• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.278-288
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• 2018

Polyploidization plays an important role in generating the current high diversity of plants. Studies of the distributional patterns of diploid and derivative polyploid races have provided important insights into the evolutionary process and cryptic speciation by polyploidization within and between closely related taxa defined on the basis of their morphology. Allium thunbergii and A. sacculiferum, occurring throughout eastern Russia, eastern China, Korea, and Japan, are examples of closely related species with unsolved taxonomic relationships. A total of 97 and 65 individuals from 26 and 13 populations of A. thunbergii (including var. thunbergii, var. deltoids, and var. teretifolium) and A. sacculiferum, respectively, were studied to determine their ploidy. The geographic structure and habitat differentiation of the cytotypes were also analyzed. The main cytotype of A. thunbergii was diploid (92.3% in total; the rest were tetraploids). In contrast, the majority of A. sacculiferum plants were tetraploids (69.2% of the total; the rest were diploids). No populations of the studied taxa harbored both cytotypes. Allium thunbergii was more often found at higher elevations than A. sacculiferum, and it tended to occur more frequently on rocky slopes and below forests in mountainous areas. On the other hand, A. sacculiferum occurred at forest margins and in lowland pastures. The cytotypes differed with respect to the elevation; diploids were found more frequently at higher elevations than tetraploids. The results of this study and additional biosystematics data indicate that the morphological characteristics of A. thunbergii and A. sacculiferum may be influenced by polyploidization and by their adaptation to various habitat conditions and that A. thunbergii and A. sacculiferum do not clearly fulfill the requirements of any species concept. Consequently, we propose that A. sacculiferum be considered as an additional synonym of A. thunbergii. Additionally, Allium thunbergii var. deltoides is unified into A. thunbergii var. thunbergii.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.1799-1804
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• 2019

The concept of a new method, the CARBEX (CARBonate EXtraction) process, was proposed for reprocessing of spent uranium oxide fuel. The proposed process is based on use of water solutions of $Na_2CO_3$ or $(NH_4)_2CO_3$ and solvent extraction (SE) by the quaternary ammonium compounds for selective recovery and purification of U from the fission products (FPs). Applying of SE allows to reach high degree of purification of U from FPs. Carrying out the processes in poorly aggressive alkaline carbonate media leads to increasing safety of SNF's reprocessing and better selectivity of separation of lanthanides and actinides. Moreover carbonate reprocessing media allows to carry out a recycling and regeneration of reagents. We have been done laboratory scale experiments on the extraction components of simulated voloxidated spent fuel in the solutions of NaOH or $Na_2CO_3-H_2O_2$ and recovery of U from carbonate solutions by SE method using carbonate of methyltrioctylammonium in toluene. It was shown that the purification factors of U from impurities of simulated FPs reached values $10^3-10^5$. The received results support our opinion that CARBEX after the further development can become more safe, simple and profitable method of spent fuel reprocessing.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.675-684
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• 2008

This study investigated the effects of the prescribed instructional strategy for reducing students' connecting errors in learning chemistry concepts with multiple external representations by students' field independence-dependence. Seventh graders (N=126) at a coed middle school were assigned to control and treatment groups. The students learned "Boyle's Law" and "Charles's Law" for two class periods. Results revealed that the students in the treatment group scored significantly higher than those in the control group in a conception test. The scores of the treatment group were significantly higher than those of the control group in a motivational learning test, especially in 'attention' of the test. However, there was no significant interaction between the instruction and students' field independence-dependence in the two tests. Most students in the treatment group perceived the instruction positively in cognitive and motivational aspects.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.29-38
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• 2023

Recent studies have highlighted the link between diseases and inflammation across our lifespan. Our sedentary lifestyle, high-calorie diet, chronic stress, chronic infections, and exposure to pollutants and xenobiotics, collectively intensify the course and recurrence of infections and inflammation in our bodies, promoting the prevalence of chronic diseases and aging. Given such phenomena and considering additional factors such as the frequency of prescription, and easy access to over-the-counter drugs, the need for anti-inflammatory therapeutics is ever-increasing. However, the readily available anti-inflammatory treatment option comes with a greater risk of side effects or high cost (biologics). Therefore in this growing competition of discovering and developing new potent anti-inflammatory drugs, we focused on utilizing the established knowledge of traditional medicine to find lead compounds. Since lead optimization is an indispensable step toward drug development, we applied this concept for the production of potent anti-inflammatory compounds achieved by structural modification of flavonoids. The derivative obtained through acetylation of myricetin, 3,3',4',5,5',7-hexaacetate myricetin, showed a greater inhibitory effect in the production of pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide, Prostaglandin E₂, and pro-inflammatory cytokines like interleukin-6, interleukin1β, in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cells compared to myricetin. The increased potency of inhibition was in conjunction with an increased inhibitory effect on inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 proteins. Through such measures, this study supports lead optimization for well-established lead compounds from traditional medicine using a simpler and greener chemistry approach for the purpose of designing and developing potent anti-inflammatory therapeutics with possibly fewer side effects and increased bioavailability.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2009

The purposes of this study are to analyze the learning contents on the measurement of reaction rate which is introduced in the high school ‘science’ and ‘chemistry II’ textbooks, and to revise the experiment appropriate to the learning contents. We examined 11 kinds of ‘science’ textbooks, 8 kinds of ‘chemistry II’ textbooks and 11 kinds of teacher’s manuals used in Korea and additionally surveyed teachers’ opinions on this subject. Most of textbook and teacher’s manuals described that ‘the reaction rate generally decreases through the time’, teachers’ conception also agreed with it. But most of experimental activities in the textbooks were inadequate to explain the concept that the reaction rate generally decreases with time. We analyzed the reasons and revised the experimental condition to solve this disagreement between the description in textbooks and an experimental result. Then we compared improved experimental result and theoretical prediction data. The improved experiment in this study is expected to help to describe the conception of chemical reaction rate in the textbook more clearly.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.433-440
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• 1994

The exposure of Clamydomonas reinhardtii to low temperatures resulted in an accumulation of cellular pyruvate that dissipated when the chilled cells returned to ambient temperature. The dissipation of pyruvate accumulation was accompanied by an increase in the production level of superoxide radicals $(O_2^-)$ in cells. The formation of $O_2^-$ at an excessive level during the post-chilling period was apparently countered by a substantial activation of superoxide dismutase (SOD). All these results are similar to those observed previously in rice seedlings subjected to the cold-treatment, implicating that a common mechanism is probably underlying for the primary processes of chilling injury both in higher plants and in algae. It was also observed that the activation of Mn-containing SOD contributes the major share in the increase of SOD activity of whole algal cells. Because Mn-SOD is present only in mitochondria, the observation corroborates the concept that the $O_2^-$ scavenging enzyme would be induced to cope with the cold treatment-caused adverse situation in mitochondria where the toxic active oxygen is produced at rates far exceeding the normal rate.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.454-465
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• 2015

The goal of this study is to investigate pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of the boiling process of a liquid mixture. We surveyed 65 students in the chemistry program of the College of Education about the boiling point of a 50%(by mole) ethanol aqueous solution and the temperature changes during heating. We then interviewed 9 of these students. According to the survey results, the percent of the pre-service teachers who thought that the boiling point of the ethanol solution would be ‘between the boiling points of ethanol and water (78-100 ℃)’ and ‘the same as that of ethanol’ were 52.3% and 35.4%, respectively. The majority of those who stated the former explained that the boiling point of the ethanol solution increased due to the effects of attraction or blocking by water molecules. Most of those who believed the latter explained that physical properties such as the boiling point would not be changed by the addition of water. With regard to the temperature change during heating, 69.2% of the teachers thought that the temperature would increase gradually while boiling, which some thought resulted from the increasing amount of water in the solution as the ethanol boiled off. Others thought that two temperature plateaus would be observed as each component of the liquid mixture underwent phase transition at its specific boiling point. When asked about the particle model of the gas phase during the boiling and evaporation process, some students drew both ethanol and water during evaporation but only ethanol when boiling. We discussed several alternative concepts of pre-service chemistry teachers about the boiling process of liquid mixtures and ways to improve their understanding.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of conceptions of mixing phenomena related to dissolution and diffusion in high school students. The subjects of the investigation consisted of 108 students who took chemistry I course at 11th grade and 29 students who took chemistry II course at 12th grade. For this study, it was found that the many students had the alternative conception that chalk didn't dissolve in water because chalk was a nonpolar material. Most of the students understood the phenomena which carbon tetrachloride and water will not mix as the attraction conception. But many of the other students understood the phenomenon as characteristic of the materials such as difference of density. Many of the students understood the phenomenon of mixing ethanol and water constantly as ‘Attraction conception'. The phenomenon which is mixed ink and water was just accepted by the most students as the spreading of ink in water without understanding the reason of mixing. The phenomena of mixing iodine and carbon tetrachloride was understood as ‘Space conception' or ‘Attraction conception'. It could be inferred that the diverse alternative conceptions related to dissolution and diffusion phenomena were generated by the absence of entropy concept. Therefore, the explanations of science textbooks related to dissolution and diffusion phenomena need to change for students to understand them correctly.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.94-101
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• 2020

This study was trying to focus on achieving high efficiency of multi junction solar cell with thin film silicon solar cells. The proposed thin film Si-Ge/c-Si tandem junction solar cell concept with a combination of low-cost thin-film silicon solar cell technology and high-efficiency c-Si cells in a monolithically stacked configuration. The tandem junction solar cells using amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) as an absorption layer of upper sub-cell were simulated through ASA (Advanced Semiconductor Analysis) simulator for acquiring the optimum structure. Graded Ge composition - effect of E_g profiling and inserted buffer layer between absorption layer and doped layer showed the improved current density (J_sc) and conversion efficiency (η). 13.11% conversion efficiency of the tandem junction solar cell was observed, which is a result of showing the possibility of thin film Si-Ge/c-Si tandem junction solar cell.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.415-427
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• 2016

This study analyzed the attributes of the conceptions of $3^{rd}$ to $6^{th}$ grade elementary school students on three states of matter and investigated the characteristics of the classified results of various examples of matter by grades. Through discussion activities, we confirmed the stabilization of conception attributions. For this study, 113 participants from two $3^{rd}$ to $6^{th}$ grade elementary school classes were selected. The concentration analysis (C-factor) and normalized gain (G-factor) of the conceptions for the quantitative analysis of the conception changes were used. The elementary school students retained different percentages of the attributes for states of matter. The characteristic of the grades were different between the 3rd grade and other grades. Based on these results, we pointed out the problems with the present teaching methods in science textbooks and stated the advantages of the effects of the representation of mixtures.