• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.19-33
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• 2009

Purpose : To check the legal relation between rescue team and patient as well as legal responsibility for patient's damage intentionally or erroneously caused by rescue member, a public official, in the performance of relevant job ; to prevent legal dispute over rescue team and to present program for fair settlement of dispute and equitable and feasible burden of damage. Method : First, the legal principle of Civil Law, Criminal Law and Administrative Law related to the theme of this research will be investigated around research by literature. Second, the case of dispute related to rescue team will be introduced. Result: 1. If 119 rescue members as a public official intentionally or erroneously cause damage to patient in the performance of job, they shall bear civil, criminal and administrative responsibility. They shall bear civil responsibility for indemnity for damage due to default or tort. The typical criminal responsibility includes accidental homicide arising out of duty, preparing falsified official document, dereliction of duty, etc. In the administrative side, the state is responsible for indemnity for peculiar status of the rescue member, public official. 2. Though raising civil petition or legal dispute over unsatisfactory rescue service may be reasonable to guarantee the right of nation, such action may cause stress to rescue member as well as may lead to mental shrinking and defensive attitude only to take the basic first aid treatment which has low possibility of mistake instead of active first aid treatment so as to avoid legal responsibility. 3. The program that may prevent legal dispute over 119 rescue team includes expansion of manpower specialized in first aid treatment, enhancement of education on legal environment, development and application of standard job guideline, formation of mutual trust with patient, detailed explanation, preparing and keeping minute record, improvement of the rescue members' ability of first aid treatment and development of medical instruction mode. Conclusion : The best policy is to prevent legal dispute. If it is impossible to basically exclude the possibility of dispute, however, we need to make effort to minimize the occurrence, settle fairly and divide damage equitably and feasibly. To improve the preventible death rate of our first aid system to the level of advanced country, 119 rescue team which is in charge of the stage before hospital needs to positively enforce special first aid by improving the qualitative level of rescue service and to strive to prevent legal dispute that may occur in the process.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2002.06a
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• pp.81-100
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• 2002

While most of regulatory communities in abroad recognize ' 'natural attenuation " to include degradation, dispersion, dilution, sorption (including precipitation and transformation), and volatilization as governing Processes, regulators prefer "degradation" because this mechanism destroys the contaminant of concern. Unfortunately, true degradation only applies to organic contaminants and short- lived radionuclides, and leaves most metals and long-lived radionuclides. The natural attenuation Processes may reduce the potential risk Posed by site contaminants in three ways: (i)contaminants could be converted to a less toxic form througy destructive processes such as biodegradation or abiotic transformations; (ii) potential exposure levels may be reduced by lowering concentrations (dilution and dispersion); and (iii) contaminant mobility and bioavailability may be reduced by sorption to geomedia. In this review, authors will focus will focul on "sorption" among the natural attenuation processes of hazardous inorganic contaminants including radionuclides. Note though that sorption and transformation processes of inorganic contaminants in the natural setting could be influenced by biotic activities but our discussion would limit only to geochemical reactions involved in the natural attenuation. All of the geochemical reactions have been studied in-depth by numerous researchers for many years to understand "retardation" process of contaminants in the geomedia. The most common approach for estimating retardation is the determination of distrubution coefficiendts ($K_{d}$) of contaminants using parametric or mechanistic models. As typocally used in fate and contaminant transport calculations such as predictive models of the natural attenuation, the $K_{d}$ is defined as the ratio of the contaminant concentration in the surrounding aqueous solution when the system is at equilibrium. Unfortunately, generic or default $K_{d}$ values can result in significant error when used to predict contaminant migration rate and to select a site remediation alternative. Thus, to input the best $K_{d}$ value in the contaminant transport model, it is essential that important geochemical processes affecting the transport should be identified and understood. Precipitation/dissolution and adsorption/desorption are considered the most important geochemical processes affecting the interaction of inorganic and radionuclide contaminants with geomedia at the near and far field, respectively. Most of contaminants to be discussed in this presentation are relatively immobile, i.e., have very high $K_{d}$ values under natural geochemical environments. Unfortunately, the obvious containment in a source area may not be good enough to qualify as monitored natural attenuation site unless owner demonstrate the efficacy if institutional controls that were put in place to protect potential receptors. In this view, natural attenuation as a remedial alternative for some of sites contaminated by hazardous-inorganic components is regulatory and public acceptance issues rather than scientific issue.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2014

Generally, nitrogen (N) fertilization higher than the recommended dose is applied during vegetable cultivation for increasing in productivity. However, excessive N application rate beyond plant requirement could cause adverse environmental impact such as nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emission. In this experiment, the impacts of N fertilization was studied on nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) emission to standardize the optimum fertilization level for minimizing of $N_2O$ emission as well as most of the crop productivity. Herein, we assessed the $N_2O$ emission in the flat upland soil which was cultivated with different N application rates on red pepper for 3 years (2010~2012). $N_2O$ emission was measured in chemical N fertilizer amounts 0 (N 0), 95 (N 0.5), 190 (N 1.0), $380(N_2.0)kgha^{-1}$ by using the abnormal shape chamber closed repeating three times. In average for 3 years, the total $N_2O$ emissions of each treatment in field of soybean were 2.110 (N 0), 3.165 (N 0.5), 5.039 (N 1.0), and $7.228(N_2.0)kgN_2Oha^{-1}yr^{-1}$, respectively. And then the primary regression between nitrogen fertilizer amount and the total $N_2O$ emission was showed as y = 0.0138x + 2.0942 ($r^2=0.9885$), and an average of the emission factor was $EF_1$ 0.0148(0.0118~0.0191) $N_2O-NkgN^{-1}kg^{-1}$ from 2010 to 2012. The result was a little higher than the emission default of the IPCC 1996 Guideline ($EF_1$ 0.0125) when the results are converted into $N_2O$ emission factor.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.143-148
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• 2013

Operational nuclear facilities such as nuclear power plants and particle accelerators show various neutron spectra according to the type of facilities and specific position. Necessities of neutron dose management and neutron monitoring for radiation protection of radiation workers in such a kind of facilities have continuously increased in recent years. Bonner sphere spectrometers are widely used for measurement of neutron spectra. Data on response function of neutron detector, default neutron spectra and count rates of Bonner sphere spectrometer are required to obtain unfolded neutron spectra in specific workplaces. In this study, we carried out measurement of neutron spectra produced in MC50 cyclotron using Bonner sphere spectrometer with LiI scintillation detector. Additionally, we estimated quantitative data on neutron flux, mean neutron energy and ambient dose equivalent rate according to the incident proton energies and positions in MC50 cyclotron.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.867-876
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• 2013

To promote the carbon emission trading scheme and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission as following 'Korean GHG & Energy Target Management System', GHG emissions should be accurately determined in each industrial sector. For the estimation method of GHG emission from waste landfill, there are several error parameters, therefore we reviewed the estimation method and proposed a revised method. Methane generation from landfill must be calculated by the selected method based on methane recovery rate, 0.75. However, this methodology is not considered about uncertainty factor. So it is desirable that $CH_4$ generation is estimated using first order decay model and methane recovery should use field monitoring data. If not, $CH_4$ recovery could be applied from other study results; 0.60 of operational landfill with gas vent and flaring system, 0.65 of operational site with landfill gas recovery system, 0.90 of closed landfill with final cover. Other parameters such as degradable organic carbon (DOC) and fraction of DOC decompose ($DOC_f$) need to derive the default value from studies to reflect a Korean waste status. Proper application of MCF that is selected by operation and management of landfill requires more precise criteria.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.583-592
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• 2020

This study assessed source depletion in the vadose zones of contaminated sites. The possible range of infiltration rate in Korea was statistically analyzed. The results showed a trend of decreasing leachate concentration of 13 pollutants used for risk assessment. Among them, benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene showed a lower leachate concentration in groundwater over time due to their low distribution coefficient and also possible biodegradation effects. The average values of the relative concentration could be taken as a default index due to a very small range of uncertainties. In the case of heavy metals, it was shown that the leachate concentration in a pollutant does not decrease over time. Considering the annually different infiltration, a site-specific source-depletion scenario was applied to Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province. The result was expressed as a time series of the relative concentration of the leachate concentration, and this was compared to the trend by averaged Korean infiltration. Finally, an open-source code that used Python was used to help calculate the leachate concentration by this site-specific infiltration scenario.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.1
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• pp.147-162
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• 1989

The current status of the application and interpretation of the Warsaw Convention and its subsequent Protocols in Asian countries is in its fredgling stages compared to the developed countries of Europe and North America, and there is thus little published information about the various Asian governments' treatment and courts' views of the Warsaw System. Due to that limitation, the accent of this paper will be on Korea and Japan. As one will be aware, the so-called 'Warsaw System' is made up of the Warsaw Convention of 1929, the Hague Protocol of 1955, the Guadalajara Convention of 1961, the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 and the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 1,2,3 and 4 of 1975. Among these instruments, most of the countries in Asia are parties to both the Warsaw Convention and the Hague Protocol. However, the Republic of Korea and Mongolia are parties only to the Hague Protocol, while Burma, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are parties only to the Warsaw Convention. Thailand and Taiwan are not parties only to the convention or protocol. Among Asian states, Indonesia, the Phillipines and Pakistan are also parties to the Guadalajara Convention, but no country in Asia has signed the Guatemala City Protocol of 1971 or the Montreal Additional Protocols, which Protocols have not yet been put into force. The People's Republic of China has declared that the Warsaw Convention shall apply to the entire Chinese territory, including Taiwan. 'The application of the Warsaw Convention to one-way air carriage between a state which is a party only to the Warsaw Convention and a state which is a party only to the Hague Protocol' is of particular importance in Korea as it is a signatory only to the Hague Protocol, but it is involved in a great deal of air transportation to and from the united states, which in turn is a party only to the Warsaw Convention. The opinion of the Supreme Court of Korea appears to be, that parties to the Warsaw Convention were intended to be parties to the Hague Protocol, whether they actually signed it or not. The effect of this decision is that in Korea the United States and Korea will be considered by the courts to be in a treaty relationship, though neither State is a signatory to the same instrument as the other State. The first wrongful death claim in Korea related to international carriage by air under the Convention was made in Hyun-Mo Bang, et al v. Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. case. In this case, the plaintiffs claimed for damages based upon breach of contract as well as upon tort under the Korean Civil Code. The issue in the case was whether the time limitation provisions of the Convention should be applicable to a claim based in tort as well as to a claim based in contract. The Appellate Court ruled on 29 August 1983 that 'however founded' in Article 24(1) of the Convention should be construed to mean that the Convention should be applicable to the claim regardless of whether the cause of action was based in tort or breach of contract, and that the plaintiffs' rights to damages had therefore extinguished because of the time limitation as set forth in Article 29(1) of the Convention. The difficult and often debated question of what exactly is meant by the words 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' in Article 25(1) of the Warsaw Convention, has also been litigated. The Supreme Court of Japan dealt with this issue in the Suzuki Shinjuten Co. v. Northwest Airlines Inc. case. The Supreme Court upheld the Appellate Court's ruling, and decided that 'such default equivalent to wilful misconduct' under Article 25(1) of the Convention was within the meaning of 'gross negligence' under the Japanese Commercial Code. The issue of the convention of the 'franc' into national currencies as provided in Article 22 of the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol has been raised in a court case in Korea, which is now before the District Court of Seoul. In this case, the plaintiff argues that the gold franc equivalent must be converted in Korean Won in accordance with the free market price of gold in Korea, as Korea has not enacted any law, order or regulation prescribing the proper method of calculating the equivalent in its national currency. while it is unclear if the court will accept this position, the last official price of gold of the United States as in the famous Franklin Mint case, Special Drawing Right(SDR) or the current French franc, Korean Air Lines has argued in favor of the last official price of gold of the United States by which the air lines converted such francs into us Dollars in their General Conditions of Carriage. It is my understanding that in India, an appellate court adopted the free market price valuation. There is a report as well saying that if a lawsuit concerning this issue were brought in Pakistan, the free market cost of gold would be applied there too. Speaking specifically about the future of the Warsaw System in Asia though I have been informed that Thailand is actively considering acceding to the Warsaw Convention, the attitudes of most Asian countries' governments towards the Warsaw System are still wnot ell known. There is little evidence that Asian countries are moving to deal concretely with the conversion of the franc into their own local currencies. So too it cannot be said that they are on the move to adhere to the Montreal Additional Protocols Nos. 3 & 4 which attempt to basically solve many of the current problems with the Warsaw System, by adopting the SDR as the unit of currency, by establishing the carrier's absolute liability and an unbreakable limit and by increasing the carrier's passenger limit of liability to SDR 100,000, as well as permiting the domestic introduction of supplemental compensation. To summarize my own sentiments regarding the future, I would say that given the fact that Asian air lines are now world leaders both in overall size and rate of growth, and the fact that both Asian individuals and governments are becoming more and more reliant on the global civil aviation networks as their economies become ever stronger, I am hopeful that Asian nations will henceforth play a bigger role in ensuring the orderly and hasty development of a workable unified system of rules governing international commercial air carriage.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.178-190
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• 2003

Background : The committee of tuberculosis(TB) survey planning for the year 2000 decided to construct the Korean Tuberculosis Surveillance System (KTBS), based on a doctor's routine reporting method. The successful keys of the KTBS rely on the precision of the recorded TB notification forms. The purpose of this study was to determine that the accuracy of the TB notification form written at a private general hospital given to the corresponding health center and to improve the comprehensiveness of these reporting systems. Materials and Methods : 291 adult TB patients who had been diagnosed from August 2000 to January 2001, were enrolled in this study. The lists of TB notification forms were compared with the medical records and the various laboratory results; case characteristics, history of previous treatment, examinations for diagnosis, site of the TB by the international classification of the disease, and treatment. Results : In the list of examinations for a diagnosis in 222 pulmonary TB patients, the concordance rate of the 'sputum smear exam' was 76% but that of the 'sputum culture exam' was only 23%. Among the 198 cases of the sputum culture exam labeled 'not examined', 43(21.7%) cases proved to be true 'not examined', 70 cases(35.4%) were proven to be 'culture positive', and 85(43.0%) cases were proven to be 'culture negative'. In the list of examinations for a diagnosis in 69 extrapulmonary TB patients, the concordance rate of the 'smear exam other than sputum' was 54%. In the list of treatments, the overall concordance rate of the 'type of registration' in the TB notification form was 85%. Among the 246 'new' cases on the TB notification form, 217(88%) cases were true 'new' cases and 13 were proven to be 'relapse', 2 were proven to be 'treatment after failure', one was proven to be 'treatment after default', 12 were proven to be 'transferred-in' and one was proven to be 'chronic'. Among the 204 HREZ prescribed regimen, 172(84.3%) patients were taking the HREZ regimen, and the others were prescribed other drug regimens. Conclusion : Correct recording of the TB notification form at the private sectors is necessary for supporting the effective TB surveillance system in Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.154-164
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• 2003

Background : Until the early 1990's in Korea, treatment outcomes of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the private sector were reported to be inferior to those of the public health center under the National Tuberculosis Programme. The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics and the treatment efficacy of the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis recently diagnosed at a private general hospital. Materials and Methods : The study included all pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed at Samsung Medical Center and notified to the public health center from August 2000 to January 2001. Results : Of the 232 patients included in the study during a 6-month period, 188 were (81.0%) initial treatment cases and 44 (19.0%) were re-treatment cases. Eighty-three (35.8%) patients had smear-positive sputa, and 27 (11.6%) had smear-negative, culture-positive sputa. Initial sputum examinations were not performed in 47 (20.3%) patients. A six-month, short-course treatment using isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide was prescribed for 31.4% of the patients under the initial treatment. The success rate (cured plus treatment completed) of the initial treatment for the smear-positive patients was 69.1%. Eleven (13.3%) of the 83 patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis discontinued their treatment without notice. Conclusions : To improve the treatment efficacy and decrease the default rates of the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the private sector, further efforts are required in line with the Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Treatment Guidelines and in the implementation of an appropriate model of public-private mix for tuberculosis control in Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2007

Background: Although there is an increasing incidence of Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary disease in Korea, the optimal therapeutic regimen has not yet been established and there are no reports of the long-term treatment outcomes. This study examined the long-term treatment outcomes of M. abscessus pulmonary disease. Methods: Twenty-nine patients diagnosed with M. abscessus pulmonary according to the American Thoracic Society criteria and treated from January 1996 to December 2003 were enrolled in ghis study. The clinical characteristics, radiological findings, treatment outcome, and follow up data were analyzed retrospectively. Results: The mean age of the 29 patients was 56.1 (${\pm}13.6$) years and there was a female (22/29) dominance. The chest radiography revealed the nodular bronchiectatic type to be dominant (69%, 20/29). Twenty-seven (93.1%) were prescribed clarithromycin-containing regimens, and injectable drugs, mainly aminoglycosides, were included in the regimen of nineteen patients. The most predominant regimen (48.3%) consisted of clarithromycin and amikacin. The treatment success, failure, and default were achieved in 19(65.5%), 9(31.0%), and 1(3.4%), respectively. The median duration to culture conversion was 42 days (range 15-362) and the median duration of treatment in the success group was 543 days (range 176-1,160). An adjunctive surgical resection was performed in five patients, which resulted in treatment success in two patients. After the completion of treatment, nineteen patients were followed up for a median duration of 931 days (range 230-2,294). Only one (5.3%) patient relapsed 45 days after completing treatment. Conclusion: Treatment with clarithromycin-containing regimens resulted in a successful treatment in approximately two thirds of patients with M. abscessus pulmonary disease. The long-term relapse rate was also quite low.