This Study developed a VR functional game that allows players to experience the life of a stray dog and analyzed the effects of this experience on improving awareness and perception of stray dogs. The game was designed to enhance realism by providing a first-person perspective as a stray dog and simulating various situations that stray dogs typically encounter. A pre- and post-survey was conducted with 20 adult participants to measure changes in perception. The results showed that after experiencing the game, participants demonstrated increased understanding of the realities faced by stray dogs, improved perceptions, greater interest in the issue, and a higher willingness to adopt stray dogs. These findings indicate that the design elements of the VR functional game—such as perspective, realism, and immersion— contribute positively to fostering empathy and improving perceptions toward stray dogs.

Refractory materials, such as molybdenum and niobium, are potential candidates for cladding material due to their high melting temperatures and desirable mechanical properties at higher temperatures than those of zirconium alloys. However, refractory materials have low resistance to oxidation at elevated temperatures. Therefore, this study examined silicide or aluminide surface coatings as protection against rapid oxidation of refractory materials at elevated temperatures for a potential accident-tolerant fuel cladding. Silicide or aluminide layers were formed on refractory metal substrates by using the pack cementation method. The steam oxidation behavior of both coated and uncoated samples was compared by thermogravimetric analysis at 1200°C. The weight changes of the coated samples were greatly reduced than those of uncoated samples. Microstructural analyses demonstrated that the silicide and aluminide layers were oxidized to form a protective surface oxide that prevented rapid oxidation of the refractory substrate at elevated temperatures.

Since the gene expression interference induced by dsRNA was discovered, dsRNA has been considered as an antiviral agent and pesticide to protect beneficial insects and crops, respectively. Recently, dsRNA was classified as IRAC mode of action group 35, and the first dsRNA pesticide, Calatha of GreenLight Bioscience, has been approved by EPA. Also an animal drug for Asian honeybee, HoneyGuard-R of Genolution is about to be approved by APQA. During the last two decades, hundreds of papers already had demonstrated the application and capability of dsRNA for agriculture, however, we have just a few commercialized products at hand at this moment. It is time to understand the processes, hurdles and limitations on the industry side that are indispensable for the development, registration and commercialization of dsRNA-based products.

This study suggests that using AI chatbots with highly human-like characteristics could reduce the effectiveness of personalized AI chatbot advertising because they will likely worsen consumer concerns about privacy. Conversely, using AI chatbot with less human-like characteristics will not heighten consumer privacy concerns, thereby increasing the impact of personalized AI advertising.

We introduce the Transformable Reflective Telescope (TRT) kit that applies an aluminum profile as a base plate for precise, stable, and lightweight optical system. It has been utilized for optical surface measurements, developing alignment and baffle systems, observing celestial objects, and various educational purposes through Research & Education projects. We upgraded the TRT kit using the aluminum profile and truss and isogrid structures for a high-end optical test device that can be used for prototyping of precision telescopes or satellite optical systems. Thanks to the substantial aluminum profile and lightweight design, mechanical deformation by self-weight is reduced to maximum 67.5 μm, which is an acceptable misalignment error compared to its tolerance limits. From the analysis results of non-linear vibration simulations, we have verified that the kit survives in harsh vibration environments. The primary mirror and secondary mirror modules are precisely aligned within 50 μm positioning error using the high accuracy surface finished aluminum profile and optomechanical parts. The cross laser module helps to align the secondary mirror to fine-tune the optical system. The TRT kit with the precision aluminum mirror guarantees high quality optical performance of 5.53 μm Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) at the field center.

A multi-step deposition process for the gap-filling of submicrometer trenches using dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMOS), (CH3)2Si(OCH3)2, and CxHyOz by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is presented. The multistep process consisted of pre-treatment, deposition, and post-treatment in each deposition step. We obtained low-k films with superior gap-filling properties on the trench patterns without voids or delamination. The newly developed technique for the gapfilling of submicrometer features will have a great impact on inter metal dielectric (IMD) and shallow trench isolation (STI) processes for the next generation of microelectronic devices. Moreover, this bottom up gap-fill mode is expected to be universally for other chemical vapor deposition systems.

Nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV), which belongs to Baculoviridae, is a rod-shaped, double-stranded circular DNA virus which infects arthropods, mostly insects. NPVs are highly species-specific, and make unique crystalline polyhedral structure made of polyhedrin protein. The NPVs do not replicate in mammalian cells, are safe to human, and can be observed the viral replication with conventional compound microscope, plus the availability of susceptible insect cell lines, therefore, the NPVs became an ideal model system to study basic virology. Also, NPVs became popular because of its applications for baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS). A foreign gene will be cloned into a shuttle vector, and introduced to the NPV chromosome to make recombinant virus. This NPV will produce the protein in culture cells or host insects under the control of the strong polyhedrin promoter. So far, the commercially available BEVS has been widely used because of its high efficiency and eukaryotic characteristics, however, the hidden bottleneck is finding new useful genes which will maximize the capability of BEVS. Since the human genome project, next generation sequencing technique (NGS) is getting useful in life science field along with the development of sequence analysis algorithms and increase of computational power. Especially, RNA-seq and de novo sequence assembly technics make discovery of new genes easier even in a non-model species with a proteomics approach, and these useful tools will be the key to catalyze the insect biotechnology.

In 1990, the human genome project had begun with three billion dollars of budget, and the sequencing and analysis result of the three billion base pairs of human genome was finally published in 2000 to open a new era of genomics. Since the human genome project, many other genomes of eukaryotic model organisms, such as mouse, Drosophila, Arabidopsis, C. elegance, etc., became available, and this led the development of computational biology and comparative genomics. Also, during the last decade, the speed of the nucleotide sequencing increased significantly with lower cost by next generation sequencing technology, and the computational power to handle sequence information also has grown exponentially to make possible that a genomics approach is an affordable tool for many of the biological studies. In the entomology area, the 5000 insect genome project was launched in 2011 for understanding of the biology of insects in a new dimension. Based on the recent studies of functional genomics and the new discoveries in the biological sciences, such as innate immune system, RNAi technique, insect pathogens, etc., the information from the insect genomics study will make possible to improve our capability to manage insect pests in the future.

Hz-2V, which belongs to nudiviridae, is a sexually transmitted insect virus of corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea. Hz-2V is transmitted during mating or mating attempt of infected individuals, and specifically replicates in the reproductive tissues to cause abnormal development of testes and ovary in the adult moths of next generations. The malformation of Hz-2V reproductive tissues started during the early pupal stage without clear sign of virus replication. The virus replication started at the late pupal stage to cause sterility of the emerged moths. Interestingly, the infected female moths showed a unique pathology, so called ‘waxy-plug’, which is filled with virus particles, and abnormal mating behavior while they produced 6~7 times more of pheromone than the normal female moths did. To investigate the factors of Hz-2V which control the physiological, and behavioral changes of the infected moths, the whole genome sequence of Hz-2V was determined. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that Hz-2V contains 113 putative ORFs including juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) and histone binding protein homologues, and a miRNA candidate which probably controls the expression of viral JHE.