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Current State and the Future Tasks of Home Visit Nursing Care in South Korea (우리나라 가정방문간호의 현황과 향후 과제)

  • Park, Eunok
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.28-38
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    • 2019
  • Objectives: We searched and reviewed the literature including the laws or acts, statistics, guidelines, papers and conference proceedings related to home visit nursing care in South Korea. Method: We searched and reviewed the literature including the laws or acts, statistics, guidelines, papers and conference proceedings related to home visit nursing care in Korea. Results: There are three types of home care nursing in Korea. Public health center provides home visit nursing to vulnerable population by registered nurses for free, based on community health act in public health center. As of 2017, 1,261,208 people were enrolled in the visiting health program of public health center. Health behavior and disease management has been improved and showed having cost-benefit effect among the enrolled people in visiting health program. Visiting nursing care in long-term care services is provided by registered nurses or nurse aid, based on long-term care act. The cost is paid as the unit price according to service time. 1,095,764 older people used long-term care services in 2017, only 0.2% of total cost used for home visiting nursing. Even though the number of user of home visiting nursing, it was reported that users spent less medical cost and hospitalized shorter. Hospital-based home care nursing is provided to patients and their families under the prescription of a doctor by family nurse specialists who are employed by medical institute based on medical law. Four hundred sixty family nurse specialists worked for hospital-based home care nursing and hospital-based home care services accounted for 0.038% of total medical expenses in 2017. Conclusion: Even though home visit nursing care services are different in aspect of legal basis, personnel, running institutes, and cost basis, home visit nursing care showed cost-benefit effect and good health outcomes. In order to advance home visit nursing care, the integrated home visiting care, improvement of working condition, and revision of legal basis should be considered.

Comparison of Doses of Single Scan PBS and Layered Rescanning PBS Using Moving Phantom in Proton Therapy (양성자 치료에서 Moving Phantom을 이용한 Single Scan PBS와 Layered Rescanning PBS의 선량비교)

  • Kim, Kyeong Tae;Kim, Seon Yeong;Kim, Dae Woong;Kim, Jae Won;Park, Ji Yeon;Jeon, Sang Min
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.43-49
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    • 2019
  • Purpose : We apply the Layered Rescanning PBS designed to complement the Pencil Beam Scanning(PBS), which is vulnerable to moving organs with the Moving Phantom, and compare the homogeneity with the single scan PBS. Methods and materials: Matrix X (IBA, Belgium) and Moving Phantom (standard imaging, USA) were used. A dose of 200 cGy was measured in the AP direction on a hypothetical tumor $10{\times}10{\times}5cm$. The plan type was planned as 4 kinds of sinlge scan PBS, rescan number 4, 8, 12 times. Were measured three times for each types. During the measurement, the respiratory cycle of the Moving Phantom was generally set to 4 seconds per cycle, and the movement radius in the S-I direction was set to 2 cm. In addition, beam on time was measured. Results : The mean values of $D_{max}$ in the PTV were $246.47{\pm}18.8cGy$, $223.43{\pm}8.92cGy$, and $222.47{\pm}7.7cGy$, $213.9{\pm}6.11cGy$ and the mean values of $D_{min}$ were $165.53{\pm}4.32cGy$, $173.13{\pm}11.94cGy$, $184.13{\pm}8.04cGy$, $182.67{\pm}4.38cGy$ and the mean values of $D_{mean}$ $192.77{\pm}6.98cGy$, $196.7{\pm}4.01cGy$, $198.17{\pm}4.96cGy$, $195.77{\pm}3.15cGy$ respectively. As the number of rescanning increased, the Homogeneity Index converged to 1. The beam on time was measured as 2:15, 3:15, 4:30, 5:37 on average. In the measurement process, in the low dose layer of the MU, the problem was found that it was not rescanned as many times as the set number of rescan. Conclusions : In the treatment of tumors with long-term movements, the application of layered rescanning PBS showed a more uniform dose distribution than single scan PBS. And as the number of rescan increase, the distribution of homogeneity is uniform. Compared with single scan plan and 12 rescan plan, HI value was improved by 0.32. Further studies are expected to be applicable to patients who can not be treated with respiratory synchronous radiation therapy.

The Landscape Value of Asan Oeam-ri's Folk Village as Cultural Heritage (아산 외암마을 토속경관의 문화유산적 가치)

  • Shin, Sang Sup
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.30-51
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    • 2011
  • During the process of modernization, many rural villages in Korea have experienced degeneration and breakdown, losing sustainability. However, Oeam village in Asan City, South Chungcheong Province (State-designated cultural heritage, Important Folk Material No. 236) has established itself as a unique folk village, which evolves with sustainability, pursuing the revival of Neo-traditionalism. Oeam village is a tribal village of the Yis from the Yean region and has maintained environmental, economic, and social sustainability and soundness for over five centuries. Thus, the village has sustained itself well enough to be a cultural asset with 'Outstanding Universal Value', in terms of its value as world cultural heritage. The village maintains its own identity, filled with a variety of traditional and scenic cultural assets that symbolize a gentry village. Those assets include Confucian sceneries (head family houses, ancestral shrines, tombs, gravestones, commemorative monuments, and pavilions), various assets of folk religion (totem poles, protective trees at the entrance of a village, shrines for mountain spirits, village forests), tangible and intangible cultural assets related to daily lives (vigorous family activities, rigorous ancestral rituals, family rituals, collective agriculture and protection of ecosystem), which have all been well preserved and inherited. In particular, this village is an example of a well-being community with a well-preserved folksy atmosphere, which is based on environmentally sound settlements (nature + economy + environment + community) in a village established according to geomancy, East Asia's unique principle of environmental design. In addition, the village has kept the sustainability and authenticity for more than 500 years, combining restraint towards the environment and the view of the environment which respects the natural order and cultural values (capacity + healthy + sustainability). Therefore, the Oeam folk village can be a representative example of a folksy and scenic Korean community which falls into the category of IV (to exemplify an outstanding type of building, architectural or technological ensemble, or landscape which illustrates significant stages in human history) and V (to exemplify an outstanding traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of cultures, or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change) of Unesco's World Cultural Heritage.

Distributional Characteristics and Evaluation of the Population Sustainability, Factors Related to Vulnerability for a Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. (층층둥굴레(Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim.)의 분포특성과 개체군의 위협요인 및 지속가능성 평가)

  • Kim, Young-Chul;Chae, Hyun-Hee;Ahn, Won-Gyeong;Lee, Kyu-Song;Nam, Gi-Heum;Kwak, Myoung-Hai
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.33 no.3
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    • pp.303-320
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    • 2019
  • Plants interact with various biotic and abiotic environmental factors. It requires much information to understand the traits of a plant species. A shortage of information would restrict the assessment, especially in the evaluation of what kind of factors influence a plant species to face extinction. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. is one of the northern plants of which Korea is the southern distribution edge. The Korean Ministry of Environment had designated it to be the endangered species until December 2015. Although it is comparatively widespread, and a large population has recently been reported, it is assessed to be vulnerable due to the low population genetic diversity. This study evaluated the current distribution of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. We investigated the vegetational environment, population structures, phenology, soil environment, and self-incompatibility based on the results. Lastly, we evaluated the current threats observed in the habitats. The habitats tended to be located in the areas where the masses at the edge of the stream accumulated except for those that were located on slopes of some mountainous areas. Most of them showed a stable population structure and had re-established or recruited seedlings. Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. had the difference in time when the shoots appeared above the ground depending on the depth of the rhizome located in the underground. In particular, the seedlings and juveniles had their rhizome located shallow in the soil. Visits by pollinator insects and success in pollination were crucial factors for bearing of fruits by Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. The threats observed in the habitat of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. included the expansion of cultivated land, construction of new buildings, and construction of river banks and roads. Despite such observed risk factors, it is not likely that there would be rapid population reduction or extinction because of its widespread distribution with the total population of more than 2.7 million individuals and the new populations established by the re-colonization.

Effect of Stream Channel Naturalness on Aquatic Ecological Health in the Han River, South Korea (한강권역 내 하도 자연성이 어류 건강성에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Hyunji;Noh, SeongYu;Jeong, Hyun-Gi;Moon, Jeongsuk;Shin, Yuna;Lee, Kyung-Lak;Lee, Su-Woong;Lee, Jae-Kwan
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.311-321
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate effect of stream channel naturalness on ecological health by using environmental factors and Fish Assessment Index (FAI) in the Han River of South Korea. These samples and data have been released from the research project titled Stream/River Ecosystem Survey and Health Assessment, which was conducted in 444 sites in the Han river watershed from 2008 to 2016. All samples were classified into five groups according to a degree of morphological changes of stream. Water chemistry analyses indicated a decline in water quality by decreasing stream channel naturalness, it is assumed that channelized stream was vulnerable to aquatic pollution compared to the natural meandering stream. In the result of frequency of dominant species, sensitive species and insectivore such as Zacco koreanus, Rhynchocypris kumgangensis and Pungtungia herzi were frequently dominated in the natural meandering stream while tolerant species and omnivores such as Carassius auratus and Cyprinus carpio were more dominated in the channelized streams. The FAI in the channelized stream shows decline to average of $46{\pm}25$ compared with that of the natural meandering stream ($80{\pm}20$). The decrease in FAI was highly influenced by changes in matrixes of fish assemblage structure such as number of sensitive species (M3), portion of omnivores (M5) and insectivores (M6). Moreover, annual average FAIs from 2008 to 2016 were significantly correlated with water chemistry, especially TN, TP and BOD ($r^2=0.59$, p<0.0001). Taken together, all the results suggest that the stream channelization could negatively impact on the water quality and fish assemblage structure, leading to degradation in aquatic ecosystem health.

The Effects of Experimental Warming on Seed Germination and Growth of Two Oak Species (Quercus mongolica and Q. serrata) (온난화 처리가 신갈나무(Quercus mongolica)와 졸참나무(Q. serrate)의 종자발아와 생장에 미치는 영향)

  • Park, Sung-ae;Kim, Taekyu;Shim, Kyuyoung;Kong, Hak-Yang;Yang, Byeong-Gug;Suh, Sanguk;Lee, Chang Seok
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.52 no.3
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    • pp.210-220
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    • 2019
  • Population growth and the increase of energy consumption due to civilization caused global warming. Temperature on the Earth rose about $0.7^{\circ}C$ for the last 100 years, the rate is accelerated since 2000. Temperature is a factor, which determines physiological action, growth and development, survival, etc. of the plant together with light intensity and precipitation. Therefore, it is expected that global warming would affect broadly geographic distribution of the plant as well as structure and function ecosystem. In order to understand the effect of global warming on the ecosystem, a study about the effect of temperature rise on germination and growth in the plant is required necessarily. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of experimental warming on the germination and growth of two oak species(Quercus mongolica and Q. serrata) in temperature gradient chamber(TGC). This study was conducted in control, medium warming treatment($+1.7^{\circ}C$; Tm), and high warming treatment ($+3.2^{\circ}C$; Th) conditions. The final germination percentage, mean germination time and germination rate of two oak species increased by the warming treatment, and the increase in Q. serrata was higher than that in Q. mongolica. Root collar diameter, seedling height, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, root dry weight, and total biomass were the highest in Tm treatment. Butthey were not significantly different in the Th treatment. In the Th treatment, Q. serrata had significantly higher H/D ratio, S/R ratio, and low root mass ratio (RMR) compared with control plot. Q. mongolica had lower RMR and higher S/R ratio in the Tm and Th treatments compared with control plot. Therefore, growth of Q. mongolica are expected to be more vulnerable to warming than that of Q. serrata. The main findings of this study, species-specific responses to experimental warming, could be applied to predict ecosystem changes from global warming. From the result of this study, we could deduce that temperature rise would increase germination of Q. serrata and Q. mongolica and consequently contribute to increase establishment rate in the early growth stage of the plants. But we have to consider diverse variables to understand properly the effects that global warming influences germination in natural condition. Treatment of global warming in the medium level increased the growth and the biomass of both Q. serrata and Q. mongolica. But the result of treatment in the high level showed different aspects. In particular, Q. mongolica, which grows in cooler zones of higher elevation on mountains or northward in latitude, responded more sensitively. Synthesized the results mentioned above, continuous global warming would function in stable establishment of both plants unfavorably. Compared the responses of both sample plants on temperature rise, Q. serrata increased germination rate more than Q. mongolica and Q. mongolica responded more sensitively than Q. serrata in biomass allocation with the increase of temperature. It was estimated that these results would due to a difference of microclimate originated from the spatial distribution of both plants.

Uranium and Radon Concentrations in Groundwater of the Daejeon Granite Area: Comparison with Other Granite Areas (대전 화강암지역 지하수의 우라늄과 라돈 함량: 다른 화강암지역과의 비교)

  • Yun, Uk;Kim, Moon Su;Jeong, Do Hwan;Hwang, Jae Hong;Cho, Byong Wook
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.631-643
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    • 2018
  • Uranium and radon concentrations in groundwater from 80 wells from Daejeon area were measured to determine the range of concentrations according to the geology. The median uranium content of groundwater was $11.14{\mu}g/L$ for the two-mica granite, $0.90{\mu}g/L$ for the biotite granite, and $0.47{\mu}g/L$ for the Ogcheon group. The median radon content of groundwates was 114.3 Bq/L for the two-mica granite, 61.6 Bq/L for the biotite granite, and 42.2 Bq/L for the Ogchon group, respectively. The uranium content of two-mica granite is 3.78 mg/ kg, which is slightly higher than that of biotite granite 3.20 mg/kg. However, the uranium content in groundwatewr of two-mica granite groundwater is much higher than that of biotite granite. This can be explained by the fact that the two-mica granite is vulnerable to weathering than biotite granite, so uranium in mineral is easily leached into groundwater. The exceeding rate of samples having uranium content above $30{\mu}g/L$ in granite area was 23.8%, which is higher than that of 6.7% in Jurassic granite in Korea. On the other hand, the exceeding rate of samples having radon content above 148 Bq/L in granite rate area was 31.0% which is similar to that of Jurassic granite area of 31.7%.

Health-Promoting Behavior and Quality of Life among Community-Dwelling, Middle-Aged Women: A Comparative Study between Overweight and Normal-Weight Groups (지역사회 거주 중년 여성 집단에서 건강증진 행위와 삶의 질: 과체중 집단과 정상체중 집단 간 비교)

  • Yang, Hwa-Mi;Choo, Jina;Kim, Hye-Jin
    • Korean journal of health promotion
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.159-168
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    • 2018
  • Background: Strategically improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) should be discussed among overweight middle-aged women who are vulnerable to low HRQOL. We examined firstly if overweight middle-aged women would have significantly lower levels of HRQOL and health-promoting behaviors than normal-weight middle-aged women, and to examine secondly if health-promoting behaviors would be significantly associated with generic and obesity-specific HRQOLs within the overweight middle-aged women. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, comparative study. Participants were 119 women aged 30-49 years who were recruited from a community in Seoul, South Korea; 63 women for the overweight group who were recruited from a baseline sample of the Community-Based Heart and Weight Management Trial, while 56 for the normal-weight group who were recruited separetely. Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II), World Health Organization Quality of Life-brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) of a generic HRQOL measure, and Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite (IWQOL-Lite) of an obesity-specific HRQOL measure were used. Results: Compared to the normal-weight group, the overweight group showed significantly lower scores of total WHOQOL-BREF as well as some HPLP II subscales including stress management (P=0.029). Among the HPLP II subscales, stress management was significantly and positively associated with total WHOQOL-BREF (${\beta}=1.58$, P=0.003) and self-esteem IWQOL-Lite (${\beta}=11.58$, P=0.034) among the overweight group. Conclusions: Among middle-aged overweight women, low levels of health-promoting behavior for stress management were shown, which should be strategically increased for improving their generic and obesity-specific HRQOLs.

A study on Indoor Insulating Tent Design for Senior Citizens who Live Alone (독거노인을 위한 융복합 실내 보온용 텐트디자인에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Dae Hyun;Kim, Sang Sik
    • Korea Science and Art Forum
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.219-230
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    • 2019
  • According to the National Statistical Office, the number of senior citizens aged 65 or over has exceeded 7 million as of 2017, and the number of senior citizens who live alone among them exceeded 1.3 million. Most of the senior citizens who live alone suffer from absolute poverty (68.5% of them has monthly income less than 500,000 won) and they have difficulties for basic living in the blind spot of our society. In particular, the heating is quite a serious issue for the senior citizens who live alone and belong to vulnerable social group in the winter, and to make it worse, they are exposed to frequent fire accidents due to the negligence in handling electric appliances such as electric heaters and electric pads. The main reason the indoor tent products are being used by senior citizens who live alone is that it saves energy, ensures warm sleep, and improves fire safety. Following the expansion of the indoor tent market, this study focused on the idea that there is a need for an in door tent suitable for senior citizens who live alone and belong to low income bracket and intended to improve its efficiency in relation to use, resting, and storage. For this, a basic survey was conducted on the products of existing brands to analyze advantages and disadvantages and it was possible to understand the demands that consumers have for existing products. Accordingly, a survey on consumer preference was conducted using a designed model and the Zabara typp, which demonstrated the best efficiency in terms of installation convenience, space usability, and appearance design was selected. Based on the results of selection, the product design and final prototype were completed. The results and details of the study are as follows; First, factors that were not recognized in product development phase could be identified through usability survey and interview with actual users. Second, for the effective aspect of the prototype, senior citizens could install and fold the tend more easily and quickly than expected. Based on these results of this study, it is expected that not only senior citizens who live alone but also various other users can use the tent to create another comfortable private space indoors.

Global Rice Production, Consumption and Trade: Trends and Future Directions

  • Bhandari, Humnath
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2019.09a
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    • pp.5-5
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    • 2019
  • The objectives of this paper are (i) to analyze past trends and future directions of rice production, consumption and trade across the world and (ii) to discuss emerging challenges and future directions in the global rice industry. Rice is a staple food of over half of the world's 7.7 billion people. It is an important economic, social, political, and cultural commodity in most Asian countries. Rice is the $1^{st}$ most widely consumed, $2^{nd}$ largely produced, and $3^{rd}$ most widely grown food crop in the world. It was cultivated by 144 million farms in over 100 countries with harvested area of over 163 million ha producing about 745 million tons paddy in 2018. About 90% of the total rice is produced in Asia. China and India, the biggest rice producers, account for over half of the world's rice production. Between 1960 and 2018, world rice production increased over threefold from 221 to 745 million tons (2.1% per year) due to area expansion from 120 to 163 million ha (0.5% per year) and paddy yield increase from 1.8 to 4.6 t/ha (1.6% per year). The Green Revolution led massive increase in rice production prevented famines, provided food for millions of people, reduced poverty and hunger, and improved livelihoods of millions of Asians. The future increase in rice production must come from yield increase as the scope for area expansion is limited. Rice is the most widely consumed food crop. The world's average per capita milled rice consumption is 64 kilograms providing 19% of daily calories. Asia accounted for 84% of global consumption followed by Africa (7%), South America (3%), and the Middle East (2%). Asia's per capita rice consumption is 100 kilograms per year providing 28% of daily calories. The global and Asian per capita consumption increased from the 1960s to the 1990s but stable afterward. The per capita rice consumption is expected to decline in Asia but increase outside Asia especially in Africa in the future. The total milled rice consumption was about 490 million tons in 2018 and projected to reach 550 million tons by 2030 and 590 million tons by 2040. Rice is thinly traded in international market because it is a highly protected commodity. Only about 9% of the total production is traded in global rice market. However, the volume of global rice trade has increased over six-fold from 7.5 to 46.5 million tons between the 1960s and 2018. A relatively small number of exporting countries interact with a large number of importing countries. The top five rice exporting countries are India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and China accounting for 74% of the global rice export. The top five rice importing countries are China, Philippines, Nigeria, European Union and Saudi Arabia accounting for 26% of the global rice import. Within rice varieties, Japonica rice accounts for the highest share of the global rice trade (about 12%) followed by Basmati rice (about 10%). The high concentration of exports to a few countries makes international rice market vulnerable to supply disruptions in exporting countries, leading to higher world prices of rice. The export price of Thai 5% broken rice increased from 198 US$/ton in 2000 to 421 US$/ton in 2018. The volumes of trade and rice prices in the global market are expected to increase in the future. The major future challenges of the rice industry are increasing demand due to population growth, rising demand in Africa, economic growth and diet diversification, competition for natural resources (land and water), labor scarcity, climate change and natural hazards, poverty and inequality, hunger and malnutrition, urbanization, low income in rice farming, yield saturation, aging of farmers, feminization of agriculture, health and environmental concerns, improving value chains, and shifting donor priorities away from agriculture. At the same time, new opportunities are available due to access to new technologies, increased investment by the private sector, and increased global partnership. More investment in rice research and development is needed to develop and disseminate innovative technologies and practices to overcome problems and ensure food and nutrition security of the future population.

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