Previous phylogenetic results often showed fluctuating positions of Geometroidea in Macroheterocera, particularly from mitochondrial genome (mitogenome)-based analyses. In this study, we sequenced mitogenomes of four geometrid moths to increase taxon diversity for the inference of phylogenetic positions of Geometroidea in Macroheterocera. The general genomic features found in Macroheterocera also were found in the four geometrid moths. Phylogenetic analyses using 71 representative mitogeneome sequences in Macroheterocera yielded the consensus superfamilial relationships (((((Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea) + Geometroidea) + Noctuoidea) + Drepanoidea) + Mimallonoidea), confirming the sister relationship of Geometroidea to (Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea) in both Bayesian Inference and Maximum-likelihood method.

Increased intracellular levels of Ca2+ are generally thought to negatively regulate lipolysis in mature adipocytes, whereas store-operated Ca2+ entry was recently reported to facilitate lipolysis and attenuate lipotoxicity by inducing lipophagy. Transient receptor potential mucolipin1 (TRPML1), a Ca2+-permeable non-selective cation channel, is mainly expressed on the lysosomal membrane and plays key roles in lysosomal homeostasis and membrane trafficking. However, the roles of TRPML1 in lipolysis remains unclear. In this study, we examined whether the channel function of TRPML1 induces lipolysis in mature adipocytes. We found that treatment of mature adipocytes with ML-SA1, a specific agonist of TRPML1, solely upregulated extracellular glycerol release, but not to the same extent as isoproterenol. In addition, knockdown of TRPML1 in mature adipocytes significantly reduced autophagic flux, regardless of ML-SA1 treatment. Our findings demonstrate that the channel function of TRPML1 partially contributes to lipid metabolism and autophagic membrane trafficking, suggesting that TRPML1, particularly the channel function of TRPML1, is as therapeutic target molecule for treating obesity.

In order to identify key nations and bird species of conservation concern we described multinational collaborations as defined using network analysis linked by birds that are found in all nations in the network. We used network analysis to assess the patterns in bird occurrence for 10,422 bird inventories from 244 countries and territories. Nations that are important in multinational collaborations for bird conservation were assessed using the centrality measures, closeness and betweenness centrality. Countries important for the multinational collaboration of bird conservation were examined based on their centrality measures, which included closeness and betweenness centralities. Comparatively, the co-occurrence network was divided into four groups that reveal different biogeographical structures. A group with higher closeness centrality included countries in southern Africa and had the potential to affect species in many other countries. Birds in countries in Asia, Australia and the South Pacific that are important to the cohesiveness of the global network had a higher score of betweenness centrality. Countries that had higher numbers of bird species and more extensively distributed bird species had higher centrality scores; in these countries, birds may act as excellent indicators of trends in the co-occurrence bird network. For effective bird conservation in the world, much stronger coordination among countries is required. Bird co-occurrence patterns can provide a suitable and powerful framework for understanding the complexity of co-occurrence patterns and consequences for multinational collaborations on bird conservation.

Porcine spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) prefer three-dimensional (3D) culture systems to 2D ones for the maintenance of self-renewal. Of the many 3D culture systems, agar-based hydrogels are candidates for supporting porcine SSC self-renewal, and there are various types of agar powder that can be used. In this study, we sought to identify an agar-based 3D hydrogel system that exhibited strong efficacy in the maintenance of porcine SSC self-renewal. First, 3D hydrogels with different mechanics were prepared with various concentrations of Bacto agar, lysogeny broth (LB) agar, and agarose powder, and the 3D hydrogel with the strongest alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity and greatest increase in colony size was identified for the different types of agar powder. Second, among the porcine SSCs cultured in the different 3D hydrogels, we analyzed the colony formation, morphology, and size; AP activity; and transcription and translation of porcine SSC-related genes, and these were compared to determine the optimal 3D hydrogel system for the maintenance of porcine SSC self-renewal. We found that 0.6% (w/v) Bacto agar-, 1% (w/v) LB agar-, and 0.2% (w/v) agarose-based 3D hydrogels showed the strongest maintenance of AP activity and the most pronounced increase in colony size in the culture of porcine SSCs. Moreover, among these hydrogels, the strongest transcription and translation of porcine SSC-related genes and largest colony size were detected in porcine SSCs cultured in the 0.2% (w/v) agarose-based 3D hydrogel, whereas there were no significant differences in colony formation and morphology. These results demonstrate that the 0.2% (w/v) agarose-based 3D hydrogel can be effectively used for the maintenance of porcine SSC self-renewal.

In the production of zirconium cladding tube, a pickling acid solution is used to remove surface contaminants, which generates tons of pickling acid waste. The waste pickling solution is a valuable resource of Hf-free Zr. Many studies have investigated separating the Hf-free Zr source from the waste pickling acid. The results showed that Ba2ZrF8 precipitates prepared from the waste pickling acid were useful as an electrolyte for the electrorefining of Zr in molten salt. In the present work, electrorefining was performed in a Ba2ZrF8-LiF binary electrolyte to recover Zr from a Hf-free CuZr ingot anode prepared by electroreduction. Before electrorefining, two pretreatments are performed. First, electrolyte melting was carried out to determine the eutectic temperature, and second, the electrolyte was treated to eliminate impurities, mainly hydride. After electrorefining, the cathode deposits were analyzed by O2 gas analyzer and SEM-EDX to explore the possibility of recovering nuclear-grade Zr metal. Moreover, the anode was analyzed by SEM-EDX to determine the Zr dissolution depth.

Recently, hair loss regarded as a mere means of middle-aged men due to stress and environmental pollution. The market for hair loss in Korea is about four trillion won and it is growing continuously. It is mainly made by mixing natural extracts such as medicinal plant. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 70% ethanol extracts of Phellinus linteus on the growth of fibroblasts, dermal papilla cells and lipid precursors, We want to try to make a materialization. The 70% ethanol extract of P. linteus on the cell viability of Human follicle dermal papilla cell (HFDPC), adipocyte (3T3-L1), fibroblast (CCD-986sk). The result the cell viability of HFDPC was increased according to the contents of ethanol extract of P. linteus. But the 70% ethanol extract of P. linteus showed weak inhibit activity in CCD-986sk cell growth. Also, the 70%　ethanol extract of P. linteus did not inhibit the growth of 3T3-L1 cells. As a result of this study, in-vitro hair growth activity of herbal medicines for hair material development was not shown to be toxic to HFDPC and 3T3-L1 cell. As a result, the 70% ethanol extracts of P. linteus have potential to developing hair-related product. Acknowledgement : This research was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE), Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology(KIAT) through the Encouragement Program for The Industries of Economic Cooperation Region(R0005473)

It is necessary to monitor growth status of the crops due to continuous change of climate causing insecurity in crop cultivation. Low altitude remote sensing(LARS) system is utilized to accurately monitor the growth status of the crops. In this study, models for monitoring fresh weight(FW), one of the major growth factors of Chinese cabbage, were developed with structural indices and simple ratio calculated from bands in remotely sensed canopies by NIR, RE(imaging sensor A) and multispec-4c sensors(imaging sensor B) equipped with fixed-wing UAV depending on vegetation stages of normal planting(NP) and delayed planting(DP) Chinese cabbages. In results of imaging sensor A, the estimation models using structural indices and simple ratio were divided into NP and DP due to different attribute of reflectance in canopies with changed environment condition depending on different planting dates. The estimation models using simple ratio calculated by red edge and visible bands of NP showed better performance than other models, but RMSE was high. The models using simple ratio calculated by same bands of DP were feasible to accurately estimate FW(R2 of more than 0.946 with RMSE of less than 169.5 g). In results of imaging sensor B, the estimation models using structural indices and simple ratio on DP were divided into low to intermediate FW and intermediate to high FW. As a result, estimation models of all structural indices and simple ratio in low to intermediate FW bands were advisable to estimate FW(R2 of more than 0.860 with RMSE of less than 104.7 g). Estimation models of those calculated by red edge and visible bands in intermediate to high FW were only possible to accurately estimate FW(R2 of more than 0.532 with RMSE of less than 400.7 g).

The purpose of this study was conducted with senior women of ages 65 in Community Center to identify effective exercise methods for preventing falling accidents by enhancing balancing skills through aerobic and foam roller exercise programs. There were 24 subjects : 11 aerobics group and 13 foam roller group. 30 minute exercise programs were conducted against both groups 12 times 6 weeks. Various tests, including Time up and go test , Forward reach test, One-leg standing with eyes open/closed and Y-Balance were conducted prior to commencing the exercise program. Wilcoxon’s Signed-ranks test was executed to analyze the changes in balance of the aerobic and foam roller exercise group prior to and after the experiment, and Mann-Whitney test was executed to compare the difference between the two groups. The Y-Balance(post. medial) show statistically significant differences in the amount of change before and after exercise between the two groups, except for Timed up and go test, Forward reach test, YBalance( ant.), and Y-Balance(post. lateral), which did not showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05). Foam roller exercises are effective methods to enhance the balancing skills in senior women to prevent falling accidents.

As the fourth industry revolution is starting, most of the fields including education are rapidly being changed. In parituclar, research on IT or SW fusion in each field is being performed. This paper discusses novel approaches to improve previous education services through IT fusion. First, I propose a way to converge IT into global education, which focuses on students of the college of education who are interested in becoming teachers. Due to internationalization demands in the field of education, the necessity of global education is increasing rapidly. However, a general consensus of the definition and model for global education is not clear yet and the actual performance falls short of our expectations owing to high cost, low effectiveness, and lack of persistence in the process of global education. To overcome the limits of global education and develop an efficient education system, this research suggests an IT-fusion-based education system for training global teachers. Second, it is difficult for an instructor to grasp instantly how much learners understand learning content in class in a typical education environment. In case of a class, which consists of possibly dozens of students at various levels ; trying to understand degree and learning achievement of the learners in a broad spectrum, depending on the learning contents. Therefore, it is almost impossible for an instructor to let all of the learners reach a specific learning objective. In this paper, I propose an approach that enables the arbitrary rate of learners, who reach a learning goal, to be set by an instructor. I describe an instruction support system combined with an instant response system, dynamic formative evaluation scheme, and confidence level. I expect that this approach can make an instructor set the ratio of learners, who reach the learning objective, as the instructor wants, and brings about effective instruction. Third, this study proposes a new learning model for improving problem solving and programming skills. To solve a real world problem using IT, problem solving and programming skills are important. In this study, I describe a learning model that can help to improve problem solving and programming skills, based on computational thinking. The feature of the learning model proposed is to offer learners challenges and spur interest by presenting the questions into learning games of an intercompetition type after developing the questions that improve problem solving and programming skills. Another feature is to present the questions about algorithms and programming in various forms and generate them dynamically. Especially, by providing an inter-competition game type, due to increase of competition between learners, learners will feel relatively less difficulty in problem solving and programming, and enable them to naturally improve problem solving abilities and programming skills through the competition.