• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2009

Vinyl chloride (VC) is a known human carcinogen, and it is released to multi-environmental media via several exposure routes. VC was potentially evaluated as a water quality pollutant based on human health risk assessment in Korean water environments. In this study, we investigated physicochemical and toxicological properties of VC, human health and ecological risk assessment, and the regulation of VC as a water quality pollutant in developed countries. Currently there are no standard or guideline values of VC in Korean legal system for the protection of human health and aquatic ecosystem, except that it is designated as a specific toxic substance and a water quality pollutant. Human health risk assessment of VC was previously performed based on the limited water quality monitoring data. The monitoring level of VC in Korean water system is more higher than other countries'. VC was assessed as potential hazardous chemical based on the US EPA's cancer risk assessment. There were a few ecotoxicity data of VC available using very limited kinds of aquatic organisms, and the toxicity results obtained seem to be overestimated without considering the losses of VC in open exposure system. Therefore it is needed to monitor the VC in various areas and to carry out the ecotoxicity research using multi-level organisms. We expect that these results can be useful information for implementing VC as a water quality pollutant in legal system for the protection of human health and aquatic ecosystem in near future.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.349-356
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• 2014

With the advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the perceptions of HIV therapy have changed from treating acute and terminal diseases to managing complex chronic diseases. Due to needs for specialists with professional knowledge on anti-retroviral therapies, pharmacists have been recognized as established and integral members in HIV multi-disciplinary care teams. Nevertheless, the roles of Korean pharmacists for HIV/AIDS therapy were highly limited. According to the transition of '2+4'-year pharmacy school curricula in Korea, it is necessary for pharmacy students to possess improved knowledge about and proper attitudes toward HIV/AIDS as future pharmacists. However, there have been little studies regarding the assessment of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and risk perceptions of pharmacy students in Korea. Thus, this study was to examine Korean pharmacy students' knowledge levels, attitudes, and risk perceptions about HIV/AIDS and compare them according to pharmacy educational systems. The self-reported questionnaire was utilized to collect data. Total 238 students responded to the survey questionnaires. Most pharmacy students who participated in this study knew that the main transmission routes of HIV were unprotected sex, unscreened blood, occupational exposure, and intravenous drug use. However, they did not properly know post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. The pharmacy students under '2+4'-year curricula were more competent with treatment, care, counseling for HIV patients than those under 4-year curricula. Most pharmacy students thought that all healthcare students and professionals should receive mandatory HIV testings. The results from this study may contribute to developing new educational programs about HIV/AIDS. Additionally, further studies regarding the changes of Korean pharmacy students' attitudes and risk perceptions will need to be performed after they participate in these kinds of the programs.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 2013

Burkholderia pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 has an anti-bacterial effect on Garlic White Rot caused by Sclereotium cepivorum and Sclereotium sp.. It is an environmentally friendly microbial product that prevents and controls a variety of phytopathogens involving Garlic White Rot caused by Sclereotium cepivorum and Sclereotium sp.. The aim of this study was to assess and to compare the pathogenicity of Burkholderia pyrrocinia CAB08106-4 by single exposure of rats through several routes such as oral, intranasal and intravenous. For the acute toxicity / pathogenicity study, the animals were sacrificed on days 3, 7, 14 and 21, and macroscopically observed their organs to examine the numbers of internally-retained pesticidal microbes. Clinical examinations were performed daily during administration period, and body weight gain was evaluated. In the study, no clinical sign, weight gain and mortality were observed in relation to the administration of test article. The significant changes of internal/external microbes by test article were not detected. The pathological findings in relation to the administration of the test article in the necropsy were not observed. It could be concluded that the microorganism was not toxic or pathogenic in rats via oral, intranasal and intravenous route.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.181-195
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• 2015

Financial industries have operated internal and external network with an unified system for continual business process of customers and other organizations in the past. The financial supervising authority requires more technical and managerial protecting policy to financial industries related to the exposure as danger of external attacks or information leakage. Financial industries performed network separation into internal business and external internet networks for protecting IT assets from malware infection accessing internet or hacking attacks and prohibiting leakage of customers' personal and financial information following financial supervising authority and redefine security policy to fit on network separated-condition. In this study, effectiveness for network separation policy was examined on malware inflow and verified that malware inflow in all routes can be blocked by the policy with analyzing operration data of a financial company, estimating network separation. Result of this study proves that malware infection route by portable storages was not completely blocked even on adapting network-separated condition. As a solution for this, efficient security policy would be suggested in this paper as controlling portable storages for maximizing effectiveness of network separation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

Objectives: Particulate contaminants, such as total and respirable dusts, can harm the health of farm workers via several routes. The principal aims of this field study were to determine the concentrations and emissions of particulate contaminants: total and respirable dusts, in the different types of swine houses used in Korea, and allow objective comparison between Korea and the other countries in terms of swine housing types. Methods: The swine houses investigated in this research were selected with respect to three criteria: the manure removal system, ventilation mode and growth stage of pigs. Measurements of total and respirable dust concentrations and emissions in the swine houses were carried out on 5 housing types at 15 different farm sites per housing type. The swine houses investigated were randomly selected from farms situated within the central districts in Korea: province of Kyung-gi, Chung-buk and Chung-nam. Results: The total and respirable dust concentrations in the swine houses averaged $1.88\;and\;0.64mg/m^3$, ranging from $0.53\;to\;4.37mg/m^3$ and from $0.18\;to\;1.68mg/m^3$, respectively. The highest concentrations of total and respirable dusts were found in the swine houses with deep-litter bed systems: $2.94mg/m^3\;and\;1.14 mg/m^3$, while the lowest concentrations were found in the naturally ventilated buildings with slats: $0.83mg/m^3\;and\;0.24mg/m^3$, respectively (p<0.05). All the swine houses investigated did not exceed the threshold limit values (TLVs) for total ($10mg/m^3$) and respirable ($2.5mg/m^3$) dusts. The mean emissions of total and respirable dusts, per pig (75 kg in terms of live weight) and area ($m^2$), from the swine houses were 97.33 and 9.55 mg/h/pig and $37.14\;and\;12.83mg/h/m^2$, respectively. The swine houses with deep-litter bed systems showed the highest emissions of total and respirable dusts (p<0.05). However, the emissions of total and respirable dusts from the other swine houses were not significantly different (p>0.05). Conclusion: The concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts were relatively higher in the swine houses managed with deep-litter bed systems and ventilated naturally of the different swine housing types tested. In further research, more farms than the number used in this research should be investigated, which will present objective and accurate data on the concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts in Korean swine houses. In addition, personal sampling should be performed to objectively assess the exposure level of farm workers to particulate contaminants.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.605-614
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• 2015

This study was carried out to maintain, manage and restore the trails by assessing the physical conditions, the patterns of deterioration and the impact rating class of the major trails of Juwangsan National Park. The major trails followed 4 routes including Jubong, Gamaebong, Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi and Woloe. The route length of Jubong was 4.6 km; it was 3.6 km for Gamaebong, 5.6 km for Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi and 5.9 km for Woloe. As for the physical conditions, Jubong was the widest and Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the narrowest in trail width. In terms of the bared trail width, Jubong was the widest and Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the narrowest. As for the depth of erosion, Gamaebong was the deepest and Woloe was the shallowest. Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi was the steepest and Gamaebong was the gentlest in the slope. Further, Gamaebong showed the highest soil hardness, and Woloe had the lowest hardness. In terms of the times of appearance of deterioration patterns, Jubong recorded 71 times, Gamaebong 62 times, Janggunbong~Geumeungwangi 63 times and Woloe 78 times. In case of the impact rating class, the trail erosion was similar to grades I and II grade; the rest were mostly I grade and hence considered to be in a generally good condition. For the ongoing management of trails, a comprehensive study needs to be conducted in the light of various environmental factors. Also, a restoration plan for damaged trails should be established with consideration for the surrounding environment and ecosystem.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.72-82
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• 2008

Benzene is a very harmful and toxic compound known as human carcinogen by all routes of exposure. Owing to the risky feature of benzene, several countries such as Japan, UK and EU have established the ambient air quality standard and protect from that risk of it. Korea also has designated it as one of the criteria air pollutants and established the concentration limit ($5\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in the air and is going to apply the standard from 2010. Benzene is emitted from various sources such as combustion plants, production processes, waste treatment facilities and also automobiles. Mobile source is known as one of the major emission sources of benzene. In this study, we estimated the domestic emissions of benzene from mobile source and compared the results with those of advanced countries. Mobile source was divided into 2 categories, Le., on-road source and non-road source. The total emissions of benzene from mobile source were estimated as 3,106 tons/yr and 1,612 tons/yr was emitted from on-road source and 1,494 tons/yr was from non-road source. Emission ratio of benzene from on-road source showed that 80.0% was from passenger cars, 10.1% was from taxis, 7.2% was from light-duty vehicles, 2.5% was from heavy-duty vehicles and 0.2% was from buses. In the case of non-road source, the distribution showed that 66.3% was from construction machineries, 14.5% was from locomotives, 11.7% was from ships, 7.1% was from agriculture equipments and 0.5% was from aircrafts. The cold-start emissions were estimated as 942 tons/yr and this value was almost 1.5 times greater than that for hot engine emissions (608 tons/yr). In addition, the fuel-based distribution was 65.9%, 31.1% and 2.8% from gasoline, LPG and diesel vehicles, respectively. The emission ratio from mobile source occupied 65% and 30% of total benzene emissions in USA and UK, respectively. In case of Korea, the emission ratio of benzene from mobile source occupied 29% (15% from on-road source, 14% from non-road source) which showed similar value with UK.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2012

As nanotechnology is a key industry, there is growing concern relating to the potential risk of nanoparticles. They are known to be released into the environment via various exposure routes. When nanoparticles are present in water environments, they are supposed to be illuminated by ultraviolet light, and the ecotoxicity of photoactive nanoparticles may be changed. In this study, a review of the ecotoxicity of photoactive nanoparticles, including the mechanisms of phototoxicity, are presented. In order to address this issue, studies on the ecotoxicity to soil and water organisms exposed to photoactive nanoparticles were investigated. The photoactive nanoparticles chosen for this study were zinc oxide, titanium dioxide and fullerene. Microorganisms, nematode, earthworm, algae and fish, etc., were chosen to assess the toxicity of nanoparticles using diverse methods. However, studies on the phototoxicity potentially induced by nanoparticles on UV illumination have been reviewed in only 8 studies. From a few studies, photoactive nanoparticles have shown high dissolution rates under UV conditions, with the released ions observed to profoundly influence test organisms. In addition, NPs exposed to UV produced reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS can induce oxidative stress in exposed organisms. Evidence of phototoxicity by nanoparticles were found based on previous studies.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2007

Veterinary antibiotics have been widely used to increase feed efficiency, to prevent disease, and to promote growth as well as to control disease. The antibiotics administered can be excreted through the urine and feces. One of the major routes of veterinary antibiotics entering soil and water environment is via the application of animal manure to agricultural land as an organic fertilizer source. Since little is known about impacts of antibiotics on the environment, this study was conducted to prioritize the veterinary antibiotics based on the consumption and potential to reach the environment. Among 83 veterinary antibiotics consumed in Korea, ten antibiotics were used at the greater dose than 25 Mg in 2004. Potential to reach the environment was determined according to excretion rate after administered to animals and sorption affinity to soil solids after applied to agricultural land. Seventeen antibiotic active ingredients (Ais) were classified as 'High' priority in terms of the potential to reach the environment. An overall priority score was determined by combining priority score based on consumption with the degree of potential environment exposure. Twenty veterinary antibiotic AIs were classified as 'Very high' or 'High' priority requiring detailed assessment. The antibiotic AIs were identified four aminoglycosides, two macrolides, two penicillins, five sulfonamides, three tetracyclines, two quinolones, and two miscellaneous. Eight veterinary antibiotic AIs including amoxicillin, carbadox, chlortetracycline, neomycin, oxytetracycline, sulfamethazine, sulfathiazole, and tylosin were identified to have a greater priority of environmental risk in Korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.16-33
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• 2022

Purposes: Prompt evaluation of routes and contact tracing are very important for epidemiological investigations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To ensure better adoption of contact tracing apps, it is necessary to understand users' expectations, preferences, and concerns. This study aimed to identify main reasons why people use the apps, appropriate services, and basis for voluntary app services that can improve app participation rates and data sharing. Methodology/Approach: This study conducted an online survey from November 11 to December 6, 2020, and received a total of 1,048 survey responses. This study analyzed the questionnaire survey findings of 883 respondents in areas with many confirmed cases of COVID-19. This study used a multiple regression analysis. Findings: Respondents who had experience of using related apps showed a high intention to use contact-tracing apps. Participants wished for the contact tracking apps to be provided by the government or public health centers (74%) and preferred free apps (93.88%). The factors affecting the participants' intention to use these apps were their preventive value, performance expectancy, perceived risk, facilitative ability, and effort expectancy. The results highlighted the need to ensure voluntary participation to address participants' concerns regarding privacy protection and personal information exposure. Practical Implications: The results can be used to accurately identify user needs and appropriate services and thereby improve the development of contact tracking apps. The findings provide the basis for voluntary app that can enhance app participation rates and data sharing. The results will also serve as the basis for developing trusted apps that can facilitate epidemiological investigations.