• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.42-49
• /
• 2004

Purpose : The quantization noise in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems is analyzed. The signal-to-quantization noise ratio (SQNR) in the reconstructed image is derived from the level of quantization in the signal in spatial frequency domain. Based on the derived formula, the SQNRs in various main magnetic fields with different receiver systems are evaluated. From the evaluation, the quantization noise could be a major noise source determining overall system signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in high field MRI system. A few methods to reduce the quantization noise are suggested. Materials and methods : In Fourier imaging methods, spin density distribution is encoded by phase and frequency encoding gradients in such a way that it becomes a distribution in the spatial frequency domain. Thus the quantization noise in the spatial frequency domain is expressed in terms of the SQNR in the reconstructed image. The validity of the derived formula is confirmed by experiments and computer simulation. Results : Using the derived formula, the SQNRs in various main magnetic fields with various receiver systems are evaluated. Since the quantization noise is proportional to the signal amplitude, yet it cannot be reduced by simple signal averaging, it could be a serious problem in high field imaging. In many receiver systems employing analog-to-digital converters (ADC) of 16 bits/sample, the quantization noise could be a major noise source limiting overall system SNR, especially in a high field imaging. Conclusion : The field strength of MRI system keeps going higher for functional imaging and spectroscopy. In high field MRI system, signal amplitude becomes larger with more susceptibility effect and wider spectral separation. Since the quantization noise is proportional to the signal amplitude, if the conversion bits of the ADCs in the receiver system are not large enough, the increase of signal amplitude may not be fully utilized for the SNR enhancement due to the increase of the quantization noise. Evaluation of the SQNR for various systems using the formula shows that the quantization noise could be a major noise source limiting overall system SNR, especially in three dimensional imaging in a high field imaging. Oversampling and off-center sampling would be an alternative solution to reduce the quantization noise without replacement of the receiver system.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.37 no.8
• /
• pp.691-701
• /
• 2004

Background: Tissue hypoxia is a characteristic of many human malignant neoplasms, and hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) plays a pivotal role in essential adaptive response to hypoxia, and activates a signal pathway for the expression of the hypoxia-regulated genes, resulting in increased oxygen delivery or facilitating metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. Increased level of HIF-1 a has been reported in many human malignancies, but in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, the influence of HIF-1 a on tumor biology, including neovascularization, is not still defined. Material and Method: The influence of HIF-1 a expression on angiogenic factors, correlation between the tumor proliferation and HIF-1 a expression, interaction of HIF-1 a expression and p53, and correlation between HIF-1 a expression and clinicopathological prognostic parameters were investigated, using immunohistochemical stains for HIF-1 a, VEGF, CD34, p53, and Ki-67 on 77 cases of resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Result: HIF-1 a expression in cancer cells was found in 33 of 77 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases. The 33 cases (42.9%) showed positive stain for HIF-1 a. High HIF-1 a expression was significantly associated with several pathological parameters, such as histologic grade (p=0.032), pathological TMN stage (p=0.002), the depth of tumor invasion (p=0.022), regional lymph node metastasis (p=0.002), distant metastasis (p=0.049), and lymphatic invasion (p=0.004). High HIF-1 a expression had significant VEGF immunoreactivity (p=0.008) and Ki-67 labeling index (p<0.001), but was not correlated with microvascular density within tumors (p=0.088). The high HIF-1 a expression was correlated with aberrant p53 accumulation with a marginal significance (p=0.056). The overall 5-year survival rate was 34.9%. The survival rate of patients with a high HIF-1 a expression was worse than that of patients with low-expression tumors (log-rank test, p=0.0001). High HIF-1 a expression was independent unfavorable factors although statistical significance is marginal in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: It is suggested that (1) high HIF-1 a expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is associated with tumor hypoxia, or with genetic alteration in early carcinogenesis and progressive stages, (2) high HIF-1 a expression may be associated with intratumoral neovascularization through HIF-VEGF pathway, and (3) high HIF-1 a expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and may playa role as biomarker for regional lymph node metastasis.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.252-260
• /
• 2015

This paper describes the technical background for the Korean wildlife radiation dose assessment code, K-BIOTA, and the summary of its application. The K-BIOTA applies the graded approaches of 3 levels including the screening assessment (Level 1 & 2), and the detailed assessment based on the site specific data (Level 3). The screening level assessment is a preliminary step to determine whether the detailed assessment is needed, and calculates the dose rate for the grouped organisms, rather than an individual biota. In the Level 1 assessment, the risk quotient (RQ) is calculated by comparing the actual media concentration with the environmental media concentration limit (EMCL) derived from a bench-mark screening reference dose rate. If RQ for the Level 1 assessment is less than 1, it can be determined that the ecosystem would maintain its integrity, and the assessment is terminated. If the RQ is greater than 1, the Level 2 assessment, which calculates RQ using the average value of the concentration ratio (CR) and equilibrium distribution coefficient (Kd) for the grouped organisms, is carried out for the more realistic assessment. Thus, the Level 2 assessment is less conservative than the Level 1 assessment. If RQ for the Level 2 assessment is less than 1, it can be determined that the ecosystem would maintain its integrity, and the assessment is terminated. If the RQ is greater than 1, the Level 3 assessment is performed for the detailed assessment. In the Level 3 assessment, the radiation dose for the representative organism of a site is calculated by using the site specific data of occupancy factor, CR and Kd. In addition, the K-BIOTA allows the uncertainty analysis of the dose rate on CR, Kd and environmental medium concentration among input parameters optionally in the Level 3 assessment. The four probability density functions of normal, lognormal, uniform and exponential distribution can be applied.The applicability of the code was tested through the participation of IAEA EMRAS II (Environmental Modeling for Radiation Safety) for the comparison study of environmental models comparison, and as the result, it was proved that the K-BIOTA would be very useful to assess the radiation risk of the wildlife living in the various contaminated environment.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.55-72
• /
• 1983

These studies were done to find out any difference, ultrastructural, physical or chemical, between the shells of diapausing and non-diapausing eggs of the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. 1. From the electron-microscopic observation, the egg shells have four distinctive layers. In addition to the four layers, the shells in the diapausing eggs has another layer with low electron density on its surface. 2. The permeability of the egg shell to hydrochloride was much lower in diapausing egg than in non-diapausing egg. Also the permeability changed in the opposite directions with the egg age: the diapausing eggs decreased while non-diapausing ones increased. 3. The permeability increased when the diapausing egg shell was treated with HCl. When they were treated with ether, however, the increase in permeability was much smaller. It seems there was an ether soluble material involved in the content of the egg shell. 4. The diapausing eggs were also much more resistant to desiccation than the non-diapausing ones. The former, when treated with HCl or chilling, became less resistant to desiccation. 5. The positive histochemical response of the egg shell to PAS-Alcian blue and protein stainings suggests presence of abundant proteins and carbohydrates in the egg shell. On the other hand, the staining response to lipid was more positive in the inner layers than in the outer layer of the shell. 6. The egg shell adhesives seems to be mucopolysaccharides produced by colleterial glands, since the oviposited eggs showed a positive responses to carbohydrate and negative to lipid-staining chemicals, but not the mature oocytes in the ovarioles. 7. There were two bands on the electrophoretic pattern of the SH proteins extracted from the egg shells both in the diapausing egg and non-diapausing one: a slow moving major component and a fast moving minor one. However, the electrophoretic mobility showed a difference in the minor components between them. It is evident that the fast moving minor one of non-diapausing egg ran a little further than that of diapausing egg. 8. In amino acids analysis, no significant differences were found in their composition between diapausing and non-diapausing egg and SH proteins contain relatively more glycine and less cystine.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.99-112
• /
• 2021

This study was performed to predict spatial change of future forestland area in South Korea at regional level for supporting forest-related plans established by local governments. In the study, land use was classified to three types which are forestland, agricultural land, and urban and other lands. A logistic regression model was developed using transitional interaction between each land use type and topographical factors, land use restriction factors, socioeconomic indices, and development infrastructures. In this model, change probability from a target land use type to other land use types was estimated using raster dataset(30m×30m) for each variable. With priority order map based on the probability of land use change, the total annual amount of land use change was allocated to the cells in the order of the highest transition potential for the spatial analysis. In results, it was found that slope degree and slope standard value by the local government were the main factors affecting the probability of change from forestland to urban and other land. Also, forestland was more likely to change to urban and other land in the conditions of a more gentle slope, lower slope criterion allowed to developed, and higher land price and population density. Consequently, it was predicted that forestland area would decrease by 2027 due to the change from forestland to urban and others, especially in metropolitan and major cities, and that forestland area would increase between 2028 and 2050 in the most local provincial cities except Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Jeju Island due to locality extinction with decline in population. Thus, local government is required to set an adequate forestland use criterion for balanced development, reasonable use and conservation, and to establish the regional forest strategies and policies considering the future land use change trends.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.707-718
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to monitor 4 years of changes in the vegetation structure starting from 2007 when restoration began and propose vegetation management ideas for the riparian ecological restoration areas in the purchased land around Nakdonggang(River). The study was conducted in each of 15 locations ($208,342m^2$) in the riparian ecological restoration areas in November 2007, September 2008, October 2009 and September 2010. The analysis results of the changes in planting species and population showed that, in the case of trees, Acer pseudo-sieboldianum, Quercus acutissima, Acer ginnala, Quercus aliena, Quercus variabilis indicated relatively little changes in their numbers and Quercus dentata, Cornus walteri, Morus alba, Styrax obassia, Sorbus alnifolia var. macrophylla indicated a 100% withering rate. Most shrubs withered due to the oppressive pressure of herbs and climbing plants. The planting density decreased over 4 years on average 28 plants/$100m^2$ to 20 plants/$100m^2$ to 16 plants/$100m^2$. Shortly after the restoration, The the amount of growth was reduced by restoration stress. however as time goes on after the restoration tended to stabilize. The changes in the basal area showed a decrease from $507.1cm^2/100m^2$ in 2007 right after restoration to $301.8cm^2/100m^2$ in 2008 and afterwards showed an increasing trend by going to $324.9cm^2/100m^2$ in 2009 and $372.7cm^2/100m^2$ in 2010. To improve the planting structure of the riparian ecological restoration area, the selection of tree species that have been considered for soil moisture and the differentiation of suitable planting structures that have been considered for local conditions were needed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.52-63
• /
• 2003

Discontinuities such as faults, fractures and joints in rock mass play the dominant role in the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the rock mass. The key factors that influence on the flow of groundwater are hydraulic and geometric characteristics of discontinuities and their connectivity. In this study, a program that analyzes groundwater flow in the 3D discontinuity network was developed on the assumption that the discontinuity characteristics such as density, trace length, orientation and aperture have particular distribution functions. This program generates discontinuities in a three-dimensional space and analyzes their connectivity and groundwater flow. Due to the limited computing capacity In this study, REV was not exactly determined, but it was inferred to be greater than 25$\times$25$\times$25 ㎥. By calculating the extent of aperture that influences on the groundwater flow, it was found that the discontinuities with the aperture smaller than 30% of the mean aperture had little influence on the groundwater flow. In addition, there was little difference in the equivalent hydraulic conductivity for the the two cases when considering and not considering the boundary effect. It was because the groundwater flow was mostly influenced by the discontinuities with large aperture. Among the parameters considered in this study, the length, aperture, and orientation of discontinuities had the greatest influence on the equivalent hydraulic conductivity of rock mass in their order. In case of existence of a fault in rock mass, elements of the equivalent hydraulic conductivity tensor parallel to the fault fairly increased in their magnitude but those perpendicular to the fault were increased in a very small amount at the first stage and then converged.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.71-78
• /
• 1999

To determine the effect of chemical structure of linear amine curing agents on thermal and mechanical properties, standard epoxy resin DGEBA was cured with diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM), diaminodiphenyl sulphone (DDS) in a stoichiometrically equivalent ratio. From this work, the effect of aromatic amine curing agents. In contrast, the results show that the DGEBA/DDS cure system having the sulfone structure between the benzene rings had higher values in the conversion of epoxide, density, shrinkage (%), glass transition temperature, tensile modulus and strength, flexural modulus and strength than the DGEBA/DDM cure system having methylene structure between the benzene rings, whereas the DGEBA/DDM cure system presented higher values in the maximum exothermic temperature, thermal expansion coefficient, and thermal stability. These results are caused by the relative effects of sulfone group having strong electronegativity and methylene group having (+) repulsive property and stem from the effect of the conversion ratio of epoxide group. The result of fractography shows that the each grain size of the DDM/DGEBA system with feather-like structure is larger than that of the DDS/DGEBA system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.625-636
• /
• 2017

Dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes are well-established risk factors for cardio-cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Although the prevalence of dyslipidemia among Korean adults is very high, its management is known to be poor. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of dyslipidemia among adults aged 30 years and older in Gangwon-do, Korea. Analysis included 58,121 adults (29,123 males and 28,998 females) participating in the 2013-2014 Korea National Health Screening Program (KNHSP). Dyslipidemia was defined according to the treatment criteria rather than the diagnostic criteria in Korea. Therefore, high-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL)-cholesterolemia was deemed present in individuals with LDL-cholesterol levels that exceeded the appropriate risk-based threshold. The age-standardized prevalence was highest in dyslipidemia (32.5%), followed by hypertension (25.1%), and diabetes (9.4%). The awareness rate was 76.7% for hypertension and 74.7% for diabetes, but only 10.6% for dyslipidemia. The lowest patient treatment was found for dyslipidemia (9.4%). The control rate among those undergoing treatment was highest for hypertension (75.8), followed by dyslipidemia (63.3%), and diabetes (43.9%). The higher CVD-risk categories showed lower control rates of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was higher than hypertension and diabetes, but awareness and treatment rates were lower. Our findings indicate there is a wide gap between the prevalence of dyslipidemia and subsequent treatment, which suggests that effective strategies are required to improve dyslipidemia management. It would be worthwhile to strengthen the follow-up management of patients with dyslipidemia in the KNHSP, especially for the high risk group of CVD.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.236-245
• /
• 2003

The study was performed for elucidating angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity and comparing antioxidative activity of Panax ginseng extracts prepared at different conditions. Total phenolic content, inhibitory activity on ACE and antioxidative effects were tested on 10 ethanolic extracts and correlation coefficient between total phenolic content and physiological activity was calculated. Yield and total phenolic content of 50% ethanolic extract prepared at $85^{\circ}C$ exhibited the highest value as 42.52% and 0.82%, respectively. Among the fractions obtained from 50% ethanolic extract prepared at room temperature, water fraction showed the highest value in yield as 72.08% and ethyl acetate fraction did in total phenolic content as 6.59%. In the test on ACE inhibitory activity, 50% ethanolic extract obtained at room temperature indicated the strongest effect of 93.8% which was higher than 85.2% of commercialized ACE inhibitor and solvent fractions showed potent inhibitory activity in order of hexane fraction, diethyl ether fraction, ethyl acetate fraction, butanol fraction and water fraction at concentration of $4000{\mu}g/ml$. 50% Ethanolic extract prepared at $85^{\circ}C$ had the most potent inhibition effect on human LDL oxidation as 78.2% at $200{\mu}g/ml$ and the other extracts also did above 60%. Diethyl ether fraction and ethyl acetate fraction showed strong inhibition activity $(34.38%{\sim}78.13%)$ on LDL oxidation at concentration of $10{\sim}200\;{\mu}g/ml$. From the statistical analysis via SAS program, correlation coefficient between total phenolic content and ACE inhibitory effect was 0.6353 at P<0.05. Conclusively, this report showed that the most efficient extraction condition for elevating inhibitory activity on ACE and LDL oxidation, phenolic content and yield from Panax ginseng was 50% ethanol extraction at room temperature or high temperature condition. And Panax ginseng would be used for preventing hypertension or atheroscrelosis for man via inhibitory action on ACE and LDL oxidation.