• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2012

While the ability to develop nanomaterials and incorporate them into products is advancing rapidly worldwide, understanding of the potential health safety effects of nanomaterials has proceeded at a much slower pace. Since 2008, Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) started an investigation to prepare "Strategic Action Plan" to evaluate safety and nano risk management associated with foods, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics using nano-scale materials. Although there are some studies related to potential risk of nanomaterials, physical-chemical characterization of nanomaterials is not clear yet and these do not offer enough information due to their limitations. Their uncertainties make it impossible to determine whether nanomaterials are actually hazardous to human. According to the above mention, we have some problems to conduct the human exposure risk assessment currently. On the other hand, uncertainty about safety may lead to polarized public debate and to businesses unwillingness for further nanotechnology investigation. Therefore, the criteria and methods to assess possible adverse effects of nanomaterials have been vigorously taken into consideration by many international organizations: the World Health Organization, the Organization for Economic and Commercial Development and the European Commission. The object of this study was to develop risk assessment principles for safety management of future nanoproducts and also to identify areas of research to strengthen risk assessment for nanomaterials. The research roadmaps which were proposed in this study will be helpful to fill up the current gaps in knowledge relevant nano risk assessment.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.30
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• pp.7-32
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• 2012

Korea faces The 2014 Incheon Asian Games and 2018 Pyungchang Winter Olympics. It is imperative to hold a safe event for the economic benefits, enhancing Korea's image, social integration, national harmony and unity in order to be evaluated as a successful international event. Furthermore, since the international event tends to draw many spectators, the host country must be ready to accommodate a large number of injured people in the event of an accident or terror attack. As stadiums for international events are where a large number of spectators gather in, a large refuge is essential, when dangerous situations happen. In this study, evacuation simulation was conducted using three scenarios in order to predict escape behaviors of spectators during the large escape by destruction of safety systems of stadiums and assess escape safety. As the result, the following results and proposals were extracted. Firstly, it is considered that dangerous situations during the security of stadiums should be predicted in advance and concrete plans for a large refuge of spectators have to be established to minimize damage. Secondly, it was found that the reduction in evacuation exits has an important impact on evacuation in an emergency situation. It implies that securing escape exits are quite important. Thirdly, there were areas where spectators stayed, due to blocked escape exits, while they were dispersed and concentrated at once. It demonstrates that security plans considering properties of facilities are required to solve these problems.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.704-712
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• 2010

Porcine circovirus-2 (PCV2) has been implicated in many clinical diseases/syndromes that are now referred to as PCV-associated diseases (PCVAD). Due to significant economic losses caused by PCVAD, many swine operations have launched extensive monitoring programs for PCV2. Traditional serum sampling is, however, rather expensive and laborious, hampering effective large scale pathogen surveillance. A field-based longitudinal study was conducted to assess the utility of pen-based oral fluid sample as an alternative to serum for herd PCV2 testing. Six pens (25 pigs/pen) at each of 3 different sites were used in the study. One oral fluid and 5 random serum samples per pen were collected at 3, 5, 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age, and the sera were pooled by pen for testing. All samples were tested for PCV2 by real-time PCR and for antibodies by indirect fluorescent antibody test (for both anti-PCV2 IgG and IgA) and 3 ELISA assays (blocking ELISA, indirect ELISA, and IgG/IgM sandwich ELISA). PCV2 DNA was detected in oral fluid samples sporadically until 8 weeks and in all pens at 16 weeks. PCV2-specific IgG was detected in oral fluid samples at 3 weeks and persisted until 5 to 8 weeks in all sites. Anti-PCV2 IgG and IgA were detectable in oral fluid samples collected at 16 weeks from all of the pens at 1 site. The detection of PCV2 and anti-PCV2 antibody in oral fluid samples correlated positively with results on pooled sera, suggesting that oral fluids can be a cost-effective alternative to serum for herd monitoring of PCV2 infection.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.507-516
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to propose the alternative development method by means of determining the optimal project size from the economic viewpoint, improving the existing method depending on engineering aspects. To this end, this study defined the flood mitigation projects as the production activities carried out by inputs and outputs, and proposed the alternative development method on the basis of optimizing input and output combinations. This paper, as the case study of the proposed method, developed alternatives for the flood mitigation planning of Youngsan River Basin by determining the optimal project scale. As the result of determining optimal project size, the net benefit of the optimal alternative tended to be dependent on the net benefits of the large individual proposals. Due to such problem, the effect of relatively small individual proposals are underestimated and possibly be excluded from the optimal alternative, which may result in exclusion of the potential damaged regions protected by them from the flood mitigation project. Thus for the selective flood protection by region, individual proposals need to be categorized into the global measures and local measures according to the flood protection area.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.2169-2175
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• 2009

This research aims to evaluate the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure and provides a list of case studies in order to help understand the applicability of eco-efficient water infrastructure to Asia and the Pacific. A set of indicators have been explored to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure for the region on a micro and macro scale. The core idea of eco-efficiency, 'more value with less impact (on the environment)', has proven to be applicable in management of water infrastructure. The fundamental elements in eco-efficient water infrastructure should encompass physical infrastructure and non-physical infrastructure, which is more needed particularly in Asian countries. The case studies have demonstrated the applicability of the concept of eco-efficient water infrastructure. The Republic of Korea has provided the case of the eco-friendly approaches to enhance dam management and its innovative solutions how to use water more efficiently through state-of-art technologies. The experiences of Singapore are some of the best evidence to establish eco-efficient water infrastructure, for instance, the NEWater project via application of cutting edge technologies (recycled water) and institutional reform in water tariff systems to conserve water as well as enhance water quality. A list of indicators to assess eco-efficiency in water infrastructure have been discussed, and the research presents a myriad of project cases which are good to represent eco-efficiency in water infrastructure, including multipurpose small dams, customized flood defense systems, eco-efficient ground water use, and eco-efficient desalination plants. The study has presented numerous indicators in five different categories: 1) the status of water availability and infrastructure; 2) production and consumption patterns of freshwater; 3) agricultural products and sources of environmental loads; 4) damages from water-caused natural disaster; and 5) urban water supply and sanitation. There are challenges as well as benefits in such indicators, since the indicators should be applied very carefully in accordance with specific socio-economic, political and policy contexts in different countries in Asia and the Pacific Region. The key to success of establishment of eco-efficient water infrastructure in Asia primarily depends on the extent to which each country is committed to balancing its development of physical as well as non-physical water infrastructure. Particularly, it is imperative for Asian countries to transform its policy focus from physical infrastructure to non-physical infrastructure. Such shift will help lead to implementation of sustainable in Asian countries.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.743-756
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• 2002

Purpose: This study is a descriptive and comparative study that compares health state and school adaptation between children in divorced family and in normal family. Study results will provide a basic data for the development of an intervention program designed to help children in divorced family adjust to their crisis. Method: The study subjects consisted of 700 children in 4th. 5th or 6th elementary school grade, residing Seoul and Kyunggi regions. Among these subjects, 123 were children with divorced family and 577 were children with normal family. The health status of the subjects was measured by Health Symptom Questionnaire developed by Shin and revised by the investigators. The instrument consisted of 30 items measuring physical and emotional health symptoms. The level of school adaptation of the subjects was measured by School Adaptation Scale developed by Lee, which consisted of 4 dimensions with 20 items what measures relationship with peer students, learning activity, observance of regulation, and participation of school activity. The investigators visited the schools and collected data in the classes using the questionnaire after explaining the purpose and procedures of the study to the children. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, $\yen\"{o}2$-test, t-test, ANOVA using the SPSS PC + statistical program. Result: First, the mean health state score in children with normal family (M=11.99) was higher than that in children with divorced family (M=19.15), showing a significant difference (t=-6.51, p=.000) between the two groups, which suggests that children with normal family have better health state than children with divorced family. Second, the mean school adaptation score in children with normal family (M=38.99) was higher than that in children with divorced family (M=26.97), showing a significant difference between the two groups (t=104.07, p=.000), which suggests that the school adaptation of children with normal family is better than that of children with divorced family. Third, in comparison of health state between the two groups by general characteristics. there were significant differences between the two groups in sex. the most contributing factor to health status of the children, school year. birth order, religion, school achievement, amount of monthly pocket money, parents level of formal education, occupation of parents, economic status (p<.05). Forth, in comparison of the level of school adaptation between the two groups by general characteristics, there were significant differences between the two groups in most variables (p<.05), suggesting that children with normal family had better capacity of school adaptation than children with divorced family. Conclusion: As a result. this study showed that the parent's divorce had great influence on children's health status and school adaptation capacity. The implication for nursing is that there is a need to develop supportive interventions for the high-risk children who have decreased health states and school adaptation capacity due to the divorce of their parents. In addition, it is recommended that further studies should be conducted to explore protective factors for the prevention of health and adaptation problems in children.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.275-307
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• 2010

In the presidential new-year address in January 2, 2009, the President declared that 17 kinds of new driving force of growth that could create high-added value be selected to step up job creation and an increase in national wealth. The Ministry of Strategy & Finance announced plans for the 17 kinds of new driving force of growth after the presidential address. Specifically, that ministry announced an ambitious plan to select health care service named 'Global Health Care' as one of the five service industries that could create high-added value in a move to provide jobs to approximately 7,000 people and produce pervasive economic effects coming up to a trillion and 10 billion won. To attain the goal, several action plans were mapped out to globalize domestic medical institutions, to rearrange the relevant law and system for the purposes of raising awareness of domestic medical institutions among foreign patients and improving their accessibility and post-satisfaction level, and to lure lots of foreign patients through financial assistance. At the same time, the government announced plans to lure severe patients such as those in want of surgery or organ transplant, cancer patients or patients with heart diseases to create high-added value on a long-term basis. Thus, the government announced that it planned to formulate such strategies and to enter an agreement with foreign governments to attract plenty of foreign patients. In fact, however, there are little full-scale evaluation of medical tourism though it's been a year since it was introduced, and there are few actual efforts to implement what the government announced, either. According to the results of the evaluation of medical tourism, domestic hospitals are said to undergo little significant changes after the introduction of medical tourism, which shows that they take a dim view of medical tourism instead of having expectations for that. The medical tourism industries in major Asian countries have been dynamized, and there are several factors of their success. First of all, they are successful in creating new market opportunities by incorporating related industries such as medicine, tourism and IT and in developing medical tourism products and differentiated marketing by taking advantage of their competitive edge. They have offered full-fledged assistance to this sector, and another reason is the improved international credibility of their medical service. If our country fails to pinpoint our problems in consideration of the cases of the Asian countries or to provide appropriate financial aid, our country is bound to lag behind them. Given this reality, how to assess medical tourism and what challenges this sector is confronted with are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.542-552
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• 2018

In this paper, the precast method of a concrete eco-pillar debris barrier was proposed to improve the construct ability and economic efficiency. The performance was validated by experimental and structural analysis. The steel debris barrier has a high construction cost and causes environmental damage with corrosion. The construction of a concrete eco-pillar debris barrier has been increased recently. On the other hand, there are no design standards regarding debris barriers in Korea, and debris barriers are being designed by the experience and sense of engineers. Therefore, in this study, a method to determine the design external forces was proposed and the design was performed by applying a hollow cross-section to the debris barrier. In addition, three types of connection methods of a concrete cantilever column with the maximum bending moment acts were proposed, and validation of the performance of each type was performed with a real-scale experiment. The experimental results showed that the type with loop reinforcement had the highest rigidity and the type with anchorage performance exceeded the maximum bending moment according to the ultimate load. In the manufacturing procedure of mock-up debris barriers, the type with an anchorage-bar was found to have superior construct ability.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.58-74
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• 2011

This study analyzed and compared the importance and priority of location decision factors in Foreign Direct Investment Firms managing the manufacturing business in the nation's southeastern economic zone, and in expert group by using AHP analytical technique based on examining the location theory and the prior research of real estate for industry. Also, it analyzed difference in importance and priority for location factors by corporate scale, by business category, and by location type targeting only foreign direct investment firms, and offered references necessary for location decision-making. In addition, to elicit useful information for policy related to location decision factors for foreign direct investment firms, the implications were elicited by analyzing the results recognized between foreign direct investment firms and expert group on information elements regarding investment satisfaction, business bottlenecks, and location decision process. The considerable gap was indicated in importance and priority of location decision factors considered between the nation's foreign direct investment firms and real-estate expert group for industry. As a result of analyzing by reflecting the corporate characteristic variable in location assessment model unlike before, the importance of the competitive advantage factor and the business strategic factor was indicated to be very high.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.150-163
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• 2015

Gasification technology is one of the representative next-generation fossil fuel utilization technologies, converting low grade fossil fuels such as coal, heavy residue oil, pet-coke into highly clean and efficient energy sources. Accordingly, related market demand for gasification technology is ever increasing steadily and rapidly. A few years ago, conventional pulverized coal utilization technology had an edge over the gasification technology but the most significant technical barrier of limited capacity and availability has been largely overcome nowadays. Futhermore, it will be more competitive in the future with the advancement of related technologies such as gas turbine, ion transfer membrane and so on. China has recently completed a commercialization-capable large-scale coal gasification technology for its domestic market expansion and foreign export, rapidly becoming a newcomer in the field and competing with existing US and EU technical leadership at comparable terms. Techno-economic aspect deserves intensive attention and steady R&D efforts need to continue in organized, considering that gasification technology is quite attractive combined with $CO_2$ capture process and coal to SNG plant is economically viable in Korea where natural gas is very expensive. In the present paper, recent technology development and commercialization trend of many leading companies with coal gasification expertise have been reviewed with significant portion of literature cited from the recently held '2014 Gasification Technology Conference'.