Rats are one of the most widely used animals in biomedical sciences because their metabolism and physiology are comparable to humans. In recent years, gene-targeted models have been developed using various animal species utilizing engineered nucleases such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated gene (Cas). It has recently become possible to efficiently transfect CRISPR/Cas into embryos via electroporation. However, electroporation can damage fertilized eggs; therefore, it is important to determine the optimal embryo culture conditions. A standardized approach for routine and reproducible rat transgenesis will render rat models more accessible for research. We performed experiments to obtain rat embryos with efficient superovulation and synchronization, and to investigate the appropriate medium conditions for pronuclear stage embryos subjected to electroporation stimulation for the introduction of engineered nuclease.

This study aims to investigate the direct relationship between ownership structure, earnings manipulation, and organizational performance, and then examine the mediating effect of earnings manipulation in the relationship between ownership structure and organizational performance. This study collected and analyzed secondary data published in financial reports related to all insurance organizations listed in the Jordanian market during the study period (from 2009 until 2018). A panel data analysis was conducted, giving a total of 200 observations. The findings of this study concluded that ownership concentration, foreign ownership, and organization size affect organizational performance proxied by ROA, ROE, and EPS, more specifically, ownership concentration and organization size have a positive effect, whereas foreign ownership has a negative effect. At the same time, board of director ownership, organizational ownership, and CEO compensation did not affect organizational performance. Next, the board of director ownership, ownership concentration, foreign ownership, and CEO compensation affect earnings manipulation separately. In addition, earnings manipulation positively affects organizational performance proxied by ROA, ROE and EPS. This means that the higher the earnings manipulation is, the higher the organizational performance is. Finally, earnings manipulation mediates the relationship between ownership concentration and foreign ownership of ownership structure, and organizational performance.

Reinforcement learning has been applied to various problems in robotics. However, it was still hard to train complex robotic manipulation tasks since there is a few models which can be applicable to general tasks. Such general models require a lot of training episodes. In these reasons, deep neural networks which have shown to be good function approximators have not been actively used for robot manipulation task. Recently, some of these challenges are solved by a set of methods, such as Guided Policy Search, which guide or limit search directions while training of a deep neural network based policy model. These frameworks are already applied to a humanoid robot, PR2. However, in robotics, it is not trivial to adjust existing algorithms designed for one robot to another robot. In this paper, we present our implementation of Guided Policy Search to the robotic arms of the Baxter Research Robot. To meet the goals and needs of the project, we build on an existing implementation of Baxter Agent class for the Guided Policy Search algorithm code using the built-in Python interface. This work is expected to play an important role in popularizing robot manipulation reinforcement learning methods on cost-effective robot platforms.

This study investigated the effect of different photoperiods (14L: 10D, 12L:12D and 10L:14D) on the gonadal development and GtH mRNA expression in the pituitary of damselfish. The results showed that gonadosomatic index (GSI) was significantly lower in shot photoperiod (10L:14D), in comparison with other photoperiodic group during the spawning season. After 60 days treatment, histological analysis of gonad tissue showed that the gonad of 10L:14D and 12L: 12D treatment groups were resting phase with spermatogonia and perinucleolus stage oocytes but the gonad of 14L:10D treatment group was still ripe phase with spermatozoa and mature stage oocyte. The FSHβ and LHβ mRNA expression in pituitary drastically decreased shot photoperiod treatment from July (spawning period). These results suggest that photoperiod is considered to be the most effective environmental factor in controlling the reproductive cycle of damselfish.

Light characteristics are very specific in the aquatic environment. Fish vision and different light spectra perception are related to each species’ natural habit. Light is one of the main environmental conditions and can be easily manipulated in artificial rearing settings. Mucus-secreting goblet cells are the main regulators of digestion. In this study, we established whether the light spectrum (natural condition, full spectrum: green, 520 nm; red, 590 nm, and blue, 480 nm) influences growth performance and digestive activity related to mucus-secreting goblet cell activity in order to develop a good management protocol and optimal rearing system for nursery stage of Epinephelus akaara. For each light spectrum, fish (11.5 ± 0.2 g in mean initial body weight, 9.0 ± 0.1 cm mean initial total length) were reared 16 weeks under a flow-through system and fed commercial pellet diets twice daily. At the end of the experiment, the final body weights differed among the fish reared under different light spectra. The highest growth performance value and feed efficiency were observed in fish reared under the green light condition. Mucus-secreting goblet cell activity was significantly higher in the fish under green light condition than in the fish under the natural, red, and blue light conditions. Rearing of E. akaara under the green light condition had positive effects on fish growth performance and digestion. We recommend that the appropriate light spectrum for nursery stage of E. akaara is the green light condition from the perspective of growth performance and the synergistic effects of mucus-secreting goblet cells. However, longer light treatment periods are needed in future investigations to clarify the effects of light spectrum on each growing stage of E. akaara.

In this paper, a localization algorithm and an autonomous controller for PETASUS system II which is an underwater vehicle-manipulator system, are proposed. To estimate its position and to identify manipulation targets in a structured environment, a multi-rate extended Kalman filter is developed, where map information and data from inertial sensors, sonar sensors, and vision sensors are used. In addition, a three layered control structure is proposed as a controller for autonomy. By this controller, PETASUS system II is able to generate waypoints and make decisions on its own behaviors. Experiment results are provided for verifying proposed algorithms.

Large workspace and strong grasping force are required when a robot manipulates big and/or heavy objects. In that situation, bimanual manipulation is more useful than unimanual manipulation. However, the control of both hands to manipulate an object requires a more complex model compared to unimanual manipulation. Learning by human demonstration is a useful technique for a robot to learn a model. In this paper, we propose an imitation learning method of bimanual object manipulation by human demonstrations. For robust imitation of bimanual object manipulation, movement trajectories of two hands are encoded as a movement trajectory of the object and a force trajectory to grasp the object. The movement trajectory of the object is modeled by using the framework of dynamic movement primitives, which represent demonstrated movements with a set of goal-directed dynamic equations. The force trajectory to grasp an object is also modeled as a dynamic equation with an adjustable force term. These equations have an adjustable force term, where locally weighted regression and multiple linear regression methods are employed, to imitate complex non-linear movements of human demonstrations. In order to show the effectiveness our proposed method, a movement skill of pick-and-place in simulation environment is shown.

Korean bullhead (Pseudobagrus fulvidraco) was collected from the Kum River areas of Kangkyung-eup, Nonsan city, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea, from April to June, 2012 and was fertilized in order to observe egg development and temperature-related cleavage rates and mitotic intervals (). The fertilized eggs were separative, demersal and light yellowish with in diameter, and did not contain oil globules. The first cleavage stages were 90 min, 80 min, 60 min and 50 min at , , and , respectively. At higher temperatures, eggs developed faster and underwent further identical development. For Korean bullhead, were min at , min at , min at and min at . There were strong negative correlations between the and water temperatures at all points studied (Y=-1.13X+58.15, =0.98, n=30, where Y is and X is temperature). The results obtained in this work will be helpful for chromosome manipulation by use of cleavage frequency data and data in Korean bullhead.

Rice seed storage proteins (SSPs) are accumulated in storage organelles of the endosperm during seed maturation. The SSPs from the rice seeds consist of glutelins as a major SSP, and prolamins and globulins comprise about the rest 20 % of the SSPs. To improve the nutritional quality of rice seeds or processing properties of rice flour, we are attempting to change the composition of the SSPs in rice seeds. For this purpose, we generated many transgenic rice plants, which show the altered levels of the SSPs, by using the RNA interference (RNAi). Accumulation of glutelins was 76% reduced in the GluA-RNAi lines. The Pro-RNAi lines revealed the reduced levels of prolamins to 36%. The protein level of globulins was 61% reduced in the Glb-RNAi lines. Interestingly, an obvious reduction of glutelins, prolamins, and globulins was not examined in the GluA:Pro:Glb-RNAi lines. This suggests that a reduction of a few SSPs could be compensated by the increases of other SSPs at the protein levels. We are also attempting to generate transgenic rice plants expressing both a high-molecular-weight (HMW) glutelin subunit and a low-molecular-weight (LMW) glutelin subunit. These manipulations of rice SSPs might be an important contribution on improving the functional properties of rice seeds.

아미노산 자동분석기(amino acid auto analyzer, AAA)를 이용하여 모발의 탈색 및 퍼머넌트 웨이브 시술에 의한 모발시료의 17가지 아미노산(aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, alanine, cystein, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, histidine, lysine, arginine) 함량변화를 조사하였다. 시료는 30대 남성 10명의 모발을 채취하였으며 110 ℃ 24 h 동안 6 N 염산 10 mL로 가수분해 후 분석하였다. 실험결과 처치별 모발의 아미노산 함량은 정상모발 73.9 %, 퍼머넌트 웨이브 모발 71.5 % 및 탈색모발 69.3 %로 분석되었고, 탈색효과에 의한 아미노산 함량 감소가 퍼머넌트 웨이브 효과에서 보다 크게 분석되었다. 특히 lysine과 tyrosine의 조성은 탈색이나 퍼머넌트 웨이브 모발에서 25 % 가량 현저히 감소하였다. 반면에 serine, cystein, leucine 및 histidine의 함량변화는 일어나지 않았다.