• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 2021

Purpose: Rapid detection of etiologic organisms is crucial for initiating appropriate therapy in patients with central nervous system (CNS) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the BioFire^® Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) panel in detecting etiologic organisms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from febrile infants. Methods: CSF samples from infants aged <90 days who were evaluated for fever were collected between January 2016 and July 2019 at the Seoul National University Children's Hospital. We performed BioFire^® ME panel testing of CSF samples that had been used for CSF analysis and conventional tests (bacterial culture, Xpert^® enterovirus assay, and herpes simplex virus-1 and -2 polymerase chain reaction) and stored at -70℃ until further use. Results: In total, 72 (24 pathogen-identified and 48 pathogen-unidentified) CSF samples were included. Using BioFire^® ME panel testing, 41 (85.4%) of the 48 pathogen-unidentified CSF samples yielded negative results and 22 (91.7%) of the 24 pathogen-identified CSF samples yielded the same results (enterovirus in 19, Streptococcus agalactiae in 2, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in 1) as those obtained using the conventional tests, thereby resulting in an overall agreement of 87.5% (63/72). Six of the 7 pathogen-unidentified samples were positive for human parechovirus (HPeV) via BioFire^® ME panel testing. Conclusions: Compared with the currently available etiologic tests for CNS infection, BioFire^® ME panel testing demonstrated a high agreement score for pathogen-identified samples and enabled HPeV detection in young infants. The clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of BioFire^® ME panel testing in children must be evaluated for its wider application.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.69-82
• /
• 2021

Objective : This recent work intended to provide basic information for researchers and practitioners related to occupational therapy about Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in South Korea. The previous research of screening DCD and the effects of intervention programs were reviewed. Methods : Peer-reviewed papers relating to DCD and published in Korea from January 1990 to December 2020 were systematically reviewed. The search terms "developmental coordination disorder," "development coordination," and "developmental coordination" were used to identify previous Korean research in this area from three representation database, the Research Information Sharing Service, Korean Studies Information Service System, and Google Scholar. We found a total of 4,878 articles identified through the three search engines and selected seventeen articles for analysis after removing those that corresponded to the overlapping or exclusion criteria. We adopted "the conceptual model" to analyze the selected articles about DCD assessment and intervention. Results : We found that twelve of the 17 studies showed the qualitative level of Level 2 using non-randomized approach between the two groups. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children and its second edition were the most frequently used tools in assessing children for DCD. Among the intervention studies, the eight articles (47%) were adopted a dynamic systems approach; a normative functional skill framework and cognitive neuroscience were each used in 18% of the pieces; and 11% of the articles were applied neurodevelopmental theory. Only one article was used a combination approach of normative functional skill and general abilities. These papers were mainly focused on the movement characteristics of children with DCD and the intervention effect of exercise or sports programs. Conclusion : Most of the reviewed studies investigated the movement characteristics of DCD or explore the effectiveness of particular intervention programs. In the future, it would be useful to investigate the feasibility of different assessment tools and to establish the effectiveness of various interventions used in rehabilitation for better motor performance in children with DCD.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.109-130
• /
• 2022

The Vietnamese government has proposed contract farming through a new type of cooperative as an institutional innovation which aims to restructure the agricultural sector. However, policy changes often impact farmers, who bear the primary effects of the transition process. Understanding households' strategies for land use and livelihood is crucial for policymaking in the agricultural development field. This study was conducted in the rural Binh Dao commune in Central Vietnam. We analyzed household members' labor force changes and their livelihood behaviors after their participation in a contract farming scheme using qualitative analysis methods combined with geographic information system (GIS) support, based on secondary data and in-depth interviews of 190 farmers. Simultaneously, we created a digital map of the cooperative's production area to investigate changes in land use and production activities. The findings show that contract farming shaped the vertical coordination of the value chain from the farmers to the cooperative and agricultural product trading companies. Subsequently, it encouraged land use and labor efficiency due to mechanical support. In addition, it also increased productivity and protected farmers from market risks. However, despite its positive effects on agricultural productivity in this case, the contract farming scheme could not achieve the restructuring of the rural labor force toward non-agricultural sectors. Ironically, farmers in the Binh Dao commune tended to increase cultivable land during the agricultural restructuring program, rather than switching their labor forces to non-agricultural sectors. The lack of stable non-farming job opportunities in rural Vietnam results in challenges to the efficiency of agricultural restructuring programs. Consequently, farmers in the Binh Dao commune are still smallholder farmers, depending on the family labor force.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2022

An automatic optimization technique is used to estimate the optimal parameters of the hydrologic model, and different hydrologic response results can be provided depending on objective functions. In this study, the parameters of the event-based rainfall-runoff model were estimated using various objective functions, the reproducibility of the hydrograph according to the objective functions was evaluated, and appropriate objective functions were proposed. As the rainfall-runoff model, the storage function model(SFM), which is a lumped hydrologic model used for runoff simulation in the current Korean flood forecasting system, was selected. In order to evaluate the reproducibility of the hydrograph for each objective function, 9 rainfall events were selected for the Cheoncheon basin, which is the upstream basin of Yongdam Dam, and widely-used 7 objective functions were selected for parameter estimation of the SFM for each rainfall event. Then, the reproducibility of the simulated hydrograph using the optimal parameter sets based on the different objective functions was analyzed. As a result, RMSE, NSE, and RSR, which include the error square term in the objective function, showed the highest accuracy for all rainfall events except for Event 7. In addition, in the case of PBIAS and VE, which include an error term compared to the observed flow, it also showed relatively stable reproducibility of the hydrograph. However, in the case of MIA, which adjusts parameters sensitive to high flow and low flow simultaneously, the hydrograph reproducibility performance was found to be very low.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.722-732
• /
• 2021

Purpose: Due to the coronavirus infection-19 (COVID) pendemics, all educational institutions were required to provide full non-face-to-face real-time education, and fire officials were required to provide fire-fighting education by applying non-face-to-face education. In this difficult situation, the National Fire Service Academy tries to find the direction of the non-face-to-face real-time education and suggest ways to improve it through a survey of the status of non-face-to-face real-time education conducted by the NFSA to fire officials. Method: A survey was conducted on fire officials under the theme of "Consciousness Survey for Improving the Quality and Specialization of Non-face-to-face Real-Time Remote Education" and an in-depth analysis was conducted based on the results. Result & Conclusion: First, professors or educational operators shall actively utilize remote education programs suitable for educational characteristics by utilizing various programs. Second, a dedicated notebook for non-face-to-face training should be provided to provide an educational environment where all learners can participate in the training without difficulty. Third, in the case of education and training that requires the use of equipment due to the nature of fire officials' education and training, it is necessary to consider it as a non-face-to-face training place by arranging educational equipment at each fire station. Fourth, it is hard to expect a satisfactory educational effect to cope with practical education with theoretical education. Therefore, facilities and programs that enable non-face-to-face real-time hands-on training should be developed. It is worth considering the proper combination of face-to-face education while maintaining the social distance as much as possible until such non-face-to-face training is possible. Fifth, non-face-to-face education is considered to have high eye fatigue due to the light and electromagnetic waves of the computer screen, and as time goes by, the concentration level decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to form an education time to reduce the eye fatigue of learners and increase concentration through proper class and rest time. Finally, professors should operate a learner participation-oriented education that allows professors and learners to interact rather than one-sided knowledge transfer education. In addition, technical problems of non-face-to-face remote education should be thoroughly prepared through preliminary system checks to ensure that education is not disrupted.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2022

CuCl₂-loaded V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst showed excellent activity in the catalytic oxidation of elemental mercury to oxidized mercury even under SCR condition in the presence of NH₃, which is well known to significantly inhibit the oxidation activity of elemental mercury by HCl. Moreover, it was confirmed that, when SO₂ was present in the reaction gas together with HCl, excellent elemental mercury oxidation activity was maintained even though CuCl₂ supported on the catalyst surface was converted to CuSO₄. This is thought to be because not only HCl but also the SO₄ component generated on the catalyst surface promotes the oxidation of elemental mercury. However, in the presence of SO₂, the total mercury balance before and after the catalytic reaction was not matched, especially as the concentration of SO₂ increased. In order to understand the cause of this, further studies are needed to investigate the effect of SO₂ in the SnCl₂ aqueous solution employed for mercury species analysis and the effect of sulfate ions generated on elemental mercury oxidation. It was confirmed that SO₂ also promotes NO_x removal activity, which is thought to be because the increase in acid sites by SO₄ generated on the catalyst surface by SO₂ facilitates NH₃ adsorption. The composition change and structure of the components present on the catalyst surface under various reaction conditions were measured by XRD and XRF. These measurement results were presented as a rational explanation for the results that SO₂ enhances the oxidation activity of elemental mercury and the NO_x removal activity in this catalyst system.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.707-727
• /
• 2020

This study aims to empirically analyze the role that perception of the probability of lonely death among the elderly people living alone plays in the relationship between perceived social support and preference for institutional care based on Andersen's expanded Behavioral Model (2002). The subjects (n=676) of this study were the elderly people living alone, extracted from the "2018 Seoul Aging Survey." With "perceived social support" as an independent variable, "preference for institutional care" as a dependent variable, and "perception of the probability of lonely death" as a mediator variable, we conducted a Binary Logistic Regression to follow the three steps of analyzing mediation effect, as suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results showed that perceived social support has a negative effect on the preference for institutional care and perception of the probability of lonely death among the elderly people living alone; at the same time, perception of the probability of lonely death was found to have a positive effect on their preference for institutional care. Lastly, perception of the probability of lonely death was found to partially mediate the effect of perceived social support among the elderly people living alone in terms of their preference for institutional care. Based on these findings, the practical implications of this study can be summarized as follows. First, various programs and support should be provided to the elderly people living alone in order to enhance the level of perceived social support, a factor that has been confirmed to increase preference for institutional care among the elderly people living alone. Second, as the perception of the probability of lonely death was confirmed to be a psychosocial factor of the preference for institutional care, we need to promote education and support for older people living alone to prepare them for lonely death. These efforts are expected to form a foundations for implementing a community-based integrated care system, "Aging in Place," which is the policy direction required for older people care.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.234-244
• /
• 2021

Purpose: To date, studies of firearm and explosive injuries in the Korean military have been limited compared to its importance. To overcome this, this study examined the characteristics of musculoskeletal damages in soldiers who have suffered firearm and explosive injuries over the past four years. Materials and Methods: From January 2015 to July 2019, military forces who had suffered musculoskeletal injuries from firearms or explosive substances were included. The medical records and radiographs were reviewed retrospectively, and telephone surveys about Short Musculoskeletal Functional Assessment (SMFA) for this group were conducted. To compare the functional outcomes, statistical analysis was performed using a t-test for the types of weapons, and ANOVA for others. Results: Of the 61 patients treated for firearms and explosives injuries, 30 patients (49.2%) were included after undergoing orthopedic treatment due to musculoskeletal injury. The average age at injury was 26.4 years old (21-52 years old). The number of officers and soldiers was similar. Eleven were injured by gunshot and 19 by an explosive device. Sixteen were treated in the Armed Forces Capital Hospital and 10 at private hospitals. More than half of the 16 patients (53.3%) with a fracture had multiple fractures. The most common injury site was the hand (33.3%), followed by the lower leg (30.0%). There were 14 patients (46.7%) with Gustilo-Anderson classification 3B or higher who required a soft tissue reconstruction. Fifteen patients agreed to join the SMFA survey for the functional outcomes. Between officers and soldiers, officers had better scores in the Bother Index compared to soldiers (p=0.0045). Patients treated in the Armed Forces Capital Hospital had better scores in both the Dysfunction and Bother Index compared to private hospitals (p=0.0008, p=0.0149). Conclusion: This is the first study to analyze of weapons injuries in the Korean military. As a result of the study, the orthopedic burden was high in the treating patients with military weapon injuries. In addition, it is necessary to build a military trauma registry, including firearm and explosive injuries, for trauma treatment evaluation and development of military trauma system.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.113-121
• /
• 2022

Rice blast is a major plant disease that occurs worldwide and significantly reduces rice yields. Rice blast disease occurs periodically in Korea, causing significant socio-economic damage due to the unique status of rice as a major staple crop. A disease outbreak prediction system is required for preventing rice blast disease. Epidemiological investigations of disease outbreaks can aid in decision-making for plant disease management. Currently, plant disease prediction and epidemiological investigations are mainly based on quantitatively measurable, structured data such as crop growth and damage, weather, and other environmental factors. On the other hand, text data related to the occurrence of plant diseases are accumulated along with the structured data. However, epidemiological investigations using these unstructured data have not been conducted. The useful information extracted using unstructured data can be used for more effective plant disease management. This study analyzed news articles related to the rice blast disease through text mining to investigate the years and provinces where rice blast disease occurred most in Korea. Moreover, the average temperature, total precipitation, sunshine hours, and supplied rice varieties in the regions were also analyzed. Through these data, it was estimated that the primary causes of the nationwide outbreak in 2020 and the major outbreak in Jeonbuk region in 2021 were meteorological factors. These results obtained through text mining can be combined with deep learning technology to be used as a tool to investigate the epidemiology of rice blast disease in the future.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.174-182
• /
• 2020

The permissible limit of ammonia concentration in drinking water recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) is 1.5 mg/L. However, in the case of groundwater in Kathmandu, Nepal, the concentration of ammonia fluctuates dramatically from 0 to 120 mg/L at different locations and groundwater depths (Chapagain et al., 2010). Such a high concentration of ammonia causes aesthetic problems in drinking water, such as bad taste and odor; hence, prior treatment is required. In Kathmandu, half of the population utilizes groundwater, which is also employed for drinking water, but owing to a lack of knowledge of household water filters, residents of Kathmandu tend to depend greatly on commercially available jar water than on the installation of a proper household filtration method. Thus, in our study, we employed adsorption and reverse osmosis (RO) as two of the most viable decentralized/household treatment options to address the issue of high contamination of ammonia in drinking water. We evaluated their performances from technical and the economic perspectives using synthetically prepared groundwater at varying ammonia concentrations (50 mg/L and 15 mg/L). Consequently, it was found that adsorption via ion exchange (IE) resin was a comparatively better ammonia removal technology than RO, with 100% ammonia removal even after regeneration; the removal by RO was limited to up to 90%. Furthermore, our study suggests that IE is the most suitable ammonia removal technology for places with lower water consumption (< 50 L/day), whereas RO seemed to be a cost-effective technology for places with higher water consumption, where the daily water demand exceeds 50 L/day. Lastly, these assessments suggest that installing a suitable household treatment system would be more efficient and sustainable from both technical and economic points of view than purchasing commercially bottled water.