• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2024

During the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology was used for surveying infectious diseases. In this study, wastewater surveillance was employed to monitor COVID-19 outbreaks. Wastewater influent samples were collected from four sewage treatment plants in Ulsan (Gulhwa, Yongyeon, Nongso, and Bangeojin) between August 2022 and August 2023. The samples were concentrated using the polyethylene glycol-sodium chloride pretreatment method. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA was extracted and detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Next generation sequences was used to perform correlation analysis between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases and for COVID-19 variant analysis. A strong correlation was observed between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and COVID-19 cases (correlation coefficient, r = 0.914). The COVID-19 variant analysis results were similar to the clinical variant genomes of three epidemics during the study period. In conclusion, monitoring COVID-19 via analyzing wastewater facilitates early recognition and prediction of epidemics.

• Atmosphere
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.283-304
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• 2024

This study analyzed the variability and correlation between ground-level air pollutant concentrations and the atmospheric mixing layer height using data from four types of air pollutants (PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO₂, and O₃) collected at AirKorea monitoring stations nationwide over a five-year period (2018~2022), and aerosol backscatter data observed by the Vaisala CL31 to derive atmospheric mixing layer heights. The five-year trends and variability of ground-level air pollutant concentrations under seasonal and hourly conditions were examined, as well as the seasonal distribution and diurnal variation of the atmospheric mixing layer height. Five correlation coefficient methodologies were applied to analyze the correlations between ground-level air pollutants and atmospheric mixing layer height under various seasonal and hourly conditions, confirming the dilution effect of the atmospheric mixing layer height. The results showed that PM_2.5, PM₁₀, and NO₂ generally had negative correlations with the atmospheric mixing layer height, while O₃ showed a strong positive correlation up to an altitude of 1,200~1,500 meters, and a negative correlation beyond that altitude. It was also shown that a single high concentration event (e.g., PM₁₀) can alter the overall correlation. The correlation can also vary depending on the characteristics of the correlation coefficient methodology, highlighting the importance of applying the appropriate methodology for each case during the analysis process.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.328-335
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• 2023

For appropriate nutrient management and enhanced plant growth, soil sensors which reflect soil nutrient levels are required. Because there is no available sensor for nutrient monitoring, electrical conductivity (EC) sensor can be used to evaluate soil nutrient levels. Soil nutrient management using EC sensors would be possible by understanding the relationship between sensor EC values and soil temperature, moisture, and nutrient content. However, the relationship between soil sensor EC values and plant available nutrients was not investigated. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to evaluate effect of different amount of urea on soil EC monitored by sensors during pepper and broccoli cultivation and to predict the plant available nutrient contents in soil. During the cultivation period, soil was collected periodically for analyzing pH and EC, and the available nutrient contents. The sensor EC value increased as the moisture content increased, and low fertilizer treated soil showed the lowest EC value. Principal component analysis was performed to determine the relationship between sensor EC and available nutrients in soil. Sensor EC showed a strong positive correlation with nitrate nitrogen and available Ca. In addition, sum of available nutrients such as Ca, Mg, K, P, S and N was positively related to the sensor EC values. Therefore, EC sensors in open field can be used to predict plant available nutrient levels for proper management of the soil.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.50-63
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• 1997

Background : A pressure sore was defined as any skin lesion caused by unrelieved pressure and resulting in damage to underlying tissue. The health care institutions in the United States were reported the incident rate of pressure sores ranging from 6 to 14 %. Intensive Care Unit needed highest quality of care has been found over 40% incidence rate of pressure sore. Also, Annual expenditures for the care of pressure sores in patients in the United States have been estimated to be $7.5 billion; furthermore, 50 percent more nursing time is required to care for patients with pressure sore in comparison to the time needed to implement preventive measures against pressure sore formation. However, In Korea, there were little reliable reports, or researches, about incidence rates of pressure sore in health care institution including intensive care unit and about the integrated approach like CQI action team for risk assessment, prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. Therefore, this study was to develop pressure sore risk assessment tool and the protocol for prevention of pressure sore formation through CQI action team activities, to monitor incident rate of pressure sore and the length of sore formation for patients at high risk, and to approximately estimate nursing time for sore dressing during research period as the effect of CQI action team. Method : CQI action team in intensive care unit, launched since early 1996, reviewed the literature for the standardized risk assessment tool, developed the pressure sore assessment tool based on the Braden Scale, tested its validity, compared on statistics including incidence rate of pressure sore for patients at high risk. Throughout these activities, CQI action team was developed the protocol, called as St. Marys hospital Intensive Care Unit Pressure Sore Protocol, shifted the emphasis from wound treatment to wound prevention. After applied the protocol to patients at high risk, the incident rate and the period of prevention against pressure development were tested with those for patients who received care before implementation of protocol by Chi-square and Kaplan-Meier Method of Survival Analysis. Result : The CQI action team found that these was significant difference of in incidence rate of pressure sores between patients at high risk (control group) who received care before implementation of protocol and those (experimental group) who received it after implementation of protocol (p<.05). 25% possibility of pressure sore formation was shown for the patients with 6th hospital day in ICU in control group. In experimental group, the patients with 10th hospital day had 10% possibility of pressure sore. Therefore, there was significant difference(p<.05) in survival rate between two groups. Also, nursing time for dressing on pressure sore in experimental group was decreased as much as 50% of it in control group. Conclusion : The collaborative team effort led to reduced incidence, increased the length of prevention against pressure sore, and declined nursing care times for sore dressing. However, there have had several suggestions for future study. The preventive care system for pressure sore should be applied to patients at moderate, or low risk throughout continuous CQI team activities based on Bed Sore Indicator Fact Sheet. Hospital-wide supports, such as incentives, would be offered to participants for keeping strong commitment to CQI team. Also, Quality Information System monitoring incidents and estimating cost of poor quality, like workload (full time equivalence) or financial loss, regularly in a hospital has to be developed first for supporting CQI team activities as well as empowering hospital-wide QI implementation. Being several limitations, this study would be one of the report cards for the CQI team activities in intensive care unit of an acute hospital and a trial of quality improvement of health care in Korea.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.179-189
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• 2011

This paper presents an SVC based multi-channel transmission technique. Transmission of high definition multimedia and its service efficiency can be significantly improved by the proposed method. In this method, the HD stream is divided into the two layer streams, i.e., a base layer stream and an enhancement layer stream. The divided streams are transmitted through a primary channel and an auxiliary channel, respectively. The proposed technique provides a noble mode switching technique which enables a seamless service of HD multimedia even under the conditions of abrupt and intermittent deterioration of the auxiliary channel. When the enhancement layer stream is disrupted by the channel monitoring in the mode switching algorithm, the algorithm works further to maintain the spatial and time resolution of the HD multimedia by upsampling and interpolating the base layer stream, consequently serving for the non disrupted play of the media. Moreover, the adoption of an adaptive switching algorithm significantly reduces the frequency of channel disruption avoiding the unnecessary switching for the short period variations of the channel. The feasibility of the proposed technique is verified through the simulation study with an example application to the simultaneous utilization of both Ku and Ka bands for HD multimedia broadcasting service. The rainfall modeling and the analysis of the satellite channel attenuation characteristics are performed to simulate the quality of service performance of the proposed HD broadcasting method. The simulation results obtained under a relatively poor channel (weather) situations show that the average lasting period of enhancement layer service is extended from 9.48[min] to 23.12[min] and the average switching frequency is reduced from 3.84[times/hour] to 1.68[times/hour]. It is verified in the satellite example that the proposed SVC based transmission technique best utilizes the Ka band channel for the service of HD broadcasting, although it is characterized by its inherent weather related poor reliability causing severe limitations in its independent application.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2011

Soybean has widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses. Microwave remote sensing has a great potential over the conventional remote sensing with the visible and infrared spectra due to its all-weather day-and-night imaging capabilities. In this investigation, a ground-based polarimetric scatterometer operating at multiple frequencies was used to continuously monitor the crop conditions of a soybean field. Polarimetric backscatter data at L, C, and X-bands were acquired every 10 minutes on the microwave observations at various soybean stages. The polarimetric scatterometer consists of a vector network analyzer, a microwave switch, radio frequency cables, power unit and a personal computer. The polarimetric scatterometer components were installed inside an air-conditioned shelter to maintain constant temperature and humidity during the data acquisition period. The backscattering coefficients were calculated from the measured data at incidence angle $40^{\circ}$ and full polarization (HH, VV, HV, VH) by applying the radar equation. The soybean growth data such as leaf area index (LAI), plant height, fresh and dry weight, vegetation water content and pod weight were measured periodically throughout the growth season. We measured the temporal variations of backscattering coefficients of the soybean crop at L, C, and X-bands during a soybean growth period. In the three bands, VV-polarized backscattering coefficients were higher than HH-polarized backscattering coefficients until mid-June, and thereafter HH-polarized backscattering coefficients were higher than VV-, HV-polarized back scattering coefficients. However, the cross-over stage (HH > VV) was different for each frequency: DOY 200 for L-band and DOY 210 for both C and X-bands. The temporal trend of the backscattering coefficients for all bands agreed with the soybean growth data such as LAI, dry weight and plant height; i.e., increased until about DOY 271 and decreased afterward. We plotted the relationship between the backscattering coefficients with three bands and soybean growth parameters. The growth parameters were highly correlated with HH-polarization at L-band (over r=0.92).

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.609-617
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• 2010

The effect of vase water temperature and leaf number on water relations and senescence responses was determined in cut roses. Freshly harvested 'Red Sandra' roses were re-trimmed to 50 cm leaving two or four upper leaves and held in one of three solutions: ambient temperature distilled water ($23^{\circ}C$; AT-DW), low temperature distilled water ($7^{\circ}C$; LT-DW) and low temperature preservative solution (LT-PW). Flowers were kept in an environmental controlled room. Treatment effects evaluated were vase life, flower diameter, and changes in fresh weight and water uptake. Differences in water relations were determined by measuring $CO_2$ assimilation, stomatal conductance, and stem water flux rate (SFR). The water uptake rate was significantly increased in roses in LT-DW and decreased in those in LT-PW. While showing lower solution uptake rate during vase period, roses in LT-PW exhibited greatest fresh weight, longest positive water balance duration and largest flower diameter. Flowers with two leaves attached exhibited a higher fresh weight and improved water balance, thereby extending vase life. $CO_2$ assimilation rate and stomatal conductance were significantly decreased by placing flowers in LT-PW, yet increased by reducing leaf number to two leaves on the flower stems. Compared to the upper stem, the SFR of the basal stem of roses in AT-DW was lower, whereas SFR in basal stems of roses in LT-DW was much higher, suggesting that low-temperature water improved the hydraulic conductance in the stems. In contrast, roses in LT-PW had a stable SFR during the experimental period and displayed a similar pattern in SFR between upper and basal portions of the stems. Consequently, the vase life of cut roses in LT-PW and LT-DW was extended by more than eight and four days, respectively, compared to those in AT-DW.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1172-1182
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• 1998

Background: Primary goal of anticoagulation treatment in patients with mechanical heart valve is the effective prevention of thromboembolism and safe avoidance of bleeding as well. Material and Method: Two-hundred and nine patients with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis operated on between 1984 and 1995, for mitral(MVR 122), aortic(AVR 39) and double mitral and aortic valve replacement(DVR 48) respectively, were studied on the practically achieved levels of anticoagulation and the clinical outcomes. Patients were on Coumadin and followed up by monthly visit to outpatient clinic for examination and prothrombin time measurement to adjust the International Normalized Ratios(INRs) within the low-intensity target range between 1.5 and 2.5. Result: A total anticoagulation follow-up period was 1082.0 patient- years(mean 62.1 months) and INRs of 10,205 measurements were available for evaluation. The accomplished INRs among the replacement groups were not significantly different and only 65% of INRs were within the target range. And, in individual patients, only 37% of patients had INRs included within the target range in more than 70% of tests during follow-up period. The levels of INRs in patients with atrial fibrillation, which was found in 57% of patients, were definitely higher than the ones measured in patients with regular rhythm(p<0.001). Thromboembolisms were experienced by 15 patients with the incidence of 1.265%/patient- year(MVR 1.412%, AVR 0.462% and DVR 1.531%/patient-year) and major bleeding by 4 patients with the incidence of 0.337%/patient-year(MVR 0.424%, AVR none and DVR 0.383%/patient-year). Frequent as well as prolonged missing of prothrombin time tests was the main risk factor strongly associated with the thromboembolic complications(odds ratio 1.99). The proportion of INRs within target range of less than 60% in individual patient was the highly significant risk factor of both thromboembolic and overall embolic and bleeding complications(p<0.004 and p<0.002 respectively). Conclusion: In conclusion, the low-intensity therapeutic target range of INRs was adequate in patients with AVR and in sinus rhythm. However, the patients with replacement of the mitral valve were more likely to require higher target range of INRs, especially in the presence of atrial fibrillation, to achieve the practical levels of anticoagulation enough to prevent thromboembolic complications effectively. For the higher therapeutic target range of INRs between 2.0∼3.0, further accumulation of clinical evidences are required. It is highly desirable to improve the patients' compliance under continuous instructions in visiting outpatient clinic and in taking daily Coumadin without omission and to keep INRs consistently within optimal range with tight control for minimization of chances and of periods of exposure to the risk of complications. And, particularly, patients with high risk of complications and with wide fluctuation of INRs should be better managed with frequent monitoring anticoagulation levels.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.107-116
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• 2011

Respiratory gated radiation therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy require identical tumor motions during each treatment with the motion detected in treatment planning CT. Therefore, this study developed a tumor motion monitoring and analysis system during the treatments employing RPM data, gated setup OBI images and a data analysis software. A respiratory training and guiding program which improves the regularity of breathing was used to patients. The breathing signal was obtained by RPM and the recorded data in the 4D console was read after treatment. The setup OBI images obtained gated at 0% and 50% of breathing phases were used to detect the tumor motion range in crenio-caudal direction. By matching the RPM data recorded at the OBI imaging time, a factor which converts the RPM motion to the tumor motion was computed. RPM data was entered to the institute developed data analysis software and the maximum, minimum, average of the breathing motion as well as the standard deviation of motion amplitude and period was computed. The computed result is exported in an excel file. The conversion factor was applied to the analyzed data to estimate the tumor motion. The accuracy of the developed method was tested by using a moving phantom, and the efficacy was evaluated for 10 stereotactic body radiation therapy patients. For the sine wave motion of the phantom with 4 sec of period and 2 cm of peak-to-peak amplitude, the measurement was slightly larger (4.052 sec) and the amplitude was smaller (1.952 cm). For patient treatment, one patient was evaluated not to qualified to SBRT due to the usability of the breathing, and in one patient case, the treatment was changed to respiratory gated treatment due the larger motion range of the tumor than treatment planed motion. The developed method and data analysis program was useful to estimate the tumor motion during treatment.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2 s.112
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• pp.225-236
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• 2005

The protection of public health In wastewater reclamation and reuse is one of the most important issues. Monitoring data of Escherichia coli were collected from paddy rice plots in 2003 and 2004 experiments. Five treatments were used and each one was triplicated to evaluate the changes of E. coli: surface water, biofilter effluent (secondary level), UV-disinfected water and pond treatment. Microbial risk was quantified to assess human health risk by exposure to E. coli in paddy rice plots, which were irrigated with reclaimed wastewater. Beta-Poisson model was used to estimate the microbial risk of pathogen ingestion that may occur to farmer and neighbor children. Monte-Carlo analysis (10,000 trials) was used to estimate the risk characterization of uncertainty. In the following analysis, two scenarios were related to the reduction of risk against direct ingestion and exposure times. Scenarios A and B were assumed that the risk was 1,000 and 10,000 times lower than direct ingestion.'Golfers were assumed to be 0.001 L of reclaimed water by contact with balls and their cloths. Opportunity of contact in paddy rice field with pathogens was more frequent than handing golf balls, because of agricultural activity was practiced in ponded water in paddy rice culture. As a result of microbial risk assessment using total data of experimental period, risk value of E. coli in 2003 and 2004 experiment ranged from $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-8}$ and $10^{-4}$ to $10^{-8}$, respectively. The risk values in biofilter effluent irrigation was the highest, which is $10^{-4}$ in 2003 and $10^{-5}$ in 2004 experiments with scenario A. Ranges of $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-8}$ were considered at reasonable levels of risk for communicable disease transmission from environmental exposure and the risk value above $10^{-4}$ was considered to be attributable to the risk of infection. Irrigation with UV-disinfected water in the paddy field during the agricultural Period showed significantly lower microbial risk than others, and their levels of risk value were within the range of actual paddy rice field with surface water.