• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.74-81
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• 2020

As of 2020, due to the influence of fine dust from China and domestic dust, the cloudy sky of Korea has become a daily routine not only in spring but also in autumn/winter. In 2013, the International Cancer Institute under the World Health Organization designated fine dust as a group 1 carcinogen that has been confirmed to be carcinogenic to humans. The purpose of this study is to theoretically review 5 fine dust-related design studies, by analyzing the case of three types of wearable air purifiers on the market, it is to propose an improved open wearable air purifier. As a verification method, a working prototype was produced to measure the amount of fine dust reduction. Therefore, this study derived three design insights of wearable air cleaner through case analysis. First, it maximizes openness by minimizing the area touching the face. Second, the nozzle where the air comes out should be close to the respiratory organ. Third, position of the motor is to be as far away as possible from the ear considering the noise. Based on this, I suggested an open-type wearable air purifier design that maximizes the user openness and improves the wearing comfort. I hope that it will be an opportunity to increase the coverage of wearable air cleaner and protect the respiratory health of users.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.627-637
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• 2021

Many efforts have been made to prevent alcohol related harms such as health problems and socio-economic problems. Among them, the method of improving drinking behavior at the individual level is the most direct intervention. The effectiveness of the use of protective behavior strategies(PBS) has been widely known in Western countries. The purpose of this study is to empirically verify whether the use of PBS affects alcohol related harms in Korean adults. The survey has been conducted on 2,000 adult men and women. As a result, it is found that the use of PBS reduced alcohol related harms in adults. Among the PBS, the biggest impact on alcohol related harms is the area related serious harm reduction strategy, followed by restrictions on 'manner of drinking'. The effects of 'limiting/ stopping of drinking' is not significant. In addition, drinking frequency, binge drinking, and drinking motivations have significant positive effects on alcohol-related harms, and only social motivation has a negative effect. In this work, we propose follow-up studies on identifying relationships between protective behaviors and alcohol related factors through longitudinal studies and strengthening the use of protective behavior strategies that applied to the refined target populations.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2022

Expandable steel pipe piles are installed by inserting expansion equipment to increase the cross-sectional area of steel pipes, which can improve the pile performance compared to micro-piles. In this paper, a hydraulic expansion device was developed to expand steel pipe piles in practice. A series of laboratory and field tests were conducted to verify the performance of the developed expansion device to expand steel pipes. The expansion capability and expandable range was evaluated by measuring the strain and expansion time at the maximum pressure of the hydraulic expansion device. The thinner steel pipe, the larger strain but longer expansion time required in the test. For example, the 4.0-mm-thick steel pipe showed strain reduction by 30% and a decrease in the required expansion time by 40% compared to the 2.9-mm-thick steel pipe. In addition, in-situ expansion tests were performed to verify the expandability of steel pipes under the ground, and the exhumed specimen showed clear expanded sections. The structural integrity was determined by comparing the material performance the original and expanded specimens.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.25-33
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• 2023

Noise generated during the acquisition and transmission of CT images acts as a factor that degrades image quality. Therefore, noise removal to solve this problem is an important preprocessing process in image processing. In this paper, we remove noise by using a deformable convolutional autoencoder (DeCAE) model in which deformable convolution operation is applied instead of the existing convolution operation in the convolutional autoencoder (CAE) model of deep learning. Here, the deformable convolution operation can extract features of an image in a more flexible area than the conventional convolution operation. The proposed DeCAE model has the same encoder-decoder structure as the existing CAE model, but the encoder is composed of deformable convolutional layers and the decoder is composed of conventional convolutional layers for efficient noise removal. To evaluate the performance of the DeCAE model proposed in this paper, experiments were conducted on CT images corrupted by various noises, that is, Gaussian noise, impulse noise, and Poisson noise. As a result of the performance experiment, the DeCAE model has more qualitative and quantitative measures than the traditional filters, that is, the Mean filter, Median filter, Bilateral filter and NL-means method, as well as the existing CAE models, that is, MAE (Mean Absolute Error), PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and SSIM. (Structural Similarity Index Measure) showed excellent results.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.159-179
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• 2022

Often a network becomes complex, and multiple entities would get in charge of managing part of the whole network. An example is a utility grid. While the entire grid would go under a single utility company's responsibility, the network is often split into multiple subsections. Subsequently, each subsection would be given as the responsibility area to the corresponding sub-organization in the utility company. The issue of how to make subsystems of adequate size and minimum number of interconnections between subsystems becomes more critical, especially in real-time simulations. Because the computation capability limit of a single computation unit, regardless of whether it is a high-speed conventional CPU core or an FPGA computational engine, it comes with a maximum limit that can be completed within a given amount of execution time. The issue becomes worsened in real time simulation, in which the computation needs to be in precise synchronization with the real-world clock. When the subject of the computation allows for a longer execution time, i.e., a larger time step size, a larger portion of the network can be put on a computation unit. This translates into a larger margin of the difference between the worst and the best. In other words, even though the worst (or the largest) computational burden is orders of magnitude larger than the best (or the smallest) computational burden, all the necessary computation can still be completed within the given amount of time. However, the requirement of real-time makes the margin much smaller. In other words, the difference between the worst and the best should be as small as possible in order to ensure the even distribution of the computational load. Besides, data exchange/communication is essential in parallel computation, affecting the overall performance. However, the exchange of data takes time. Therefore, the corresponding consideration needs to be with the computational load distribution among multiple calculation units. If it turns out in a satisfactory way, such distribution will raise the possibility of completing the necessary computation in a given amount of time, which might come down in the level of microsecond order. This paper presents an effective way to split a given electrical network, according to multiple criteria, for the purpose of distributing the entire computational load into a set of even (or close to even) sized computational loads. Based on the proposed system splitting method, heavy computation burdens of large-scale electrical networks can be distributed to multiple calculation units, such as an RTDS real time simulator, achieving either more efficient usage of the calculation units, a reduction of the necessary size of the simulation time step, or both.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.16-23
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• 2022

In this study, characteristics of effect on hydrogen gas was investigated to hydrogen embrittlement by disk and tensile tests. The developed and commercial alloy was fabricated to a plate material made from an alloy ingot. The prepared materials were processed in the form of a disk to measure rupture pressure by hydrogen and helium gas at a rate of 0.1 to 1,000 bar/min. In the hydrogen pre-charged tensile test, a specimen was hydrogenated using an anode charging method, and the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, elongation, and reduction in area rate were carried by a strain rate test. Also, the microstructure was observed to the fracture surface of the tensile test specimen. As a result, the developed materials satisfied endurable hydrogen embrittlement, and the fractured surface showed a brittleness fracture surface with a depth of several ㎛, but dimple due to ductile fracture could be observed.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.217-233
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• 2022

The remains found in Geumcheok-ri, Gyeongju are located in close proximity to the Ancient Tombs in Geumcheok-ri, Gyeongju (Historic Site) which were built between the late 5th and early 6th centuries, and these tombs are known to belong to the powerful rulers of that area. Using metallurgical techniques, this study was conducted on the iron objects obtained from the excavated remains in Geumcheok-ri, Gyeongju which are presumed to have a close relation to the nearby ruins that played an important role in the growth of Silla. To identify differences in manufacturing techniques based on the purpose of the iron objects, eight objects were selected after classifying them by use and the microstructure and non-metallic inclusions were investigated. The analyses results confirmed that the manufacturing process involved forging iron with a high or low carbon content to produce a particular shape, and that the carburization process was applied to iron post forging a shape to increase its strength when necessary. The mechanical properties were improved by selectively applying the steelmaking method and the heat treatment technique considering the functions of the parts, and the low temperature reduction was applied to the smelting process. Furthermore, in comparison with the iron objects excavated from the remains located in the center of Gyeongju and its outskirts, it is confirmed that there is similarity in the smelting and manufacturing techniques between these objects.

• Clean Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2010

The Cu-Mn mixed oxide catalysts with different molar ratios of Cu/(Cu+Mn) prepared by co-precipitation method have been investigated in CO oxidation at $30^{\circ}C$. The catalysts used in this study were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), $N_2$ sorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and $H_2$-temperature programmed reduction $(H_2-TPR)$ to correlate with catalytic activities in CO oxidation. The $N_2$ adsorption-desorption isotherms of Cu-Mn mixed oxide catalysts showed a type 4 having pore range of 7-20 nm and BET surface area was increased from 17 to $205\;m^2{\cdot}g^{-1}$ with increasing of Mn content. The XPS analysis showed the surface oxidation state of Cu and Mn represented $Cu^{2+}$and the mixture of $Mn^{3+}$ and $Mn^{4+}$, respectively. Among the catalysts studied here, Cu/(Cu+Mn) = 0.5 catalyst showed the highest activity at $30^{\circ}C$ in CO oxidation and the catalytic activity showed a typical volcano-shape curve with respect to Cu/(Cu+Mn) molar ratios. The water vapor showed a prohibiting effect on the efficiency of the catalyst which is due to the competitive adsorption of carbon monoxide on the active sites of catalyst surface and finally the formation of hydroxyl group with active metals.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2023

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of sodium hypochlorite in eliminating Escherichia coli strains from leafy green and stem vegetables, which are frequently sold at community service centers. A cocktail of non-pathogenic E. coli and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (E. coli O157:H7) was used to artificially contaminate the vegetables (initial numbers of bacteria 7-8 log CFU/g). The contaminated vegetables were soaked in sodium hypochlorite for 5 min and then washed three times with running water. After the treatment, number of viable bacterial cells on the vegetables was estimated. Sodium hypochlorite treatment reduced the E. coli population by 1-2 log CFU/g on leafy green and stem vegetables, a significant reduction from the initial number. Further, sodium hypochlorite showed better antimicrobial efficacy for leaves with a larger surface area, less roughness, and softness. There was no significant difference in the antimicrobial effect between 100 and 200 mg/kg of sodium hypochlorite. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase sodium hypochlorite concentration than the level suggested in the school meal hygiene management guidelines. However, sodium hypochlorite treatment is not sufficient to achieve a safe level of microorganisms on leafy green and stem vegetables since they generally have a high abundance of microorganisms on their surface. Thus, an alternative cooking method for fresh leafy green and stem vegetables in summer should be developed to ensure they are safe for consumption.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.679-684
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• 2023

Venous puncture is widely used to obtain blood samples for pathological examination. Because the invasive venipuncture method using a needle is repeatedly performed, the pain suffered by the patient increases, so our research team pre-developed a miniaturized near-infrared (NIR) imaging system in advance. To improve the image quality of the acquired NIR images, this study aims to model the non-local means (NLM) algorithm, which is well known to be efficient in noise reduction, and analyze its applicability in the system. The developed NIR imaging system is based on the principle that infrared rays pass through dichroic and long-pass filters and are detected by a CMOS sensor module. The proposed NLM algorithm is modeled based on the principle of replacing the pixel from which noise is to be removed with a value that reflects the distances between surrounding pixels. After acquiring an NIR image with a central wavelength of 850 nm, the NLM algorithm was applied to segment the final vein area through histogram equalization. As a result, the coefficient of variation of the NIR image of the vein using the NLM algorithm was 0.247 on average, which was an excellent result compared to conventional filtering methods. In addition, the dice similarity coefficient value of the NLM algorithm was improved by 62.91 and 9.40%, respectively, compared to the median filter and total variation methods. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the NLM algorithm can acquire accurate segmentation of veins acquired with a NIR imaging system.