• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.166-174
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to provide temporal Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGL) for a hazardous substance as a pilot study. Methods: As one of the substances designated by the Korea Ministry of Environment as requiring preparations for potential accidents, formaldehyde was selected to estimate the AEGLs. The calculation was based on Haber's formula (Cn×t=k) using valid toxicity data (for humans/animals). A total of 96 points of AEGL levels were provided using an interval of five minutes over eight hours. Results: The AEGL-1 and 2 values were constant for the entire exposure duration at 0.9 ppm and 14 ppm, respectively. The values were obtained from clinical/animal tests, and the adaptation effect after a given exposure duration was also considered. AEGL-3 was based on animal toxicity data, and it was estimated from 127 ppm for the initial five minutes to 35 ppm for eight hours. Conclusions: More specific AEGL levels for formaldehyde could be obtained in this study using toxicity data with Haber's formula. Based on this methodology, it would be also possible to estimate AEGL levels that can be used at the scene of a chemical accident for other substances requiring preparation for potential accidents.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.419-431
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• 2021

In Seoul, it has been confirmed that the duration of rainfall is shortened and the frequency and intensity of heavy rains are increasing with a changing climate. In addition, due to high population density and urbanization in most areas, floods frequently occur in flood-prone areas for the increase in impermeable areas. Furthermore, the Seoul City is pursuing various projects such as structural and non-structural measures to resolve flood-prone areas. A disaster prevention performance target was set in consideration of the climate change impact of future precipitation, and this study conducted to reduce the overall flood damage in Seoul for the long-term. In this study, 29 GCMs with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were used for spatial and temporal disaggregation, and we also considered for 3 research periods, which is short-term (2006-2040, P1), mid-term (2041-2070, P2), and long-term (2071-2100, P3), respectively. For spatial downscaling, daily data of GCM was processed through Quantile Mapping based on the rainfall of the Seoul station managed by the Korea Meteorological Administration and for temporal downscaling, daily data were downscaled to hourly data through k-nearest neighbor resampling and nonparametric temporal detailing techniques using genetic algorithms. Through temporal downscaling, 100 detailed scenarios were calculated for each GCM scenario, and the IDF curve was calculated based on a total of 2,900 detailed scenarios, and by averaging this, the change in the future extreme rainfall was calculated. As a result, it was confirmed that the probability of rainfall for a duration of 100 years and a duration of 1 hour increased by 8 to 16% in the RCP4.5 scenario, and increased by 7 to 26% in the RCP8.5 scenario. Based on the results of this study, the amount of rainfall designed to prepare for future climate change in Seoul was estimated and if can be used to establish purpose-wise water related disaster prevention policies.

• Korean Journal of Ophthalmology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.459-469
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• 2018

Purpose: To evaluate changes in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thicknesses using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) users. Methods: The medical records of HCQ users were retrospectively reviewed. In these HCQ users, an automated perimetry, fundus autofluorescence photography, and SD-OCT with peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements were performed. The peripapillary RNFL thicknesses were compared between the HCQ users and the control groups. The relationships between the RNFL thicknesses and the duration or cumulative dosage of HCQ use were analyzed. Results: This study included 77 HCQ users and 20 normal controls. The mean duration of HCQ usage was $63.6{\pm}38.4$ months, and the cumulative dose of HCQ was $528.1{\pm}3.44g$. Six patients developed HCQ retinopathy. Global and six sectoral RNFL thicknesses of the HCQ users did not significantly decrease compared to those of the normal controls. No significant correlation was found between the RNFL thickness and the duration of use or cumulative dose. The eyes of those with HCQ retinopathy had temporal peripapillary RNFL thicknesses significantly greater than that of normal controls. Conclusions: The peripapillary RNFL thicknesses did not change in the HCQ users and did not correlate with the duration of HCQ use or cumulative doses of HCQ. RNFL thickness is not a useful biomarker for the early detection of HCQ retinal toxicity.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6B
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• pp.561-569
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• 2010

In this study, the impact of climate change on extreme drought events is investigated by comparing drought severity-area-duration curves under present and future climate. The depth-area-duration analysis for characterizing an extreme precipitation event provides a basis for analysing drought events when storm depth is replaced by an appropriate measure of drought severity. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future monthly precipitation time series is based on a KMA regional climate model which has a $27km{\times}27km$ spatial resolution, and the drought severity is computed using the standardized precipitation index. As a result, agricultural drought risk is likely to increase especially in short duration, while hydrologic drought risk will greatly increase in all durations. Such results indicate that a climate change vulnerability assessment for present water resources supply system is urgent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.89-97
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• 2010

In this study, the impact of climate change on the spatio-temporal behavior of extreme drought events is investigated by comparing drought severity-area-duration curves under present and future climate conditions. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future climate is based on two GCMs(CGCM3.1-T63 and CSIRO-MK3.0). As a result, in the case of CGCM3.1-T63 future drought events are similar to the present, but in the case of CSIRO-MK3.0 future drought risk is likely to increase. Such results indicate that a climate change vulnerability assessment for present water resources supply system is urgent.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 1991

We propose an efficient pre-classification algorithm extracting candidate words to reduce the recognition time in a large-vocabulary recognition system and also propose the use of spectral and temporal smoothing of the observation probability to improve its classification performance. The proposed algorithm computes the coarse likelihood score for each word in a lexicon using the observation probabilities of speech spectra and duration information of recognition units. With the proposed approach we could reduce the computational amount by 74% with slight degradation of recognition accuracy in 1160-word recognition system based on the phoneme-level HMM. Also, we observed that the proposed coarse likelihood score computation algorithm is a good estimator of the likelihood score computed by the Viterbi algorithm.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2008

Chronic exposure to ethanol induces cumulative damage to the liver starting from fatty infiltration to cirrhosis depending on the dose and duration of exposure. The whole process leading to the development of alcoholic liver disease is very complex and the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. Among many experimental animal models, Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet provides moderate to severe pathophysiological outcome depending on the compositional changes. In the present study, we investigated the temporal changes in the early phase hepatic disease in rats fed with standard Lieber-DeCarli diet. Male Wistar rats were fed with Lieber-Decarli ethanol diet for 6 weeks and the liver samples were obtained after 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Mild fatty infiltration was observed in 2 weeks of feeding and it became evident in 4 and 6 week samples. The level of hepatic triglyceride showed a good agreement with the data obtained in the pathological analysis. Feeding mice with ethanol diet resulted in the maturation and translocation of SREBP-1 to nucleus in the liver. Western blot analysis of the pooled liver sample of control and ethanol fed animals showed a clear-cut time-dependent increase in the expression of nSREBP-1. These data provide important information for selecting proper time point in experimental intervention study in the field of drug development for alcoholic liver disease.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2003

Purpose: To describe the MRI findings of the retrodiskal tissue in patients presenting with TMJ internal derangement and to correlate these findings with clinical and other MRI manifestations. Materials and Methods: One hundred eighteen joints of 63 patients with TMJ internal derangement were examined by MRI. Tl-weighted sagittal MR images taken in both closed- and open-mouth were evaluated for the presence of demarcation between disk and retrodiskal tissue, the presence of low signal intensity, and the depiction of the temporal part of the posterior attachment. The results were correlated with the duration of TMJ internal derangement, the presence of pain, and other MRI findings, including the type of internal derangement, the extent of disk displacement, the degree of disc deformation, and the presence of osteoarthrosis. Results: A significant relationship between the presence of low signal intensity in the retrodiskal tissue and other MRI findings was determined. Low signal intensity on the open-mouth view was observed more frequently in patients with disc displacement without reduction, severe disc displacement and deformation, and osteoarthrosis (p<0.05). The demarcation between disk and retrodiskal tissue, and the depiction of the temporal part of the posterior attachment(TPA) were correlated neither with clinical, nor with other MRI findings. Conclusion: This study suggests that low signal intensity in the retrodiskal tissue on open-mouth MR image can be indicative of advanced stages of disk displacement.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2005

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to identify influence that PNF method have an effect in function restoration of the impaired patients of central nervous system. Methods : The data were collected by 15 adult stroke patients. The treatment was based on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation techniques. Temporal and spatial parameters of gait were analysed for using the computerized GAITRite system. Results : In the comparison of functional ambulation profile(FAP) before and after experiment, the FAP was significantly increased in the PNF method. The gait velocity, cadence and single support time asymmetry ratio was significantly increased in the PNF method. The Motor Assessment Scale was significantly increased in the PNF method. Conclusions : Based on these results, it is concluded that the forced PNF method for 6 weeks can be improve the temporal-spatial gait parameters including FAP in hemiplegic patients. Therefore, the forced PNF method is useful to improve the function restoration in hemiplegic patients. Further study should be done to analyze the effects of intervention duration of treatment, optimal time to apply the treatment in more long peried.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.21-25
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• 1996

The Electomyographic (EMG) signals of flexor-extensor muscle pairs were investigated to identify the neural excitation pattern of low-back pain (LBP) patients during a repetitive bending motion. New parameters and EMG normalization technique were developed to quantitatively represent the difference of temporal EMG patterns between ten healthy subjects and ten LBP patients. Flexor-extensor muscle pairs such as rectus abdominis(RA)-erector spinae (ES at LS), external oblique(EO)-internal oblique(IO), rectus femois (quadriceps: QUD)-biceps femoris(hamstrings:HAM), and tibialis anterior(TA)-gastrocnemius(GAS) pairs of muscles were selected in this study. Results indicated that the temporal EMG pattern such as the peak timing difference of QUD-HAM muscle pair and the duration of coexcitation of ES-RA muscle pair showed a statistically isgnificant difference between healthy subjects and LBP patients. These results indicated that the new technique and parameters could be used as a diagnostic tool especially for LBP patients with soft tissue injuries that are rarely dentified by traditional imaging techniques such as X-ray, CT scan or MRI. Improtantly, the new EMG technique did not require the maximal volutary contraction(MVC) measure for normalization that helped patients minimize the pain experience during and after the session. Further study needs to be made to validate and refine this method for clinical application.