• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2017

Purpose: To evaluate the image quality improvement and dosimetric effects on virtual monochromatic images of a Dual Source-Dual Energy CT(DS-DECT) for radiotherapy planning. Materials and Methods: Dual energy(80/Sn 140 kVp) and single energy(120 kVp) scans were obtained with dual source CT scanner. Virtual monochromatic images were reconstructed at 40-140 keV for the catphan phantom study. The solid water-equivalent phantom for dosimetry performs an analytical calculation, which is implemented in TPS, of a 10 MV, $10{\times}10cm^2$ photon beam incident into the solid phantom with the existence of stainless steel. The dose profiles along the central axis at depths were discussed. The dosimetric consequences in computed treatment plans were evaluated based on polychromatic images at 120 kVp. Results: The magnitude of differences was large at lower monochromatic energy levels. The measurements at over 70 keV shows stable HU for polystyrene, acrylic. For CT to ED conversion curve, the shape of the curve at 120 kVp was close to that at 80 keV. 105 keV virtual monochromatic images were more successful than other energies at reducing streak artifacts, which some residual artifacts remained in the corrected image. The dose-calculation variations in radiotherapy treatment planning do not exceed ${\pm}0.7%$. Conclusion: Radiation doses with dual energy CT imaging can be lower than those with single energy CT imaging. The virtual monochromatic images were useful for the revision of CT number, which can be improved for target coverage and electron densities distribution.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.143-151
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• 2001

We have fabricated mixed-ionic conducting membranes, L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ and L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ by the solid state method. Ceramic membranes consisted of perovskite-type structures and exhibited high relative density, >95%. Especially, dense L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$Co $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ layer was coated on the L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes by using screen printing technique in order to improve oxygen ion flux. We measured oxygen ion flux on uncoated L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/, uncoated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/, and coated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes. The L $a_{0.6}$S $r_{0.4}$ $Co_{0.2}$F $e_{0.8}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes showed the highest flux, 0.26 mL/min.$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 90$0^{\circ}C$, after steady state had been reached. The oxygen flux of coated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes showed higher value, 0.19 mL/min.$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 95$0^{\circ}C$. This flux was as much as 2 or 3 times higher than those of uncoated L $a_{0.7}$S $r_{0.3}$G $a_{0.6}$F $e_{0.4}$ $O_{3-}$$\delta$/ membranes. 3-$\delta$/ membranes.X> 3-$\delta$/ membranes.membranes.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.283-293
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• 2002

Purpose : A PC based brachytherapy planning system was developed to display dose distributions on simulation images by 2D isodose curve including the dose profiles, dose-volume histogram and 30 dose distributions. Materials and Methods : Brachytherapy dose planning software was developed especially for the Ir-192 source, which had been developed by KAERI as a substitute for the Co-60 source. The dose computation was achieved by searching for a pre-computed dose matrix which was tabulated as a function of radial and axial distance from a source. In the computation process, the effects of the tissue scattering correction factor and anisotropic dose distributions were included. The computed dose distributions were displayed in 2D film image including the profile dose, 3D isodose curves with wire frame forms and dosevolume histogram. Results : The brachytherapy dose plan was initiated by obtaining source positions on the principal plane of the source axis. The dose distributions in tissue were computed on a $200\times200\;(mm^2)$ plane on which the source axis was located at the center of the plane. The point doses along the longitudinal axis of the source were $4.5\~9.0\%$ smaller than those on the radial axis of the plane, due to the anisotropy created by the cylindrical shape of the source. When compared to manual calculation, the point doses showed $1\~5\%$ discrepancies from the benchmarking plan. The 2D dose distributions of different planes were matched to the same administered isodose level in order to analyze the shape of the optimized dose level. The accumulated dose-volume histogram, displayed as a function of the percentage volume of administered minimum dose level, was used to guide the volume analysis. Conclusion : This study evaluated the developed computerized dose planning system of brachytherapy. The dose distribution was displayed on the coronal, sagittal and axial planes with the dose histogram. The accumulated DVH and 3D dose distributions provided by the developed system may be useful tools for dose analysis in comparison with orthogonal dose planning.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.9-16
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• 2019

In today's global energy market, the importance of green energy is emerging. Hydrogen energy is the future clean energy source and one of the pollution-free energy sources. In particular, the fuel cell method using hydrogen enhances the flexibility of renewable energy and enables energy storage and conversion for a long time. Therefore, it is considered to be a solution that can solve environmental problems caused by the use of fossil resources and energy problems caused by exhaustion of resources simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to efficiently produce hydrogen using plasma, and to study the optimization of DME reforming by checking the reforming reaction and yield according to temperature. The research method uses a 2.45 GHz electromagnetic plasma torch to produce hydrogen by reforming DME(Di Methyl Ether), a clean fuel. Gasification analysis was performed under low temperature conditions ($T3=1100^{\circ}C$), low temperature peroxygen conditions ($T3=1100^{\circ}C$), and high temperature conditions ($T3=1376^{\circ}C$). The low temperature gasification analysis showed that methane is generated due to unstable reforming reaction near $1100^{\circ}C$. The low temperature peroxygen gasification analysis showed less hydrogen but more carbon dioxide than the low temperature gasification analysis. Gasification analysis at high temperature indicated that methane was generated from about $1150^{\circ}C$, but it was not generated above $1200^{\circ}C$. In conclusion, the higher the temperature during the reforming reaction, the higher the proportion of hydrogen, but the higher the proportion of CO. However, it was confirmed that the problem of heat loss and reforming occurred due to the structural problem of the gasifier. In future developments, there is a need to reduce incomplete combustion by improving gasifiers to obtain high yields of hydrogen and to reduce the generation of gases such as carbon monoxide and methane. The optimization plan to produce hydrogen by steam plasma reforming of DME proposed in this study is expected to make a meaningful contribution to producing eco-friendly and renewable energy in the future.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.32
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• pp.549-594
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• 2016

This research focuses on 'dramaturgical' performance among all the acts of a director who constructs an artistic structure. This is, specifically, the dramaturgical acts that a director comes to perform in the process of dramatizing a novel. This paper aims to suggest a new kind of approach for productive interaction between drama theory and practice, not only by documenting the process of creation but also by moulding theoretical basis on acts of a director. As you all know, creative acts in practice so far have rarely been considered as subject and purpose of academic study. Even some lucky plays and directors had to settle for fragmentary review. That's mainly because Korean theatrical circles confine the way of recording the whole process of drama in practice only to a piecemeal review of performance. As a result, there have been very few cases of observing comtemporary plays under the historical background of drama. In this regard, this paper desires to raise a question, 'is productive interaction between drama theory and creative practice possible?' and to find the answer. If what is described in this paper can have worth beyond a mere record of creative acts, it may establish theoretical grounds on interpreting the play stage of this era by reading, in the contexts of drama history, a director's dramaturgical performing acts to dramatize a novel. The researcher of this paper, as a director of a theater troupe like a human and artistic community, adapted "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky into four plays. They are , , , , and completed in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2014, respectively as an independent theatric work having no connections to each other in story. Not only because the four plays share the same novel as its origin but also because an identical system is applied to dramatization of the novel, it gives an opportunity to focus on and perceive the role of the director. During the process of dramatiztion, the director, the researcher of this paper, carried all the duties, such as selecting a text, approaching the text theoretically and academically, adapting it for drama, picking out appropriate episodes. This paper defines all these acts as dramaturgical performing acts. In this sense, this paper can also be seen as a documentary of 'acts' performed during the process of dramatization.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2022

CuCl₂-loaded V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst showed excellent activity in the catalytic oxidation of elemental mercury to oxidized mercury even under SCR condition in the presence of NH₃, which is well known to significantly inhibit the oxidation activity of elemental mercury by HCl. Moreover, it was confirmed that, when SO₂ was present in the reaction gas together with HCl, excellent elemental mercury oxidation activity was maintained even though CuCl₂ supported on the catalyst surface was converted to CuSO₄. This is thought to be because not only HCl but also the SO₄ component generated on the catalyst surface promotes the oxidation of elemental mercury. However, in the presence of SO₂, the total mercury balance before and after the catalytic reaction was not matched, especially as the concentration of SO₂ increased. In order to understand the cause of this, further studies are needed to investigate the effect of SO₂ in the SnCl₂ aqueous solution employed for mercury species analysis and the effect of sulfate ions generated on elemental mercury oxidation. It was confirmed that SO₂ also promotes NO_x removal activity, which is thought to be because the increase in acid sites by SO₄ generated on the catalyst surface by SO₂ facilitates NH₃ adsorption. The composition change and structure of the components present on the catalyst surface under various reaction conditions were measured by XRD and XRF. These measurement results were presented as a rational explanation for the results that SO₂ enhances the oxidation activity of elemental mercury and the NO_x removal activity in this catalyst system.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.256-266
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• 2022

Empirical models including the Angstrom-Prescott (AP) model have been used to estimate solar radiation at sites, which would support a wide use of crop models. The objective of this study was to estimate two sets of solar radiation estimates using the AP coefficients derived for climate zone (AP_Frere) and specific site (AP_Choi), respectively. The daily solar radiation was estimated at 18 sites in Korea where long-term measurements of solar radiation were available. In the present study, daily solar radiation and sunshine duration were collected for the period from 2012 to 2021. Daily weather data including maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall were also obtained to prepare input data to a process-based crop model, CERES-Rice model included in Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT). It was found that the daily estimates of solar radiation using the climate zone specific coefficient, SFrere, had significantly less error than those using site-specific coefficients S_Choi (p<0.05). The cumulative values of S_Frere for the period from march to September also had less error at 55% of study sites than those of S_Choi. Still, the use of S_Frere and S_Choi as inputs to the CERES-Rice model resulted in slight differences between the outcomes of crop growth simulations, which had no significant difference between these outputs. These results suggested that the AP coefficients for the temperate climate zone would be preferable for the estimation of solar radiation. This merits further evaluation studies to compare the AP model with other sophisticated approaches such as models based on satellite data.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between external medical service use and the characteristics of Chungcheongnam-do patients. We aimed to provide evidence of external medical service use enhance the healthcare delivery system in Chungcheongnam-do. Methods: We used the Health Insurance Cohort DB 2.0 of 2016-2019, and 2,570,439 patients were included in the study. Multivariate logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify the association between external medical service use and each patient characteristic. Generalized linear model was used to identify the association between medical costs and external medical service use area. Results: During the study period, 32.2% of inpatients and 12.5% of outpatients had external medical service use in Chungcheongnam-do. In comparison to patients living in Cheonan and Asan, the odds ratio (OR) for external medical services use was higher across all regions. Specifically, hospitalized patients from Gyeryong, Nonsan, and Geumsan (OR, 116.817) and Gongju, Buyeo, and Cheongyang (OR, 72.931) demonstrated extremely high likelihood of external medical service use in the Daejeon area. Furthermore, compared to medical expenses incurred within Chungcheongnam-do, patients with external medical service use in the capitol area (outpatient=17.01%, inpatients=22.11%) and Daejeon area (outpatient=16.63%, inpatients=15.41%) spent more on healthcare services. Conclusion: This study found the evidence of external medical service use among Chungcheongnam-do patients. Further study should be conducted taking into account variables including satisfaction of local medical services, different types of patient diseases, and others. The study's findings may serve as a foundation for policy proposals aimed at ensuring the financial stability of our health insurance system, ensuring the efficient delivery of medical care, and localization of medical care.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.363-375
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• 2024

Waterbody change detection using satellite images has recently been carried out in various regions in South Korea, utilizing multiple types of sensors. This study utilizes optical satellite images from Landsat and Sentinel-2 based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyze long-term surface water area changes in four monitored small and medium-sized water supply dams and agricultural reservoirs in South Korea. The analysis covers 19 years for the water supply dams and 27 years for the agricultural reservoirs. By employing image analysis methods such as normalized difference water index, Canny Edge Detection, and Otsu'sthresholding for waterbody detection, the study reliably extracted water surface areas, allowing for clear annual changes in waterbodies to be observed. When comparing the time series data of surface water areas derived from satellite images to actual measured water levels, a high correlation coefficient above 0.8 was found for the water supply dams. However, the agricultural reservoirs showed a lower correlation, between 0.5 and 0.7, attributed to the characteristics of agricultural reservoir management and the inadequacy of comparative data rather than the satellite image analysis itself. The analysis also revealed several inconsistencies in the results for smaller reservoirs, indicating the need for further studies on these reservoirs. The changes in surface water area, calculated using GEE, provide valuable spatial information on waterbody changes across the entire watershed, which cannot be identified solely by measuring water levels. This highlights the usefulness of efficiently processing extensive long-term satellite imagery data. Based on these findings, it is expected that future research could apply this method to a larger number of dam reservoirs with varying sizes,shapes, and monitoring statuses, potentially yielding additional insights into different reservoir groups.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 2015

Purpose : 3D Printers are used to create three-dimensional models based on blueprints. Based on this characteristic, it is feasible to develop a bolus that can minimize the air gap between skin and bolus in radiotherapy. This study aims to compare and analyze air gap and target dose at the branded 1 cm bolus with the developed customized bolus using 3D printers. Materials and Methods : RANDO phantom with a protruded tumor was used to procure images using CT simulator. CT DICOM file was transferred into the STL file, equivalent to 3D printers. Using this, customized bolus molding box (maintaining the 1 cm width) was created by processing 3D printers, and paraffin was melted to develop the customized bolus. The air gap of customized bolus and the branded 1 cm bolus was checked, and the differences in air gap was used to compare $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$ and $V_{95%}$ in treatment plan through Eclipse. Results : Customized bolus production period took about 3 days. The total volume of air gap was average $3.9cm^3$ at the customized bolus. And it was average $29.6cm^3$ at the branded 1 cm bolus. The customized bolus developed by the 3D printer was more useful in minimizing the air gap than the branded 1 cm bolus. In the 6 MV photon, at the customized bolus, $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of GTV were 102.8%, 88.1%, 99.1%, 95.0%, 94.4% and the $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of branded 1cm bolus were 101.4%, 92.0%, 98.2%, 95.2%, 95.7%, respectively. In the proton, at the customized bolus, $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of GTV were 104.1%, 84.0%, 101.2%, 95.1%, 99.8% and the $D_{max}$, $D_{min}$, $D_{mean}$, $D_{95%}$, $V_{95%}$ of branded 1cm bolus were 104.8%, 87.9%, 101.5%, 94.9%, 99.9%, respectively. Thus, in treatment plan, there was no significant difference between the customized bolus and 1 cm bolus. However, the normal tissue nearby the GTV showed relatively lower radiation dose. Conclusion : The customized bolus developed by 3D printers was effective in minimizing the air gap, especially when it is used against the treatment area with irregular surface. However, the air gap between branded bolus and skin was not enough to cause a change in target dose. On the other hand, in the chest wall could confirm that dose decrease for small the air gap. Customized bolus production period took about 3 days and the development cost was quite expensive. Therefore, the commercialization of customized bolus developed by 3D printers requires low-cost 3D printer materials, adequate for the use of bolus.