• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2010

Most brachytherapy treatment planning systems employ a dosimetry formalism based on the AAPM TG-43 report which does not appropriately consider tissue heterogeneity. In this study we aimed to set up a simple Monte Carlo-based intracavitary high-dose-rate brachytherapy (IC-HDRB) plan verification platform, focusing particularly on the robustness of the direct Monte Carlo dose calculation using material and density information derived from CT images. CT images of slab phantoms and a uterine cervical cancer patient were used for brachytherapy plans based on the Plato (Nucletron, Netherlands) brachytherapy planning system. Monte Carlo simulations were implemented using the parameters from the Plato system and compared with the EBT film dosimetry and conventional dose computations. EGSnrc based DOSXYZnrc code was used for Monte Carlo simulations. Each $^{192}Ir$ source of the afterloader was approximately modeled as a parallel-piped shape inside the converted CT data set whose voxel size was $2{\times}2{\times}2\;mm^3$. Bracytherapy dose calculations based on the TG-43 showed good agreement with the Monte Carlo results in a homogeneous media whose density was close to water, but there were significant errors in high-density materials. For a patient case, A and B point dose differences were less than 3%, while the mean dose discrepancy was as much as 5%. Conventional dose computation methods might underdose the targets by not accounting for the effects of high-density materials. The proposed platform was shown to be feasible and to have good dose calculation accuracy. One should be careful when confirming the plan using a conventional brachytherapy dose computation method, and moreover, an independent dose verification system as developed in this study might be helpful.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.155-166
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• 1980

Studies have teen undertaken to investigate the degree of microbial contamination in the subsidiary materials which have been known as an important source of microorganisms associated with spoilage of fish sausage and fish paste products. Twenty hinds of food ingredients including starch, spices and condiments, 59 samples in total collected from commercial fish sausage processing plants and supermarket in the period of July to October 1979, were examined for standard plate count, coliform and fecal coliform, mold and yeast, thermoduric microorganisms, aerobic sporeformers (mesophilic and thermophilic), anaerobic sporeformers (mesophilic and thermophilic) and sulfide spoilage anaerobes. The results obtained are summarized as follows. 1. Among the food ingredients examined, corn starch, black pepper, hot pepper, onion, garlic, ginger, beef extract and frank marked high bacterial contamination with general and sporeforming microorganisms. And bacterial content of marked samples were generally higher than that of the samples from plants. 2. The high standard plate count caused by high content of these bacteria like thermoduric, mesophilic or thermophilic sporeforming aerobes. 3. Bacterial content of food ingredients such as black pepper and beef extract being used in plants, and black pepper, hot pepper, onion and garlic from the market were exceeded the bacterial standards being enforced in Japan and U. S. A. 4. Average standard plate count was in the range of 10$^4$to 10$^{5}$ /g for black pepper, wheat flour, onion and garlic collected from plants, and 10$^{5}$ to 10$^{7}$ /g for black pepper, hot pepper, onion and garlic from market. No plate count was observed in pepper essence and coloring material. 5. Coliform organism was detected in starch, black pepper, hot pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and gluten that showed high standard plate but no fecal coliform in the samples except black pepper and hot pepper. 6. Average mold and yeast count was 140 to 460/g for corn starch, wheat flour and black pepper from plants, and 10$^3$/g for black pepper and hot pepper from market. No count was observed in the other ingredients. 7. Sulfide spoilage sporeforming anaerobes boiled for 5 min. at 10$0^{\circ}C$ and incubated at 55$^{\circ}C$ was not detected in all the samples examined.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-46
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• 2000

Hydrogeochemical and isotope ($\delta$$^{18}$ O, $\delta$D, $^3$H, $\delta$$^{13}$ C, $\delta$$^{34}$ S, $^{87}$ Sr/$^{86}$ Sr) studies of various kinds of waters (thermal groundwater, deep groundwater, shallow groundwater, and surface water) from the Yusung area were carried out in order to elucidate their geochemical characteristics such as distribution and behaviour of major/minor elements, geochemical evolution, reservoir temperature, and water-rock interaction of the thermal groundwater. Thermal groundwater of the Yusung area is formed by heating at depth during deep circlulation of groundwater and is evolved into Na-HCO$_3$type water by hydrolysis of silicate minerals with calcite precipitation and mixing of shallow groundwater. High NO$_3$contents of many thermal and deep groundwater samples indicate that the thermal or deep groundwaters were mixed with contaminated shallow groundwater and/or surface water. $\delta$$^{18}$ O and $\delta$D are plotted around the global meteoric water line and there are no differences between the various types of water. Tritium contents of shallow groundwater, deep groundwater and thermal groundwater are quite different, but show that the thermal groundwater was mixed with surface water and/or shallow groundwater during uprising to surface after being heated at depths. $\delta$$^{13}$ C values of all water samples are very low (average -16.3$\textperthousand$%o). Such low $\delta$$^{13}$ C values indicate that the source of carbon is organic material and all waters from the Yusung area were affected by $CO_2$ gas originated from near surface environment. $\delta$$^{34}$ S values show mixing properties of thermal groundwater and shallow groundwater. Based on $^{87}$ Sr/$^{86}$ Sr values, Ca is thought to be originated from the dissolution of plagioclase. Reservoir temperature at depth is estimated to be 100~1$25^{\circ}C$ by calculation of equilibrium method of multiphase system. Therefore, the thermal groundwaters from the Yusung area were formed by heating at depths and evolved by water-rock interaction and mixing with shallow groundwater.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate basically the mechanism of heat transfer by the resolution of complex fluid flow inside a sophisticated designed screw dryer for the treatment of sewage sludge by using numerical analysis and experimental study. By doing this, the result was quite helpful to obtain the design criteria for enhancing drying efficiency, thereby achieving the optimal design of a multiple screw type dryer for treating inorganic and organic sludge wastes. One notable design feature of the dryer was to bypass a certain of fraction of the hot combustion gases into the bottom of the screw cylinder, by the fluid flow induction, across the delicately designed holes on the screw surface to agitate internally the sticky sludges. This offers many benefits not only in the enhancement of thermal efficiency even for the high viscosity material but also greater flexibility in the application of system design and operation. However, one careful precaution was made in operation in that when distributing the hot flue gas over the lump of sludge for internal agitation not to make any pore blocking and to avoid too much pressure drop caused by inertial resistance across the lump of sludge. The optimal retention time for rotating the screw at 1 rpm in order to treat 200 kg/hr of sewage sludge was determined empirically about 100 minutes. The corresponding optimal heat source was found to be 150,000 kcal/hr. A series of numerical calculation is performed to resolve flow characteristics in order to assist in the system design as function of important system and operational variables. The numerical calculation is successfully evaluated against experimental temperature profile and flow field characteristics. In general, the calculation results are physically reasonable and consistent in parametric study. In further studies, more quantitative data analyses such as pressure drop across the type and loading of drying sludge will be made for the system evaluation in experiment and calculation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.391-396
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• 2010

In this research the characteristics of ammonia removal from malodorous waste-air were investigated under various operating condition of biofiilter packed with equal volume of rubber media and compost for the efficient removal of ammonia, representative source of malodor frequently generated at compost manufacturing factory and publicly owned facilities. Then the optimum conditions were constructed to treat waste-air containing ammonia with biofilter. Biofilter was run for 30 days(experimental frequency of 2 times/day makes 60 experimental times.) with the ammonia loading from $2.18g-N/m^3/h$ to $70g-N/m^3/h$ at $30^{\circ}C$. The ammonia removal efficiency reached almost 100% for I through IV stage of run to degrade up to the ammonia loading of $17g-N/m^3/h$. However the removal efficiency dropped to 80% when ammonia loading increased to $35g-N/m^3/h$, which makes the elimination capacity of ammonia $28g-N/m^3/h$ for V stage of run. However, the removal efficiency remained 80% and the maximum elimination capacity reached $55g-N/m^3/h$ when ammonia loading was doubled $70g-N/m^3/h$ for VI stage of run. Thus the maximum elimination capacity exceeded $1,200g-N/m^3/day$(i.e., $50g-N/m^3/h$) of the experiment of biofilter packed with rock wool inoculated with night soil sludge by Kim et al.. However, the critical loading did not exceed $810g-N/m^3/day$ (i.e., $33.75g-N/m^3/h$) of the biofilter experiment by Kim et al.. The reason to exceed the maximum elimination capacity of Kim et al. may be attributed to that the rubber media used as biofilter packing material provide the better environment for the fixation of nitrifying and denitrification bacteria to its surface coated with coconut based-activated carbon powder and well-developed inner-pores, respectively.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 1999

Background: We tested the technical feasibility of fetal cardiac bypass and collected baseline data on the fetal hemodynamics and placental functions related to the cardiopulmonary bypass in the fetal lamb model. Material and Method: Eleven fetuses at 120 to 150 days of gestation were subjected to bypass via trans-sternal approach with a 12 G pulmonary arterial cannula and 14 to 18 F venous cannula for 30 minutes. All ewes received general anesthesia with ketamine. In all the fetuses, no anesthetic agents were used except muscle relaxant. Eight served as a group in which placenta was excluded from the extracorporeal circulation by clamping the umbilical cord during the bypass(the oxygenator group) and in the remaining three, the placenta worked as the only source of oxygen supply(the placenta group). Observations were made every 10 minute during a 30-minute bypass and 30-minute post bypass period. No prostaglandin inhibitors were used both in ewes and in fetuses. Result: Weights of the fetuses ranged from 1.9 to 5.2 kg. In the oxygenator group, means of arterial pressure, PaO2, atrial pressure, heart rate, and bypass flow rate ranged 69.8 to 82.6 mmHg, 201.7 to 220.9 mmHg, 4.1 to 4.3 mmHg, 169 to 182/min, and 140.3 to 164.0 ml/kg/min, respectively during bypass, but rapid deterioration of the fetal cardiac functions and the placental gas exchange was observed after the cessation of bypass. In the placenta group, means of arterial pressure decreased from 44.7 to 14.4 mmHg and means of PaCO2 increased from 61.9 to 129.6 mmHg during bypass. Flow rate was suboptimal(74.3 to 97.0 ml/kg/min) during bypass. All hearts fibrillated immediately after the discontinuation of bypass. Conclusion: In this study, the technical feasibility of fetal cardiopulmonary bypass was confirmed in the fetal lamb model. However, further studies with modifications of the bypass including an addition of prostaglandin inhibitor, an application of the total spinal anesthesia on the fetus, a creation of more concise bypass circuit, and a use of active pump are mandatory to improve the outcome.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.25-36
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• 1995

It is important to separate the compostables from waste for successful operation of composting plant, since various compositions are mixed in it. For the separation of compostables, it is necessary to estimate total amounts of compostables from several sources. Based on it, required capacity and number of composting plant as well as proper waste collection and transportation system can be determined. So, amounts of garbage, major target material for composting. were estimated in this study. In survey of unit garbage generation(UGG). different estimation results would be obtained depending on the basis of its measurement. However, previous researches did not consider it. In this paper, the correlations between area and the number of user of garbage source were analyzed to find the related equations which were apllyed to estimation of total generation. Obtained results are as the following. Relative variations of measured UGG based on area and custumer are 62.5 and 52.8, respectively. In linear regression, related equation between area and custumer was Y=0.244X+59.0 (X=area, Y=custumer). The correlation factor r is 0.904. Equation Y=616.5X/(X+1215.4) was also obtained from linear regression using Monod equation (r=0.720). From the first order equation and measured data of UGG based on custumer, amounts of garbage generation from restaurant in Seoul and the whole country were calculated to 2043.9 ton/d and 9014.0 ton/d, respectively. But, the values calculated from measured data of UGG based on area were as low as 821.3 ton/d Cin Seoul) and 3821.0 ton/d(in the whole country). Consequently, the measurement of unit garbage generation based on the number of custumer was more favorable to lessen the points of survey and to guarantee the representative values. Especially, it would fit well on restaurant having statistics of area.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.455-462
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• 2016

Pseudomonas aeruginosa P-5 is an unusual organism capable of synthesizing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) consisting of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) and medium-chain-length (MCL) 3-hydroxyalkanoate (3HA) monomer units when C-odd alkanoic acids are fed as the sole carbon source. Evaluation of the substrate chain-length specificity of two P. aeruginosa P-5 PHA synthases ($PhaC1_{P-5}$ and $PhaC2_{P-5}$) by heterologous expression of $PhaC1_{P-5}$ and $PhaC2_{P-5}$ genes in Pseudomonas putida GPp104 revealed that $PhaC2_{P-5}$ incorporates both 3HV and MCL 3HAs into PHA, whereas $PhaC1_{P-5}$ favors only MCL 3HAs for polymerization. In order to obtain $PhaC2_{P-5}$ mutants with altered substrate specificity, site-specific mutagenesis for $PhaC2_{P-5}$ was conducted. Amino acid substitutions of $PhaC2_{P-5}$ at two positions (Ser326Thr and Gln482Lys) were very effective for synthesizing copolymers with a higher 3HV fraction. When recombinant P. putida GPp104 harboring double mutated $phaC2_{P-5}$ gene ($phaC2_{P-5}QKST$) was grown on nonanoic acid, 2.5-fold increase of copolymer content with 3.8-fold increase of 3HV fraction was observed. The $phaC2_{P-5}QKST$-containing Ralstonia eutropha PHB-4 supplemented with valeric acid also produced copolymers consisting of 3HV and 3-hydroxyheptanoate with a high 3HV fraction. These results suggest that recombinants containing $phaC2_{P-5}QKST$ could be useful for production of new PHA copolymers with improved material properties.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.67-74
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• 2017

Layered Ni-rich NCM cathode materials $Li[Ni_xCo_{(1-x)/2}Mn_{(1-x)/2}]O_2$ ($x{\geq}0.6$) have advantages of high energy density and cost competitive over $LiCoO_2$. The discharge capacity of NCM increases proportionally to the Ni contents. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to realize the stable electrochemical performance due to cation mixing. In this study, synthesis conditions for the layered Ni-rich NCMs are investigated to achieve deliver the ones having good electrochemical performances. Synthesis parameters are atmosphere, lithium source, synthesis time, synthesis temperature and Li/M (M=transition metal) ratio. The degree of cation mixing gets worse as the Ni content is increased from $Li[Ni_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}]O_2$ (NCM6) to $Li[Ni_{0.8}Co_{0.1}Mn_{0.1}]O_2$ (NCM8). It is confirmed that higher level of cation mixing affects negatively on the electrochemical performance of NCMs. Optimum synthesis conditions are explored for NCMx (x=6, 7, 8) in order to reduce the cation mixing. Under optimized conditions for three representative NCMx, a high initial discharge capacity and a good cycle life are obtained for $180mAh{\cdot}g^{-1}$, 96.2% (50 cycle) in NCM6, $187mAh{\cdot}g^{-1}$, 94.7% (50 cycle) in NCM7, and $201mAh{\cdot}g^{-1}$, 92.7% (50 cycle) in NCM8, respectively.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2005

To discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the East China Sea, textural and elemental compositions along with strontium isotopic ratio ($^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$) were analyzed and compared with the sediments originated from Chinese rivers. The sediments in the study area are composed of fine-grained mud with a mean grain size of $47\;{\phi}$ and their $CaCO_3$, contents range from 3.9 to 11.5% (average 7.6%). In the study area, the content of most metallic elements are strongly constrained by sediment grain size (quartz dilution effect) and that of biogenic material and, thereby, their spatial distribution seems not enough for understanding sediment provenance in the study area. The muddy sediments of the Yangtze river have much lower $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio ($0.71197{\sim}0.71720$) than the Yellow Sea shelf muddy sediments which are supposed to be originated from the Huanghe river ($0.72126{\sim}0.72498$), suggesting the distribution pattern of $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratios as a new tracer to discriminate the provenance of shelf sediments in the study area. Different source rock compositions and weathering processes between both drainage basins may account for the differences in $^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$ ratio. Although the ratios show wide range, from 0.71445 to 0.72184 with an average 0.71747 in the study area, they are close to the values of the Yangtze river sediments, suggesting that the sediments were mainly originated from the Yangtze river. The previous studies on the dispersal pattern of modern sediments and the physico-chemical properties of seawater in the Yellow and East China seas support the possibility that the fine-grained Yangtze river sediments can reach to the East China Sea shelf as well as to the southeastern Yellow Sea.