• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-52
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• 2009

Single-drop microextraction (SDME) is an extraction methodology where the drop plays an essential role as extracts. It was evaluated for the GC-MS determination of nerve agents, one class of the chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Since these nerve agents are highly toxic, it is important to detect the nerve agents in the environmental samples. Several affecting factors including extraction solvents, stirring rate, extraction time, and amounts of salt were optimized. The limit of detections (LODs) were 0.1 - 10 ng/mL and the relative standard deviations (RSDs%, n=5) were in the range of 6.3% to 9.0% for four nerve agents. Without pretreatment of the environmental samples, 5-103 fold enrichments and 48-100% recovery were accomplished. These results demonstrated the feasibility of this method for on-site and off-site analysis of water sample collected from suspicious CWAs site.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.250-258
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• 2009

One-step seeded polymerization was used to prepare $7{\sim}10{\mu}m$ of crosslinked monodisperse spheres with four crosslinking agents using $4.68{\mu}m$ poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) seed particles in aqueous-alcoholic media in the absence of the swelling process. The crosslinking agents used were ethylene glycol dimethacrylate(EGDMA), allyl methacrylate(AMA), 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate(HDDA) and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate(TMPTMA). The effects of the type and concentration of the crosslinking agents on the swelling, pore size, thermal property of the networks and morphology of the particles were studied. The chemical structures and concentrations of the crosslinking agents affected both the swelling ratio and the porosity of the networks. In addition, the chemistry of the reactive vinyl group and chain length of the crosslinking agents affected the stability of the monodisperse particles of the ultimate morphology.

• Journal of the Korean Burn Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2020

Purpose: Due to rapid changes in the industrial structure in last decade, the wider various types of chemical agents were introduced. Burn surgeons should be well-informed with rapid changes of chemical burns. We present the recent incidence trends of causing agents of chemical burns. Methods: From 2010 to 2019, 92 chemical burn victims were included in this study. A retrospective study was made about the type, distribution and incidence of the causing agents of chemical burns. Initial treatments of most chemical burn wounds are copious saline irrigation by tap water, except hydrofluoric acid burn cases managed by 10% calcium gluconate injection. In alkali chemical burns on extremity, if thin eschars appear in postburn 2~3 days, acute early surgical escharectomy and split thickness skin graft were done. Results: More than 9 types of major chemicals causing chemical burns were surveyed, and the most common causing agent of chemical burns was Hydrofluoric acid (23.9%) followed by Acetic acid (19.6%) and Sodium hydroxide (8.7%). Conclusion: From 2010 to 2019, changes in the causing agent of chemical burns are that the types of major causing agents of chemical burns have increased and the distribution and incidence of causing agents have changed compared to previous reports. According to this study, more than 9 types of major chemicals causing chemical burns were surveyed, and the most common causing agent of chemical burns was Hydrofluoric acid (23.9%) followed by Acetic acid, Sodium hydroxide.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.473-478
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• 2018

Background: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is an acquired disease which etiology remains unknown. It is characterized by the development of sensitivity to certain chemical products. Most of the hypotheses formulated to explain the syndrome associate it to a previous exposition to some kind of volatile chemical. University researchers in chemical laboratories suffer a phenomenon of multi-exposition to chemical agents at low concentration during long periods of time although in an irregular form. Many of these chemical agents have similar properties to those suspicious of causing MCS. This article studies the prevalence of MCS in laboratory researchers. Methods: The study group is university researchers in chemical laboratories. The control group was obtained from administrative personnel who work in the same universities and therefore, are not exposed to chemical products from the laboratories, but have the same exposition to the rest of environmental polluting agents from the area and from the buildings of the university. In this study, it is used the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) (sensitivity of 92%/specificity of 95%). Results: The results showed that the prevalence of MCS for the university researchers is not related to exposition by inhalation to multiple chemical agents, at low concentration. Conclusions: The results disagree with one of the main etiological hypotheses of MCS, which is based on the existence of hypersensitive people, who presents a response after prolonged expositions to very low concentrations during a long period of time.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2018

Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of high plasticity clayey soil mixed with 5 and 10 % of Portland cement and four chemical agents such as sodium hexametaphosphate, aluminum sulfate, sodium carbonate, and sodium silicate with 0, 5, 10, and 20% concentrations was comparatively evaluated. The individual and combined effects of the cement and chemical agents on the UCS of the soil mixture were investigated. The strength of the soil-cement mixture generally increases with increasing the cement content. However, if the chemical agent is added to the mixture, the strength of the cement-chemical agent-soil mixture tends to vary depending on the type and the amount of the chemical agent. At low concentrations of 5% of aluminum sulfate and 5% and 10% of sodium carbonate, the average UCS of the cement-chemical agent-soil mixture slightly increased compared to pure clay due to increasing the flocculation of the clay in the mixture. However, at high concentrations (20%) of all chemical agents, the UCS significantly decreased compared to the pure clay and clay-cement mixtures. In the case of high cement content, the rate of UCS reduction is the highest among all cement-chemical agent-soil mixtures, which is more than three times higher in comparison to the soil-chemical agent mixtures without cement. Therefore, in the mixture with high cement (> 10%), the reduction of the USC is very sensitive when the chemical agent is added.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2047-2050
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• 2005

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.236-242
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• 2005

Three dithioester-derived carboxyl acid functionalized RAFT(reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer) agents, viz. acetic acid dithiobenzoate, butanoic acid dithiobenzoate and 4-toluic acid dithiobenzoate, were used in the RAFT bulk polymerization of styrene, in order to study the effects of the R-group structure on the living nature of the polymerization. By conducting the polymerization with various concentrations of the RAFT agents and at different temperatures, it was found that the R-group structure of the RAFT agents plays an important role in the RAFT polymerization; the bulky structure and radical stabilizing property of the R-group enhances the living nature of the polymerization and allows the polymerization characteristics to be well controlled.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2016

Sediment is a useful natural source but deteriorated continually by anthropogenic and industrial sources. Therefore, it is imperative to search a suitable method for improving or restoring sediment quality. Sediment has been tested to identify the effects of some external agents on a polluted area for 28 days. Chemical analysis and total viable counts (TVC) test have been conducted for 4 days interval to assess their performance. The analyses of chemical oxygen demand (COD), acid volatile sulfide (AVS), total phosphorous (T-P), total nitrogen (T-N) indicate that the chemical agents was more efficient to improve sediment quality whereas the microbial agent was more efficient for nutrient releasing from sediment. Oxygen releasing property of the chemical agent was thought to be providing with more congenial environment for the higher growth of the bacterial community than the direct application of microbial agents.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.8 no.2 s.23
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• pp.28-34
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• 2004

Enhanced methodologies for process diagnosis and abnormal situation management have been developed for the last two decades. However, there is no single method that always shows better performance over all kinds of diagnostic problems. In this paper, a framework of message-passing, cooperative, intelligent diagnostic agents is presented for improved on-line fault diagnosis through cooperative problem solving of different expertise. A group of diagnostic agents in charge of different process functional perform local diagnoses in parallel; exchange related information with other diagnostic agents; and cooperatively solve the global diagnostic problem of the whole process plant or business units just like human experts would do. For their better understanding, sharing and exchanging of process knowledge and information, we also suggest a way of remodeling processes and protocols, taking into account semantic abstracts of process information and data. The benefits of the suggested multi-agents-based approach are demonstrated by the implementations for solving the diagnostic problems of various chemical processes.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.217-223
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• 2014

Nerve agents are major chemical warfare agents with the "G series" and "V series" being the most widely known because of their lethal effect. Although not conspicuously used in major wars, the potential detrimental impact on modern society had been revealed from the sarin terror attack on Tokyo subway, which affected thousands of people. In this mini-review, major nerve agents of the "G series" and "V series" have been described along with various types of their detection methods. The physical properties and hydrolysis mechanisms of the major nerve agents are discussed since these are important factors to be considered in choosing detection methods, and specifying the procedures for sample preparations in order to enhance detection precision. Various types of extraction methods, including liquid-phase, solid-phase, gas-phase and solid-phase microextraction (SPME), are described. Recent development in the use of gas sensors for detecting nerve agents is also summarized.