Emerging opportunities: nanoelectronics and engineering research in a South Korean university

The Seoul National University Nanoelectronics Institute (SNI) was established in 1996 by an interdisciplinary team of university researchers working together to develop a practical fabrication method for ‘tera-level’ single-electron semiconductor devices. The technical and organizational experiment of the SNI ended abruptly with the Asian financial crisis of 1997 as LG Semiconductor, SNI's patron, faced difficulties. This paper places this episode within the historical context of the development of science and technology in post-liberation South Korea as it coped with the overwhelming forces of globalization since the late 1970s. As the global high-tech trade war escalated in the 1980s, the South Korean government pursued the ‘technology drive policy,’ which emphasized the importance of directed basic research in university laboratories. The increased public and private support for university research transformed a few elite universities from teaching-oriented to research-focused institutions, especially in engineering and science. The new generation of research-intensive academics spearheaded the new national strategy of leapfrogging into the cutting-edge of global technology for the first time in the nation’s modern history.     

Imported machines in the garden: the kyŏngun’gi (power tiller) and agricultural mechanization in South Korea

The power tiller was central to the modernization of agricultural practices in East Asia during the latter part of the twentieth century. The small-scale, two-wheeled, walking-type power tiller was adapted from the European garden tractors by Japanese farmer-inventors in the 1920s, and then imported to South Korea in the early 1960s. This article traces the global technology circuit for power tillers, as well as their troublesome entry into the South Korean socioeconomic landscape in the 1960s and 1970s. Once the South Korean manufacturing industry for power tillers established itself, the agricultural machine was embroiled in a controversial political debate over landownership structures, which had profound implications for the very place of agriculture in modern South Korea. In the process of this extended debate, the social meaning of the power tiller itself went through significant change.     

Human mummified brain from a medieval tomb with lime‐soil mixture barrier of the Joseon Dynasty,Korea

Although all of the Korean medieval mummies found up to the present time have shown relatively well‐preserved brains, relevant biomedical information has been difficult to acquire owing to the obstacles to obtaining permission to conduct invasive investigations. However, recently we were able to secure permission to investigate, through various forms of examination including dissection, a well‐preserved brain found in a lime‐soil mixture barrier (LSMB) tomb in Yongin, Korea, because the remains found within the tomb were mostly skeletal. As in the cases of mummified brains from tombs found in other countries, the current Yongin case showed well‐preserved grey and white matter within well demarcated brain lobes, on which sulci and gyri could be identified. On histological examination, we found that the remaining brain tissue was composed mainly of lipids, which seems to correspond to the preserved myelin sheath. The present paper is the first report on the general preservation status of a mummified brain found in Korea. Moreover, because mummified brains are found quite frequently in LSMB medieval tombs, this study could provide a good basis upon which further such palaeo‐neuropathological studies can be progressed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paleo-parasitological study on the soils collected from archaeological sites in old district of Seoul City

A paleo-parasitological study was performed on soil samples from archaeological sites in the old district of Seoul Metropolitan City (Old Seoul City) where the capital of the Joseon Kingdom was constructed about 600 years ago. The sampling sites were the original locations of the Royal Palace Wall, Yukjo Street and the Royal Arsenal. Microscopic examinations showed that parasite eggs of Clonorchis sinensis, Diphyllobothrium latum, Ascaris sp. and Trichuris sp. remained in the soil strata, which were estimated to represent the 14th-19th centuries. We suspect that the medieval citizens of Old Seoul City, numbering around 200,000, might have been made vulnerable to parasite infection by a combination of bad hygiene, inadequate sewer system and seasonal flooding.