• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.402-407
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• 2009

In this study, plastic optical fiber sensors which can measure thermal neutron dose in a mixed neutron-gamma field are developed and characterized. Using $^{252}Cf$ and $^{60}Co$ sources, the scintillators suitable for thermal neutron detection, are tested and the scintillating lights generated from a plastic optical fiber sensor in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (kuca) core are measured. Also, the distributions of thermal neutron and gamma-ray are measured in a mixed field as a function of the distance from the center of the reactor core at KUCA and the distribution of thermal neutron is obtained using a subtraction method. Sensitivity of the fiber-optic radiation sensor system is about 0.49 V/mW according to power of the KUCA core and its relative error is about 1.2 %.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2013

Neutron spectrum analyses of spallation neutrons are conducted in the accelerator-driven system (ADS) facility at the Kyoto University Critical Assembly (KUCA). High-energy protons (100 MeV) obtained from the fixed field alternating gradient accelerator are injected onto a tungsten target, whereby the spallation neutrons are generated. For neutronic characteristics of spallation neutrons, the reaction rates and the continuous energy distribution of spallation neutrons are measured by the foil activation method and by an organic liquid scintillator, respectively. Numerical calculations are executed by MCNPX with JENDL/HE-2007 and ENDF/B-VI libraries to evaluate the reaction rates of activation foils (bismuth and indium) set at the target and the continuous energy distribution of spallation neutrons set in front of the target. For the reaction rates by the foil activation method, the C/E values between the experiments and the calculations are found around a relative difference of 10%, except for some reactions. For continuous energy distribution by the organic liquid scintillator, the spallation neutrons are observed up to 45 MeV. From these results, the neutron spectrum information on the spallation neutrons generated at the target are attained successfully in injecting 100 MeV protons onto the tungsten target.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1401-1404
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• 2006

Eight structurally different acetylcholinesterase reactivators derived from currently commercially available oximes were tested for their potency to reactivate acetylcholinesterase inhibited by pesticide paraoxon (P) and DFP (D). Housefly AChE (F) and bovine red blood cell AChE (B) were used as the source of the cholinesterases. Ellman's method was taken to examine cholinesterases activity. The results show that four AChE reactivators are potent AChE reactivators, able to reach reactivation potency of more than 30% in all cases - PF, PB, DF and DB. Their reactivation potency was comparable with that of pralidoxime and even higher compared with that of HI-6, standard AChE reactivators currently available on the market.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1609-1614
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• 2010

Acetylcholinesterase reactivators are crucial antidotes for the treatment of organophosphate intoxication. Standard in vitro test was chosen using a rat brain homogenate as the source of AChE. Screening of reactivation potency was performed with two concentration of reactivator (1000 ${\mu}M$ and 10 ${\mu}M$). Results were compared to established reactivators pralidoxime, methoxime, HI-6, trimedoxime and obidoxime. More than 30 novel reactivators performed equal or better reactivation ability of POX-inhibited AChE compared to currently used reactivators. The structure-activity relationship for reactivators of paraoxon-inhibited AChE was developed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1234-1239
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• 2017

Basic research on the accelerator-driven system is conducted by combining $^{235}U$-fueled and $^{232}Th$-loaded cores in the Kyoto University Critical Assembly with the pulsed neutron generator (14 MeV neutrons) and the proton beam accelerator (100 MeV protons with a heavy metal target). The results of experimental subcriticality are presented with a wide range of subcriticality level between near critical and 10,000 pcm, as obtained by the pulsed neutron source method, the Feynman-${\alpha}$ method, and the neutron source multiplication method.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.395-398
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• 2006

Nerve agents (sarin, tabun, soman and VX) are class of military important substances able to cause many severe intoxications during few minutes. Currently, the threat of misuse of these agents is daily discussed. Unfortunately, there is no single antidote able to treat intoxication caused by all of these agents. Owing to this fact, new generation of antidotes, especially acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) reactivators, is still developed. In this study, we have tested four newly developed AChE reactivators: 1-(4-hydroxyiminomethylpyridinium)- 5-(4-carbamoylpyridinium)-3-oxa-pentane dibromide (1), 1-(3-hydroxyiminomethylpyridinium)-5-(4-carbamoylpyridinium)-3-oxa-pentane dibromide (2), 1,5-bis(2-hydroxyiminomethylpyridinium)-3-oxa-pentane dichloride (3) and 1,5-bis(4-hydroxyiminomethylpyridinium)-3-oxa-pentane dibromide (4) for their potency to reactivate in vitro tabun and cyclosarin-inhibited AChE. Their reactivation efficacy was compared with currently the most promising oxime HI-6 (1-(2-hydroxyiminomethylpyridinium)-3-(4-carbamoylpyridinium)-2-oxa-propane dichloride). According to obtained results, two AChE reactivators 1 and 4 were able to reactivate tabun-inhibited AChE. On the contrary, there was no better AChE reactivator than HI-6 able to reactivate cyclosarin-inhibited AChE.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2022

The 2D/1D method has become the mainstream of the direct transport calculation considering the balance of accuracy and efficiency. However, the 2D/1D method still suffers from stability issues. Recently, a quasi-3D method has been proposed with axial Legendre expansion. Analysis and comparison of the 2D/1D and quasi-3D method is conducted in theory from the equation derivation. Besides, the C5G7 benchmark, the KUCA benchmark and the macro BEAVRS benchmark are calculated to verify the theory comparisons of these two methods with the direct transport code SHARK. All results show that the quasi-3D method has better stability and accuracy than the 2D/1D method with worse efficiency and memory cost. It provides a new option for direct transport calculation with the quasi-3D method.

• Mycobiology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.383-391
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• 2020

Use of nanoparticles (NPs) in several commercial products has led to emergence of novel contaminants of air, soil and water bodies. The NPs may exhibit greater ecotoxicity due to nano-scale dependent properties over their bulk counterparts. The present investigation explores the effect of in vitro supplementation of TiO₂, silica and silver NPs on radial growth and ultrastructural changes in the hyphae and spores of two mushroom genera, Ganoderma lucidum and Volvariella volvaceae. A concentration dependent decrease in radial growth on NP amended potato dextrose agar medium was recorded. However, in comparison to control, there was decrease in radial diameter on supplementation with TiO₂ NPs while an increase was recorded for silica and silver NPs amendments as compared to their bulk salts at same concentrations after 48 h of incubation. Optical microscopy studies showed decrease in the number of spores while increase in spore diameter and thinning of hyphal diameter on NPs supplementation. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of fungal growth showed presence of deflated and oblong spores in two fruiting strains of Ganoderma while Volvariella exhibited decreased sporulation. Further, hyphal thinning and branching was recorded in response to NP amendments in both the test mushrooms. Enhancement of protein content was observed on NP compared to bulk supplementation for all cultures, concentrations and hours of incubation except for TiO₂ NPs. Likewise, bulk and NP supplementations (at 100 mg L^-1) resulted in enhanced laccase activity with occurrence of laccase specific protein bands on SDS-PAGE analysis.