• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2021

Purpose: To determine the extent of environmental contamination and the effect of disinfection around patients with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurements and microbial culture tests. Methods: The subjects of this study were 10 patients hospitalized in a single room due to CRE from April 13 to 21, 2021. One hundred and sixty samples were collected using cotton swabs from the patients' environment including the surface and drain of sinks and toilet seats before and after disinfection of the room after discharge. Twenty-one samples were collected from the nurses' personal digital assistants (PDAs), keyboards, and computer mice before disinfection. The relative light units (RLUs) and CRE colony-forming units (CFU) of 181 samples were measured using ATP test equipment and chrome agar plates, respectively. Results: The highest RLUs were measured at the sink drains before and after disinfection. Four CRE samples from the sink drains (2), sink surface (1), and toilet bowl (1) before disinfection were cultured. Based on the failure criteria (≥ 250 RLU/cm² and ≥ 1 CFU/100 cm²), 90 % and 50 % of the samples from the drain exceeded the failure criteria before and after disinfection, respectively. In the culture tests, CRE was not detected after disinfection. Conclusion: According to the RLU and CFU measurements of drain samples, disinfection was not effective. Thus, improvements in the disinfection methods of drains, as well as more efficient and systematic environmental decontamination and disinfection evaluation tools, are needed to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of disinfection in various places.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2021

Purpose: The medical community has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The management of facial trauma patients has been affected by the patient capacity of emergency rooms. In this study, we share our experiences of facial trauma management during the social lockdown period and investigate the epidemiological changes in facial bone fractures. Methods: A total of 997 patients who presented to Ajou University Hospital Emergency Center and were evaluated by plastic or maxillofacial surgeons for facial trauma were included in this retrospective study. Our study design was a comparative study of two groups: the 2019 group (control) and the 2020 group (the experimental group that experienced social lockdown). Results: The total number of emergency room inpatients reflected the national pandemic trends with three peaks in patient numbers. According to these trends, facial bone fractures had two different low points in August 2020 and December 2020. A comparison of the 2019 and 2020 facial bone fractures did not show a statistically significant difference in the total number of patients. An analysis of the causes of trauma showed that domestic accidents increased in 2020 (30.92%; p<0.001). Among the anatomical sites of facial injury in surgical patients, the frontozygomatic complex fracture increased the most in 2020 (p=0.018). Facial injuries with two separate sites of injury or with three or more involved sites also showed a significant increase in 2020 (p<0.001). Conclusions: We demonstrated that the incidence of facial trauma patients correlated with the incidence of patients presenting to the emergency department and that facial trauma is inextricably related to multi-trauma cases. Domestic accidents and facial trauma with multiple anatomically involved sites are increasing trends that need more attention.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.1970-1978
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to optimize the target, moderator, and collimator (TMC) in a neutron beam generator for the accelerator-based BNCT (A-BNCT) system. The optimization employed the Monte Carlo Neutron and Photon (MCNP) simulation. The optimal geometry for the target was decided as the one with the highest neutron flux among nominates, which were called as angled, rib, and tube in this study. The moderator was optimized in terms of consisting material to produce appropriate neutron energy distribution for the treatment. The optimization of the collimator, which wrapped around the target, was carried out by deciding the material to effectively prevent the leakage radiations. As results, characteristic of the neutron beam from the optimized TMC was compared to the recommendation by the International Atomic Energy Agent (IAEA). The tube type target showed the highest neutron flux among nominates. The optimal material for the moderator and collimator were combination of Fluental (Al₂0₃+AlF₃) with ⁶⁰Ni filter and lead, respectively. The optimized TMC satisfied the IAEA recommendations such as the minimum production rate of epithermal neutrons from thermal neutrons: that was 2.5 times higher. The results can be used as source terms for shielding designs of treatment rooms.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.577-586
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• 2022

Detection and classification of steel surface defects are critical for product quality control in the steel industry. However, due to its low accuracy and slow speed, the traditional approach cannot be effectively used in a production line. The current, widely used algorithm (based on deep learning) has an accuracy problem, and there are still rooms for development. This paper proposes a method of steel surface defect detection combining EfficientNetV2 for image classification and YOLOv5 as an object detector. Shorter training time and high accuracy are advantages of this model. Firstly, the image input into EfficientNetV2 model classifies defect classes and predicts probability of having defects. If the probability of having a defect is less than 0.25, the algorithm directly recognizes that the sample has no defects. Otherwise, the samples are further input into YOLOv5 to accomplish the defect detection process on the metal surface. Experiments show that proposed model has good performance on the NEU dataset with an accuracy of 98.3%. Simultaneously, the average training speed is shorter than other models.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2023

When it comes to 'Team Medical Care' in Japan, clinical laboratory technologists have actively engaged in various kinds of teams, such as a diabetes team, a nutrition support team, an infection control team and a medical practice support team. Overall, with continual changes in the medical environment, clinical laboratory technologists are recently being required to not only conduct phlebotomy, specimen collection, laboratory testing, and electrocardiography, but also get actively involved in 'medical practice assistance or support' in collaboration with medical doctors and nurses. Therefore, it is anticipated that resident clinical laboratory technologists in wards or emergency rooms in Korea will be better able to contribute to improving medical quality and securing medical safety by functioning as a link to the clinical laboratory, while medical doctors and nurses will have a reduced burden of work and can dedicate themselves to better patient care.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2012

As a core process in the manufacture of state-of-the-art industrial technologies such as semiconductor and LCD, a clean room is the most important process which can affect the performance and quality of products drastically. Nevertheless, scientific research on comprehensive safety measures from a fire protection standpoint is not being carried out in Korea. This study aims to derive measures to improve smoke control systems by identifying performance and problems of smoke systems installed in clean rooms as an LCD manufacturing process and analyzing fire and evacuation simulations considering several scenarios. As a result of analysis of fires and smoke in a clean roomas an LCD manufacturing process, it is found to be necessary to stop air handling units through interlocking in case of a fire and exhaust smoke out of the room through the top of FAB in consideration of buoyancy of smoke. It is also found to be necessary to install quick response sprinkler heads and accessories to accelerate the response time, because the heat-accumulating performance of sprinkler heads decreases in this application. Despite its low density of dwelling due to the automation process, clean room is characterized by an array of complex production equipment and working environment requiring dustproof clothes, which makes it difficult to acquire evacuation safety performance. Thus, thorough control of danger factors in processes and periodic education and training are required. It is also necessary to establish a level of domestic technologies equivalent to the level of standards of advanced countries in fire protection.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2014

This paper presents the implementation of a control system of pellet boiler using wood pellet as carbon neutral material. The system also has the additional features to provide remote controlling and monitoring based on home networking technology through either public switched telephone networks or mobile communication networks. It consists of three kinds of sub-modules; a main controller provides basic and additional features such as a setting of temperature, a supplying of wood pellet, a controlling of ignition and fire-power, and a removing of soot. The second is temperature controller of individual rooms which is connected to the main controller through RS-485 links. And interface modules with PSTN and mobile networks can support remote controlling and monitoring the functions. The test results under the heating area of $172m^2$ show a thermal efficiency of 93.6%, a heating power of 20,640kcal/hr, and a fuel consumption of 5.54kg/hr. These results are superior to those of the conventional pellet boilers. In order to obtain the such high performance, we newly applied a 3-step ignition flow, a flame detection by $C_dS$ sensor, and a fire-power control by fine controlling of shutter to our pellet boiler.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.297-303
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• 2014

Heat manipulation at early age has been known to help chickens cope with heat stress later in life. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of early heat conditioning at 5 days of age on performance in broilers when re-exposed to heat stress later in life. Day-old, 256 Arbor Acre boiler chicks were housed in two identical rooms where all broilers were exposed to a 23-h light: 1-h dark cycle throughout the study and provided with feed and water ad libitum. At the age of 5 days, one group was exposed to $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours and then returned to the temperature at which control birds were maintained (early heat condition group) while the other was maintained without heat modulation (Control). On 21 days, broilers were regrouped into 4 groups (CON+CON: control+control; CON+HS: control+heat stress; HC+CON: heat conditioning+control; HC+HS: heat conditioning+heat stress), and given 7 days for adaptation. On 28 days, birds in one room were exposed to heat stress ($21^{\circ}C{\rightarrow}31^{\circ}C$) for 3 days whereas those in the other were at room temperature. Heat stress resulted in decreased feed intake, water intake, and body weight gain (P<0.05), but increased rectal temperature and mortality (P<0.05). No beneficial effects of heat conditioning were detected when broilers were exposed to heat stress again at later in life. The present results were discussed together with other studies regarding possible differences in methods such as ages of breeders and strains, which may have resulted in the failure of heat conditioning to help broilers resist heat stress.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.373-380
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• 2020

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of elevated temperatures on the growth and physiological responses of peach 'Mihong' (Prunus persica). We simulated three different temperature conditions in the sunlight phytotron rooms from April 25 to July 5, 2019; Control (average temperature in normal years in Jeonju city), +3.4℃ treatment (expecting temperature in mid-21st century), +5.7℃ treatment (expecting temperature in late 21st century). The shoot numbers and lengths were increased while the temperature was increased, but the leaf areas were not statistically different. The harvest dates were July 1, June 24 and 21 at the control, +3.4℃, and +5.7℃, respectively. The fruit weights were increased at +3.4℃ but decreased at +5.7℃ compared to the control. The tree yield was the highest in the +3.4℃ (2,898g), followed by the control (2,746g) and the +5.7℃ (2,404g). These are related to the result that the average of maximum photosynthesis rate at 3.4℃ (14.93μmol·CO₂·m^-2·s^-1) was higher than those at the control (13.79μmol·CO₂·m^-2·s^-1) and +5.7℃ (13.20μmol·CO₂·m^-2·s^-1) from mid-May to early June, the fruit growing season. Also, the stomatal densities were higher at the +3.4℃ (229ea/㎟), compared to the control (181ea/㎟). The rate of floral bud differentiation affecting the yield in the following year was the lowest at the +5.7℃. These results suggest that a temperature elevated to 3.4℃ in the future may give a positive effect on the yield and quality of peach 'Mihong' while a temperature elevated above 5.7℃ may affect negatively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.107-115
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• 2020

This paper introduces the first vital area identification (VAI) process for the physical protection of nuclear power plants (NPPs) during low power and shutdown (LPSD) operation. This LPSD VAI is based on the 3rd generation VAI method which very efficiently utilizes probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) event trees (ETs). This LPSD VAI process was implemented to the virtual NPP during LPSD operation in this study. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) had developed the 2nd generation full power VAI method that utilizes whole internal and external (fire and flooding) PSA results of NPPs during full power operation. In order to minimize the huge burden of the 2nd generation full power VAI method, the 3rd generation full power VAI method was developed, which utilizes ETs and minimal PSA fault trees instead of using the whole PSA fault tree. In the 3rd generation full power VAI method, (1) PSA ETs are analyzed, (2) minimal mitigation systems for avoiding core damage are selected from ETs by calculating system-level target sets and prevention sets, (3) relatively small sabotage fault tree that has the systems in the shortest system-level prevention set is composed, (4) room-level target sets and prevention sets are calculated from this small sabotage fault tree, and (5) the rooms in the shortest prevention set are defined as vital areas that should be protected. Currently, the 3rd generation full power VAI method is being employed for the VAI of Korean NPPs. This study is the first development and application of the 3rd generation VAI method to the LPSD VAI of NPP. For the LPSD VAI, (1) many LPSD ETs are classified into a few representative LPSD ETs based on the functional similarity of accident scenarios, (2) a few representative LPSD ETs are simplified with some VAI rules, and then (3) the 3rd generation VAI is performed as mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is well known that the shortest room-level prevention sets that are calculated by the 2nd and 3rd generation VAI methods are identical.