Secondary emission behavior analysis and aerosol characteristics evaluation in laser cutting for safe nuclear decommissioning.

We analyzed secondary emissions and aerosol characteristics generated during the cutting of 10-30 mm thick austenitic 304 L stainless-steel plates with a high-power fiber laser. This study comprehensively includes exhausted aerosols, sedimented dross, wall deposits, and attached slag. The amount of secondary emissions for each cutting process condition was determined by type.

Accurately Controlled Tumor Temperature with Silica-Coated Gold Nanorods for Optimal Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) at mild temperatures ranging from 44 to 45 °C holds tremendous promise as a strategy for inducing potent immunogenic cell death (ICD) within tumor tissues, which can reverse the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (ITM) into an immune-responsive milieu. However, accurately and precisely controlling the tumor temperature remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report the precision photothermal immunotherapy by using silica-coated gold nanorods (AuNR@SiO), and investigating the optimal administration routes and treatment protocols, which enabled to achieve the sustained and controlled mild heating within the tumor tissues.

Feasibility of new patient dose management tool in digital radiography: Using clinical exposure index data of mobile chest radiography in a large university hospital.

The clinical anteroposterior (AP) chest images taken with a mobile radiography system were analyzed in this study to utilize the clinical exposure index (EI) as a patient dose-monitoring tool. The digital imaging and communications in medicine header of 6048 data points exposed under the 90 kVp and 2.5 mAs were extracted using Python for identifying the distribution of clinical EI.

Comprehensive Assessment of Acute Isolated or Prominent Dysarthria in the Emergency Department: A Neuro-Emergency Expert's Experience beyond Stroke.

We investigated the clinical characteristics, neuroimaging findings, and final diagnosis of patients with acute isolated or prominent dysarthria who visited the emergency department (ED) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021. Of 2028 patients aged ≥ 18 years with neurologic symptoms treated by a neuro-emergency expert, 75 with acute isolated or predominant dysarthria within 1 week were enrolled. Patients were categorized as having isolated dysarthria ( = 28, 37.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of an Al-Mg-Si-Zr Alloy Processed by L-PBF and Subsequent Heat Treatments.

The aim of this study was to develop a new Al-Mg-Si-Zr alloy with a high magnesium content to achieve a wide range of mechanical properties using heat treatment and at a lower cost. Additive manufacturing was conducted using a powder bed fusion process with various scan speeds to change the volumetric energy density and establish optimal process conditions. In addition, mechanical properties were evaluated using heat treatment under various conditions.

Spectroscopic Study into Lanthanide Speciation in Deep Eutectic Solvents.

Deep eutectic solvents are a new class of green solvents that are being explored as an alternative for used nuclear fuel and critical material recycling. However, there is a paucity of knowledge regarding metal behavior in them. This paper explores the underlying chemistry of rare-earth elements in choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents by using a multi-technique spectroscopic methodology.

Unsupervised Gait Phase Estimation With Domain-Adversarial Neural Network and Adaptive Window.

The performanceof previous machine learning models for gait phase is only satisfactory under limited conditions. First, they produce accurate estimations only when the ground truth of the gait phase (of the target subject) is known. In contrast, when the ground truth of a target subject is not used to train an algorithm, the estimation error noticeably increases.

Surface decontamination of protective duplex oxide layers on stainless steel waste using deep eutectic solvents.

The decontamination capabilities of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) formed from choline chloride (ChCl) and p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (PtsA), ChCl:PtsA, under different conditions (hydrated, heated, and agitated) were tested with simulant oxidized stainless steel 304 specimens. Although the leaching rates were satisfactory under all conditions, hydrated and stirred ChCl:PtsA at 60 °C showed the fastest leaching rate of 0.1647 mg/min.

Precise control over the silica shell thickness and finding the optimal thickness for the peak heat diffusion property of AuNR@SiO.

Silica-coated gold nanorods (AuNRs) exhibit significantly enhanced photothermal effects and photoacoustic (PA) signal intensities, which is beneficial for various nanophotonic applications in materials science. However, the silica shell thickness for optimum enhancement is not fully understood and is even controversial depending on the physical state of the silica shell. This is because of the lack of systematic investigations of the nanoscale silica shell thickness and the photothermal effect.

Changes in the characteristics of organic matter associated with hydrodynamics and phytoplankton size structure in the central-eastern Yellow Sea.

The central-eastern Yellow Sea is an important region for transporting organic matter (OM) to the Pacific Ocean, however, there is limited information available regarding the characteristics and sources of OM in this area. The present study investigated the concentrations and stable isotopic compositions of carbon (δC) and nitrogen (δN) for particulate matter and sediment in the central-eastern Yellow Sea during April 2019. The physicochemical properties (i.

Experience of a Neuro-Emergency Expert in the Emergency Department during One Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We aimed to evaluate the overall clinical characteristics of patients treated by a neuro-emergency expert dedicated to the emergency department (ED) as an attending neurologist during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included adult patients who visited the ED between 1 January and 31 December 2020 and were treated by a neuro-emergency expert. We retrospectively obtained and analyzed the data on patients' clinical characteristics and outcome.

Analysis of incombustibles in the feedstock to incineration facilities in South Korea for optimum sorting and management.

Korea's Ministry of Environment has implemented the Framework Act on Resource Recirculation to activate waste resource recovery. However, industrial waste treatment facilities have some problems related to diversity of waste received for proper management of wastes. Waste incineration facilities are required to receive and process combustible waste and are forbidden to re-consign waste to other waste treatment facilities without any processing.

Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Intra-Nanogap Au Plasmonic Nanostructures for Bioanalytical Applications.

Plasmonic nanogap-enhanced Raman scattering has attracted considerable attention in the fields of Raman-based bioanalytical applications and materials science. Various strategies have been proposed to prepare nanostructures with an inter- or intra-nanogap for fundamental study models or applications. This report focuses on recent advances in synthetic methods to fabricate intra-nanogap structures with diverse dimensions, with detailed focus on the theory and bioanalytical applications.

Analysis of incombustibles in the feedstock to incineration facilities in Republic of Korea for optimum sorting and management.

The Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea has implemented the "Framework Act on Resource Recirculation" to activate waste resource recovery. However, industrial waste treatment facilities have some problems related to diversity of waste received for proper management of wastes. Waste incineration facilities are required to receive and process combustible waste and are forbidden to re-consign waste to other waste treatment facilities without any processing.

Development of 8 ton/day gasification process to generate electricity using a gas engine for solid refuse fuel.

An 8 ton/day solid refuse fuel gasification process with air oxidant was operated under various conditions to generate electricity. Solid refuse fuels with fluff type feedstock were fabricated from municipal solid wastes. The tested experimental conditions included feedstock charging rate into the gasifier, equivalence ratio, and oxygen enrichment; varying these conditions resulted in different gasification characteristics, such as cold gas efficiency and carbon conversion ratio.

A Novel Singular Value Decomposition-Based Denoising Method in 4-Dimensional Computed Tomography of the Brain in Stroke Patients with Statistical Evaluation.

Computed tomography (CT) is a widely used medical imaging modality for diagnosing various diseases. Among CT techniques, 4-dimensional CT perfusion (4D-CTP) of the brain is established in most centers for diagnosing strokes and is considered the gold standard for hyperacute stroke diagnosis. However, because the detrimental effects of high radiation doses from 4D-CTP may cause serious health risks in stroke survivors, our research team aimed to introduce a novel image-processing technique.

Assessment of quality test methods for solid recovered fuel in South Korea.

Management of solid recovered fuel (SRF) in South Korea is unique from most other countries in that it is based on a single standard. All SRFs are distributed at the same price irrespective of their performance, resulting in utilization problems and a low degree of acceptance among consumers. Moreover, the difficulty of temperature maintenance during transportation, excessive ash content, and the use of inappropriate microwave acid digestion methods pose challenges to SRF reliability.

Effects of Renal Impairment on the Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Udenafil.

Udenafil is a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor used to treat erectile dysfunction. Although udenafil is not predominantly eliminated by the kidney, renal impairment can alter its secretion/transport pathways. Drug pharmacokinetics and safety must therefore be assessed in subjects with a renal impairment.

Near infrared dye-conjugated oxidative stress amplifying polymer micelles for dual imaging and synergistic anticancer phototherapy.

The recent advances in nanotechnology have led to the development of smart nanomaterials that combine diagnostic and therapeutic functions and provide synergistic anticancer effects through the combination of different treatment modalities. Here, we report a promising theranostic nanoconstruct that can translate into multiple functionalities: fluorescence/photoacoustic imaging, acid-triggered generation of ROS (reactive oxygen species), heat and singlet oxygen production under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, and coupling oxidative anticancer therapy to dual imaging-guided photothermal/photodynamic therapy. An NIR dye-conjugated hydroxyl radical generating biodegradable polymer (HRGP-IR) is employed as a theranostic nanoplatform.

Flexural wave cloaking via embedded cylinders with systematically varying thicknesses.

Simulations of flexural wave cloaking from multiple scattering events that are achieved by embedded cylinders in a thin plate are performed. Minimization of refraction is performed using small surrounding cylinders with varying thickness in radial and angular directions, respectively. The thickness variations render the effective wave speed lower in the radial direction and higher in the angular direction compared to the speed in the surrounding media, which results in the cloaking effect.

Nano-Fenton Reactors as a New Class of Oxidative Stress Amplifying Anticancer Therapeutic Agents.

Cancer cells, compared to normal cells, are under oxidative stress associated with an elevated level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are more vulnerable to oxidative stress induced by ROS generating agents. Thus, manipulation of the ROS level provides a logical approach to kill cancer cells preferentially, without significant toxicity to normal cells, and great efforts have been dedicated to the development of strategies to induce cytotoxic oxidative stress for cancer treatment. Fenton reaction is an important biological reaction in which irons convert hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to highly toxic hydroxyl radicals that escalate ROS stress.

Polymeric micellar nanoplatforms for Fenton reaction as a new class of antibacterial agents.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by host phagocytes exert antibacterial action against a variety of pathogens and ROS-induced oxidative stress is the governing mechanism for the antibacterial activity of major bactericidal antibiotics. In particular, hydroxyl radical is a strong and nonselective oxidant which can damage biomolecules such as DNA, proteins and lipids. Ferrous ion is known to convert mild oxidant hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into highly reactive and toxic hydroxyl radicals, referred to as Fenton reaction.

EGFR negates the proliferative effect of oncogenic HER2 in MDA-MB-231 cells.

Members of the EGFR family are potent mediators of normal cell growth and development. HER2 possesses an active tyrosine kinase domain, but no direct ligand has been identified. To investigate the differential effect of HER2 in breast cell lines, HER2 was overexpressed in MCF-10A, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells.

Amplification of oxidative stress by a dual stimuli-responsive hybrid drug enhances cancer cell death.

Cancer cells, compared with normal cells, are under oxidative stress associated with the increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including H2O2 and are also susceptible to further ROS insults. Cancer cells adapt to oxidative stress by upregulating antioxidant systems such as glutathione to counteract the damaging effects of ROS. Therefore, the elevation of oxidative stress preferentially in cancer cells by depleting glutathione or generating ROS is a logical therapeutic strategy for the development of anticancer drugs.