• Title/Summary/Keyword: Facility risk

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Prevalence of Malaria in Pregnant Women in Lagos, South-West Nigeria

  • Agomo, Chimere O.;Oyibo, Wellington A.;Anorlu, Rose I.;Agomo, Philip U.
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.47 no.2
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    • pp.179-183
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    • 2009
  • Prevalence rates reported for malaria in pregnancy in Nigeria vary considerably. The accuracy of results of malaria diagnosis is dependent on training, experience, and motivation of the microscopist as well as the laboratory facility available. Results of training programmes on malaria microscopy have shown low levels of sensitivity and specificity of those involved in malaria diagnosis routinely and for research. This study was done to ascertain the true prevalence of malaria in pregnancy in Lagos, South-West Nigeria. A total of 1,084 pregnant women were recruited into this study. Blood smears stained with Giemsa were used for malaria diagnosis by light microscopy. Malaria infection during pregnancy presents mostly as asymptomatic infection. The prevalence of malaria in this population was 7.7% (95% confidence interval; 6.2-9.4%). Factors identified to increase the risk of malaria infection include young maternal age (<20 years), and gravidity (primigravida). In conclusion, this study exposes the over-diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy and the need for training and retraining of laboratory staffs as well as establishing the malaria diagnosis quality assurance programme to ensure the accuracy of malaria microscopy results at all levels.

Large Scale Experiments Simulating Hydrogen Distribution in a Spent Fuel Pool Building During a Hypothetical Fuel Uncovery Accident Scenario

  • Mignot, Guillaume;Paranjape, Sidharth;Paladino, Domenico;Jaeckel, Bernd;Rydl, Adolf
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.48 no.4
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    • pp.881-892
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    • 2016
  • Following the Fukushima accident and its extended station blackout, attention was brought to the importance of the spent fuel pools' (SFPs) behavior in case of a prolonged loss of the cooling system. Since then, many analytical works have been performed to estimate the timing of hypothetical fuel uncovery for various SFP types. Experimentally, however, little was done to investigate issues related to the formation of a flammable gas mixture, distribution, and stratification in the SFP building itself and to some extent assess the capability for the code to correctly predict it. This paper presents the main outcomes of the Experiments on Spent Fuel Pool (ESFP) project carried out under the auspices of Swissnuclear (Framework 2012-2013) in the PANDA facility at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland. It consists of an experimental investigation focused on hydrogen concentration build-up into a SFP building during a predefined scaled scenario for different venting positions. Tests follow a two-phase scenario. Initially steam is released to mimic the boiling of the pool followed by a helium/steam mixture release to simulate the deterioration of the oxidizing spent fuel. Results shows that while the SFP building would mainly be inerted by the presence of a high concentration of steam, the volume located below the level of the pool in adjacent rooms would maintain a high air content. The interface of the two-gas mixture presents the highest risk of flammability. Additionally, it was observed that the gas mixture could become stagnant leading locally to high hydrogen concentration while steam condenses. Overall, the experiments provide relevant information for the potentially hazardous gas distribution formed in the SFP building and hints on accident management and on eventual retrofitting measures to be implemented in the SFP building.

A Study on the Fire Risk Assessment and Prevention in the Recycling Process of Used Refrigerators (냉장고 파쇄 공정에서의 화재 위험성 및 예방에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Su-Kyung;Song, Dong-Woo;Bae, Jeong-Ae
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.23 no.5
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    • pp.72-77
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    • 2009
  • In the recycling procedure of the refrigerator, the fire frequently breaks out. In this study, to clarify the exact cause of the fire, the components and concentration of the materials produced in the process are analysed as well as the problems in the process system, and the protective measure to prevent the fire and the explosion fundamentally is proposed. In this procedure, the preventive measures of fire by removing the combustible materials such as polyurethane and inflammable gases, by removing the ignition sources and by reducing the oxygen concentration to the minimum are proposed along with the protective measures to reduce the damage in the fire. In the crushing procedure where the fire or explosion can break out in diverse ways, the forced ventilation or exhaust system applied to the small partial ventilation facility are installed to reduce the concentration of inflammable gas mixture to lower than the inflammable limit by injecting and exhausting the air forcibly.

Study of the Characteristics of Smoke Spread by an Installing Smoke Barrier in Medium Length Road Tunnel (중규모 도로터널의 제연경계벽 설치에 따른 연기확산특성)

  • Baek, Doo-San;Lee, Seung-Chul
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.30 no.5
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    • pp.9-17
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    • 2016
  • In the case of a medium length road tunnel, the installation of a smoke control facility is not mandatory so users can suffer considerable injuries if a fire breaks out. Therefore, this study analyzed the high-temperature air and toxic gas generated by fire proliferating with time when a smoke barrier is not installed and when the installation interval is 100, 150, 200, and 250 m through 3-dimensional numerical analysis, evacuation simulation, and Quantitative Risk Assessment Methodology targeting the medium length road tunnel. As a result, the diffusion of the high-temperature air and toxic gas occurring from the a fire was delayed when the smoke barrier was installed in a medium length road tunnel compared to that when it was not installed. In addition, when the installation interval of a smoke barrier was 100m and the numerical analysis target was 100m, the diffusion of high-temperature air and toxic gas generated by the fire was delayed more than in the other cases, which was most suitable for tunnel users to evacuate.

Estimation of Dynamic Characteristics of Core Zone of Rockfill Dam by Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW 조사를 통한 사력댐 코어존 동적물성의 평가)

  • Lee, Jong-Wook;Ha, Ik-Soo;Oh, Byung-Hyun
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2008.10a
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    • pp.860-868
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    • 2008
  • Seismic safety analysis of rockfill dams are consist of the stability analysis as an simplifed method and the dynamic analysis as an detailed method. When high risk dams such as Multi-purpose dams were often applied detailed method by dynamic analysis, dynamic properties of dam materials such as shear modulus are considered as most important factor. Dynamic material properties such as shear modulus had to be investigated by cyclic triaxial test et al. during design and construction stage but these were not conducted because of the condition of domestic seismic design technique. MASW and SASW methods had been applied as a non destructive method to investigate dynamic material properties of existing rockfill dam, has no problems in dam safety at present. These methods were usually performed under the assumptions that the subsurface can be described horizontally homogeneous and isotropic layers. Recent studies(Marwin, 1993, Kim, 2001) showed that surface waves generated through inclined structures have different characteristics from those through a horizontally homogeneous layered model. further Kim et al(2005) and Min and Kim(2006) showed that central core type rockfill dam overestimated the shear wave velocities as increasing the depth through the 3D numerical modelling dut to the effect of outer rockfill and geometrical reasons In this study the results of shear wave velocities of seven rockfill dams form comprehensive facility review, was carried out from 2003 to 2007, were collected and analysed to establish the shear wave velocity distribution characteristics in increasing confining stress in rockfill dams and surface wave velocity ranges in rockfill dam through MASW and the limitation in application are discussed to be utilized as an reference value for dynamic analysis.

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A Study on the Funeral director's working Circumstances and Personal Protective Equipment on Funeral home (안치실 및 염습실 종사자의 주요 감염질병 조사 및 근무기간에 따른 개인위생용품 착용실태에 대한 연구)

  • Hwang, Kyu-Sung;Kim, Jeong-Lae
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2017
  • We are investigated about the state of the working circumstances and infection blocking facility within Metropolitan, Chungcheong and Gyeongsang regions in Korea. The result is as follows. The HAV vaccination rate is 35% and the HBV vaccination rate is 50% among the funeral directors. We expected that the infection risk of funeral directors was very high. Significantly, tuberculosis prevalence rate of funeral director was four times as high as the public. The wear rate of gown, mask, gloves showed relatively high than the others. The wear rate of individual protective equipments has decreased with work experience. The funeral directors have shown that there is difficult to get safe protection from infection. The personal hygiene of funeral directors and the infection blocking equipment should be strengthened institutionally. We are thought to recommend institutional support about infection management, individual protective equipment, vaccination of funeral director and guideline to avoid reversion to previous habitual behavior.

Investigation of EU, UK and USA's Laws and Standards related to Safety Criteria for Commercial Kitchen Machines (유럽연합, 영국 및 미국의 주방 기기 안전 기준 관련 법령 및 규격 조사)

  • Kee, Do-Hyung;Hwang, Sang-Don;Song, Young-Woong;Park, Hyun-Geun
    • Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.51-61
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate EU, UK and USA's laws and standards related to safety criteria for commercial kitchen machines. The study was based on literature survey and web surfing. The results revealed that EU has relevant directives by kitchen machines and harmonized standards according to the directives. The directives and harmonized standards are translated into the laws and standards of EU member countries, respectively. The kitchen facility relevant legal systems of UK and USA do not prescribe the safety devices or measures, but only the basic health and safety requirements. The requirements were forcefully implemented through the certificate systems such as CE(Confommite European), UL(Underwriters Laboratories), etc. Only products with CE, UL or NRTL(ationally Recognized Testing Laboratory) certificate marking can be placed on the market of EU and USA, or put into service. For achieving the certificates, all requirements regulated in the relevant standards should be met. The standards of UK and USA were presented by kitchen machines or by standards themselves, respectively. Safety devices required by the standards were also summarized by kitchen machines and their risk factors.

Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Colonization in the Upper Respiratory Tracts of Korean Military Recruits

  • Choi, Chang-Min;Kang, Cheol-In;Kim, Young-Keun;Heo, Sang-Taek;Kim, Chang-Hoon;Song, Jae-Kyung;Jung, Hee-Saeng
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.67 no.5
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    • pp.409-412
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    • 2009
  • Background: Several large outbreaks have demonstrated the threat of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) in close-contact environments, such as occurs during training and quartering of military recruits training. In South Korea, which is a hospital or healthcare-associated MRSA prevalent area, military service is compulsory for all healthy young men. We surveyed and determined the extent of CA-MRSA colonization in the upper respiratory tracts of Korean military recruits. Methods: The Korean military recruits who were enrolled in a military training facility from November 2004 to March 2005 were eligible for this study. Sputum or nasopharyngeal swap was obtained from randomly selected subjects who displayed upper respiratory tract symptoms. Results: Of the 181 participants, 32 participants (17.7%) were colonized with S. aureus, and 12 participants (6.6%) were colonized with MRSA. Among the cases that were colonized with S. aureus, 37.5% (12/32) were colonized with MRSA. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed resistant patterns that were suggestive of the CA-MRSA strains for all of the MRSA isolates. Conclusion: This study of Korean military recruits found a great deal of showed MRSA colonization in them, and the antimicrobial resistant profile that was suggestive of a CA-MRSA strain. Further efforts to prevent the spread of MRSA infections and careful monitoring for CA-MRSA outbreaks are warranted, especially in a high risk group such as military recruits.

A Study on the safety measures for the protection of hydrogen cooling system of generator (수소를 냉각매체로 하는 발전기 안전대책에 관한 연구)

  • Lee Choon-Ha;Yuk Hyun-Dai
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.8 no.4 s.25
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    • pp.55-61
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    • 2004
  • This paper provided a counter measures against the troubles and accidents that are likely to take place in the power plant using hydrogen gas as a coolant for the cooling system of the generator. Because of the extremely wide flammability limits of hydrogen in comparison to the other flammable gases, the safety measures against the hydrogen accidents is very important to ensure the normal operation of electric-power facility. This study's purpose was a presentation of standard model of safety management of hydrogen equipments in the coal firing power plant such as following items: 1) providing the technical prevention manual of the hydrogen explosions and hydrogen fires occurring in the cooling system of power generator; 2) the selection of explosion-proof equipments in terms of the risk level of operating environment; 3) the establishment of regulations and counter measures, such as the incorporation of gas leakage alarm device, for preventing the accidents from arising, 4) the establishment of safety management system to ensure the normal operation of the power plant.

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A Study on Damge Effect from Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion(BLEVE) of LPG Charging Facility (LPG 충전소의 BLEVE 현상에 따른 피해효과 분석)

  • Roh Sam-Kew;Kim Tae-Hwan;Ham Eun-Gu
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.3 no.3 s.8
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    • pp.45-50
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    • 1999
  • The LPG refueling station's explosion at Bucheon city was a major accident which with rare frequency of occurrence and large damage effect. Therefore, to prevent similar accident in the future from LPG charging stations which located in urban area. It needs to identify the damage effects of such facilities by comparing theoretically quantities risk and actual damage. The BLEVE effects from the accident showed similar damage effect in case of heat flux, however, the overpressure level reflected at the reduced distance by $15\%$. The structure damage to the near by area showed comparatively large heat radiation damage to the concrete structure strength and shape changes through heat flux while the overpressure effect was small.

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