Feral cats are widely considered to be leading the potential impacts on public health. This study aimed to provide estimates of vital data for feral cats relating Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to establish strategies effectively to manage feral cats in Pyeongtaek. Thus, this study focused on estimating feral cat population in Pyeongtaek and conducted a comparative analysis of the data for feral cats in Seoul (2013). The number of feral cats was estimated from 23,069 to 26,655 in Pyeongtaek, 2019. In relation to human population, when comparing the number of feral cats of Pyeongtaek and Seoul, it ranged from 4.57% to 5.28%, and from 1.97% to 2.55% respectively. This showed that Pyeongtaek was higher than Seoul. Fewer kittens were found in high-density areas, which the TNR project is believed to be generally effective in controlling the number of feral cats. In conclusion, in urban and rural complexes such as Pyeongtaek City, the number of feral cats compared to the population was higher than that of Seoul City, and the TNR program is believed to be somewhat effective in controlling the number of feral cats. When implementing TNR, it is necessary periodically to investigate the population and reflect them in policymaking.

The occurrence of exotic weeds and their influx into farmlands due to climate change poses many problems. Therefore, it is necessary to generate a prediction model for the occurrence pattern of these exotic weeds based on scientific evidence and devise prevention measures. The photosynthetic apparatus is known as the most temperaturesensitive component of a plant cell and its initial response to temperature stress is to inhibit the activation of photosystem II. This study investigated the potential of OJIP transients in assessing temperature stress in exotic weeds. The four exotic weeds currently flowing into Korean farmlands include Amaranthus spinosus, Conyza bonariensis, Crassocephalum crepidioides, and Amaranthus viridis. These weeds were treated at 5°C, 10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, 30°C, 35°C, and 40°C and the OJIP curves and JIP parameters were measured and analyzed. The results showed that heat and chilling stress affected the photosystem II (PSII) electron transport of A. spinosus, whereas C. crepidioides and A. viridis were more affected by high-temperature stress than by low-temperature stress. Lastly, C. bonariensis showed resistance to both high and low-temperature stress. The results of this study suggest that OJIP transients and JIP parameters can be used to analyze damage to the photosynthetic apparatus by temperature stress and that they can serve as sensitive indicators for the occurrence pattern of exotic weeds.

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes respiratory disease in birds and mammals, including pigs and humans. Infection by IAV in pigs increases not only economic losses in the swine industry but also the emergence of novel IAV variants via gene reassortment, which is important due to the susceptibility of both birds and humans to IAV. This study provides serological data obtained during a study to detect IAV infections in pigs in the Republic of Korea during 2018 and 2019. A total of 1,559 samples were collected from 74 domestic pig farms. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assays were performed using the A/Swine/Korea/25-13(H1N1), A/Swine/Korea/E102 (H1N2), and A/Swine/Korea/Cy10/2007 (H3N2) viruses as antigens. The HI assay results showed that 266 of the 1,559 samples were seropositive (17.0%). Among these, H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 comprised 7.3% (114), 6.0% (93), and 8.8% (137) of the 1,559 samples, respectively. Co-infections of H1N1/H1N2, H1N1/H3N2, H1N2/H3N2 and H1N1/H1N2/H3N2 were observed in 2.1% (31), 1.5% (23), 1.5% (24), and 0.8% (13) of the 1,559 samples, respectively. Interestingly, IAV infections were detected in all nine provinces of the country.

In this study, antibody responses after vaccination against equine influenza were investigated among 1,591 horses in the Republic of Korea using the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. Equine influenza has not occurred since 2011 and a commercial vaccine against H3N8 has been used. The equine influenza virus, A/equine/South Africa/4/03 (H3N8), was used as the antigen in the HI assay. The mean seropositive rate was 90.5% in 2019. Except for stallion whose seropositive rate was 78.5%, all seropositive rates of other horse types were over 90%. Regionally, except for Gangwon-do and Jeju-do whose seropositive rates were 89.0% and 87.1%, all seropositive rates in other provinces were over 90%. In the future, more through vaccination against equine influenza needs to be done based on this investigation result.

In this paper, nitrogen (N)-doped ultra-porous carbon derived from lignin is synthesized through hydrothermal carbonization, KOH activation, and post-doping process for CO2 adsorption. The specific surface areas of obtained N-doped porous carbons range from 247 to 3064 m2/g due to a successful KOH activation. N-containing groups of 0.62–1.17 wt% including pyridinic N, pyridone N, pyridine-N-oxide are found on the surface of porous carbon. N-doped porous carbon achieves the maximum CO2 adsorption capacity of 13.6 mmol/g at 25 °C up to 10 atm and high stability over 10 adsorption/desorption cycles. As confirmed by enthalpy calculation with the Clausius–Clapeyron equation, an adsorption heat of N-doped porous carbon is higher than non-doped porous carbon, indicating a role of N functionalities for enhanced CO2 adsorption capability. The overall results suggest that this carbon has high CO2 capture capacity and can be easily regenerated and reused without any clear loss of CO2 adsorption capacity.

We studied the infection rate of and various metacercariocidal approaches to controlling Gymnophalloides seoi for prevention of human infection in cultured and natural oysters in Korea. The selected survey areas were Aphae-do (Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do), which is an endemic area for G. seoi, and Tongyeong (Geonsangnam-do), which is the main production area of oysters in Korea. In the Tongyeong area, the metacercariae of G. seoi were not detected in cultured oysters (0/201) or wild oysters (0/134). Seventy-two G. seoi metacercariae were observed in 33 of 265 natural oysters collected from Aphae-do; however, metacercariae were not detected in the cultured oysters (0/1101) purchased from the Daejeon Fish Market. To investigate the viability of G. seoi metacercariae, various metacercariocidal treatments were used with 3.5% saline and oyster juice used as positive controls. The metacercariae survived for 75.4 h in 3.5% saline and 112.6 h in oyster juice. After the metacercariocidal treatment, G. seoi metacercariae were survived for 13.29 min in tap water, < 20 sec in 4.3% vinegar, no effect in a rinse of the whole oyster body in 70°C water for 1 sec, but 1 sec in a rinse of the whole oyster body in 90°C water for 1 sec. The greatest metacercariocidal effect on G. seoi was from rinsing oysters in 90°C water followed by those from treatment with 20% ethyl alcohol, 4.3% vinegar, and tap water. However, we suggest that the most actual prevention to G. seoi human infection is rinsing the oysters with tap water for at least 30 min.

Chlorella-derived activated carbon (CDAC) with a high specific surface area and hierarchical pore structure was prepared as a CO2 adsorbent and as a supercapacitor electrode material. During KOH activation of Chlorella-derived carbon, metallic K gas penetrated from the outer walls to the inner cells, and pores formed on the outer frame and the inner surface. Micropores were dominant in CDAC, contributing toward a high specific surface area (> 3500 m2/g) and a hierarchical pore structure owing to the cell walls. Consequently, CDAC exhibited a high CO2 adsorption capacity (13.41 mmol/g at 10 atm and room temperature) and afforded high specific capacitance (142 F/g) and rate capability (retention ratio: 91.5%) in supercapacitors. Compared with woody- and herbaceous-biomass-derived activated carbons, CDAC has a superior specific surface area when the precursors are used without any pretreatment under the same conditions due to their soft components such as lipids and proteins. Furthermore, developing microalgae into high-value-added products is beneficial from both economic and environmental perspectives.

The Eurytoma maslovskii conduces the unexpected plum dropping. It stayed overwinter inside the pits of the dropped plums and able to oviposit on plum surface when the diameter of the plums are over 16 mm prior to endocarp hardening. To control this harmful pests is too much essential to plum orchard. Therefore, the plum seed crusher (PSC) was designed and developed according to the purpose of perishing the pests through destroying the dropped plums. The rocks and the weeds were removed from the plum orchard prior to the test. Manually operated plum seed crusher picked-up the dropped plums from the ground and crushed them. The performance of PSC was evaluated by applying 2.5 and 3.0 km/h travelling speeds, and controlling the gaps; 18, and 28 mm intervals between plum pick-up discs. The test result showed the plum pick-up rate was 98±2.0%, and 92±5.3% with the machine travelling speed of 3.0 km/h in laboratory. Further, it changed to 95±8.7%, and 93±5.8% when the travelling speed was used 2.5 km/h. In both cases of test plum pick-up discs were maintained 18 mm, and 28 mm gap intervals, respectively. Furthermore, in field conditions, pursuing to similar gap intervals, the plum pick-up rate was 94±4.0%, and 92±2.0% with the speed of 3.0 km/h albeit it showed 92±4.0%, and 90±3.5% when the speed was decreased to 2.5 km/h. The maximum plum pick-up rate was found at 18 mm disc intervals with 3.0 km/h travelling speeds. The crushing teeth were selected 8 mm in height by repeated test to destroy the plum seeds. The result showed 100% crushing efficiency was facilitated to entire tests at 280 RPM crushing speeds regardless of plum sizes and shapes. This machine is preferred for the farmers to control the damage of plums by preventing the propagation of the identified pests.

Toll and IMD pathways play an important role in producing antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) through NF-κB in insects. The functions of IκB kinase (IKK) complex regulating the NF-κB signaling cascade have not yet been investigated in Tenebrio model. Here, we identified TmIKK-β (or TmIrd5) which contains 2,112 bp encoding 703 amino acid residues. Domain analysis shows that TmIKK-β contains one Serine/Threonine protein kinases catalytic domain. Developmental expression patterns indicate that TmIKK- β gene was highly expressed in early pupal (P1) and adult (A5) stages. Tissue specific profiles show that TmIKK-β was highly expressed in the integuments in last instar larvae, and fat body and hemocytes in 5 day-old adults. TmIKK-β1 transcripts were strongly induced at 3 and 12 h-post injection of E. coli, and 3 h-post injection of S. aureus or C. albicans in hemocytes. In gut, TmIKK-β transcripts were slightly induced by E. coli (at 6, 9 and 24 h) and C. albicans (at 24 h), while it was not induced by S. aureus challenge. Moreover, it was highly induced at 6 h-post injection of E. coli and then it was gradually decreased in the fat body. To understand the immunological role of TmIKK-β, gene specific RNAi and mortality assay was performed. Depletion of TmIKK-β mRNA leads to increase microbial susceptibility of larvae against E. coli, S. aureus and C. albicans. In addition, induction patterns of fourteen AMP genes in response to microbial challenge was tissue specifically investigated in TmIKK-β–silenced T. molitor larvae. The results suggest that expression of ten AMP genes out of fourteen genes were drastically decreased by TmIKK-β RNAi in fat body, suggesting that TmIKK-β plays an important role in antimicrobial innate immune responses.

It has been well known that IKK-β, -ε and –γ play a pivotal role in IMD pathway. In this study, TmIKK-ε was identified and their functions in countering pathogenic infections were investigated. We identified TmIKK-ε gene which including 2,196 bp nucleotides (encoding 731 amino acid residues). Domain analysis of TmIKK-ε indicates that there is one Serine/Threonine protein kinases catalytic domain. TmIKK-ε gene was highly expressed in 2 day-old pupal stage and the expression was gradually decreased until 1 day-old adults. Then the expression was slightly increased until 4 day-old adult stage. Tissue specific expression of TmIKK-ε mRNA was high in the gut, integuments and hemocytes in last instar larvae, and fat body, Malpighian tubules and testis in 5-daysold adult. In hemocytes, TmIKK-ε was drastically induced by E. coli injection after 3 h and by S. aureus at 3 and 12 h-post injection. In gut, expression level of TmIKK-ε was high at 6 h-post injection of microbial injection. Expression of TmIKK-ε in fat body was drastically induced by E. coli at 3 and 24 h-post injection while it was not significantly induced by S. aureus and C. albicans. To understand the immunological role of TmIKK-ε, gene specific RNAi and mortality assay were performed. TmIKK-ε RNAi caused increased larval mortality against E. coli, not S. aureus and C. albicans. Finally, to investigate the induction patterns of Tenebrio fourteen AMP genes in response TmIKK-ε RNAi, three microorganisms were treated into TmIKK-ε-silenced T. molitor larvae. Nine out of fourteen AMP genes were not induced by microbial challenge in TmIKK-β dsRNA-injected group. Taken together, our results indicate that TmIKK-ε may regulates nine antimicrobial peptide genes in response to microbial challenge in T. molitor fat body.

Autophagy is an important self-eating process to eliminate damaged or unused organelles. We identified nine autophagy-related genes (Atg) including AaAtg-1, -3, -4b, -4d, -5, -6, -8, -12 and -13 from the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. Developmental expression patterns indicate that mRNA levels of AaAtg-1, -3, -4b, -4d, -5, -6, -12 and -13 were highly expressed in egg, whereas expression of AaAtg8 was high in 1stand3rdinstarlarvalstages. TissuespecificexpressionofthesegenesindicatesthatAaAtg1 was highly expressed in thorax and midgut in blood-fed adult female mosquitoes (BF), and head and thorax in sugar fed adult female mosquitoes (SF). Transcript level of AaAtg3 was high in thorax in BF, but head, thorax and Malpighian tubules in SF. AaAtg4b, -4d mRNA levels were significantly high in Malpighian tubules in BF, and head in SF, respectively. AaAtg-5 and -6 transcripts were highly expressed in head in BF, and expression of AaAtg-8 was high in Malpighian tubules in BF. Levels of AaAtg-12 and -13 mRNAs were significantly high in head and midgut in BF. Induction patterns of AaAtg genes against pathogens showed that AaAtg-1, -3, -4b, -8, -12 and -13 were strongly induced at 6 h-post injection of S. aureus, and mRNA levels of AaAtg-1, -3 and -13 were significantly induced by E. coli challenge after 3 h-post injection in SF abdominal carcass. In SF midgut, AaAtg-1, -3, -4b, -4d, -5, -6, -12 and -13 transcripts were drastically induced at 9 h-injection of E. coli and S. aureus, while expression of AaAtg-8 was highly induced by S. aureus and C. albicans at 9 h-post injection. Each AaAtg gene was slightly induced by E. coli, S. aureus or C. albicans at different time points in abdominal carcass in BF. Interestingly, AaAtg-8 was not induced by microbial challenge. While eight other Atg genes except AaAtg-8 were highly influenced by S. aureus at 6 and 9 h-post injection, E. coli at 3 h-post-treatment, and 3, 6, and 9 h-post inoculation. In the future, we will characterize the functional roles of autophagy during mosquito-microbes interaction.

Host defense against pathogen invasion highly relies on immune defense machinery that is controlled by the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) of transcription factors. The Toll pathway are well known as an insect innate immune mechanism to protect host itself from invaded pathogens. Basically, in the edible insect, Tenebrio molitor, the Toll pathway is primarily activated by polymeric Lys-type peptidoglycans (PGNs), and components of fungal cell walls, β-1,3-glucan. Based on the current studies, the tremendous study has been focused on recognition and subsequent activation of spätzle in haemolymph, hence, there is a grave gap for intracellular event. Herein, in order to understand intracellular event of Toll signaling pathway, the Dorsal gene were identified. Moreover, domain analyses of TmDorsal2 gene indicate that there are two major domains such as Rel homology domain (RHD), ig-like, plexins, and transcription factors (IPT) domains. Based on the achieved results, TmDorsal2 mRNA was highly expressed in 1-day old pupa. Furthermore, TmDorsal2 was highly expressed in Malpighian tubules and fat body in last instar larvae (LL), and likewise mainly expressed in Malpighian tubules during adult 5-day old period, also the lowest expression of TmDorsal2 was observed in gonads. Moreover, TmDorsal2 mRNA levels after infection with E. coli appreciably went up at 6 and 9h time points. To investigate the effects of TmDorsal2 RNAi on larval susceptibility against various pathogens namely E. coli, S. aureus or C.albicans, dsRNA of TmDorsal2 has been synthesized the larvae dissected after 24h. As a result, TmAttacin1a, 1b and 2, TmDefencine1 and 2, TmTenecin1, 2, 3 and 4, TmCecropin2, TmColeoptericin1 and 2, Thaumatin-like protein 1 and 2 markedly reduced in the gut after injecting all mentioned microbes. In contrast, TmTenecin 2, Thaumatin-like protein 1 and 2 strikingly increased after microbe injection in the fat body. Interestingly, the most AMPs gene expression in whole body experimental case were upregulated. On the horizon, we will investigate effects of TmDorsal1 RNAi on larval susceptibility against various pathogens. Taken together, our studies may aid to understand insect innate immunity.

IKK-γ is an essential protein to form IKK complex which regulate NF-κB. We identified TmIKK-γ (or TmKenny) gene which has 1,521 bp of nucleotides encoding 506 amino acid residues. Domain analysis of TmIKK-γ shows that there are one NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO) domain and a leucine zipper domain. Expression of TmIKK-γ gene was gradually increased from egg to 2-day-old pupal stage, dramatically decreased until 7 day-old pupal stage, and then it was gradually increased. TmIKK-γ transcripts were highly expressed in fat body and hemocytes in late instar larvae and integuments, fat body and Malpighian tubules in 5 day-old adult. TmIKK-γ was drastically induced by E. coli after 3 h challenges and by S. aureus at 3 and 12 h-post injection in hemocytes. TmIKK-γ was not induced by C. albicans although it was significantly induced by E. coli (at 3, 6 and 24 h) and S. aureus (at 9 h) in gut. In fat body, expression of TmIKK-γ was drastically induced by E. coli at 3 and 24 h-post injection while it was not significantly induced by S. aureus and C. albicans. To understand the immunological role of TmIKK-γ, gene specific RNAi and mortality assay was performed. larval mortality against microbial challenge was dramatically increased by TmIKK-γ RNAi. Furthermore, we investigate the tissue specific induction patterns of fourteen AMP genes in response TmIKK-γ dsRNA-treatment. In fat body, ten AMP genes out of fourteen was not significantly induced by microbial challenge in TmIKK-γ dsRNA-treated group. Based on these results, TmIKK-γ might play an important role in antimicrobial innate immune responses in Tenebrio molitor.

The objectives of this study was to evaluate the degradability and digestibility of crude protein (CP), rumen undegradable protein (RUP), and individual amino acids (AA) on six by-product feedstuffs (BPF) (rice bran, RB; wheat bran, WB; corn gluten feed, CGF; tofu residue, TR; spent mushroom substrate from Pleurotus ostreatus, SMSP; brewers grain, BG) as ruminants feed. Three Hanwoo steers (40 months old, 520 ± 20.20 kg of body weight) fitted with a permanent rumen cannula and T-shaped duodenal cannula were used to examine of the BPF using in situ nylon bag and mobile bag technique. The bran CGF (19.2%) and food-processing residue BG (19.7%) had the highest CP contents than other feeds. The RUP value of bran RB (39.7%) and food-processing residues SMSP (81.1%) were higher than other feeds. The intestinal digestion of CP was higher in bran RB (44.2%) and food-processing residues BG (40.5%) than other feeds. In addition, intestinal digestion of Met was higher in bran RB (55.7%) and food-processing residues BG (44.0%) than other feeds. Overall, these results suggest that RB and BG might be useful as main raw ingredients in feed for ruminants. Our results can be used as baseline data for ruminant ration formulation.

In recent years, pavement distresses have been caused by diverse factors such as spalling, deterioration of repaired sections, blow-up, and alkali aggregate reaction due to changing climate environment of a concrete pavement and its construction and maintenance conditions (supply of materials, increase in use of de-icers, etc,). As a leading repair method for deteriorated concrete pavements, partial-depth repair is implemented in accordance with guidelines of material properties for joints of a concrete pavement and field application evaluation systems, but still some of the repaired sections become deteriorated again at an early stage due to poor construction quality and failure of response to environmental impacts. Distresses that can be corrected with partial-depth repairs are largely divided into those of repair materials and of the existing pavement bonded to repair materials, and combined distress of repair materials and the existing pavement. Although re-repair methods should be different by distress type and scale than conventional pavement repair methods, appropriate repair methods and guidance for re-repairs have not been in place so far, and therefore currently, re-repair practices follow the existing manual of partial depth repairs. Therefore, this study evaluated concrete bond characteristics by removing method and repair scope for an experimental section of frequently distressed pavements to determine a re-repair scope and method for deteriorated partial depth repair sections of concrete pavement, the number of which has increased over time.