• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.621-626
• /
• 2015

Background: Smokefree laws aim to protect employees and the public from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Waterpipe premises have significantly increased in number in the last decade, with anecdotal reports of poor compliance with the smokefree law. The literature is bereft of information pertaining to waterpipe premise employees. This study aimed to opportunistically gather knowledge about the occupational health hazards associated with working in waterpipe premises in London, England. Materials and Methods: Employees from seven convenience-sampled, smokefree-compliant waterpipe premises in London were observed for occupational activities. Opportunistic carbon monoxide (CO) measurements were made among those with whom a rapport had developed. Observations were thematically coded and analysed. Results: Occupational hazards mainly included environmental smoke exposure. Waterpipe-serving employees were required to draw several puffs soon after igniting the coals, thereby providing quality assurance of the product. Median CO levels were 27.5ppm (range 21-55ppm) among these employees. Self-reported employee health was poor, with some suggestion that working patterns and smoke exposure was a contributory factor. Conclusions: The smokefree law in England does not appear to protect waterpipe premise employees from high levels of CO. Continued concerns surrounding chronic smoke exposure may contribute to poor self-reported physical and mental wellbeing.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.293-299
• /
• 2006

By using high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection, a simple and accurate chromatographic fingerprint method was developed for the identification of Radix Codonopsis (roots of Codonopsis) from different sources. Eighteen herbs of Codonopsis at different habitats in China, including roots from Codonopsis pilosula, Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta and Codonopsis tangshen were analyzed by the fingerprint. The amount of lobetyolin was calibrated, which was found to be more consistent in roots of Codonopsis pilosula as compared to that of Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta and Codonopsis tangshen. Having the fingerprint results, hierarchical clustering analyses were performed to classify the eighteen herbs into three groups: Codonopsis pilosula, Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta and Codonopsis tangshen. This clustering analysis agrees very well with the pharmacognostic identification result, and which could be used as a tool in the quality control of Radix Codonopsis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.03a
• /
• pp.1178-1187
• /
• 2008

Quality assurance for embankment compaction is one of very important procedures to guarantee high quality construction. However, only sand replacement method (KS F2312) and static plate load test (KS F2310) which are conventional and tiresome methods are used to evaluate degree of compaction at construction fields. Recently, new types of devices such as the geogauge and the light falling weight deflectometer (LFWD), the soil impact hammer (CASPFOL) and dynamic cone penetration test etc. which are able to substitute for the conventional methods are begun to use to evaluate soil stiffness. In this study, a laboratory model test was performed to evaluate correlations among test results obtained from the new devices and to assess the potential use of them. All test results have correlations with relative density and water content. Especially, the coefficients of correlation between $E_G$ from the geogauge and $K_{30'}$ from the soil impact hammer and between $E_G$ from the geogauge and $E_{LFWD}$ from LFWD are more than 0.7 but those between the results from DCP and others are less than those between $E_{G{\cdot}}$ and $K_{30'}$ and $E_G$ and $E_{LFWD}$.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.2199-2206
• /
• 2012

Identity authentication sharing technology which allows many service providers to share the result of identity authentication of an identity provider provides several important advantages including high usability achieved by avoiding repeated registration of identity information to service providers and single sign-on, cost effectiveness of service providers achieved by outsourcing identity authentication services from identity providers, and privacy protection achieved by exposing identity information only to a limited number of controlled identity providers. However, in order for the identity authentication sharing technologies to be widely deployed in global Internet scale, the trustworthiness issue among the participating identity providers, service providers, and users should be resolved in advance. This paper firstly analyzes existing trust frameworks for identity authentication sharing. And then, based on the result of analysis, this paper proposes a dynamic and open trust framework for identity authentication sharing.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2016

We studied the method to gain a clear LSF using a thick aluminum sheet and to acquire the spatial resolution value with a high accuracy for a low spatial resolution imaging modality. In this study, aluminum sheets with thicknesses varying from 0.3 mm to 1.2 mm were tested to derive a modulation transfer function (MTF) for the oversampling and non-oversampling methods. The results were evaluated to verify the feasibility of the use of thick sheets for periodic quality assurance. Oversampling was more accurate than non-oversampling, and an aluminum sheet with a correction factor less than 2 at the cut-off frequency, which was less than 0.8 mm in this case, was confirmed to be suitable for MTF measurements. Therefore, MTF derivation from a thick aluminum sheet with thickness correction is plausible for a medical imaging modality.

• Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.218-232
• /
• 2015

Piecewise linear (G01-based) tool paths generated by CAM systems lack $G_1$ and $G_2$ continuity. The discontinuity causes vibration and unnecessary hesitation during machining. To ensure efficient high-speed machining, a method to improve the continuity of the tool paths is required, such as B-spline fitting that approximates G01 paths with B-spline curves. Conventional B-spline fitting approaches cannot be directly used for tool path B-spline fitting, because they have shortages such as numerical instability, lack of chord error constraint, and lack of assurance of a usable result. Progressive and Iterative Approximation for Least Squares (LSPIA) is an efficient method for data fitting that solves the numerical instability problem. However, it does not consider chord errors and needs more work to ensure ironclad results for commercial applications. In this paper, we use LSPIA method incorporating Energy term (ELSPIA) to avoid the numerical instability, and lower chord errors by using stretching energy term. We implement several algorithm improvements, including (1) an improved technique for initial control point determination over Dominant Point Method, (2) an algorithm that updates foot point parameters as needed, (3) analysis of the degrees of freedom of control points to insert new control points only when needed, (4) chord error refinement using a similar ELSPIA method with the above enhancements. The proposed approach can generate a shape-preserving B-spline curve. Experiments with data analysis and machining tests are presented for verification of quality and efficiency. Comparisons with other known solutions are included to evaluate the worthiness of the proposed solution.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
• /
• v.19 no.4 s.54
• /
• pp.25-33
• /
• 2004

Acrylamide, difficult to analyze by GC and GC/MS due to the polarity and low volatility, was analyzed by LC/ESI/MS in the study. Acrylamide its(molecular weight 71amu) showed m/z=72 $(M+H)^+$ and high peak intensity at 22V in SIR mode. The mass spectrum ratios of acrylamide for qualitative identification had m/z=72 in precursor ion and m/z=55 in products ion, respectively. Those ratios at 30V in SIR mode ranged from 1: 1.4 to 1:1.17 despite various acrylamide concentrations. The ion intensity ratios of acrylamide $(m/z=72,\; [M+H]^+)$ to acrylamide isotopes $(m/z=73,\;[M+H]^+)$ ranged from 100 : 3.57 to 100 : 3.92. The results verified theoretical mass spectrum ratio that was 100:3.82. The linearity of standard calibration curve was y : 520.584x + 1815.26 with $r^2=0.99.$ In quality assurance and quality control, the recovery rate ranged from 81.64 percent to 90.97 percent and relative standard deviation was less than $10\%$ with 5 repeated injections at individual standard calibration solutions. The method was applied to analyze acrylamide in food at grocery stores. Snacks made of potatoes showed the highest acrylamide concentration followed by products made of French fries, wheat, and corn.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.43 no.6 s.312
• /
• pp.68-75
• /
• 2006

During cancer therapy by using high energy radiation, it is possible to improve the radiation therapy efficiency by performing a precise radiation therapy after verification of generated setup errors. In this paper, the video based electronic portal imaging device (EPID) which could display the portal image with near real time was developed to verify treatment position errors in radiation therapy instead of an analog typed portal film. This EPID system for applying QA tool of radiation therapy machine was consisted of a metal/fluorescent screen, $45^{\circ}$mirror, camera and image grabber. Radiation field verification has been performed to check quality assurance of the treatment machine itself by using this EPID system. The radiation field error was easily observed by edge detection of irradiated field size on EPID image when $0.6^{\circ}$ shift of collimator angle was generated. So, this implemented EPID system could be used as a radiation QA tool.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2001

In this paper, a chattering alleviation VSS controller for the sinusoidal type BLDC motor is designed. Dead Zone function is proposed to change the chattering occurring in the transient state from high frequency to low frequency and time varying gains arc applied for the control input to eliminate the steady state excessive chattering in the conventional ISM. The proposed Dead Zone function represents the sliding layer composed of two switching surfaces and if a state vector exists in this layer, the chattering don't occur. Simulation and experimental results confirm the useful effects of the above algorithm.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.213-219
• /
• 2016

The position verification of the radiation source utilized in brachytherapy forms a critical factor in determining the therapeutic efficiency. Currently, films are used to verify the source position; however, this method is encumbered by the lengthy time interval required from film scanning to analysis, which makes real-time position verification difficult. In general, the source position accuracy is usually tested in a monthly quality assurance check. In this context, this study investigates the feasibility of the real-time position verification of the radiation source in high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy with the use of scintillating fibers. To this end, we construct a system consisting of scintillating fibers and a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), optimize the dosimetric software setup and radiation system characteristics to obtain maximum measurement accuracy, and determine the relative ratio of the measured signals dependent upon the position of the scintillating fiber. According to the dosimetric results based on a treatment plan, in which the dwell time is set at 30 and 60 s at two dwell positions, the number of signals is 31.5 and 83, respectively. In other words, the signal rate roughly doubles in proportion to the dwell time. The source position can also be confirmed at the same time. With further improvements in the spatial resolution and scintillating fiber array, the source position can be verified in real-time in clinical settings with the use of a scintillating fiber-based system.