• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.230-237
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• 2021

Background: Noise-induced hearing loss is a well-known occupational disease that affects many fish harvesters from many fisheries worldwide, whose risk factor is prolonged exposure to hazardous noise levels. To date, academic research activities and regulatory bodies have not provided any comparative analysis among the existing methods to assess noise exposure levels of fish harvesters. This paper provides a comparison of four relevant assessment methods of noise exposure, examining the results of a measurement campaign performed onboard small fishing vessels from Newfoundland and Labrador. Methods: We traveled onboard 11 vessels engaged in multiple fisheries from Newfoundland and Labrador and performed extensive noise exposure surveys using the simplified International Maritime Organization method, the full-day measurement method, and the two methods provided by ISO 9612:2009, the task-based method and job-based method (JBM). Results: The results showed that the four methods yield similar values when the noise components are dominated by the engine and auxiliaries (steady-state sources); when noise components are dominated by the fishing gear, task-based method and the simplified International Maritime Organization method estimates are less accurate than JBM, using full-day measurements as baseline. Conclusion: The JBM better assesses noise exposure in small-scale fisheries, where noise exposure has significant variance and uncertainties on the exposure levels are higher.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.81-95
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• 1994

This study was performed in a diatomite factory where silicosis had been found at October, 1993. The major objectives were to evaluate worker exposure to diatomaceous earth and to present engineering control methods for workplace management. Total and respirable dust of diatomaceous earth were measured. Size distribution of dust was analyzed by applying the multiple diffraction method. Also crystalline silica in respirable dust samples was analyzed qualitatively by X-ray diffraction. The suitable Local Exhaust Ventilation systems for that factory were recommended. The results were as follows. The airborne total and respirable dust concentrations by exposure groups showed approximate normal distribution. The means of total dust exposures at flour maufacturing, fire brick grinding and packaging, ceramic raws packaging processes exceeded Korean and ACGIH standards, $10mg/m^3$. The means of total and respirable dust concentrations to high exposure groups were 6.8 and 3.9 times higher than those of low expousre groups, respectively. The size distribution of diatomaceous earth dust was lognormal with a median diameter of $7.07{\mu}m$(range, $0.10-60.0{\mu}m$) and with a geometric standard deviation of 1.43. The crystalline silica in respirable dust samples was identified to quartz and cristobalite and/or tridymite. Above results suggest that engineering controls and periodic environmental and medical surveillances will be important for preventing silicosis in the diatomite factory.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.540-543
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• 2007

The modulation transfer function (MTF) in a camera system is a measurement of how well the system will faithfully reproduce the original scene. The electro-optical camera system consists of optics, an array of pixels, and an electronics which is related to the image signal chain. The system MTF can be cascaded with each element's MTF in the frequency domain. That is to say, the electronics MTF including the detector MTF can be recalculated easily by the acquired system MTF if the well-known test optics is used in the measuring process. A Time-Delay and Integration (TDI) detector can make a signal increase by taking multiple exposures of the same object and adding them. It can be considered the various methods to measure the MTF of the TDI camera system. This paper shows the actual and practical MTF measuring methods for the detector and electronics in the TDI camera. The several methods are described according to the scan direction as well as the TDI stages such as the single line mode and the multiple-lines mode. The measuring is performed in the in the static condition or dynamic condition to get the point spread function (PSF) or the line spread function (LSF). Especially, the dynamic test bench is used to simulate on track velocity to synchronize with TDI read out frequency for the dynamic movement.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.129.1-129.1
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• 2011

We have applied an advanced multi-aperture indexing photometry and sophisticated de-trending method to existing Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) data sets. TAOS, a wide-field ($3^{\circ}{\times}3^{\circ}$) and rapid photometry (5Hz) survey, is designed to detect small objects in the Kuiper Belt. Since TAOS has fast and multiple exposures per zipper mode image, point spread function (PSF) varies in a given image. Selecting appropriate aperture among various size apertures allows us to reflect these variations in each light curve. The survey data turned out to contain various trends such as telescope vibration, CCD noise, and unstable local weather. We select multiple sets of stars using a hierarchical clustering algorithm in such a way that the light curves in each cluster show strong correlations between them. We then determine a primary trend (PT) per cluster using a weighted sum of the normalized light curves, and we use the constructed PTs to remove trends in individual light curves. After removing the trend, we can get each synthetic light curve of star that has much higher signal-to-noise ratio. We compare the efficiency of the synthetic light curves with the efficiency of light curves made by previous existing photometry pipelines. Our photometric method is able to restore subtle brightness variation that tends to be missed in conventional aperture photometric methods, and can be applied to other wide-field surveys suffering from PSF variations and trends. We are developing an analysis package for the next generation TAOS survey (TAOS II) based on the current experiments.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.236-243
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• 2022

Background: In the case of multiple exposures to different types of heavy metals, such as the conditions faced by residents living near a smelter, it would be preferable to group hazardous substances with similar characteristics rather than individually related substances and evaluate the effects of each group on the human body. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of factor analysis in the assessment of health effects caused by exposure to two or more hazardous substances with similar characteristics, such as in the case of residents living near a smelter. Methods: Heavy metal concentration data for 572 people living in the vicinity of the Janghang smelter area were grouped based on several subfactors according to their characteristics using factor analysis. Using these factor scores as an independent variable, multiple regression analysis was performed on health effect markers. Results: Through factor analysis, three subfactors were extracted. Factor 1 contained copper and zinc in serum and revealed a common characteristic of the enzyme co-factor in the human body. Factor 2 involved urinary cadmium and arsenic, which are harmful metals related to kidney damage. Factor 3 encompassed blood mercury and lead, which are classified as related to cardiovascular disease. As a result of multiple linear regression analysis, it was found that using the factor index derived through factor analysis as an independent variable is more advantageous in assessing the relevance to health effects than when analyzing the two heavy metals by including them in a single regression model. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that regression analysis linked with factor analysis is a good alternative in that it can simultaneously identify the effects of heavy metals with similar properties while overcoming multicollinearity that may occur in environmental epidemiologic studies on exposure to various types of heavy metals.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.49-57
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• 2012

This paper presents a fast multiple-image-based deblurring method that decreases the computation loads in the image deblurring, enhancing the sharpness of the textures or edges of the restored images. First, two blurred images with some blurring artifacts and one noisy image including severe noises are consecutively captured under a relatively long and short exposures, respectively. To improve the processing speeds, the captured multiple images are downsampled at the ratio of two, and then a way of estimating the point spread function(PSF) based on the image or edge patches extracted from the whole images, is introduced. The method enables to effectively reduce the computation time taken in the PSF prediction. Next, the texture-enhanced image deblurring method of supplementing the ability of the texture representation degraded by the downsampling of the input images, is developed and then applied. Finally, to get the same image size as the original input images, an upsampling method of utilizing the sharp edges of the captured noisy image is applied. By using the proposed method, the processing times taken in the image deblurring, which is the main obstacle of its application to the digital cameras, can be shortened, while recovering the fine details of the textures or edge components.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.59-64
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• 2012

With rapid increasing usage of smart phones, social concerns have arisen about the possible effects of electromagnetic fields emitted from wideband code division multiple access(WCDMA) mobile phones on human health. The number of people with self-reported electromagnetic hypersensitivity(EHS) who complain of various subjective symptoms such as headache, insomnia etc. has also recently increased. However, it is unclear whether EHS results from physiological or other origins. In this double-blinded study, we investigated physiological changes such as heart rate, respiration rate, and heart rate variability with real and sham exposures for 15 EHS and 17 non-EHS persons using a module inside a dummy phone. Experiment was conducted using a WCDMA module with average power of 24 dBm at 1950 MHz with the specific absorption rate of 1.57 W/kg using a headphone for 32 min. As a conclusion, WCDMA RF exposure did not have any effects on the physiological variables in either group.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.229-242
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the current status of the association of job-related information such as employment status, workplace environment, and hazard material exposures with health examination outcomes. Methods: The study used data from KNHANES 2007-2009 representing the three years of 2007-2009, which was conducted annually using a rolling sampling design that involved a complex, stratified, multistage, probability-cluster survey of a representative sample of the non-institutionalized civilian population in Korea. The final analytical sample consisted of 17,240 participants. Information on age, education, smoking history and alcohol intake was collected during the health interview. Job related information consisted of employment status, workplace environment, and hazardous material exposure. The selected indices of health examination were blood pressure, fasting glucose, blood cholesterol, HDL, SGOT, SGPT, and BUN. Results: In multiple logistic regression analysis using hypertension and pre-hypertension as dependent variables and job related categories as independent variables after covariate adjustments, the odds of hypertension and pre-hypertension were significantly lower in those with responsibility and power in their job activities. Interestingly, low odds for hypertension were observed among those who reported that their jobs were fast-paced. Conclusions: This study confirmed that some job-related categories in employment status, workplace environment, and hazardous material exposure had an association with health outcome status. It is worthwhile to comment that high responsibility and power in job activities were revealed as one of the important favorable factors to improve health condition of workers.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2018

Exposure to chemical agents is an inevitable consequence of modern society; some of these agents are hazardous to human health. The effects of chemical carcinogens are of great concern in many countries, and international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, have established guidelines for the regulation of these chemicals. Carcinogens are currently categorized into two classes, genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens, which are subject to different regulatory policies. Genotoxic carcinogens are chemicals that exert carcinogenicity via the induction of mutations. Owing to their DNA interaction properties, there is thought to be no safe exposure threshold or dose. Genotoxic carcinogens are regulated under the assumption that they pose a cancer risk for humans, even at very low doses. In contrast, non-genotoxic carcinogens, which induce cancer through mechanisms other than mutations, such as hormonal effects, cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, or epigenetic changes, are thought to have a safe exposure threshold or dose; thus, their use in society is permitted unless the exposure or intake level would exceed the threshold. Genotoxicity assays are an important method to distinguish the two classes of carcinogens. However, some carcinogens have negative results in in vitro bacterial mutation assays, but yield positive results in the in vivo transgenic rodent gene mutation assay. Non-DNA damage, such as spindle poison or topoisomerase inhibition, often leads to positive results in cytogenetic genotoxicity assays such as the chromosome aberration assay or the micronucleus assay. Therefore, mechanistic considerations of tumor induction, based on the results of the genotoxicity assays, are necessary to distinguish genotoxic and non-genotoxic carcinogens. In this review, the concept of threshold of toxicological concern is introduced and the potential risk from multiple exposures to low doses of genotoxic carcinogens is also discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2008

It is commonly believed that disease of human or economic traits of livestock are caused not by single gene acting alone, but by multiple genes interacting with one an-other. This issue is difficult due to the limitations of parametric statistical method like as logistic regression for detection of gene effects that are dependent solely on interactions with other genes and with environmental exposures. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) nonparametric statistical method, to improve the identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with the Hanwoo(Korean cattle) carcass cold weight, is applied and compared with ANOVA results.