• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.273-286
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• 2004

The effects of environmental forcing on autotrophic picoplankton distributional patterns were investigated for convergence ($5^{\circ}N$), divergence ($9^{\circ}N-10^{\circ}30'N$) and oligotrophic ($17^{\circ}N$) sites in the tropical eastern Pacific during 2001 and 2003 KODOS (Korea Deep Ocean Study) cruises. The distributions of picoplankton populations - Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes algae - were determined by flow cytometric analyses. Latitudinal variations in abundance maxima, vertical profiles, integrated abundance (0-150 m), and estimated carbon biomass were contrasted for each site according to three hydrological conditions. Prochlorococcus showed consistently high abundance in the surface mixed layers of all sites at $1\;{\times}\;10^5{\sim}3\;{\times}\;10^5\;cells\;ml^{-1}$ and showed declining abundance below these layers. However, these decreasing rates were not particularly sharp showing considerably high abundance at $1\;{\times}\;10^4\;cells\;ml^{-1}$ or higher even at 100 m depth. Vertical profiles of Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes were generally parallel to each other in all sites. A clear abundance maximum was observed at divergence site at or slightly above the pycnocline depth. Higher abundance was observed at the surface mixed layer for convergence site but a sharp decrease was observed below the pycnocline. However, there was no significant abundance fluctuation with depth at more oligotrophic site ($17^{\circ}N$). Integrated cell abundance of Prochlorococcus was high in the oligotrophic site at $2.17\;{\times}\;10^{13}\;m^{-2}$, and low in the convergence site at $0.88\;{\times}\;10^{13}\;m^{-2}$. However, opposite pattern was observed for Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes where relatively high integrated cell abundance was shown in the convergence site. Estimated carbon biomass of Prochlorococcus contributed 30.4-80.3% of total autotrophic picoplankton carbon showing the highest contribution in the oligotrophic site and the lowest contribution in the convergence site. Synechococcus contribution of total autotrophic picoplantkon carbon biomass was lower than 5.8% for most of sites except the convergence site where Synechococcus contributed 23.2% of picoplankton carbon biomass. Carbon biomass of picoeukaryotes was 18.8-46.4% showing the highest carbon biomass at the convergence site. Overall, Prochlorococcus showed higher cell abundance and carbon biomass and exhibited different reaction to hydrological conditions when compare with the other two major autotrophic picoplankton groups.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.450-456
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• 2023

Background: This study aims to develop a "Predictive Model for the Possibility of Collection Delinquent Health Insurance Contributions" for the National Health Insurance Service to enhance administrative efficiency in protecting and collecting contributions from livelihood-type defaulters. Additionally, it aims to establish customized collection management strategies based on individuals' ability to pay health insurance contributions. Methods: Firstly, to develop the "Predictive Model for the Possibility of Collection Delinquent Health Insurance Contributions," a series of processes including (1) analysis of defaulter characteristics, (2) model estimation and performance evaluation, and (3) model derivation will be conducted. Secondly, using the predictions from the model, individuals will be categorized into four types based on their payment ability and livelihood status, and collection strategies will be provided for each type. Results: Firstly, the regression equation of the prediction model is as follows: phat = exp (0.4729 + 0.0392 × gender + 0.00894 × age + 0.000563 × total income - 0.2849 × low-income type enrollee - 0.2271 × delinquency frequency + 0.9714 × delinquency action + 0.0851 × reduction) / [1 + exp (0.4729 + 0.0392 × gender + 0.00894 × age + 0.000563 × total income - 0.2849 × low-income type enrollee - 0.2271 × delinquency frequency + 0.9714 × delinquency action + 0.0851 × reduction)]. The prediction performance is an accuracy of 86.0%, sensitivity of 87.0%, and specificity of 84.8%. Secondly, individuals were categorized into four types based on livelihood status and payment ability. Particularly, the "support needed group," which comprises those with low payment ability and low-income type enrollee, suggests enhancing contribution relief and support policies. On the other hand, the "high-risk group," which comprises those without livelihood type and low payment ability, suggests implementing stricter default handling to improve collection rates. Conclusion: Upon examining the regression equation of the prediction model, it is evident that individuals with lower income levels and a history of past defaults have a lower probability of payment. This implies that defaults occur among those without the ability to bear the burden of health insurance contributions, leading to long-term defaults. Social insurance operates on the principles of mandatory participation and burden based on the ability to pay. Therefore, it is necessary to develop policies that consider individuals' ability to pay, such as transitioning livelihood-type defaulters to medical assistance or reducing insurance contribution burdens.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5297-5304
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• 2015

Background: The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Cancer Registry (PAECCR) program has made availability of a common cancer incidence database possible in Pakistan. The cancer incidence data from nuclear medicine and oncology institutes were gathered and presented. Materials and Methods: The cancer incidence data for the last 30 years (1984-2014) are included to describe a data set of male and female patients. The data analysis concerning occurrence, trends of common cancers in male and female patients, stage-wise distribution, and mortality/follow-up cases is also incorporated for the last 10 years (2004-2014). Results: The total population of provincial capital Lahore is 9,800,000. The total number of cancer cases was 80,390 (males 32,156, females 48,134). The crude incidence rates in PAECCR areas were 580.8/$10^5$ during 2010 to 885.4/$10^5$ in 2014 (males 354.1/$10^5$, females 530.1/$10^5$). The cancer incidence rates for head and neck (15.70%), brain tumors (10.5%), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL, 9.53%) were found to be the highest in male patients, whereas breast cancer (46.7%), ovary tumors (6.80%), and cervix (6.31%) cancer incidence rates were observed to be the most common in female patients. The age range distribution of diagnosed and treated patients in conjunction with the percentage contribution of cancer patients from 15 different cities of Punjab province treated at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology, Lahore are also included. Leukemia was found to be the most common cancer for the age group of 1-12 years. It has been identified that the maximum number of diagnosed cases were found in the age range of 51-60 years for males and 41-50 years for female cancer patients. Conclusions: Overall cancer incidence of the thirty years demonstrated that head and neck and breast cancers in males and in females respectively are the most common cancers in Punjab province in Pakistan, at rates almost the highest in Asia, requiring especial attention. The incidence of brain, NHL, and prostate cancers among males and ovarian and cervix cancers among females have increased rapidly. These data from a major population of Punjab province should be helpful for implementation of appropriate planning, prevention and cancer control measures and for determination of risk factors within the country.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.407-412
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• 2003

An effective methodology is .reported for determining the optimal capacity (lot-size) of batch processing and storage networks which include material recycle or reprocessing streams. We assume that any given storage unit can store one material type which can be purchased from suppliers, be internally produced, internally consumed and/or sold to customers. We further assume that a storage unit is connected to all processing stages that use or produce the material to which that storage unit is dedicated. Each processing stage transforms a set of feedstock materials or intermediates into a set of products with constant conversion factors. The objective for optimization is to minimize the total cost composed of raw material procurement, setup and inventory holding costs as well as the capital costs of processing stages and storage units. A novel production and inventory analysis formulation, the PSW(Periodic Square Wave) model, provides useful expressions for the upper/lower bounds and average level of the storage inventory hold-up. The expressions for the Kuhn-Tucker conditions of the optimization problem can be reduced to two subproblems. The first yields analytical solutions for determining batch sizes while the second is a separable concave minimization network flow subproblem whose solution yields the average material flow rates through the networks. For the special case in which the number of storage is equal to the number of process stages and raw materials storage units, a complete analytical solution for average flow rates can be derived. The analytical solution for the multistage, strictly sequential batch-storage network case can also be obtained via this approach. The principal contribution of this study is thus the generalization and the extension to non-sequential networks with recycle streams. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the results obtainable using this approach.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.245-249
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• 2017

We selected 47 DOGs at z ~ 1.5 using optical R (or r'), AKARI $18{\mu}m$, and $24{\mu}m$ color in the AKARI North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) Deep survey field. Using the colors among 3, 4, 7, and 9µm, we classified them into 3 groups; bump DOGs (23 sources), power-law DOGs (16 sources), and unknown DOGs (8 sources). We built spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with optical to far-infrared photometric data and investigated their properties using SED fitting method. We found that AGN activity such as a AGN contribution to the infrared luminosity and a Chandra detection rate for bump and power-law DOGs are significantly different, while stellar component properties like a stellar mass and a star-formation rate are similar to each other. A specific star-formation rate range of power-law DOGs is slightly higher than that of bump DOGs with wide overlap. Herschel/PACS detection rates are almost the same between bump and power-law DOGs. On the other hand SPIRE detection rates show large differences between bump and power-law DOGs. These results might be explained by differences in dust temperatures. Both groups of DOGs host hot and/or warm dust (~ 50 Kelvin), and many bump DOGs contain cooler dust (${\leq}30$ Kelvin).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.9 s.240
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• pp.997-1005
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• 2005

The extinction characteristics of low strain rate normal gravity (1-g) nonpremixed methane-air flames were studied numerically and experimentally. A time-dependent axisymmetric two-dimensional (2D) model considering buoyancy effects and radiative heat transfer was developed to capture the structure and extinction limits of 1-g flames. One-dimensional (1D) computations were also conducted to provide information on 0-g flames. A 3-step global reaction mechanism was used in both the 1D and 2D computations to predict the measured extinction limit and flame temperature. A specific maximum heat release rate was introduced to quantify the local flame strength and to elucidate the extinction mechanism. Overall fractional contribution by each term in the energy equation to the heat release was evaluated to investigate the multi-dimensional structure and radiative extinction of 1-g flames. Images of flames were taken for comparison with the model calculation undergoing extinction. The two-dimensional numerical model was validated by comparing flame temperature profiles and extinction limits with experiments and ID computation results. The 2D computations yielded insight into the extinction mode and flame structure of 1-g flames. Two combustion regimes depending on the extinction mode were identified. Lateral heat loss effects and multi-dimensional flame structure were also found. At low strain rates of 1-g flame ('Regime A'), the flame is extinguished from the weak outer flame edge, which is attributed to multi-dimensional flame structure and flow field. At high strain rates, ('Regime B'), the flame extinction initiates near the flame centerline due to an increased diluent concentration in reaction zone, which is the same as the extinction mode of 1D flame. These two extinction modes could be clearly explained with the specific maximum heat release rate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.519-524
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• 2011

The correlation between alcoholic fermentation rate, measured as carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) evolution, and the rate of hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) formation during wine production was investigated. Both rates and the resulting concentration peaks in fermentor headspace $H_2S$ were directly impacted by yeast assimilable nitrogenous compounds in the grape juice. A series of model fermentations was conducted in temperature-controlled and stirred fermentors using a complex model juice with defined concentrations of ammonium ions and/or amino acids. The fermentation rate was measured indirectly by noting the weight loss of the fermentor; $H_2S$ was quantitatively trapped in realtime using a pre-calibrated $H_2S$ detection tube which was inserted into a fermentor gas relief port. Evolution rates for $CO_2$ and $H_2S$ as well as the relative ratios between them were calculated. These fermentations confirmed that total sulfide formation was strongly yeast strain-dependent, and high concentrations of yeast assimilable nitrogen did not necessarily protect against elevated $H_2S$ formation. High initial concentrations of ammonium ions via addition of diammonium phosphate (DAP) caused a higher evolution of $H_2S$ when compared with a non-supplemented but nondeficient juice. It was observed that the excess availability of a certain yeast assimilable amino acid, arginine, could result in a more sustained $CO_2$ production rate throughout the wine fermentation. The contribution of yeast assimilable amino acids from conventional commercial yeast foods to lowering of the $H_2S$ formation was marginal.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.189-203
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• 2013

F-gases, gases containing fluorine such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfurhexafluoride ($SF_6$), nitrogen trifluoride ($NF_3$) are known to have green house effects. Although the net emission rates of gases containing fluorine are much lower than those of $CO_2$, their contribution to global warming cannot be ignored because of their extremely high global warming potential (GWP). F-gases mainly have been used for a variaty of applications in the semiconductor/LCD processes and in the electric power distribution industry of the national key industry. One of practical solutions of controlling the emission rates of F-gases is to reuse by separation and recovery of F-gases of low concentration from the gases mixtures with nitrogen or air. This work investigates some methods for F-gases recovery and separation around the membrane-based process.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2019

This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the effect of palm oil on the selected basic physical-chemical and geotechnical properties of kaolin. The experimental findings are further compared with literature outcomes investigating similar properties of fine grained soils subjected to contamination by different types of oils. To this end, palm oil was mixed with oven dried kaolin samples-aiding oil's interaction (coating) with dry particles first, in anticipation to emphasize the effect of oil on the properties of kaolin, which would be difficult to achieve otherwise. Oil content was limited to 40% by dry weight of kaolin, supplemented at intervals of 10% from clean kaolin samples. Observations highlight physical particle-to-particle bonding resulting in the formation of pseudo-silt sized clusters due to palm oil's interaction as evinced in the particle size distribution and SEM micrographs. These clusters, aided by water repellency property of the oil coating the kaolin particles, was analyzed to show notable variations in kaolin's consistency-measured as liquid and plastic limits. Furthermore, results from compaction tests indicates contribution of oil's viscosity on the compaction behavior of kaolin - showing decrease in the maximum dry unit weight (${\gamma}_{d,max}$) and optimum moisture content ($w_{opt}$) values with increasing oil contents, while their decrease rates were directly and inversely proportional in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values with oil contents respectively. Comparative study in similar terms, also validates this lower and higher decrease rates in ${\gamma}_{d,max}$ and $w_{opt}$ values of the fine grained soils respectively, when subjected to contamination by oil with higher viscosity.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.241-255
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• 2020

Background: The stem exclusion stage is a stage of forest development that is important for understanding the subsequent understory reinitiation stage and maturation stage during which horizontal heterogeneity is formed. Over the past 11 years (2009-2019), we observed a deciduous broad-leaved forest in the Albongbunji Basin in Ulleungdo, South Korea in its stem exclusion stage, where Fagus engleriana (Engler's beech) is the dominant species, thereby analyzing the changes in the structure (density and size distributions), function (biomass and species richness), and demographics. Results: The mean stem density data presented a bell-shaped curve with initially increasing, peaking, and subsequently decreasing trends in stem density over time, and the mean biomass data showed a sigmoidal pattern indicating that the rate of biomass accumulation slowed over time. Changes in the density and biomass of Fagus engleriana showed a similar trend to the changes in density and biomass at the community level, which is indicative of the strong influence of this species on the changing patterns of forest structure and function. Around 2015, a shift between recruitment and mortality rates was observed. Deterministic processes were the predominant cause of tree mortality in our study; however, soil deposition that began in 2017 in some of the quadrats resulted in an increase in the contribution of stochastic processes (15% in 2019) to tree mortality. The development of horizontal heterogeneity was observed in forest gaps. Conclusions: Our observations showed a dramatic shift between the recruitment and mortality rates in the stem exclusion stage, and that disturbance increases the uncertainty in forest development increases. The minor changes in species composition are likely linked to regional species pool and the limited role of the life-history strategy of species such as shade tolerance and habitat affinity. Our midterm records of ecological succession exhibited detailed demographic dynamics and contributed to the improvement of an ecological perspective in the stem exclusion stage.