• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.368-371
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• 2019

Using first principles calculations we investigated the thermomechanical stability of spent nuclear fuels (SNF), especially how mechanical properties of $UO_2$, such as, bulk, shear and Young's moduli and Poisson's ratio vary through alpha-decay of U into Th with generation of He gas. Our results indicate that substitution of U by Th through alpha decay ($U_{1-x}Th_xO_2$) does not significantly affect the stability of the grain in a fuel matrix. In addition, we studied the transport properties of He in and boundaries of the $U_{1-x}Th_xO_2$ grain. Helium preferentially resides at the grain boundaries through diffusion. Our study can contribute to substantial reduction of environmentally risk and enhancement of our sustainability by safe control of radioactive materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.275-282
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• 2022

The aim of this work is to develop the fractional Bateman equations, which can model memory effects in successive isotopes transformations. Such memory effects have been previously reported in the alpha decay, which exhibits a non-Markovian behavior. Since there are radioactive decay series with consecutive alpha decays, it is convenient to include the mentioned memory effects, developing the fractional Bateman Equations, which can reproduce the standard ones when the fractional order is equal to one. The proposed fractional model preserves the mathematical shape and the symmetry of the standard equations, being the only difference the presence of the Mittag-Leffler function, instead of the exponential one. This last is a very important result, because allows the implementation of the proposed fractional model in burnup and activation codes in a straightforward way. Numerical experiments show that the proposed equations predict high decay rates for small time values, in comparison with the standard equations, which have high decay rates for large times. This work represents a novelty approach to the theory of successive transformations, and opens the possibility to study properties of the Bateman equation from a fractional approach.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.153-158
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• 1996

The effects of $\alpha$- and $\beta$-cyclodextrins (CD) on the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) behavior of p-N,N'-dimethylaminobenzoic acid (DMABA) in buffered aqueous solution have been investigated by examining formation and decay behaviors of the TICT-typical dual fluorescence. The ratio of the TICT emission to the normal emission (I$_a$/I$_b$) increases linearly $\alpha$-CD concentration increases, while in the presence of $\beta$-CD it shows nonlinear dependences on the CD concentration. The analysis of the CD-dependent changes of the I$_a$/I$_b$ and absorption spectra demonstrates formation of 1:1 inclusion complexes between DMABA and CDs. The decay time of the normal emission (ca. 700 ps) is little affected by the formation of $\alpha$-CD inclusion complex, whereas it increases upto ca. 1.6 ns upon formation of $\beta$-CD inclusion complex. The TICT emission for the $\beta$-CD inclusion complex exhibits two decay components while it shows a single component for the $\alpha$-CD inclusion complex, indicating formation of one or two types of inclusion complex in the presence of $\alpha$-CD or $\beta$-CD, respectively. These results are attributed to the CD cavity size dependence on patterns of complexation between CDs and DMABA. The CD size dependences of the TICT fluorescence properties with the orientation of the guest molecule demonstrate that the specific hydrogen bonding between the carboxylic acid group and water plays an important role in the excited-state TICT.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 2012

To simulate the transport of pollutant, a numeric model for the advection-diffusion equation with the decay term is developed. This is finite-difference model using the implicit method (with the weight factor ${\alpha}$) and Gauss-Seidel SOR(successive over-relaxation). This model is compared to the analytical solutions (of simpler dimensional or boundary conditions), and in the condition of Peclet number < 5~20, the result shows stable condition, and Crank-Nicolson method (${\alpha}$=0.5) shows the more accurate results than fully-implicit method (${\alpha}$=1). The mass of advection, diffusion and decay is calculated and the error of mass balance is less than 3%. This model can evaluate the 3-D concentrations of the advection-diffusion and decay problems, but this model uses only the finite-difference method with the fixd grid system, so it can be effectively used in the problems with small Peclet numbers like the pollutant transport in groundwater.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 2015

Galactose-${\alpha}1,3$-galactose (${\alpha}1,3$-Gal) epitope is synthesized at a high concentration on the surface of pig cells by ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene (GGTA1). The ${\alpha}1,3$-Gal is responsible for hyperacute rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. The generation of transgenic pigs as organ donors for humans is necessary to eliminate the GGTA1 gene that synthesize $Gal{\alpha}$(1,3)Gal. To prevent hyperacute graft rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation, previously, we developed ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene-knock-out somatic cell by homologous recombination. In this study, we established cell lines of ${\alpha}1,3$-GT knock-out expressing hDAF and hHT gene from minipig fibroblasts to apply somatic cell nuclear transfer. The hDAF and hHT mRNA were expressed in the knock-in somatic cells and ${\alpha}1,3$-GT mRNA was suppressed. However, the knock-in somatic cells were increased resistance to human serum-mediated cytolysis.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.206-212
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• 1999

The main objective of the present investigation is to improve the photoluminescent performance of existing $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ phosphors by introducing a new co-dopant. The co-doping effect of Mg and/or Cr upon emission intensity and decay time was studied in the present investigation. The co-dopants incorporated into the $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ phosphors are believed to alter the internal energy state so that the change in emission intensity and decay time can be expected. Both Mg and Cr ions have a favourable influence on photoluminescence prpperties, for example, the Mg ion enhances the intensity of manganese green emission and the Cr ion shortens the decay time. The enhancement in emission intensity of $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn,\;Mg$ phosphors was interpreted by taking into account the result from the DV-X${\alpha}$ embedded cluster calculation. On the other hand, the energy transfer between Mn and Cr ions was found to be responsible for the shortening of decay time in$Zn_2SiO_4:Mn,\;Cr$ phosphors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.275-278
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• 2002

The recognition of the natural background radiation is important not only for radiological education but also for the promotion of people's scientific view about radiation. We made a "room" on the web showing natural background radiation as part of a VRM (Virtual Radiation Museum). The "room" shows the video images of the tracks of charged particles from natural background radiation, alpha and beta ray track from known sources using a Large Scale Diffusion Cloud Chamber. The purpose of this study is to make clear the origin of a kind of track (named A-track) which is thick and easy to recognize with the length less than several cm in the cloud chamber, and to make numerical explanation of its counting rate. The study was carried out using a Large Scale Diffusion Cloud Chamber (Phywe, Germany) installed in the Niigata Science Museum. The Model RNC (Pylon Electronics, Canada) was used as Rn-222 source. Ra-226 activity in RNC was 111.6 Bq calibrated with NIST protocol. Rn-222 gas was injected into the cloud chamber. Continuous video recording with use of Digital Handycam (SONY, Japan) was carried out for 360 min. after injection of Rn-222 gas. The number of alpha-ray track (alpha track) in the video images was analyzed. The growth and decay curve of the total activity of Rn-222 and its alpha emitting progeny were calculated and compared with the count of the alpha tracks. As a result the alpha tracks formed by Rn-222 injection resemble A-Tracks. The relationship between A-track in the cloud chamber and atmospheric Rn is discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1199-1210
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• 2017

A new in-line method for sampling neutrons emitted in (${\alpha}$,n) reactions based on alpha particle source information has been developed for continuous-energy Monte Carlo simulations. The new method uses a continuous-slowing-down model coupled with (${\alpha}$,n) cross section data to precompute the expected neutron yield over the alpha particle lifetime. This eliminates the complexity and computational cost associated with explicit charged particle transport. When combined with an integrated alpha particle decay source sampling capability, the proposed method provides an efficient and accurate method for sampling (${\alpha}$,n) neutrons based solely on nuclide inventories in the problem, with no additional user input required. Results from several example calculations show that the proposed method reproduces the (${\alpha}$,n) neutron yields and energy spectra from reference experiments and calculations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.1259-1268
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• 2017

The alpha eigenvalue problem in multigroup neutron diffusion is studied with particular attention to the theoretical analysis of the model. Contrary to previous literature results, the existence of eigenvalue and eigenflux clustering is investigated here without the simplification of a unique fissile isotope or a single emission spectrum. A discussion about the negative decay constants of the neutron precursors concentrations as potential eigenvalues is provided. An in-hour equation is derived by a perturbation approach recurring to the steady state adjoint and direct eigenvalue problems of the effective multiplication factor and is used to suggest proper detection criteria of flux clustering. In spite of the prior work, the in-hour equation results give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the eigenvalue-eigenvector pair. A simplified asymptotic analysis is used to predict bands of accumulation of eigenvalues close to the negative decay constants of the precursors concentrations. The resolution of the problem in one-dimensional heterogeneous problems shows numerical evidence of the predicted clustering occurrences and also confirms previous theoretical analysis and numerical results.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.428-435
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• 1999

A method for measuring Rn-222 and Ra-226 in aqueous sample using liquid scintillation counting technique has been studied. The Rn-222 was extracted easily from the water sample (10 mL) by 12 mL of xylene based organic scintillant. After radioactive equilibrium between Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products for three hours, the alpha activity from Rn-222 and its decay products were measured in a scintillation vial using the Wallae $1220^{TM}$ Quantulus liquid scintillation counter. Ra-226 concentration in aqueous sample was determined, after isolation of Ra-226 from the sample matrix, by extraction the ingrowth of the Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products with xylene based organic scintillant. The optimum pulse-shape analysis (PSA) value was evaluated by the figure of merit (FM) criterion. Minimum detectable activity (MDA) is about 0.14 Bq/L (3.78 pCi) for the region of Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products and 0.06 Bq/L (1.63 pCi) for the region of Po-214 respectively, with 200 min, counting time at PSA level 100 in the low-diffusion polyethylene vial and xylene based cocktail solution. Experiment on the optimum sample-cocktail volume ratio, the influence of agitation and the diffusion of radon from vial were carried out.