• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2015

Objectives: A vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is characterized by back pain and fracture of a vertebral body on spinal radiography. VCFs of the thoraco lumbar spine are common in the elderly. In general, appropriate analgesics should be prescribed to reduce pain and, thus, promote early mobilization. The ideal treatment approach for VCFs has not been determined. In Korea, acupuncture and herbal medication have been used to treat VCFs for many years. There is empirical evidence that acupuncture might benefit patients with a VCF. However, no randomized, controlled, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and the safety of acupuncture for treating a VCF have been published. Therefore, we designed a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial to obtain information for the design of a further full scale trial. Methods: A five week protocol for a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial is presented. Fourteen patients will be recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: a control group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections once a week for three weeks, and an experimental group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections plus acupuncture treatment (three acupuncture sessions per week for three weeks, nine sessions in total). The primary outcomes will be the pain intensity (visual analogue scale and PainVision$^{TM}$ system). The secondary outcome measurements will be the answers on the short form McGill pain questionnaire and the oswestry disability index. Assessments will be made at baseline and at one, three, and five weeks. The last assessment (week five) will take place two weeks after treatment cessation. This study will provide both an indication of feasibility and a clinical foundation for a future large scale trial. The outcomes will provide additional resources for incorporating acupuncture into existing treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotics and vertebral augmentation. This article describes the protocol.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.1 no.3
• /
• pp.205-210
• /
• 2010

LED light has various advantages such as an energy saving effect of over 80% compared to existing lighting and environmentally friendly characteristics; however, there has been no affordable market for LED lighting because of its expensive price. This study discussed the validity of the expansion of distribution of LED lighting through an assessment of economic efficiency concerning LED lightening in order to analyze its efficiency in terms of energy savings and maintenance and repair, which will be generated as a result of the change from existing incandescent bulbs to LED lighting in the public sector. As to the target of analysis, the paper reviewed the validity of change to LED lighting as a result of the elimination of existing incandescent bulbs, by referring to 'the current incandescent bulb use and elimination performance' published by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy based on the "Elimination management system" executed by Korea Energy Management Corporation. The paper considered expenses for change, annual power savings amount and electric charges savings amount, repair and maintenance cost, $CO_2$ reduction volume, and the profit from the sale of CER (certified emission reduction). As a result of analyzing economic efficiency, when the discount rate during the change of existing incandescent bulb lighting to LED lighting is 3.26%, the profit was 8,648,400,000 won. Accordingly, NPV was analyzed to have a 'positive (+)' value, which means that this change is profitable.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.265-290
• /
• 2022

An economic evaluation was conducted using cost-benefit analysis for an integrated service platform of open access research articles. The data needed for benefit measurement were collected by conducting a series of surveys to service beneficiaries, including 1,313 academic researchers, 49 bio-industry researchers, and 102 researchers in various industries. Cost-benefit analysis and sensitivity analysis were conducted after estimating the total costs for system construction and operations, anticipated direct and indirect benefits. With respect to the cost-benefit analysis limited to direct benefits, the estimated benefit was KRW 82 billion, which is about 14 times of the total costs for eight years of the entire business period. With respect to the cost-benefit analysis for both direct and indirect benefits, BCR was estimated to be about 98.9 and NPV to be KRW 538.8 billion, indicating that economic feasibility of the project was sufficiently secured. The results of this analysis may help securing the investment to the integrated service platform for OA research products, and the benefit estimation model developed in this study would be utilized as an assessment tool during the rest of this project.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.165-198
• /
• 2023

According to the studies recently published through advanced maui optical and space surveillance technologies (AMOS) Conference 2021, LEO conjunction assessment revolves around not on operating satellites but space debris such as rocket bodies and non-operational satellites, hence suggesting a solution through space traffic management. Against this backdrop, the issue of active debris removal (ADR) has emerged to the surface as an international challenge throughout the globe. In step with this, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling on nations to halt tests of direct-ascent anti-satellites, to which U.S. and twelve other nations included Republic of Korea were original signatories. ADR techniques are also actively being researched in the civil sector, and these commercial services, if successfully developed, could possibly be utilized for military use as well. As such, this paper will help readers' understanding for the current status of ADR techniques, space threat assessments, on-orbit rendezvous and proximity operations by looking at previous cases, reflecting on space-faring nations' ADR techniques and its development probability in relation to space weapons. As a conclusion, this study will propose the needs of developing space propulsion system by understanding Space Maneuver Warfare in preparation for the future space battlefield.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.62 no.3
• /
• pp.215-223
• /
• 2024

The patient in this case presented with a desire to have new dentures due to discomfort with existing ones. At the initial visit, all of teeth were missing except for the mandibular left second molar. As the patient was 65 years old, treatment with dentures and implant-supported prostheses was possible under the national health insurance system, and the patient opted for the mandibular denture using implant. Temporary prostheses were initially provided for patient adaptation, and following successful adaptation period, the treatment progressed. A maxillary complete denture and a mandibular implant-supported denture using two implants in the canines were fabricated. The mandibular denture is a Kennedy Class II removable partial denture which consists of a six-unit porcelain fused to metal fixed dental prostheses supported by the implant in the canines on both sides and left second molar serving as the abutments. Despite severe bone resorption and insufficient abutment teeth, the patient expressed satisfaction with the treatment results. In cases with economic and anatomical constraints affecting the feasibility of complete denture, implant-supported overdenture, and implant-supported fixed dental prostheses, an implant-assisted removable partial denture using implant surveyed crowns proves to be a viable and effective alternative treatment option. Nevertheless, the current dearth of scientifically rigorous studies underscores the necessity for meticulous regular check-up and occlusal assessment.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.379-394
• /
• 2021

Air pollution data in South Korea is provided on a real-time basis by Air Korea stations since 2005. Previous studies have shown the feasibility of gridding air pollution data, but they were confined to a few cities. This paper examines the creation of nationwide gridded maps for PM10 concentration using 333 Air Korea stations with variogram optimization and ordinary kriging. The accuracy of the spatial interpolation was evaluated by various sampling schemes to avoid a too dense or too sparse distribution of the validation points. Using the 114,745 matchups, a four-round blind test was conducted by extracting random validation points for every 365 days in 2019. The overall accuracy was stably high with the MAE of 5.697 ㎍/m³ and the CC of 0.947. Approximately 1,500 cases for high PM10 concentration also showed a result with the MAE of about 12 ㎍/m³ and the CC over 0.87, which means that the proposed method was effective and applicable to various situations. The gridded maps for daily PM10 concentration at the resolution of 0.05° also showed a reasonable spatial distribution, which can be used as an input variable for a gridded prediction of tomorrow's PM10 concentration.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.53-59
• /
• 2001

There is a lot of method to manage the insanitary landfill but vertical cutoff walls have been widespreadly used and were installed into the subsurface to act as a barrier to horizontal groundwater flow, The stabilized material such as specialized cement or mixed soil with additives has been generally applied for the materials of the deep soil mixing barrier in korea. The amount of the stabilized material is dependent on the field conditions, because the mixing ratio of the material and the field soil should achieve a requirement in the coefficient of permeability, lower than 1.0$\times$$10^{7}$cm/sec. This study determined the quantity and optimized function ratio of the stabilized material in the formation process of the mixed barrier that was added with stabilized material on the field soil classified into SW-SC under USCS (Unified Soil Classification System). After that the fly ash and lime were selected as an additives an that could improve the function of the stabilized material and then the method to improve the functional progress in the usage of putting into the stabilized material as an appropriate ratio was studied and reviewed. The author used the flexible-wall permeameter for measuring the permeability and unconfined compressive strength tester for compressive strength, and in the view of environmental engineering the absorption test of heavy metals and leaching test regulated by Korean Waste Management Act were performed. As the results, the suitable mixing ratio of the stabilized material in the deep soil mixing barrier was determined as 13 percent. To make workability easy, the ratio of stabilized material and water was proven to be 1 : 1.5. With the results, the range of the portion of the additives(fly ash : lime= 70 : 30) was proven to be 20-40% for improving the function of the stabilized material, lowering of permeability. In heavy metal absorption assessment of the mixing barrier system with the additives, the result of heavy metal absorption was proved to be almost same with the case of the original stabilized material; high removal efficiency of heavy metals. In addition, the leaching concentration of heavy metals from the leaching test for the environmental hazard assessment showed lower than the regulated criteria.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.189-203
• /
• 2008

The physical and chemical properties of radioactive waste drums, which have been temporarily stored on site, should be characterized before their shipment to a disposal facility in order to prove that the properties meet the acceptance guideline. The investigation of NDT(Nondestructive Test) method was figured out that the contents in drum, the quantitative analysis of free standing water and void fraction can be examined with X-ray NDT techniques. This paper describes the characteristics of X-ray NDT such as its principles, the considerations for selection of X-ray system, etc. And then, the waste drum characteristics such as drum type and dimension, contents in drum, etc. were examined, which are necessary to estimate the optimal X-ray energy for NDT of a drum. The estimation results were that: $(R)\acute{A}$ the proper X-ray energy is under 3 MeV to test the drums of 320 ${\beta}\S$ and less; $(R)\ddot{E}$ both X-ray systems of 450 keV and/or 3 MeV might be needed considering the economical efficiency and the realization. The number of drums that can be tested with 450 keV and 3 MeV X-ray system was figured out as 42,327 and 18,105 drums (based on storage of 2006. 12), respectively. Four testing scenarios were derived considering equipment procurement method, outsourcing or not, etc. The economical and feasibility assessment for the scenarios was resulted in that an optimal scenario is dependent on the acceptance guide line, the waste generator's policy on the waste treatment and the delivery to a disposal facility, etc. For example, it might be desirable that a waste generator purchases two 450 keV mobile system to examine the drums containing low density waste, and that outsourcing examination for the high density drums, if all NDT items such as quantitative analysis for 'free standing water' and 'void fraction', and confirmation of contents in drum have to be characterized. However, one 450 keV mobile system seems to be required to test only the contents in 13,000 drums per year.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.311-330
• /
• 2023

Development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technique is becoming increasingly important as a method to mitigate the strengthening effects of global warming, generated from the unprecedented increase in released anthropogenic CO₂. In the recent years, the characteristics of basaltic rocks (i.e., large volume, high reactivity and surplus of cation components) have been recognized to be potentially favorable in facilitation of CCS; based on this, research on utilization of basaltic formations for underground CO₂ storage is currently ongoing in various fields. This study investigated the feasibility of underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, based on the examination of the CO₂ storage mechanisms in subsurface, assessment of basalt characteristics, and review of the global research on basaltic CO₂ storage. The global research examined were classified into experimental/modeling/field demonstration, based on the methods utilized. Experimental conditions used in research demonstrated temperatures ranging from 20 to 250 ℃, pressure ranging from 0.1 to 30 MPa, and the rock-fluid reaction time ranging from several hours to four years. Modeling research on basalt involved construction of models similar to the potential storage sites, with examination of changes in fluid dynamics and geochemical factors before and after CO₂-fluid injection. The investigation demonstrated that basalt has large potential for CO₂ storage, along with capacity for rapid mineralization reactions; these factors lessens the environmental constraints (i.e., temperature, pressure, and geological structures) generally required for CO₂ storage. The success of major field demonstration projects, the CarbFix project and the Wallula project, indicate that basalt is promising geological formation to facilitate CCS. However, usage of basalt as storage formation requires additional conditions which must be carefully considered - mineralization mechanism can vary significantly depending on factors such as the basalt composition and injection zone properties: for instance, precipitation of carbonate and silicate minerals can reduce the injectivity into the formation. In addition, there is a risk of polluting the subsurface environment due to the combination of pressure increase and induced rock-CO₂-fluid reactions upon injection. As dissolution of CO₂ into fluids is required prior to injection, monitoring techniques different from conventional methods are needed. Hence, in order to facilitate efficient and stable underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, it is necessary to select a suitable storage formation, accumulate various database of the field, and conduct systematic research utilizing experiments/modeling/field studies to develop comprehensive understanding of the potential storage site.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.217-226
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to establish a standardized process for developing food safety health indicators. With this aim, we proposed a standardized process, accessed the validity of the suggested process by performing simulations, and provided a method to utilize the indicators. Developing process for domestic environmental health indicators was benchmarked to propose a standardized process for developing food safety health indicators, and DPSEEA framework was applied to the development of indicators. The suggested standardized process consists of an exploitation stage and a management stage. In the exploitation stage, a total of 6 procedures (initial indicators suggestion, candidate indicators selection, data availability assessment, feasibility assessment, pilot study, and final indicator selection) are conducted, and the indicators are routinely calculated and officially announced in the management stage. The exploitation stage is operated by an interaction between a task force team who manages the overall process, and an advisory committee (minimum of 4 in academia, 2 in research, 4 in specialists of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) who reviews and performs evaluations on the indicators. The standardized process was simulated with 45 initial indicators, and total of 4 indicators (17 detailed indicators) were selected: 'Proportion of domestic fruit/vegetable receiving 'acceptable' in the evaluation of pesticide/herbicide residues', 'Food-borne disease outbreaks', 'Food-borne legal infectious disease incidence', 'Salmonellosis incidence'. Synthetic food safety health index was derived by calculating percent difference with the data from 2010 to 2012. Results showed that when comparing the year 2010 to 2011, and 2011 to 2012, the overall food safety status improved by 10.37% and 9.87%, respectively. In addition, the contribution of indicators to the overall food safety status can be determined by looking into the individual indicators, and the synthetic index may be illustrated to enhance the ease of interpretation to the public and policy makers. In overall, food health safety indicators can be useful in many ways and therefore, attention should be drawn to conduct further studies and establish related legislations.