• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2395-2407
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• 2022

The sodium-cooled fast reactor is among the innovative nuclear technologies selected in the framework of the development of Generation IV concepts, allowing the irradiation of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels (MOX). A fundamental step for the safety assessment of MOX-fuelled pins for fast reactor applications is the evaluation, by means of fuel performance codes, of the integral thermal-mechanical behaviour under irradiation, involving the fission gas behaviour and release in the fuel-cladding gap. This work is dedicated to the performance analysis of an inner-core fuel pin representative of the ASTRID sodium-cooled concept design, selected as case study for the benchmark between the GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS fuel performance codes. The focus is on fission gas-related mechanisms and integral outcomes as predicted by means of the SCIANTIX module (allowing the physics-based treatment of inert gas behaviour and release) coupled to both fuel performance codes. The benchmark activity involves the application of both GERMINAL and TRANSURANUS in their "pre-INSPYRE" versions, i.e., adopting the state-of-the-art recommended correlations available in the codes, compared with the "post-INSPYRE" code results, obtained by implementing novel models for MOX fuel properties and phenomena (SCIANTIX included) developed in the framework of the INSPYRE H2020 Project. The SCIANTIX modelling includes the consideration of burst releases of the fission gas stored at the grain boundaries occurring during power transients of shutdown and start-up, whose effect on a fast reactor fuel concept is analysed. A clear need to further extend and validate the SCIANTIX module for application to fast reactor MOX emerges from this work; nevertheless, the GERMINAL-TRANSURANUS benchmark on the ASTRID case study highlights the achieved code capabilities for fast reactor conditions and paves the way towards the proper application of fuel performance codes to safety evaluations on Generation IV reactor concepts.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.192-197
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• 1987

Two-point kinetic equations for a compact-core-with-bulky-D$_2$O-reflector system were developed. A unique feature of the system is that certain fission gammas create retarded photoneutrons in the D$_2$O reflector by (ｒ, n) reaction. Coupling effect between the core and the reflector was investigated by simulating power transients with various ramp reactivity insertions. Special attention was paid to the phenomenon associated with spatial separation of photoneutrons and their precursors. Simulations show that accuracy of the two-point model is comparable with that of space-dependent approach. Also it is found that the explicily expressed photoneutron terms in the reflector equation slow down the power transient compared to non-photoneutron expressions. Detectors for reactor power control purpose prefer to be deployed in the core zone to be able to accurately perdict transient power.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2005

The electrochemical behaviors of polycrystalline silver electrodes in 8M KOH solutions containing $Bi_2O_3$ were studied under various conditions by cyclic voltammetry, potentiostatic and galvanostatic techniques as well as the morphology of the silver oxide structures by SEM. It was found that three new compounds comprising silver, bismuth, and oxygen as well as $Bi_2O_3$, $Ag_2O$ and AgO were formed during the electrochemical oxidation of silver. In addition, the potentiostatic current transients were characterized by the appearances of the first current peaks corresponding to the formation of silver oxides, and the second current peaks corresponding to the Ag-Bi-O compounds, indicating the presence of the nucleation and 3D growth mechanism, in the potential regions of $Ag_2O$ and AgO, respectively. Microscopic examinations showed that two types of silver (I) oxide morphologies are formed in the potential region of $Ag_2O$.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

In this paper, we analyze the influence of indirect lightning strikes based on the structure of shielded cables used in an aircraft and propose a cable structure to enhance shielding effectiveness. Cables in an aircraft account for the largest proportion among components and play a crucial role in connecting aircraft frames and electronic devices; thus, making them highly influential. In particular, indirect lightning strike noise can lead to malfunctions and cause damage in aircraft electronic equipment, making the utilization of shielded cables essential for mitigating damage caused by indirect lightning strike noise. We conducted an analysis of the impact of indirect lightning strikes on aircraft shielded cables considering factors, such as the presence of shielding layers, core, and insulation in the cable structure. Furthermore, we validated our findings through simulations and experiments by applying the internationally recognized standard for indirect lightning, RTCA DO-160G Sec. 22.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.73-92
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• 2024

Purpose: This study developed and tested a hypothetical model of health promotion behavior on migrant workers based on the Health Promotion Model and the Health Literacy Skills Framework. Methods: Data were collected from 298 migrant workers in 9 regions across the country from December 2020 to March 2021. The exogenous variables were e-health literacy, occupational stress, acculturation, and social support. The endogenous variables were perceived benefits of action, self-efficacy, and health promotion behavior. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 25.0, AMOS 20.0, and R-4.0.3 program. Results: The model fit was appropriate. Social support had the most significant direct impact on the health promotion behavior of migrant workers. Perceived benefits of action and self-efficacy played a mediating role in the relationship among e-health literacy, social support, and health promotion behavior. Based on multi-group analysis, the migrant worker group with less than 5 years of residency had a more statistically significant effect on the relationship between perceived benefits of action and health promotion behavior than those with over 5 years. Conclusion: Providing social support as a critical administrative strategy to enhance the health promotion behavior of migrant workers is necessary. Furthermore, when developing an intervention program utilizing the internal mechanism between social support and health promotion behavior, a self-efficacy-enhancing strategy is considered to be more effective. Additionally, educating migrant workers with short-term residence of less than 5 years about the benefits of health behaviors is essential.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.973-979
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• 2024

In the framework of the Generation IV research and development project, in which the French Commission of Alternative and Atomic Energies (CEA) is involved, a main objective for the design of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) is to meet the safety goals for severe accidents. Among the severe ones, the Unprotected Transient OverPower (UTOP) accidents can lead very quickly to a global melting of the core. UTOP accidents can be considered either as slow during a Control Rod Withdrawal (CRW) or as fast. The paper focuses on fast UTOP accidents, which occur in a few milliseconds, and three different scenarios are considered: rupture of the core support plate, uncontrolled passage of a gas bubble inside the core and core mechanical distortion such as a core flowering/compaction during an earthquake. Several levels and rates of reactivity insertions are also considered and the thermal-mechanical behavior of an ASTRID fuel pin from the ASTRID CFV core is simulated with the GERMINAL code. Two types of fuel pins are simulated, inner and outer core pins, and three different burn-up are considered. Moreover, the feedback from the CABRI programs on these type of transients is used in order to evaluate the failure mechanism in terms of kinetics of energy injection and fuel melting. The CABRI experiments complete the analysis made with GERMINAL calculations and have shown that three dominant mechanisms can be considered as responsible for pin failure or onset of pin degradation during ULOF/UTOP accident: molten cavity pressure loading, fuel-cladding mechanical interaction (FCMI) and fuel break-up. The study is one of the first step in fast UTOP accidents modelling with GERMINAL and it has shown that the code can already succeed in modelling these type of scenarios up to the sodium boiling point. The modeling of the radial propagation of the melting front, validated by comparison with CABRI tests, is already very efficient.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2024

Diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) has been widely used as an inhibitor of NADPH oxidase (Nox) to discover its function in cardiac myocytes under various stimuli. However, the effects of DPI itself on Ca²⁺ signaling and contraction in cardiac myocytes under control conditions have not been understood. We investigated the effects of DPI on contraction and Ca²⁺ signaling and their underlying mechanisms using video edge detection, confocal imaging, and whole-cell patch clamp technique in isolated rat cardiac myocytes. Application of DPI suppressed cell shortenings in a concentration-dependent manner (IC₅₀ of ≅0.17 µM) with a maximal inhibition of ~70% at ~100 µM. DPI decreased the magnitude of Ca²⁺ transient and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ content by 20%-30% at 3 µM that is usually used to remove the Nox activity, with no effect on fractional release. There was no significant change in the half-decay time of Ca²⁺ transients by DPI. The L-type Ca²⁺ current (I_Ca) was decreased concentration-dependently by DPI (IC₅₀ of ≅40.3 µM) with ≅13.1%-inhibition at 3 µM. The frequency of Ca²⁺ sparks was reduced by 3 µM DPI (by ~25%), which was resistant to a brief removal of external Ca²⁺ and Na⁺. Mitochondrial superoxide level was reduced by DPI at 3-100 µM. Our data suggest that DPI may suppress L-type Ca²⁺ channel and RyR, thereby attenuating Ca²⁺-induced Ca²⁺ release and contractility in cardiac myocytes, and that such DPI effects may be related to mitochondrial metabolic suppression.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3571-3584
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• 2024

Reactor core transient calculation is very important for the reactor safety analysis, in which the kernel is neutron kinetics calculation by simulating the variation of neutron density or thermal power over time. Compared with the point kinetics method, the time-space neutron kinetics calculation can provide accurate variation of neutron density in both space and time domain. But it consumes a lot of resources. It is necessary to develop a surrogate model that can quickly obtain the temporal and spatial variation information of neutron density or power with acceptable calculation accuracy. This paper uses the time-varying characteristics of power to construct a time function, parameterizes the time-varying characteristics which contains the information about the spatial change of power. Thereby, the amount of targets to predict in the space domain is compressed. A surrogate method using the machine learning is proposed in this paper. In the construction of a neural network, the input is processed by a convolutional layer, followed by a fully connected layer or a deconvolution layer. For the problem of time sequence disturbance, a structure combining convolutional neural network and recurrent neural network is used. It is verified in the tests of a series of 1D, 2D and 3D reactor models. The predicted values obtained using the constructed neural network models in these tests are in good agreement with the reference values, showing the powerful potential of the surrogate models.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.796-805
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• 2015

Gintonin is a novel ginseng-derived lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptor ligand. Oral administration of gintonin ameliorates learning and memory dysfunctions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) animal models. The brain cholinergic system plays a key role in cognitive functions. The brains of AD patients show a reduction in acetylcholine concentration caused by cholinergic system impairments. However, little is known about the role of LPA in the cholinergic system. In this study, we used gintonin to investigate the effect of LPA receptor activation on the cholinergic system in vitro and in vivo using wild-type and AD animal models. Gintonin induced $[Ca^{2+}]_i $ transient in cultured mouse hippocampal neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Gintonin-mediated $[Ca^{2+}]_i $ transients were linked to stimulation of acetylcholine release through LPA receptor activation. Oral administration of gintonin-enriched fraction (25, 50, or 100 mg/kg, 3 weeks) significantly attenuated scopolamine-induced memory impairment. Oral administration of gintonin (25 or 50 mg/kg, 1 2 weeks) also significantly attenuated amyloid-${\beta}$ protein ($A{\beta}$)-induced cholinergic dysfunctions, such as decreased acetylcholine concentration, decreased choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and immunoreactivity, and increased acetylcholine esterase (AChE) activity. In a transgenic AD mouse model, long-term oral administration of gintonin (25 or 50 mg/kg, 3 months) also attenuated AD-related cholinergic impairments. In this study, we showed that activation of G protein-coupled LPA receptors by gintonin is coupled to the regulation of cholinergic functions. Furthermore, this study showed that gintonin could be a novel agent for the restoration of cholinergic system damages due to $A{\beta}$ and could be utilized for AD prevention or therapy.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.183-199
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• 2012

Previous Earth Science textbooks have mostly lacked the latest astronomical phenomena frequently being reported in mass media such as popular science magazines. One of the main directions in the revision of the 2009 National Curriculum of Korea is to actively include those phenomena. Furthermore, despite a close link between astronomy and physics, the concept of modern physics has not been actively introduced in Earth Science textbooks and at the same time the linkage of physics to astronomy has rarely been studies in physics textbooks. Therefore, the concept of integration among different fields in science is emphasized in the new National Curriculum. Transient phenomena in the high energy astrophysical objects are examples that reflect such issue. The purpose of this study is to introduce transferring a real-time data and making imaging of astronomical observations using e-Science. As a first step, we performed the first experiment for a large data transfer of astronomical observation between Korea and Japan using KOREN, a National Research and Education Test Network. We introduce actively on-going fields of e-Science in observational activities of astronomy and astrophysics, and their close interrelationship with scientific inquiry activities and public outreach activities. We discuss our experiment in the scientific and educational aspects to the primitive e-Science activity in the Korean astronomical society and, in turn, provide a prospective view for its application to the scientific inquiry activities and public outreach activities in the upcoming commercial Gbps-level internet environments.