• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6391-6395
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• 2012

Background: Ovarian cancer is ranked as the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women. In Malaysia, it is the fourth most common cancer in females. CA125 has been the tumor marker of choice in ovarian cancer but its diagnostic specificity in early stages is only 50%. Hence, there is a critical need to identify an alternative tumor marker that is capable of detecting detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. HE4 is a new tumor marker proposed for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and disease recurrence. Currently, none of the normal ranges of HE4 quoted in the literature are based on data for a multiethnic Asian population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine reference intervals for HE4 in an Asian population presenting in University Malaya Medical Centre, a tertiary reference hospital. Materials and Methods: 300 healthy women were recruited comprising 150 premenopausal and 150 postmenopausal women, aged from 20-76 years. All women were subjected to a pelvic ultrasonograph and were confirmed to be free from ovarian pathology on recruitment. Serum HE4 levels were determined by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA, Abbott Architect). The reference intervals were determined following CLSI guidelines (C28-A2) using a non-parametric method. Results: The upper limits of the $95^{th}$ percentile reference interval (90%CI) for all the women collectively were 64.6 pmol/L, and 58.4 pmol/L for premenopausal) and 69.0 pmol/L for postmenopausal. The concentration of HE4 was noted to increase with age especially in women who were more than 50 years old. We also noted that our proposed reference limit was lower compared to the level given by manufacturer Abbott Architect HE4 kit insert (58.4 vs 70 pmol/L for premenopausal group and 69.0 vs 140 pmol/L in the postmenopausal group). The study also showed a significant difference in HE4 concentrations between ethnic groups (Malays and Indians). The levels of HE4 in Indians appeared higher than in Malays (p<0.05), while no significant differences were noted between the Malays and Chinese ethnic groups. Conclusions: More data are needed to establish a reference interval that will better represent the multiethnic Malaysian population. Probably a larger sampling size of equal representation of the Malay, Chinese, Indians as well as the other native ethnic communities will give us a greater confidence on whether genetics plays a role in reference interval determination.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.41-54
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• 2011

The present study analyzes the stability of waterfront quay wall under the combined action of earthquake and tsunami. Adopting the limit equilibrium method, the stability of waterfront quay wall is checked for both the sliding and overturning. Forces due to tsunami are compared with the proposed formula and the 3-D one-field Model for immiscible TWO-Phase flows (TWOPM-3D). Variations of the stability of wall are also proposed by the parametric study including tsunami water height, horizontal seismic acceleration coefficient, internal friction angle of soil, friction angle between the wall and the soil and the pore water pressure ratio. The present study about the stability of wall is also compared with the case when earthquake and tsunami are not considered. As a result, the result of numerical analysis about the tsunami force is similar to that of proposed formula. When earthquake and tsunami are simultaneously considered, the stability of wall in passive case significantly decreases and tsunami forces in active case are affected as a resistance force on the wall and so the stability of wall increases.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 1999

T$_1$/T$_2$ weighted images are being used to give the characteristic contrast among the various tissues and the norma;/abnormal tissues. Abnormalities in tissues, in general, accompany the biochemical changes and eventually structural ones in which results in the change in T$_1$ and T$_2$ relaxation times of water protons. It has been suggested that the mapping of T$_1$/T$_2$ values may serve as a possible tool for the quantitative evaluation of the degree of abnormality. On reconstructing T$_1$/T$_2$ maps(or any other MR parametric map), only corresponding variables are to be varied, such as TE for T$_2$, TI or TR for T$_1$ and b-factor for diffusion images. But often the receiver gain is taken for the optimal usage of A/D converter, so that the set of the image data has different receiver gain. It must be corrected before any attempt to reconstruct the maps. Here we developed method of correcting receiver gain variation effect, using the standard deviation of noise on individual image. The resultant T$_1$ and T$_2$ values were very comparable to the other reported values.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.18-18
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• 2011

Climate change is impacting and will increasingly impact both the quantity and quality of the world's water resources in a variety of ways. In some areas warming climate results in increased rainfall, surface runoff, and groundwater recharge while in others there may be declines in all of these. Water quality is described by a number of variables. Some are directly impacted by climate change. Temperature is an obvious example. Notably, increased atmospheric concentrations of $CO_2$ triggering climate change increase the $CO_2$ dissolving into water. This has manifold consequences including decreased pH and increased alkalinity, with resultant increases in dissolved concentrations of the minerals in geologic materials contacted by such water. Climate change is also expected to increase the number and intensity of extreme climate events, with related hydrologic changes. A simple framework has been developed in New Zealand for assessing and predicting climate change impacts on water resources. Assessment is largely based on trend analysis of historic data using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall method. Trend analysis requires long-term, regular monitoring data for both climate and hydrologic variables. Data quality is of primary importance and data gaps must be avoided. Quantitative prediction of climate change impacts on the quantity of water resources can be accomplished by computer modelling. This requires the serial coupling of various models. For example, regional downscaling of results from a world-wide general circulation model (GCM) can be used to forecast temperatures and precipitation for various emissions scenarios in specific catchments. Mechanistic or artificial intelligence modelling can then be used with these inputs to simulate climate change impacts over time, such as changes in streamflow, groundwater-surface water interactions, and changes in groundwater levels. The Waimea Plains catchment in New Zealand was selected for a test application of these assessment and prediction methods. This catchment is predicted to undergo relatively minor impacts due to climate change. All available climate and hydrologic databases were obtained and analyzed. These included climate (temperature, precipitation, solar radiation and sunshine hours, evapotranspiration, humidity, and cloud cover) and hydrologic (streamflow and quality and groundwater levels and quality) records. Results varied but there were indications of atmospheric temperature increasing, rainfall decreasing, streamflow decreasing, and groundwater level decreasing trends. Artificial intelligence modelling was applied to predict water usage, rainfall recharge of groundwater, and upstream flow for two regionally downscaled climate change scenarios (A1B and A2). The AI methods used were multi-layer perceptron (MLP) with extended Kalman filtering (EKF), genetic programming (GP), and a dynamic neuro-fuzzy local modelling system (DNFLMS), respectively. These were then used as inputs to a mechanistic groundwater flow-surface water interaction model (MODFLOW). A DNFLMS was also used to simulate downstream flow and groundwater levels for comparison with MODFLOW outputs. MODFLOW and DNFLMS outputs were consistent. They indicated declines in streamflow on the order of 21 to 23% for MODFLOW and DNFLMS (A1B scenario), respectively, and 27% in both cases for the A2 scenario under severe drought conditions by 2058-2059, with little if any change in groundwater levels.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6C
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• pp.203-212
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• 2011

This paper investigates the caharactheristics of the earth pressure magnigue and distribution in jointed rockmass for a safe and economic design and construction of earth retaining structures installed in rock stratum. For this purpose, this study will first investigate the limitations and problems of the existing earth pressure studies and then to overcome them th study will conduct the discontinuum numerical parametric studies based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM), which can consider the joint characteristics in rock stratum. The controlled parameters include rock type and joint conditions (joint shear strength and joint angle), and the magnitude and distribution characteristics of earth pressure have been investigated considering the interactions between the ground and the retaining structures. In addition, the comparison between the earth pressures induced in rock stratum and Peck's earth pressure for soil ground has been carried out. From the comparison, it is found that the earth pressure magnitude and distribution in jointed rockmass has been highly affected by rock type and joint condition and has shown different characteristics compared with the Peck's empirical earth pressure. This result would hereafter be utilized as an important information and a useful data for the assessment of earth pressure for designing a retaining structures installed in jointed rockmass.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 2003

In this study, the various load cases by specified by the IEC61400-1 international specification and GL Regulations for the wind energy conversion system were considered, and a specific composite structure configuration which can effectively endure various loads was proposed. In order to evaluate the structure, the structural analysis for the composite wind turbine blade was performed using the finite element method(FEM). In the structural design, the acceptable configuration of blade structure was determined through the parametric studies, and the most dominant design parameters were confirmed. In the stress analysis using the FEM, it was confirmed that the blade structure was safe and stable for all the considerd load cases. Moreover the safety of the blade root joint with insert bolts, newly devised in this study, was checked against the design loads and also the fatigue loads. The fatigue life for operating more than 20 years was estimated by using the well-known S-N linear damage rule, the load spectrum and Spera's empirical equations. The full-scale static test was performed under the simulated aerodynamic loads. from the experimental results, it was found that the designed blade had the structural integrity. Furthermore the measured results were agreed with the analytical results such as deflections, strains, the mass and the radial center of gravity. The studied blade was successfully certified by an international institute, GL, of Germany.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.382-389
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• 2017

Currently, reticulocyte experimental calculation technology used in clinical laboratories are divided two types: manual and automated. Manual reticulocyte counting using a microscopy lacks accuracy due particularly to its low reproducibility, affecting the accuracy of manual reticulocyte count. Moreover, Automatic blood corpuscle analyzer flow cytometry is difficult to be used in underdeveloped countries and small scale laboratories due to relatively high cost. Therefore, this study tried to find a new method to complement these drawbacks. The aim of this study was to compare the stained reticulocytes count by spectrophotometer and also to analyze the statistics of spectrophotometer and flow cytometer. The same 8 EDTA samples were repeated 36 times to compare the agreement between spectrophotometer and flow cytometer. This study measured the specimen diluted 600 times at 700~780 nm by 10 differences. Wavelength between 710 to 730 by absorbance showed a positive correlation between standard data and test data (r=0.967, p<0.01), presenting a correlation between variables. Statistical analyses of regression for test and standard parametric data, the optimal dilution factor was 600 times. Therefore, this study tried to technical utilizes such as contributing economical for the reticulocyte absorbance apply from the auto spectrophotometer, a monitoring system for the reticulocyte relation anemia, etc. Therefore, more extensive studies, including an auto chemical analyzer application, will be needed.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.204-211
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• 2011

A dynamic analysis procedure is developed to provide a better estimation of the dynamic responses of bridge during the passage of high speed railway vehicles. Particularly, a three dimensional numerical model including the structural interaction between high speed vehicles, bridges and railway endures to analyse accurately and evaluate with in-depth parametric studies for dynamic responses of various bridge span lengths running KTX railway locomotive up to increasing maximum speed(450km/h). Three dimensional frame element is used to model the simply supported pre-stressed concrete (PSC) box bridges for four span lengths(40~25m). Track irregularity employed as a stationary random process from the given spectral density functions and irregularities of both sides of the track are assumed to have high correlation. The high-speed railway vehicle (KTX) is used as 38-degree of freedom system. Three displacements (Vertical, lateral, and longitudinal) as well as three rotational components (Pitching, rolling, and yawing) are considered in the 38-degree of freedom model. The dynamic amplification factors are evaluated by the developed procedure under various traveling conditions, such as track irregularity camber, train speed and ballast. The dynamic analysis such as Newmark-${\beta}$ and Runge-Kutta methods which are able to analyse considering the dynamic impact factors are compared and contrasted.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.94-104
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• 2015

Population and urban development along the coast is growing in South Korea, and particularly sea level rise is likely to increase the vulnerability of coastal areas. This study aims to investigate the sea level rise through Mann-Kendall(MK) test, ordinary linear regression(OR) and quantile regression analysis(QRA) with sea level data at the 20 tide stations along the coast of Korean Peninsula. First, statistically significant long-term trends were analysed using a non-parametric MK test and the test indicated statistically significant trends for 18 and 10 stations at the 5% significance level in the annual mean value of sea level and the annual maximum value of sea level, respectively. The QRA method showed better performance in terms of characterizing the degree of trend. QRA showed that an average annual rise in mean sea level is about 1-6 mm/year, and an average rise in maximum sea level is about 1-20 mm. It was found that upward convergent and upward divergent were a representative change given the nine-category distributional changes. We expect that in future work we will address nonstationarities with respect to sea level that were identified above, and develop a nonstationary frequency analysis with climate change scenarios.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.61-77
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• 2020

In South Korea, major public waters have been systematic management under national level. Water environment network has been continuous monitoring for change of aquatic ecosystem, river and reservoir. In Water Quality Monitoring Networks, the data have been generally monitored Per eight days or month, while in Automatic Water Quality Monitoring Network the data have been monitored at daily intervals. Therefore, we were compared and analyzed water quality data between the networks using statistic method for same water quality item. Mann-kendall test results confirm that all points in Water Temperature (WT) and DO were not statistically significant. In particular, the result revealed that there is significant variation of TOC in the four different sites, TN in two different sites, TP in three different sites, WT in seven different sites, pH in two different sites between Water Quality Monitoring Network and Automatic Water Quality Monitoring Network. As a result firm LOWESS, TOC and pH clearly shows different trend. Among different sites, the water quality show the significantly positive correlations between at Sinam-Sangju2 and Namgang-Namgang4. Negative correlation significantly appeared in TP (ADD_Lower-AD1 site), TOC (DG-SG site), pH (GR-GR site), TP (JP-CN) and TN, TP, pH, EC, DO (GC-GC2-1 site).