• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.668-674
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• 2019

Objectives: Modern people spend most of their day indoors. As the health impact of radon becomes an issue, public interest also has been growing. The primary route of potential human exposure to radon is inhalation. Long-term exposure to high levels of radon increases the risk of developing lung cancer. Radon exposure is known to be the second-leading cause of lung cancer, following tobacco smoke. This study measures the indoor radon concentrations in detached houses in area A of Chungcheongbuk-do Province considering the construction year, cracks in the houses, the location of installed detectors, and seasonal effects. Methods: The survey was conducted from September 2017 to April 2018 on 1,872 private households located in selected areas in northern Chungcheongbuk-do Province to figure out the year of building construction and the location of detector installed and identify the factors which affect radon concentrations in the air within the building. Radon was measured using a manual alpha track detector (Raduet, Hungary) with a sampling period of longer than 90 days. Results: Indoor radon concentrations in winter within area A was surveyed to be 168.3±193.3 Bq/㎥. There was more than a 2.3 times difference between buildings built before 1979 and those built after 2010. The concentration reached 195.4±221.9 Bq/㎥ for buildings with fractures and 167.2±192.4 Bq/㎥ for buildings without fractures. It was found that detectors installed in household areas with windows exhibited a lower concentration than those installed in concealed spaces. Conclusion: High concentrations of indoor radon were shown when there was a crack in the house. Also, ventilation seems to significantly affect radon concentrations because when the location of the detector in the installed site was near windows compared to an enclosed area, radon concentration variation increased. Therefore, it is considered that radon concentration is lower in summer because natural ventilation occurs more often than in winter.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.585-588
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• 2008

To predict the service life of reinforced concrete structures exposed to chloride environment, quantitative measures of material properties such as the critical chloride content for corrosion in concrete and the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions of concrete and the surface chloride content of the concrete are essential. However, it should be noted that they are influenced by several factors such as concrete mix proportions, cement type, and environmental conditions, etc. Thus, the purpose of this research is to estimate more actually the critical chloride content for corrosion of the reinforcing steel in concrete by field exposure experiment. For this purpose, the prism concrete test specimens were made for water-cement(W/C) ratios of 31%, 42%, 50%, and 70%, and then the field exposure experiment for them were conducted at Youngduk of the east coast for about 3 years. During the test, corrosion monitoring by half cell potential method was carried out to detect the time to initiation of corrosion for test specimens and its chloride content was evaluated by breaking the concrete test specimens when corrosion of the reinforcing steel in concrete was perceived. It was observed from the test results that the critical chloride content for corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete would be dependent on W/C ratio and almost irrespective of concrete cover.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.660-668
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• 2017

In this study, we conducted an assessment of the risks posed by the noxious chemicals often handled at the analysis centers of organizations involved in Work Environment Measurement (WEM) using the Chemical Hazard Risk Management (CHARM) system. For this purpose, six organizations involved in WEM located in Seoul and Gyeonggi, which conducted the risk assessment, were selected and, as a result, 29 materials were selected as chemical substances presenting a risk of exposure. In terms of their physical properties, there were 16 liquid and 10 solid materials, and for the special management materials (CMR), the findings were as follows: 'Carcinogenic' 1A - 11 and 1B - 1 (2 - 8); 'Mutagenic' 1A - 4 and 1B - 3 (2 - 8); and 'Repro-toxic' 1A - 0 and 1B - 1 (2 - 6). In the risk estimation, 30.4%, 66.1% and 3.6% of the materials presented 'low', 'average' and 'high' risks, respectively. In addition, two of these six institutions had materials presenting a 'high' risk. This study is significant in that the risk assessment was conducted using CHARM, a chemical substance assessment tool. It is expected that the results will be utilized as the basic data for safety assessment, the establishment of a plan for emergency measures and drawing up a safety management manual, and the institutional and legal management of accidents and risks in the analysis centers of organizations involved in WEM and the management of chemicals by drawing attention to the risks involved.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.421-435
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• 2022

As natural disasters have been increasing due to climate change, sustainable solutions are in need to alleviate the degree of drought hazard, assess and project the drought influence based on future climate change scenarios. In assessing drought risk, socio-economic factors of the region must be considered along with meteorological factors. This study categorized drought hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as three major components of drought risk according to the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) risk assessment framework, and selected indices for each component to quantify the drought risk in South Korea according to the mid-size basins. Combinations of climate scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway; RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5) and socio-economic scenarios (Shared Socio-economic Pathways; SSP 1, SSP2 and SSP3) for the near future (2030-2050) ant the far future (2080-2099) were utilized in drought risk analysis, and results were compared with the historical data (1986-2005). In general, the drought risks for all scenarios shows large increases as time proceeds to the far furture. In addition, we analyzed the rank of drought hazard, exposure, vulnerability for drought risk, and each of their contribution. The results showed that the drought hazard is the most contributing component to the increase of drought risk in future and each basin shows varying contributing components. Finally, we suggested countermeasures for each basin according to future climate change scenarios, and thus this study provides made the basis for establishing drought management measures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.5B
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• pp.489-499
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• 2006

The Potential Flood Damage (PFD) is widely used for representing the degree of potential of flood damage. However, this cannot be related with the design frequency of river basin and so we have difficulty in the use of water resources field. Therefore, in this study, the concept of Potential Risk for Flood Damage Occurrence (PRFD) was introduced and estimated, which can be related to the design frequency. The PRFD has three important elements of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The hazard means a probability of occurrence of flood event, the exposure represents the degree that the property is exposed in the flood hazard, and the vulnerability represents the degree of weakness of the measures for flood prevention. Those elements were devided into some sub-elements. The hazard is explained by the frequency based rainfall, the exposure has two sub-elements which are population density and official land price, and the vulnerability has two sub-elements which are undevelopedness index and ability of flood defence. Each sub-elements are estimated and the estimated values are rearranged in the range of 0 to 100. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is also applied to determine weighting coefficients in the equation of PRFD. The PRFD for the Anyang river basin and the design frequency are estimated by using the maximum rainfall. The existing design frequency for Anyang river basin is in the range of 50 to 200. And the design frequency estimation result of PRFD of this study is in the range of 110 to 130. Therefore, the developed method for the estimation of PRFD and the design frequency for the administrative districts are used and the method for the watershed and the river channel are to be applied in the future study.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.362-371
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• 2023

Background: PM_2.5 pollution has been a persistent problem in South Korea, with concentrations consistently exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The aging of the population in the country further exacerbates the health impacts of PM_2.5 since older adults are more susceptible to the adverse effects of air pollution. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate how the health impact (premature death) due to long-term exposure to PM_2.5 in South Korea could change in the future according to the trend of change in the country's population structure. Methods: The study employs a relative risk function, which accounts for age-specific relative risks, to assess the changes in premature deaths by age and region at the average annual PM_2.5 concentration for 2022 and at PM_2.5 concentration improvement levels. Premature deaths were estimated using the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM). Results: The findings indicate that the increase in premature deaths resulting from the projected population structure changes up to 2050 would significantly outweigh the health benefits (reduction in premature deaths) compared to 2012. This is primarily attributed to the rising number of premature deaths among the elderly due to population aging. Furthermore, the study suggests that the effectiveness of the current domestic PM_2.5 standard would be halved by 2050 due to the increasing impact of population aging on PM_2.5-related mortality. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of considering trends in population structure when evaluating the health benefits of air pollution reduction measures. By comparing and evaluating the health benefits in reflection of changes in population structure to the predicted PM_2.5 concentration improvements at the provincial level, a more comprehensive assessment of regional air quality management strategies can be achieved.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

In spite of the rapid increase of computer use in our everyday life, not much effort is undertaken to take measures to prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders(MSDs). In this paper, we suggest a movable armrest which would lower the exposure to the MSDs, especially on the vicinity of arm. The aim of this study is to determine whether there are differences in wrist angle variations, forearm muscular loads, comfort and normal performance between the invented movable armrest and a conventional armrest when using a computer mouse. Eight experienced VDU workers performed a standardized simple task set which consists of 15 detailed tasks with each armrest. The wrist angle variations in the right arm were registered by electrogoniometer and the muscle activities in the shoulder, deltoid and two extensors in the forearm were also registered by electromyograph. The subjects rated perceived comfort while performing the tasks with each armrest. Working with the invented armrest, compared to general, gave significantly decreased wrist angle variations at most of the detailed tasks of both biaxial movements. Moreover, as the distance of targets increased, the difference of muscle activities in two different situations trend to be increasing. At the same time, in work with invented armrest, the subjects rated more comfort and they showed decreased normal performances in 8 detailed tasks which were mainly caused by macro moving time.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.742-752
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• 2010

In case of the working machine that using in the loud-noisy workplace, as it generates the loud-noise, it is influencing a physical, mental bad effect to those workers. Accordingly, though the noise countermeasure for the loud-noisy workplace is acutely requiring, until now, those methods that wearing the soundproof-protection tool, or restriction the working hours, and minimize the noise exposure volume, were mainly used. However, such noise countermeasures occur many problem points. On such point of view, using the acoustic simulation technique, let the workers to choose the workplace where suffering many damages due to the noise of working machine, and after grasp the physical property of working machine and indoor acoustic characteristic, this Study has attempted to grasp the reduction degree of noise level at before-improvement?after-improvement, through the sound-absorption measure. Passing through such preceding step, using auralizational technique based on the noise of working machine of before-improvement after-improvement, and by conduct psycho-acoustics evaluation, this study intended to investigate the change degree of subject reaction. As the result of evaluation, it is considering that the noise-reduction countermeasure method for the loud-noisy workplace could be much effective, through the sound-absorption measure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.267-275
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• 2005

Evidence on the relation of socioeconomic position (SEP) with health and illness is mounting in South Korea. Several unlinked studies and individually linked studies (longitudinal study) showed a graded inverse relationship between SEP and mortality among South Korean males and females. Based on the mortality relative ratios by occupational class reported in the published papers of South Korea and western countries, the magnitude of the socioeconomic inequality in mortality in South Korea seems to be similar to or even greater than that in western industrialized countries. A potential contribution of health related selection, health behaviors and psychosocial factors to explain this socioeconomic inequality in mortality was discussed. It was suggested that early life exposure measures would demonstrate a greater ability to explain socioeconomic inequalities in all-cause mortality than the above pathway variables in South Korea. This is based on the cause-specific structure of mortality among the South Korean population who have a relatively greater proportion of stomach cancer, hemorrhagic stroke, liver cancer and liver disease, and tuberculosis, which share early life exposures as important elements of their etiology, than western countries. However, the relative contribution of early and later life socioeconomic conditions in producing socioeconomic inequality in health may differ according to the outcome, thus remains to be investigated.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.350-359
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• 2007

In this paper we present a simple, efficient method for detection of sharp digital images. Recently many digital cameras are equipped with various autofocusing functions to help users take well-focused pictures as easily as possible. However, acquired digital pictures can be further degraded by motion, limited contrast, and inappropriate amount of exposure, to name a few. In order to decide whether to process the image or not, or whether to delete it or not, reliable measure of image quality to detect sharp images from blurry ones is needed. This paper presents a blurriness/sharpness measure, and demonstrates its feasibility using extensive experiments. This method is fast and easy to implement, and accurate. Regardless of the detection accuracy, existing measures are computation-intensive. However, the proposed measure in this paper is not demanding in computation time. Needless to say, this measure can be used for various imaging applications including autofocusing and astigmatism correction.