Western flower thrips, (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) have been recognized as serious pests worldwide. Commercially available chemical pesticides challenges against the resistance of the pest and safety to consumers. Herein we investigated the usability of soil-treatment of entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana (Bb) ERL isolates in tomatoes. Bb-egfp was highly virulent to western flower thrips in laboratory conditions and colonized in soil, which provided a chance for western flower thrips larvae to contact the colonized fungal mass. In a glasshouse trial, Bb ERL836 and Bb ERL1578 granule (GR) were applied to soil surface and mixed well, and five females were infested to each pot of tomato 3 days after the application. The two treatments significantly reduced thrips population in tomatoes 20 and 40 days post applications, comparable to the control efficacy of clothianidin granule (GR) formulation. In the following field trial, the two ERL fungal treatments showed 69.2% and 61.5% of control efficacy, which were similar to that of clothianidin GR (76.9%). This work suggests that applied B. bassiana colonized in soil well and thrips larvae easily contacted the fungal mass, which possibly enabled the control strategy to be alternative way to the chemical control.

Pt@Cu/C core-shell catalysts were successfully prepared by impregnation of a carbon support with copper precursor, followed by transmetallation between platinum and copper. The Pt@Cu/C core-shell catalysts retained a core of copper with a platinum surface. The prepared catalysts were used for hydrogen production through catalytic dehydrogenation of decalin for eventual application to an onboard hydrogen supply system. Pt@Cu/C core-shell catalysts were more efficient at producing hydrogen via decalin dehydrogenation than Pt/C catalysts containing the same amount of platinum. Supported coreshell catalysts utilized platinum highly efficiently, and accordingly, are lower-cost than existing platinum catalysts. The combination of impregnation and transmetallation is a promising approach for preparation of Pt@Cu/C core-shell catalysts.

The present study was aimed to evaluate the influence of glutaraldehyde (GA) concentration on multiple electron microscopic (EM) immunostaining using pre-embedding peroxidase and post-embedding immunogold method. Influence of various concentrations of GA included in the fixative on immuoreactivity was assessed in the multiple immunostaining using antisera against anti-transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) for peroxidase staining and anti-GABA for immunogold labeling in the rat trigeminal caudal nucleus. Anti-TRPV1 antiserum had specificity in pre-embedding peroxidase staining when tissues were fixed with fixative containing paraformaldehyde (PFA) alone. Immunoreactivity for TRPV1 was specific in tissues fixed with fixative containing 0.5% GA at both perfusion and postfixation steps, though the immunoreactivity was weaker than in tissues fixed with fixative containing PFA alone. Tissues fixed with fixative containing 0.5% GA at the perfusion and postfixation steps showed specific immunogold staining for GABA. The results of the present study indicate that GA concentration is critical for immunoreactivity to antigens such as TRPV1 and GABA. This study also suggests that the appropriate GA concentration is 0.5% for multiple immunostaining with peroxidase labeling for TRPV1 and immunogold labeling for GABA.

The metal product from the electrolytic reduction of uranium oxide in LiCl molten salt retains about 10 ~ 20wt% of the residual salts. Salt vacuum distillation is conducted to separate the residual salt from the metal product and well-performed in a glove box in an argon atmosphere. A dimensionless analysis of the characteristics of a salt vacuum distiller needs to be scaled up for a high capacity process. The vacuum distillation apparatus can be of two different sizes (M-type and P-type). M-type equipment is small in size and exhibits a high recovery rate of more than 95%. A comparison of two salt vacuum distillers was conducted with the dimensionless analysis method. Heat and fluid flows are strongly influenced by the structure of the apparatus and phase transition phenomena of vacuum distillation. The several dimensionless parameters were calculated at the nozzle throat located between the evaporator and the receiver and at different operating temperatures. Both salt vacuum distillers had similar trends of dimensionless parameters. However, the distributions of the parameter values varied with the nozzle geometry and size. The results of the dimensionless analysis will aid the scaling up of the salt distillation process.

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.

A large-scale neutral hydrogen (H i) ring serendipitously found in the Leo I galaxy group is 200 kpc in diameter with MHi ~ 1:67 X 109M⊙, unique in size in the Local Universe. It is still under debate where this Hi ring originated - whether it has formed out of the gas remaining after the formation of a galaxy group (primordial origin) or been stripped during galaxy-galaxy interactions (tidal origin). We are investigating the optical and Hi gas properties of the dwarf galaxies located within the gas ring in order to probe its formation mechanism. In this work, we present the photometric properties of the dwarfs inside the ring using the CFHT MegaCam u*, g', r' and i'-band data. We discuss the origin of the gas ring based on the stellar age and metal abundance of dwarf galaxies contained within it.

We present population synthesis models for the calcium II triplet (CaT), currently the most popular metallicity indicator, based on high-resolution empirical spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Our new CaT models, based on empirical SEDs, show a linear correlation below [Fe/H] ~ -0.5, but the linear relation breaks down in the metal-rich regime by converging to the same equivalent width. This relation shows good agreement with the observed CaT of globular clusters (GCs) in NGC 1407 and the Milky Way. However, a model based on theoretical SEDs does not show this feature of the CaT and fails to reproduce observed GCs in the metal-rich regime. This linear relation may cause inaccurate metallicity determination for metal-rich stellar populations. We have also conrmed that the effect of horizontal- branch stars on the CaT is almost negligible in models based on both empirical and theoretical SEDs. Our new empirical model may explain the difference between the color distributions and CaT distributions of GCs in various early-type galaxies. Based on our model, we claim that the CaT is not a good metallicity indicator for simple stellar populations in the metal-rich regime.

Activated carbons (ACs) were prepared by activation of coal tar pitch (CTP) in the range of 700°C-1000°C for 1-4 h using potassium hydroxide (KOH) powder as the activation agent. The optimal activation conditions were determined to be a CTP/KOH ratio of 1:4, activation temperature of 900°C, and activation time of 3 h. The obtained ACs showed increased pore size distribution in the range of 1 to 2 nm and the highest specific capacitance of 122 F/g in a two-electrode system with an organic electrolyte, as measured by a charge-discharge method in the voltage range of 0-2.7 V. In order to improve the performance of the electric double-layer capacitor electrode, various mixtures of CTP and petroleum pitch (PP) were activated at the optimal activation conditions previously determined for CTP. Although the specific capacitance of AC electrodes prepared from CTP only and the mixtures of CTP and PP was not significantly different at a current density of 1 A/g, the AC electrodes from CTP and PP mixtures showed outstanding specific capacitance at higher current rates. In particular, CTP-PP61 (6:1 mixture) had the highest specific capacitance of 132 F/g, and the specific capacitance remained above 90% at a high current density of 3 A/g. It was found that the high specific capacitance could be attributed to the increased micro-pore volume of ACs with pore sizes from 1 to 2 nm, and the high power density could be attributed to the increased meso-pore volume.

To improve its textural properties as a support for platinum catalyst, carbon aerogel was chemically activated with KOH as a chemical agent. Carbon-supported platinum catalyst was subsequently prepared using the prepared carbon supports(carbon aerogel(CA), activated carbon aerogel(ACA), and commercial activated carbon(AC)) by an incipient wetness impregnation. The prepared carbon-supported platinum catalysts were applied to decalin dehydrogenation for hydrogen production. Both initial hydrogen evolution rate and total hydrogen evolution amount were increased in the order of Pt/CA < Pt/AC < Pt/ACA. This means that the chemical activation process served to improve the catalytic activity of carbon-supported platinum catalyst in this reaction. The high surface area and the well-developed mesoporous structure of activated carbon aerogel obtained from the activation process facilitated the high dispersion of platinum in the Pt/ACA catalyst. Therefore, it is concluded that the enhanced catalytic activity of Pt/ACA catalyst in decalin dehydrogenation was due to the high platinum surface area that originated from the high dispersion of platinum.

The effects of the mixing of an active material and a conductive additive on the electrochemical performance of an electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) electrode were investigated. Coin-type EDLC cells with an organic electrolyte were fabricated using the electrode samples with different ball-milling times for the mixing of an active material and a conductive additive. The ball-milling time had a strong influence on the electrochemical performance of the EDLC electrode. The homogeneous mixing of the active material and the conductive additive by ball-milling was very important to obtain an efficient EDLC electrode. However, an EDLC electrode with an excessive ball-milling time displayed low electrical conductivity due to the characteristic change of a conductive additive, leading to poor electrochemical performance. The mixing of an active material and a conductive additive played a crucial role in determining the electrochemical performance of EDLC electrode. The optimal ball-milling time contributed to a homogeneous mixing of an active material and a conductive additive, leading to good electrochemical performance of the EDLC electrode.

The currently cultivated varieties of moth orchid flowers have weak or no fragrance and the plant requires high temperatures for cultivation. In order to develop a new variety of orchid that is psychrophilic and fragrant, intergeneric cross between wild wind orchids and moth orchids was performed. In 2009, To obtain intergeneric hybrids from Sedirea japonicum and Neofinetia falcata with moth orchids, artificial crosses with a total of 160 combinations were performed. Most of the cross combinations failed due to crossincompatibility after intergeneric crosses, with no pod formation, premature pod dropping after pod formation, and pod formation that did not produce seeds. From among these, the crosses that formed normal seeds and germinated to produce viable plants included Doritis pulcherrima × S. japonicum, N. falcata × D. pulcherrima, and N. falcata × P. equestris. From the hybrid specimens obtained through these crosses, 2 superior lines (819-3B and K9256) were selected based on their floral morphology, number of flowers, hardiness, and fragrance. Comparative analyses of the morphological and chromosomal traits were performed between the selected hybrid specimens and their parents. The flower and inflorescence characteristics of the selected hybrids exhibited intermediary traits of both the parents; however, more traits from the moth orchids were inherited. For pollinia traits, both 819-3B and K9256 specimens exhibited intermediate forms of their parents in terms of their shape and size. In the case of 819-3B specimen, a high degree of trait similarity with that of D. pulcherrima was observed; whereas, K9256 specimen showed lobes similar to that of P. equestris. The ploidy of moth orchid, S. japonicum, and N. falcata used for crosses was diploid, as determined by microscopic examination and ploidy analysis. The microscopic examination of chromosomes from the intergeneric hybrid pollens revealed mutation of the chromosome count among different specimens as well as irregular chromosome separation. For the production of next-generation progeny using the obtained hybrids, back-cross was performed; however, most of the progeny obtained were sterile and, among the 12 back-crosses, pod formation was noted in S. japonicum × 819-3B and 819-3B × S. japonicum crosses only.

We search for misclassified type 1 AGNs among type 2 AGNs identified with emission line flux ratios, and investigate the properties of the sample. Using 4 113 local type 2 AGNs at 0.02 < z < 0.05 selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we detected a broad component of the Hα line with a Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) ranging from 1 700 to 19 090 km s−1 for 142 objects, based on the spectral decomposition and visual inspection. The fraction of the misclassified type 1 AGNs among type 2 AGN sample is 3.5%, implying that a large number of missing type 1 AGN population may exist. The misclassified type 1 AGNs have relatively low luminosity with a mean broad Hα luminosity, log LHα = 40.50 ± 0.35 erg s−1, while black hole mass of the sample is comparable to that of the local black hole population, with a mean black hole mass, log MBH = 6.94 ± 0.51 M⊙. The mean Eddington ratio of the sample is log Lbol/LEdd = −2.00±0.40, indicating that black hole activity is relatively weak, hence, AGN continuum is too weak to change the host galaxy color. We find that the Oiii lines show significant velocity offsets, presumably due to outflows in the narrow-line region, while the velocity offset of the narrow component of the Hα line is not prominent, consistent with the ionized gas kinematics of general type 1 AGN population.