• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.552-560
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• 2020

Listeria monocytogenes is a highly pathogenic gram-positive bacterium that is easily isolated from cheese, meat, processed meat products, and smoked salmon. A zero-tolerance (n=5, c=0, m=0/25 g) criteria has been applied for L. monocytogenes in cheese meaning that L. monocytogenes must not be detected in any 25 g of samples. However, there was a lack of scientific information behind this criteria. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a risk assessment based on literature reviews to provide scientific information supporting the baseline and to raise public awareness of L. monocytogenes foodborne illness. Quantitative risk assessment of L. monocytogenes for cheese was conducted using the following steps: exposure assessment, hazard characterization, and risk characterization. As a result, the initial contamination level of L. monocytogenes was -4.0 Log CFU/g in cheese. The consumption frequency of cheese was 11.8%, and the appropriate probability distribution for amount of cheese consumed was a Lognormal distribution with an average of 32.5 g. In conclusion, the mean of probabilities of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of cheese was 5.09×10-7 in the healthy population and 4.32×10-6 in the susceptible population. Consumption frequency has the biggest effect on the probability of foodborne illness, but storage and transportation times have also been found to affect the probability of foodborne illness; thus, management of the distribution environment should be considered important. Through this risk assessment, scientific data to support the criteria for L. monocytogenes in cheese could be obtained. In addition, we recommend that further risk assessment studies of L. monocytogenes in various foods be conducted in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to investigate the arsenic (As) contaminations in polished rice cultivated nearby abandoned mine areas, and to estimate the potential health risk through dietary intake of As-enriched polished rice in each age-gender population. METHODS AND RESULTS: The As contents in polished rice grown fifteen abandoned mine areas were analyzed. The average daily intake (ADD) as well as probabilistic health risk were estimated by assuming probability distribution of exposure parameters. The average total As concentration in polished rice was $0.09{\pm}0.06$ mg/kg with a range of 0.02~0.35 mg/kg. For health risk assessment, the ADD values in all age-gender populations did not exceed the provisional tolerable daily intake (PTDI) of 2.1 ${\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day for inorganic As. Cancer risk probability (R) values were $2.45{\sim}3.28{\times}10^{-4}$ and $2.51{\sim}5.75{\times}10^{-4}$ for all age population and gender population, respectively. Particularly, the R value, $5.75{\times}10^{-4}$, for children less than six years old were estimated to be high. Hazard quotient (HQ) values were 0.23~0.31 and 0.11~0.33 for general population and age-gender population, respectively. CONCLUSION(s): The average R values assessed via intake of polished rice cultivated in abandoned mine areas exceeded the acceptable cancer risk of $10^{-6}{\sim}10^{-4}$ for regulatory purpose. Considering the HQ values smaller than 1.0, potential non-cancer toxic effects may not be caused by the long-time exposure through intake of As-contaminated polished rice.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.272-277
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• 2014

This retrospective study evaluated the effect of somatic cell count (SCC) in milk during early lactation on reproductive performance in dairy cows. Data were collected on 774 cows from six dairy farms, including cow parity, dates of previous calving, artificial insemination, pregnancy diagnosis, incidence of postpartum endometritis, reproductive performance (the intervals from calving to first insemination and conception), milk production and SCC. Data on 774 lactations were grouped based on the average first 3 months postpartum linear somatic cell score (SCS) as T1 (< 3.0, n = 521), T2 (3.0 ${\leq}$ and < 4.0, n = 113), and T3 (${\geq}$ 4.0, n = 140) groups. The odds ratio (OR) for the probability of endometritis increased 1.6 (p < 0.05) and 3.2 times (p < 0.0001) in the T2 and T3 groups, respectively, compared with that in the T1 group. The hazard of first insemination by 150 days in milk (DIM) was lower in the T3 group (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.76, p < 0.01) than in the T1 group. First insemination conception rate did not differ among the 3 groups (28.7-34.2%, p > 0.05). The hazard of pregnancy by 365 DIM in the T3 group was lower (HR: 0.75, p < 0.05 respectively) than in the T1 and T2 groups. The SCS during 4 to 7 months postpartum differed (p < 0.0001) among the 3 groups. Farm and cow parity were important risk factors for higher SCS (${\geq}$ 4.0). Multiparous cows were more likely to have a higher SCS (OR: 2.26, p = 0.0005) compared with primiparous cows. In conclusion, higher SCS (${\geq}$ 4.0) during early lactation was associated with decreased reproductive performance of dairy cows.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.37-45
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• 2008

It is expected that conditions of water resources will be changed in Korea in accordance with world wide climate change. In order to deal with this problem and find a way of minimizing the effect of future climate change, the usefulness of climate model simulation information is examined in this study. The objective of this study is to assess the applicability of GCM (General Circulation Model) information for Korean water resources management through uncertainty analysis. The methods are based on probabilistic measures of the effectiveness of GCM simulations of an indicator variable for discriminating high versus low regional observations of a target variable. The formulation uses the significance probability of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for detecting differences between two variables. An estimator that accounts for climate model simulation and spatial association between the GCM data and observed data is used. Atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations done by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) with a resolution of $2^{\circ}{\times}2^{\circ}$, and METRI (Meteorological Research Institute, Korea) with resolutions of $2^{\circ}{\times}2^{\circ}$ and $4^{\circ}{\times}5^{\circ}$, were used for indicator variables, while observed mean areal precipitation (MAP) data, discharge data and mean areal temperature data on the seven major river basins in Korea were used for target variables. The results show that GCM simulations are useful in discriminating the high from the low of the observed precipitation, discharge, and temperature values. Temperature especially can be useful regardless of model and season.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.4D
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• pp.345-356
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• 2012

Road pavement requires repetitive maintenance works to maintain satisfactory service level to the public. However, the repetitive maintenance works upon deteriorated pavement structure make negative effects to deterioration speed. It often leads to inefficient use of limited budget. For that reason, the pavements require reconstruction work to recover their original performance. Recently, construction demands in the Korean national highway have already been reached to maximum level, and the aged pavements start to demand much more reconstruction works. However, in the real world, road agencies have often been confused when they determine maintenance design for such aged road sections due to budget constraint. It is because there is no reliable long-term maintenance strategy that supports their decision making. To support their decision making, this paper aimed to suggest the best maintenance strategy considering changing process of pavement performance by repetitive maintenance works. As an analysis method, probability distribution and hazard function to estimate the life expectancy were adopted, and then the results were used for long-term life cycle cost analysis with deterministic or Monte-Carlo method under various scenarios. As an empirical study, the Korean national highway data that has long-maintenance history data since 1986 has been applied. Last, this paper considered quality assurance of maintenance work to improve maintenance quality. These could be important information as a part of long-term maintenance strategy of pavement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2010

The optimal design of water distribution system have started with the least cost design of single objective function using fixed hydraulic variables, eg. fixed water demand and pipe roughness. However, more adequate design is accomplished with considering uncertainties laid on water distribution system such as uncertain future water demands, resulting in successful estimation of real network's behaviors. So, many researchers have suggested a variety of approaches to consider uncertainties in water distribution system using uncertainties quantification methods and the optimal design of multi-objective function is also studied. This paper suggests the new approach of a multi-objective optimization seeking the minimum cost and maximum robustness of the network based on two uncertain variables, nodal demands and pipe roughness uncertainties. Total design procedure consists of two folds: least cost design and final optimal design under uncertainties. The uncertainties of demands and roughness are considered with Latin Hypercube sampling technique with beta probability density functions and multi-objective genetic algorithms (MOGA) is used for the optimization process. The suggested approach is tested in a case study of real network named the New York Tunnels and the applicability of new approach is checked. As the computation time passes, we can check that initial populations, one solution of solutions of multi-objective genetic algorithm, spread to lower right section on the solution space and yield Pareto Optimum solutions building Pareto Front.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2017

To evaluate radiological impact from the operation of a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility, a logical presentation and explanation of expected accidental scenarios is essential to the stakeholders of the disposal facility. The logical assessment platform and procedure, including analysis of the safety function of disposal components, operational hazard analysis, operational risk analysis, and preparedness of remedial measures for operational safety, are improved in this study. In the operational risk analysis, both design measures and management measures are suggested to make it possible to connect among design, operation, and safety assessment within the same assessment platform. For the preparedness of logical assessment procedure, classification logic of an operational accident is suggested based on the probability of occurrence and consequences of assessment results. The improved assessment platform and procedure are applied to an operational accident analysis of the Korean low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility and partly presented in this paper.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.147-174
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• 2007

This study examines how path dependency of working poor labor market segmented from the primary and the secondary labor market affects employment and quality of employment of working poor. It Further examines how path dependency makes working poor to remain in the labor market and makes it difficult for them to escape from a vicious poverty cycle. Data is based on the $3{\sim}7th$ Korea Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS). Markov's transition probability and discrete-time hazard analysis are used for analysis. This study finds that Korea labor market is divided into three parts; the primary labor market, the secondary labor market and the working poor labor market. The proportion of employed poor has been reduced, but the proportion of non economically-active working poor has been increased and has become the main group among the working poor. This shows that labor demand of working poor is fundamentally lacking and there are structural barriers that block working poor's employment itself. The regression analysis shows that the longer working poor labor market participation is, the lower poverty-exit rate. This is an evidence of vicious poverty cycle that the poor have little chance to exit from working poor labor market, once they step into it. Therefore, the longer their participation in poor labor market, the more likely they would move only within the closed working poor labor market. Consequently, it is necessary to fundamentally reform labor market structure and to alleviate negative perception and discrimination about the poor labor while activating labor demand.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2007

Health functional foods refer to food which manufactured in the form of a tablet, capsule, granule or pill, using materials and ingredients with useful function for a human body in Korea. It needs to be confirmed as safe. Microbiological analyses on 37 samples of botanical raw materials used in the health functional food were performed. Microbiological analyses and probability of irradiation using PSL on 4 samples of aloe powder products were studied. In health functional food ingredients APC was $10^{3}-10^{6}\;CFU/g$ and coliform counts were $10^{2}-10^{5}\;CFU/g$. Among 37 samples B. cereus were found in 12 samples. Four samples of aloe powder products were tested for possible irradiation using preliminary PSL, Two samples of aloe powder products showed positive on preliminary PSL test for irradiation.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2011

Risk assessments of pesticides detected in six major rivers during peak season were estimated for algae, Daphnia, and fish using hazard quotient (HQ) indexes. The eight pesticides (isoprothiolane, hexaconazole, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, prothiofos, alachlor, butachlor, molinate) were detected within the range of 0.027~12.871 ${\mu}g/L$. Detection frequency of isoprothiolate was estimated to be high at 67.5%, and those of the others varied from 15.0 to 37.5%, Hazard Quotients (HQ) indexes varied by freshwater organisms (algae, Daphnia, and fish). Overall, the ecological risk probability due to exposure of pesticides detected in major rivers did not reveal based on HQ indexes below 1.0. Particularly, butachlor and molinate for algae, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, prothiofos for Daphnia, and chlorpyrifos for fish acted as dominant contributors in increasing the ecological risk in six major rivers. This implied that integrated ecological risk assessment is required using various biological species, reflecting toxicity sensitivity. This study may provide the essential data in establishing the priority for pesticides management in major rivers, Korea.