• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.627-638
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• 2023

This study aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of downstream river flow resulting from the operation of the Gimcheon Buhang Dam in the Gamcheon watershed. The dam's effects on flood reduction during the flood season and on increasing streamflow during the dry season-two main functions of multipurpose dams-were quantitatively analyzed. Streamflow data from 2013 to 2021 for the study waterhsed were simulated on a daily basis using SWAT-K (Soil and Water Assessment Tool - Korea) model. Comparison of the simulated and observed values found goodness of fit values of 0.75 or higher for both the coefficient of determination and the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient. The spatial analysis of the dam's effect on flood reduction focused on the annual maximum flood: rates of flood reduction at the four stations ranged from 8.5% to 25.0%. The evaluation of streamflow increase during times of low flow focused on flow duration curves: in particular, compared to the case without an upstream dam, the average low flow at the four sites increased from 33% to 198%.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.829-839
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• 2021

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3-tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for the detection of visceral pleural surface invasion (VPSI). Visceral pleural invasion by non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be classified into two types: PL1 (without VPSI), invasion of the elastic layer of the visceral pleura without reaching the visceral pleural surface, and PL2 (with VPSI), full invasion of the visceral pleura. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three patients with pathologically confirmed VPSI by NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Multidetector CT and contrast-enhanced 3T MRI with a free-breathing radial three-dimensional fat-suppressed volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) pulse sequence were compared in terms of the length of contact, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. Supplemental evaluation of the tumor-pleura interface (smooth versus irregular) could only be performed with MRI (not discernible on CT). Results: At the tumor-pleura interface, radial VIBE MRI revealed a smooth margin in 20 of 21 patients without VPSI and an irregular margin in 10 of 12 patients with VPSI, yielding an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and F-score for VPSI detection of 91%, 83%, 95%, 91%, 91%, and 87%, respectively. The McNemar test and receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed no significant differences between the diagnostic accuracies of CT and MRI for evaluating the contact length, angle of mass margin, or arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio as predictors of VPSI. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3T MRI and CT were equal in terms of the contact length, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. The advantage of MRI is its clear depiction of the tumor-pleura interface margin, facilitating VPSI detection.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.151-162
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• 2024

As the incidence direction of ground motion (or seismic wave) changes, the seismic response of the structure will also change according to that direction. In order to analyze the effect of the seismic response of the example bridge according to the direction of incidence of ground motion, the acceleration response spectra (S_a-T1) corresponding to the 1-second period obtained for various angles of incidence were obtained. Using S_a-T1, 40 sets of orthogonal pairs of horizontal component seismic waves corresponding to 5 types of percentiles were generated. Seismic vulnerability analysis of the bridge piers was performed by obtaining the seismic response of an example bridge according to the direction of incidence of ground motion. By analyzing the seismic vulnerability analysis of seismic waves corresponding to five types of percentiles, it was found that the median value of the seismic vulnerability curve differs by about 1.2 to 2.6 times depending on the incident direction of the seismic wave. In other words, depending on the incidence direction of seismic waves, the degree of damage to the bridge structure can vary by about 1.2 to 2.6 times.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.251-262
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• 2023

In this study, we examine other factors that may contribute to the decline in students' academic performance and educational attainment. Many media reports, as well as previous studies, have suggested that virtual learning is the main reason for the decline in students' academic performance. However, the 2020 National Student Achievement Survey, which was conducted in conjunction with the COVID-19 Distance Learning Environment Student Survey, showed that students were highly satisfied with distance learning (70-80%), and the analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Achievement showed that students' academic performance had already been declining year by year since 2017, with a general downward curve. For further confirmation, we analyzed the performance of high school students on mock exams and found that their performance was not normally distributed, but rather a right-skewed U-shaped distribution with a shrinking number of medians and severe polarization. We found that this phenomenon is not simply because of the mode or quality of the virtual classroom, but to a variety of factors, including environmental influences such as care and management at home, changes in investment in private education, increased time spent on online devices while taking virtual classes at the bottom, and increased time spent watching online content, games, and videos that are not related to learning.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.243-256
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• 2024

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT) can aid in evaluating the risk of malignancy in ampullary tumors detected by endoscopy. Materials and Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study analyzed 155 patients (79 male, 76 female; mean age, 65.7 ± 12.7 years) receiving 2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT for endoscopy-detected ampullary tumors 5-87 days (median, 7 days) after the diagnostic endoscopy between June 2007 and December 2020. The final diagnosis was made based on histopathological findings. The PET imaging parameters were compared with clinical data and endoscopic features. A model to predict the risk of malignancy, based on PET, endoscopy, and clinical findings, was generated and validated using multivariable logistic regression analysis and an additional bootstrapping method. The final model was compared with standard endoscopy for the diagnosis of ampullary cancer using the DeLong test. Results: The mean tumor size was 17.1 ± 7.7 mm. Sixty-four (41.3%) tumors were benign, and 91 (58.7%) were malignant. Univariable analysis found that ampullary neoplasms with a blood-pool corrected peak standardized uptake value in earlyphase scan (SUVe) ≥ 1.7 were more likely to be malignant (odds ratio [OR], 16.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.13-36.18; P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis identified the presence of jaundice (adjusted OR [aOR], 4.89; 95% CI, 1.80-13.33; P = 0.002), malignant traits in endoscopy (aOR, 6.80; 95% CI, 2.41-19.20; P < 0.001), SUVe ≥ 1.7 in PET (aOR, 5.43; 95% CI, 2.00-14.72; P < 0.001), and PET-detected nodal disease (aOR, 5.03; 95% CI, 1.16-21.86; P = 0.041) as independent predictors of malignancy. The model combining these four factors predicted ampullary cancers better than endoscopic diagnosis alone (area under the curve [AUC] and 95% CI: 0.925 [0.874-0.956] vs. 0.815 [0.732-0.873], P < 0.001). The model demonstrated an AUC of 0.921 (95% CI, 0.816-0.967) in candidates for endoscopic papillectomy. Conclusion: Adding 2-[¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT to endoscopy can improve the diagnosis of ampullary cancer and may help refine therapeutic decision-making, particularly when contemplating endoscopic papillectomy.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2023

Objective: Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKN)2A/B homozygous deletion is a key molecular marker of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant astrocytomas in the 2021 World Health Organization. We aimed to investigate whether qualitative and quantitative MRI parameters can predict CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion status in IDH-mutant astrocytomas. Materials and Methods: Preoperative MRI data of 88 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 42.0 ± 11.9 years; 40 females and 48 males) with IDH-mutant astrocytomas (76 without and 12 with CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion) from two institutions were included. A qualitative imaging assessment was performed. Mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), 5th percentile of ADC, mean normalized cerebral blood volume (nCBV), and 95th percentile of nCBV were assessed via automatic tumor segmentation. Logistic regression was performed to determine the factors associated with CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion in all 88 patients and a subgroup of 47 patients with histological grades 3 and 4. The discrimination performance of the logistic regression models was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: In multivariable analysis of all patients, infiltrative pattern (odds ratio [OR] = 4.25, p = 0.034), maximal diameter (OR = 1.07, p = 0.013), and 95th percentile of nCBV (OR = 1.34, p = 0.049) were independent predictors of CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion. The AUC, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the corresponding model were 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72-0.91), 90.4%, 83.3%, and 75.0%, respectively. On multivariable analysis of the subgroup with histological grades 3 and 4, infiltrative pattern (OR = 10.39, p = 0.012) and 95th percentile of nCBV (OR = 1.24, p = 0.047) were independent predictors of CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion, with an AUC accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the corresponding model of 0.76 (95% CI, 0.60-0.88), 87.8%, 80.0%, and 58.1%, respectively. Conclusion: The presence of an infiltrative pattern, larger maximal diameter, and higher 95th percentile of the nCBV may be useful MRI biomarkers for CDKN2A/B homozygous deletion in IDH-mutant astrocytomas.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.983-995
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• 2023

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance and interobserver agreement between contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) for evaluating the resectability in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (eCCA). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included treatment-naïve patients with pathologically confirmed eCCA, who underwent both CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP using extracellular contrast media between January 2015 and December 2020. Among the 214 patients (146 males; mean age ± standard deviation, 68 ± 9 years) included, 121 (56.5%) had perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. R0 resection was achieved in 108 of the 153 (70.6%) patients who underwent curative-intent surgery. Four fellowship-trained radiologists independently reviewed the findings of both CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP to assess the local tumor extent and distant metastasis for determining resectability. The pooled area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity of CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP were compared using clinical, surgical, and pathological findings as reference standards. The interobserver agreement of resectability was evaluated using Fleiss kappa (κ). Results: No significant differences were observed between CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP in the pooled AUC (0.753 vs. 0.767), sensitivity (84.7% [366/432] vs. 90.3% [390/432]), and specificity (52.6% [223/424] vs. 51.4% [218/424]) (P > 0.05 for all). The AUC for determining resectability was higher when CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP were reviewed together than when CECT was reviewed alone in patients with discrepancies between the imaging modalities or with indeterminate resectability (0.798 [0.754-0.841] vs. 0.753 [0.697-0.808], P = 0.014). The interobserver agreement for overall resectability was fair for both CECT (κ = 0.323) and CE-MRI with MRCP (κ = 0.320), without a significant difference (P = 0.884). Conclusion: CECT and CE-MRI with MRCP showed no significant differences in the diagnostic performance and interobserver agreement in determining the resectability in patients with eCCA.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.599-614
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• 2024

To evaluate the safety status of deteriorated segments in a submarine shield tunnel during its service life, a seepage model was established based on a cross-sea shield tunnel project. This model was used to study the migration patterns of erosive ions within the shield segments. Based on these laws, the degree of deterioration of the segments was determined. Using the derived analytical solution, the internal forces within the segments were calculated. Lastly, by applying the formula for calculating safety factors, the variation trends in the safety factors of segments with different degrees of deterioration were obtained. The findings demonstrate that corrosive seawater presents the evolution characteristics of continuous seepage from the outside to the inside of the tunnel. The nearby seepage field shows locally concentrated characteristics when there is leakage at the joint, which causes the seepage field's depth and scope to significantly increase. The chlorine ion content decreases gradually with the increase of the distance from the outer surface of the tunnel. The penetration of erosion ions in the segment is facilitated by the presence of water pressure. The ion content of the entire ring segment lining structure is related in the following order: vault < haunch < springing. The difference in the segment's rate of increase in chlorine ion content decreases as service time increases. Based on the analytical solution calculation, the segment's safety factor drops more when the joint leaks than when its intact, and the change rate between the two states exhibits a general downward trend. The safety factor shows a similar change rule at different water depths and continuously decreases at the same segment position as the water depth increases. The three phases of "sudden drop-rise-stability" are represented by a "spoon-shaped" change rule on the safety factor's change curve. The issue of the poor applicability of indicators in earlier studies is resolved by the analytical solution, which only requires determining the loss degree of the segment lining's effective bearing thickness to calculate the safety factor of any cross-section of the shield tunnel. The analytical solution's computation results, however, have some safety margins and are cautious. The process of establishing the evaluation model indicates that the secondary lining made of molded concrete can also have its safety status assessed using the analytical solution. It is very important for the safe operation of the tunnel and the safety of people's property and has a wide range of applications.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.949-961
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• 2024

The annual forage crop production system, enclosing silage corn (Zea mays L.) and following cool-season annual forage, can enhance forage production efficiency where available land is limited for pasture production. In this forage production system, successful silage corn cultivation has a significant value due to the great yield of highly digestible forage. However, some untimely planting or harvesting of corn due to changing weather often reduces biomass and feeding values. Therefore, a study was conducted to quantify the corn silage biomass reductions by the deviations from optimum planting soil temperature and optimum growing degree day (GDD). The approximations of maximum corn production were estimated based on field trial data conducted between 1978 and 2018 with early, medium, and late-maturity corn groups. Based on weather data, the recorded planting dates and harvest dates were converted into the corresponding trials' soil temperatures at planting (STP) and the GDD. The silage corn biomass data were regressed against STP and GDD using a quadratic function. The maximum biomass point was modeled in a convex upward quadratic yield curve and the optimum STP and GDD were defined as those values at the maximum biomass for each maturity group. Optimized STP was at 16.6℃, 16.2℃, and 15.6℃ for early, medium, and late maturity corn groups, respectively, while optimized GDD at harvest was at 1424, 1363, and 1542℃. The biomass reductions demonstrated quadratic functions by the departures of STP or GDD. The 5% reductions were anticipated when STP departed from the optimum temperature by 2.2℃, 2.4℃, and 1.4℃ for early, medium, and late maturity corns, respectively; the same degree of reductions were estimated when the GDD departed by 200, 180, and 130℃ in the same order of the maturity groups. This result indicates that biomass reductions of late-maturity corn were more sensitive to the departures of STP or GDD than the early-maturity corn. Therefore, early maturing cultivars are more stable in biomass production in a silage corn-winter annual forage crop production system to enhance forage-based livestock production efficiency.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.149-160
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• 2024

Severe casualties and property damage are occurring due to urban floods caused by extreme rainfall. However, there is a lack of research on preparedness, appropriate estimation of flood damages, assessment of losses, and compensation. Particularly, the flood damage estimation methods used in the USA and Japan show significant differences from the domestic situation, highlighting the need for methods tailored to the Korean context. This study addresses these issues by developing an optimized flood damage estimation technique based on the building characteristics. Utilizing the flood prediction solution developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), we have established an optimal flood damage estimation technology. We introduced a methodology for flood damage estimation by incorporating vulnerability curves based on the inventory of structures and apply this technique to real-life cases. The results show that our approach yields more realistic outcomes compared to the flood damage estimation methods employed in the USA and Japan. This research can be practically applied to procedures for flood damage in urban basement residences, and it is expected to contribute to establishing appropriate response procedures in cases of public grievances.