• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.255-260
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• 2021

We studied electrochemical sensors using printed carbon nanotube (CNT) film on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. Multiwalled CNT films were printed on a PET substrate to study its feasibility as hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) detection sensor. The printed CNT film (PCF) with a 50 ㎛ thickness exhibited a specific resistance of 230 ohm. To determine the optimum sensor structure, a resistance-type PCF sensor (R-type PCF sensor) and a conductive-type PCF sensor (C-type PCF sensor) were fabricated and compared using diluted NH₃ droplets with various concentrations. The response magnitude, response time, sensitivity, linearity, and limit of detection (LOD) were compared, and it was concluded that the C-type PCF sensor exhibited superior performance. By applying a C-Type PCF sensor, we confirmed the detection performance of 12 types of floating HNS and the response of the sensor with selectivity according to the degree of polarity.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.215-221
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• 2020

Adulterated herbal medicine is intentionally added with undeclared improper or inferior ingredients which should not be in herbal medicine. The contamination with potentially hazardous substances such as heavy metal, pesticides, fungus, and microorganism sometimes can be regarded as one of adulteration in a broad sense. The problem of adulteration is that adulterated herbal medicine shows poor quality and/or can cause adverse events. Therefore, it is important to control adulteration issues for quality assurance and qualitative improvement of herbal medicines. This study aims to summarize and make a reference how to control adulterated herbal medicine. In this process, this study is to investigate studies about adulterated herbal medicine via searching Korean and foreign electronic databases such as PubMed, NDSL and OASIS. Finally eighteen papers were included to this study and analyzed according to the type of study, the category and efficacy of adulterants, the type of analysis methodologies and possible adverse events of adulterants. Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors for male sexual enhancement and anorexic, laxative, diuretic agents for weight loss and treating obesity has been used frequently as adulterants. The range of adverse event caused by adulterated herbal medicine were very wide from mild symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, dizziness and blurred vision to very severe symptoms such as heart failure, hypoglycemia and renal impairment. This study showed the recent trend on the research of adulterated herbal medicine and this will be the ground to develop more detailed systems to control adulterated herbal medicine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

Most factories deal with toxic or flammable chemicals in their industrial processes. These hazardous substances pose a risk of leakage due to accidents, such as fire and explosion. In the event of chemical release, massive casualties and property damage can result; hence, quantitative risk prediction and assessment are necessary. Several methods are available for evaluating chemical dispersion in the atmosphere, and most analyses are considered neutral in dispersion models and under far-field wind condition. The foregoing assumption renders a model valid only after a considerable time has elapsed from the moment chemicals are released or dispersed from a source. Hence, an initial dispersion model is required to assess risk quantitatively and predict the extent of damage because the most dangerous locations are those near a leak source. In this study, the dispersion model for initial consequence analysis was developed with three-dimensional unsteady advective diffusion equation. In this expression, instantaneous leakage is assumed as a puff, and wind velocity is considered as a coordinate transform in the solution. To minimize the buoyant force, ethane is used as leaked fuel, and two different diffusion coefficients are introduced. The calculated concentration field with a molecular diffusion coefficient shows a moving circular iso-line in the horizontal plane. The maximum concentration decreases as time progresses and distance increases. In the case of using a coefficient for turbulent diffusion, the dispersion along the wind velocity direction is enhanced, and an elliptic iso-contour line is found. The result yielded by a widely used commercial program, ALOHA, was compared with the end point of the lower explosion limit. In the future, we plan to build a more accurate and general initial risk assessment model by considering the turbulence diffusion and buoyancy effect on dispersion.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.321-326
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• 2022

In this study, cogeneration power plants that use biomass as a raw material to convert them into energy have recently received a lot of attention worldwide and are gradually increasing in South Korea. Therefore, in order to confirm the possibility of using the generated floor material as a fine aggregate for concrete, properties and stability evaluation experiments were performed. Compared to standard sand, the compressive strength of wood chip aggregate was improved by 11 % to 111 %, the length change rate was 89 %, and the waste processing test results met all criteria for hazardous substances. All of these are satisfied, and it is judged that the floor materials by the cogeneration power plant can be used as a fine aggregate for concrete.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.42-51
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• 2021

Facilities that supply specialty gases used in semiconductor manufacturing mainly handles with hazardous and dangerous substances with flammable, toxic, and corrosive properties, and gas cabinets are mainly used as such supply facilities. The effects of the supply facilities were analyzed for each leak through the rupture disk in the gas cabinet and a leak where the leak hole. In this case, gas leaked to the outside depending on the leak area. It is a factor that creates a risk depending on the concentration of the leaked gas. Depending on the risk of leakage, all measures such as safe operation procedures should be reviewed again.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.458-465
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• 2020

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the interaction between neck and/or wrist pain and hand grip strength (HGS) and to investigate factors (age, sex, neck disorders, and carpal tunnel syndrome) influencing the HGS of industrial quality proofing workers (N = 145). Methods: Standardized questionnaires [Neck Disability Index (NDI), Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire] were used to evaluate existing neck and/or wrist pain. HGS measurements were performed in different wrist positions. Results: Significant differences between participants with and without neck pain were found in different wrist positions, in neutral wrist position right [without neck pain (n = 48) 46.34 (43.39 - 49.30); with neck pain (n = 97) 38.46 (36.20 - 40.72), F_(1,144) = 16.82, p < 0.001, ŋ_p² = 0.11] and left [without neck pain 44.06 (41.19 - 46.94); with neck pain 37.36 (35.13 - 39.58), F_(1,144) = 12.70, p < 0.001, ŋ_p² = 0.08]. A significant difference between participants with and without wrist pain was found for neutral wrist position right [without wrist pain (n = 105) 42.53 (40.37 - 44.70); with wrist pain (n = 40) 37.24 (33.56 - 40.91), F_(1,144) = 6.41, p = 0.01, ŋ_p² = 0.04]. Regression analysis showed significant results especially for steps two (age and weight, NDI) and three (age and weight, NDI, Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire) for neutral position right (R² = 0.355, R² = 0.357, respectively). Conclusion: Neck pain has an impact on HGS but should be evaluated in consideration of age and sex.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2024

In 2015, the paradigm of hazardous chemical substance management in Korea shifted from the workplace to the regional level due to the complete revision of the Chemicals Control Act. Although regional chemical accident response plans were established in 2020, there were slight differences in the scope and criteria of each local government. Therefore, this study compared and analyzed chemical accident response plans established in four different regions to provide insights into effective chemical accident response plans. Based on publicly available information, the current status of accident preparedness, chemical accident response systems, and resident evacuation response and education/training were compared and analyzed. The results showed that there were not significant differences in the accident preparedness and response systems between the regions. However, there was a lack of discussion on the preparedness system linked to the characteristics of each workplace in each region. Additionally, there were differences in education and training for residents between regions. In the future, each local government needs to establish a response organization that fits the characteristics of their region and develop strategies for agile and effective accident response through cooperation with relevant agencies.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

In this study, a selecvively block barrier was developed to prevent the spread of contaminants (TPH, Phenol) in the ground only when contamination occurs. The materials were used Jumunjin sand, bentonite, polyolefin elastomer and spill hound marine. First, the properties and environmental hazards characteristics of materials were analyzed for evaluated their usability. Then, the possibility of use as a barrier material was confirmed by analyzing the water permeability characteristics that change after 24 hours of contact with contaminants. As a result of the analysis, the pH of each component was similar to the general groundwater pH range. In addition, the toxicity characteristics and the possibility of dissolution of hazardous substances, it was determined that there was no environmental hazard as the content was below the regulation value. Lastly, when comparing the permeability coefficient before and after contact with the contaminant, the permeability coefficient of approximately α × 10^-3cm/sec before contact was reduced to α × 10^-6cm/sec after contact with the contaminant.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.51-57
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the impact range of explosion damage due to gas leaks at LPG filling stations, focusing on propane and butane, which are components of vehicle LPG. The scenarios were designed based on the explosion incident at an LPG filling station in Gangwon-do, where an actual gas leak accident occurred, resulting in Scenario I and Scenario II. The ALOHA program, developed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was used as the tool to analyze the impact range of the explosion damage for both substances. The results of the study indicated that, under identical conditions, propane had a wider impact range of damage than butane. This is presumed to be due to the greater explosion energy of propane, attributable to its physicochemical properties. Therefore, when preparing for LPG leak accidents, measures for propane need to be prioritized. As safety measures for propane, two suggestions were made to minimize human casualties. First, from a preventive perspective, it is suggested to educate workers about propane. Second, from the perspective of response measures and damage minimization, it is suggested to thoroughly prepare emergency evacuation and rescue plans, evacuation routes, designated shelters, and emergency response teams. This study compares and analyzes the impact range of radiative heat damage based on LPG components. However, hazardous accidents are critically influenced by the type of leaking substance, the form of the leak, and meteorological factors affecting the diffusion pattern of the substance. Therefore, for future research, it is proposed to model various leakage scenarios for the same substance to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.235-242
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is the establishment of scientific processes for making food safety policies. Thus, we investigated pesticide residue level of the agricultural commodities from market, and performed risk assessment. Fifteen agricultural items are chosen based on the frequency of Korean consumption. The samples were collected from 9 cities where populations are more than one million. Total 283 active ingredients were monitoring ( total sample number =232). Single-analysis of target pesticides was for three kinds of possible growth regulators and the multicomponent analysis was for 280 kinds of pesticides, a total of 283 species were selected to perform the pesticide residues. Before monitoring the analytes, the improvements of the analytical methods were done by method validations under the CODEX analytical method development guidelines and can produce metrics that represent the international standards applied in accordance with the guidelines. In addition to residual pesticides detected during monitoring we compare the ADI to EDI values using detected result and dietary consumption data which is extracted from annual market basket survey. The 163 samples were non-detected in the total 232 samples so it means that every agricultural commodity will residual pesticides-free in 70.3%. The detected residual pesticides showed for a total of 69 cases (29.7%). Two of samples violate Korean MRL (0.9%). The ratio of EDI compared to ADI resulted in only from 0.00087 to 0.902%. In result, we can assume that all detected residual pesticides are very safe level and current policies of Korean pesticides control may be working.