Pleurotus eryngii is one of the most commercially important mushrooms cultivated in Korea. However, the shelf-life of the fruiting body is short, limiting its export. A new hybrid strain H17 of P. eryngii was developed to extend the shelf-life by mono-mono crossing between monokaryotic strains derived from DanBi and KNR2774. Although the cultivation period of H17 was slightly longer than that of the reference cultivar Kenneutari No.2, the quality did not change and remained normal after a period of 65.0 days at 4°C. This result was significantly different from that of the reference cultivar Kenneutari No.2. Analysis of the genetic characteristics of the new hybrid strain H17 revealed a different profile from that of the parental and reference cultivars when random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers was used. These results demonstrate that H17 is a new cultivar with improved storability after harvesting.

Lignosus rhinocerotis, commonly known as Tiger Milk Mushroom, has been long extolled for its medicinal properties and used for treatment of asthma, cough, fever, cancer, liver-related illnesses, joint pains and as tonic. The history of usage for Tiger Milk Mushroom dates back to almost 400 years, ago but there were no records of scientific studies done due to inavailability of sufficient samples. Even when there were samples collected from the wild, the supply and quality was inconsistent. With the advent of cultivation success of one of the most utilized species of Tiger milk mushroom (L. rhinocerotis) in 2009 (known as TM02), scientific investigation was done to validate its traditional use and to investigate its safety for consumption, biochemical and biopharmacological properties. Preclinical toxicology evaluations showed that TM02 did not induce adverse effects on fertility. It also poses neither teratogenic effects nor genotoxicity. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) dose of the TM02 in 180-day chronic toxicity study is 1000 mg/kg which is equivalent to 162 mg/kg human dose, anticipated dose for a 60 kg adult is ~10g. The effective dosage of TM02 is as low as 0.5g per day for an adult. There is therefore, a huge margin for the safe consumption of TM02. TM02 is proven to be effective in supporting the lung and respiratory health, immune health, maintenance of joint health (caused by inflammation), improving vitality and stamina and improving the quality of life for cancer patients. Recent scientific findings have shown that TM02 contains various active components such as the polysaccharides-protein complexes, β-glucans, proteins, immuno-modulatory proteins all of which could play possible roles in rendering significant therapeutic properties such as anti-inflammatory, immuno-modulatory, anti-proliferative, anti-oxidative, neurite outgrowth stimulation etc. The revelation of the genome, transcriptome, proteome of L. rhinocerotis by MMRG has provided valuable insights into the biomolecule discovery and provided the foundation for future research and exploitation of L. rhinocerotis in pharmacological and functional food applications. These data forms a valuable foundation for future research in the exploitation of the L. rhinocerotis in pharmacological and industrial applications.

In this work, p-type Bi−Sb−Te alloys powders are prepared using gas atomization, a mass production powder preparation method involving rapid solidification. To study the effect of the sintering temperature on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties, gas-atomized powders are consolidated at different temperatures (623, 703, and 743 K) using spark plasma sintering. The crystal structures of the gas-atomized powders and sintered bulks are identified using an X-ray diffraction technique. Texture analysis by electron backscatter diffraction reveals that the grains are randomly oriented in the entire matrix, and no preferred orientation in any unique direction is observed. The hardness values decrease with increasing sintering temperature owing to a decrease in grain size. The conductivity increases gradually with increasing sintering temperature, whereas the Seebeck coefficient decreases owing to increases in the carrier mobility with grain size. The lowest thermal conductivity is obtained for the bulk sintered at a low temperature (603 K), mainly because of its fine-grained microstructure. A peak ZT of 1.06 is achieved for the sample sintered at 703 K owing to its moderate electrical conductivity and sustainable thermal conductivity.

Chinese longhorned beetle (CLB; Anoplophora chinensis) and Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; A. glabripennis) were accidentally introduced into the US from the Asia back in 90s’ and have been causing economic damage on hardwood species in the US. An international cooperative team made field surveys in Korea to find parasitoids of CLB and ALB using sentinel logs that were infested with eggs of the two cerambycids.. As a result, two parasitic wasps of Anopolophora species were newly recognised from Korea: Aprostocetus anoplophorae Delvare (Eulophidae) as an egg parasitoid of CLB and Leluthia honshuensis Belokobylskij & Maeto (Braconidae) as a larval parasitoid of ALB. Identification was made using both morphological and molecular data. Morphological information was provided along with images of developmental stages and adults.

The present study investigated the effect of enzyme inclusion on silage quality using meta-analysis tool. A total of 16 research papers reporting the effect of enzyme application on silage quality were employed in the meta-analysis of this study. Mixed model for integrating quantitative results from multiple studies was used first to calculate the predicted error of each study. Individual error from the estimated model was the applied into standard deviation of each study to calculate the mean difference. Finally, summary effect was determined using standard mean difference (SMD) and inversed variance weighting. Mixed model analysis and SMD analysis showed the same effect patterns in all analysis items. Enzyme inclusion in silage significantly (p < 0.05) altered all silage quality characteristics investigated compared to control when enzyme was not included. Our results showed that enzyme treatment increased dry matter content, preserved crude protein effectively, and elevated water soluble carbohydrate content. However, the pH value, acetic acid, propionic acid, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber contents in silage with enzyme inclusion were lower than those of the control.

Based on the reciprocity theory, a dynamic reciprocal behavior model is verified by sampling the US and French group tourists in Tibet. Result shows that the US group tourists have only negative reciprocity, and French ones have both positive and negative reciprocity, indicating that tourists are more willing to sacrifice their interests to revenge hostile persons.

P-type ternary Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 alloys are fabricated via mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Different ball sizes are used in the MA process, and their effect on the microstructure; hardness, and thermoelectric properties of the p-type BiSbTe alloys are investigated. The phases of milled powders and bulks are identified using an X-ray diffraction technique. The morphology of milled powders and fracture surface of compacted samples are examined using scanning electron microscopy. The morphology, phase, and grain structures of the samples are not altered by the use of different ball sizes in the MA process. Measurements of the thermoelectric (TE) transport properties including the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor are measured at temperatures of 300- 400 K for samples treated by SPS. The TE properties do not depend on the ball size used in the MA process.

The bean bug, Riptortus pedestris (Hemiptera: Alydidae), is a major pest of soybean and tree fruit in Korea. To protect crops, chemical insecticides have been widely used. However, the effects of insecticides is not only reduce the pest population but also change of pest behavior. In this study, we tested the effects of two insecticides, etofenprox (pyrethroid) and acetamiprid (neonicotinoid), on the behavior of R. pedestris. Two insecticides were diluted with water based on the conventional spray dose. After exposed to insecticide residue, adult R. pedestris was put individually into a clean petri dish with soybean. The behavior of R. pedestris was video-recorded for 16 hours. The frequencies of approaching to food and feeding were compared to the untreated control group. R. pedestris exposed to etofenprox made more frequent approaching to the food, but those exposed to acetamiprid made less frequent approaching compared to the control group. When compared to the control group, the feeding frequency of acetamiprid-exposed group was significantly reduced but etofenprox-exposed group showed more frequent feeding activity. In both treatments, the feeding probability, calculated by feeding frequency divided by approaching frequency, was reduced compared to the control. We conclude that acetamiprid may protect crops by reducing the frequency of R. pedestris to approach and feed on crops.

Temperature as a major environmental factor affects on organisms on various levels including molecular, physiological, behavioral and ecological levels. Transient receptor potential channels (TRPs) are a cation channel family. Among them, thermo-TRPs are known as a thermosensor. The potential role of thermo-TRPs have been identified in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, in thermotaxis and in thermal acclimation. With RNA interference (RNAi) technique, the role of thermo-TRPs in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, was identified by measuring thermal avoidance behavior in a behavioral assay. RNAi of trpA1 reduced high temperature avoidance, 39 and 42 °C. Moreover, the effects of RNAi of thermo-TRPs on the heat-induced knockout and the death after short exposure to high temperature was measured after one minute exposure at 52 °C, either with or without a 42 °C 10-minute thermal acclimation period. Even though it was relatively short time exposure to high temperature, it was enough to induce high temperature thermal acclimation. RNAi of trpA1 made faster knockout at 52 °C. With RNAi of painless, the recovery rates from heat-induced knockout after thermal acclimation. RNAi of pyrexia reduced long-term total survivorship without thermal acclimation.

Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) based ceramics are considered potential lead-free alternatives for Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT) based ceramics in various applications such as sensors, actuators and transducers. However, BNT-based ceramics have lower electromechanical performance as compared with PZT based ceramics. Therefore, in this work, lead-free bulk 0.99[(Bi0.5Na0.5)0.935Ba0.065](1-x)LaxTiO3-0.01SrZO3 (BNBTLax-SZ, with x = 0, 0.01, 0.02) ceramics were synthesized by a conventional solid state reaction The crystal structure, dielectric response, degree of diffuseness and electric-field-induced strain properties were investigated as a function of different La concentrations. All samples were crystallized into a single phase perovskite structure. The temperature dependent dielectric response of La-modified BNBT-SZ ceramics showed lower dielectric response and improved field-induced strain response. The field induced strain increased from 0.17% for pure BNBT-SZ to 0.38 % for 1 mol.% La-modified BNBT-SZ ceramics at an applied electric field of 6 kV/mm. These results show that Lamodified BNBT-SZ ceramic system is expected to be a new candidate material for lead-free electronic devices.

The Horizon Run 4 is a cosmological N-body simulation designed for the study of coupled evolution between galaxies and large-scale structures of the Universe, and for the test of galaxy formation models. Using 63003 gravitating particles in a cubic box of Lbox = 3150 h−1Mpc, we build a dense forest of halo merger trees to trace the halo merger history with a halo mass resolution scale down to Ms = 2.7 × 1011h−1M⊙. We build a set of particle and halo data, which can serve as testbeds for comparison of cosmological models and gravitational theories with observations. We find that the FoF halo mass function shows a substantial deviation from the universal form with tangible redshift evolution of amplitude and shape. At higher redshifts, the amplitude of the mass function is lower, and the functional form is shifted toward larger values of ln(1/σ). We also find that the baryonic acoustic oscillation feature in the two-point correlation function of mock galaxies becomes broader with a peak position moving to smaller scales and the peak amplitude decreasing for increasing directional cosine μ compared to the linear predictions. From the halo merger trees built from halo data at 75 redshifts, we measure the half-mass epoch of halos and find that less massive halos tend to reach half of their current mass at higher redshifts. Simulation outputs including snapshot data, past lightcone space data, and halo merger data are available at http://sdss.kias.re.kr/astro/Horizon-Run4.

The genus Sphathius is belong to the subfamily Doryctinae in the family Braconidae and are described with >300 species in the world (Shenefelt and Marsh, 1976). This genus is distinguished from other winged Doryctinae by 1) forewings with three submarginal cells; 2) first subdiscal cell of forewing closed; and 3) first metasomal segment petiolate, widening apically, lacking basal wing-like projections, and inserted on propodeum near coxal bases (Marsh, 1997). For the purpose of finding the biological agent for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky)) and Citrus longhorned beetle (CLB; A. chinensis (Förster)), we had installed the ALB- and CLB-infested sentinel logs to attract parasitoids at experimental field of the Korea National Arboretum during summer season in 2014. Several L1 and L2 CLB larvae were found attacked by braconid larvae that were reared to adult stage. Their larvae are identified to Spathius gwangneungensis sp. nov. belong to the Spathius exarator species group. This new species has special characteristics as following; Body reddish brown or dark reddish brown, body length 2.5~3.7mm and forewing length 2.2~3.0mm in female and body length 2.1~2.6mm and forewing length 1.5~2.0mm in male, hind femur distinctly transversely aciculate dorsally, forewing more or less infuscate with a longitudinal hyaline band medially, vein m-cu of hind wing interstitial, second tergite entirely sculptured without striation, and third to fifth tergites basally sculptured. Ovipositor sheath 0.6 times as long as metasoma.

This study researched the relationship between the element of "Favorable and Friendly" emotion on product design and the consumer's reaction to it. The emotional elements used here were proposed in the existing study. The research method was divided into 1st test and 2nd test. In the 1st test result, Favorable was related to "want to own, simple, new product and high-class", and also connected with "digital product, gaming product and computers". The products related to Friendly had association with the items about "interesting, cute, familiar, warmth and soft", and also connected with "simple product (toylike, household items, etc), low-price product, product which likes a friend, soft product, kitchen product and beauty treatments product, and so on". In the 2nd test, the preference of emotional product was high than general product, and it was known from the evaluation about design preference and design elements. If the preference was high following the order as: "Formativeness> Trend> Aesthetics> Color", the difference among the scores were small. And then the result about the relationship of emotional design factor "Favorable & Friendly" and evaluation of design preference & design elements was extraction.

SERPINB3 (also known Squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1, SCCA1) is involved in apoptosis, immune response, cell migration and invasiveness of cells. It has been investigated in various types of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore we investigated the functional role of SERPINB3 gene in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) using laying hens, the most relevant animal model. In 136 laying hens, EOC was found in 10 (7.4%). We compared the expression and localization of SERPINB3 using RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and SERPINB3 activation was detected in chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines using immunofluorescence microscopy. Thereafter, we examined the prognostic value of SERPINB3 expression in patients with EOC by multivariate linear logistic regression and Cox’ proportional hazard analyses. In present study, SERPINB3 mRNA was induced in cancerous ovaries (p< 0.01), and it was only expressed in the glandular epithelium(GE) of cancerous ovaries of laying hens. SERPINB3 protein was localized predominantly to the nucleus of glandular epithelium in cancerous ovaries of laying hens, and it was abundant in the nucleus of both chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines. In 109 human patients with EOC, 15 (13.8%), 66 (60.6%) and 28 (25.7%) of those patients showed weak, moderate and strong expression of SERPINB3 protein, respectively. Strong expression of SERPINB3 protein was a prognostic factor for platinum resistance (adjusted OR, 5.94; 95% Confidence Limits, 1.21-29.15). Therefore SERPINB3 may play an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and be a novel biomarker for predicting platinum resistance and a poor prognosis for survival in patients with EOC. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010- 0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Brentidae, a family of primitive weevils, is associated with dead woods mainly in the tropical rain forests and includes approximately 1,750 species worldwide. The genus Cyphagogus has been known more than 60 species from Madagascar to Samoa and Fiji islands and from Japan to Australia and Tasmania. Twelve species were previously recognized from Asia and Oriental region, among them three species from Japan, two from China. One male of the genus Cyphagogus was collected during faunal studies of wood-boring insects in the Gwangneung forest of South Korea in 2011. The species was identified as C. iwatensis Morimoto, which was described on two female specimens in 1976. This is the first discovery of the male of C. iwatensis as well as the first record of the genus and species in the country. Diagnosis and photographs of the detailed diagnostic characters including line drawing of male genitalia are provided in the present study, with a key to the East Asian species of bipunctatus-group.

Sepsis is a clinical syndrome defined as a systemic inflammatory response to infection. Eritoran is a synthetic lipid A derivative that competes with lipopolysaccharide in binding to the identical site of myeloid differentiation-2/toll-like receptor 4 complex. Eritoran is effective in decreasing the septic mortality of Gram-negative bacteria-infected animals. Eritoran has been highlighted as a candidate drug for treatment of endotoxemia in phase I clinical studies with healthy human volunteers. A phase II trial of eritoran has been conducted in patients with severe sepsis. Intravenous infusion of eritoran reduced the mortality rate, as compared with the placebo group, in sepsis patients at a high risk of mortality according to acute physiology and chronic health evaluation-II scores. A phase III study of eritoran was completed in 2011. The results appear to be disappointing as no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality was observed between the eritoran treatment group and the placebo group on day 28 in sepsis patients with a high risk of death. In this review, we focus on the rationale for the use of eritoran in treatment of sepsis as well as its clinical applications.