• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Due to water shortages caused by water pollution and climate change, total organic carbon (TOC) standards have been implemented for wastewater discharged from public sewage treatment facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing interest and body of research pertaining to the reuse of sewage treatment water as a secure alternative water resource. The membrane bio-reactor (MBR) method is commonly used for advanced wastewater treatment because it can remove organic and inorganic ions and it does not require or emit any chemicals. However, the MBR process uses a separation membrane (MF), which requires frequent film cleaning due to fouling caused by a high concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS). In this study, process improvement and microbubble cleaning efficiency were evaluated to improve the differential pressure, water flow, and MF fouling, which are the biggest disadvantages of operating the MF. The existing MBR method was improved by installing a precipitation tank between the air tank and the MBR tank in which raw water was introduced. Microbubbles were injected into a separation membrane tank into which the supernatant water from the precipitation tank was introduced. The microbubble generator was operated with a 15 day on, 15 day off cycle for 5 months to collect discharged water samples (4L) and measure TOC. As the supernatant water from the precipitation tank flowed into the separation membrane tank, about 95% of the supernatant water MLSS was removed so the MF fouling from biological contamination was prevented. Due to the application of microbubbles to supernatant water from the precipitation tank, the differential pressure of the separation membrane tank decreased by 1.6 to 2.3 times and the water flow increased by 1.4 times. Applying microbubbles increased the TOC removal rate by more than 58%. This study showed that separately operating the air tank and the separation membrane tank can reduce fouling, and suggested that applying additional microbubbles could improve the differential pressure, water flow, and fouling to provide a more efficient advanced treatment method.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.122-126
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• 2023

In this paper, a control system for a complex microbial incubator was proposed. The proposed control system consists of a control unit, a communication unit, a power supply unit, and a control system of the complex microbial incubator. The controller of the complex microbial incubator is designed and manufactured to convert analog signals and digital signals, and control signals of sensors such as displays using LCD panels, water level sensors, temperature sensors, and pH concentration sensors. The water level sensor used is designed and manufactured to enable accurate water level measurement by using the IR laser method with excellent linearity in order to solve the problem that existing water level sensors are difficult to measure due to foreign substances such as bubbles. The temperature sensor is designed and used so that it has high accuracy and no cumulative resistance error by measuring using the thermal resistance principle. The communication unit consists of two LAN ports and one RS-232 port, and is designed and manufactured to transmit signals such as LCD panel, PCT panel, and load cell controller used in the complex microbial incubator to the control unit. The power supply unit is designed and manufactured to supply power by configuring it with three voltage supply terminals such as 24V, 12V and 5V so that the control unit and communication unit can operate smoothly. The control system of the complex microbial incubator uses PLC to control sensor values such as pH concentration sensor, temperature sensor, and water level sensor, and the operation of circulation pump, circulation valve, rotary pump, and inverter load cell used for cultivation. In order to evaluate the performance of the control system of the proposed complex microbial incubator, the result of the experiment conducted by the accredited certification body showed that the range of water level measurement sensitivity was -0.41mm~1.59mm, and the range of change in water temperature was ±0.41℃, which is currently commercially available. It was confirmed that the product operates with better performance than the performance of the products. Therefore, the effectiveness of the control system of the complex microbial incubator proposed in this paper was demonstrated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.491-501
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• 2022

Bentonite has been proposed as a buffer and backfill material for high-level radioactive waste repository. Under such repository environment conditions, bentonite is subjected to combined thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical processes. This study evaluates the feasibility of applying X-ray CT technology on the characterization of bentonite under hydration conditions using a newly developed testing cell. The cylindrical cell is made of platic material, with a removable cap to place the sample, enabling to apply vertical pressure on the sample and to measure swelling pressure. The hydration test was carried out with a sample made of Gyeonju bentonite, with a dry density of 1.4 g/cm³, and a water content of 20%. The sample had a diameter of 27.5 mm and a height of 34 mm. During the test, water was injected at a constant pressure of 0.207 MPa, and lasted for 7 days. After one day of hydration, bentonite swelled and filled out the space inside the cell. Moreover, CT histograms showed how the hydration process induced an initial increase and later progressive decrease on the density of the sample. Detailed profiles of the mean CT value, CT standard deviation, and CT gradient provided more details on the hydration process of the sample and showed how the bottom and top regions exhibited a decrease on density while the middle region showed an increase, especially during the first two days of hydration. Later, the differences in CT values with respect to the initial state decreased, and were small at the end of testing. The formation and later reduction of cracks was also characterized through CT scanning.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.582-591
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• 2022

This study was conducted to eliminate Myocastor coypusMolina, 1782 (Nutria) from Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, South Korea. Habitat identification and eradication were carried out from September to November 2013, and a survey was carried out until June 2022 to check whether the eradication was successful. The habitat was identified with unmanned cameras, interviews, and literature surveys, and the capture was performed using the trapping method with food to attract nutria to the habitat area. The study area for the follow-up survey, which was set relatively wide considering nutria's home range, included wetlands and rivers within 4.0 km² of the habitat area (eradication area). As a result, nutria's habitat was confirmed only at Songdang Ranch, Songdang-ri, of Jeju Island, with traces of habitat (footprints, excrement, and burrows) confirmed in waterways and ponds within the pasture. Eight individuals were captured, including four females, three males, and one individual in too advanced a state of decay to identify the sex. The follow-up survey thoroughly investigated the habitat and its surroundings, focusing on three areas with permanent water, Seongeup Reservoir, Cheonmi Creek, and Molsuni Pond, but no signs of habitat were identified. Therefore, it is determined that nutria inhabiting Jeju Island has been completely eradicated. It is believed that the successful eradication of nutria in the Jeju Special Autonomous Region was possible due to a synergy between 1) the eradication of nutria at the beginning of the settlement phase through rapid capture after confirming the nutria habitat and 2) the delayed expansion period because of rare presence of wetlands, where water is constantly stagnant, on Jeju Island. These results imply that quickly identifying the ecological characteristics of the species and preventing disturbances before they or at the beginning of the ecological disturbance through control and eradication at the initial stage of settlement before the expansion stage is an effective measure to cope with the influx of alien species.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.676-683
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• 2022

Due to the effects of rapid changes in the living environment since 2000 and the recent unforeseen pandemic, people are refraining from domestic and international traveling and movement, and outdoor activities for health and the public value of forest trails, called Dullegil Trail in Korea, have become more important. This study estimated the environmental value of the tentatively named "East-West Trail," which connects the forest trails crossing Chungcheong and Gyeongsang Provinces using CVM (Contingent Valuation Method). It surveyed visitors to the East-West Trail, and 725 questionnaires were used for analysis. The average characteristics of respondents were those who exercised 2-3 times per week, visited a forest trail not far from their residence with friends or family, and showed a tendency to spend 50 thousand Korean won or more per visit. Visitors to the Dullegil Trail felt that there was a shortage of information boards on the forest trail, and they preferred a shelter in appropriate locations. We used a double-bounded dichotomous choice (BDDC) logit model proposed by Hanemann to measure the conservation value of the East-West Trail. It was estimated that the environmental value that a visitor to the East-West Trail could obtain was 30,087 won per trip. The estimated environmental value of the East-West Trail can be converted to about 94 billion won total visitors annually based on the population belonging to the direct-use zone near the East-West Trail. As there has been no study on the environmental value of forest trails using CVM, the results of this study will be able to suggest the feasibility of the government policies on forest trails.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2023

Due to the development of industry, interest in air pollutants has increased. Air pollutants have affected various fields such as environmental pollution and global warming. Among them, environmental diseases are one of the fields affected by air pollutants. Air pollutants can affect the human body's skin or respiratory tract due to their small molecular size. As a result, various studies on air pollutants and environmental diseases have been conducted. Asthma, part of an environmental disease, can be life-threatening if symptoms worsen and cause asthma attacks, and in the case of adult asthma, it is difficult to cure once it occurs. Factors that worsen asthma include particulate matter and air pollution. Asthma is an increasing prevalence worldwide. In this paper, we study how air pollutants correlate with the number of emergency room admissions in asthma patients and predict the number of future asthma emergency patients using highly correlated air pollutants. Air pollutants used concentrations of five pollutants: sulfur dioxide(SO₂), carbon monoxide(CO), ozone(O₃), nitrogen dioxide(NO₂), and fine dust(PM₁₀), and environmental diseases used data on the number of hospitalizations of asthma patients in the emergency room. Data on the number of emergency patients of air pollutants and asthma were used for a total of 5 years from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. The model made predictions using two models, Informer and LTSF-Linear, and performance indicators of MAE, MAPE, and RMSE were used to measure the performance of the model. The results were compared by making predictions for both cases including and not including the number of emergency patients. This paper presents air pollutants that improve the model's performance in predicting the number of asthma emergency patients using Informer and LTSF-Linear models.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2023

Due to the revision of the River Act and the enactment of the Act on the Investigation, Planning, and Management of Water Resources, a regular bed change survey has become mandatory and a system is being prepared such that local governments can manage water resources in a planned manner. Since the topography of a bed cannot be measured directly, it is indirectly measured via contact-type depth measurements such as level survey or using an echo sounder, which features a low spatial resolution and does not allow continuous surveying owing to constraints in data acquisition. Therefore, a depth measurement method using remote sensing-LiDAR or hyperspectral imaging-has recently been developed, which allows a wider area survey than the contact-type method as it acquires hyperspectral images from a lightweight hyperspectral sensor mounted on a frequently operating drone and by applying the optimal bandwidth ratio search algorithm to estimate the depth. In the existing hyperspectral remote sensing technique, specific physical quantities are analyzed after matching the hyperspectral image acquired by the drone's path to the image of a surface unit. Previous studies focus primarily on the application of this technology to measure the bathymetry of sandy rivers, whereas bed materials are rarely evaluated. In this study, the existing hyperspectral image-based water depth estimation technique is applied to rivers with vegetation, whereas spatio-temporal hyperspectral imaging and cross-sectional hyperspectral imaging are performed for two cases in the same area before and after vegetation is removed. The result shows that the water depth estimation in the absence of vegetation is more accurate, and in the presence of vegetation, the water depth is estimated by recognizing the height of vegetation as the bottom. In addition, highly accurate water depth estimation is achieved not only in conventional cross-sectional hyperspectral imaging, but also in spatio-temporal hyperspectral imaging. As such, the possibility of monitoring bed fluctuations (water depth fluctuation) using spatio-temporal hyperspectral imaging is confirmed.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.21-29
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• 2023

In this study, the stress characteristics of temporary fixed steel rods were analyzed in the "temporary fixing system using internal prestressing tension", which is mainly applied to the construction of superstructures by FCM. It was difficult to confirm the changes in initial tensile force in this system because the steel rod was internally connected to the pier and the PSC BOX. Therefore, measurement was performed before and after the completion of each segment using an FBG sensor to measure the change in the micro length of the steel rod. The results of the analysis showed that 75% to 90% of the maximum vertical contraction of the steel rod that occurred until the completion of the cantilever segment occurred in the fixing ~ 1segment, and the maximum loss of initial prestressing force was 39%. Such excessive loss of tension force to 1 segment means that tension is needed to improve the precision of construction during the fixation, and re-tension is needed to secure stability for conduction of cantilever segments after the completion of 1segment. In the 2 ~ last segment, the stress of the steel rod decreased gradually, and in the summer, the decrease in stress tended to partially recover due to the increase in the length of the steel rod corresponding to the increase in the vertical volume of PSC BOX. The dominant factor in the stress change in 2~ last segment in this phenomenon is judged to be the change in the length of the steel rod according to the temperature. Unlike the change in length, the relaxation was 1.2-2.7%, which was mostly offset by the opposite stress corresponding to the temperature stress. Therefore, a plan was proposed to improve the internal stress, such as adjusting the fixation time.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.89-106
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• 2022

Recently, the amount of video data collected from smartphones, CCTVs, black boxes, and high-definition cameras has increased rapidly. According to the increasing video data, the requirements for analysis and utilization are increasing. Due to the lack of skilled manpower to analyze videos in many industries, machine learning and artificial intelligence are actively used to assist manpower. In this situation, the demand for various computer vision technologies such as object detection and tracking, action detection, emotion detection, and Re-ID also increased rapidly. However, the object detection and tracking technology has many difficulties that degrade performance, such as re-appearance after the object's departure from the video recording location, and occlusion. Accordingly, action and emotion detection models based on object detection and tracking models also have difficulties in extracting data for each object. In addition, deep learning architectures consist of various models suffer from performance degradation due to bottlenects and lack of optimization. In this study, we propose an video analysis system consists of YOLOv5 based DeepSORT object tracking model, SlowFast based action recognition model, Torchreid based Re-ID model, and AWS Rekognition which is emotion recognition service. Proposed model uses single-linkage hierarchical clustering based Re-ID and some processing method which maximize hardware throughput. It has higher accuracy than the performance of the re-identification model using simple metrics, near real-time processing performance, and prevents tracking failure due to object departure and re-emergence, occlusion, etc. By continuously linking the action and facial emotion detection results of each object to the same object, it is possible to efficiently analyze videos. The re-identification model extracts a feature vector from the bounding box of object image detected by the object tracking model for each frame, and applies the single-linkage hierarchical clustering from the past frame using the extracted feature vectors to identify the same object that failed to track. Through the above process, it is possible to re-track the same object that has failed to tracking in the case of re-appearance or occlusion after leaving the video location. As a result, action and facial emotion detection results of the newly recognized object due to the tracking fails can be linked to those of the object that appeared in the past. On the other hand, as a way to improve processing performance, we introduce Bounding Box Queue by Object and Feature Queue method that can reduce RAM memory requirements while maximizing GPU memory throughput. Also we introduce the IoF(Intersection over Face) algorithm that allows facial emotion recognized through AWS Rekognition to be linked with object tracking information. The academic significance of this study is that the two-stage re-identification model can have real-time performance even in a high-cost environment that performs action and facial emotion detection according to processing techniques without reducing the accuracy by using simple metrics to achieve real-time performance. The practical implication of this study is that in various industrial fields that require action and facial emotion detection but have many difficulties due to the fails in object tracking can analyze videos effectively through proposed model. Proposed model which has high accuracy of retrace and processing performance can be used in various fields such as intelligent monitoring, observation services and behavioral or psychological analysis services where the integration of tracking information and extracted metadata creates greate industrial and business value. In the future, in order to measure the object tracking performance more precisely, there is a need to conduct an experiment using the MOT Challenge dataset, which is data used by many international conferences. We will investigate the problem that the IoF algorithm cannot solve to develop an additional complementary algorithm. In addition, we plan to conduct additional research to apply this model to various fields' dataset related to intelligent video analysis.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.145-174
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• 2017

Recently, due to the worsening global economic recession, Korea which is a small, export-oriented economy has decreased exports and the domestic economy also continues to stagnate. Therefore, for continued growth of our economy through export growth, we need to analyze the validity of export support system such as export insurance and prepare ways to expand exports. This study is to investigate the effects of Export Insurance on the exports of SMEs as well as LEs. For this purpose, this study conducted Time Series Analysis using data such as export, export insurance acquisition, export price index, exchange rate, and coincident composite index(CCI). First, as a result of the Granger Causality Test, the exports of LEs has found to have a causal relationship with the CCI, and CCI is to have a causal relationship with the short-term export insurance record. Second, the results of VAR analysis show that the export insurance acquisition result and the export price index have a positive effect on the exports of LEs, while the short - term export insurance has a negative effect on the exports of LEs. Third, as a result of variance decomposition, the export of LEs has much more influenced for mid to long term by the short-term export insurance acquisition compared to SMEs. Fourth, short-term export insurance has a positive effect on exports of SMEs. In order to activate short-term export insurance against SMEs, it is necessary to expand support for SMEs by local governments. This study aims to suggest policy implications for establishing effective export insurance policy by analyzing the effects of export insurance on the export of SMEs as well as LEs. It is necessary to carry out a time series analysis on the export results according to the insurance acquisition results by industry to measure the export support effect of export insurance more precisely.