• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.311-314
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• 2005

To evaluate the acute effects of fine particles on pulmonary function, a longitudinal study was conducted. This study was carried out for the schoolchildren(3rd and 4th grades) living in Inner-Mongolia, China. 113 Chinese children were asked to record their daily levels of peak expiratory flow rate(PEPR) using portable peak flow meter(mini-Wright) for 40 days and 3 time everyday(12 April 2004 to 21 May 2004). The atmospheric concentration of fine particles in study area was also determined everyday during same period. The relationship between dailypeak expiratory flow rate(PEFR) and fine particle levels was analyzed using a mixed linear regression models including gender, age, height, the presence of respiratory symptoms, and daily average relative humidity as extraneous variables. The analysis showed that the increase of fine particle concentrations was negatively associated with the variability in PEPR. The IQR(inter-quartile range) increments of $PM_{10}$ or $PM_{2.5}(66.0{\mu}g/m^3$ and $118.9{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively) were also shown to be related with 1.422L/min(95% Confidence intervals: 0.270 ${\sim}$ 2.574) and 1.214L1min(95% Cl: 0.010 ${\sim}$ 2.418) decline in PEFR.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.754-762
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• 2002

This study was performed to investigate the effect of sodium intake on blood pressure and blood parameters. 20 young adult women were fed the diets containing 290.5 mEq (high-Na diet) and 51.3 mEq (low-Na diet) Na for 6 days, respectively. BMI, DBP, and MBP were significantly lower in low-Na diet than those in high-Na diet. 20 subjects were divided into 3 groups according to the salt-sensitivity. In salt-sensitive group, decreases in SBP, DBP, and MBP by low-Na diet were shown. And there were not significant difference in blood pressure of salt-resistant group between high- and low-Na diet. In count-reactive group, MBP in low-Na diet was significantly higher than that in high-Na diet. Hemoglobin, creatinine, uric acid, and haptoglobin levels in serum were significantly higher in low-Na diet than those in high-Na diet. Among groups with different salt-sensitivity, increments of haptoglobin by low-Na diet were shown in salt-sensitive and counter-reactive groups. Actually, low sodium diet affects not only the blood pressure, but other biochemical parameters which in turn affect an individual overall health. Also salt-sensitivity should be considered as an important determinant. Therefore, for the patients who need restricted Na diet, it would be suggested that various biochemical changes and individual salt-sensitivity should be carefully considered along with dietary Na manipulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.150-157
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• 2003

In this paper, the large deformation of hollow silicon rubber gasket is treated. The frictional contact occurs between groove and the outer part of hollow gasket, and the frictional self-contact exists in the inner parts of hollow gasket. The silicon rubber has the nonlinear elastic behavior and its material property is approximately incompressible. Hence, the stress analysis requires an existence of a strain energy function, which is usually defined in terms of invariants or stretch ratio such as generalized Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden model. Considering large compressive deformation and friction, Mooney-Rivlin 3rd model and Coulomb's friction model are assumed. The numerical analysis is obtained by the commercial finite element program MARC. But, due to large deformation, the elements degenerate in the inner parts of hollow gasket. This means that the analysis of subsequent increments is carried out with a very poor mesh. In order to continue the analysis with a sufficient accuracy, it is necessary to use new finite element modeling by remesh. Experiments are also performed to show the validity of present method. As a conclusion, numerical results by this research have good agreements with experiments.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.563-578
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• 2015

Forecasting daily box-office performance is critical for planning the distribution of marketing resources, and by extension, maximizing profits. For certain movies, the number of viewers increases rapidly at the beginning of their theatrical run, and the increments slow down later. Other movies are not popular in the beginning, but the audience sizes grow rapidly afterward. Thus, the audience attendance of movies grow in different trajectories, which are influenced by various factors including marketing budget, distributors, directors, actors, and word of mouth. In this paper, we propose a method for predicting the daily performance trajectory of running movies based on the hierarchical linear model. More specifically, we focus on the effect of online word of mouth on the shape of the growth curves. We fitted the mean trajectory of the cumulative audience size as a cubic function of time, and allowed the intercept and slope to vary movie-to-movie. Moreover, we fitted the linear slope with a function of online word of mouth predictors to help determine the shape of the trajectories. Finally, we provide performance predictions for individual movies.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.268-276
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• 2015

Solid waste production increases due to population and consumption increments. Landfill is the ultimate destination for all kinds of municipal solid waste; and is the most convenient waste disposal method in developing countries. To minimize investment and operational costs and society's opposition towards locating landfills nearby, proper landfill sizing and siting are essential. In this study, solid waste forecasting using Autoregressive Integrating Moving Average (ARIMA) was integrated with government future plans and waste composition to estimate the required landfill area for the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Landfill siting criteria were then prioritized based on expert's preferences. To minimize ambiguity and the uncertainty of the criteria prioritizing process, the expert's preferences were treated using integrated Median Ranked Sample Set (MRSS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) models. The results show that the required landfill area is 342 hectares and the environmental criteria are the most important; with a priority equal to 48%.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.136-140
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• 2013

The stringent emission norms cannot be met through engine design and exhaust after treatment alone. Use of oxygenated fuel like biodiesel as a alternative to diesel may be the best way to reduce emissions today. In this study, Diesel fuel and pure biodiesel (mahua oil) were tested on a single cylinder naturally-aspirated direct-injection diesel engine. The study aims to investigate the effects of the mahua oil biodiesel on existing diesel engine emissions. The effect of test fuels on engine emissions like CO, HC, $CO_2$, NOx and smoke emissions was investigated with respect to the load on engine. Smoke opacity of Diesel engine was lower in case of biodiesel of mahua oil as compare to mineral diesel. NOx emissions was little higher during the whole range of loading, which is a typical characteristic of biodiesel. However the increments are within in the narrow range. $CO_2$ emissions was bit higher which is the indication of better combustion due to presence of rich oxygen in the mixture, it results in the low values of CO and HC during the whole range of experiments. Thus considering environmental norms most of the engine emissions, it can be concluded and biodiesel derived from mahua oil could be used in a conventional diesel engine without any modification.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.23-37
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• 2018

In this paper, seismic provisions related to built-up special concentrically braced frames (BSCBFs) are investigated under cyclic loading using non-linear finite element analysis of a single-bay single-story frame. These braces, which contain double angle and double channel brace sections, are considered in two types of single diagonal and X-braced frames. The results of this study show that current seismic provisions such as observing the 0.4 ratio for slenderness ratio of individual elements between stitch connectors are conservative in BSCBFs, and can be increased according to the type of braces. Furthermore, such increments will lead to decreasing or remaining the current middle protected zone requirements of each BSCBFs. Failure results of BSCBFs, which are related to the plastic equivalent strain growth of members and ductility capacity of the models, show that the behaviors of double channel back-to-back diagonal braces are more desirable than those of similar face-to-face ones. Also, for double angle diagonal braces, results show that the failure of back-to-back BSCBFs occurs faster in comparison with face-to-face similar braces. In X-braced frames, cyclic and failure behaviors of built-up face-to-face models are more desirable than similar back-to-back braces in general.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.553-564
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• 2020

In this study, a simple numerical approach for a circular tunnel opening in strain-softening surrounding rock is proposed considering out-of-plane stress and seepage force based on Biot's effective stress principle. The plastic region of strain-softening surrounding rock was divided into a finite number of concentric rings, of which the thickness was determined by the internal equilibrium equation. The increments of stress and strain for each ring, starting from the elastic-plastic interface, were obtained by successively incorporating the effect of out-of-plane stress and Biot's effective stress principle. The initial value of the outmost ring was determined using equilibrium and compatibility equations. Based on the Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) and generalized Hoek-Brown (H-B) failure criteria, the stress-increment approach for solving stress, displacement, and plastic radius was improved by considering the effects of Biot's effective stress principle and the nonlinear degradation of strength and deformation parameters in plastic zone incorporating out-of-plane stress. The correctness of the proposed approach is validated by numerical simulation.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.13 no.3 s.56
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• pp.172-177
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• 2006

Aging characteristics and mechanical properties of commercial 7xxx series Al composites were investigated from viewpoint of ceramic contents. After sintering process, sintered densities of blended and composite powder were 95 and 97%, respectively. Each part was solution-treated at $475^{\circ}C$ for 60 min and aged $175^{\circ}C$. And two-step aging was also performed form $120^{\circ}C$ to $175^{\circ}C$. The aging behavior of the sintered composite pow-der was different from that of sintered blended powder. The peak aging time of the composite was rapid as well due to strain. Before aging, mechanical properties of sintered composite powder was significantly higher than that of sintered blended powder. These increments of properties were directly affected by ceramic particles. However, after aging, incremental rate of mechanical properties was slowed in the composite.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.365-369
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• 2010

In this study, we examined whether melatonin promotes apoptotic cell death via p53 in prostate LNCaP cells. Melatonin treatment significantly curtailed the growth of LNCaP cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Melatonin treatment (0 to 3 mM) induced the fragmentation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and activation of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9. Moreover, melatonin markedly activated Bax expression and decreased Bcl-2 expression in dose increments. To investigate p53 and p21 expression, LNCaP cells were treated with 0 to 3 mM melatonin. Melatonin increased the expressions of p53, p21, and p27. Treatment with mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors, PD98059 (ERK inhibitor), SP600125 (JNK inhibitor) and SB202190 (p38 inhibitor), confirmed that the melatonin-induced apoptosis was p21-dependent, but ERK-independent. With the co-treatment of PD98059 and melatonin, the expression of p-p53, p21, and MDM2 did not decrease. These effects were opposite to the expression of p-p53, p21, and MDM2 observed with SP600125 and SB202190 treatments. Together, these results suggest that p53-dependent induction of JNK/p38 MAPK directly participates in apoptosis induced by melatonin.