The presence of glutamine (Gln) in in vitro maturation (IVM) and in vitro culture (IVC) medium is a more potent factor for improving porcine oocyte and embryo development than other amino acids. However Gln is inherently unstable and spontaneously breaks down into ammonia, and therefore interferes with proper development. To avoid this adverse effect, Gln was replaced in the present study with its stable dipeptide derivative alanyl-glutamine (Ala-Gln) and the effects of this replacement on porcine IVM and IVC were evaluated. Replacement of Gln with Ala-Gln during IVM did not improve nuclear maturation, however numbers of early cleaved embryos were significantly increased after activation. Blastocyst formation rates were also significantly improved by using Ala-Gln during IVM. Replacement of Gln with Ala-Gln during IVC significantly increased total cell numbers in blastocysts. Blastocyst formation rate was also significantly higher when Ala-Gln was used in both IVM and IVC. In conclusion, the use of Ala-Gln rather than Gln gives better results for development in both porcine IVM and IVC.

Self-governance of natural resources has started to gain increasing attention as an alternative to command-and-control and market-based tools. However, a fundamental question remains: is self-governance economically beneficial, allowing it to serve as an alternative management tool? This paper uses a unique set of survey data from a territorial-user-right-based South Korean inshore (maul) fishery and applies an empirical strategy to provide some of the first quantitative evidence that self-governance benefits maul fishermen. We find that members of the self-governance group perceive the management system as having had a positive impact on four out of the eight criteria we tested: stock recovery, curtailed fishing effort, reduced disputes among fishermen and declining incidents of illegal fishing. Considering that these groups have been in existence on average for less than seven years, these results indicate that the management scheme has made good progress overall.

In this study, we investigated the effect of two oxygen concentrations (5 and 20%) during in vitro maturation (IVM) and during in vitro culture (IVC) on porcine embryo development and analysed differences in gene expression between cumulus–oocyte complexes matured under 5 or 20% oxygen and the resulting blastocysts cultured under 5% or 20% oxygen following parthenogenetic activation. There was no significant difference in oocyte maturation rate. However, the numbers of resulting blastocysts were significantly increased in the 5% IVC group compared with the 20% IVC group. Moreover, the M20C5 treatment group (23.01%) supported greater blastocyst development compared with the M5C5 (14.32%), M5C20 (10.30%), and M20C20 (17.88%) groups. However, total cell numbers were not significantly different among groups. According to mRNA abundance data of multiple genes, each treatment altered the expression of genes in different patterns. GLUT1, G6PD and LDHA were up-regulated in cumulus cells that had been matured in low oxygen, suggesting a higher glucose uptake and an increase in anaerobic glycolysis, whereas cyclin B1 (CCNB) and MnSOD (Mn-superoxide dismutase) were upregulated in cumulus cells that had been matured in high oxygen, which suggests a higher activity of mitosis-promoting factor and antioxidant response. In spite of these differential effects on cumulus cells, oocytes could mature normally regardless of different oxygen concentrations. Therefore, it can be concluded that high oxygen concentration during in vitro maturation and low oxygen during in vitro culture may alter the expression of multiple genes related to oocyte competence and significantly improves embryo development (p < 0.05) but not blastocyst quality.

The oocyte is known from recent studies in the mouse, cow, sheep and human to be a central regulator of follicular cell function. However, in the pig, little information is known about the regulation of cumulus expansion by oocyte-secreted factors and oocyte quality. We investigated the possible effects of oocyte-secreted factors during in vitro maturation on cumulus expansion and on porcine oocytes as judged by subsequent embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation. Cumulus–oocyte complexes (COC) from antral follicles of pig ovaries collected from a local abattoir were divided into control and treatment groups and were cultured in tissue culture medium 199 supplemented with follicle-stimulating hormone. Treatment groups consisted of increasing numbers of denuded oocytes (DO) co-cultured with COC (at ratios of COC to DO of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5). After incubation for 44 h, cumulus expansion and maturation rates were assessed and oocytes were activated parthenogenetically. Cumulus expansion in the 1 COC:4 DO and 1 COC:5 DO groups was low and altered because full dispersion of the outer layer did not occur. Cell viability was not affected, as measured by the automated cell counter, but scanning electron microscopy revealed only a scanty extracellular matrix. Blastocyst rate was significantly higher in the 1 COC:4 DO (34.4%) and in the 1 COC:5 DO (34.9%) groups (p < 0.05) when compared with other groups. Maturation rate, cleavage rate and total cell number showed no significant difference between control and treatment groups. Amplification by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed up-regulation of growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) in the cumulus cells in the 1 COC:4 DO group at 44 h. We conclude that denuded porcine oocytes could improve the maturation of COC as evidenced by increased blastocyst development in the 1 COC:4 DO, even though cumulus expansion was poor. This improvement could be a result of the GDF9 up-regulation.

In non-human primates, it is difficult to collect sufficient numbers of oocytes for producing identical embryos by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Because of this factor, inter-species SCNT (iSCNT) using heterospecific oocytes is an attractive alternative approach. The objective of this study was to produce iSCNT-derived blastocysts using enucleated cow (Bos taurus) metaphase II oocytes and adult rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) fibroblasts. Ear skin tissue from a 6-year-old male rhesus monkey was collected by biopsy and fibroblasts were isolated. Immature cumulus–oocyte complexes from cow ovaries were collected and matured in vitro in Medium 199. The enucleated oocytes were reconstructed with rhesus monkey fibroblasts and iSCNT embryos were cultured in modified synthetic oviduct fluid in an atmosphere of 5–5.5% CO2 under various conditions (37–39 °C and 5–20% O2) to examine the effects of in vitro culture conditions. Most embryos were arrested at the 8- or 16-cell stage and only three blastocysts were derived in this way using iSCNT from a total of 1153 cultured activated embryos (0.26% production rate). Two of the three blastocysts were used for counting nuclear numbers using bisbenzimide staining, which were 51 and 24. The other iSCNT-derived blastocyst was used to analyse mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) by PCR, and both rhesus monkey and cow mtDNA were detected. Although the development rate was extremely low, this study established that iSCNT using two phylogenetically distant species, including a primate, could produce blastocysts. With improvements in the development rate, it may be possible to produce rhesus monkey iSCNT-derived embryonic stem cell lines for studies on primate nucleus and cow mitochondria interaction mechanisms.

Treatment with 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP) or demecolcine (DE) for several (at least 2) hours after artificial activation is known to improve in vitro development of porcine embryos. However, several reports have also shown that treatments with these chemicals induce apoptosis. The aim of this study was to find out whether short-term treatment with 6-DMAP and DE combined with electrical or thimerosal/dithiothreitol (Thi/DTT) activation had a beneficial effect on development of parthenogenetically activated porcine oocytes. We additionally treated embryos with 6-DMAP (2 mM) and/or DE (0.4 μg/ml) for a short time (40 min) after an electrical pulse (EP) or Thi/DTT. As a result, short-term treatment with 6-DMAP and DE successfully induced development of electrically or Thi/DTT-activated porcine parthenogenetic embryos with no significant difference in cleavage rate, blastocyst formation rate and total cell number compared with long-term treatment. To find optimal activation protocol, cleavage rate, blastocyst formation rate and total cell number were compared between EP and Thi/DTT treatments. Thi/DTT + 6-DMAP + DE showed significantly higher blastocyst formation rate (36.1 ± 3.5%) and total cell number (46.9 ± 1.0) than other groups (EP + 6-DMAP + DE, EP + Thi/DTT + 6-DMAP + DE: 23.3 ± 3.0%, 42.2 ± 1.1 and 17.2 ± 2.7%, 36.7 ± 1.5, respectively). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that short-term treatment with 6-DMAP and DE is as effective as the standard long-term treatment and Thi/DTT + 6-DMAP + DE exerts a synergistic effect.

The transitions and the self-gravitational effects on the surface dust-ion-acoustic mode are investigated in semi-bounded magnetized dusty plasmas. We find that there is a dust-ion-acoustic resonance mode in small wave number regions. Furthermore, we find that the self-gravitational effects enhance the resonance frequency. However, the surface wave starts to propagate as the wave number increases. The transition position between the resonance oscillation and the wave propagation is shifted to the smaller wave number domain as self-gravitational effects increase. In addition, the resonance frequency is found to decrease with decreasing strength of the magnetic field in small wave number domains.

Carbosilane dendrimers adorned with either triarylamine or carbazole units in their periphery exhibit novel electrochemical behavior in which the electrochemical deposition is controlled by dendrite generation. In addition, the deposited layers remained intact in the depositing solvent, methylene chloride, allowing a second layer to be deposited on top of the first layer. We have sought to establish the suitability of this electrochemical deposition technique for use in the construction of multi-layer OLEDs, which cannot be fabricated via conventional spin-coating with a polymeric precursor. Thus, the electrochemical deposition-based process could potentially offer an ideal combination of deposition control on the one hand and multi-layer fabrication on the other. We report herein the novel electrochemical deposition behavior of arylamine or carbazole end-capped carbosilane dendrimers of the type GnNPB or GnCBP (n = 1-4) and their use for the formation of multi-layer devices for OLEDs.

The thermal degradation behavior of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films coated on glass substrates using radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering was investigated over the temperature range of 100–400 °C in air. The resistivity of ITO films increases abruptly after the thermal degradation temperature of 250 °C is reached, with a slight increase from 200 to 250 °C. The x-ray photoelectron spectrometry intensity ratio of O/(In + Sn) in thermally degraded ITO films is higher than that in normal films. The carrier concentration gradually decreases up to 200 °C, sharply drops between 200 and 250 °C with increasing temperature, and then saturates from 275 °C. The Hall mobility drops suddenly at 275 °C. The diffusion of oxygen into oxygen interstitials and oxygen vacancies and the chemisorption of oxygen into grain boundaries decrease the carrier concentration and the Hall mobility, respectively. The former mainly affects the resistivity of ITO films below 250 °C, and the later above 250 °C.

Nondestructive damage sensing and load transfer mechanisms of thermal treated carbon nanotube (CNT) and nanofiber (CNF)/epoxy composites were investigated using electro-micromechanical technique. Carbon black (CB) was used only for the comparison. Electro-micromechanical techniques were applied to obtain the fiber damage and stress transferring effect of carbon nanocomposites with their contents. Thermal treatment and temperature affected on apparent modulus and electrical properties on nanocomposites due to enhanced inherent properties of each CNMs. Coefficient of variation (COV) of volumetric electrical resistance can be used to obtain the dispersion degree indirectly for various CNMs. Dispersion and surface modification are very important parameters to obtain improved mechanical and electrical properties of CNMs for multifunctional applications. Further optimized functionalization and dispersion conditions will be investigated for the following work continuously.

Strong visible luminescence was observed in silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films grown by ion beam sputter deposition (IBSD) using nitrogen ion as a sputtering source. Nitrogen content (x) of the films was controlled by variation of the sputtering N2 ion flux and analysed by in-situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Relative sensitivity factors of Si and N peaks could be calculated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the post-annealed samples showed visible luminescence at blue-green region. PL energy showed a blue-shift due to quantum confinement with decreased excess Si and intensity showed a maximum value near x = 1.1. These PL properties are well correlated with the formation of Si nanocrystals (nc-Si). We found that there is a great increase of PL energy of SiNx thin films compared with SiOx thin films, which indicate that the surface state of Si nanocrystals plays an important role to increase PL energy and intensity.

Si/SiO2 multilayers (MLs) have been prepared under different deposition temperatures (TS) by ion beam sputtering. The annealing at 1200°C leads to the formation of Si nanocrystals in the Si layer of MLs. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy images clearly demonstrate the existence of Si nanocrystals, which exhibit photoluminescence (PL) in the visible range when TS is ≥ 300°C. This is attributed to well-separation of nanocrystals in the higher-TS samples, which is thought to be a major cause for reducing non-radiative recombination in the interface between Si nanocrystal and surface oxide. The visible PL spectra are enhanced in its intensity and are shifted to higher energy by increasing TS. These PL behaviours are consistent with the quantum confinement effect of Si nanocrystals.

The classical electron–ion Coulomb bremsstrahlung process is investigated in a nonideal plasma. An effective pseudopotential model taking into account plasma-screening and collective effects is applied to describe the electron-ion interaction potential in a nonideal plasma. The screened hyperbolic-orbit trajectory method is applied to the motion of the projectile electron in order to investigate the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section as a function of the scaled impact parameter, eccentricity, nonideal-plasma parameter, Debye length, projectile energy, and photon energy. It is found that the collective effect reduces the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section on both the soft- and hard-photon cases. For small impact parameters, the nonideal-plasma effect on the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section is found to be quite small. It is also found that the maximum position of the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section gets closer to the target ion with increasing nonideal-plasma effect.

Fluorescent dyes including Nile Red (NR), fluorescein, rhodamine and 4- (dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) derivatives were investigated to find an application for the organic light emitting device (OLED). Relationship between the molecular structure and optical property was calculated by ab initio (HF and DFT/6-31G*) and semiempirical (AM1/PM3 and INDO/S) calculation methods for the geometry optimization and for the information of electronic transition, respectively. The absorption maximum and the oscillator strength of molecules strongly depended on the molecular dipole moment, especially for the molecules having both strong electron donor and acceptor group. Since the calculated results were comparable with several experimental results, these semiempirical molecular orbital calculation methods could be used as a powerful prediction tool for optical properties of the luminescent molecules.

The effect of varying the Si layer thickness on the Er3+ photoluminescence properties of Er-doped Si/SiO2 superlattice is investigated. We find that as the Si layer thickness is reduced from 3.6 nm down to a monolayer of Si, the Er3+ luminescence intensity increases by over an order of magnitude. Temperature dependence of the Er3+ luminescence intensity and time-resolved measurement of Er3+ luminescence intensity identify the increase in the excitation rate as the likely cause for such an increase, and underscore the importance of the Si/SiO2 interface in determining the Er3+ luminescence properties.