Valerianella radiata (L.) Dufr., which is native to North America, was newly found in Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea. This species can be distinguished from other Valerianella species in Korea by its white flowers, and the fertile fruit locule lacks a corky mass on the abaxial surface. V. radiata grows on slopes and roadsides, suggesting that it is likely to have been introduced when green sites were installed and during road construction. Its introduction into Japan has been reported, but the associated ecological risk is unknown. Here, we provide a detailed morphological description, taxonomic key to related taxa, voucher specimens, photographs, and distribution maps of its habitat.

In this study, the effects of heat-moisture treatment (boiling or steaming for 45 min) prior to hot air drying (70 o C for 8 h) on water activity (Aw), moisture (MC), Brix, color, and texture of dried sweet potato slices were investigated to identify the best pretreatment condition for producing dried sweet potato with the best eating quality. Dried sweet potato slices pretreated by boiling (BL) showed significantly lower Aw, MC, and hardness while Brix was significantly higher than with steaming (ST) treatment. There were no significant differences for the color, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and brittleness indexes. At 8 h drying, the Aw, MC, Brix, and hardness of the BL and ST samples were 0.81 and 0.82, 19.71% and 25.53%, 53.80% and 49.40%, and 20.49 kg/cm 2 and 31.98 kg/ cm 2 , respectively. This information will be useful for manufacturers in the production of dried sweet potato slices. These findings provide evidence of the feasibility of heat-moisture treatments in the production of dried sweet potato.

The early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (EOFAD/ FAD), the less common type of Alzheimer's disease (AD) currently affects a vast number of individuals worldwide. This type is being inherited as an autosomal dominant fashion. Missense mutations on Amyloid precursor protein (APP) and Presenilins 1 and 2 (PSEN1 & PSEN2) are known as major genetic factors in FAD. Conversely, missense mutations on microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) are also thought to involve. Up to date, several triple-transgenic animal models with muted forms of the human APP, PSENs and MAPT have been reported. Compared to other animals, canines are more emotional and their disease signs can be easily diagnosed. This attempt was to develop a triple transgenic canine model for the AD. We have obtained the coding sequences of APP, PSEN1 and MAPT from Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center DNA resource core at HMS and incorporated several common AD mutations. The transgenic construct is composed of hNSE (ENO2) promoter-driven three AD genes fused together with modified 2A sequences. It was transfected into the canine fetal fibroblasts which were then used to perform somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The viable transgenic embryos were obtained after in vitro culture and the GFP was detected. In this study, we have successfully produced viable triple transgenic canine cloned embryos using SCNT technique. These transgenic canine embryos will be further developed into canines with FAD. The transgenic canines will be a good candidate in the AD research field.

The pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyricola Foerster (Homoptera: Psyllidae), is a serious insect pest of commercial pear crops. The species, which resides on pear trees throughout its life cycle, is rapidly spreading in some regions of the world. Given the life cycle, it is unclear how such a rapid spread has been facilitated. Presently, the population genetic structure of the species including genetic diversity and gene flow was studied to understand the nature of dispersal and field ecology of the species. Pear psylla was collected from several pear orchards in Korea. The 658-bp region of mitochondrial COI gene and the 716-bp long complete internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA were sequenced. Unlikely other previously studied insect pests, the COI-based genetic diversity of the pear psylla was extremely low (maximum sequence divergence of 0.15%). This finding allowed us to conclude that the species may have been introduced in Korea relatively recently, possibly with the phenomenon of genetic bottlenecks. ITS2 sequence-based analyses of phylogeny, population differentiation, gene flow, and hierarchical population structure all concordantly suggested that the pear psylla populations in Korea are neither genetically isolated nor hampered for gene flow. These genetic data are concordant with the dispersal of an overwintering winterform morph outside the non-pear habitat in the fall and the possibility of subsequently longer distant dispersal.

CANDU Spent Fuel (CSF) dry storage system, SILO, has been operated from 1992 at Wolsung under 50 year operating license. As of 2023, this system has been operated for over 30 years and its licensed remaining operation time is less than 20 years. When it faces the final stage of operation, it has only two options; moving to a centralized away-from-reactor storage or extending its license atreactor. These two options have an inevitable common duty of confirming the CSF integrity by a “demonstration test”. Since the degradation of CSF and structural materials in the SILO are critically dependent on temperature, two important goals of the ‘DEMO test’ were set as follows. 1. Design of ‘DEMO SILO’: Development of internal monitoring technology by transforming SILO design. 2. Accurate measurement and evaluation of the three-dimensional temperature distribution in the ‘DEMO SILO’ Based on operating real commercial SILO dimension, a conceptual “DEMO SILO” design has been developed from 2022. Because, unlike with commercial Silo, ‘Demo Silo’ must be disassembled and assembled, and have penetration holes. Safety evaluation technologies like structural, thermal and radiation protection analysis also have been developed with design work. ‘Demo SILO’ should evaluate an accurate 3D temperature distribution with minimal number of thermocouples and penetration holes to avoid disruption of internal flow and temperature distribution. For this reason, a ‘Best Estimate Thermal-Hydraulics evaluation system for SILO’ is under development and it will be essential for ensuring temperature prediction accuracy. Construction of a full-scale test apparatus to validate this technology will begin in 2024. In order to supply power to many heaters and monitor temperature gradient inside of this apparatus, it has modular design concept by dividing its whole body to axial 9 sub-bodies which looks like a donut containing a basket at center position.

A new six-rowed naked waxy barley variety, ‘Saehanchal’, was developed by the barley breeding team of the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), R.D.A. This variety was derived from a cross between ‘SB7803G-BC6-B-B-47-2’ and ‘Suwon262’ in 1989. The fi

Research Institute (HARI), NTCS, RDA, in 2004. This cultivar has a short grain shape and about 123 days growth duration from trans-planting to harvesting under the reclaimed saline area of the south-western and the mid-western coastal plain and Honam plai