• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.192-199
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• 2015

Under the economic banner of "self-reliance," North Korea has focused on hydro and thermal power as its main energy supply sources. However, in the face of extreme energy penury caused by machinery and material supply instability in the wake of the collapse of the former communist block as well as equipment aging and deterioration due to floods and other disasters, North Korea and international aid organizations are increasingly turning their attention toward energy source diversification. In particular, renewable energy is recognized as the best strategic energy source for North Korea and it is a decentralized energy option that is suitable in light of North Korea's power distribution networks and its pursuit of self-reliance. Biogas can contribute to improving the human rights situation of North Koreans in conjunction with an increase in food production. For this reason, renewable energy is the most promising option for an energy source that is likely to secure humanitarian aid from international organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). However, the implementation of such humanitarian aid has been hampered by rising concerns about the diversion of provided energy materials for military purposes and the disguised introduction of dual use items strategic materials as well as UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions of the international community against North Korea's military provocation, including nuclear tests and missile launches. This paper explores the possibility of solving this dilemma and proceeding with the humanitarian aid to North Korea by evaluating the potential for sanction and the risk of diversion of the possible products for biogas-related aid on the basis of the list of UN-sanctioned items.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.153-157
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• 2009

Recently, an increasing number of bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaw(BRONJ) is being reported. A guideline has been already established in the US, but it does not seem to be fully recognized by clinicians in Korea. Therefore, a survey study was done to inform and have clinicians realize the seriousness of BRONJ. 1,341 practitioners were randomly selected out of 13,405 practitioners(by Feb of 2008, KDA) in Korea. A questionnaire was given to them between May to July in 2008. Questions were designed to investigate each respondent's experience term years in the clinic, occupation, speciality, awareness on risk of bisphosphonate, experience on treating osteonecrosis patients, awareness about the guideline on BRONJ suggested by AAOMS and whether if they ask about bisphosphonate medication history to patients before invasive treatment. 45.1% of the clinicians have reported on experiencing delayed healing on bone exposed site after extraction both in the maxilla and the mandible. However, clinicians have asked the patients whether if they are on bisphosphonate or not in only 15.1% of these cases. 56.5% of the clinicians simply knew about BRONJ but only 28.9% of the clinicians were aware that bisphosphonate can cause osteonecrosis after invasive dental treatment. Only 19.3% knew about the contents of guideline on BRONJ and 57.2% were aware of the seriousness of BRONJ. Clinicians with shorter clinical experience term were more aware of BRONJ and the guideline on BRONJ than the experienced clinicians. But awareness of the possibility of BRONJ after invasive dental treatment were about the same regardless of their clinical experience. The results show that Korean clinicians need to be more aware about BRONJ. Data on BRONJ cases in Korea should be collected and provided with additional education to let Korean clinicians know and be more aware about BRONJ.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.6 s.90
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• pp.975-982
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• 2005

Scientific community agrees about the fact that base Isolation provides interesting solutions to minimize the seismic risk. Reliability of such a technique is nowadays proofed by a large number of applications like public buildings, nuclear plants, bridges, etc. This paper reports the results of performance verification tests of the base isolated RC building with the laminated rubber bearings which is manufactured by enterprise in Korea. The shaking table tests were performed using a three story model scaled to 1/3 of the prototype RC apartment building. Several major earthquake records were scaled to different peak ground accelerations and used as input base excitations. Especially in this study, effect of earthquake characteristics on response reduction and effect of the intensity of excitations are studied. Through the verification tests, the validity of the applied base isolaion device and the response reduction effect against earthquakes are confirmed.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.253-266
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• 2016

In accordance with the classification system of radioactive waste in Korea, all the disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRSs) fall under the category of EW, VLLW or LILW, and should be managed in compliance with the restrictions for the disposal method. In this study, the management and disposal method are drawn in consideration of half-life of radionuclides contained in the source and A/D value (i.e. the activity A of the source dividing by the D value for the relevant radionuclide, which is used to provide an initial ranking of relative risk for sources) in addition to the domestic classification scheme and disposal method, based on the characteristic analysis and review results of the management practices in IAEA and foreign countries. For all the DSRSs that are being stored (as of March 2015) in the centralized temporary disposal facility for radioisotope wastes, applicability of the derivation result is confirmed through performing the characteristic analysis and case studies for assessing quantity and volume of DSRSs to be managed by each method. However, the methodology derived from this study is not applicable to the following sources; i) DSRSs without information on the radioactivity, ii) DSRSs that are not possible to calculate the specific activity and/or the source-specific A/D value. Accordingly, it is essential to identify the inherent characteristics for each of DSRSs prior to implementation of this management and disposal method.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2018

Average life expectancy is getting longer due to medical developments and improvements in living standards. So much so that the elderly have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Therefore, it is important to prevent, diagnose, and treat the senile disease at an early stage through a bone density test. Bone density is measured by dual energy X-ray absorption (DXA). In this study, while using DXA, in cases when the measurements for both the lumbar and the femur could not be taken simultaneously, the correlation between both measurements were known, and the measurement of one area was used to make a clinical inference for the value of the other. Measurements were taken using Lunar Prodigy Advance (GE) for 43 participant with clinically significant fractures. Statistical calculations were produced and analysed regarding bone density. In case of T-score, lumbar spine produced a statistical result of $-2.112{\pm}1.836$ and femur neck was $-1.716{\pm}1.565$. In case of Z-score lumbar spine produced a statistical result of $-0.151{\pm}1.513$, and femur neck $-0.026{\pm}1.283$. It is indicated that the pearson correlation coefficient of T-score between lumbar spine and femur neck is high at 0.699, and the pearson correlation coefficient of Z-score is considered relatively high at 0.503. The correlation of bone density between lumbar spine and femur neck is shown to be statistically meaningful in T-score's p-value at 0.000 and Z-score's p-value at 0.001. In conclusion, it seems to have clinical usefulness that we can infer the result of one measurement through that of the other part tested, based on the knowledge of the correlation coefficients between lumbar spine and femur neck.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

Radiopharmaceuticals are drugs that contain radioisotopes and are used in the diagnosis, treatment, or investigation of diseases. Radiopharmaceuticals must be manufactured in compliance with good manufacturing practice regulations and subjected to quality control before they are administered to patients to ensure the safety of the drug. Radiopharmaceuticals for administration to humans need to be sterile and pyrogen-free. Hence, sterility tests and membrane filter integrity tests are carried out to confirm the asepticity of the finished drug product, and a bacterial endotoxin test conducted to assess contamination, if any, by pyrogens. The physical appearance and the absence of foreign insoluble substances should be confirmed by a visual inspection. The chemical purity, residual solvents, and pH should be evaluated because residual by-products and impurities in the finished product can be harmful to patients. The half-life, radiochemical purity, radionuclidic purity, and strength need to be assessed by analyzing the radiation emitted from radiopharmaceuticals to verify that the radioisotope contents are properly labeled on pharmaceuticals. Radiopharmaceuticals always carry the risk of radiation exposure. Therefore, the time taken for quality control tests should be minimized and care should be taken to prevent radiation exposure during handling. This review discusses the quality control procedures and acceptance criteria for a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.276-283
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• 2022

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin helps to retain calcium and phosphorus but also has shown to affect immune regulation and homeostasis. In humans, vitamin D3 and vitamin D2 and their metabolite has intensively studied in both innate and adaptive immune system that they are important to regulate overwhelmed inflammation. The vitamin D receptor is a nuclear hormone receptor which regulate various downstream target gene expressions as a transcription factor related to metabolism, immune regulation, etc. Vitamin D deficiency is a high-risk factor for inflammatory diseases like autoimmune disease and allergy. In addition, reduced vitamin D seem to correlate with susceptibility to the virus infection such as HIV and COVID-19. In this review, we will summarize up-to-date vitamin D's role in various immune cells, immune regulatory functions during autoimmune, allergic, and infectious diseases. We will also discuss about vitamin D supplement effects in human trial studies for COVID-19.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.361-376
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• 2023

Purpose: This study evaluates the potential protective effects of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) seed oil supplementation in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. Methods: Rats were fed a 1.25% cholesterol diet for 8 weeks, followed by oral administration of either of the two doses of hemp seed oil (HO) (0.5 mL/kg (HOL group) or 1 mL/kg (HOH group) body weight/day) or simvastatin at 10 mg/kg body weight/day. Oxidative stress, lipids, liver enzymes, and renal markers were measured in the serum. Western blot analysis was applied for evaluating the expressions of inflammatory makers. Results: Except for HDL-cholesterol, the altered levels of lipoproteins, aminotransferases, urea, and creatine kinases in hypercholesterolemic rats were significantly corrected by HO administration. Especially, compared to the HOH group, HOL treatment further reduced AST, ALT, creatinine, TC, and LDL-cholesterol levels. Moreover, both the atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor (CRF) in the HOL group were more restrained compared to the HOH group. Increased levels of p-AMPK coincided with the inhibition of SREBP-2 activation which subsequently suppressed the expression of HMGCR. Nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation coincided with the PI3K/Akt pathway activation and the increased phosphorylation of p38; these levels were significantly suppressed by HO treatment. In addition, HO treatment markedly reversed the changes in chemokines such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and MCP-1. Histological alterations induced by cholesterol overload in cardiac and hepatic tissues were ameliorated by HO supplementation. Conclusion: Taken together, our results indicate a low concentration of HO demonstrates improved dysfunctions caused by a high-cholesterol diet via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.74-80
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• 2023

This study examines the characteristics of architectural review opinions as unstructured data, focusing on the most challenging risk for developers of small and medium-sized apartment projects in response to the increasing number of single-person households in Korea. Using multidimensional analysis methods, the study analyzes the review opinions of 25 projects in B City. Correspondence analysis and MDS (Multidimensional Scale) analysis show that, consistent with prior research, the keywords related to 'structure' and 'planning' dominate architectural review opinions in B City. While the MDS model's stress is very poor at 34.4%, correspondence analysis reveals that this is due to the characteristics of unstructured data in architectural reviews. In addition, the non-structured data analyzed in this study, such as architectural review opinions, exhibited a probability distribution with low kurtosis and high skewness, as they involved various combinations and occurrences of data depending on the discretion of the review committee members and the specific formats of different local governments. This often led to the emergence of keywords that differed significantly from commonly mentioned terms. Although the study has some limitations, it provides a foundation for future detailed analysis by identifying the characteristics of architectural review opinions as unstructured data.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

As interest in urban safety has increased since COVID-19, various institutions have developed and used indicators that evaluate the safety city model. Yongsan-gu was ranked No. 1 in 2021 by Social Safety Index evaluation and was selected as the safest city in Korea. However, the Itaewon disaster in Yongsan-gu in 2022 caused many casualties. The study of indicators for evaluating cities' safety was necessary. This study aims to examine domestic and foreign safe city models and review the differences between each model and the indicators used to evaluate safe cities. As a result of collecting 11 safe city models and analyzing each evaluation index, safe city models can be classified into program-based safe city models, such as the World Health Organization's International safe community and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's International Safe city. Considering the diversification of threats to safety, it is reasonable to comprehensively consider digital security, health safety, infrastructure safety, personal safety, environmental safety, traffic safety, fire safety, crime safety, life safety, suicide, and infectious diseases when evaluating safe cities as evaluation parameters.