• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2024

In this study, we applied AEC(Auto Exposure Control), which is used in many chest examinations, to evaluate whether medical devices inserted into the body affect the dose and image quality of chest images. After attaching three HIMD(Human implantable medical devices) to the ion chamber, the Monte Carlo methodology-based program PCXMC(PC Program for X-ray Monte Carlo) 2.0 was applied to measure the effective dose by inputting the DAP(Dose Ares Product) value derived from the Pacemaker and CRT and Chemoport Additionally, to evaluate image quality, we set three regions of interest and one noise region on the chest and measured SNR and CNR. The final study results showed significant differences in DAP and Effective dose. There was a significant difference between Pacemaker and CRT when AEC was applied and not applied. (p<0.05) When applied, the dose increased by 37% for Pacemaekr and 52% for CRT. Chemoport showed a 10% increase in effective dose depending on whether AEC was applied, but there was no significant difference. (p>0.05) In the image quality evaluation, there was no significant difference in image quality between all HIMD insertions and AEC applied or not. (p>0.05) Therefore, when the HIMD was inserted into the chest during a chest x ray and overlapped with the ion chamber sensor, the effective dose increased, and there was no difference in image quality even at a low dose without AEC. Therefore, when performing a chest X-ray examination of a patient with a HIMD inserted, it is considered that performing the examination without applying AEC is a method that can be considered to reduce the patient's radiation exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.163-174
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• 2020

Particulate matter levels are rapidly increasing daily, and this can affect human health. Therefore, air pollutant emissions from sea vessels require management. This study evaluates the status of air pollutants, focusing on air pollutant emissions from the vessels of the Korea Coast Guard (KCG), and proposes national management measures to reduce emissions. According to a report recently released (2018) by the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), emissions from vessels constituted 6.4 % of the total domestic emissions, including 13.1 % NO_x, 10.9 % SO_x, and 9.6 % particulate matter (PM10/PM2.5). Among the rates of pollutant emission from vessels, the emission rates of domestic and overseas cargo vessels were the highest (50.6 %); the ratio of fishing boats was 42.6 %. With respect to jurisdictional sea area, 44.1 % of the emissions are from the south sea, including the Busan and Ulsan ports, and 24.8 % of the emissions are from the west sea, including the Gwangyang and Yeosu ports. The KCG inspects boarding lines to manage emission conditions and regulate air pollutant emissions, but it takes time and effort to operate various discharge devices and measure fuel oil standards. In addition, owing to busy ship schedules, inspection documents are limited in terms of management. Therefore, to reduce the air pollutant emissions of such vessels, regulations will be strengthened to check for air pollutants, and a monitoring system based on actual field data using KCG patrol ships will be established, for each sea area, to manage the emissions of such vessels. Furthermore, there is a need for technological development and institutional support for the introduction of environmentally friendly vessels.