Earticle

Oryza sativa cv. Pin Gaew 56 (PG56) is a deepwater rice variety known as a model for studying the flooding stress response. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genome of Oryza sativa cv. PG56 and its phylogenetic relationship with related species. The size of the complete chloroplast genome is 134,569 bp. It contains eighty protein-coding genes, twenty-nine tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. According to phylogenetic analysis using chloroplast genes, Oryza sativa cv. Pin Gaew 56 and Oryza rufipogon are classified into the same group. Since both species share the ability of submergence-escape, unlike other rice varieties, their close similarity in chloroplast gene sequences may help us understand the response mechanism of deepwater rice upon submergence.

This study aimed to enhance the limited UV-blocking capability of conventional hydrogel contact lenses by incorporating Er₂O₃, a material with high visible light transmittance and effective UV absorption, and by evaluating the differences in physical properties between thermal and photo-polymerization methods. Methods: Er₂O₃ was added to the base lens formulation at varying concentrations. The samples were fabricated using thermal polymerization (HE_1–HE_5) and photopolymerization (LE_1–LE_5), and the resulting lenses were evaluated for particle dispersion, UV-blocking efficiency, wettability, surface characteristics, refractive index, water content, tensile strength, and antibacterial activity. Results: Increasing the Er₂O₃ concentration improved multiple physical properties compared with the control lenses, with both polymerization methods showing the highest UV-blocking performance at a concentration of 0.3%. Additionally, lenses produced via photopolymerization exhibited superior physical and optical properties compared with those produced via thermal polymerization under identical formulation conditions. Conclusion: The photopolymerization process demonstrated overall superior performance in UV protection, water content, mechanical strength, and antibacterial activity. These findings suggest that photopolymerization is a more suitable fabrication method for the development of high-performance functional contact lenses.

In recent years, there have been crimes with a significant social impact in Korea. Most crime statistics used in Korea were based on simple incident counts, making them inadequate for managing citizens' perceived safety. This is because citizens' perceived safety is sensitive to serious and violent crimes. This study aims to develop a predictive model for the Korean Crime Severity Index (KCSI), using as the dependent variable a weighted measure of crime severity calculated by multiplying the number of incidents for each crime type by severity weights and standardizing by population size. The study utilizes data collected from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) from 2014 to 2022. To identify the most appropriate model for predicting the KCSI, linear regression, ridge regression, LASSO regression, and Elastic Net regression were applied. As a result of the analysis, among the several predictive models, the adjusted R 2 value of linear regression was the highest at 0.8255, and the RMSE and MAE values o f the Elastic Net model were the lowest at 0.0007956 and 0.0006230, respectively.

Recent climate change has led not only to a rise in global mean temperature but also to increased climate variability, resulting in more frequent and intense extreme climate events such as heatwaves and droughts. Observational and modeling studies consistently indicate that warming trends are associated with longer-lasting and more severe high-temperature events, as well as an increased likelihood of compound extremes. In particular, compound heatwave–drought events can amplify impacts through physical interactions. High temperatures enhance evapotranspiration and reduce soil moisture, while precipitation deficits intensify surface heating, creating a reinforcing feedback mechanism. Consequently, compound extremes often produce greater socio-economic damage than single extreme events. In South Korea, an increasing number of hot days and growing precipitation imbalance during summer have been observed in recent decades. In several years, simultaneous heatwave and drought conditions have caused substantial impacts on agriculture, water resources, and ecosystems. However, most previous studies have focused on individual extremes, and systematic research on compound events remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the characteristics of summer heatwave–drought compound extremes in South Korea and to develop a prediction model based on meteorological variables to improve early detection of such high-impact events.