• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.170-179
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the occupational radiation exposures of emergency medical technicians(EMTs) in emergency medical centers in Korea. The results will provide a basis for developing prevention programs to minimize adverse health effects relating to radiation exposure among emergency medical technicians working in this area. Methods: Radiation exposure doses were measured for twenty-two EMTs working in six emergency medical centers. Thermo Luminescent Dosimeters(TLD) were placed on three representative body parts, including chest, neck, and a finger. Measurements were conducted over the entire working hours of the participants for foor weeks. Dosimeters were analyzed according to a standard method by a KFDA-designated lab. Detection rate, annual radiation exposure dose, and relative levels to dose limit were derived based on the measured doses from the dosimeters. SPSS/Win 18.0 software(IBM, US) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Detection rates were 45.5%, 36.4%, and 45.5% for the dosimeters sampled from chest, neck, and a finger, respectively. The average annual doses were $2.39{\pm}3.44mSv/year$(range 0.38-10.0 mSv/year) for the chest, $2.72{\pm}3.05mSv/year$(2.00-11.34) for the neck, and $20.98{\pm}17.57mSv/year$(1.25-53.50) for the hand dose. The average annual eye dose was estimated to $3.61{\pm}2.37mSv/year$(1.50-8.34). The exposure dose levels of EMTs were comparable to those of radiologists, who showed relatively higher radiation dose among health care workers, as reported in another study. Conclusions: EMTs working in emergency medical centers are considered to be at risk of radiation exposure. Although the radiation exposure dose of EMTs does not exceed the dose limit, it is not negligible comparing to other professionals in health care sectors.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-4
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• 2015

Background: This study was conducted in order to see if muscle strength is different according to fall experience in female elders by comparing their muscle strength of waist and knee, which is one of factors inducing fall. Method: For this study, 22 female elders aged over 65 sampled from senior centers in D City were surveyed on their fall experiences using a questionnaire asking clinical history. Then, 8 elders with fall experience (FE) and another 8 without (NFE) were selected and participated in the research. Isokinetic muscle strength was measured with isokinetic equipment BIODEX SYSTEM 3 PRO, and the peak torque was obtained from the highest of 9 measurements at angular velocity $60^{\circ}/sec$ according to the method recommended in the manual. Measured items were waist flexion and extension, and knee flexion and extension. Results: The FE group showed higher extensor and flexor muscle strength of the waist, but the difference was not significant (p<.05). In addition, no difference was observed in extensor muscle strength of the knee (p<.05). In flexor muscle strength, however, the FE group was significantly higher than the NFE group (p<.05). Conclusion: The application of regular exercise programs for improving muscle strength, endurance, etc. to those with fall experience will be effective in preventing falls among them.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.121-142
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• 2001

The goal of the National Assessment of Educational Achievement(NAEA) 2001 was to affirm the accountability of school education, to scientifically manage and elevate the quality of education at the national level, and to articulate the final design of the NAEA. It was implemented on June 28th of the year 2001. The assessment frame for NAEA includes the achievement standards, the assessment standards, the instruction for the item development, and the grading policy for mathematics subject. Most of items are multiple-choice types, but the performance-based items should be at least thirty percent of the total items, also 30% in case of mathematics. Approximately 1% of students among entire population of the Grades 6 were randomly selected. Therefore, the finally sampled examines were 8023 at Grade 6. The result of the analysis of the NAEA revealed that Grade 6 students was labelled as ‘average’ level in general (Number and Operation: average, Geometric figures: average, Patterns and Functions: excellent, Measurements: average, Letters and Expressions: average, Probability and Statistics: average). The most characteristic finding was that except for Grade 6(its average is 69.92), most secondary students obtained low test scores and its average of each grade is below 50 out of 100. Especially, the scores on the performance-based items were by and large very low. This finding implies that Korean students are not familiar with the kind of test items which requires expression of ideas and feelings and they are rather familiar with the multiple-choice items. Another interesting finding was that the students in small towns and remote areas showed significantly low scores in all four skills compared with Seoul, metropolitan cities and medium and small cities. This may be attributed from the fact that the remote areas do not have equal learning environment with regard to social and cultural experience, supply of various teaching materials, extracurricular lessons which are directly related to teaching and learning. These findings may be utilized as a reliable resource fur improving curriculum and teaching and learning in Mathematics.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.189-195
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• 2020

Two air vents situated on a heat transport pipe in district heating system were exposed to the same environment for 10 years. However, one air vent was more corroded than the other. It also had a hole on the top of the front-end pipe. Comparative analysis was performed for these air vents to identify the cause of corrosion and establish countermeasures. Through experimental observation of the damaged part and analyses of powders sampled from air vents, it was found that corrosion was initiated at the top of the front-end pipe. It then spread to the bottom. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results showed that potassium and chlorine were measured from the corroded product in the damaged air vent derived from rainwater and insulation, respectively. The temperature of the damaged air vent was maintained at 75 ~ 120 ℃ by heating water. Rainwater-soaked insulation around the front-end pipe had been hydrolyzed. Therefore, the damaged air vent was exposed to an environment in which corrosion under insulation could be facilitated. In addition, ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma measurements indicated that the matrix of the damaged front-end pipe contained a higher manganese content which might have promoted corrosion under insulation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.299-310
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• 2007

It will be necessary to make proper management plans to preserve the air quality in good level for the public. In order to make these plans, source information and detail emission inventories of the city and near industrial areas should be given. However, lack of the source measurements data makes us more difficult to complete the source inventory. VOC source Inventory could be utilized for the feasibility study to estimate the contribution of VOC sources presenting to the receptor such as residential area. It may give policy maker an idea how to control the air quality, and improve their social environment in the area. This study shows data that measured VOCs concentrations from the local industrial areas in Jeonju during from May 2005 to January 2006. The samples were collected from the near sources in 7 major factories in the industrial park as well as 5 general sources in near city Jeonju area to elucidate the abundances of speciated VOCs and their spacial and temporal distributions depending on source bases. Industrial sources are as follows; chemical, food, paper, wood, metal, non-metal (glass), and painting (coating) industries. The 5 general sources are sampled from tunnel, gasoline gas station, dry cleaning shop, printing (copy) shop, and road pavement working place in urban area. To understand the near source effect at receptor, samples from the 2 receptor sites (one is at center of the industrial complex and the other site is at distance residential area downwind from the center) were collected and analyzed for the comparison to source concentration. The mass contributions of the speciated VOC to total mass of VOCs measured from the different sources and ambient (2 receptors) were presented and discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.6296-6302
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• 2014

A new technique, which can increase the channel bandwidth in an optical wireless orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) link based on a light emitting diode (LED), is proposed. The technique uses adaptive sampling to convert an OFDM signal to a sparse waveform. In compressive sensing (CS), a sparse signal that is sampled below the Nyquist/Shannon limit can be reconstructed successively with sufficient measurements. The data rate of the proposed CS-based visible light communication (VLC)-OFDM link increases from 30.72 Mb/s to 51.2 Mb/s showing an error vector magnitude (EVM) of 31 % at the quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbol.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.358-367
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• 2020

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and validity of subgingival bacterial sampling using a retraction cord, and to evaluate how well this sampling method reflected changes in periodontal conditions after periodontal therapy. Methods: Based on clinical examinations, 87 subjects were divided into a healthy group (n=40) and a periodontitis group (n=47). Clinical measurements were obtained from all subjects including periodontal probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP), clinical attachment loss (CAL), and the plaque index. Saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) as a subgingival bacterial sample were sampled before and 3 months after periodontal therapy. The salivary and subgingival bacterial samples were analyzed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction to quantify the following 11 periodontal pathogens: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa), Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), Tannerella forsythus (Tf), Treponema denticola (Td), Prevotella intermedia (Pi), Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), Pavimonas micra (Pm), Campylobacter rectus (Cr), Prevotella nigrescens (Pn), Eikenella corrodens (Ec), and Eubacterium nodatum (En). Results: Non-surgical periodontal therapy resulted in significant decreases in PD (P<0.01), CAL (P<0.01), and BOP (P<0.05) after 3 months. Four species (Pg, Tf, Pi, and Pm) were significantly more abundant in both types of samples in the periodontitis group than in the healthy group. After periodontal therapy, Cr was the only bacterium that showed a statistically significant decrease in saliva, whereas statistically significant decreases in Cr, Pg, and Pn were found in GCF. Conclusions: Salivary and subgingival bacterial sampling with a gingival retraction cord were found to be equivalent in terms of their accuracy for differentiating periodontitis, but GCF reflected changes in bacterial abundance after periodontal therapy more sensitively than saliva.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1379-1389
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• 2022

Objective: This study identified the major lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains from different fermented total mixed rations (FTMRs) via metataxonomic analysis and evaluated the ability of their standard strain as ensiling inoculants for corn stover silage. Methods: The bacterial composition of eight FTMRs were analyzed by 16S rDNA sequencing. Corn stover was ensiled without LAB inoculation (control) or with 1×10⁶ cfu/g LAB standard strain (Lactobacillus vaginalis, Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus helveticus, or Lactobacillus paralimentarius) selected from the FTMRs or 10 g/t commercial silage inoculant (CSI) around 25℃ for 56 days. For each inoculation, a portion of the silage was sampled to analyze ensiling characteristics at time intervals of 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, and 56 days, gas production (GP), microbial crude protein and volatile fatty acids as the measurements of rumen fermentation characteristics were evaluated in vitro with the silages of 56 days after 72 h incubation. Results: Lactobacillus covered >85% relative abundance of all FTMRs, in which L. pontis, L. vaginalis, L. reuteri, L. helveticus, and L. paralimentarius showed >4% in specific FTMRs. CSI, L. helveticus, and L. paralimentarius accelerated the decline of silage pH. Silage inoculated with L. paralimentarius and CSI produced more lactic acid the early 14 days. Silage inoculated with L. paralimentarius produced less acetic acid and butyric acid. For the in vitro rumen fermentation, silage inoculated with CSI produced more potential GP, isobutyric acid, and isovaleric acid; silage inoculated with L. helveticus produced more potential GP and isovaleric acid, silage inoculated with L. paralimentarius or L. reuteri produced more potential GP only. Conclusion: The standard strain L. paralimentarius (DSM 13238) is a promising ensiling inoculant for corn stover silage. The findings provide clues on strategies to select LAB to improve the quality of silage.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.96-101
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• 2024

Background: Silicosis among workers who fabricate engineered stone products in micro or small-sized enterprises (MSEs) was reported from several countries. Workplace exposure data of these workers at high risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust are limited. Methods: We surveyed workers performing cutting, shaping and polishing tasks at 6 engineered stone fabricating MSEs in Sydney, Australia prior to regulatory intervention. Personal exposure to airborne RCS dust in 34 workers was measured, work practices were observed using a checklist and worker demography recorded. Results: Personal respirable dust measurements showed exposures above the Australian workplace exposure standard (WES) of 0.1 mg/m³ TWA-8 hours for RCS in 85% of workers who performed dry tasks and amongst 71% using water-fed tools. Dust exposure controls were inadequate with ineffective ventilation and inappropriate respiratory protection. All 34 workers sampled were identified as overseas-born migrants, mostly from three linguistic groups. Conclusions: Workplace exposure data from this survey showed that workers in engineered stone fabricating MSEs were exposed to RCS dust levels which may be associated with a high risk of developing silicosis. The survey findings were useful to inform a comprehensive regulatory intervention program involving diverse hazard communication tools and enforcing improved exposure controls. We conclude that modest occupational hygiene surveys in MSEs, with attention to workers' demographic factors can influence the effectiveness of intervention programs. Occupational health practitioners should address these potential determinants of hazardous exposures in their workplace surveys to prevent illness such as silicosis in vulnerable workers.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.39A no.12
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• pp.746-755
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• 2014

Compressive sensing (CS) has drawn much interest as a new sampling technique that enables signals to be sampled at a much lower than the Nyquist rate. By noting that the block-based compressive sensing can still keep spatial correlation in measurement domain, in this paper, we propose a novel encoding technique for measurement data obtained in the block-based CS of natural image. We apply discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to decorrelate CS measurements and then assign a proper quantization scheme to those DWT coefficients. Thus, redundancy of CS measurements and bitrate of system are reduced remarkably. Experimental results show improvements in rate-distortion performance by the proposed method against two existing methods of scalar quantization (SQ) and differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM). In the best case, the proposed method gains up to 4 dB, 0.9 dB, and 2.5 dB compared with the Block-based CS-Smoothed Projected Landweber plus SQ, Block-based CS-Smoothed Projected Landweber plus DPCM, and Multihypothesis Block-based CS-Smoothed Projected Landweber plus DPCM, respectively.