Objectives: Due to the explosive growth of the internet, mobile applications, machine learning, and new information technologies, new management methods that do not require face-to-face contact are spreading rapidly. Innovative approaches to process automation are needed in the era of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and firms are actively adopting and implementing solutions such as robotic process automation (RPA) to increase their operational excellence. The objective of this study is to address state-of-the-art use cases of RPA by IBM Korea to determine key factors related to successful RPA implementation. Methods: Multiple case study methods and triangulation of findings were used. This study examined several cases in which RPA was implemented and proposed an analytical framework for RPA. Results: This article described IBM's RPA usage strategies to accelerate business process management and examined four cases of RPA implementation by client firms of IBM in South Korea. This case study found that IBM's RPA solutions positively affected the client firms' performance, suggesting that solutions like RPA could be essential for firms' survival due to the benefits of process automation. Conclusions: Solutions using RPA can both reduce labor costs and improve the operational excellence of firms' internal processes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, process automation is increasingly essential. Practical issues such as change management and shadow work caused by process automation are discussed.

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The giant wrasse Cheilinus undulatus is a protogynous socially hermaphroditic fish. However, the physiological basis of its sex reversal remains largely unknown. cyp19 is a key gender-related gene encoding P450 aromatase, which converts androgens to estrogens. cyp19 transcription regulation is currently unknown in socially sexually reversible fish. We identified NR5A1 by encoding SF-1, and FOXL2 from giant wrasse cDNA and cyp19a1a and cyp19a1b promoter regions were cloned from genomic DNA to determine the function of both genes in cyp19a1 regulation. Structural analysis showed that SF-1 contained a conserved DNA-binding domain (DBD) and a C-terminal ligand-binding domain (LBD). FOXL2 was comprised of an evolutionarily conserved Forkhead domain. In vitro transfection assays showed that SF-1 could upregulate cyp19a1 promoter activities, but FOXL2 could only enhance cyp19a1b promoter transcriptional activity in the HEK293T cell line. Furthermore, HEK293T and COS-7 cell lines showed that co-transfecting the two transcription factors significantly increased cyp19a1 promoter activity. The −120 to −112 bp (5′-CAAGGGCAC-3′) and −890 to −872 bp (5′-AGAGGAGAACAAGGGGAG-3′) regions of the cyp19a1a promoter were the core regulatory elements for SF-1 and FOXL2, respectively, to regulate cyp19a1b promoter transcriptional activity. Collectively, these results suggest that both FOXL2 and SF-1 are involved in giant wrasse sex reversal.

Kisspeptin system was shown to be a key factor in mediating social stress and reproduction. Yellowtail clownfish, Amphiprion clarkii, is a hermaphrodite fish, whose sex determination and gonadal development are affected by the social status of individuals. The yellowtail clownfish is a fantastic animal mode to explore sex determination by the social status and precise distribution of kiss mRNAs in the brain of this species is unknown. Hererin, a novel in situ hybridization technique, RNAscope, was used to investigate the distribution of kiss1 and kiss2 expression in the brain of yellowtail clownfish. The coronal planes of brain showed that the kiss1 signal was mainly present in dorsal habenular nucleus (NHd) and kiss2 mRNA was widely expressed in telencephalon, midbrain, and hypothalamus, especially in dorsal part of the nucleus of the lateral recess (NRLd). Additionally, kiss1 and kiss2 signals were sexually dimorphic distribution. The kiss1 mRNA was distributed in NHd, the telencephalon, and lateral part of the diffuse nucleus of the inferior lobe (NDLIl) of females, but in NHd and NDLIl of males. kiss2 signals were stronger in females than that in males. The distribution of kiss1 and kiss2 neurons in NHd of habenula and NRLd of hypothalamus may suggest that kiss genes associate environmental signaling and reproductive function in yellowtail clownfish.

Kisspeptin plays a vital role in mediating the stress-induced reproductive regulation. Cortisol, known as a stress-related hormone, is involved in gonadal development and sexual differentiation by binding with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to regulate the expression of kiss gene. In the present study, cortisol treatment in yellowtail clownfish (Amphiprion clarkii) showed that the expression of kiss (kiss1 and kiss2) and gr (gr1 and gr2) genes were increased significantly. We demonstrated that the yellowtail clownfish Kiss neurons co-express the glucocorticoid receptors in the telencephalon, mesencephalon, cerebellum, and hypothalamus. We further cloned the promoter of kiss2 gene in yellowtail clownfish and identified the presence of putative binding sites for glucocorticoid receptors, estrogen receptors, androgen receptors, progesterone receptors, AP1, and C/EBP. Applying transient transfection in HEK293T cells of the yellowtail clownfish kiss2 promoter, cortisol (dexamethasone) treatment was shown to enhance the promoter activities of the yellowtail clownfish kiss2 gene in the presence of GRs. Deletion analysis of kiss2 promoter indicated that cortisol-induced promoter activities were located between position −660 and −433 with GR1, and −912 and −775 with GR2, respectively. Finally, point mutation studies on the kiss2 promoter showed that cortisol-stimulated promoter activity was mediated by one GRE site located at position −573 in the presence of GR1 and by each GRE site located at position −883, −860, −851, and −843 in the presence of GR2. Results of the present study provide novel evidence that cortisol could regulate the transcription of kiss2 gene in the yellowtail clownfish via GRE-dependent GR pathway.