• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2017

The design fire based on the heat release rate (HRR) of combustibles can significantly affect the assessment of fire safety in the performance-based design (PBD). In the present PBD, however, limited information in the foreign literature has been used without further verification due to the lack of fire information in domestic combustibles. The objective of this study is to provide information on the HRR and fire growth rate for various combustibles in residential and office spaces. To end this, the fire experiments were carried out with single and multiple combustibles. The peak HRR of combustibles used in the present study had a range of 36 kW~1,092 kW. The fire growth rates were also $0.003kW/s^2{\sim}0.0287kW/s^2$ and $0.003kW/s^2{\sim}0.0838kW/s^2$ for the residential and office spaces, respectively. In particular, a sofa had the highest fire risk in terms of the peak HRR and fire growth rate. Finally, a methodology for calculating the peak HRR in a space was proposed through correlation analysis between the peak HRR and exposed surface of various combustibles.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2014

Smoke from fire is a mixture of combustion gases and particles which include micro-droplets formed from condensed organic vapors and carbonaceous agglomerates. The inhalation of smoke particles causes adverse health effects, and it is prerequisite for the hazard and risk analysis of the smoke particles to know how they behaviour in the respiratory tract. The characteristics of the absorption and adsorption of toxic gases and the amount and location of the particle deposition within the respiratory tract that determine the adverse health effects are related to the morphology and the size distribution of smoke particles. In the present work, as a preliminary study for the adverse health effects of smoke particles, the morphologies of the smoke particles from combustible materials were investigated for each fire stage: smouldering, well-ventilated flaming, small under-ventilated flaming, fully-developed under-ventilated fire. The steady-state tube furnace method given in ISO/TS 19700 was used for the generation of smoke particles. The fire stages were controlled by changing furnace temperature and equivalent ratio. The morphologies were analyzed by using Transmission Electron Microscope (Bio-TEM) by collecting the particles on TEM grids put on each stage of a cascade impactor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.521-529
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• 2016

Since Gamma Knife(R) radiosurgery(GKRS) is based on a single-fraction high dose treatment strategy, independent verification for the results of Leksell GammaPlan(R) (LGP) is an important procedure in assuring patient safety and minimizing the risk of treatment errors. Several verification methods have been developed and reported previously. Thus these methods were tested statistically and tried on Leksell Gamma Knife(LGK) target treatments through the embodiment of the previously proposed algorithms(PPA). The purpose of this study was to apply and evaluate the accuracy of verification methods for LGK target treatments using PPA. In the study 10 patients with intracranial lesion treated by GKRS were included. We compared the data from PPA and LGP in terms of maximum dose, arbitrary point dose, and treatment time at the isocenter locations. All data were analyzed by Paired t-test, which is statistical method used to compare two different measurement techniques. No statistical significance in maximal dose at 10 cases was observed between PPA and LGP. Differences in average maximal dose ranged from -0.53 Gy to 3.71 Gy. The arbitrary point dose calculated by PPA and LGP was not statistically significant too. But we found out the statistical difference with p=0.021 between TMR and LGP for treatment time at the isocenter locations. PPA can be incorporated as part of a routine quality assurance(QA) procedure to minimize the chance of a wrong overdose. Statistical analyses demonstrated that PPA was in excellent agreement with LGP when considering the maximal dose and the arbitrary point dose for the best plan of GKRS. Due to the easy applicability we hope PPA can be widely used.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.247-255
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• 2014

Objectives: We reviewed the CAREX (CARcinogen EXposure) program designed to estimate the prevalence of occupational exposure to carcinogens and summarized the advantages and limitations of this program. Methods: All literature, including reports on CAREX and the use of CAREX, were reviewed. The keyword search term was CAREX. Additional articles were identified from references cited in articles and reviewed. Results: An exposure information system, CAREX was developed based on data from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health of Finland and from the US. CAREX has been applied in several countries, including in the EU, in order to estimate national exposure patterns to carcinogens. The initial exposure assessment carried out through CAREX was aimed at estimating exposures over the period of 1990-1993. To estimate the number of workers exposed to carcinogens by using CAREX, reference exposure prevalence from Finland and the United States was computed, which was then reviewed and corrected by national experts. Finally the overall number of workers exposed to carcinogens can be estimated. We found that CAREX has been used in a total of 18 countries. No Asian country has used CAREX. Conclusions: CAREX can be applied not only to estimate the number of workers exposed to carcinogens in Korea, but also to identify high-risk industries with workers most exposed to carcinogens.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.216-221
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• 2016

Level and distribution of fourteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the agricultural water samples collected in the waterways located in Gyeonggi and Gangwon, Korea were determined for monitoring and risk assessment. A simplified, fast but effective extraction and clean-up methods combined with gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was employed to measure the concentration of the target compounds. The extraction of the analytes of interest in water sample (10 mL) was performed with acetonitrile (10 mL) and the salt. To purify the target PAHs, the clean-up procedure was employed with 2 mL tubes of dispersive solid phase extraction. The optimized method was validated with recoveries, method detection limit (MDL), accuracy and precision. Good recoveries for each PAHs at 10 and $25{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ were achieved (60 to 110%, with RSD <20%) with linearity (>0.99). MDL for all the analytes was achieved with $0.2{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. GC-MS/MS results showed that concentration of phenanthrene in the water samples from Gyeonggi (20 sites) ranged from 0.82 to $2.56{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ and from Gangwon (15 sites) ranged from 0.83 to $1.62{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$. Other PAHs were not found in the water samples but the continuous monitoring for these areas were required.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.353-363
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigated the ELF-MF emission level of various environments such as 258 facilities near located to high voltage transmission lines and 120 high voltage transmission lines, 17 underground cable lines. In addition, ELF-MF reduction rate according to separation distance was calculated by using simulations. An appropriate separation distance showing below 4mG was at least 70m. In the case of the appropriate separation distance for 120 high voltage transmission lines, 154kV required 20m of separation distance and 345kV required 60m of separation distance. The simulation results showed that the appropriate separation distance showing below 4mG was 40m and 60m for overhead 154kV and 345kV respectively. To adjust the worst conditions considering the aspects of environmental impact assessment study and the electric power currents that will increase in the future, the appropriate minimum separation distance for HVTL is judged to be above 70m in this study. Thus, there is a need to establish the greenbelt or buffer zone within 70m so as to create an environment in which the receptors are not exposed and thereby eliminate the risk factors of ELF-MF against humans.

• Agribusiness and Information Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2019

Agricultural risks are exacerbated by a variety of factors ranging from climatevariability and change, frequent natural disasters, uncertainties in yields and prices, weakrural infrastructure, imperfect markets and lack of financial services including limited spanand design of risk mitigation instruments such as credit and insurance. Indian agriculture has little more than half (53%) of its area still rainfed and this makes it highly sensitive to vagaries of climate causing unstable output. Besides adverse climatic factors, there are man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, adulteration of pesticides and fertilizers etc., and all these severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and are beyond the control of farmers. Hence, crop insurance' is considered to be the promising tool to insulate the farmers from risks faced by them and to sustain them in the agri-business. This paper critically evaluates the performance of recent crop insurance scheme viz., Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) and its comparative performance with earlier agricultural insurance schemes implemented in the country. It is heartening that, the comparative performance of PMFBY with earlier schemes revealed that, the Government has definitely taken a leap forward in covering more number of farmers and bringing more area under crop insurance with the execution of this new scheme and on this front, it deserves the appreciation in fulfilling the objective for bringing more number of farmers under insurance cover. The use of mobile based technology, reduced number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and smart CCEs, digitization of land record and linking them to farmers' account for faster assessment/settlement of claims are some of the steps that contributed for effective implementation of this new crop insurance scheme. However, inadequate claim payments, errors in loss/yield assessment, delayed claim payment, no direct linkage between insurance companies and farmers are the major shortcomings of this scheme. This calls for revamping the crop insurance program in India from time to time in tune with the dynamic changes in climatic factors on one hand and to provide a safety-net for farmers to mitigate losses arising from climatic shocks on the other. The future research avenues include: insuring the revenue of the farmer (Price × Yield) as in USA and more and more tenant farmers should be brought under insurance by doling out discounts for group coverage of farmers like in Philippines where 20 per cent discount in premium is given for a group of 5-10 farmers, 30 per cent for a group of 10-20 and 40 per cent for a group of >20 farmers.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.210-214
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• 2009

This study identified microbial risk factors in agricultural products processing center (APC) through the microbial hazard analysis to introduce good agricultural practices (GAP) system in APCs. Samples were collected from surroundings (basket, tray loader, weighing cup, collector, box) and workers by swabbing (glove and cloth) and glove juice method (hand) to enumerate total bacteria, coliform, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. The levels of total bacterial and coliform populations recovered from surroundings were 2.4-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ and 2.3-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand for surroundings, and workers, respectively samples were 2.3-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand. Escherichia coli populations were determined to be below detection limit. S. aureus and Salmonella populations recovered from surroundings were 3.0-4.4 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ and close to detection limit, respectively. Corresponding bacterial populations to worker's samples were 2.8-5.2 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand (S. aureus) and below detection limit (Salmonella). Bacterial populations of APC certified facilities were similar (p${\geq}$0.05) with those of uncertified facilities. These results showed that this study should be useful in development of GAP models to improve microbial safety in APCs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.651-659
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• 2020

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death across the world, and gold-standard treatments such as percutaneous coronary intervention and artery bypass grafting have various limitations including myocardial damage and subsequent maladaptive cardiac remodeling. To overcome this, stem-cell therapies are emerging as a promising strategy for cardiovascular regeneration. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have high potential to proliferate and differentiate into endothelial cells for vascularization and tissue regeneration, and several clinical trials have explored EPC function in tissue repair in relation to clinical safety and improving cardiac function. Consequently, EPC has been suggested as a feasible stem-cell therapy. However, autologous EPC transplantation in cardiovascular disease patients is restricted by risk factors such as age, smoking status, and hypertension that lead to reduced bioactivity in the EPCs. New approaches for improving EPC function and stem-cell efficacy have therefore been suggested, including cell priming, organoid culture systems, and enhancing transplantation efficiency through 3D bioprinting methods. In this review, we provide a comprehensive understanding of EPC characteristics, therapeutic approaches, and the current state of clinical research into EPCs as stem-cell therapy for cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.114-129
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• 2017

Background: The purpose of this paper is to confirm the event timings and the magnitude of fission product aerosol release from the Fukushima accident. Over a few hundreds of technical papers have been published on the environmental impact of Fukushima Daiichi accident since the accident occurred on March 11, 2011. However, most of the research used reverse or inverse method based on the monitoring of activities in the remote places and only few papers attempted to estimate the release of fission products from individual reactor core or from individual spent fuel pool. Severe accident analysis code can be used to estimate the radioactive release from which reactor core and from which radionuclide the peaks in monitoring points can be generated. Materials and Methods: The basic material used for this study are the initial core inventory obtained from the report JAEA-Data/Code 2012-018 and the given accident scenarios provided by Japanese Government or Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in official reports. In this research a forward method using severe accident progression code is used as it might be useful for justifying the results of reverse or inverse method or vice versa. Results and Discussion: The release timing and amounts to the environment are estimated for volatile radioactive fission products such as noble gases, cesium, iodine, and tellurium up to 184 hours (about 7.7 days) after earthquake occurs. The in-plant fission product behaviors and release characteristics to environment are estimated using the severe accident progression analysis code, MELCOR, for Fukushima Daiichi accident. These results are compared with other research results which are summarized in UNSCEAR 2013 Report and other technical papers. Also it may provide the physically based arguments for justifying or suspecting the rationale for the scenarios provided in open literature. Conclusion: The estimated results by MELCOR code simulation of this study indicate that the release amount of volatile fission products to environment from Units 1, 2, and 3 cores is well within the range estimated by the reverse or inverse method, which are summarized in UNSCEAR 2013 report. But this does not necessarily mean that these two approaches are consistent.