The hard tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is one of the vectors of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) causing in humans, however little consideration was given to the biological control of the pest. Therefore, this study provides a screening method to select entomopathogenic fungi, having high virulence against H. longicornis. The virulence test was conducted by dipping method with a conidial suspension (1×107 conidia/ml). As a result, cadavers of H. longicornis infected with entomopathogenic fungi were obtained by this method. Based on this results, we selected several isolates having high virulence to H. longicornis. We suggest that, selected isolates in this study can be used for the control of H. longicornis.

Entomopathogenic fungi have been known as promising candidates for biological control of insect pests. Recently, researchers consider the fungal thermotolerance in formulations and field applications. In this study, we investigated the production of thermotolerant Isaria javanica and I.fumosorosea conidia through grain-based solid cultures and exposure to light stress. As results, of the ten grain substrates, Italian millet, rice, perilla seed and sesame, rice, sorghum produced highly thermotolerant conidia in the strains. The two strains were exposed to a light stress and a heat stress. And they showed enhanced thermal stability compared to control, when exposed to 45°C for 2 hours. This work suggests that heat-resistant entomopathogenic fungal conidia can be produced by grain-based solid cultures and exposure to light stress.

Melon thrips, Thrips palmi Karny (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a serious insect pest of various crops in the world. The management of this pest mainly have relied on chemical agents. However, the overuse of chemical agents for long times causes insect resistance, and negative effects on environment. Therefore, alternative control methods, such as biological control, that are less harmful to the environment and have different mode of action are needed to control this pest. In this study, we isolated entomopathogenic fungi from Korean soil, and characterized them via morphological and molecular identifications and pathogenicity check against Tenebrio molitor larvae. The isolated fungi were subjected to virulence assay against T. Palmi with a conidial suspension of 1×107 conidia/ml in laboratory conditions. This entomopathogenic fungi library would be a good resource to select effective strains for the control of T. palmi in fields.

Entomopathogenic fungi play an important natural role in regulating their insect host populations, and their ecology was also associated with plant and soil. These microorganisms have been living by reacting to insect, plant and environmental factor. The advanced bioinformatics technology such as next-generation sequencing and RNA sequencing has revolutionized in understanding of entomopathogenic fungi. Recently studies provided a lot of information on evolutionary relationships and virulence-related characteristics. We are starting to know where these microorganisms from is, and how they live in nature. The bioinformatics technology will give us further our understanding of the natural roles of these fungi in nature.

요약; 최근에는 기계 학습, 특히 심층 학습에 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 구글, 페이스 북과 같은 대기업이 인공 지능과 기계 학습에 관심을 가지고 있기 때문에, 이러한 연구는 날마다 발전하고있다. 기계 학습은 의학, 번역 및 IT와 같은 다양한 산업에서 사용될 것으로 기대됩니다. 게임 부문은 기계학습 기술적용의 효과가 예상되는 영역 중 하나라고 간주됩니다. 본 논문에서는 MMORPG-Tera의 게임 콘텐츠에서 몬스터의 승패를 예측하는 신경망을 Tensorflow를 통해 설계하였다. 이 모델은 1 개의 입력 레이어, 2 개의 숨겨진 레이어 및 1 개의 출력 레이어를 가지고 있다. 입력 레이어에는 8 개의 노드가 있고 각 숨겨진 레이어에는 16 개의 노드가 있으며 출력 레이어에는 1 개의 노드가 있다. 더 나은 결과를 위해 우리는 그라디언트 디센트, 시그 모이드 (Sigmoid) 함수 및 Relu 함수 (Activate 함수)에 Adam을 사용한다. 준비된 데이터 세트의 마지막 부분은 테스 트 데이터 용으로 사용되고 나머지는 학습 모델 용으로 사용되었다. 이 모델은 5 ~ 10 % 오차 이내의 확률을 예측할 수 있다. 데이터 세트의 부족은 만족스럽지 않은 점으로 남아 있으며, 충분한 데이터가 수집되고 더 개선 된 모델이 준비되면 오류를 더 줄일 수 있다. 그리고 제안된 모델은 앞으로 다른 게임이나 스포츠 게임에도 적용될 것이다.

In order to identify key nations and bird species of conservation concern we described multinational collaborations as defined using network analysis linked by birds that are found in all nations in the network. We used network analysis to assess the patterns in bird occurrence for 10,422 bird inventories from 244 countries and territories. Nations that are important in multinational collaborations for bird conservation were assessed using the centrality measures, closeness and betweenness centrality. Countries important for the multinational collaboration of bird conservation were examined based on their centrality measures, which included closeness and betweenness centralities. Comparatively, the co-occurrence network was divided into four groups that reveal different biogeographical structures. A group with higher closeness centrality included countries in southern Africa and had the potential to affect species in many other countries. Birds in countries in Asia, Australia and the South Pacific that are important to the cohesiveness of the global network had a higher score of betweenness centrality. Countries that had higher numbers of bird species and more extensively distributed bird species had higher centrality scores; in these countries, birds may act as excellent indicators of trends in the co-occurrence bird network. For effective bird conservation in the world, much stronger coordination among countries is required. Bird co-occurrence patterns can provide a suitable and powerful framework for understanding the complexity of co-occurrence patterns and consequences for multinational collaborations on bird conservation.

This study, for the first time, investigated the packaging requirements of in-package dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma treatment (DBD-CPT). The parameters determining packaging requirements include the internal oxygen concentration, headspace volume to sample volume ratio (HSR), direct or indirect treatment, and kind of packaging material. Grape tomato and mixed vegetables, composed of romaine lettuce, red cabbage, carrot with and without the inoculation with Salmonella, were subjected to DBD-CPT at 32.5 kV for 3 min. Increasing the oxygen concentration in the container from 5% to 90% did not influence Salmonella inactivation (p>0.05). Increasing the HSR of air packaging material from 54:1 to 522:1 increased Salmonella inhibition on grape tomato (p<0.05). Higher Salmonella inhibition was found in grape tomatoes in directly treated salads than in indirect-treated salads (p<0.05). The inactivation of indigenous mesophilic aerobic bacteria was exhibited higher when packaged with PE than with PET (p<0.05). Optimal package requirements were determined as HSR of 522:1, direct treatment, and uses of PE as packaging material for the microbial inactivation using in-package cold plasma treatment. DBD-CPT increased the water vapor permeability of all packaging materials (p<0.05), but did not change their tensile properties and transparency (p>0.05). Overall, DBD-CPT was found effective in decontaminating mixed vegetables, prepackaged with commercial packages, without affecting the tensile and optical properties of the packages. Furthermore, the HSR, the electrode-container distance and kind of packaging material were identified as the major packaging requirements affecting the microbial inactivation efficacy of in-packaged cold plasma treatment.

The entomopathogneic fungal colonization has become an interesting issue in ecological pest management. Plant-orientedfungi induce plant growth promotion and act as natural control agents against insect pest. Herein this work, we evaluatedthe ability of fungal colonization on bark, branches and leaves of pine tree (Pinus densiflora) to select optimal candidatesfor controlling Japanese pine sawyer (Monochamus alternatus), which is the pine wilt disease vector in Korea. As a result,some Beauveria and Metarhizium isolates could colonize on the substrates of P. densiflora and showed pathogenicity againstM. alternatus. This result suggests that the selected entomopathogenic fungi are possibly candidates for long-term managementof M. alternatus in pine tree forest.

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 hard tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is one of the vectors of severe fever with thrombocytopeniasyndrome virus (SFTSV) causing in humans, however little consideration was given to the biological control of the pest.We evaluated three bioassay methods, such as spray, dipping and dropping. As a result, the dipping method was themost efficient way to measure the fungal virulence. Finally, we constructed a Haemaphysalis longicornis pathogenic fungallibrary to further facilitate the resources to be used as potential biological control agents. A conidial suspension of 1×107conidia/ml was exposed to the ticks by dipping. We confirmed that some isolates were highly virulent to the ticks. Thisresults indicated that some fungi could be used to effectively control the Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Many entomopathogenic fungal isolates received interests for controlling insect pests. But very few numbers of isolatesreached agricultural fields as commercial products. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of grain substrates forconidial production, focusing on conidial productivity and thermotolerance. Next to efficiently use the produced conidiafor spray application, conidia need to be separated from the grain substrates. Isaria javanica and I. fumosorosea conidiawere solid-cultured on ten kinds of cereal grains. Solid-cultured grains were packed in a screen bag and immersed inwater with a variety of surfactants at 100 ppm, such as Silwet, CO-2.5, CO-12, LE-7, PE-61, TDE-3, Tween 20 or Tween80. High levels of conidial release were observed on LE-7, TDE-3 and Tween80 treatments. This work suggests thatthe screen bag can be used to separated conidia from the cultured grains with the help of surfactants.

A genus of entomopathogenic Beaveria bassiana has been widely used in pest management, however little studies havebeen given to its virulence-related genes. To identify the roles of virulence genes, AtMT-induced random mutants weregenerated and followed by localization study with TAIL-PCR. Two genes, Complex I intermediated-associated protein30 (CIP30) and Autophagy protein 22 (Atg22), were predicted as virulence-related genes in B.bassiana JEF-007. To validatethe a possible relationship between two genes and fungal virulence, hpRNAi was performed. A hpRNAi plasmid wasconstructed as a model system to knock down of egfp gene in egfp-expressing B. bassiana transformant. A Real-TimePCR showed the knock down of egfp gene expression via hpRNAi. The CIP30 and Atg22 genes in B. bassiana willbe validated by the established RNAi technique. This work can be a strong platform for the functional genetics in B.bassiana.

The aim this study was to examine the effect of general squat and wall squat exercises on the muscle activity of the vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis (VL), and the muscle activity of the VMO and VL during squat exercises depending on the flexion angle of the knee joint. Thirty adults in their 20s participated in the study, and subjects were divided into the general squat group, and the wall squat group, and their electromyographic (EMG) was monitored and collected during squat exercises. The muscle activity of the VL during squat exercises was compared between the two groups, and that of the wall squat group was higher than that of the general squat group, indicate a statistically significant difference (p<.05). The muscle activity of the VMO of the wall squat group was also higher than that of the general squat group, indicate a statistically significant difference (p<.05). The muscle activity depending on the angle of the knee joint was compared between the two groups, and that of the VL showed a statistically significant difference between different angles of the knee joint (p<.05). That of the VMO also showed a statistically significant difference between different angles of the knee joint (p<.05). The findings of the present study suggest that wall squat is more effective in improving the muscular strength of the VL and VMO than general squat, and that maintaining the angle of the knee joint at 60° is more effective in improving the muscular strength than maintaining it at 15° or 45°

Samples were collected between August 2016 and May 2017 at Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk- do, Jeju-do, and Uljin-gun, Gangwon-do. As a result, one genus and six species were newly recorded in Korea. The unrecorded indigenous genus was Borzia, and the six species were Anagnostidinema acutissimum, Komvophoron bourrellyi, Hydrocoleum stankovicii, Borzia trilocularis, Phormidium tinctorium and Pseudanabaena lohchoides. Phormidium tinctorium and Pseudanabaena lohchoides had been reported to inhabit freshwater, but in this study, these were found in brackish water. It had also been reported that B. trilocularis trichomes are composed of up to 8 cells, but in this study, a maximum of 10 cells was observed.

Entomopathogenic fungi, widely distributed in nature, have been developed as biopesticides of agricultural pests. However, little is known about isolation method for obtaining a variety of highly virulent strains from the soil. In this work, the previously established method using mealworm (larvae of Tenebrio molitor) as a baiting system was used to efficiently isolate fungal strains from soil, and the isolated fungal library in Korea was established. To isolate entomopathogenic fungi, soil samples from 10 regions of Korea such as Iksan, Imsil, Gunsan, Yeosu, Suncheon, Gwangyang, Jinju, Hamyang, Boseong and Jangseong were collected. Of the collected soils, 21 and 34 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from Iksan and Gunsan, respectively. The isolates were classified as genera of Metarhizium, Beauveria and Isaria. This work can suggest an effective insect pathogenic fungal isolation method

Entomopathogenic fungi have been known as promising candidates in biological control. However, a large number of conidia with higher stability should be produced for industrialization. In this work investigated the possibility of several grains for the production of thermotolerant Isaria javanica and I. fumosoroseus conidia. The fungal conidia were produced on ten grains for 14 days in Petri dish conditions. Of the ten granular substrates, millet, perilla seed and barley showed the high conidial production, 15.7 ± 8.4, 17.3 ± 5.2 and 13.5 ± 1.9 × 109 conida/g in I. javanica and 15.9 ± 0.6, 15.0 ± 0.5 and 15.0 ± 0.7 ×109 conida/g in I. fumosoroseus, respectively. However, the two strains showed relatively low thermal stability regardless of substrates, when exposed to 45℃ for 1, 2 and 3 hours. This work suggests a possible substrate for conidial production of entomopathogenic fungi with low cost.

Entomopathogenic fungi are expected to play a role as great biological control agents in the global bio-pesticide market in the future. The first step is the collection of fungal isolates and it should be a platform for the development of highly effective biopesticides. In this work, we constructed a fungal library using a mealworm pathogenecity-based fungal collection method and further characterized some isolates with high virulence. A phylogenetic tree was generated, and of the isolates 17 isolates’ biological features were characterized, such as morphology, virulence against several insect, stability of conidia for heat, production of biologically active materials, such as enzymes. This work reports an attractive entomopathogenic fungal library including the information of effective isolates in pest management.