Pyongyang, April 8 (KCNA) -- According to Rodong Sinmun, scores of research achievements, which made substantial contribution to the economic development and the improvement of the people's living standards in the DPRK this year, were awarded the certificate of application of state sci-tech achievements, and several intellectual products registered as high-tech products.

Various universities and scientific research institutes developed a technology capable of improving the technical and economic effectiveness of an oxygen heat blast furnace and a research method capable of increasing the operation efficiency of hydropower stations and ensuring their high efficiency and high water level running, thus contributing to optimizing the consumption of raw materials at iron production bases and normalizing the power production.

A profitable and superior design method was established to design production lines of regional-industry factories more scientifically and ensure the prompt and correct calculation of workloads, and a gluten-reinforcing agent was developed to make tasty flour products with flour produced in our country.

Also developed were high-tech products with great economic efficiency such as low-alloy high-strength steel welding rods made with rare earth inoculants and a flotation-reinforcing agent.

Meanwhile, the Sukchon County Commission of Science and Technology in South Phyongan Province developed an additive capable of increasing the concrete strength, thus making a substantial contribution to regional construction.

It is said that the compression strength of ordinary cement can be increased by more than 1.2 times even with additive amounting to 0.3% of cement. The additive, whose effectiveness has been verified through several trials, is now used at many construction sites. -0-