• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.71-86
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• 2003

Over the past few decades, changes in patterns of behavior (e.g., diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity) have led to major changes in health status, characterized by increases in obesity, Type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. This epidemiologic transition is largely the result of rapid increases in immigration to developed countries and rural-urban migration within developing countries, which is usually accompanied by environmental and lifestyle changes. In particular, adoption of “Western” dietary patterns, which tend to be high in fat and low in fruits and vegetables, is of concern since diet is a potent contributor to chronic disease risk. However, until recently, the process by which immigrants and rural-urban migrants adopt the dietary practices predominant in their new environments, known as dietary acculturation, has received very little research attention. Dietary acculturation is multidimensional, dynamic, and complex, and varies considerably depending on a variety of personal, cultural, and environmental characteristics. Therefore, to intervene successfully on the negative aspects of dietary acculturation, it is important to understand the process and identify factors that predispose and enable it to occur. The purpose of this article is to provide a practical model for understanding and investigating the effect of dietary acculturation on food and nutrient intake. Thus, this report 1) gives an overview of acculturation, 2) defines dietary acculturation and presents a model for how it occurs, 3) discusses measurement issues around dietary acculturation,4) reviews the literature on dietary acculturation in Korean Americans; 4) suggests a paradigm for acculturation research; and 5) offers some recommendations for future research in this area.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2009

In China, the oil and natural gas resources of Bohai Bay are mainly marginal oil fields. It is necessary to build both ice-resistant and economical offshore platforms. However, risk is involved in the design, construction, utilization, maintenance of offshore platforms as uncertain events may occur within the life-cycle of a platform under the extreme ice load. In this study, the optimum design model of the expected life-cycle cost for ice-resistant platforms based on cost-effectiveness criterion is proposed. Multiple performance demands of the structure, facilities and crew members, associated with the failure assessment criteria and evaluation functions of costs of construction, consequences of structural failure modes including damage, revenue loss, death and injury as well as discounting cost over time are considered. An efficient approximate method of the global reliability analysis for the offshore platforms is provided, which converts the implicit nonlinear performance function in the conventional reliability analysis to linear explicit one. The proposed life-cycle optimum design formula are applied to a typical ice-resistant platform in Bohai Bay, and the results demonstrate that the life-cycle cost-effective optimum design model is more rational compared to the conventional design.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.495-505
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• 2009

Bridges form crucial links in the transportation network especially in high seismic risk regions. This research aims to provide a quantitative methodology for post-earthquake performance evaluation of the bridges. The experimental portion of the research involved shake table tests of a 4-span bridge which was subjected to progressively increasing amplitudes of seismic motions recorded from the Northridge earthquake. As part of this project, a high resolution long gauge fiber optic displacement sensor was developed for post-seismic evaluation of damage in the columns of the bridge. The nonlinear finite element model was developed using Opensees program to simulate the response of the bridge and the abutments to the seismic loads. The model was modified to predict the bent displacements of the bridge commensurate with the measured bent displacements obtained from experimental analysis results. Following seismic events, the tangential stiffness matrix of the whole structure is reduced due to reduction in structural strength. The nonlinear static push over analysis using current damaged stiffness matrix provides the longitudinal and transverse ultimate capacities of the bridge. Capacity loss in the transverse and longitudinal directions following the seismic events was correlated to the maximum displacements of the deck recorded during the events.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.813-822
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• 2012

In this study, the multizone simulation for biosafety of BSL3 lab. and energy simulation are carried out simultaneously by using linked model of CONTAM and TRNSYS. In BSL3 lab., annual energy consumption is approximately five to ten times more than the magnitude of the office building. This is because required air change rate is extremely large and it is difficult to maintain room pressure difference efficiently. To maintain pressure difference between laboratory rooms through sealing condition of doors and proper airflow control is significant. In this study, to predict indoor environment of the BSL3 lab.(Influenza A research lab.), the multizone simulation for four kinds of biohazard scenario is also performed as part of risk assessment. Multizone and energy simulation results by using linked model show that these approaches are used as a tool for the energy efficient design and operation method for the safer BSL3 lab. facilities.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.381-389
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• 1999

One of the objectives of any task design is to provide a safe and helpful workplace for the employees. The safety and health module may include means for confronting the design with safety and health regulations and standards as well as tools for obstacles and collisions detection (such as error models and simulators). Virtual Reality is a leading edge technology which has only very recently become available on platforms and at prices accessible to the majority of simulation engineers. The design of an automated manufacturing system is a complicated, multidisciplinary task that requires involvement of several specialists. In this paper, a design procedure that facilitates the safety and ergonomic considerations of an automated manufacturing system are described. The procedure consists of the following major steps: Data collection and analysis of the data, creation of a three-dimensional simulation model of the work environment, simulation for safety analysis and risk assessment, development of safety solutions, selection of the preferred solutions, implementation of the selected solutions, reporting, and training When improving the safety of an existing system the three-dimensional simulation model helps the designer to perceive the work from operators point of view objectively and safely without the exposure to hazards of the actual system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2238-2249
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• 2020

In a seismic PSA, dependency among seismic failures of components has not been explicitly modeled in the fault tree or event tree. This dependency is separately identified and assigned with numbers that range from zero to unity that reflect the level of the mutual correlation among seismic failures. Because of complexity and difficulty in calculating combination probabilities of correlated seismic failures in complex seismic event tree and fault tree, there has been a great need of development to explicitly model seismic correlation in terms of seismic common cause failures (CCFs). If seismic correlations are converted into seismic CCFs, it is possible to calculate an accurate value of a top event probability or frequency of a complex seismic fault tree by using the same procedure as for internal, fire, and flooding PSA. This study first proposes a methodology to explicitly model seismic dependency by converting correlated seismic failures into seismic CCFs. As a result, this methodology will allow systems analysts to quantify seismic risk as what they have done with the CCF method in internal, fire, and flooding PSA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.1079-1089
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• 2017

Nuclear power plants under expansion and under construction in China are mostly located in coastal areas, which means they are at risk of suffering strong earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis. This paper presents a safety analysis for a new reinforced concrete containment vessel in such events. A finite element method-based model was built, verified, and first used to understand the seismic performance of the containment vessel under earthquakes with increased intensities. Then, the model was used to assess the safety performance of the containment vessel subject to an earthquake with peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.56g and subsequent tsunamis with increased inundation depths, similar to the 2011 Great East earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Results indicated that the containment vessel reached Limit State I (concrete cracking) and Limit State II (concrete crushing) when the PGAs were in a range of 0.8-1.1g and 1.2-1.7g, respectively. The containment vessel reached Limit State I with a tsunami inundation depth of 10 m after suffering an earthquake with a PGA of 0.56g. A site-specific hazard assessment was conducted to consider the likelihood of tsunami sources.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.241-248
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• 2018

Recently, there have been calls for approaching from the irrationality point of view to better explain the privacy paradox phenomenon. This study is a kind of response to them. The aim of the study is to investigate how satisfying competence needs, one of basic psychological needs suggested in self-determination theory, affects irrational information disclosure decision (i.e., risk-benefit assessment). To do this, the study builds an irrationality-based model in which competence needs satisfaction affects both perceived risks negatively and perceived benefits (i.e., relationship building and maintenance), which in turn determine a level of self-disclosure. Based on the data from Facebook users which is collected by a large sample survey (N=1050), the study analyzes it using Mplus, a powerful structure equation modeling tool. The study results reveal that while the relationship between competence needs satisfaction and perceived relationship building and maintenance is statistically significant, the relationship between competence needs satisfaction and perceived risks insignificant. These findings imply that people who is in a high level of competence needs satisfaction is more likely to respond to some opportunities for social benefits and in turn disclose more information about self.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.88-97
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Mitigating insulin resistance and hyperglycemia is associated with a decreased risk of diabetic complications. The effect of Daraesoon (shoot of hardy kiwi, Actinidia arguta) on hyperglycemia was investigated using a type 2 diabetes animal model. MATERIALS/METHODS: Seven-week-old db/db mice were fed either an AIN-93G diet or a diet containing 0.4% of a 70% ethanol extract of Daraesoon, whereas db/+ mice were fed the AIN-93G diet for 7 weeks. RESULTS: Consumption of Daraesoon significantly reduced serum glucose and blood glycated hemoglobin levels, along with homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance in db/db mice. Conversely, Daraesoon elevated the serum adiponectin levels compared to the db/db control group. Furthermore, Daraesoon significantly decreased both serum and hepatic triglyceride levels, as well as serum total cholesterol levels. Additionally, consumption of Daraesoon resulted in decreased hepatic tumor necrosis factor-α and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that hypoglycemic effect of Daraesoon is mediated through the improvement of insulin resistance and the downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in db/db mice.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2020

Background: To investigate radiological effects on biota, it is necessary to assess radiation dose for flora and fauna living in a terrestrial ecosystem. This paper presents a dynamic model to assess radioactivity concentration and radiation dose of terrestrial flora and fauna after a nuclear accident. Materials and Methods: Litter, organic soil, mineral soil, trees, wild crops, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores are considered the major components of a terrestrial ecosystem. The model considers the physicochemical and biological processes of interception, weathering, decomposition of litter, percolation, root uptake, leaching, radioactive decay, and biological loss of animals. The predictive capability of the model was investigated by comparison of its predictions with field data for biota measured in the Fukushima forest area after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Results and Discussion: The predicted radioactive cesium inventories for trees agreed well with those for evergreens and deciduous trees sampled in the Fukushima area. The predicted temporal radioactivity concentrations for animals were within the range of the measured radioactivity concentrations of deer, wild boars, and black bears. The radiation dose for the animals were, for the whole simulation time, estimated to be much smaller than the lower limit (0.1 mGy·d^-1) of the derived consideration reference level given by the International Commission on Radiological Protection for terrestrial flora and fauna. This suggested that the radiation effect of the accident on the biota in the Fukushima forest would be insignificant. Conclusion: The present dynamic model can be used effectively to investigate the radiological risk to terrestrial ecosystems following a nuclear accident.