• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the relationship between regional material deprivation and the standardized mortality ratios(SMRs) of community residents aged 15-64 in Korea. Methods: SMRs were investigated using the registered death data from 1995 to 2000 that was obtained from the Korean National Statistics Office with the denominators being drawn from the 1995 to 2000 census. Material deprivation was measured using the Townsend score that was calculated from the 1995 to 2000 census. The relationship between the regional material deprivation and the SMRs of the community residents aged 15-64 was investigated by using ANOVA, Spearman's rank correlation analysis and Pearson's correlation analysis. The trends in mortality inequality were investigated using the concentration index. Results: On the ANOVA, the SMRs of the men and women residents in the least deprived areas were the smallest and those in the most deprived areas were the largest. Spearman's rank correlation analysis, Pearson's correlation analysis and the concentration index revealed that significant positive relationships exist between the regional material deprivation and the SMRs of the community residents aged 15-64. Conclusions: This study suggests that there are mortality inequalities among the communities in Korea and part of this difference is due to the material deprivation of the community. Strategies aimed at reducing mortality inequalities among the communities will be needed to address economic inequalities. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms of how the regional deprivation influences on health and how the other factors of the community influence on the health of the community residents.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2005

Objective : To compare the mortality rate of Korean medical doctors to that of the general Korean population for the period 1992-2002. Methods : The membership records of the Korean Medical Association were linked to the 1992-2002 death certificate data of Korea s National Statistical Office using 13-digit unique personal identification numbers. The study population consisted of 61,164 medical doctors with a follow-up period of 473,932 person-years. Standardized mortality ratios(SMRs) were calculated to compare cause-specific mortality rates of medical doctors to those of the general population. Results : We confirmed 1,150 deaths at ages from 30 to 75 years from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 2002. The SMR for all-cause of death was 0.47(95% CI : $0.44{\sim}0.50$). The SMRs for smoking-related diseases such as cerebrovascular accidents and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were smaller than the SMR of all-cause of death. However, the SMRs for colorectal and pancreatic cancers were not significantly lower than those of the general population. Transport accidents and suicides accounted for 72% (94 of 131) of external causes of death. The SMR for suicide was 0.51 (95% CI : $0.38{\sim}0.68$). Conclusions : The mortality rate of South Korean medical doctors was less than 50% that of the general population of South Korea. Cause-specific analysis showed that mortality rates in leading causes of death were lower among medical doctors although differences in mortality rates between medical doctors and the general population varied with the causes of death. These health benefits found among medical doctors may be attributable to the lower level of health damaging behaviors (e.g., lower smoking rates) and better working conditions.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.232-242
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• 2021

The aim of this article is to examine the role of Gyeonggi Province in the industrial development in the Republic of Korea by taking a case study of the program of the national innovative cluster (NIC). In such program which has been for the purpose of the regional industrial development for non-Seoul metropolitan regions (N-SMRs) since 2018, the total firms' transactions were highly focused upon Gyeonggi Province and other Seoul metropolitan regions (SMRs). Especially, firms' transactions in 5 clusters of the total 14 clusters concentrated on Gyeonggi Province. Within this context, the future direction of this policy program for the regional industrial development and the national balanced development is more focused upon a win-win strategy between the SMR and N-SMRs rather than the dichotomy between them.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.20-24
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• 2001

As stand-missing rate (SMR) of ginseng plants in fields are directly related to the ginseng root rot, the forecasting model for the root rot progress in ginseng fields was developed, using the estimated SMRs by disease incidence (DI) of ginseng seedling in the soil-indexing bioassay and the estimate of DI derived from soil environmental factors or rhizoplane microflora. For fitness analysis of the forecasting model, simple correlation and linear regression between SMRs at different planting ages in fields and their estimates by 3 factors of the model were evaluated.The SMR estimated from the factor of DI in the bioassay had much higher fitness to the SMR observed in fields than that from the factors of soil environments and rhizoplane microflora. The estimated SMRs in young and aged ginseng fields by DI in the bioassay were significantly correlated with the observed SMRs in 3- and 5-year-old ginseng fields, respectively (p=0.01). this implicates that indexing preplanting field soils with the forecasting model using DI in the bioassay can provide an information to determine the suitability of the fields for ginseng cultivation, and that indexing cultivating field soils can be helpful to determine the time of harvesting to reduce further yield loss by root rot in continuous cultivation in the next year.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.49-60
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• 2021

The Core Protection Calculator System (CPCS) is vital for plant safety as it ensures the required Specified Acceptance Fuel Design Limit (SAFDL) are not exceeded. The CPCS generates trip signals when Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (DNBR) and Local Power Density (LPD) exceeds their predetermined setpoints. These setpoints are established based on the operating margin from the analysis that produces the SAFDL values. The goal of this research is to create a simplified CPCS that optimizes operating margin for I-SMRs. Because the I-SMR is compact in design, instrumentation placement is a challenge, as it is with Ex-core detectors and RCP instrumentation. The proposed CPCS addresses the issue of power flux measurement with In-Core Instrumentation (ICI), while flow measurement is handled with differential pressure transmitters between Steam Generators (SG). Simplification of CPCS is based on a Look-Up-Table (LUT) for determining the CEA groups' position. However, simplification brings approximations that result in a loss of operational margin, which necessitates compensation. Appropriate compensation is performed based on the result of analysis. FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) are presented as a way to compensate for the inadequacies of current systems by providing faster execution speeds and a lower Common Cause Failure rate (CCF).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1100-1107
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• 2024

The nuclear waste attributes of near-term deployable SMRs were assessed using established nuclear waste metrics, which are the DU mass, SNF mass, volume, activity, decay heat, radiotoxicity, and decommissioning LLW volumes. Metrics normalized per unit electricity generation were compared to a reference large PWR. Three SMRs, VOYGR, Natrium, and Xe-100, were selected because they represent a range of reactor and fuel technologies and are active designs deployable by the decade's end. The SMR nuclear waste attributes show both some similarities to the PWR and some significant differences caused by reactor-specific design features. The DU mass is equivalent to or slightly higher than the PWR. Back-end waste attributes for SNF disposition vary, but the differences have a limited impact on long-term repository isolation. SMR designs can vary significantly in SNF volume (and thus heat generation density). However, these differences are amenable to design optimization for handling, storage, transportation, and disposal technologies. Nuclear waste attributes from decommissioning vary depending on design and decommissioning technology choices. Given the analysis results in this study and assuming appropriate waste management system and operational optimization, there appear to be no major challenges to managing SMR nuclear wastes compared to the reference PWR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.949-958
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• 2024

In contrast to all-time flooded small modular reactor (SMR) systems, an in-kind flooding safety system (FSS) has been proposed as a passive safety system applicable to small modular reactors (SMRs) that adopt a metal containment vessel (MCV). Under transient conditions, the FSS can provide emergency cooling to dry reactor cavities and sustain long-term coolability using re-acquired evaporated steam in the reactor building on demand. When designing an FSS, the effect of the flooding flow area is vital as it affects the overall accident sequence and safety. Therefore, in this study, a MELCOR model of a reference SMR is developed and numerical analysis is performed under postulated accident scenarios. Without flooding, the MCV pressure of the reactor module exceeds the design pressure before core damage. To prevent core damage, an emergency flooding strategy is devised using various flow path parameters and requirements to ensure an adequate emergency coolant supply before the core damage is investigated. The results indicate that a flow area exceeding 0.02 m2 is required in the FSS to prevent MCV overpressure and core damage. This study is the first to report a strategic analysis for appropriately sizing an FSS flooding valve applicable to innovative SMRs.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.385-396
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• 2014

Objectives: By conducting a meta-analysis of cohort studies reporting standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for workers exposed to trichloroethylene, we attempted to adjust for healthy hired effect by applying the same methods as described in a recent report from the Agricultural Health Study. Methods: Among all cohort studies that evaluated the association between all cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), kidney cancer, liver cancer and occupational exposure to trichloroethylene, a total of 10 studies reporting SMR values were selected. A random-effects model was used to estimate the summary SMRs or rSMRs and 95% confidence intervals. Relative SMR ($rSMR=SMR_x/SMR_{not\;x}$) was calculated comparing observed and expected counts for all cancer, NHL, kidney cancer, and liver cancer with an independent referent set of values consisting of the observed and expected counts for other causes. Results: The SMR values for all causes ranged from 0.68 to 1.03, suggesting moderate to weak healthy worker effect for the selected studies. When the healthy worker hire effect was taken into account, the summarized risk became statistically significant; the summary SMR of all cancer was 0.95 (0.91-1.00) and the summary rSMR of all cancer was 1.10 (1.04-1.15). The summary SMR of NHL was 1.04 (0.93-1.14) and the summary rSMR of NHL was 1.23 (1.04-1.46). The summary SMR of kidney cancer was 1.08 (0.88-1.33) and the summary rSMR of kidney cancer was 1.23 (1.02-1.49). The summary SMR of liver cancer was 0.88 (0.78-0.99), and the summary rSMR of liver cancer was 0.95 (0.84-1.07). Conclusion: The rSMR method is useful to determine summary risk adjusted for healthy worker effect through meta-analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3639-3647
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• 2023

This paper defines a 3D full core neutronics benchmark which is based on the NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) concept. The paper provides a detailed description of the NuScale-like core, a list of expected outputs, and a reference solution to the benchmark exercises obtained with the Monte Carlo code Serpent. The benchmark was developed in the framework of the Euratom McSAFER project and can be used for verification of computational chains dedicated to 3D full-core neutronics simulations of water cooled SMRs. The paper is supplemented with a digital data set to ease the modeling process.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5525-5528
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• 2012

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Improvements of early diagnosis modalities have led to longer survival rates. This study aimed to determine the 5, 10 and 15 year mortality rates of breast cancer patients compared to the normal female population. Materials and Methods: The follow up data of a cohort of 615 breast cancer patients referred to Iranian Breast Cancer Research Center (BCRC) from 1986 to 1996 was considered as reference breast cancer dataset. The dataset was divided into 5 year age groups and the 5, 10 and 15 year probability of death for each group was estimated. The annual mortality rate of Iranian women was obtained from the Death Registry system. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of breast cancer patients were calculated using the ratio of the mortality rate in breast cancer patients over the general female population. Results: The mean age of breast cancer patients at diagnosis time was 45.9 (${\pm}10.5$) years ranging from 24-74. A total of 73, 32 and 2 deaths were recorded at 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively, after diagnosis. The SMRs for breast cancer patients at 5, 10 and 15 year intervals after diagnosis were 6.74 (95% CI, 5.5-8.2), 6.55 (95%CI, 5-8.1) and 1.26 (95%CI, 0.65-2.9), respectively. Conclusion: Results showed that the observed mortality rate of breast cancer patients after 15 years from diagnosis was very similar to expected rates in general female population. This finding would be useful for clinicians and health policy makers to adopt a beneficial strategy to improve breast cancer survival. Further follow-up time with larger sample size and a pooled analysis of survival rates of different centres may shed more light on mortality patterns of breast cancer.