• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine the clinical acceptability of various cement space settings for the marginal and internal fit of a zirconia core manufactured using additive manufacturing. Methods: The maxillary right incisor served as the master model. After scanning the maxillary right incisor with a dental 3D (three-dimensional) scanner, the stereo lithography file was created using different cement space settings of 40, 120, and 200 ㎛ using computer-aided design software (Dental System 2018; 3Shape). The marginal and internal fit of the 3 groups were determined using the silicon replica technique. Measurement points were divided into the following three categories: margin, axial wall, and incisal. To ensure more accurate measurements, these three measurement points were divided into 8 points. The Shapiro-Wilk, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey's honestly significant difference test (for all tests α=0.05) were the statistical analyses that were included in the study. Results: The CS (cement space)-200 group had better marginal and internal fit than the CS-40 and CS-120 groups, and there were statistically significant differences at the marginal and incisal points, except for the axial wall points. CS-200 group, both marginal and internal fit were within 120 ㎛, which is the clinically acceptable value. Conclusion: This study suggests that a 200 ㎛ cement space setting is ideal for optimal marginal and internal fit of 3D-printed ceramic crowns.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.845-849
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• 2024

Currently, rail surface defects are increasing due to the aging of urban railway rails, but in the detailed guidelines for track performance evaluation established by the country, rail surface damage is inspected with the naked eye of an engineer and with simple measuring tools. It is very important to discover defects in the rail surface through periodic track tours and visual inspection. However, evaluating the severity of defects on the rail surface based on the subjective judgment of the inspector has significant limitations in predicting damage inside the rail. In this study, the characteristics of cracks inside the rail due to rail surface damage were studied. In field measurements, rail surface damage was selected, old rail samples were collected in the acceleration and braking sections, and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to evaluate the rail surface damage was used to analyze the crack characteristics. As a result of the analysis, the crack mechanism caused by the running train and the crack characteristics of the acceleration section where cracks occur at an angle rising toward the rail surface were experimentally proven.

• Anatomy and Cell Biology
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.294-304
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• 2024

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasingly becoming more prevalent worldwide together with hospital care costs from secondary complications such as bone fractures. Femoral fracture risk is higher in diabetes. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the osteometric and microarchitecture of the femur of Zucker Diabetic Sprague-Dawley (ZDSD) femur. Ten-week-old male rats (n=38) consisting of 16 control Sprague-Dawley (SD) and 22 ZDSD rats were used. The rats were terminated at 20 weeks and others at 28 weeks of age to assess age, diabetes duration effects and its severity. Bilateral femora were taken for osteometry, bone mass measurements and micro-focus X-ray computed tomography scanning to assess the trabecular number (TbN), thickness (TbTh), spaces (TbSp), bone tissue volume to total volume (BV/TV) and volume (BV). Diabetic rats had shorter (except for 20-weeks-old), lighter, narrower, and less robust bones than SD controls that wered more robust. Although cortical area was similar in all diabatic and control rats, medullary canal area was the largest in ZDSD rats. This means that the diabetic rats bones were short, light and hollow. Diabetic rats aged 20 weeks had reduced BV, BV/TV, TbN with more spacing (TbSp). In contrast, the 28 weeks old diabetic rats only showed reduced BV and TbN. Discriminant function analysis revealed, for the first time, that osteometric parameters and TbTh, TbN, and TbSp were affected by diabetes. This knowledge is valuable in the management of diabetic complications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2740-2747
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• 2024

The sintering process acquired ferromagnetic copper ferrite ceramic material with a small concentration of Ni ion at 1100 ℃ for 1 h. Previously, copper ferrite with Ni proportions powder was acquired by the wet chemical process according to the relation CuFe_2-xNi_xO₄ where x takes values 0.0, 0.015, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.05. The role of Ni ion in the copper ferrite structure was investigated by X-ray analysis, Scanning electron microscope, EDX analysis, and density measurements. The gamma-ray shielding properties for the fabricated CuFeNiO ceramics samples were evaluated using the Monte Carlo simulation method. The obtained results show an enhancement in the linear attenuation coefficient for the fabricated ceramics with increasing the insertions of Ni ions within the fabricated samples, where increasing the Ni ions concentration between 0 and 1.19 wt% increases the linear attenuation by between 1.581 and 1.771 cm^-1 (at 0.103 MeV), 0.304-0.338 cm^-1 (at 0.662 MeV), and 0.160-0.178 cm^-1 (at 2.506 MeV), respectively. Simultaneously, the radiation protection efficiency for a 1 cm thickness of the fabricated samples increased between 14.8 and 16.3% with increasing the Ni ions between 0 and 1.19 wt%. Although the Ni doping concentration does not exceed 1.5 wt% of the total composition of the fabricated ceramics, the shielding capacity of the fabricated ceramics was enhanced by more than 11%, along the studied energy interval. Therefore, the fabricated samples can be used in gamma-ray shielding applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2153-2162
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to develop a high-energy neutron shielding material applied in proton therapy environment. Composite shielding material consisting of 10.00 wt% boron carbide particles (B₄C), 13.64 wt% surface-modified cross-linked polyethylene (PE), and 76.36 wt% tungsten particles were fabricated by hot-pressure sintering method, where the optimal ratio of the composite is determined by the shielding effect under the neutron field generated in typical proton therapy environment. The results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry measurements (DSC) and tensile experiment show that the composite has good thermal and mechanical properties. In addition, the high energy-neutron shielding performance of the developed material was evaluated using cyclotron proton accelerator with 100 MeV proton. The simulation shows a 99.99% decrease in fast neutron injection after 44 cm shielding, and the experiment result show a 99.70% decrease. Finally, the shielding effect of replacing part of the shielding material of the proton therapy hall with the developed material was simulated, and the results showed that the total neutron injection decreased to 0.99‰ and the neutron dose reduced to 1.10‰ before the enhanced shielding. In summary, the developed material is expected to serve as a shielding enhancement material in the proton therapy environment.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2024

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the changes in the roughness and weight of titanium discs treated with 3 different types of magnetostrictive ultrasonic scaler tip. Eighty identical disks (10 mm in diameter), 50 for surface roughness and 30 for weight change, were investigated in this study. For this study, 3 types of scaler tip were used as follows; Powerline(FSI-PWR-1000), Slimline(FSI-SLI-1000), and Thinsert(-16 00037374). The power was set to high power(HP), medium power(MP), and low power(LP), in the blue zone recommended by the manufacturer. Surface topography analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Surface roughness measurements, the average surface roughness (Ra) and mean roughness profile depth (Rz), were compared between treated and non-treated surfaces with a profilometer. A PowerLINE-MP of magnetostrictive ultrasonic scalers for implant patients might be recommended when considering changes in the roughness and weight of titanium discs.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.1-13
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• 2024

In this study, we applied an on-site diagnostic method for estimating the structural safety of a plastic greenhouse. A three-dimensional light detection and ranging (3D LiDAR) sensor was used to scan the greenhouse to extract point cloud data (PCD). Differential thresholds of the color index were applied to the partitions of raw PCD to separate steel frames from plastic films. Additionally, the K-means algorithm was used to convert the steel frame PCD into the nodes of unit members. These nodes were subsequently transformed into structural shape data. To verify greenhouse shape reproducibility, the member lengths of the scan and blueprint models were compared with the measurements along the X-, Y-, and Z-axes. The error of the scan model was accurate at 2%-3%, whereas the error of the blueprint model was 5.4%. At a maximum snow depth of 0.5 m, the scan model revealed asymmetric horizontal deflection and extreme bending stress, which indicated that even minor shape irregularities could result in critical failures in extreme weather. The safety factor for bending stress in the scan model was 18.7% lower than that in the blueprint model. This phenomenon indicated that precise shape estimation is crucial for safety diagnostic. Future studies should focus on the development of an automated process based on supervised learning to ensure the widespread adoption of greenhouse safety diagnostics.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.350-355
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• 2024

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) are materials of significant interest in next-generation technological fields due to their outstanding physicochemical properties, including excellent chemical and thermal stability. However, for effective utilization, dispersion of BNNT is essential. Unfortunately, BNNT exhibit hydrophobic surfaces and strong van der Waals forces, making their dispersion challenging. Current dispersion methods include the addition of surfactants and surface functionalization, but these chemical treatments often damage BNNT and involve cumbersome processes. In this study, we dispersed BNNT in water under various tip ultrasonication conditions and identified conditions that do not affect BNNT using FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Subsequently, enhanced dispersibility was confirmed through turbidity measurements, and the solubility range in 15 different solvents was evaluated using the Hansen solubility parameter.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1218-1225
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• 2009

Difractose anhydrides (DFAs) is studied as a sweetener for diabetics because of its structural property. DFAs have four types: DFA I, III, IV (degradation of levan) and V (degradation of inulin). Especially, DFA IV has been shown to enhance the absorption of calcium in experiments using rats. Levan fructotransferase is an enzyme for producing di-d-fructose-2,6':6,2-dianhydride (DFA IV). To identify structural characterization, we purified wild-type and mutants (D63A, D195N and N85S) of levan fructotransferase (LFTase) from Microbacterium sp. AL-210. These proteins were purified to apparent homogeneity by Ni-NTA affinity column, Q-sepharose ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography and detected by SDS-PAGE. They were also analyzed by circular dichroism (CD) measurements, JNET secondary structure prediction, activity measurements at various temperatures, and pH analysis. The optimum pH for the enzyme-catalyzed reaction was pH 7.5 and optimum temperature was observed at $55^{\circ}C$. Along with wild-type LFTase, mutants were analyzed by CD measurement, fluorescence analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). N85S showed less $\alpha$-helix and more $\beta$ strand than others. Also, N85S showed almost the same curve as wild-type in their steady-state fluorescence spectra, whereas mutant D63A and D195N showed higher intensity than wild-type. The amino acid sequence of wild-type LFTase was compared to the sequences of exo-inulinase from Aspergillus awamori, a plant fructan 1-exohydrolase from Cichorium intybus, and Thermotogo maritime (Tm) invertase and showed a high identity with Exo-inulinase from Aspergillus awamori.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.533-540
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• 1995

Attenuation correction is important in producing quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) images. Conventionally, photon attenuation effects are corrected using transmission measurements performed before tracer administration. The pre-injection transmission measurement approach may require a time delay between transmission and emission scans for the tracer studies requiring a long uptake period, about 45 minutes for F-18 deoxyglucose study. The time delay will limit patient throughput and increase the likelihood of patient motion. A technique lot performing simultaneous transmission and emission scans (T+E method) after the tracer injection has been validated. The T+E method substracts the emission counts contaminating the transmission measurements to produce accurate attenuation correction coefficients. This method has been evaluated in experiments using a cylindrical phantom filled with background water (5750 cc) containing $0.4{\mu}Ci/cc$ of F-18 fluoride ion and one insert cylinder (276 cc) containing $4.3{\mu}Ci/cc$. GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET scanner and Ge-68 rotating pin sources for transmission scanning were used for this investigation. Post-injection transmission scan and emission scan were peformed alternatively over time. The error in emission images corrected using post-infection transmission scan to emission images corrected transmission scan was 2.6% at the concentration of $1.0{\mu}Ci/cc$. No obvious differences in image quality and noise were apparent between the two images. The attenuation correction can be accomplished with post-injection transmission measurement using rotating pin sources and this method can significantly shorten the time between transmission and omission scans and thereby reduce the likelihood of patient motion and increase scanning throughput in PET.