• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2020

Malaria is a potent burden on public healthcare worldwide due to requiring rapid diagnosis and treatment. Nowadays, prompt diagnosis with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) has been widely accepted as an effective diagnostic technique in malaria-endemic countries, primarily due to their easy operation, fast output, and straightforward interpretation. The global availability and use of RDTs have gradually grown over recent decades as field-applicable diagnostic tests for the reliable confirmation of malaria infection and proper case management. This study was conducted to evaluate diagnostic performance of 3 commercially available malaria RDT kits : BIOCREDIT^TM Malaria Ag Pf(pLDH), Malaria Ag Pf(pLDH/pHRPII), and Malaria Ag Pf/Pv(pLDH/pLDH) (where pLDH and pHRPII stand for plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase and histidine-rich protein 2, respectively) for the specific detection of Plasmodium falciparum. A total of 1,129 blood samples including 95 blood samples, confirmed as vivax malaria infection by microscopic examinations and a nested-PCR method, were tested for falciparum malaria infection. The overall sensitivity and specificity of Malaria Ag Pf(pLDH/pHRPII), Malaria Ag Pf/Pv(pLDH/pLDH), and Pf(pLDH) for P. falciparum were 99.0% and 100%, 95.8% and 100%, and 100% and 100%, respectively. It is proposed that the 3 RDT kits perform reliable level of diagnostic accuracy of detection for P. falciparum parasites.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.559-569
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• 2008

The Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) on board the Communication Ocean Meteorological Satellite (COMS), the first geostationary ocean color sensor, requires accurate atmospheric correction since its eight bands are also affected by atmospheric constituents such as gases, molecules and atmospheric aerosols. Unlike gases and molecules in the atmosphere, aerosols can interact with sunlight by complex scattering and absorption properties. For the purpose of qualified ocean remote sensing, understanding of aerosol-radiation interactions is needed. In this study, we show micro-physical and optical properties of aerosols using the Optical Property of Aerosol and Cloud (OPAC) aerosol models. Aerosol optical properties, then, were used to analysis the relationship between theoretical satellite measured radiation from radiative transfer calculations and aerosol optical thickness (AOT) under various environments (aerosol type and loadings). It is found that the choice of aerosol type makes little different in AOT retrieval for AOT<0.2. Otherwise AOT differences between true and retrieved increase as AOT increases. Furthermore, the differences between the AOT and angstrom exponent from standard algorithms and this study, and the comparison with ground based sunphotometer observations are investigated. Over the northeast Asian region, these comparisons suggest that spatially averaged mean AOT retrieved from this study is much better than from standard ocean color algorithm. Finally, these results will be useful for aerosol retrieval or atmospheric correction of COMS/GOCI data processing.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.296-306
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• 2021

Elasticity is a statistical technique that interprets the changing pattern of another variable according to a change in one variable as a quantitative numerical value and provides more information than correlation analysis and is widely used in climate change research. In this study the elasticity was calculated and sensitivity analysis was performed using air temperature and water quality data of the major tributaries of the Nakdong River. In addition the confidence interval for the elasticity was calculated using the T-Test and the validity of the elasticity was examined. The strength of elasticity shows high strength in the order of summer>fall>spring>winter and the direction shows regional characteristics with both negative and positive elasticity. After performing hierarchical cluster analysis on monthly observation data they were classified into 5 clusters and the characteristics of each cluster were visually analyzed using a parallel coordinate graph. The direction and intensity of the air temperature elasticity show regional characteristics due to the relatively high population density and complex influencing factors such as sewage treatment plants, small-scale livestock houses and agricultural activities. In the case of TP it shows great regional variability according to the circulation of nutrients in the ecosystem caused by algae growth and death according to temperature changes. Since the air temperature elasticity of the major tributaries of the Nakdong River is over weak and is valid at the significance level of 5%, it was analyzed that there is a change in water quality according to the air temperature change.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.555-567
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• 2018

In order to identify the characteristics of sea surface temperature (SST) differences between microwave SST from GCOM-W1/AMSR2 and in-situ measurements in the western coast of Korea, a total of 6,457 collocated matchup data were produced using the in-situ temperature measurements from marine buoy stations (Deokjeokdo, Chilbaldo, and Oeyeondo) from July 2012 to December 2017. The accuracy of satellite microwave SSTs was presented by comparing the ocean buoy data of Deokjeokdo, Chilbaldo, and Oeyeondo stations with the AMSR2 SST data more than five years. The SST differences between the microwave SST and the in-situ temperature measurements showed some dependence on environmental factors, such as wind speed and water temperature. The AMSR2 SSTs were tended to be higher than the in-situ temperature measurements during the daytime when the wind speed was low ($<6ms^{-1}$). On the other hand, they showed positive deviation increasingly as the wind speed increased for nighttime. In addition, increasing tendency of SST differences was related to decreasing sensitivity of microwave sensors at low temperatures and data contamination by land. A monthly analysis of the SST difference showed that unlike the previous trend, which was known to be the largest in winter when strong winds were blowing, the SST difference was largest in summer in Deokjeokdo and Chilbaldo buoy stations. This seemed to be induced by differential tidal mixing at the collocated matchup points. This study presented problems and limitations of the use of microwave SSTs with high contribution to the SST composites in the western coastal region off the Korean peninsula.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2010

This study is analyzed the financial feasibility of biomass power plant in China in terms of fuel marginal price of biomass power plant. The range of fuel price is 150~300 RMB and IRR(Internal Rate of Return), NPV(Net Present Value), DSCR(Debt Service Coverage Ratio) and operation time are analyzed by 10 RMB from 150 RMB. The sensitivity of IRR went down by 1.35 on average. The sensibility of NPV showed big difference by 20% on 260 RMB and 270 RMB. In addition, DSCR of loan is at 1.0 at raw cost of 242 RMB and at lower than 1.0 when the raw cost over 242 RMB. It means that the pay-off of principal and interest of the loan is expected to be difficult in that case. The operation time of power plant should be 88% against standard operation time to maintain over 1.0 of DSCR. Therefore, the factors affecting the cost of raw material to build the power plant and to operate it should be prioritized.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2013

This study has purpose to minimize the impact of climate change of Siheung. Vulnerability assessment was carried out for establishing the Siheung Climate Change Master Plan. Climate change vulnerability assessment analyzed using climate exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity indicators. A proxy variable is selected from each indicator. Meteorological data uses the RCP scenarios provided by the Meteorological Administration, and this study assumes that the same trend will continues in the future. Siheung are vulnerable to heavy rains in the flooded roads and farmland. Also, it is necessary to be careful heat wave in summer. The size and scale of the damage depends on the city's ability to respond to the impacts of climate change. It is necessary to make a adaptation plan for climate change impact assessment and vulnerability analysis. This study will be used to make Siheung Climate Change Master Plan and to determine the priority of the policy as guideline. It is expected that this study is helpful to pursue climate change vulnerability assessment of other local governments.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-37
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• 2012

This research proposes the direction for the assessment of local government infrastructure vulnerabilities relating to climate change driven flood and analyzes the assessment result. In this research, the local government infrastructures are evaluated by three indices such as exposure, infrastructure sensitivity, adaptive capacity and each index is calculated by selected alternative variable. Climate change scenario(A1B) developed on National Institute of Environmental Research is used to calculate present and future(2020, 2050, 2100s) exposure. As the result of infrastructure vulnerability assessment on present, the infrastructures in Seoul, Northern Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, coastal area of Gyeongsangnam-do are vulnerable to flooding. For future, although the spatial pattern of flooding vulnerable infrastructure are similar, the flooding vulnerabilities of infrastructure in Gyeonggido and Ganwon-do would be increased as close to 2100s. It is expected that this research can be utilized as the preliminary analysis for climate change adaptation in local government infrastructure because this research propose the method for the assessment of local government infrastructure vulnerability relating to climate change driven flood and the result such as a trend of infrastructure vulnerability to flooding and the level of contribution of each index and alternative variable.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.spc
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• pp.1161-1169
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• 2018

In this study, a new methodology was proposed to evaluate the flood vulnerability of river levee and to investigate the effect on the levee where the water level changes according to climate change. The stability of levee against seepage was evaluated using SEEP/W model which is two-dimensional groundwater infiltration model. In addition to the infiltration behavior, it is necessary to analyze the vulnerability of the embankment considering the environmental conditions of the river due to climate change. In this study, the levee flood vulnerability index (LFVI) was newly developed by deriving the factors necessary for the analysis of the levee vulnerability. The size of river levee was investigated by selecting the target area. The selected levees were classified into upstream part, midstream part and downstream part at the nearside of Seoul in the Han river, and the safety factor of the levee was analyzed by applying the design flood level of the levee. The safety ratio of the levee was analyzed by applying the design flood level considering the current flood level and the scenario of climate change RCP8.5. The degree of change resulting from climate change was identified for each factor that forms the levee flood vulnerability index. By using the levee flood vulnerability index value utilizing these factors comprehensively, it was finally possible to estimate the vulnerability of levee due to climate change.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.286-293
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• 2019

Hypertension (HTN) is one of the major chronic diseases, and HTN is defined as being in a state of continuous high blood pressure. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a condition in which the mass of the left ventricle has increased, and HTN is a leading cause of LVH. HTN and LVH are known to be caused by the interaction of environmental factors and genetic factors. It has been reported that the polymorphisms of SLC8A1, among the genetic factors that affect high blood pressure, are related to salt sensitivity hypertension. In this study, the genetic polymorphisms of SLC8A1 were chosen based on the Korean Genome and Epidemiology data. Logistic regression analysis was then performed for HTN and LVH. Linear regression analysis was also performed for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). As a result, 5 SNPs showed statistically significant associations (P<0.05) with HTN, and 10 SNPs showed statistically significant associations with LVH. rs1002671 and rs9789739 showed significant correlation at the same time with HTN and LVH. These results suggest that the polymorphisms of the SLC8A1 gene are linked to the development of HTN and LVH in Koreans. We expect these results to help us understand the pathogenic mechanisms for HTN and LVH.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.251-258
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• 2019

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) is characterized by persistent airflow limitations associated with chronic inflammatory response due to noxious particles or gases in the lung. Inflammation and oxidative stress are associated with COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship among inflammation, oxidative stress, and airflow limitation severity in retired miners with COPD. Methods: The levels of serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hsCRP) as a biomarker for inflammation, degree of reactive oxygen metabolites(dROMs) and biological antioxidants potential(BAP) in plasma as biomarkers for oxidative stress were measured in 211 male subjects with COPD. Degree of airflow limitation severity as determined by spirometry was divided into three grades grouped according to the classification of the Global Initiatives for Obstructive Lung Disease(GOLD)(1, mild; 2, moderate; $3{\leq}$, severe or more) using a fixed ratio, post- bronchodilator $FEV_1/FVC$ < 0.7. Results: Mean levels of dROMs significantly increased in relation to airflow limitation severity(GOLD 1, 317.8 U.CARR vs. GOLD 2, 320.3 U.CARR vs. GOLD $3{\leq}$, 350.9 U.CARR, p=0.047) and dROMs levels were correlated with serum hsCRP levels(r=0.514, p<0.001). Mean levels of hsCRP were higher in current smokers(non-smoker, 1.47 mg/L vs. smoker, 2.34 mg/L, p=0.006), and tended to increase with degree of airflow limitation severity(p=0.071). Mean levels of BAP were lower in current smokers(non-smoker, $1873{\mu}mol/L$ vs. smoker, $1754{\mu}mol/L$, p=0.006). Conclusions: These results suggest that inflammation and oxidative stress are related to airflow limitation severity in retired miners with COPD, and there was a correlation between inflammation and oxidative stress.