• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.306-316
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• 2017

Purpose: To investigate the predictive role of maximum standardized uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) of 2-[$^{18}F$]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose($^{18}F-FDG$) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in nasopharyngeal cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Materials and Methods: Between October 2006 and April 2016, 53 patients were treated with IMRT in two institutions and their PET/CT at the time of diagnosis was reviewed. The $SUV_{max}$ of their nasopharyngeal lesions and metastatic lymph nodes (LN) was recorded. IMRT was delivered using helical tomotherapy. All patients except for one were treated with concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT). Correlations between $SUV_{max}$ and patients' survival and recurrence were analyzed. Results: At a median follow-up time of 31.5 months (range, 3.4 to 98.7 months), the 3-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 83.2% and 77.5%, respectively. In univariate analysis, patients with a higher nodal pre-treatment $SUV_{max}$ (${\geq}13.4$) demonstrated significantly lower 3-year OS (93.1% vs. 55.5%; p = 0.003), DFS (92.7% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.001), locoregional recurrence-free survival (100% vs. 50.5%; p < 0.001), and distant metastasis-free survival (100% vs. 69.2%; p = 0.004), respectively. In multivariate analysis, high pre-treatment nodal $SUV_{max}$ (${\geq}13.4$) was a negative prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 7.799; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.506-40.397; p = 0.014) and DFS (HR, 9.392; 95% CI, 1.989-44.339; p = 0.005). Conclusions: High pre-treatment nodal $SUV_{max}$ was an independent prognosticator of survival and disease progression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with IMRT in our cohort. Therefore, nodal $SUV_{max}$ may provide important information for identifying patients who require more aggressive treatment.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.304-315
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• 2008

The total suspended particles (TSP) collected at the 1100 site of Mt. Halla have shown higher compositions for the anthropogenic components followed by marine and soil originated ones. The concentrations of the soil originated nss-$Ca^{2+}$, Al, Fe, Ca components have been increased in spring, and the anthropogenic $NH{_4}^+$, $K^+$, nss-$SO{_4}^{2-}$ components showed high concentrations in June. Meanwhile, the concentration of $NO{_3}^-$ as same as nss-$Ca^{2+}$ was higher in spring. It's likely due to the influence of its long-range transport from China. Compared to the non-Asian Dust periods, the concentrations of nss-$Ca^{2+}$, Al, Ca, and Fe have been increased 7.2~9.5 times in Asian Dust storm periods, and those of nss-$SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO{_3}^-$ were 1.3 and 3.8 times, respectively. From the factor analysis, the TSP compositions were influenced mainly by anthropogenic emission sources, followed by oceanic and soil sources. The backward trajectory analysis has shown that the concentrations of the anthropogenic and soil components were increased when the air parcels had been moved into Jeju island via China in a northwesterly wind.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 1995

In former times the protection of our environment didn't play an important role due to the fact that emissions and effluents were not considered as serious impacts. However, opinions and scientific measurements meanwhile confirmed that the impacts are more serious than expected. Thus measures to protect our earth has to be taken into consideration. A part of these measures in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). One of the most important parts of the EIA is the collection of basic datas and the following evaluation. Experience out of the daily business of Gerling Consulting Group shows that the content of the EIA has to be revised and enlarged in certain fields. The historical development demonstrated that in areas in which the population and the industrial activities reached high concentration there is a high necessity to develop strict environmental laws and regulations. Maximum values of the concentration of hazardous materials were fixed concerning the emission into and water. Companies not following these regulations were punished. The total amount of environmental offences increased rapidly during the last decade, at least in Germany. During this development the public consciousness concerning environmental affairs increased as well in the industrialized countries. But it could clearly be seen that the development in the field of environmental protection went into the wrong direction. The technologies to protect the environment became more and more sophisticated and terms as: "state of the art" guided more and more to lower emissions, Filtertechnologies and wastewater treatment for example reached a high technical level-but all these sophisticated technologies has one and the same characteristic: they were end-of-the pipe solutions. A second effect was that this kind of environmental protection costs a lot of money. High investments are necessary to reduce the dust emission by another ppm! Could this be the correct way? In Germany the discussion started that the environmental laws reduce the attractivity to invest or to enlarge existing investments within the country. Other countries seem to be not so strict with controlling the environmental laws which means it's simply cheaper to produce in Portugal or Greece. Everybody however knows that this is not the correct way and does not solve the environmental problems. Meanwhile the general picture changes a little bit and we think it changes into the correct direction "End-of-the-pipe" solutions are still necessary but this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word especially in connection with environmental management and safety. Modern actual environmental management starts in a different way. Thoughts about emissions start in the very beginning of the production, they start with the design of the product and modification of traditional modes of production. Basis of these ideas are detailed analyses of products and processes. Due to the above mentioned facts that the public environmental consciousness changed dramatically a continous environmental improvement of each single production plant has to be guarantied. This question is already an important question of the EIA. But it was never really checked in a wholistic approach. Environmental risks have to be taken into considerations during the execution of an EIA. This means that the environmental risks have to be reduced down to a capable risk-level. Environmental risks have to be considered within the phase of planning, during the operation of a plant and after shut down. The experience shows that most of the environmental relevant accidents were and caused by human fault. Even in highly protected plants the human risk-factor can not be excluded during evaluation of the risk-potential. Thus the approach of an EIA has to regard technical evaluations as well as organizational thoughts and the human factor. An environmental risk is a threat to the environment. An analysis of the risk concerning the organizational and human aspect however never was properly executed during an EIA. A possible solution could be to use an instrument as the actual EMAS (Environmental Management System) of the EC for more accurate evaluation of the impact to the environment during an EIA. Organizations or investors could demonstrate by an approved EMAS or even by showing their installment of EMAS that not only the technical level of the planned investment meets the requested standards but as well the actual or planned management is able to reduce the environmental impact down to a bearable level.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.88-100
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• 2018

Methane emissions from rice paddies are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector, but there are significant regional differences depending on the surrounding conditions and cultivation practices. To visualize these differences and to analyze their causes and characteristics, the methane emissions from each administrative district in South Korea were calculated according to the IPCC guidelines using the data from the 2010 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census, and then the results were mapped by using the ArcGIS. The nationwide average of methane emissions per unit area was $380{\pm}74kg\;CH_4\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$. The western region showed a trend toward higher values than the eastern region. One of the major causes resulting in such regional differences was the $SF_o$ (scaling factor associated with the application of organic matter), where the number of cultivation days played an important role to either offset or deepen the differences. Comparison of our results against the actual methane emissions data observed by eddy covariance flux measurement in the three KoFlux rice paddy sites in Gimje, Haenam and Cheorwon showed some differences but encouraging results with a difference of 10 % or less depending on the sites and years. Using the updated GWP (global warming potential) value of 28, the national total methane emission in 2010 was estimated to be $8,742,000tons\;CO_2eq$ - 13% lower than that of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report (i.e., $10,048,000tons\;CO_2eq$). The administrative districts-based map of methane emissions developed in this study can help identify the regional differences, and the analysis of their key controlling factors will provide important scientific basis for the practical policy makings for methane mitigation.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of mesenchymal stem cell proliferation on recombinant human transforming growth factor-beta (rhTGF-${\beta}2$) / poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) treated titanium discs by electrospray. Materials and methods: Anodized titanium surface coated with PLGA was used for a control group to compare anodized titanium surface coated with 125 ng/ml and 500 ng/ml rhTGF-${\beta}2$ as test groups. Atomic force microscope (AFM) test was utilized to determine the difference in coating surface roughness, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was taken to visualize even distribution of coating particles on titanium discs. The mesenchymal stem cell proliferation was tested by using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) assay on 1st, 4th, 7th days. Results: According to AFM results, there was no statistically significant difference in titanium discs treated with PLGA and with rhTGF-${\beta}2$/PLGA (P>.05). MTT assay test results showed that there was statistically significant difference in mesenchymal stem cell proliferation on test groups compared to control groups at 7th day, and cell viability on discs coated with rhTGF-${\beta}2$ was significantly higher than control groups (P<.05). Conclusion: Titanium surface coated with rhTGF-${\beta}2$/PLGA shows statistically significant higher cell proliferation and the titanium surface coated with the higher concentration of rhTGF-${\beta}2$ presents faster cell growth activity.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2017

The present experiment was designed to investigate the effects of extruded linseed supplementation on methane production in Holstein steers. Four Holstein steers fitted with permanent cannulas were assigned to two dietary treatments in a duplicated $2{\times}2$ Latin square design: a control diet consisting of tall fescue straw (65%) and concentrate (35%), and a treatment diet supplemented with 3.8% extruded linseed by replacing a part of ingredients in the concentrate of the control diet. The concentrates of the control and the treatment diet were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Extruded linseed supplementation did not affect dry matter intake but significantly (P<0.05) increased the intake of lipid. Rumen pH was significantly (P<0.05) lower for control than for treatment. Although there was no significant difference between treatments, the concentration of total VFA in control was 21% higher than in treatment. The concentrations of acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid were not different between treatments. Extruded linseed supplementation significantly (P<0.05) reduced methane output(g/d) and emission factor. Methane conversion rate was lower for treatment than for control but no significant difference was found. The results of the present study showed that extruded linseed supplementation in the diet of Holstein steers could reduce methane output.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.1235-1247
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• 2013

This study is to evaluate the climate change impact on future storage behavior of Chungju dam($2,750{\times}10^6m^3$) and the regulation dam($30{\times}10^6m^3$) using SWAT(Soil Water Assessment Tool) model. Using 9 years data (2002~2010), the SWAT was calibrated and validated for streamflow at three locations with 0.73 average Nash-Sutcliffe model Efficiency (NSE) and for two reservoir water levels with 0.86 NSE respectively. For future evaluation, the HadCM3 of GCMs (General Circulation Models) data by scenarios of SRES (Special Report on Emission Scenarios) A2 and B1 of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) were adopted. The monthly temperature and precipitation data (2007~2099) were spatially corrected using 30 years (1977~2006, baseline period) of ground measured data through bias-correction, and temporally downscaled by Change Factor (CF) statistical method. For two periods; 2040s (2031~2050), 2080s (2071~2099), the future annual temperature were predicted to change $+0.9^{\circ}C$ in 2040s and $+4.0^{\circ}C$ in 2080s, and annual precipitation increased 9.6% in 2040s and 20.7% in 2080s respectively. The future watershed evapotranspiration increased up to 15.3% and the soil moisture decreased maximum 2.8% compared to baseline (2002~2010) condition. Under the future dam release condition of 9 years average (2002~2010) for each dam, the yearly dam inflow increased maximum 21.1% for most period except autumn. By the decrease of dam inflow in future autumn, the future dam storage could not recover to the full water level at the end of the year by the present dam release pattern. For the future flood and drought years, the temporal variation of dam storage became more unstable as it needs careful downward and upward management of dam storage respectively. Thus it is necessary to adjust the dam release pattern for climate change adaptation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.459-465
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• 2012

This study was conducted to obtain investigated characteristic factors which has an influence on nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) emissions related to the environment change of nitrogen application level, rainfall and temperature. It was done by the carrot cultivation at black volcanic ashes soil in the experimental field of Jeju Special Self-governing Province Agricultural Research and Extension Services from 2010 to 2011. During the carrot cultivation period, the more amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied, the more amount of $N_2O$ emissions were released. Generally $N_2O$ emissions were so deeply released to climate as that in the first and middle of cultivation with heavy rainfall released amount is high, otherwise it was released very low at the end of cultivation and drought season. $N_2O$ emissions type was considered to relate with the rainfall pattern and soil water content. We obtained the result correlated with $N_2O$ emissions, in 2010, as the soil water and soil temperature were significant to $0.5718^{**}$ ($r$) and $0.4908^{**}$ ($r$) respectively, but soil EC was not significant to 0.2704 ($r$). In 2011, soil water was significant to $0.3394^*$ ($r$), but soil temperature and soil EC were not significant to 0.2138 ($r$) and 0.2462 ($r$) respectively. Also, $NO_3$-N and soil nitrogen ($NO_3-N+NH_4-N$) were not significant to 0.0575 ($r$) and 0.0787 ($r$) respectively. During the carrot cultivation period, the average emissions factor released by the nitrogen fertilizer application for 2 years was presumed to be 0.0025 $N_2O$-N kg / N kg. This factor was 4 times than the IPCC (0.0100 $N_2O$-N kg / N kg) factor.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.701-710
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• 2004

Uncertainty was quantified to evaluate calcium determination result in infant formula with AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) and ICP-AES (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry). Uncertainty sources in measurand, such as sample weight, final volume of sample, sample dilution and the instrumental result were identified and used as parameters for combined standard uncertainty based on the GUM (Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement) and Draft EURACHEM/CITAC Guide. Uncertainty components of each sources in measurand were identified as resolution, reproducibility and stability of chemical balance, standard material purity, standard material molecular weight, standard solution concentration, standard solution dilution factor, sample dilution factor, calibration curve, recovery, instrumental precision, reproducibility, and stability, Each uncertainty components were evaluated by uncertainty types and included to calculate combined uncertainty. The kinds of uncertainty sources and components in the analytical method by AAS and ICP-AES were same except sample dilution factor for AAS. The analytical results and combined standard uncertainties of calcium content were estimated within the certification range $(367{\pm}20\;mg/100g)$ of CRM (Certified Reference Material) and were not significantly different between method by AAS followed by ashing and method by ICP-AES followed by acid digestion as $359.52{\pm}23.61\;mg/100g\;and\;354.75{\pm}16.16\;mg/100g$, respectively. Identifying uncertainty sources related with precision, repeatability, stability, and maintaining proper instrumental conditions as well as personal proficiency was needed to reduce analytical error.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.185-200
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• 2022

The risk of various hazardous substances in aquatic environment comprises not only the concentration of substances in the environmental medium but also their accumulation in fish through complex food web and the health risks to humans through the fish. In Korea, the monitoring of residual toxicant in aquatic ecosystems began in 2016 following the enforcement of the Acts on registration and evaluation for the management of chemicals used in daily life (consumer chemical products), and attention has been paid to potentially hazardous substances attributed to them. Recently, studies have been carried out to investigate the distribution of these hazardous substances in the ecosystem and calculate their emission factors. These include the accumulation and transport of substances, such as detergents, dyes, fragrances, cosmetics, and disinfectants, within trophic levels. This study summarizes the results of recently published research on the inflow and distribution of hazardous substances from consumer chemical products to the aquatic environment and presents the scientific implication. Based on studies on aquatic environment monitoring techniques, this study suggests research directions for monitoring the residual concentration and distribution of harmful chemical substances in aquatic ecosystems. In particular, this study introduces the directions for research on trophic position analysis using compound specific isotope analysis and trophic magnification factors, which are needed to fulfill the contemporary requirements of selecting target fish based on the survey of major fish that inhabit domestic waters and assessment of associated health risk. In addition, this study provides suggestions for future biota monitoring and chemical research in Korea.