우간다에서 쌀은 식량, 농가소득 및 안보를 위한 전략적 작물로 목화, 커피, 옥수수에 이어 우간다의 농업 전략 계획 (ASSP)에서 우선순위12개 작물 중 4번째로 선정될 정도로 매우 중요한 작물이다. 쌀은 생산 측면에서 옥수수에 이어 두 번째로 중요한 곡물이다. 최근 우간다에서는 쌀 소비가 빠르게 증가함과 동시에 매년 쌀 수입 또한 비례적으로 빠르게 증가하고 있다. 쌀의 소비 증가는 우간다 쌀 생산량의 90%를 차지하는 소규모 재배 농민들에게 엄청난 경제적 기회를 제공하고 있는데 이는 쌀은 다른 곡물에 비해 상대적으로 훨씬 높은 금액으로 판매되고 이익 또한 높기 때문에 현금 작물로서 벼 재배 면적이 빠르게 증가하고 있는 실정이다. 그러나 벼 생산성은 여전히 낮은 수준인데, 이는 주로 수확량이 적은 쌀 품종의 사용, 개선 된 품종의 종자에 대한 농부의 접근 제한, 낙후된 재배 기술, 비료 및 농약 사용이 매우 저조하기 때문이다. 우간다의 쌀 재배 현황과 여건에 대하여 조사한 바는 아래와 같이 정리할 수 있다. 1. 쌀 생산을 위한 기후적 여건: 연평균 강수량은 1,180 mm 정도이고 연평균 기온은18도에서 35도 사이로 벼 재배에 좋은 기후적 여건이다. 2. 주요 재배 지역: 우간다에는 3곳의 주요 벼 재배 중심지역이 있다. 동쪽 지역은 주로 관개시설과 강수에 의존하는 밭 벼를 재배하고 있으며, 북쪽과 중서부 지역은 논벼를 주로 재배하고 있다. 우간다 쌀 생산량의 90%를 차지하는 소규모 재배 농민들은 주로 위의 3지역에서 벼를 생산하고 있다. 3. 벼 생산성에 영향을 미치는 요소들: 제한적 관개시설과 기계화, 그리고 양질의 종자 부족과 낮은 수준의 농업기술 등이 낮은 생산성의 주요 요소들이며, 수확 후 관리 기술과 저 장 시설 부족, 충분하지 못한 재정적 지원 그리고 병해충 등의 요소들이 있다. 4. 주요 벼 품종: 우간다 현지에서 주로 재배되는 벼 품종은 9종으로서 다음과 같다. Namche, Komboka, Kaiso, Wita 9, Basmat 370, IR 64, Supa, Buyu 및 NERICA 품종이다. 5. 농촌진흥청 한-아프리카 농식품 기술협력 협의(KAFACI)를 통해 높은 생산성과 질병 저항성을 목적으로 개발 후 육종 된 두 한국 품종(KAF-172-67과 KAF-304-287)은 우간다에서 등록절차가 진행될 예정이다.

Resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporin in Enterobacteriaceae is increasingly prevalent in South Korea. This study aims to explore the distribution of AmpC genes in Proteus mirabilis isolated from stray and hospital-admitted companion animals in South Korea. AmpC β-lactamases hold clinical significance due to its potential to facilitate antimicrobial resistance to cefoxitin, cefazolin, and most penicillins. A total of 163 bacterial isolates belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family were collected from dogs (n = 158) and cats (n=5). Of them, 134 isolates were from hospital-admitted animals, while 29 isolates from stray animals. Boronic acid tests and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted for an initial screening to detect AmpC β-lactamase resistant P. mirabilis. Gene-specific PCRs were conducted to identify the type of AmpC genes, which include six groups (MOXM, CITM, DHAM, ACCM, EBCM, and FOXM), in the resistant isolates. The boronic acid disk tests revealed 45 (27.6%) positive isolates out of 163 isolates tested. Of these 45 isolates, six were determined to harbor the EBCM gene, 13 for CITM, one for FOXM, and one for DHAM by single detection PCR. No isolates carried for ACCM or MOXM. Thus, a total of 21 out of 163 isolates (12.9%) were demonstrated to possess AmpC genes. No isolates contain more than one group of AmpC gene family. A significantly higher percentage of P. mirabilis was found to possess AmpC genes compared to past studies. Therefore, the increasing trend in antimicrobial resistance in P. mirabilis indicates a dire need to monitor antimicrobial prescription in the veterinary field.

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) produce radioactive waste and decommissioning this waste entails additional cost; determining these costs for various types and specifications of radioactive waste can be challenging. The purpose of this study is to identify major determinants of the decommissioning cost and their impact on NPPs. To this end, data from defunct NPPs were gathered and 2SLS (Two Stage Least Squares) regression models were developed to investigate the major contributors depending on the reactor types, viz. PWR (Pressurized Water Reactors) and BWR (Boiling Water Reactors). Additionally, cost estimations and the Monte Carlo simulation were performed as part of performance validation. Our study established that the decommissioning costs are primarily influenced by the level of radioactivity in the decommissioned waste, which can be realized from operational factors like operation period, overall efficiency, and plant capacity, as well as from duration of decommissioning and labour cost. While our study provides an improved statistical approach to recognize these factors, we acknowledge that our models have limitations in forecasting accurately which we envisage to bolster in future studies by identifying more substantive factors.

Using data from flies collected with pitfall traps in 365 forests on a nationwide scale in Korea, the abundance and distribution changes of two families (Phoridae and Lauxaniidae) in Korean forests were predicted at the genus level according to two climate change scenarios: RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The most suitable temperature for the 17 major genera was estimated using a weighted average regression model. Stichillus and Anevrina displayed the lowest optimum temperature with 7.6℃ and 8.5℃ in annual mean temperature, respectively, whereas Chonocephalus had the highest optimum temperature with 12.1℃. Among thirty genera, seven genera (four from Phoridae and three from Lauxaniidae), which showed their abundance in a bell-type or linear pattern along the temperature gradient, were used for predicting the distribution changes according to the future climate change scenarios. All the taxa of this study are expected to decrease in abundance and distribution as a function of temperature increase. Moreover, cold-adapted taxa were found to be more affected than warmadapted taxa.

We analyze the spatially resolved kinematics of gas and stars for a sample of ten hidden type 1 AGNs in order to investigate the nature of their central sources and the scaling relation with host galaxy stellar velocity dispersion. We select our sample from a large number of hidden type 1 AGNs, which are identified based on the presence of a broad (full width at half maximum ≳1000 kms-1) component in the Hα line profile and which are frequently mis-classified as type 2 AGNs because AGN continuum and broad emission lines are weak or obscured in the optical spectral range. We used the Blue Channel Spectrograph at the 6.5-m Multiple Mirror Telescope to obtain long-slit data with a spatial scale of 0.3 arcsec pixel-1. We detected broad Hβ lines for only two targets; however, the presence of strong broad Hα lines indicates that the AGNs we selected are all low-luminosity type 1 AGNs. We measured the velocity, velocity dispersion, and ux of stellar continuum and gas emission lines (i.e., Hβ and [OIII]) as a function of distance from the center. The spatially resolved gas kinematics traced by Hβ or [OIII] are generally similar to the stellar kinematics except for the inner center, where signatures of gas out ows are detected. We compare the luminosity-weighted effective stellar velocity dispersions with the black hole masses and find that our hidden type 1 AGNs, which have relatively low back hole masses, follow the same scaling relation as reverberation-mapped type 1 AGN and more massive inactive galaxies.