• Title/Summary/Keyword: National Safety Assessment

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ROLE OF COMPUTER SIMULATION MODELING IN PESTICIDE ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT

  • Wauchope, R.Don;Linders, Jan B.H.J.
    • Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.91-93
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    • 2003
  • It has been estimated that the equivalent of approximately $US 50 billion has been spent on research on the behavior and fate of pesticides in the environment since Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring” in 1962. Much of the resulting knowledge has been summarized explicitly in computer algorithms in a variety of empirical, deterministic, and probabilistic simulation models. These models describe and predict the transport, degradation and resultant concentrations of pesticides in various compartments of the environment during and after application. In many cases the known errors of model predictions are large. For this reason they are typically designed to be “conservative”, i.e., err on the side of over-prediction of concentrations in order to err on the side of safety. These predictions are then compared with toxicity data, from tests of the pesticide on a series of standard representative biota, including terrestrial and aquatic indicator species and higher animals (e.g., wildlife and humans). The models' predictions are good enough in some cases to provide screening of those compounds which are very unlikely to do harm, and to indicate those compounds which must be investigated further. If further investigation is indicated a more detailed (and therefore more complicated) model may be employed to give a better estimate, or field experiments may be required. A model may be used to explore “what if” questions leading to possible alternative pesticide usage patterns which give lower potential environmental concentrations and allowable exposures. We are currently at a maturing stage in this research where the knowledge base of pesticide behavior in the environmental is growing more slowly than in the past. However, innovative uses are being made of the explosion in available computer technology to use models to take ever more advantage of the knowledge we have. In this presentation, current developments in the state of the art as practiced in North America and Europe will be presented. Specifically, we will look at the efforts of the ‘Focus’ consortium in the European Union, and the ‘EMWG’ consortium in North America. These groups have been innovative in developing a process and mechanisms for discussion amongst academic, agriculture, industry and regulatory scientists, for consensus adoption of research advances into risk management methodology.

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DEVELOPMENT OF FINITE ELEMENT HUMAN NECK MODEL FOR VEHICLE SAFETY SIMULATION

  • Lee, I.H.;Choi, H.Y.;Lee, J.H.;Han, D.C.
    • International Journal of Automotive Technology
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.33-46
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    • 2004
  • A finite element model development of a 50th percentile male cervical spine is presented in this paper. The model consists of rigid, geometrically accurate vertebrae held together with deformable intervertibral disks, facet joints, and ligaments modeled as a series of nonlinear springs. These deformable structures were rigorously tuned, through failure, to mimic existing experimental data; first as functional unit characterizations at three cervical levels and then as a fully assembled c-spine using the experimental data from Duke University and other data in the NHTSA database. After obtaining satisfactory validation of the performance of the assembled ligamentous cervical spine against available experimental data, 22 cervical muscle pairs, representing the majority of the neck's musculature, were added to the model. Hill's muscle model was utilized to generate muscle forces within the assembled cervical model. The muscle activation level was assumed to be the same for all modeled muscles and the degree of activation was set to correctly predict available human volunteer experimental data from NBDL. The validated model is intended for use as a post processor of dummy measurement within the simulated injury monitor (SIMon) concept being developed by NHTSA where measured kinematics and kinetic data obtained from a dummy during a crash test will serve as the boundary conditions to "drive" the finite element model of the neck. The post-processor will then interrogate the model to determine whether any ligament have exceeded its known failure limit. The model will allow a direct assessment of potential injury, its degree and location thus eliminating the need for global correlates such as Nij.

Seismic performance of concrete moment resisting frame buildings in Canada

  • Kafrawy, Omar El;Bagchi, Ashutosh;Humar, Jag
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.233-251
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    • 2011
  • The seismic provisions of the current edition (2005) of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) differ significantly from the earlier edition. The current seismic provisions are based on the uniform hazard spectra corresponding to 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years, as opposed to the seismic hazard level with 10% probablity of exeedance in 50 years used in the earlier edition. Moreover, the current code is presented in an objective-based format where the design is performed based on an acceptable solution. In the light of these changes, an assessment of the expected performance of the buildings designed according to the requirements of the current edition of NBCC would be very useful. In this paper, the seismic performance of a set of six, twelve, and eighteen story buildings of regular geometry and with concrete moment resisting frames, designed for Vancouver western Canada, has been evaluated. Although the effects of non-structural elements are not considered in the design, the non-structural elements connected to the lateral load resisting systems affect the seismic performance of a building. To simulate the non-structural elements, infill panels are included in some frame models. Spectrum compatible artificial ground motion records and scaled actual accelerograms have been used for evaluating the dynamic response. The performance has been evaluated for each building under various levels of seismic hazard with different probabilities of exceedance. From the study it has been observed that, although all the buildings achieved the life-safety performance as assumed in the design provisions of the building code, their performance characteristics are found to be non-uniform.

Police Networks for Criminal Intelligence Functions: Based on Informal Social Network Analysis (경찰 범죄정보 수집 활동의 관계망 분석: 비공식적 사회연결망 분석을 중심으로)

  • Choi, Yeong Jin;Yang, Chang Hoon
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.448-459
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    • 2020
  • Recently, the necessities of gathering, producing, and sharing criminal information are critically important as intelligence functions of police agencies to improving public safety and national security. However, the inadequacies and barriers within which police agencies have in regard to intelligence functions impede criminal information gathering, intelligence producing within their agency, and intelligence sharing with other agencies. In this study, we analyzed informal networks constructed from a survey dataset of information and intelligence sharing among officers in police agencies. The results revealed the different structural properties of intelligence networks between police agencies. We did find that officers with high indegree and outdegree in a network played critical role on the dynamics and degree of intelligence gathering and assessment responsibilities. Finally, we could find evidence that the potential role of intermediary triggered relational dynamics for developing and sharing critical information among all police agencies.

A qualitative evaluation method for engine and its operating-envelope using GSP (Gas turbine Simulation Program)

  • Kyung, Kyu-Hyung;Jun, Yong-Min;Yang, Soo-Seok;Choi, Dong-Whan
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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    • 2004.03a
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    • pp.848-853
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    • 2004
  • Regarding to the project SUAV (Smart Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute), several engine configurations has been evaluated. However it's not an easy task to collect all the necessary data of each engine for the analysis. Usually, some kind of modeling technique is required in order to determine the unknown data. In the present paper a qualitative method for reverse engineering is proposed, in order to identify some design patterns and relationships between parameters. The method can be used to estimate several parameters that usually are not provided by the manufacturer. The method consists of modeling an existing engine and through a simulation, compare its transient behavior with its operating envelope. In the simulation several parameters such as thermodynamics, performance, safety and mechanics concerning to the definition of operation-envelope, have been discussed qualitatively. With the model, all engine parameters can be estimated with acceptable accuracy, making possible the study of dependencies among different parameters such as power-turbine total inertia, TIT, take-off time and part load, in order to check if the engine transient performance is within the design criteria. For more realistic approach and more detailed design requirements, it will be necessary to enhance the compressor map first, and more realistic estimated values must be taken into account for intake-loss, bleed-air and auxiliary power extraction. The relative importance of these “unknown” parameters must be evaluated using sensitivity analysis in the future evaluation. Moreover, fluid dynamics, thermal analysis and stress analysis necessary for the resulting life assessment of en engine, will not be addressed here but in a future paper. With the methodology presented in the paper was possible to infer the relationships between operation-envelope and engine parameters.

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Probabilistic Seepage Analysis Considering the Spatial Variability of Permeability for Layered Soil (투수계수의 공간적 변동성을 고려한 층상지반에 대한 확률론적 침투해석)

  • Cho, Sung-Eun
    • Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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    • v.28 no.12
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    • pp.65-76
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    • 2012
  • In this study, probabilistic analysis of seepage through a two-layered soil foundation was performed. The hydraulic conductivity of soil shows significant spatial variations in different layers because of stratification; further, it varies on a smaller scale within each individual layer. Therefore, the deterministic seepage analysis method was extended to develop a probabilistic approach that accounts for the uncertainties and spatial variation of the hydraulic conductivity in a layered soil profile. Two-dimensional random fields were generated on the basis of the Karhunen-Lo$\grave{e}$ve expansion in a manner consistent with a specified marginal distribution function and an autocorrelation function for each layer. A Monte Carlo simulation was then used to determine the statistical response based on the random fields. A series of analyses were performed to verify the application potential of the proposed method and to study the effects of uncertainty due to the spatial heterogeneity on the seepage behavior of two-layered soil foundation beneath water retaining structure. The results showed that the probabilistic framework can be used to efficiently consider the various flow patterns caused by the spatial variability of the hydraulic conductivity in seepage assessment for a layered soil foundation.

A Study on Algorithm for Determining Seismic Improvement Priority of Highway Bridges (도로교 내진보강 우선순위 결정을 위한 알고리즘에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Hyung-Gyu;Jang, Il-Young
    • Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.138-147
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    • 2018
  • With the recent series of damage caused by earthquakes in Korea, such as Gyeongju and Pohang, we know that Korea is no longer a safe zone for earthquakes and that we need to be prepared for them. In addition, bridges built prior to the introduction of seismic design concepts remain without adequate seismic reinforcement measures, and earthquake reinforcement should be performed efficiently considering economic and structural safety. Preliminary assessment of seismic performance of existing bridges is divided into four seismic groups, taking into account seismicity, vulnerability and Impact, considering the magnitude of the existing bridge's seismic, and prioritization for further evaluation of seismic performance. In this study, unlike the existing anti-seismic reinforcement priority method, scores are calculated based on the seismic design criteria applied to bridges, importance coefficient of the bridge including the zone coefficient and the Importance, vulnerability index of the bridge including the soil condition and the elapsed years, detail coefficient of the bridge including the superstructure form, the span length, the width, the height, the design load, and the daily traffic volume. The calculated score items will be weighted and grouped according to the results. Using this, a simpler and more efficient algorithm was proposed to determine the priority of seismic reinforcement on a bridge.

A Study on the Facility and Equipment of Laboratory Medicine in General Hospital - Focused on more than 550 bed sized hospitals (종합병원 진단검사의학과 검사실의 시설 설비 현황 조사 - 550 병상 이상 종합병원을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Youngaee;Song, Sanghoon
    • Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.73-84
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: Though Korean healthcare services have been upgraded, infection and fire had been broken out in general hospitals. And higher concerns about quality assessment made it to clinical laboratory design guideline studies. So, this study investigates the facilities, equipment and personnel of laboratory medicine focusing on more than five hundred fifty bed hospital, and contributes to make guidelines for safety and efficiency in lab. Methods: Questionnaires to supervisor technologist and field surveys to medical laboratories in korean hospitals have been conducted for the data collection. 16 answers have been analysed statistically by MS Excel program. Results: Most of the sample tests such as hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, transfusion, urinalysis, microbiology and molecular diagnosis are performed by more than 80% in large sized general hospital laboratory. In the test methods, automatic analyzers are used up to 80%, total laboratory automation up to 43% in clinical chemistry and immunology, and manual tests in all sorts of the test. There are placed in single lab or two and three labs above the ground, which are all in semi-open lab. There is some correlation with the number of specimens and the number of lab people depending on the number of hospital beds. Laboratory environment shows that work distance is good, but evacuation path width, visibility, separation of staff area from automatic analyzer, and equipment installations are needed to have more spaces and gears. Most of the infection controls are equipped with mechanical ventilation, air-conditioning, washbasin and wastewater separation, BSC installation and negative pressure lab room. Implications: Although the laboratory space area is calculated considering the number of hospital beds, type of tests and number of staff, hospital's expertise and the samples numbers per year should be taken into account in the planning of the hospital.

Analysis of Watershed Runoff and Sediment Characteristics due to Spatio-Temporal Change in Land Uses Using SWAT Model (SWAT 모형을 이용한 시.공간적 토지 이용변화에 따른 유량 및 유사량 특성분석)

  • Shin, Yong-Chul;Lim, Kyoung-Jae;Kim, Ki-Sung;Choi, Joong-Dae
    • KCID journal
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.50-56
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    • 2007
  • In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to assess spatiotemporal effects on watershed runoff and sediment characteristics due to land uses changes from 1999 to 2002 at the small watershed, located in Chuncheon-si, Gangwon province. The annual average flow rate of Scenario I (long-term simulation using land use of 1990), II (long-term simulation using land use of 1996), III(long-term simulation using land use of 200) and IV(simulation using land use of 1990, 1995, and 2000) in long-term simulation) using the SWAT model were 29,997,043 m3, 29,992,628 m3, 29,811,191 m3 and 29,931,238 m3, respectively. It was shown that there was no significant changes in estimated flow rate because no significant changes in land uses between 1990 and 2000 were observed. The annual average sediment loads of Scenarios I, II, III and IV for 15 year period were 36,643 kg/ha, 45,340 kg/ha , 27,195 kg/ha and 35,545 kg/ha, respectively. The estimated annual sediment loads from Scenarios I, II, and III, were different from that from the scenario IV, considering spatio-temporal changes in land use and meterological changes over the years, by 10%, 127%, and temporal changes in land use and meterological changes over the years, by 10%, 127%, and 77%. This can be explained in land use changes in high soil erosion potential areas, such as upland areas, within the study watershed. The comparison indicates that changes in land uses upland areas, within the study watershed. The comparison indicates that changes in land uses can affect on sediment yields by more than 10%, which could exceed the safety factor of 10% in Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). It is, therefore, recommended that not only the temporal analysis with the weather input data but also spatial one with different land uses need to be considered in long-term hydrology and sediment simulating using the SWAT model

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Comparison of Approval Process for Nonprescription Drugs in Different Countries (비처방의약품 허가 제도의 국가별 비교 연구 및 고찰)

  • Kim, Joo Hee;Yee, Jeong;Lee, Gwan Yung;Lee, Kyung Eun;Gwak, Hye Sun
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.263-272
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    • 2018
  • Nonprescription drugs have become increasingly important in Korean healthcare. By leveraging lower-cost drugs and reducing expenditure associated with fewer physician visits, the nonprescription segment can deliver tremendous value to individual consumers and the Korean healthcare system. Many countries have provided simpler and more rapid routes to market entry for qualifying nonprescription drug products, using the established data on drug safety and efficacy, as well as public and professional opinion. In US, the FDA waived the pre-approval process for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs marketed through the OTC Monograph Process. In Australia and Canada, different OTC product application levels are defined, with a reduced level of assessment required when the risks to consumers are considered low. Japan established a new OTC evaluation system in 2014 to facilitate the Rx-to-OTC switch process. The legislative framework for medicinal products in the European Union allows for drugs to be approved with reference to appropriate bibliographic data for old active substances with well-established uses. Through a comparison of the regulatory framework and the requirements for nonprescription approval process in different countries, several ways to improve regulatory practice for the evaluation of nonprescription drugs in Korea have been suggested.