• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Radon may be second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer. Radon is a colorless, tasteless radioactive gas that is formed via the radioactive decay of radium. Therefore, radon levels can build up based on the amount of radium contained in construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board or when ventilation rates are low. This study provides our findings from evaluation of radon gas at facilities and offices in an industrial complex. Methods: We evaluated the office rooms and processes of 12 manufacturing factories from May 14, 2014 to September 23, 2014. Short-term data were measured by using real-time monitoring detectors(Model 1030, Sun Nuclear Co., USA) indoors in the office buildings. The radon measurements were recorded at 30-minute intervals over approximately 48 hours. The limit of detection of this instrument is $3.7Bq/m^3$. Also, long-term data were measured by using ${\alpha}-track$ radon detectors(${\alpha}-track$, Rn-tech Co., Korea) in the office and factory buildings. Our detectors were exposed for over 90 days, resulting in a minimum detectable concentration of $7.4Bq/m^3$. Detectors were placed 150-220 cm above the floor. Results: Radon concentrations averaged $20.6{\pm}17.0Bq/m^3$($3.7-115.8Bq/m^3$) in the overall area. The monthly mean concentration of radon by building materials were in the order of gypsum>concrete>cement. Radon concentrations were measured using ${\alpha}-track$ in parallel with direct-reading radon detectors and the two metric methods for radon monitoring were compared. A t-test for the two sampling methods showed that there is no difference between the average radon concentrations(p<0.05). Most of the office buildings did not have central air-conditioning, but several rooms had window- or ceiling-mounted units. Employees could also open windows. The first, second and third floors were used mainly for office work. Conclusions: Radon levels measured during this assessment in the office rooms of buildings and processes in factories were well below the ICRP reference level of $1,000Bq/m^3$ for workplaces and also below the lower USEPA residential guideline of $148Bq/m^3$. The range of indoor annual effective dose due to radon exposure for workers working in the office and factory buildings was 0.01 to 1.45 mSv/yr. Construction materials such as phospho-gypsum board, concrete and cement were the main emission sources for workers' exposure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.282-286
• /
• 2002

Objectives : The level of 4-hydroxyproline (4-Hyp) in human urine was measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a fluorescence detector. This method is useful for medical examinations and investigating the radicals induced by physical, chemical, mental stresses. This method is superior to many published several methods in terms of its low cost and ability to analyze many samples. Methods : The urine from workers in a tire manufacturing company (22 male pre- and post-shift workers) and 18 office-workers as controls were analyzed. Data concerning age, the cumulative drinking amount and the cumulative smoking amount was collected with a questionnaire. The optimum applied amount of dansyl-Cl, the optimum reaction temperature and time, the recoveries and the optimum pH of the eluent and buffer were determined.4-Hyp from human urine was derivatized with dansyl-Cl (dimethylamino-naphthalene-1-sulfonyl chloride) after removing the a-amino acid by a treatment with phthalic dicarboxaldehyde (OPA) and cleaned with Bond Elut C18 column. The 4-Hyp derivatives were separated on a reversed phase column by gradient elution with a phosphate buffer (5 mmol, pH 8.0) and acetonitrile, and detected by fluorescence measurements at 340 nm (excitation) and 538 nm (emission). Results : The detection limit for the urinary free 4-Hyp was $0.364{\mu}mol/l$. The recovery rate of 4-Hyp was 99.7%, and the effective pH of the phosphate buffer and borate buffer were 3.0 and 8.0, respectively. From statistical analysis, age, drinking and smoking did not affect the urinary free 4-Hyp in both the controls and workers. The range of urinary 4-Hyp in the controls, pre-shift, and post-shift workers were 0.33-16.44, N.D-49.06, and $0.32-56.27{\mu}mol/l$. From the pared-sample t-test, the urinary 4-Hyp levels in post-shift workers ($11.82{\pm}6.73\;nmmol/mg\;Cre$) were 2-fold higher than in pre-shift workers ($5.36{\pm}5.53\;nmol;/mg\;Cre$) and controls ($4.91{\pm}4.89\;nmol;/mg\;Cre$). Conclusions : This method was developed with high sensitivity, accuracy, and precision. The present method was effectively applied to analyze the urinary free 4-Hyp in both controls and workers.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.58-62
• /
• 2003

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of positron emission tomography with 2-[F-18] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose in discrimination of response in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients who treated with radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: Twenty-four patients who underwent FDG-PET scan before and after radiotherapy for no disseminated head and neck carcinoma at the Asan Medical Center between August 2001 and September 2002 were evaluate by prospective analysis. First FDG-PET scan performed before radiotherapy within 1 month, and second FDG-PET scan performed 1 month after radiotherapy. FDG-PET images were analyzed by standard uptake value (SUV). Follow-up period was more than 6 months. Results: The pretreatment SUV was 3.4-14.0 (median: 6.0) and posttreatment SUV was ground level-7.7 (median: 2.0). The overall sensitivity and specicity of FDG-PET to evaluate residual tumors in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were 94% and 94%. Conclusion: FDG-PET is effective in evaluation of radiation response in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma. We think that the timing of one month after finished radiotherapy FDG-PET scan was not too fast to evaluation of radiation response.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.109-114
• /
• 1998

Radiological safety for the conventional operation of Demonstration-Scale Incineration Plant (DSIP) was assessed on the basis of the results of trial burns using the simulated and real radioactive wastes. Radiation dose assessments for routine releases on an annual basis as well a several severe accidental releases on a short-term basis (2h) revealed that there would be no significant environmental impact when low-level waste Is incinerated in DSIP. For semivolatile radioactive cesium species, expected emission concentrations slightly exceeded 10% of maximum permissible concentration. Removal characteristics of the bag filter for condensed-phase cesium species was investigated by the trial burns of simulated waste with inactive cesium tracer. In the off-gas before passing through bag filter, distributions of condensed cesium species in the transition size ranging between the diffusional and inertial region are less than 5%. The overall collection efficiency of the bag filter for cesium species was higher than 99.9%, showing enough decontamination capability as a primary filter for the low-temperature dry off-gas system in radwaste incineration plant.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.38-43
• /
• 2011

The recent global warming may be estimated to give lots of impacts to the human society and biosphere of influencing climate change included by the natural climate variations through the human activity which can directly and/or indirectly play a major role of total atmospheric composition overall. Therefore it currently appears evidences such as hot wave, typhoon, and biosphere disturbance, etc. over the several regions to be influenced by global warming due to increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through inducing forest destruction, fossil fuel combustion, greenhouse gases emission, etc. since industrial revolution era. Through the working group report of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for climate change was analyzed by the individual country's current status and figure out the important issues and problems related to the future trend of climate change science with advanced countries preparedness and research, In this study, the first working group report of IPCC focuses on those aspects of the current understanding of the physical science of climate change that are judged to be most relevant to policymakers. As this report was assessed and analyzed by including the progress of climate change science, the role of climate models and evolution in the treatment of uncertainties. This consists of the changes in atmospheric constituents(both aerosols and gases) that affect the radiative energy balance in the atmosphere and determine the Earth's climate, considering the interaction between biogeochemical cycles that affect atmospheric constituents and climate change, including aerosol/cloud interactions, the extensive range of observations snow available for the atmosphere and surface, for snow, ice, and frozen ground and for the oceans, respectively and changes in sea level, the paleoclimate perspective and assessment of evidence for past climate change and the extension, the ways in which physical processes are simulated in climate models and the evaluation of models against observed climate, the development plans and methods of improving expert and building manpower urgently and R&D fund expansion in detail for climate change science in Korea will be proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.7
• /
• pp.935-942
• /
• 2021

Involuntary movement of internal organs by respiration is a factor that greatly affects the results of radiotherapy and diagnosis. In this study, a moving phantom was fabricated to simulate the movement of an organ or a tumor according to respiration, and ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scan images were acquired under various respiratory simulating conditions to analyze the movement range of the tumor movement by respiration, the level of artifacts according to the size of the tumor and the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Based on Windows CE 6.0 as the operating system, using electric actuator, electric actuator positioning driver, and programmable logic controller (PLC), the position and speed control module was operated normally at a moving distance of 0-5 cm and 10, 15, and 20 reciprocations. For sphere diameters of 10, 13, 17, 22, 28, and 37 mm at a delay time of 100 minutes, 80.4%, 99.5%, 107.9%, 113.1%, 128.0%, and 124.8%, respectively were measured. When the moving distance was the same, the difference according to the respiratory rate was insignificant. When the number of breaths is 20 and the moving distance is 1 cm, 2 cm, 3 cm, and 5 cm, as the moving distance increased at the sphere diameters of 10, 13, 17, 22, 28, and 37 mm, the ability to distinguish images from smaller spheres deteriorated. When the moving distance is 5 cm compared to the still image, the maximum values of the standard intake coefficient were 18.0%, 23.7%, 29.3%, 38.4%, 49.0%, and 67.4% for sphere diameters of 10, 13, 17, 22, 28, and 37 mm, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.52 no.12
• /
• pp.2860-2866
• /
• 2020

Oxide dispersion-strengthened materials W-1wt%Pr₂O₃ and W-1wt%La₂O₃ were synthesized by wet chemical method and spark plasma sintering. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis, XRD and Vickers microhardness measurements were conducted to characterize the samples. The irradiations were carried out with a 5 keV helium ion beam to fluences up to 5.0 × 10²¹ ions/m² under 600 ℃ using the low-energy ion irradiation system. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study was performed to investigate the microstructural evolution in W-1wt%Pr₂O₃ and W-1wt%La₂O₃. At 1.0 × 10²⁰ He⁺/m², the average loops size of the W-1wt%Pr₂O₃ was 4.3 nm, much lower than W-1wt% La₂O₃ of 8.5 nm. However, helium bubbles were not observed throughout in both doped W materials. The effects of pre-irradiation with 1.0 × 10²¹ He⁺/m² on trapping of injected deuterium in doped W was studied by thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS) technique using quadrupole mass spectrometer. Compared with the samples without He⁺ pre-irradiation, deuterium (D) retention of doped W materials increased after He⁺ irradiation, whose retention was unsaturated at the damage level of 1.0 × 10²²D₂⁺/m². The present results implied that irradiation effect of He⁺ ions must be taken into account to evaluate the deuterium retention in fusion material applications.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.51 no.12
• /
• pp.1229-1235
• /
• 2018

We have examined dynamic relationships among water-efficiency, economic growth, electricity generation, and $CO_2$ emissions in Korea using various time-series analysis methods for 1990-2014. While previous studies have been limited to economic growth, $CO_2$ emissions, and electricity generation, this study contributed to explain the relationship between existing variables and water-efficiency. We find that the four variables reach a balanced state in the long run through short-term adjustment, $CO_2$ emissions and economic growth are responsible for water efficiency, and that $CO_2$ emissions, economic growth and water efficiency are the causes of electricity generation. The long-term impact coefficient estimates on water-efficiency show that the increase in electricity generation and the decrease in $CO_2$ emissions increase water-efficiency. Although economic growth has increased water-efficiency, moreover, we have identified an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and water-efficiency, which suggests that economic growth above a certain level reduces the rate of increase in water-efficiency.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.445-454
• /
• 2019

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) nanoparticles have emerged as novel nanomaterials for bio-imaging applications due to its unique layered structure, physicochemical properties, and good biocompatibility. Bio-imaging is one of the most important fields for medical applications in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics of various diseases. Enhanced diagnostic techniques are needed to realize new paradigm for next-generation personalized medicine through nanoscale materials. When nanotechnology is introduced into bio-imaging system, nanoparticle probes can endow imaging techniques with enhanced ability to obtain information about biological system at the molecular level. In this review, we summarize structural features of LDH nanoparticles with current issues of bio-imaging system. LDH nanoparticle probes are also discussed through in vitro as well as in vivo studies in various bio-imaging techniques including fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and computed X-ray tomography (CT), which will have the potential in the development of the advanced nanoparticles with high sensitivity and selectivity.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.153-159
• /
• 2012

CFC-12 used in mobile air conditioning(MAC) system has been replaced by R-134a, a type of HFC refrigerant, from 1991 to 1994. R-134a has since been widely used as a refrigerant of a mobile air conditioner. However, it is one of the six main green house gases listed in Kyoto Protocol, which makes it imperative to regulate its emission and develop alternative refrigerants. In this study, the concentration of leaked R-134a was measured using VT(Variable Temperature) shed and Running loss test shed to analyze the level of air conditioner refrigerant leaked in a vehicle. According to the analysis of the concentration of R-134a leaked from a vehicle parked, annual leakage amount of R-134a was in the range of 6.46~13.28 g/yr. The figure was similar with the leakage from the mobile air conditioning system currently used. In a study using the same vehicle model, a vehicle equipped with dual evaporation system had a higher leakage rate of refrigerant than a vehicle with a single evaporation system. It appears that the added fittings and joints of the dual evaporator system led to higher leakage rate. Besides, the analysis of the change in R-134a concentration under various car speed found that more refrigerant leaked under high speed(100km/hr) and but the volume of the wind did not affect to the variation of refrigerant leakage.