Purpose – The study aims to investigate empirically the effects of the flow of an Internet shopping mall upon consumers' revisit intention and purchase intention. Research design, data, and methodology – The subjects comprised customers of Internet shopping malls. SPSS 19.0 for Windows was used to verify the models and hypotheses. Frequency, factors, reliability, and regression analysis were used. Results – This study classified flow behavior factors of Internet shopping malls into four categories-skills, convenience, design, and mutual reaction-to investigate their influence on flow. Skills and convenience had a greater influence than mutual reaction and design. The flow was most influenced by convenience, followed by skills. Conclusions – First, the subjects comprised those who had made purchases at least once at an Internet shopping mall. Second, the study applied the common flow attributes of past researchers to the Internet shopping mall environment, to gauge customers' e-commerce involvement. Third, skill, convenience, and shopping mall display design affirmatively influenced the computer-mediated environment from the Internet marketing control implications perspective regarding the contents of the marketer’s website.

This study aimed to simulate the complex behavior of structures and predict test results. For this, the leading nonlinear model ‘Bouc-wen model’ was used, and rubber bearing and MR-damper were investigated. While seismic load was being applied, complex behavior of continuous structures was simulated. To test simulation performances, in addition, a seismic response test of the model structure was conducted using shaking table. Then, each structure’s displacement data were compared to simulation results. This study found that nonlinear model-based simulation results were mostly matched with test results, and they are applicable to the prediction of test results.

In this work, the separation characteristics of CO2 from CO2 and CH4 mixed gas was studied using pressure swingadsorption (PSA) process. Zeolite 13X was used as an adsorbent to adsorb CO2 from gaseous stream in a fixed-bed ofadsorbent. The adsorption experiments were performed with various gas flow rates, adsorption pressures and temperatures.The deactivation model was used to analyze the adsorption kinetics of CO2 using the experimental breakthrough data.From this work, it was found that the activation energies of adsorption and deactivation were 29.15 and 13.0 kJ/mol,respectively. And the experimental breakthrough curves were agree very well with the adsorption isotherm models basedon Freundlich equation.

The isolated single coronary artery is a rare congenital anomaly, in which both coronary arteries arise from a solitary ostium. Diagnosis of coronary anomalies and identification of the exact anatomy of coronary arteries has significant clinical importance, hence, myocardial ischemia or sudden cardiac death is usually related to its course of anomalous coronary artery. Most patients with a single coronary artery are asymptomatic and have normal electrocardiogram and negative stress tests. However, if the patient has other structural abnormalities, for example, ventricular hypertrophy, the exam is determined. This report describes a case of single coronary artery, where the right coronary artery originated from the distal left circumflex artery in a patient with hypertrophic ardiomyopathy.

Dormant blastocysts during delayed implantation exhibit heightened autophagic activation. Activation of autophagy, the self-eating process within cells, was suggested as an adaptive response to unfavorable environment of prolonged survival in utero. During the course of this study, we observed by transmission electron microscopy that multivesicular bodies (MVBs) accumulate in the trophectoderm of dormant blastocysts upon activation of implantation by estrogen. MVBs are the late endosomes which are characterized by the presence of diverse internal vesicles within a large vesicle. Autophagosomes fuse with MVBs during autophagic activation, and efficient autophagic degradation requires functional MVBs. Biogenesis of MVBs depends on a dynamic network of ESCRT complexes 0, I, II, and III. Tsg101 (a component of the ESCRT-I complex) and CD63 are often used as a marker of MVBs. Lysobisphosphatidic acid (LBPA) is an abundant lipid in MVBs and required for the formation of MVBs. In this study, we performed immunofluorescence staining for detection of MVB makers in dormant and activated embryo. In dormant blastocysts, expression of Tsg101 and LBPA exhibited a uniform pattern throughout the trophectoderm. In contrast, expression of both markers prominently increased in the mural trophectoderm of activated blastocysts. To investigate the relationship with MVB formation and autophagy activation in activated blastocyst, 3-MA, a widely used inhibitor of autophagy, was daily injected intraperitoneally to ovx mice. Interestingly, 3-MA injection to block autophagy during delayed implantation led to a reduction of the signal of MVB markers, suggesting that prolonged activation of autophagy in dormant blastocysts is associated with MVB formation upon activation of implantation. Collectively, these results show that expression of MVB makers increase in the trophectoderm of blastocysts upon activation of implantation and that the formation of MVB is associated with heightened autophagy during delayed implantation.

A RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) for South Korea became effective in 2012 with a beginning renewable electricity quota of 2% of total generation of capacities exceeding 500 MW, increasing to 10% by 2022. However, almost of all the coal-fired power plant are not designed to co-firing large amount of biomass with coal. In practice, the biomass cofiring rate is commonly 5 -10% of total heat input. In the case of biomass import, it will cost a great deal on the transshipment, transportation and storage of biomass. Therefore new research and development on the biomass fuel with high energy density in needed to reduce logistics cost on transportation of the biomass fuel. Torrefaction is a thermochemical treatment process of biomass at temperatures ranging between 200 and 300oC. During this process, 70% of the mass is retained as a solid product, and retain 90% of the initial energy content. The physical and chemical properties of torrefied biomass are similar to those of coal. Therefore co-firing torrefied biomass could increase the co-firing percentages much further to even 40%. This review paper looks into the torrefaction technologies of biomass, the technical characteristic of torrefaction reactors, the overview of torrefaction project and the future prospects of torrefaction.

Purpose - This study is aimed at examining Indian consumers’ online shopping motivations, information search, and shopping intentions. The study intends to reveal the relationship between online shopping motivations, information search, and shopping intentions. Research design, data, and methodology - The study employs factor analysis to verify correct loading of items on corresponding factors, and to confirm the applicability of constructs in the Indian context. The model was verified using stepwise regression analysis. Results -The findings show that hedonic and utilitarian motivations significantly affect online information search and shopping intentions. The information search is a significant predictor of online purchase intention. Conclusions - Hedonic and utilitarian motivations are the salient factors affecting online information search and purchase intentions. Marketers are required to design websites that foster an enjoyable online experience. This will attract customers who will browse the website for a longer duration. More time devoted to information search will ensure brand building and loyalty.

Plant bZIP transcription factors play crucial roles in biological processes. In this study, 136 putative bZIP transcription members were identified in Brassica rapa. The bZIP family can be divided into nine groups according to the specific amino acid rich domain in Brassica rapa. To screen the cold stress responsive BrbZIP genes, we evaluated whether the transcription patterns of the BrbZIP genes were enhanced by cold treatment in the inbred lines, Chiifu and Kenshin, by microarray data analysis and qRT-PCR. The expression level of six genes increased significantly in Kenshin, but these genes were unchanged in Chiffu. Additionally, homo- and hetero-dimerization test between selected bZIP proteins indicated the Bra020735 is a key regulator in cold response. These findings suggest that the six genes that encoded proteins containing N-rich regions might be involved in cold stress response. These results presented herein provide valuable information regarding the molecular basis of the bZIP transcription factors and their potential function in regulation growth and development, particularly in cold stress response.

Radiation technologies have been widely used in mutation breeding of crops. Although gamma-radiation has been predominantly applied in radiation breeding, ion beam irradiation is recently emerging as a methodology highly effective in induction of mutations that are useful for plant breeding. Therefore, we investigated the biological effects caused by irradiation of two types of ion beams, which were proton and ion beams, respectively, in pepper. In the evaluation of survival rate, LD50 values were between 300 and 350 Gy, 30 and 40 Gy in irradiation of proton and carbon beams, respectively, while LD50 for gamma-ray was determined to be between 50 and 100 Gy. Growth traits including shoot length, root length, and root width were also examined in pepper seedlings according to does of proton and carbon ion beams to estimate biological effectiveness of each radiation. The result was applied in the construction of pepper mutant population which will be used to develop pepper breeding materials containing novel characteristics.

Capsinoids, low-pungent compounds, have the same biological effects as capsaicinoids such as anticancer and anti-obesity. A precursor of capsinoids, vanillyl alcohol, is known to be produced by mutations in the p-aminotransferase (p-AMT) gene. In the previous study, SNU11-001 (C. chinense) containing high levels of capsinoids was found in germplasm collections of Seoul National University. We found that this collection has a unique mutation in the p-AMT gene. In order to develop a cultivar containing high capsinoids contents, marker-assisted foreground and background selection were performed in this study. Backcrossing is an effective breeding method for introducing useful traits to an elite cultivar. Compared to conventional backcrossing, marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) is extremely useful for recovery of a recurrent parent’s genetic background. To obtain background selection markers, a total of 412 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers was screened to obtain polymorphic SNP markers between ‘Takanotsume (C. annuum)’ and ‘SNU11-001’. Of the 412 SNP markers, 96 polymorphic SNP markers evenly distributed in pepper genome were finally selected. Plants carrying the pAmt/pamt genotype were selected from a BC1F1 population using SCAR markers derived from the unique p-AMT mutation of SNU11-001. BC1F1 plants carrying the pAmt/pamt genotype were subjected to background selection. Multiple genotype analysis was done using Fluidigm platform (BioMark). Once we obtain plants carrying most similar genetic background to recurrent parent, capsinoids contents will be measured and another round of MABC be done to obtain plants containing high levels of capsinoids.

In plants, eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1B (eEF1B) is composed of three subunits, eEF1Bα, eEF1Bβ and eEF1B γ. Two subunits are nucleotide exchange subunits (eEF1Bα and eEF1Bβ) and one is a structural protein (eEF1Bγ). In the previous study, eEF1B was identified as a common host factor for several RNA viruses. To test which subunit of eEF1B is essential for Potato virus X (PVX) replication, the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) for eEF1Bα, β or γ was performed in Nicotiana benthamiana and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged PVX was inoculated. PVX-GFP accumulation was decreased when eEF1Bβ or γ subunit was silenced, whereas eEF1Bα had no effect on PVX-GFP accumulation in inoculated leaves. Targeting induced local lesions in genome (TILLING) was performed using a Capsicum annuum EMS population to test whether mutations in eEF1Bβ subunit affect virus infection in pepper. We obtained 81 eEF1Bβ mutant lines consisted of 16,759 individuals. These mutant lines are being tested to validate the function of eEF1B β in PVX replication.

The molecuar prossing of upsteam regulation of Pi response genes during Pi starvation remains inadequately understood. R2R3 MYB transcription factors play regulatory roles in plant responses to various environmental stresses and nutrient deficiency. In this study, we isolated and designated OsMYB4P, an R2R3 MYB transcription factor, from rice under low-phosphate conditions. OsMYB4P was localized in the nucleus and acted as a transcriptional activator. Transcriptional levels of OsMYB4P in cell suspension, shoots, and roots of rice increased under low phosphate conditions. To investigate the function of OsMYB4P in Pi-starvation signaling, we developed transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsMYB4P for analysis of Pi signaling and uptake. Shoots and roots of OsMYB4P overexpressing plants grew well in high and low phosphate conditions. In addition, root system architecture was altered considerably as a result of OsMYB4P overexpression. Under both phosphate sufficient and deficient conditions, more Pi accumulated in shoots and roots of OsMYB4P overexpressing plants than in the wild type. Overexpression of OsMYB4P led to greater expression of Pi transporter-family proteins OsPT1, OsPT2, OsPT4, OsPT7, and OsPT8 in shoots, and to decreased or unchanged expression of these proteins in roots, with the exception of OsPT8. These results demonstrate that OsMYB4P lead to Pi accumulation and acts as a Pi-dependent regulator in controlling the expression of Pi transporters.

In this study, we generated and characterized the transgenic rice plant expressing a spider silk protein. Spider silks have great potential as biomaterials with extraordinary properties. We report the cloning and characterization of the major ampullate silk protein gene from the spider Araneus ventricosus. A cDNA encoding the partial major ampullate silk protein (AvMaSp) was cloned from A. ventricosus. An analysis of the cDNA sequence shows that AvMaSp consists of a 240 amino acid repetitive region and a 99 amino acid C-terminal non-repetitive domain. The peptide motifs that were found in the spider major ampullate silk proteins, (A)n, (GA)n, and (GGX)n, were conserved in the repetitive region of AvMaSp. Phylogenetic analysis further confirmed that AvMaSp belongs to the spider major ampullate spidroin family of proteins. The AvMaSp-R cDNA, which encodes the 240 amino acid repetitive domain, was expressed as a soluble 22 kDa polypeptide in baculovirus-infected insect cells. To produce transgenic rice plant with high contents of glycine and alanine, the prolamin promoter-driven AvDrag was introduced into rice plant via agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene transformation. The introduction and copy number of the AvDrag gene in transgenic rice plants were determined by PCR and Southern blot analysis. AvDrag expression in transgenic rice seeds was examined by Northern blot and Western blot analysis. Immunofluorescence staining with the AvDrag antiserum revealed that the recombinant AvDrag protein were localized in transgenic rice seed. Furthermore, the amino acid content analysis showed that transgenic rice seeds were greatly increased in glycine and alanine as compared to controls

We used an efficient system to create rice mutant by Ac/Ds transposon insertion mutagenesis, such as selected homozygous mutant in dwarf phenotypes. We reported here the identification of function of dwarf OsGASD gene(Oryza sativa Gibberellin Acid Sensitive Dwarf). OsGASD gene encodes a 344 amino acid polypeptide and no homology proteins in GeneBank. The osgasd mutnat was sensitive to exogenous GA level. We performed experiment to controlled expression the OsGASD gene, its role in plant development, a quantitative analysis of endogenous GA content and sensitivity to GA. The osgasd mutant includes smaller amount of active GAs than wild-type. osgasd mutant plant of GA biosynthesis pathway causes GA deficiency and dwarf plants, and endogenous GA suppliance can restore the wild type phenotype in this mutant. There sult indicated that OsGASD gene regulated the elongation of shoot, stem and plant height. The increased expression of OsGASD gene dramatically induces expression of the factors associated with GA biosynthesis such as CPS, KO, KAO, GA 20 ox and GA 2 ox, whereas osgasd mutant suppression of the factors associated with GA biosynthesis, loading to dwarf phenotypes. That applied GA3 at the plant development stage to survey the response of OsGASD gene to GA3. These results indicated that OsGASD gene is involved in GA biosynthesis factors, not only in the internodes, but also leaf length at the developing stage.

sy-2 (Seychelles-2) is a temperature sensitive mutant of Capsicum chinense and native to Seychelles Island in Africa. Previously we showed that sy-2 leaves were irregularly shaped and defective in chlorophyll development at temperatures lower than 24℃. A segregation test revealed that the sy-2 gene is controlled by a single recessive gene. To identify the sy-2 gene, we performed a map-based cloning approach using a total of 1,010 F2 plants derived from crossing sy-2 and the wild type C. chinense ‘No.3341’. sy-2 gene is located on chromosome 1, 0.3 cM and 0.1cM away from cosII markers C2_At4g29120 and C2_At1g09070, respectively. The tomato genome sequence between those two markers was compared with pepper genome sequence. We found three of pepper scaffold sequences in this region. We developed seven ingle nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers on the pepper scaffold sequences, among which five SNP markers were co-segregated with sy-2. To fill the gap between the scaffolds which contains co-segregating markers, we screened a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library, and end-sequences of total of 22 AC clones were i. We found that five clones were overlapped to cover the gap. We fully sequenced four AC clones and found that the physical distance between C2_At4g29120 and C2_At1g09070 is 343kb. This region contains 70 putative genes such as HSP90-like ATPase family proteins, lipid-transfer proteins, calmodulin-domain protein kinases, and zinc finger proteins (ZFPs). To identify the sy-2 gene, we performed RT-PCR and found that a ZFP-like gene is differentially expressed between WT and sy-2 leaves. This result suggests that the ZFP-like gene is a strong candidate for the sy-2 gene. We are currently characterizing this candidate gene.

The fruit shape is an important character in tomato. OVATE is one of genes controlling fruit elongation in tomato. Two loci suppress the ovate mutation, sov1 and sov2, on chromosome 10 and chromosome 11 respectively. sov1 appears to control neck constriction in the fruits (Rodriguez et al, 2013). We sequenced the genomes of Gold Ball Livingston and Yellow Pear using the Illumina Hiseq 2000 generating 101 PE reads and developed molecular markers tightly linked to sov1. The locus was confirmed by fruit shape index analysis, marker genotyping and progeny testing of recombinants. We find mapped sov1 to a 145 kb interval corresponding to a region comprising two candidate genes. One of the candidate genes for sov1 is SlOFP20 another member of the Ovate Family Protein class. Although there is no difference expression of SlOFP20 in the parents at anthesis, when the gene is expressed very high, the mutation appears to be a 34 kb promoter deletion of SlOFP20 in Yellow Pear, conferring a pear shaped and neck-constricted fruit.

It is well known that Dharial (Bangladesh origin and weedy rice line) has longer seed longevity than indica and japonica rice varieties. To study the genetic basis of seed longevity of Dharial, we developed 240 BC3F7 backcross recombinant inbred lines derived from the crosses between Dharial (a donor parent) and two korea rice accessions (recurrent parents) including Ilmi and Gopum, respectively. Among these lines, we selected two introgression lines with longer seed longevity and named them Ilmi-NIL and Gopum-NIL. Also, we developed an EMS-induced mutant line from Dharial which has shortened seed longevity, and named it Dharial-EMS. We performed re-sequencing of four rice accessions that are Dharial, Dharial-EMS, Ilmi-NIL, and Gopum-NIL. A total of 706×106 raw reads were generated which provided sequence data over 46x rice genome coverage per each accession. We did genome-wide variation analysis comparing produced re-sequencing data and the re-sequencing data of Ilmi from NABIC database with the Nipponbare reference sequence. By graphical analysis of SNP distribution in rice genome of the five accessions, we could select candidate chromosomal segments introgressed from Dharial in Ilmi-NIL and Gopum-NIL. The introgressed chromosomal segments were in seven regions in Ilmi-NIL and eight regions in Gopum-NIL, and four common introgressed regions between Ilmi-NIL and Gopum-NIL were identified. 2,758 SNPs between Dharial and Dharial-EMS were found in the introgressed regions. Also, we detected 450 genes including at least one SNP among these SNPs. This result will facilitate identification of genes and development of molecular markers for improvement of seed longevity.

Capsinoids, low-pungent compounds, have the same biological effects as capsaicinoids such as anticancer and anti-obesity. A precursor of capsinoids, vanillyl alcohol, is known to be produced by mutations in the p-aminotransferase (p-AMT) gene. In the previous study, SNU11-001 (C. chinense) containing high levels of capsinoids was found in germplasm collections of Seoul National University. We found that this collection has a unique mutation in the p-AMT gene. In order to develop a cultivar containing high capsinoids contents, marker-assisted foreground and background selection were performed in this study. Backcrossing is an effective breeding method for introducing useful traits to an elite cultivar. Compared to conventional backcrossing, marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) is extremely useful for recovery of a recurrent parent’s genetic background. To obtain background selection markers, a total of 412 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers was screened to obtain polymorphic SNP markers between ‘Takanotsume (C. annuum)’ and ‘SNU11-001’. Of the 412 SNP markers, 96 polymorphic SNP markers evenly distributed in pepper genome were finally selected. Plants carrying the pAmt/pamt genotype were selected from a BC1F1 population using SCAR markers derived from the unique p-AMT mutation of SNU11-001. BC1F1 plants carrying the pAmt/pamt genotype were subjected to background selection. Multiple genotype analysis was done using Fluidigm platform (BioMark). Once we obtain plants carrying most similar genetic background to recurrent parent, capsinoids contents will be measured and another round of MABC be done to obtain plants containing high levels of capsinoids

A new peanut(Arachis hypogaea ssp. fastigiata L.) variety “Danwon(Milyang51)” with short stem length and lodging resistance was developed at the Department of Functional Crop, NICS, in Miryang in 2013. This variety was developed from the crossing line between cultivar “YG 75” with large grain and fewer branch number and “SP9617” with short stem length. “Danwon” which is Shinpung plant type has 32cm of main stem length and 13 branch number per plant. Each pod has two grains with long ellipse shape of brown testa and yield components is composed of 40 mature pods of per plant, 91g of 100-seed weight, 77% of pod shelling ratio in the regional yield trials(RYT). Seed quality show 48.7% of crude oil and 26.9% of protein content. “Danwon” has resistance to lodging in even double dense planting without yield reduction. This is more resistant to early and late leaf spot, web blotch and stem rot, compared with check variety “Daekwang”. In the regional yield trials “Danwon” outyielded check variety by 6% with 4.52 MT/ha for kernel.