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.

Introduction The concentration of manufacturing factories in China signals a significant change in the global economy. Manufacturers in countries that are not price competitive feel a sense of crisis and use servitization in the manufacturing industry as a countermeasure. In particular, with the recent rapid development of IoT and AI, service methods are becoming faster and more diverse resulting in increased research on servitization. Vandermerwe and Rada (1988), who first mentioned the term servitization, define it as providing customer-focused products, services, support, self-service, and knowledge, all bundled together. Despite numerous studies on servitization few consider the customer’s perspective, although many consider the producer’s point of view. So far existing research only explored on how consumers accept value-in-use based on an accurate understanding of consumers' needs from the consumer perspective in servitization, based on expectation-confirmation theory. This study examines how customers accept servitization and links it to customer satisfaction. Literature review Servitization Ren and Gregory (2007) defined servitization as a strategic change in which manufacturing companies develop service-oriented or better services to satisfy customers, gain competitive advantage, and improve corporate performance. Raja et al. (2013) examined servitization to find the most important attributes of value-in-use for customers using servitized products and classified them into seven attributes. This study is based on the seven attributes identified by Raja et al. (2013). Perceived Usefulness, Confirmation, and Customer Satisfaction Bhattacharjee developed the Continuance Use Model based on the expectation-confirmation theory and conducted empirical studies for verification (2001b). Our study analyzes the correlation between customer acceptance process and customer satisfaction based on the Expectation-Confirmation model by Bhattacharjee (2001b). Research method We conducted surveys and analyzed the data of 50 Korean university students and members of the public using Smart Pay (Samsung Pay, Apple Pay etc.). The reliability of the questionnaire was verified by using the Cronbach’s alpha values and exploratory factor analysis. The seven variables of the value-in-use attributes of servitization identified by Raja et al. are as follows: relational dynamic, accessibility, range of product and service offering, knowledge, price, delivery, and locality. We measured three additional variables: perceived usefulness, confirmation, and customer satisfaction. Contributions Academic contribution This study provides a theoretical basis for examining the relationship between variables and the influence of the value-in-use attributes of servitization on customer acceptance and satisfaction. Practical contribution We present implications for customer satisfaction in the servitization process of manufacturing companies by explaining how customers accept the value-in-use attributes of servitization.

Due to their environmental and economical consequences, invasive species have become a major concern worldwide. Among them, the yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, is a keen hunter of domestic honeybees. They use olfactory cues from the prey to assess food information. In this study, we investigated the attraction behavior of V. velutina to honeybee pheromone under outdoor conditions. Nine honeybee pheromones were tested and compared in order to find the best attractant. When testing specific compounds, the honeybee queen pheromone, homovanillyl alcohol, proved highly attractive.

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.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (AtMT) has been widely used for generation of fungal transformants and recently applied to Beauveria bassiana. In this study to comprehend how the AtMT promoter influences on the expression of selection marker (hygromycin B resistance gene; hph), two different Ti-Plasmids were constructed: pCeg (gpdA promoter-based) and pCambia-egfp (CaMV 35S promoter-based). Putative transformants were subjected to the PCR, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR to inspect the T-DNA insertion rate and gene expression level. In conclusion, more than 80% of the colonies succeeded in AtMT transformation and the hph expression level of AtMT/pCeg colonies was higher than that of AtMT/pCambia-egfp colonies. This result can provide useful information on the AtMT of B. bassiana, especially antibiotics susceptibility and promoter-dependant expression level.

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.

Many turfgrass pests, Ectinohoplia rufipes, Exomala orientalis and Popillia quadriguttata, cause serious damage to grass fields in Korea. In this study, control of turfgrass pests using entomopathogenic fungi were investigated using Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis as an alternative insect. In a preliminary experiment, some Metathizium sp. showed ca. 60% virulence after 7 days exposure to the entomopathogenic fungi. Compared to the contact-exposure, overall a spray treatment showed lower control efficacy against P. brevitarsis seulensis. Furthermore, mortality of various developmental stages of P. brevitarsis seulensis was investigated under laboratory conditions. This work suggests that when treated with fungi mortality of P. brevitarsis seulensis was closely related with developmental stage. These results provide a basic information for the control of P. brevitarsis seulensis using entomopathogenic fungi

Entomopathogenic fungi are potential pesticides as biological control agents. However, many previous studies have focused on basic researches to control pest using insect-pathogenic fungi. Herein, the molecular characteristics of insect defense mechanisms against fungal pathogens and fungal pathogenicity to insects were investigated. The whole genome of Beauveria bassiana (Bb) JEF-007 was sequenced (36,538,394 bp) using Pacbio sequencing. Based on this data, the transcriptomes of bean bug and fungus were analyzed using RNA-seq. In the transcriptome analyses, six and five genes were validated to be involved in the fungal pathogenicity and insect defense, respectively. This work can provide an understanding of the insect-pathogen interactions

Using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, the electrical properties of Au and Cu Schottky contacts to n-Ge were comparatively investigated. Lower values of barrier height, ideality factor and series resistance were obtained for the Au contact as compared to the Cu contact. The values of capacitance showed strong dependence on the bias voltage and the frequency. The presence of an inversion layer at the interface might reduce the intercept voltage at the voltage axis, lowering the barrier height for C-V measurements, especially at lower frequencies. In addition, a higher interface state density was observed for the Au contact. The generation of sputter deposition-induced defects might occur more severely for the Au contact; these defects affected both the I-V and C-V characteristics.