• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.234-240
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• 2016

We examined the diffusion of contaminants released from the southern coast around Fukushima, Japan, during the passage of typhoons using a three-dimensional numerical model (POM) to track diffusing radioactivity (RA) released from the nuclear power plant at Fukushima following the accident caused by the giant tsunami event in March 2011. Radioactive contaminants released during the passage of typhoons may have significantly affected not only Japanese but also Korean coastal waters. The model domain covered most of the northwestern Pacific including marginal seas such as the East/Japan Sea and the Yellow Sea. Several numerical experiments were conducted case studies focusing on the westward diffusion from the southern coast of Japan of contaminants derived from the source site (Fukushima) according to various attributes of the typhoons, such as intensity, track, etc. The model produced the following results 1) significant amounts of contaminants were transported in a westward direction by easterly winds favorable for generating a coastal air stream along the southern Japanese coast, 2) the contaminants reached as far as Osaka Bay with the passage of typhoons, forced by a 5-day positive sinusoidal form with a (right-) northward track east of Fukushima, and 3) the range of contamination was significant, extending to the interior of the East/Japan Sea around the Tsugaru Strait. The model suggests that contaminants and/or radioactivity released from Fukushima with the passage of typhoons can affect Korean waters including the northeastern East/Japan Sea around the Tsugaru Strait, especially when the typhoon tracks are favorable for generating a westward coastal air stream along the southern Japanese coast.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.19-31
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• 2010

Seogundo is a small island adjacent to the southern coast of Jeju Island and connected to it by a boulder beach at low tide Surveys of this area were conducted from 2001 to 2009 to enumerate the mollusks there and also to examine their diversity, relative abundance, and ecological relationships. Both the boulder beach itself and several large tide pools were studied, including the coarse sand substrate and several species of seaweed and coralline algae found in the tide pools. Of the 121 species obtained or observed, there were 97 gastropods, 16 bivalves, and 8 polyplacophorans. Live specimens were obtained for about half of those species. About one third were found on rocky substrate, with the most common species being Nodilittorina radiata and Nerita japonica in the upper intertidal zone, N. radiata and Littorina brevicula in the middle intertidal, and Turbo (Lunella) coronata coreensis and Acanthopleura japonica in the lower intertidal and shallow subtidal. The seaweeds and coralline algae contained about 40% of all mollusk species. The most common mollusks in two species of brown seaweed were Ittibittum parcum, Musculus nanus, and Euplica scripta. In a species of red seaweed, Komaitrochus pulcher was the most frequent, as in the coralline algae, along with M. nanus. The coarse sand in the tidepools contained about 25% of the species, with the Cerithiidae having the largest number. A sample of beach drift contained 17 species, with Bittium aleutaceum and Rissoina (Phosinella) pura being most common. Most species, about 60%, were found in a variety of habitats, especially the marine flora; few species exhibited any habitat preferences. Biographically, Jeju Island is part of the Warm Temperate Northwest Pacific Province and the East China Sea ecoregion with a strong faunal affinity with southern Japan, eastern China, and northeastern Taiwan. Zonal-geographical groupings reveal that the fauna is mainly subtropical-low boreal, preferring moderately warm water, with a somewhat smaller number of tropical-subtropical species.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.219-230
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• 2004

The aims of this study are to construct database using geostatistics and Geographic Information System (GIS), and to derive the spatial relationships between manganese nodule abundance and each factor affecting nodule abundance, such as metal grade, slope, aspect, water depth, topography, and acoustic characteristics of the subbottom using the GIS and probability methods. The greater is the copper and nickel grade, the higher is the rating. The distribution pattern of nickel grade is similar to that of copper grade. The slopes are generally less than $3^{\circ}$, excluding seamounts and cliff areas. There is no increment in the rating with increasing slope. The rating is highest for slopes between 2.5 and $3.5^{\circ}$ in block B2 and between 3 and $6^{\circ}$ in block C1. The topography is classified into five groups: seamount, hill crest, hill slant, hill base or plain, and seafloor basin or valley. The ratings prove lowest for seamount and hill crest. The results of the study show a decrease in the rating with an increase in water depth in the study area. There was a poor relationship between manganese nodule abundance and the thickness of the upper transparent layer in block C1. Using GIS, it is possible to analyze a large amount of data efficiently, and to maximize the practical application, to increase specialization, and to enhance the accuracy of the analyses.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.313-328
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• 2013

Jurassic granitoids in the northeastern part of the Yeongnam Massif are possibly the result of intensive magmatic activities that occurred in response to subduction of the proto-Pacific plate beneath the northeast portion of the Eurasian plate. Geochemical studies on the granitic rocks are carried out in order to constrain the petrogenesis of the granitic magma and to establish the paleotectonic environment of the area. Whole rock chemical data of the Uljin granitoids in the northeastern part of the Yeongnam Massif indicate that all of the rocks have the characteristics of calcalkaline series in subalkaline field. The overall major element trends show systematic variations in each granitic body, but the source materials of each granitoids seem to have different chemical composition. The Uljin granitoids are different from other granitic rocks, which distributed vicinity of the study area, in the contents of $Al_2O_3$ and trace elements such as Cr, Co, Ni, Sr, Y and Nb. The Uljin granitoids have geochemical features similar to slab-derived adakites such as high $Al_2O_3$, Sr contents and high Sr/Y, La/Yb ratios, but they have low Y and Yb contents. The major ($SiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$, MgO) and trace element (Sr, Y, La, Yb) contents of the Uljin granitoids fall well within the adakitic field. The Uljin granitoids have similar geochemical characteristics, paleotectonic environments and intrusion ages to those of the Yatsuo plutonic rocks of Hida belt located on northwestern part of Japan. Chondrite normalized REE patterns show generally enriched LREEs ($(La/Yb)_{CN}=10.6-103.4$) and are slight negative to flat Eu anomalies. On the ANK vs. A/CNK and tectonic discrimination diagrams, parental magma type of the granites corresponds to I-type and volcanic arc granite (VAG). Interpretations of the chemical characteristics of the granitic rocks favor their emplacement in a compressional tectonic regime at the continental margin during the subduction of Izanagi plate in Jurassic period.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.299-303
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• 2008

In this study, an uncertainty assessment for surface air temperature(T2m) and precipitation(PCP) over East Asia is carried out. The data simulated by the intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) Atmosphere-Ocean coupled general circulation Model (AOGCM) are used to assess the uncertainty. Examination of the seasonal uncertainty of T2m and PCP variabilities shows that spring-summer cold bias and fall warm bias of T2m are found over both East Asia and the Korea peninsula. In contrast, distinctly summer dry bias and winter-spring wet bias of PCP over the Korea peninsula is found. To investigate the PCP seasonal variability over East Asia, the cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function(CSEOF) analysis is employed. The CSEOF analysis can extract physical modes (spatio-temporal patterns) and their undulation (PC time series) of PCP, showing the evolution of PCP. A comparison between spatio-temporal patterns of observed and modeled PCP anomalies shows that positive PCP anomalies located in northeastern China (north of Korea) of the multi-model ensemble(MME) cannot explain properly the contribution to summer monsoon rainfalls across Korea and Japan. The uncertainty of modeled PCP indicates that there is disagreement between observed and MME anomalies. The spatio-temporal deviation of the PCP is significantly associated with lower- and upper-level circulations. In particular, lower-level moisture transports from the warm pool of the western Pacific and corresponding moisture convergence significantly contribute to summer rainfalls. These lower- and upper-level circulations physically consistent with PCP give a insight of the reason why differences between modeled and observed PCP occur.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.367-376
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• 2004

Macrobenthos were collected at 7 stations located from $5^{\circ}N$ to $10^{\circ}N$ with 1o interval along the longitude of $131^{\circ}W$ using a box corer with sampling area of $0.25\;m^2$ in July, 1999. In order to see the vertical distribution of macrobenthos in sediments, each subcore sample was divided into 5 layers with 1 cm interval up to 6 cm depth. Each subcore sample was sieved through 0.3 mm mesh screen and fixed with 10% Rose Bengal added formalin. A total of 22 faunal groups in 11 phyla were sampled and the average density was $959\;{\pm}\;584\;ind./m^2$. Foraminiferans comprised 34.8% of total specimens were the most abundant fauna, and followed by nematodes (27.5%), polychaete worms (15.7%), and benthic harpactoid copepods (10.4%). A latitudinal trend was shown in the distribution of macrobenthos; the maximum density of $1,832\;ind./m^2$ appeared at station N06 and the most poverished community occurred at station N09 with the density of $248\;ind./m^2$. The density of typical macrofaunal taxa except foraminiferans and nematods was $116\;ind./m^2$. In the vertical distribution of macrobenthos, more than 70% of macrobenthos occurred in the upper 2 cm layer, and upper 4 cm layer contained about 90% of macrofauna. Polychaete worms consisted of 22 families, and cirratulid and paraonid worms were dominant polychaete species. The prominant feeding guilds of polychaete worms were SDT (surface, descretely motile, tenaculate feeding) and SMX (surface, motile, non-jawed); they comprised more than 50% of polychaete abundance. These feeding guilds of polychaete worms suggests that the deep sea benthos should be well adapted the newly settled deposits from water column, but this should be clarified by the further studies.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.198-202
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• 2010

In and around the Korean Peninsula, 18 intraplate earthquake focal mechanisms since 1936 were analyzed to understand the characteristic of focal mechanism and regional stress orientation and tectonics. These earthquakes are largest ones from the last century and may represent the characteristics of earthquake in this region. Focal mechanism of these earthquakes show predominant strike-slip faulting with small amount of thrust components. The average P-axis is almost horizontal ENE-WSW direction. This mechanism pattern and the direction of maximum stress axis is very similar with northeastern part of China and southwestern part of Japan. However they are quite different with the eastern part of East Sea. This indicate that not only the subducting Pacific Plate from east but also the indenting Indian Plate controls focal mechanism in the far east of the Eurasian Plate.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2017

We construct 3D SV-wave velocity structure of the crust and the upper mantle beneath East Asia from Rayleighwave group-velocity measurements. For the construction of the SV-wave velocity model at 10 ~ 100 km depth, we used seismic data recorded at 321 broadband stations in Korea, Japan, and China. Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion curves were obtained by using the multiple filtering technique in the period range from 3 to 150 s. High SV-velocity anomalies are imaged beneath the East Sea from 10 km depth to deeper depth, implying that the Moho beneath the East Sea is between at 10 ~ 20 km depth. We estimated the Moho beneath the Korean peninsula to be around 35 km based on the depth where a high-velocity anomaly is observed. The SV-wave velocity model shows prominent fast S-velocity anomalies near northeastern Japan, associated with the subducting Pacific plate. Low-velocity anomalies are found beneath the east coast of the Korean peninsula at 100 km depth, which may play a role in the formation of the Ulleungdo and the Ulleung basin. We observed low-velocity anomalies beneath the Yamato basin at 100 km depth as well, which may indicate the upwelling of fluid from the Pacific plate via dehydration at deeper depth.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1065-1068
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• 2012

Background: Liver cancer is the most frequent cancer among Thais especially people in northeastern Thailand, but there has as yet been no assessment of trend. The data of all cancers in Khon Kaen can be retrieved from data base of the Khon Kaen Cancer Registry (KKCR) which was established in 1984. Objective: To assess the incidence trend of hepatocellular carcinoma in Khon Kaen, Thailand, between 1990 and 2009. Methods: Population-based cases of liver cancer registered between 1985 and 2009 were retrieved from the KKCR data base and cases with diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with the coding C22.0 according to ICD-O were selected. Incidence trends were calculated using the Jointpoint analysis. Results: There were 7,859 cases of HCC during the study period. Males were affected two times more frequently than females. The most common age group of cases was 50 and 69 years (60.3%). Most patients were diagnosed based on radiology imaging (40.6%) while the morphology verification was 7%. The age-standardized rates (ASR) were 13.1 to 49.8 per 100,000 among males and 4.8 to 38.4 per 100,000 among females depending on year of diagnosis since 1985. Remarkably, the ASRs were clearly low during first few years of starting the registration. The overall ASRs of HCC were 30.3 per 100,000 in males (95% CI: 25.9 to 34.6) and 13.1 per 100,000 (95% CI: 10.4 to 15.8) in females. During 1990-2009, the trends in incidences have been decreasing significantly with the annual percent change (APC) of 6.2% per year (95% CI: -7.6 to -4.8) in males and by 6.5% per year in females (95% CI: -8.4 to -4.9). Conclusions: The incidence trends have been decreasing in both sexes. The recent decline in incidence may represent a falling risk.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.299-304
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• 2014

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a malignancy of biliary duct with a very poor prognosis, is the leading cause of cancer death in countries of the Mekong subregion. Liver fluke infection is the main etiological factor, but genetic variation has been recognized as also important in conferring susceptibility to CCA risk. Nuclear factor (erythroid derived 2)-like 2 (NRF2) is a key transcription factor in detoxification and antioxidant defense. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that genetic polymorphisms in the NRF2 gene may be associated with cancer development. The objectives of this study were to investigate the association of NRF2 genetic polymorphism with CCA risk and to evaluate the influence of the NRF2 genotype on survival time of affected patients. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the NRF2 gene, including rs6726395: A/G, rs2886161: C/T, rs1806649: C/T, and rs10183914: C/T, were analyzed using TaqMan$^{(R)}$ SNP genotyping assays. Among 158 healthy northeastern Thai subjects, the allele frequencies were 41, 62, 94, and 92%, respectively. The correlation of NRF2 SNPs and CCA risk was analyzed in the 158 healthy subjects and 198 CCA patients, using unconditional logistic regression. The results showed that whereas the NRF2 SNPs were not associated with CCA risk (p>0.05), Kaplan-Meier analysis of 88 intrahepatic CCA patients showed median survival time with rs6726395 genotypes of GG and AA/AG to be $344{\pm}138$ (95%CI: 73-615) days and $172{\pm}37$ (95%CI: 100-244) days, respectively, (p<0.006). On multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, the GG genotype of rs6726395 was found to be associated with longer survival with a hazard ratio of 0.54 (95%CI: 0.31-0.94). In addition, non-papillary adenocarcinoma was associated with poor survival with a hazard ratio of 2.09 (95%CI: 1.16-3.75). The results suggest that the NRF2 rs6726395 polymorphism can be a potential prognostic biomarker for CCA patients.