• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2011

We compared three EDTA-based phenotypic screening methods for detecting IMP-1 and VIM-2 type metallo-${\beta}$- lactamase (MBL)-producing isolates of Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas spp., EDTA-double disk synergy test (EDTADDST), Etest MBL, and imipenem (IPM)-EDTA disk test. A total of 183 isolates (65 Acinetobacter spp. and 118 Pseudomonas spp. showing IPM resistance), confirmed to MBL genes by PCR, were used. The criteria for MBL production were (i) presence of a synergistic zone between IPM and EDTA disks in EDTA-DDST, (ii) reduction of IPM minimal inhibitory concentration by ${\geq}$ 3 twofold dilutions in the presence of EDTA in the Etest MBL, and (iii) ${\geq}$ 7 mm increase in the inhibition zone around the IPM plus EDTA disks compared with a sole IPM disk in the IPM-EDTA disk test. In this study using 87 MBL-producing and 96 MBL-nonproducing isolates, the sensitivities/specificities of EDTA-DDST, Etest MBL and IPM-EDTA disk tests were 94.3/78.1%, 89.7/91.7%, and 97.7/95.8%, respectively. When the threshold for the increase of the inhibition zone around the IPM plus EDTA disk over a sole IPM disk was altered to ${\geq}$ 5 mm and ${\geq}$ 8 mm for Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp., respectively, the sensitivity and specificity of the test were 98.9% and 96.9%, respectively. Of the three EDTA-based phenotypic tests, the IMP-EDTA disk test was superior for detection of MBL-producing isolates.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.107-122
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• 1998

Visitor Impact Management (VIM) framework was developed in the United States to help recreation resources management to be more systematic and effective. It consists of a series of steps from examining problems and their causes to planning and implementing management strategies in order to solve the problems. This study was conducted to find management problems in Moodeung-san Provincial Park and suggest some alternatives based on VIM framework. Data were collected by on-site survey and a mail-back questionnaire in August of 1996 in Moodeung-san Provincial Park. Out of 1173, 519 respondents (44.2%) were used for the study. According to the study results, there were differences between users' perceptions about the present use of the park and the users' personal norms about the use of the park. That is, while 46% of the respondents considered the park should be used as 'the place for calm and meditiation,' only 19% of the respondents considered the park had been used as 'the place for calm and meditation.' Three social indicators (the number of users, the number of seeing others' inconsiderate behaviors, and the crime) and four ecological indicators (littering, human waste, trail conditions, and water quality of Moodeung-san valleys) were selected for the major managerial indicators of the study area. Generally, five out of 7 selected indicators were in worse conditions than the evaluative standards, Five indicators which were evaluated as in worse conditions include two social indicators (the number of users and the number of seeing others' inconsiderate behaviors) and three ecological indicators (littering, human waste and trail conditions). Two other indicators such as water quality of Moodeung-san valley and the crime were identified to be important for users' recreational experience. More concerns and systematic investigations on these indicators are needed. This study discussed some management strategies to solve the identified problems, and introduced how mangers may make use of these information for recreation resource menagement in the park.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2012

The pros and cons of green building thermal insulation materials and systems have been reviewed from traditional thermal insulation materials such as mineral wool and polyurethane to new thermal insulation materials like VIP and aerogel and future insulating VIM and DIM. VIPs and aerogels with very low thermal conductivity can use for green buildings to significantly increase residential area by reducing energy consumption. Aerogels can be produced as not only opaque and but also translucent forms, thus enabling a wide range of possible building application. For building applications, there are many properties to consider like building site adaptability and mechanical strength, fire protection, cost and environmental impact.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.81-85
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• 2012

This study was undertaken to evaluate phenotypic and genotypic methods for detection of Metallo-Beta-Lactamases (MBLs) among nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Of the 50 P. aeruginosa isolates from clinical specimens, 20 were evaluated for carbapenem resistance and screened for MBL by double-disk synergy test and combined-disk test. Nineteen strains (95%) were found to be MBL producers among the 20 P. aeruginosa. MBL positives were further confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). For the IMP and VIM types of MBLs, PCR analysis was performed on 19 of the 20, and 10 were positive for VIM MBL type. This study reports the validation of a simple and accurate MBL detection method that can be easily incorporated into the daily routine of a clinical laboratory. Early detection of MBL-carrying organisms, including those with susceptibility to carbapenems, is of paramount clinical importance, as it allows rapid initiation of strict infection control practices as well as therapeutic guidance for confirmed infection.Key Words : Hepatitis A virus (HAV), Anti-HAV, Hospital workers, Prevalence, Vaccination

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.325-328
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• 2005

Objective: Stereotactic thalamic procedure is well known to be a effective treatment for disabling upper limb tremor of essential tremor. However, the effect of this procedure for head tremor, which is midline symptom of that disease entity, has not been sufficiently established. The authors discuss the result of stereotactic thalamic operations for head tremor of their patients who suffered from essential tremor. Methods: We evaluated 4 patients of essential tremor who had head tremor combined with both upper limb tremor. One patient underwent unilateral ventralis intermedius thalamotomy, two patients had unilateral Vim deep brain stimulation(DBS) and one patient had unilateral Vim thalamotomy and contralateral DBS. Postoperative results of tremor were evaluated using our proposed scale. Results: Contralateral upper limb tremors to surgical side were markedly resolved in all patients but there was no meaningful effect for head tremor in 3 patients who underwent unilateral thalamic surgery. In a patient having simultaneously unilateral thalamotomy and contralateral DBS, remarkable improvement of head tremor was observed. Conclusion: Although it is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of thalamic surgery for axial symptom of essential tremor with a few cases, simultaneous unilateral thalamotomy and contralateral DBS would be expected to induce favorable outcomes for head tremor with significant economical advantages.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1855-1862
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• 2023

Graphite crucibles are used for melting uranium and its alloys in VIM furnace. Various coating materials namely Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, MgO etc. are applied on the inner surface of the crucibles using paint brush or thermal spray technique to mitigate U-C interaction. These leads to significant amount of carbon pick-up in uranium. In this study, the attempts are made to develop multilayer coatings comprising of SiC/Y₂O₃ and Mo/Y₂O₃ on graphite to study the feasibility of minimizing U-C interaction. The parameters are optimized to prepare SiC coating of about 70㎛ thickness using CVD technique on graphite coupons and subsequently Y₂O₃ coating of about 250㎛ thickness using plasma spray technique. Molybdenum and Y₂O₃ layers were deposited using plasma spray technique with 70㎛ and 250㎛ thickness, respectively. Interaction studies of the coated graphite with molten uranium at 1450℃ for 20 min revealed that Y₂O₃ coating with SiC interlayer provides physical barrier for uranium-graphite interaction, however, this led to the physical separation of coating layer. Y₂O₃ coating with Mo interlayer provided superior barrier effect showing no degradation and the coatings remained intact after interaction tests. Therefore, the Mo/Y₂O₃ coating was found to be a promising solution for minimizing carbon pick-up during uranium/uranium alloy melting.

• Annals of Clinical Microbiology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2019

Background: The isolation of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) has become increasingly common. Continuous surveillance for these organisms is essential because their infections are closely related to outbreaks of illness and are associated with high mortality rates. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate multiplex PCR as a means of detecting several important CPE genes simultaneously. Methods: We aimed to develop a multiplex PCR that could detect seven CPE genes simultaneously. The multiplex PCR was composed of seven primer sets for the detection of KPC, IMP, VIM, NDM-1, GES, OXA-23, and OXA-48. We designed different PCR product sizes of at least 100 bp. We evaluated the performance of this new test using 69 CPE-positive clinical isolates. Also, we confirmed the specificity to rule out false-positive reactions by using 71 carbapenem-susceptible clinical strains. Results: A total of 69 CPE clinical isolates showed positive results and were correctly identified as KPC (N=14), IMP (N=13), OXA-23 (N=12), OXA-48 (N=11), VIM (N=9), GES (N=5), and NDM (N=5) by the multiplex PCR. All 71 carbapenem-susceptible clinical isolates, including Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, showed negative results. Conclusion: This multiplex PCR can detect seven CPE genes at a time and will be useful in clinical laboratories.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.415-425
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• 2011

In this study, the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) is applied to free vibration analysis of beam on elastic foundation. This numerical method is applied on three different axially loaded cases, namely: 1) one end fixed, the other end simply supported; 2) both ends fixed and 3) both ends simply supported cases. Analytical solutions and frequency factors are evaluated for different ratios of axial load N acting on the beam to Euler buckling load, $N_r$. The application of HPM for the particular problem in this study gives results which are in excellent agreement with both analytical solutions and the variational iteration method (VIM) solutions for all the cases considered in this study and the differential transform method (DTM) results available in the literature for the fixed-pinned case.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.31 no.1_2
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• pp.165-177
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• 2013

In this paper, we apply Homotopy perturbation transform method (HPTM) for solving singular fourth order parabolic partial differential equations with variable coefficients. This method is the combination of the Laplace transform method and Homotopy perturbation method. The nonlinear terms can be easily handled by the use of He's polynomials. The aim of using the Laplace transform is to overcome the deficiency that is mainly caused by unsatisfied conditions in other semi-analytical methods such as Homotopy perturbation method (HPM), Variational iteration method (VIM) and Adomain Decomposition method (ADM). The proposed scheme finds the solutions without any discretization or restrictive assumptions and avoids the round-off errors. The comparison shows a precise agreement between the results and introduces this method as an applicable one which it needs fewer computations and is much easier and more convenient than others, so it can be widely used in engineering too.

• Kyungpook Mathematical Journal
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.651-665
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• 2017

Some computational fluid dynamics problems concerning the thin films flow of viscous fluid with a free surface and draining or coating fluid-flow problems can be delineated by third-order ordinary differential equations. In this paper, the aim is to introduce the numerical solutions of the boundary value problems of such equations by variational iteration method. In this paper, it is shown that the third-order boundary value problems can be written as a system of integral equations, which can be solved by using the variational iteration method. These solutions are gleaned in terms of convergent series. Numerical examples are given to depict the method and their convergence.