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There has been a growing need as preservice teachers develop competencies regarding convergence. Focused on a discussion of blended learning before the COVID-19 pandemic versus online learning in the epidemic, we aimed to explore whether preservice teachers' attitudes toward convergence can be influenced by the learning environment. Participants were a total of three hundred preservice teachers who attended the science teaching method courses training their TPACK at a teachers college in South Korea during the 2018 to 2020 academic years (194 in the blended learning group and 106 in the online learning group). Survey data on five subcomponents of attitudes toward convergence were collected at the start and end of the courses and analyzed using ANOVA and ANCOVA. As result, preservice teachers' responses to the attitudes toward convergence in the pretests have a significant difference, whereas the overall scores in the posttests revealed no significant difference in the modalities of learning environments. Consequently, the preservice teachers engaged in the courses enhanced positive attitudes toward convergence regardless of delivery methods either blended learning or online learning. This paper provides evidence that the two teaching modalities of curriculum studies have the potential to foster preservice teachers' attitudes toward convergence. This study supports that the blended and online learning formats of the course were feasible to induce short-term improvements in bias affective domains under the learning environments of science teaching method courses.

The study sought to analyze the effects of the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) program on the relationship between preservice elementary school teachers (n = 194) and the variables of their gender. Quantitative data collected during the fall semesters of 2018 and 2019 were statistically analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test to compare the teachers' attitudes toward convergence, TPACK, and science teaching efficacy beliefs according to group variables. The comparison of attitudes toward convergence indicated gender-specific differences in Year 1 in knowledge, personal relevance, social relevance, interest, and overall scores. No significant differences were found in most components in Year 2. The pre- and posttest TPACK results revealed significant gender-specific differences in Year 1 for Technological Knowledge (TK), Content Knowledge (CK) of Science, Content Knowledge of Korean, Pedagogical Knowledge, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge, TPACK, and overall scores. In Year 2, gender-specific differences were present in TK, CK of Mathematics, CK of Social studies, CK of Science, and TPACK. Analysis of Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) by gender indicated that the overall scores and personal science teaching efficacy of female student teachers improved in Year 1. In Year 2, no significant gender-specific differences were found in the STEBI-B in the pre- and posttest results.

Reductions in growth and quality due to powdery mildew (PM) disease cause significant economic losses in tomato production. Oidium neolycopersici was identified as the fungal species responsible for tomato PM disease in South Korea in the present study, based on morphological and internal transcribed spacer DNA sequence analyses of PM samples collected from two remote regions (Muju and Miryang). The genes involved in resistance to this pathogen in the tomato accession 'KNU-12' (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) were evaluated, and the inheritance of PM resistance in 'KNU-12' was found to be conferred via simple Mendelian inheritance of a mutant allele of the PM susceptibility locus Ol-2 (SlMlo1). Full-length cDNA analysis of this newly identified mutant allele (Slmlo1.1) showed that a 1-bp deletion in its coding region led to a frameshift mutation possibly resulting in SlMlo1 loss-of-function. An alternatively spliced transcript of Slmlo1.1 was observed in the cDNA sequences of 'KNU-12', but its direct influence on PM resistance is unclear. A derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (dCAPS) and a high-resolution melting (HRM) marker were developed based on the 1-bp deletion in Slmlo1.1, and could be used for efficient marker-assisted selection (MAS) using 'KNU-12' as the source for durable and broad-spectrum resistance to PM. Key words: disease resistance, molecular marker, Oidium neolycopersici, powdery mildew, Solanum lycopersicum. Les diminutions de croissance et de qualite dues a l'oidium entraînent des pertes economiques importantes chez la tomate. Dans le present travail, l'Oidium neolycopersici a ete identifie comme etant l'espèce fongique responsable de l'oidium chez la tomate en Coree du Sud suite a l'etude de la morphologie et l'analyse des espaceurs internes transcrits chez une collection d'echantillons provenant de deux regions isolees (Muju et Miryang). Les gènes impliques dans la resistance a cet agent pathogène chez l'accession 'KNU-12' de la tomate (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) ont ete evalues. L'heredite mendelienne de la resistance s'est averee être due a un allèle recessif au locus de susceptibilite Ol-2 (SlMlo1). Une analyse de l'ADNc complet de cet allèle mutant nouvellement identifie (Slmlo1.1) a revele une deletion d'un nucleotide dans la region codante, laquelle mène a un changement de cadre de lecture qui entraîne possiblement la perte de fonction de SlMlo1. Un variant d'epissage de Slmlo1.1 a ete observe au sein des sequences d'ADNc produites a partir de 'KNU-12', mais son effet sur la resistance a l'oidium reste incertain. Un marqueur dCAPS (<< derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence >>) et un marqueur HRM (<< high-resolution melting >>) ont ete mis au point sur la base de la deletion chez Slmlo1.1 et pourraient être employes en selection assistee au sein de croisements ou 'KNU-12' est employe comme source de resistance durable et a large spectre face a l'oidium. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : resistance aux maladies, marqueur moleculaire, Oidium neolycopersici, oidium, Solanum lycopersicum., Introduction Powdery mildew (PM) disease is caused by obligate biotrophic ascomycete fungi belonging to the order Erysiphales. The major pathogens causing PM in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) are Oidium spp. (O. [...]

What does it mean to design for usability and experience? This is a question that is regularly on my mind, especially with regard to design education. Graduates will face an everchanging landscape of problems out in the world. In some respects, this has always been the case, but in others the complexities of modern problems are especially challenging. There are a number of opportunities to consider the toolbox of skills that a UX practitioner needs. What can practitioners do to better educate the wider world of the benefits of UX? Some perspective is useful because UX can have different connotations depending on your background. My perspective comes from the point of view of product design. A product is a designed solution that is able to perform or help perform some kind of task or tasks for a user. This might consist of a physical device, a service, or some combination. In this view, the idea of a product is independent of the medium in which it is implemented but always has these common attributes. To paraphrase Sir Terence Conran, a good design should be a pleasure to use and improve our quality of life through products that work well and that are affordable and beautiful (Sheppard 2012). Additionally, a designer is someone, regardless of background or discipline, who creates and implements a product through an understanding of the user's problems, needs, and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate South Korea's free trade agreement (FTA) initiative with priority given to the government's motives under the institutional structure. Two broad approaches have elaborated political leaders' motives for making a particular trade policy. The social concerns approach assumes that trade policy reflects political leaders' welfare concerns for the general public and its desire to achieve various national and international goals. In contrast, the self-interest approach presumes that political leaders tend to support a particular trade policy depending on whether the policy increases or decreases their real political incentives. By investigating structural changes of the FTA agency in South Korea, this study found that FTA motives work in different ways under different institutional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blockchain education program based on the ASSURE model proposed in this article is of value because it can be applied in blended learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, using learning games to facilitate self-directed learning. We developed the education program in accordance with the six steps of the education design process of the ASSURE model. Firstly, we assessed learners to identify digital literacy issues of South Korean elementary students and jobs desired by them. Secondly, the objective of blockchain education was defined as improving awareness of and attention to blockchain technology by elementary students. Thirdly, gamification applied lessons were used as a teaching method, with educational media and data developed as worksheets and materials that can be used both online and offline. Fourthly, the educational contents and teaching aids were tested to evaluate the developed learning materials. Fifthly, the learning games were designed to offer rewards. Last, we designed the program to teach the principles of consensus mechanisms, private blockchain, and public blockchain. Education experts' feedback was analyzed using technical statistics and LDA-based topic modeling to assess and modify the program. The education program design approach incorporating gamification elements was effective but needed expansion in coverage to include level-based teaching elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies on the roles and foreign policies of middle powers place too much focus on their security policies, while there is a dearth of scholarship on their trade policies. Middle powers have used free trade agreement (FTA) politics not only to obtain economic benefits through trade expansion, but also to achieve broader foreign policy goals. Given the U.S.-China FTA competition in East Asia, as a middle power, South Korea, has developed double hedging FTA diplomacy by supporting both powers’ FTA initiatives in order to avoid potential conflicts and maintain favourable relationships with both powers. Specifically, Korea has tried to maximize its national interest and, furthermore, to maintain regional stability by establishing two bilateral FTAs, the Korea-U.S. FTA and the Korea-China FTA, and by showing interest and participating in larger FTA discussions, such as the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership and the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]