Insect pests have been a serious problem over many years and remain a major threat for food production. Although chemical pesticides are major pest control strategies, use of microorganisms such as entomopathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes have continuously increase last few decades to minimize the use of agrichemicals. According to BBC research, the global biocontrol market was about $2.1 billion in 2011, and this is expected to rise $3 ~ 4 billion by 2017. Over 50 entomopathogens are commercially produced and used augmentatively as microbial pesticides. About 175 biopesticide active ingredients and 700 products have been registered worldwide. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium spp., nuclear polyhedrosis virus and Steinernema spp. are the most popular control agents used in plant protection. Among the microbial control agents Bt products have more than 50% of market share. In Korea, only 13 environmentally-friendly crop protectants were registered for insect pest control in 2015. Market share is very low and has grown slowly. We will discuss how we can expand the market with our techniques.

Viral respiratory infections are common in horses, notably equine herpesvirus infection and equine influenza, which primarily initiate secondary bacterial respiratory infections such as strangles caused by Streptococcus equi equi. A decline in the production of stallions has been associated with these respiratory diseases leading to adverse financial implications. This study investigated the antibody responses against respiratory diseases in horses from Jeju Island a year after vaccination. A low level of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) (11.36%) antibodies was detected from stallions, however a high level of EHV-4 (95.84%) antibodies was detected from horses without vaccination against this infection suggesting that EHV-4 is ubiquitous in this horse population. In case of equine influenza, ranch stallions showed low positive rate (12.06%) whereas stallions from Subtropical Livestock Research Institute displayed higher positive rate (81.32%). Antibody responses against equine influenza and strangles revealed positive rates of 26.32% and 55.12%, respectively. These findings may draw attention towards the importance of developing an improved disease prevention and/or immunization program that will effectively control respiratory diseases in horses.

경기도 8개 지역에서 2010년부터 2012년 동안 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 발생기주를 조사한 결과, 흰가루병에 감염된 12종의 식물에서 관찰 이 되었다. 특히 가장 밀도가 높았던 배과원에서 노랑무당벌레는 7월 상순부터 11월 상순까지 발견되었다. 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 장내에서는 흰가루병 균사나 포자 외에 다른 먹이의 흔적이 발견되지 않았고, 알과 번데기를 제외한 전 발육단계에서 균을 섭식하는 특성을 볼 때 절대적 식균성 곤충으로 생각된다. 25℃에서 오이 흰가루병균을 섭식한 노랑무당벌레의 발육기간은 알, 유충, 번데기, 성충이 각각 3.9, 10.4, 4.1, 37.7일 이었고, 발육단계별 오이 흰가루병 섭식량은 45.6, 144.4, 372.2, 628.1, 473.7 mm 2로 4령, 성충, 3령, 2령, 1령 순으로 많았다. 본 연구를 통해 노랑무당벌 레의 오이 흰가루병에 대한 섭식능력을 바탕으로 향후 유용 토착천적으로써 대량사육기술, 저독성 약제 선발 등 작물 흰가루병 종합방제기술(IPM) 에 대한 연구가 필요하리라 사료된다.

The present issue of insect resistance and environmental toxicity of pesticides is triggering deep discussion about the pest management tactics, in which pest monitoring and control activity are mainly involved. Novel control agents, hopefully overcoming the present issues and problems, should be researched and commercially applied to the farm fields. With the monitoring-based research, additionally we have to focus on the control-based, particularly control agent-based research and application. Entomo- pathogenic fungi can used as one of the possible novel control agents once considerations are given to the control of soil- or water-dwelling pests. In our research group, the entomopathogenic fungal library has been constructed using the mealworm-based isolation system, which showed a variety of opportunities of their use in pest control. Important key production technologies including granular formulation have been developed to increase their industrialization. Some entomopathogenic fungal isolates showed high biological performance in the control of rice weevils, western flower thrips and Japanese bettles in field stands. To elucidate the fungal mode of action, a fungal transformation system using AtMT and gene identification tools were established. Recently a more deep study about the relationship between insect and entomopathogenic fungi is be investigated using RNA seq. We suggest that to make the entomopathogenic fungal products be applied to agricultural farm field, R&D of down-stream process should be seriously considered as the key step.

In Hanoks which are Korean traditional houses, gudeuls (ondols) are more important than other elements. Recently, demand for Hanoks has been rapidly increasing thanks to the effects of Korean waves and rediscovery of traditions. This paper traced the process of development of gudeul construction technology to examine the definitions of terns and changes in the types of gudeuls and discussed the prospect of future gudeul construction technology.

The sintering mechanisms of nanoscale copper powders have been investigated. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with the embedded-atom method (EAM) was employed for these simulations. The dimensional changes for initial-stage sintering such as characteristic lengths, neck growth, and neck angle were calculated to understand the densification behavior of copper nano-powders. Factors affecting sintering such as the temperature, powder size, and crystalline misalignment between adjacent powders have also been studied. These results could provide information of setting the processing cycles and material designs applicable to nano-powders. In addition, it is expected that MD simulation will be a foundation for the multi-scale modeling in sintering process.

The purpose of the present study is to provide exercises, together with music, that are helpful for elderly people’s balancing ability, and to determine their effects in order to provide data for the promotion of elderly persons’health. Thirty elderly persons were randomly assigned to a balance training group(BTG) of 15 subjects, or a music and balance training group (music therapy + balance training [MTBTG]) of 15 subjects; intervention was implemented three times per week for six weeks. To measure the changes in their balancing ability before and after the experiment, the limit of stability, the“Timed Up and Go”(TUG) test, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) were measured. Changes in the limit of stability before and after the experiment were shown to be significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the limit of stability of the right side before and after the experiment showed statistically significant differences between the BTG and the MTBTG. Changes in the TUG test and the BBS before and after the experiment were shown to be statistically significant in both the BTG and the MTBTG. The application of music during balance training thus is considered to have a positive effect on elderly persons’balancing ability.

More than sixty percent of highways in Korea were constructed with concrete pavement to carry the heavy traffic loads due to the economic development of this country. The service life of some pavements are close to the end, therefore, they requires the maintenances, rehabilitations and reconstructions to improve their structural performances.According to the similarity of material properties to the concrete pavement, bonded concrete overlay isa good rehabilitation technique used steadily in Korea. However, it is recently reported that the bonded concrete overlays in some highways expose the early distresses and it is assumed that the poor bonding is a cause of this problem. Additionally, the poor bonding of bonded concrete overlay is caused by the bond strength that is less than the bond strength criterion. The pre-investigation of various concrete overlays is conducted in laboratory to determine the possible influence factors reducing the bond strength and it indicates that there are two possible factors affecting the bond strength: the concrete overlay types and the substrate conditions. The study investigates the vulnerable factor between the two factors based on theevaluation of the in-situ bond strength data of bonded concrete overlay gathered from some highways in Korea. The bond strength data is collected from two different application areas: the new constructionand the rehabilitation projects. The new construction and the rehabilitation projects used Latex-modified Concrete (LMC) and Ultra-rapid Hardening Latex-modified concrete (URH-LMC), respectively as the concrete overlay. The evaluation of in-situ bond strength is to determine the percentage of unacceptable bond strength in each projectto study the effect of different types of concrete overlay. Moreover, the percentage of bonding failure modes having the bond strengths less than the criterion is also measured to study the effect of substrate condition.As a result, substrate condition is the vulnerable factor affecting the poor bonding and causing the early distresses in bonded concrete overlay.

Skin is the outermost organ and acts as a barrier between the organism and environment. Skin protects the organism from environmental insults, such as chemicals, pathogens, and UV light. Much of the protective function of skin is dependent on the epidermis, a multi-layered epithelium that is composed of various cell types such as keratinocytes and melanocytes. Keratinocytes produce protective components through a sophisticated differentiation process. Disturbance of keratinocyte differentiation is related to several skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. In this study, we prepared extract of combined medicinal plants (ECMP) consisting of Taraxacum platycarpum H. Dahlstedt, Heartleaf Houttuynia, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, and root bark of Ulmus davidiana. We demonstrated that ECMP enhanced keratinocyte differentiation and barrier functionality using an in vitro cell culture system and in vivo animal test. Treatment of cultured keratinocytes with ECMP resulted in induction of keratinocyte differentiation, as evidenced by increased differentiation markers such as involucrin, loricrin, and filaggrin. In line with these results, ECMP decreased proliferation of keratinocytes cultured in vitro. ECMP applied topically to tape-stripped mouse skins accelerated reduction of transepidermal water loss (TEWL), indicating fast recovery of barrier function. Immunohistochemistry showed that ECMP increased the filaggrin level in tape-stripped mouse skins. These results suggest that ECMP may be applicable for keratinocyte differentiation-related skin diseases.

The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of elasticity of taping on ankle muscles’activity and endurance after plyometric training that easily causes ankle injury, and provide baseline data for physical therapy intervention methods. The study subjects are 24 male students in their 20s who attend N University in Choongnam. They were divided into three groups; 8 subjects in the elastic taping group, 8 in the non-elastic taping group, and 8 in the non-taping group(control group). They had plyometric training for 6 weeks. After the training, this study measured their maximum voluntary isometric contraction(MVIC) and muscle endurance of the muscles around ankle joint. The experiment result is as follows. After the training, all three groups showed improvement in muscle strength and endurance. The elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. In dorsiflexion, both muscle strength and endurance increased significantly. The non-elastic taping group showed insignificant improvement in muscle strength but significant increase in muscle endurance in plantarflexion. Taping during plyometric training had a little or insignificant effect on muscle endurance and strength compared to the non-taping group.

The goal of this study was to assess the effect of a group exercise program on cognitive function of elderly people. Subjects were chosen to be elders with dementia having minor to moderate degrees of cognitive function. Study was started out by randomly dividing the 16 subjects into two groups, each with 8 people; the group exercise group and the control group. The group exercise group performed 8 weeks of group exercise program and general physiotherapy while the control group only performed general physiotherapy. Cognitive function was measured by Korean version mini-mental state examination. The study group's attention and calculation statistically significantly improved but the control group saw no statistically significant change. The group exercise program affected improvement in cognitive function of elderly people with dementia and in particular, was effective for enhancing their attention and calculation.

Biological properties of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of hemimetabolous insect are poorly characterized in innate immunity field. To investigate the biochemical properties of hemimetabolous insect’s AMPs, we purified the pyrrhocoricin-like AMP from the hemolymph of Riptortus pedestris and then named as riptocin. We successfully determined the primary protein structure and its cDNA sequence. Interestingly, the determined cDNA revealed that riptocin precursor is composed of 12 repeating units of active riptocins, which implied that riptocin precursor might require to be processed to generate active riptocins by several unidentified processing enzymes. In order to characterize the bio-processing mechanisms of riptocin precursor, we generated the antibody against active riptocin. Using quantitative PCR and Western blot analyses, we showed that gene of riptocin was started to express from the fatbody after three hours post bacterial infection. To address our hypothesis that active riptocin is generated from riptocin precursor by several processing enzymes, we need to obtain the riptocin precursor. Currently, we are expressing the recombinant riptocin precursor using in vitro translation system. Meanwhile, we investigated whether naive hemolymph (naive HL), which may contain precursor riptocin, can generate active riptocin when riptocin precursor was co-incubation with bacteria-challenged hemolymph (active HL), which may contain all processing enzymes. Actually, when naive HL was incubated with active HL, antimicrobial activity was dramatically increased, suggesting that processing enzymes in active HL may induce processing of riptocin precursor to generate active riptocins.

This study was carried out to explore the accuracy of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the prediction of chemical and fermentation parameters of whole crop winter rye silages. A representative population of 216 fresh winter rye silages was used as database for studying the possibilities of NIRS to predict chemical composition and fermentation parameters. Samples of silage were scanned at 1 nm intervals over the wavelength range 680~2,500 nm and the optical data recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R) and scanned in fresh condition. NIRS calibrations were developed by means of partial least-squares (PLS) regression. NIRS analysis of fresh winter rye silages provided accurate predictions of moisture, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude protein (CP) and pH as well as lactic acid content with correlation coefficients of cross-validation (R2cv) of 0.96, 0.86, 0.79, 0.85, 0.82 and 0.78 respectively and standard error of cross-validation (SECV) of 1.89, 2.02, 2.79, 1.14, 1.47 and 0.46 % DM respectively. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of NIRS method to predict the chemical parameters of winter rye silages as routine analysis method in feeding value evaluation and for farmer advice.

In this paper, the wakes behind a square cylinder were simulated using two kinds of different turbulence models for the eddy viscosity concept such as the zero- and the one-equation model in which the former is the mixing length model and the latter is the k-equation model. For comparison between numerical and analytical solutions, we employed three skill assessments: the correlation coefficient(r) for the similarity of the wake shape, the error of maximum velocity difference(EMVD) for the accuracy of wake velocity and the ratio of drag coefficient(RDC) for the pressure distribution around the structure. On the basis of the numerical results, the feasibility of each model for wake simulation was discussed and a suitable value for the empirical constant was suggested in these turbulence models. The zero-equation model, known as the simplest turbulence model, overestimated the EMVD and its absolute mean error(AME) for r, EMVD and RDC was ranging from 20.3 % to 56.3 % for all test. But the AME by the one-equation model was ranging from 3.4 % to 19.9 %. The predicted values of the one-equation model substantially agreed with the analytical solutions at the empirical mixing length scale L=0.6b1/2 with the AME of 3.4 %. Therefore it was concluded that the one-equation model was suitable for the wake simulation behind a square cylinder when the empirical constant for eddy viscosity would be properly chosen.

In this experiment, a highly porous scaffold of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) was prepared using the spongereplica method. The BCP scaffold was coated with 58S bioactive glass (BG) and sintered for a second time. The resulting scaffold was coated with gelatin (Gel) and cross-linked with [3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide] and N-Hydroxysuccinamide (EDC-NHS). The initial average pore size of the scaffold ranged from 300 to 700μm, with more than 85 % porosity. The coating of BG and Gel had a significant effect on the scaffold-pore size, decreasing scaffold porosity while increasing mechanical strength. The material and surface properties were evaluated by means of several experiments involving scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Cytotoxicity was evaluated using MTT assay and confocal imaging of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells cultured in vitro. Three types of scaffold (BCP, BCP-BG and BCP-BG-Gel) were implanted in a rat skull for in vivo evaluation. After 8 weeks of implantation, bone regeneration occurred in all three types of sample. Interestingly, regeneration was found to be greater (geometrically and physiologically) for neat BCP scaffolds than for two other kinds of composite scaffolds. However, the other two types of scaffolds were still better than the control (i.e., defect without treatment).

Renal dysplasia is a developmental disorder of the renal parenchyma involving anomalous differentiation. It is characterized by persistent metanephric ducts surrounded by primitive mesenchyme, fetal or immature glomeruli, fetal or immature tubules, interstitial fibrosis, and dysontogenic metaplasia involving tissues such as cartilage. Renal dysplasia has been rarely reported in rats. Here, we observed a small left kidney in a rat used in a short-term repeat toxicity study. The rat showed no clinical signs throughout the study. All parameters, including those reflecting kidney functions, were normal upon hematological examination and urinalysis. Grossly, the kidney was small (5 × 8 mm) and its surface appeared normal. Histological examination revealed that the cortex and medulla were poorly demarcated and contained immature/atrophic glomeruli, immature renal tubules, and mesenchymal cells. The cortex contained immature glomeruli, atrophic glomeruli with cystic dilatation of Bowman’s capsular space, and some atypical tubules. Primitive metanephric tubules in the medulla were larger in diameter than normal collecting ducts, lined by a tall columnar epithelium with pale cytoplasm and basal nucleus, and surrounded by loose mesenchymal cells. Occasional tubules contained pale eosinophilic homogenous material in the lumen. Thus, this was diagnosed as a case of renal dysplasia on the basis of histologic features and is the first reported case of renal dysplasia in Sprague Dawley rats.

Insect constitute the largest and most diverse group of animals on world and also serve as the hosts or nutrient sources. In addition, several insects have a strong influence on people's emotion. To utilize the preference and interest of insects in the field of mental healthcare, a survey study was conducted with individual living in Korea. As results, the most people had a high preference and interest of insect, but some were disagreeable to the insect itself. The preference and interest of insect were high on male, adult and practician experienced insect-related events than female, student and non-practician, respectively. The most favored insects were familiar or pet insects such as Papilio xuthus, Lucanus maculifemoratus, Allomyrina dichotoma and Lampyridae. These results may be useful to develop a healing program for mental healthcare using insects. Further research is needed to determine the effects of these insect in the mental therapy for this purpose.