Clover cyst nematode (Heterodera trifolii, CCN) is one of the important plantparasitic nematodes in the Republic of Korea, causing serious damage to Kimchi-cabbage in Gangwon province since 2017. Soil fumigants are the preferred choice for managing CCN. However, cabbage fields in Gangwon province have a slope, making it challenging to apply soil fumigants and use plastic mulch. Consequently, alternative materials should be developed for managing CCN. Nematicidal cover crops and resistant cultivars are among the alternatives. We conducted resistance screening of 82 white mustard (Sinapis alba) resources from a genebank at RDA against CCN for use as nematicidal cover crops or breeding materials. In the first assay (1st, 2nd, and 3rd pot experiments), 15 white mustard resources were selected, while others were susceptible to CCN. To confirm the reproducibility of resistance to CCN for 13 selected resources, the second assay was performed. As a result, five white mustard resource (IT297309, IT297312, IT302951, IT302953, IT302954) demonstrated resistance to CCN. These findings indicate the potential use of these five white mustard resources as nematicidal cover crops or for breeding cultivars of Kimchi-cabbage in Republic of Korea.

Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), commonly known as Holy Basil is a revered herb with a rich history in traditional medicine systems, particularly in Southeast Asia. For its medicinal properties, Tulsi has been regarded as an “Elixir of Life” and has been used to treat various ailments. However, the comprehensive investigation of Tulsi extracts and their potential pharmacological benefits, specifically in relation to antioxidant activity remains limited. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Tulsi leaf and stem extract using various screening methods. We investigate the antioxidant activity exhibited by the extract using three different methods involved the utilization of the total polyphenol content assay, the ferric reducing power assay and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-14 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays. The results revealed that the Tulsi leaf extract (TLE) exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity when compared to the Tulsi stem extract (TSE) in all the performed assays. The higher content of phenolics in TLE may have contributed to its superior antioxidant activity. The HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) analysis of TLE revealed the presence of eugenol, active compound for several therapeutic properties. These findings provide an understanding of the bioactive compounds present in Tulsi extracts and their potential antioxidant benefits.

목적 : 본 연구는 인지선별검사(Cognitive Impairment Screening Test; CIST)에 대한 신뢰도 및 타당 도를 조사고하자 한다. 연구방법 : 본 연구는 서울시에 거주하는 일반인 대상으로 CIST에 응답한 321명의 자료를 사용하였다. 총 321명이 응답 완료한 CIST 자료를 활용하여 신뢰도 분석을 위한 첫 번째 단계로 확인적 요인분석을 통해 일차원성 및 지역 독립성(local independence)의 가정을 조사하였다. 두 번째로, 일차원성 및 지역 독립성의 가정을 완료한 항목을 통해 라쉬 모형 중 부분점수모형(Partial Credit Model; PCM)을 적용 하여 항목 적합도, 항목 난이도 계층적 구조를 조사하였다. 마지막으로. 항목 간에 개인 특성으로 인한 차이를 분석하기 위해 차등항목기능을 조사하였다. 결과: 대상자의 평균 연령은 80.48세(SD = 6.59)였으며, 남성이 45명(14.02%), 여성이 276명(85.98%)이었다. 본 연구의 신뢰도 분석 첫 번째 단계로 진행한 CIST의 확인적 요인분석 결과, 일차원성과 지역 독립성 가정을 모두 충족 하였다. 두 번째로 진행한 라쉬 분석을 통해 분석된 항목 적합도는 6개 영역 모두 적합(0.6 < MnSq < 1.4, -2.0 < ZSTD < 2.0)하였으며, 가장 쉬운 항목은 지남력, 가장 어려운 항목은 집행기능으로 나타났다. 세 번째로, 성별에서 차등항목기능이 주의집중력 항목에서만 있는 것으로 조사되었다. 결론 : 본 연구에서는 신뢰도를 분석하여 CIST가 지역사회 노인을 대상으로 시행할 수 있는 인지선별검사 도구로 적절한 평가도구임을 확인하였다. 따라서 본 연구 결과를 통해 CIST를 사용하는 연구자 및 임상 가들에게 도움이 될 것으로 사료된다.

As a result of various generation, transmutation, and decay schemes, a wide variety of radionuclides exist in the reactor prior to accident occurrence. Considering all of the radionuclides as the accident source term in an offsite consequence analysis will inevitably take up excessive computer resources and time. Calculation time can be reduced with minimal impact on the accuracy of the results by considering only the nuclides that have a significant effect on the calculation among the potential radioactive sources that may be released into the environment. In earlier studies related to offsite consequence analysis, it is shown that the principal criteria for the radionuclide screening applied are as follows; radionuclide inventory in the reactor, radioactive half-life, radionuclide release fraction to the environment, relative dose contribution of nuclides within a specific group, and radiobiological importance. As a result, it is confirmed that 54, 60, and 69 nuclides are applied to the risk assessment performed in WASH-1400, NUREG-1150, and SOARCA (State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses) project in the United States, respectively. In addition, in this study, the technical consultations with domestic and foreign experts were carried out to confirm details on criteria and process for screening out radionuclides in offsite consequence analysis. In this paper, based on the literature survey and technical consulting, we derived the screening process of selecting a list of radionuclides to be considered in the offsite consequence analysis. The first step is to eliminate radionuclides with little core inventory (less than specific threshold) or very short half-lives. However, important decay products of radionuclides that have short half-lives should not be excluded by this process. The next step is to further eliminate radionuclides by considering contribution to offsite impact, which is defined as a product of radioactivity released to the environment (i.e. ‘inventory in the reactor’ times ‘release fraction to offsite’) and comprehensive dose (or risk) coefficient taking into account all exposure pathways to be included. The final step is to delete isotopes that contribute less than certain threshold to any important dose metric through additional computer runs for each important source term. Even though it is presumed that this process is applicable to existing light water reactors and the set of accidents that would be considered in PSA, some of the assumptions or specific recommendations may need to be reconsidered for other reactor types or set of accident categories.

This study presents a methodology to determine the radionuclides of concern that are expected to be found during the final status survey of Kori Unit 1 decommissioning. The methodology involved reflecting the evaluation results of ORIGEN based on reference documents such as NUREG/CR-3474, NUREG/CR-4289, NUREG/CR-0130, WINCO-1191, and representative fuel loading. A list of potential radionuclides of concern was provided by reflecting the list of radionuclides of concern included in the Kori Unit 1 decommissioning plan. To select the radionuclides of concern, we analyzed the approach of US decommissioning plants based on the recommendations of NUREG-1757 Vol.2 Rev.1 and excluded certain radionuclides from the list. The final list of 23 radionuclides of concern was derived by excluding radionuclides that have a short half-life, low specific activity, analytically difficult to measure, inert gases, or naturally occurring radionuclides. This methodology can be applied to other nuclear power plants, such as the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant, by reflecting the unique characteristics of the reactor.

Considering the Fukushima nuclear accident and the marine discharge plan of contaminated (or treated) water, it is necessary a seafood monitoring system for radioactive material screening. Currently, radioactivity tests in seafood are conducting in Korea. Although current method using a HPGe detector can provide very low uncertainty in determining radioactivity, there is a limitation in that rapid inspection cannot be performed because of a time-consuming pretreatment process as well as long measurement time (typically 10,000 s). To overcome this limitation, we are developing an insitu inspection device, a kind of screening system, which can monitor the radioactivity in seafood in a near real-time basis. In this study, the actual seafood with a check source was measured to verify the reliability of the Monte Carlo simulation model. The detector used in the experiment was a 5-cm-thick polyvinyl toluene (PVT) plastic scintillator with a 0.5-cm-thick lead shield for background reduction. A Cs-137 check source was placed within seafood. The seafood used in the experiment was fishcake, raw oyster, and dried laver, which is the representative seafood of fish, shellfish, and seaweed. These three seafood products of the same size and shape as the manufacturing process were used to predict the performance realistically. We compared the energy spectrum of the Cs-137 check source obtained from measurements and simulations. The region of interest (ROI) around the Compton edge was set to reduce the influence of the background and electronic noise. The results showed that the measured and simulated spectrum were in good agreement.

Korea's Corona 19(COVID-19) quarantine, referred to as 'K-Quarantine', is a globally recognized quarantine system that has achieved both conflicting goals: health and economy. The quarantine system represented by 3T(Test-Trace-Treat) is not a method of blocking an area, but a method of screening and treating infected and non-infected persons. The screening center, one of the key elements of this screening treatment system, has evolved to suit the timing and situation of COVID-19, and has succeeded in initial response by conducting large-scale tests quickly and safely. By analyzing the evolution of screening centers that produced such significant results from a problem-solving point of view, it proved its meaning as a practical success case of creative problem- solving. In addition, the usefulness of TRIZ (Russian abbreviation of Theory of Solving Inventive Problem), a creative problem- solving theory, was confirmed through an analysis of actual verified cases of COVID-19 response. TRIZ is a problem-solving theory created by analyzing the regularity of invention patents, and is widely used not only in the technical field but also in the non-technical fields such as design, management, and education. The results of this study are expected to provide useful meaning and practical examples to researchers interested in system analysis and TRIZ application from a problem-solving perspective.

An objective of a safety assessment for geological disposal is to evaluate the radiological impact by radionuclides release from radioactive wastes. Computational estimation of all radionuclides transport in the disposal system, however, is not neccessary because some radionuclides has negligible effect on radiological doses. For this reason, prioritization of radionuclides list is preceded before the safety assessment. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institue (KAERI) has assessed the long-term safety of a disposal system for spent nculear fuels. Currently, thirty eight radionuclides and twenty three elements are considered in the safety assessment activity of the KAERI. Nevertheless, a screening process for radionulides selection has not been articulated yet. In this study, we reviewed radionuclides selection process in forign countries to re-establish screening criteria for the KAERI’s radionuclides list. Screeing models of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), the Deparment of Eenrgy (US DOE), and the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Istitute (JNC) were compared. We found that each country developed different screening model depending on scenarios of radionuclides release. Nonetheless, there were common properties that determines the importance of radionuclides. These properties for radionuclides include halflife, radiotoxicity (or specific activity), and mobility in underground medium. Based on the review results, we proposed radionuclides selection process to prioritize the importance of radionucldies in the KAERI safety assessment.