• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2013

This study demonstrates the oxidative degradation of pharmaceutical compounds during ozonation of surface waters in Ulsan. Diclofenac, carbamazepine, bezafibrate, and ibuprofen were selected as surrogate pharmaceutical compounds, and ozonation experiments were performed using raw waters collected from the Sayeon Dam and the Hoeya Dam in Ulsan. Diclofenac and carbamazepine which have high reactivity with molecular ozone showed higher removal efficiencies than bezafibrate and ibuprofen during ozonation. The addition of tert-butanol, a hydroxyl radical scavenger, increased the removal efficiencies of diclofenac and carbamazepine by increasing the ozone exposure. However, the oxidation of bezafibrate and ibuprofen was inhibited by the presence of tert-butanol due to the suppression of the exposure to hydroxyl radical. The elimination of the selected pharmaceuticals could be successfully predicted by the kinetic model base on the $R_{ct}$ concept. Depending on the experimental condition, $R_{ct}$ values were determined to be $(1.54{\sim}3.32){\times}10^{-7}$ and $(1.19{\sim}3.04){\times}10^{-7}$ for the Sayeon Dam and the Hoeya Dam waters, respectively. Relatively high $R_{ct}$ values indicate that the conversion of $O_3$ into $^{\cdot}OH$ is more pronounced for surface waters in Ulsan compared to other water sources.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.695-700
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• 2013

Thirty-eight radiation safety reports for brachytherapy equipment were evaluated to determine the current status of brachytherapy units in Korea and to assess how radiation oncology departments in Korea complete radiation safety reports. The following data was collected: radiation safety report publication year, brachytherapy unit manufacturer, type and activity of the source that was used, affiliation of the drafter, exposure rate constant, the treatment time used to calculate workload and the HVL values used to calculate shielding design goal values. A significant number of the reports (47.4%) included the personal information of the drafter. The treatment time estimates varied widely from 12 to 2,400 min/week. There was acceptable variation in the exposure rate constant values (ranging between 0.469 and 0.592 ($R{\cdot}m^2/Ci{\cdot}hr$), as well as in the HVLs of concrete, steel and lead for Iridium-192 sources that were used to calculate shielding design goal values. There is a need for standard guidelines for completing radiation safety reports that realistically reflect the current clinical situation of radiation oncology departments in Korea. The present study may be useful for formulating these guidelines.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

Only limited information is available on the measured exposure levels of residents according to the construction age of apartments. As such, present study was conducted to measure and to compare the bedroom, living-room, and outdoor air levels of MTBE and benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and m,p-xylene(BTEX) in both newer and older apartments. For both newer and older apartments, all the compounds except for MTBE showed significantly higher levels in bedrooms or living-rooms as compared to the outdoor concentrations. The ratio of bedroom or living-room median concentration to outdoor concentration was close to 1 for MTBE, whereas it was larger than 1 for other target compounds. It was also found that the bedroom and living-room appeared to have similar indoor sources and sinks for BTEX, but not for MTBE. The median concentration ratios of the newer apartments to the older apartments ranged from 1.63 to 1.81, depending upon the compounds. In contrast, the MTBE concentrations did not differ significantly between the newer and older apartments, thereby suggesting that although newer buildings could emit more VOCs, this is not applicable to all VOCs. Conclusively, the findings of present study should be considered, when designing exposure studies associated with VOC emissions in buildings and/or managing indoor air quality according to construction age of buildings.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.310-314
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• 2016

Background: FCTC10 container is designed to transport $^{60}Co$ radioactive sources used in irradiation industry. It belongs to Type B(U) Category III (yellow) package when being loaded with a $^{60}Co$ source of $1.8{\times}10^5$ Ci. Materials and Methods: The container is constituted of shielding container, basket, protective cover and bracket. Shielding ability is provided mainly by stainless steel shells, tungsten alloy and lead among steel shells. Radiation level around the container has been calculated with both Monte Carlo simulations and measurements. Results and Discussion: It is proven that the shielding performance of the container fulfills the requirements in GB11806-2004 (Regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material, China Standard Press). Exposure doses to workers and to critical groups of public were calculated based on hypothetical exposure scene according to transport practice experience. Conclusion: The results show that doses to workers and public are less than the constraint dose considered in design, and the radiation level would be increased less than a factor of 2 under design basis accidents.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2015

We have carried out photometric follow-up observations of bright transiting extrasolar planets using the CbNUOJ 0.6 m telescope. We have tested the possibility of obtaining high photometric precision by applying the telescope defocus technique, allowing the use of several hundred seconds in exposure time for a single measurement. We demonstrate that this technique is capable of obtaining a root-mean-square scatter of sub-millimagnitude order over several hours for a V~10 host star, typical for transiting planets detected from ground-based survey facilities. We compared our results with transit observations from a telescope operated in in-focus mode. High photometric precision was obtained due to the collection of a larger amount of photons, resulting in a higher signal compared to other random and systematic noise sources. Accurate telescope tracking is likely to further contribute to lowering systematic noise by exposing the same pixels on the CCD. Furthermore, a longer exposure time helps reduce the effect of scintillation noise which otherwise has a significant effect for small-aperture telescopes operated in in-focus mode. Finally we present the results of modelling four light-curves in which a root-mean-square scatter of 0.70 to 2.3 milli-magnitudes was achieved.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.99-102
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• 2016

The phototactic behavioral responses of Tribolium castaneum adults to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of seven different wavelengths were determined under various conditions (light exposure times, light sources, and luminance intensities) and compared with those of a black light bulb (BLB) under laboratory conditions. Based on the attractive rate (%) of T. castaneum adults under optimal conditions (50 lx and an 48 h exposure time) in the dark, red LED ($625{\pm}10nm$) exhibited the highest potential attractive rate (97.8 %), followed by yellow ($590{\pm}5nm$, 68.9 %), green ($520{\pm}5nm$, 55.6 %), infrared (IR) (730 nm, 54.4 %), white (450-620 nm, 41.1 %), blue ($470{\pm}10nm$, 34.4 %), and ultraviolet (UV) (365 nm, 0.06 %) LEDs. In comparison, red LED (97.8 %) was approximately 3.4 times more attractive to T. castaneum adults than the BLB (28.9 %). These results indicate that a red LED trap could be useful to control T. castaneum adults.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.193-197
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• 1998

This study was conducted to determine if dietary fiber would reduce exposure of the tissues to dietary benzo[a]pyrene(BP) , a well-known carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, as evaluated by benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase (BPH) activity. The effects of three different sources of dietary fiber(pectin, polydextrose, and clellulose) on BPH activity were studied using Sprague-Dawley rats. In this study, male rats were fed a fiber-free purified diet for 7 days, whereupon they were switched to experimentla diets for 48h. After 48h, their liver, stomach , small intestinal mucosa and large intestinal mucosa were assayed for BPH activity. Thissues exposed to benzo[a]pyrene(400mg/kg diet, fiber-free) showed significant increse in the activity of BPH ; 27 times in liver, 7 times in stomach, 18 times in small intestinal mucosa and 3 times in large intestine. The inhibition in BP -induced BPH activity by dietary fiber in liver, stomach and small intestinal mucosa was observed in the decreasing order : 10 % perctin > 10% polydextrose >5 % polydextrose > 10% cellulose. Decreased BPH induction indicates that soluble dietry fibers, especially pectin and polydextrose in this study, protect the tissues of digestive system from exposure to BP.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.825-836
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• 2019

One of the most challenging safety precautions for workers in dynamic, radioactive environments is avoiding radiation sources and sustaining low exposure. This paper presents a sampling-based algorithm, DL-RRT*, for minimum dose walk-path re-planning in radioactive environments, expedient for occupational workers in nuclear facilities to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure. The method combines the principle of random tree star ($RRT^*$) and $D^*$ Lite, and uses the expansion strength of grid search strategy from $D^*$ Lite to quickly find a high-quality initial path to accelerate convergence rate in $RRT^*$. The algorithm inherits probabilistic completeness and asymptotic optimality from $RRT^*$ to refine the existing paths continually by sampling the search-graph obtained from the grid search process. It can not only be applied to continuous cost spaces, but also make full use of the last planning information to avoid global re-planning, so as to improve the efficiency of path planning in frequently changing environments. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method was verified by simulating radiation field under varying obstacles and radioactive environments, and the results were compared with $RRT^*$ algorithm output.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1231-1236
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• 2005

Global construction projects manifest more risks than do other industries. Often, firms doing business in construction markets find these risks intimidating. To secure corresponding profits, many global contractors attempt to forecast the effects of risks and establish risk management strategies. However, one key problem with present-day risk management methods is that they are basically analytical or mathematical-oriented approaches which are not easy to adopt in real business. Based on preliminary investigations and evaluations of current tools, this research elicits more practical algorithms for risk checklist by constructing risk scenarios over the whole period of project execution. For the application of the algorithms, a "SE/RF" (Source-Event/Regular-Floating) checklist is suggested, which sorts out risk sources and their subsequent events, as well as dividing various risk factors into either regular or floating categories. In addition, the "PIS" (Probability-Impact-Significance) method is introduced, in place of traditional "PI" (Probability-Impact) methods, by adding the additional criterion of "risk significance" to determine the degree of risk exposure in a more realistic way. As a result, we draw the significant finding that the "PIS" method presents a closer evaluation regarding degree of risk exposure as compared to the level of expert judgments than those from traditional methods. Finally, we provide an integrated procedure for international project risk management with all of the research achievements being incorporated.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2024

Radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) from various sources may impact health due to the generation of frequency bands. Broad pulses emitted within frequency bands can be absorbed by cells, influencing their function. Numerous laboratory studies have demonstrated that mobile phones-generally the most widely used devices-can have harmful effects on sex cells, such as sperm and oocytes, by producing RF-EMR. Moreover, some research has indicated that RF-EMR generated by mobile phones can influence sperm parameters, including motility, morphology, viability, and (most critically) DNA structure. Consequently, RF-EMR can disrupt both sperm function and fertilization. However, other studies have reported that exposure of spermatozoa to RF-EMR does not affect the functional parameters or genetic structure of sperm. These conflicting results likely stem from differences among studies in the duration and exposure distance, as well as the species of animal used. This report was undertaken to review the existing research discussing the effects of RF-EMR on the DNA integrity of mammalian spermatozoa.