To identify genes that commonly respond to the treatment of different insecticides and are responsible for the toleranceenhancement, transcriptomic profiles of larvae treated with sublethal doses of the five insecticides were compared withthat of untreated control. A total of 117,181 transcripts with a mean length of 662 bp were generated by de novo assembly,of which 35,329 transcripts were annotated. Among them, 125, 143, 182, 215 and 149 transcripts were determined tobe up-regulated whereas 67, 45, 60, 60 and 38 genes were down-regulated following treatments with these five insecticides.The most notable examples of commonly responding over-transcribed genes were two cytochrome P450 genes and ninecuticular protein genes. In contrast, several genes composing the mitochondrial energy generation system were significantlydown-regulated in all treated larvae. Considering the distinct structure and mode of action of the five insecticides tested,the differentially expressed genes identified in this study appear to be involved in general chemical defense at the initialstage of intoxication. Their possible roles in the tolerance/resistance development were discussed.

Augmentative biological control, which refers to frequent releases of mass produced natural enemies, is well developedin the greenhouse cropping systems and many successful cases have been reported worldwide. The most robust biocontrolsystems are based on the principle of established populations of natural enemies before invasions of pests occur. However,the natural enemies that are commercially available do not establish well in all crops, which can be caused by a lackof food sources, a lack of oviposition sites or shelter, or because of an unsuitable microclimate. These problems can besolved by selecting new species of natural enemies that are better adapted to the crop and/or by providing the resourcesthat natural enemies need to survive and reproduce in the crop. Here we present some results of studies that may contributeto this “standing army approach” in biocontrol, based on the use of banker plants, nectar plants, rearing sachets, foodsprays and alternative prey applications.in the greenhouse cropping systems and many successful cases have been reported worldwide. The most robust biocontrolsystems are based on the principle of established populations of natural enemies before invasions of pests occur. However,the natural enemies that are commercially available do not establish well in all crops, which can be caused by a lackof food sources, a lack of oviposition sites or shelter, or because of an unsuitable microclimate. These problems can besolved by selecting new species of natural enemies that are better adapted to the crop and/or by providing the resourcesthat natural enemies need to survive and reproduce in the crop. Here we present some results of studies that may contributeto this “standing army approach” in biocontrol, based on the use of banker plants, nectar plants, rearing sachets, foodsprays and alternative prey applications.

Nueva Ecija is a landlocked province in Central Luzon region that is composed of 27 municipalities and 5 cities. It is a province that is rich with biodiversity on its north and east borders, which exhibit a shared ecosystem with the Caraballo mountain range in the north and the Sierra Madre mountain range in the east. Its main economic activity is farming where rice is the main crop. Part of the Sierra Madre mountain range traverses its towns of Bongabon, Laur, Rizal and Pantabangan where most of the locals perform agro – forestry activities as a means of generating income for their families. Due to the accumulation of farm residues as a result of intensive agro-forestry activities, mushroom pharming becomes a very viable agribusiness undertaking in the area. Our research team initiated the establishment of database by tracking the mushroom production activities in the province. Similarly, the prevailing climatic condition in the geographical area and the type of agro-forestry wastes have been tracked. Wastes as a result of intensive agro – forestry activities are being generated which the locals oftentimes burned in the field that posed hazard to the environment. In order to discourage this practice, our research team generated technologies on mushroom pharming using rice straw as the main substrate. The promotion of mushroom pharming is based on the suitability of mushroom species to grow in climatic conditions that prevail in the specific geographical area in the province. As a result of its collaborative research undertakings, the Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development of the Central Luzon State University in collaboration with the Laboratory of Forest Products Chemistry of Tokyo University of Agriculture and the Nikken Sohonsha Corporation encouraged the adoption of medicinal mushroom production technologies on rice straw – based formulation. With oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp) as the most widely cultivated mushroom among the mushroom growers in the province, other ligninolytic mushrooms such as lacquered mushroom (Ganoderma) and wood ear mushroom (Auricularia spp.) are grown by the locals. Similarly, leaf – litter degrading mushrooms such as paddy straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) are also being cultivated in the province. However, some mushroom growers in the province adopt sawdust – based mushroom production technology which is not economically appropriate in the province due to the scarcity of its availability compared to rice straw. Majority of the mushroom growers in the province adopt the rice straw – based mushroom technology. Moreover, high value mushroom – based products other than the fresh mushrooms are already in the local market.

Collybia reinakeana (P.) Henn used to be a wild endemic edible mushroom not until it was discovered in the mountainous area of Puncan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines after the great earthquake that jolted Central Luzon in 1990. It is characterized to having big fruiting bodies (about 1 foot tall) that grow in cluster. Its mycelia were rescued from the wild and the first domestication studies were conducted which lead to the generation of its production technology. It is a nutraceutical mushroom that exhibits antibacterial and anti-hypertensive properties aside from its appreciable content of both standard as well as non- standard amino acids. It also exhibits mycoparasitic habit against species of Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Fusarium. Recently, emergence of this mushroom in the different areas in the Philippines have been reported which prompted our research team to conduct geo - tracking in order to rescue its secondary mycelia in our desire to conserve this endemic species of mushroom. With our conservation efforts, we have tracked the areas where it was found growing and subsequently isolated the secondary mycelia. At present, our research team were able to collect 9 different strains from the different areas namely Bataan (1), Science City of Munoz (2), Urdaneta City (1), San Manuel, Pangasinan (1), Rosales, Pangasinan (1), Bicos, Rizal, Nueva Ecija (1), Dipaculao, Aurora (1) and Bamban, Tarlac(1).

Collybia reinakeana (P.) Henn used to be a wild endemic edible mushroom not until it was discovered in the mountainous area of Puncan, Carranglan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines after the great earthquake that jolted Central Luzon in 1990. It is characterized to having big fruiting bodies (about 1 foot tall) that grow in cluster. Its mycelia were rescued from the wild and the first domestication studies were conducted which lead to the generation of its production technology. It is a nutraceutical mushroom that exhibits antibacterial and anti-hypertensive properties aside from its appreciable content of both standard as well as non- standard amino acids. It also exhibits mycoparasitic habit against species of Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Fusarium. Recently, emergence of this mushroom in the different areas in the Philippines have been reported which prompted our research team to conduct geo – tracking in order to rescue its secondary mycelia in our desire to conserve this endemic species of mushroom. With our conservation efforts, we have tracked the areas where it was found growing and subsequently isolated the secondary mycelia. At present, our research team were able to collect 9 different strains from the different areas namely Bataan (1), Science City of Munoz (2), Urdaneta City (1), San Manuel, Pangasinan (1), Rosales, Pangasinan (1), Bicos, Rizal, Nueva Ecija (1), Dipaculao, Aurora (1) and Bamban, Tarlac(1).

Introduction The manufacturing of apparel is the third-largest industry in the world, generating $700 billion annually (Jacobo, 2016). However, over the last 20 years, the US has lost 90% of its apparel manufacturing jobs (Bland, 2013). In response, the US Department of Commerce considers the importance of strengthening American manufacturing to be a key piece of economic recovery. They stated that large manufacturers needed to play a key role in, “cultivating the capabilities of small firms in their supply chains and spurring cross-pollination of expertise across firms” (Supply Chain Innovation: Strengthening Small Manufacturing, 2015, p. 3). This National Science Foundation funded research investigates the development of new, small US cut and sew firms as providing a potentially important link with larger, urban firms in the US apparel manufacturing supply chain. The objectives of this qualitative research are to: 1) ascertain social as well as economic challenges to establishing viable cut and sew firms in two rural US communities; and 2) examine the emerging issues in the apparel manufacturing supply chain; and 3) build propositions for research directions. Theoretical framework From an economic-sociological perspective, business, organizations, are embedded in larger institutional environments (DiMaggio & Powel, 1983, Granovetter, 1985, Meyer & Rowan, 1977, Meyer & Scott, 1983). The firm is seen as a part of a social-economic system with strong ties to others that can offer both business advantages (Di Maggio & Powel, 1983) or disadvantages (Uzzi, 1997). Institutional theory thus links social and cultural meaning systems or norms to the business environment (Handelman & Arnold, 1999). An Institutional theoretical framework proposes that in the economic environment, there are norms or rules that participants are expected to comply with if the organizations involved are to receive support and achieve legitimacy (Arnold, Handelman, & Tigert, 1996). Business owners or managers strive to legitimize their businesses, thus elevating investors’, suppliers’, and potential collaborators’ confidence in their competency to provide the specified products or services. This theory provides a foundation for examining the process through which small startup businesses, particularly rural apparel cut and sew firms, balance economic strategic actions and adherence to societal norms internally within their community and externally across a variety of apparel supply chain businesses located in non-adjacent urban communities. Current approach and preliminary results Using the Institutional theoretical perspective, we follow the initial stages of development for two apparel cut and sew centers in rural communities and their navigation of new businesses into the apparel manufacturing industry. Prior to outsourcing of apparel, many small agricultural-based communities across the state had manufacturing centers that provided income for local community members. Community leaders have long sought ideas for returning light manufacturing to their communities for local investment, job creation, and economic growth. Rural county economic development officers set up community interest meetings to see if there was interest in addressing the apparel industry need for quick speed-to-market and greater quality control through domestic manufacturing located closer to company headquarters within the state. Meetings in two communities, located in the northeastern part of the state, generated interest from local investors who have recently moved to open cut and sew centers. Four additional communities, located in the southeastern section of the state, await proof-of-concept prior to moving forward. Given the larger plan for the centers, the concept of specialization in manufacturing was determined for growth and expansion across the state; thus, one center was focused on woven apparel production and the other on knit apparel production. Cooperation and collaboration were important business values to prevent price competition and to potentially provide fulfillment of large scale orders. Longitudinal approach and research questions To address the objectives of this early stage work we used a case study approach to capture information. Data was collected from US Census Bureau and from interviews with investors, managers, workers, large manufacturing management, industry specialists in sourcing and equipment, as well as individuals connected to economic development and Extension. Please see Table 1. summarizing case study findings and emerging themes. In addition to these findings we employ a method frequently found in the analysis of an institutional theoretical perspective known as event history analysis. In time, this study will measure the temporal and sequential unfolding of unique events that transform the interpretation and meaning of social and economic structures (Steel, 2005; Thorton & Ocasio, 2008). This method will enable accommodation of data at multiple levels of analysis involving the individual (members of the cut and sew centers), organizational (cut and sew center firms), and environment (community and industry interactions). Event history is used to assess the five elementary concepts of – state (dependent variable, cut and sew center continuance), event (defines the transitions or experiences of the cut and sew centers), duration (length of time), risk period (potential for exposure to the particular event), censoring (not experiencing the event) (Vermunt, 2007). Thus far, we have initial case study data and documentation of events for two newly established cut and sew centers, but will continue to collect data as four additional cut and sew centers evolve. The following research questions address the five elementary concepts. We address the following research questions in meeting Objective 1 of this study: RQ 1. What are the social institutional centered events and consequences? RQ 2. How do different economic organizations contribute to firm evolution? RQ 3. What risks are involved that could inhibit or enable firm development? To address Objective 2 of this study, we focus on the following research questions framed around emerging issues expected to shape the apparel industry: RQ 4. What are the local capabilities? RQ 5. What role does technology play in firm emergence and development? RQ 6. How does the speed to market capability evolve? RQ 7. What are the industry expectations for domestic apparel production? Implications Early analyses of the two cut and sew centers highlights commonalities that are central to Institutional theory. In partially addressing Research Questions 1 through 3, we have found that there are several emerging issues that stem from weak or delicate linkages of social and cultural meaning systems or norms to the business environment (Handelman & Arnold, 1999). Though the investors, managers, and workers desire to meet industry expectations, there is a gap between the localized perspective and industry perspectives with neither having a strong understanding as to how to return the production to a domestic process. Years of outsourcing have weakened linkages and knowledge has been lost. Training is needed in commercial sewing, creating connections to industry, sourcing trims, ownership of goods, and pricing the production. Thus, as proposed in an Institutional theoretical framework, there are norms or rules that participants are expected to comply with if the organizations involved are to receive support and achieve legitimacy; however in this business arena, the rules are no longer clearly established. Further, the embeddedness of the cut and sew firms in the communities, though appearing to be currently well supported, may be moved as the cut and sew firms gain linkages beyond the community. In addressing Research Questions 4 through 7, we have found that though the support from the local communities has been strong both socially and financially, the learning curve was steep for both of the cut and sew centers in working with clients and educating clients in the product development process of sample pattern to grading to marker making for production cutting as well as procuring thread, findings, labels, hangtags, and packaging for delivery to stores. The move from home sewing to commercial sewing has involved considerable training of the managers and workers. Training featured understanding of the different machines, threading, and tension issues to ensure quality standards for apparel construction. Collaboration was facilitated by a technical consultant’s interface with an industrial sewing supplier and equipment repair company. Training of one-piece flow manufacturing work improved timing efficiency and quality control. The technical consultant spent days on-site and sewing with the team to solve process flow problems and study quality control issues. Issues of timing and efficient production process revolved around changing thread and adjusting machine and stitch tension for various contracts. Issues also emerged in the supply chain of contract manufacturing. Many of the clients were not ready for production, either due to financial commitments or understanding of the process from designing sample lines to marketing apparel products to retail stores and consumers. This required a change in plans to market the cut and sew center directly to the industry. The industrial sewers were flexible with producing various knit or woven sewn products. Issues related to managing a domestic cut and sew facility involved ensuring that all components were received on time, planning time, and estimating the costs involved with fulfilling manufacturing contracts. Data collection continues as the two established centers advance and four additional centers launch in the next two years. From this initial data and to meet the third objective of this inductive research, we offer propositions that warrant further analyses as the cut and sew centers more through various phases of development. Data will be collected to address propositions. P1 The greater the agreement in norms or rules that guide the apparel supply chain process, the stronger the business relationships among contractors, manufacturers, and cut and sew centers. P2 Legitimization of rural community cut and sew centers among the more urban supply chain members will build collaboration and reduce perceived risk in competency to provide specified products or services. P3 Increased collaboration among rural cut and sew centers in terms of shared knowledge and resources will increase perceived economic benefits to the individual centers and to the rural communities.

This paper attempts to bring the rather dated concept of Cultural Capital (CC) from the sociology literature to luxury retailing; it argues that Visual Merchandise Display (VMD) can enhance the consumers’ intentions to purchase luxury brands but this influence is stronger for consumers with higher CC than for those with lower CC. In particular, we develop a psychometric scale to measure CC and empirically and quantitatively investigate in two experiments the impact of VMD on consumer purchase intentions and the moderating role of CC. Walking first into TK Maxx and then into Harvey Nichols, one could assume that brand perceptions are affected not by the merchandise but rather by the store environment and particularly the way in which the products are visually presented to the consumers. In 2013, Karen Miller announced a substantial remodelling of its stores, including a change in their look to communicate ‘affordable luxury’ (Felsted, 2013). Although the luxury marketers seem to understand the importance of the display in influencing consumer perceptions, academics yet admit to knowing very little about the role of visual merchandising and display on the mechanisms of luxury brand consumption (Joy, Wang, Chan, Sherry, & Cui, 2014). Emerging research in the luxury retailing literature focuses on and explores qualitatively the role of ‘museological’ product presentation techniques in building and sustaining a luxury brand image (Dion & Arnould, 2011; Joy et al., 2014). However, till now, it has not considered that people can differ in their ability (i.e., ‘connoisseurship’) to decode and appreciate such display techniques, which often require substantial investment in fixtures, expensive materials, or complicated designs or architecture. This paper argues that the success of many newly introduced marketing communication techniques, including the tendency of contemporary branding to ‘subtly’ communicate the understated cleverness of a brand, can be subject to the consumers’ level of CC. CC refers to human culture and constitutes an individual characteristic that encompasses consumer’s intangible cultural assets and resources, such as knowledge, personality traits, and values, which manifest via consumers’ lifestyle choices and affect the way they think and act (Bourdieu, 1984; Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2001). We argue that in luxury retailing, where ‘brand museums’ (Hollenbeck, 2008), ‘museological’ product presentation techniques or simply ‘museum like displays’ (Joy et al., 2014) and collaboration with contemporary artists and creative directors (Dion and Arnould, 2011) have been pointed out as new formats of in-store communication, CC can play a crucial role in explaining whether and how much consumers’ purchases can be actually affected. The marketing literature, to date, however, misses a contemporary continuous measure to assess consumers’ CC. In their effort to avoid limitations embedded in prior conceptualisations of CC— which mostly concern its supposed static and inherited nature (McQuarrie, Miller, & Phillips, 2013) —, many studies of consumer behaviour tend to assess CC qualitatively and set criteria to dichotomise a sample into two groups who are somewhat arbitrarily classified as people with either high or low CC; or, they only approximate CC by assessing the participants’ knowledge in a specific field of consumption, which is often a crude proxy for CC and pre-supposes the consumers’ interest-involvement in the investigated field of consumption (McQuarrie et al., 2013). For example, the literature on luxury brands tends to replace CC with fashion knowledge (e.g., Berger & Ward, 2010). Nevertheless, the researchers recognise this replacement as a limitation of their studies and a poor operationalisation of the concept of CC (Berger & Ward, 2010). The present research has three objectives. First, rather than dichotomising people into high and low CC groups, it acknowledges CC as a continuous variable and develops a contemporary psychometric scale to measure the extent to which people within the same culture differ in it. Second, it aims to provide a conceptual framework for understanding a set of mechanisms that explain how consumers’ purchase intentions for a luxury brand can be affected by specific VMD cues which are used for displaying it. Last and more importantly, we want to validate the newly introduced scale in a final experiment that tests whether the process whereby VMD indirectly increases the purchase intentions for luxury brands, depends positively on the consumer’s CC. The first study, which incorporates a qualitative inquiry as well as a purification and a validation study and uses multiple samples, succeeds in developing and validating a psychometric CC scale. In the second study, by conducting an experiment, we develop a model which explains how a combination of specific high-image VMD cues that form a museum-like display affects the consumers’ luxury brand purchase intentions by increasing consumers’ perceptions of luxury and by decreasing their perceived personal risk. This study’s model is, then, re-estimated in the final study after introducing into it the measure of CC. In this experiment, the strength of the basic relationships was found to be contingent on CC, suggesting that consumers with higher CC tend to be more strongly influenced by the store environment cues. Although we recognise that for many consumer behaviour studies in the marketing literature, consumers’ knowledge in fashion represents sufficiently well the concept of CC (e.g., Berger & Ward, 2010; McQuarrie et al., 2013; Parmentier, Fischer, & Reuber, 2013), we show that this might not be the case in the context of store atmospherics. In particular, we test the influence of both CC and fashion knowledge by introducing them together into the same model. Interestingly, CC is found to behave differently and to some extent oppositely to fashion knowledge in influencing consumers’ store-induced perceptions and purchase intentions for the luxury brand on display. The identification of specific VMD cues that form what the luxury retailing literature rather vaguely describes as a ‘museological presentation’ and the measurement of their combined effect as a ‘museum-like display’ on the consumer’s perceptions and behavioural intentions can have important implications for both the offline and online retailers. Our findings can also inform the contemporary brand communication methods, such as the brand’s representation in social media (e.g., in pinterest). Moreover, the measurement of consumer’s level of CC can allow brand managers and retailers to identify receptive segments and make more efficient resource commitments to VMD. Investment in VMD elements can then be better matched to the anticipated target market to avoid either over- or under spending on it. Sales forecasts can also become more accurate if CC could be assessed and considered along with the employed in-store and digital product presentation methods.

Teosinte, commonly known as wild species of corn, has distributed in Central and South America. It is believed that teosinte contains genes for resistance to flooding because of the climate characteristics of the collected countries. Recent studies have shown that teosinte has the ability to form adventitious roots, to develop aerenchyma tissues of teosinte, and the resistance to toxic substances under flooding soil condition. Therefore, development of corn varieties to cope with climate change and the growing corn at paddy field in Korea are required to introduce the characteristics of teosinte. However, in order to utilize teosinte resources, preconditions must be settled such as photoperiodic responsibility, physiological and ecological characteristics. Also if the preconditions are studied together with the metabolic level studies, the possibility of utilization for flooding resistant varieties will be even higher.

The significant exodus of containers inland due to the container revolution has increased the salience of inland terminals for efficient freight distribution. Further, the migration of containers gradually inland has forced seaports to depend on these inland terminals to determine their competitiveness and offer a mechanism for competitive freight price to the consumer. The performance of dry ports need to be improved along with the dynamic nature of maritime business, to efficiently fulfil the demand all the key players in the container seaport system, provide economies of scale and scope to their respective clients and enhances the importance of inland networks to improve and consistently elongate the competitiveness of container seaports. Predicated to these importance, this paper aims to enhance dry port performance by adapting a process benchmarking strategy among the Malaysian dry ports. Prior to the adaptation of the process benchmarking approach, a grounded theory had been conducted as a method of analysis among the key players of the Malaysian container seaport system in order to provide essential inputs for the benchmarking. Through this paper, the outcome shows all four Malaysian dry ports need to improve their transportation infrastructure and operation facilities, container planning strategy, competition, location and externalities in order to assist all the key players in the container seaport system efficiently and effectively.

The “Sipadan and Ligitan” dispute was settled by the ICJ (2002), but its impact on basepoint for baseline and maritime delimitation on the Ambalat remains a contentious issue until now. Since the islands are used as basepoints by Malaysia that results in controversy between Indonesia and Malaysia. This essay will investigate the current situation over Ambalat regarding two basepoints islands for maintaining Equidistance Line in Disputed Area. It will discuss why Malaysia has no right to use the straight baseline or straight archipelagic baseline to connect the basepoints of Sipadan and Ligitan at Sabah and suggest measures to maintain equidistance line in Ambalat.