• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 2024

Recent studies explore a wide array of desalination and water treatment methods, encompassing membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), and electrodialysis (ED) to advanced capacitive deionization (CDI) and its membrane variant (MCDI). Comparative analyses reveal ED's cost-effectiveness in low-salinity scenarios, while hybrid systems (NF-MCDI, RO-NF-MCDI) show improved salt removal and energy efficiency. Novel ion separation methods (NF-CDI, NF-FCDI) offer enhanced efficacy and energy savings. These studies also highlight the efficiency of these methods in treating complex wastewater specific to various industries. Environmental impact assessments emphasize the need for sustainability in system selection. Additionally, the integration of microfabricated sensors into membranes allows real-time monitoring, advancing technology development. These studies underscore the variety and promise of emerging desalination and water treatment technologies. They provide valuable insights for enhancing efficiency, minimizing energy usage, tackling industry-specific issues, and innovating to surpass conventional method limitations. The future of sustainable water treatment appears bright, with continual advancements focused on improving efficiency, minimizing environmental impact, and ensuring adaptability across diverse applications.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.30-43
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• 2024

Background and Purpose: The SoUth Korea study to PrEvent cognitive impaiRment and protect BRAIN health through lifestyle intervention (SUPERBRAIN) proved the feasibility of multidomain intervention for elderly people. One-quarter of the Korean population over 65 years of age has mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Digital health interventions may be cost-effective and have fewer spatial constraints. We aim to examine the efficacy of a multidomain intervention through both face-to-face interactions and video communication platforms using a tablet personal computer (PC) application in MCI. Methods: Three hundred participants aged 60-85 years, with MCI and at least one modifiable dementia risk factor, will be recruited from 17 centers and randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the multidomain intervention and the waiting-list control groups. Participants will receive the 24-week intervention through the tablet PC SUPERBRAIN application, which encompasses the following five elements: managing metabolic and vascular risk factors, cognitive training, physical exercise, nutritional guidance, and boosting motivation. Participants will attend the interventions at a facility every 1-2 weeks. They will also engage in one or two self-administered cognitive training sessions utilizing the tablet PC application at home each week. They will participate in twice or thrice weekly online exercise sessions at home via the ZOOM platform. The primary outcome will be the change in the total scale index score of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status from baseline to study end. Conclusions: This study will inform the effectiveness of a comprehensive multidomain intervention utilizing digital technologies in MCI.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.956-963
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• 2008

Purpose : Indomethacin is widely used for the prophylaxis and treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA); however, it is associated with side effects such as renal failure, intraventricular hemorrhage, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Intravenous ibuprofen has been shown to be as effective as indomethacin in prompting PDA closure. If treatment with oral ibuprofen is as effective as indomethacin, it would have the advantages of greater availability, simpler administration, and lower cost. We conducted this study to compare the efficacy and side effects of indomethacin with those of oral ibuprofen, vis-$\grave{a}$-vis on the pharmacological closure of PDA. Methods : As a randomized double-blind study, 34 preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome and hemodynamically significant PDA were treated with either intravenous indomethacin or oral ibuprofen. Echocardiography was performed by one cardiologist who was blind to the treatment that any given infant received. The rate of ductal closure, the need for additional drug treatment or surgical ligation, clinical outcome, and the side effects of drug treatment were compared. Results : Ductal closure occurred in 16 of 18 patients (88.9%) from the indomethacin group and in 14 of 16 patients (87.5%) from the ibuprofen group (P>0.05). Three patients in the indomethacin group and four in the ibuprofen group required a second drug treatment (P>0.05). Three patients (i.e., one patient in the indomethacin group and two in the ibuprofen group) underwent surgical ligation (P>0.05). Between the two groups, there was no significant difference vis-$\grave{a}$-vis in side effects or clinical outcome. Conclusion : Compared to indomethacin, oral ibuprofen has the advantages of simpler administration and lower cost, while being as effective; in addition, there are no differences between the two drug treatments with regards to side effects or clinical outcomes. Therefore, the widespread use of oral ibuprofen should be considered in treating PDA in preterm infants.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.355-360
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• 2013

Diesel-burning air heater (air heater) and infrared heating lamp (infrared heater) were installed as auxiliary heaters in two single water-curtained plastic greenhouses with a set night temperature of $6^{\circ}C$ for cultivation of strawberry 'Seolhyang'. The average night air temperature was $6.6^{\circ}C$ in the infrared heater treatment and $7.1^{\circ}C$ in the air heater treatment. However, when the minimum outside temperature fell below $-10^{\circ}C$, the air heater had less internal temperature fluctuations. In contrast, the infrared heater had some cases of falling below the set temperature. The relative humidity was higher than 98% by the side-effect of water-curtain system regardless of the heating system. There was about $5^{\circ}C$ difference in leaf temperature between the turned-on and -off state of the infrared heater, and the efficacy of the infrared heater on leaf temperature was only limited to about 4 meters from the system. Peduncle length and plant height in the infrared heater tended to be greater than those in the air heater. There was, however, no statistically difference in leaf size and numbers of leaves, flowers on first cluster and branches. There was no difference in soluble solids content, fruit firmness, average fruit weight of the harvested fruits, and the yield. Comparing the heating costs, the air heater system took 622,662 won based on 543 L tax-free diesel, while the infrared heater system took 235,284 won by consuming 5,685 kWh of electricity, and 62.2% heating costs saving was achieved.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.317-324
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• 2007

Fluorescence measurements of dissolved organic matter(DOM) have the superior advantages over other analysis tools for applying to water quality management. A preliminary study was conducted to test the feasibility of applying synchronous fluorescence measurements for tracing and monitoring pollution sources in a small stream located in an upstream area of the Sooyoung watershed in Busan. The water quality of the small stream is affected by leachate from sawdust pile and discharge of untreated sewage. The sampling sites included an upstream site, two pipes discharging untreated sewage, leachate from sawdust, and a downstream site. Of the five field samples, the leachate was distinguished from the other samples by a high peak at a lower wavelength range and a blunt peak at 350nm, suggesting that synchronous fluorescence can be used as a discrimination tool for monitoring the pollution. The efficacy of various indices derived from the spectral features to discriminate the pollution source was tested for well-defined mixture of the sawdust leachate and the upstream stream by comparing (1)the difference between measured values and those predicted based on mass balance and the characteristics of the two samples and (2)the linear correlations between index values and mass ratios of the sample mixtures. Of various discrimination indices selected, fluorescence intensities at 276 nm$({\Delta}\lambda=30nm)$and 347 nm$({\Delta}\lambda=60nm)$ were suggested as promising potential discrimination indices for the sawdust pollution source. Despite the limited number of samples and the study area, this study illustrates the evaluation process that should be followed to develop rapid, low-cost discrimination indices to monitor pollution sources based on end member mixing analyses.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 1983

The behaviour of mixtures of herbicides was determined to obtain the basic informations about effective herbicide use, enhancing herbicidal efficacy and reducing the chemical cost. Fourteen herbicides with 91 mixed combinations were evaluated by Limpel et al method at the Echinochloa crus galli Beauv-Monochuria vaginalis Presl.-Scirpus hotarui Ohwi (importance values of these weeds were 63%, 16% and 10%, respectively) community type. Thirty eight mixed combinations showed the antagonistic response. Among these 14 mixed combinations including chlormethoxynil + naproanilide mixture were greater than 11% in antagonistic effect. On the other hand, 40 mixed combinations including chlormethoxynil + SW751 mixture showed additive response (${\pm}2%$). For synergistic response, 13 mixed combinations were belonged to this group. Particularly, 3 mixed combinations, chlormethoxynil + butachlor, chlormethoxynil + bifenox and nitrofen + ACN/MCPB/nitrofen mixtures were greater than 11% in synergistic effects. The mixture of thiobencarb + oxyfluorfen was analyzed by isobole technique. This mixture showed the synergistic response and the interaction index was approximately 2. The most optimum mixtur for inducing 90%n weed suppression was 0.012 kg ai/ha for oxyfluorfen and 0.45 kg ai/ha for thiobencarb.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 1999

The differentiation between malignancy-related ascites(MRA) and non-malignant ascites (NMA) is important for further diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Although many parameters were investigated, none has provided a complete distinction between MRA and NMA. We investigated several ascitic fluid parameters to determine the differential power, and to differentiate malignant-related from nonmalignant-related ascites with a sequence of sensitive parameters followed by specific parameters. For the present study, 80 patients with ascites were divided into two groups: MRA and NMA, The MRA group was consisted of 27 patients with proven malignancy by image study, biopsy, and follow up: 21 of these patients had peritoneal carcinomatosis, but the remaining 6 showed no evidence of peritoneal carcinomatosis. The NMA group was consisted of 53 patients with no evidence of malignancy: among these patients, one had SLE, and others had liver cirrhosis, The samples of blood and ascites were obtained simultaneously, and then the levels of ascites cholesterol, CEA. protein and LDH, cytology, albumin gradient, ascites/serum concen-tration ratios of LDH(LDH A/S), and ascites/serum concentration ratios of protein(protein A/S) were measured. Applying cut-off limits for determined parameters, we estimated the diagnostic efficacy of each parameter, Among the eight parameters investigated, ascites fluid cholesterol yielded the best sensitive value of 93%(cut-off value 30mg/dl), and cytologic examination and the protein A/S(cut-off value 0.5) showed the most specific value of 100% and 96%, respectively. Based on the above results, the diagnostic sequence with cholesterol as a sensitive parameter followed by the combination of cytologic examination and protein A/S as specific parameters, was tested in 80 patients. This diagnostic sequence identified 81.5% of patients with malignancy, and all patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis were classified as malignancy-related ascites. In spite of many limitations, this proposed diagnostic sequence may permit a cost-effective and simple differentiation of malignancy-related ascites from nonmalignant ascites.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 1993

Background: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a very sensitive method for the detecting of mycobacterial DNA. There are many reports revealing the efficacy of PCR for the diagnosis of M. tuberculosis, but there are many different methods for DNA extraction from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Bead beater method is a very useful method for DNA extraction from clinical spectimens, but its procedures are relatively complicated and time-consuming. So we studied other methods for the DNA extraction from Mycobacterium tuberculosis $H_{37}Rv$ and some clinical specimens (5 smear positive sputa and 5 smear negative CSF). Method: We extracted the mycobacterial DNA with 6 different methods from H37Rv strain and clinical specimens. The methods included SDS-microwave oven method, NaOH lysis method, Triton X-100-Proteinase K method, Lysis buffer method, SDS-proteinase K method and bead beater method. The target DNA was 123bp of IS6110 and was detected by examination of ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Results: Among 6 methods, SDS-proteinase K method, bead beater method, lysis buffer method and triton X-100-proteinase K method were excellent, but SDS-proteinase K method was the best method in the aspect of simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Conclusion: We suggest that SDS-porteinase K method is a simple and convinient method and might be the best method for the extraction of mycobacterial DNA.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2003

Background : In intubated patients, cultures of endotracheal aspirates (EA) are apt to contamination throughout the endotracheal tube. Therefore, the identification of etiologic agents via conventional EA cultures is not always reliable. In order to differentiate a pulmonary infection from a non-infectious disease, and to identify the true etiologic agent of acute pulmonary infection, blinded protected specimen brushing (PSB) was used, and its efficacy evaluated. Methods : In 51 intubated patients, with suspected pneumonia, blind PSB were performed, and the results compared with blood and EA cultures. A protected specimen brush was introduced through the endotracheal tube, and settled at the affected large bronchus. A specimen brush was introduced to the expected region using the blind method. The tip of the brush was introduced with an aseptic technique after vigorously mixed for 1 minute in $1cm^3$ of Ringer's lactate solution. The specimens were submitted for quantitative culture within 15 minutes, with a culture being regarded as positive if the colony forming units were above $10^3/ml$. Results : Of the 51 patients, 15 (29.4%) had community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), 27 (52.9%) hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and 9 (17.6%) non-infectious diseases. The sensitivity and specificity of the quantitative PSB culture for the diagnosis of pneumonia were 52.4 and 88.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of EA were 78.6 and 77.8%, respectively. The blind PSB was superior to the EA for the identification of true etiologic agents. Of 53 episodes of 27 HAP patients, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) (41.5%) was the most common causative agent followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.1%), Klebsiella sp. (7.5%) and Acinetobacter sp. (7.5%). Conclusions : As a simple, non-invasive diagnostic modality, the blind PSB is a useful method for the differentiation of a pulmonary infection from non-infectious diseases and to identify the etiologic agents in intubated patients. A blind PSB can be performed without bronchoscopy, so is safer, more convenient and cost-effectiveness for patients where bronchoscopy can not be performed.

• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.177-190
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to provide domestic small and medium manufacturing businesses with effective ways of introducing and promoting design management, earnestly, as a key strategy for raising corporate competitiveness. For the purpose, this researcher discussed the management property of small and medium businesses, the introducing process and method and the necessity of promoting design management in small and medium businesses. Then the researcher reviewed and analyzed existing empirical studies to know the current status of design introduction and design management promotion i domestic small and medium businesses. Results of the study can be described as below. Prerequisite to the successful introduction by domestic small and medium businesses of design management are three CEO determinations - the firm will to the necessity of design introduction, the firm conviction in design efficacy, and the clear recognition of the existential value of design - and the establishment of at least five infrastructures -design organization, CDO, designers, design policy, and design strategy. For the promoting and succeeding in the execution of design management, design management system should have established based on such determinations and infrastructures, and CEOs should have design management mind firmly established and driven and realized next activities in the process of product development. 1) Set the principle of design priority in a new product development and establish an appropriate production system and environment. 2) Decide a new design development as the top-priority task of management and then practice it in a strategic way. 3) Be positive in design investment while accepting design management as a concept related not to cost, but to investment. 4) Utilize design extensively under the understanding that design management has something to do with corporate design system as a whole. 5) Treat design as the most valuable resource of business under the recognition that design is the most important determinant of corporate competitiveness.