• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.89 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2000

Lichen flora of 'Backwoon' mountain, Korea, was investigated during the summer of 1998 and 1999 to screen out lichen species which can be used as a biomonitor for atmospheric ozone. The identified foliose or fructicose lichens in the area were classified into 9 families, 20 genera and 34 species. The dominant lichen species in the area were found to be Leptogium sp., Parmelia sp., Parmotrema sp., Phaeophyscia sp. and Cladonia sp. It was also found that lichen species showing a wide range of sensitiveness to air pollution were distributed in 'Backwoon' mountain. The Parmotrema austrosinense, P. tinctorum, Certrelia braunsiana and Ramalina yasudae collected in the area were exposed to ozone at the level of 200ppb, 8hr/day in controlled growth chamber for 2 weeks. Malondialdehyde(MDA), hydroperoxy conjugated dienes(HPCD), soluble protein content and OD435nm/OD415nm ratio for phaeophytinization of chlorophyll were measured and a pollution index(PI) was calculated for each lichen. Ozone exposure severely damaged to the lichens in the order of P. austrosinense>P. tinctorum>C. braunsiana>R. yasudae. P. austrosinens easily identified and widely distributed in Korea is likely to be a very useful biomonitor of air pollution, especially for ozone. These results indicate that Korean lichen species can be used as a biomonitor for air pollution to evaluate air quality contaminated with ozone.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.4 s.36
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• pp.496-506
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• 1991

A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the effect of long term noise exposure on blood pressure among steel mill workers. The workers participated in periodic medical examinations performed from August 27 to September 6 in 1990. Examined were 1,034 workers with high-level noise exposure(average $91.8{\pm}5.2dB(A)$) and 390 workers with low-level noise exposure(average $75.2{\pm}4.6dB(A)$). No significant difference was found in systolic or diastolic flood pressure between the two exposure groups. Prevalence of hypertension (${\geq}160mmHg\;systolic\;or{\geq}100mmHg\;diastolic$) was higher in a younger age group (${\leq}40$ years old) of high-level noise exposure than of low-level noise exposure. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Furthermore, in younger ages, prevalence of hypertension appeared to be higher in the hearing loss group (${\geq}25dB\;at\;1000Hz\;or{\geq}40dB$ at 4000Hz in at least one ear) than in the normal hearing group. From multiple regression analysis, hearing loss, body mass index, age, alcohol and family history of hypertension were proven to be predictors of diastolic blood Pressure (p<0.02). When regression was performed for each age group, hearing loss was a strong predictor of diastolic pressure in the younger age group (p<0.01).

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2012

The levels of indicator PCBs were determined in 132 human milk samples (Colostrum, 30th days after delivery, 60th days after delivery) collected in 2006 according to World Health Organization's (WHO) protocol. In addition, concentrations of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured by the isotope dilution method with high resolution gas chromatograph/high resolution mass detector (HRGC/HRMS), which gave accurate and precise data for estimations of international trend and comparisons. Average daily intakes (ADIs) of all analytes were calculated. The median level of total indicator PCBs was 14 ng/g lipid, which is significantly lower than the level found in individuals from other countries. PCB congeners 138, 153 and 180 accounted for about 65% of the sum of the indicator congeners analyzed. The concentration of the most abundant PCB 153 is positively correlated with the concentration of the sum indicator PCBs (p<0.001). In this study, concentrations of total indicator PCBs significantly decreased with increasing number of children for a mother, indicating that parity and breast-feeding period an important role in the accumulation and elimination of these compounds in lactating women. The ADI for the median of total indicator PCBs for an infant was evaluated at $0.077{\mu}g/kg{\cdot}bw/day$ from birth to 6 months of age. The present study shows that concentrations of PCB 118 primipara breast milk have decreased 25~35 since 1998, and that this trend is continuing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2019

Recently, the number of passengers using airplanes is rapidly increasing due to the increase of overseas travelers. Therefore, the probability of exposure to natural radiation due to altitude is increasing due to the increase in flight time. Cosmic-ray penetrates the Earth's magnetic field belt Van Allen, which is located at an altitude of 400 km to 1200 km. Most cosmic rays are blocked at Van Allen belt. However, cosmic-ray could be not completely blocked, and a small amount of cosmic-ray affects the earth. In general, if the altitude was increased by 100m, the natural exposure dose increased by 0.03 mSv on the Earth. In this study, I tried to minimize the exposure to natural radiation in airplanes when boarding airplanes. Especially, I was aimed to minimize radiation exposure by protecting the highly sensitive thyroid gland among human organs. According to the results of the study, the designed shielding handkerchief was able to shield cosmic natural radiation dose by more than 70%. In conclusion, the application of the shielding handkerchief made in this study can be effectively shield natural radiation.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.180-193
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• 2014

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is an inflammatory skin disease and regarded as a prototype of T-cell mediated delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions. Aroma Oil Complex (AOC) is composed of lavender true oil, chamomile roman oil and tea tree oil. This study was performed to assess the effects of AOC in a canine model of ACD. ACD was induced on the back of dogs induced by sensitization and repeated application by 2,4-dinitro-1-chlorobenzene (DNCB). Topical treatment of AOC was applied once a day for 8 days and skin biophysical parameters including transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin hydration, skin thickness and erythema index, were measured every two days during experimental periods. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry were performed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect. In skin biophysical parameters, TEWL, skin hydration, skin thickness and erythema index were significantly increased, with a maximum increase appeared on day 2 (p<0.05). After the completion of AOC treatment, skin biophysical parameters were significantly reached those of baseline in a time-dependent manner (p<0.05). In histopathology, marked increases of epidermal thicknesses were induced after DNCB challenge with numerous inflammatory cell infiltrations and edematous changes, decreases of connective tissue occupied regions in dermis. In addition, marked increases of cytokine - tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interferon-${\gamma}$ (IFN-${\gamma}$)-immunoreactivities in the dermis and of apoptotic markers - caspase-3 and PARP-immunoreactivities in the epidermis were observed in DNCB control as compared with intact control, respectively (p<0.01). The decrease of infiltrated inflammatory cells and related decreases of pro-inflammatory cytokine immunoreactivities were observed in AOC treated skin (p<0.01). Based on these findings, AOC may have anti-inflammatory and alleviatory effects in the allergic contact dermatitis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.615-627
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• 2012

The market penetration of the smart phones has brought significant changes to the related industries. As the mobile phone market as well as the smart phone application market are growing rapidly, competition among small-size application developers has become severe. However, due to the severe competition and expensive market entry costs, the developers argue that it is necessary to develope the applications from the perspective of the users. However, studies on application development from the users' perspectives are still in the early stages and they have not provided various approaches. Therefore, based on the Open Coding method of Ground Theory, this study collected data on applications review from related communities and blogs of Korean web portal sites, and identified indices which users consider important when they use the applications. In addition, we conduct a comparative analysis between those indices by calculating their frequency of exposure. As a result, a total of 30 sub-categories of indicators such as amusement, controllability, versatility and ease of use appeared to be predominant to users and those lower categories were grouped into five categories; sensibility, design, technology, price, and social skills. The results of this study suggest to the application developers the guidelines of user oriented design and development. It can be used to develop the evaluation tool for application usability.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2012

To prevent the damage to human health by climate change, vulnerability assessment should be conducted for establishment of adaptation strategies. In this study, vulnerability assessment was conducted to provide information about vulnerable area for making adaptation policy. vulnerability assessment for human health was divided into three categories; extreme heat, ozone, and epidemic disease. To assess vulnerability, suitable indicators were selected by three criteria; sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and exposure, spatial data of indicators were prepared and processed using GIS technique. As a result, high vulnerability to extreme heat was shown in the low land regions of southern part. And vulnerability to harmful ozone was high in the surrounding area of Dae-gu basin and metropolitan area with a number of automobiles. Vulnerability of malaria and tsutsugamushi disease have a region-specific property. They were high in the vicinity of the Dimilitarized zone and south-western plain, respectively. In general, vulnerability of human health was increased in the future time. Vulnerable area was extended from south to central regions and from plain to low mountainous regions. For assessing vulnerability with high accuracy, it is necessary to prepare more related indicators and consider weight of indicators and use climate prediction data based on the newly released scenario when assessing vulnerability.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.4 s.94
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• pp.535-542
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• 2006

In Seoul, more than 80 percent of residential buildings are constructed with unreinforced masonry(URM) buildings in early 1970 to 1990. In general, URM buildings have the advantages of reducing the construction time and easy to construction. However, URM buildings do not have enough strength against the lateral force. Moreover, low rise buildings have not adopted seismic designs, and for that reason a critical damage is expected with an earthquake. And also, the necessity of the seismic performance evaluation of existing building structures is raised through the Taiwan earthquake in 1999. The purpose of this study is to provide basic information for unreinforced masonry building in Korea by application of the proposed seismic evaluation method. In this study, seismic capacities of 50 existing unreinforced masonry buildings are evaluated based on the proposed method. Also, relationships of seismic capacities between Korean earthquake damage ratios of korean unreinforced masonry buildings are estimated. Results of this study were as follows; 1)Seismic retrofit was needed $8{\sim}48%$ in Korean unreinforced masonry buildings. 2)Korean unreinforced masonry buildings were expected to have severe damage under the earthquake intensity level experienced in Japan.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 2000

Objectives : It is the objective of this study to compare hepatotoxicity of nickel chloride and cadmium chloride with each other through IPRL(Isolated Perfused Rat Liver) method. Methods : Biochemical indicator of hepatic function such as AST(aspartate aminotransferase), ALT(alanine aminotransferase), LDH(lactate dehydrogenase) and perfusion flow rate were used as the indicator of hepatotoxicity. Oxygen consumption rate were used as vability indicator. $300({\pm}50)g$ - weighted rats were allocated randomly to each group($0{\mu}M,\;50{\mu}M,\;200{\mu}M\;NiCl_2\;and\;CdCl_2$ exposure) by 5, totally 25. After Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate butler solution flowed into the penal vein and passed the liver cell, it flowed out of vena cava. Liver was administered with each $NiCl_2\;and\;CdCl_2$ of each concentration and observed with buffer solution sampling time. Butler which got out of liver was sampled and then biochemical indicator of hepatotoxicity was measured. Results : AST, ALT, and LDH in buffer increased with sampling time much more in $CdCl_2$ exposure group than $NiCl_2$ exposure group in both 50 and $200{\mu}M$ and statistical significance w3s verified with 2-way repeated ANOVA. Viability was decreased more and more in all substances during passed time. Conclusions : It is inferred that $CdCl_2$ has stronger hepatotoxicity than $NiCl_2$. IPRL method would be used widely for acute hepatotoxicity when considerating the benefit of it.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.685-692
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• 2016

This study aimed to develop the indicator-based approach to assess water use vulnerability in watersheds and applied to the unit watershed within the Han River watershed. Vulnerability indices were comprised of three sub-components (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity) with respect to water use. The indicators were made up of 16 water use indicators. Then we estimated vulnerability indices using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution approach (TOPSIS). We collected environmental and socio-economic data from national statistics database, and used them for simulated results by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. For estimating the weighted values for each indicator, expert surveys for subjective weight and data-based Shannon's entropy method for objective weight were utilized. With comparing the vulnerability ranks and analyzing rank correlation between two methods, we evaluated the vulnerabilities for the Han River watershed. For water use, vulnerable watersheds showed high water use and the water leakage ratio. The indices from both weighting methods showed similar spatial distribution in general. Such results suggests that the approach to consider different weighting methods would be important for reliably assessing the water use vulnerability in watersheds.