• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.243-255
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• 2010

The slope design of an open-pit mine must consider economical efficiency and stability. Thus, the overall slope angle is the principal factor because of limited support or reinforcement options available in such a setting. In this study, slope displacement, as monitored by a GPS system, was analyzed for a coal mine at Pasir, Indonesia. Predictions of failure time by inverse velocity analysis showed good agreement with field observations. Therefore, the failure time of an unstable slope can be roughly estimated prior to failure. A GIS model that combines fuzzy theory and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was developed to assess slope instability in open-pit coal mines. This model simultaneously considers seven factors that influence the instability of open-pit slopes (i.e., overall slope gradient, slope height, surface flows, excavation plan, tension cracks, faults, and water body). Application of the proposed method to an open-pit coal mine revealed an enhanced prediction accuracy of failure time and failure site compared with existing methods.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.464-469
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• 2011

Introduction: As dental implant surgery is becoming increasingly popular, it has become one of the causes for the hypesthesia of the inferior alveolar nerve, along with other surgical procedures, such as a third molar extraction. In addition, it tends to cause legal problems between the operator and patient. Therefore, there must be a proper method that is reliable, objective and economical to assess the nerve impairment. For this reason, an attempt was made to use an Electric Pulp Tester to assess inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients were tested. Electric pulp testing of the lower jaw skin was performed at the three different times, before anesthesia, at the onset of sensory changes and after 15 minutes waiting from the onset, and on the 10 points of the chin, which produced 10 sections on the skin area. Results: Twenty seven patients (90%) could feel the electric stimulus on the chin at all 10 points before local anesthesia and the scores represent the statistical differences between the right and left points except R4 and L4. After anesthesia, the difference between the right and left points (L3-R3, L4-R4, L5-R5) increased significantly with time but two points (L2, R2) showed no significant difference. The scores on the left chin (L3, L4, L5) increased, whereas the other points (R1-R5, L1, L2) showed no significant differences. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential clinical use of an electric pulp tester for an assessment of inferior alveolar nerve impairment.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.79-92
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• 2007

To enhance the excellence, effectiveness and economical efficiency in the learning process, we implement a hybrid educational system for engineering experiments where web-based virtual laboratory systems and distance education systems are properly integrated. In the first stage, we designed client/server distributed environment and developed web-based virtual laboratory systems for digital systems and electrical/electronic circuit experiments. The proposed virtual laboratory systems are composed of four important sessions and their management system: concept learning session, virtual experiment session, assessment session. With the aid of the management system every session is organically tied up together to achieve maximum learning efficiency. In the second stage, we have implemented efficient and cost-effective distant laboratory systems for practicing electric/electronic circuits, which can be used to eliminate the lack of reality occurred during virtual laboratory session. The use of simple and user-friendly design allows a large number of people to access our distant laboratory systems easily. Thus, self-guided advanced training is available even if a lot of expensive equipment will not be provided in the on-campus laboratories. The proposed virtual/distant laboratory systems can be used in stand-alone fashion, but to enhance learning efficiency we integrated them and developed a hybrid educational system for engineering experiments. Our hybrid education system provides the learners with interactive learning environment and a new approach for the delivery of engineering experiments.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.201-212
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• 2016

A Wind resource assessment and optimal micrositing of wind turbines were implemented for the development of an onshore wind farm of 30 MW capacity on Gadeok Island in Busan, Republic of Korea. The wind data measured by the automatic weather system (AWS) that was installed and operated in the candidate area were used, and a reliability investigation was conducted through a data quality check. The AWS data were measured for one year, and were corrected for the long term of 30 years by using the modern era retrospective analysis for research and application (MERRA) reanalysis data and a measure- correlate-predict (MCP) technique; the corrected data were used for the optimal micrositing of the wind turbines. The micrositing of the 3 MW wind turbines was conducted under 25 conditions, then the best-optimized layout was analyzed with a various wake model. When the optimization was complete, the estimated park efficiency and capacity factor were from 97.6 to 98.7 and from 37.9 to 38.3, respectively. Furthermore, the annual energy production (AEP), including wake losses, was estimated to be from 99,598.4 MWh to 100,732.9 MWh, and the area was confirmed as a highly economical location for development of a wind farm.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.147-156
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the weight values of evaluation items by traffic safety project type. METHODS : In general, a large-scale investment in projects such as the traffic safety project requires economic analyses to be performed in advance. However, there is an argument for considering special characteristics of the traffic safety project. Therefore, this study conducted characteristic analysis of the weight values of evaluation items. The analysis consisted of two steps. The first step was hypothesis verification using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In this process, the authors examined whether the weight of evaluation items is the same regardless of the traffic safety project type. Based on the first step's results, the authors proceeded to the second step. The objective of this step was to analyze how different the weight values are by traffic safety project type using an analytic hierarchy process. RESULTS : According to the ANOVA test results, the benefit to cost ratios have different weight values based on traffic safety project type at the 0.01 significance level. The policy evaluation items, such as the plans connection, resident opinion, and regional equity, also showed the same results except that the result for the related plans connection was statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Based on the first step's result, the AHP analysis in the second step showed that the traffic safety projects for vulnerable users and pedestrians have very low weight values in economic evaluation factors compared with other safety project types. The weight values for vulnerable users and pedestrians were 0.29 and 0.26, respectively, in economic evaluation items. On the other hand, the weight values for other safety project types were around 0.6. Among the policy evaluation items, resident opinion showed a higher weight value than other factors, such as connection and regional equity items. CONCLUSIONS : The social and economic impact of a traffic safety project varies by project type and project characteristics. Although the economic approach is overarching and a reasonable methodology is applied for large-scale projects, it should be noted that the safety issue, especially for transportation of vulnerable uses, requires a non-economical approach. Based on the analysis results, this study suggests that the priority of the projects should be determined by separating them into independent assessment groups depending on their characteristics.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2003

How to compare the environmental damage caused by vehicles with different foe]s and drive trains\ulcorner This paper describes a methodology to assess the environmental impact of vehicles, using different approaches, and evaluating their benefits and limitations. Rating systems are analysed as tools to compare the environmental impact of vehicles, allowing decision makers to dedicate their financial and non-financial policies and support measures in function of the ecological damage. The paper is based on the "Clean Vehicles" research project, commissioned by the Brussels Capital Region via the BIM-IBGE (Brussels Institute for the Conservation of the Environment) (Van Mierlo et at., 2001). The VriJe Universiteit Brussel (ETEC) and the universite Libre do Bruxelles (CEESE) have jointly carried out the workprogramme. The most important results of this project are illustrated in this paper. First an overview of environmental, economical and technical characteristics of the different alternative fuels and drive trains is given. Afterward the basic principles to identify the environmental impact of cars are described. An outline of the considered emissions and their environmental impact leads to the definition of the calculation method, named Ecoscore. A rather simple and pragmatic approach would be stating that all alternative fuelled vehicles (LPG, CNG, EV, HEV, etc.) can be considered as ′clean′. Another basic approach is considering as ′clean′ all vehicles satisfying a stringent omission regulation like EURO IV or EEV. Such approaches however don′t tell anything about the real environmental damage of the vehicles. In the paper we describe "how should the environmental impact of vehicles be defined\ulcorner", including parameters affecting the emissions of vehicles and their influence on human beings and on the environment and "how could it be defined \ulcorner", taking into account the availability of accurate and reliable data. We take into account different damages (acid rain, photochemical air pollution, global warming. noise, etc.) and their impacts on several receptors like human beings (e.g., cancer, respiratory diseases, etc), ecosystems, or buildings. The presented methodology is based on a kind of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in which the contribution of all emissions to a certain damage are considered (e.g. using Exposure-Response damage function). The emissions will include oil extraction, transportation refinery, electricity production, distribution, (Well-to-Wheel approach), as well as the emission due to the production, use and dismantling of the vehicle (Cradle-to-Grave approach). The different damages will be normalized to be able to make a comparison. Hence a reference value (determined by the reference vehicle chosen) will be defined as a target value (the normalized value will thus measure a kind of Distance to Target). The contribution of the different normalized damages to a single value "Ecoscore" will be based on a panel weighting method. Some examples of the calculation of the Ecoscore for different alternative fuels and drive trains will be calculated as an illustration of the methodology.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.473-479
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• 2008

Environment problem has been arising in many countries. Especially, soil erosion has been deemed as one of the biggest issues because sediment causes muddy water and pollutants, such as agricultural chemicals, flow in the stream with this sediment. Many studies, regarding soil loss and non-point source pollution from watershed, has been performed while serious problem has been known. Soil loss occurred in most agricultural area by rainfall and runoff. It makes hydraulic structure unstable, causes environmental economical problems because muddy water destroys ecosystem and causes intake water deterioration. As revealing serious effects of muddy water by sediment, many researches have been doing with various methods. Hydraulic structures establishments such as soil erosion control dams and grit chamber are common. Vegetative filter strip is investigated in this study because vegetative filter strip is designed for reducing sediment from upland areas of the watershed, and it has many functions, not only sediment reduction but also runoff water quality improvement and wildlife habitat. With these positive functions of the vegetative filter strip, the study about vegetative filter strip has been increasing for reducing sediment because it is more effective than hydraulic structures from an environmental perspective. But the sediment trapping efficiency by vegetative filter strip, needs to be investigated and designed first. Therefore the model, VFSMOD-W, was used in this study as it can estimate sediment trapping efficiency of vegetative filter strip under various field, vegetation, weather condition. Sensitive factors to sediment trapping efficiency are studied with VFSMOD-W, and sediment trapping efficiency equation has been derived using two most sensitive factors. It is thought that the equation suggested in this study can be used in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to overcome the limit of SWAT filter strip module, which is based solely on filter strip width.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2014

The structures of reinforced concrete has been extensively increased with rapid development of industrial society. Futhermore, these reinforced concretes are easy to expose to severe corrosive environments such as sea water, contaminated water, acid rain and seashore etc.. Thus, corrosion problem of inner steel bar embedded in concrete is very important in terms of safety and economical point of view. In this study, multiple mortar test specimen(W/C:0.4) with six types having different cover thickness each other was prepared and was immerged in seawater solution for five years to evaluate the effect of cover thickness and immersion years to corrosion property of embedded steel bar. And the polarization characteristics of these embedded steel bars was investigated using electrochemical methods such as measuring corrosion potential, cathodic polarization curve, and cyclic voltammogram. At the beginning of immersion, the corrosion potentials exhibited increasingly nobler values with increasing cover thickness. However, after immersed for 5 years, the thicker cover of thickness, the corrosion potentials shifted in the negative direction, and the relationship between corrosion potential and cover thickness was not in good agreement with each other. Therefore, it is considered that the thinner cover of thickness, corrosive products deposited on the surface of the embedded steel bar plays the role as a resistance polarization which is resulted in decreasing the corrosion rate as well as shifting the corrosion potential in the positive direction. As a result, it seemed that the evaluation which corrosion possibility of the reinforced steel would be estimated by only measuring the corrosion potential may not be a completely desirable method. Therefore, it is suggested that we should take into account various parameters, including cover thickness, passed aged years as well as corrosion potential for more accurate assessment of corrosion possibility of reinforced steel which is exposed to partially or fully in marine environment for long years.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.39 no.1 s.162
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• pp.59-68
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• 2006

To assess the water resources sustainability, many indicators and methodologies have been suggested by international organizations and developed in other countries. However, in the previous studies, some of indicators were unsuitable for assessing the sustainability of water use and management in Korea. Thus, in this study nSl(Water Resources Sustainability Index), a multi-variable index, was created by consideration of environmental, social, and economical criteria. Relative weights for components, indicators and sub-indexes, were determined by employing the Analytic Hierarchy Process. In order to extract the indicators related with water resources sustainability, the data related with water resources and indicators suggested in various field were compared and thoroughly reviewed. These indicators were classified into four groups; Economic Efficiency Index, Social Equity Index, Environmental Conservation Index, and Maintenance Capability Index. The weight of each component were decided by the survey of 127 specialists in water resources and sustainability. The result of survey represented that efficiency and equity of water use and water quality for river restoration are major issues in enhancing the water resources sustainability In addition, it was found that investment and public participation should be considered for sustainable water use.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2019

Reversible solid oxide fuel cell (ReSOC) system was integrated with waste steam for electrical energy storage in distributed energy storage application. Waste steam was utilized as external heat in SOEC mode for higher hydrogen production efficiency. Three system configurations were analyzed to evaluate techno-economic performance. The first system is a simple configuration to minimize the cost of balance of plant. The second system is the more complicated configuration with heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The third system is featured with HRSG and fuel recirculation by blower. Lumped models were used for system performance analyses. The ReSOC stack was characterized by applying area specific resistance value at fixed operating pressure and temperature. In economical assessment, the levelized costs of energy storage (LCOS) were calculated for three system configurations based on capital investment. The system lifetime was assumed 20 years with ReSOC stack replaced every 5 years, inflation rate of 2%, and capacity factor of 80%. The results showed that the exergy round-trip efficiency of system 1, 2, 3 were 47.9%, 48.8%, and 52.8% respectively. The high round-trip efficiency of third system compared to others is attributed to the remarkable reduction in steam requirement and hydrogen compression power owning to fuel recirculation. The result from economic calculation showed that the LCOS values of system 1, 2, 3 were 3.46 ¢/kWh, 3.43 ¢/kWh, and 3.14 ¢/kWh, respectively. Even though the systems 2 and 3 have expensive HRSG, they showed higher round-trip efficiencies and significant reduction in boiler and hydrogen compressor cost.