• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.625-630
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• 2006

Background: Pulmonary hypertension in COPD patients is the result of a direct effect of tobacco smoke on the intrapulmonary vessels with the abnormal production of the mediators that control vasoconstriction, vasodilatation, and vascular cell proliferation, which ultimately lead to aberrant vascular remodeling and physiology. COPD patients are prone to the developmint of an acute and chronic thromboembolism with an elevation of the plasma procoagulant and fibrinolytic markers However, the roles of the coagulation and fibrinolysis system on the right ventricular dysfunction in COPD patients are not well defined. We examined the alteration of the coagulation and fibrinolysis system in COPD patients according to the right ventricular function measured using cardiac multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Methods: The right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) was measured using cardiac MDCT in 26 patients who were diagnosed with COPD according to the definition of the GOLD guideline. The plasma level of thrombin antithrombin (TAT) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 were measured using an enzyme linked immunoassay. Results: The plasma TAT was markedly elevated in COPD patients ($10.5{\pm}19.8{\mu}g/L$) compared with those of the control ($3.4{\pm}2.5{\mu}g/L$) (p<0.01). However, the plasma PAI-1 in COPD patients ($29.6{\pm}20.7ng/mL$) was similar to that in the controls. The plasma TAT showed a significant inverse relationship with the RVEF measured by the cardiac MDCT in COPD patients (r=-0.645, p<0.01). However, the plasma PAI-1 did not show a relationship with the RVEF (r=0.022, p=0.92). Conclusion: These results suggest that the coagulation system in COPD patients is markedly activated, and that the plasma level of TAT might be a marker of a right ventricular dysfunction in COPD patients.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.53-62
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• 2017

Electric power which is the energy source of economy and industries requires long distance transportation due to regional difference between its production and consumption, and it is supplied through the multi-loop transmission and distribution system. Prior to its actual use, electric power flows through several transformations by voltage transformers in substations depending on the characteristics of each usage, and a transformer has the structure consisting of the main body, winding wire, insulating oil and bushings. A transformer fire that breaks out in substations entails the primary damage that interrupts the power supply to houses and commercial facilities and causes various safety accidents as well as the secondary economic losses. It is considered that causes of such fire include the leak of insulating oil resulting from the destruction of bottom part of bushings, and the chain reaction of fire due to insulating oil that reaches its ignition point within 1 second. The smoke detector and automatic fire extinguishing system are established in order to minimize fire damage, but a difficulty in securing golden time for extinguishing fire due to delay in the operation of detector and release of gas from the extinguishing system has become a problem. Accordingly, this study was carried out according to needs of active mechanism to prevent the spread of fire and block the leak of insulating oil, in accordance with the importance of securing golden time in extinguishing a fire in its early stage. A bushings fireproof structure was developed by applying the high temperature shape retention materials, which are expanded by flame, and mechanical flame cutoff devices. The bushings fireproof structure was installed on the transformer model produced by applying the actual standards of bushings and flange, and the full scale fire test was carried out. It was confirmed that the bushings fireproof structure operated at accurate position and height within 3 seconds from the flame initiation. It is considered that it could block the spread of flame effectively in the event of actual transformer fire.

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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• no.53
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• pp.31-56
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• 2014

If we define theatre as an infinite tower piled up by smoke, the strata of the organic composition of an actor's/actress' body-mind-spirit, may not only be complicatedly worked out, but it seems to belong to a non-scientific realm. However and at the same time, it is also true that the audience is eager to witness a certain kind of specific vitality from the actor/actress on stage. Of course the vitality is hard to be prescribed. Simply we call it a texture of energy, nuance of existence, or much simpler, an actor's/actress' 'aura'. That is, the existential nuance of the actor/actress. The nuance, which is surging from the actor's/actress' authentic presence, ultimately comes out of, not the circumstantial interpretation of the production but the power of its integration. We can find from the works of Meyerhold, Grotowsky and Barba the theatrical fact that the actor's aura can be obtained by a kind of artificiality rather than innate characteristics of existence. These directors commonly regard theatre as the actor's/actress' theatre. Respectively choosing his own specific methods of expression, they unexpectedly meet in a same spot in which actor's/actress' theatre can be realized by the rediscovery of the actor's/actress's body-form. In other words, their approaching methods to theatre look alike, at least in that abandoning reserving any natural, unconscious, economic body-form of an actor/actress, they rather try to discover a certain kind of 'technical' body-form. The form which is totally non/un-conscious, unfamiliar and non-economical. Their research process explores an ideal body-form, and this thesis focuses on this point. For this work, I bring the notion of 'liminality' that connotes the praxis for essential presence of the actor/actress as well as the incubating time and space nacessary for his/her rebirth. And for developing this work, I ask: Could not the actor's/actress' consciousness and the spatiotemporal dimensions (s)he meets, be possibly defined as the core of liminality, only in case that (s)he requires them in the process of, either exploring the unfamiliar body or familiarising with the unfamiliar body-form? As I mentioned above, the three frontiers' theatrical journey is similar in part. For example, three all start from the actor's/actress' consciousness and then go through the body enlarged with it. Then they continue their journey, but different from one another. Meyerhold still uses the conscious body. But now he transforms it into a kind of mobilized sculptures. In comparison with Meyerhold's use of the consciousness, Grotowsky puts his emphasis on an autonomous body which, if necessary, cast away even the innate consciousness. Likewise, to Barba, theatre always starts from the actor/actress who has already taken off all kinds of conventions. (Conventions should be re-designed!) The actor/actress therefore recreates him/herself as his/her body-mind wears a new, unfamiliar, readjusted form and vitality. And then this restructured body-mind may unceasingly aim at exploring its vitalized 'positive organism', that is the waves of self-centering energy, an existential nuance, and an authentic (or maybe behavioral) expressiveness. Now it seems clear that the liminal process for the frontiers' theatrical journey could be equalized as a profound process of self-penetration, self-transformation, and self-realization. This thesis explores the mystic realm of liminality.