• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.74-85
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• 2013

Since the underground transportation system is a closed environment, indoor air quality problems may seriously affect many passengers' health. The purpose of this study was to understand $PM_{10}$ characteristics in the underground air environment and further to quantitatively estimate $PM_{10}$ source contributions in a Seoul Metropolitan subway station. The $PM_{10}$ was intensively collected on various filters with $PM_{10}$ aerosol samplers to obtain sufficient samples for its chemical analysis. Sampling was carried out in the M station on the Line-4 from April 21 to 28, July 13 to 21, and October 11 to 19 in the year of 2010 and January 11 to 17 in the year of 2011. The aerosol filter samples were then analyzed for metals, water soluble ions, and carbon components. The 29 chemical species (OC1, OC2, OC3, OC4, CC, PC, EC, Ag, Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Si, Ti, V, Zn, $Cl^-$, $NO_3{^-}$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $Na^+$, $NH_4{^+}$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$) were analyzed by using ICP-AES, IC, and TOR after proper pretreatments of each sample filter. Based on the chemical information, positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was applied to identify the $PM_{10}$ sources and then six sources such as biomass burning, outdoor, vehicle, soil and road dust, secondary aerosol, ferrous, and brakewear related source were classified. The contributions rate of their sources in tunnel are 4.0%, 5.8%, 1.6%, 17.9%, 13.8% and 56.9% in order.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.985-997
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• 2017

In many countries, most of the tunneling works have been ordered by the shield TBM, and also Korean companies are actively bidding and execute in this project. In case of Korea, refurbished machines are mainly using in power cable, gas pipelines, and water and sewage tunnel. Also in metro projects, shield TBM of over diameter 7m is required mainly by using brand new machine. Since the shield TBM is not easy to change once it is produced, it is necessary for the client to provide sufficient information on the production conditions so as to satisfy various characteristics of the construction. In this study, to manufacturing optimal shield TBM, the Client's TBM requirements of tunnel construction in Hong Kong and UK was analyzed and compared with the domestic requirements. The results are expected to provide as client's guidelines for bidding stage and manufacturing for shield TBM tunneling in Korea in the future.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.326-334
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• 2020

Background: Korea has gradually expanded the coverage of medical care services in its national health insurance system. On April 1, 2018, it implemented a policy that expanded the coverage for an ultrasonography in the upper abdomen. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of the policy on the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen in tertiary care hospitals. Methods: Using the dataset of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, we explored changes in the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen in tertiary care hospitals from July 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018 through the difference-in-difference (DID) mixed-effects-model method. Facility factor, equipment factor and personnel factors, type of hospital, the total amount of medical care expenses, and geographic region were considered as control variables. Results: On average, the utilization of the ultrasonography in the upper abdomen increased by 228% after the coverage expansion policy. However, the results of DID mixed-effects-model method analysis showed that the utilization increased by 73%. As for the number of beds, the utilization was higher with a group of 844-930, 931-1,217, and 1,218 or greater compared with a group of 843 or fewer, while the utilization of the number of ultrasonic devices was lower with a group of 45-49 compared with a group of 44 or fewer. The utilization decreased with the number of interns and the number of nurse assistants. Besides, relative to Seoul, the utilization was lower in the other metro-cities and provinces. Conclusion: The coverage expansion policy in the national health insurance system increased service utilization among people. Future research needs to investigate the degree to which such coverage expansion policy reduces the unmet medical care needs among the deprived in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2015

Seoul subway plays an important part for the public transportation service in Seoul metropolitan area. As the subway system is typically a closed environment, frequent air pollution problems occurred and passengers get malhealth impact. Especially particulate matters (PM) is well known as one of the major pollutants in subway environments. The purpose of this study was to compare the concentrations of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ in the Seoul subway system and to provide fundamental data in order to management of subway system. $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected in the M station platform and tunnel of Subway Line 4 in Seoul metropolitan and in an outdoor location close to it from Apr. 21, 2010~Oct. 27, 2013. The samples collected on teflon filters using $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ mini-volume portable samplers and PM sequential sampler. The PM contributions were $48.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $84.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $204.8{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{10}$, and $34.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (outdoor), $49.7{\mu}g/m^3$ (platform) and $83.1{\mu}g/m^3$ (tunnel) for $PM_{2.5}$. The $PM_{10}$ levels inside stations and outdoors are poorly correlated, indicating that $PM_{10}$ levels in the metro system are mainly influenced by internal sources. In this study, we compared PM concentrations before and after operation of ventilation and Electrostatic Precipitator (EP). Despite the increased PM concentration at outdoor, $PM_{10}$ concentration at platform and tunnel showed the 31.2% and 32.3% reduction efficiency after operation the reduction system. The overall results of this study suggest that the installation and operation of the ventilating system and EP should have served as one of the important components for maintaining the air quality in the subway system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.702-708
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• 2016

The railway signaling system has evolved to maximize its safety and maintainability based on the experiences in the construction and operation of railway systems. The newly developed systems was established to cope with the changes in an operating environment. In the process of a transition to the new system, both the existing ATS (Automatic Train Stop) and new ATP/ATO (Automatic Train Protection/Automatic Train Operation) systems are operating simultaneously in parallel. In this situation, modifications of the conditions of the interlocking diagram and logic are necessarily required on the existing ATS systems due to the frequent improvements in signaling equipment. This paper reports the enhancement of safety and operational efficiency of the system through an improvement of the security and the interlocking conditions of the existing ATS systems. The independent display of signals for each track was ensured to avoid giving the effect of On/Off signals for the selected track on the opposite side, and the security was improved by adjusting the position and interlocking conditions. In addition, the increased traffic density of railway systems was achieved by removing the unnecessary conditions and detailed signal display, which resulted in enhanced operational efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2016

In a performance-based design, the structural safety is estimated from pre-defined damage states and corresponding damage indices. Both damage states and damage indices are well defined for above-ground structures, but very limited studies have been performed on underground structures. In this study, we define the damage states and damage indices of a cut-and-cover box tunnel which is one of typical structures used in metro systems, under a seismic excitation from a series of inelastic frame analyses. Three damage states are defined in terms of the number of plastic hinges that develop within the structure. The damage index is defined as the ratio of the elastic moment to the yield moment. Through use of the proposed index, the inelastic behavior and failure mechanism of box tunnels can be simulated and predicted through elastic analysis. In addition, the damage indices are linked to free-field shear strains. Because the free-field shear strain can be easily calculated from a 1D site response analysis, the proposed method can be readily used in practice. Further studies are needed to determine the range of shear strains and associated uncertainties for various types of tunnels and site profiles. However, the inter-linked platform of damage state - damage index - shear wave velocity - shear strain provides a novel approach for estimating the inelastic response of tunnels, and can be widely used in practice for seismic designs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.821-827
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• 2014

The 4major river project has caused changes in flow and water quality patterns in major rivers in Korea including the Nakdong River where several toxicant release accidents have had occurred. Three dimensional hydrodynamic model, the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC), was applied to evaluate the effect of geomorphological change of the river on the advection and dispersion patterns of a conservative toxic pollutant. A hypothetical scenario was developed using historical data by assuming a toxic release from an upstream location. If there is a toxic release at the Gumi Industrial Complex, the toxic material would be detected after 2.22 and 9.83 days at Chilgok and Gangjung weir, respectively, in the new river system. It was estimated that they took at least 12 times longer than those with the river conditions before the project. Effect of relocation of intake towers for Daegu Metro City to upstream of Gumi City was also evaluated using the developed modeling system. It was observed that hydraulic residence time would be increased due to decreased flow rate and thus due to lowered water level. However, peak concentration differences were found to be about 2% lower in both places due to increased dispersion effect after the relocation.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.156-172
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• 2018

Recently, Korea suffered serious social conflicts between generations due to population aging. Anxiety about depletion of the National Pension Fund is one of the social problem to young generation, because of the uncertainty that they will not able to receive the pension they paid. At the same time, due to the high housing rent in Seoul metropolitan area, the demand for housing welfare and supply of public rental housing for young generation was increased. There are some opinions about using National Pension Fund to supplying public rental houses in the society. In this research, we were concentrated on finding the suitable areas for the public rental house using National Pension Fund. First, verifying the validity of the investment using National Pension Fund for the public rental housing was done. And spatial statistical methods were applied to explore the suitable areas for the public rental housing in Seoul metro area. Finally, this study divided young people into three groups and analyzed ways to supply public rental housing for each group in proper areas by their demand. This research's ultimate goals are mitigating the conflicts between the generations and achieving both profitability and publicness of National Pension Fund.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.98-127
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials needed to enhance quality of organizational life by identifying the improvements of labor union management in the perspective of hospital organization management. The subjects of this study were 510 employees in 1 University Hospital and 3 General Hospitals in Metro Capital including Seoul. Materials were collected from administrators, nurses and medical technicians in target hospitals from April 26 to May 7, 2004 through survey questionnaires. The main results of this study were as follows: First, From the results of multiple regression analysis to identify major influencing factors of labor union commitment level, In University hospitals, males than females, and those who had senior officer posts in labor union showed higher positive correlation with the attitude of their colleagues. In general hospitals, those who had served in Union for shorter period showed higher commitment in union. Second, When looking into the major influencing factors on the level of commitment in labor union according to their jobs, male administrators showed higher positive correlation in the level of commitment in labor union and the relationship with union. Among nurses, those who had lower education level, those who had higher job satisfaction, those who had higher emotional attachment to their job, those who had better relationship with union and better satisfaction in union showed higher commitment level. In medical technicians, those who had higher emotional attachment to their job showed higher commitment level. To summarize study results, the level of commitment in labor union depends on job satisfaction, managers' attitudes, emotional attachment to their jobs, union satisfaction factors, their colleagues attitudes toward union and thee atmosphere of employer-employee relationship. Therefore hospital managers should have democratic and flexible attitudes toward labor union. Additionally, as job satisfaction is important determinant in union commitment, hospital managers should have countermeasures to enhance the job satisfaction level of hospital employees. Moreover, as managerial factors of the principal of hospital influence union commitment directly, the attitudes of hospital managers toward union and transparency of hospital management should be improved.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.567-576
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• 2017

In a performance-based design, the structural safety is estimated from pre- defined damage states and corresponding damage indices. Both damage states and damage indices are well defined for above-ground structures, but very limited studies have been performed on underground structures. In this study, we define the damage states and damage indices of a cut-and-cover box tunnel which is one of typical structures used in metro systems, under a seismic excitation from a series of inelastic frame analyses. Three damage states are defined in terms of the number of plastic hinges that develop within the structure. The damage index is defined as the ratio of the elastic moment to the yield moment. Through use of the proposed index, the inelastic behavior and failure mechanism of box tunnels can be simulated and predicted through elastic analysis. In addition, the damage indices are linked to free-field shear strains. Because the free-field shear strain can be easily calculated from a 1D site response analysis, the proposed method can be readily used in practice. Further studies are needed to determine the range of shear strains and associated uncertainties for various types of tunnels and site profiles. However, the inter-linked platform of damage state - damage index - shear wave velocity - shear strain provides a novel approach for estimating the inelastic response of tunnels, and can be widely used in practice for seismic designs.