• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.478-490
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• 2017

Objectives: The association of air pollution levels and land-use types with changes in the prevalence of allergic diseases (allergic conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis) was investigated for seven metropolitan cities in Korea Methods: Data on daily hospital visits and admissions (of those under 19 years old) for 2003-2012 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Cooperation. Meteorological data on daily mean temperature, humidity, and air pressure were obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Daily mean or maximum concentration data for five pollutants ($PM_{10}$, $O_3$, $NO_2$, $SO_2$, and CO) as measured at air quality monitoring sites operated by the Ministry of Environment were used. We estimated excess risk and 95% confidence intervals for the increasing interquatile range (IQR) of each air pollutant using Generalized Additive Models (GAM) appropriate for time series analysis. Results: In this study, we observed a significant association between the IQR increases of air pollutants and the prevalence risk of allergic diseases (allergic conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and atopic dermatitis) in all metropolitan cities after adjusting for temperature, humidity, and air pressure at sea level. Among the air pollutants, $NO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ were associated with the prevalence of asthma, and $O_3$ was associated with only allergic conjunctivitis in regression analysis. However, in GAM analysis considering land-use, $O_3$ and $SO_2$ were associated with allergic conjunctivitis, PM10, O3, NO2, and CO were associated with allergic rhinitis, and $PM_{10}$, $O_3$ and $NO_2$ were associated with asthma in industrial area. Conclusion: This study found a significant association between air pollution and the prevalence of allergic related diseases in industrial areas. More detailed research considering mixed traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and conducting meta-analyses combining data of the all cities is required.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 1997

Vanadate glasses using $B_2O_3$ as a network former and with CuO additive were mainly investigated in relation to electrical properties. Crystalline phases formed by heat-treatment in each composition were examined and dc electrical conductivity changes of the glasses were analyzed. Crystalline phases were identified as $V_3O_5,\;a-CuV_2O_6\;and\;{\beta}-CuV_2O_6$ by XRD analysis. Crystallization degrees of $V_2O_5$ and ${\beta}-CuV_2O_6$ were little changed with heat-treatment time, but those of ${\alpha}u-CuV_2O_6$ were changed sharply with heat-treatment time. The more crystallization of ${\alpha}u-CuV_2O_6$ occurred, the higher electrical conductivity was observed. Electrical conductivities with $10^{-2}~10^{-4}/{\Omega}/cm$ at room temperature(303K) could be obtained by controlling the glass compositions. The electrical conductivities were increased with increasing of $V_20_5$ content and decreasing of alkality($CuO/B_2O_3$). In this study, electron was proved to be charge carrier by seebeck coefficient measurement. Accordingly, the glasses are believed to be n-type semiconductor. Calculated activation energies for the conduction were in the range 0.098-0.124 eV. Electrical conduction mechanism was small polaron hopping without showing variable range hopping in the temperature range $30~200^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.545-560
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• 2019

During EPB TBM tunnelling, an appropriate application of additives such as foam and polymer is an essential factor to secure the stability of TBM as well as tunnelling performance. From the '90s, there have been many studies on the optimal injection of additives worldwidely contrary to the domestic situation. Therefore, in this paper, the foam, which is widely adopted for soil conditioning, was selected as an additive in order to investigate the effect of foam injection on TBM performance through a series of laboratory excavation tests. The excavation experiments were carried out on artificial sandy soil specimens with consideration of the variance of FIR (Foam Injection Ratio), FER (Foam Expansion Ratio) and $C_f$ (Surfactant Concentration), which indicate the amount and quality of the foam. During the tests, torque values were measured, and the workability of conditioned soil was evaluated by comparing the slump values of muck after each experiment. In addition, a weight loss of the replaceable aluminum cutter bits installed on the blade was measured to estimate the degree of abrasion. Finally, the foam injection ratio for the optimal TBM excavation for the typical soil specimen was determined by comparing the measured torque, slump value and abrasion. Note that the foam injection conditions satisfying the appropriate level of machine load, mechanical wear and workability are essential in the EPB TBM operational design.