Ceramic powder, such as MgO, is added as a binder to prepare the green compacts of molten salts of an electrolyte for a thermal battery. Despite the addition of a binder, when the thickness of the electrolyte decreases to improve the battery performance, the problem with the unintentional short circuit between the anode and cathode still remains. To improve the current powder molding method, a new type of electrolyte separator with porous MgO preforms is prepared and characteristics of the thermal battery are evaluated. A Spherical PMMA polymer powder is added as a pore-forming agent in the MgO powder, and an organic binder is used to prepare slurry appropriate for tape casting. A porous MgO preform with 300 μm thickness is prepared through a binder burnout and sintering process. The particle size of the starting MgO powder has an effect, not on the porosity of the porous MgO preform, but on the battery characteristics. The porosity of the porous MgO preforms is controlled from 60 to 75% using a pore-forming agent. The batteries prepared using various porosities of preforms show a performance equal to or higher than that of the pellet-shaped battery prepared by the conventional powder molding method.

The attraction of the tomato whiteflies Trialeurodes vaporariorum, to four type of traps combined with a colored stickyboard and an light emitting lamp was investigated in 2016 in an tomato greenhouse. The colors of the sticky boardswere yellow and the peak wavelengths of the light emitting traps were 470nm(blue), 590nm(yellow) and 450~625nm(white).The type of traps was designed to directly illuminate the plants with an light emitting lamp and set along the lowerpart of the crops whose each sticky board was directed to the plants. This experiments showed that T. vaporariorumadults on average preferred (p>0.05) traps in blue lights(110±3.2adults/trap) compared to traps in yellow lights (71±1.4adults/trap)and white light traps(45±1.1adults/trap). The blue light trap(470nm) showed the most attractive to T. vaporariorum adults,followed by a similarly attraction to the yellow light trap(590nm), whereas the control (no light trap) was little attractiveto T. vaporariorum adults.

NRPS (non-ribosomal pepetide synthetase) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, which includes economically important compounds such as antibiotics, antitumor agents, immune-suppressants, siderophores, toxins, etc. In most cases, however, their functions and biosynthesizing pathways have been still remained riddles because of their cryptic expression and recalcitrant genetics. In our previous genome analyses of Cordyceps bassiana C101, we predicted the sequences of secondary metabolite biosynthesizing gene clusters, which contain non-ribosomal pepetide synthetases whose functions are already known such as beauvericin, bassianolide, bassiatin, tenellin, beauverolides, and oosporein. The authors focused on nrps6 that has not been functionally studied. The single-gene deletion and overexpression mutants were established via Agrobacterium-mediated transformations. PCR, quantitative real-time PCR, and southern blot analyses were carried out to confirm the correct single-gene integrated homologous recombination. In further study, comparative metabolic profiling between wild-type and mutant strains will be followed by their detailed chemical structure analysis through NMR spectroscopy.

This study was carried out to explore possibilities of cultivating horticultural crops in the air-dome greenhouse in comparison to the common iron-frame greenhouse as the standard. The levels of carbon dioxide and atmospheric pressure measured inside the air-dome greenhouse turned out to be higher than those measured inside the iron-frame greenhouse. Contrastingly, light intensity was relatively weaker inside the air-dome greenhouse due to the air-inflated double layers. Plants of melon and cherry tomato were cultivated from May 2 to August 12, 2016, respectively in the two greenhouses. For melon plants, growth in the air-dome greenhouse effectively increased fruit weight as well as trunk circumference compared to iron-frame greenhouse. Moreover, soluble sugar content of melon fruit was significantly higher when cultivated in the air-dome greenhouse. For cherry tomato plants, fruit yield of cherry tomato was significantly increased inside the air-dome greenhouse. Furthermore, it has been found that the air-dome greenhouse was considerably effective in shortening the growing period of melon and cherry tomato plants in comparison to the iron-frame greenhouse.

The luxury industry worldwide, and in China in particular, has been going through some major shake-ups in the last few years, such as the impact of anti-corruption campaign in China since 2012, massive increase of Chinese out-bound tourists travelling abroad for shopping due to price advantages as compared to mainland China prices, changing customer preferences and low loyalty towards luxury brands, and heightened customer knowledge of luxury, to name a few. These changes have a direct impact on customers’ behavior and experience in luxury retail stores and ultimately the level of expectation and satisfaction they have with luxury brands. This paper aims to shed some light on this topic by focusing specially on Chinese luxury customers’ perspectives. Companies have considered customer experience as one of important ways to obtain and sustain competitive advantages. Zomerdijk and Voss (2009) maintained that customer experience is a holistic concept that encompasses every aspect of a company’s offering. However, it is unclear which service elements offered by company create the most compelling contexts. Chinese luxury customers represent one-third of the total personal luxury goods market by the end of 2016 according to Bain & Co (2016). Therefore, no luxury brand can afford to ignore Chinese customers and their level of satisfaction with their brands. Paradoxically, from 2012 to 2015, the luxury personal goods market in China has decreased by 1% or 2% each year as compared to the previous years. This was due to many factors, and one of them was “poor customer experience in retail stores” according to our study. This deceleration of the market in China has prompted many luxury brands to create new customer experiences that could increase satisfaction (such as made-to-order services) in order to retain existing customers and to gain new ones. The research questions of this paper are: what type of services do Chinese customers expect from luxury brands? What are the levels of satisfaction Chinese customers have with luxury brands abroad and in China? How can luxury bands improve their service experience offers to satisfy Chinese customers? In order to answer these questions, we carried out a longitudinal study over 4 years, from 2012 to 2015 with Chinese luxury customers. A Chinese luxury customer is defined as someone who has bought a genuine luxury product over the last 6 months, whether in China or abroad, for themselves or for someone else. Each year we interviewed 120 customers who were chosen randomly in the streets of Shanghai, nearby luxury malls. The interviews were carried out either in English (if they are comfortable of speaking in English) or in Mandarin (by a native speaker). The interviews lasted on average 30 minutes each. The questions are mostly open-ended questions such as: “Could you please tell us your best or worst experience in a luxury retail store, in China or abroad? And why is it the best or worst?”. The interviews were manually recorded by a second interviewer present at that time. The data were then compiled and analyzed for this paper. The findings of the study were somehow unexpected such as: 1- Chinese luxury customers expect very simple and basic services in luxury retail stores, such as a sincere smile and a warm welcome, or sales employees do not judge them based on their looks and appearances. 2- Retail staff should have a better and up-to-date product knowledge so they can answer simple questions about the products when asked. 3- Retail staff should be able to give good advice to customer when they are undecided, and not try push only sales. Managerial implications for luxury brands are many. However, the most important one by far is “to go back to the basics of retail customer experience” by selecting and training the right employees for the job.

Pleurotus eryngii, an edible white-rot fungus, is cultivated widespread in Eurasia, northern Africa and China. It occupies the second position in the world mushroom market. Despites the importance, the small numbers of studies have been done. To promote the availability of P. eryngii, it is important to know the genome and organization of the fungus. In this study, the whole genome sequence of P5 monokaryon from P. eryngii KNR2312 strain was sequenced using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) strategy. Identified 222 SSR markers based on newly known genome information and various type of markers used to construct the map consisted of 12 linkage groups (LGs) spanning 1047.8 cM. Using composite interval mapping, 71 quantitative trait loci (QTL)s were identified on 12 linkage groups (LG) for nine traits such as yield, quality, cap color and earliness in four different populations. Clusters of more than five QTLs for various traits were identified on three genomic regions on LG 1, 7, and 9. The largest cluster was identified on LG 1 in the range from 65.4 to 110.4 cM. We performed the genes prediction analysis responsible for yield in the LG1 genomic region with highest logarithm of the odd (LOD) scores The identified genes were involved in biomass degradation and synthesis and signal transduction. However, the region was wide to identifie the genes crucial role in important trait, we need to narrow down. To improve the resolution of QTL mapping, we enlarge the populations crossing with additional 205 monokaryons. Find mapping of QTLs will increases the accuracy and efficiency of interpret the genomic region and enhance the usefulness of genomic information. [Supported by a grant from the IPET (213007-05-1-SBI30), MIFAFF, Republic of Korea.]

The tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura(Fabricius), is a major pest of tomato and frequently demands control measures. The timing of insecticide application is a key factor in determining its efficiency, so an experiment was designed to investigate this. Application of insecticide was based on three criteria: (i) the number of trap-caught moths in a Delta-type trap with a commercial sex pheromone lure placed in the center of the target area, soon after plant emergence; (ii) the percentage of plants exhibiting pinhole-type damage (10% or 20%) and (iii) the percentage of plants exhibiting shot hole-type damage (10% or 20%) compared to a check plot without any control measures. We found that the number of trap-caught moths was, compared to the other methods, the best means of deciding on insecticide application in tomato plant to control the tobacco cutworm. Using pheromone traps, we obtained the best performance of the insecticide Shinnago, causing > 90% larval mortality. Without insecticide application, tomato yield reduction due to the tobacco cutworm larva damage was 27%.

Binary Ti-Al alloys containing 50 to 60 atomic percent aluminum are rapidly solidified by hammer anvil method under an argon atmosphere. Constituent phases in each alloy are identified by X-ray diffractometry and microstructures of the alloys are investigated using a transmission electron microscope. In alloys with aluminum content between 50 and 54 percent, a second phase exists besides TiAl(γ); this second phase is identified as Ti3Al(α2). The α2 phase is observed in two types of morphology. One is as fine lamellar alternating with γ and the other is as a particle. It is concluded that the existence of a metastable phase with the morphologies stated above should arise from a higher quenching rate attained by the hammer anvil method as compared to the conventional roll or splat-quench method. Implications of the above observation are discussed with respect to the phase relations in the Ti-Al binary system; these implications are still controversial in many respects.

목 적: 안경과 콘택트렌즈 구매장소에 따라 안경사의 직무신뢰도 및 안경과 콘택트렌즈 가격의 만족도에 대한 의견 차이가 있는지에 대하여 알아보고자 하였다. 방 법: 2015년 5월에서 6월 두 달 동안 대구·경북, 부산·경남지역의 안경광학과 재학생과 고객을 대상 으로 안경과 콘택트렌즈 구매 장소, 안경사의 판매 및 검안에 대한 신뢰도 및 안경과 콘택트렌즈 구매가격 만족도에 대한 설문을 실시하였다. 결 과: 직무신뢰도에서 검안은 남자의 평균값이 가장 높았고(3.89±0.88), 가격만족도에서는 모두 여자 의 평균값이 높았다(3.18±0.72). 구매장소에 따른 상관관계에서는 비 프랜차이즈의 검안신뢰도가 가장 높 았다(3.99±0.91). 결 론: 구매장소에 따른 직무신뢰도와 가격만족도에 대하여 일부 항목에서 유의한 차이가 나타났고, 이 결과를 바탕으로 직무신뢰도와 가격만족도를 높이는 자료로 이용될 수 있을 것이라고 생각한다.

Honey production from approximately 1.7 million colonies owned by around 21 thousand Korean beekeepers was almost 36 thousand M/T in 2014. Honey farmers have mainly obtained commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen and royal jelly. Honeybees gather the nectars and pollens from flowers of plants or trees. Bee pollen is rich in various nutrients and called as natural complete food. Bee pollens of Quercus acutissima, Actinidia arguta, Amorpha fruticosa, Oryza sativa, Chrysanthemum morifolium and Salix koreensis were mainly collected by Apis mellifera in Korea. But stiff pollen wall hinders dissolution of polysaccharides and lowers extraction efficiency. Thus, we measured antioxidant activity as DPPH radical scavenging assay system on six kinds of pollens inoculated with fungi to confirm the husk removal effect. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by measuring the free radical scavenging activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Briefly, extracts prepared from different extraction conditions were mixed with freshly prepared DPPH solution. After shaking, the reaction mixtures were stand for 30 min at room temperature in dark places. The radical scavenging activity was determined by measuring the absorbance at 517 nm. The relative radical scavenging activity (%) was calculated as [1-absorbance of solution with sample and DPPH / absorbance of solution with DPPH] x 100. The scavenger activities of Quercus acutissima, Actinidia arguta, Amorpha fruticosa, Oryza sativa, Chrysanthemum morifolium and Salix koreensis were 42.73±1.25, 8.98±1.46, 4.38±3.53, 36.09±0.74, 17.28±1.95 and 62.76±2.07 at 500㎕/㎖, respectively.

Isaria farinosa (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) is a cosmopolitan entomopathogenic fungus affecting a wide range of arthropod hosts. It has mainly been studied as a insecticidal agent to control the agricultural pests. To investigate the useful secondary metabolite(SM) genes in Isaria farinosa C1012 strain, de novo assembly and genome mining were carried out. A whole genome sequencing with PacBio RSII system generated NGS reads greater than 4Gb, which were assembled into 16 contigs using FALCON program. The total size of genome was 33.36Mb. The N50 and N90 were 6,686,213 and 1,912,865bp, respectively. The assembled genome data was analyzed with antiSMASH3 program with a default setting to localize the gene region responsible for synthesizing SMs, such as non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and polyketide synthase (PKS). In this study, we predicted 16 NRPS, 13 PKS, and 9 PKS-NRPS hybrid gene clusters in I. farinosa genome.