• Title/Summary/Keyword: Nuclear applications

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Method of Estimating the Ground-Motion Intensity Measures at a Nearby Site by using the Time-domain Transformation of Site Response (지진파형의 시간영역 부지응답특성 변환을 통한 인접부지의 지진동세기 추정 방법)

  • Yun, Kwan-Hee;Park, Dong-Hee
    • Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.219-226
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    • 2010
  • Current earthquake alert notification for immediate post-earthquake procedures for the critical facilities is exclusively dependent on the ground-motion intensity measures observed at the seismic station located within the site. This practice is prune to false notification due to a noise and problems of missing and poor quality records of the seismic station. The credibility of the earthquake alert notification can be enhanced by utilizing the multiple transformed records of the nearby seismic stations at other sites interconnected to the same earthquake monitoring system by a network. The time-domain transformation of the site-response between the seismic stations is implemented by convoluting the nearby records with a pair of forward and inverse FIR filters designed for the site response relative to a seismic basement. The transformed records from the nearby seismic stations can be used to estimate the ground-motion intensity measures missing at the site or to evaluate the data quality along with other various possible applications in the area of geoscience and earthquake engineering.

Verification of the Viability of Equipotential Switching Direct Current Potential Drop Method for Piping Wall Loss Monitoring with Signal Sensitivity Analysis (등전위 교번식 직류전위차법의 신호 정밀도 검증을 통한 배관 감육 진단 기술에의 적용성 검증)

  • Ryu, Kyung-Ha;Hwang, Il-Soon;Kim, Ji-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.191-198
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    • 2008
  • Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) phenomenon of low alloy carbon steels in nuclear power plant has been known as one of major degradation mechanisms. It has a potential to cause nuclear pipe rupture accident which may directly impact on the plant reliability and safety. Recently, the equipotential switching direct current potential drop (ES-DCPD) method has been developed, by the present authors, as a method to monitor wall loss in a piping. This method can rapidly monitor the thinning of piping, utilizing either the wide range monitoring (WiRM) or the narrow range monitoring (NaRM) technique. WiRM is a method to monitor wide range of straight piping, whereas NaRM focuses significantly on a narrow range such as an elbow. WiRM and NaRM can improve the reliability of the current FAC screening method that is based on computer modeling on fluid flow conditions. In this paper, the measurements by ES-DCPD are performed with signal sensitivity analyses in the laboratory environment for extended period and showed the viability of ES-DCPD for real plant applications.

Inhibitory Effect on RANKL-Induced Osteoclast Differentiation by Water Extract of Zizyphus Jujuba Mill (대추 물 추출물이 RANKL에 의해 유도되는 파골세포 분화에 미치는 영향)

  • Yoon, Kang Hugh;Baek, Jong Min;Kim, Ju Young;Kwak, Seong Cheoul;Cheon, Yoon Hee;Jeon, Byung Hoon;Lee, Chang Hoon;Choi, Min Kyu;Oh, Jaemin;Lee, Myeung Su;Kim, Jeong Joong
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.29-34
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    • 2014
  • Bone homeostasis is maintained by balance between bone resorbing-osteoclasts and bone forming-osteoblasts. Excessive osteoclastic bone resorption plays a critical role in bone destruction in pathological bone diseases such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and periodontal disease. Many compounds derived from natural products have pharmacological applications and have therapeutic value for treating or preventing several bone diseases characterized by excessive bone resorption. To discover new compounds that can act as anti-resorptive agents, we screened for natural compounds that regulate osteclast differentiation, and found that water extract of Ziziphus Jujuba Mill (WEZJ) has inhibitory effects on osteoclast differentiation. In this study, WEZJ clearly inhibits the osteoclast differentiation in the presence of receptor activator of nuclear factor kB (RANKL), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) without cytoxicity by blocking activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT)c1, and c-Fos. In signaling pathway, the phosphorylation of Akt, p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and the expression of osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR), tartrate-resistant acid phosphates (TRAP), Integrin av, Integrin b3, Cathepsin K are suppressed, too. These result suggest that WEZJ may have therapeutic value for treating or preventing several bone diseases characterized by excessive bone destruction.

An Introduction to Microsatellite Development and Analysis (Microsatellite 개발 및 분석법에 대한 소개)

  • Yun Young-Eun;Yu Jeong-Nam;Lee Byoung-Yoon;Kwak Myounghai
    • Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.299-314
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    • 2011
  • The choice of molecular markers is the first step when selecting experimental plans in the field of population genetics. The popular molecular markers in population genetic studies are mainly allozyme, RAPD, RFLP, AFLP, microsatellite, SNP and ISSR. Among these, microsatellites are frequently found in nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial genome, showing a high level of polymorphism and nuclear microsatellites are codominant. Thus, it is a favorable molecular marker for population structure analyses and genetic diversity studies. Microsatellites are composed of tandem repeated 1~6 base pair nucleotide motifs and can be easily amplified by PCR reactions using locus specific primers. Because microsatellites have low cross-species transferability, however, they are only applicable between phylogenetically close species. In wild plants, the lack of genomic information and the high development cost of the microsatellite obstruct the wider use of microsatellites in plant population genetics research. In this review, we introduce the basis for microsatellite markers, the development process, and analytical methods as well as evolutionary models and their applications. In addition, possible genotyping errors which lead to erroneous conclusions are discussed.

Direct Growth of CNT on Cu Foils for Conductivity Enhancement and Their Field Emission Property Characterization (전도성 향상을 위한 구리호일 위 CNT의 직접성장 및 전계방출 특성 평가)

  • Kim, J.J.;Lim, S.T.;Kim, G.H.;Jeong, G.H.
    • Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.155-163
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    • 2011
  • Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been attracted much attention since they have been expected to be used in various areas by virtue of their outstanding physical, electrical, and chemical properties. In order to make full use of their prominent electric conductivity in some areas such as electron emission sources, device interconnects, and electrodes in energy storage devices, direct growth of CNT with vertical alignment is definitely beneficial issue because they can maintain mechanical stability and high conductivity at the interface between substrates. Here, we report direct growth of vertically aligned CNT (VCNT) on Cu foils using thermal chemical vapor deposition and characterize the field emission property of the VCNT. The VCNT's height was controlled by changing the growth temperature, growth time, and catalytic layer thickness. Optimum growth condition was found to be $800^{\circ}C$ for 20 min with acetylene and hydrogen mixtures on Fe catalytic layer of 1 nm thick. The diameter of VCNT grown was smaller than that of usual multi walled CNT. Based on the result of field emission characterization, we concluded that the VCNT on Cu foils can be useful in various potential applications where high conductivity through the interface between CNT and substrate is required.

Development of Pre-Service and In-Service Information Management System (iSIMS) (원전 가동전/중 검사정보관리 시스템 개발)

  • Yoo, H.J.;Choi, S.N.;Kim, H.N.;Kim, Y.H.;Yang, S.H.
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.390-395
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    • 2004
  • The iSTMS is a web-based integrated information system supporting Pre-Service and In-Service Inspection(PSI/ISI) processes for the nuclear power plants of KHNP(Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd.). The system provides a full spectrum coverage of the inspection processes from the planning stage to the final report of examination in accordance with applicable codes, standards, and regulatory requirements. The major functions of the system includes the inspection planning, examination, reporting, project control and status reporting, resource management as well as objects search and navigation. The system also provides two dimensional or three dimensional visualization interface to identify the location and geometry of components and weld areas subject to examination in collaboration with database applications. The iSIMS is implemented with commercial software packages such as database management system, 2-D and 3-D visualization tool, etc., which provide open, updated and verified foundations. This paper describes the key functions and the technologies for the implementation of the iSIMS.

Implementation of GPM Core Model Using OWL DL (OWL DL을 사용한 GPM 핵심 모델의 구현)

  • Choi, Ji-Woong;Park, Ho-Byung;Kim, Hyung-Jean;Kim, Myung-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.31-42
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    • 2010
  • GPM(Generic Product Model) developed by Hitachi in Japan is a common data model to integrate and share life cycle data of nuclear power plants. GPM consists of GPM core model, an abstract model, implementation language for the model and reference library written in the language. GPM core model has a feature that it can construct a semantic network model consisting of relationships among objects. Initial GPM developed and provided GPML as an implementation language to support the feature of the core model, but afterwards the GPML was replaced by GPM-XML based on XML to achieve data interoperability with heterogeneous applications accessing a GPM data model. However, data models written in GPM-XML are insufficient to be used as a semantic network model for lack of studies which support GPM-XML and enable the models to be used as a semantic network model. This paper proposes OWL as the implementation language for GPM core model because OWL can describe ontologies similar to semantic network models and has an abundant supply of technical standards and supporting tools. Also, OWL which can be expressed in terms of RDF/XML based on XML guarantees data interoperability. This paper uses OWL DL, one of three sublanguages of OWL, because it can guarantee complete reasoning and the maximum expressiveness at the same time. The contents of this paper introduce the way how to overcome the difference between GPM and OWL DL, and, base on this way, describe how to convert the reference library written in GPML into ontologies based on OWL DL written in RDF/XML.

Effects of rhubarb extract on osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow-derived macrophages (대황 추출물이 골수유래 대식세포의 파골세포 분화에 미치는 영향)

  • In-A Cho
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.219-226
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    • 2023
  • Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of rhubarb extract on osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs). Osteoclasts are vital for bone resorption and remodeling. Osteoclast dysregulation can contribute to various bone-related disorders that directly affect oral health. Rhubarb, a medicinal plant with anti-inflammatory properties, has been shown to modulate bone metabolism. Methods: BMMs were isolated from the femurs and tibias of 5-week-old C57BL/6 mice and cultured in the presence of mouse macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) for 3 days. Subsequently, BMMs were treated with M-CSF and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) to induce osteoclast differentiation. Results: Rhubarb extract effectively suppressed osteoclast differentiation in BMMs. Furthermore, rhubarb extract inhibited the mRNA expression of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and cathepsin K (CTSK), which are essential for osteoclastogenesis. Moreover, it inhibited the RANKL-induced expression of nuclear factor of activated T cell c1 (NFATc1), a crucial transcription factor in osteoclast differentiation. Conclusions: These results suggest that rhubarb extract promotes oral health by inhibiting osteoclastogenesis in BMMs. Thus, rhubarb extract shows promise as a therapeutic agent for bone-related disorders that directly affect oral health, particularly those associated with abnormal osteoclast activity. Further research and exploration of the underlying mechanisms are warranted to fully understand their potential clinical applications.

Lead-free inorganic metal perovskites beyond photovoltaics: Photon, charged particles and neutron shielding applications

  • Srilakshmi Prabhu;Dhanya Y. Bharadwaj;S.G. Bubbly;S.B. Gudennavar
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.55 no.3
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    • pp.1061-1070
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    • 2023
  • Over the last few years, lead-free inorganic metal perovskites have gained impressive ground in empowering satellites in space exploration owing to their material stability and performance evolution under extreme space environments. The present work has examined the versatility of eight such perovskites as space radiation shielding materials by computing their photon, charged particles and neutron interaction parameters. Photon interaction parameters were calculated for a wide energy range using PAGEX software. The ranges of heavy charged particles (H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si and Fe ions) in these perovskites were estimated using SRIM software in the energy range 1 keV-10 GeV, and that of electrons was computed using ESTAR NIST software in the energy range 0.01 MeV-1 GeV. Further, the macroscopic fast neutron removal cross-sections were also calculated to estimate the neutron shielding efficiencies. The examined shielding parameters of the perovskites varied depending on the radiation type and energy. Among the selected perovskites, Cs2TiI6 and Ba2AgIO6 displayed superior photon attenuation properties. A 3.5 cm thick Ba2AgIO6-based shield could reduce the incident radiation intensity to half its initial value, a thickness even lesser than that of Pb-glass. Besides, CsSnBr3 and La0.8Ca0.2Ni0.5Ti0.5O3 displayed the highest and lowest range values, respectively, for all heavy charged particles. Ba2AgIO6 showed electron stopping power (on par with Kovar) better than that of other examined materials. Interestingly, La0.8Ca0.2Ni0.5Ti0.5O3 demonstrated neutron removal cross-section values greater than that of standard neutron shielding materials - aluminium and polyethylene. On the whole, the present study not only demonstrates the employment prospects of eco-friendly perovskites for shielding space radiations but also suggests future prospects for research in this direction.

A Study on the Determination of Scan Speed in Whole Body Bone Scan Applying Oncoflash (Oncoflash를 적용한 전신 뼈 영상 검사의 스캔 속도 결정에 관한 연구)

  • Yang, Gwang-Gil;Jung, Woo-Young
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.56-60
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    • 2009
  • Purpose: The various studies and efforts to develop program are in progress in the field of nuclear medicine for the purpose of reducing scan time. The Oncoflash is one of the programs used in whole body bone scan which allows to maintain the image quality while to reduce scan time. When Those applications are used in clinical setting, both the image quality and reduction of scan time should be considered, therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the criteria for proper scan speed. Materials and Methods: The subjects of this study were the patients who underwent whole body bone scan at the departments of nuclear medicine in the Asan Medical Center located in Seoul from 1st to 10th, July, 2008. The whole body bone images obtained in the scan speed of 30cm/min were classified by the total counts into under 800 K, and over 800 K, 900 K, 1,000 K, 1,500 K, and 2,000 K. The image quality were assessed qualitatively and the percentages of those of 1,000K and under of total counts were calculated. The FWHM before and after applying the Oncoflash were analyzed using images obtained in $^{99m}Tc$ Flood and 4-Quadrant bar phantom in order to compare the resolution according to the amount of total counts by the application of the Oncoflash. Considering the counts of the whole body bone scan, the dosed 2~5 mCi were used. 152 patients underwent the measurement in which the counts of Patient Postioning Monitor (PPM) were measured with including head and the parts of chest which the starting point of whole body bone scan from 7th to 26th, August, 2008. The correlations with total counts obtained in the scan speed of 30cm/min among them were analyzed (The exclusion criteria were after over six hours of applying isotopes or low amount of doses). Results: The percentage of the whole body bone image which has the geometric average of total counts of under 1,000K among them obtained in the scan speed of 30cm/min were 17.6%(n=58) of 329 patients. The qualitative analysis of the image groups according to the whole body counts showed that the images of under 1,000K were assessed to have coarse particles and increased noises. The analysis on the FWHM of the images before and after applying the Oncoflash showed that, in the case of PPM counts of under 3.6 K, FWHM values after applying the Oncoflash were higher than that before applying the Oncoflash, whereas, in the case of that of over 3.6 K, the FWHM after applying the Oncoflash were not higher than that before applying the Oncoflash. The average of total counts at 2.5~3.0 K, 3.1~3.5 K, 3.6~4.0 k, 4.1~4.5 K, 4.6~5.0 K, 5.1~6.0 K, 6.1~7.0 K, and 7.1 K over (in PPM) were $965{\pm}173\;K$, $1084{\pm}154\;K$, $1242{\pm}186\;K$, $1359{\pm}170\;K$, $1405{\pm}184\;K$, $1640{\pm}376\;K$, $1,771{\pm}324\;K$, and $1,972{\pm}385\;K$, respectively and the correlations between the counts in PPM and the total counts of image obtained in the scan speed of 30 cm/min demonstrated strong correlation (r=.775, p<.01). Conclusions: In the case of PPM coefficient over 3.6 K, the image quality obtained in the scan speed of 30cm/min and after applying the Oncoflash was similar to that obtained in the scan speed of 15 cm/min. In the case of total counts over 1,000 K, it is expected to reduce scan time without any damage on the image quality. In the case of total counts under 1,000 K, however, the image quality were decreased even though the Oncoflash is applied, so it is recommended to perform the re-image in the scan speed of 15 cm/min.

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