• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 1997

Seismic data from Lake Tanganyika indicate a complex tectonic, structural, and stratigraphic history. The Lake Tanganyika rift consists of half grabens which tend to alternate dip-direction along the strike of the rift. Adjacent half-grabens are separated by distinct accommodation zones of strike-slip motion. These are areas of relatively high basement, and are classified into two distinct forms which depend on the map-view geometry of the border faults on either side of the accommodation zone. One type is the high-relief accommodation zone which is a fault bounded area of high basement with little subsidence or sediment accumulation. These high-relief areas probably formed very early in the rifting process. The second type is the low-relief accommodation zone which is a large, faulted anticlinal warp with considerable rift sediment accumulated over its axis. These low-relief features continue to develop as rifting processes. This structural configuration profoundly influences depositional processes in Lake Tanganyika. Not only does structures dictate where discrete basins and depocenters can exist, it also controls the distribution of sedimentary facies within basins, both in space and time. This is because rift shoulder topography controls regional drainage patterns and sediment access into the lake. Large fluvial and deltaic systems tend to enter the rift from the up-dip side of half-grabens or along the rift axis, while fans tend to enter from the border fault side.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2013

Failure of small bore piping welds is a recurring problem at nuclear power plants. And the socket weld cracking in small bore piping has caused unplanned plant shutdowns for repair and high economic impact on the plants. Consequently, early crack detection, including the detection of manufacturing defects, is of the utmost importance. Until now, the surface inspection methods has been applied according to ASME Section XI requirements. But the ultrasonic inspection as a volumetric method is also applying to enforce the inspection requirement. However, the conventional manual ultrasonic inspection techniques are used to detect service induced fatigue cracks. And there was uncertainty on manual ultrasonic inspection because of limited access to the welds and difficulties with contact between the ultrasonic probe and the OD(outer diameter) surface of small bore piping. In this study, phased array ultrasonic inspection technique is applied to increase inspection speed and reliability. To achieve this object, the 3.5 MHz phased array ultrasonic transducer are designed and fabricated. The manually encoded scanner was also developed to enhance contact conditions and maintain constant signal quality. Additionally inspection system is configured and inspection procedure is developed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2016

Although high mammographic density is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer risk, X-ray based mammography cannot be performed before the recommended screening age, especially not in adolescents and young women. Therefore, new techniques for breast density measurement are of interest. In this pilot study in Guam and Hawaii, we evaluated a radiation-free, bioimpedance device called Electrical Breast Densitometer$^{TM}$ (EBD; senoSENSE Medical Systems, Inc., Ontario, Canada) for measuring breast density in 95 women aged 31-82 years and 41 girls aged 8-18 years. Percent density (PD) was estimated in the women's most recent mammogram using a computer-assisted method. Correlation coefficients and linear regression were applied for statistical analysis. In adult women, mean EBD and PD values of the left and right breasts were $230{\pm}52$ and $226{\pm}50{\Omega}$ and $23.7{\pm}15.1$ and $24.2{\pm}15.2%$, respectively. The EBD measurements were inversely correlated with PD ($r_{Spearman}=-0.52$, p<0.0001); the correlation was stronger in Caucasians ($r_{Spearman}=-0.70$, p<0.0001) than Asians ($r_{Spearman}=-0.54$, p<0.01) and Native Hawaiian/Chamorro/Pacific Islanders ($r_{Spearman}=-0.34$, p=0.06). Using 4 categories of PD (<10, 10-25, 26-50, 51-75%), the respective mean EBD values were $256{\pm}32$, $249{\pm}41$, $202{\pm}46$, and $178{\pm}43{\Omega}$ (p<0.0001). In girls, the mean EBD values in the left and right breast were $148{\pm}40$ and $155{\pm}54{\Omega}$; EBD values decreased from Tanner stages 1 to 4 ($204{\pm}14$, $154{\pm}79$, $136{\pm}43$, and $119{\pm}16{\Omega}$ for stages 1-4, respectively) but were higher at Tanner stage 5 ($165{\pm}30{\Omega}$). With further development, this bioimpedance method may allow for investigations of breast development among adolescent, as well as assessment of breast cancer risk early in life and in populations without access to mammography.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.6055-6059
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• 2015

Background: Medication policy development in Thailand is continually promoting rational drug use. Letrozole, an endocrine therapy drug, is usually prescribed for post-menopausal status early and advanced stage breast cancer. After Ministry of Public Health announced Letrozole as compulsory licensed drug in 2009, more breast cancer patients can access to this drug at low cost especially those within universal coverage schemes. To ensure that Letrozole is rationally prescribed, the drug utilization study was conducted. Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the appropriate use of Letrozole in breast cancer and the relationship between appropriate use and health benefit schemes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study to evaluate use of Letrozole in breast cancer patients was performed for six months between January - June 2010 in seven regional cancer hospitals, Thailand. All prescriptions of Letrozole were identified from pharmacy dispensing databases and prescription papers. A medical record review was also performed to evaluate appropriate use referring to the drug use evaluation criteria. The approved criterion of this study was referred from the guideline of Thai National Formulary version 2010. Results: There were 681 prescriptions of Letrozole for 254 breast cancer patients with an average age of $58.6{\pm}10.0years$. The patients in universal coverage scheme (UCS), civil servant medication benefit scheme (CSMBS) and social security scheme (SSS) were 77.7%, 18.5% and 8.7% respectively. 10.6% were prescribed Letrozole for the first time. Letrozole were prescribed by oncologists (82.8%). The average number of tablets per prescription was $58{\pm}10$. Calcium supplements were prescribed concomitant with Letrozole for 19.4%. To assess drug use evaluation criteria, 45 prescriptions were excluded because of uncompleted clinical data, 636 prescriptions were evaluated. The study showed 86 prescriptions (13.5%) with inappropriate use including 6 (0.9%) not prescribed for estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positive, 31 (4.9%) not prescribed for post-menopausal and 49 (7.7%) not prescribed for an appropriate duration. Appropriate use percentages in different health benefit schemes were similar, 85.7% of CSMBS, 86.4% of SSS and 86.7% of UCS. The relationship between health benefit scheme and appropriate use of Letrozole was not significantly different, ${\chi}^2$ (2, N = 636) = 0.081, p > 0.05. Conclusions: The study showed inappropriate use in breast cancer patients because of non-compliance with duration, menopausal status and hormone receptor requirements. To prescribe appropriate indication did not referred to the appropriate practice along the treatment. Drug use evaluation proved very useful for detecting the sign of inappropriate use and allows immediate feedback to the stakeholder for developing medication policy in the future. Importantly, there was no significantly difference in appropriate use of Letrozole across health benefit schemes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.1534-1541
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• 2001

Forty-five Large White gilts were used to study the effect of energy intake from 28 to 176 d of age on body composition and reproductive development. From 28 to 60 d, the gilts were fed ad libitum a 16.6 MJ DE/kg, 24% crude protein and 1.3% total lysine diet. From 61 d of age three dietary treatments were used; 1) ad libitum access to feed (15.6 MJ DE/kg, 21% crude protein and 1.07% total lysine) (H), 2) feed offered at 75% (M) of the previous days intake of H, and 3) feed offered at 60% (L) of the previous days intake of H. ADG from 61 to 176 d of age was (p<0.05) affected by treatment. Although live weight at 176 d of age did not differ (p>0.1) the H gilts had higher (p<0.08) carcass weights than the M or L gilts. Back fat depths were similar (p>0.1) for all treatments at 115 d of age, however by 176 d of age M and H gilts were fatter (p<0.1) than L gilts. The mean lipid deposition (LD) from 115 to 176 d of age for L gilts (78.9 g/d) was less (p<0.05) than for M gilts (143.6 g/d) and H gilts (135.6 g/d). There were no differences between treatments for protein deposition (PD) over the same period. More (p<0.05) H gilts (n=8) attained puberty (first observed estrus) than either M gilts or L gilts (n=4 for both). Follicle numbers were similar (p>0.1) across treatments. For gilts that attained puberty, H gilts had fewer (p<0.05) follicles (13.5) than M gilts (19.7) and L gilts (21.3). For gilts with follicular development, H gilts had the heaviest (458.7 g) reproductive tract weight (RTW). However, for those that attained puberty, L gilts had the heaviest RTW. RTW were lowest for those with no follicular development. Energy restriction had a negative impact on puberty attainment, i.e. it took longer to reach puberty. However, for gilts that attained puberty, the number of follicles was greater for those on r feed intakes. It would appear that rate of fat deposition, but not necessarily the total amount of fat, plays an important role in puberty attainment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1796-1802
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• 2017

Objective: This experiment was conducted to evaluate the optimal space allowance on growth performance, blood profile and pork quality of growing-finishing pigs. Methods: A total of ninety crossbred pigs [$(Yorkshire{\times}Landrace){\times}Duroc$, $30.25{\pm}1.13kg$] were allocated into three treatments (0.96: four pigs/pen, $0.96m^2/pig$; 0.80: five pigs/pen, $0.80m^2/pig$; 0.69: six pigs/pen, $0.69m^2/pig$) in a randomized complete block design. Pigs were housed in balanced sex and had free access to feed in all phases for 14 weeks (growing phase I, growing phase II, finishing phase I, and finishing phase II). Results: There was no statistical difference in growing phase, but a linear decrease was observed on average daily gain (ADG, p<0.01), average daily feed intake (ADFI, p<0.01), and body weight (BW, p<0.01) with decreasing space allowance in late finishing phase. On the other hand, a quadratic effect was observed on gain to feed ratio in early finishing phase (p<0.03). Consequently, overall ADG, ADFI, and final BW linearly declined in response to decreased space allowance (p<0.01). The pH of pork had no significant difference in 1 hour after slaughter, whereas there was a linear decrease in 24 h after slaughter with decreasing space allowance. Floor area allowance did not affect pork colors, but shear force linearly increased as floor space decreased (p<0.01). There was a linear increase in serum cortisol concentration on 14 week (p<0.05) with decreased space allocation. Serum IgG was linearly ameliorated as space allowance increased on 10 week (p<0.05) and 14 week (p<0.01). Conclusion: Data from current study indicated that stress derived from reduced space allowance deteriorates the immune system as well as growth performance of pigs, resulting in poor pork quality. Recommended adequate space allowance in a grow-to-finish production system is more than $0.80m^2/pig$ for maximizing growth performance and production efficiency.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.1503-1514
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• 2006

Today, consumers can access Internet from everywhere, therefore most commercial and other organizations provide their services on the Web. As the result, countless Web service systems are already on the Internet and more systems are under construction. Therefore, many researches of verifying that the system to be constructed will not have any deadlock and will run successfully without any problem at the early stage of design have been performed. Several Petri net based verification methods have also been published. However, they have focused on building Petri net models of Web service systems and none of them introduces efficient analysis methods. As a mathematical technique with which we can find the minimum duration time needed to fire all the transitions at least once and coming back to the initial marking in a timed net, the minimum cycle time method has been widely used in computer system analysis. A timed net is a modified version of a Petri net where a transition is associated with a delay time. A delay time used in a timed net is a constant even though the duration time associated with an event in the real world is a stochastic number in general. Therefore, this paper proposes 'Mixedly Distributed Stochastic Timed Net' where a transition can be associated with a stochastic number and introduce a minimum cycle time analysis method for 'Mixedly Distributed Stochastic Timed Net'. We also introduce a method of analysing a Web service system's response time with the minimum cycle time analysis method for 'Mixedly Distributed Stochastic Timed Net.'.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1397-1402
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• 2002

Purpose : One of the major complication of arterial catheterization is the thrombosis of the iliac or femoral arteries. Tissue loss following femoral artery catheterization is rare. However longterm sequelae such as impaired limb growth and future impairment of vascular access, are also important in pediatric cardiac patients. But standard methods to treat thrombotic complication of arterial catheterization in infants and children is not established. The present study was performed to assess the efficacy of intraarterial catheter-directed urokinase infusion in infants and children with limb ischemia due to arterial thrombosis after cardiac catheterization. Methods : From January 1994 to August 2002, 12 patients with thrombotic femoral artery occlusion after arterial catheterization were treated with catheter-directed urokinase infusion in Dong-A University Hospital. Retrospective analysis of the medical records and angiograms was conducted. Results : The incidence of femoral artery thrombosis after retrograde arterial catheterization, which had not responded to systemic infusion of heparin and/or urokinase, was 2.8 percent. The doses of urokinase were 1,000-4,400 unit/kg/hr and duration of infusion was $50.6{\pm}29.2$ hours(18-110 hours). Clot resolution was complete in all patients who started to receive the intraarterial urokinase infusion within four days after catheterization. Only partial thrombolysis was seen in two patients who were treated with intraarterial urokinase on the 12th and 19th days after thrombus formation. Balloon angioplasty was done for these two patients with partial success. Bleeding complications were seen in two cases. Conclusion : Early use of catheter-directed intraarterial infusion of urokinase is safe and effective in thrombolysis of femoral artery occlusion after cardiac catheterization in infants and children.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.45
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• pp.367-396
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• 2016

As an animation educator at Mahidol University International College, Bangkok, for eight years I have been in a privileged position to be educating a small section of a new generation of Thai animators. Thailand has had little animation experimentation of their own and pre-internet had limited access to such diversity so I have attempted to bring some of the wealth of animation history, in particular British and European, as this is my background, into the classroom. In particular my teaching aim has been to introduce various possibilities to the choices of medium, styles and textual narratives that early (and current) experimental and independent animators have explored. Since the release of the first commercial feature film, Khun Kluay 2006, the Thai animation industry has gone through various highs and lows in the commercial sector, building a skilled workforce, many of whom trained and worked abroad then returned. Now there is strong evidence of an independent animation starting to emerge. In a continuation to my research on Thai Animation this paper will analyze selected independent works in more detail, exploring the themes, style and technology used. Whilst also acknowledging the possible mis- interpretation as that this is coming from the perspective of an outsider whose cultural language and interpretation may transcend the creators' given experiences and add alternative interpretation. The aim will be to contextualize the content, ideas and cultural perspective and bring more Thai works into the gaze of animation studies academics

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was conducted to determine the appropriate sampling time of the salivary stress markers, chromogranin A (CgA) and cortisol as objective indices of job stress assessment in adult females. Methods : The subjects were 20${\sim}$39-year-old women (13 office workers, 11 sales-service workers, and 11 college students) who were eligible for the study and free of acute and chronic medical conditions. Salivary CgA and cortisol levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Saliva samples were collected (2 $m{\ell}$ each) at 7:00, 8:00, 10:30, 12:00, 17:30, and 22:30 on a typical day. Salivary CgA and cortisol levels, according to sampling time, were compared among the three groups using general linear model. The full version of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS), which includes socioeconomic characteristics, health behavior, workrelated characteristics, and BMI, was used to access the subjects' job stress. Multiple regression analysis of the job stressors identified by the KOSS was performed on salivary CgA and cortisol levels. Results : The salivary CgA level peaked at 7:00 (time of awakening), then decreased and were maintained at a low level throughout the day, and increased slightly at 17:30. The salivary cortisol level increased steeply within the 1st hour after awakening, followed by a gradual decrease by 12:00, and was then maintained at a low level throughout the day. The salivary cortisol levels of subjects who worked ${\leq}$5 days per week and graduated from the university were significantly lower at 8:00 (p=0.006). The salivary cortisol levels of non-smokers were significantly lower at 7:00 p=0.040) and 8:00 (p=0.003) compared to smokers. There were no significant differences in salivary CgA and cortisol levels at 10:30 and 12:00 in general characteristics. The regression coefficients on salivary CgA level were significant with interpersonal conflict at 17:30 and job insecurity at 22:30. Regression coefficients on salivary cortisol level were significant with organizational system and total job stressors at 17:30. Conclusions : We suggest that the appropriate sampling times for the salivary stress markers, CgA and cortisol, are at 7:00 (time of awakening), 8:00 (1 hour after awakening), 17:30 (early evening), and 22:30 (before sleep).