• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.627-642
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• 2022

The world's long reliance on fossil fuels (e.g., oil, coal, and natural gas) is severely changing its environment and climate. Energy research has focused on developing hydrogen as the most promising energy carrier and a key technology for sustainable energy development. Hydrogen can be classified as gray, blue, green, and otherwise according to the raw materials and methods used for production and processing. For the development of hydrogen energy, geologists are attempting to identify the mechanism of abiotic hydrogen generation by serpentinization or hydrothermal alteration. Teams in the United States, France, and Australia have researched laboratory-scale hydrogen production through water-rock interactions under various conditions, whereas there has been almost no research on abiotic hydrogen in South Korea. This paper reviews the current state of international research on hydrothermal alteration and offers suggestions for future investigations of abiotic hydrogen production in South Korea.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-148
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• 2014

This paper performs a historical analysis on the various factors contributing to the current carbon lock-in of Korean electricity industry by using techo-institutional complex. The possibilities of the industry's carbon lock-out toward more sustainable development are also investigated. It turns out that market, firm, consumer, and government factors are all responsible for the development of the carbon lock-in of Korean power industry; the Korean government consistently favoring large power plants based on the economy of scale; below-cost electricity tariff; inflation policy to suppress increases in power price; rapid demand growth in summer and winter seasons; rigidities of electricity tariff; and expansion of gas-fired and imported coal-fired large power plants. On the other hand, except for nuclear power generation and smart grid, environment laws and new and renewable energy laws are the other remaining factors contributing to the carbon lock-out. Considering three key points that Korea is an export-oriented economy, the generation mix is the most critical factor to decide the amounts of carbon emission in the power industry, and the share of industry and commercial power consumption is over 85%, it is unlikely that Korea will achieve the carbon lock-out of power industry in the near future. Therefore, there are needs for more integrated approaches from market, firm, consumer, and government all together in order to achieve the carbon lock-out in the electricity industry. Firstly, from the market perspective, it is necessary to persue more active new and renewable energy penetration and to guarantee consumer choices by mitigating the incumbent's monopoly power as in the OECD countries. Secondly, from the firm perspective, the promotion of distributed energy system is urgent, which includes new and renewable resources and demand resources. Thirdly, from the consumer perspective, more green choices in the power tariff and customer awareness on the carbon lock-out are needed. Lastly, the government shall urgently improve power planning frameworks to include the various externalities that were not properly reflected in the past such as environmental and social conflict costs.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 1998

Digital hearing aids offer many advantages over conventional analog hearing aids. With the advent of high speed digital signal processing chips, new digital techniques have been introduced to digital hearing aids. In addition, the evaluation of new ideas in hearing aids is necessarily accompanied by intensive subject-based clinical tests which requires much time and cost. In this paper, we present an objective method to evaluate and predict the performance of hearing aid systems without the help of such subject-based tests. In the hearing impairment simulation(HIS) algorithm, a sensorineural hearing impairment medel is established from auditory test data of the impaired subject being simulated. Also, the nonlinear behavior of the loudness recruitment is defined using hearing loss functions generated from the measurements. To transform the natural input sound into the impaired one, a frequency sampling filter is designed. The filter is continuously refreshed with the level-dependent frequency response function provided by the impairment model. To assess the performance, the HIS algorithm was implemented in real-time using a floating-point DSP. Signals processed with the real-time system were presented to normal subjects and their auditory data modified by the system was measured. The sensorineural hearing impairment was simulated and tested. The threshold of hearing and the speech discrimination tests exhibited the efficiency of the system in its use for the hearing impairment simulation. Using the HIS system we evaluated three typical hearing aid algorithms.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.5-26
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• 2006

As the capital of knowledge becomes more important than traditional capital like land or labor in the 21st century, the most competitive resource for corporations is knowledge. Furthermore, corporations may evaluate and improve latent knowledge of 'intellectual capital(IC)' within organizations, which will enhance their performance in the future. However, most Korea Distribution Companies have evaluated only tangible assets, ignoring latent capital. Since enterpreneurs have recognized that they cannot explain the difference between maret value and book value, the major advanced states lead to more sophisticated techniques to evaluate IC value. Although it is extremely important and urgent to evaluate IC value, the indexes of evaluating IC have never been examined and have been adopted by many corporations. Therfore, this study intends to develop a index for IC valuation. This study hopes to give some insights into the practical use of intellectual capital for the Korea Distribution Companies and help them develop a strategic perspective to enhance their competitiveness.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.141-152
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• 2011

The market volume of urban regeneration projects has steadily increased, thereby mixed-use development also shows significant market growth. However, previous researches on urban regeneration mainly deduced suggestions and plans for institution improvement based on comparison between projects implemented the inside and outside of the country. Whereas, researches on project management closely related to project success were limited, particularly in performance management. Accordingly, this research aims at developing a program performance management framework for public clients so as to succeed mixed-use development projects. Through extensive literature review and expert interview, this research developed performance indices for diverse facilities, risk management framework and integrating method of program performance score. The proposed framework is able to consider total life cycle from basic planning to maintenance phase and to check real-time performance level. Moreover, risk management framework can periodically assess and control the level of inherent risks within performance indices. The results can contribute to improve existing performance management practices and be basis for a web-based system developed in future.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2021

Due to COVID-19, the importance of public medical facilities, especially hospitals specializing in infectious diseases, is rising. Despite the government's strong will, the establishment of public medical facilities and infectious disease hospitals has not been properly established. This is because the overall system related to the construction of public medical facilities does not sufficiently reflect social and economic changes and the trend of the times. The purpose of this study is to derive limitations and problems related to the guidelines for preliminary feasibility studies of public medical facilities and to present alternatives. This study proposes 'Option Value' as an alternative. Since the option value is a willingness to pay for an uncertain situation, it is theoretically reasonable and reasonable to reflect it as an additional benefit. Normally, the value of existence is not seen, but the system that is seen in a crisis is in the 'medical and health'. Therefore, it is necessary to find a system that is invisible even in the feasibility evaluation in the medical and health, and constantly improve and develop a methodology that can estimate changes in the welfare of citizens within the system. I expect this study to play a role as a catalyst.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2014

With continued economic growth, Korea has seen an increase in the nighttime activities of its citizens as hours of activity have extended into night. There is an increasing trend in energy consumption related to citizens' nighttime activities. In order to analyze ideas for an efficient replacement of the power consumption of streetlights and for profit generation by applying grid-type solar systems, this study used an RETScreen model. Through energy analysis and cost analysis, the application benefit and viability of grid-type solar street light systems were analyzed. With analysis result of a total weekly power generation of 114 kWh via a grid-connected solar streetlight system, it was shown that the net present value of a grid-connected solar street light system is 155,362 KRW, which would mean a payback period of about 5.2 years, and as such, it was shown that profit could be generated after about 6 years. In addition, if the grid-connected solar power generation system proposed by this study is to be applied, it was shown that 401,935 KRW in profit could be generated after the 20-year useful life set for the solar system. In addition, the sensitivity analysis was performed taking into account the price fluctuations of SMP, maintenance. As a result, a payback period has increased by 1~2 years, and there were no significant differences. Because the most important factor that affect the economic analysis is the cost of supply certification of renewable energy, a stable sales and acquisition of this certification are very important. the Seoul-type Feed in Tariff(FIT) connected to other institutions will enable steady sales by confirming to purchase the certification for 12 years. Therefore, if those issues mentioned above are properly reflected, Central-grid PV system project will be able to perform well in the face of unfavorable condition of solar PV installation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.268-276
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: In the month of January 2018, fine dust alerts and warnings were issued 36 times for $PM_{10}$ and 81 times for PM2.5. Air quality is becoming a serious issue nation-wide. Although interest in air-purifying plants is growing due to the controversy over the risk of chemical substances of regular air-purifying solutions, industrial spread of the plants has been limited due to their efficiency in air-conditioning perspective. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study aims to propose a vegetation-based bio-filter system that can assure total indoor air volume for the efficient application of air-purifying plants. In order to evaluate the quantitative performance of the system, time-series analysis was conducted on air-conditioning performance, indoor air quality, and comfort index improvement effects in a lecture room-style laboratory with 16 persons present in the room. The system provided 4.24 ACH ventilation rate and reduced indoor temperature by $1.6^{\circ}C$ and black bulb temperature by $1.0^{\circ}C$. Relative humidity increased by 24.4% and deteriorated comfort index. However, this seemed to be offset by turbulent flow created from the operation of air blowers. While $PM_{10}$ was reduced by 39.5% to $22.11{\mu}g/m^3$, $CO_2$ increased up to 1,329ppm. It is interpreted that released $CO_2$ could not be processed because light compensation point was not reached. As for the indoor comfort index, PMV was reduced by 83.6 % and PPD was reduced by 47.0% on average, indicating that indoor space in a comfort range could be created by operating vegetation-based bio-filters. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that the vegetation-based bio-filter system is effective in lowering indoor temperature and $PM_{10}$ and has positive effects on creating comfortable indoor space in terms of PMV and PPD.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.269-278
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• 2020

In this study, the effects of groundwater artificial recharge through vertical wells in the upper small basin are preliminarily evaluated by using field injection test and a 3-D numerical model. The injection rate per well in a model is set to 20, 37.5, 60, and 75 ㎥/day based on the results of field injection test, groundwater levels, and hydraulic conductivities estimated from particle size analysis, and a numerical model using MODFLOW is conducted for 28 cases, which have diverse injection intervals, in order to estimated the changes of groundwater level and water balance after injection. Groundwater level after injection does not show a linear relationship with the injection rate per well, and the cumulative effect of artificial recharge decreases and the timing of maximum water level rise is shortened as the injection interval becomes longer. In four cases of continuous injection with total injection rate of 1,200 ㎥, it is revealed that the recharge effect is analyzed as 36.5~65.3% of the original injection rate. However, it will be more effective if the artificial recharge system combined with underground barrier is introduced for the longer pumping during a long and severe drought. Additionally, it will be possible to build a stable artificial recharge system by an establishment of efficient scenario from recharge to pumping as well as an optimization of recharge facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.571-578
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• 2017

Bubbles are generated by the boiling of the cooling water when an accident occurs in the reactor and then in order to measure the void fraction, the Optical Fiber Probe(OFP) and optical camera are used in thermal hydraulic safety research. However, such an optical method is not suitable for measuring the void fraction in a $17{\times}17$ array of fuel rods due to the geometrical limitations. This study was conducted as a preliminary study using x-ray system and various phantoms before applying to rod bundles. Through radiographic and tomographic experiments, the tube voltage of the x-ray generator was 130 kVp and the tube current was 1 mA. In addition, it is possible to measure the hole of 1mm in size visually through the bubble resolution phantom, and it is confirmed that the contrast is relatively decreased in the inside of the freon in the case of the contrast evaluation using the road phantom. However, we could obtain good image without distortion when reconstructing the image. Bubble generation phantom experiments were used to confirm the flow direction of the bubbles and to acquire tomography images. The image J tool was used to measure the void fraction of 18 % for a single tomography image. This study has carried out previous researches for the measurement of the bubble rate around the nuclear fuel and could be used as a basic research for continuous research.