• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.273-294
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• 2023

Background: Most developed countries are working to improve their universal health coverage systems. This study investigates regional disparities in unmet healthcare needs and their causes in South Korea. Additionally, it compares the unmet healthcare needs rate in South Korea with that of 33 European countries. Methods: The analysis incorporates information from 13,359 adults aged 19 or older, using data from the Korea Health Panel. The dependent variables encompass the experience of unmet healthcare needs and the three causes of occurrence: "burden of medical expenses," "time constraints," and "lack of care." The primary variable of interest is the region of residence, while control variables encompass 14 socio-demographic, health, and functional characteristics. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis, accounting for the sampling design, is conducted. Results: The rate of unmet healthcare needs in Korea is 11.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.0%-13.3%), which is approximately 30 times higher than that of Austria (0.4%). The causes of unmet healthcare needs, ranked in descending order, are "lack of care," "time constraints," and "burden of medical expenses." Predictive probabilities for experiencing unmet healthcare needs and each cause differ significantly between regions. For instance, the probability of experiencing unmet healthcare needs due to "lack of care" is approximately 10 times higher in Gangwon-do (13.5%; 95% CI, 13.0%-14.1%) than in Busan (1.3%; 95% CI, 1.3%-1.4%). The probability due to "burden of medical expenses" is approximately 14 times higher in Seoul (4.1%; 95% CI, 3.6%-4.6%) compared to Jeollanam-do (0.3%; 95% CI, 0.2%-0.4%). Conclusion: Amid rapid sociodemographic transitions, South Korea must make significant efforts to alleviate unmet healthcare needs and the associated regional disparities. To effectively achieve this, it is recommended that South Korea involves the National Assembly in healthcare policy-making, while maintaining a centralized financing model and delegating healthcare planning and implementation to regional authorities for their local residents-similar to the approaches of the United Kingdom and France.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2023

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is a necessary process to induce fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a kind of NAFLD that encompasses the spectrum of liver disease. It is characterized by inflammation and ballooning of hepatocytes during steatosis. We tested whether inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome could prevent the development and pathology of NASH. We identified loganin as an inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome and investigated whether in vivo administration of loganin prevented NASH symptoms using a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet model in mice. We found that loganin inhibited the NLRP3 inflammasome activation triggered by ATP or nigericin, as shown by suppression of the production of interleukin (IL)-1β and caspase-1 (p10) in mouse primary macrophages. The speck formation of apoptosisassociated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) was blocked by loganin, showing that the assembly of the NLRP3 inflammasome complex was impaired by loganin. Administration of loganin reduced the clinical signs of NASH in mice fed the MCD diet, including hepatic inflammation, fat accumulation, and fibrosis. In addition, loganin reduced the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome components in the liver. Our findings indicate that loganin alleviates the inflammatory symptoms associated with NASH, presumably by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In summary, these findings imply that loganin may be a novel nutritional and therapeutic treatment for NASH-related inflammation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.2112-2124
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• 2023

With the rise of economic and safety standards for nuclear reactors, new concepts of Gen-IV reactors and modular reactors showed more complex designs that challenge current tools for reactor physics analysis. A Monte Carlo (MC) two-step method was proposed in this work. This calculation scheme uses the continuous-energy MC method to generate multi-group cross-sections from heterogeneous models. The multi-group MC method, which can adapt locally-heterogeneous models, is used in the core calculation step. This calculation scheme is verified using a Gen-IV modular lead-based fast reactor (LFR) benchmark case. The influence of homogenized patterns, scatter approximations, flux separable approximation, and local heterogeneity in core calculation on simulation results are investigated. Results showed that the cross-sections generated using the 3D assembly model with a locally heterogeneous representation of control rods lead to an accurate estimation with less than 270 pcm bias in core reactivity, 0.5% bias in control rod worth, and 1.5% bias on power distribution. The study verified the applicability of multi-group cross-sections generated with the MC method for LFR analysis. The study also proved the feasibility of multi-group MC in core calculation with local heterogeneity, which saves 85% time compared to the continuous-energy MC.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.385-401
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• 2023

Steel is becoming increasingly popular due to its high strength, excellent ductility, great assembly performance, and recyclability. In reality, steel structures serving for a long time in atmospheric, industrial, and marine environments inevitably suffer from corrosion, which significantly decreases the durability and the service life with the exposure time. For the mechanical properties of corroded steel, experimental studies are mainly conducted. The existing numerical analyses only evaluate the mechanical properties based on corroded morphology at the isolated time-in-point, ignoring that this morphology varies continuously with corrosion time. To solve this problem, the relationships between pit depth expectation, standard deviation, and corrosion time are initially constructed based on a large amount of wet-dry cyclic accelerated test data. Successively, based on that, an in-situ pitting evolution method for evaluating the residual tensile strength of corroded steel is proposed. To verify the method, 20 repeated simulations of mass loss rates and mechanical properties are adopted against the test results. Then, numerical analyses are conducted on 135 models of corrosion pits with different aspect ratios and uneven corrosion degree on two corroded surfaces. Results show that the power function with exponents of 1.483 and 1.091 can well describe the increase in pit depth expectation and standard deviation with corrosion time, respectively. The effect of the commonly used pit aspect ratios of 0.10-0.25 on yield strength and ultimate strength is negligible. Besides, pit number ratio α equating to 0.6 is the critical value for the strength degradation. When α is less than 0.6, the pit number increases with α, accelerating the degradation of strength. Otherwise, the strength degradation is weakened. In addition, a power function model is adopted to characterize the degradation of yield strength and ultimate strength with corrosion time, which is revised by initial steel plate thickness.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2024

Large planar military antenna boasts a range of electrical components, including TRA(Transmit-Receive Assembly), signal processors, etc. which engage in computations and calculations. These processes generate a significant amount of heat, leading to unforeseen consequences for the equipment. To mitigate these adverse effects, it's imperative to implement a cooling system that can effectively reduce heat-related issues. Given the antenna's intricate nature and the multitude of components it houses, a two-step estimation process is necessary. The first step involves a comprehensive model calculation to determine the total flow characteristics, while the second step entails a thermal analysis of individual TRA set. In this study, we depicted an antenna set using simplified 3D models of its components, considering their material and thermal properties. The sequential analysis process facilitated the calculation of branched flow rates, providing insights into the individual TRA. This approach also allowed us to design a cooling system for the TRA set, assessing its thermal stability in high-temperature environments. To ensure the optimal performance of TRA, breaking down the analysis into stages based on the cooling system's structure can assist operators in predicting numerical results more effectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.759-769
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• 2013

Electronic equipment has been applied to virtually every area associated with commercial, industrial, and military applications. Specifically, electronics have been incorporated into avionics components installed in aircraft. This equipment is exposed to dynamic loads such as vibration, shock, and acceleration. Especially, avionics components installed in a helicopter are subjected to simultaneous sine and random base excitations. These are denoted as sine on random vibrations according to MIL-STD-810F, Method 514.5. In the past, isolators have been applied to avionics components to reduce vibration and shock. However, an isolator applied to an avionics component installed in a helicopter can amplify the vibration magnitude, and damage the chassis, circuit card assembly, and the isolator itself via resonance at low-frequency sinusoidal vibrations. The objective of this study is to investigate the dynamic characteristics of an avionics component installed in a helicopter and the structural dynamic modification of its tray plate without an isolator using both a finite element analysis and experiments. The structure is optimized by dynamic loads that are selected by comparing the vibration, shock, and acceleration loads using vibration and shock response spectra. A finite element model(FEM) was constructed using a simplified geometry and valid element types that reflect the dynamic characteristics. The FEM was verified by an experimental modal analysis. Design parameters were extracted and selected to modify the structural dynamics using topology optimization, and design of experiments(DOE). A prototype of a modified model was constructed and its feasibility was evaluated using an FEM and a performance test.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.95-103
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• 1994

The safety related components in the nuclear power plant should be designed to withstand the seismic load. Among these components the integrity of reactor internals under earthquake load is important in stand points of safety and economics, because these are classified to Seismic Class I components. So far the modelling methods of reactor internals have been investigated by many authors. In this paper, the dynamic behaviour of reactor internals of Yong Gwang 1&2 nuclear power plants under SSE(Safe Shutdown Earthquake) load is analyzed by using of the simpled Global Beam Model. For this, as a first step, the characteristic analysis of reactor internal components are performed by using of the finite element code ANSYS. And the Global Beam Model for reactor internals which includes beam elements, nonlinear impact springs which have gaps in upper and lower positions, and hydrodynamical couplings which simulate the fluid-filled cylinders of reactor vessel and core barrel structures is established. And for the exciting external force the response spectrum which is applied to reactor support is converted to the time history input. With this excitation and the model the dynamic behaviour of reactor internals is obtained. As the results, the structural integrity of reactor internal components under seismic excitation is verified and the input for the detailed duel assembly series model could be obtained. And the simplicity and effectiveness of Global Beam Model and the economics of the explicit Runge-Kutta-Gills algorithm in impact problem of high frequency interface components are confirmed.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.31 no.3 s.119
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• pp.271-279
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• 2007

Ship structures are basically an assembly of plate elements and estimation load-carrying capacity or the ultimate strength is one of the most important criterion for estimated safety assessment and rational design on the ship structure. Also, Structural elements making up ship plated structures do not work separately against external load. One of the critical collapse events of a ship structure is the occurrence of overall buckling and plastic collapse of deck or bottom structure subjected to longitudinal bending. So, the deck and the bottom plates are reinforced by a number af longitudinal stiffeners to increase their strength and load-carrying capacity. For a rational design avoiding such a sudden collapse, it is very important to know the buckling and plastic behaviour or collapse pattern of the stiffened plate under axial compression. In this present study, to investigate effect af modeling range, the finite element method are used and their results are compared varying the analysis ranges. When making the FEA model, six types of structural modeling are adopted varying the cross section of stiffener. In the present paper, a series of FEM elastoplastic large deflection analyses is performed on a stiffened plate with fiat-bar, angle-bar and tee-bar stiffeners. When the applied axial loading, the influences of cross-sectional geometries on collapse behaviour are discussed. The purpose of the present study is examined to numerically calculate the characteristics of buckling and ultimate strength behavior according to the analysis method of ship's stiffened plate subject to axial loading.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.187-198
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• 2008

There are usually plenty of material inventories in a construction site. More inventories can meet unexpected demands, and also they may have an economical advantage by avoiding a probable escalation of raw material costs. On the other hand, these inventories also cause negative aspects to increase costs for storing redundant inventory as well as decreasing construction productivity. Therefore, a proper method of deciding an optimal level of material inventories while considering dynamic variations of resources under uncertainty is very crucial for the economical efficiency of construction projects. This research presents a stochastic modelling method for construction operations, particularly targeting a work process involving on-site fabrication of raw materials like iron-rebar process (delivery, cut and assembly, and placement). To develop the model, we apply the concept of factory physics to depict the overall components of a system. Then, an optimal inventory management model is devised to support purchase decisions where users can make timely actions on how much to order and when to buy raw materials. Also, optimal time lag, which minimizes the storage time for pre-assembled materials, is obtained. To verify this method, a real case is applied to elicit an optimal amount of inventory and time lag. It is found that average values as well as variability of inventory level decreased significantly so as to minimize economic costs related to inventory management under uncertain project condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.10 no.2 s.21
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• pp.35-39
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• 2004

Ship structures are basically an assembly of plate elements and the load-carrying capacity or the ultimate strength is one of the most important criteria for safety assessment and economic design. Also, Structural elements making up ship plated structures do not work separately, resulting in high degree of redundancy and complexity, in contrast to those of steel framed structures. To enable the behavior of such structures to be analyzed simplifications or idealizations must essentially be made considering the accuracy needed and the degree of complexity of the analysis to be used On this study, to investigate effect of modeling range, the finite element method are used and their results are compared varying the analysis ranges. The model has been selected from bottom panels of merchant ship structures. For FHA, three types of structural modeling are adopted in terms of the extent of the analysis. The purpose of the present study is to numerically calculate the characteristics of ultimate strength behavior according to the analysis ranges of stiffened panels subject to uniaxial compressive loads.