All-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) are receiving attention as a prospective next-generation secondary battery technology that can reduce the risk of commercial lithium-ion batteries by replacing flammable organic liquid electrolytes with non-flammable solid electrolytes. The practical application of ASSLBs requires developing robust solid electrolytes that possess ionic conductivity at room temperature on a par with that of organic liquids. These solid electrolytes must also be thermally and chemically stable, as well as compatible with electrode materials. Inorganic solid electrolytes, including oxide and sulfide-based compounds, are being studied as promising future candidates for ASSLBs due to their higher ionic conductivity and thermal stability than polymer electrolytes. Here, we present the challenges currently facing the development of oxide and sulfide-based solid electrolytes, as well as the research efforts underway aiming to resolve these challenges.

An administrative agreement (AA) was signed between NSSC and UAE FANR in January 2023 under Article 5 of the ROK-UAE Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. The AA aims to enhance regulatory efficiency in safeguards and export control. This study reviewed the export control measures for the items subject to the agreement (ISA) and implementation procedures under ROK-UAE AA by comparing them with other countries cases. First of all, the ROK-UAE AA distinguishes between ISA and the inventory management target items. Technology is divided into two categories, one requiring consent for retransfer and the other, considering the characteristics of technology that is free to be copied and deleted, and thus less useful for inventory management. Only the former is included in the annual report, which differs from the ROK-Canada or ROK-Japan NCA, which includes all technologies subject to the agreements in the annual report. When ROK notifies export information, it is mandatory to specify whether the technology requires consent for retransfer. Furthermore, some technologies should be controlled as strategic information, even if excluded from the annual report, so efforts to prevent confusion are required. Secondly, the ROK-UAE AA covers all items in INFCIRC/254/rev.9/part1, unlike the ROK-U.S. and ROK-Canada NCA, which listed equipment subject to them. This is significant because it clarifies the criteria for regulation by increasing the consistency between the trigger list items in the domestic law and the ISA. However, the expanded ISA scope could result in some changes in export control procedures. For example, when importing nuclear material (NM) from the US, only uranium was controlled as ISA, and the packages were not considered. In contrast, when exporting fuel assemblies (FA) for UAE, both uranium and zirconium cladding should be treated as ISA. To this end, NEPS was improved to implement the features of the ROK-UAE AA. Consideration of the criteria and methods for imposing obligations under the agreement is essential because this is the first case of Korea concluded AA under exporting NPP and as a supplier of FA. Generally, the obligations for NM are imposed by the country of origin, conversion, and enrichment countries. Canada and EU recognize the fuel fabrication process as a substantial transformation and impose customs origin where the process takes place. Hence, NM fabricated from Canadian equipment is also subject to the same obligations as NM of Canadian origin. From this perspective, it would be appropriate to ensure ROK acts as a supplier and controls when exporting domestically manufactured FA. Moreover, a proper national obligation code system will be required to specify Korea’s control rights.

Under the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements (NCA) and its administrative arrangement (AA), Korea annually exchanges the inventory of subject items (including nuclear materials (NM), non-nuclear materials, equipment, and related information) with US, Canada and Australia. Also, the government performs export control procedures such as notification or prior consent during importing and exporting of relevant items. It makes NCA a means of realizing the nuclear non-proliferation regime. However, it raises difficulties in management because the entity that uses and treats those items are end-user, not the authorities of AA, the government agency of each country. Accordingly, to increase the accuracy and effectiveness of item management at the national level, it is required to establish a system for the individual company that has the NCA items, considering the characteristics of each company. In this study, significant companies are classified into more than three types, and the management system of the items subject to the agreement is analyzed. Each company’s item management status has different characteristics depending on its role (position) within the entire nuclear fuel cycle, the type of facility, its possessed items, the main form of national trade, and the frequency of domestic movement. Those differences lead to diversity in the management systems currently owned by each company. For example, from the perspective of nuclear materials, institutions requiring bulk management have systematically organized their management system and obligation code program compared to the ‘item institutions’ that can track batch history for all facility inventory changes. Although Domestic law imposes only the duty of origin management on NMs, fuel manufacturers or research institutes have established their standard obligation codes to manage multiple obligations. The non-nuclear materials and equipment can be easily tracked and controlled by individual items. However, the management of NCA items is a complicated task involving various processes, from importing goods to using, storing, managing inventory change, selling to others, or fulfilling the obligations of AA when exporting. In particular, when the movement of items within a company or international trade occurs frequently, or when the end-users are diverse, the management difficulties increase. So a system that can accurately convey and track items subject to the AA is needed. In addition, since various entities are related, it is necessary to improve understanding of NCA items to increase the system’s utilization and effectiveness. The comparison result and requirement for system improvement based on the review above will be reflected in the history management system for items subject to NCA under development.

The ROK conducts several export procedures, communications in connection with transfers; exchange of information on export plan, shipments, and receipt of nuclear materials, in accordance with bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreements (NCA) and Administrative Arrangements (AA) signed with US, Canada, and Australia. Also, the inventory amount of items subject to NCA has reported annually. This study reviewed the export procedures and management methods for spent nuclear fuel subject to NCA. The re-transfer procedures start with obtaining consent from the original exporting country. It is impossible to retransfer nuclear material without consent, whether long-term or individual case-bycase. If the material has multiple obligations, prior consent from all of those countries is required. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the foreign obligated materials correctly. In general, nuclear fuel is subject to multiple obligations of all countries through which the materials have passed during the front-end fuel cycle. Then the new obligations are imposed on those irradiated materials or their by-products after ‘used-in’ or ‘produced through the use of ’ equipment subject to NCA. For example, fuel assemblies manufactured under CANDU fuel fabrication equipment subject to ROK-Canada NCA or burned in nuclear reactors where US equipment is installed have obligations based on Canada or US agreements. In order to impose obligation to irradiated materials, the principle of proportionality is applied as stipulated in each Agreement. According to the AA between US and ROK, nuclear materials used in the equipment transferred under the Agreement and produced through them are differently controlled. After the cycle in the reactor with US-made equipment, uranium in the irradiated fuel is considered a material used in the equipment. So it would be appropriate to apply obligation proportionality according to its origin, regardless the US-made equipment. Meanwhile, the obligation under US NCA is given to the entire amount of produced plutonium in the irradiated fuel. Although the contribution to the production of fuel is to be discussed case-by-case basis in the case of Canadian obligation, applying a similar method is proper. Since the fuel is burned in the form of bundles or assemblies, it is impossible to separate the spent fuel into uranium and plutonium physically. However, as discussed above, to clarify the rights and obligations pursuant to Agreement and ensure accuracy in inventory management, the obligation codes should be imposed on irradiated fuel as not a single item but separated individual substance of materials. Moreover, when an obligation swap occurs for the irradiated fuel, its movement and combustion history should be considered to prevent confusion in confirming multiple obligations and implementing export procedure.

Recently, the continuing operation of nuclear power plants has become a major controversial issue in Korea. Whether to continue to operate nuclear power plants is a matter to be determined considering many factors including social and political factors as well as economic factors. But in this paper we concentrate only on the economic factors to make an optimum decision on operating nuclear power plants. Decisions should be based on forecasts of plant accident risks and large and small accident data from power plants. We outline the structure of a decision model that incorporate accident risks. We formulate to decide whether to shutdown permanently, shutdown temporarily for maintenance, or to operate one period of time and then periodically repeat the analysis and decision process with additional information about new costs and risks. The forecasting model to predict nuclear power plant accidents is incorporated for an improved decision making. First, we build a one-period decision model and extend this theory to a multi-period model. In this paper we utilize influence diagrams as well as decision trees for modeling. And bayesian statistical approach is utilized. Many of the parameter values in this model may be set fairly subjective by decision makers. Once the parameter values have been determined, the model will be able to present the optimal decision according to that value.

This study evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of different concentrations of ozonated water with organic matter, fetal bovine serum, at different concentrations and incubation times with bacteria. In the absence of organic matter, total eradication of up to 5 log of Escherichia (E.) coli was achieved, however, interference by organic matter led to inefficiency of ozonated water as a disinfecting agent. In addition, diminishing antimicrobial effects at higher temperatures, even in the absence of organic matter, were also demonstrated. These findings indicate that ozonated water will be a safe and effective disinfectant agent that could be useful in meat processing, especially an intestine processing, in Korean slaughter houses.

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of ozone in sanitizing water experimentally inoculated with the gram-positive food-poisoning bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. The bactericidal effect was measured after experimentally inoculated solutions were exposed to 0, 0.5, and 1.0 ppm ozone at several time points and different temperatures, in the presence of varying concentrations of different organic matter, namely, fetal bovine serum (FBS) or cattle liver. Results revealed inhibition of the bactericidal effect in the presence of the lowest percentage of FBS, but a lower extent of the inhibition occurred when liver was used as the organic matter. It was also apparent that a higher temperature and shorter ozone exposure time had led to a more reduced bactericidal efficacy than that under a lower temperature and longer ozone exposure. This study provides insight into the potential use of ozonated water as an effective and safe disinfectant in an abattoir setting.

The purpose of this study is to develop a growth prediction model that can predict growth and development information influencing the production of citrus fruits: the growth model algorithm that can predict floral leaf ratio, number of fruit sets, fruit width, and overweight depending on the main period of growth and development with consideration of the applied weather factors. Every year, large scale of manpower was mobilized to investigate the production of outdoor-grown citrus fruits, but it was limited to recycling the data without an observation supporting system to systemize the database. This study intends to create a systematical database based on the basic data obtained through the observation supporting system in application of an algorithm according to the accumulated long term data and prepare a base for its continuous improvement and development. The importance of the observed data is increasingly recognized every year, and the citrus fruit observation supporting system is important for utilizing an effective policy and decision making according to various applications and analysis results through an interconnection and an integration of the investigated statistical data. The citrus fruit is a representative crop having a great ripple effect in Jeju agriculture. An early prediction of the growth and development information influencing the production of citrus fruits may be helpful for decision making in supply and demand control of agricultural products.

Oct4 and Nanog are well-known transcription factors related with self renewal of embryonic stem cell. In low-dose of Nanog, transcription of oct4 is increased; however, oct4 is down-regulated upon high-dose of Nanog. There is a negative feedback loop between oct4 and Nanog. To identify this regulation, we generated 4 nested sets for mouse oct4 promoter. Luciferase activities of oct4 were declined upon high-dose Nanog in all constructs. The declined effects of oct4 upon high-dose Nanog were moderated with DNMT and HDAC inhibitors (5-AZA-cytidine and trichostatin A) in 3 constructs (1867, 1346, 754). But, one construct (2179) was only sensitive to TSA. Taken together, these effects were also represented in semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting data. These data suggest that negative regulation of oct4 gene upon high-dose Nanog would be accomplished by DNMT and HDAC. Further, it will be studied whether these constraining molecules bind to CR1-4 region of oct4 promoter upon low- and high-dose of Nanog.

There is a growing number of plant genomes that are being sequenced, but most of these available assemblies do not cover the entire genome mainly due to the highly repetitive sequences found in most plant genomes. Nevertheless, these repeats, although a challenge in assembly algorithms, provide relevant information about a genome’s history that could help explain its structure and complexity. Here, we cytogenetically mapped previously and presently characterized major repeats of Panax ginseng genome, including several LTR retrotransposons (PgDel2, PgDel3, PgTat1, PgTat2, PgTork) and one tandem repeat, PgTR Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) results showed differential accumulation of Ty3/gypsy LTR retrotransposons into different chromosomal regions or subgenomes, suggesting a non-random preferential amplification of retrotransposons in these regions and an allopolyploid origin of P. ginseng. In silico analysis based on 1x whole genome sequence reads suggests that PgTR is the most abundant tandem repeat in ginseng, which was further corroborated by FISH analysis. More importantly, its unique distribution pattern among the 24 ginseng chromosomes, coupled with the non-random distribution of LTR retrotransposons and rDNA arrays, allowed us to discriminate and characterize each individual ginseng chromosome. These different newly characterized cytogenetic markers allowed reorganization of previously reported ginseng karyotype with better resolution, demonstrating the irutility in ginseng chromosome identification. These information give us insight about the genomic structure of P. ginseng, and should be useful for future comparative cytogenetics studies among closely related species to unravel its genomic history. This work was supported by the Next-Generation BioGreen21 Program (No. PJ008202), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Genome duplication is an abundance phenomenon and in plant kingdom and consequently formed paralogous region. Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) has a possibility of tetraploid by comparing chromosome numbers of relative species. During development of EST-SSR markers in Korean ginseng, most of primer sets have produced multiple bands in gel electrophoresis. In this study, for identifying origin of multiple bands, five EST-SSR markers showing multi-band were selected and two bands around expected size were sequenced. Sequence comparison classified the multiple bands into individual loci. Two bands can be identified by SNP or InDel variation with number of SSR units. Sequencing result represented that paralogous loci with high similarity were existence caused by recent duplication. One clear band were amplified with newly designed locus specific primer picked from SNP variation. SNP and InDel polymorphism between paralgous loci were useful for identifying each locus. This study will provide better understanding of ginseng genome and will be helpful for development of DNA markers.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) approaches can also be useful tool for characterization of organelle genomes. We generated chloroplast (CP) genome sequences of two Korean ginseng cultivars, Chunpoong and Yunpoong, based on reference-guided assembly using whole genome NGS data. We used 0.5x of P. ginseng genome NGS reads to assemble CP genome. Of the NGS reads used, about 6% were mapped to the reference CP genome with mean coverage of 94x due to high copy number of CP genome in plant cell. CP genomes of the two cultivars were predicted to be 156,248 bp and 156,355 bp in length and showed about 0.1% differences at nucleotide level, compared to reference CP genome sequenced from P. ginseng (Acc.no. NC_006290), whereas difference between CP genomes of the two cultivars is very rare. In this study, we developed the molecular marker to perform taxon identification and also to elucidate phylogenetic relationship among Korean ginseng cultivars. Now, we are analyzing the CP genomes of other P. ginseng cultivars together with other Panax species including American ginseng and Panax related species.

A new standard rose cultivar 'White Christmas' was bred from the cross between red standard cultivar 'Red Queen' and pink standard cultivar 'Vivaldi' at the National Horticulture Research Institute. The cross was made in 2001 and `White Christmas' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating characteristics for three years from 2003 to 2006. 'White Christmas', a white standard cultivar grows vigorously and has good flower shape. The major characteristics of this cultivar are 123.8 stems/m2/year in yield, 82.3 cm in length of cut flower, 11.0 cm in flower diameter, 60.1 in petal number, and 12.2 days in vase life. This cultivar can be propagated by both cutting and grafting. The consumer's preference of this cultivar is relatively higher than that of control cultivar, 'Tineke'.

A new standard rose cultivar 'Magic Pink' was bred from the cross between light yellow standard cultivar 'Medeo' and pink standard cultivar 'Veronica' at the National Horticulture Research Institute. The cross was made in 2001 and 'Magic Pink' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating characteristics for three years from 2003 to 2006. 'Magic Pink', a pink standard cultivar grows vigorously and has fashionable flower color. The major characteristics of this cultivar are 184.8 stems/m2/year in yield, 63.0cm in length of cut flower, 7.2 cm in flower diameter, 28.5 in petal number, and 10.4 days in vase life. This cultivar can be propagated by both cutting and grafting. The consumer's preference of this cultivar is relatively higher than that of control cultivar, 'Noblesse'.

A new standard rose cultivar ‘Pink Stone’ was bred from the cross between red standard cultivar ‘Red Queen’ and pink standard cultivar ‘Vivaldi’ at the National Horticulture Research Institute. The cross was made in 2001 and ‘Pink Stone’ was finally selected in 2006 after investigating characteristics for three years from 2003 to 2006. ‘Pink Stone’, a deep pink standard cultivar grows vigorously and has powder mildew resistant. The major characteristics of this cultivar are 115.1 stems/m2/year in yield, 77.7 cm in length of cut flower, 10.5 cm in flower diameter, 67.0 in petal number, and 12.0 days in vase life. This cultivar can be propagated by both cutting and grafting. The consumer’s preference of this cultivar is relatively higher than that of control cultivar, ‘Noblesse’.