• Title/Summary/Keyword: Risk Level Assessment

Search Result 1,165, Processing Time 0.026 seconds

Achieving a Nitrogen Balance for Japanese Domestic Livestock Waste: Testing the Scenario of Planting Feed Grain in Land Left Fallow

  • Kaku, K.;Ikeguchi, A.;Ogino, A.;Osada, T.;Hojito, M.;Shimada, K.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.17 no.7
    • /
    • pp.1026-1032
    • /
    • 2004
  • In this study, we assess the recent changes in the amount of excretion by the livestock industry, and discuss the effects of increasing the ratio of cultivated land on the reduction of surplus nitrogen from a cost-performance perspective. Nitrogen has contributed to acidification of ecosystems and nitrate concentrations in groundwater, especially in Europe. Therefore, we assessed the level of nitrogen waste from the domestic Japanese livestock industry, including cattle, swine and poultry during the period 1987-2001. This assessment assumed that 40% of the nitrogen from the domestic livestock industry was emitted as gas into the air and that 60% of the nitrogen was contained in manure used on domestic cultivated land. Nitrogen excreted from livestock, excluding gas emission, decreased by 11% from 0.504 million tons to 0.447 million tons during 1993-2001. Thus, the peak period of nitrogen excretion from livestock is already past in Japan. However, the area of cultivated land under management also decreased during 1990-2000. In addition, the area of paddy and upland fields left unplanted for a year increased during 1990-2000. Therefore, if all manure from the domestic livestock industry had been utilized on the fields as organic fertilizer, but not on arable land left uncultivated for the past year, the nitrogen per net area of cultivated land would have increased by 5%, from 125 to 131 N kg/ha, during 1990-2000. To reduce the nitrogen ratio on cultivated land through the planting of feed grain to utilize the nitrogen, a comparison of the cost performance of feed grains indicated that barley would be more suitable than wheat, rice or soybean. Had barley been planted in 100% of the land left fallow for the past year in 2000, 4% (20,000 tons) of the nitrogen from livestock waste would have been used in the harvest, and the nitrogen per land unit would have not increased but decreased from 125 to 121 N kg/ha during the same decade. Furthermore, when converted into Total Digestible Nutrients, 7% of imported feed corn could have been replaced with the harvested barley in 2000. Planting barley on this fallow land had three benefits; reducing the risk of manure overload on the land, slowing down the decrease in cultivated land, and raising the feed self-sufficiency ratio. Thus, it would be beneficial to plant feed grain such as barley in land left fallow for the past year through utilization of manure.

Risk factor analysis of additional administration of sedative agent and patient dissatisfaction in intravenous conscious sedation using midazolam for third molar extraction

  • Shin, Dong-Whan;Cho, Jin-Yong;Han, Yoon-Sic;Sim, Hye-Young;Kim, Hee-Sun;Jung, Da-Un;Lee, Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
    • /
    • v.43 no.4
    • /
    • pp.229-238
    • /
    • 2017
  • Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related with additional administration of sedative agent during intravenous conscious sedation (IVS) using midazolam (MDZ). The secondary purpose was to analyze the factors affecting patient satisfaction. Materials and Methods: Clinical data for 124 patients who had undergone surgical extraction of mandibular third molar under IVS using MDZ were retrospectively investigated in this case-control study. The initial dose of MDZ was determined by body mass index (BMI) and weight. In the case of insufficient sedation at the beginning of surgery, additional doses were injected. During surgery, peripheral oxygen saturation, bispectral index score (BIS), heart rate, and blood pressure were monitored and recorded. The predictor variables were sex, age, BMI, sleeping time ratio, dental anxiety, Pederson scale, and initial dose of MDZ. The outcome variables were additional administration of MDZ, observer's assessment of alertness/sedation, intraoperative amnesia, and patient satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were computed, and the P-value was set at 0.05. Results: Most patients had an adequate level of sedation with only the initial dose of MDZ and were satisfied with the treatment under sedation; however, 19 patients needed additional administration, and 13 patients were unsatisfied. In multivariable logistic analysis, lower age (odds ratio [OR], 0.825; P=0.005) and higher dental anxiety (OR, 5.744; P=0.003) were related to additional administration; lower intraoperative amnesia (OR, 0.228; P=0.002) and higher BIS right before MDZ administration (OR, 1.379; P=0.029) had relevance to patient dissatisfaction. Conclusion: The preoperative consideration of age and dental anxiety is necessary for appropriate dose determination of MDZ in the minor oral surgery under IVS. The amnesia about the procedure affects patient satisfaction positively.

Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Drought Risk (기후변화가 가뭄 위험성에 미치는 영향 평가)

  • Kim, Byung-Sik;Kwon, Hyun-Han;Kim, Hung-Soo
    • Journal of Wetlands Research
    • /
    • v.13 no.1
    • /
    • pp.1-11
    • /
    • 2011
  • A chronic drought stress has been imposed during non-rainy season(from winter to spring) since 1990s. We faced the most significant water crisis in 2001, and the drought was characterized by sultry weather and severe drought on a national scale. It has been widely acknowledged that the drought related damage is 2-3 times serious than floods. In the list of the world's largest natural disaster compiled by NOAA, 4 of the top 5 disasters are droughts. And according to the analysis from the NDMC report, the drought has the highest annual average damage among all the disasters. There was a very serious impact on the economic such as rising consumer price during the 2001 spring drought in Korea. There has been flood prevention measures implemented at national-level but for mitigation of droughts, there are only plans aimed at emergency (short-term) restoration rather than the comprehensive preventive measures. In addition, there is a lack of a clear set of indicators to express drought situation objectively, and therefore it is important and urgent to begin a systematic study. In this study, a nonstationary downscaling model using RCM based climate change scenario was first applied to simulate precipitation, and the simulated precipitation data was used to derive Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The SPI under climate change was used to evaluate the spatio-temporal variability of drought through principal component analysis at three different time scales which are 2015, 2045 and 2075. It was found that spatio-temporal variability is likely to modulate with climate change.

A Study on the Management Improvement of Disaster Recovery Resources of Municipality with Field Survey (현장실태조사를 활용한 지자체 재난관리자원 관리 개선 연구)

  • Kim, Joon-Ha;Kim, Tae-Heon;Jung, Jae-Wook
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
    • /
    • v.16 no.1
    • /
    • pp.155-162
    • /
    • 2020
  • Purpose: The purpose of study was to identify problems in disaster recovery resource management and operation through on-site investigation and utilize them as improvement proposal for disaster recovery resources management by local governments. Method: Areas with high natural and social disasters recorded in historical and yearly records of natural and social disasters, related books, and annual reports for 20 years were selected. The DRSS data of the selected local governments were analyzed and the reserve warehouse were selected for field survey. Result: It is analyzed that the current situation in the city hall and district offices is somewhat insufficient due to heavy work by the working-level officials of local governments on the storage of disaster recovery resources. The actual amount of stockpiles and DRSS data are somewhat different or missing because the input method and criteria are not clear at present when inputting the current data. Conclusion: To improve the management of the disaster recovery resource reserve, it is deemed that education of DRSS and training of best practices for the operation of disaster management resources are urgently needed, and that a systematic management of stockpiles using disaster prevention experts will be required.

Assessment of Immune Quality and Pathogen Contamination of Colostrums Collected from Colostrum Banks in Korea (초유은행에서 수거한 초유의 병원체 오염과 면역수준의 평가)

  • Kim, Won-Il;Park, Sang-Yul;Kim, Sang-Jin;Cho, Yong-Il;Hur, Tai-Young;Kim, Nam-Soo
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
    • /
    • v.30 no.4
    • /
    • pp.223-229
    • /
    • 2013
  • Because colostrum is considered to be the sole source of passively acquired maternal antibodies for calves, newborn calves must consume colostrum to gain disease resistance during their early years of life. Storage of surplus colostrum from dairy cows right after calving and feeding newborn calves in deficiency of colostrum to assure adequate uptake of IgG for protection of the calf has been a common practice in the bovine production. In the current study, 35 colostrums were randomly collected from 3 colostrum banks located in different regions of Korea and monitored for general bacterial contamination and major bovine pathogens. Immunoglobulin concentrations and BVDV-specific antibodies were also determined to evaluate the immune quality of the colostrums. Moderate to severe bacterial contamination (up to 72,000,000 CFU/ml) was observed in most of the colostrums collected from colostrum banks. General immune quality of the colostrums was under the satisfactory level since most of the colostrums contained less than 50 g/L of IgG, which is the minimum concentration for good quality colostrums. Therefore, colostrum for colostrum bank should be collected at the first 2-3 post-partum milkings according to proper harvesting and handling procedures to guarantee the safety and quality of colostrum. In addition, it was recommended that colostrum should be heat-treated before frozen and stored in the bank because pasteurization at $63^{\circ}C$ for 30 min was very effective reducing the risk of disease transmission without causing significant degradation of immunoglobulins.

The Development of Tobacco Litigation in USA and it's Impact of Law and Politics in Public Health (미국 담배소송의 변천과 보건법정책 효과)

  • Kim, Un-Mook;Kim, Ji-Hyun
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
    • /
    • v.12 no.1
    • /
    • pp.133-173
    • /
    • 2011
  • Since mid-1960s the reports from the Surgeon General, the World Health Organization, and other health experts state that there is no risk-free level exposure to smoking and secondhand smoke. Tobacco smoke is made up of more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic, and at least 70 are carcinogens. The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach smoker's lungs quickly every time smoker inhale causing damages immediately. Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage smoker's DNA, which can lead to cancers. Smoking is responsible for more than 87% of lung cancers, but there are a host of other chronic diseases directly related to exposure to tobacco smoke. It's also a major cause of heart disease, stroke, aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease and most of the other diseases. In the United States, each year with more than from 440,000 to 520,000 deaths caused by smoking and exposure to involuntary smoke. They conclude that smoking is the single most important source of preventable morbidity and mortality. The United States of America have about 60-year history of tobacco litigation. Tobacco litigation has been an important tool in tobacco control strategies aimed at limiting the activities of tobacco companies and providing redress to people who have become ill as a result of their use of tobacco products. Tobacco litigation is a kind of tort litigation. Quite often, as in the asbestos and other mass tort litigation episodes, tobacco litigation can play an educational role, warning the public about the magnitude of health risks that might otherwise be less clearly perceived. Tobacco litigation allows smokers, their families or other victims of smoking to sue tobacco companies in order to be compensated for the harm they have suffered. Potential benefits of tobacco litigation include compensation for smoking-related damages, strengthening regulatory activity, publicity, documents disclosure and changing tobacco industry behavior. And also tobacco litigation can limit the political activities of tobacco industry, protect human rights of smokers and non-smokers, increase burden to tobacco price-up and enhance the effects of law and politics in public health.

  • PDF

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Agricultural Waterways in Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces, Korea (경기 및 강원지역 농업용수 중 PAHs의 모니터링 연구)

  • Kim, Leesun;Park, Byung-Jun;Lee, Sung-Eun
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
    • /
    • v.34 no.3
    • /
    • pp.216-221
    • /
    • 2016
  • Level and distribution of fourteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the agricultural water samples collected in the waterways located in Gyeonggi and Gangwon, Korea were determined for monitoring and risk assessment. A simplified, fast but effective extraction and clean-up methods combined with gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was employed to measure the concentration of the target compounds. The extraction of the analytes of interest in water sample (10 mL) was performed with acetonitrile (10 mL) and the salt. To purify the target PAHs, the clean-up procedure was employed with 2 mL tubes of dispersive solid phase extraction. The optimized method was validated with recoveries, method detection limit (MDL), accuracy and precision. Good recoveries for each PAHs at 10 and $25{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ were achieved (60 to 110%, with RSD <20%) with linearity (>0.99). MDL for all the analytes was achieved with $0.2{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. GC-MS/MS results showed that concentration of phenanthrene in the water samples from Gyeonggi (20 sites) ranged from 0.82 to $2.56{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ and from Gangwon (15 sites) ranged from 0.83 to $1.62{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. Other PAHs were not found in the water samples but the continuous monitoring for these areas were required.

Exposure assessment of dioxins through foods (식품을 통한 다이옥신류의 노출 평가)

  • Oh, Keum-Soon;Suh, Jung-Hyuck;Paek, Ock-Jin;Kim, Mee-Hye;Lee, Kwang-Ho
    • Analytical Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.23 no.6
    • /
    • pp.595-606
    • /
    • 2010
  • A total 221 samples of the retailed foods collected from 2004 to 2007 was examined to estimate the level of dioxins(29 congeners) by the isotopic dilution method, and the exposure of population of Korean to dietary of dioxins was performed. Dioxins levels were calculated using TEF values established in 1998 and 2005, respectively. The average levels (pg TEQ/g) were less than 0.01 for polished rice, 0.04 (poultry)-0.13 (beef) for meats, 0.04 (milk)-0.05(cheese) for milk and dairy products, 0.13 for egg (york, only) and 0.11 (alaska pollack)-1.35 (pacific mackerel) for fishes. The estimated daily intake of Korean through foods was 0.47 pg TEQ/kg bw/day, and it was estimated as about 11% to tolerable daily intake (TDI; 4 pg TEQ/kg bw/day) of Korea and Japan. Consequently, it was concluded that there was no health risk.

Risk Assessment of the Road Cut Slopes in Gyeoungnam based on Multiple Regression Analysis (다중회귀분석을 통한 경남 지방도로 절취사면의 안정성평가)

  • Kang, Tae-Seung;Um, Jeong-Gi
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
    • /
    • v.17 no.3
    • /
    • pp.393-404
    • /
    • 2007
  • The purpose of this study is to capture the essentials in survey and evaluation scheme which are able to assess the hazard of a rock slope systematically. Statistical analysis are performed on slope instability parameters related to failure of the rock slope. As the slope instability parameters, twelve survey items are considered such as tension crack, surface deformation, deformation of retaining structures, volume of existing failures, angles between strike of discontinuity and strike of cut slope face, angles between dip of discontinuity and dip of cut slope face, discontinuity condition, cut slope angle, rainfall or ground water level, excavation condition, drainage condition, reinforcement. A total of 233 road cut slopes located in Gyeongnam were considered. The stability of the road cut slopes were evaluated by estimating the slope instability index(SII) and corresponding stability rank. 126 rock slopes were selected to analyze statistical relation between SII and slope instability parameters. The multiple regression analysis was applied to derive statistical models which are able to predict the SII and corresponding slope stability rank. Also, its applicability was explored to predict the slope failures using the variables of slope instability parameters. The results obtained in this study clearly show that the methodology given in this paper have strong capabilities to evaluate the failures of the road cut slope effectively.

Empirical Assessment of International Entry Strategy for Large Construction Companies (주요 전략지수별로 살펴 본 국내 대형건설업체의 해외건설 진출전략 효과에 대한 실증적 연구)

  • Jung, Woo-Yong;Han, Seung-Heon;Jang, Woo-Sik;Koo, Bon-Sang
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
    • /
    • v.11 no.1
    • /
    • pp.59-69
    • /
    • 2010
  • Although international construction market gradually takes a important position among the export industries, the previous studies about international construction entry strategy have just focussed on trend investigation or suggestion for revitalization. Moreover, in order to prepare the market uncertainty such as world financial crisis and to plan the long term strategy, specific strategy studies based on corporate level are required. Therefore, this study estimates the nine strategic index and four financial index of 31 companies that performed 1920 international projects from 1993 to 2007 and evaluate the performance as three periods by multi-regression analysis. Also, this study analyze dynamic correlation between these index and the performance considering times. this study verifies that market diversification, product diversification, localization and decrease of debt to asset ratio make a good effect on the international order as long term strategy and shows that collaborated entry with domestic corporations, alliance entry with host country's company, alliance entry with third country's company, portion of labor cost and portion of management expense differently make a influence on the performance as times. these results will be helpful for the construction companies to plan the international entry strategy reasonably and specifically.