• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.295-299
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• 2019

Purpose: This clinical pilot study was performed to determine the effectiveness of dual-energy cone-beam computed tomography (DE-CBCT) in measuring bone mineral density (BMD). Materials and Methods: The BMD values obtained using DE-CBCT were compared to those obtained using calibrated multislice computed tomography (MSCT). After BMD calibration with specially designed phantoms, both DE-CBCT and MSCT scanning were performed in 15 adult dental patients. Three-dimensional (3D) Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine data were imported into a dental software program, and the defined regions of interest (ROIs) on the 3-dimensional surface-rendered images were identified. The automatically-measured BMD values of the ROIs (g/㎤), the differences in the measured BMD values of the matched ROIs obtained by DE-CBCT and MSCT 3D images, and the correlation between the BMD values obtained by the 2 devices were statistically analyzed. Results: The mean BMD values of the ROIs for the 15 patients as assessed using DE-CBCT and MSCT were 1.09±0.07 g/㎤ and 1.13±0.08 g/㎤, respectively. The mean of the differences between the BMD values of the matched ROIs as assessed using DE-CBCT and calibrated MSCT images was 0.04±0.02 g/㎤. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the BMD values of DE-CBCT and MSCT images was 0.982 (r=0.982, P<0.001). Conclusion: The newly developed DE-CBCT technique could be used to measure jaw BMD in dentistry and may soon replace MSCT, which is expensive and requires special facilities.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2005

Background: Cannabinoids have shown antinociceptive action. The aims of this study were to examine the effect of chronic infusion of a cannabinoids receptors agonist (WIN 55,212-2) for thermal nociception at the spinal level, and to also observe the development of toxicity. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with lumbar intrathecal catheters with the nociceptive response (withdrawal response latency) determined by exposing the plantar surface of the hindpaw to radiant heat. Initially, the effect of intrathecal WIN 55,212-2 was evaluated followed by the change in the effect at 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks after repeated infusion. Finally, the histopathological findings were assessed 1 and 4 weeks following the infusion of WIN 55,212-2. Results: Intrathecal WIN 55,212-2 was found to produce a limited antinociception during the thermal test. %MPE of WIN 55,212-2 at 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after infusion was not different from each other. No abnormal pathological findings were observed following a chronic intrathecal infusion of WIN 55,212-2. Conclusions: WIN 55,212-2, a cannabinoids receptors agonist, may be useful in the management of thermal nociception, without changing the effectiveness or causing the toxicity following a chronic infusion at the spinal level.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.369-383
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• 2016

A distributed watershed model CAMEL(Chemicals, Agricultural Management and Erosion Losses) was applied to a part of grazing grassland and vegetation buffer strip(VBS) located in Daegwanryeong, Korea. A set of scenario analyses was carried out for grassland and VBS with various combinations of VBS widths, soil textures and ground surface slopes. The simulation results indicate that annual direct runoff decreases with wider VBS and the removal efficiency of pollutants generally decrease with steeper slopes. The removal efficiency of sediment is not significantly different with VBS widths. For gentle and medium slopes($10^{\circ}$, $20^{\circ}$), the removal efficiency of TOC and TN is not significantly different with VBS widths. As for a steep slope($30^{\circ}$), however, the removal efficiency of TOC and TN increases with narrower VBS. The removal efficiency of TP is generally high except for medium and steep slope of sandy loam where the removal efficiency of TP increases with wider VBS. This result of TP is contrary to the results of TOC and TN due to the adsorption characteristics of phosphorus associated with fine sediment particles. It is expected that CAMEL can be used for evaluating the effectiveness of VBS to reduce non-point source pollution discharges.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.1201-1206
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• 2009

According to a lot of investigations, distance perception is influenced by many important cues such as sound pressure level, reflections from the room surface, binaural difference (ITD and ILD), a kind of sound source, and head related transfer functions (HRTF). Two psychoacoustical experiments on auditory distance perception were conducted to examine the effectiveness of the sound pressure level loudness as one of the physical cues in the auditory distance perception under a constant loudspeaker's output level and a constant sound level at the subject's position in the absence of reflections in an anechoic room. Our experimental results showed that the perceived distance of sound image is closer than actual sound source distance with the constant loudspeaker's output level and the constant sound level. Futhermore, the perceived distance of a sound image with constant sound level increased when the actual distance increases up to approximately 2 m while the perceived distance saturated when the sound source distance exceed 2 m. On the other hand, when the condition of loudspeaker's output level was kept constantly, the perceived distance of sound image increased up to around 3m, longer than the conditions of constant sound level at the subject's position. We found that the change in the loudness as a function of distance plays an important role in the auditory distance perception in the absence of reflections..

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.103-110
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• 2012

Objectives : Fire needling has been applied as the treatment for various diseases and been getting much attention from Oriental medicine due to its excellent effectiveness as the results of clinical studies have reported. However, the research findings on the safety of treatment method, materials for the Fire needling needle materials and the possibility of burn injury during the procedure are still insufficient. Methods : A thermo imaging camera was used to confirm the temperature distribution on acupuncture needle and the treatment area during the fire needling therapy. Then the degree of thermal injury was observed by H&E stain and TUNEL assay. In addition, in order to assess the safety of acupuncture materials, we conducted MTT assay using a L6 cell line. Results : The average temperature of the skin surface was observed at $47{\sim}51^{\circ}C$ after classic fire needling and $30^{\circ}C$ after warming fire needling. Warming fire needling therapy does not induce a burn on the tissue and a third degree burn was observed locally in the muscle and skin layers after classic fire needling treatment. This confirms that hwa-acupuncture therapies do not cause major burns. According to the safety assessment test result, no cytotoxicity was detected in the warming fire needling materials. This confirms the safety of the acupuncture materials Conclusions : Various research results on the biological safety of fire needling. Since fire needling therapy induces a burn locally without leaving any scar, and as other results indicate, it is considered a safe treatment method.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.3289-3293
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• 2014

Femtosecond laser ablation (fs LA) was used in this study to identify pollution by heavy metals and the distribution of elemental nutrients at different rice milling ratios. Polished rice (degrees of milling of 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11) was collected from major Korean supermarkets and one sample thereof was selected. An internal quality control experiment was conducted using a rice flour certified reference material from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS CRM) for the evaluation of the efficacy. To assess the effectiveness of the analysis method, the reliability was validated using a food analysis performance assessment scheme (FAPAS), with chili powder serving as an external quality control. The results of the analysis of the inorganic elements Ti, Ca, Al, Fe and Mn in white and brown rice with degrees of milling of 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 using ICP-MS, ICP-OES and AAS revealed contents of 0.40, 49.2, 2.43, 5.36 and 10.3 mg/kg in white rice and 0.59, 78.0, 7.52, 11.0 and 18.5 mg/kg in brown rice, respectively. Among the elements, there were remarkable differences in the measured contents. By comparing the contents of the elements at different degrees of milling, Ti, Co, As, Ca, Al, Cu, Fe, and Mn were determined to be distributed on the surface of the rice grains, whereas the contents of Cd and Pb increased toward the center of the rice grains, and Si was evenly distributed. After the quantitative analysis of rice samples polished to different degrees of milling, Ca and Al, which were contained in large amounts, and Si were analyzed with specificity by fs LA. The results show that Ca and Al were distributed in the rice husk (protective covering of rice) and Si was distributed in all parts of the rice.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Butyltin compounds (BTs) were determined in surface sediment samples from Ulsan Bay in 2009 and 2011, to assess the contamination status and the effectiveness of tributylin (TBT) restriction of Korea. Dibutyltin and TBT concentrations in sediments in 2011 ranged from 19.5 to 980 and 14.2 to 1204 ng Sn $g^{-1}$ dry weight, respectively. The highest TBT concentration was found in a big shipyard complex and the next highest was found in harbor, suggesting that harbor and shipyard activities are a major contamination source of TBT in Ulsan Bay. Concentrations of BTs in Ulsan Bay sediments were significantly lower in 2009 and 2011 than that in 2003 survey previously reported, probably as a consequence of the legislative action in Korea. However, TBT concentrations in sediments still exceeded ecotoxicological values. Therefore, it will be important to monitor and reduce TBT contamination in sediments until the levels fall well below ecotoxicological levels.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2007

We practiced fresh water injection test to identify its applibility as a method of seawater intrusion mitigation technique, and monitored the change of borehole fluid conductivity and the behavior of injected fresh water using borehole multichannel electrical conductivity monitoring and well-logging, and DC resistivity and SP monitoring at the surface. Well-logging and multichannel EC monitoring showed the decrease of fluid conductivity due to fresh water injection. We note that such an injection effect lasts more than several month which means the applibility of fresh water injection as a seawater intrusion control technique. Although SP monitoring did not show meaningful results because of weather condition during monitoring and the defects of electrodes due to long operation time, DC resistivity monitoring showed its effectiveness and applicability as a monitoring and assessment techniques of injection test by means of imaging the behavior and the front of fresh water body in terms of the increase of resistivity with reasonable resolution. In conclusion, we note that geophysical techniques can be an effective method of monitoring and evaluation of fresh water injection test, and expect that fresh water injection may be an practical method for the mitigation of seawater intrusion when applied with optimal design of injection well distribution and injection rate based on geophysical evaluation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.54-61
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• 2005

An aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system can be very cost-effective and renewable energy sources, depending on site-specific parameters and load characteristics. In order to develop the ATES system which has certain hydrogeological characteristics, understanding the thermohydraulic process of an aquifer is necessary for a proper design of an aquifer heat storage system under given conditions. The thermohydraulic transfer for heat storage was simulated according to two sets of simple pumping and waste water reinjection scenarios of groundwater heat pump system operation in a two-layered aquifer model. In the first set of the scenarios, the movement of the thermal front and groundwater level was simulated by changing the locations of injection and pumping wells in a seasonal cycle. However, in the second set the simulation was performed in the state of fixing the locations of pumping and injection wells. After 365 days simulation period, the shape of temperature distribution was highly dependent on the injected water temperature and the distance from the injection well. A small temperature change appeared on the surface compared to other simulated temperature distributions of 30 and 50 m depths. The porosity and groundwater flow characteristics of each layer sensitively affected the heat transfer. The groundwater levels and temperature changes in injection and pumping wells were monitored and the thermal interference between the wells was analyzed to test the effectiveness of the heat pump operation method applied.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.255-260
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• 2023

As demanding the detection of explosive molecules, it is required to develop rapidly and precisely responsive sensors with ultra-high sensitivity. Since two-dimensional semiconductors have an atomically thin body nature where mobile carriers accumulate, the abrupt modulation carrier in the thin body channel can be expected. To investigate the effectiveness of WSe₂ semiconductor materials as a detection material for TNT (Trinitrotoluene) explosives, WSe₂ was synthesized using thermal chemical vapor deposition, and afterward, WSe₂ FETs (Field Effect Transistors) were fabricated using standard photo-lithograph processes. Raman Spectrum and FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy reveal that the adsorption of TNT molecules induces the structural transition of WSe₂ crystalline. The electrical properties before and after adsorption of TNT molecules on the WSe₂ surface were compared; as -50 V was applied as the back gate bias, 0.02 μA was recorded in the bare state, and the drain current increased to 0.41 μA with a dropping 0.6% (w/v) TNT while maintaining the p-type behavior. Afterward, the electrical characteristics were additionally evaluated by comparing the carrier mobility, hysteresis, and on/off ratio. Consequently, the present report provides the milestone for developing ultra-sensitive sensors with rapid response and high precision.