• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.11
• /
• pp.4236-4243
• /
• 2022

An industrial nuclear technique based on the use of an X-ray profiler was implemented to estimate the densities or concentrations of sediments present in an Atlantic maritime zone in the areas subjected to dredging under the governance of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). The sediment profiles show in most areas there is a concentration of between 1.00-1.15 g/cm³ except for one area in particular, the density starts at 1.20 g/cm³ and even reaches values greater than 1.50 g/cm³; therefore, an already consolidated sediment is present, which, depending on the depth found. Values of 1.265 g/cm³, 1.297 g/cm³, 1.185 g/cm³ obtained by ACP previous studies are within the range of 1.20-1.30 g/cm³ measured with the nucleonic gauge. However, it should be noted that during the tests with the X ray profiler, sediment densities values greater than the aforementioned limit were also obtained that varying according at depths close to 12 m and 18 m with values reached up to 1.513 g/cm³ and 1.60 g/cm³, respectively. This demonstrates that sediment accumulation depends on depth. This nucleonic gauge is feasible technique for the study of the sedimentation phenomenon in channel basins and even in other projects nationwide.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.222-233
• /
• 2012

The nocturnal low-level jet makes a significant impact on carbon and water exchanges and turbulent mixing processes in the atmospheric boundary layer. This study reports a case study of nocturnal surface fluxes such as $CO_2$ and water vapor in the surface layer observed at a flat and homogeneous site in the presence of low-level jets (LLJs). In particular, it documents the temporal evolution of the overlying jets and the coincident response of surface fluxes. The present study highlights several factors linking the evolution of low-level jets to surface fluxes: 1) wavelet analysis shows that turbulent fluxes have similar time scales with temporal scale of LLJ evolution; 2) turbulent mixing is enhanced during the transition period of low-level jets; and 3) $CO_2$, water vapor and heat show dissimilarity from momentum during the period. We also found that LLJ activity is related not only to turbulent motions but also to the divergence of mean flow. An examination of scalar profiles and turbulence data reveal that LLJs transport $CO_2$ and water vapor by advection in the stable boundary layer, suggesting that surface fluxes obtained from the micrometeorological method such as nocturnal boundary layer budget technique should carefully interpreted in the presence of LLJs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.217-226
• /
• 2015

Metabolite profiles of seven commercial vinegars and two traditional vinegars were performed by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry with multivariate statistical analysis. During alcohol fermentation, yeast, nuruk, and koji were used as sugars for nutrients and as fermentation substrates. Commercial and traditional vinegars were significantly separated in the principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis. Six sugars and sugar alcohols, three organic acids, and two other components were selected as different metabolites. Target analysis by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadruple-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-ion trap-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry were used to detect several metabolites having antioxidant activity, such as cyanidin-3-xylosylrutinoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, and quercetin, which were mainly detected in Rural Korean Black raspberry vinegar (RKB). These metabolites contributed to the highest antioxidant activity measured in RKB among the nine vinegars. This study revealed that MS-based metabolite profiling was useful in helping to understand the metabolite differences between commercial and traditional vinegars and to evaluate the association between active compounds of vinegar and antioxidant activity.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.213-237
• /
• 2010

This study aimed at figuring out the current state of 26 family-health support centers in Gyeonggi-do, in order to prepare an activation plan for the centers. These centers are the main mediators of the family health operation. This study also aimed to understand the center users' satisfaction and demands. The results were as follows. First, a total of 65,794 participants from 9,960 businesses were processed. The majority had attended various integrated family services, followed by family counseling and/or family-friendly culture-establishing businesses. Second, the main users' profiles were as follows: average age, 41; average number of persons in the family, 3.78; education above foundation-level degree; diverse jobs that included special occupations; average monthly incomes of 3,390,000 won; and a middle-class living standard (as self-described by participants). Third, the users' main concern for their families was "financial difficulties," and they had an interest in education and counseling. Although they thought education and counseling were suitable solutions, they hesitated because they did not think their problems were serious enough to merit them. Fourth, the satisfaction level of their participation in their center's program was generally high, at 3.9-4.2 points. The majority of them said they would attend again in the future.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.277-281
• /
• 2006

Fourier transform - infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) provides biochemical profiles containing overlapping signals from a majority of the compounds that are present when whole cell extracts are analyzed. We attempted to determine the ripeness of strawberry fruit flesh by FT-IR. Fruit ripeness was divided into four developmental stages based on fruit skin color: 'yellow-green', 'pink-green', 'pink', and 'red' stages. Principal component analysis of FT-IR data of inside fruit flesh extracts clustered samples of four different developmental stages into three discrete groups: (1) 'yellow-green' group, (2) 'pink-green' group, and (3) 'pink' and 'red' group. The most remarkable difference between four different developmental stages was found in the carbohydrate fingerprint region $(1,000-1,100cm^{-1})$ of the FT-IR spectrum, indicating that differences in carbohydrate compounds represented the ripeness of strawberry fruit. Overall results indicate that FT-IR in combination with PCA enables discrimination of the ripeness of strawberry fruit flesh.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.915-961
• /
• 2010

This study is concerned with health damages from $SO_2$ under different assumptions on the relationship between air concentrations and their marginal health impacts. $SO_2$ concentration profiles resulting under emission caps, and a system of tradable emission allowances are compared. Using slopes and curvatures of the health response function consistent with evidence in medical literature, emission caps are shown to lead to lower aggregate damages under all considered parameters, an advantage of $26~452 million. The benefit of emission caps over tradable allowances increases with the curvature of the response function, but falls with its slope. The advantage of emission caps in terms of environmental damages is never overturned completely for the considered functional forms. The marginal damage function would have to be steeper than what the current medical evidence suggests for price instruments to outperform emission caps in terms of aggregate damages. With other welfare consequences included-emission abatement costs, consumer and producer surpluses, and government revenue-emission caps always lead to a $3.7~4.1 billion greater measure of social welfare.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.387-396
• /
• 2012

A study was conducted to determine the dietary effects of Na-bentonite (NaB) and probiotics on meat characteristics and health of Hanwoo steers fed rice straw as a sole roughage source. A total of 24 growing Hanwoo steers (avg BW 232 kg) were assigned to two treatments which included a control diet (concentrate mix and rice straw) and a treatment diet (control diet + 0.5-1.0% NaB + 0.5-1.0% probiotics. The diets were fed for 22 months up to the time the animals were slaughtered. Dietary treatment increased (p<0.05) concentrations of trace minerals such as Zn, Cu, and Fe in the longissimus muscle compared to the control. The treatment diet did not affect cold carcass weight, yield traits such as backfat thickness, longissimus muscle area, yield index, yield grade and quality traits such as marbling score, meat color, fat color, texture, maturity and quality grade. Blood profiles of growing steers were within the normal ranges for healthy cattle. In conclusion, feeding a combination of clay mineral and probiotics to Hanwoo steers fed rice straw as a sole roughage source could have a desirable effect on improving trace mineral retention in longissimus muscle without any deleterious effects on carcass traits of steers.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.287-292
• /
• 2005

The cyanobacterial diversity was analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of PCR-amplified rpcBA-Intergenic Spacer (IGS) genes and cpcBA-IGS gene sequencing with a sample collected at Chuso-ri in Daechung Reservoir on March 15, 2005, The Shannon-Weiner diversity index was 0.65, indicating that the cyanobacterial community structure was simple. PCR-RFLP profiles obtained were Phormidium spp. (58 clones), Anabaena spp. (14 clones), Microcystis spp. (4 clones), Spirulina sp. (1 clone) and uncultured cyanobacteria (2 clones). The PCR-RFLP of cpcBA-IGS revealed that Phormidium spp. and Anabaena spp. dominated in the invested sample. As a consequence, it seems that the analysis of functional genes such as cpcBA-IGS can be used for the species identification and community analysis of cyanobacteria.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.7
• /
• pp.995-1002
• /
• 2013

The effect of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) feeding on growth performance and fatty acid profiles in thigh meat of broiler chicken was investigated using meta-analysis with a total of 9 studies. Overall effects were calculated by standardized mean differences between treatment (CLA fed) and control using Hedges's adjusted g from fixed and random effect models. Meta-regression was conducted to evaluate the effect of CLA levels. Subgroups in the same study were designated according to used levels of CLA, CP levels or substituted oils in diets. The effects on final body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were investigated as growth parameters. Total saturated and unsaturated fatty acid concentrations and C16:0, C18:0, C18:2 and C18:3 concentrations in thigh meat of broiler chicken were used as fatty acid profile parameters. The overall effect of CLA feeding on final weight was negative and it was only significant in fixed effect model (p<0.01). Significantly lower weight gain, feed intake and higher feed conversion ratio compared to control were found (p<0.05). CLA feeding on the overall increased total saturated fatty acid concentration in broilers compared to the control diet (p<0.01). Total unsaturated fatty acid concentration was significantly decreased by CLA feeding (p<0.01). As for individual fatty acid profiles, C16:0, C18:0 and C18:3 were increased and C18:2 was significantly decreased by CLA feeding (p<0.01). In conclusion, CLA was proved not to be beneficial for improving growth performance, whereas it might be supposed that CLA is effective modulating n-6/n-3 fatty acids ratio in thigh meat. However, the economical compensation of the loss from suppressed growth performance and increased saturated fatty acids with the benefit from enhanced n-6/n-3 ratio should be investigated in further studies in order to propose an appropriate use of dietary CLA in the broiler industry.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.123-127
• /
• 1978

The major objective of this research is to identify those hospital characteristics that best explain cost variation among hospitals and to formulate linear models that can predict hospital costs. Specific emphasis is placed on hospital output, that is, the identification of diagnosis related patient groups (DRGs) which are medically meaningful and demonstrate similar patterns of hospital resource consumption. A casemix index is developed based on the DRGs identified. Considering the common problems encountered in previous hospital cost research, the following study requirements are estab-lished for fulfilling the objectives of this research: 1. Selection of hospitals that exercise similar medical and fiscal practices. 2. Identification of an appropriate data collection mechanism in which demographic and medical characteristics of individual patients as well as accurate and comparable cost information can be derived. 3. Development of a patient classification system in which all the patients treated in hospitals are able to be split into mutually exclusive categories with consistent and stable patterns of resource consumption. 4. Development of a cost finding mechanism through which patient groups' costs can be made comparable across hospitals. A data set of Medicare patients prepared by the Social Security Administration was selected for the study analysis. The data set contained 27,229 record abstracts of Medicare patients discharged from all but one short-term general hospital in Connecticut during the period from January 1, 1971, to December 31, 1972. Each record abstract contained demographic and diagnostic information, as well as charges for specific medical services received. The 'AUT-OGRP System' was used to generate 198 DRGs in which the entire range of Medicare patients were split into mutually exclusive categories, each of which shows a consistent and stable pattern of resource consumption. The 'Departmental Method' was used to generate cost information for the groups of Medicare patients that would be comparable across hospitals. To fulfill the study objectives, an extensive analysis was conducted in the following areas: 1. Analysis of DRGs: in which the level of resource use of each DRG was determined, the length of stay or death rate of each DRG in relation to resource use was characterized, and underlying patterns of the relationships among DRG costs were explained. 2. Exploration of resource use profiles of hospitals; in which the magnitude of differences in the resource uses or death rates incurred in the treatment of Medicare patients among the study hospitals was explored. 3. Casemix analysis; in which four types of casemix-related indices were generated, and the significance of these indices in the explanation of hospital costs was examined. 4. Formulation of linear models to predict hospital costs of Medicare patients; in which nine independent variables (i. e., casemix index, hospital size, complexity of service, teaching activity, location, casemix-adjusted death. rate index, occupancy rate, and casemix-adjusted length of stay index) were used for determining factors in hospital costs. Results from the study analysis indicated that: 1. The system of 198 DRGs for Medicare patient classification was demonstrated not only as a strong tool for determining the pattern of hospital resource utilization of Medicare patients, but also for categorizing patients by their severity of illness. 2. The wei틴fed mean total case cost (TOTC) of the study hospitals for Medicare patients during the study years was $11,27.02 with a standard deviation of $117.20. The hospital with the highest average TOTC ($1538.15) was 2.08 times more expensive than the hospital with the lowest average TOTC ($743.45). The weighted mean per diem total cost (DTOC) of the study hospitals for Medicare patients during the sutdy years was $107.98 with a standard deviation of $15.18. The hospital with the highest average DTOC ($147.23) was 1.87 times more expensive than the hospital with the lowest average DTOC ($78.49). 3. The linear models for each of the six types of hospital costs were formulated using the casemix index and the eight other hospital variables as the determinants. These models explained variance to the extent of 68.7 percent of total case cost (TOTC), 63.5 percent of room and board cost (RMC), 66.2 percent of total ancillary service cost (TANC), 66.3 percent of per diem total cost (DTOC), 56.9 percent of per diem room and board cost (DRMC), and 65.5 percent of per diem ancillary service cost (DTANC). The casemix index alone explained approximately one half of interhospital cost variation: 59.1 percent for TOTC and 44.3 percent for DTOC. Thsee results demonstrate that the casemix index is the most importand determinant of interhospital cost variation Future research and policy implications in regard to the results of this study is envisioned in the following three areas: 1. Utilization of casemix related indices in the Medicare data systems. 2. Refinement of data for hospital cost evaluation. 3. Development of a system for reimbursement and cost control in hospitals.