• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review the material handling system of the Airborne Infection Isolation Hospitals which is the one of the key elements of infection control and to improve the basic data for the planning and design of those facilities. Methods: Research was conducted by literature reviews and case studies for the material handling system of domestic and foreign Isolation hospitals. Results: The result of this study can be summarized into three points. First, a general isolation unit and a high level isolated unit need to be distinguished in terms of efficiency and safety. In particular, it is desirable that a high level isolated unit have to completely separate clean and soiled circulations, and soiled corridor should be installed by those means. By doing this, the medical staff can observe patient rooms and supply clean materials directly in the clean zone without wearing PPE, so that safety and work efficiency can be improved at the same time. Second, for the safe disposal of wastes, it is desirable to install a dedicated sterilizer per ward and sterilize it at least in the ward. In addition, It is desirable to install a central waste treatment room and a dedicated soiled corridor in consideration of the inadequate handling capacity and emergency situation. Third, the characteristics of material flow chart in the negative pressured isolation hospitals and the corresponding material handling system have been presented. Implications: Infection control is very important in safety, but it is necessary to respond to the symptoms of the patient.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.17-30
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• 2009

In Iksan city, there have been a lot of complaints caused by offensive odor from residents living near the public environmental infrastructures and the Iksan industrial complex. To solve these problems, it is important to know the present condition of odor pollution level in these areas, the emission characteristics of malodorous gases in temporal and spatial variations in addition to meteorological components, and the facilities of major sources emitting malodorous compounds. The objectives of this study is to make the odor monitoring network for 20 people who lived and worked in areas where the environmental infrastructures and the Iksan industrial complex are located and their neighboring areas for six months from June 1st to October 31st in 2008 in Iksan and to monitor the temporal and regional frequency and characteristics of odor intensity using direct olfactory methods. As a result of odor monitoring, the highest frequency of sensed odor per month and 20 people for six months was found to be 107 in July, followed by 84 in September, 80 in August, 54 in June, 38 in October, respectively. Odor intensity trend showed a regional trend in the decreasing order of Dongsan-dong, Busong-dong, and Palbong-dong. Odor was widely perceived from night through next morning and considered as the sense of excreta, chemicals, sewage, compost, waste, etc. When high odor intensity was sensed, there were constant meteorological characteristics: relative humidity was 80~90%, wind speed was less than 0.5~1 m/sec, and main wind directions were from the east, the southeast, and the south.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.369-375
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• 2012

We investigated usefulness of chicken feather as bioadsorbent for removal of hexavalent chromium[Cr(VI)] and oil from aqueous solution. Chicken feather was chemically treated with DTPA, EDTA, NaOH and SDS, respectively. Among them, EDTA was the most effective in adsorbing Cr(VI). Cr(VI) uptake by chicken feather was increased with decreasing pH; the highest Cr(VI) uptake was observed at pH 2.0. By increasing Cr(VI) concentration, Cr(VI) uptake was increased, and maximum Cr(VI) uptake was 0.34 mmol/g. Cr(VI) adsorption by chicken feather was well described by Freundlich isotherm than Langmuir isotherm and Freundlich constant(1/n) was 0.476. As the concentration of chicken feather was increased, Cr (VI) removal efficiency was increased but Cr(VI) uptake was decreased. Most of Cr(VI) was adsorbed at early reaction stage(1 h) and adsorption equilibrium was established at 5 h. On the other hand, chicken feather adsorbed effectively oils including bunker-A and bunker-C. In conclusion, our results suggest that chicken feather waste could be used to remove heavy metal and oil; it is a potential candidate for biosorption material.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.184-192
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• 2016

Recently, studies on reducing mercury have been actively conducted worldwide, which include the current status of mercury emissions and mercury control technology. Among the control technology, Sorbent Trap measurement method has been aggressively developed due to its reliability, easiness in measurement and analysis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the new international measurement method; Sorbent Trap. For this, the study compared the Sorbent trap method (US EPA Method 30B) and the Korean Standard Method for Examination of Air (ES 01408.1) to evaluate their reliability, and developed mercury emission factors. As the result, the relative standard deviations (% RSD) of the two methods were 3.5~13.4% at Coal-fired Power Plants (CPP), 4.0~18.4% at Cement Kilns (CK), and 3.0~11.3% at Medical Waste Incinerators (MWI). The emissions factors were developed as 14.50 kg/ton at CPP, 45.10 kg/ton at CK, and 1,290.2 kg/ton at MWI.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.63-72
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• 2002

Patient satisfaction is an important factor in evaluating the quality of care. Patient satisfaction may be used to evaluate provider services and facilities, and used to predict the patient returns to a facility. The patients d whether the patient returns to a facility or whether the patient recommends the facility to other people may be affected by a variety of factors of patient satisfaction. Low satisfaction may result in poor compliance with the potential of waste of resources and suboptimal clinical outcome. This study is to identify factors of patient satisfaction that will affect patients decision whether the patient returns or not. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in Seoul, Chung-Joo and Bu-Cheon cities, Survey data was obtained from 743 patients who visited the physical therapy practice at university hospitals, general hospitals and clinics. Response rate was 94.4%. The instrument developed by Goldstein et al. (2000) was used and translated into Korean. Several items were added to the instrument. Patient's opinions of service in each domain measured using 5-point Likert-type scales that ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A multiple-regression analytic approach was used to predict overall satisfaction of physical therapy. Age, kindness, scheduling, convenience of parking, privacy, and waiting time predicted the overall satisfaction of physical therapy. The older patients had higher level of satisfaction with physical therapy compared with the younger patients. Patient satisfaction were more affected by access (scheduling and waiting time), administrative technical management (convenience of parking), and interpersonal management (kindness of physical therapists and other staffs) than clinical technical management (physical therapists' skills).

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.603-614
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• 1993

This study was undertaken to investigate the dietary factors related to the incidence of stomach and colon cancers in Korean. The subjects were 139 stomach and 52 colon cancer patients recruited from 3 general hospitals in Seoul. Food intake, anthropometric measurement, and blood compositions were studied through personal interview and using medical records. Body weight, body mass index, triceps skinfold thickness, body muscle mass of the subjects were lower than reference values. The body weight was reduced after the onset of the illness, which suggests body waste due to the cancers. The patients showed the lower valuies of hemoglobin and hematocrit. Serum protein and calcium were at lower limit of the normal range. Therefore the untritional status assessed by anthropometry and blood composition should be said to be marginal. The average intake of most of the nutrients except Ca of the subjects met the RDA, but the range was wide and the nutrient intake of large proportion of the subjects feel below 75% of RDA. The food intake of egg, milk, legumes, and fruts were lower than national average, on the other hand the subjects had higher intake of meat, vegetables, and fats. The subjects drank and smoked heavily, stomach cancers being more severs. From this results, dietary risk factors for the stomach and colon cancers in Korean did not agree with the reports of western societies. Even though the intakes of meat and animal food of colon cancer patients can not be classified as high, it was higher than stomach cancer and national average. Therefore it could be concluded that with increasing consumption of animal food, the incidence of colon cancer would be increased in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2021

Objectives: This study was intended to identify hazard contribution by region, media, and chemical by calculating a hazard-based index using pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) data. Methods: PRTR data for the period 2011 to 2016 was analyzed to examine the regional trends in toxic releases in terms of quantity and to create a corresponding hazard-based index. For the hazard-based index, the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) Model was used. Results: The results of the trend analysis show that total releases decreased slightly, but health hazard levels increased consistently. According to the outcome of regional contribution analysis of the hazard-based index, Chungcheongnam-do, Jeollabuk-do and Gyeonggi-do Provinces showed a high ratio in the index for air and water release pollutants, while Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do Provinces showed a high ratio in the index of soil release and waste transfer pollutants. Also, as a result of the analysis of the top ranked substances in the hazard-based index, it was found that chromium, cobalt and its compounds, and ethylene oxide contributed greatly to air release substances, while chromium, benzene, and lead and its compounds contributed greatly to water release substances. Conclusion: These results showed considerable disparities between total release and health hazard levels, especially in the analysis of contribution by regions and by chemical substance. Therefore, the hazard-based index should be used both to support a more comprehensive and robust approach to screening of chemicals for environmental health policy and for management.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.895-908
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• 2023

Disposal of waste containing heavy metals into the environment is a major threat to human health and can result in toxic or chronic poisoning in aquatic life. In the current study, metal-resistant Raoultella ornithinolytica was isolated from metal-contaminated samples collected from the Tanjaro River, located southwest of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. R. ornithinolytica was identified by partial amplification of 16S rRNA. The uptake potency of heavy metals was assessed using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and indicated that R. ornithinolytica removed 67, 89, 63.4, 55.6, 56.5, 65, and 61.9% of Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Zn, Co, and Fe, respectively. These removal rates were influenced by temperature, pH, and contact time; at 35℃ and pH 5 with a change in the incubation time, the reduction rate improved from 89 to 95% for Pb, from 36.4 to 45% for Cu, and from 55.6 to 64% for Ni. Gene analysis indicated that R. ornithinolytica contained pbrT, chrB, nccA, iroN, and czcA genes, but the pcoD gene was absent. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) images showed evidence of metal ion binding on the cell wall surface with different rates of binding. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) detected different mechanisms for metal particle localization; cell surface adsorption was the main mechanism for Pb, Zn, and Co uptake, while Cd, Ni, and Fe were accumulated inside the cell. The current study describes, for the first time, the isolation of R. ornithinolytica from metal-contaminated water, which can be used as an eco-friendly biological expedient for the remediation and detoxification of metals from contaminated environments.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.87-91
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• 2023

Most advanced countries that are members of the World Physiotherapy have established a 4-year education system or specialized graduate school system for physical therapists based on national standards. They have also expanded their laws and systems to provide physical therapists with the autonomy and independence to offer services in their clinics. However, compared with developed countries in North America and Europe, there are issues with the autonomy and independence of physical therapists in Korea related to national regulations. Social status and recognition of the profession are also lagging. Korea is expected to become a super-aged society by 2025. To reduce the financial burden of healthcare and welfare on the government, it is necessary to extend the time spent by older adults on independent activities and minimize their time spent using medical services. To achieve this goal and maximize the active life of older adults, a plan to efficiently use licensed physical therapists in the country should be prepared. Korea should increase the license utilization rate of physical therapists to reduce waste at the national level and increase the professional hope of the younger generations of physical therapists. To create a healthcare policy focusing on the use of physical therapy personnel, similar to that in advanced countries, it is necessary to unify educational systems and produce excellent physical therapists. Providing professional autonomy can help physical therapists develop a sense of job satisfaction. Outstanding talent will choose physical therapy as a profession if they can see hope for their future careers, and if physical therapy services in Korea are similar to those delivered in advanced countries, physical therapy in Korea can develop into a healthcare service that people desire.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.273-283
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• 2024

As the adverse environmental impacts due to plastic waste become more severe, there is an increasing demand for developing a sustainable ecosystem using biodegradable polymers. Biodegradable polymers are those that can be biochemically decomposed through the enzymatic activity of microorganisms. Currently, a variety of biodegradable polymers with varying properties is being investigated. In particular, polymer blends with an aim to control the biodegradation rate and mechanical properties are under active research. The biodegradable polymer industry, which has not yet reached economies of scale, does not have a cost advantage compared to petroleum-derived polymers. To overcome this challenge, there is an urgent need to expand its application fields to various high-value industries (separators, electronic materials, and medical fields). This review summarizes the current state-of-the-art biodegradable polymers, polymer blends, and recent research trends in new niche applications.