The APHRODITE (Asian Precipitation - Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of water resources) data has been widely used for the evaluation of the numerical model due to its higher spatial and temporal resolutions. However, some studies have indicated that it significantly underestimates the extreme precipitation values for several regions such as South Asia compared with station-based observation. In this study, therefore, the 25 year (1981-2005) APHRODITE precipitation data over South Korea during June to September was improved using Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) data from Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). After the spatial resolution and temporal interval of the ASOS data were changed to be same as those in the APHRODITE data, the GEV (Generalized Extreme Value) distribution for each data was calculated. After then, the GEV distribution of the APHRODITE data was corrected through the quantile mapping method with ASOS data. The corrected APHRODITE data was similar to the annual mean precipitation of the ASOS data. In particular, the corrected annual mean precipitation over South Korea reasonably increased by ~10% and the extreme value of precipitation have significantly improved compared to those from the original APHRODITE data.

The plant-specific transcription factor, LEAFY (LFY) is considered to be a master regulator of flower development in the model plant, Arabidopsis. This protein plays a dual role in plant growth, integrating signals from the floral inductive pathways and acting as a floral meristem identity gene by activating genes for floral organ development. Although LFY occupies an important position in flower development, the functional divergence of LFY homologues has been demonstrated in several plants including monocots and gymnosperms. In particular, the functional roles of LFY genes from orchid species such as Phalaenopsis that contain unique floral morphologies with distinct expression patterns of floral organ identity genes remain elusive. Here, PaLFY, a orthologue of Arabidopsis LFY from Phalaenopsis aphrodite subsp. formosana, a Taiwanese native monopodial orchid was isolated and characterized through analyses of expression and protein activity. PaLFY transcripts accumulated in the floral primordia of developing inflorescences and the PaLFY protein had transcriptional autoactivation activity forming as a homodimer. Furthermore, PaLFY rescues the aberrant floral phenotypes of Arabidopsis lfy mutants. Over-expression of PaLFY alone or together with PaFT1, a P. aphrodite subsp. formosana homologue of Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) in rice caused precocious heading. Consistently, higher chlorophyll content in the sepals and morphological changes in epidermal cells were observed in the floral organs of PaLFY knock-down orchids generated by virus-induced gene silencing. Taken together, these results suggest that PaLFY is functionally distinct from RICE FLORICAULA/LEAFY (RFL) but similar to Arabidopsis LFY based on phenotypes of our transgenic Arabidopsis and rice plants.