• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.603-616
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• 2007

Roy Huddle, having invented the coated particle in Harwell 1957, stated in the early 1970s that we know now everything about particles and coatings and should be going over to deal with other problems. This was on the occasion of the Dragon fuel performance information meeting London 1973: How wrong a genius be! It took until 1978 that really good particles were made in Germany, then during the Japanese HTTR production in the 1990s and finally the Chinese 2000-2001 campaign for HTR-10. Here, we present a review of history and present status. Today, good fuel is measured by different standards from the seventies: where $9*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was typical for early AVR carbide fuel and $3*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was acceptable for oxide fuel in THTR, we insist on values more than an order of magnitude below this value today. Half a percent of particle failure at the end-of-irradiation, another ancient standard, is not even acceptable today, even for the most severe accidents. While legislation and licensing has not changed, one of the reasons we insist on these improvements is the preference for passive systems rather than active controls of earlier times. After renewed HTGR interest, we are reporting about the start of new or reactivated coated particle work in several parts of the world, considering the aspects of designs/ traditional and new materials, manufacturing technologies/ quality control quality assurance, irradiation and accident performance, modeling and performance predictions, and fuel cycle aspects and spent fuel treatment. In very general terms, the coated particle should be strong, reliable, retentive, and affordable. These properties have to be quantified and will be eventually optimized for a specific application system. Results obtained so far indicate that the same particle can be used for steam cycle applications with $700-750^{\circ}C$ helium coolant gas exit, for gas turbine applications at $850-900^{\circ}C$ and for process heat/hydrogen generation applications with $950^{\circ}C$ outlet temperatures. There is a clear set of standards for modem high quality fuel in terms of low levels of heavy metal contamination, manufacture-induced particle defects during fuel body and fuel element making, irradiation/accident induced particle failures and limits on fission product release from intact particles. While gas-cooled reactor design is still open-ended with blocks for the prismatic and spherical fuel elements for the pebble-bed design, there is near worldwide agreement on high quality fuel: a $500{\mu}m$ diameter $UO_2$ kernel of 10% enrichment is surrounded by a $100{\mu}m$ thick sacrificial buffer layer to be followed by a dense inner pyrocarbon layer, a high quality silicon carbide layer of $35{\mu}m$ thickness and theoretical density and another outer pyrocarbon layer. Good performance has been demonstrated both under operational and under accident conditions, i.e. to 10% FIMA and maximum $1600^{\circ}C$ afterwards. And it is the wide-ranging demonstration experience that makes this particle superior. Recommendations are made for further work: 1. Generation of data for presently manufactured materials, e.g. SiC strength and strength distribution, PyC creep and shrinkage and many more material data sets. 2. Renewed start of irradiation and accident testing of modem coated particle fuel. 3. Analysis of existing and newly created data with a view to demonstrate satisfactory performance at burnups beyond 10% FIMA and complete fission product retention even in accidents that go beyond $1600^{\circ}C$ for a short period of time. This work should proceed at both national and international level.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.416-423
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• 2010

In this study, the properties and gene expression of the lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27, LDH) isozyme were studied in angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) - known for their adaptation to the low oxygen environment of the tropics - which were acclimated to acute temperature change ($27{\pm}0.5{\rightarrow}18{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$) and dissolved oxygen (DO) change ($6{\pm}1{\rightarrow}18\;ppm$) for 2 hours. The properties of the LDH isozymes were confirmed in the native-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western blot analysis and enzyme activity measurement. Liver- and eye-specific Ldh-C gene were expressed in liver, eye and brain tissues. Through Western blot analysis, the LDH $A_4$ isozyme was shown to have a more cathodal mobility relative to the $B_4$ isozyme. In the liver tissue, the LDH $A_4$ isozyme increased with temperature drop while the $B_4$ isozyme decreased. The LDH $A_4$ and $C_4$ isozymes increased with DO increment, while the $B_4$ isozyme decreased. In the eye tissue, the LDH $A_4$ and B4 isozymse increased with temperature drop while the $B_4$ isozyme decreased. The LDH $A_4$ and $B_4$ isozymes increased with DO increment, but the $C_4$ isozyme and isozymes including the subunit C decreased. In the heart tissue, LDH activity increased with DO increment, as well as the LDH $B_4$ isozyme. In the brain tissue, the LDH $A_4$ and $B_4$ isozymes increased with temperature drop. The LDH $B_4$ isozyme increased with DO increment. Accordingly, since the liver- and eye-specific Ldh-C are influenced by changes in DO and the LDH $B_4$ and $C_4$ isozymes are relatively controlled in the liver and eye tissues, the $C_4$ isozyme can be considered to have a lactate oxidase function.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.337-344
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• 2000

Purpose :To design and test test CT simulator phantom for geometrical test. Materials and Methods : The PMMA phantom was designed as a cylinder which is 20 cm in diameter and 24 cm in length, along with a 25$\times25\times31cm^{3}$ rectangular parallelepiped. Radio-opaque wires of which diameter is 0.8 mm are attached on the other surface of the phantom as a spiral. The rectangular phantom was made of four 24$\times24\times0.5 cm^{3}$ square plates and each plate had a 24$\times24 cm^{2}$, 12$\times12cm^{2}$, 6$\times6 cm$^{2}$ square line. The squares were placed to face the cylinder at angles 0 $^{\circ}$ , 15 $^{\circ}$ , 30 $^{\circ}$ ,respectively. The rectangular phantom made it possible to measure the field size, couch angle, the collimator angle, the isocenter shift and the SSD, the measurements of the gantry angle from the cylindrical part. A virtual simulation software, AcOSim, offered various conditions to perform virtual simulations and these results were used to perform the geometrical Quality assurance of CT simulator. Results : A 0.3$\~$0.5 mm difference was found on the 24 cm field size which was created with the DRR measurements obtained by scanning of the rectangular phantom. The isocenter shift, the collimator rotation, the couch rotation, and the gantry rotation test showed 0.5$\~$1 mm, 0.5$\~$l$^{\circ}$ 0.5$\~$ 1$^{\circ}$ , and 0.5-1 $^{\circ}$ differences, respectively. We could not find any significant differences between the results from the two scanning methods. Conclusion :The geometrical test phantom developed in the study showed less than 1 mm (or 1 $^{\circ}$ ) differences. The phantom could be used as a routine geometrical QC/QA tools, since the differences are within clinically acceptable ranges.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.374-379
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• 2005

The intake of health foods with physiological effects may cause adverse effects due to their intrinsic compounds, external contamination or consumers' eating patterns. To keep pace with the increasing interest on the safety assurance, Health Functional Food Act has been enacted and standards and specifications for 32 products have been proclaimed by Korea Food and Drug Administration in 2004. To reduce the safety problems related with the intake of non regulated health intended food, we classified the health intended foods materials into two groups, as proclaimed health functional food materials and others, and examined the difference of intake patterns on both categories. Among 16,474 health intended foods responded by 5,175 respondents and their household members, 49.2% were categorized as health functional food materials. The average number of total health intended foods intake and health functional foods intake per person were 3.19 and 1.58 respectively. The proportion of health functional foods in total health intended foods per person was higher in the group with less than 20 years old, therefore this age group needs relatively low concern. On the other hand, 40-59 years old females who have taken the highest number of health food items, 30-59 years old males who had the lowest proportion of health functional foods to total health intended food, and their consumed foods such as medicinal plant and animal protein based restoratives need relatively high concern about intake safety of health foods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.562-571
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated the anti-oxidant activities [electron-donating ability (EDA), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging ability, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitory activity], anti-wrinkle activities [collagenase inhibitory activity, suppression and/or phosphorylation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity], and mRNA expression levels using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay in ultraviolet (UV) B ray ($50mJ/cm^2$)-irradiated human keratinocyte HaCaT cells. Josaengheugchal, Sinneungheugchal (SE), Shintoheug rice, Heugjinju rice, and Heugseol (HE) among colored rice varieties were reported to have excellent antioxidant properties. In the EDA and ABTS radical scavenging assays, extracts of the five colored rice varieties had scavenging activities of 72% at concentrations higher $50{\mu}g/mL$. In the collagenase inhibition assay, ethanol extracts of the five colored rice varieties showed high inhibitory effects of about 60% at concentrations higher $25{\mu}g/mL$. In the ROS inhibition assay, ethanol extracts of HE and SE showed very excellent inhibition efficacies at all concentrations. We determined molecular biological mechanisms of MMPs (MMP-1, -3, -8, and -13) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) with HE, and the results show that HE suppressed expression of MMPs and phosphorylation of MAPK and increased expression of pro-collagen type I in UVB-irradiated cells. It was also confirmed by RT-PCR that HE reduced expression of MMPs mRNA. Therefore, these results suggest that HE has anti-wrinkle and collagen production effects and may be used as a material in the development of functional food and cosmetic industries.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.137-172
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• 2008

The earliest safety data programs, the FDR and CVR, were electronic reporting systems that generate data "automatically." The FDR program, originally instituted in 1958, had no publicly available restrictions for protections against sanctions by the FAA or an airline, although there are agreements and union contracts forbidding the use of FDR data for FAA enforcement actions. This FDR program still has the least formalized protections. With the advent of the CVR program in 1966, the precursor to the current FAR 91.25 was already in place, having been promulgated in 1964. It stated that the FAA would not use CVR data for enforcement actions. In 1982, Congress began restricting the disclosure of the CVR tape and transcripts. Congress added further clarification of the availability of discovery in civil litigation in 1994. Thus, the CVR data have more definitive protections in place than do FDR data. The ASRS was the first non-automatic reporting system; and built into its original design in 1975 was a promise of limited protection from enforcement sanctions. That promise was further codified in an FAR in 1979. As with the CVR, from its inception, the ASRS had some protections built in for the person who might have had a safety problem. However, the program did not (and to this day does not) explicitly deal with issues of use by airlines, litigants, or the public media, although it appears that airlines will either take a non-punitive stance if an ASRS report is filed, or the airline may ignore the fact that it has been filed at all. The FAA worked with several U.S. airlines in the early 1990s on developing ASAP programs, and the FAA issued an Advisory Circular about the program in 1997. From its inception, the ASAP program contained some FAA enforcement protections and company discipline protections, although some protection against litigation disclosure and public disclosure was not added until 2003, when FAA Order 8000.82 was promulgated, placing the program under the protections of FAR 193, which had been added in 2001. The FOQA program, when it was first instituted through a demonstration program in 1995, did not contain protections against sanctions. Now, however, the FAA cannot take enforcement action based on FOQA safety data, and an airline is limited to "corrective action" under the program. Union contracts can exclude FOQA from the realm of disciplinary action, although airline practice may be for airlines to require retraining if there is no contract in place forbidding it. The data is protected against disclosure for litigation and public media purposes by FAA Order 8000.81, issued in 2003, which placed FOQA under the protections of FAR 193. The figure on the next page shows when each program began, and when each statute, regulation, or order became effective for that program.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.219-228
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• 2012

The tangential breast intensity modulated radiotherapy (T-B IMRT) technique, which uses the same tangential fields as conventional 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) plans with physical wedges, was analyzed in terms of the calculated dose distribution feature and dosimetric accuracy of beam delivery during treatment. T-B IMRT plans were prepared for 15 patients with breast cancer who were already treated with conventional 3D-CRT. The homogeneity of the dose distribution to the target volume was improved, and the dose delivered to the normal tissues and critical organs was reduced compared with that in 3D-CRT plans. Quality assurance (QA) plans with the appropriate phantoms were used to analyze the dosimetric accuracy of T-B IMRT. An ionization chamber placed at the hole of an acrylic cylindrical phantom was used for the point dose measurement, and the mean error from the calculated dose was $0.7{\pm}1.4%$. The accuracy of the dose distribution was verified with a 2D diode detector array, and the mean pass rate calculated from the gamma evaluation was $97.3{\pm}2.9%$. We confirmed the advantages of a T-B IMRT in the dose distribution and verified the dosimetric accuracy from the QA performance which should still be regarded as an important process even in the simple technique as T-B IMRT in order to maintain a good quality.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.317-325
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• 2012

The Varian PORTALVISION (Varian Medical Systems, US) shows significant overresponses as the off-center distance increases compared to the predicted dose. In order to correct the dose discrepancy, the off-axis correction is applied to VARIAN iX linear accelerators. The portal dose for $38{\times}28cm^2$ open field is acquired for 6 MV, 15 MV photon beams and also are predicted by PDIP algorithm under the same condition of the portal dose acquisition. The off-axis correction is applied by modifying the $40{\times}40cm^2$ diagonal beam profile data which is used for the beam profile calibration. The ratios between predicted dose and measured dose is modeled as a function of off-axis distance with the $4^{th}$ polynomial and is applied to the $40{\times}40cm^2$ diagonal beam profile data as the weight to correct measured dose by EPID detector. The discrepancy between measured dose and predicted dose is reduced from $4.17{\pm}2.76$ CU to $0.18{\pm}0.8$ CU for 6 MV photon beam and from $3.23{\pm}2.59$ CU to $0.04{\pm}0.85$ CU for 15 MV photon beam. The passing rate of gamma analysis for the pyramid fluence patten with the 4%, 4 mm criteria is improved from 98.7% to 99.1% for 6 MV photon beam, from 99.8% to 99.9% for 15 MV photon beam. IMRT QA is also performed for randomly selected Head and Neck and Prostate IMRT plans after applying the off-axis correction. The gamma passing rare is improved by 3% on average, for Head and Neck cases: $94.7{\pm}3.2%$ to $98.2{\pm}1.4%$, for Prostate cases: $95.5{\pm}2.6%$, $98.4{\pm}1.8%$. The gamma analysis criteria is 3%, 3 mm with 10% threshold. It is considered that the off-axis correction might be an effective and easily adaptable means for correcting the discrepancy between measured dose and predicted dose for IMRT QA using EPID in clinic.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to develop a new software tool for 3D dose verification using $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel dosimeter. The tool included following functions: importing 3D doses from treatment planning systems (TPS), importing 3D optical density (OD), converting ODs to doses, 3D registration between two volumetric data by translational and rotational transformations, and evaluation with 3D gamma index. To acquire correlation between ODs and doses, CT images of a $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel with cylindrical shape was acquired, and a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan was designed to give radiation doses from 1 Gy to 6 Gy to six disk-shaped virtual targets along z-axis. After the VMAT plan was delivered to the targets, 3D OD data were reconstructed from 512 projection data from $Vista^{TM}$ optical CT scanner (Modus Medical Devices Inc, Canada) per every 2 hours after irradiation. A curve for converting ODs to doses was derived by comparing TPS dose profile to OD profile along z-axis, and the 3D OD data were converted to the absorbed doses using the curve. Supra-linearity was observed between doses and ODs, and the ODs were decayed about 60% per 24 hours depending on their magnitudes. Measured doses from the $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel were well agreed with the TPS doses at central region, but large under-doses were observed at peripheral region at the cylindrical geometry. Gamma passing rate for 3D doses was 70.36% under the gamma criteria of 3% of dose difference and 3 mm of distance to agreement. The low passing rate was resulted from the mismatching of the refractive index between the PRESAGE gel and oil bath in the optical CT scanner. In conclusion, the developed software was useful for 3D dose verification from PRESAGE gel dosimetry, but further improvement of the Gel dosimetry system were required.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.298-303
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• 2014

In this study, we examine the trends and types of incidents frequently occur during radiation therapy by using the data from the radiation oncology safety information system (ROSIS), according to discovery method explores the development direction of future research accident cause factor control method. This study was carried out analysis of incident data in ROSIS nearly 1163 cases in last 11 years from 2003 to 2013. We categorized into treatment methods, found the time, discoverer of occupations and finding ways to analyze the data. Then, we calculate the percentage and the classification for each item. About 1163 cases of incident cases including the near miss cases, external radiation therapy, brachytherapy and other were 97%, 2% and 1%. In the case was improperly planned dose delivery was 44% (497 cases) which 429 cases (86%) was found before 3 fractions and 13 cases were found after 11 fractions. The investigation was found to be distributed in various a found times. Approximately 42% of found time was during treatment and 29% of patients were found the problem during inspection chart. Occupation to discover the most radiation accidents was the radiation therapist (53%) who works in treatment room. Among 1163 incidence cases, 24% cases were found the accident before the treatment, therefore most of accident were found after of during the treatment (70%, 813 cases). This trend is acquired through ROSIS analysis, is expected to be not significantly different in the case of Korea, so it is necessary more diverse and systematic research for the prevention and early detection by using the ROSIS data.