• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.166-178
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• 2024

Objectives: The 12 occupational exposure limits(OELs) for chromium and its compounds in Korea were set by applying the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs). However, this is significantly different from the TLVs after the existing TLVs were integrated and withdrawn in 2018, so it is necessary to review the revision. Methods: Various documents related to chromium OELs were reviewed, including the ACGIH TLV Documentations for chromium and its compounds. A field survey was conducted targeting workplaces handling chromium and its compounds. Based on this, a revised OELs were proposed and a socio-economic evaluation was conducted. Results: The OELs for chromium compounds in Korea was first enacted in 2002, and in 2007, the OELs for chromium (hexavalent) compounds (insoluble) was lowered from 0.05 mg/m³ to 0.01 mg/m³. In 2008, the OELs for strontium chromate was newly established as 0.0005 mg/m³, and in 2018, the OELs for calcium chromate was newly established as 0.001 mg/m³. Total chromium and hexavalent chromium were measured for each of 6 samples at 2 welding sites, 4 plating sites, and 2 spray coating sites. When omparing the average of the results measured by ICP, a total chromium analysis method, and the analysis results by IC, a hexavalent chromium analysis method, only workplace 4 was the same, and total chromium was evaluated more, and total chromium was evaluated at 0.0004 to 0.0027 mg/m³. And hexavalent chromium was evaluated as non-detection ~ 0.0014 mg/m³. Amendment ①: The exposure standard for hexavalent chromium is not divided into water soluble, insoluble, chromium ore processing, and other hexavalent chromium compounds, and is integrated into 0.01 mg/m³, which is the level of chromium (hexavalent) compound (insoluble)., OELs for chromium (metal) and chromium (trivalent) compounds are integrated into chromium (trivalent) compounds, and the exposure level is maintained. Amendment ②: As in the amendment ①, the OELs are integrated, but the level is lowered to 0.005 mg/m³, which is the OELs of OSHA, and there is a grace period of 4 years. Amendment ③: As in the amendment ①, the OELs are integrated, but the level is lowered to 0.0002 mg/m³, which is the exposure standard of ACGIH, and there is a grace period of 5 years. Conclusions: Amendment ①: The change in the OELs is insignificant, so the cost required is small, and the benefit/cost ratio is greater than 1, so there is no problem in applying the amendment. Amendment ②: In all scenarios except chromium 6(insoluble), the benefit/cost ratio is greater than 1, so it is thought that there will be no major problem in applying the amendment. Amendment ③: Since the benefit/cost ratio is less than 1 in all scenarios, it is thought that the total social benefit that can be obtained when applying the amendment is not large.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.92-101
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• 2024

Current distribution of Korean Cottus pollux was investigated by conducting field surveys and environmental DNA analysis in September to November 2022 and March to May 2023. As a result of the field survey, the presence of C. pollux was confirmed in the uppermost stream of Hyeongsangang River, as well as in Deokdongcheon, Jeolgolcheon, and Hoamcheon Streams. The main habitat of C. pollux was the riffle area in the upper reaches of streams with clean water and boulder-cobble bottoms. As a result of environmental DNA analysis, the samples determined to be positive included all streams in which the presence of C. pollux was confirmed in the field survey. In addition, Namcheon and Singwangcheon Streams were determined to be positive, indicating potential as its habitats. Since C. pollux has a narrow distribution area and a small population size, continuous monitoring and conservation measures are required to immediately respond to damage caused by typhoons and river works, which are the main causes of habitat disturbance, in order to maintain a stable population.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2023

Pharmacokinetic (PK) data provide pivotal information in drug development, and they are usually first studied in the preclinical stage using various animals. However, quite often, animal PK data may not match with human PK, especially in metabolites. Thus, most regulatory agencies in the world make it mandatory to obtain metabolite information using ¹⁴C radiolabeled drug in human for small molecule drug candidates. However, such studies are expensive and time consuming and they are usually done at the end of Phase II trials using ~3.7 MBq of ¹⁴C labeled drug in a limited number of human subjects. Introduction of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in this kind of study has revolutionized it. Since AMS can measure ¹⁴C level as close as natural abundance, it can quantify the amounts of ¹⁴C labeled drugs and their metabolites produced in human body that consumes less than the amount of 0.0037 MBq of ¹⁴C labeled drug, a very safe level of radioactive dose in human. Therefore, it is now possible to conduct human ¹⁴C studies safely in early clinical trials without spending hefty amount of money and time. Korea Radioisotope Center for Pharmaceuticals(KRICP) at Korea Institute of Biological and Medical Sciences(KIRAMS) has established an AMS facility in 2018, housing a 0.5MV AMS manufactured at the US National Electrostatics Corps (NEC). The AMS instrument has been validated using various standard samples that have been prepared at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, a worldly reputable provider of AMS standards. In this paper, we present a mass balance study for acetaminophen in rats using AMS and prove that the study results are equivalent with those of literature, which shows the AMS facilities at KRICP has successfully installed and be ready to be used in the various PK studies using ¹⁴C labelled compounds for new drug development.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.345-357
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• 2023

Nuclear forensics has been understood as a mendatory component in the international society for nuclear material control and non-proliferation verification. Radiochronometry of nuclear activities for nuclear forensics are decay series characteristics of nuclear materials and the Bateman equation to estimate when nuclear materials were purified and produced. Radiochronometry values have uncertainty of measurement due to the uncertainty factors in the estimation process. These uncertainties should be calculated using appropriate evaluation methods that are representative of the accuracy and reliability. The IAEA, US, and EU have been researched on radiochronometry and uncertainty of measurement, although the uncertainty calculation method using the Bateman equation is limited by the underestimation of the decay constant and the impossibility of estimating the age of more than one generation, so it is necessary to conduct uncertainty calculation research using computer simulation such as Monte Carlo method. This highlights the need for research using computational simulations, such as the Monte Carlo method, to overcome these limitations. In this study, we have analyzed mathematical models and the LHS (Latin Hypercube Sampling) methods to enhance the reliability of radiochronometry which is to develop an uncertainty algorithm for nuclear material radiochronometry using Bateman Equation. We analyzed the LHS method, which can obtain effective statistical results with a small number of samples, and applied it to algorithms that are Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty calculation by computer simulation. This was implemented through the MATLAB computational software. The uncertainty calculation model using mathematical models demonstrated characteristics based on the relationship between sensitivity coefficients and radiative equilibrium. Computational simulation random sampling showed characteristics dependent on random sampling methods, sampling iteration counts, and the probability distribution of uncertainty factors. For validation, we compared models from various international organizations, mathematical models, and the Monte Carlo method. The developed algorithm was found to perform calculations at an equivalent level of accuracy compared to overseas institutions and mathematical model-based methods. To enhance usability, future research and comparisons·validations need to incorporate more complex decay chains and non-homogeneous conditions. The results of this study can serve as foundational technology in the nuclear forensics field, providing tools for the identification of signature nuclides and aiding in the research, development, comparison, and validation of related technologies.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.322-331
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• 2024

Purpose: Human breast milk (HBM) contains immune components that produced and delivered from the mother along with nutrients necessary for the baby. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a small noncoding RNA molecule, that is used as an ideal biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases and are more abundant in HBM. We analyzed and compared the immune components and miRNAs of HBM. Methods: HBM were collected from 20 healthy breastfeeding mothers. We measured the amount of lactoferrin, lysozyme, and immunoglobulin A (IgA) and extracted the miRNAs from each breast milk samples. Next, the top 5 and bottom 5 expressed miRNAs were compared and analyzed based on the amounts of the 3 immune components. Results: The mean levels and ranges of lactoferrin, lysozyme, and IgA were 6.33 (2.24-14.77)×10⁶ ng/mL, 9.90 (1.42-17.59)×10⁷ pg/mL, and 6.64 (0.48-20.01)×10⁵ ng/mL, respectively. The miRNAs concentration per 1 mL of skim milk was 40.54 (14.95-110.01) ng/μL. Comparing the bottom 5 and top 5 groups of each immune component, 19 miRNAs were significantly upregulated (6, 9, and 4 targeting lactoferrin, lysozyme, and IgA, respectively) and 21 were significantly downregulated (4, 9, and 8 targeting lactoferrin, lysozyme, and IgA, respectively). There were no miRNAs that were expressed significantly higher or lower in common to all 3 components. However, 2 and 3 miRNAs were commonly overexpressed and underexpressed, in the top 5 groups of lysozyme and IgA concentrations. Conclusion: We identified the immune components and miRNAs in breast milk and found that each individual has different ingredients.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2024

In this study, in order to improve the lifespan of parts made of manganese steel, manganese steel was cast by varying the amount of Ti added to the steel. In order to confirm the characteristics of the cast material, processing characteristics including tensile and surface characteristics and bearing ratio were investigated. It was confirmed that when the amount of Ti added to high manganese steel exceeds 0.5%, the strength of the alloy is improved due to grain refinement, and fine carbides are formed inside the steel. This results in increased resistance to surface wear compared to the alloy with only Mn added. There was no significant difference in the increase in tensile strength as the Ti content in manganese steel was increased. However, inclusion of Ti showed a small but greater effect on wear resistance compared to Mn, and the size and the distribution of carbides become coarse depending on the Ti content. and was evenly distributed. It was confirmed that the strength and surface properties of manganese steel can be improved by the addition of Ti to improve the lifespan of parts made with this steel. It was found that Ti is effective in developing materials with excellent wear resistance due to refinement of dendrite crystal grains. In the samples where Ti was added, the carbide appears to increase the resistance to surface roughness, and due to the nature of Mn steel, surface hardening begins to occur, which appears to extend the life.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of thermal injury to bone tissues during an implant site preparation under the same condition as a typical clinical practice of $Br{\aa}nemark$ implant system. All the burs for $Br{\aa}nemark$ implant system were studied except the round bur The experiments involved 880 drilling cases : 50 cases for each of the 5 steps of NP, 5 steps of RP, and 7 steps of WP, all including srew tap, and 30 cases of 2mm twist drill. For precision drilling, a precision handpiece restraining system was developed (Eungyong Machinery Co., Korea). The system kept the drill parallel to the drilling path and allowed horizontal adjustment of the drill with as little as $1{\mu}m$ increment. The thermocouple insertion hole. that is 0.9mm in diameter and 8mm in depth, was prepared 0.2mm away from the tapping bur the last drilling step. The temperatures due to countersink, pilot drill, and other drills were measured at the surface of the bone, at the depths of 4mm and 8mm respectively. Countersink drilling temperature was measured by attaching the tip of a thermocouple at the rim of the countersink. To assure temperature measurement at the desired depths, 'bent-thermocouples' with their tips of 4 and 8mm bent at $120^{\circ}$ were used. The profiles of temperature variation were recorded continuously at one second interval using a thermometer with memory function (Fluke Co. U.S.A.) and 0.7mm thermocouples (Omega Co., U.S.A.). To simulate typical clinical conditions, 35mm square samples of bovine scapular bone were utilized. The samples were approximately 20mm thick with the cortical thickness on the drilling side ranging from 1 to 2mm. A sample was placed in a container of saline solution so that its lower half is submerged into the solution and the upper half exposed to the room air, which averaged $24.9^{\circ}C$. The temperature of the saline solution was maintained at $36.5^{\circ}C$ using an electric heater (J. O Tech Co., Korea). This experimental condition was similar to that of a patient s opened mouth. The study revealed that a 2mm twist drill required greatest attention. As a guide drill, a twist drill is required to bore through a 'virgin bone,' rather than merely enlarging an already drilled hole as is the case with other drills. This typically generates greater amount of heat. Furthermore, one tends to apply a greater pressure to overcome drilling difficulty, thus producing even greater amount heat. 150 experiments were conducted for 2mm twist drill. For 140 cases, drill pressure of 750g was sufficient, and 10 cases required additional 500 or 100g of drilling pressure. In case of the former. 3 of the 140 cases produced the temperature greater than $47^{\circ}C$, the threshold temperature of degeneration of bone tissue (1983. Eriksson et al.) which is also the reference temperature in this study. In each of the 10 cases requiring extra pressure, the temperature exceeded the reference temperature. More significantly, a surge of heat was observed in each of these cases This observations led to addtional 20 drilling experiments on dense bones. For 10 of these cases, the pressure of 1,250g was applied. For the other 10, 1.750g were applied. In each of these cases, it was also observed that the temperature rose abruptly far above the thresh old temperature of $47^{\circ}C$, sometimes even to 70 or $80^{\circ}C$. It was also observed that the increased drilling pressure influenced the shortening of drilling time more than the rise of drilling temperature. This suggests the desirability of clinically reconsidering application of extra pressures to prevent possible injury to bone tissues. An analysis of these two extra pressure groups of 1,250g and 1,750g revealed that the t-statistics for reduced amount of drilling time due to extra pressure and increased peak temperature due to the same were 10.80 and 2.08 respectively suggesting that drilling time was more influenced than temperature. All the subsequent drillings after the drilling with a 2mm twist drill did not produce excessive heat, i.e. the heat generation is at the same or below the body temperature level. Some of screw tap, pilot, and countersink showed negative correlation coefficients between the generated heat and the drilling time. indicating the more the drilling time, the lower the temperature. The study also revealed that the drilling time was increased as a function of frequency of the use of the drill. Under the drilling pressure of 750g, it was revealed that the drilling time for an old twist drill that has already drilled 40 times was 4.5 times longer than a new drill The measurement was taken for the first 10 drillings of a new drill and 10 drillings of an old drill that has already been used for 40 drillings. 'Test Statistics' of small samples t-test was 3.49, confirming that the used twist drills require longer drilling time than new ones. On the other hand, it was revealed that there was no significant difference in drilling temperature between the new drill and the old twist drill. Finally, the following conclusions were reached from this study : 1 Used drilling bur causes almost no change in drilling temperature but increase in drilling time through 50 drillings under the manufacturer-recommended cooling conditions and the drilling pressure of 750g. 2. The heat that is generated through drilling mattered only in the case of 2mm twist drills, the first drill to be used in bone drilling process for all the other drills there is no significant problem. 3. If the drilling pressure is increased when a 2mm twist drill reaches a dense bone, the temperature rises abruptly even under the manufacturer-recommended cooling conditions. 4. Drilling heat was the highest at the final moment of the drilling process.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.83-102
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• 2021

The government recently announced various policies for developing big-data and artificial intelligence fields to provide a great opportunity to the public with respect to disclosure of high-quality data within public institutions. KSURE(Korea Trade Insurance Corporation) is a major public institution for financial policy in Korea, and thus the company is strongly committed to backing export companies with various systems. Nevertheless, there are still fewer cases of realized business model based on big-data analyses. In this situation, this paper aims to develop a new business model which can be applied to an ex-ante prediction for the likelihood of the insurance accident of credit guarantee. We utilize internal data from KSURE which supports export companies in Korea and apply machine learning models. Then, we conduct performance comparison among the predictive models including Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and DNN(Deep Neural Network). For decades, many researchers have tried to find better models which can help to predict bankruptcy since the ex-ante prediction is crucial for corporate managers, investors, creditors, and other stakeholders. The development of the prediction for financial distress or bankruptcy was originated from Smith(1930), Fitzpatrick(1932), or Merwin(1942). One of the most famous models is the Altman's Z-score model(Altman, 1968) which was based on the multiple discriminant analysis. This model is widely used in both research and practice by this time. The author suggests the score model that utilizes five key financial ratios to predict the probability of bankruptcy in the next two years. Ohlson(1980) introduces logit model to complement some limitations of previous models. Furthermore, Elmer and Borowski(1988) develop and examine a rule-based, automated system which conducts the financial analysis of savings and loans. Since the 1980s, researchers in Korea have started to examine analyses on the prediction of financial distress or bankruptcy. Kim(1987) analyzes financial ratios and develops the prediction model. Also, Han et al.(1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006) construct the prediction model using various techniques including artificial neural network. Yang(1996) introduces multiple discriminant analysis and logit model. Besides, Kim and Kim(2001) utilize artificial neural network techniques for ex-ante prediction of insolvent enterprises. After that, many scholars have been trying to predict financial distress or bankruptcy more precisely based on diverse models such as Random Forest or SVM. One major distinction of our research from the previous research is that we focus on examining the predicted probability of default for each sample case, not only on investigating the classification accuracy of each model for the entire sample. Most predictive models in this paper show that the level of the accuracy of classification is about 70% based on the entire sample. To be specific, LightGBM model shows the highest accuracy of 71.1% and Logit model indicates the lowest accuracy of 69%. However, we confirm that there are open to multiple interpretations. In the context of the business, we have to put more emphasis on efforts to minimize type 2 error which causes more harmful operating losses for the guaranty company. Thus, we also compare the classification accuracy by splitting predicted probability of the default into ten equal intervals. When we examine the classification accuracy for each interval, Logit model has the highest accuracy of 100% for 0~10% of the predicted probability of the default, however, Logit model has a relatively lower accuracy of 61.5% for 90~100% of the predicted probability of the default. On the other hand, Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and DNN indicate more desirable results since they indicate a higher level of accuracy for both 0~10% and 90~100% of the predicted probability of the default but have a lower level of accuracy around 50% of the predicted probability of the default. When it comes to the distribution of samples for each predicted probability of the default, both LightGBM and XGBoost models have a relatively large number of samples for both 0~10% and 90~100% of the predicted probability of the default. Although Random Forest model has an advantage with regard to the perspective of classification accuracy with small number of cases, LightGBM or XGBoost could become a more desirable model since they classify large number of cases into the two extreme intervals of the predicted probability of the default, even allowing for their relatively low classification accuracy. Considering the importance of type 2 error and total prediction accuracy, XGBoost and DNN show superior performance. Next, Random Forest and LightGBM show good results, but logistic regression shows the worst performance. However, each predictive model has a comparative advantage in terms of various evaluation standards. For instance, Random Forest model shows almost 100% accuracy for samples which are expected to have a high level of the probability of default. Collectively, we can construct more comprehensive ensemble models which contain multiple classification machine learning models and conduct majority voting for maximizing its overall performance.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.184-191
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• 2007

Background: For the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of pleural effusion specimens has shown very low sensitivity, which might be due to the small number of bacilli in the samples. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the sensitivity of PCR testing can be improved when increasing the amount of pleural effusion specimens. Methods: We prospectively analyzed pleural effusion specimens obtained from 53 patients for whom the exclusion of the possibility of tuberculous pleural effusion was necessary. We performed Mycobacterium tuberculosis PCR testing using the Cobas Amplicor MTB test (Roche Diagnostic Systems) with three different amounts (10ml, 25ml, and 50ml) of pleural effusion specimen in each patient. Pleural tuberculosis was defined as having one of the following: culture-positive pleural fluid sample, histopathologic finding consistent with tuberculosis on pleural biopsy, culture-positive sputum specimen, and/or positive response to anti-tuberculous medication without other possible causes of pleural effusion. Results: Of the 53 patients, 26 received the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis. The sensitivities of AFB smearing, Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture of pleural effusion specimen, pleural biopsy, and measurement of ADA were 3.8%, 15.4%, 84.6%, and 88.5%, respectively. The results of PCR testing were positive for 3 (11.5%), 4 (15.4%), and 3 (11.5%) of the 26 patients when using 10ml, 25ml, and 50ml of pleural effusion specimens, respectively. These results did not show a statistically significant difference in the sensitivity of PCR testing when increasing the amount of pleural effusion samples (p>0.05, symmetry exact test). Conclusion: For specimens such as pleural effusion, in which the bacillary load is very low, the clinical utility of PCR testing seems highly limited with the kits designed for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. An increased amount of pleural effusion sample does not improve the sensitivity of PCR testing.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.3 s.76
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• pp.400-408
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• 2006

Nutritional components of 4 kinds of red seaweeds, Meristotheca papulosa, Chondrus ocellatus, Gracilaria verrucosa, Gigartina tenella, were investigated to elucidate their functionality. Antioxidant activity and nitrite scavenging activity were analyzed from 70% ethanol extracted from these red seaweeds. Large difference in ash contents was found to exhibit among all samples analyzed in this study; $9.8{\pm}0.2g/100g$ for Gracilaria verrucosa and Gigartina tenella for $17.8{\pm}0.6g/100g$. While its crude fiber content was almost the same as those in other sample within a range between $2.0{\pm}0.4g/100g$ and $6.0{\pm}0.7g/100g$. Phenolic compounds content of Gracilaria verrucosa was also the highest as $78.4{\pm}1.0mg/g$, while the total flavonoids contents of Chondrus ocellatus and Gracilaria verrucosa were $14.9{\pm}0.5mg/g$ and $13.9{\pm}0.8mg/g$, respectively. These amounts were two folds higher than Meristotheca papulosa and Gigartina tenella. The total content of minerals was the highest in Meristotheca papulosa(12,107.7 mg/kg). The amount of glutamic acid was relatively high despite of small variation in measured levels of composition amino acid ($49.1{\sim}125.6mg/g$) for most samples investigated. SOD-like ability was significantly increased with increasing sample concentration, but its activity was lower. Gigartina tenella with highest electron donation ability exhibited increases in activity as $53.96{\pm}0.98%$ in concentration of 250 ${\mu}g/ml$ and $70.52{\pm}1.09%$ in 1000 ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively. In case of concentration of 100 ${\mu}g/ml$, particularly, the level of hydroxy radical scavenging activity were $57.87{\pm}1.70{\sim}62.07{\pm}0.87%$ which was significantly higher activity than ascorbic acid and BHT. Nitrite scavenging activity was the highest in Gracilaria verrucosa. Its activity was also increased from $24.04{\pm}1.9{\sim}27.52{\pm}0.82%$ in $100{\sim}500{\mu}g/ml$ concentration tp $34.81{\pm}1.36%$ in concentration of 1000 ${\mu}g/ml$.