The explosive outbreak of COVID-19 led to a shortage of medical resources, including isolation rooms in hospitals, healthcare workers (HCWs) and personal protective equipment. Here, we constructed a new model, non-contact community treatment centres to monitor and quarantine asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients who recorded their own vital signs using a smartphone application. This new model in Korea is useful to overcome shortages of medical resources and to minimise the risk of infection transmission to HCWs.

Our understanding of ice algal responses to the recent changes in Arctic sea ice is impeded by limited field observations. In the present study, environmental characteristics of the landfast sea-ice zone as well as primary production and macromolecular composition of ice algae and phytoplankton were studied in the Kitikmeot Sea near Cambridge Bay in spring 2017. Averaged total chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration was within the lower range reported previously for the same region, while daily carbon uptake rates of bottom-ice algae were significantly lower in this study than previously reported for the Arctic. Based on various indicators, the region's low nutrient concentrations appear to limit carbon uptake rates and associated accumulation of bottom-ice algal biomass. Furthermore, the lipids-dominant biochemical composition of bottom-ice algae suggests strong nutrient limitation relative to the distinctly different carbohydrates-dominant composition of phytoplankton. Together, the results confirm strong nitrate limitation of the local marine system.

The mitochondrial genome is maternally inherited in animals, despite the fact that paternal mitochondria enter oocytes during fertilization. Autophagy and ubiquitin-mediated degradation are responsible for the elimination of paternal mitochondria in Caenorhabditis elegans; however, the involvement of these two processes in the degradation of paternal mitochondria in mammals is not well understood. We investigated the localization patterns of light chain 3 (LC3) and ubiquitin in mouse and porcine embryos during preimplantation development. We found that LC3 and ubiquitin localized to the spermatozoon midpiece at 3 h post-fertilization, and that both proteins were colocalized with paternal mitochondria and removed upon fertilization during the 4-cell stage in mouse and the zygote stage in porcine embryos. Sporadic paternal mitochondria were present beyond the morula stage in the mouse, and paternal mitochondria were restricted to one blastomere of 4-cell embryos. An autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine (3-MA), did not affect the distribution of paternal mitochondria compared with the positive control, while an autophagy inducer, rapamycin, accelerated the removal of paternal mitochondria compared with the control. After the intracytoplasmic injection of intact spermatozoon into mouse oocytes, LC3 and ubiquitin localized to the spermatozoon midpiece, but remnants of undegraded paternal mitochondria were retained until the blastocyst stage. Our results show that paternal mitochondria colocalize with autophagy receptors and ubiquitin and are removed after in vitro fertilization, but some remnants of sperm mitochondrial sheath may persist up to morula stage after intracytoplasmic spermatozoon injection (ICSI).

Blackberry is a fruiting berry species with very high nutrient contents. With the recent increasing consumer demand for blackberries, new sources of germplasm and breeding techniques are required to improve blackberry production. This study was carried out to evaluate the genetic diversity (GD) and relationship among 55 blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) mutants derived from γ-ray treatment (52 lines) and N-methyl-N′-nitrosourea (MNU) treatment (three lines) using an inter-simple sequence repeat marker. A total of 18 bands were amplified with an average of 3.6 bands per primer. Among them, eight bands were identified to be polymorphic with a rate of 44.4%. In addition, the GD information content values were highest in the 60 Gy treatment population and the GD values were higher in the γ-ray treatment populations than in the MNU treatment population. According to a cluster analysis, all the mutant lines can be classified into five categories, and the genetic distance was greatest between the 80 Gy-irradiated population and other populations. These results indicate that mutant lines have high GD and can be effectively utilized for improving blackberry breeding.

Mutation breeding techniques have been used to induce new genetic variations and improve agronomic traits in soybean. In Korea, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has unique radiation facilities to induce plant mutations and has been conducting soybean mutation breeding programmes since the mid-1960s. Until now, the KAERI has developed five soybean mutant cultivars exhibiting early maturity, high yield and seed-coat colour change. In this paper, we review these five mutant cultivars in terms of how to successfully induce unique agronomic characteristics through mutation breeding programmes. A number of induced mutants exhibiting null lipoxygenase enzymes, altered protein patterns or Kunitz trypsin inhibitor activity could serve as genetic resources for the genetic analysis of target genes, and one mutant population has been developed for a reverse genetic study.

The modified TiO2 nanoparticles were incorporated into the Bulk heterojunction system of P3HT:PCBM to improve the performance of P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The organically-modified TiO2 nanoparticle compounds were synthesized in aqueous media at room temperature. These TiO2 compounds in various solution concentrations were deposited on the top of the P3HT:PCBM active layer by spin coating. The performance of organic solar cells was carefully investigated in the respect of the scattering and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) that couple strongly to the incident light. In addition to the device, P3HT:PCBM solar cells with the use of the TiO2 nanoparticles, enhanced Fill Factor (FF) due mainly to improved shunt resistance (Rsh). The TiO2 plays a critical role in improving the interface between P3HT:PCBM active layer and Al electrode.

Direct heteroarylation polymerization was employed to synthesize a novel low bandgap polymer, used as a p-type material of polymer photovoltaic cells. To achieve low bandgap of conjugated polymers, electron donor-acceptor (D-A) alternating strategy was used. The electron-donating 3-alkylthiophene and electron-withdrawing cyanothiophene were coupled to be polymerized via direct heteroarylation polymerization. The cyano moiety of the polymer backbone allowed a strong intermolecular interaction between neighboring chains and improved the structural perfection of the crystal structure on the substrate. The solar cell devices of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM/LiF/Al were fabricated on ITO-coated glass substrate.

To enhance the lifetime of large-sized active matrix organic light emitting diodes (AMOLEDs), we developed a liquid desiccant for encapsulation. The liquid desiccant was prepared by mixing nano-sized calcium oxide (CaO) powders and silicone binder including polyalkylalkenylsiloxane, polyalkylhydrogensiloxane and platinum compound. It was confirmed that liquid desiccant had an effect on absorption of penetrated moisture and oxygen through calcium tests. Also, the test cells encapsulated with only epoxy sealant dispensed at the edge of the cell developed dark spots within 100 hrs, which grew larger with time at 85 oC and 85 % R.H. On the other hand, the test cell sealed with epoxy sealant and liquid desiccant showed no dark spots and retained 97% of its initial luminance even after being stored for 800 hrs at 85 oC and 85 % R.H. Furthermore, the accelerating storage lifetimes of 31-inch bottom-emitting AMOLEDs with epoxy sealant and liquid desiccant showed about 1000 hrs. These results suggest that the liquid desiccant can be applied to encapsulation of large-sized AMOLEDs.

To apply the superconducting wire to power machines, it is necessary to conduct research on the characteristics of wire phase changes in connection with insulating layers. In this study, according to the presence or absence of insulating layers in the wire, and to the thickness of such layers, the wire's resistance increase trends and the characteristics of its recovery from quenching were examined by current-applied cycle at the temperatures of 90 K, 180 K and 250 K. Towards this end, YBCO thin-film wires that have the same critical temperatures and that have copper and stainless-steel stabilizing layers were prepared. One level and three and five levels of superior-performance polyimide pressure-sensitive adhesive tape was attached to the wires at a very low temperature. The eight prepared test samples were wound around the linear frames, then the wire's voltage and current created owing to the phase change characteristics were measured at each prescribed temperature, using the four-point probe method. Further, near the examination temperatures of 90 K, 180 K and 250 K the wire's resistance and recovery characteristics were examined by cycle.

Semiconductors or metal nanoparticles (NPs) using their monolayer bindings with self-assembly chemicals are an attractive topic for device researchers. Electrical performance of such structures can be investigated for a particular application, such as memory device. Currently, Au NPs has been reported to show a substantial potential in the memory applications. In this study, Au NP and gluing layer were fabricated through a new method of monolayer formation of a chemical bonding or gluing. In this study, a new NPs memory system was fabricated by using organic semiconductor, i.e., pentacene as the active layer, evaporated Au as electrode, SiO2 as the gate insulator layer on silicon wafer. In addition, Au NPs coated with binding chemicals were used as charge storage elements on an APTES (3-amino-propyltriethoxysilane) as a gluing layer. In order to investigate chemical binding of Au NP to the gate insulator layer, GPTMS (3-glycidoxy-propyltrimethoxysilane) were coated on the Au NPs. As a result of that, a layer of gold nanoparticles has been incorporated into a metal-pentacene-insulator-semiconductor (MPIS) structure. The MPIS device with the Au NP exhibited a hysteresis in its capacitance versus voltage analysis. Charge storage in the layer of nanoparticles is thought to be responsible for this effect.

A novel route to organic-inorganic composites was described based on biomineralization of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels. The 3-dimensional hydrogels were synthesized by radical crosslinking polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol fumarate) (PEGF) in the presence of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) as an apatite-nuclating monomer, acrylamide (AAm) as a composition-modulating comonomer, and potassium persulfate (PPS) as a radical initiator. We used the urea-mediated solution precipitation technique for biomineralization of hydrogels. The apatite grown on the surface and interior of the hydrogel was similar to biological apatites in the composition and crystalline structure. Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the calcium phosphate crystalline platelets on hydrogels are preferentially aligned along the crystallographic c-axis direction. Inductively-coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) analysis showed that the Ca/P molar ratio of apatites grown on the hydrogel template was found to be 1.60, which is identical to that of natural bones. In vitro cell experiments showed that the cell adhesion/proliferation on the mineralized hydrogel was more pronounced than on the pure polymer hydrogel.