• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2023

Generally, human stampedes and crowd collapses occur when people press against each other, causing falls that may result in death or injury. Particularly, crowd accidents have become increasingly common since the 1990s, with an average of 380 deaths annually. For instance, in Korea, a stampede occurred during the Itaewon Halloween festival on October 29, 2022, when several people crowded onto a narrow, downhill road, which was 45 meters long and between 3.2 and 4 meters wide. Precisely, this stampede was primarily due to the excessive number of people relative to the road size. Essentially, stampedes can occur anywhere and at any time, not just at events, but also in other places where large crowds gather. More specifically, the likelihood of accidents increases when the crowd density exceeds a turbulence threshold of 5-6 /m². Meanwhile, festivals and events, which have become more frequent and are promoted through social media, garner people from near and far to a specific location. Besides, as cities grow, the number of people gathering in one place increases. While stampedes are rare, their impact is significant, and the uncertainty associated with them is high. Currently, there is no scientific system to analyze the risk of stampedes due to crowd concentration. Consequently, to prevent such accidents, it is essential to prepare for crowd disasters that reflect social changes and regional characteristics. Hence, this study proposes using digital topographic maps and crowd-density risk simulations to develop a 3D model of the region. Specifically, the crowd density simulation allows for an analysis of the density of people walking along specific paths, which enables the prediction of danger areas and the risk of crowding. By using the simulation method in this study, it is anticipated that safety measures can be rationally established for specific situations, such as local festivals, and preparations may be made for crowd accidents in downtown areas.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.431-444
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• 2012

This study investigated the differences between annual maximum series and annual maximum independent rainfall event series with relatively short and long rainfall durations. Annual maximum independent rainfall events were selected by applying various IETDs and thresholds to the hourly rainfall data in Seoul for the duration from 1961 to 2010. Annual maximum independent rainfall event series decided were then compared with the conventional annual maximum series. Summarizing the results is as follows. First, the effect of IETD and threshold was not beyond the expected level. For example, as the IETD increases, the frequencies of independent rainfall events decreased similarly in their rate for both with short and long durations. However, as the threshold increases, the frequency of those with rather long durations decreased much higher. Second, The mean rainfall intensity of the independent rainfall events was found to remain constant regardless of their duration. This indicates that the annual maximum rainfall intensity could be found in a rainfall event with longer durations. Lastly, the difference between the annual maximum rainfall series and the annual maximum independent rainfall event series with rather short rainfall durations was found significantly large, which decreases with longer durations. This result indicates that the conventional data analysis method, especially for small basins with short concentration time, could lead an unrealistic design rainfall with little possibility of occurrence.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.144-151
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• 2012

Diagnosis of nutrient disorders in cultivating crops is based on the visual symptoms and results of soil and plant analysis. This study was carried out to investigate the influence of B concentrations in fertilizer solution on the growth of and nutrient uptake by domestically bred strawberries. Tissue analysis based on the dry weight were also conducted to determine the threshold levels in plants when toxicity developed in boron. The growth was seriously restricted in the three strawberry cultivars as the B concentrations in fertilizer solution were elevated. The fresh and dry weights were heavier and crown diameters were thicker in the 0.25 mM boron treatment than the other treatments tested. The toxicity symptoms of boron appeared on the older leaves of three strawberry cultivars while interveinal chlorosis symptoms appeared on the young leaves of 'Keumhyang' and 'Seolhyang' strawberries. The toxicity symptoms in lower leaves were developed when B concentrations in fertilizer solution were higher than 2 mM in 'Keumhyang' and 0.5 mM in 'Maehyang' and 'Seolhyang' strawberries. The elevated boron concentrations in fertilizer solution did not influence the tissue K, Ca, and Mg contents, but influenced the phosphorus contents with decreasing tendency. The tissue Fe and Zn contents decreased and increased, respectively, as the B concentrations in fertilizer solution were elevated. When the concentration of boron at which the growth of a plant is retarded by 10% is regarded as a upper threshold level, the boron contents based on dry weight of above ground plant tissue should be lower than 25.1, 44.2, and 62.5 $mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ in 'Keumhyang', 'Maehyang', and 'Seolhyang' strawberries, respectively.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.296-304
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• 2008

The transient and rapid expression system of a foreign protein in planta is a very useful technique in biotechnology application. We have investigated optimum condition of Agrobacterium-infiltration technique in which expression level of foreign proteins were maximized without detrimental effects on plants using GFP and Cucumber mosaic virus 2b protein, which is known as an enhancer of gene expression and a suppressor of post-transcriptional gene silencing(PTGS). The optimum expression level of both RNA and protein of GFP with minimum leaf impairment was obtained at $OD_{600}$=0.2 of Agrobactrium inocula. The steady-state levels of GFP RNA and protein generally peaked at 3 and 7 days post-infiltration(dpi), respectively. In the presence of 2b, both the magnitude and duration of GFP expression was highly increased and we could detect GFP level until 17 dpi. On the other hands, the 2b-mediated higher accumulation of foreign proteins resulted in the repression of normal leaf growth, possibly due to the limitation of supply of energy or materials required for growth maintenance. Using this Agrobacterium-infiltration system with 2b and GFP, we tested a hypothesis for the threshold model of PTGS initiation. Four GFP transgenic lines of N. benthamiana, which shows different expression level of GFP were tested to determine the threshold level for PTGS initiation. Agrobacterium-infiltration of GFP into those GFP-transgenic plants resulted in the co-silencing of the transgenic GFP. It was found that very low concentration of Agrobacterium with GFP and GFP+2b($OD_{600}$=0.002-0.02) which could not phenotypically induce an additive GFP expression, was enough to trigger PTGS pathway in all GFP transgenic plants. This strongly indicates that each GFP-transgenic plant should be expressing the transgenic GFP at its own pre-determined level and there was no buffer zone of additive GFP-expression to the threshold. In other words, the PTGS seems to be immediately activated as a self-defensive mechanism if an internal balance of gene expression is broken.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.338-343
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• 2020

In this paper, it was shown that the decoding method of Hamming codes using soft values can be applied to molecular communication channels. A soft value criterion that can be used for decoding of Hamming codes for a molecular communication channel was proposed, and it has been shown through simulation that the decoding method using these values can improve reliability even in the molecular communication channel. A diffusion-based molecular communication channel was assumed, and information symbols were transmitted using BCSK modulation. After demodulating the number of molecules absorbed by the receiver at each symbol interval with an appropriate threshold, the number of molecules is no longer used. In this paper, the BER performance of the decoder was improved by utilizing information on the number of molecules that are no longer used as soft values in the decoding process. Simulation was performed to confirm the improvement in BER performance. When the number of molecules per bit is 600, the error rate of the Hamming code (15,11) was improved about 5.0×10^-3 to the error rate of the BCSK system without the Hamming code. It can be seen that the error rate of (15,11) Hamming code with the soft values was improved to the same extent. In the case of (7,4) Hamming code, the result is similar to that of (15,11) Hamming code. Therefore, it can be seen that the BER performance of the Hamming code can be greatly improved even in the molecular communication channel by using the difference between the number of molecules absorbed by the receiver and the threshold value as a soft value.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.194-201
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• 2019

This cohort study aimed to identify the effects of daily PM10 exposure on the hospital admission of patients with respiratory diseases, during the nine-year period (2002-2010), in Seoul, Korea. The research subjects were 13,974 patients who had been hospitalized with respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and pneumonia. During the follow-up period, an increase of 10 ug/m3 in PM10 under the threshold of 50 ug/m3 of PM10 led to hospital admission in 1.38% of the age group younger than 15 years, 1.62% in those 65 years or older, 2.87% in patients 75 years or older and in 1.50% of pneumonia patients, 1.51% of COPD patients, and 1.55% of pneumonia and asthma patients. Under the threshold of 80 ug/m3 of PM10, there was a 3.71% increase in new patients admitted in the age group 65 years or older and 4.25% in those at least 75 years old. Our study found that high PM10 was associated with increased risk of admission of respiratory patients, especially in the elderly. People who already have a respiratory disease should refrain from exposure to particulate matter when there is a high concentration of PM10, especially older patients.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.656-661
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• 2016

Manufacturing membrane materials with high selectivity and permeability is quite desirable but practically not possible, since the permeability and selectivity are usually inversely proportional. From the viewpoint of reducing the cost of $CO_2$ capture, module performance is even more important than the performance of membrane materials itself, which is affected by the permeance of the membrane (P, stagecut) and selectivity (S). As a typical example, when the mixture with a composition of 13% $CO_2$ and 87% of $N_2$ is fed into the module with 10% stage cut and selectivity 5, in the 10 parts of the permeate, $CO_2$ represents 4.28 parts and $N_2$ represents 5.72 parts. In this case, the $CO_2$ concentration in the permeate is 42.8% and the recovery rate of $CO_2$ in this first separation appears as 4.28/13 = 32.9%. When permeance and selectivity are doubled, however, from 10% to 20% and from 5 to 10, respectively, the $CO_2$ concentration in the permeant becomes 64.5% and the recovery rate is 12.9/13 = 99.2%. Since in this case, most of the $CO_2$ is separated, this may be the ideal condition. For a given feed concentration, the $CO_2$ concentration in the separated gas decreases if permeance is larger than the threshold value for complete recovery at a given selectivity. Conversely, for a given permeance, increasing the selectivity over the threshold value does not improve the process further. For a given initial feed gas concentration, if permeance or selectivity is larger than that required for the complete separation of $CO_2$, the process becomes less efficient. From all these considerations, we can see that there exists an optimum design for a given set of conditions.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.472-481
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• 2017

Agricultural field near at the abandoned metal mine and industrial area has a high possibility to be polluted by heavy metals. However, concern about chemical properties including heavy metal concentration has been increased and biological properties such as soil respiration has been minimal in heavy metal polluted field. Therefore, main objective of this research was to evaluate soil respiration as an indicator of heavy metal pollution in agricultural field. Total of 60 sampling sites including each 30 sites of abandoned metal mine and industrial area were selected and heavy metal concentration, soil respiration, and chemical properties were measured. Results showed that heavy metal concentration in metal mine area was ranged Cu: $6.21~85.23mg\;kg^{-1}$, Pb: $23.84{\sim}1,044.72mg\;kg^{-1}$, As: $1.88{\sim}691.44mg\;kg^{-1}$, Zn: $18.72{\sim}527.55mg\;kg^{-1}$, Cd: $0.58{\sim}4.27mg\;kg^{-1}$, and Cu: $0.29{\sim}30.62mg\;kg^{-1}$, Pb: $4.41{\sim}19.77mg\;kg^{-1}$, As: $2.23{\sim}11.76mg\;kg^{-1}$, Zn $39.98{\sim}109.59mg\;kg^{-1}$, Cd $0.29{\sim}0.57mg\;kg^{-1}$ for industrial area respectively. While no sampling site was exceed the threshold value of each heavy metals in industrial field, metal mine area was highly polluted with Pb, As, Zn, and Cd. Soil respiration in the metal mine and industrial area was ranged $12.05{\sim}299.80mg\;O_2\;kg^{-1}$ and $27.68{\sim}330.94mg\;O_2\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Correlation analysis between heavy metal concentration in soil and soil respiration showed that negative correlation was observed in metal mine area while no correlation was observed in industrial area. This result might indicate that as heavy metal concentration was increased, microbial activity in soil was decreased resulting decrease of soil respiration rate. Overall, soil respiration can be used as indicator of heavy metal pollution in soil and more biological properties need to be evaluated to better understand heavy metal pollution in soil.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-44
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• 1976

This study was carried out to evaluate the harmful factors in working environments and to investigate the labor productivity after improvement of environments, surveying 93 industrial establishments of 10 industries located in Youngdeungpo industrial area in Seoul. The results obtained were as follows: 1) The highest noise level of 125dB(A) was indicated at the rolling process of transport equipment manufacturing industry. 2) The best illumination level was shown in precise machinery industry and the worst was indicated in rubber products, metallic products and transport equipment manufacturing industries. 3) Thermal conditions were above threshold limit value (TLV) at more than two processes of all industries except printing industry. 4) The highest dust concentration was determined in textile and wearing manufacturing industry. 5) Organic solvents were detected at 52 processes in 93 industrial establishments and 33 processes of them showed higher than TLV. The results about harmful chemicals were as follows: a) sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$)was determined higher than TLV on welding process of metallic product manufacturing industry and heat treatment process of transport equipment manufacturing industry. b) Carbon monoxide (CO) concentration was 700ppm at heat treatment process of transport equipment manufacturing industry, indicating 14 times of TLV. c) vinylchloride concentration in the air of PVC raw material mixing process and PVC preparation process of chemical product manufacturing industry was determined higher than TLV. d) Hydrochloride (HCl) concentration in the air of wire expanding process of transport equipment manufacturing industry was determined higher than TLV. 7) Higher values of lead concentration than TLV were determined at lead welding metallic product manufacturing industry and type planting process of process of printing industry, $1.8mg/m^3$ and $0.3mg/m^3$ respectively. 9) 22, 968 of 52, 855 workers (i.e. 43.5%) in 93 industries were exposed to various harmful agents. 10) It was found that the improvement of illumination in electric apparatus manufacturing industry (from 20~40 lux to 420 lux) resulted in an increase in productivity of 6.5% per capita and a decrease in faulty products of 19%. 11) Improvement of environments using local exhaust ventilation system resulted in a decrease of harmful substances lower than TLV and an increase in productivity of 11.4%. 12) Improvement of shovelling tools based on ergonomics resulted in a reduction in energy expenditure of 25.3% and an increase in productivity of 32.2% per capita.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.199-208
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• 2007

The olfactory function of subjects could be different due to various factors such as aging, and such discrepancies influence on the olfactory sensibility. Therefore, the objectives of this study was to investigate changes of olfactory sensibility characteristics and structure in relation to the consideration of olfactory threshold of subject. Stimulants of this study were five standard odor samples of T&T olfactometer, and thirty undergraduates over than 19 years old were tested twice during this study In experiment 1, subjects were given to odor samples which were controlled on the basis of individual olfactory threshold. Whereas, subjects were provided with uncontrolled odor samples which had the same concentration(+1) in experiment 2. Olfactory sensibility characteristics were significantly different with presentation types of odor samples, and these gaps were more higher on condition that the preference of odor sample was not distinct. Moreover, such differences affected the olfactory sensibility structure, and 'esthetic sense', 'intensity', and 'activity' were common factors, but 'friendship' of experiment 1 and 'weight' of experiment 2 were unique factors. In conclusion, the olfactory sensibility characteristics and structure could be different with consideration of olfactory threshold of subject. Overall, this study suggest that the olfactory function and the presentation method of odor sample be regarded as principal consideration factors in the olfactory sensibility evaluation.