• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to assess health risks in regard to exposure by children to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children's products. Methods: Ten VOCs were measured by head-space gas chromatography in children's products, including toys, oil pastels, sign pens, furniture, ball pools, and playmats. We estimated the average daily dose (ADD) via inhalation during the use of these children's products and calculated hazard quotient (HQ) by dividing ADD by reference dose of VOCs. Results: Among the measured VOCs, five compounds were identified in children's products: benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylene. The detection rates of VOCs in toys, ball pools, furniture, playmats, sign pens, and oil pastels were 85%, 100%, 100%, 30%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. The maximum levels of VOCs were 0.18 mg benzene/kg in toys, 5.92 mg toluene/kg in playmats, 10.37 mg ethylbenzene/kg in ball pools, 24.85 mg xylene/kg in toys, and 118.29 mg styrene/kg in ball pools. From exposure levels of VOCs in the children's products HQs were calculated within a range of $5.71{\times}10^{-10}$ to $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$. The HQ of xylene was the highest for children aged 0-6 playing on the playmats. However, the HQ via inhalation exposure to VOCs in individual products did not exceed 1.00. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of these children's products do not pose health risks to children.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1011-1016
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• 2022

Bacillus subtilis is a useful bacterium in the food industry with applications as a starter strain for fermented food and as a probiotic. However, it is difficult to discriminate B. subtilis from other Bacillus species because of high phenotypic and genetic similarity. In this study, we employed five previously constructed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) methods for the discrimination of B. subtilis from other Bacillus species and all five MLST assays clearly distinguished B. subtilis. Additionally, the 17 housekeeping genes used in the five MLST assays also clearly distinguished B. subtilis. The pyruvate carboxylase (pyrA) and shikimate dehydrogenase (aroE) genes were selected for the discrimination of B. subtilis because of their high number of polymorphic sites and the fact that they displayed the lowest homology among the 17 housekeeping genes. Specific primer sets for the pyrA and aroE genes were designed and PCR products were specifically amplified from B. subtilis, demonstrating the high specificity of the two housekeeping genes for B. subtilis. This species-specific PCR method provides a quick, simple, powerful, and reliable alternative to conventional methods in the detection and identification of B. subtilis.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.32-37
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• 2016

This paper proposes two measurement methods for injured rate of fish surface using color image segmentation method based on K-means clustering algorithm and Otsu's threshold algorithm. To do this task, the following steps are done. Firstly, an RGB color image of the fish is obtained by the CCD color camera and then converted from RGB to HSI. Secondly, the S channel is extracted from HSI color space. Thirdly, by applying the K-means clustering algorithm to the HSI color space and applying the Otsu's threshold algorithm to the S channel of HSI color space, the binary images are obtained. Fourthly, morphological processes such as dilation and erosion, etc. are applied to the binary image. Fifthly, to count the number of pixels, the connected-component labeling is adopted and the defined injured rate is gotten by calculating the pixels on the labeled images. Finally, to compare the performances of the proposed two measurement methods based on the K-means clustering algorithm and the Otsu's threshold algorithm, the edge detection of the final binary image after morphological processing is done and matched with the gray image of the original RGB image obtained by CCD camera. The results show that the detected edge of injured part by the K-means clustering algorithm is more close to real injured edge than that by the Otsu' threshold algorithm.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.360-364
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• 2020

In this study, the colorimetric sensor, polyester (PET) fabric dyed with lead (II) acetate (Pb(C₂H₃O₂)₂), was fabricated and characterized for the detection of the hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). The surface morphology of the fabric was determined using scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The optical properties of the fabric were evaluated by measuring the variation in the blue value of an RGB sensor. The fabric showed a significant color change, high linearity (R² : 0.98256), and fast response time (< 1.0 s) when exposed to H₂S. This is because the sensor is highly porous and permeable to the gas. The fabric can not only be used as a hydrogen sulfide sensor but also be used to detect and prevent H₂S influx using sticky tape on pipelines.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1168-1177
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• 2019

In order to diagnose and prevent Alzheimer's Disease (AD), it is becoming increasingly important to develop a CAD(Computer-aided Diagnosis) system for AD diagnosis, which provides effective treatment for patients by analyzing 3D MRI images. It is essential to apply powerful deep learning algorithms in order to automatically classify stages of Alzheimer's Disease and to develop a Alzheimer's Disease support diagnosis system that has the function of detecting hippocampus and CSF(Cerebrospinal fluid) which are important biomarkers in diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. In this paper, for AD diagnosis, we classify a given MRI data into three categories of AD, mild cognitive impairment, and normal control according by applying 3D brain MRI image to the Faster R-CNN model and detect hippocampus and CSF in MRI image. To do this, we use the 2D MRI slice images extracted from the 3D MRI data of the Faster R-CNN, and perform the widely used majority voting algorithm on the resulting bounding box labels for classification. To verify the proposed method, we used the public ADNI data set, which is the standard brain MRI database. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves impressive classification performance compared with other state-of-the-art methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2022

In the Yeongdong region of Gangwon-do, coastal areas are important resources in terms of cultural, social and economic aspects. However, the coast of Gangwon-do is experiencing severe erosion, and it is concerned that its adverse effects will gradually increase. In this study, coastline changes of Yangyang and Gangneung in Gangwon-do were tracked and analyzed over a long period of time. In order to build time series image data, aerial photos from the 1940s to the present were mainly used, and data from CORONA satellite, which operated from the 1960s to the early 1970s, were collected and used together. Using 51cm resolution ortho image and 2m resolution Digital Elevation Model(DEM) as reference, ground control points were selected to perform geometric correction on the aerial photos and CORONA images. Subsequently, Canny edge detector applied to these images to extract the coastlines. As a result of analyzing the extracted and vectorized coastlines by overlaying them in chronological order, erosion and deposition occurring around the artificial structures and on the nearby beaches were observed. In this study, the effect of seasonal variation, tide, and various coastal management including the beach filling were not considered. Because coastal erosion is greatly affected by geographic factors, each local government must find its own solution. Continuous research and local data accumulation are required.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2013

This study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological contamination on commonly used hand towels in the child care centers and to investigate the toxin gene and toxin production ability of food-borne pathogens. A total of 22 commonly used hand towels including 7 for before use and 15 for during use were tested. The average number of total aerobic bacteria and fungi were 6.2 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ and 4.1 log CFU/100 $cm^2$. Coliform bacteria were detected in 4 out of 7 before used towels (57.1%) and all of during used towels (100%). These results showed that the sanitary conditions of hand towels in the child care centers should be improved promptly. Among the pathogenic bacteria, Staph. aureus and B. cereus without Salmonella spp. were detected in 5 (22.7%) and 11 (50.0%) out of 22 hand towels. All of Staphy. aureus isolated in this study did not possess any toxin genes and did not produce enterotoxin. The detection rate of hblC, hblD, and hblA toxin genes in B. cereus was 72.7, 72.7, and 54.5% respectively. The possession rate of nheA, nheB, and nheC toxin genes showed 81.8, 72.7, and 54.5% respectively. The cytK and entFM toxin genes were presented at 45.5 and 90.0% in B. cereus. The HBL was detected in 8 out of 11 B. cereus isolates (72.7%) and 5 B. cereus isolates produced NHE (45.5%). Ten out of eleven B. cereus isolates (90.9%) produced one or more enterotoxin such as HBL and NHE. From the results, using a private hand towel or paper towel is required to prevent the cross-contamination between commonly used hand towel and children's hands in the child care center.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.315-320
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• 2015

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is a prevalent pathogen that causes significant yield reduction in soybean production worldwide. SMV belongs to potyvirus and causes typical symptoms such as mild mosaic, mosaic and necrosis. SMV is seed-borne and also transmitted by aphid. Eleven SMV strains, G1 to G7, G5H, G6H, G7H, and G7a were reported in soybean varieties in Korea. A reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) method allowed one-step detection of gene amplification by simple procedure and needed only a simple incubator for isothermal template. This RT-LAMP method allowed direct detection of RNA from virus-infected plants without thermal cycling and gel electrophoresis. In this study, we designed RT-LAMP primers named SML-F3/B3/FIP/BIP from coat protein gene sequence of SMV. After the reaction of RT-LAMP, products were identified by electrophoresis and with the detective fluorescent dye, SYBR Green I under daylight and UV light. Optimal reaction condition was at $58^{\circ}C$ for 60 min and the primers of RT-LAMP showed the specificity for nine SMV strains tested in this study.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.588-597
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• 2016

According to an annual industrial accident report from Ministry of Employment of Labor, among the various types of accidents, the number of accidents from construction industry increases every year with the percentage of 27.56% as of 2014. In fact, this number has risen almost 3% over the last four years. Currently, among the industrial accidents, heavy machinery causes most of the tragedy such as collision or narrowness. As reported by the government, most of the time, both heavy machinery drivers and workers were unaware of each other's positions. Nowadays, however when society requires highly complex structures in minimal time, it is inevitable to allow heavy construction equipments running simultaneously in a construction field. In this paper, we have developed Approach Detection System for excavator in order to reduce the increasing number. The imaged based Approach Detection System contains camera, approach detection sensor and Around View Monitor (AVM). This system is also applicable in a small scale construction fields along with other machineries besides excavators since this system does not require additional communication infra such as server.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.321-331
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• 2011

Mycobacterium bovis, a member of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTC), is the causative agent of bovine tuberculosis. Detection of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis using conventional culture- and biochemical-based assays is time-consuming. Therefore, a simple and sensitive molecular assay for rapid detection would be of great help in specific situations such as faster diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infection in the abattoirs. We developed a novel multiplex real-time PCR assay which was applied directly to biological samples with evidence of bTB and it was allowed to differentiate between M. bovis and M. tuberculosis. The primers and TaqMan probes were designed to target the IS1081 gene, the multi-copy insertion element in the MTC and the 12.7-kb fragment which presents in M. tuberculosis, not in the M. bovis genome. The assay was optimized and validated by testing 10 species of mycobacteria including M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, and 10 other bacterial species such as Escherichia coli, and cattle lymph nodes (n=113). The tests identified 96.4% (27/28) as M. bovis from the MTC-positive bTB samples using conventional PCR for specific insertion elements IS1081. And MTC-negative bTB samples (n=85) were tested using conventional PCR and the real-time PCR. When comparative analyses were conducted on all bovine samples, using conventional PCR as the gold standard, the relative accuracy of real-time PCR was 99.1%, the relative specificity was 100%, and the agreement quotient (kappa) was 0.976. The detection limits of the real-time PCR assays for M. bovis and M. tuberculosis genomic DNA were 10 fg and 0.1 pg per PCR reaction, respectively. Consequently, this multiplex real-time PCR assay is a useful diagnotic tool for the identification of MTC and differentiation of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, as well as the epidemiologic surveillance of animals slaughtered in abattoir.