• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.395-418
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• 2024

The epicentral region of earthquakes is typically where liquefaction-related damage takes place. To determine the maximum distance, such as maximum epicentral distance (R_e), maximum fault distance (R_f), or maximum hypocentral distance (R_h), at which an earthquake can inflict damage, given its magnitude, this study, using a recently updated global liquefaction database, multiple ML models are built to predict the limiting distances (R_e, R_f, or R_h) required for an earthquake of a given magnitude to cause damage. Four machine learning models LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory), BiLSTM (Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory), CNN (Convolutional Neural Network), and XGB (Extreme Gradient Boosting) are developed using the Python programming language. All four proposed ML models performed better than empirical models for limiting distance assessment. Among these models, the XGB model outperformed all the models. In order to determine how well the suggested models can predict limiting distances, a number of statistical parameters have been studied. To compare the accuracy of the proposed models, rank analysis, error matrix, and Taylor diagram have been developed. The ML models proposed in this paper are more robust than other current models and may be used to assess the minimal energy of a liquefaction disaster caused by an earthquake or to estimate the maximum distance of a liquefied site provided an earthquake in rapid disaster mapping.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.565-570
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• 2010

Purpose: Due to the closed and humid condition of the perineal area, wound problems occurring at this site are sometimes complicated, especially following postoperative radiation therapy. Moreover, the anal sphincter is a very important functional structure but reconstruction of the anal sphincter after severe trauma poses a challenging problem to plastic surgeons. In this article, we demonstrate the usefulness of the pedicled gracilis flap in the reconstruction of the perineal area. Methods: From September 2008 to November 2009, 6 patients, 4 males and 2 females, underwent surgery of the perineal area. The age of the patients ranged from 21 to 62 years (mean age was 48). The mean follow up period was 14 months. In 4 cases, the patient presented with wound problems after postoperative radiation therapy for anal cancer. In 2 cases, the patient presented with traumatic sphincter damage. Only the gracilis muscle was used in the 4 cases and a musculocutaneous flap was used in the 2 cases involving skin defects, respectively. Results: Among the 6 patients, 1 patient underwent hematoma evacuation of the donor site, and 1 patient presented with prolapse of the vaginal mucosa which recovered spontaneously. There were no report of other complications and there were no wound recurrences. Minimal incontinence was observed in all patients who underwent sphincter reconstruction, but all were satisfied with the overall results. Conclusion: The gracilis flap is useful in the reconstruction of the perineal area, such as in cases of radiotherapy induced wound problems and sphincter damage following severe trauma, due to its easy accessibility, rich vascularity, and minimal donor site morbidity.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.271-275
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• 2002

Rph1 and Gisl are damage-responsive repressors involved in PHR1 expression. They have two $C_{2}$H/ sub 2/ zinc finger motifs as putative DNA binding domains and N-terminal conserved domain with unknown function. They are also found in the human retinoblastoma binding protein 2 and the mouse jumonji- encoded protein. The repressors are able to bind to A $G_{4}$ sequence within a 39-bp sequence called upstream repressing sequence of PHR1 promoter (UR $S_{PHR1}$) responsible for the damage-response of PHR1. We report here that Rph1 is predominantly localized in the nucleus as examined by fluorescence microscopic analysis with GFP-Rph1 fusion protein. On the basis of the fact that the A $G_{4}$ sequence that is recognized by Rph1 and Gisl is also recognized by Msn2 and Msn4 in a process of stress response, we a1so tried to examine the in vivo function of A $G_{4}$ and the role of Msn2 and Msn4 in PHR1 expression. Our results demonstrate that Msn2 and Msn4 are actually required for the basal transcription of PHR1 expression but not for its damage induction. When A $G_{4}$ sequence was inserted into the minimal promoter of the cyc1-LacZ reporter, the increased LacZ expression was observed indicating its involvement in transcriptional activation. The data suggest that the A $G_{4}$ is primarily required for basal transcriptional activation of PHR1 or CYC1 promoter through the possible involvement of Msn2 and Msn4. However, since the A $G_{4}$ is also involved in the repression of PHR1 via Rphl and Gisl, it is proposed that A $G_{4}$ functions as either URS or upstream activating sequence (UAS) depending on the promoter context.t.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2023

This study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of the Comet assay, which is widely used for the identification of irradiated meats, to detect irradiated beef cut, ground beef, and Tteokgalbi during freezing storage. Gamma-irradiation significantly increased the DNA damage in frozen beef cut and ground beef samples. Among those, DNA nuclei of samples irradiated with absorbed doses of 1kGy or more showed typical comet-shaped damage, convincing that the samples were irradiated. Meanwhile, DNA nuclei in non-irradiated beef cut and ground beef samples were also damaged according to storage time. In particular, since the damage of DNA nuclei in the non-irradiated samples frozen for three months was similar to that of samples irradiated with a dose of 0.5 kGy, it was considered difficult to detect whether these samples were irradiated by Comet assay analysis. Likewise, gamma-irradiation of Tteokgalbi increased DNA damage. However, significant damage to DNA nuclei was observed even in the non-irradiated samples. Therefore, the application of the analysis method to determine whether the Tteokgalbi sample was irradiated was not appropriate. In conclusion, these results suggest that Comet assay could be limitedly applied only to fresh meat with a short storage period and minimal processing.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.285-293
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• 1994

Purpose : The study was designed to investigate the effect of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II)(cis-DDP) on the radiation-induced cardiomyopathy in the rat. Materials and Methods : The myocardial damage was assessed by histopathologic changes. In radiation alone group, radiation dose ranged from 10-40 Gy X-ray in a single dose and in combined group, cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) at a dose of 6 mg/kg was given intraperitoneally immediately after irradiation of same dose with X-ray alone group. Results : The early changes by radiation included congestion, inflammatory cell infiltrations and fibrosis in myocardial interstitium with focal myocardial necrosis, which was noted in 10 Gy group, Myocardial fibrosis was increased by increasing dose of radiation but myocardial necrosis was not Proportional to radiation dose. cis-DDP alone group showed minimal degeneration of myocardium with surrounded by inflammatory cell infiltrations. In combined group, myocardial fibrosis in 10 Gy group were similar to radiation alone group, but 30 Gy and 40 Gy groups showed severer changes. Electron microscopic examination showed disruption of Z-band and edema of mitochondria with decreased matrix density in 20 Gy radiation group which were severer in 40 Gy radiation group. Combined group showed endothelial changes and disruption of Z-band worse than radiation alone group as well as increased connective tissue, which was considered as a hallmark of late change in radiation-induced heart disease. Conclusion : This results showed minimal enhancement of the radiation-induced cardiomyopathy in rats by cis-DDP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2019

This paper presents a safety assessment based approach for the safe operation for PCS(Power Conditioning System) of photovoltaic and energy storage systems, applying FTA. The approach established top events as power outage and a failure likely to cause the largest damage among the potential risks of PCS. Then the Minimal Cut Set (MCS) and the importance of basic events were analyzed for implementing risk assessment. To cope with the objects, the components and their functions of PCS were categorized. To calculate the MCS frequency based on IEEE J Photovolt 2013, IEEE Std. 493-2007 and RAC (EPRD, NPRD), the failure rate and failure mode were produced regarding the basic events. In order to analyze the top event of failure and power outage, it was assumed that failures occurred in DC breaker, AC breaker, SMPS, DC filter, Inverter, CT, PT, DSP board, HMI, AC reactor, MC and EMI filter and Fault Tree was drawn. It is expected that the MCS and the importance of basic event resulting from this study will help find and remove the causes of failure and power outage in PCS for efficient safety management.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2933-2940
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• 2022

Approximations such as the delete-term approximation, rare event approximation, and minimal cutset upper bound (MCUB) need to be prudently applied for the quantification of a seismic probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) model. Important characteristics of seismic PSA models indicate that preserving the success branches in a primary seismic event tree is necessary. Based on the authors' experience in modeling and quantifying plant-level seismic PSA models, the effects of applying negate-down to the success branches in primary seismic event trees on the quantification results are summarized along with the following three insights gained: (1) there are two competing effects on the MCUB-based quantification results: one tending to increase and the other tending to decrease; (2) the binary decision diagram does not always provide exact quantification results; and (3) it is identified when the exact results will be obtained, and which combination provides more conservative results compared to the others. Complicated interactions occur in Boolean variable manipulation, approximation, and the quantification of a seismic PSA model. The insights presented herein can assist PSA analysts to better understand the important theoretical principles associated with the quantification of seismic PSA models.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.100-109
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• 2021

As the COVID-19 vaccination begins, it is necessary to safely store and manage the vaccination history for vaccinated people, as well as provide only the minimal information for the requested purpose, not in the form of all or nothing, to the institution requesting vaccination personal information. This paper proposes a scheme to safely store and manage the people's vaccination records in a non-forgeable blockchain, and to ensure that users provide only the minimal information necessary to the verifier from their vaccination personal information. A user authorizes the verifier to access the information he has consented with by entering the fingerprint on his smartphone, and in this process, no personal information or secrets can be exposed to an attacker. In addition, it is guaranteed that it is neither possible to impersonate the user nor to steal user personal information even in the case of theft or loss of the smartphone, or leakage of information from the vaccination history management institution. Using the scheme, users have no fear on external exposure of personal information and follow-up damage due to excessive information provision by giving out only the minimal information suited to the verifier.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 2015

Objective : Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and prolonged febrile seizures (pFS) are common neurologic problems that occur during childhood. However, there is insufficient evidence from experimental studies to conclude that pFS directly induces hippocampal injury. We studied cognitive function and histological changes in a rat model and investigated which among pFS, HIE, or a dual pathologic effect is most detrimental to the health of children. Methods : A rat model of HIE at postnatal day (PD) 7 and a pFS model at PD10 were used. Behavioral and cognitive functions were investigated by means of weekly open field tests from postnatal week (PW) 3 to PW7, and by daily testing with the Morris water maze test at PW8. Pathological changes in the hippocampus were observed in the control, pFS, HIE, and HIE+pFS groups at PW9. Results : The HIE priming group showed a seizure-prone state. The Morris water maze test revealed a decline in cognitive function in the HIE and HIE+pFS groups compared with the pFS and control groups. Additionally, the HIE and HIE+pFS groups showed significant hippocampal neuronal damage, astrogliosis, and volume loss, after maturation. The pFS alone induced minimal hippocampal neuronal damage without astrogliosis or volume loss. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that pFS alone causes no considerable memory or behavioral impairment, or cellular change. In contrast, HIE results in lasting memory impairment and neuronal damage, gliosis, and tissue loss. These findings may contribute to the understanding of the developing brain concerning conditions caused by HIE or pFS.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.4
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• pp.441-461
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• 2021

Reinforced concrete (RC) columns are crucial in building structures and they are of higher vulnerability to terrorist threat than any other structural elements. Thus it is of great interest and necessity to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the possible responses of RC columns when exposed to high intensive blast loads. The primary objective of this study is to derive analytical formulas to assess vulnerability of RC columns using an advanced numerical modelling approach. This investigation is necessary as the effect of blast loads would be minimal to the RC structure if the explosive charge is located at the safe standoff distance from the main columns in the building and therefore minimizes the chance of disastrous collapse of the RC columns. In the current research, finite element model is developed for RC columns using LS-DYNA program that includes a comprehensive discussion of the material models, element formulation, boundary condition and loading methods. Numerical model is validated to aid in the study of RC column testing against the explosion field test results. Residual capacity of RC column is selected as damage criteria. Intensive investigations using Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) methodology are then implemented to evaluate the influence of scaled distance, column dimension, concrete and steel reinforcement properties and axial load index on the vulnerability of RC columns. The generated empirical formulae can be used by the designers to predict a damage degree of new column design when consider explosive loads. With an extensive knowledge on the vulnerability assessment of RC structures under blast explosion, advancement to the convention design of structural elements can be achieved to improve the column survivability, while reducing the lethality of explosive attack and in turn providing a safer environment for the public.