• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.384-393
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• 2017

Purpose: The tumor microenvironment is known to be associated with the metabolic activity of cancer cells and local immune reactions. We hypothesized that glucose metabolism measured by 2-deoxy-2-($^{18}F$)fluoro-D-glucose ($^{18}F-FDG$) positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) ($^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT) would be associated with local immune responses evaluated according to the presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 56 patients who underwent $^{18}F-FDG$ PET-CT prior to gastrectomy. In resected tumor specimens, TIL subsets, including cluster of differentiation (CD) 3, CD4, CD8, Forkhead box P3 (Foxp3), and granzyme B, were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) was calculated as: ($10{\times}serum$ albumin value)+($0.005{\times}peripheral$ lymphocyte counts). Additionally, the maximum standard uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) was calculated to evaluate the metabolic activity of cancer cells. Results: The $SUV_{max}$ was positively correlated with larger tumor size (R=0.293; P=0.029) and negatively correlated with PNI (R=-0.407; P=0.002). A higher $SUV_{max}$ showed a marginal association with higher CD3 (+) T lymphocyte counts (R=0.227; P=0.092) and a significant association with higher Foxp3 (+) T lymphocyte counts (R=0.431; P=0.009). No other clinicopathological characteristics were associated with $SUV_{max}$ or TILs. Survival analysis, however, indicated that neither $SUV_{max}$ nor Foxp3 held prognostic significance. Conclusions: FDG uptake on PET-CT could be associated with TILs, especially regulatory T cells, in gastric cancer. This finding may suggest that PET-CT could be of use as a non-invasive tool for monitoring the tumor microenvironment in patients with gastric cancer.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.482-489
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• 2007

Fluorescence properties and carbohydrate content were investigated using ultrafiltrated size fractions of dissolved organic matters (DOM) originated from different sources. The materials included a treated sewage, an algal organic matter, and a soil leachate, all of which are major constituents of dissolved organic matter in a typical urban river. Four different size fractions were separated from the three sources of each DOM. The size distribution demonstrated that a higher molecular weight fraction was more present in soil leachate compared to two other source DOMs. A higher content of carbohydrates was observed in the following order - algal DOM > treated sewage > soil leachate. A wide range of specific UV absorbance was observed from size fractions of a single source DOM, indicating that aromatic carbon structures are heterogeneously distributed within one source of DOM. The structural heterogeneity was the most pronounced for the soil leachate. The fluorescence index ($F_{450}/F_{500}$) of the treated sewage was similar to that (2.0) typically obtained from autochthonous DOM, suggesting that the treated sewage exhibited autochthonous organic matter-like properties. No protein-like fluorescence intensities were observed for all of the soil leachate size fractions whereas they were observed with two other source DOMs. Based upon the fluorescence peak ratios from fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM), two discrimination indices could be suggested to distinguish three different source DOMs. It is expected that the suggested discrimination indices will be useful to predict the sources of DOM in a typical urban river affected by treated sewage.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2021

In cold regions, the integrity of the infrastructures built on weak soils can be extensively damaged by weathering actions due to the cyclic freezing and thawing. This damage can be mitigated by exploiting soil stabilization techniques. Generally, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is the most commonly used binding material for investigating the chemo-hydromechanical behavior. However, due to the environmental issue of OPC producing a significant amount of carbon dioxide emission, calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement can be used as one of the eco-sustainable alternatives. Although recently several studies have examined the strength development of CSA treated sand, no research has been concerned about CSA cement-stabilized sand affected by cyclic freeze and thaw. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive laboratory work to assess the effect of the cyclic freeze-thaw action on strength and durability of CSA cement-treated sand. For this purpose, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) tests were performed on the stabilized soil specimens cured for 7 and 14 days which are subjected to 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 freeze-thaw cycles. The test results show that the strength and durability index of the samples decrease with the increase of the freeze-thaw cycles. The loss of the strength and durability considerably decreases for all soil samples subjected to the freeze-thaw cycles. Overall, the use of CSA as a stabilizer for sandy soils would be an eco-friendly option to achieve sufficient strength and durability against the freeze-thaw action in cold regions.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.163-167
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• 2017

Along with the progress of white LED technology, red phosphors have become increasingly important in industry and academia, and a more specific demand has steadily increased in the market. Red phosphors are used in high efficiency and high rendering LED lightings. However, using red phosphors with $Eu^{2+}$ activators caused color rewarming and reduced emission intensity in white LED chips due to strong reabsorption in the green or yellow wavelength range caused by the 4f-5d transition. $Mn^{4+}$ doped phosphors which have no such drawbacks and which can further improve the color rendering index (CRI) are now of great interest. However, $Mn^{4+}$-doped phosphors have a disadvantage in that the emission wavelength is determined depending on the host due to the $^2E_g{\rightarrow}^4A_2$ transition. In this study, the $SrO-BaO-GeO_2$ solid-solution was selected, and $Sr_{1-x}B_axGe_4O_9:Mn^{4+}{_{0.005}}$ ($0{\leq}x{\leq}1$) phosphors were synthesized and characterized. This led to a versatile color tuning in LED technology.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1963-1973
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary energy and lipase supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum profiles, intestinal morphology, small intestinal digestive enzyme activities, biochemical index of intestinal development and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs. Methods: A total of 240 weaning pigs ([Yorkshire${\times}$Landrace]${\times}$Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of $7.3{\pm}0.12kg$ were used in this 28-d experiment. Weaning pigs were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments in a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement with 2 levels of energy (net energy = 2,470 kcal/kg for low energy diet and 2,545 kcal/kg for basal diet) and 2 levels of lipase (0 and 1.5 U/g of lipase) according to BW and sex. There were 6 replications (pens) per treatment and 10 pigs per pen (5 barrows and 5 gilts). Results: Weaning pigs fed the low energy diet had lower (p<0.05) gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) throughout the experiment, apparent digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, ether extract, and gross energy during d 0 to 14, average daily gain during d 15 to 28, lipase activity in duodenum and ileum and protein/DNA in jejunum (p<0.05), respectively. Lipase supplementation had no effect on growth performance but affected apparent nutrient digestibility (p<0.05) on d 14 and enhanced lipase activity in the duodenum and ileum and protease activity in duodenum and jejunum of pigs (p<0.05) fed the low energy diet. Lipase reduced serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG), $NH_3$ production (p<0.05) from the feces. Conclusion: The low energy diet decreased G:F throughout the experiment and nutrient digestibility during d 0 to 14 as well as lipase activity in duodenum and ileum. Lipase supplementation increased nutrient digestibility during d 0 to 14 and exerted beneficial effects on lipase activity in duodenum and ileum as well as protease activity in duodenum and jejunum, while reduced serum LDL-C, TG and fecal $NH_3$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.473-479
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• 2019

PET-CT improves performance and reduces the time by combining PET and CT of spatial resolution, and uses CT scan for attenuation correction. This study analyzed PET image evaluation. The condition of the tube voltage and current of CT will be changed using. Uniformity phantom and resolution phantom were injected with 37 MBq $^{18}F$ (fluorine ; 511 keV, half life - 109.7 min), respectively. PET-CT (Biograph, siemens, US) was used to perform emission scan (30 min) and penetration scan. And then the collected image data were reconstructed in OSEM-3D. The same ROI was set on the image data with a analyzer (Vinci 2.54, Germany) and profile was used to analyze and compare spatial resolution and image quality through FWHM and SI. Analyzing profile with pre-defined ROI in each phantom, PET image was not influenced by the change of tube voltage or exposure dose. However, CT image was influenced by tube voltage, but not by exposure dose. When tube voltage was fixed and exposure dose changed, exposure dose changed too, increasing dose value. When exposure dose was fixed at 150 mA and tube voltage was varied, the result was 10.56, 24.6 and 35.61 mGy in each variables (in resolution phantom). In this study, attenuation image showed no significant difference when exposure dose was changed. However, when exposure dose increased, the amount of dose that patient absorbed increased too, which indicates that CT exposure dose should be decreased to minimum to lower the exposure dose that patient absorbs. Therefore future study needs to discuss the conditions that could minimize exposure dose that gets absorbed by patient during PET-CT scan.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.20-31
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to provide planning criteria for the thalassotherapy facility. Among the various contents of the planning criteria, the crucial parts of the thalassotherapy facility planning are the location, facility environment, and room space. To do this, we first examined the characteristics of the thalassotherapy facility and inquired about the thalassotherapy resources and treatments that are the basis of the thalassotherapy facility planning. And then, the overseas qualification criteria related to thalassotherapy facility were analyzed. Based on the above research results, the criteria for the thalassotherapy facility planning on location, facility environment, and spaces of rooms are presented. The location is within 1km of the coastline, where there is no pollutant emission facility, and the climate conditions are maintained more than 80% throughout the year below 'caution' level of the thermal sensation index and sensory temperature. The water quality of the facility environment meets the stricter criteria among the domestic standards or ISO 17680 standards, and the air quality is 60% of the atmospheric environment standard of the 「Framework Act on Environmental Policy」 and SO₂, NO₂, O₃ and PM10 concentration shall ensure that the annual number of exceeding standards meets the EU standard, and noise is less than 50dB per daytime, 40dB per night. Therapy spaces have to meet the standards of the 「Building Act」, the working standards of architectural planning and international standards according to their function and use.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.129-142
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• 2023

This study analyzed the ratio of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), CO and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) for cities and regionsin Korea and China using column-averaged carbon dioxide dry-air mole fraction (XCO₂) of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2/3, CO and NO₂ vertical column density (named XCO, XNO₂ in thisstudy) of TROPOspheric monitoring instrument from April 2018 to April 2022, and presented the relationship between socioeconomic indicators (population, number of vehicles, Gross Regional Domestic Product) and ratio, and differences in characteristics between Korea and China. First, CO₂ and CO were analyzed after calculating ΔXCO₂ and ΔXCO removing the background value and trend line due to the difference in atmospheric residence time of three gaseous substances (CO₂, CO, and NO₂). Comparing the three values by regions, ΔXCO and ΔXCO₂ were relatively higher in China and XNO₂ were higher in Korea and the ratio of both values (ΔXCO/ΔXCO₂, ΔXCO/XNO₂) was higher in China than in Korea. ΔXCO/ΔXCO₂, ΔXCO/XNO₂ and socioeconomic indicators have a positive correlation suggesting that the concentration of air pollutants and greenhouse gases is higher as the city is large and the economic activity is active. Regarding the differences in the ratio characteristics of Korea and China, the relationship between ΔXCO and ΔXCO₂ showed a negative correlation in Korea and a positive correlation in China. When the relationship between ΔXCO and XNO₂ was examined for summer and winter, the change of ΔXCO by season was not significant in Korea, whereasthe change of ΔXCO and XNO₂ by season waslarge in China resulting in the relationship between two countries appeared differently. These results suggest that seasonal variability and national emission characteristics should be considered in the process of analyzing the ratio of greenhouse gases to air pollutants.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 2009

Purpose: This study aimed at assessing the value of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ($^{18}F$-FDG PET) for predicting the response of locally advanced rectal cancer to neoadjuvant CRT. Materials and Methods: Between August 2006 and January 2008, we prospectively enrolled 20 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer and who were treated with neoadjuvant CRT at the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences. The treatment consisted of radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and this was followed by curative resection 6 weeks later. All the patients underwent $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT both before CRT and 6 weeks after completing CRT. The measurements of the FDG uptake ($SUV_{max}$), the absolute difference (${\Delta}SUV_{max}$) and the percent $SUV_{max}$ difference (response index, $RI_{SUV}$) between the pre- and post-CRT $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scans were assessed. The measurements of the metabolic volume, the absolute difference (${\Delta}$metabolic volume) and the percent metabolic volume difference (response index, $RI_{metabolic\;volume}$) were also assessed. Results: Of the 20 patients who underwent surgery, 11 patients (55%) were classified as responders according to Dworak's classification. The post-CRT $SUV_{max}$ was significantly lower than the pre-CRT $SUV_{max}$. However, there were no significant differences in the $SUV_{max}$ and the metabolic volume reduction between the responders and non-responders. We used a minimum $SUV_{max}$ reduction of 67% as the cut-off value for defining a response, with a sensitivity of 45.5%, a specificity of 88.9%, a positive predictive value of 77% and a negative predictive value of 53.8%. Conclusion: Although there were no statistically significant results in this study, other studies have revealed that $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT has the potential to assess the tumor response to neoadjuvant CRT in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.178-183
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• 2019

A process of fabricating the foamed glass that has closed pores with 8 ~ 580 ㎛ sizes without a blowing agent by sintering 10 ㎛ boron-free glass powder composed of CaO, MgO, SO₃, Al₂O₃-83 wt% SiO₂ at a molding pressure of 0 ~ 120 MPa and a sintering temperature of 750 ~ 1000℃ was investigated. To analyze the glass transition temperature of glass powder, thermogravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA) method were used. The microstructure and pore size of foamed glass were examined using the optical microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). For the thermal diffusivity and color of the fabricated samples, a heat flow meter and ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV-VIS-NIR)-colormetry were used, respectively. In the TGA-DTA result, the glass transition temperature of glass powder was confirmed to be 626℃. In the microstructure result, closed pores of 7 ~ 20 ㎛ were formed at 750 ~ 900℃, and they were not affected by the molding pressure and sintering temperature. However, at 1,000℃, when there was 0 MPa molding pressure, closed pores of 580 ㎛ were confirmed, and the pore size decreased as the molding pressure increased. Moreover, at a molding pressure of 30 MPa or higher, closed pores of approximately 400 ㎛ were formed. The porosity showed an increasing trend of smaller molding pressure and larger sintering temperature, and it was controllable in the range of 5.69 ~ 68.45%. In the thermal diffusivity result, there was no change according to the molding pressure, and, by increasing the sintering temperature, up to 0.115 W/m·K could be obtained. The Lab color index (CIE-Lab) results all showed a similar translucent white color regardless of molding pressure and sintering temperature. Therefore, based on the foamed glass without boron and blowing agent, it was confirmed that white foamed glass, which has closed pores of 8 ~ 580 ㎛ and a thermal diffusivity characteristic of 0.115 W/m·K, can be fabricated by changing the molding pressure and sintering temperature.