• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: It is well-known that alcohol consumption is associated with stroke risk as well as with aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene (ALDH2) polymorphisms. However, it is unclear whether ALDH2 polymorphisms are associated with stroke risk independent of alcohol consumption and whether such association is modified by sex. We evaluated sex-specific associations of a common ALDH2 polymorphism and alcohol consumption with stroke risk in a Korean population. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study involving 8,465 men and women, aged 40-69 years and free of stroke between June, 2001 and January, 2003, and followed for the development of stroke. We identified new cases of stroke, which were self-reported or ascertained from vital registration data. Based on genome-wide association data, we selected a single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs2074356), which shows high linkage disequilibrium with the functional polymorphism of ALDH2. We conducted Cox proportional hazards regression analysis considering potential risk factors collected from a baseline questionnaire. RESULTS: Over the median follow-up of 8 years, 121 cases of stroke were identified. Carrying the wild-type allele of the ALDH2 polymorphism increased stroke risk among men. The multivariate hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] of stroke was 2.02 [1.03-3.99] for the wild-type allele compared with the mutant alleles, but the association was attenuated after controlling for alcohol consumption. Combinations of the wild-type allele and other risk factors of stroke, such as old age, diabetes mellitus, and habitual snoring, synergistically increased the risk among men. Among women, however, the ALDH2 polymorphism was not associated with stroke risk. CONCLUSIONS: The prospective cohort study showed a significant association between a common ALDH2 polymorphism and stroke risk in Korean men, but not in Korean women, and also demonstrated that men with genetic disadvantages gain more risk when having risk factors of stroke. Thus, these men may need to make more concerted efforts to control modifiable risk factors of stroke.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.63-73
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• 2020

Drought is considered as a devastating hazard that causes serious agricultural, ecological and socio-economic impacts worldwide. Fundamentally, the drought can be defined as temporarily different levels of inadequate precipitation, soil moisture, and water supply relative to the long-term average conditions. From no unified definition of droughts, droughts have been divided into different severity level, i.e., moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought. The drought severity classification defined the ranges for each indicator for each dryness level. Because the ranges of the various indicators often don't coincide, the final drought category tends to be based on what the majority of the indicators show and on local observations. Evaporative Stress Index (ESI), a satellite-based drought index using the ratio of potential and actual evaporation, is being used as a index of the droughts occurring rapidly in a short period of time from studies showing a more sensitive and fast response to drought compared to Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). However, ESI is difficult to provide an objective drought assessment because it does not have clear drought severity classification criteria. In this study, U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), the standard for drought determination used in the United States, was applied to ESI, and the Percentile method was used to classify drought categories by severity. Regarding the actual 2017 drought event in South Korea, we compare the spatial distribution of drought area and understand the USDM-based ESI by comparing the results of Standardized Groundwater level Index (SGI) and drought impact information. These results demonstrated that the USDM-based ESI could be an effective tool to provide objective drought conditions to inform management decisions for drought policy.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.11-20
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• 2016

Depletion of natural resources and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are an important issue which we have to solve. The recycling of waste has emerged as a global concern. In Korea, the development of cost-effective treatment and recycling technologies also need to be improved. In this study, we compared and analyzed the cost per unit of treatment and recycling of organic waste, and presented an effective recycling scheme. We investigated the current status of treatment and costs for six types of organic wastes from 80 workplaces, including organic wastewater treatment sludge, processed organic sludge, and plant residues. In addition, environmental costs for greenhouse gas reduction were calculated. It's an economic way that organic waste is composted and used as cement additives. In particular, the economic analysis was done by realistic results of the survey target companies. In conclusion, in order for reliable processing and recycling of organic wastes, wastewater treatment sludge and sewage sludge need to be classified based on hazard characteristics. Finally, technical difficulties need to be further resolved such as odors, leachate, and debris on recycling organic wastes.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.25-38
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trend changes of the health characteristics and the elements of Han-Ok appeared in the articles of the daily newspaper, and to provide basic information for applying to the healthy housing for the public living in modern society and furthermore the various facilities for healing. For the study, the relevant articles of 4 daily newspapers published from 1st of January in 1960 to 28th of February in 2010 were collected and analyzed. The results of the study were as follows: First, the articles about the health characteristics and the elements of Han-Ok have rapidly grown since the year of 2000. Especially, the residents' interviews, case reports and actual living condition of Han-Ok recently tend to increase. Second, the health characteristics of Han-Ok in the recent articles were focused more on the mental and social health than on the physical health. The physical health had the characteristics of the block of hazard environments, the offer of good quality environments, and the enhancements of residents' health. The mental health consisted of the psychological comfort, the sensory satisfaction and the emotional growth. There have been improvements of family relationships and the interactions with neighbors in the characteristics of social health since 2000. Third, the health elements of Han-Ok in terms of architecture and interior design were the structure, space, material, doors & windows, furniture & props, nature, and villages. The material elements were more stressed before 2000, but the spaces and the nature elements were highly focused after 2000 and the structure elements were steadily high regardless of years. Fourth, of the health elements, the structure and the material had the high effects on the physical health characteristics, on the other hand the spaces and the nature influenced more on the mental health. On-dol, Ma-dang, Dae-cheong, Ma-ru, soil, wood, Changhoji, natural environments, and doors & windows were the detail health elements which had high effects on the health characteristics of Han-Ok. For the future study, the experience based in-depth studies of the residents living in Han-Ok are suggested to grasp the actual effects of Han-Ok on the health. The professional consultations are also needed for the extracts of the health characteristics of Han-Ok and the functional elements which can be applied to the modern buildings.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.3 s.113
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• pp.304-312
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• 2005

Effects of two endocrine disrupters (EDs) , nonylphenol (NP) and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), on the population growth and morphology of two freshwater HABs (harmful algal blooms) , Microcystis aeruginosa and Stephanodiscus hantzschii, which frequently evoked the hazard bloom in an eutrophic lakes and reservoirs worldwide, were examined with seven different concentrations of EDs (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 1,2, 2.5 and 3 ppm). Even at concentration below 0.01 ppm, NP strongly inhibited the algal growth of both M. aeruginosa and S. hantzschii, regardless of the algal growth phase. Morphologically, the algal cell treated with NP gradually lost green color in cytoplasm, became smaller in cell size, and then, was hardly seen in microscopic field. On the other hand, DEHP employed did not affect two algae at all concentrations, and rather stimulated the growth by about 10% with a treatment at 3.00 ppm compared to control. These results indicate that the continuous input of EDs, DEHP into the natural water system plays a crucial role to enhance or help an outbreak of algal bloom in eutrophic waters.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.38-48
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• 2010

Adverse weather (e.g. strong winds, snow and ice) will probably appear as a more serious and frequent threat to road traffic than in clear climate. Another consequence of climate change with a natural disastrous on road traffic is respond to traffic accident more the large and high-rise bridge zone, tunnel zone, inclined plane zone and de-icing zone than any other zone, which in turn calls for continuous adaption of monitoring procedures. Accident mitigating measures against this accident category may consist of intense winter maintenance, the use of road weather information systems for data collection and early warnings, road surveillance and traffic control. While hazard from reduced road friction due to snow and ice may be eliminated by snow removal and de-icing measures, the effect of strong winds on road traffic are not easily avoided. The purpose of the study described here, was to design of amber information the relationship between traffic safety, weather, user information on road weather and driving conditions in local-scale Geographic. The most applications are the optimization of the amber information definition, improvements to road surveillance, road weather monitoring and improved accuracy of user information delivery. Also, statistics on wind gust, surface condition, vehicle category and other relevant parameters for wind induced accidents provide basis for traffic control, early warning policies and driver education for improved road safety at bad weather-exposed locations.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.282-287
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: The current study was carried out to investigate Cd, Hg, Pb and As contaminations in 222 commercial medicinal plants and to estimate the potential health risk through dietary intake of commercial medicinal plants in Korea.METHODS AND RESULTS: The Cd, Hg, Pb, and As in medicinal plants were analyzed by ICP/MS and mercury analyzer.The potential health risk was estimated using risk assessment tools. Total amount of Cd in medicinal plants with 29% samples exceeded the standard limit legislated in 'Pharmaceutical Affairs Act' while all plant samples were lower than the standard limit value for As, Hg, and Pb. However, when applying the standard limit for root vegetable (fresh weight) in the Food Sanitation Act, four samples exceeded the standard limit of Pb. For health risk assessment, the values of cancer risk probability were 0.3~5.9×10^-7which were less than the acceptable cancer risk of 10^-6~10^-4for regulatory purpose. Also, Hazard quotientvalues were lower than 1.0.CONCLUSION: Therefore, these results demonstrated that human exposure to Cd, Hg, Pb, and As through dietary intake of commercial medicinal plants might notcause adverse health effects although some medicinal plants were higher than the standard limit values for Cd and Pb.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.15
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• pp.303-316
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• 2008

One of important protecting skill is securing the minimum safe distance from potential hazard to protect protectee in the emergency situation, that is basic thing for the detailed security in relation to the walking formation and the distance between protectee and crowed. This thesis is to provide the idea on the scientific countermeasure in the gun attack situation, by presenting logic on the reaction time and it's moving distance, on the safe distance between protectee and crowed. Handball goal keeper's reaction time of 0.33seconds is applied, because handball goal keeper's reaction style is very similar to security agent's reaction style. And 4m/sec of record is applied, that is average speed of 'go and return type run of 40m' to calculate it's moving distance. Several researches show that reaction time could be improved by continuing training, similarly security agents could improve their reaction time, providing better reaction skill. The important thing is that it make big difference in the protecting result, although the shortening of reaction time is too slight. Securing safe distance between protectee and crowed and the distance between protectee and security agent could provide effective reaction environment with 'natural protective wall effect' by security agent

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2006

Flooding hazard caused by natural and artificial environmental changes is closely associated with change in river bed configuration. This study is aimed at explaining a river-bed change related to soil erosion in the Keum river basin using GIS and RS. The USLE was used to compute soil erosion rate on the basis of GIS. River-bed profiles stretching from Kongju to Ippo were measured to construct a 3D-geomorphological map. The river-bed change was also detected by remote sensing images using Landsat TM during the period of 1982 to 2000 for the Keum river. The result shows that USLE indicates a mean soil erosion rate of $1.8\;kg/m^2/year$, and a net increase of a river-bed change at a rate of $+5\;cm/m^2$/year in the Kangkyeong area. The change in river-bed is interpreted to have been caused by soil erosion in the downstream of the Keum river basin. In addition river-bed change mainly occurred on the downstream of the confluence where tributaries and the main channel meet. Other possible river-bed change is caused by a removal of fluvial sand aggregates, which might have resulted in a net decrease of exposed area of sediment distribution between 1991 and 1995, while a construction of underwater structures, including a bridge, a reclamation of sand bars for rice fields and dikes, resulted in an increase of the exposed area of river-bed due to sediment accumulation.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.9 no.2 s.18
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• pp.29-36
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• 2001

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Disaster Management System Development of Enterprise GIS at the Kangwon Province in Korea. This project is included into 'the Kangwon Enterprise GIS 21 plan'. The Division of Disaster Management is in the middle of the 2-year project of the Disaster Management System development, appropriate for business performed at the Departments of Forestry, Culture, Environment, Tourism, etc. At the 1st phase of CIS implementation, for more than half a year we focused on the necessity of management of disasters. In the planning process, we needed long-term information on the whole area of Kangwon. In the assessment and response processes, we needed real-time data from Korean Meteorological Administration and other agencies. All the above information was carefully studied and referred to. ESRI's new GIS technologies solve the natural hazard/disaster problems. For example, hazardous materials routing often needs to be found the least expensive path through a roadway network. In the circumstances given, we can choose the departure point and destination of the vehicle, which carries the materials. It's also possible to minimize overall risk and costs of disaster problems by making a plan of people and possessions evacuation from the disaster area in short time limits. We can meet all the above goals using the latest ESRI's technologies.