• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.764-772
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• 2020

Objective: Laser ablation is a therapeutic modality used to reduce the volume of large benign thyroid nodules. Unsatisfactory reduction and regrowth are observed in some treated nodules. The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes of laser treatment for solid nodules during a 5-year follow-up period, the regrowth rate, and the predictive risk factors of nodule regrowth. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients with benign, solid, cold thyroid nodules who underwent laser ablation and were followed-up for 5 years. According to the selection criteria, 104 patients were included (median baseline nodule volume, 12.5 mL [25.0-75.0%, 8-18 mL]; median energy delivered, 481.5 J/mL [25.0-75.0%, 370-620 J/mL]). Nodule volume, thyroid function test results, and ultrasound were evaluated at baseline and then annually after the procedure. Results: Of 104 patients, 31 patients (29.8%) had a 12-month volume reduction ratio (VRR) < 50.0% and 39 (37.5%) experienced nodule regrowth. Of these 39 patients, 17 (43.6%) underwent surgery and 14 (35.9%) underwent a second laser treatment. The rate of nodule regrowth was inversely related to the 12-month VRR, i.e., the lower the 12-month VRR, the higher the risk of regrowth (p < 0.001). The mean time for nodule regrowth was 33.5 ± 16.6 months. The 12-month VRR was directly related to time to regrowth, i.e., the lower the 12-month VRR, the shorter the time to regrowth (p < 0.001; R² = 0.3516). Non-spongiform composition increased the risk of regrowth with an odds ratio of 4.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8-10.2; p < 0.001); 12-month VRR < 50.0% increased the risk of regrowth with an odds ratio of 11.7 (95% CI 4.2-32.2; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The VRR of thyroid nodules subjected to similar amounts of laser energy varies widely and depends on the nodule composition; non-spongiform nodules are reduced to a lesser extent and regrow more frequently than spongiform nodules. A 12-month VRR < 50.0% is a predictive risk factor for regrowth and correlates with the time to regrowth.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.104-126
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• 2024

Buffer and backfill play an essential role in isolating high-level radioactive waste and retard the migration of leaked radionuclides in deep geological disposal system. A bentonite mixture, which exhibits a swelling property, is considered for buffer and backfill materials, and excessive groundwater inflow from surrounding rock mass may affect stability and efficiency of their role as an engineered barrier. Therefore, stringent quality control as well as in-situ installation management and inflow water constrol for buffer and backfill are required to ensure the safety of deep disposal facilities. In this study, we analyzed the design requirements of buffer and backfill by examining various laboratory tests and a field study of the Steel Tunnel Test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden. We introduced how to control the quality of buffer and backfill construction in-field, and also presented how to handle excessive groundwater inflow into disposal caverns, validating the groundwater retention capacity of bentonite pellets and the effectiveness of geotexile use.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2009

Use of nuclear energy inevitably brings the problem of radioactive waste disposal. Repositories for disposing radioactive waste use underground space that is unconnected with the outside and the diagonal system, which allows the waste to be deposited. Ventilation if necessary because high-level radioactive waste generates heat. In this study, the air velocity through diagonal branches with regulators of different sizes and in different locations, was measured. The air velocity is determined by the size of the first and last regulators, regardless of the size of other regulators. In the diagonal system. Consequently, once the desired total airflow rate has been achieved by installing the appropriate first and last regulators, the other regulators fan be evenly installed to maintain the minimum air velocity needed.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.95-112
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• 2013

As a first step toward understanding the divergence and relationships of the Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) occurring in South Korea, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA), and elongation factor-$1{\alpha}$ (EF-$1{\alpha}$) that comprise 3,501-3,716 bp were either sequenced (55 species) or the sequences were obtained from GenBank (23 species). The concatenated sequence divergence of six nymphalid subfamilies ranked in the following order: Danainae (10.3%), Satyrinae (9.5%), Limenitidinae (8.0%), Apaturinae (7.0%), Nymphalinae (6.7%), and Heliconiinae (6.2%). As has been reported in previous large scale international studies, the subfamilial relationships of (((((Limenitidinae + Heliconiinae) + (Nymphalinae + Apaturinae)) + Satyrinae) + Libytheinae) + Danainae) were also confirmed, except for the switched positions between Danainae and Libytheinae, and supported all subfamilies and tribe monophylies. Unlikely consistent phylogenetic relationships among genera within the majority of tribes in Nymphalidae, a conflicting relationship within the subfamily Apaturinae was obvious, presenting Apatura as sister to either Mimathyma or (Mimathyma + (Sephisa + (Hestina + Sasakia))), and both of these relationships are unconventional. Within the subfamily Limenitidinae, the genus Neptis was consistently revealed as a paraphyletic with respect to the genus Aldania, requiring further taxonomic investigation of the genus. Although limited, current sequence information and phylogenetic relationships are expected to be helpful for further studies.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2015

15P/Finlay is one of the Jupiter-Family Comets that has long been known since the late 19 century. The comet maintains the perihelion around 1.0 AU over a century, without showing any prominent activities (i.e. fragmentation or eruption) since the discovery. According to reports in unpublished observations, the comet exhibited an outburst in the middle of 2014 December. We conducted a imaging observation of 15P/Finlay just after the report, from 2014 December 23 to 2015 February 18 using three telescopes (the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 50-cm telescope, the Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory 105-cm telescope, and the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory 2-m telescope), which constitute a portion of the OISTER (an inter-university observation network in the optical and infrared wavelengths). As a result of the frequent observations, we witnesses the second outburst around UT 2015 January 16. Such cometary outbursts draw the attention to researchers on ground that they could offer insight into the internal structure of comets, following a historical outburst occurred at 17P/Holmes on 2007 October 23. Although cometary outbursts have been often reported mostly in unpublished observations or unreviewed reports, it should be emphasized that there are not a sufficient number of astrophysical research which characterizes the physical properties by observing the aftermaths. This presentation provides a new observational result of 15P/Finlay outburst. Based on the morphological development of the dust cloud as well as the near-nuclear magnitude, we will derive the kinetic energy of the outburst. Finally we plan to compare the results of 15P/Finlay with those of analogical events at 17P/Holmes and P/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.245-254
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• 2020

The interaction between the frozen soil and building structures deteriorates with the increasing temperature. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) stratification test was conducted with respect to the unfrozen water content on the interface and a shear test was conducted on the frozen soil-structure interface to explore the shear characteristics of the frozen soil-structure interface and its failure mechanism during the thawing process. The test results showed that the unfrozen water at the interface during the thawing process can be clearly distributed in three stages, i.e., freezing, phase transition, and thawing, and that the shear strength of the interface decreases as the unfrozen water content increases. The internal friction angle and cohesive force display a change law of "as one falls, the other rises," and the minimum internal friction angle and maximum cohesive force can be observed at -1℃. In addition, the change characteristics of the interface strength parameters during the freezing process were compared, and the differences between the interface shear characteristics and failure mechanisms during the frozen soil-structure interface freezing-thawing process were discussed. The shear strength parameters of the interface was subjected to different changes during the freezing-thawing process because of the different interaction mechanisms of the molecular structures of ice and water in case of the ice-water phase transition of the test sample during the freezing-thawing process.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.43-51
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to assess the sanitation level and purchase behavior of fishery products, and to identify management conditions of bad smell from cooking fish at home as perceived by housewives in a metropolitan area. Frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, and cross-tabulation analysis were employed as statistical techniques for current study. Total 270 were collected from housewives. The statistical variables included the kinds of cooking oil and the age of housewives, the types of hoods for fish roasting, the types of covers for fish grills, the number of family, the ventilation methods, and the maintenance of kitchen utensils based on family incomes, and they showed statistically significant differences(p<.05). Furthermore, the housewives whose sanitary cognition level for fishery products was high, the housewives whose level of purchase attitude was relatively high, and the housewives who utilized specialized kitchen utensils demonstrated statistically significant differences(p<.05). It resulted from the assessment of such actual conditions as difference of culinary environment according to the sanitation level of fishery products, the level of purchase attitude, and whether the housewives utilized special kitchen utensils or not. The more efforts were proved from those who had the intentions for improvement of an amenable culinary environment at homes, according to the higher income obtainers, the smaller nuclear family, the younger generation, whether the housewives utilized special kitchen utensils or not, and those who had the higher sanitary cognition level of fishery products. The above results were derived from an individual lifestyle or a dietary lifestyle, but eventually this seems to be related with the propensity and values hierarchy of individuals.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.312-316
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• 2006

In this study, a miniature fiber-optic radiation sensor has been developed using a water-equivalent organic scintillator for electron beam therapy dosimetry. The intensity of Cerenkov light is measured and characterized as a function of the incident angle of the electron beam from a LINAC. Also, a subtraction method using a background optical fiber without a scintillator and an optical discrimination method using optical filters are investigated to remove Cerenkov light, which could cause problems or limit the accuracy for detecting a fluorescent light signal in a fiber-optic radiation sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.6 s.277
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• pp.437-442
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• 2005

We fabricated BSCCO-2212 (2212) bulk superconductor by melt casting process, and evaluated the dependence of the critical properties on the temperature and cooling .ate of mold and the pouring methods of melt. It was observed that the critical current (Ic) of 2212 was significantly dependent on the pre-heating temperature of the mold. At the pre-heating temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ followed by air cooling condition, Ic of 48 A at 77 K was obtained which was higher than others processed at different temperatures. In addition, the Ic improved to 132 A when tilt casting method was applied. The improved Ic is probably due to the fact that the tilt casting reduced a turbulent flow of the melt during casting causing less porosity and more homogeneous microsructure. Critical temperature was measured to be 87-89 K after the first heat treatment and it improved to 90-91 K when subsequently heat treated at $650^{\circ}C$ in a nitrogen atmosphere. This improvement was considered to be due to an optimization of the oxygen content in the range of 8.16-8.2.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.17 no.5 s.54
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• pp.66-75
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• 2003

Long cylinder, subjected to internal pressure, is important in the analysis and design of nuclear fuel rod structures. In many cases, long cylinder problems have been considered as a plane strain condition. However, strictly speaking, long cylinder problems are not plane strain problems, but rather a general plane strain (GPS) condition, which is a combination of a plane strain state and a uniform strain state. The magnitude of the uniform axial strain is required, in order to make the summation of the axial force zero. Although there has been the GPS element, this paper proposes a general technique to solve long cylinder problems, using several pseudo-general plane strain (PGPS) elements. The conventional GPS elements and PGPS elements employed are as follows: axisymmetric GPS element (GA3), axisymmetric PGPS element (PGA8/6), 2-D GPS element (GIO), 3-D PGPS element (PG20/16), and reduced PGPS elements (RPGA6, RPG20/16). In particular, PGPS elements (PGA8/6, PG20/16) can be applied in periodic structure problems. These finite elements are tested, using several kinds of examples, thereby confirming the validity of the proposed finite element models.