• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.40 no.6
• /
• pp.603-611
• /
• 2020

This study collected and analyzed transportation card data in order to better understand the operation and usage of city buses in Ulsan Metropolitan City in Korea. The analysis used quantitative and qualitative indicators according to the characteristics of the data, and also the categories were classified as general status, operational status, and satisfaction. The existing city bus survey method has limitations in terms of survey scale and in the survey process itself, which incurs various types of errors as well as requiring a lot of time and money to conduct. In particular, the bus means indicators calculated using transportation card data were analyzed to compensate for the shortcomings of the existing operational status survey methods that rely entirely on site surveys. The city bus index calculated by using the transportation card data involves quantitative operation status data related to the user, and this results in the advantage of being able to conduct a complete survey without any data loss in the data collection process. We took the transportation card data from the entire city bus network of Ulsan Metropolitan City on Wednesday April 3, 2019. The data included information about passenger numbers/types, bus types, bus stops, branches, bus operators, transfer information, and so on. From the data analysis, it was found that a total of 234,477 people used the city bus on the one day, of whom 88.6% were adults and 11.4% were students. In addition, the stop with the most passengers boarding and alighting was Industrial Tower (10,861 people), A total of 20,909 passengers got on and off during the peak evening period of 5 PM to 7 PM, and 13,903 passengers got on and off the No. 401 bus route. In addition, the top 26 routes in terms of the highest number of passengers occupied 50% of the total passengers, and the top five bus companies carried more than 70% of passengers, while 62.46% of the total routes carried less than 500 passengers per day. Overall, it can be said that this study has great significance in that it confirmed the possibility of replacing the existing survey method by analyzing city bus use by using transportation card data for Ulsan Metropolitan City. However, due to limitations in the collection of available data, analysis was performed only on one matched data, attempts to analyze time series data were not made, and the scope of analysis was limited because of not considering a methodology for efficiently analyzing large amounts of real-time data.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 2021

Purpose: Rapid detection of etiologic organisms is crucial for initiating appropriate therapy in patients with central nervous system (CNS) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the BioFire^® Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) panel in detecting etiologic organisms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from febrile infants. Methods: CSF samples from infants aged <90 days who were evaluated for fever were collected between January 2016 and July 2019 at the Seoul National University Children's Hospital. We performed BioFire^® ME panel testing of CSF samples that had been used for CSF analysis and conventional tests (bacterial culture, Xpert^® enterovirus assay, and herpes simplex virus-1 and -2 polymerase chain reaction) and stored at -70℃ until further use. Results: In total, 72 (24 pathogen-identified and 48 pathogen-unidentified) CSF samples were included. Using BioFire^® ME panel testing, 41 (85.4%) of the 48 pathogen-unidentified CSF samples yielded negative results and 22 (91.7%) of the 24 pathogen-identified CSF samples yielded the same results (enterovirus in 19, Streptococcus agalactiae in 2, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in 1) as those obtained using the conventional tests, thereby resulting in an overall agreement of 87.5% (63/72). Six of the 7 pathogen-unidentified samples were positive for human parechovirus (HPeV) via BioFire^® ME panel testing. Conclusions: Compared with the currently available etiologic tests for CNS infection, BioFire^® ME panel testing demonstrated a high agreement score for pathogen-identified samples and enabled HPeV detection in young infants. The clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of BioFire^® ME panel testing in children must be evaluated for its wider application.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.111-132
• /
• 2022

The comprehensive examination on tendering system has been introduced to the Cultural Heritage repair and restoration field since 2016 to remedy the repair issues of South Gate in 2014. The Cultural Heritage Administration tried to attain the high performance of the cultural heritage repair and restoration works securing the proper payment for the repair and restoration works. It is high time to review the operating performance of the comprehensive examination on tendering system (hereinafter referred to as the "CEOTS"), as the system has been run for over 5 years to correspond with its original goal, i.e., "The Proper Payment in return for the High Performance of Repair and Restoration works." This study intends to analyze 114 tenders of CEOTS from 2016 to 2020. As a result of the analysis of 114 tenders, firstly, more than half of bid winners were in the top 20% of repair & restoration capacity disclosure amount list, which mostly fulfilled the goal of 'attaining high performance.' Secondly, as the winning bid rate is decreasing from 86.847% in 2017 to 85.488% in 2020, the goal of 'guarantee of a proper payment' is not achieved yet. Thirdly, the influence of Economic Evaluation section in CEOTS has been grown since the change of scoring system in CEOTS in 2019. This study identifies two reasons why the winning bid rate of CEOTS has decreased. Firstly, it is caused by the fact that 'the group that got more than 1st place' and 'the first place group' that are more than half of the total bidders have the decreasing bidding rate trend as the years go by. Secondly, the exclusion rate of 'the group that got more than 1st place' is higher than the exclusion rate of 'the group that got less than 1st place', which means the expected winning rate would be lowered. It is proposed that the revision of CEOTS code is needed, i.e. easing the strict rule concerning the exclusion rate as well as setting up the lower bidding limit to prevent the excessive decreasing winning bid rate.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
• /
• v.4
• /
• pp.128-141
• /
• 2022

Baengnyeongdo Island, which belongs to Ongjin-gun, Incheon, is an island in the northernmost part of the West Sea in South Korea. Baengnyeong Island is the 15th largest island in Korea and covers an area of 51 km². The Korea Ginseng Corporation (KGC) investigated the possibility of growing ginseng on Baengnyeong Island in 1996. In 1997, thanks to the support of cultivation costs from Ongjin-gun, the first ginseng seedbed was built on Baengnyeong Island. In 1999, the seedlings were transplanted to a permanent field under a contract with KGC. In 2003, the first six-year-old ginseng harvest was performed, and KGC purchased all production according to the contract. Since then, KGC has signed on to grow ginseng until 2012 and purchased six-year-old ginseng until the fall of 2016. Since 2014, the GimpoPaju Ginseng Agricultural Cooperative Association has signed a ginseng production contract. According to a survey of nine 6-year-old ginseng fields (total 5,961 units) on Baengnyeong Island, the top five with good growth had a survival rate of 42.6 to 68%, and the bottom four with poor growth had an extremely low survival rate of 11.1 to 21.3%. The four fields with low survival rates were where hot peppers were planted before ginseng cultivation. It is believed that the excess nitrogen remaining in the soil due to the treatment of compost or manure during pepper cultivation causes ginseng roots to rot. The average incidence of Alternaria blight was 8.6%. Six six-year-old ginseng gardens were low at 1.1 to 4.7%, while the other three were high at 16.7 to 20.9%. It is assumed that the reason for the low survival rate and high incidence of Alternaria blight is a rain-leaking shield. Farmers used rain-leaking shields because the precipitation on Baengnyeong Island was smaller than on land. One field showed 3% of leaves with yellowish brown spots, a symptom of physiological disturbance of the leaf, which is presumed to be due to the excessive presence of iron in the soil. To increase the production of ginseng on Baengnyeong Island, it is necessary to develop a suitable ginseng cultivation method for the island, such as strengthening the field management based on the results of a scientific study of soil, using rain-resistant shading, and installing drip irrigation facilities. I hope that ginseng will become a new driving force for the development of Baengnyeong Island, allowing ginseng products and food to thrive in the beautiful natural environment of the island.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.309-315
• /
• 2022

Research was conducted to derive the optimal operation conditions and the optimal cathode for using a DSA electrode as an anode to minimize electrode consumption during the removal of nitrogen from wastewater by the electro-chemical method. Of the various electrodes tested as cathodes, brass was determined to be the optimal electrode. It had the highest NO₃-N removal rate and the lowest concentration of residual NH₃-N, a by-product when Cl is present in the solution. Investigating the effect of current density found that when the initial concentration of NO₃-N was 50 mg L^-1, the optimal current density was 15 mA cm^-2. In addition, current densities above 15 mA cm^-2 did not significantly affect the NO₃-N removal rate. The effect of electrolytes on removing NO₃-N and minimizing NH₃-N was investigated by using Na₂SO₄ and NaCl as electrolytes and varying the reaction times. When Na₂SO₄ and NaCl are mixed at a ratio of 1.0 g L^-1 to 0.5 g L^-1 and reacted for 90 min at a current density of 15 mA cm^-2 and an initial NO₃-N concentration of 50 mg L^-1, the removal rate of NO₃-N was about 48% and there was no residual NH₃-N. On the other hand, when using only 1.5 g L^-1 of NaCl as an electrolyte, the removal rate of NO₃-N was the highest at about 55% and there was no residual NH₃-N.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.85-103
• /
• 2023

The in-situ remediation of a solidified stratum containing a large amount of fine-texture material like clay or organic matter in contaminated soil faces limitations such as increased remediation cost resulting from decreased purification efficiency. Even if the soil conditions are good, remediation generally requires a long time to complete because of non-uniform soil properties and low permeability. This study assessed the remediation effect and evaluated the field applicability of a methodology that combines pneumatic fracturing, vacuum extraction, and plasma blasting (the PPV method) to improve the limitations facing existing underground remediation methods. For comparison, underground remediation was performed over 80 days using the experimental PPV method and chemical oxidation (the control method). The control group showed no decrease in the degree of contamination due to the poor delivery of the soil remediation agent, whereas the PPV method clearly reduced the degree of contamination during the remediation period. Remediation effect, as assessed by the reduction of the highest TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) concentration by distance from the injection well, was uncleared in the control group, whereas the PPV method showed a remediation effect of 62.6% within a 1 m radius of the injection well radius, 90.1% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 92.1% within 2.1~3.0 m. When evaluating the remediation efficiency by considering the average rate of TPH concentration reduction by distance from the injection well, the control group was not clear; in contrast, the PPV method showed 53.6% remediation effect within 1 m of the injection well, 82.4% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 68.7% within 2.1~3.0 m. Both ways of considering purification efficiency (based on changes in TPH maximum and average contamination concentration) found the PPV method to increase the remediation effect by 149.0~184.8% compared with the control group; its average increase in remediation effect was ~167%. The time taken to reduce contamination by 80% of the initial concentration was evaluated by deriving a correlation equation through analysis of the TPH concentration: the PPV method could reduce the purification time by 184.4% compared with chemical oxidation. However, the present evaluation of a single site cannot be equally applied to all strata, so additional research is necessary to explore more clearly the proposed method's effect.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.15-19
• /
• 2022

Purpose [⁶⁸Ga]PSMA-11 is needed the high reproducibility, excellent radiochemical yield and purity. In term of radiation safety, the radiation exposure of operator for its production also should be considered. In this work, we performed a comparative study for the fully automated synthesis of [⁶⁸Ga]PSMA-11 between non-cassette type and cassette type. Materials and Methods Two different type of modules (TRACERlab FX N pro for non-cassette type and BIKBox for cassette type) were used for the automated production of [⁶⁸Ga]PSMA-11. According to the previously identified elution profile, Only 2.5 ml with high radioactivity was used for the reaction. After adjusting the pH of the reaction solution with HEPES buffer solution, the precursor was added and reacted with at 95 ℃ for 15 minutes. The reaction mixture was separated and purified using a C18 light cartridge. The product was eluted with 50% EtOH/saline solution and diluted with saline. It was completed by sterilizing filter. In the non-cassette type, the aforementioned process must be prepared directly. However, in the cassette method, synthesis was possible simply by installing a kit that was already completed. Results Both total [⁶⁸Ga]PSMA-11 production time were 25±3(non-cassette type) and 23±3 minutes(cassette type). The radiochemical yield of the non-cassette type(65.5±5.7%) was higher than that of the cassette type(61.6±4.8%) after sterilization filter. The non-cassette type took about 120 minutes of preparation time before synthesis due to washing of synthesizer and reagent preparation. However, since the cassette type does not require washing and reagent preparation, it took about 20 minutes to prepare before synthesis. Both type of synthesizer had a radiochemical high purity(>99%). Conclusion The non-cassette type production of [⁶⁸Ga]PSMA-11 showed higher radiochemical yield and lower cost than the cassette type. However, The cassette type has an advantage in terms of preparation time, convenience, and equipment maintenance.

• Economic Analysis
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-33
• /
• 2020

Recent discussions about a minimum wage increase (MWI) and its influence on the economy have mainly focused on the quantitative aspects, such as labor costs and employment. However, concerning the qualitative aspects, an MWI could have positive effects by enhancing firm productivity and crowding out marginal firms from the market. These positive effects of an MWI can offset, to some extent, its potential negative effects - increasing labor costs and decreasing employment, among others. In this regard we empirically examine the impact of an MWI on firm productivity (total factor productivity). Using firm level panel data from the manufacturing industry in Korea, we calculate the influence rates of a minimum wage by sector and by firm size (number of workers), and analyze its effects on firm productivity. In particular, the production functions of the firms are estimated by taking into account endogeneity among the input factors, in order to resolve the drawbacks of existing studies - underestimating the capital factor coefficient and overestimating the labor factor coefficient. This study finds that the influences of an MWI on wages, employment, and productivity are substantially different across sectors and firm sizes. While an MWI has shown to have positive influences on productivity growth in the manufacturing industry as a whole, each sector demonstrates a different direction of effect, and the degree of productivity change also varies by sector. The impacts of an MWI on firm productivity are generally estimated to be more negative for smaller firms, but in some sectors the effects are found to be positive. In addition, the wage increases resulting from an MWI seem to cause a productivity enhancement across all sectors in the manufacturing industry. The policy implications of this study are as follows. Considering the empirical findings that an MWI causes an increase in productivity in many sectors of the manufacturing industry, it would be desirable to take into consideration not only the negative side effects but also the positive effects of an MWI when designing any future minimum wage policy. Moreover, in spite of there being a uniform minimum wage, this study finds that the diverse influence rates of a minimum wage across firms have different impacts on wages, employment, and productivity across sectors or firm size. This finding could be conducive to discussions about differentiation among minimum wage schemes by sector or firm size.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.369-380
• /
• 2023

Developing and breeding improved legume-based food resources require collecting useful genetic traits with heritability even though requiring some time-consuming, costly, and labor intensive. We attempted to infer heritability of nine genetic traits-days to flowering, days to maturity, period from flowering to maturity, the number of seeds per pod, 100-seeds weight, and four contents such as crude protein, crude oil, crude fiber, and dietary fiber-using 455 homologous chloroplast gene sets of six species of legumes. Correlation analysis between genetic trait differences and phylogenetic distance of homologous gene sets revealed that days to flowering, the number of seeds per pod, and crude oil content were influenced by genetic factors rather than environmental factors by 62.86%, 69.45%, 57.14% of correlated genes (P-value ≤ 0.05) and days to maturity showed intermediate genetic effects by 62.42% (P-value ≤ 0.1). The period from flowering to maturity and 100-seeds weight showed different results compared to those of some previous studies, which may be attributed to highly complicated internal (epistatic or additive gene effects) and external effects (cultural environment and human behaviors). Despite being slightly unexpected, our results and method can widely contribute to analyze heritability by including genetic information on mitochondria, nuclear genome, and single nucleotide polymorphisms.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.39 no.5_3
• /
• pp.1009-1029
• /
• 2023

Urban trees play a vital role in urban ecosystems,significantly reducing impervious surfaces and impacting carbon cycling within the city. Although previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of employing artificial intelligence in conjunction with airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to generate urban tree information, the availability and cost constraints associated with LiDAR data pose limitations. Consequently, this study employed freely accessible, high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery (i.e., Sentinel-2 data) to estimate fractional tree canopy cover (FTC) within the urban confines of Suwon, South Korea, employing machine learning techniques. This study leveraged a median composite image derived from a time series of Sentinel-2 images. In order to account for the diverse land cover found in urban areas, the model incorporated three types of input variables: average (mean) and standard deviation (std) values within a 30-meter grid from 10 m resolution of optical indices from Sentinel-2, and fractional coverage for distinct land cover classes within 30 m grids from the existing level 3 land cover map. Four schemes with different combinations of input variables were compared. Notably, when all three factors (i.e., mean, std, and fractional cover) were used to consider the variation of landcover in urban areas(Scheme 4, S4), the machine learning model exhibited improved performance compared to using only the mean of optical indices (Scheme 1). Of the various models proposed, the random forest (RF) model with S4 demonstrated the most remarkable performance, achieving R² of 0.8196, and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0749, and a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.1022. The std variable exhibited the highest impact on model outputs within the heterogeneous land covers based on the variable importance analysis. This trained RF model with S4 was then applied to the entire Suwon region, consistently delivering robust results with an R² of 0.8702, MAE of 0.0873, and RMSE of 0.1335. The FTC estimation method developed in this study is expected to offer advantages for application in various regions, providing fundamental data for a better understanding of carbon dynamics in urban ecosystems in the future.