An analysis of pre-operational and concrete-operational thinking in contrasting social and cultural contexts: a study of cognitive development in children from five to nine years of age

This enquiry is concerned with the examination of a particular aspect of Piagetian theory, the conservation performance of five to nine years old British and Korean children (N =360) in contrasting social and educational backgrounds.The tests used were a) the Standard Piagetian Test, b) a revised test, c) a new test devised to allow children to reason in relatin to culturally familiar contexts.The main findings are: (1) Children's ability to think logically was not satisfactorily assessed by administering logical and and mathematical tasks proposed by Piaget. Such ability was revealed better through test which took into consideration of the children's fmailiar conceptual experience. (2) An appropriate usage of child language in the tests affects the level of performance of young children in solving cognitive tasks successfully (This could mean that there is a mismatch between children's language and their thinking, (3) Almost all the children in this study, regardless of their ages (5 -9) or their social and educational and cultural backgrounds, can think logically. However, their ways of understanding logical and mathematical problems differ vastly among extreme cultural groups. This means that children's understanding of the logical structure of experimental tasks does not provide a satisfactory estimate of their "free" cognitive ability.It is therefore suggested that any method of evaluating children's ability to think logically has to be adapted to the children's level of knowledge, their experience of applying such knowledge in their activities and their language proficiency.In Piagetian theory, cognitive ability is equivalent to the ability to understand the structure and logic of mathematical tasks. On the contrary, the investigator suggests that cognitive ability of children is, in fact, a facet of their life experience. It is also argued that the ability to solve abstract tasks does not necessarily correspond to the ability to understand the principle of the knowledge concerned

Notes on genetic variation in Sedum sarmentosum (Crassulaceae): Implications for the origin of southern Korean populations

7 p., 1 mapa, tablasThe succulent herbaceous perennial Sedum sarmentosum commonly grows in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It is a species native to China, most likely introduced into Korea due to its edible and medicinal uses. If plants were introduced from a single source, we would expect no or low levels of genetic variation in Korean populations. Alternatively, if plants were introduced from multiple sources, we would expect, in contrast, high levels of genetic diversity. To test which is more likely, we surveyed the degree of allozyme variation in ten populations of this species from southern Korea. We found that S. sarmentosum was monomorphic at all fifteen allozyme loci. How- ever, two congeners (S. polytrichoides and S. kamtschaticum) and two related species (Hylotelephium ussuriense and H. verticillatum) maintain moderate to high levels of genetic diversity (H = 0.144, 0.203, 0.201, and 0.204, respec- tively). We suggest that southern Korean populations of S. sarmentosum likely descended from a single introduction of a few plants and then became naturalized exclusively via vegetative spreading (as plants in Korea, but also as occurs in other parts of its native and naturalized range, are sterile).This research was supported by the National Institute of Biological Resources, Republic of Korea to M.G. C. and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2013R1A1A2063524 and NRF-2013R1A1A 3010892 to M.G.C. and M.Y.C., respectively). This research was also supported by the grant no. 201630I024 (“Proyecto Intramural Especial, PIE” from the CSIC, Spain) to J.L.-P.Peer reviewe

Context-Based Approaches to Developing Theories of Change in Basic Education

Introduction to Special Themed Issue: Context-Based Approaches to Developing Theories of Change in Basic Education&nbsp

Is the Baekdudaegan “the Southern Appalachians of the East”? A comparison between these mountain systems, focusing on their role as glacial refugia

11 p., mapas, tablasBased on genetic studies and palaeoecological surveys, the main Korean mountain range, the so- called “Baekdudaegan” (BDDG), has been recently suggested to be a major glacial refugium at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) for the boreal and temperate flora of northeastern Asia. On the basis of its shared role as a glacial refugium, and on a series of striking similarities in floristic richness and orographic features, the BDDG would constitute a sort of “eastern counterpart” of the Southern Appalachians. Given its floristic, biogeo- graphic, and cultural value, the BDDG merits high priority for conservation.This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF- 2013R1A1A2063524 and NRF-2013R1A1A3010892 to M.G.C. and M.Y.C., respectivelyPeer reviewe

Genetic Evidence of a Progenitor-Derivative Species Pair in East Asian "Lilium"

8 p., tablas, mapasBoreal Lilium distichum and temperate L. tsingtauense are morphologically very similar, thus they have been placed in the section Martagon. Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that L. distichum and L. tsingtauense are indeed the most closely related species within that section. Lilium distichum has a wider geographic range and a broader niche than L. tsingtauense. We hypothesized that L. distichum— L. tsingtauense might be a classical “progenitor—derivative” (P–D) species pair and examined the levels of allozyme diversity in the two species in South Korea. Whereas the allelic composition of L. tsingtauense represented a subset of L. distichum, the former had significantly lower allozyme variability at both the population and the species levels than the latter. Except for the locus Fe (fluorescent esterase), allele frequencies of L. distichum were very similar to those of L. tsingtauense. Accordingly, pairwise genetic identities between populations of L. distichum and L. tsingtauense were very high, with a mean of 0.919. Our allozyme results support the hypothesis that L. tsingtauense is a derivative species of the progenitor L. distichum.This research was supported by the Basic Science Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013R1A1A3010892) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the Republic of Korea to M.Y.C.Peer reviewe

Trends in Avoidable Death over 20 Years in Korea

To evaluate the achievement of health care services in Korea independent of other socioeconomic factors, we observed the time trend of avoidable death between 1983 and 2004. A list of avoidable causes of death was constructed based on the European Community Atlas of "Avoidable Death". We calculated sex- and age-standardized mortality rates of Korean aged 1-64 yr using data of the Korea National Statistical Office. The avoidable mortality rate (per 100,000 persons) decreased from 225 to 84 in men and from 122 to 41 in women. Accordingly, the proportion of avoidable deaths among all classifiable deaths was reduced by 8.1% in men and 6.4% in women. However, mortality rates from some preventable causes such as ischemic heart disease and malignant neoplasms of lung, breast, cervix, and colorectum have been on the rise. Mortality preventable by appropriate medical care showed the greatest reduction (by 77.8%), while the mortality preventable by primary prevention showed the least reduction (by 50.0%). These findings suggest that health care service has significantly contributed to the improvement of health in Korea. However, more effective intervention programs would be needed given the less reduction in mortality avoidable by primary or secondary prevention than expected and unexpectedly increasing mortality from several preventable causes

Population genetic structure of Sedum polytrichoides (Crassulaceae): Insights into barriers to gene flow

10 p., tablas, gráf.An area comprising Juwangsan National Park and its adjacent mountains (southeastern Korean Pen- insula) is a good model system for testing the effects of physical barriers to gene flows in plant populations. We predicted that plant species consisting of isolated populations are genetically more differentiated than those that are rather continuously distributed. Most populations of Sedum polytrichoides occur in four isolated valleys, and we assessed the genetic variability and structures using twelve allozyme loci in ten populations. We also com- pared the present results to earlier findings pertaining to the two co-occurring herbs Hylotelephium ussuriense (≡ Sedum ussuriense) (growing only in the four isolated valleys) and S. kamtschaticum (rather continuously dis- tributed). We found moderate levels of within-population genetic variation in S. polytrichoides (H = 0.112). Estimates of among-population divergence in S. polytrichoides were also moderate (F = 0.250) and, as expected, very similar to that of H. ussuriense (0.261) but considerably higher than the variation in S. kamtschat- icum (0.165). An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that S. polytrichoides and H. ussuriense had higher percentages of among-valley variation (19% each) than S. kamtschaticum (4%). Most of this vari- ation, as also indicated by the STRUCTURE program, was due to differences in genetic profiles between the two central valleys. We concluded that the genetic differences observed between species (S. kamtschaticum vs. S. polytrichoides and H. ussuriense) are mainly due to differences in their distribution within the study area.This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2013R1A1A2063524 and NRF-2013R1A1A3010892 to M.G.C. and M.Y.C., respectivelyPeer reviewe

Effect of modified fasting therapy on body weight, fat and muscle mass, and blood chemistry in patients with obesity

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects and safety of modified fasting therapy using fermented medicinal herbs and exercise on body weight, fat and muscle mass, and blood chemistry in obese subjects.MethodsTwenty-six patients participated in a 14-day fast, during which they ingested a supplement made from fermented medicinal herbs and carbohydrates (intake: 400-600 kcal/d). The schedule included 7 prefasting relief days and 14 days of stepwise reintroduction of food. The patients also took part in an exercise program that incorporated Qigong, weight training, and walking exercises. The efficacy of treatments was observed by assessing body fat mass and muscle mass, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), cholesterol, and triglycerides in each study period. Specific symptoms or side effects were reported.ResultsBody weight and body fat mass both decreased significantly by (5.16 ± 0.95) and (3.89 ± 0.79) kg (both P < 0.05), while muscle mass decreased by an average of (0.26 ± 0.22) kg, without statistical significance. ALT levels were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), while AST levels decreased without statistical significance (P = 0.052). The levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides were also significantly decreased (both P < 0.05). There were few adverse events except for mild dizziness, which did not affect everyday living.ConclusionThese results suggest that modified fasting therapy using fermented medicinal herbs and exercise could be effective and safe on obese patients