The present study was conducted to assess sperm characteristics in miniature-pig. The semen samples were transported to the laboratory at 17℃ within 3 hours after collection. The extended semen was stored at 17℃, and sperm quality was evaluated at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after storage. The semen volume of miniature-pig (62±22㎖) was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of Duroc (155±25㎖) and Yorkshire (154±23㎖). Significant differences were also observed in sperm concentrations. During 3 days of storage, sperm viability did not differ among miniature-pig, Duroc and Yorkshire. However, the viability was significantly (p<0.05) lower in miniature-pig than in Duroc and Yorkshire semen after Day 3 of storage. In abnormality, acrosome intactness and intensity, there were no differences among miniature-pig, Duroc and Yorkshire semen. On the other hand, the viability of frozen-thawed sperm in miniature-pig was significantly (p<0.05) lower than in that of Duroc and Yorkshire. This study also examined CTC patterns in frozen-thawed spermatozoa. The rates of AR pattern were higher in miniature-pig than in Duroc and Yorkshire. However, no difference was found in F, B and AR patterns. The results of present study suggest that further research is necessary to develop of semen extender and freezing methods to improve sperm quality in miniature-pig.

Open clusters are useful tools to investigate the structure and evolution of the Galactic disk. We have started a long-term project to obtain UBVI CCD photometry of open clusters which were little studied before, using the Doyak 1.8 m telescope of Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory in Korea. The primary goals of this project are (1) to make a catalog of UBVI photometry of open clusters, (2) to make an atlas of open clusters, and (3) to survey and monitor variable stars in open clusters. Here we describe this project and report the first results based on preliminary analysis of the data on four open clusters in the survey sample: Be 14, Cr 74, Biu 9, and NGC 2355. Isochrone fitting of the color-magnitude diagrams of the clusters shows that all of them are intermediate age to old (0.3-1.6 Gyrs) open clusters with moderate metallicity.

The effects of acetic acid (AA) on aerobic plate counts (APC), gram-negative bacterial counts (GNC), and generation time (GT) in chicken wings stored at 4℃ were assessed. Chicken wings were treated with 0.5-1.5% (v/v) AA at exposure times of 5 min. Treatments of AA for 5 min significantly (P$lt;0.05) reduced aerobic plate counts (APC) and gram-negative bacterial counts (GNC) on the surface of chicken wings for 8 days, respectively. After 4 days of storage, treatments of 1.0% AA and 1.5% AA for 5 min completely (P$lt;0.05) inhibited APC and GNC compared to initial controls. Based on these results, treatments of 1.0% AA and 1.5 % AA for 5 min prolonged the microbiological shelf-life for 8 days compared to those of 0.5% AA and the controls. All treatments of AA increased the lag phase and GT of aerobic microorganisms.