The small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus Fallen, is an important pest that causes severe yield losses by transmitting plant viruses to rice. For the efficient control of SBPH in Korea, the respective resistance levels in the immigrant and indigenous populations need to be discerned. The resistance levels to 10 insecticides (three carbamates, an organophosphate, four neonicotinoids, and a phenylpyrazole) were evaluated in 21 field populations collected from either SBPH-immigrating or indigenous regions during two different seasons (early spring vs. late summer). Imidacloprid resistance was most widely observed in many regional populations, followed by thiamethoxam resistance. Interestingly, the resistance level to imidacloprid was significantly higher in both immigrant and late-summer-collected populations than in indigenous and early spring-collected populations, respectively [3.3- (p = 0.018) and 2.6-fold (p = 0.026)]. Moreover, the late summer immigrant population exhibited higher imidacloprid resistance (2.4-fold) than the early spring-collected population from the same region, suggesting that the migratory SBPH that immigrated into Korea already exhibited imidacloprid resistance traits and were further selected after inhabitation. All field populations showed little resistance to fipronil (0.1- to 0.7-fold), suggesting that it is the most effective among the tested insecticides to control field populations of SBPH. The coefficient of variation of the resistance ratio (RR) among different regional populations and the correlation coefficient of RR among different insecticides have been suggested as supplementary parameters when determining appropriate insecticides as respective indicators for the dispersion status of resistance among SBPH populations and the possibility of cross resistance among tested insecticides.

Due to its rapid development of resistance to nearly all arrays of acaricide, Tetranychus urticae is extremely hard to control using conventional acaricides. As an alternative control measure of acaricide-resistant mites, RNA interference (RNAi)-based methods have recently been suggested. A double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) delivery method using multi-unit chambers was established and employed to screen the RNAi toxicity of 42 T. urticae genes. Among them, the dsRNA treatment of coatomer I (COPI) genes, such as coatomer subunit epsilon (COPE) and beta 2 (COPB2), resulted in high mortality [median lethal time (LT50) = 89.7 and 120.3h, respectively]. The transcript level of the COPE gene was significantly (F3,9 = 16.2, P =0.001) reduced by up to 24% following dsRNA treatment, suggesting that the toxicity was likely mediated by the RNAi of the target gene. As a toxicity enhancement strategy, the recombinant dsRNA was generated by reciprocally recombining half-divided fragments of COPE and COPB2. The two recombinant dsRNAs exhibited higher toxicity than the respective single dsRNA treatments as determined using LT50 values (79.2 and 81.5h, respectively). This finding indicates that the recombination of different genes can enhance RNAi toxicity and be utilized to generate synthetic dsRNA with improved RNAi efficacy.

The mirine plant bug genus Paramiridius, which has been known only by a single Taiwanese species, is reported from Indochinese Laos for the first time and redefined. Two additional species, P. indochinensis and P. laomontanus, are described as new to science. The female genitalic structures are from the first time figured for the genus. A key is provided for all three known Paramiridius species.

The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae), originally distributed across a few Asian countries, including South Korea, has invaded North America and Europe, but is absent from Australia. In order to export the South Korean grape cultivar Campbell Early to Australia, its potential to serve as oviposition and development medium for SWD must first be determined. In this study, we determined the oviposition and development potential of SWD on Campbell Early, after elucidating the SWD life cycle and establishing an artificial diet-based mass-culturing system. An investigation of the life cycle under five temperature regimes (16, 19, 22, 25, and 28°C) showed that the durations of the egg, larval, and adult stages were shorten when temperature was increased from 16, 19, 22, 25, and 28°C, but pupal duration was shortest at 25°C and extended again at 28°C. A test of oviposition and development potential of SWD on Campbell Early grape clusters showed oviposition of 30.8 ± 6.8 eggs per cluster of injured grapes and 157.7 ± 16.2 eggs on a culture dish of artificial diet. However, in a similar experiment using uninjured grape clusters, only a single egg was deposited on the grape skin, which soon dried. In light of these results, newly harvested grapes left at vineyards during daily harvests are unlikely to serve as an oviposition and development medium for SWD, as long as the grapes remain uninjured.

The genus Toxares (Braconidae: Aphidiinae) is reported for the first time in Korea. Members of Toxares are known as solitary koinobiont endoparasitoids especially specific for aphidine aphids. In this study, Toxares deltiger (Haliday, 1833) is found as new to Korea, which has a wide host range for 31 aphid species within Aphidinae. Thus, this species would be useful as natural enemy for biological control in the future. Diagnosis and host information are included.

Leptotrombidium pallidum is the major vector mites for Orientia tsutsugamushi, the causative agent of scrub typhus. To understand the molecular mechanism of L. pallidum, we sequenced the whole genome using Illumina sequencing technology. Totally four genomic libraries with different insert sizes ranging from 280 bp to 8 kb were used to generate 45.1 Gb of genome in the combination of paired-end and mate-pairs sequencing reads. Quality filtering and correction of paired-end reads for very small and/or bad-quality sequences yielded 26.9 Gb of high-quality sequences, which are used to estimate the genome size as 175 Mbusing kmer methods and assembled into a 193.7 Mb genomic sequence scaffolds with N50 length of 92,945 bp. Furthermore, 94% of CEGMA completeness score were obtained from genome scaffold assembly. To facilitate gene annotation, we used a combination of de novo and homology based tools to predict gene models in the chigger mite genome. A combination of evidence-based and de novo approaches predicted 15,842 high-confidence protein-coding genes with an average transcript length of 1,511 bp and 2.4 exons per gene which corresponds to about 12.4% total gene length. Bacterial endosymbiosis are very common in mite species and can range from mutualistic to pathogenic associations. Henceforth, the endosymbionts in L. pallidum were predicted using the NCBI microbial draft genomes and mitochondrial genome. Besides, this L. pallidum draft genome can be used as a significant reference for comparative genomic studies across mite species.

A group of universities have come together with the aim of designing and developing Small Aperture Robotic Telescopes (SmART) for use by students to observe variable stars and transient follow-ups. The group is deliberating on the components of the robotic system; e.g. the telescope, the mount, the back-end camera, control software, and their integration keeping in mind the scientific objectives. The prototype might then be replicated by all the participating universities to provide round the clock observations from sites spread evenly in longitude across the globe. Progress made so far is reported in this paper.

The Kepler mission has shown that small planets are extremely common. It is likely that nearly every star in the sky hosts at least one rocky planet. We just need to look hard enough - but this requires vast amounts of telescope time. MINERVA (MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array) is a dedicated exoplanet observatory with the primary goal of discovering rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of bright, nearby stars. The MINERVA team is a collaboration among UNSW Australia, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Penn State University, University of Montana, and the California Institute of Technology. The four-telescope MINERVA array will be sited at the F.L. Whipple Observatory on Mt Hopkins in Arizona, USA. Full science operations will begin in mid-2015 with all four telescopes and a stabilised spectrograph capable of high-precision Doppler velocity measurements. We will observe ~100 of the nearest, brightest, Sun-like stars every night for at least five years. Detailed simulations of the target list and survey strategy lead us to expect 154 new low-mass planets.

We have initiated a Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) monitoring project of 36 methanol maser sources at 6.7 GHz using the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN) and East-Asian VLBI Network (EAVN), starting in August 2010. The purpose of this project is to systematically reveal 3-dimensional (3-D) kine- matics of rotating disks around forming high-mass protostars. As an initial result, we present proper mo- tion detections for two methanol maser sources showing an elliptical spatial morphology, G 002.53+00.19 and G 006.79-00.25, which could be the best candidates associated with the disk. The detected proper motions indicate a simple rotation in G 002.53+00.19 and rotation with expansion in G 006.79-00.25, respectively, on the basis of disk model fits with rotating and expanding components. The expanding motions might be caused by the magnetic-centrifugal wind on the disk.

VLBI experiments have been conducted by radio telescopes in the East Asia VLBI Network (EAVN) in which 14 telescopes in China, Japan, and Korea participated. One of the aims of the EAVN is to obtain higher angular resolution that is provided by the 6,000 km baseline between China and Japan and better sensitivity by adding large telescopes. Data were recorded at 1 a Gbps recording rate at all stations and processed on the Korea-Japan Joint VLBI Correlator (KJJVC) at the Korea-Japan Correlation Center (KJCC) after experiments. Fringes were obtained from these experiments conducted at 8 GHz and 22 GHz and post-correlation data analysis of the experiments is undergoing. The outcomes of these experiments open the possibility of conducting EAVN observations with global VLBI networks. In this presentation, the recent status of these experiments and future prospects are presented.

Polarbear is a ground-based experiment located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The experiment is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode polarization at several arcminute resolution. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic in ation and B-mode signal on sub-degree scales is induced by the gravitational lensing from large-scale structure. Science observations began in early 2012 with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-couple Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers at 150 GHz. We published the first CMB-only measurement of the B-mode polarization on sub-degree scales induced by gravitational lensing in December 2013 followed by the first measurement of the B-mode power spectrum on those scales in March 2014. In this proceedings, we review the physics of CMB B-modes and then describe the Polarbear experiment, observations, and recent results.

We present the current status (as of August 2014) of SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics), which is a mission optimized for mid- and far-infrared astronomy with a cryogenically cooled 3m-class telescope. SPICA is expected to achieve high spatial resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- and far-infrared, which will enable us to address a number of key problems in present-day astronomy, ranging from the star-formation history of the universe to the formation of planets. We have carried out the "Risk Mitigation Phase" activity, in which key technologies essential to the realization of the mission have been extensively developed. Consequently, technical risks for the success of the mission have been significantly mitigated. Along with these technical activities, the international collaboration framework of SPICA has been revisited, which resulted in la arger contribution from ESA than that in the original plan. To enable the ESA participation under the new framework, a SPICA proposal to ESA is under consideration as a medium-class mission under the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision. The target launch year of SPICA under the new framework is the mid-2020s.

We observed multiple CO transition lines and the HCN(1-0) line at ~ 1" (~ 34 pc) or higher resolution toward the Seyfert 2 nucleus of M51 using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA). All the images show very similar overall molecular gas distribution; there are two discrete clouds at the eastern and western sides of the nucleus, and the western cloud exhibits an elongated distribution and velocity gradient along the radio jet. In addition, high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratios of about unity have been observed, especially along the radio jet, similar to those observed in shocked molecular gas in our Galaxy. This strongly indicates that the molecular gas along the jet is shocked, that the radio jet and the molecular gas are interacting, and the jet is entraining both diffuse (CO) and dense (HCN) molecular gas outwards from the circumnuclear region. This is the first clear imaging of the out owing molecular gas entrained by the AGN jet, and showing the detailed physical status of out owing molecular gas. Since a relatively high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) ratio has been observed in the high velocity wing of ultraluminous infrared galaxies, it can also be explained by a similar mechanism to those we describe here.

We use the millennium simulation for studying the evolution of groups of galaxies over time. We find fossil and non-fossil groups as well as old and young groups at redshift z = 0 and follow them back in time to investigate the evolution of their parameters, such as mass assembly, luminosity gap and halo mass concentration. We find that fossils assemble a larger fraction of their mass at z = 0 than controls. The magnitude gaps between fossil and non-fossil groups are not the same because of major and minor mergers, in old and young groups as well. We also find that WMAP1 and WMAP7 cosmologies lead to the same evolutionary history for fossil and control groups.

This study deals with the generalization of the Elliptic Restricted Three-Body Problem (ER3BP) by considering the effects of radiation and oblate spheroid primaries. This may illustrate a gas giant exoplanet orbiting its host star with eccentric orbit. In the three dimensional case, this generalization may possess two additional equilibrium points (L6,7, out-of-plane). We determine the existence of L6,7 in ER3BP under the effects of radiation (bigger primary) and oblateness (small primary). We analytically derive the locations of L6;7 and assume initial approximations of (μ-1, ±3A2), where  and A2 are the mass parameter and oblateness factor, respectively. The fixed locations are then determined. Our results show that the locations of L6,7 are periodic and affected by A2 and the radiation factor (q1).

This work considers the elliptic restricted three-body problem under effects of radiation of the bigger primary, and an oblate spheroid for the smaller primary to mimic an exoplanetary system with a gas giant planet. Under the in uences of both effects we look for the existence of the triangular equilibrium points and the in uences of the radiation and oblateness on the locations and motion of the points. We set the system in a normalized rotating coordinate system and derive equations of motion for the third infinitesimal object. Our study shows that the effects modify the equilateral/isosceles triangle shape with respect to the primaries. The triangular points also have non-planar motion with period depending on the value of the planet oblateness.

Most of the stars in the Galaxy are in binary systems. Binaries should be possible as the hosting stars of planets. Searching for planetary companions to binaries, especially evolved close binary stars, can provide insight into the formation and the ultimate fate of circumbinary planets and shed light on the late evolution of binary stars. In order to do this, we have chosen some post common envelope binaries including sdB-type eclipsing binaries and detached WD+dM eclipsing binaries as our targets and monitored them for several years. In this paper, we will present some of our new observations and results for three targets, NSVS 07826147, NSVS14256825 and RR Cae.

Classical novae (CNe) are interacting binary systems whose outbursts are powered by a thermonuclear runaway in accreted material onto the surface of a white dwarf (WD). The secondary star in such systems fills its Roche lobe and material is transferred onto the WD primary star via an accretion disk. Recurrent novae (RNe) show many similarities to CNe, but have had more than one recorded outburst. RNe play an important role as one of the suspected progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae, which are used as primary distance indicators in cosmology. Thus, it is important to investigate the nature of their central binary systems to determine the relation between the parameters of the central system and the outburst type, and finally ascertain the population of novae that might be available to give rise to the progenitors of Type Ia SNe. A low outburst amplitude is adopted as a criterion that may help distinguish RNe from CNe and was therefore used to select targets for observations from ground-based observatories including the Liverpool Telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope as well as the full-sky space-based archive of the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI). We found that at least four objects currently classified as CNe are possibly RNe candidates based on their quiescent spectra. We also searched the SMEI archive for additional outbursts of bright CNe that might otherwise have been missed but did not find a conclusive example.

The results of spectral studies of the CTTS type young star RY Tau with spectrograms of the ultraviolet and the visual ranges are presented. We show the first detection of periodic variability of the emission line intensities in UV and visual ranges with a period of 23 days.

Due to the lack of an accretion disk in a polar (magnetic cataclysmic variable, MCV), the material transferred from the secondary is directly accreted onto the white dwarf, forming an accretion stream and a hot spot on the white-dwarf component. During the eclipses, different light components can be isolated. Therefore, the monitoring of eclipsing polars could provide valuable information on several modern astrophysical problems, e.g., CVs as planetary hosting stars, mass transfer and mass accretion in CVs, and the magnetic activity of the most rapidly rotating cool dwarfs. In the past five years, we have monitored about 10 eclipsing polars (e.g., DP Leo and HU Aqr) using several 2-m class telescopes and about 100 eclipse profiles were obtained. In this paper, we will introduce the progress of our research group at YNOs. The first direct evidence of variable mass transfer in a CV is obtained and we show that it is the dark-spot activity that causes the mass transfer in CVs. Magnetic activity cycles of the cool secondary were detected and we show that the variable mass transfer is not caused by magnetic activity cycles. These results will shed light on the structure and evolution of close binary stars (e.g., CVs and Algols).