• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.231-238
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• 2020

Radioactive corrosion product specimens were analyzed using an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) and X-ray image mapping. It is difficult to analyze the composition of radioactive corrosion products using an EPMA due to the size and rough shape of the surfaces. It is particularly challenging to analyze the composition of radioactive corrosion products in the form of piled up, small grains. However, useful results can be derived by applying a semi-quantitative analysis method using an EPMA with X-ray images. A standard-less, semi-quantitative method for wavelength dispersive spectrometry. EPMA analysis was developed with the objective of simplifying the analytical procedure required. In this study, we verified the reasonable theory of semi-quantitative analysis and observed the semi-quantitative results using a sample with a good surface condition. Based on the validated results, we analyzed highly rough-surface radioactive corrosion products and assessed their composition. Finally, the usefulness of the semi-quantitative analysis was reviewed by verifying the results of the analysis of radioactive corrosion products collected from spent nuclear fuel rods.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.484-494
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• 2002

This study was conducted to validate the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire that was developed to assess the intakes of fatty acids, as well as energy, carbohydrates, fat, protein, minerals and vitamins in Korean adults. The validity of the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was tested on 78 subjects (31 men,47 women) aged 34 to 66 years. The semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire included 93 food items and was validated on two 3-day dietary records. The mean intakes and the Spearman Correlation Coefficients between the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and the two 3-day dietary records were analyzed for each nutrient and food group level. The mean nutrient intakes obtained from the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire were estimated to be greater than those of the two 3-day dietary records. The Spearman Correlation Coefficients between the energy-adjusted nutrient intakes from the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and the two 3-day dietary records ranged from 0.24 for polyunsaturated fatty acids to 0.55 for fat in men and from 0.29 for polyunsaturated fatty acids to 0.55 for saturated fatty acids in women, respectively. The Spearman Correlation Coefficients for food intake ranged from 0.11 for teas and beverages to 0.58 for grains and their products in men,-0.04 for potatoes and starches to 0.73 for milk and dairy products in women. Foods consumed regularly had lower intra-person variation and tended to have higher observed correlation coefficients. These results indicate that the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire is a useful tool for estimating nutrient intakes, particularly of total fat and saturated fatty acid intakes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.156-163
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• 2016

There exists required safety integrity level (SIL) to assure safety in accordance with international standards for every electrical / electronics / control equipment or systems with safety related functions. The SIL is allocated from lowest level (level 0) to highest level (level 4). In order to guarantee certain safety level that is internationally acceptable, application of methodology for SIL allocation and demonstration based on related international standards is required. However, the theoretical and practical study for safety integrity level is barely under way in the domestic railway industry. This research studied not only the global process of SIL allocation to guarantee safety in accordance with international standards for safety related equipment and system, but the quantitative methodology based on international standard and the semi-quantitative methodology as alternative way for SIL allocation. Specifically, the systematic SIL allocation for platform screen door system of railway is studied applying the semi-quantitative methodology in order to save much time and effort compared to quantitative method.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.426-440
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• 2017

Objectives: The valid assessment of food and nutrients intakes using appropriate dietary intake method is necessary to improve the nutritional status of the hemodialysis (HD) patients. This study was conducted to compare the method between newly developed, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (Semi-FFQ) and 7-day dietary records (7-DRs) for hemodialysis patients. Methods: We conducted both methods on 53 maintenance HD patients in two university hospitals. We calibrated the frequency, portion size and daily intake of 47 food items reported in Semi-FFQ. The food and nutrients intake was compared and the correlation of the two methods was analyzed. Also each nutrient intake was compared to recommended dietary allowance for Korean (KDRIs) and recommended nutrient reference value for HD patients. Results: Energy and energy-yielding nutrients intakes were significantly higher in the two methods (p<0.01). These support the possible reliability between Semi-FFQ and 7-DRs that is similar with regard to most mineral and vitamin intakes. Thus, the Semi-FFQ used in this study for the assessment of nutrient intakes of HD patients can be reliable for the assessment of the nutrient intake along with the 7-DRs. The correlation coefficients were higher for foods consumed daily, such as steamed rice, meat and chicken, bean, egg, milk, coffee and alcohol than for those of foods eaten rarely (p<0.01). Conclusions: The Semi-FFQ used in this study can be a reliable tool for the assessment of the HD patients' nutrient intake along with the 7-DRs, despite its limitations.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.145-157
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• 2022

Due to the global epidemic of infectious diseases, it has become important for all industries to respond to the risk of infectious diseases. Ports in each country are also responding to the risk of infectious diseases, but the occurrence of infectious diseases in ports of various countries is causing a lot of damage to the logistics of ports. Korea is in the same situation, and cases of infectious diseases in ports are steadily being announced. Therefore, this paper conducted semi-quantitative Bow-Tie risk assessment by substituting measures to cope with infectious disease risks in Korean ports into actual cases of port infectious diseases in Korea, deriving improvements and suggesting directions. As a result, it was concluded that it was necessary to standardize some of the countermeasures against infectious diseases and develop more countermeasures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.1291-1296
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• 2013

Risk-based inspection (RBI) is a well-known method that is used to optimize inspection activities based on risk analysis in order to identify the high-risk components of major facilities such as power plants. RBI, when implemented and maintained properly, improves plant reliability and safety while reducing unplanned outages and repair costs. Risk is given by the product of the probability of failure (POF) and the consequence of failure (COF). A semi-quantitative method is generally used for risk assessment. Semi-quantitative risk assessment complements the low accuracy of qualitative risk assessment and the high expense and long calculation time of quantitative risk assessment. The first step of RBI is to identify important failure modes and causes in the equipment. Once these are defined, the POF and COF can be assessed for each failure. During POF and COF assessment, an effective inspection method and range can be easily found. In this paper, the calculation of the POF is improved for accurate risk assessment. A modified semi-quantitative risk assessment was carried out for boiler facilities of thermal power plants, and the next maintenance schedules for the equipment were decided.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.315-331
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• 2009

Mechanical connections are recognized as extremely important elements in the aspect of strength and structural safety. However, classical structural model does not consider the connection stiffness properties, and are based on models with pinned or rigid joints only. In fact, mechanical connections are deformable and behave not linearly, affecting the whole structure and inducing nonlinear behavior as well. The quantification of this effect, however, depends on the description of the working of the connectors and the wood response under embedment. The theoretical modeling of wood structures with semi-rigid connections involves not only the structural analysis, but also the modeling of both single and grouped moment resisting connectors and the study of the wood properties under embedment. The proposal of this paper is to approach these aspects, and to quantitatively study the influence of the moment resistant connection in wooden framed structures. Comparisons between rigid and semi-rigid connections and between linear and nonlinear analysis lead to quantitative results.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.112-123
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• 2022

Objective: To investigate the relationship between ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (IASLC/ATS/ERS) histopathologic classification, including histological subtypes, proliferation activity, and somatic mutations. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 419 patients (150 males, 269 females; median age, 59.0 years; age range, 23.0-84.0 years) who had undergone surgical removal of stage IA-IIIA lung adenocarcinoma and had preoperative PET/CT data of lung tumors. The maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), background-subtracted volume (BSV), and background-subtracted lesion activity (BSL) derived from PET/CT were measured. The IASLC/ATS/ERS subtypes, Ki67 score, and epidermal growth factor/anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EGFR/ALK) mutation status were evaluated. The PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters were compared between the tumor subtypes using the Mann-Whitney U test or the Kruskal-Wallis test. The optimum cutoff values of the PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters for distinguishing the IASLC/ATS/ERS subtypes were calculated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The correlation between the PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters and pathological parameters was analyzed using Spearman's correlation. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: SUVmax, BSV, and BSL values were significantly higher in invasive adenocarcinoma (IA) than in minimally IA (MIA), and the values were higher in MIA than in adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) (all p < 0.05). Remarkably, an SUVmax of 0.90 and a BSL of 3.62 were shown to be the optimal cutoff values for differentiating MIA from AIS, manifesting as pure ground-glass nodules with 100% sensitivity and specificity. Metabolic-volumetric parameters (BSV and BSL) were better potential independent factors than metabolic parameters (SUVmax) in differentiating growth patterns. SUVmax and BSL, rather than BSV, were strongly or moderately correlated with Ki67 in most subtypes, except for the micropapillary and solid predominant groups. PET/CT parameters were not correlated with EGFR/ALK mutation status. Conclusion: As noninvasive surrogates, preoperative PET/CT semi-quantitative parameters could imply IASLC/ATS/ERS subtypes and Ki67 index and thus may contribute to improved management of precise surgery and postoperative adjuvant therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4883-4889
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• 2013

Background: The most common incident cancer and cause of cancer-related deaths in women is breast cancer. The Myc gene is upregulated in many cancer types including breast cancer, and it is considered as a potential anti-cancer drug target. The present study was conducted to evaluate the Myc (gene and protein) expression pattern in an experimental mammary tumour model in rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty six Sprague Dawley rats were divided into: Experimental group (26 animals), which received the chemical carcinogen N-methyl nitrosourea (MNU) and a control group (10 animals), which received vehicle only. c-Myc oncoprotein and its mRNA expression pattern were evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively, in normal rat mammary tissue and mammary tumours. The rat glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene was used as internal control for semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Results: Histopathological examination of mammary tissues and tumours from MNU treated animals revealed the presence of premalignant lesions, benign tumours, in situ carcinomas and invasive carcinomas. Immunohistochemical evaluation of tumour tissues showed upregulation and heterogeneous cellular localization of c-Myc oncoprotein. The expression levels of c-Myc oncoprotein were significantly elevated (75-91%) in all the tumours. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed increased expression of c-Myc mRNA in mammary tumours compared to normal mammary tissues. Conclusions: Further large-scale investigation study is needed to adopt this experimental rat mammary tumour model as an in vivo model to study anti-cancer strategies directed against Myc or its downstream partners at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 2003

The aim of this study was to assess the nutrient intakes of the elderly subjects in Korea. Dietary assessment was carried out using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) developed by our laboratory, which included 98 commonly consumed food items selected from 1998 National Health and Nutritional Survey for Korean population. Subjects (n = 2,660) aged 50yr and over were recruited in Seoul, 6 metropolitan cities, and 8 mid-size cities. Calcium and riboflavin intakes of the elderly subjects aged 65 yr and over (n = 1,974) were much lower compared with Korean RDA. Nutrient intakes of the three age group (50-64 yr, 65-74 yr, 75 yr and over) were decreased as age increased in male and female elderly. Nutrient intakes of male elderly, 75 yr and over, were significantly decreased while in female elderly nutrient intakes were gradually decreased as age increased. Over 30% of the elderly subjects did not meet 75% RDA for calcium, iron, vitamin A, and riboflavin. The proportion of the elderly subjects whose intakes were below 75% RDA was much higher than the elderly whose intakes were above 125% RDA, especially among the elderly aged 75 yr and over. This study revealed that the Korean elderly had inadequate intakes for many nutrients. This will cause a serious nutritional problem for the elderly.