Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus HOPE (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are considered as important pine forestinsect pests in several countries which transmits the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophylus. In this study, wetried to control Japanese pine sawyer using entomopathogenic fungi to prevent the spread of pine wilt disease in Korea.Several entomopathogenic fungi were exposed to the adults of Japanese pine sawyer and mycosis was observed in themembranous cuticles after 6 days. In particular, two isolates showed high virulence against the adults. The selected 2isolates were sprayed to the adults at 1×105, 1×106 and 1×107 conidia/ml. In the concentration of 1×107 conidia/ml, thesurvival rates of insects were 40% and 47%, respectively. Based on these results, the possibility of controlling the Japanesepine sawyer was confirmed.

Chemical pesticides have been used for persimmon pest control, however the overuse caused insect resistance andenvironmental toxicity. Herein this work, we investigated the biological potential of eco-friendly organic pesticides (biologicals)and entomopathogenic fungi in controlling persimmon pests, Stathmopoda masinisaa and Riptortus pedetris. A botanicalmixture of Chinese scholar tree, goosefoot and subtripinnata extract, Bacillus thuringesis NT0423 and one isolate of Beauveriabassiana showed high insecticidal activity against the pests in laboratory conditions. The selected botanical extract andmicroorganism were combined with a chemical pesticide (buprofezin+dinotefuran WP) and were assessed their controlefficacy in persimmon fields. Compared to the three times of chemical spray, the combination of more than one timeof chemical spray and the selected biologicals controlled the persimmon pests with an acceptable levels. Consequentlyone time of biological spray can be integrated to the spray program where only chemicals are strongly considered.

The production of therapeutic proteins from transgenic animals is one of the most important successes of animal biotechnology. Endostatin is 20 KDa C-terminal fragment derived from type XVIII collagen and an endogenous inhibitor of tumor growth by inhibition of angiogenesis. In this study, we are developed knock-in vector consists of 5’ arm region (1.02 kb), human Endostatin cDNA, CMV-EGFP, and 3’ arm region (1.83 kb). To express Endostatin gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5’ terminal of Endostatin gene and inserted into exon 3 of the β -casein gene. If this knock-in vector is inserted into the porcine β-casein gene locus by homologous recombination, human Endostatin mRNA are expressed using the gene regulatory region of the β-casein. Also, the β-casein and Endostatin fusion protein is translated and Endostatin protein is separated by F2A self cleavage during translation. In conclusion, our knock-in vector may help to create transgenic pig expressing human Endostatin protein via the endogenous expression system of the porcine β-casein gene in the mammary gland.

Social networking sites (SNS) are defined as web-based services that enable consumers to create a public profile and a list of contacts with whom they share a social network (Kang et al., 2014). On SNS sites, consumers can find the right product, obtain advice from people, make purchases, post product recommendations, reviews and photos, and create SNS communities (Shen, 2008). The shopping motive acts as an important trigger to browse for products on social media websites. Product browsing over social media sites could influence the intention of future purchase and sharing information of product and brand with friend and acquaintances. For companies related to social media business, both intention to purchase and information sharing are crucial elements. However, few efforts have been made to identify the factors driving consumer intentions to purchase and word-of-mouth of fashion products on social media sites. The objectives of this study were to determine the factor to facilitate product browsing and to find out the causative relationship among influential factors and consumer intentions to purchase and word-of-mouth of fashion products on social media sites. The instrument was developed based on the previous literatures (Brien, 2010; Park, et al., 2012; To, 2007; Woo & Hwang, 2013) and each item was measured by five-point Liker type scales. A total of 269 data were collected during a regularly scheduled class in universities, who have experienced to purchase fashion products or make a product review on social media sites. Mean age of the respondents was 22.3 years old. Nearly 75.3 percent of the subjects were women, and more than half of the respondents (61.6%) have purchased the products (e.g., apparel, shoes, etc.) on social commerce sites over three years. The structure equation model analysis was conducted by AMOS 23.0 using a correlation matrix with maximum likelihood approach. The structural equation model was relatively acceptable (chi-square value = 136.30, df = 66, p = .000; GFI = .94, AGFI = .91, RMR = .05). Cronbach's alphas were ranged between .83 and .87. This result suggests that utilitarian shopping motives have influenced directly product browsing, purchase intention, and word-of-mouth intentions of fashion products on social media sites. The more product browsing on social media sites, the more intended to purchase and word-of-mouth of fashion products with friend and acquaintances. It implies that consumer with utilitarian shopping motives are likely to more browse, and then to more purchase and write the review of fashion products on social media sites. However, consumers with hedonic shopping motives are prone to more write the review of fashion products to their friends and acquaintances without product browsing or purchase intention on social media sites.

With advances in digital technology, retailers are utilizing digital signage which would be a visual factor of atmospherics in a retail environment. Based on stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study was to examine a moderating effect of digital signage in relationship between atmospherics and store patronage. To collect data, a self-administered questionnaire was developed based on literatures, and mainly contained usage experience of digital signage, atmospherics (20 items), and store patronage (6 items). All items were measured on 7 point rating scale. Two sampling frames for this study were involved: experienced sample from retail stores with digital signage vs. unexperienced sample from retail stores without digital signage. Each sample was separately asked to complete the same questions regarding experience with digital signage, store atmospherics and store patronage. A total 497 usable responses (n=278 for experienced digital signage; n=219 for unexperienced digital signage) were obtained from consumers who were aged from 20 to 49 years old. For experienced sample, digital signage has been used various types: for example, location-based digital screen for store and shopping information (52.5%) was the most experienced, and followed by LED screen (28.8%) and others (e.g., Digital Look-Book, Virtual-Try-on, Interactive Screen, and Self-checking kiosk) in the fashion retail environments. Of total respondents, females (50.7%) were slightly more than were males (49.3%). For data analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, t-test, hierarchy regression analysis were used by using PASW18. Preliminarily, factor analysis revealed that atmospherics consisted of three elements, such as store layout, visual aesthetics and interior display. The factor loadings were ranged from .60 to .80 and three factors were accounted for 70.42% of total variance. Compared with store without digital signage, the mean score of atmospherics (e.g., store layout, visual aesthetics, and interior display) was more highly rated in the retail stores with digital signage. In a hierarchical multiple regression model, two factors of store layout and interior display had a significant effect on store patronage in the first step (F=69.23, p<.001, Adjusted R2=.29). The store layout (β=.33, p<.001) and interior display (β=.17, p<.01) were likely to increase consumers’ store patronage. Also, interaction effect of digital signage and atmospherics was significant in the second step (R2 Change=.014, F Change=3.386, df1=3, df2=487, p<.05). Digital signage had moderating effect only in the relationship between interior display and store patronage (β=.65, p<.05). The findings suggest that digital signage plays an important role as a stimulus in improving atmospherics at the retail environments. Particularly, the digital signage would be effective in a good interior display including POP signs, product display, racks and cases, furniture, which can lead to store patronage. This study provides a managerial implication into retailers for improving atmospherics by utilizing retail technology inside a store. Especially for fashion retailers, it is required to combine digital technology service with in-store visual merchandising for a retail environment.

Recently, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cry genes encoding insecticidal Cry proteins have been widely applied for the construction of transgenic crops resistant to insect pests. This study aimed to construct novel mutant cry1Ac genes for genetically modified crops with enhanced insecticidal activities. Using multi-site directed mutagenesis, 34 mutant cry1Ac genes were synthesized and converted at 24 amino acid residues, located on domain I (8 residues) and domain II (16 residues). These mutant genes were expressed as a fusion protein with polyhedrin using the baculovirus expression system. The expressed proteins were occluded into polyhedra and activated stably to 65 kDa by trypsin. Among these, Mut-N04, N06, and N16 showed high levels of insecticidal activites against larvae of Plutella xylostella, Spodoptera exigua, and Ostrinia furnacalis. Mut-N16, which showed the highest insecticidal activity, is expected to be a desirable cry gene for introduction into transgenic crops. This study could provide useful means to construct mutant cry genes with improved insecticidal activities and expanded host spectrum for transgenic crops.

The online store attributes acts as an important trigger for e-impulse buying. Purchasing apparel products are often affected by irrational and emotional attraction making them one of the most frequent impulsively purchased items online. Triggered by ease access to products, easy purchasing, lack of social pressures and absence of delivery efforts, impulse buying occurs in approximately forty percent of all online expenditures. Impulse buying occurs when consumers experience an urge to buy a product, without thoughtful consideration why and for what reason one needs the product. However, few efforts have been made to identify the relationship among-store services attributes, emotions, browsing, urges to buy, and e-impulse buying of apparel products. The objectives of this study was to estimate a path model analysis for causative relationship among e-store service attributes, emotions, browsing, urges to buy, and e-impulse of apparel products. The instrument was developed based on the previous literatures (Park, et al., 2012; Verhagen & Dolen, 2011; Yang & Peterson, 2004)and each item was measured by five-point Liker type scales. A total of 250 data were collected during a regularly scheduled class in universities. More than half of the respondents (65.5%) were 18 to 21 years old. Nearly 65.5 percent of the subjects were women, and more than half of the respondents (63.8%) were below the sophomore. The path model analysis was conducted by AMOS 18.0 using a correlation matrix with maximum likelihood approach. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three types of e-store service attributes: Accuracy, Reliability, and Ease of use. The path model, which was estimated to examine causal relationships among variables (i.e. three types of e-store service attributes, emotions, browsing, urges to buy, and e-impulse buying), was relatively acceptable (chi-square value = 34.40, df = 13, p = .001; GFI = .98, AGFI = .93, RMR = .03). Cronbach's alphas were ranged between .83 and .87. This result suggests that emotions (e.g., positive and negative), browsing and urges to buy perceived by shoppers play important roles as mediators of the e-impulse buying of apparel products. Especially, the urge to buy apparel products was the most important mediator to trigger e-impulse buying. The consumers perceived the accuracy and reliability of e-store attributes were the more perceiving the urges to buy apparel products through the more positive emotions and then the more browsing at e-store. Also, the more ease to use of e-store perceived the more urges to buy apparel products. The more perceiving urges to buy at e-store were the more e-impulse buying of apparel products. This study provides retail managerial implications for stimulating e-shoppers' impulse buying of apparel products.

The genus Glischrochilus Reitter, 1873 is characterized by reddish or yellowish markings on their elytra. This genus is belonging to family Nitidulidae Latreille,1802. Five species in this genus: Glischrochilus (Librodor) ipsoides (Reitter, 1879), Glischrochilus (Librodor) japonicus (Motschulsky, 1858), Glischrochilus (Librodor) pantherinus (Reitter, 1879), Glischrochilus (Librodor) parvipustulatus (Kolbe, 1886), Glischrochilus (Librodor) rufiventris (Reitter, 1879) have been recorded in Korea upto now. Additionally, a new recorded species, G. christophi, are recognized from korea. As the results, descriptions and illustrations of adults of totally five species with one newly recorded species in Korea were reviewed herein. A key to Korean species of genus Glischrochilus is also provided.

This study was carried out to know some regional gene difference in carabid beetle, Coptolabrus jankowskii. There are eight subspecies in this species from Korea and it was too difficult to identify by morphological similarity. The mitochondrial ND5 (NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5) gene of Coptolabrus jankowskii from four regions of (Sangju, Daegu, Mt. Jumbong and Jeju island) was compared. The results showed the differences of the base sequence of total 57 sites and the amino acid variation of the 25 sites. The Neighbor-joining tree and Maximum parsimony tree were established based on sequence data of the ND5. In NJ tree, the Jeju area except Songdangri, and Mt. Jeombong region showed close relationship group. In the case of Maximum parsimony tree, the result divided to three separated group, the first connected group was Jeju Songdangri area and the other the Korean peninsula region except Mt. Jeombong. Others were Jeju area except Songdangri, and Mt. Jeombong region.

An assessment is made of the anti-proliferative activity of cicada slough-derived materials against 10 human cancer cell lines, including PC-3 and DU145 prostate cancer cell lines, using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results were compared with those of the commercially available anticancer agent with broad spectrum cisplatin. The ethanol extract of Cryptotympana spp. slough was proved to have anti-proliferative activity against A549 lung, AGS stomach, PC-3 and DU145 prostate, Hela cervix, HT-29 colon, MCF-7 breast, and SK-Hep-1 liver cancer cell lines except for Hep-2 larynx and SK-OV-3 ovary cancer cell lines. The biologically active constituent was characterized as the nonprotein α-amino acid theanine [2-amino-4-(ethylcarbamoyl)butyric acid] by spectroscopic analysis, including EI-MS and NMR. Theanine was isolated from the cicada slough as a new cytotoxic principle. Fifty percent inhibition concentration (IC50) values of the constituent against PC-3 was 6.52 μg/mL, respectively. The activity of theanine (IC50,6.52μg/mL) did not differ significantly from that of the anticancer agent cisplatin (IC50,7.39μg/mL) toward PC-3. In conclusion, further studies on the cicada slough-derived materials containing theanine as potential anticancer products or a lead molecule for the prevention or eradication from human prostate cancer.

Lung cancer caused by diverse changes in cells resulted by exposure to carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, the environment, or sequential accumulation of genetic changes to the normal epithelial cells of the lung. An assessment was made of the anti-proliferative activity of constituents from silkworm feces against 11 human cancer cell lines, including A549 and H727 lung cancer cell lines, using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. The ethanol extract of silkworm feces was proved to have anti-proliferative activity against all 11 species of human cancer cell lines. The biologically active constituent was characterized as vomifoliol (blumenol A) (1) and stigmasterol (2) by spectroscopic analysis ,including MS and NMR. In conclusion, global efforts to reduce the level of antitcancer agents justify further studies on the silkworm feces-derived materials containing vomifoliol and stigmasterol as potential anticancer products or lead compounds for the prevention or eradication from human lung cancer.

The fact that flip-flops, one of many different types of unstable shoes, are light and relatively easy to put on, accounts for their popularity among people. But because flip-flops rely heavily on the support of a single thong between your first and second toes, they impose a huge amount of pressure onto lower leg. Thus in the following experiment we tried to examine the different effects of flip-flops and running shoes in terms of their effect on muscle activity and fatigue of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius during walking. In order to measure an electromyogram we used Free EMG system. 10 men and 10 women in running shoes ran on treadmills for 15 minutes at 4.8km/h, 2 days later the same experiment was carried out, but this time, in flip-flops. p value turned out to be greater than .05 and thus there was no considerable difference between the effects of flip-flops and running shoes on muscle activity and fatigue during walking. Therefore we conclude that despite the fact that flip-flops are considered unstable, their effects on muscle activity and fatigue of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius are negligible.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the exercise on elderly balance ability by using hippotherapy and therapeutic ball exercise. 10 patients were assigned to the hippotherapy group and they got with 30 minutes of hippotherapy. Another 10 elderly were assigned to the therapeutic ball group and they got with 30 minutes of therapeutic ball exercise. All procedures were repeated 5 times a week for the total of four weeks. To investigate the participants balancing abilities, the Time“ Up & Go”(TUG) and One Leg Stand Test(OLST) were evaluated. The results of study were significant differences between pre-test and post-test of TUG and OLST(p<.05), and there were no significant differences between hippotherapy and therapeutic ball exercise(p>.05). The conclusion showed that both the hippotherapy and the therapeutic ball exercises were effective on elderly balancing ability. Consequently, it would be better to practice therapeutic ball than hippotherapy for elderly exercise because the more economical and there is less restriction of space than the hippotherapy.

Among hemipteran insects which is the most important insect vector of plant viruses, small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus, transmits the rice stripe virus (RSV) causing rice stripe disease. For effective control of RSV, it is important to understand interaction between RSV and L. striatellus. Therefore, in this study, expressed sequence tag (EST) databases were generated based on 454 GS-FLX pyrosequencing for comparative transcriptome analysis between nonviruliferous and RSV-viruliferous L. striatellus. By comparing the two EST libraries, we showed that 108 host genes were significantly up-regulated and 28 host genes were significantly down-regulated in viruliferous insects. Interestingly, genes encoding ribosomal proteins were mainly up-regulated in viruliferous L. striatellus, whereas genes related to translation were concentrated in the downregulated cohort. These RSV-dependently regulated genes may have important function in the behavior of planthopper or the transmission of RSV.

Bacillus thuringiensis serovar mogi of a novel serogroup (H3a3b3d), which showed mosquitocidal activity against Anopheles sinensis and Culex pipiens pallens, was isolated from fallen leaves in Mungyeong city, Republic of Korea. In contrast to the complicated plasmid profiles of B. thuringiensis H3 serotype strains, the B. thuringiensis serovar mogi contained only megaplasmid (> 30 MDa) on which the toxin genes were occasionally located. Sequence analysis using 454-pyrosequencing revealed that the megaplasmid harbored at least seven putative cry genes, showing about 84%, 75%, 73%, 58%, 84%, 39% and 75% similarities in amino acid sequences with Cry27Aa, Cry19Ba, Cry20-like, Cry56Aa, Cry39ORF2, Cry8Ba and Cry40ORF2, respectively. These cry genes were cloned to the Escherichia coli-B. thuringiensis shuttle vector, pHT1K, and then introduced into an acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis Cry-B strain for further molecular characterization. To investigate the role of these genes in crystal production, the expression profiles of these toxin genes were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (qrtPCR) from the wild type strain as well as transformant strains. The results clearly indicate that the cry39orf2 was the dominant ingredient in the crystal. This novel 3a3b3d type strain, B. thuringiensis serovar mogi, could be used as a good resource for studying unknown mosquitocidal cry genes.

The baculovirus expression system is one of the most popular methods used for the production of recombinant proteins but has several complex steps which have proved inherently difficult to meet a multi-parellel process. We have developed a novel recombinant bacmid, bEasyBm that enabling easy and fast generation of pure recombinant virus without any purification step. In the bEasyBm, attR recombination sites were introduced to facilitate the generation of recombinant viral genome by in vitro transposition. Moreover, extracellular RNase gene from bacillus amyloliquefaciens, barnase, was expressed under the control of Cotesia plutellae bracovirus early promoter. Therefore, only when the barnase gene was replaced to gene of interest, the bEasyBm could replicate in host insect cells. When the bEasyBm was transposed with pDualBac-EGFP and pDualBac-LUC respectively, there were no non-recombinant backgrounds were detected from unpurified BmEasy-EGFP or BmEasy-LUC stocks. In addition, the resulting recombinant virus, BmEasy-EGFP, showed comparable level of EGFP expression efficiency with the plaque-purified recombinant virus, BmEGFP, which was constructed using bBmGOZA system. Based on these results, high-throughput condition for generation of multiple recombinant viruses in a time was established.

Varieties of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal proteins, Cry proteins, have so far been found as one of the most successful biological control agents which are safe to natural environments for a long time. Recently, cry genes encoding these Cry proteins have been widely applied for construction of transgenic crops resistant to pest insects. In this study, through the 3D structure prediction and accompanying mutagenesis study for the Mod-Cry1Ac, 7 and 16 amino acid residues from domain I and II, respectively, responsible for its insecticidal activity against larvae of Spodoptera exigua and Ostrinia furnacalis were identified. To construct novel cry genes with improved insecticidal activity, we randomly mutated these 23 amino acid sequences by in vitro muti site-directed mutagenesis, resulting in totally 24 mutant cry genes. For further characterization, these mutant cry genes were expressed as a fusion protein with polyhedrin using baculovirus expression system. SDS-PAGE analysis of the recombinant polyhedra revealed that expressed Cry proteins was occluded into polyhedra and activated stably to 65 kDa by trypsin. In the further study, we plan to investigate their insecticidal activity against Plutella xylostella, S. exigua and O. furnacalis larvae.

In the transcriptome surveys of Laodelphax striatellus, several cDNA sequences showed a high level of similarities to the insect picorna-like virus genomes. Interestingly, there was no sequence similarity between picorna-like virus sequences from the RSV-viruliferous and those from the non-viruliferous L. striatellus. Picorna-like virus from the non-viruliferous L. striatellus was a geographical isolate of Himetobi P virus (HiPV). The genome of the HiPV was 9,272 nt in length excluding the poly(A) tail and contained two open reading frames (ORFs), which were separated by a 176 nt intergenic region that functions as an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The 5' ORF encodes the non-structural proteins and the 3' ORF encodes the capsid proteins. The partial genomic RNA of the picorna-like virus from the RSV-viruliferous L. striatellus, LsPV-2, was 8,769 nt in length excluding the poly(A) tail and contained a single, large open reading frame (nt 1–8,535) encoding a 2,845 aa polyprotein. In terms of sequence similarity, identity, and genome organization, LsPV-2 resembled insect picornalike viruses belonging to the family Iflaviridae. A phylogenetic analysis based on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) sequence showed that LsPV-2 was most closely related to the deformed wing virus (DWV). The HiPV and LsPV-2 were incompatible each other in L. striatellus, suggesting that these two picorna-like viruses may have important functions in transmission of the RSV.

Plasmids from Bacillus thuringiensis have been implicated in pathogenicity as they carry the genes responsible for different types of diseases in mammals and insects. B. thuringiensis serovar mogi of a novel serogroup (H3a3b3d), which showed mosquitocidal activity against Anopheles sinensis and Culex pipiens pallens, was isolated from fallen leaves in Mungyeong city, Republic of Korea. In contrast to the complicated plasmid profiles of B. thuringiensis H3 serotype strains, the B. thuringiensis serovar mogi contained only megaplasmid (> 30 MDa) on which the toxin genes were occasionally located. Sequence analysis using 454-pyrosequencing revealed that the megaplasmid harbored at least seven putative cry genes, showing about 84%, 75%, 73%, 58%, 84%, 39% and 75% similarities in amino acid sequences with Cry27Aa, Cry19Ba, Cry20-like, Cry56Aa, Cry39ORF2, Cry8Ba and Cry40ORF2, respectively. These cry genes were cloned to the Escherichia coli-B. thuringiensis shuttle vector, pHT1K, and then introduced into an acrystalliferous B. thuringiensis Cry-B strain for further molecular characterization. This novel 3a3b3d type strain, B. thuringiensis serovar mogi, could be used as a good resource for studying unknown mosquitocidal cry genes.

ORF11 (ac11) of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is a highly conserved baculovirus gene whose homologs are found in all lepidoteran Group I NPV, but its function is unknown so far. To determine the role of ac11 in baculovirus life cycle, ac11 knock-out mutant, Ac11KO, was constructed using the plasmid capture system (PCS). Real-Time PCR analysis showed that ac11 transcript was first detected at 6 h post-infection (p.i.) and accumulated to maximum at 48 h p.i., indicating that ac11 is belong to late gene. When the genomic DNA of Ac11KO was transfected into Sf9 cells, viral replication was restricted to a cell transfected originally. While viral transmission of the Ac11KO was not observed in Sf9 cells, production of budded virus (BV) in Sf9 cells transfected with Ac11KO was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These results suggest that the ac11 is essential for AcMNPV to produce infective BV.