “Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-induced miR-133a inhibits myofibroblast differentiation and pulmonary fibrosis.” Cell death & disease vol. 10,9670. 11 Sep. 2019, doi:10.1038/s41419-019-1873-x [17] Wells, Rebecca G. “Tissue Mechanics and Fibrosis.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) Molecular Basis of Disease, vol. 1832, no. 7, 2013, pp. 884–90. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2013.02.007. [18] Ward, H E, and T E Nicholas. “Alveolar type I and type II cells.” Australian and NewZealand journal of medicine vol. 14,5 Suppl 3 (1984): 731-4. The pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (sagepub.com)

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Research Proposal

The Relationship Between Affective Neural Activity, Restricted Interest, and Age of Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Females Full Name

Lee, Seungmyoung

Branksome Hall

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Keywords: Neuroscience, Psychology, Neural Activity, Brain, Autism, Restricted Interest,Development, Children, Adolescence, Female

What Is the Relationship Between Affective Neural Activity, Restricted Interest,and Age of Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Females?

1. Problem Statement Data and statistics presented by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that the combined prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in children is consistently increasing since 2000 by approximately 2 per 1000 children every year, although the rate is escalating. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuation of unpredictable technological, environmental and socioeconomic developments, more children with autism than ever are being impacted by external stimuli, stressors and genetic predispositions, presenting more and more novel autistic behaviours and tendencies. Girls, specifically, are growing more skillful at “masking”, or hiding their symptoms of autism, as they strive to fit into their communities and endure the stereotypes of neurotypical people. Amidst all of this

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complicated situation, adults are rather being accustomed to performing what they are asked quickly and manually, not paying proper attention to the neurodiversity of young children; this is resulting in girls being diagnosed with other disorders like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or anorexia and being diagnosed much later than boys, leaving them with long-term developmental deficits or extreme behavioural and mental health problems. A lot of the current research revolves around autism in girls, brain structure differences between boys and girls, and the factors of late diagnosis of autism. However, not much attention is spent on investigating restricted interests and the affective neural activity of autistic girls, which can be a key diagnostic factor in determining the severity of the spectrum. This proposal thus aims to bridge the aforementioned gap in research and prove the significance of early diagnosis by analyzing the connections between Affective Neural Activity, Restricted Interest, and Age of Diagnosis of AutismSpectrum Disorder (ASD) in Females.

2. Objectives and Aims This research aims to evaluate the correlation between affective neural activity, restricted interest, and age of diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder specifically in girls, and it is believed that this unique combination will bring special attention to restricted and repetitive behaviours that aren’t yetwidely studied. It also aims to bring special attention to vast changes in the patterns of girls’ affective neural activity and severe deactivation of their brain areas responsible for social development/interests that may happen due to delayed diagnosis of autism. Psychiatric evidence shows that rigid, detailed, and pervasive thinking patterns akin to restricted interests in ASD can lead to extreme situations. Therefore, it is of this researcher’s uppermost importance to prove that these are preventable through early intervention of ASD, by following these objectives: 1. Recognize how autism is different in girls and how their restricted interests will be showndifferently; 2. Evaluate the existing criteria for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); 3. Analyze the factors of autism in girls being such a substantial issue; 4. Strengthen our understanding of restricted interests and their connections to brain activityand signalling; 5. Interpret fMRI brain images of those who are diagnosed at the right time and performingtheir restricted interests and those who are diagnosed late and performing their restrictedinterests; 6. Consider potential challenges and questions and suggest further areas of research.

3. Background and Significance Basic Information of Autism Autism is a developmental disorder that can cause significant social, communicative and behavioural challenges. There is often nothing explained about how people with ASD look that setsthem apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave,

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and learn in ways that are different from most other people. The learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenging. Some people with ASDneed a lot of help in their daily lives and others need less. To date, the biological basis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) remains unknown. Heritability estimates for ASD have ranged from 37% to higher than 90% and around 15% of casesof ASD appear to be associated with a known genetic mutation. Autism is probably caused by manygenes and more mutations usually mean that the individual will have more severe autism. Typically, Psychiatrists consider it a good time of diagnosis when a child gets diagnosed with autism between 3-5 years of age and a late diagnosis when diagnosed at or after 8 years of age. Theofficial DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) include social and communicative difficulties and repetitive, inflexible patterns of behaviour. Specifically, “repetitive, inflexible patterns of behaviour” stands for restricted interests as it includes stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech, insistence on sameness, inflexible adherenceto routines, and highly fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus. Symptoms must be present to some extent in the early developmental period of at most 8 years old in order to be considered for diagnosis, while the official aforementioned criteria don’t include symptoms that may be specific to girls. Some of the methods for early intervention of autism include videotape analysis, parental support, screening studies, and studies on highrisk infant siblings. Autism Spectrum Disorder in Girls ASD is reported in females at a significantly lower rate than in males, usually in a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio.A few reasons for this include the following: First, a lot of their autistic traits may be camouflaged - this means it is very hard to make an effective diagnosis when girls/women don’t have any other intellectual disorders such as problems with vocabulary and communication - and these problems are often noted in boys with ASD. Second, genes may play a bigger role in autism in women than in men. If one’s autism is hereditary and their symptoms do not manifest significantly over time, their symptoms may be seamless. Third, restricted/repetitive behaviours are more prominent in males, and females with ASD outperform male individuals in identifying and sharing emotions with others. As emotional connection and social relationships are what a lot of people with autism struggle with, not showing many difficulties in these areas may make parents confused when evaluating their children. Research has found that parents report more social and attention problems in females, but this may be a result of bias where more socially desired behaviour are expected from daughters than from sons. In the absence of additional intellectual or behavioural problems but equivalent levels of autistic traits, girls are less likely than boys to meet diagnostic criteria for ASD. This certainly proves gender biases in diagnosis and better adaptation and compensation in girls.

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Late Diagnosis of Autism Late diagnosis of autism may pose irreplaceable long-term difficulties for autistic people. Early diagnosis can lead to earlier behaviour-based intervention, which is associated with improvements in core areas, such as social functioning and communication. Early detection and intervention to ASD are crucial in leading to an improved outcome. Late Diagnosis of Autism in Girls Many female patients who are diagnosed at such a late stage report that it is so challenging for themto perform self-acceptance and to understand themselves. Some of them have a great desire to connect with non-autistic people and use their formidable intelligence to act and pretend in front of others, but their internal sufferings are unexplainable. Long Term Impacts of Late Diagnosis in Girls Girls who are diagnosed late with autism are more likely to have low IQs and extreme behaviour problems. As they get older, they may also be showing fewer signs of restricted interests, whichmay pose extra difficulties in determining the severity of their disorder. Late diagnosis means late intervention and this may lead to patients feeling isolated and alien, thus experiencing mental healthproblems like anxiety and depression. Needing to receive concurrent neurological and psychological treatment will significantly interfere with the daily activities of the patients. In some worst cases where mental health problems aren’t treated properly, suicidality can be a subject of thepatient’s restricted interest, and this needs to be mitigated as accurately as possible. Restricted Interests Restrictive interests are a class of repetitive behaviour in ASD in which its intensity and narrow focus may contribute to significant interference with daily functioning and activities. However, there are many different aspects to this and we are not able to conclude that restricted interests are solely negative. First, these interests can be used as motivators in school and life, which is why sometimes girls withautism aren’t diagnosed when their interest is learning/school and they do well in school. Inaddition, restricted behaviour can be a way for autistic people to cope with their symptoms; restricted interests should only be stopped when they are considered harmful.

4. Research Design and Methods Hypothesis It is hypothesized that the late diagnosis of female individuals will lead to their greater activity in the insula and anterior cingulate area when performing their restricted interests than an early diagnosis of ASD.

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Many autism candidate genes — such as GABRB3, NLGN3 and SHANK3 — encode proteins that are important for balanced brain signalling. Also, some imaging studies have shown that individualswith autism have too much activity in the frontal areas of the brain. Seeing the potential mutationsof the genes and, as well as ASD showing hyper-connectivity within frontal lobe regions, and decreased long-range connectivity and reciprocal interactions with other cortical regions, it was strongly believed unorganized selective connectivity within the frontal lobes will lead to poorly synchronized connectivity between the frontal cortex and other brain systems. Independent Variable: - Early/Late diagnosis of autism in girls Dependent Variable: - The activity of the anterior cingulate cortex and left anterior insula Controlled Variables: - Age group - must be children - Gender - females - Number and approximate intensity of restricted interests - Country and background of participants Test Population -

30 Girls with ASD, 15 diagnosed between 3-5 years of age and 15 diagnosed after 8 years IQ of at least 70 required They are not permitted to take psychotropic medications within 24 hours before the test

Procedures - Inspired by a study done by Vanderbilt University (Cascio, 2014) 1. There will be six runs of fMRI scanner, each will run for around 4 minutes 2. Three blocks in each of four conditions will be shown in each run: (1) own interest, (2)others’ interests, (3) primary reward, and (4) visual baseline 3. Each block will consist of five images from the condition 4. Each will be presented for 5 seconds and a white cross on a black background will appear for 500 ms before the next image 5. A post-scan memory test will be conducted to ensure accurate responses 6. 38 previously viewed images will be combined with 19 novel images, presented in randomized order 7. Participants will be instructed to indicate ‘1’ if they remember seeing the image in thescanner, and ‘2’ if they do not 8. Participants will be evaluated on their response accuracy to verify attention to the stimuliacross all conditions 9. Researchers will be contrasting activities of the insula and anterior cingulate by analyzingbrain images

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5. Preliminary Results <Comparison of Insula and Anterior Cingulate Activation of Girls Diagnosed Early and Late With AutismWhen Performing Their Restricted Interests>

Time of Diagnosis

Insula Activation

3-5 years old

Variation is typically seen in autisticchildren

8 years old

Significantly bolded

Anterior Cingulate Activation Variation is typically seen in autisticchildren Significantly bolded

6. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution It is anticipated that the fMRI brain scans of girls who are 8 years of age will reveal more clearly bolded images in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex when practicing similar intensities of restricted interests. Dialectics - Limitations This study does not take into account children with IQ lower than 70, meaning that they may lack neurodiversity. Also, the study only tests girls who are diagnosed 3-5 years late and girls who are diagnosed significantly late are not taken into consideration. This may result in less accurate results as no diverse perspectives are represented. Furthermore, due to the masking tendencies of our targeted demographic, our results may not be a proper representation, and lastly, ASD exhibits a heterogeneous set of characteristics. Dialectics - Refutations This study only works when children are able to interpret and memorize images so children with an IQ lower than 70 might interfere with the accuracy of the responses. It was proven earlier that girls who are diagnosed significantly late may present concurrent mental illnesses. Mental illnesses like PTSD or anxiety disorder also show changes in one’s brain activity and we do not want that to be represented in the fMRI scans. The neurological impacts of late diagnosis will still be apparent in girls who are only diagnosed 2-3 years late. Lastly, the environment of the fMRI scanning rooms minimizes the girls’ tendency to mask or camouflage as they aren’t engaging with social activities. Dialectics - Questions • Can learning the type of masking autistic girls use to hide their symptoms, help increase theprobability of early diagnosis, to help them lead a highly functional life? • Can their restrictive interest be used as a form of therapy to treat their ASD?

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Further Areas of Research • Long-term impacts of late diagnosis of girls with autism, with a specific focus on theirability to acquire and process new knowledge and their self-awareness skills • Differences between the long-term impacts of restricted interests in boys and girls • Late diagnosis of autism and its effects on the time of diagnosis of other concurrent mentalhealth conditions

7. References [1] Antezana, L., Factor, R. S., Condy, E. E., Strege, M. V., Scarpa, A., & Richey, J. A. (2018). Gender differences in restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests in youth with autism. Autism Research, 12(2), 274–283. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2049 [2] Barbaro, J., & Dissanayake, C. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infancy and Toddlerhood: A Review of the Evidence on Early Signs, Early Identification Tools, and Early Diagnosis. [3] Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 30(5), 447–459. https://doi.org/10.1097/dbp.0b013e3181ba0f9f [4] Bargiela, S., Steward, R., & Mandy, W. (2016). The Experiences of Late-diagnosed Women with Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Investigation of the Female Autism Phenotype. Journalof Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(10), 3281–3294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-0162872-8 [5] Bloss, C. S., & Courchesne, E. (2007). MRI Neuroanatomy in Young Girls With Autism. Journalof the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 46(4), 515–523. https://doi.org/10.1097/chi.0b013e318030e28b [6] Bosl, W. J., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Nelson, C. A. (2018). EEG Analytics for Early Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A data-driven approach. Scientific Reports, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24318-x [7] Carter, A. S., Black, D. O., Tewani, S., Connolly, C. E., Kadlec, M. B., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2007). Sex Differences in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autismand Developmental Disorders, 37(1), 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0331-7 [8] Carter, R. M. K., Jung, H., Reaven, J., Blakeley-Smith, A., & Dichter, G. S. (2020). A NexusModel of Restricted Interests in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00212 [9] Dawson, G. (2008). Early behavioral intervention, brain plasticity, and the prevention of autism spectrum disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 20(3), 775–803. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579408000370 [10] Dworzynski, K., Ronald, A., Bolton, P., & Happé, F. (2012). How Different Are Girls and Boys

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Above and Below the Diagnostic Threshold for Autism Spectrum Disorders? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(8), 788–797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2012.05.018 [11] Elder, J., Kreider, C., Brasher, S., & Ansell, M. (2017). Clinical impact of early diagnosis of autismon the prognosis and parent-child relationships. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, Volume 10, 283–292. https://doi.org/10.2147/prbm.s117499 [12] Flavell, J. H., Green, F. L., & Flavell, E. R. (1993). Children's Understanding of the Stream of Consciousness. Child Development, 64(2), 387. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131257 [13] Foss-Feig, J. H., McGugin, R. W., Gauthier, I., Mash, L. E., Ventola, P., & Cascio, C. J. (2016). A functional neuroimaging study of fusiform response to restricted interests in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-016-9149-6 [14] Fulton, K./Lai, M./Mandy, W./Pellicano, E./Withlock, A. (2020): Recognition of Girls on the Autism Spectrum by Primary School Educators: An Experimental Study: Wiley Periodicals, Inc. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aur.201?casa_token=zPYMhhzVEu4AAA AA%3AUkI4j8F_eD8O84I8OIH9CuIHhVisVfWE3yiG0AS6-0Woq6cnEKEb2yVn-1Rk5 [15] MHQg0fJ4bVNafL3ghVn [16] Gould, J. (2017). Towards understanding the under-recognition of girls and women on the autism spectrum. Autism, 21(6), 703–705. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361317706174 [17] Klinepeter, E. (2021, February 12). Teens, young adults with ASD three times more likely to attempt suicide. Healio. [18] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20210212/teens-young-adults-with-asd-three-ti mesmore-likely-to-attempt-suicide. [19] Leedham, A., Thompson, A. R., Smith, R., & Freeth, M. (2019). ‘I was exhausted trying to figureit out’: The experiences of females receiving an autism diagnosis in middle to late adulthood. Autism, 24(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319853442 [20] Minshew, N. J., & Keller, T. A. (2010). The nature of brain dysfunction in autism: functional brain imaging studies. Current Opinion in Neurology, 23(2), 124–130. https://doi.org/10.1097/wco.0b013e32833782d4 [21] News Center. (n.d.). Girls and boys with autism differ in behavior, brain structure. News Center. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2015/09/girls-and-boys-with-autism-differ-in-beha viorbrain-structure.html. [22] Spitzer, S., Spitzer, S., & Spitzer, A. S. (2017, October 10). Restricted Interests in Children with ASD: Deficits or Strengths? MedBridge Blog.

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https://www.medbridgeeducation.com/blog/2017/10/restricted-interests-in-children-with-as ddeficits-or-strengths/. [23] Weiner, L., Flin, A., Causin, J.-B., Weibel, S., & Bertschy, G. (2019). A case study of suicidality presenting as a restricted interest in autism Spectrum disorder. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2122-7 [24] Whitlock, A., Fulton, K., Lai, M. C., Pellicano, E., & Mandy, W. (2020). Recognition of Girls on the Autism Spectrum by Primary School Educators: An Experimental Study. Autism Research, 13(8), 1358–1372. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.23

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Research Proposal

Prospect of a four weekday Policy in the perspective of a Health and Wellbeing Policy Full Name

Jang, Yoorim

Korean Minjok Leadership Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract The traditional 9 to 5 working hours, Monday to Friday is the tale of the past, the days of agricultural and industrial revolution where the sheer number of hours equaled the amount of work done. Yet right now is an era when a single computer can do the work of ten men. The rapid development of technology since the late 20th century substantially increased efficiency in workplaces, yielding time to the employees to spend for themselves. This change in the working paradigm raised the question of whether mankind should work the same amount as they did decades ago. Specifically, an increasing number of people voice out the need to break the traditional structure of five weekdays, working over 50 hours a week, arguing that beyond doing the employees a favor of increasing leisure time, it is also a plus for the employers by ensuring productivity and engagement in work. Named as the four weekdays campaign, during the recent 5 years, several companies and even countries such as Microsoft Japan and Iceland chose to test out the new balance of work and life. Korea, on the other hand, a notoriously workaholic country with one of the longest, arduous working hours in the world, tends to hold a conservative stance regarding the four weekday policy. This paper ultimately suggests implementing the four weekday policy in loosening the dangerously long working hours of Korea. Furthermore, as the matter of work and rest is most directly related to the economic realms, many debates upon whether increased productivity can outweigh the leisure of one day. Along with the fact that the policy is new, it’s implication on employee’s health and well-being is a relatively untouched topic. Yet, to analyze the policy as a well-being policy also take great significance in flourishing the society beyond the matter of numbers. Ultimately, this paper seeks to estimate the possible outcomes of a four weekday policy through literature review on the effects of four weekday trials of cases of Iceland and Microsoft Japan, and link the results to suggest a possible design to Korea’s 4 day workweek policy based on behavioral economics.

Keywords: 4 weekday, Well Being, Health, Welfare

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1. Literature review I. History of Labor Policies; Laborer’s Rights on Working Hours 1) Laborer Rights Countries that led the Industrial Revolution, such as England, Switzerland, France etc, faced the consequences of exploitative capitalist working conditions earlier than any other countries. The labor conditions, where anyone, children to old men, worked entirely according to their employer’s likings, were slowly molded through social reformation. One of the reformations included the campaign to limit the working hour per day. First regulating the working hours of children, by the 1849s, the first legal limitations of the working hours of adults was adopted by the citizens assembly of the Swiss canton of Glarus and the British adopting the British Factory Act of a maximum 12 hours of working per day for adults (Britannica). The movement slowly spread to the US, Australia, Puerto Rico, demanding for greater freedom of a maximum eight hours of work a day. 2) Adoption of five weekday policy The five weekday policy today is something that has been recently invented. The terms weekday and weekend describe the two supplementing parts of the week each devoted to labor and res. Although the structure of five weekdays and two weekends may seem the norm in the 21st century, as it can be noticed in several outdated calendars, the starting day of the week used to be Sunday, and Saturday was the only weekend there were. The present-day concept of a weekend began in the industrial north of Great Britain in the early 19th century, as an agreement between employees and employers allowing Saturday afternoon off from 2 pm so that the staff can work sober and refreshed Monday morning. In America, the first five weekday started by a New England cotton mill so that Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday (Rybczynski,1991). 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Acts required a maximum of 40 hours of working hour per week for all American employers, and ever since, other nations as well adopted the two weekend system according to the markets of the economic powerhouse. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Arab Emirates, however, tend to work Sunday to Thursday for religious reasons even though they maintain the 5 week day policy. i)

Korea’s adoption of five weekday policy The topic of five weekday policy was first officially dealt in 2001 by the government. Yet the remnants of the so-called IMF period, when Korea faced a severe economic downturn and thus relied on International Monetary Fund for funding, still lurked in the society. For years there was debated on how to rebound the economy, through increased welfare or increased working hours. However, in 2003, the legislation on a five weekday was

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passed by the congress mandating the maximum working hours to be more more than 40 hours, recommending working schedules to be 8 hours a day, taking a break on Saturday and Sunday. In response to severe backlash, especially by economists, the bill was enacted in a step-by-step procedure for 8 years. The five weekday policy in Korea was an absolute success. The economic growth rate jumped from 3.1% in 2001 to 4.3~5.8% for the next four years. It further increased productivity of employees by 1.5%. 270,000 more people got employed as well (Byun, 2021). Working hours progressively decreased after democratization. While working hours reached its peak in 1988, of 2910 hours per year (Korea Labor and Society Institute, 2017), it decreased down to 2597 hours in the 1990s. Nevertheless, Korea still overworks, ranking the 1st among OECD nations until 2008, now 4th. II.

Prediction on People’s Well-Being and Health 1) Well-Being Well-Being is defined as the notion of how well someone’s life is going for them (Crisp, 2014). The concept of well-being can be explained in the realms of positive psychology, of attaining Position emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and purpose, and Accomplishment, in short, PERMA. Well-Being is attained as a combination of all five pillars, and people choose their course in life to maximize all five (Seligman, 2012). An extra day of leisure can either favorably or adversely affect each factor. While an extra free day induce some people to stay home and help them solidify Relationships with family and friends, some may need to work multiple jobs at the same time because the wage for four days of work is not enough. i) As a Well-Being policy a) An Overview Taking into consideration that income earned through income will ultimately be used to flourish human life, the limitations of traditional economic indicators are now growing evident, and the need for scientific measures of wellbeing is increasing. The traditional economic index in this paper indicates measures of income, wealth, and GDP/GDI, whose downsides are usually pinpointed as its inability to directly address people’s well-being, health and happiness (Helliwelll, 2006). Rather than being used solely as tool to indicated economic growth, it is overrepresented to indicate general societal progress. There comes Well-Being policy, where health, both mental and physical, is deemed as a crucial aspect in determining an efficacy of a policy. b) Measuring efficacy of Well-Being Policy Due to the subjective nature of the concept of well-being and happiness, only survey questions asking for the respondents’ experience are

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practical on scales large enough to be useful for policy, for it can be spread out easily through online survey technology, whose results are easier to be formatted into useable data. Although gathering the responses in an uncontrolled environment may bring up concerns on behavioral measures such as expert observations is impossible in terms of time and expense in the realm of public policy, where the data must be applicable to the general public. Furthermore, in the case of large representative samples, potential biases can be avoided as they are random biases that cancel itself out (the law of averages). 2) Health Long working hours and occupational health show high correlation, with the overall odds ratio calculated as 1.245 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.195–1.298). The condition of related health constituted the highest odds ratio value (1.465, 95% CI: 1.332–1.611). Through numerous research, as it is also known in common sense, long working hours adversely affect the occupational health of workers. Not only is the impact limited to physical health, but psychological health as well. i) Physiological Health (PH) Despite several conflicting cases, the correlation of PH and longer working hours were statistically significant for both case control study and cross-sectional study. The workers working more than 50 h per week or more than 10 per day had a higher risk of experiencing occupational health problems than those working 50 or less hours per week or 10 hours or less per day, especially when it comes to cardiovascular diseases and hyper tension (Fukuoka, Dracup, Froelicher, Ohno, Hirayama, Shiina, Kobayashi, 2005). ii) Mental Health (MH) Short sleep duration, less than 6 h, caused of addition working hours were shown to adversely affect mental health of workers, specifically in depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and anxiety (Chan, Ngan, Wong, 2019). 3) Behavioral Economics Behavioral economics identify the forces which shape the economic decisions that people make, the rational and selfish decisions people make for their own good. It often deals with how the presentation of information effect decision making, how different types and valences effect behavior, and what are the social, emotional, and situational factors that underlie economic decision making (Hochman, Ariely 2015). By theory, people make the best choice for their own benefits.

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When the concept of behavioral economics is applied to health, it discusses the decisions people make and how it affects their health. Even though many people are advertised by the methods of how to say healthy, people still smoke, drink, and use drugs. The field of behavioral economics is less than 3 decades old, its application in health about a decade. It is applied in three contexts, related to the patient’s behavior, the physician’s behavior, the application in health policy. The most extensive application was used in influencing patients’ behaviors, specifically in smoking, obesity, overeating, and substance abuse (Hough, 2016). In designing a four week policy, instead of leaving the extra day to be used entirely up to the people’s discretion, campaigns and meticulous policy designing based on behavioral economics can achieve better achieve wellbeing in the society. III.

Case Studies of four weekday policy 1) Iceland The first officially enacted four weekday trial occurred in Iceland. In 2015 and 2017, two major trials of a shorter working week involving over 2500 workers, more than 1% of the entire working population, were initiated by the Icelandic national government as a response to trade unions. Taking place in a wide range of workplaces, not only limited to the public sector, the trials provided substantial evidence that the policy can enhance not only economic productivity, but overall well being in general. As a result of the overwhelming success, 86% of Iceland’s working populations has chosen to work shorter hours or have gained the right to do so. (Haraldsson, Kellam 2021) 2) Japan 2021, Japan revealed the annual economic policy guidelines that included recommendations of shortening working hours into 4 days. In response to the recent health pandemic, the Japanese government suggested that flexible working hours and increased telecommunication can substantially prevent the disease from spreading. However, it also believes that the system can be beneficial even after the end of the health crisis, especially in terms of employment and education. With their leisure times Japanese workers can have additional jobs or gain additional educational qualifications. i)

Microsoft Japan As a part of Microsoft’s “Work-Life Choice Challenge,” summer project examining work-life balance proved that decreased working hours boosted creativity and productivity, suggesting that a four weekday policy may be beneficial to both employers and employees. Microsoft Japan closed its offices every Friday without decreasing pay. The details of the plans

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included family vacations were also subsidized up to ¥100,000 or $920 and a 30 minute time limit in meeting times. As a result, happier workers boosted productivity up to 40$. (Paul, 2019) 3) Spain 2019, when the progressive party Más País launched in 2019, it included the 4 day work week into its campaign. The pilot program is about to be launched September 2021 for three years, using 50 million euros in European Union funding to compensate an estimated 200 companies for reducing their employees’ work week to 32 hours—without cutting their salaries (Abend, 2021) What is unique about Spain’s approach to a four weekday policy is that it considers it as a method to work in an environmentally friendly manner, reducing carbon emissions. IV.

Korea’s Labor Environment 1) Overworking in Korea The idea of a four weekday may sound daunting to Korean citizens, one of the most notoriously hard-working people of the world, ranking the fourth in the OECD list of average working hours per year in 2020 (OECD, 2020). Until 2008, Korea always ranked the first. With the deeply rooted workaholism that can be dated up to the purge of the late 20th century to rebuild the war-stricken Korean society through capitalism still reminisces in the peninsula, evoking a flourishing night life culture that locks the late night working habits even more. Even the five weekday policy was implemented in the early 2000s, as supposed with a strong opposing power. 2) Amendment on Maximum Hours of Work per Week, May 2018 May 2018, the South Korean Labor Standards Act (the LSA) amending employees’ maximum work hours from 68 hours to 52 hours was passed, and July 2021 after three years has passed, it was finally implemented in most parts of the Korean society. Even after the recent amendment in labor legislations to limit weekly working hours from 68 hours to 52, it still far exceeds the OECD average of 37 hours. With statistics still displaying that Koreans have one of the longest working hours in the OECD with low productivity, particularly among older workers and low income families, along with the fact that two out of five workers are under exception of the amendment, it is evident that Korea’s labor laws need further reformations.

2. Research questions -

Can the four week day policy enhance people’s mental/physical health and their overall well being? Can Korea also benefit from the four week day policy?

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3. Methods <Literature Review> Regarding public policies, especially labor policies, conducting an experiment to deduce a conclusion is meaningless unless the sample size is a. large enough to generalize the results as into a ‘public’, b. conducted in a currently active company. As a result, because generally experimenting with a working hour policy is a tricky matter, whenever an organization directly conducts a trial for a 4 weekday, its dealt by numerous media outlets as a rare case. Thus, in conjuring a method of how Korea can adopt the 4 weekday policy, instead of getting a sample of Koreans to try it, it is more accurate and realistic to compare/contrast the successful cases with the status quo of Korea and point out on what we can approve. In deeming the success of a 4 weekday trial, first, this paper will use the concept of PERMA, on how the policy enhanced or deteriorated the 5 pillars of well-being, and a metanalysis of annual health reports of employees throughout the period of the trial that shows physiological health (PH) and mental health (MH) and second, in suggesting a possible method for Korea, the concept of behavioral economics will be borrowed, how can the government induce people to act in such a way. 4. Work plan week

Sep. 1st week

Sep. 2nd week

plan Literature review of WellBeing, specifically its application on Health policies with clear cases Meta analysis on employee health reports of Iceland 2015-2017 and Microsoft Japan, determine significance of 4 week policy on PH and MH Literature Review on working culture of Korea Literature Review on application of behavioral economics in health policies, design possible solution for Korea’s 4 weekday policy

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Sep. 3rd week

Sep. 4th week

Sept. 5th week

Oct. 1st week

Thesis Presentation, Corrections by school teachers

5. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Abend, L. (Mar, 2021). “Spain Is Going to Trial a 4-Day Work Week. Could the Idea Go Mainstream Post-Pandemic?”. The Times. Ariely, D; Hochman, G. (May, 2015). “Behavioral Economics” p1-2 Byeon, J. (July, 2021). “Who said the economy will fall after the 5 workweek system?”. Hankyeorae Chan, A; Ngan, S; Wong, K. (Jun, 2019). “The Effect of Long Working Hours and Overtime on Occupational Health: A Meta-Analysis of Evidence from 1998 to 2018” Fukuoka, Y; Dracup, K; Froelicher, E; Ohno, M; Hirayama, H; Shiina, H; Kobayashi, F. (Apr 8, 2005). “Do Japanese workers who experience an acute myocardial infarction believe their prolonged working hours are a cause?” p29-35. Haraldsson, G; Kellam, J. (June, 2021). “Going Public: Iceland’s Journey to a Shorter Working Week”, p6-7. Hough, D. E. (2016). “Behavioral Economics: Health Applications in the US. World Scientific Handbook of Global Health Economics and Public Policy”, p463–487. Korea Labor and Society Institute. (Jan, 2017). “Status Quo on Working Hours and Measures to Shorten”. Lin, Tom C. W. (April 16, 2012). "A Behavioral Framework for Securities Risk". Seattle University Law Review OECD.stat. (updated 2020). “Average usual weekly hours worked on the main job” Robertson, I., & Cooper, C. (2011). “Well-Being, Productivity, Happiness at Work.” Rybczynski, W. (Aug,1991). "Waiting for the Weekend". The Atlantic, p35–52. Seligman, M. (Feb, 2012) “Flourish (A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and WellBeing)”

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Research Proposal

Housing Price on the Move: Housing Policy Comparison among Countries and Policy Suggestion

Full Name

Jang, Haram

School Name

Valor International Scholars

Full Name

Sung, Jaeyong

School Name

Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies

Full Name

Choi, Yoojeong

Saint Paul Preparatory Seoul

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Keywords: Housing Price Inflation, Housing Policy, Housing Price Mitigation, Economic Gap, Public Housing

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1. Problem Statement Housing is considered as one of the three factors required for human beings’ survival. In other words, it is vital to ensure the affordability and stability of housing prices for the citizens. Especially in Korea, real estate, property consisting of housing, is closely related to the national economy. Therefore, huge inflation in the housing market seriously affects the whole economic situation in Korea. However, there has been more than a 9.3% increase in housing prices, which is higher than the increase rate of the United States of America and Germany according to the OECD and Korea Real Estate Board. Compared to the average developed countries, a 9.3% increase was three times higher. Among these phenomena, housing price inflation in Korea has been a hot potato since 2013. People who don’t own their own houses are having difficulty in purchasing their houses at a proper price, and most of them are kicked out from their houses due to increasing prices for rent and excluded from the basic infrastructure. By the same token, skyrocketing housing prices drive people to poverty and widen the economic gap between the rich and poor. At this moment, housing policy takes charge of a huge impact on the stability of housing prices. Housing policy is the main factor that determines the supply, availability, and standards. Furthermore, housing policy helps the government to set legislation for tax and affordability, and that’s why housing policy is important and should be restated. In this status quo, we are recognizing this current issue pervasively influences the lives of Korean citizens. Therefore, it is a paramount task to make housing prices in Korea stable and affordable in order to support all the citizens, and we strongly believe there would be solutions for this problem.

2. Objectives and Aims The main purpose of this study is to analyze the impacts of the policies regarding Real Estate how it contributes to the rising house prices. According to the article from Chosun Daily, there has been a Blue National Petition regarding the failure of the housing policy and the skyrocketing housing price. The petitioner mentioned that the government warned not to buy a house since housing prices are expected to drop after the imposition of new housing policies, but it has doubled, making it harder for people to buy their own houses. Throughout the research proposal, new solutions to mitigate the current situations will be initiated. These solutions will be regarding both government policies in other countries—Singapore and the United States of America—and data from previous research. Last but not least, through the modeling of possible solutions, we will discern the suitable policy and the limitations.

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3. Background and Significance Housing prices in Korea are rising rapidly. According to OECD and the Korea Appraisal Board, the median housing price had increased 57% compared to 2017, which is a high rate compared to other developed OECD countries. Seoul’s Housing Affordability Index (K-HAI) was found to be 153.4, up 8.9 points from the previous quarter (144.5). It is the highest recorded in 12 years since the fourth quarter of 2008 (157.8). The Korea Housing Opportunity Index (K-HOI), which refers to the ratio of the number of houses suitable for median-income households, fell sharply. At the end of last year, 2020, the Seoul housing purchase volume index stood at 6.2, the lowest since 2012, when statics began to be compiled. Although real estate is a necessity in life, people are struggling with the housing price problem. Real estate is one of the necessities for all and a primary asset. According to the Korea Times, “Korea’s capital market has a very eccentric structure with a heavy reliance on real estate.” In other words, researching real estate helps people to understand the huge impact of inflation of housing prices on the Korean economy, including the wealth gap between housing owners and others. Therefore, we can understand the flow of the Korean economic situation and its impacts on Korean citizens. Besides, real estate is significantly affected by the policy from the government because of the tax. Therefore, this research paper explains the significant relationship between the economic situation of Korea and the government. It gives the path to the government to make more effective and practical decisions in policies. Unlike previous studies that focused only on the current situation, our research proposal aims to contribute to future real estate policies by connecting to policy suggestions. Benchmarking the various practices of other countries and comparing those to domestic policies will bring a positive impact on solving real estate problems and easing the burden on real estate. Policies to prevent reconstruction and designation of areas subject to adjustment for specific areas and overheated speculation districts stimulate people’s anxiety and increase house prices. The reconstruction restriction policy made it difficult to supply apartments in the real estate reality of Seoul, where supply is insufficient compared to demand, which maximized scarcity and raised real estate prices. Adjustments for specific areas and overheated speculation districts have also caused a sudden increase in demand for real estate in Seoul by maximizing people’s anxiety and opening up the possibility of further regulation. The current real estate policy in Korea is positive in that it is centered on real residents and that it is trying to prevent speculation. However, the fact that the policy is implemented without sufficiently examining the side effects that may occur from implementing the policy is considered a problem.

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4. Research Design and Methods i)

Comparison

Singapore Singapore has the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to control housing policies and public rental housing. They control everything about housing and land such as reconstruction or remodeling. According to data released by the Singapore Department of Statistics in 2018, 91% of Singapore citizens own their own house. The Singapore government considered the creation of a country where all citizens could own a home as the core of its housing policy. The Singapore government owns 90% of the land. Singapore’s public housing is a form of ‘permanent rental housing’ in which the government leases a house for 99 years, and in fact, it can be seen that it is closer to owning than renting. HDB is implementing various government subsidies and housing loans to encourage people to own houses. In particular, the Singapore government in 1968 paved the way for the Central Provident Fund (CPF) to be used for housing purchases, boosting the policy. Citizens with Singapore citizenship or permanent residency are obliged to join the CPF requires that the company and the government accumulate 15% of workers’ wages when they deposit 17% of their wages, and 32% of their total wages. By inducing a kind of ‘compulsory savings’, it resulted in increasing the people’s ability to purchase a house. United States of America Similar to Korea, housing takes a lot of part of the assets of individuals and households also in the United States. Therefore, the United States is putting a lot of effort in order to expand the accessibility of housing to all citizens and give equal opportunities for citizens to ensure their housing with affordability, especially for low-income households. In order to do so, America is running three significant housing policies: The Biden Principles for Housing, Tax Policy, and Fair Housing Act. First, The Biden Principles for Housing. The Biden administration pointed out that the main problem of housing price inflation in the US is lack of supply, and this limited chance limits low-income household’s proper education, healthcare, and employment which drives the wealth gap badly. To resolve this phenomenon, The Biden administration promised to supply more than five thousand housings for low-income households. Also, they decided to build or fix more than two million housings. In another perspective, they suggested to builders and companies that the government will provide benefits and subsidies for companies and builders if they build housing for low-income households. To do so, the government expanded the Capital Magnet Fund and reopened the Risk Sharing Program with the First Financial Bank (FFB) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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Next, Tax Policy. In the United States, The White House proclaimed that they will offer benefits only for the actual low-income households, but not the real estate investors. This is because one out of six houses is owned by real estate investors, at most 1 out of 6. 35% of real estate investors have more than 10 houses. This leads to an increase in rent and housing prices, making it more difficult for those who dream of “one-generation, one-house” and lacking extra funds that each household has to use to improve the quality of life including healthcare and education. In order to prevent it, the United States increases long-term capital gains tax from 20% to 39.6% for wealthy investors making over $207,000 and couples making over $4115,000. Last but not least, the Fair Housing Act. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination by direct providers of housing, such as landlords and real estate companies as well as other entities, such as municipalities, banks or other lending institutions and homeowners insurance companies whose discriminatory practices make housing unavailable to persons because of race or color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. HUD is to expand the accessibility of housing to all citizens and give equal opportunities for citizens to ensure their housing. In this way, The United States is doing their best in order to supply affordable housing for all citizens and investigate for the long-term effect. Korea The wealth gap mentioned earlier exacerbates the decreasing possibility of owning one’s home, unlike the arising demands to live near the capital. This phenomenon is happening in the entire country; according to a KAB official. With the skyrocketing prices or rents in Seoul, the surrounding cities have been facing a rising demand for houses (Koreanherald.com). To cope with the rising demand, the Moon administration launched a policy that increases the supply of houses, hoping to reach equilibrium. The Moon admin also set some regulations “including strict mortgage rules, and the designation of special zones in which buying property requires approval from authorities” (Koreanherald.com). To add on, 12 more new towns are being built to increase the number of houses. The tax policy includes CPT (Comprehensive Property Tax), which is applied to homeowners of expensive real estate, and DTI (Debt Income Ratio), which curbed the amount of money people can loan. Moreover, the Moon administration tried to impose price caps on houses; however, this was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lastly, policies for the 20-30 years old were initiated. These policies included lower lease funds, more supported targets, and increased loan limits. Despite all these endeavors to quell the rising real estate prices, prices of apartments have risen more than 35 percent in Seoul.

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ii) Modeling In order to examine the possible solutions for the uprising house prices, we have thought of making a model based on these three policies: Public Housing, Subsidies, and Versatile Loan Limits. The eminent solution for this situation is to supply more public housing. Following the rule of supply and demand, as the supply of houses increase, the price of the houses will become affordable. However, this should be done by subsidizing the small and medium-sized residential construction companies—this would allay the preference of construction companies, curbing the excess price set merely for its brand. With a different point of view from the previously enforced regulations, which often taxed more or even punished people, we thought it would be a better idea to give benefits to people who are abiding by the suggestions and some standards. For instance, the government might grant social security to the citizens who fulfill the recommendations for the government. Last but not least, a versatile loan for people searching for a home would help. If the loan limits become versatile, people ages between 20-30 would be able to prepare for the initial prices for the houses. iii) Limitation Our modeling does provide a suitable solution for housing policies; yet, the countries that are compared are lacking in numbers -- studying another countries such as China or Japan might help as well. No matter how impactive the housing policies are in such countries, there is always some disparities regarding to regime, culture, and even economic activities. Elaborating on these details will make us viable for further researches.

5. Preliminary Results If the policies are implemented, there will be a lot of confusion in the beginning. In the case of policies on taxes, sudden changes in tax revenue may pose a threat to the national finances. In the case of public housing policy, if public housing is suddenly supplied, there will be a backlash from major companies that have built existing housing, and it is expected that the existing apartment hierarchy will collapse and there will be short-term confusion in house prices. In particular, as public opposition to public housing continues to rise, there is a high possibility that conflicts will continue in the process of public housing construction. As public housing construction itself is an expensive project, there will also be difficulties in terms of national finances. In the short term, we believe that the following problems may arise, but in the long term, it will greatly contribute to resolving the housing price problem.

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6. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution We compared, and analyzed housing policies in the United States, Singapore, and Korea, and established policies, which are expected to bring positive results. Since the strengths and weaknesses of each country's policies were studied, we were able to analyze the causes of the problems that occurred, benchmark the good points and apply them in Korea’s housing policy. In particular, as various aspects such as tax, public housing, and mortgage are analyzed and reflected in the solution, it is expected to have a positive impact in various aspects such as balanced development as well as price. We anticipate that more housing, including public housing, will become available and people will have their own homes. In particular, the public housing policy will greatly contribute to the balanced development of the region, not only developing Seoul. The resulting balanced development will eventually disperse demand, allowing supply and demand to meet in equilibrium, resulting in price stabilization. If the supply of houses increases, consumption caused by anxiety or scarcity will also decrease significantly. Furthermore, it will resolve the wealth gap problem in Korea.

7. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Asiae.co.kr “브랜드의 차이가 집값을 가른다”, 2021 Berkely.edu “Housing Policy in the United States”, 2011 Choson.com “이재명도 극찬했던.. 싱가포르가 ‘주택천국’된 비결”, 2021 Hankyung.com “2013 년 이후 외지인 매일 급증… 수도권 아파트 상승 이끌어”, 2020 Korea.kr, “부동산 정책”, 2021 Magazine Hankyung, “‘집 걱정 없는 나라’... 국민 90%가 ‘내 집’ 가진 싱가포르의 기적”, 2020 [7] The Korean Herald, “Demand for homes in greater Seoul hits record high”, 2021

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Advisory and Implementation for Green, Resilient, and Sustainable Recovery from COVID-19

Full Name

Jeon, Sechan

Christian Sprout Intercultural School (CSIS)

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: In the context of COVID-19, the youth’s voices are becoming highly suppressed, and, consequently, eff ective governance is being hindered. By empowering the youth to strengthen effective governance, this paper ai ms to leverage public governance and enhance youth engagement to promote Green, Resilient, and Sustainable Recovery from COVID-19. Throughout the paper, the notions ‘Advisory’ and ‘Implementation’ provide insight into the youth’s proactive role in cooperating with government processes and affairs by advising and implementi ng policies for effective governance. Based on the global problems that the coronavirus presents to the public, this proposal is written accord ing to the opinions gathered from people from academic settings in Yeongin, South Korea. The paper integrates such information into a precise and directed format. It is recommended that the proposal is read with an open mi nd toward future opportunities for the youth. By focusing on policymaking and innovative technologies that are Green, Sustainable, and Resilient, the paper directs the youth in becoming responsible for future approaches to p ublic governance. On this basis, attention to youth’s involvement will be central in linking the government for an integrated approach for recovery against COVID-19.

Keywords: Advisory, Implementation, Youth, Sustainable, Green

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[Introduction] With COVID-19’s recent outbreak of the Delta variant, recovery from the pandemic s eems increasingly difficult, and returning to pre-COVID conditions may seem almost impossi ble. From this new ‘normality,’ I have analyzed two major problems regarding the coronaviru s’ impact on youths: 1. Despite the fact that COVID-19 disproportionately impacts the youth, they lack the vo ice to impact policy decision-making. 2. As a result of this lack of voice, the government policies tend to be ineffective, failing to provide efficacious solutions to tackle the fundamental problems experienced by th e youth. To address the first problem, COVID-19 has not only compromised the educational op portunities of the youth but has also deprived them of job opportunities. With many lectures moving to virtual platforms, education has been largely degraded by the fact that there are ele ments of education that virtual interaction cannot replicate. Furthermore, the lack of job opportunities will persist since firms are reluctant to hire new employees since they are uncertain as to whether the economy will get better. These prob lems are also aggravated by entry-level or internship-level employment factors in which virtu al job training programs are vastly underprepared to move to the online space. Consequently, the youth will lack financial resources, which will, in effect, increase their dependence on thei r parents and older generations, leading to a further lack of power and confidence by the yout h. The absence of youth participation in policymaking not only affects the youth but also has negative consequences for the efficacy of governance. While governments from all over t he world are employing the best available experts to tackle the problems experienced by vario us social groups, they lack the first-hand insight that the youth have. In particular, this has led to the following issues: First, the educational policies have failed to do justice towards university students wh o were forced to pay the same tuition for a degree whose educational quality and the degree o f social interaction was compromised. Second, the social distancing regulations and protective measures dictated by the government failed to meet the actual needs of the students. Third, th e issue of a substantial increase in youth unemployment was largely neglected, eclipsed by th e outcries of the older generation who face economic hardships. On a separate note, local governments have been overloaded with several administrati ve tasks, as implementing COVID-related policies, such as disaster subsidy distribution, requi res substantial manpower. To tackle the problems as mentioned above, I propose that the youth should not only b e engaged with, in the sense that they are consulted once in a while by experts from different generations but should be actively participating by advising and guiding policymaking on you th issues and assisting the implementation of COVID-19 policies. I have categorized my solut ions into ‘Advisory’ and ‘Implementation.’ By adopting this proposal, I aim to capture the yo uth’s voice to correctly identify, analyze, and solve youth-specific problems generated by CO VID-19.

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[Advisory] Involving the youth in advising the government will produce both short-term and long -term benefits. My proposal targets SDG 17, partnership for the goals, SDG 9, industry, innov ation, and infrastructure, and SDG 12, responsible consumption and production. In the short t erm, by setting up policy advisors for the legislative branch and student-ambassador programs , the youth will practice SDG 17 while simultaneously addressing the current issues of Green recovery. In the long term, the youth will utilize cutting-edge technologies and develop more sustainable ways of consumption and production, made possible by the short-term goals, to b uild resilience against future pandemics and employ SDG 9 and SDG 12. To maximize the output of the short-term goals, the youth must express their voices cl early by having an essential role as policy advisors in the legislative branch. As the youth ten ds to be more environmentally conscious than previous generations, the youth can be especial ly helpful in ensuring that the newly enacted laws are sustainable and efficacious for problem s experienced by the youth. In the student-ambassador programs, the youth will advise governmental leaders for in ternship opportunities for middle and high school students and job-entrance policies for unive rsity students to ensure that future institutions value Green developments. This program will a llow the youth to suggest to governmental officials about youths’ demands for internships or j ob positions in different sectors and encourage certain firms to consider hiring the youth. This practice will benefit the youth by increasing employment and allowing the firms to acquire a valuable asset, who will use originality to create Green and effective products. Secondly, by implementing the short-term goals, the long-term goals will target resilie nce-building and how proper implementations of technology and industry could provide longlasting, sustainable solutions to future pandemics. An example I propose regarding technologi es is Metaverse, an online world where people can work and communicate in a virtual environ ment. The Metaverse will create a better environment for education, in which Virtual Reality (VR) becomes an even more realistic experience while also creating a more in-depth job train ing experience for entrance-level employees. Furthermore, by developing remote medical tool s, like self-automated vaccination areas, COVID-19’s spread will be mitigated. The Metavers e and remote medical technologies will target SDG 9 by providing innovative technologies th at could potentially raise the global economy and increase the youth’s involvement in econom ic affairs. Moreover, due to the coronavirus, delivery food has become the next ‘go-to’ consume r choice. By reducing plastic consumption in delivery foods and choosing more paper-based p ackaging, a change in this delivery methodology will target SDG 12, providing a Green and S ustainable recovery for COVID-19 in the long run. All in all, the implementation of youth involvement policies and technologies will ena ble the youth to voice their environmentally-conscious minds, have more participation in crea ting COVID-19 related policies and technologies, and improve educational and professional j ob opportunities for the future.

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[Implementation] To discuss the national government first, I propose that a Youth COVID Policy Task F orce be established within the national government. While this task force will consist of both professionals with long careers and the youth, the youth will play a supplementary role in assi sting and informing the professionals, actively voicing their opinions, and driving policy disc ussions on education and jobs. In particular, their voices will be extremely valuable for policymakers to determine ho w welfare administration, medical needs, and law enforcement should be done for the youth. Furthermore, the participation of youth will enhance the innovation aspect of the gove rnment’s response. As they tend to be more knowledgeable on advanced technologies and star tups run by young entrepreneurs, having them actively reach out to these companies can contr ibute to integrating more innovative and dynamic solutions to the government’s efforts to com bat COVID-19. The youth should also be involved in implementing local-level policies or enforcemen t of regulations necessary for situation management. Involving the youth in local governance has two significant benefits. First, it creates job opportunities for the youth and mitigates the problems related to yo uth unemployment, contributing to SDG 8. Job opportunities are particularly significant beca use the continued unemployment increase and job uncertainty negatively affect them seriousl y. It increases their dependence on their parents. This is less burdensome if the young adult co mes from a wealthy socio-economic background. However, for those that do not come from a wealthy background, this can stress both the individual and the household. Second, this will lessen the burden on the local civil servants. Currently, the civil serv ants need to perform work related to COVID-19, on top of the primary tasks they had before COVID-19. By hiring the youth to help out with COVID-related and, in particular, youth poli cy implementation, they can prevent the excessive workload on the civil servants. [Measurement] I will measure the effects of my policy using both qualitative and quantitative method ologies. For qualitative, I will run a survey to gain insight into how the proposal has affected t he lives of the youth, inquiring the following questions: 1. How has this policy affected your physical or mental well-being? 2. How has this policy affected your placement in the household? 3. How has this policy affected the youth around you, in your community? For quantitative, I will examine the following KPIs (key performance indicators): 1. The number of youths involved in policymaking, 2. The number and percentage of youth-related COVID-19 policies whose creation invol ved youth participation, 3. The number of new jobs the youth is involved in, 4. The overall income of the youth, 5. The number of youth internship opportunities, 6. The number of graduation rates.

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[Conclusion] Governments around the world should introduce programs to involve the youth in poli cy advising and implementation. Doing so would produce substantial short-term and long-ter m benefits for both the youth and the society and contribute to the realization of SDGs in the arena of policymaking.

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Brain Tumor-on-a-chip for the treatment of Glioma

Full Name

Jung, Michelle

Seoul Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: This research paper aims to introduce cutting-edge technology to screen new drugs for brain tumors and propose the method to fabricate the model. Brain tumors account for a substantial portion of all cancer death cases. However, the current treatment of brain tumors has limitations. For example, Temozolomide, the most promising and conventional drug, still has many critical side effects, requiring improvement to test the drug. However, current drug testing platforms are expensive and do not perfectly mimic in vivo microenvironments. Unlike conventional drug development methods, organ-on-a-chip technology will enable rapid and costeffective drug testing. To address this problem, this paper introduces the three-dimensional glioma-on-a-chip. The vascularized chip will effectively show the in vivo dynamics of the organ: the brain. Consequently, to test the reliability of the introduced model, the conventional drug should be tested on the glioma tissue grown on the chip. The glioma-on-a-chip will facilitate observations of the in vivo actions of the human brain when the drug is tested, along with the development of human-specific drugs.

Keywords: Organ-on-a-chip, glioma, drug screening, drug developing, Temozolomide, animal testing, in vitro, vascularization, brain tumor

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Problem Statement Brain tumors are when an abnormal growth of cells, which occurs uncontrollably, happens in the brain. Glioma, a type of brain tumor, is one of the most prevalent causes of death in relation to cancer in the modern world. However, there is a lack of treatment because the drug widely used for brain tumors, Temozolomide, has many drawbacks, which include DNA damages to noncancerous cells and secondary cancer. This shows that the current methods to treat gliomas need development. Traditional methods currently used are animal testing, and using cell cultures. These methods can be unethical, or inaccurate. An alternative for these methods is using glioma-on-a-chip, a three-dimensional chip technology. This emerging technology would enable more accurate predictions on drug screening and contribute to the development of treatments for glioma.

Background and Significance Brain Cancer and Glioma A tumor is defined as "an abnormal mass of tissue that forms when cells grow and divide more than they should or do not die when they should" (National Cancer Institute). Tumors are mostly formed through uncontrollable cell growth caused by multiple factors, including mutations of the genes that control the cell cycle. Among those, brain tumors are the third most prominent cancer that leads to death for people in their forties, and approximately 700,000 Americans have primary brain tumors. Glioma is a common type of brain tumor, accounting for approximately 33 percent of all central nervous system tumors and 80 percent of all malignant brain tumors. Glioma begins in the glial cells, which support nerve cells by surrounding them. Common symptoms include headache, memory loss, difficulty with balance, speech difficulties, and seizures. The average survival time is twelve to eighteen years, and only 25% of glioma patients survive more than one year. Current Treatment Gliomas are currently treated by surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and observation. Chemotherapy, or using drugs, is the most prevalent current treatment for glioma. Yet, the treatment is not fully developed enough to conquer glioma, leading to a significantly low survival rate. Temozolomide, currently the most reliable drug for the treatment of brain tumors, needs further improvement, due to the side effects of the drug. Temozolomide can cause DNA damage to the brain tumor cells "through methylation of DNA at the O-6 position of guanine" (Willey et al. 63-79). By damaging the DNA, the cancerous cells are unable to proliferate anymore, which leads to the patient being cancer-free. However, some tumor cells have innate repair systems to fix DNA damage caused by Temozolomide, reducing the efficacy of the medication and continuing its replication. Temozolomide can also cause DNA damage to non-cancerous cells and may even destroy and weaken the whole body of the

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patient. Temozolomide’s other side effects include low platelet count, loss of fertility, pneumonia, secondary cancer, and liver damage. Due to these challenges, Temozolomide requires further improvement to specifically target the tumor cells and reduce the adverse effects on the body. Traditional Methods for Drug Testing Research has been conducted to screen and develop better drugs using various methods. One way to test the efficacy of the drug is using brain tumor cells from the patients on a flat petri dish. Cell viability affected by the drug can be tested simply by counting live cells and dead cells. However, testing drugs outside the organism only enables observation of the drug toxicity, as cells on a petri dish do not mimic complex dynamics of in vivo tissue activities. Drugs and tumors do not only affect the cells themselves but also the surrounding tissues. Therefore, culturing tumor cells on the dish cannot lead to accurate predictions. Moreover, tumor explants from patients may not be readily available. Second, a real-life model used to test drugs is animal testing, which is usually by xenograft with mice. The term xenograft is defined as the "transplant of an organ, tissue, or cells to an individual of another species" (National Cancer Institute). Patient tumor tissues are implanted into an immunodeficient mouse, allowing tumor growth. Transplanting the tissues into a living organism helps scientists examine in vivo progressing and bioactive reactions to the drugs. Xenograft has shown good results in the past because mice and humans share a high resemblance of DNA, which has helped researchers to develop some effective drugs. However, the xenograft model is an ethically problematic issue as animals are abused during the testing process (Figure 1, 2).

Also, animal testing is inherent of drawbacks due to the difference in brain structures of humans and animals. For instance, some brain tumor drugs that showed high efficacy on the mouse model were not efficient on humans due to the differences in mice and people’s brain structure. According to Hodge et. al, mice and human brains have different nerves, and the

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human cortex is 1,000 times larger than that of mice. This means that the brain mechanisms of the two organisms are different. Although testing with a live model might be useful, an animal model cannot perfectly mimic the actual condition. Hence, animal testing is not only scientifically unreliable but also an immoral method for testing drugs. Objective and Aims This paper proposes to develop a brain tumor-on-a-chip to overcome the limitations of current drug testing models. We will harness the power of tumor-on-a-chip technology to solve these difficulties in testing drugs with efficacy. This technology contains both the benefits of using tumor cells and a real-life model to examine the effects of drugs on glioma. By employing glioma-on-a-chip, or brain tumor-on-a-chip, the in vivo dynamics of the brain can be observed; this way, drugs can be developed accurately in addition to the observation of how the brain takes in the drug. The overarching goal of this paper is to develop a chip model and investigate the usage of this model in drug testing. Since this technology can observe the in vivo dynamics of the brain, drug testing results can be more accurate. Also, the glioma-on-achip technology can later lead to the development of patient-specific drugs as the fabrication of a chip using patient-derived cells is available.

Aim 1

Creating a glioma-on-a-chip model: We will use brain tumor cells cultured with blood vessels in a three-dimensional system.

Aim 2

Testing Drugs by Applying the Model: We will first test the Temozolomide as a representative drug to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug.

Developing Patient-Derived Glioma-on-a-Chip Model: We will use Aim 3 patient-derived stem cells to build glioma-on-a-chip and develop patient-specific drugs.

Research Design and Methods Aim 1: Designing the Model To fabricate a glioma-on-a-chip, human glioma cells and a microfluidic channel are necessary. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) will be used in this technology because of its ease of facilitation and handling. Also, the material’s transparency and low cost make PDMS a good candidate for this technology; in fact, its chemical properties make it easy to engrave microfluidic structures on a PDMS chip. The model for glioma-on-a-chip uses commercially available tumor stem cells. Not only that, culturing blood vessel endothelial cells along the tumor stem cells would enable researchers to observe the effects of the drug that will happen in the blood vessels and mimic the in vivo biological and mechanical dynamics. The obtained stem cells will be placed on a three-dimensional hydrogel to mimic the soft brain tissue of the

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native environment. The model would contain three-dimensional blood vessels to mimic the vasculature in the brain. On top of this, chips can mimic the in vivo dynamics that happen in the specific organ and human body. Some dynamics that can be mimicked in the glioma-ona-chip model are the actions of the brain, like the flow of blood and the delivery of drugs in the human system. Aim 2: Testing Drugs by Applying the Model The next step is to prove the chip to be an accurate drug testing platform. Once a vascularized glioma tissue is fully grown on the chip, the most commonly used drug, Temozolomide, can be tested first to prove the accuracy of the chip. This drug can be injected into the chip to observe the efficacy and side effects in the microfluidic channel. The efficacy will be measured through the viability of tumor cells when the drug is injected. Researchers will need to observe if the tumor size reduces to measure the efficacy. The side effects, like the toxicity of the drug, will be measured through a comparison of the normal cells by measuring the cell viability of the noncancerous cells, including blood vessel endothelial cells in the model. Here, researchers will have to observe if the blood vessels are damaged or not during the procedure. Once the conventional drug tested on the chip shows a similar degree of toxicity and efficacy to the actual clinical cases, it is ready to be used as a reliable drug screening platform. Aim 3: Developing Patient-Derived Glioma-on-a-Chip Model Since developing drugs is faster and cost-efficient using the chip method, researchers can also develop patient-specific drugs using the patient’s tumor cells. As each patient’s physiological response to the drugs varies, patient-specific drugs will enable patients to be treated with more suitable drugs that fit each individual. Drugs can be tested by injecting the developing drug into the microfluidic channel. When drugs are injected into the channel, the biological response of the organ can be observed. For example, figure 3 shows the process of how patient-specific drugs can be developed by using a glioblastoma (GBM)-on-a-Chip. Since the fabricated chip contains the cells from the patients, screening the drug candidates that are suitable for each patient is available. Through this method of testing drugs, a safer drug that causes fewer side effects to the patient and kills more malignant tumor cells can be developed, in a more ethical and effective manner.

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Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution As the chip technologies are very complex, if they are proven to be reliable tools for drug testing, they can develop and screen more efficacious drugs. With this technology, researchers can investigate the biological responses of the tissue or the organ to the drug candidates and examine their efficacy and toxicity. By testing on glioma-on-a-chip, researchers will be able to develop an improved version of Temozolomide and even a new drug. Drug testing for the treatment of brain tumors can be carried out by using the new technology proposed in this paper: glioma-on-a-chip. The chip is a reliable platform to test drugs as it mimics the in vivo dynamics of the human brain tissue, is proven to be effective, and has been used to test drugs. The benefits of using a chip model are practical enough to replace two commonly utilized research tools: animal testing, specifically xenograft, and tumor organoids. Animal testing is unethical; animals are brutally abused during this process for

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human needs. Also, using patient-derived tumor explants may not be available to use in all situations as they are limited. Although the glioma-on-a-chip does not represent the response of the whole body to the drug being tested, the delicately fabricated chip model can induce a faster and more cost-efficient process, leading to further development in brain tumor drugs. This way, the death rates can be reduced and more glioma patients will be cured. With research conducted with the glioma-on-a-chip, a technology derived from brain tumor-on-achip, drugs developed from this technology can be used extensively for the treatment of glioma. Not only that, when the chips may be able to mimic all the organs in the human body, researchers would be also able to understand how the entire human body functions and reacts to a drug. References Arney, Kat. "The Story Of Temozolomide - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News". Cancer Research UK - Science Blog, 2013, https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/07/18/the-story-of-temozolomide/. Accessed5 Aug 2021. Bahadur, Sanjib et al."Current promising treatment strategy for glioblastoma multiform: A review." Oncology reviews vol. 13,2 417. 25 Jul. 2019, doi:10.4081/oncol.2019.417. "Brain Tumors - Classifications, Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatments". Aans.Org, 2021, https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Brain-Tumors. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "Brain Tumor - Statistics". Cancer.Net, 2012, https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/brain-tumor/statistics. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. Chokshi, Chirayu R et al. "A Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Glioblastoma." STARprotocols vol. 1,3 100179. 21 Nov. 2020, doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100179. Ciattei, Jennifer. "Treatment For Gliomas | Johns Hopkins Glioma Center." Hopkinsmedicine.Org, 2021, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/brain_tum or/specialty-centers/glioma/treatment.html#:~:text=Treatment%20for%20a%20gliom a%20is,%2C%20radiation%20therapists%2C%20and%20pathologists. Accessed 2 Aug 2021. Cohen, Martin H et al. "Food and Drug Administration Drug approval summary: temozolomide plus radiation therapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme." Clinical cancer research: an official journal of theAmerican Association for Cancer Research vol. 11,19 Pt 1 (2005): 6767-71. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-0722. Dao Trong, Philip et al. "Large-Scale Drug Screening in Patient-Derived IDHmut Glioma Stem Cells Identifies Several Efficient Drugs Among FDA-Approved AntineoplasticAgents." Cells 9.6 (2020): 1389. Crossref. Web.

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"Drugs@FDA: FDA-Approved Drugs". Accessdata.Fda.Gov, 2021, https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=overview.process& ApplNo=021029. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "Drug Discovery And Development". Cancer.Net, 2013, https://www.cancer.net/research-and-advocacy/introduction-cancer-research/drug-discovery-anddevelopment. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "Drug Testing With 'Human On A Chip' Technology." Healthline, 2021, https://www.healthline.com/health-news/human-on-a-chip-technology-can-test-cancer -treatments#How-human-on-a-chip-works. Accessed 4 Aug 2021. From the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR), Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE), Canadian Interventional Radiology Association (CIRA), Congressof Neurological Surgeons (CNS), European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT), European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), European Stroke Organization (ESO), Society for Cardiovascular Angiography andInterventions (SCAI), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS), and World Stroke Organization (WSO) et al. "Multisociety Consensus Quality Improvement Revised Consensus Statement for Endovascular Therapy of Acute Ischemic Stroke." International journal of stroke: official journal of the International Stroke Society vol. 13,6 (2018): 612-632. doi:10.1177/1747493018778713. "Glioblastoma Multiforme – Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatment Options". Aans.Org,2021, https://www.aans.org/en/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/GlioblastomaMultiforme#:~:text=Glioblastoma%20(GBM)%2C%20also%20referred,evolve %20from%20lower%2Dgrade%20astrocytoma. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. Hodge, Rebecca D et al. "Conserved cell types with divergent features in human versus mouse cortex." Nature vol. 573,7772 (2019): 61-68. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1506-7. Horejs, Christine. "A Tumour Chip For Drug Screening". Nature Reviews Materials, vol 5,no. 11, 2020, pp. 786-786. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, doi:10.1038/s41578-020-00258-9. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. Huang, Jun et al. "A novel brain metastasis xenograft model for convection!enhanced delivery of targeted toxins via a micro!osmotic pump system enabled for real!timebioluminescence imaging." Molecular medicine reports vol. 12,4 (2015): 5163-8. doi:10.3892/mmr.2015.4111. JIAPAER, Shabierjiang et al. "Potential Strategies Overcoming The Temozolomide Resistance For Glioblastoma". Neurologia Medico-Chirurgica, vol 58, no. 10, 2018,pp. 405-421. Japan Neurosurgical Society, doi:10.2176/nmc.ra.2018-0141. Accessed5 Aug 2021.

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Lang, Shona. "What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Organoids?" Drug Target Review,Russell Publishing, 27 Aug. 2019, www.drugtargetreview.com/article/48244/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-using-organoids. Lenin, Sakthi et al. "A Drug Screening Pipeline Using 2D and 3D Patient-Derived In VitroModels for Pre-Clinical Analysis of Therapy Response in Glioblastoma." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22.9 (2021): 4322. Crossref. Web. Liu, Xingxing, et al. "Tumor-on-a-Chip: From Bioinspired Design to Biomedical Application." Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Nature Publishing Group UK, 21June 2021, doi.org/10.1038/s41378-021-00277-8. "Microfluidic Channel - An Overview | Sciencedirect Topics". Sciencedirect.Com, 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/microfluidic-channel. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "NCI Dictionary Of Cancer Terms." National Cancer Institute, 2021, https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/tumor. Accessed 2 Aug 2021. "NPR Cookie Consent And Choices". Npr.Org, 2021, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/522775456/drugs-that-work-in-mice-often-failwhen-tried-in-people. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. Ooft, Salo N., et al. "Patient-Derived Organoids Can Predict Response to Chemotherapy inMetastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients." Science Translational Medicine, vol. 11, no. 513, 2019, doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aay2574. Ozawa, Tomoko, and C. David James. "Establishing Intracranial Brain Tumor Xenografts With Subsequent Analysis Of Tumor Growth And Response To Therapy Using Bioluminescence Imaging". Journal Of Visualized Experiments, no. 41, 2010. MyjoveCorporation, doi:10.3791/1986. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "Quick Brain Tumor Facts | National Brain Tumor Society." National Brain Tumor Society,2021, https://braintumor.org/brain-tumor-information/brain-tumor-facts/. Accessed 2 Aug 2021. "Side Effects Of Temozolomide". Thebraintumourcharity.Org, 2021, https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org/brain-tumour-diagnosis-treatment/treating-braintumours/adult-treatments/side-effects-brain-tumour-treatment/side-effects-temozolomide/. Accessed 5 Aug 2021.

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Simon, Eric J. Biology: The Core. 1st ed., Pearson, 2015. "PDMS: A Review on POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE in Microfluidics." Elveflow, Elvesys,5 Feb. 2021, www.elveflow.com/microfluidic-reviews/general-microfluidics/the-polydimethylsiloxane-pdms-andmicrofluidics/. "Temozolomide - Chemotherapy Drugs - Chemocare ". Chemocare.Com, 2021, https://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/drug-info/Temozolomide.aspx. Accessed 5 Aug2021. "Tissue Chip for Drug Screening Program at NCATS." YouTube, uploaded by NCATS NIH, 1May 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVlEr8c-OJk. Accessed 4 Aug 2021. Urry, Lisa A., et al. Campbell Biology, 11th Ed. Pearson, 2017. "Using Tiny, Bioengineered Organ Models To Improve Clinical Trials". National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences, 2020, https://ncats.nih.gov/news/releases/2020/nih-awards-tiny-bioengineered-organ-models -to-improve-clinical-trials-development-and-design. Accessed 5 Aug 2021. "Why Mouse Matters". Genome.Gov, 2021, https://www.genome.gov/10001345/importance-ofmouse-genome. Accessed 5 Aug2021. Willey, Christopher Douglas, et al. "Interaction of Chemotherapy and Radiation." ClinicalRadiation Oncology, 4th ed., Elsevier, 2016, pp. 63–79. Willyard, Cassandra. "The mice with human tumours: Growing pains for a popular cancermodel." Nature vol. 560,7717 (2018): 156-157. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05890-8. Xu, Cong, et al. "Patient!Derived Xenograft Mouse Models: A High Fidelity Tool for Individualized Medicine (Review)." Oncology Letters, Spandidos Publications, 1 Jan.2019, doi.org/10.3892/ol.2018.9583. Yi, Hee-Gyeong, et al. "A bioprinted human-glioblastoma-on-a-chip for the identification of patientspecific responses to chemoradiotherapy." Nature biomedical engineering vol.3,7 (2019): 509-519. doi:10.1038/s41551-019-0363-x.

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Human Asthma-on-a-Chip: Modeling and Developing a Long-term Treatment

Full Name

Jung, Selice

Seoul Academy

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract: This proposal develops an innovative technology termed “asthma-on-a-chip” to mimic the human asthmatic airways more realistically and develop effective drugs for asthma and other lung diseases like COVID19. Asthma is a chronic condition that affects the airway, but contemporary medication for asthma is inherent in various imperfections due to the lack of understanding and the current use of unreliable animal models. To address these limitations, the asthma-on-a-chip will allow the development of effective drugs by accurately studying the mechanisms of asthma. To fabricate a reliable chip, types of cells and their arrangementsshould be considered. The asthma-on-a-chip will utilize polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and microchannels. Airway epithelial cells are arranged in a tube-like manner, and white blood cells are grown near the microchannel. After exerting force on the microchannel, the increased level of cytokine would prove the successful modeling of asthma and the drug’s efficacy. Instead of using animal models to test drugs, experimenting on human airway cells with a variable to measure the degree of inflammation or constriction would increase the accuracy of drug testing methods.

Keywords: asthma; organ-on-a-chip; asthma-on-a-chip; airway disease; drug discovery; disease modeling

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1. Problem Statement: Asthma is a major non-communicable disease, but it is the most common chronic disease among children (WHO). Asthma affects almost 1 in 13 Americans, and it accounted for 178,530 discharges from hospital inpatient care and 1.6 million emergency department visits, only in the United States (AAFA). Asthma is not only one of the common diseases in America that can be deadly, but there is no ultimate cure, requiring further research on the mechanisms of asthma and developing innovative technologies for drug discovery.

2. Objectives and Aims: This proposal aims to examine the methodology of developing the asthma-on-a-chip, the chip’s viability, and the ultimate flaws of the model. The essence of this proposal is developing the asthma-on-a-chip for the mechanistic studies of asthma and the development of more effective drugs. To test the primary function of the chip, the level of cytokines and cell viability would be measured. Last, since the asthma model is not the ultimate treatment for asthma, it is still inherent in various flaws. Nevertheless, the asthma-on-a-chip will be a great alternative to animal testing and develop efficient drugs. Aim 1

Developing the asthma-on-a-chip: precisely engineering a model termed “asthma-on-a-chip” using human airway cells

Aim 2

Validating the function of the chip: verifying the features of the chip by comparing it to human data

Aim 3

Drug testing with the chip: revision/improvement of inhaled corticosteroids to minimize the side effects (model compound)

3. Background and Significance: Asthma is a condition where the airways get narrow and swell, produce extra mucus, and thus make breathing difficult along with coughing and shortness of breath (Healthline). Asthma is a common medical condition; it affects over 300 million people around the world and causes approximately 470,000 deaths. It is identified by shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, and wheezing attacks (Mayo Clinic). Even though an apparent cause is unknown,medical scientists suspect that asthma is most likely caused by a combination of both environmental and genetic factors.

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Asthma is the third-ranking cause of children’s hospitalization – asthma accounts for a quarter of emergency room visits every yearin the US. Not only does asthma interfere indaily activities, but it can also lead to death.In fact, asthma accounts for 11 daily deaths in America. Asthma generally has two main characteristics: airway inflammation and airway constriction. Airway inflammation chronically destroys the immune cells in the airways, causing them to swell (Cattamanchi). Airway constriction involves airway muscle contraction, narrowing of air passages, and excessive mucus secretion, making it difficult for air to pass through the airways (Figure 1). In asthmatic patients, airway smooth muscles excessively contract and reduce airway central diameter (Doeing and Solway), resistingrelaxation, thus making it difficult to breathe. Airway constriction may be fatal to some asthmatic patients, yet, there is no exact treatment due to the limitations of therapeutic methods. As stated by Healthline, “no one really knows why some people are affected by asthma and others aren’t” (Cattamanchi). That is to say, not much is known about asthma andits mechanism. As such, current treatment only relieves asthmatic symptoms, not underlining the causes and treatment of asthma. One traditional medication that is also prevalently used today is inhaled corticosteroid, a type of bronchodilator that employs steroids. Indeed, inhaled corticosteroid controls asthma symptoms, improves lung function, prevents exacerbations, and reduces asthma mortality (DerSarkissian). However, steroid inhalers can cause side effects such as a sore mouth or throat, a hoarse voice, or oral thrush, increasing asthma severity (NHS). A practical platform to test and develop drugs is required to develop more efficient and safe asthmatic drugs, but the platform utilized today is highly inefficient and imperfect. A mainstream drug testing platform is animal testing. Mice are the most common animal employed during animal testing for asthma. But, mice do not naturally develop asthma, so scientists have to artificially induce asthma in their airways by injecting ovalbumin (OVA). An induced disease model cannot perfectly demonstrate a naturally caused disease, especiallywhen its physiological causes are unknown. Animal models are not only unethical but also scientifically incompetent as it suffocates mice and does not perfectly mimic the human airway system. In fact, the protein-coding regions of the mouse and human genomes are only 85 percent identical on average and even some genes are only 60 percent identical (National Human Genome Research Institute). Thus, reliable methods and experimental platforms to test and develop drugs should be employed. The primary alternative this paper proposes is based on an emerging technology known as the organ-on-a-chip. The organ-on-a-chip is a “microfluidic device lined with living human cells for drug development and disease modeling” (Wyss Institute). Using this technology, asthma can be demonstrated on a microfluidic chip to test asthmatic drugs. The asthma-on-a-chip would be an effective drug testing platform for the treatment of asthma and the prevention of asthma attacks. The asthma-on-a-chip is a three-dimensional model that mimics the human airway and constriction and employs human asthmatic cells, unlike artificially induced asthmatic models. Instead of artificially inducing asthma in non-asthmadeveloping animals to test drugs, testing drugs on human-based chips would be more effective,

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as the mechanism of asthma can be deeply investigated for further research.

4. Research Design and Methods: 4.1. Aim 1: Developing the Asthma-on-a-Chip (Research Design and Methods) To develop a functional asthma-on-a-chip, using appropriate materials and arranging the asthmatic cells on a chamber to mimic in vivo airway structure are required. First, the primary material would be polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a polymer used for the fabrication of microfluidic chips. PDMS is an appropriate material due to its fabrication ease, elasticity, transparency, high gas permeability, and low cost compared to other materials used for microfluidics. Microchannels would mimic the physical structure of the airway by demonstrating airway constriction and inflammation, in the shape of an actual cylindrical airway (Figure 2). Airway epithelial cells can be readily purchased from a commercial company. These cells would be seeded on the surface of the microchannel, allowing the alignment of hollow tube-like tissues in the microchannel. The growth media would be supplied through the microchannel to nourish the cells. White blood cells would be cultured around the outer surface of the microchannel to check inflammatory responses and measure the cytokine level after the experiment. The pressure exerted on the airway during asthma attacks would be easily demonstrated as PDMS is elastic. This way, it would be possible to study the exact mechanisms of asthma by measuring the level of cytokines and cell toxicity.

4.2. Aim 2: Validating the Function of the Chip (Anticipated Results) Exerting force on the microchannel by compressing it horizontally (Figure 2, red arrows) would induce airway constriction and inflammation, demonstrating an asthma attack on the chip. The appropriate strength of the applied force would be decided by preliminary experiments. To check if asthma is properly modeled, the level of cytokine, biological molecules that indicate the degree of the immune response (inflammation), should be measured, as one of asthma’s key features is airway inflammation. Type 2 cytokines such as interleukin4 (IL-4), IL-5, and IL-13 would be appropriate for measurement (Fahy et. al.). Cytokine release

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is often measured by the traditional ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method, a “plate-based assay technique designed for detecting and quantifying soluble substances” (ThermoFisher). If the level of cytokine increases significantly after exerting pressure to the microchannel, it can be concluded that airway inflammation occurred, successfully modeling asthma. After modeling the disease, the chip would be ready to test drugs by investigating the drug efficacy and toxicity. Comparing the degree of cytokines before and after the asthma drug injection into the chip will indicate the drug’s efficacy; lower cytokine levels after the drug injection indicate higher efficacy (inverse relationship). Another approach to measuring drug toxicity is measuring cell viability. Drug toxicity can be measured by dye molecules that indicate live and dead cells by color. The live cells would be shown in green and the dead cells would be red, facilitating the capability to identify how toxic the drug is; the more dead cells indicate higher drug toxicity, and more live cells indicate lower toxicity (Figure 3). Drug testing for asthma using the asthma-on-a-chip is a possible rationale as the lack of treatment may be due to the lack of understanding of asthma’s mechanism. Through developing the asthma-on-a-chip, the mechanism of airway constriction can be investigated, thus enabling further ease in developing a new asthma drug. 4.3. Aim 3: Drug testing with Chip: To improve a drug’s efficacy and develop new drugs, a model compound would be essential. The model compound in this proposal would be beclomethasone, a type of corticosteroid, most commonly used for the treatment of asthma. As aforementioned, inhaled corticosteroids control symptoms of asthma by preventing asthma attacks but come along with significant side effects. The side effects of beclomethasone include swelling of the body, hoarseness, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, difficulty breathing, and vision changes (MedlinePlus). To minimize such side effects, the asthma-on-a-chip will aid the improvement of beclomethasone to develop an effective beclomethasone aerosol. First, after inducing constriction and inflammation in the chip, the degree of cytokines can be measured. Then, after injecting beclomethasone, the degree of cytokines would be measured again, and the viability of the cell would also be measured. If the degree of cytokines decreases, beclomethasone would be successful in relieving asthmatic symptoms. If cell viability is around 70% after injecting beclomethasone, the drug would be safe enough for asthmatic patients. But, if the cell viability is lower than 50% or so, beclomethasone would be too toxic for patients and requires revision. One question here is minimizing the side effects of beclomethasone. A common method to eliminate the side effects is to take lower doses. But, this reduced intake amount is not often specified in the drug facts section. To resolve this issue, the asthma-on-a-chip can inject different amounts of beclomethasone to find the ideal dose that can minimize the side effects.

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5. Overview of Chip: 5.1 Potential Contribution The asthma-on-a-chip mimics human lung airways, much like the lung airway-on-achip, and this similar structure enables the asthma-on-a-chip to also modelvarious lung diseases, like COVID-19. An experiment conducted by the Wyss Team revealed that using the lung airway-on-a-chip, they found medications that were effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 entry, the virus that caused COVID-19. Amodiaquine was proven to be effective through this experiment and is being used in “clinical trials for COVID-19 at multiple sites in Africa, where this drug is inexpensive and widely available” (HiE). The astonishing accomplishment in this experiment is that it was conducted in a month and the preprint was out in two months after the experiment. From this, the bottom line is that this technology saves a huge amount of time for drug testing and even guarantees a high efficacy. 5.2 : Conclusion and Limitations For the most part, asthma is a chronic condition that requires more efficient treatment due to the lack of medication. Current medication like inhaled corticosteroids oftentimes intensifies asthmatic symptoms. As such, further research on the mechanism of asthma is required and a practical resolution would be asthma-on-a-chip, a microfluidic technology that can mimic the structure and mechanism of a human airway and test drugs through the channels. With this technology, drug development can be performed in a few years with higher efficiency as drugs are not tested on animals as “a major cause of the inefficiency isthe traditional reliance on testing drugs in animals before they are tested in humans” (Wyss Institute). However, the asthma-on-a-chip still has some drawbacks as specialized microengineering capabilities can be costly. Also, preventing contamination is a pivotalaspect of a functional chip, and it would be a great challenge to prevent the contamination of microbes when developing the device. Since the physiological causes of asthma are still unknown, compressing the chip would not be the ultimate method to demonstrate asthma attacks. These drawbacks of the asthma-on-the-chip require further research on asthma for continuously enhanced, more effective drugs. Above all, the asthma-on-a-chip illustrates the mechanism of airway constriction in asthmatic patients, representing a new method to develop effective asthmatic drugs.

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Reference [1] “Airway-on-a-Chip Screens Drugs for Use against COVID-19.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 8 June 2021, www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/airway-chip-screens-drugs-use-agains t-covid19. [2] “Airway-on-a-Chip Technology Enables COVID-19 Drug Repurposing.” Drug TargetReview, www.drugtargetreview.com/article/90804/airway-on-a-chip-technology-enables-covid-19-drugrepurposing/. [3] “Asthma Facts and Figures.” Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America,www.aafa.org/asthmafacts/. [4] “Asthma Research for the 21st Century.” Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, www.pcrm.org/news/good-science-digest/asthma-research-21st-century#:~:text=Ani mals%20have%20been%20extensively%20used,%2C%20and%20horses%2C%20am ong%20others. [5] “Asthma Statistics.” AsthmaMD, www.asthmamd.org/asthma-statistics/. [6] “Asthma.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 11 Aug. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/asthma/symptoms-causes/syc-20369653#:~: text=Asthma%20is%20a%20condition%20in,asthma%20is%20a%20minor%20nuisance. [7] “Asthma.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization,www.who.int/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/asthma. [8] Aun, Marcelo Vivolo et al. “Animal models of asthma: utility and limitations.” Journal of asthma and allergy vol. 10 293-301. 7 Nov. 2017, doi:10.2147/JAA.S121092 [9] Bai, Haiqing, and Benjamin tenOever. “'Airway-on-a-Chip' to Find New Covid-19 Drugs.” Healthcare in Europe, 4 May 2021, www.healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/airway-on-a-chip-to-find-new-covid-19-drug s.html. [10] Benam, Kambez H et al. “Human Lung Small Airway-on-a-Chip Protocol.” Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) vol. 1612 (2017): 345-365. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-70216_25 [11] Cell Culture Protocol 5: Subculture of Suspension Cell Lines, www.sigmaaldrich.com/KR/ko/technical-documents/technical-article/cell-culture-and-cellculture-analysis/mammalian-cell-culture/subculture-of-suspension. [12] “Cell Seeding: Glossary: Cell x Image Lab.” Nikon, Nikon Corporation, www.healthcare.nikon.com/en/ss/cell-image-lab/glossary/seed.html.

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[13] “Classification of Asthma.” Classification of Asthma | Michigan Medicine, www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hw161158. [14] Doeing, Diana C, and Julian Solway. “Airway smooth muscle in the pathophysiology and treatment of asthma.” Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md.: 1985) vol. 114,7(2013): 834-43. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00950.2012 [15] “Human Organs-on-Chips.” Wyss Institute, 23 June 2021, www.wyss.harvard.edu/technology/human-organs-on-chips/. [16] “Inhaled Corticosteroid Asthma Inhaler for Long-Term Treatment.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/asthma-control-with-anti-inflammatory-drugs. [17] “Introduction to Cell Culture.” Thermo Fisher Scientific - US, www.thermofisher.com/kr/ko/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/introduction-to-cellculture.html. [18] Kim, Dong Im et al. “Comparison of asthma phenotypes in OVA-induced mice challenged via inhaled and intranasal routes.” BMC pulmonary medicine vol. 19,1 241. 10 Dec.2019, doi:10.1186/s12890-019-1001-9 [19] Kim, Sejoong, and Shuichi Takayama. “Organ-on-a-chip and the kidney.” Kidney researchand clinical practice vol. 34,3 (2015): 165-9. doi:10.1016/j.krcp.2015.08.001 [20] “Live/Dead Cell Viability Assays.” Thermo Fisher Scientific - US, www.thermofisher.com/kr/ko/home/life-science/cell-analysis/cell-viability-and-regulation/cellviability/live-dead-cell-viability-assays.html. [21] Moore, Sarah. “Overview of Cell Viability and Cytotoxicity.” News, 3 Dec. 2019, www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/Overview-of-Cell-Viability-and-Cytotoxicity.aspx. [22] “Overview of ELISA.” Thermo Fisher Scientific - KR, www.thermofisher.com/kr/ko/home/lifescience/protein-biology/protein-biology-learn ing-center/protein-biology-resourcelibrary/pierce-protein-methods/overview-elisa.ht ml#:~:text=ELISA%20(enzyme%2Dlinked%20immunosorbent%20assay)%20is%20a%20plate %2D,to%20describe%20the%20same%20technology. [23] “Physical Effects of Asthma.” UI Health: University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, www.hospital.uillinois.edu/primary-and-specialty-care/pulmonary/our-areas-ofexpertise/asthma/physical-effects. [24] Si, Longlong et al. “A human-airway-on-a-chip for the rapid identification of candidateantiviral therapeutics and prophylactics.” Nature biomedical engineering, 10.1038/s41551-021-00718-9. 3 May. 2021, doi:10.1038/s41551-021-00718-9

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[25] “Small Airway-on-a-Chip: Modeling Copd and Asthma.” Wyss Institute, 16 Aug. 2017, www.wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/small-airway-on-a-chip-modeling-copd-and-asth ma/. [26] “Steroid Inhalers.” Nhs Choices, NHS, www.nhs.uk/conditions/steroid-inhalers/. [27] Team, the Healthline Editorial. “Asthma Complications: Long- and Short-Term Effects.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 10 Jan. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/asthma-complications. [28] “Understanding Asthma Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management.” American Nurse, American Nurse, 7 July 2015, www.myamericannurse.com/understanding-asthmapathophysiology/. [29] “Why Mouse Matters.” National Human Genome Research Institute, 23 Jul. 2010,

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The Construction of Patient-specific Artificial Pancreas Tissue for Type 1 Diabetes

Full Name

Chung, Yehwan (Kyle)

Chadwick International School

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Abstract This paper aims to present the patient-specific artificial pancreas tissue to treat type 1 diabetic patients without immune resistance. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the lack of insulin production in the pancreas as the islet beta cells are attacked by the malfunctioning immune system. Currently, there is no cure for this disease. The most commonly used treatments nowadays are insulin injection and transplantation. However, both of them have their own problems as insulin injection is a continuous process and transplantation has a high chance of immune resistance, so further research should be conducted. Therefore, this paper presents PAPT, a technology that eliminates the disadvantages of previous treatments. In the creation of PAPT, non-pancreatic cells from the patient will be extracted. Those cells will be transformed into pancreatic cells by making the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Furthermore, iPSC-derived pancreatic cells will be edited by using CRISPR gene-editing technology to remove the antigen part of the cells. Those modified cells will be grown in a vascularsystem that creates a human-like environment to be transplanted to the patient. This method may enable the patient to maintain insulin levels without continuous injection of insulin.

Keywords : Type 1 diabetes, pancreas, diabetes treatment, iPSC, transplantation, autoimmune diseases, vascular system, CRISPR

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Problem Statement According to the World Health Organization, 1.5 million people passed away due to diabetes mellitus in 2019. Diabetes mellitus, shortly diabetes, is a metabolic disease that causes high blood glucose levels. Diabetes can be categorized into two types: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. They are both caused by the low insulin reaction. By 2050, scientists believe that the number of type 1 diabetic patients will increase to 5 million people (“Type”). Type 1 diabetes is a severe disease that causes extreme symptoms such as blurred vision, fatigue, and others that may lead to death. Unfortunately, there is no promising and definite cure for the disease.

Background and Significance The pancreas is an important organ located inside the abdomen that has an important role in the digestive system and controls glucose levels. When the pancreas is damaged, islet tissues that produce hormones such as insulin and glucagon will malfunction. Insulin is a hormone that enables the tissues to take in glucose molecules to produce energy orstore them as glycogen. If insulin is not provided sufficiently or the cells cannot reactto insulin, the glucose from the food a person consume stays in the bloodstream instead of being stored as glycogen, thus raising blood glucose level. This interrupts human body homeostasis and often triggers other seriousdiseases as well. Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by insulin resistance of the body cells while the insulin-producing pancreas islet is working properly. Otherwise, type 1 diabetes is caused when the body produces pancreatic autoantibodies to destroy pancreatic-beta cells (“The") (Figure 1). Because of this, pancreatic islets cannot produce insulin at all. This essay, therefore, will focus on the design method of artificial pancreatic-beta cells for type 1diabetes treatment. To address this issue, this research paper will propose a new bioengineering technique to fabricate patient-specific artificial pancreas tissue (PAPT). Current treatments and their problems Currently, type 1 diabetes is treated by treatments that are still imperfect. The most common treatment for type 1 diabetes is insulin injection using a pump and frequent blood glucose monitoring using a glucometer (“Type 1”). However, the insulin shots cannot be an ultimate treatment for type 1 diabetes: it just provides a necessary amount of hormone from an external source. Also, they have side effects such as hypokalemia that can damage the ability of the patient to maintain mental stability (Berg). To move on, transplantation is another choice to treat type 1 diabetes. Pancreatic islet transplantation from a healthy donor can replace an autoimmune islet of the patient. Nevertheless, there are also multiple problems associated with this treatment. Immune rejection happens as the immune cells recognize the transplanted pancreas

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as a foreign source, thus attacking them. Therefore, immunosuppressant medicine must be prescribed to prevent immune rejection. However, it also has severe side effects, such as an increased chance of getting infections, high blood pressure, and weakened bones. The significance of PAPT To solve those problems caused by the current methods for type 1 diabetes treatment, a patientspecific artificial pancreas tissue (PAPT) will be a great alternative for current methods. This method will be used to develop a cure for type 1 diabetes. PAPT is constructedto reduce the chance of immune rejection by using the patient’s own cells. Also, PAPT will mimic the highly vascularized structure of the pancreas so that the transplanted PAPT can fuse into the patient’s body with less feasibility of cell death. As type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the immune system in the patient’s body attacks certain antigens of the pancreas, PAPT should include the beta cells of which antigens are eliminated.

Objective and aims PAPT aims to serve as a solution for type 1 diabetes without causing any harm or stress to the patient physically nor mentally. There are three specific aims that the PAPT needs to achieve in order to prove its function. First, an antigen-less islet beta-cell is designed by using the CRISPR technology. This will allow the implanted beta cells to survive without any interference with the immune system. Second, transplantable tissue is created with theuse of the vascular system. This is needed to successfully implant a tissue without immune rejection or cell death. Third, the preclinical trial of PAPT using NOD mouse models is conducted to find pitfalls of PAPT for further improvements. Aim 1

Designing antigen-less islet beta cells. By using the CRISPR technology to edit genes of the beta cells, antigens that stimulate theproduction of the autoantibodies will be deleted.

Aim 2

Creating a transplantable tissue. With the creation of the vascular system, PAPT technology will provide a preferable environment for the cells to thrive in the pancreas.

Aim 3

Test PAPT using NOD mouse models. NOD mouse models are bioengineered rats that are used as a model for type 1 diabetes. Therefore, PAPT will be implanted into the model to detect the changesand the problems of the technology.

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Research Design and Methods The patient-specific aspect of PAPT and the extraction of somatic cells For PAPT, non-pancreatic adult cells from the patient’s body will be extracted (Figure2a). The patient’s cells have less chance of rejection compared to other foreign sources from other people due to the isogenic background of the cells that have the same genetic origin. Also, the cells for PAPT should be extracted from the tissue that can rapidly regenerate like the skin, other than the pancreas, as the cells need to recover after extraction since the processphysically damages the tissue. This explains why extracting pancreatic cells directly from a patient is not a practical way. The extraction process requires abdominal operation as the pancreas is located behind the stomach and the intestine. Moreover, pancreatic cells are not abundant and do not regenerate as quickly as other cells from other body parts.

The use of iPSC Next, the extracted non-pancreatic somatic cells will be converted into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) (Figure 2b). iPSCs are stem cells derived from adult cells that are reprogrammed todifferentiate into any cell type (“Share”). iPSC technology will be used to generate pancreatictissue as the original state of the extracted non-pancreatic cells from the patient’s body cannot be made into pancreatic tissue without modification (Figure 3).

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CRISPR technology and the creation of antigen-less beta cells Somatic cells cannot turn into another cell type naturally. By providing a specific type of transcription factors and growth factors, these iPSCs can be converted into pancreatic beta cells (Figure 2c). Then, the iPS-derived cells will be modified into antigen-free beta cells (Figure 2d). This will be done by using CRISPR gene editing, which is a gene-editing method that can modify specific genes of the patient’s DNA (“What”). It is important to accurately target the antigens that are attacked by the patient’s own immune cells. Once scientists find the DNA region, the antigens will be eliminated from the beta cells to avoid malfunctioning immune cells attacking the modified pancreatic cells. This step is especially critical since removing the antigens would be the treatment for this autoimmune disease. Without this step, autoantibodies in the immune cells will recognize the antigen of the beta cells to break them down. Creating a transplantable tissue: The use of hydrogel and the vascular system Before those modified pancreatic beta cells are transplanted, it is important to make the tissue more compatible to be infused. To accomplish this, beta cells must be vascularized,and the artificial tissue must be embedded in a biocompatible material that has similar biophysical properties as the human body. The vascular system, a novel platform, will be developed to construct a more realistic and functional pancreas tissue. To construct a vascularsystem, human umbilical vein endothelial vein cells (HUVEC) would be cultured in hydrogel (Matrigel) (Figure 2). This artificial blood vessel network holds an important role in creating a humanlike environment (Figure 4). They are channels that distribute blood to the tissues and provide structural variability by allowing vascular supply to the pancreatic cells (“Classification”). Also, since the pancreas islet is a highly vascularized structure in vivo, beta cells that are grown in vascular structure would raise a possibility for the PAPT to infuse in the patient’s body. Hydrogel is a hydrophilic polymer that can hold a large amount of waterwhile maintaining its specific structures and compatibility. Hydrogel is included because it is a biocompatible substance that does not react to the human body (Morteza). These features ofthe vascular system will be a major benefit as they will allow modified pancreatic cells to adapt to the human body without sudden changes which may cause cell death. After cells are adapted to the culturing system, they will be transplanted into the patient’s body (Stem). For this process, modified pancreatic cells will be transplanted into the pancreatic branches of thesplenic artery, which supplies blood to the pancreas. Therefore, the vascularized pancreatic islet in hydrogel would thrive in the patient’s body after transplantation. Preclinical Trials with the use of NOD mouse models As there might be some problems associated with PAPT, pre-clinical trials will be conducted to predict its effects on humans. For this technology, type 1 diabetic mouse modelswill be used for pre-clinical trials. In the non-obese (NOD) mouse model, the malfunction of the immune

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system in the mice will be caused by outbreeding the cataract-prone strain (“NOD”). Patientspecific artificial pancreatic tissue will be used in this model by extracting the abundant cells from the mouse, modifying them using iPSCs, culturing them in the blood culturing system, and transplanting them back to the mouse’s body. This will show precise results and show the challenges to further develop before clinical trials as mouse and human genomes do not match perfectly, only about 85% identical (“Why”). Additional research shows that the structure of the mouse pancreas is almost analogous to the human pancreas (Dolenšek). Therefore, using the diabetic mouse model, it will show similar results with humans as the two pancreas show similar functions despite the difference in the size of the pancreas.

Anticipated results and problems Anticipated results This paper will share the anticipated results when PAPT is used for NOD mouse models. Upon the application of PAPT for NOD mouse models, insulin production in the pancreas is expected to increase. The modified beta cells will be transported into the pancreas throughthe splenic artery to function. As PAPT aims to create a transplantable tissue with higher chance of survival, PAPT-injected NOD mouse models will successfully produce insulin for a longer period of time. After a successful preclinical trial, it is believed that PAPT will also function well in the human body, considering the similarity of genes between mice and humans. Potential problems for PAPT technology However, there are also few problems related to the use of PAPT. The first problem is the amount of insulin produced after the transplantation since it is hard to estimate the number of beta cells needed to produce an adequate insulin amount in the body. Also, an overdose of insulin can also pose problems as it lowers the blood glucose levels that cause hypoglycemia. Secondly, technologies used for PAPT are not fully developed yet. Researches show that iPSC technology has not been in clinical use after its creation. Therefore, it is hard to estimate when PAPT can be in use. Conclusion Overall, this approach will contribute to type 1 diabetes treatment. Patient-specific artificial pancreas tissue will increase the production of insulin in the human body by increasing the number of modified beta cells through a steady process of nutrients and signalsin the human body (Brennand). PAPT will help type 1 diabetic patients by allowing them to produce and maintain a certain level of insulin without continuous insulin injections. This will open exciting ideas in other fields of science as it can be applied to other autoimmune diseases. Therefore, patient-specific artificial pancreas tissue will also benefit the scientific community.

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Reference Berg, Erika. “Insulin for Type 2: 9 Things to Know.” Diabetes Forecast, http://archives.diabetesforecast.org/2014/apr/insulin-for-type-2-9-things.html. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021. BeTheMatch.org. “Engraftment – Days 0-30 Post Transplant | Be The Match.” Be TheMatch, https://bethematch.org/patients-and-families/life-after-transplant/physical-health-and-r ecovery/engraftment/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2021. Brennand, K., &amp; Melton, D. (2009). Slow and steady is the key to β-cell replication. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 13(3), 472–487.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.15824934.2008.00635.x “Classification & Structure of Blood Vessels | SEER Training.” SEER Training, https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/cardiovascular/blood/classification.html#:~:te xt=Blood%20vessels%20are%20the%20channels,back%20to%20the%20left%20atriu m. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021. Dolenšek, J., Rupnik, M. S., &amp; Stožer, A. (2015). Structural similarities and differencesbetween the human and the mouse pancreas. Islets, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/19382014.2015.1024405 Morteza, Bahram *Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry. “AnIntroduction to Hydrogels and Some Recent Applications.” IntechOpen, 24 Aug. 2016, https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/51535. “NOD Mice - Wikipedia.” Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 15 May 2006, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOD_mice. Share | Cancel. Pluripotent Stem Cells, IPs Cells | Learn Science at Scitable. https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/turning-somatic-cells-into-pluripotent-ste m-cells14431451/?error=cookies_not_supported&code=7e10c325-90f5-45e7b6f6-aed0c80cf60. Accessed 8 Mar 2021. “Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplants - What Happens.” Nhs.Uk, 23 Oct. 2017, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stem-cell-transplant/what-happens/. “The Pancreas and Its Functions.” Home, https://columbiasurgery.org/pancreas/pancreas-and-its-functions. Accessed 8 Mar2021. “Transplant Rejection: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.” A.D.A.M Logo, 2 July2021, https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000815.htm. “Type 1 Diabetes Statistics.” Beyond Type 1, 1 May 2021,https://beyondtype1.org/type-1-diabetesstatistics/.

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“Type 1 Diabetes - Diagnosis and Treatment - Mayo Clinic.” Mayo Clinic, 27 Mar. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-1-diabetes/diagnosis-treat ent/drc-20353017. Type 1 Diabetes: MedlinePlus Genetics. 18 Aug. 2020, https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/type-1-diabetes/. “What Is CRISPR?” New Scientist, https://www.newscientist.com/definition/what-is-crispr/. Accessed 8 Mar 2021. “Why Mouse Matters.” Genome.Gov, 23 July 2010, https://www.genome.gov/10001345/importanceof-mouse-genome.

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Research Proposal

Path Optimization within an Interior Space or Building: Application of a Shortest-Path Algorithm Full Name

Choi, Justin

Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS)

(Last Name, First Name)

School Name

Keywords: path optimization, shortest-path algorithms, interior space, smart-trash can, structure of buildings

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1. Problem Statement Imagine how many trash cans are there in workplaces in high-rise buildings or huge shopping malls. Emptying trash cans in those places in a timely manner will require a significant number of workers. The workers have to make regular trips to each and every trash can to check whether a trash can is full or not, and at each time they should make a full route for the places they are responsible for. This results in inefficiencies for the workers making unnecessary trips of collection or unintentional neglecting of overflowed trash cans. If trash cans are smart so that they can tell their locations and their fullness, then handheld devices such as smartphones can show the map of the route of trash cans that the workers should visit to empty. The suggested route should be optimal in total travel time and distance for the workers or for automated collecting machines. Before developing a fully operating smart connected system, the optimal path calculation method should be either developed or existing methods should be evaluated.

2. Objectives and Aims The expected benefits of this smart connected system are, but not limited to, 1) improve working conditions for the existing maintenance staff by increasing efficiency, 2) produce tangible advantages in terms of enhanced sanitation, and 3) reduce the running cost of human resources by reducing the number of total maintenance staff. The grand goal of the project is to build a smart system that connects all trash cans (ideally, all means all trash cans in the world ultimately), which is comprised of three main components: 1) smart trash cans that can sense the status of fullness and transmit its status including location and other related information to the internet server system, 2) a smartphone application that will suggest to a worker or to an automated garbage collecting system the route of the path, and 3) a fast path optimization algorithm that will run in the server system. Among the whole scope of the work towards building the fully operating system, this study aims to 1) explore the feasibility of the five path optimization algorithms that are already developed by others, and 2) isolate the most efficient path optimization algorithm in terms of time and distance. For the evaluation of algorithms, a small scaled real world case is used.

3. Background and Significance [Overview: The Shortest-Path Problem] The shortest path problem is a task for finding the shortest path from the starting point to the destination. To determine the shortest path, algorithms use various mathematical approaches.

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One of the most popular mathematical approaches to find the shortest path is graph theory. In graph theory, there are three essential components: vertices, edges, and distances/weight of edges. In the mathematical expression, vertices and edges in graph G are expressed as G=(V, E). Vertices are positions or points; in other words, they are full trash cans that cleaners must check. Edges are the lines connecting vertices; in other words, they are the routes from full trash cans to other full trash cans that cleaners travel. Distances/weight of edges are distances between the trash cans. If the graph contains the distance between the vertices expressed as D(v1,v2), then the shortest path will be easily found. For example, in graph G, vertices are V = {v1, v2, v3, v4) edges are E = { e1, e2, e3, e4}. e1= (v1, v2), e2= (v1,v3), e3=(v2,v4), e4=(v3,v4), and distances are D1 (v1, v2) = 7 ,D2 (v1,v3) = 6, D3(v2,v4) = 4, D4(v3,v4) = 3. [Figure 1] Example Mechanism of Graph Theory

Then, Let the starting vertice be v1, and the ending vertice be v4. Then, by comparing the distances of every path, the shortest path that has the least distance will be determined, which is v1-> v3-> v4. The process of determining the shortest path was simply adding distances while traveling vertices; hence, the shortest path had a distance of 9, whereas another path had a distance of 11. On the other hand, some algorithms do not use graph theory; rather, they use simpler concepts: coordinates in two-dimensional planes to determine the shortest path. Compared to algorithms using graph theory that require vertices, edges, and distance, they only require coordinates of starting point and ending point in the form of (x,y). They rapidly explore coordinates that have the least distance from the starting point to the ending until they reach the ending point. Hence, by calculating the total distance from starting point to the ending point, algorithms are able to show the shortest path. Although there are many mathematical approaches to calculate the shortest path between two points, one of the most well-known methods is the Pythagorean theorem. For example, if there are no obstacles, and the starting point and ending point are given as (0,0) and (5,5), then the optimal path can be calculated by the Pythagorean theorem.

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However, there are always obstacles in the buildings, such as doors and walls. Since algorithms using graph theory do not work with coordinates in a two-dimensional plane, but with vertices and edges, information about obstacles must be given. There are two ways to solve this problem. The first is to input the distance between the trash can considering the obstacles. The second is to put extra vertices on the corner so that lines connecting vertices can be straight. I will apply the second solution because the derived shortest path should be feasible in buildings of different structures. On the other hand, for algorithms using coordinates, it is able to input a whole two-dimensional plane of the building, including obstacles. In short, there are clear pros and cons between the algorithms using different mathematical approaches. The algorithms using graph theory show the shortest path quickly and are capable of having more than one vertice in one input, but obstacles must be considered carefully. On the contrary, the algorithms not using graph theory find the path considering the obstacles, but they take more time than the algorithms using graph theory. Also, they can not accept several ending points or destinations, which means that algorithms have to be executed several times until they check all the trash cans. Additionally, the path found is not always guaranteed as the shortest path because while the algorithms using graph theory connect trash cans with already input distances, the algorithms not using graph theory need to calculate the distances, which hugely depends on the methods of calculations that algorithms use. Although there are many algorithms that solve the shortest path problem, only several algorithms will be discussed in this paper: Dijkstra’s Algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s Algorithm, Floyd’s Algorithm, A* Algorithm, and RRT* Algorithm. The representative algorithms using graph theory are Dijkstra’s Algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s Algorithm, and Floyd’s Algorithm, and the representative algorithms not using graph theory are A* Algorithm and RRT Algorithm. [Types of Shortest-Path Algorithms] ! Dijskstar's Algorithm" Dijkstra's Algorithm works by comparing the distance of paths and finding the shortest path among them." " First step: The algorithm initially sets up the starting vertice and the destination. For example, the initial node is 0, and the neighboring nodes have infinity as the minimum distance. " " Second step: The algorithm explores the nodes by adding the current node’s distance and exploring the node’s distance. Then, it compares the current distance with the minimum distance. If the current distance is shorter than the minimum distance, then now the current distance becomes the minimum distance. "

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" Third step: If all the neighboring nodes are explored, then the algorithm chooses the unvisited node to explore. Repeat the second step until there are no unvisited nodes. "

[Figure 2] Mechanism of Dijkstra's Algorithm" Source: Tyagi, Neelam “Marked Node E as Visited.” Dijkstra’s Algorithm: The Shortest Path Algorithm, 14 Dec. 2020.

! Bellman-Ford Algorithm" Bellman-Ford’s Algorithm is a modified version of Dijkstra’s Algorithm that distances can consist of negative values. Also, there is a change: there are additional loops for negative values. Comparably, Bellman-Ford’s Algorithm is slower than Dijkstra’s. ! Floyd's Algorithm" Floyd’s Algorithm is also a modified version of Dijkstra’s Algorithm, but it finds the shortest path between every vertice. Although negative values are available, there is no additional loop for negative values. Since Floyd’s algorithm compares the distance between every vertice, its calculation time will hugely vary on the number of vertices. ! RRT* Algorithm" The RRT* algorithm creates points randomly, and based on the points created, it rapidly increases the number of trees until it reaches the destination. After finding the destination, the RRT* algorithm selects the tree that has the lowest cost/distance to the starting point, which works similarly to Dijkstra’s Algorithm." "

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" [Figure 3] Mechanism of RRT* Algorithm"

Source: Bot, Jekyll. Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT), 24 Apr. 2020."

! A* Algorithm" A* Algorithm finds the shortest path by rapidly exploring grids or coordinates and selecting the nodes that have the least ‘f’ value. A* repeats this process until it reaches the ending point. Here, ‘f' value is equal to the sum of ‘g’ value and ‘h’ value." " 'g' = The movement cost from the starting point to a currently selected point, following the path generated from the starting point." " If the current point is 2 grids apart from the starting point, then the g value is 2." " ‘h’ = Estimated distance from starting point to the destination." " If the starting point is (0, 0), and the destination is (5, 3), then the H value is 34, 52 + 32= 34. However, most of the time, root in H value is ignored because whether root is present or not, it does not affect the result." " Therefore, the algorithm consistently calculates ‘g’ value and selects the node that has the least ‘f’ value until it reaches the destination.

3. Research Design and Methods Qualitative analysis based on data acquired from the mathematical simulation will be the main analytical method of this research. Preceding such simulations, however, this study will first involve designing three-floor plans of varying complexity. The floor

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plans will be adapted from existing buildings, although some simplifications may be introduced for experimental purposes. Within the floor plans, three types of reference points will be specified: point of departure, point of exit, and targets (full trash-cans). The five aforementioned algorithms will be tested and evaluated upon the following criteria: 1) total distance of shortest-distance path and 2) calculation time. For Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford algorithm, and Floyd algorithm, the calculation time will be the main evaluation since the same inputs will be given. However, for A* algorithm and RRT* algorithm, the total distance of shortest-distance path will be the main evaluation as their mathematical approaches are different from those of other algorithms. Raw data collected will be tabulated in a frequency table consisting of estimated time, distance, and building structure, as a means to analyze the effectiveness of each simulated algorithm.

4. Preliminary Results Vertices: Number of Trash Can Edges: The connection between the Trash Can Weight of Edges/Distance: Distance between Trash Can To evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms using graph theory for the shortest path, three different types of floor plans were used. For the first floor plan, the building is constructed of a total of three floors, and on each floor, there are ten trash cans. Also, the paths available for the cleaners are fifty, which means that there are fifty ways for the cleaner to pick up trash. For the second floor plan, the number of floors remains the same, but the paths available are one hundred. For the third floor plan, the number of floors is ten floors, which means there are one hundred trash cans in one building, and the paths connecting the trash cans are one-hundred-fifty. Depending on the number of trash cans or paths available, the complexity of buildings is determined. Among the three plans, the third one has the most complex structure, while the first one has the simplest structure. With those three floor plans, three algorithms - Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, and Floyd’s algorithm- were set to find the shortest path. Since the distances

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between trash cans or the weight of edges are provided to Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, and Floyd’s algorithm, they will all give the same shortest path as result. Therefore, the effectiveness of those algorithms will be evaluated based on the calculation time. Floor Plan Vertices

Edges

Dijkstra's

Bellman-Ford

Floyd

0.051s

0.053s

0.076s

100

0.071s

0.075s

0.103s

100

0.093s

0.099s

0.511s

[Table 1] Calculation Time (sec) of the Algorithms in Different Floor Plans Apart from Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm and Floyd’s algorithm, distances between trash cans/weight of edges are not given as input to A* algorithm and RRT* algorithm. However, they work in a two-dimensional plane that has obstacles. Therefore, as A* algorithm and RRT* algorithms are different from Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, and Floyd’s algorithm, they were evaluated based on their ability to find the total distance shortest path.

[Figure 4] Simplification of the Building

Point

Time

RRT*

Time

A→B

14.41

0.083s

16.13

158.28s

A→D

19.48

0.12s

> 3min

A→E

22.31

0.11s

> 3min

[Table 2] Total Distance of Shortest Path and Calculation Time of A* and RRT* Algorithms

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For Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, and Floyd’s algorithm, if the complexity of the structure of buildings improves by adding more vertices and edges, then deriving the conclusion from the evidence would be possible. For example, if the number of vertices and edges goes over 5000, then the gap of calculation time between algorithms will be more reliable and clear. For A* algorithm and RRT* algorithm, if more different types of buildings are applied, then obtaining more accurate data will be possible. Also, since RRT* algorithm takes over three minutes to find the shortest path, the RRT* algorithm might be replaced with a efficient algorithm.

5. Anticipated Results and Potential Contribution By applying three different floor plans into Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, and Floyd’s algorithm, if more repetitions are done, and more data are fed, then the result will change. For Dijkstra’s algorithm and Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, they both will not have dramatic changes because their calculation time will increase with the number of vertices and edges. However, for Floyd’s algorithm, its calculation time will highly increase as the number of vertices increases. For A* algorithm, more complex building structures are applied, more accurate distances are measured, and depending on the obstacles and complexity of the building structure, the result will also change. For RRT* algorithm, if a more complex building structure is applied, then it will have a longer calculation time. So, this algorithm might not be tested later. Since deducing the conclusion from only three sets of data is not reliable, by applying more data, determining which algorithm is applicable for the shortest path problem for trash cans in the building will be possible. According to table 1, Dijkstra's Algorithm had slightly better calculation time results than Bellman-Ford’s algorithm. Also, as the number of vertices and edges increased, calculation time increased consistently, not dramatically. For Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, if more data are provided, then it might show better results than Dijkstra’s. However, the results partially proved that Bellman-Ford’s algorithm is almost as good as Dijkstra’s and could be used in simple buildings. For Floyd’s algorithm, as expected, it hugely depends on the number of vertices. So, if the building has a complex structure, Floyd’s algorithm is a bad choice.

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According to table 2, the A* algorithm consumes more time than algorithms using graph theory, but it found a shorter path than RRT* algorithm. For the RRT* algorithm, finding the shortest path took over three minutes. Also, it found a longer path than the path shown in the simplification of the building. Therefore, among the algorithms using graph theory, Dijkstra’s Algorithm had the shortest calculation time, consistently found the shortest path. However, Dijkstra’s Algorithm can be improved by having more accurate distances between the vertices, which can be found in A* algorithm. Although A* Algorithm consumes more time than Dijkstra’s algorithm, it finds the shortest distance between trash can; hence, it is possible to provide the shortest distance.

6. References and Acknowledgements [1] 26258821, 3843476. “Python Implementation of RAPIDLY-EXPLORING Random Tree (RRT) Path-Planning Algorithm.” Gist, 2019, gist.github.com/Fnjn58e5eaa27a3dc004c3526ea82a92de80. [2] [image] Bot, Jekyll. Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT), 24 Apr. 2020, imgur.com/9aCP9fo.png. [3] Han, Litao, et al. International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020, pp. 1–24, ISPRS Int. J. GeoInf. 2020, 9, 46; Doi:10.3390/ijgi9010046 Www.mdpi.com/Journal/Ijgi Article An Efficient Staged Evacuation Planning Algorithm Applied to Multi-Exit Buildings. [4] Kode, Just. “Python 으로 다익스트라(Dijkstra) 알고리즘 구현하기.” JustKode, 2020, justkode.kr/algorithm/python-dijkstra. [5] Sapundzhi, F. I., and M. S. Popstoilov. Blagoevgrad, 2017, pp. 115–120, Optimization Algorithms for Finding the Shortest Paths. [6] [image] Tyagi, Neelam “Marked Node E as Visited.” Dijkstra’s Algorithm: The Shortest Path Algorithm, 14 Dec. 2020, lh4.googleusercontent.com/78QRJLKfLw3HC1DEJYVbbzBQwvhy5htha_o0_aCfaGM0jvkep BnbCoPVRYqhMg20EtQ5v6OtV4YrtfLSh7mqiuaUWncBiyc3LqoL48GWzfsUIKbsOt5FaJbD3pz-TabQdJap870. [7] Tyagi, Neelam. “What Is Dijkstra's Algorithm? Examples and Applications of Dijkstra's Algorithm.” What Is Dijkstra's Algorithm? Examples and Applications of Algorithm, 14 Dec. 2020, www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/dijkstras-algorithm-shortest-path-algorithm. [8] Us, Program. “플로이드-워셜(Floyd-Warshall) 알고리즘 이론과 파이썬 구현.” IT, TISTORY, 13 June 2020, it-garden.tistory.com/247.

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Copyright © 2021 All rights Reserved Date of Publication: October 20, 2021 Published by HOBY Korea Youth Activities Association (President Hwang, Hyun-chul) Address: 2F Myeongdong B/D Teheran-ro 83gil 44 Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06166, Republic of Korea Website: youth-ksei.org

KNOWLEDGE TO LEAD | ISSN 2765-0626 | Volume 2 | Issue 1 | Oct. 2021

Articles inside

The Linguistic Roots of World Views Choi, Jaehyo (Daniel

Urbanization in China and Its Resultant Environmental Impacts Lee, Katherine S

Comparison of Artificial Intelligence and Human Motivation Yoo, Seoyeon

Education as a Factor towards Social Mobility: Its Benefits and Systematic Wrongs Yang, Edward

Cultural Stereotypes Limiting Video Game Acceptance in the United States Shin, Jeongwon

Effectiveness of ESG Management in Korea Companies Son, Suyun & Cho, Minseo

The Relationship between Liberalism and Gender Equality Park, Soyeon

Online Forum Moderation with One-shot Learning Posts Gu, Hyowon

Effect of Different Decibels (dB) on the Growth of Hydroponic Plants Choi, Seunghee (Judy

The Function and Mechanism of Photodetector Lee, Changmin Pablo

New Appropriate Technology Platform for Post COVID Untact Era Lee, Seungju

Comparison in Image Quality with Filtered Back Projection and Image Denoising Yu, Sun

Photocatalytic and Anti-bacterial Properties of Carbon dots and TiO2/CuxO compound Kim, Chae Young

A Study on the Spatial Distribution of Air Pollutants in Seoul Metropolitan City Park, Junseo David

Golden Wheel Spider-inspired Soft Robot Kim, Wooseok

siRNA Targeting BRAFV600E Mutation Induces Skin Cancer Cell Death Kim, Young Doo

Comparison in Image Quality with Filtered Back Projection and Image Denoising Yang, Yaeji