• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.1039-1050
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• 2014

The goal of this study is to demonstrate the diversity of model performance for various climatic elements and indicators. We evaluated the skills of the most advanced 17 General Circulation Models (GCMs) i.e., CMIP5 (Climate Model Inter-comparison project, phase 5) climate models in reproducing retrospective climatology from 1950 to 2000 over the Southeast US for the key climatic elements important in the hydrological and agricultural perspectives (i.e., precipitation, maximum and minimum temperature, and wind speed). The biases of raw CMIP5 GCMs were estimated for 16 different climatic indicators that imply mean climatology, temporal variability, extreme frequency, etc. using a grid-based observational dataset as reference. Based on the error (RMSE) and correlation (R) of GCM outputs, the error-based GCM ranks were assigned on average over the indicators. Overall, the GCMs showed much better accuracy in representing mean climatology of temperature comparing to other elements whereas few GCM showed acceptable skills for precipitation. It was also found that the model skills and ranks would be substantially different by the climatic elements, error statistics applied for evaluation, and indicators as well. This study presents significance of GCM uncertainty and the needs of considering rational strategies for climate model evaluation and selection.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2011

Background: The aim of the study was to describe the characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of critically ill patients with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 at a major medical center in Korea. Methods: This retrospective observational study examined critically ill adult patients with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009, who were admitted to the AMC between August and December 2009. Results: 27 patients with confirmed pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Asan Medical Center (AMC). The median age (IQR) was 59 years (41~67), and 66.7% of the patients were older than 51 years. A total of 81.5% of the patients had 2 or more co-morbidities. The median time (IQR) from symptom onset to presentation was 2 days (1~4), and the median time from presentation to ICU admission was 0 days (0~1.5). All patients received oseltamivir (300 mg/day) and 13 patients received triple combination therapy (oseltamivir, amantadine, ribavirin). Twelve patients required mechanical ventilation on the first day of ICU admission. A total of 6 patients (22.2%) died within 28 days of admission. The patients who died had significantly higher acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores at presentation. There were no significant differences in age, co-morbidities, or antiviral regimens between survivors and non-survivors. Conclusion: Critical illness related to pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 was common in elderly patients with chronic co-morbidities. All patients were given high-dose oseltamivir or triple combination antiviral therapy. Nonetheless, patients with critical illnesses associated with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 had a death rate of 22.2%.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.185-195
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• 2009

We investigated the change of several meteorological variables due to deforestation. We established two sets of automatic weather observation system: one on a hill where forest was destructed by lumbering (Point 1) and the other in a neighboring district (Point 2) of fairly preserved forest. The observations were continued for one year (2006. 12-2007. 12). In this study, we analysed the data observed for one week from the nea day after summertime rainfall. The results showed that the air temperatures of Point 1 were about $1.5^{\circ}C$ higher than those of Point 2 during the daytime. But there were small gaps between the two poults during the nighttime. The relative humidities also differed greatly between the two during the daytime. It was as high as about 10% at Point 2. The surface and underground (15 cm in depth) soil temperatures were also fealty different between the two points during the daytime. They were $3-10^{\circ}C$ higher at Point 2 than those of Point 1. And the gaps reduced drastically during the nighttime. The averaged soil moistures were 7.1% at Point 1 and 19.5% at Point 2 during the observation period, respectively. The differences of wind direction were small, but the wind speeds differed between the two points. The observed wind speeds during the observation period were roughly estimated to be about 0.5m/s at Point 1 and 0.3m/s at Point 2. The heat budget analysis was also performed based on the observation data.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.53-60
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• 2016

In this paper, we introduce the implementation and test results of a new method of correlated result storage to achieve the full performance of the Daejeon hardware correlator. Recently, the observation of 8 Gbps speed, which is the maximum observational standard of KVN(Korean VLBI Network), has been performed. The correlation processing using the Daejeon hardware correlator is also required. Therefore, a new correlation result storage introduction has become necessary. The maximum correlation result output speed of the Daejeon hardware correlator is 1.4 GB/sec per 25.6 ms integration time. The conventional correlation result storage system can not cope with the maximum correlation output speed of the Daejeon hardware correlator, and the output speed is limited to 1/4. That is, among the four input ports of the Daejeon hardware correlator, the three inputs are limited to correspond to the observation rate of 1 Gbps. This new storage system uses the Gluster file system among many of the latest technologies used in storage systems. In tests that meet the maximum output rate of 1.4 GB/sec for the Daejeon hardware correlator, 350 MB/sec for each of the four optical outputs, resulting in 1.4 GB/sec in total.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.197-211
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• 2004

Visibility impairment was known as an indicator of the increased air pollution. In many previous studies, it is known that both directly emitted fine particles mainly from vehicles and secondary aerosols from photochemical reactions could contribute to this visibility impairment in addition to the meteorological condition. Furthermore, the visibility showed different change patterns according to the geographical condition. In order to research into the influence of these factors on visibility, this study analyzed the visibility at 15:00, observed from 1990 to 2001 in Seoul, Ganghwa, Susan, Gwangju, Jeju. As a result, the visibility was increased in Seoul except the rainfall period, but in Susan, Gwangju, Jeju, it decreased with the relative humidity (RH). Especially, in Seoul, the number of low visibility days was larger than other sites and variations of the visibility were sensitive to the concentration of air pollutants, such as TSP, $NO_2$, $O_3$. The visibility impairment was mainly observed in meteorological condition of RH<50% and relatively stationary front. Therefore it is inferred that photochemical smog could lead to the low visibility in Seoul. On the other hands, in Ganghwa and Susan, when RH was 60~70%, the low visibility observed under the influence of the transports of air pollutants from nearby cities as well as humid air mass from coastal region. And in Jeju, sea fog and humid air mass caused the visibility impairment when the RH was larger than 80%. Finally, during the observational period, some cases of low visibility phenomena were simultaneously observed in the vast region including Seoul, Susan, Ganghwa. It not only includes the visibility aggravation by Asian Dust, but also could be caused by the movement and diffusion of flying dust or secondary aerosols. Moreover, the result shows that these phenomena could be mainly influenced by meteorological factors covering the wide regions.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2008

The major risk associated with the use of automated power injectors is the well known complication of contrast material extravasation at the injection site. Automated injection of computed tomography (CT) contrast media can produce the compartment syndrome. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of this device during clinically important episodes of extravasation. The extravasation detection accessory (EDA) system was composed of a strain gage, an amplifier and a computer based system. A strain gage pliable adhesive patch was applied to the skin aver the intravenous catheter and the catheter was connected to the power injector with a cable to monitor the resolution data. If the programmed monitoring, which was developed with MS Visual C++, at the extravasation occurred, then the injection was interrupted the auto injector. CT was used to demonstrate the clinically important extravasation. This study was a prospective, observational study in which the EDA system was used to monitor the automated mechanical injection of contrast material in 7 dogs. There were two true-positive cases (range of extravasation volumes: $18{\sim}22ml$), twenty three true-negative cases, three false-positive cases and no false-negative cases. The EDA system had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 88% for the detection of clinically important extravasation. The EDA system had good sensitivity for the detection of clinically important extravasation and the EDA system has the clinical potential for the early detection of extravasation of the contrast medium that is administered with power injectors. The EDA system is easy to use safe and accurate for the monitoring extravasation of the intravenous injections, and this system may prove especially useful in CT applications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.317-323
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the differences in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings after lumbar epidural nerve block using the transforaminal approach and the interlaminar approach in patients with low back pain. This study was an observational analysis study of abnormal findings of MRI after epidural nerve block. This study included 78 patients who underwent MRI at approximately 24 h after lumbar epidural nerve block at a pain clinic of a university hospital between January 2007 and December 2016. Among patients who received epidural nerve block, 36 used the interlaminar approach and 42 used the transforaminal approach. The incidence of patients with abnormal changes in MRI findings was higher among patients using the interlaminar approach (53%) than those using the transforaminal approach (7%). Abnormal MRI findings included epidural air or fluid, needle tracks, and soft tissue changes, with epidural air being the most frequent abnormal finding (72%). We recommend use of the transforaminal approach to reduce the possibility of misreading or difficulty in interpretation of images of patients who underwent MRI at approximately 24 h after lumbar epidural nerve block. Practitioners should consider the possibility of abnormal findings such as epidural air on MRI in cases of epidural nerve block using the interlaminar approach.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2012

Demand for high resolution weather data grows in the agriculture and forestry fields. Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) can be used to analyze the local weather at high spatial and temporal resolution, utilizing the data from various sources including numerical weather prediction models, wind or temperature profilers, Automated Weather Station (AWS) networks, radars, and satellites. LAPS has been set to analyze weather elements such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction every hour at the spatial resolution of $100m{\times}100m$ for Gyeonggi-do on near real-time basis. The AWS data were revised by adding the agricultural field AWS data (33 stations) in addition to the KMA data. The analysis periods were from 1 to 31 August 2009 and from 15 to 21 February 2010. The comparison of the LAPS output showed the smaller errors when using the agricultural AWS observation data together with the KMA data as its input data than using only either the agricultural or KMA AWS data. The accuracy of the current system needs improvement by further optimization of analyzing options of the system. However, the system is highly applicable to various fields in agriculture and forestry because it can provide site specific data with reasonable time intervals.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.213-220
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• 2009

In order to predict the risk of freeze injury for 'Changhowon Hwangdo' peach trees, we used the dormancy depth (i.e., the daily chill unit accumulation during the overwintering period) as a proxy for the short-term, physiological tolerance to freezing temperatures. A Chill-days model was employed and its parameters such as base temperature and chilling requirement were optimized for peach trees based on the 12 observational experiments during the 2008-2009 winter. The model predicted the flowering dates much closer to the observations than other models without considering dormancy depth, showing the strength of employing dormancy depth into consideration. To derive empirical equations for calculating the probabilistic freeze risk, the dormancy depth was then combined with the browning ratio and the budburst ratio of frozen peach fruit branches. Given the exact date and the predicted minimum temperature, the equations calculate the probability of freeze damages such as a failure in budburst or tissue browning. This method of employing dormancy depth in addition to freezing temperature would be useful in locating in advance the risky areas of freezing injury for peach trees production under the projected climate change.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.114-134
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the changes of women's postpartum symptoms, including their weights, edema index and quality of life (QOL) over the first six weeks after childbirth. Methods: The study participants were 31 postpartum women treated in the Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynecology, at Woo-Suk University Korean Medicine Hospital, from May 20th to August 5th, 2016. In the first 2 weeks of the postpartum period, the main data collection method was to interview each patient and write down all of their complaints, and additionally referring to each participant's PHR (Personal Health Records). At the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th week, the researcher interviewed participants by phone once a week. The participants' weight, edema index (ECW/TBW) and the quality of life (by EQ-VAS) were measured at 1st and 2nd week after childbirth. And, EQ-VAS was assessed once more at the 6th week after childbirth. As a last step, the participants responded to a survey on satisfaction regarding their postpartum care with Korean Medicine. Results: 1. In the 1st one week after childbirth, edema was the most frequent complaint. It was about joint pain of the upper limbs in the 2nd and 3rd weeks, sweating in the 4th week, and joint pain of the upper limbs in the 5th and the 6th weeks. 2. In the 1st two weeks of the postpartum period, the weight of the participants decreased from $66.33{\pm}9.30kg$ to $62.60{\pm}8.92kg$ (p<0.001) and the edema index ECW/TBW decreased from $0.399{\pm}0.010$ to $0.385{\pm}0.0 4$ (p<0.001). The EQ-VAS significantly improved from $61.77{\pm}17.72$ to $73.51{\pm}14.67$ (p<0.001). In the last 4-weeks of the postpartum period, the EQ-VAS decreased from $74.30{\pm}14.25$ to $73.63{\pm}13.35$, but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.749). 3. Regarding the satisfaction with postpartum care with Korean Medicine, 60% of the participants responded that it was 'Excellent' and 40% said it was 'Good'. Conclusion: Over the entire postpartum period, the most frequent complaints were about musculoskeletal symptoms. Postpartum care with Korean Medicine treatments in the early postpartum period improves various postpartum symptoms and the quality of life for postpartum women.