• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.680-688
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• 2018

Objective : To mitigate the risk of iatrogenic instability, new posterior decompression techniques able to preserve musculoskeletal structures have been introduced but never extensively investigated from a biomechanical point of view. This study was aimed to investigate the impact on spinal flexibility caused by a unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression, in comparison to the intact condition and a laminectomy with preservation of a bony bridge at the vertebral arch. Secondary aims were to investigate the biomechanical effects of two-level decompression and the quantification of the restoration of stability after posterior fixation. Methods : A universal spine tester was used to measure the flexibility of six L2-L5 human spine specimens in intact conditions and after decompression and fixation surgeries. An incremental damage protocol was applied : 1) unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression at L3-L4; 2) on three specimens, the unilateral laminotomy was extended to L4-L5; 3) laminectomy with preservation of a bony bridge at the vertebral arch (at L3-L4 in the first three specimens and at L4-L5 in the rest); and 4) pedicle screw fixation at the involved levels. Results : Unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression had a minor influence on the lumbar flexibility. In flexion-extension, the median range of motion increased by 8%. The bone-preserving laminectomy did not cause major changes in spinal flexibility. Two-level decompression approximately induced a twofold destabilization compared to the single-level treatment, with greater effect on the lower level. Posterior fixation reduced the flexibility to values lower than in the intact conditions in all cases. Conclusion : In vitro testing of human lumbar specimens revealed that unilateral laminotomy for bilateral decompression and bone-preserving laminectomy induced a minor destabilization at the operated level. In absence of other pathological factors (e.g., clinical instability, spondylolisthesis), both techniques appear to be safe from a biomechanical point of view.

• The Korean Journal of Blood Transfusion
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.152-161
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• 2012

Background: Since Jan. 2012, for performance evaluation of viral reagents, analysis of domestic samples has been recommended in order to obtain approval from the KFDA when they are first introduced to Korea. This regulation requires the standard domestic materials driven from locally infected samples. We tried manufacturing the plasma working standards of HBV, HCV, and HIV NAT using a mixed titer of viral loads. Methods: Forty three HBV DNA positive plasmas, 25 HCV RNA positive plasmas, and 26 HIV RNA positive plasmas were evaluated according to viral load and genotype. Several plasma units, which had high-titer viral loads and the common viral genotypes in Korea, were selected as the source materials for each viral standard. To adjust the appropriate concentration based on the detectable range of variable viral reagents, the source plasma was diluted to several concentrations, divided into small vials, and analyzed for quantification. Results: The 13 plasma working standards, which had variable viral loads for the mixed titer performance panel of HIV, HCV, and HBV NAT, were produced. Conclusion: These national standard materials were first produced in order to supply the mixed titer performance panel for the viral NAT reagent of the level IV transfusion related high-risk group in Korea.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 2021

As artificial intelligence(AI) technologies, which have made rapid growth recently, began to be applied to the marine environment such as ships, there have been active researches on the application of CNN-based models specialized for digital videos. In E-Navigation service, which is combined with various technologies to detect floating objects of clash risk to reduce human errors and prevent fires inside ships, real-time processing is of huge importance. More functions added, however, mean a need for high-performance processes, which raises prices and poses a cost burden on shipowners. This study thus set out to propose a method capable of processing information at a high rate while maintaining the accuracy by applying Quantization techniques of a deep learning model. First, videos were pre-processed fit for the detection of floating matters in the sea to ensure the efficient transmission of video data to the deep learning entry. Secondly, the quantization technique, one of lightweight techniques for a deep learning model, was applied to reduce the usage rate of memory and increase the processing speed. Finally, the proposed deep learning model to which video pre-processing and quantization were applied was applied to various embedded boards to measure its accuracy and processing speed and test its performance. The proposed method was able to reduce the usage of memory capacity four times and improve the processing speed about four to five times while maintaining the old accuracy of recognition.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.1-24
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• 2018

In the last decade, the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a new technology has been applied with traditional Computer-aided design implementations in an increasing number of architecture, engineering, and construction projects and applications. Its employment alongside construction management, can be a valuable tool in helping move these activities and projects forward in a more efficient and time-effective manner. The traditional stakeholders, i.e., Owner, A/E and the Contractor are involved in this BIM system that is used in almost every activity of construction projects, such as design, cost estimate and scheduling. This article extracts major features of the application of BIM from perspective of participating BIM components, along with the different phrases, and applies to them a logistic analysis using a fuzzy performance tree, quantifying these phrases to judge the effectiveness of the BIM techniques employed. That is to say, these fuzzy performance trees with fuzzy logic concepts can properly translate the linguistic rating into numeric expressions, and are thus employed in evaluating the influence of BIM applications as a mathematical process. The rotational fuzzy models are used to represent the membership functions of the performance values and their corresponding weights. Illustrations of the use of this fuzzy BIM performance tree are presented in the study for the uninitiated users. The results of these processes are an evaluation of BIM project performance as highly positive. The quantification of the performance ratings for the individual factors is a significant contributor to this assessment, capable of parsing vernacular language into numerical data for a more accurate and precise use in performance analysis. It is hoped that fuzzy performance trees and fuzzy set analysis can be used as a tool for the quality and risk analysis for other construction techniques in the future. Baldwin's rotational models are used to represent the membership functions of the fuzzy sets. Three scenarios are presented using fuzzy MEAN, AND and OR gates from the lowest to intermediate levels of the tree, and fuzzy SUM gate to relate the intermediate level to the top component of the tree, i.e., BIM application final performance. The use of fuzzy MEAN for lower levels and fuzzy SUM gates to reach the top level suggests the most realistic and accurate results. The methodology (fuzzy performance tree) described in this paper is appropriate to implement in today's construction industry when limited objective data is presented and it is heavily relied on experts' subjective judgment.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.374-379
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• 2019

This study developed predictive growth models of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium on lettuce washed with chlorine (100~300 ppm) and ultrasound (US, 37 kHz, 380 W) treatment and stored at different temperatures ($10{\sim}25^{\circ}C$) using a polynomial equation. The primary model of specific growth rate (SGR) and lag time (LT) showed a good fit ($R^2{\geq}0.92$) with a Gompertz equation. A secondary model was obtained using a quadratic polynomial equation. The appropriateness of the secondary SGR and LT model was verified by coefficient of determination ($R^2=0.98{\sim}0.99$ for internal validation, 0.97~0.98 for external validation), mean square error (MSE=-0.0071~0.0057 for internal validation, -0.0118~0.0176 for external validation), bias factor ($B_f=0.9918{\sim}1.0066$ for internal validation, 0.9865~1.0205 for external validation), and accuracy factor ($A_f=0.9935{\sim}1.0082$ for internal validation, 0.9799~1.0137 for external validation). The newly developed models for S. Typhimurium could be incorporated into a tertiary modeling program to predict the growth of S. Typhimurium as a function of combined chlorine and US during the storage. These new models may also be useful to predict potential S. Typhimurium growth on lettuce, which is important for food safety purposes during the overall supply chain of lettuce from farm to table. Finally, the models may offer reliable and useful information of growth kinetics for the quantification microbial risk assessment of S. Typhimurium on washed lettuce.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2022

The purpose of our study was to investigate the migration level of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and barium (Ba) from glassware into a food simulant and to evaluate the exposure of each element. The test articles were glassware, including tableware, pots, and other containers. Pb, Cd, and Ba were analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The analytical performance of the method was validated in terms of its linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), recovery, precision, and uncertainty. The monitoring was performed for 110 samples such as glass cups, containers, pots, and bottles. a food simulant. Migration test was conducted at 25? for 24 hours in a dark place using 4% acetic acid as a food simulant. Based on the data; exposure assessment was carried out to compare the estimated daily intake (EDI) to the human safety criteria. The risk levels of Pb and Ba determined in this study were approximately 1.9% and 0.3% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) and tolerable daily intake (TDI) value, respectively, thereby indicating a low exposure to the population.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2023

Ferimzone Z is a fungicide for effectively controlling rice blast. Under light irradiation conditions, it undergoes a rapid conversion to its E-stereoisomer. Given the importance of isomers in risk assessments of residues in crops, an analytical method was developed for individual isomer quantification. A comparative analysis performed using two columns in HPLC-MS/MS demonstrated that the isomers were successfully separated using the Cadenza column. For the brown rice sample preparation, 5 g of the homogenized sample was saturated with 7 mL of water. The sample was then extracted with a 10 mL mixed solvent of acetonitrile and ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v) that contained 0.1% formic acid, and it was subsequently partitioned with magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride. The upper layer was purified using dSPE containing C₁₈ and PSA sorbents. The established method was subjected to method validation, and it showed recovery rates of 90.6-98.8% (RSD ≤ 3.9%) at concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, 2 mg/kg, with a soft matrix effect (%ME) ranging from -3.1% to +6.5%. This method can be employed in monitoring studies of brown rice to determine the conversion ratio from the Z isomers to the E isomers.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.105-112
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• 2023

Lycopene, a carotenoid hydrocarbon is known to have effects on reducing cardiovascular risk factors, blood lipids, and blood pressure. Thus, a lot of supplementary foods with lycopene in several dosage forms like soft capsule filled with liquid and hard capsule filled with powder are available in a market. Recently, however, our research group found that the lycopene assay in Supplementary Food Code of South Korea is only valid for oily lycopene preparation. Thus, here, we developed a simple method to determine lycopene in solid preparations for Supplementary Food Code of South Korea using saponification and liquid chromatography with an absorbance detector. The method was validated following Ministry of Food and Drug Safety guidelines. All validation parameters observed in this study were within acceptable criteria of the guidelines (selectivity, linearity of r² ≥ 0.991, lower limit of quantification of 0.0149 mg/mL, accuracy as recovery (R) between 92.70 and 97.18 %, repeatability as relative standard deviation (RSD) values of R between 0.85 and 1.59 %, and reproducibility as the RSD value of interlaboratory R of 3.70 %). Additionally, the practical sample applicability of the validated method was confirmed by accuracy between 98.81 and 101.59 % observed from its lycopene certified reference material (CRM) analyses. Therefore, the present method could contribute to fortify the supplementary food safety management system in South Korea.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6A
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• pp.765-778
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• 2008

Performance Profiles are essential to predict the performance variation over time for the bridge management system (BMS) based on risk management. In general, condition profiles based on experts opinion and/or visual inspection records have been used widely because obtaining profiles based on real performance is not easy. However, those condition profiles usually don't give a good consistency to the safety of bridges, causing practical problems for the effective bridge management. The accuracy of performance evaluation is directly related to the accuracy of BMS. The reliability of the evaluation is important to produce the optimal solution for distributing maintenance budget reasonably. However, conventional methods of bridge assessment are not suitable for a more sophisticated decision making procedure. In this study, a method to compute quantitative performance profiles has been proposed to overcome the limitations of those conventional models. In Bridge Management Systems, the main role of performance profiles is to compute and predict the performance of bridges subject to lifetime activities with uncertainty. Therefore, the computation time for obtaining an optimal maintenance scenario is closely related to the efficiency of the performance profile. In this study, the Response Surface Method (RSM) based on independent and important design variables is developed for the rapid computation. Steel box bridges have been investigated because the number of independent design variables can be reduced significantly due to the high dependency between design variables.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2024

Fuel gases such as methane and propane are used in explosion hazardous area of domestic plants and can form non-uniform mixtures with the influence of process conditions due to leakage. The fire-explosion risk assessment using literature data measured under uniform mixtures, damage prediction can be obtained the different results from actual explosion accidents by gas leaks. An explosion characteristics such as explosion pressure and flame velocity of non-uniform gas mixtures with concentration change similar to that of facility leak were examined. The experiments were conducted in a closed 0.82 m long stainless steel duct with observation recorded by color high speed camera and piezo pressure sensor. Also we proposed the quantification method of non-uniform mixtures from a regression analysis model on the change of concentration difference with time in explosion duct. For the non-uniform condition of this study, the area of flame surface enlarged with increasing the concentration non-uniform in the flame propagation of methane and was similar to the wrinkled flame structure existing in a turbulent flame. The time to peak pressure of methane decreased as the non-uniform increased and the explosion pressure increased with increasing the non-uniform. The ranges of K_G (Deflagration index) of methane with the concentration non-uniform were 1.30 to 1.58 [MPa·m/s] and the increase rate of K_G was 17.7% in methane with changing from uniform to non-uniform.