The adult of honey bee, Apis mellifera, performs an age-dependent division of labor with nurse bees and foragers. Foragers fly outside the hive to collect pollen and nectar, while nurses feed and care for the larvae and queen inside the hive. Foragers are considered to be frequently exposed to agrochemicals, although nurses, stayed inside the hive, are potentially exposed to pesticides through application of miticides and pesticidecontaminated food provided by forager. Therefore, physiological effects of pesticides to nurses should be elucidated to understand the adverse effects of the chemicals on entire honey bee colony. In this study, we investigated the expression changes of the genes associated with labor division (task genes) and the nursing behavior of nurse bees fed four pesticides: acetamiprid (ACE), carbaryl (CB), imidacloprid (IMI), and fenitrothion (FEN). When nurses were exposed to ACE, IMI, and FEN, expression levels of task genes were up- and down-regulated, and their nursing behaviors were also suppressed and enhanced, respectively. CB did not alter the gene expression levels, however increased nursing behavior. These suggest the potential of pesticide that breaks the balance of labor distribution in honey bee colony.

Radiation workers receive exposure during radiation works such as decontamination or cutting of metals and concrete in decommissioning nuclear power plants. To reduce occupational exposure, various radiation protection measures should be prepared by estimating the exposure dose in advance. RESRAD-RECYCLE, the computer code, is generally used for estimating occupational dose due to handling metals contaminated with radioactive materials. However, RESRAD-RECYCLE used the dose conversion factors (DCF) of EPA FGR No. 11 based on ICRP Publications 30 and 48 published in the 1980s for internal exposure estimation. This study compared the DCFs of RESRAD-RECYCLE with those of the relatively recently published ICRP Publications 119 and 141. In addition, the internal exposure dose was evaluated by changing the value of the DCFs of RESRAD-RECYCLE. As a result of the comparison, ICRP Publication 119 showed that the DCF values of most nuclides were significantly lowered. On the other hand, in the case of nuclides emitting gamma rays, there was generally no significant change in the value of DCFs. In addition, in the case of 65Zn and 94Nb, the DCF increased compared to the previous ICRP publications. The exposure dose of the decommissioning workers of Hanul Units 1 and 3 and Hanbit Unit 4 was also calculated in this study. The expected radioactivity concentration of the steam generator chamber of each unit was used as the source term. The concentration of metal dust in the air generated during cutting was calculated and applied to evaluate the internal exposure dose. As a result of the dose evaluation, there was a difference in exposure dose up to 0.2 mSv in the scrap cutter scenario of Hanbit Unit 4, which generated a lot of dust and had a high radioactivity concentration. On the other hand, in the case of the slag worker, there was no difference in the dose because the working time was very short, and the inhalation of metal dust was small, even if the latest DCF was applied.

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) has recently emerged as an ideal disinfectant and has shown a wide range of antimicrobial activities in various pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, the virucidal effect of ClO2 at low concentration (0.02 ppm) and higher concentration (0.06 – 0.09 ppm) against Adenovirus and Herpesvirus was evaluated based on the NF T 72-281 and ASTM 1053-11 standard methods at different exposure times. The virus suspension was dried onto the carrier and then exposed to gaseous ClO2 (gClO2) at 22 ± 2∘C. For Adenovirus, exposure at a low concentration of ClO2 at the middle height resulted in the average log10 reduction of 0.95, 2.65, and 5.30 after 1, 3, and 6 h post-exposure (pe), respectively. Moreover, more than 4-log10 reduction was achieved at 4 and 6 h pe with higher concentrations of ClO2. On the other hand, the antiviral activity of gClO2 at the middle height was also effective against Herpesvirus. In particular, at 1 h pe, a less than 4-log10 reduction was observed at all examined concentrations of ClO2, whereas exposure for 3 and 6 h (with low concentration) or 2 h (with higher concentration) inactivated completely viruses attached to the carrier. These results suggested that ClO2 fumigation is a potential alternative method for disinfecting healthcare facilities, high-containment laboratories, and households with a safe concentration for human health.

We investigated the effect of a synthetic complement peptide C3a on the outcome of Brucella abortus 544 infection in a murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cell. First, we determined the highest non-cytotoxic concentration of the peptide in the cell line. We also found that the peptide significantly increased the growth of the bacteria at 8 and 24 h. Although the number of bacterial CFU was also elevated at 48 and 72 h, the increases were not significant as compared to controls. We further investigated the effect of C3a peptide on the growth of Brucella by pre-incubating the peptide at various temperatures and found that the effect was reversed at 24 h post-incubation suggesting that incubation of peptide at high temperatures including 65°C or 95°C could inactivate its action. This also could indicate the beneficial effect of high temperature during infection. Although several studies reported the inhibitory effect of different antimicrobial peptides including C3a, the present study preliminarily revealed that it had no positive contribution on the control of B. abortus 544 infection in vitro and indirectly to its receptor, CD88, which belongs to GPCR. Moreover, the encouraged further exploration of the effect of other similar peptides would be performed for the purpose of finding Brucella-host cell interaction for the control of disease progression.

This study aims to investigate the effects of exogenous succinic acid (SCA) on Brucella (B.) abortus infection in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and ICR mice. Firstly, the in vitro experiment was conducted by MTT cytotoxicity and bacterial internalization assay to evaluate the uptake of B. abortus into macrophage cells. Two non-cytotoxic concentrations of SCA demonstrated attenuated invasion of Brucella into macrophages at 30 and 45 min post- infection (pi). Secondly, ICR mice were treated with SCA and infected with B. abortus. On day-14 pi, spleen and blood serum were collected to evaluate the bacterial burden and total spleen weight as well as the production of cytokine/chemokine, respectively. The results showed that SCA treatment promoted bacterial growth and reduced the total spleen weight in mice. Furthermore, SCA treatment increased the level of IL-10 cytokine in the sera, while dampening the production of MCP-1 chemokine compared to the control. The results of bacterial load in spleen and spleen weight together with cytokine/chemokine production profile in the sera indicated that SCA induced the host anti-inflammatory response which is beneficial for the survival of Brucella. Therefore, these findings suggest that SCA contributed to host immunity against Brucella infection and the emerging potential topic-immunometabolism should be invested for further investigations.

Introduction Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in peer to peer (P2P) sharing-service businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. In P2P sharing-service businesses, goods or services are provided by customers (peers) rather than by service firms, who act simply as an intermediary between customers. One customer acts as a service-providing customer (SPC), and the other as a service-receiving customer (SRC). P2P sharing-service firms have no direct control over an SPC’s quality of service provided to an SRC. Further, both SPCs and SRCs are customers to the firm, and therefore firms are concerned with the quality of service provided not only to SRCs but also to SPCs. In the P2P sharing-service context, particularly in the case of services serving the needs of diverse travelers (e.g., Uber or Airbnb), SPCs and SRCs can be people of different genders and races, which can cause them to feel socially distant from each other. Since SPCs are not professional service employees, they may not know how to cope with the social distance, which can result in uncomfortable service experience for both SPCs and SRCs. The more similar to the SPC an SRC feels, the more comfortable the SRC is likely to feel, which can lead to higher service satisfaction. Yet, few studies examined how such social distance can be reduced. This study is intended to fill this gap in the research. Specifically, we propose that an SPC’s form of address for SRC can moderate the effect of the incongruence in gender and race on an SRC’s perceived social distance. Theoretical Development Social distance refers to the level of acceptance people have of others outside of their own social group or class (Bogardus, 1928). It is a measure of perceived difference (or distance) between groups. In the context of the P2P sharing service, SRCs and SPCs can be from diverse social groups. When an SRC encounters an SPC from a social group that is different from theirs, the SRC can feel socially distant from the SPC. Immediate differences an SRC can identify upon meeting an SPC is demographic such as gender, age and race. In this study, we first propose that the difference (incongruence) in gender, age and race makes an SRC feel socially distant from an SPC. Social distance is closely related with similarity (Osbeck & Moghaddam, 1997; Liviatan, Trope & Liberman, 2009). In the context of mentoring, the higher the perceived and actual similarity a portage feels with a mentor, the higher the level of the portage liking and satisfaction for the mentor and with the mentoring service (Ensher, 1997). Matching gender and race between a mentor and a portage positively influenced self-reported grade point average, efficacy and confidence of a portage (Blake-Beard et al. 2011). Race was well demonstrated to influence social distance (Triandis & Triandis, 1960). Taken together, we conjecture that the effect of the difference in gender and race on social distance will apply to the P2P sharing service context and propose the following hypothesis: H1: The incongruence in gender and race between an SRC and an SPC will make SRCs feel more socially distant from SPCs compared to the case of congruence. We propose in this study that the form of address for SRCs by SPCs can influence the level of social distance SRCs feel because of the incongruence in gender and race. The relationship between forms of address and social distance has been proposed (Brown, 1965). Intimate terms of address is associated with intimate relationship. Intimate terms of address is inversely proportional to social distance (Keshavarz, 2001). Calling someone by the first name is related with friendliness (Brown, 1961). The use of first name is positively associated with closeness in relationship (Brown, 1965). An empirical study in the healthcare context showed that most patients preferred to be addressed by the first name (as opposed to last name) (Gillette, Filak & Thorne, 1984). Taken together, we propose the following: H2: Intimate forms of address by the SPC for the SRC will reduce the level of social distance caused by the incongruence in gender and race. We propose that the level of perceived social distance influences the level of comfort SRCs feel with the SPC during the service delivery. The negative effect of social distance on the level of interaction comfort has been shown (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the context of service encounters where customers feel cultural differences, psychological distance was shown to influence comfort negatively (Weiermair, 2000). Since social distance is a dimension of psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, 2011), we propose the effect of social distance on comfort as following: H3: Reduced social distance will lead to a higher level of comfort. The effect of social distance on comfort can vary by customers. In this study, we propose that the effect is moderated by the customer’s motive for the purchase of the P2P sharing service. There are largely four movies for customers who participate in collective consumptions (i.e., sharing service): economic motive, social motive, hedonic motive, and the motive to reduce risks and responsibilities (Benoit, Baker, Bolton, Gruner & Kandampully, 2017). Economic motives are associated with reducing expenses, and social motives are with meeting other people (e.g. more authentic travel) (Benoit et al., 2017). Hedonic motives are related with “accessing products that are exciting or normally out of reach” while motives to reduce risks and responsibilities are related with “no burdens of ownership, option to preview a product for potential purchase” (Benoit et al., 2017). According to a research in the context of P2P accommodations, cost saving, familiarity, trust, and utility are determinants of satisfaction with a sharing option. Thus, we propose that customer motives moderate the effect of social distance on comfort (Möhlmann, 2015). H4: The effect of social distance on comfort vary by customer motives for purchase. When feeling comfortable, people are more likely to trust, feel satisfied, and commit themselves, which can help improve relationship (Spake, Beatty, Brockman & Crutchfield. 2003). Comfort positively influences perceived service quality and satisfaction (Dabholkar, Shepherd & Thorpe, 2000). Comfort influences satisfaction positively (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the P2P sharing-service context, SRCs’ evaluation of SPCs are carried out by reviews. Customer reviews of SPCs’ services are vitally important for both SRCs and SPCs. Reviews help other SRCs to identify desirable SPCs (Ert, Fleischer & Magen, 2016) and SPCs to receive feedback for their service quality improvement. Therefore, we propose the following: H5: Comfort leads to SRC’s intention to write good reviews. Data Collection Data will be collected from American consumers who have used Uber at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (genders: male vs. female) x 3 (races: white vs. yellow vs. black) x 3 (forms of address: no address vs. first name vs. last name) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis. In the analyses, the potential effects of trust, familiarity, community belonging, utility (Möhlmann, 2015) and age will be controlled. Implications Findings of this study will reveal the importance of reducing social distance that SRCs feel during encounters with SPCs. Of many possible ways to reduce social distance between SRCs and SPCs, the result of this study will show that SPCs’ use of appropriate form of address to SRCs is effective. Further, it will show that the effect of social distance on customer comfort can vary by the purpose of the use of the sharing service. These findings will offer P2P service firms insights on how to help SPCs offer more comfortable services to SRCs and as a result receive positive reviews from SRCs.

Racism has changed its form over the decades and has become more subtle and indirect than the blatant forms in the past (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2005; Sue et al., 2007; Sue, 2010; Tropp & Molina, 2012). As a result, it is becoming more difficult for minority groups to identify and call them out (Sue et al., 2007). Subtle racism can be detrimental to minority groups in that they can deteriorate performances and when accumulated, they can have negative consequences such as mental and physical health problems (Sue et al., 2007; Sue, 2010; Ong et al., 2013). Recognizing the issues regarding subtle racism, the research questions were the following: (1) Are there differences in the experience of indirect discrimination in a retail context between racial minorities and majorities?; (2) Do minorities use different strategies to solve these situations and why?; and (3) What are the consequences of subtle discrimination in the retail environment? To test the research questions, a total of 599 participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were randomly assigned to read either a racial microaggression scenario or a control scenario (a scanner unable to read a discount coupon) and they were asked to select why the incident happened to them. Further, they were asked to answer how they felt after reading the scenario and then respond to the outcome variables repatronage intention, word of mouth, and complaint intention. The findings of the study showed that Asians tend to attribute their racial identity as to why retail employees maltreated them. While Caucasians would simply state that an employee was busy or would not put much thought as to why a service failure occurred, Asians were more burdened by the thought that their race was an issue. After an employee showed subtle discriminations, Asians experienced less positive emotions than Caucasians, which resulted in them deciding to avoid the retail store. This may be due to their belief that they have less control over the situation and would rather not confront the employee or a manager on the issue. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The realization that there is a mismatch between the vocabulary level presented in the Korean National Curriculum, and the required vocabulary size for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) high school learners to take the high-stakes Korean College Scholastic Ability Test stimulated the researchers of the present study to administer an assessment of Korean high school learners’ vocabulary sizes. Measurement of vocabulary knowledge was conducted with the adaptation of Nation’s bilingual vocabulary size test, receptive and productive, by improving construct validity of the items. Learners were tested for the 1st ~ 10th 1,000 word bands to ascertain learners’ vocabulary size at each level. The assessment of vocabulary size demonstrated receptive vocabulary knowledge to be as large as 6,000 words. However, unforeseen rises in the EFL learners’ vocabulary sizes at some word bands were observed, which seem to have emerged from the educational milieu and the predominant focus on receptive lexical knowledge and the testing of them. Suggestions are proposed for the revision of word list of the National Curriculum, which would become the blueprint for controlling vocabulary level in the development of national textbooks of English.