• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1519-1525
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• 2021

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is recognized to be carcinogenic and toxic and registered as a contaminant in many drinking water regulations. It occurs naturally and is also produced by industrial processes. The reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) has been a central topic for chromium remediation since Cr(III) is less toxic and less mobile. In this study, fermentative Fe(III)-reducing bacterial strains (Cellu-2a, Cellu-5a, and Cellu-5b) were isolated from a groundwater sample and were phylogenetically related to species of Cellulomonas by 16S rRNA gene analysis. One selected strain, Cellu-2a showed its capacity of reduction of both soluble iron (ferric citrate) and solid iron (hydrous ferric oxide, HFO), as well as aqueous Cr(VI). The strain Cellu-2a was able to reduce 15 μM Cr(VI) directly with glucose or sucrose as a sole carbon source under the anaerobic condition and indirectly with one of the substrates and HFO in the same incubations. The heterogeneous reduction of Cr(VI) by the surface-associated reduced iron from HFO by Cellu-2a likely assisted the Cr(VI) reduction. Fermentative features such as large-scale cell growth may impose advantages on the application of bacterial Cr(VI) reduction over anaerobic respiratory reduction.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.110-147
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• 2022

Many megacities are exposed to natural hazards such as earthquakes, and when located in coastal regions, are also vulnerable to hurricanes and tsunamis. The physical infrastructures of transportation systems in megacities have become so complicated that very few organizations can understand their response to extreme events such as earthquakes and can effectively mitigate subsequent economic downfalls. The technological advances made in recent years to support these complex systems have not grown as fast as the rapid demand on these systems burdened by population shift toward megacities. The objective of this paper is to examine the risks imposed on and recoveries of transportation systems in megacities as the result of extreme events such as an earthquake. First, the physical damage to transportation infrastructure, loss of the transportation system performance, and the corresponding economic loss from disruptions to passenger and freight traffic is evaluated. Then, traffic flows are re-routed to reduce vehicles' delay due to earthquakes using a microscopic traffic flow simulator with an optimization model and macroscopic terminal simulator. Finally, the economic impact of the earthquake is estimated nationwide. Southern California is regarded as the region of study. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the integrated model and provide what and how to prepare innovative resilience policies of urban infrastructure for a natural disaster occurrence.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.896-908
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• 2022

As a part of probabilistic risk (or safety) assessment (PRA or PSA) of nuclear power plants (NPPs), the primary role of human reliability analysis (HRA) is to provide credible estimations of the human error probabilities (HEPs) of safety-critical tasks. In this regard, it is vital to provide credible HEPs based on firm technical underpinnings including (but not limited to): (1) how to collect HRA data from available sources of information, and (2) how to inform HRA practitioners with the collected HRA data. Because of these necessities, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute independently developed two dedicated HRA data collection systems, SACADA (Scenario Authoring, Characterization, And Debriefing Application) and HuREX (Human Reliability data EXtraction), respectively. These systems provide unique frameworks that can be used to secure HRA data from full-scope training simulators of NPPs (i.e., simulator data). In order to investigate the applicability of these two systems, two papers have been prepared with distinct purposes. The first paper, entitled "SACADA and HuREX: Part 1. The Use of SACADA and HuREX Systems to Collect Human Reliability Data", deals with technical issues pertaining to the collection of HRA data. This second paper explains how the two systems are able to inform HRA practitioners. To this end, the process of estimating HEPs is demonstrated based on feed-and-bleed operations using HRA data from the two systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3816-3823
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• 2022

This work analyzed the dosimetric difference between the intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), partial/single/double-arc volumetric modulated arc therapy (PA/SA/DA-VMAT) techniques in treatment planning for treating more than one target of lung cancer at different isocenters. IMRT and VMAT plans at different isocenters were created systematically using a Harold heterogeneous lung phantom. The conformity index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), gradient index (GI), dose-volume histogram and mean and maximum dose of the PTV were calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the dose-volume histogram and mean and maximum doses of the OARs such as right lung, contralateral lung and non GTV were determined from the plans. The IMRT plans showed the superior target dose coverage, higher mean and maximum values than other VMAT techniques. PA-VMAT technique shows more lung sparing and DA-VMAT increases the V_5/10/20 values of contralateral lung than other VMAT and IMRT techniques. The IMRT technique achieves highly conformal dose distribution to the target than other VMAT techniques. Comparing to the IMRT plans, the higher V_5/10/20 and mean lung dose were observed in the contralateral lung in the DA-VMAT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.455-465
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• 2021

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), one of the six advanced reactor types of the 4th generation nuclear energy systems, has many impressive features including economic advantages, inherent safety and nuclear non-proliferation. This paper introduces a system analysis code named TREND, which is developed and used for the steady and transient simulation of MSRs. The TREND code calculates the distributions of pressure, velocity and temperature of single-phase flows by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, along with a fluid state equation. Heat structures coupled with the fluid dynamics model is sufficient to meet the demands of modeling MSR system-level thermal-hydraulics. The core power is based on the point reactor neutron kinetics model calculated by the typical Runge-Kutta method. An incremental PID controller is inserted to adjust the operation behaviors. The verification and validation of the TREND code have been carried out in two aspects: detailed code-to-code comparison with established thermal-hydraulic system codes such as RELAP5, and validation with the experimental data from MSRE and the CIET facility (the University of California, Berkeley's Compact Integral Effects Test facility).The results indicate that TREND can be used in analyzing the transient behaviors of MSRs and will be improved by validating with more experimental results with the support of SINAP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.245-258
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• 2022

Many Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) methods have been proposed for structural damage diagnosis and prognosis. However, SHM for pinched hysteretic structures can be problematic due to the high level of nonlinearity. The model-free hysteresis loop analysis (HLA) has displayed notable robustness and accuracy in identifying damage for full-scaled and scaled test buildings. In this paper, the performance of HLA is compared with seven other SHM methods in identifying lateral elastic stiffness for a six-story numerical building with highly nonlinear pinching behavior. Two successive earthquakes are employed to compare the accuracy and consistency of methods within and between events. Robustness is assessed across sampling rates 50-1000 Hz in noise-free condition and then assessed with 10% root mean square (RMS) noise added to responses at 250 Hz sampling rate. Results confirm HLA is the most robust method to sampling rate and noise. HLA preserves high accuracy even when the sampling rate drops to 50 Hz, where the performance of other methods deteriorates considerably. In noisy conditions, the maximum absolute estimation error is less than 4% for HLA. The overall results show HLA has high robustness and accuracy for an extremely nonlinear, but realistic case compared to a range of leading and recent model-based and model-free methods.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 2022

Facial feminization surgery (FFS) refers to a set of procedures aimed at altering the features of a masculine face to achieve a more feminine appearance. In the second part of this two-part series, assessment and operations involving the midface, mandible, and chin, as well as soft tissue modification of the nasolabial complex and chondrolaryngoplasty, are discussed. Finally, we provide a review of the literature on patient-reported outcomes in this population following FFS and suggest a path forward to optimize care for FFS patients.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1686-1697
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• 2022

As a part of probabilistic risk (or safety) assessment (PRA or PSA) of nuclear power plants (NPPs), the primary role of human reliability analysis (HRA) is to provide credible estimations of the human error probabilities (HEPs) of safety-critical tasks. Accordingly, HRA community has emphasized the accumulation of HRA data to support HRA practitioners for many decades. To this end, it is critical to resolve practical problems including (but not limited to): (1) how to collect HRA data from available information sources, and (2) how to inform HRA practitioners with the collected HRA data. In this regard, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) independently initiated two large projects to accumulate HRA data by using full-scale simulators (i.e., simulator data). In terms of resolving the first practical problem, the NRC and KAERI developed two dedicated HRA data collection systems, SACADA (Scenario Authoring, Characterization, And Debriefing Application) and HuREX (Human Reliability data EXtraction), respectively. In addition, to inform HRA practitioners, the NRC and KAERI proposed several ideas to extract useful information from simulator data. This paper is the first of two papers to discuss the technical underpinnings of the development of the SACADA and HuREX systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1161-1166
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• 2022

Green pitch coke with an average particle size of 2 mm was adopted as densifier and added to the raw materials of conventional A3-3 matrix graphite (MG) to prepare modified A3-3 matrix graphite (MMG) by the quasi-isostatic molding method. The structure, mechanical and thermal properties were assessed. Compared with MG, MMG had a more compact structure, and exhibited improved properties of higher mechanical strength, higher thermal conductivity and better molten salt barrier performance. Notably, under the same infiltration pressure of 5 atm, the fluoride salt occupation of MMG was only 0.26 wt%, whereas it was 15.82 wt% for MG. The densification effect of green pitch coke endowed MMG with improved properties for potential use in the spherical fuel elements of molten salt reactor.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.451-463
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• 2021

Inorganic basalt fiber (BF) is a novel sort of commercial concrete fiber which is made with basalt rocks. Previous studies have not sufficiently handled the behavior of self-compacted concrete, at elevated temperature, containing basalt fiber. Present endeavor covers experimental work to examine the characteristics of this material at high temperature considering different fiber content and applied temperature. Different tests were carried out to measure the mechanical properties such as compressive strength (fc), modulus of elasticity (E), Poisson's ratio, splitting tensile strength (fsplit), flexural strength (fflex), and slant shear strength (fslant) of HSC and hybrid concrete. Gene expression programming (GEP) was employed to propose new constitutive relationships depending on experimental data. It was noticed from the testing records that there is no remarkable effect of BF on the Poisson's ratio and modulus of elasticity of self-compacted concrete. The flexural strength of basalt fiber self-compacted concrete was not sensitive to temperature in comparison to other mechanical properties of concrete. Fiber volume fraction of 0.25% was found to be the optimum to some extend according to degradation of strength. The proposed GEP models were in good matching with the experimental results.