• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.285-293
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• 2018

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of height suppression of cucumber and tomato plug seedlings as affected by mechanical stimulus using brushing as environment-friendly method. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. 'Joeunbaekdadagi') and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. 'Mini Chal') seeds were sown in 40-cell plug trays ($54{\times}27.5{\times}5cm$) filled with growing medium on Oct. 9, 2017. The cultivation environment in a venlo-type glasshouse was maintained as cultivation temperature range of $15-25^{\circ}C$ and the relative humidity of $50{\pm}10%$. Nontreatment and diniconazole ($7.5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$) application at 15 days after sowing were used as the control. In addition, brushing treatments in cucumber and tomato were applied interval of 2, 4 or 6 hrs for 15 and 20 days, respectively. Plant height, hypocotyl length, and internode length were inhibited for cucumber and tomato in the diniconazole treatment than in the control. The leaf size was reduced, both cucumber and tomato, while the SPAD increased under the diniconazole treatment. However, stem diameter of cucumber was the thickest in the 2 hrs brushing interval treatment. Fresh weights of shoot and root were the significantly lowest in the diniconazole treatment. Application of brushing improved seedlings quality by promoting dry weights of shoot and root, and compactness of tomato seedlings. The chlorophyll fluorescence of tomato seedlings drastically decreased with 2 hrs treatment, indicating that mechanical stress by brushing treatment. The relative growth rate of tomato seedlings was significantly lower in the diniconazole treatment, but cucumber seedlings were not significantly different in all treatments. As a results, height suppression of cucumber and tomato seedlings was best achievement in the diniconazole treatment by the chemical as growth regulator. In an environment-friendly point of view, however, it is considered that 2 hrs brushing interval treatment can be the applicability for replacing the chemical methods in plug seedling growth of cucumber and tomato.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.363-370
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• 2018

The succulent plants of Echeveria genus are in increasing demand worldwide, but it is difficult to supply good quality young plants throughout the year because propagation efficiencies are depend on cultivar and environmental factors. This study was carried out to investigate the propagation efficiencies of leaf cutting in Echeveria cultivars at different LED light qualities in a closed-type plant factory system. Leaf cuttings cut from stock plants of six difficult-to-propagated cultivars 'Afterglow (AG)', 'Berkeley Light (BL)', 'Mason (MS)', 'Subsessilis Light (SL)', 'Cream Tea (CT)', and 'Ben Badis (BB)' were put into cutting media in the plant factory system maintained at a temperature of $24{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity of $60{\pm}10%$, and watered with over-head irrigation twice a week. Cuttings were irradiated with sole or mixed red (R, 660 nm), blue (B, 450 nm), green (G, 530 nm), and far-red (FR, 730 nm) LEDs as follows: R10, R8+B2, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1. PPFD just above the cuttings was $200{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and photoperiod was 16/8 (light/dark) hours. As a result, propagation efficiencies were dependent on cultivar. Rooting and shooting were relatively easy in 'SL' but shoot formation in 'AG' was very difficult. Light qualities from LEDs also affected plant regeneration. Light conditions with a higher ratio of B, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1, promoted shoot formation and growth but inhibited rooting and root growth. R10 and R8+B2 with a higher ratio of R promoted rooting and root growth and inhibited shoot formation and growth of cuttings. In addition, the treatment with FR increased leaf size and biomass of the all plants. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the optimum compositions of LED light quality for the improvement of leaf cutting efficiency in difficultto-propagated Echeveria cultivars.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 1998

The aims are to evaluate the effects of an 1.0 cm acrylic plate and SSD on the dose profile and depth dose distribution of 9 MeV electron beam and to analyse adequacy for using an acrylic plate to reduce energy of electron beams. An acrylic plate of 1.0 cm thickness was used to reduce energy of 9 MeV electron beam to 7 MeV. The plate was put on an electron applicator at 65.4 cm distance from x-ray target. The size of the applicator was 10${\times}$l0cm at 100 cm SSD. For 100cm, l05cm and 110cm SSD, depth dose on beam axis and dose profiles at d$\_$max/ on two principal axes were measured using a 3D water phantom. From depth dose distributions, d$\_$max/, d$\_$85/, d$\_$50/ and R$\_$p/, surface dose, and mean energy and peak energy at surface were compared. From dose profiles flatness, penumbra width and actual field size were compared. For comparison, 9 MeV electron beams were measured. Surface dose of 7 MeV electron beams was changed from 85.5% to 82.2% increasing SSD from 100 cm to 110 cm, and except for dose buildup region, depth dose distributions were independent of SSD. Flatness of 7 MeV ranged from 4.7% to 10.4% increasing SSD, comparing 1.4% to 3.5% for 9 MeV. Penumbra width of 7 MeV ranged from 1.52 cm to 3.03 cm, comparing 1.14 cm to 1.63 cm for 9 MeV. Actual field size increased from 10.75 cm to 12.85 cm with SSD, comparing 10.32 cm to 11.46 cm for 9 MeV. Virtual SSD's of 7 and 9 MeV were respectively 49.8 cm and 88.5cm. In using energy reducer in electron therapy, depth dose distribution were independent of SSD except for buildup region as well as open field. In case of using energy reducer, increasing SSD made flatness to deteriorate more severely, penumbra width more wide, field size to increase more rapidly and virtual SSD more short comparing with original electron beam. In conclusion, it is desirable to use no energy reducer for electron beam, especially for long SSD.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.269-278
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• 2012

Aquaplast Thermoplastic (AT) is a tissue-equivalent oral compensator that has been developed to improve dose uniformity at the common boundary and around the treated area during radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer. In order to assess the usefulness of AT, the degree of improvement in dose distribution and physical properties were compared to those of oral compensators made using paraffin, alginate, and putty, which are materials conventionally used in dental imprinting. To assess the physical properties, strength evaluations (compression and drop evaluations) and natural deformation evaluations (volume change over time) were performed; a Gafchromic EBT2 film and a glass dosimeter inserted into a developed phantom for dose verification were used to measure the common boundary dose and the beam profile to assess the dose delivery. When the natural deformation of the oral compensators was assessed over a two-month period, alginate exhibited a maximum of 80% change in volume from moisture evaporation, while the remaining tissue-equivalent properties, including those of AT, showed a change in volume that was less than 3%. In a free-fall test at a height of 1.5 m (repeated 5 times as a strength evaluation), paraffin was easily damaged by the impact, but AT exhibited no damage from the fall. In compressive strength testing, AT was not destroyed even at 8 times the force needed for paraffin. In dose verification using a glass dosimeter, the results showed that in a single test, the tissue-equivalent (about 80 Hounsfield Units [HU]) AT delivered about 4.9% lower surface dose in terms of delivery of an output coefficient (monitor unit), which was 4% lower than putty and exhibited a value of about 1,000 HU or higher during a dose delivery of the same formulation. In addition, when the incident direction of the beam was used as a reference, the uniformity of the dose, as assessed from the beam profile at the boundary after passing through the oral compensators, was 11.41, 3.98, and 4.30 for air, AT, and putty, respectively. The AT oral compensator had a higher strength and lower probability of material transformation than the oral compensators conventionally used as a tissue-equivalent material, and a uniform dose distribution was successfully formed at the boundary and surrounding area including the mouth. It was also possible to deliver a uniformly formulated dose and reduce the skin dose delivery.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

In order to verify exact dose distributions in the state-of-the-art radiation techniques, a newly designed three-dimensional dosimeter and technique has been took strongly into consideration. The main purpose of our study is to verify the optimized parameters of polymer gel as a real volumetric dosimeter in terms of the various study of MRI. We prepared a gel dosimeter by combing 8% of gelatin, 8% of MAA, and 10 mM of THPC. We used a Co-60 gamma-ray teletherapy unit and delivered doses of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 Gy to each polymer gel with a solid phantom. We used a fast spin-echo pulse to acquire the characterized T2 time of MRI. The signal noise ratio (SNR) of the head & neck coil was a relatively lower sensitivity than the body coil; therefore the dose uncertainty of head & neck coil would be lower than body coil's. But the dose uncertainty and resolution of the head & neck coil were superior to the body coil in this study. The TR time between 1,500 ms and 2,000 ms showed no significant difference in the dose resolution, but TR of 1,500 ms showed less dose uncertainty. For the slice thickness of 2.5 mm, less dose uncertainty of TE times was at 4 Gy, as well, it was the lowest result over 4 Gy at TE of 12 ms. The dose uncertainty was not critical up to 6 Gy, but the best dose resolution was obtained at 20 ms up to 8 Gy. The dose resolution shows the lowest value was over 20 ms and was an excellent result in the number of excitation (NEX) of three. The NEX of two was the highest dose resolution. We concluded that the better result of slice thickness versus NEX was related to the NEX increment and thin slice thickness.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.132-136
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• 2003

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of breath-hold T2-weighted MR imaging in patients with myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods : We investigated 11 patients with myocardial infarction who shown delayed enhancement on MR imaging. Infarcted myocardium on T2-weighted MR imaging was classified as high, iso, and low signal area comparing with normal myocardium. The intensity and transmural extent of infracted myocardium was also analyzed. On the basis of clinical information, the stage of infracted myocardium on T2-weighted MR imaging was assessed. Results : It was observed high signal area in 12 segments of 5 patients, low in 12 segments of 6 patients on T2-weighted MR imaging. The high signal intensity of infarcted myocardium was shown as $175{\pm}9\%$ comparing with that of the normal myocardium, low signal intensity as $73{\pm}5\%\;(p\;<\;0.05)$. In the evaluation of transmural extent, the high signal areas on T2-weighted MR imaging were larger than infarct area on delayed enhancement imaging $(100\%\;vs.49\%{\pm}17\%)$, whereas low signal areas on T2-weighted MR imaging correlated. High signal area was visualized on T2-weighted MR imaging within 11 days, whereas low-signal area was seen after 7 months. Conclusion : Breath-hold T2-weighted MR imaging is useful in the evaluation of stage as well as edema and fibrous scar in patients with myocardial infarction.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2009

Purpose : Although it's been known for half a century that unique structures have evolved in the cerebellum and they then became greatly enlarged in the human brain, the function of these structures still remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess cerebellar activation during motor, sensory, word generation, listening comprehension, and working memory tasks with using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Materials and Methods : Eleven healthy right-handed subjects (Male: female, 6:5, mean age: 27.4years) were imaged on a Siemens 1.5T scanner. Whole brain functional maps were acquired using BOLD EPI sequences in the axial plane. Each paradigm consisted of five epochs of activation vs. the control condition. The activation tasks consisted of left finger complex movement, sensory stimulation of the left hand, word generation, listening comprehension, and working memory tasks. The reference function was a boxcar waveform. The activation maps were thresholded at p = 0.001. SPM 5 evaluated the activated areas and responses within the cerebellum. Results : Cerebellar activation was observed on motor task, word generation task, and working memory task. There were 949 activated areas and the mean fitted and adjusted response was 0.68 during the motor task. There were 319 activated areas and the mean fitted and adjusted response was 0.15 during the word generation task. There were 330 activated areas and the mean fitted and adjusted response was 0.26 during the working memory task. Conclusion : Our results suggest that the cerebellum is involved in a variety of functional tasks, including motor, word generation, and working memory tasks. However, during the motor task, the cerebellum showed a large activated area and a high response. Cerebellar function can be evaluated by fMRI.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate the effect of gadoxetic acid on the measurement of the stiffness value of MR elastography (MRE) used to evaluate hepatic fibrosis (HF). Materials and Methods: MRE was obtained in 32 patients with clinically suspected chronic liver disease, both before and after injection of gadoxetic acid. Two independent reviewers measured the stiffness values of the liver parenchyma on elastograms. The mean liver stiffness values were compared in the pre- and post-contrast MREs using the paired t-test. Intra-rater and inter-rater correlation was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of both pre- and post-contrast MREs was evaluated for the diagnosis of significant HF (${\geq}F2$) using cut off value of 3.1 kPa. Results: There were no significant differences in the stiffness values of the liver parenchyma on pre- and post-contrast MREs (p = 0.15 and 0.38 for each reader, respectively). Regarding intra-rater correlation, excellent agreement was noted on rater 1(ICC = 0.998) and rater 2 (ICC = 0.996). Excellent correlation regarding the measured stiffness values was noted on both pre- and post-contrast MREs (ICC = 0.988 for pre-contrast, ICC = 0.993 for post-contrast). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the pre- and post-contrast MREs for differentiating significant HF (${\geq}F2$) from ${\geq}F1$ were same as 71%, 60%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: As there was no significant difference in the stiffness measurements seen on MREs before and after administration of gadoxetic acids, it is therefore acceptable to perform MRE after contrast injection in order to evaluate HF.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.109-114
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• 2008

The samples were synthesized by using a solid state reaction. The X-ray diffraction pattern for $Ti_{0.96}Co_{0.02}Fe_{0.02}O_2$ showed a pure rutile phase with tetragonal structure, Mixtures of the proper proportions of the elements sealed in evacuated quartz ampoule were heated at $870{\sim}930^{\circ}C$ for one day and then slowly cooled down to room temperature at a rate of $10^{\circ}C$/h. In order to obtain single phase material, it was necessary to grind the sample after the first firing and to press the powders into pellets before annealing them for a second time in evacuated and sealed quartz ampoule. Magnetic properties have been investigated using the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Room temperature magnetic hysteresis (M-H) curve showed an obvious ferromagnetic behavior and the magnetic moment per Fe atom under the applied of 0.8 T was estimated to be about $1.5\;{\mu}_B$/CoFe. But the magnetic moment per Fe atom under the applied of 0.8 T was estimated to be about $0.02\;{\mu}_B$/CoFe without Ti-getter. Size of particles is about $1\;{\mu}m$ using the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The ingredients of sample are distributed irregular in particles. Only Fe get shown on the surface of particles.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 1999

Some of the information concerning sexual function in the male diabetes has been focused upon the problems of endocrine or semen parameters. However, the characteristics of acrosome reaction and spermatozoa concentration at the epididymis and vas deferens have scarcely been studied, and the causes of the infertility has not been critically identified. So, we designed to inspect the spermatozoa concentration and the characteristics of acrosome reaction at epididymis and vas deferens of diabetic Wistar rat induced by streptozotocin (STZ, 70 mg/kg, ip). Experimental animal was sacrificed at 3 days and 14 days after the STZ injection. In the diabetes-induced rat, the levels of insulin and glucose had a pattern of inverse proportion. The spermatozoa concentrations in caput and corpus epididymis were significantly decreased in all diabetic condition. In cauda epididymis, however, there was significant decrease in sperm concentration at 14 days onward. In diabetic rat, the spontaneous reaction rate of spermatozoa of cauda and vas deferens were significantly higher than the control group. The ARIC (acrosome reaction to ionophore challenge) value of caudal sperm was 28.7 at control, 22.1 at 3 days, and 8.3 at 14 days. In the present study the spermatozoa concentration was decreased and the spontaneous reaction rate was increased by diabetes. In ARIC-test, it is revealed that the fertility of spermatozoa of 14 days group was lower than control or 3 days group. Diabetes mellitus may be provoke the decreased fertilization rate and subsequent infertility and subsequent infertility.