• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.475-489
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• 2010

In order to verify the enhancement of ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) during springtime in East Asia, we investigated weather conditions and data from remote sensors, air quality models, and air quality monitors. These include the geopotential height archived from the final (FNL) meteorological field, the potential vorticity and the wind velocity simulated by the Meteorological Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5), the back trajectory estimated by the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, the total column amount of ozone and the aerosol index retrieved from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), the total column density of CO retrieved from the Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), and the concentration of ozone and CO simulated by the Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers (MOZART). In particular, the total column density of CO, which mightoriginate from the combustion of fossil fuels and the burning of biomass in China, increased in East Asia during spring 2000. In addition, the enhancement of total column amounts of ozone and CO appeared to be associated with both the upper cut-off low near 500 hPa and the frontogenesis of a surface cyclone during a weak Asian dust event. At the same time, high concentrations of ozone and CO on the Earth's surface were shown at the Seoul air quality monitoring site, located at the surface frontogenesis in Korea. It was clear that the ozone was invaded by the downward stretched vortex anomalies, which included the ozone-rich airflow, during movement and development of the cut-off low, and then there was the catalytic photochemical reaction of ozone precursors on the Earth's surface during the day. In addition, air pollutants such as CO and aerosol were tracked along both the cyclone vortex and the strong westerly as shown at the back trajectory in Seoul and Busan, respectively. Consequently, the maxima of ozone and CO between the two areas showed up differently because of the time lag between those gases, including their catalytic photochemical reactions together with the invasion from the upper troposphere, as well as the path of their transport from China during the weak Asian dust event.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.301-308
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• 2020

Owing to global climate change, the global resurgence of vector-borne infectious diseases and their potential to inflict widespread casualties among human populations has emerged as a pivotal burden on public health systems. Tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus) in the Republic of Korea is steadily increasing and was designated as a legal communicable disease in 1994. The disease is a mite-borne acute febrile disease most commonly contracted from October to December. In this study, we tried to determine the prevalence of tsutsugamushi disease transmitted by chigger mites living on rodents and investigated their target vector diversity, abundance, and distribution to enable the mapping of hotspots for this disease in 2015. A total of 5 species belonging to 4 genera (109 mites): Leptotrombidium scutellare 60.6%, L. pallidum 28.4% Neotrombicula tamiyai 9.2%, Euschoengastia koreaensis/0.9%), and Neoschoengastia asakawa 0.9% were collected using chigger mite collecting traps mimicking human skin odor and sticky chigger traps from April to November 2015. Chigger mites causing tsutsugamushi disease in wild rodents were also collected in Hwaseong for the zoonotic surveillance of the vector. A total of 77 rodents belonging to 3 genera: Apodemus agrarius (93.5%), Crocidura lasiura (5.2%), and Micromys minutus (1.3%) were collected in April, October, and November 2015. The most common mite was L. pallidum (46.9%), followed by L. scutellare (18.6%), and L. orientale (18.0%). However, any of the chigger mite pools collected from rodent hosts was tested positive for Orientia tsutsugamushi, the pathogen of tsutsugamushi disease, in this survey.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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• v.10B no.4
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• pp.373-380
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• 2003

Most of low cost digital cameras reveal relatively high lens distortion. The purpose of this research is to compensate the degradation of image quality due to the geometrical distortion of a lens system. The proposed method consists of two stages : calculation of a lens distortion coefficient by a simplified version of Tsai´s camera calibration and subsequent image warping of the original distorted image to remove geometrical distortion based on the calculated lens distortion coefficient. In the lens distortion coefficient calculation stage, a practical method for handling scale factor ratio and image center is proposed, after which its feasibility is shown by measuring the performance of distortion correction using a quantitative image quality measure. On the other hand, in order to apply image warping via inverse spatial mapping using the result of the lens distortion coefficient calculation stage, a cubic polynomial derived from an adopted radial distortion lens model must be solved. In this paper, for the purpose of real-time operation, which is essential for embedding into an information device, an approximated solution to the cubic polynomial is proposed in the form of a solution to a quadratic equation. In the experiment, potential for real-time implementation and equivalence in performance as compared with that from cubic polynomial solution are shown.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.141-153
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• 2016

Reliable assessment of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes greatly improves many practical issues in hydrography, socio-geographical research such as the observation of erosion and accretion, coastal monitoring, ecological effects evaluation. Remote sensing imageries can offer the outstanding capability to monitor nature and extent of land and associated changes over time. Nowadays accurate analysis using remote sensing imageries with high spatio-temporal resolution is required for environmental monitoring. This study develops a methodology of mapping and change detection in LULC by using classified Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-2 (KOMPSAT-2) multispectral imageries at Jeonbuk and Jeonnam provinces including protected tidal flats located in the west coasts of Korean peninsula from 2008 to 2015. The LULC maps generated from unsupervised classification were analyzed and evaluated by post-classification change detection methods. The LULC assessment in Jeonbuk and Jeonnam areas had not showed significant changes over time although developed area was gradually increased only by 1.97% and 4.34% at both areas respectively. Overall, the results of this study quantify the land cover change patterns through pixel based analysis which demonstrate the potential of multispectral KOMPSAT-2 images to provide effective and economical LULC maps in the coastal zone over time. This LULC information would be of great interest to the environmental and policy mangers for the better coastal management and political decisions.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.36 no.2_1
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• pp.179-197
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• 2020

Topographic normalization reduces the terrain effects on reflectance by adjusting the brightness values of the image pixels to be equal if the pixels cover the same land-cover. Topographic effects are induced by the imaging conditions and tend to be large in high mountainousregions. Therefore, image analysis on mountainous terrain such as estimation of wildfire damage assessment requires appropriate topographic normalization techniques to yield accurate image processing results. However, most of the previous studies focused on the evaluation of topographic normalization on satellite images with moderate-low spatial resolution. Thus, the alleviation of topographic effects on multi-temporal high-resolution images was not dealt enough. In this study, the evaluation of terrain normalization was performed for each band to select the optimal technical combinations for rapid and accurate wildfire damage assessment using PlanetScope images. PlanetScope has considerable potential in the disaster management field as it satisfies the rapid image acquisition by providing the 3 m resolution daily image with global coverage. For comparison of topographic normalization techniques, seven widely used methods were employed on both pre-fire and post-fire images. The analysis on bi-temporal images suggests the optimal combination of techniques which can be applied on images with different land-cover composition. Then, the vegetation index was calculated from the images after the topographic normalization with the proposed method. The wildfire damage detection results were obtained by thresholding the index and showed improvementsin detection accuracy for both object-based and pixel-based image analysis. In addition, the burn severity map was constructed to verify the effects oftopographic correction on a continuous distribution of brightness values.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.115-129
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• 2015

The cut-slope of a large-sectional tunnel portal is recognized as a potential area of weakness due to unstable stress distribution and possible permanent displacement. This paper presents a case study of a slope failure and remediation for a large-scale cut-slope at a tunnel portal. Extensive rock-slope brittle failure occurred along discontinuities in the rock mass after 46 mm of rainfall, which caused instability of the upper part of the cut-slope. Based on a geological survey and face mapping, the reason for failure is believed to be the presence of thin clay fill in discontinuities in the weathered rock mass and consequent saturationinduced joint weakening. The granite-gneiss rock mass has a high content of alkali-feldspar, indicating a vulnerability to weathering. Immediately before the slope failure, a sharp increase in displacement rate was indicated by settlement-time histories, and this observation can contribute to the safety management criteria for slope stability. In this case study, emergency remediation was performed to prevent further hazard and to facilitate reconstruction, and counterweight fill and concrete filling of voids were successfully applied. For ultimate remediation, the grid anchor-blocks were used for slope stabilization, and additional rock bolts and grouting were applied inside the tunnel. Limit-equilibrium slope stability analysis and analyses of strereographic projections confirmed the instability of the original slope and the effectiveness of reinforcing methods. After the application of reinforcing measures, instrumental monitoring indicated that the slope and the tunnel remained stable. This case study is expected to serve as a valuable reference for similar engineering cases of large-sectional slope stability.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.10-20
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• 2010

In recent studies, $PM_{2.5}$ has been reported to be more harmful to human health than $PM_{10}$ because it penetrates more deeply into the lung. We estimated $PM_{2.5}$ related health benefits in Seoul from implementing the World Health Organization (WHO)'s guidelines (annual average $10{\mu}g/m^3$, 24-hour average $25{\mu}g/m^3$) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s National Ambient Air Quality Standard (annual average $15{\mu}g/m^3$, 24-hour average $35{\mu}g/m^3$). U.S. EPA's Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program was utilized for the analysis. It was predicted that the attainment of the WHO annual guideline and U.S. EPA's annual standard, relative to the concentration in 2006, would result in reduction of 2,333~2,895 premature deaths and 1,703~2,121 premature deaths, respectively. If the WHO and EPA's daily standard for $PM_{2.5}$ are attained, 1,211~1,394 and 1,012~1,165 premature deaths could be avoided, respectively. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the estimates were robust regardless of air quality simulation methods for attaining the $PM_{2.5}$ goals. This study provides a quantitative approach to evaluate health risks from air pollution as well as to assess the potential health benefits of improving atmospheric $PM_{2.5}$ concentration. Even considering the intrinsic limitations and uncertainties of the analysis, it is an important information to rationalize the enforcement of $PM_{2.5}$ management policies and measures in Seoul, Korea.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.846-855
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• 2007

Significant feature extraction in cancer cell image analysis is an important process for grading cell carcinoma. In this study, we propose a method for 3D quantitative analysis of cell nuclei based upon digital image cytometry. First, we acquired volumetric renal cell carcinoma data for each grade using confocal laser scanning microscopy and segmented cell nuclei employing color features based upon a supervised teaming scheme. For 3D visualization, we used a contour-based method for surface rendering and a 3D texture mapping method for volume rendering. We then defined and extracted the 3D morphological features of cell nuclei. To evaluate what quantitative features of 3D analysis could contribute to diagnostic information, we analyzed the statistical significance of the extracted 3D features in each grade using an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Finally, we compared the 2D with the 3D features of cell nuclei and analyzed the correlations between them. We found statistically significant correlations between nuclear grade and 3D morphological features. The proposed method has potential for use as fundamental research in developing a new nuclear grading system for accurate diagnosis and prediction of prognosis.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• v.1
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• pp.34-37
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• 2006

When tsunami waves propagate across open ocean they are steered by Coriolis force and refraction due to gentle gradients in the bathymetry on scales longer than the wavelength. When the wave encounters steep gradients at the edges of continental shelves and at the coast, the wave becomes non-linear and conservation of momentum produces squirts of surface current at the head of submerged canyons and in coastal bays. HF coastal ocean radar is well-conditioned to observe the current bursts at the edge of the continental shelf and give a warning of 40 minutes to 2 hours when the shelf is 50-200km wide. The period of tsunami waves is invariant over changes in bathymetry and is in the range 2-30 minutes. Wavelengths for tsunamis (in 500-3000 m depth) are in the range 8.5 to over 200 km and on a shelf where the depth is about 50 m (as in the Great Barrier Reef) the wavelengths are in the range 2.5 - 30 km. It is shown that the phased array HF ocean surface radar being deployed in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and operating in a routine way for mapping surface currents, can resolve surface current squirts from tsunamis in the wave period range 20-30 minutes and in the wavelength range greater than about 6 km. There is a trade-off between resolution of surface current speed and time resolution. If the radar is actively managed with automatic intervention during a tsunami alert period (triggered from the global seismic network) then it is estimated that the time resolution of the GBR radar may be reduced to about 2 minutes, which corresponds to a capability to detect tsunamis at the shelf edge in the period range 5-30 minutes. It is estimated that the lower limit of squirt velocity detection at the shelf edge would correspond to a tsunami with water elevation of less than 5 cm in the open ocean. This means that the GBR HF radar is well-conditioned for use as a monitor of small and medium scale tsunamis, and has the potential to contribute to the understanding of tsunami genesis research.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.73-73
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• 2018

Bacterial leaf blight(BLB), caused by X. oryzae pv. oryzae(Xoo), is one of the most destructive diseases of rice due to its high epidemic potential. Understanding BLB resistance at a genetic level is important to further improve the rice breeding that provides one of the best approaches to control BLB disease. In the present investigation, a collection of 192 accessions was used in the genome-wide association study (GWAS) for BLB resistance loci against four Korean races of Xoo that were represented by the prevailing BLB isolates under Xoo differential system. A total of 192 accessions of rice germplasm were selected on the basis of the bioassay using four isolated races of Xoo such as K1, K2, K3 and K3a. The selected accessions was used to prepare 384-plex genotyping by sequencing (GBS) libraries and Illumina HiSeq 2000 paired- end read was used for GBS sequencing. GWAS was conducted using T ASSEL 5.0. The T ASSEL program uses a mixed linear model (MLM). T he results of the bioassay using a selected set of 192 accessions showed that a large number of accessions (93.75%) were resistant to K1 race, while the least number of accessions (34.37%) resisted K3a race. For races K2 and K3, the resistant germplasm proportion remained between 66.67 to 70.83%. T he genotypic data produced SNP matrix for a total of 293,379 SNPs. After imputation the missing data was removed, which exhibited 34,724 SNPs for association analysis. GWAS results showed strong signals of association at a threshold of [-log10(P-value)] more than5 (K1 and K2) and more than4 (K3 and K3a) for nine of the 39 SNPs, which are plausible candidate loci of resistance genes. T hese SNP loci were positioned on rice chromosome 2, 9, and 11 for K1 and K2 races, whereas on chromosome 4, 6, 11, and 12 for K3 and K3a races. The significant loci detected have also been illustrated, NBS-LRR type disease resistance protein, SNARE domain containing protein, Histone deacetylase 19, NADP-dependent oxidoreductase, and other expressed and unknown proteins. Our results provide a better understanding of the distribution of genetic variation of BLB resistance to Korean pathogen races and breeding of resistant rice.