• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.433-445
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• 2021

Plasma blasting by high voltage arc discharge were performed in laboratory-scale soil samples to investigate the fluid penetration efficiency. A plasma blasting device with a large-capacity capacitor and columnar soil samples with a diameter of 80 cm and a height of 60 cm were prepared. Columnar soil samples consist of seven A-samples mixed with sand and silt by ratio of 7:3 and three B-samples by ratio of 9:1. When fluid was injected into A-sample by pressure without plasma blasting, fluid penetrated into soil only near around the borehole, and penetration area ratio was less than 5%. Fluid was injected by plasma blasting with three different discharge energies of 1 kJ, 4 kJ and 9 kJ. When plasma blasting was performed once in the A-samples, penetration area ratios of the fluid were 16-25%. Penetration area ratios were 30-48% when blastings were executed five times consecutively. The largest penetration area by plasma blasting was 9.6 times larger than that by fluid injection by pressure. This indicates that the higher discharge energy of plasma blasting and the more numbers of blasting are, the larger are fluid penetration areas. When five consecutive plasma blasting were carried out in B-sample, fluid penetration area ratios were 33-59%. Penetration areas into B-samples were 1.1-1.4 times larger than those in A-samples when test conditions were the same, indicating that the higher permeability of soil is, the larger is fluid penetration area. The fluid penetration radius was calculated to figure out fluid penetration volume. When the fluid was injected by pressure, the penetration radius was 9 cm. Whereas, the penetration radius was 27-30 cm when blasting were performed 5 times with energy of 9 kJ. The radius increased up to 333% by plasma blasting. All these results indicate that cleaning agent penetrates further and remediation efficiency of contaminated soil will be improved if plasma blasting technology is applied to in situ cleaning of contaminated soil with low permeability.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.871-877
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• 2018

Storing the surplus energy from renewable energy resource is one of the challenges related to intermittent and fluctuating nature of renewable energy electricity production. $CO_2$ methanation is well known reaction that as a renewable energy storage system. $CO_2$ methanation requires a catalyst to be active at relatively low temperatures ($250-500^{\circ}C$) and selectivity towards methane. In this study, the catalytic performance test was conducted using a pressurized bubbling fluidized bed reactor (Diameter: 0.025 m and Height: 0.35 m) with $Ni/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ (Ni70%, and ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$30%) catalyst. The range of the reaction conditions were $H_2/CO_2$ mole ratio range of 4.0-6.0, temperature of $300-420^{\circ}C$, pressure of 1-9 bar, and gas velocity ($U_0/U_{mf}$) of 1-5. As the $H_2/CO_2$ mole ratio, temperature and pressure increased, $CO_2$ conversion increases at the experimental temperature range. However, $CO_2$ conversion decreases with increasing gas velocity due to poor mixing characteristics in the fluidized bed. The maximum $CO_2$ conversion of 99.6% was obtained with the operating condition as follows; $H_2/CO_2$ ratio of 5, temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, pressure of 9 bar, and $U_0/U_{mf}$ of 1.4-3.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.156-161
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted to obtain difference in fracture strength according to the diameter of one-body O-ring-type of mini implant fixture, to determine the resistance of mini implant to masticatory pressure, and to examine whether overdenture using O-ring type mini implant is clinically usable to maxillary and mandibular edentulous patients. Materials and methods: For this study, 13 mm long one body O-ring-type mini implants of different diameters (2.0 mm, 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm) (Dentis, Daegu, Korea) were prepared, 5 for each diameter. The sample was placed at $30^{\circ}$ from the horizontal surface on the universal testing machine, and off-axis loading was applied until permanent deformation occurred and the load was taken as maximum compressive strength. The mean value of the 5 samples was calculated, and the compressive strength of implant fixture was compared according to diameter. In addition, we prepared 3 samples for each diameter, and applied loading equal to 80%, 60% and 40% of the compressive strength until fracture occurred. Then, we measured the cycle number on fracture and analyzed fatigue fracture for each diameter. Additionally, we measured the cycle number on fracture that occurred when a load of 43 N, which is the average masticatory force of complete denture, was applied. The difference on compressive strength between each group was tested statistically using one-way ANOVA test. Results: Compressive strength according to the diameter of mini implant was $101.5{\pm}14.6N$, $149{\pm}6.1N$ and $276.0{\pm}13.4N$, respectively, for diameters 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm. In the results of fatigue fracture test at 43 N, fracture did not occur until $2{\times}10^6$ cycles at diameter 2.0 mm, and until $5{\times}10^6$ cycles at 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm. Conclusion: Compressive strength increased significantly with increasing diameter of mini implant. In the results of fatigue fracture test conducted under the average masticatory force of complete denture, fracture did not occur at any of the three diameters. All of the three diameters are usable for supporting overdenture in maxillary and mandibular edentulous patients, but considering that the highest masticatory force of complete denture is 157 N, caution should be used in case diameter 2.0 mm or 2.5 mm is used.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.868-873
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• 2008

Purpose : Immunotherapy is accepted as the only treatment of allergic disease that can modify the natural course of the disease and ameliorate symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultra-rush therapy using Dermatophagoides extracts in children. Methods : Of children older than four years who had visited Bundang CHA Pediatric Allergy Clinic, those showing positive reactions only to Dermatophagoides in the skin prick test and to the nasal provocation test were included. In all, 11 and 12 patients respectively preferred conventional and ultra-rush immunotherapy. We elevated allergen concentrations diluted to 1,000:1 of the end strength by 2-3 times with 30-minute intervals and checked oxygen saturation, pulse rate, blood pressure, and systemic reactions every 15 minutes. Immunotherapy effectiveness was valued by changes in nasal provocation test scores before and after immunotherapy. Results : The average ages of patients in the conventional and ultra-rush immunotherapy groups were $8.3{\pm}2.3$ and $9.2{\pm}2.8years$, respectively. Systemic reactions were observed in six in the ultra-rush group (50%) without anaphylaxis and one (9%) in the conventional group. The average scores in the nasal provocation test before and after treatment in the conventional group were $8.2{\pm}1.5$ and $4.6{\pm}2.1$, respectively (P=0.043). In the ultra-rush immunotherapy group, the scores changed from $6.2{\pm}2.2$ to $3.7{\pm}2.5$ (P=0.017). Conclusion : Ultra-rush immunotherapy using Dermatophagoides in children is effective for treating allergic disease but can induce systemic effects rather than conventional immunotherapy.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2009

Purpose: Childhood obesity can be complicated by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of obesity and metabolic complications of children and adolescents based on the degree of obesity. Methods: We analyzed the records of 8,880 students who received student health examinations between May 2006 and October 2008 at the Eulji General Hospital. The prevalence of obesity was evaluated by the body mass index and obesity index. A total of 1,076 obese students had blood tests. We analyzed aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), fasting glucose, total cholesterol, and blood pressure according to the degree of obesity. Results: According to the body mass index, the overall prevalence of obesity was 7.2% (7.8% of male and 6.5% of female students). Based on the obesity index, 12.3% of students (mild: 6.3%, moderate: 5.0%, and severe: 1.0%) were obese. The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, ALT elevation, and hypertension were increased as a function of the degree of obesity (p<0.05), but hyperglycemia showed no significant differences (p=0.298). The overall prevalence of ALT elevation was 17.7% (mild obese group, 10.4%; moderate obese group, 20.5%; and severe obese group, 46.8%). The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and hyperglycemia were significantly higher in the elevated ALT group (24.7%, 42.6%, and 5.2%, respectively) compared to the normal ALT group (11.1%, 29.8%, and 2.0%, respectively; p<0.05). Conclusion: Hypercholesterolemia, liver function test abnormalities, and hypertension were associated with the degree of obesity. We should focus our attention on managing obese children and adolescents to prevent metabolic complications.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.97-109
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• 2009

One of the main causes of asphalt rutting is high temperature of the pavement. Nevertheless, there has been few research on lowering the pavement temperature for reducing rutting. This study investigated the performance characteristics of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement, which is known to have a temperature reducing effect. The purpose of this study is to quantify the temperature reducing effect of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement and its effect of reducing rutting through Accelerated Pavement Testing(APT). Additionally, the possibility of reducing the thickness of the pavement in comparison to general dense grade pavement by analyzing structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement. A total of three test sections consisting of two moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement sections and one general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement section were constructed for this study. Heating and spraying of water were carried out in a regular cycle. The loading condition was 8.2 ton of wheel load, the tire pressure of $7.03kgf/cm^2$, and the contact area of $610cm^2$. The result of this experiment revealed that the temperature reducing effect of the pavement was about $6.6{\sim}7.9^{\circ}C$(average of $7.4^{\circ}C$) for the middle layer and $7.9{\sim}9.8^{\circ}C$(average of $8.8^{\circ}C$) for surface course, resulting in a rutting reduction of 26% at the pavement surface. Additionally, the structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement measured from a laboratory test was 0.173, about 1.2 times that of general dense grade pavement. The general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement test section exhibited rutting at all layers of surface course, middle layer, and base layer, while the test sections of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement manifested rutting mostly at surface course only.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2012

Recently, as construction technology improved, concrete structures not only became larger, taller and longer but were able to perform various functions. However, if extreme loads such as impact, blast, and fire are applied to those structures, it would cause severe property damages and human casualties. Especially, the structural responses from extreme loading are totally different than that from quasi-static loading, because large pressure is applied to structures from mass acceleration effect of impact and blast loads. Therefore, the strain rate effect and damage levels should be considered when concrete structure is designed. In this study, the low velocity impact loading test of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) slabs including 0%~1.5% (by volume) of steel fibers, and strengthened with two types of FRP sheets was performed to develop an impact resistant structural member. From the test results, the maximum impact load, dissipated energy and the number of drop to failure increased, whereas the maximum displacement and support rotation were reduced by strengthening SFRC slab with FRP sheets in tensile zone. The test results showed that the impact resistance of concrete slab can be substantially improved by externally strengthening using FRP sheets. This result can be used in designing of primary facilities exposed to such extreme loads. The dynamic responses of SFRC slab strengthened with FRP sheets under low velocity impact load were also analyzed using LS-DYNA, a finite element analysis program with an explicit time integration scheme. The comparison of test and analytical results showed that they were within 5% of error with respect to maximum displacements.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.451-464
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• 2022

The high-level nuclear waste repository is a deep geological disposal system exposed to complex environmental conditions such as high temperature, radiation, and ground-water due to handling spent nuclear fuel. Continuous exposure can lead to cracking and deterioration of the structure over time. On the other hand, the high-level nuclear waste repository requires an ultra-long life expectancy. Thus long-term structural health monitoring is essential. Various sensors such as an accelerometer, earth pressure gauge, and displacement meter can be used to monitor the health of a structure, and a piezoelectric sensor is generally used. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a highly durable sensor based on the durability assessment of the piezoelectric sensor. This study designed an accelerated life test for durability assessment and life prediction of the piezoelectric sensor. Based on the literature review, the number of accelerated stress levels for a single stress factor, and the number of samples for each level were selected. The failure mode and mechanism of the piezoelectric sensor that can occur in the environmental conditions of the high-level waste repository were analyzed. In addition, two methods were proposed to investigate the maximum harsh condition for the temperature stress factor. The reliable operating limit of the piezoelectric sensor was derived, and a reasonable accelerated stress level was set for the accelerated life test. The suggested methods contain economical and practical ideas and can be widely used in designing accelerated life tests of piezoelectric sensors.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.61-67
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• 2023

Heat pipes located underground in urban areas and operated under high temperature and pressure conditions can cause large-scale human and economic damage if damaged. In order to predict damage in advance, damage and construction information of heat pipe are analyzed to derive independent variables that have a correlation with frequency of damage, and a simple regression analysis modified model using each variable is applied to the field. However, as the correlation between independent variables applied to the model increases, the independence between variables is harmed and the reliability of the model decreases. In this study, the independence of the pipe diameter, burial depth, insulation level of monitoring system, and disconnection or short circuit of the detection line, which are judged to be interrelated, was tested to derive a method for combining variables and setting categories necessary to apply to the frequency of damage estimation model. For the test of independence, the continuous variables pipe diameter and burial depth were each converted into three categories, insulation level of monitoring system was converted into two categories, and the categorical variable disconnection or short circuit of the detection line status was kept as two categories. As a result of the test of independence, p-value between pipe diameter and burial depth, level of monitoring system and disconnection or short circuit of the detection line was lower than the significance level (α = 0.05), indicating a large correlation between them. Therefore, the pipe diameter and burial depth were combined into one variable, and the categories of the combined variable were set to 9 considering the previously set categories. The insulation level of monitoring system and the disconnection or short circuit of the detection line were also combined into one variable. Since the insulation level is unreliable when the detection line status is disconnection or short circuit, the categories of the combined variable were set to 3.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.32-42
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• 1996

Objectives : Upper airway resistance syndrome(UARS) is a sleep-related breathing disorder characterized by abnormal negative intrathoracic pressure during sleep. Abnormally increased negative intrathoracic pressure results in microarousal and sleep fragmentation which underlay UARS-associated complaints of daytime fatigue and sleepiness. Although daytime dysfunction in patients with UARS is comparable to that of sleep apnea syndrome, UARS has been relatively unnoticed in clinical setting. That is why UARS is apt to be excluded in diagnosing of sleep-related breathing disorders since its respiratory disturbance index and arterial oxygen saturation are within normal limits. The current study presents a summary of clinical and polysomnographic characteristics found in patients with UARS. The present study aims (1) to explore characteristics of patients diagnosed with UARS, (2) to characterize the polysomnographic findings of UARS patients, and (3) to enhance the understanding of UARS through those clinical and laboratory characteristics. Methods : This was a retrospective study of 20 UARS patients (male 15, female 5) and 30 obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients (male 21, female 9) at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic. We diagnosed patients as having UARS when they met critenia, RDI < 5 characteristic findings of an elevated esophageal pressure($<-10\;cmH_2O$), frequent arousals secondary to an elevated esophageal pressure, and symptoms of daytime fatigue and sleepiness. We used polysomnographic value, which is standardized by Williams et al(1974), as normal control. Statiotical test were done with student t-tests. Results : (1) Mean age of UARS was $41.0\;{\pm}\;14.8$ years and OSA was $50.9\;{\pm}\;12.0$ years. UARS subject was significantly younger than OSA subject (p<0.05). (2) The total score of Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was UARS $9.7\;{\pm}\;6.3$ and OSAS $11.2\;{\pm}\;6.3$. There was no significant difference between two groups. (3) The mean body mass index was UARS $28.1\;{\pm}\;5.7\;kg/m^2$ and OSAS $32.9\;{\pm}\;7.0\;kg/m^2$. UARS had significantly lower meen body man index than OSAS subjects (p<0.05). (4) The polysomnographic parameters of UARS were not significantly different from those of OSA except RDI(p<0.001), $SaO_2$ (p<0.001) and slow wave sleep latency (p<0.05). (5) Compared with normal control, Total sleep time in UARS subjects was significantly shorter (p<0.001), sleep efficiency index was significantly lower (p<0.001), total awakening percentage was significantly higher (p<0.001), and sleep stage 1 (p<0.001) were significantly higher. (6) OSA patients showed poor sleep quality and distinct abnormal sleep architectures compared with normal control. Conclusions : Conclusions from the above results are as follows : (1) UARS patients were younger and had lower body mass index when umpared with OSA patients. (2) The quality of sleep and sleep architectures of the UARS and OSA patients are significantly different from those of normal control. (3) ESS scores and awakening frequencies of UARS are similar with those of OSA, suggesting that daytime dysfunction of UARS patients may be comparable to those of OSA patients. (4) The RDI and the $SaO_2$ which are important indicators in diagnosing sleep-related breathing disorders, of UARS subjects are close to normal value. (5) According to the the above results, we unclude that despite the absence of $SaO_2$ drops and the absence of an elevated number of apnea and hypopnea, subjects developed clinical complaints which were associated with laborious breathing, elevated Pes nadir, and frequently snoring. (6) Accordingly, we suggest including LIARS in the differential diagnosis list when sleep related breathing disorder is suspected clinically and overnight polysomnographic findings except snoring and frequent microarousal are within normal limits.