This study was conducted to clarify the richness patterns of woody plants along a temperate altitudinal gradient on the Baekdudaegan ridge, South Korea. The effects of the spatial and climatic factors on the observed altitudinal richness patterns were evaluated. We also tested Rapoport’s altitudinal effect, which relates the distribution of a species’ altitudinal ranges to the patterns in species richness. Woody plant data were collected from 1100 plots on the Baekdudaegan ridge. A total of 248 woody plant species from 47 families and 99 genera were found. The altitudinal pattern of the woody plant species richness on the Baekdudaegan ridge exhibited a clear hump-shaped pattern with a peak around 800 m. Spatial factors(mid-domain effect and area) were the primary drivers in the simple linear models, whereas the climatic factors(mean annual precipitation and temperature) had lower explanatory power. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors affected the altitudinal richness patterns of the overall woody plants. Furthermore, the spatial and climatic factors were more important for large- and small-ranged woody plants, respectively. The results of Stevens’ method and the midpoint method do not support Rapoport’s altitudinal effect. The results suggest that a combined interaction between spatial and climatic factors influences the richness pattern of the total woody plant species. Furthermore, the relative importance of these factors depends on the range size of the woody plants species along an altitudinal gradient on the ridge of the Baekdudaegan ridge.

This study analyzes the structure and meaning of the landscape expressed in the Sangrimshipgyeong poem composed by King Jeongjo, which describes the Donggwol back garden in the Joseon Dynasty. The study conclusions are as follows: the landscape contents of Sangrimshipgyeong were evenly distributed in the Donggwol back garden, and jeongs, gaks, and dangs are set as view points. The landscape objects of Sangrimshipgyeong consisted of behaviors and the natural phenomena of four seasons. The poem primarily depicted daytime scene. The landscapes were distributed over the four seasons, with four spring landscapes, four autumn landscapes, one summer landscape, and one snowy landscape. The landscape structure expressed in Sangrimshipgyeong appeared to be formed around a limited view point of the building. However, the objects did not intermittently exist, but maintained organic relations in one context. It is organic and harmonious in that interplay was visualized as the pavilion extends to nature, and nature comes into the pavilion. The depiction of Sangrimshipgyeong was not only very suggestive in terms of showing the hopes and dreams of the royal culture of the Joseon Dynasty, but also interesting because they were based on the condensed ideological symbolism of a specific cultural group. Sangrimshipgyeong expresses amusement and responsiveness to the scene based on the understanding of nature in the limited space of a palace back garden. It was also full of dynamic poetic language, such as encouragement of agriculture, sericulture, rain-calling, and highest- level state examination. Sangrimshipgyeong is interpreted as a symbol of ideology and a desired landscape reflecting the cosmic resonance of political affairs and moral cultivation of a king or an heir to the throne.

The electronic and optical characteristics of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) film significantly vary with its thickness, and thus a rapid and accurate estimation of the number of MoS2 layers is critical in practical applications as well as in basic researches. Various existing methods are currently available for the thickness measurement, but each has drawbacks. Transmission electron microscopy allows actual counting of the MoS2 layers, but is very complicated and requires destructive processing of the sample to the point where it will no longer be useable after characterization. Atomic force microscopy, particularly when operated in the tapping mode, is likewise time-consuming and suffers from certain anomalies caused by an improperly chosen set point, that is, free amplitude in air for the cantilever. Raman spectroscopy is a quick characterization method for identifying one to a few layers, but the laser irradiation causes structural degradation of the MoS2. Optical microscopy works only when MoS2 is on a silicon substrate covered with SiO2 of 100~300 nm thickness. The last two optical methods are commonly limited in resolution to the micrometer range due to the diffraction limits of light. We report here a method of measuring the distribution of the number of MoS2 layers using a low voltage field emission electron microscope with acceleration voltages no greater than 1 kV. We found a linear relationship between the FESEM contrast and the number of MoS2 layers. This method can be used to characterize MoS2 samples at nanometer-level spatial resolution, which is below the limits of other methods.

This study investigated the effects of two types of corrective feedback (CF), recasts and metalinguistic feedback (implicit vs. explicit CF), on the development of implicit and explicit knowledge of English articles. It also examined the relationship between learners’ language aptitude, in particular language analytic ability, and their knowledge development through different types of CF. Six intact intermediate communication English classes (a total of 104 students and two English-speaking teachers) at a university participated in the present study. In CF groups, learners received recasts or metalinguistic feedback (MF) to the errors of the English articles during communicative activities, while no CF was given to the control group. The study employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design, and four different tests were used to measure learner implicit and explicit knowledge. The study found both recasts and MF effective in the development of implicit knowledge and selective effects of recasts on the improvement of explicit knowledge. This suggests that both implicit and explicit CF bring about the development of implicit and explicit knowledge. In addition, language analytic ability was found to be closely related to learners’ gains through both CF and development of explicit and implicit knowledge of English articles.

Self-cleaning and photocatalytic TiO2 thin films were prepared by a facile sol-gel method followed by spin coating using peroxo titanic acid as a precursor. The as-prepared thin films were heated at low temperature(110 °C) and high temperature (400 °C). Thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), Field-emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM), UVVisible spectroscopy and water contact angle measurement. XRD analysis confirms the low crystallinity of thin films prepared at low temperature, while crystalline anatase phase was found the for high temperature thin film. The photocatalytic activity of thin films was studied by the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye solution. Self-cleaning and photocatalytic performance of both low and high temperature thin films were compared.

HIV/AIDS is an important global issue in human rights and health. The United Nations Refugee Convention clearly addresses to guarantee healthcare rights to refugees at the same level as those provided to citizens. In Korea, the number of refugee applicants has surged since the enactment of the Refugee Act in 2012. Regarding human dignity and human rights, however, there are serious concerns that Korea’s healthcare laws and policies would not fully protect the right of foreigners who are suffering from financial hardship. This paper proposes the ways to improve healthcare equity by comparing the UNAIDS Guidelines to Korean policies on HIV-positive refugee applicants.

The tension of warp from trawler and sea-floor contact can generate tilt and wake turbulence around otter boards. Preliminary measurements of otter board tilt and 3-D flow velocity during bottom trawl operations were taken using a vector instrument to investigate the effects of wake turbulence at the trailing edge of the otter board. Tilt data (i.e., yaw, pitch, and roll) at 1 Hz and flow data (velocities in the towing, lateral, and vertical directions) at 16 Hz were analyzed to determine their periods and amplitudes using global wavelet and peak event analyses. The mean period (±standard deviation) of the tilt from the peak event analysis (5±2 s) was longer or double than that of flow velocity (3±2 s). The two periods also had a significant linear relationship. The turbulence rate of flow was 30-50% at the trailing edge and was closely related to roll deviation. The frequency of phase difference ratios (i.e., peak time differences between tilts and flow periods) was significantly different from random occurrence in two trials, possibly due to side tidal effects. However, in the other trials, flow peaks were random, as shown by the even peak times between tilts and flows. Future studies should focus on reducing tilt variation, wake turbulence, and bottom contact to stabilize otter board motion.

Starch is an abundant, renewable, and low cost material that has been extensively studied for its role in crystallization. Herein, we developed a facile and green approach to produce the starch-based microparticles (SMPs) that could encapsulate curcumin during the self-association of short glucan chain obtained from waxy maize starch. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated that the diameters of curcumin-loaded SMPs were ranged from 1.5 μm to 3 μm. The characteristics of the curcumin-loaded SMPs were evaluated via Raman spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, UV spectrophotometer, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the suspended curcumin was encapsulated in SMPs in amorphous form with a encapsulating efficiency of about 96.36%. Photostability test confirmed that curcumin that is loaded inside SMPs was effectively protected against the photodegradation. Curcumin-loaded SMPs can be used not only in food industry for extending the shelf life of curcumin, but also in pharmaceutical industry to design effective carrier for oral delivery.

Previous studies demonstrated that rice bran oil has an anti-inflammatory effect. The current study investigated if the immune responses and energy metabolism phenotypes were affected by rice bran oil. Rice bran oil and palm oil, which served as an experimental control, were treated to RAW 264.7 macrophages respectively, followed by LPS stimulation so as to quantify the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α. The expression of surface markers i.e. CD 80, CD 86 and MHC-classⅡ and mitochondrial metabolism phenotypes were also tested. The data exhibited rice bran oil suppressed inflammatory responses and mitochondrial metabolism were modulated by rice bran oil. These results warrant the necessity for the compositional and/or mechanistic studies to elucidate the details.

Vitamin A is essential for growth and differentiation of a number of cells and tissues, as result the precursor, a carotenoid β-carotene remains their essential source of vitamin A. However, the major problem this carotenoid face, is its susceptible to photodegradation and chemical oxidation, those properties make it difficult to use as an ingredient as functional food product and reduce its bioavailability. This study presents a novel approach to prepare a one-step inclusion complex using amylose microparticles as host molecule using amylosucrase from Deinococcus geothermalis (DGAS) and β-carotene nanoparticles, which were added into the DGAS enzyme reaction solution to entrap them during the synthesis of amylose chains. HRFE-SEM showing a spherical shape and average diameter of 4-8 μm; XRD and DSC showed an amorphous structure as well as less energy required to start the gelatinization process, due to the complexation of amylose chains with the β-carotene nano dispersion. Last but not least Raman spectroscopy was performed in order to confirmed the complex formation between β-carotene and amylose microparticles, showing the characteristic peaks of both compound. The stability test in this study showed the high stability of the complexed microparticles against environmental stresses such as, photodegradation and chemical oxidation. We expect this study contributes to the development of functional food materials to enhance the stability and bioavailability of active compounds.

Ionic liquid (IL), asymmetric chemical consist of bulky cations and tiny-mobile anions, has been known as promising DNA extraction, separation and preservation agent due to its strong interaction with DNA. However, the interaction underlying DNA-IL complex forming mechanism remains to be elucidated. Herein, we employed three types of ILs (EMIM-Cl, BMIM-Cl, and OMIM-Cl) to investigate the changes of DNA morphology upon the alkyl chain length of ILs by using solid-state nanopore technology combining with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results of AFM show the different forms of DNA, including aggregate, stretching, and bundling shapes in terms of EMIM-Cl, BMIM-Cl, and OMIM-Cl, respectively, assuming that the shape of DNA-IL complexes is responding to the alkyl chain length of ILs. In DNA translocation experiment. From the alteration of blockade current signals during the DNA pass through the nanopore, we estimate that the shapes of DNA are changed due to the treatment with BMIM-Cl, and OMIM-Cl, which not only increased the blockade current signals about 2-4 times in the case of OMIM, but also decrease the event showing translocation of DNA folding, implying that the alkyl chain affect to DNA stretching and bundling. The results indicate the length of hydrophobic alkyl group of IL plays an important role in determination of DNA morphology, providing their further application in nanopore technique for slowing DNA translocation speed toward discovering protein-DNA interaction or DNA sequencing.