• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2021

When the decommissioning of South Korea nuclear power plants is promoted in earnest with the permanent shutdown of Kori Unit 1 in 2017, a large amount of various types of radioactive waste will be generated. For minimal generation and safe management of decommissioning waste, the waste should be made by appropriate classification of the dismantling waste characteristics in accordance with physical, chemical and radiological characteristics to meet the acceptance criteria of disposal facilities. Replacing the preliminary inspection at the site for the compliance of the waste acceptance criteria (WAC) of medium and low-level radioactive waste with the generator's own radioactive waste certification program (WCP), from the perspective of disposal, the optimization of waste management at the national level contributes to the efficient availability of disposal, such as the processing of non-conforming radioactive wastes at the site. To this end, it is important to evaluate radioactivity in each system and area such as nuclear reactors before decommissioning is carried out in earnest, and the prior removal of harmful wastes is important. From waste collection to waste disposal, decommissioning waste should be managed at each stage in consideration of the acceptance criteria of disposal facilities to minimize the generation of non-conforming waste.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2021

A solar water battery is a system that generates power using solar energy. It is a combination of photoelectrochemical cells and an energy storage system. It can simultaneously convert and store solar energy without additional external voltage. Solar water batteries consist of photoelectrodes, storage electrodes and counter electrodes, and their properties and combination are important for the performance and the efficiency of the system. In this study, we tried to find the effect that changing the components of solar water batteries has on its system. The effects of the counter electrode during discharge, the kinds of photoelectrode and storage electrode materials, and electrolytes on the solar energy conversion and storage capacitance were studied. The optimized composition (TiO2 : NaFe-PB : Pt foil) exhibited 72.393 mAh g-1 of discharge capacity after 15 h of photocharging. It indicates that the efficiency of solar energy conversion and storage is largely affected by the configuration of the system. Also, the addition of organic pollutants to the chamber of the photoelectrode improved the battery's photo-current and discharge capacity by efficient photoelectron-hole pair separation with simultaneous degradation of organic pollutants. Solar water batteries are a new eco-friendly solar energy conversion and storage system that does not require additional external voltages. It is also expected to be used for water treatment that utilizes solar energy.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.33-40
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• 2022

Recently, IoT-linked services have been used in various environments, and IoT and artificial intelligence technologies are being fused. However, since technologies that process IoT data stably are not fully supported, research is needed for this. In this paper, we propose a processing technique that can optimize IoT data after generating embedded vectors based on machine learning for IoT data. In the proposed technique, for processing efficiency, embedded vectorization is performed based on QR such as index of IoT data, collection location (binary values of X and Y axis coordinates), group index, type, and type. In addition, data generated by various IoT devices are integrated and managed so that load balancing can be performed in the IoT data collection process to asymmetrically link IoT data. The proposed technique processes IoT data to be orthogonalized based on hash so that IoT data can be asymmetrically grouped. In addition, interference between IoT data may be minimized because it is periodically generated and grouped according to IoT data types and characteristics. Future research plans to compare and evaluate proposed techniques in various environments that provide IoT services.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.74-79
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• 2022

In this study, the plasma corrosion resistance and the change in the number of contamination particles generated using the plasma etching process and cleaning process of coating parts for semiconductor plasma etching equipment were investigated. As the coating method, atmospheric plasma spray (APS) was used, and the powder materials were Y₂O₃ and Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG). There was a clear difference in the densities of the coatings due to the difference in solubility due to the melting point of the powdered material. As a plasma environment, a mixed gas of CF₄, O₂, and Ar was used, and the etching process was performed at 200 W for 60 min. After the plasma etching process, a fluorinated film was formed on the surface, and it was confirmed that the plasma resistance was lowered and contaminant particles were generated. We performed a surface cleaning process using piranha solution(H₂SO₄(3):H₂O₂(1)) to remove the defect-causing surface fluorinated film. APS-Y₂O₃ and APS-YAG coatings commonly increased the number of defects (pores, cracks) on the coating surface by plasma etching and cleaning processes. As a result, it was confirmed that the generation of contamination particles increased and the breakdown voltage decreased. In particular, in the case of APS-YAG under the same cleaning process conditions, some of the fluorinated film remained and surface defects increased, which accelerated the increase in the number of contamination particles after cleaning. These results suggest that contaminating particles and the breakdown voltage that causes defects in semiconductor devices can be controlled through the optimization of the APS coating process and cleaning process.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.99-108
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• 2023

Several challenges arise in DNA extraction and gene amplification for airborne fungal metagenome analysis from a particulate matter (PM) samples. In this study, various conditions were tested to optimize the DNA extraction method from PM samples and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions with primer set and annealing temperature. As a result of comparative evaluation of DNA extraction under various conditions, chemical cell lysis using buffer and proteinase K for 20 minutes and bead beating treatment were followed by using a commercial DNA extraction kit to efficiently extract DNA from the PM filter samples. To optimize the PCR conditions, PCR was performed using 10 primer sets for amplifying the ITS2 gene region. The concentration of the PCR amplicon was relatively high when the annealing temperature was 58℃ with the ITS3tagmix3/ITS4 primer set. Even under these conditions, when the concentration of the PCR product was low, nested PCR was performed using the primary PCR amplicon as the template DNA to amplify the ITS2 gene at a satisfactory concentration. Using the methods optimized in this study, DNA extraction and PCR were performed on 15 filter samples that collected PM2.5 in Seoul, and the ITS2 gene was successfully amplified in all samples. The optimized methods can be used for research on analyzing and interpreting the fungal metagenome of atmospheric PM samples.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Lab-on-a-disc is a circular disc shape of cartridge that can be used for blood-based liquid biopsy to diagnose an early stage of cancer. Currently, liquid biopsies are regarded as a time-consuming process, and require sophisticated skills to precisely separate cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) floating in the bloodstream for accurate diagnosis. However, by applying the lab-on-a-disc to liquid biopsy, the entire process can be operated automatically. To do so, the lab-on-a-disc should be designed to prevent blood leakage during the centrifugation, transport, and dilution of blood inside the lab-on-a-disc in the process of liquid biopsy. In this study, the main components of lab-on-a-disc for liquid biopsy are fabricated by injection molding for mass production, and ultrasonic welding is employed to ensure the bonding strength between the components. To guarantee accurate ultrasonic welding, the flatness of the components is optimized numerically by using the response surface methodology with four main injection molding processing parameters, including the mold & resin temperatures, the injection speed, and the packing pressure. The 27 times finite element analyses using Moldflow® reveal that the injection time and the packing pressure are the critical factors affecting the flatness of the components with an optimal set of values for all four processing parameters. To further improve the flatness of the lab-on-a-disc components for stable mass production, a quarter-disc shape of lab-on-a-disc with a radius of 75 mm is used instead of a full circular shape of the disc, and this significantly decreases the standard deviation of flatness to 30% due to the reduced overall length of the injection molded components by one-half. Moreover, it is also beneficial to use a quarter disc shape to manage the deviation of flatness under 3 sigma limits.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.48-48
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• 2010

Sound quality and NVH-issues(Noise, Vibration and Harshness) of vehicles has become very important for car manufacturers. It is interpreted as among the most relevant factors regarding perceived product quality, and is important in gaining market advantage. The general sound quality of vehicles was gradually improved over the years. However, today the development cycles in the automotive industry are constantly reduced to meet the customers' demands and to react quickly to market needs. In addition, new drive and fuel concepts, tightened ecological specifications, increase of vehicle classes and increasing diversification(increasing market for niche vehicles), etc. challenge the acoustic engineers trying to develop a pleasant, adequate, harmonious passenger cabin sound. Another aspect concerns the general pressure for reducing emission and fuel consumption, which lead to vehicle weight reductions through material changes also resulting in new noise and vibration conflicts. Furthermore, in the context of alternative powertrains and engine concepts, the new objective is to detect and implement the vehicle sound, tailored to suit the auditory expectations and needs of the target group. New questions must be answered: What are appropriate sounds for hybrid or electric vehicles? How are new vehicle sounds perceived and judged? How can customer-oriented, client-specific target sounds be determined? Which sounds are needed to fulfil the driving task, and so on? Thus, advanced methods and tools are necessary which cope with the increasing complexity of NVH-problems and conflicts and at the same time which cope with the growing expectations regarding the acoustical comfort. Moreover, it is exceedingly important to have already detailed and reliable information about NVH-issues in early design phases to guarantee high quality standards. This requires the use of sophisticated simulation techniques, which allow for the virtual construction and testing of subsystems and/or the whole car in early development stages. The virtual, testing is very important especially with respect to alternative drive concepts(hybrid cars, electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars), where complete new NVH-problems and challenges occur which have to be adequately managed right from the beginning. In this context, it is important to mention that the challenge is that all noise contributions from different sources lead to a harmonious, well-balanced overall sound. The optimization of single sources alone does not automatically result in an ideal overall vehicle sound. The paper highlights modern and innovative NVH measurement technologies as well as presents solutions of recent NVH tasks and challenges. Furthermore, future prospects and developments in the field of automotive acoustics are considered and discussed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2023

Polyethersulfone (PES) is a widely employed membrane material for water and industrial purification applications owing to its hydrophilicity and ease of phase separation. However, PES membranes and filters prepared using the nonsolvent induced phase separation method often encounter significant flux decline due to pore clogging and cake layer formation on the dense membrane surfaces. Our investigation revealed that tight microfiltration or loose ultrafiltration membranes can be subject to physical fouling due to the formation of a dense skin layer on the bottom side caused by water intrusion to the gap between the shrank membrane and the substrate. To investigate the effect of the bottom surface porosity on membrane fouling, two membranes with the same selective layers but different sub-layer structures were prepared using single and double layer casting methods, respectively. The double layered PES membrane with highly porous bottom surface showed high flux and physical fouling tolerance compared to the pristine single layer membrane. This study highlights the importance of physical optimization of the membrane structure to prevent membrane fouling.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.209-227
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• 2023

The government continues to announce measures to revitalize smart construction technology based on BIM for productivity innovation in the construction industry. In the design phase, the goal is design automation and optimization by converging BIM Data and other advanced technologies. Accordingly, in the basic design of the Namhae Seomyeon-Yeosu Sindeok National Road Construction Project, a domestic undersea tunnel project, BIM-based design was carried out by developing tunnel design automation technology using 3D spatial information according to the tunnel design process. In order to derive the optimal alignment, more than 10,000 alignment cases were generated in 36hr using the generative design technique and a quantitative evaluation of the objective functions defined by the designer was performed. AI-based ground classification and 3D Geo Model were established to evaluate the economic feasibility and stability of the optimal alignment. AI-based ground classification has improved its precision by performing about 30 types of ground classification per borehole, and in the case of the 3D Geo Model, its utilization can be expected in that it can accumulate ground data added during construction. In the case of 3D blasting design, the optimal charge weight was derived in 5 minutes by reviewing all security objects on the project range on Dynamo, and the design result was visualized in 3D space for intuitive and convenient construction management so that it could be used directly during construction.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.1243-1244
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• 2022

In recent years, the growing interest in off-site construction has led to factories scaling up their manufacturing and production processes in the construction sector. Consequently, continuous large-scale site monitoring in low-variability environments, such as prefabricated components production plants (precast concrete production), has gained increasing importance. Although many studies on computer vision-based site monitoring have been conducted, challenges for deploying this technology for large-scale field applications still remain. One of the issues is collecting and transmitting vast amounts of video data. Continuous site monitoring systems are based on real-time video data collection and analysis, which requires excessive computational resources and network traffic. In addition, it is difficult to integrate various object information with different sizes and scales into a single scene. Various sizes and types of objects (e.g., workers, heavy equipment, and materials) exist in a plant production environment, and these objects should be detected simultaneously for effective site monitoring. However, with the existing object detection algorithms, it is difficult to simultaneously detect objects with significant differences in size because collecting and training massive amounts of object image data with various scales is necessary. This study thus developed a large-scale site monitoring system using edge computing and a small-object detection system to solve these problems. Edge computing is a distributed information technology architecture wherein the image or video data is processed near the originating source, not on a centralized server or cloud. By inferring information from the AI computing module equipped with CCTVs and communicating only the processed information with the server, it is possible to reduce excessive network traffic. Small-object detection is an innovative method to detect different-sized objects by cropping the raw image and setting the appropriate number of rows and columns for image splitting based on the target object size. This enables the detection of small objects from cropped and magnified images. The detected small objects can then be expressed in the original image. In the inference process, this study used the YOLO-v5 algorithm, known for its fast processing speed and widely used for real-time object detection. This method could effectively detect large and even small objects that were difficult to detect with the existing object detection algorithms. When the large-scale site monitoring system was tested, it performed well in detecting small objects, such as workers in a large-scale view of construction sites, which were inaccurately detected by the existing algorithms. Our next goal is to incorporate various safety monitoring and risk analysis algorithms into this system, such as collision risk estimation, based on the time-to-collision concept, enabling the optimization of safety routes by accumulating workers' paths and inferring the risky areas based on workers' trajectory patterns. Through such developments, this continuous large-scale site monitoring system can guide a construction plant's safety management system more effectively.