As the size of the gaming market continues to grow, game engines like Unity and Unreal are constantly being developed and updated for multi-platform support. In particular, Unity divides the Render Pipeline to be used. Among them, the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) has the advantage of supporting various platforms while improving performance by reducing draw calls and batches at the same quality settings and reducing the load on the CPU and GPU. However, only limited global illumination is supported in the real-time 3D rendering area within URP, such as Baked GI and Enlighten GI, and Enlighten GI will be deprecated after 2024LST, so real-time global illumination is not available in URP, which may reduce the realism and immersion of global illumination in games or applications that use URP. The main objective of this research is to incorporate precomputed spherical harmonics into URP to enable dynamic GI updates in real-time. The approach proposed in this research is to compute the coefficients of spherical harmonics offline and then run them within the URP rendering pipeline, where work exists to effectively simulate dynamic lighting conditions. To demonstrate this, experiments were conducted by changing the rotation and color of the lights, and a comparative analysis was performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theory proposed in this work.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered an alternative source of neuronal lineage cells, which are difficult to isolate from brain and expand in vitro. Previous studies have reported that MSCs expressing Nestin (Nestin+ MSCs), a neuronal stem/progenitor cell marker, exhibit increased transcriptional levels of neural development-related genes, indicating that Nestin+ MSCs may exert potential with neurogenic differentiation. Accordingly, we investigated the effects of the presence of Nestin+ MSCs in bone-marrow-derived primary cells (BMPCs) on enhanced neurogenic differentiation of BMPCs by identifying the presence of Nestin+ MSCs in uncultured and cultured BMPCs. The percentage of Nestin+ MSCs in BMPCs was measured per passage by double staining with Nestin and CD90, an MSC marker. The efficiency of neurogenic differentiation was compared among passages, revealing the highest and lowest yields of Nestin+ MSCs. The presence of Nestin+ MSCs was identified in BMPCs before in vitro culture, and the highest and lowest percentages of Nestin+ MSCs in BMPCs was observed at the third (P3) and fifth passages (P5). Moreover, significantly the higher efficiency of differentiation into neurons, oligodendrocyte precursor cells and astrocytes was detected in BMPCs at P3, compared with P5. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that neurogenic differentiation can be enhanced by increasing the proportion of Nestin+ MSCs in cultured BMPCs.

X-chromosome inactivation is one of the most complex events observed in early embryo developments. The epigenetic changes occurred in female X-chromosome is essential to compensate dosages of X-linked genes between males and females. Because of the relevance of the epigenetic process to the normal embryo developments and stem cell studies, X-chromosome inactivation has been focused intensively for last 10 years. Initiation and regulation of the process is managed by diverse factors. Especially, proteins and non-coding RNAs encoded in X-chromosome inactivation center, and a couple of transcription factors have been reported to regulate the event. In this review, we introduce the reported factors, and how they regulate epigenetic inactivation of X-chromosomes.

The nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the causal pathogen of pine wilt disease in Korea. Currently, it is reported that B. mucronatus also has a low pathogenicity. Despite this difference in pathogenicity, it is very difficult to differentiate these two species due to similarity in morphological characters. The sequence variation of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and intergenic spacer (IGS) regions of ribosomal DNA has been used for species identification and phylogeny of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus. But, the IGS region sequence data of B. mucronatus has been only reported in Portugal. In this study, We analyzed genetic variation on ITS and IGS regions of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus (Asian genotype, European genotype) based on rDNA gene sequences, and conducted phylogeography using TCS network. When the each isolates was determined the phylogenetic analysis using the neighbor-joining method, Bursaphelenchus species were divided into each groups, and showed low variation within each species. In the TCS analysis, The isolate of B. xylophilus and B. mucronatus (Asian genotype and European genotype) were divided into each groups and confirmed slightly genetic distance within species. B. mucronatus European genotype has possibility of new species different with Asian genotype.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 22 nucleotides of small noncoding RNAs that control gene expression at the posttranscriptional level through translational inhibition and destabilization of their target mRNAs. The miRNAs are phylogenetically conserved and have been shown to be instrumental in a wide variety of key biological processes including cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, metabolism, imprinting, and differentiation. Recently, a paper has shown that expression of the miRNA-302/367 cluster expressed abundantly in mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can directly reprogram mouse and human somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) efficiently in the absence of any of the four factors, Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4. To apply this efficient method to porcine, we analyzed porcine genomic sequence containing predicted porcine miRNA-302/367 cluster through ENSEMBL database, generated a non-replicative episomal vector system including miRNA-302/367 cluster originated from porcine embryonic fibro-blasts (PEF), and tried to make porcine iPSCs by transfection of the miRNA-302/367 cluster. Colonies expressing EGFP and forming compact shape were found, but they were not established as iPSC lines. Our data in this study show that pig miRNA-302/367 cluster could not satisfy requirement of PEF reprogramming conditions for pluripotency. To make pig iPSC lines by miRNA, further studies on the role of miRNAs in pluripotency and new trials of transfection with conventional reprogramming factors are needed.

Paromius exiguus (Distant, 1883) is a serious insect pest in rice field adjacent to reclaimed land. They suck young ear of rice causing empty head of grain or pecky rice grain. During 2010 to 2012, we conducted to investigate the host-plant change of P. exiguus in Siwha reclaimed land, Hwaseong-si. In 2012, we also studied dispersal ability of P. exiguus from reclaimed land to adjacent rice fields. In early May, the adults aggregated on the grain parts of cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica) (Poales: Poaceae) after overwintering, and laid their eggs and nymphs developed into adults on the same host plants from middle May to late June. Second generation was observed at wood small-reed (Calamagrostis epigeios) (Poales: Poaceae) from late June to late July. At shooting stage of rice, adults moved to adjacent rice fields and third generation might be started. Although dispersal ability of adult of P. exiguus penetrated about 10 km into inland areas of Hwaseong-si, number of individuals of P. exiguus population was significantly declined with increasing distance from reclaimed land (Pearson’s correlation coefficient, r=-0.7357, p<0.0001). Unfortunately, further studies on population dynamics of P. exiguus in rice fields could not investigated, because pesticides were widely sprayed by aerial application in 14 August, 2012. Nevertheless, this results will be a useful information for management and control of P. exiguus in rice fields adjacent to reclaimed land.

An assessment was made of the toxicity of 12 insecticides, three essential oils and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) alone or in combination with the oil major constituents, (E)-anethole (AN), (E)-cinnamaldehyde (CA) and eugenol (EU), to third instars from bamboo forest collected Aedes albopictus and rice paddy field collected Anopheles sinensis resistant to various groups of insecticides. The toxicity of the test insecticides, essential oils and binary mixtures of Bti and the oil constituents (1:1 ratio) was evaluated using a direct-contact mortality bioassay. Binary mixtures of B.t.i. and CA, AN or EU were significantly more toxic against Ae. albopictus larvae (LC50, 0.0084, 0.0134 and 0.0237 mg/l) and An. sinensis larvae (0.0159, 0.0388 and 0.0541 mg/l) than either B.t.i. (1.7884 and 2.1681 mg/l) or CA (11.46 and 19.43 mg/l), AN (16.66 and 25.11 mg/l) or EU (24.60 and 32.14 mg/l) alone. Based on the co-toxicity coefficient (CC) and synergistic factor (SF), the three binary mixtures operated in a synergy pattern (CC, 140.7–368.3 and SF, 76–213 for Ae. albopictus CC, 75.1–245.3 and SF, 40–136 for An. sinensis).The binary mixtures of Bti and essential oil constituents described, particularly (E)-cinnamaldehyde, merit further study as potential mosquito larvicides for the control of malaria vector mosquito populations in light of global efforts to reduce the level of highly toxic synthetic insecticides in the aquatic environment.

This study was conducted to apply a horticultural therapy program to childhood cancer patients, to analyze their psychosocial changes and thus to examine its possibility as a way to manage the recovery of childhood cancer patients. This study was conducted on patients who were diagnosed with childhood cancer, and they were divided into the experimental group (8 patients who visited H association offices located in 3 cities and participated in the horticultural program) and the control group (5 patients who did not participate in the program). The homogeneity between the two groups before conducting the program was compared, and there was no statistically significant difference, which proved that the two groups were homogeneous. After conducting the program, the score of social immaturity, one of the sub-categories of problem behaviors, of the experimental group was statistically significantly lower than that of the control group (p=.019). Changes before and after the program within the groups were compared, and the somatization score (p=.039) of the experimental group (p=.039) after the program was 1.13, down from 2.13 before the program. The social immaturity score (p=.017) of the experimental group after the program was 1.00, down from 2.63 before the program, and the attention problem score (p=.026) of the group after the program was 1.25, down from 2.50 before the program. The total problem behavior score (p=.034) of the experimental group after the program was 9.63, down from 18.50 before the program, showing a statistically significant decrease. The cumulative subjective mood score (p=.000) of the experimental group throughout the entire sessions after the program was 7.82, up from 6.99 before the program, showing a statistically significant increase. Therefore, it can be concluded that the horticultural therapy program developed based on the ‘relaxationsocial support-cognitive behavior’ strategy was effective to reduce the negative psychosocial state of childhood cancer patients.