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Objectives In this study, the emission status by year was analyzed using the air pollutant emission data of Gunsan for 5 years from 2015 to 2019. In addition, it is intended to identify the emission characteristics of (Jeonju and Iksan). Methods Using the air pollutant emission data of the Clean Air Policy Support System(CAPSS) provided by the Ministry of Environment's National Fine Dust Information Center, the status of air pollutant emissions(CO, NOx, SOx, PM10, VOCs, NH3) in Gunsan was analyzed. Results and Discussion In Gunsan, CO(car registration number), PM10(cargo transport volume) NH3(farmland using fertilizer, manure management) emissions increased. NOx(production of glass products) SOx{glass (carbon removal process)} and VOCs(whiskey, etc) emissions were reduced. In the emission characteristics, CO and NOx are mainly road transport and non-road transport pollutants(leisure, cargo) and SOx is production process{glass(carbon removal process)} and energy industry combustion(private power plant). PM10 is a non-road moving pollutant(ship, cargo), scattering dust(road scattering dust, construction work, agriculture), and VOCs are food and beverage processing(whiskey, etc) and organic solvent in the production process painting facility (ship manufacturing). NH3 is agricultural(fertilized cropland, manure management) and production processes(ammonia consumption). In the comparison of emission characteristics, Gunsan(CO, NOx, SOx, VOCs), Jeonju(PM10), Iksan(NH3) were high. Conclusion The emission rate of air pollutants in Gunsan was in the order of VOCs > NOx > CO > SOx > NH3 > PM10. In the comparison of emissions characteristics, Gunsan, Jeonju and Iksan showed the same in NOx and NH3, but different in CO, SOx, PM10 and VOCs characteristics. This case is considered to be influenced by the size of the industrial complex, geographical characteristics of the region, economic structure, and population.

Ecklonia cava, a brown seaweed native to the East Asian coast, is known for its unique composition, including polysaccharides, polyphenols, and phlorotannins. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide widely used as a functional ingredient in foods. This study obtained crude polysaccharides (ECC_CPS) from E. cava celluclast enzymatic hydrolysate using ethanol precipitation. ECC_CPS increased cell viability during the proliferation of Hanwoo muscle satellite cells (HMSCs). The effect of ECC_CPS on the expression of proliferation-related markers was confirmed as MYF5 and MYOD expression significantly increased, whereas PAX7 expression was maintained. The evaluation of cell migration activity has a major impact on cell proliferation and differentiation, and the cell migration index significantly increased with ECC_CPS treatment (p < 0.01). This was related to the HGF/MET pathway and FAK pathway. Treatment with ECC_CPS promoted differentiation at the cell differentiation stage, thereby increasing the expression of differentiation markers, such as MYH2, MYH7, and MYOG (p < 0.001 or p < 0.01). Therefore, our findings imply that crude polysaccharide obtained from E. cava can be an additive ingredient that enhances the proliferation and differentiation of muscle satellite cells used in the manufacture of cultured meat products.

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that causes listeriosis in humans with severe symptoms. In South Korea, listeriosis had only been reported sporadically among hospitalized patients until the first foodborne outbreak occurred in 2018. In this study, a L. monocytogenes strain responsible for this outbreak (FSCNU0110) was characterized via whole genome sequencing and compared with publicly available L. monocytogenes genomes of the same clonal complex (CC). Strain FSCNU0110 belonged to multilocus sequence typing (MLST)-based sequence type 224 and CC224, and core genome MLST-based sublineage 6,178. The strain harbored tetracycline resistance gene tetM, four other antibiotic resistance genes, and 64 virulence genes, including Listeria pathogenicity island 1 (LIPI-1) and LIPI-3. Interestingly, llsX in LIPI-3 exhibited a characteristic SNP (deletion of A in position 4, resulting in a premature stop codon) that was missing among all CC224 strains isolated overseas but was conserved among those from South Korea. In addition, the tetM gene was also detected only in a subset of CC224 strains from South Korea. These findings will provide an essential basis for assessing the characteristics of CC224 strains in South Korea that have shown a potential to cause listeriosis outbreaks.

Background: We assessed the use of serum concentrations of carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19–9 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measured during the preoperative diagnostic workup as prognostic factors for survival in patients with periampullary carcinoma. Methods: A retrospective review of patients diagnosed with periampullary carcinoma who underwent radical surgery was conducted. Factors related to the survival of periampullary carcinoma patients, including CA 19–9 and CEA, were analyzed. Results: The mean age of the 112 patients included in the results was 66.41 ± 10.513 years. In the study, the percentage of patients with elevated serum CA 19–9 and CEA concentrations was 65.2% and 24.1%, respectively. CA 19–9 concentrations were correlated with the tumor stage, pre-operative jaundice, and lymphovascular invasion, but CEA concentrations were not. The median overall survival was longer for the normal serum CA 19-9 group than the group with increased CA 19–9 (56 months vs. 25 months, p = 0.003); however, there was no statistically significant difference between the normal serum CEA group and the group with increased CEA (43 months vs. 25 months, p = 0.077). Independent factors related to overall survival were sex, age, stage, presence of jaundice, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, margin status, and elevated serum CA 19–9 concentrations. Conclusions: Periampullary carcinoma patients with elevated serum CA 19–9 concentrations at diagnosis are expected to have poor overall survival. CA 19–9 may be a useful marker for predicting prognosis in patients with periampullary carcinoma at the time of diagnosis.

Abstract In this study, the effect of a scale‐aware convective parameterization scheme (CPS) on the simulation of heavy precipitation in the gray‐zone was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. We performed WRF simulations with the Kain–Fritsch (KF) scheme (non‐scale‐aware), Multiscale Kain–Fritsch (MSKF) scheme (scale‐aware), and explicit convection (i.e., no CPS). The MSKF scheme uses a scale‐aware parameter that modulates the convective available potential energy (CAPE) timescale and entrainment process in the KF scheme as a function of the horizontal grid spacing. The results of this study show that WRF simulations using explicitly resolved convection lead to overestimations and erroneous precipitation locations in the gray‐zone because the convection and atmospheric instability cannot be appropriately triggered and reduced. The CPS without scale‐awareness in the gray‐zone exaggerates the convection and distorts synoptic fields, leading to the erroneous simulation of heavy precipitation at high resolution. The MSKF scheme with scale‐awareness improves the simulation of convective cells‐related heavy rainfall by removing the atmospheric instability in the gray‐zone, reducing the role of the CPS, and increasing the role of the microphysics parameterization scheme (MPS) with decreasing grid spacing. In addition, the results of sensitivity experiments show that reducing the CAPE timescale leads to the faster development of convective cells, whereas decreasing the entrainment leads to precipitation overestimation. The modulated parameters in the scale‐aware MSKF scheme play a crucial role in balancing the effects of the CPS and MPS in the gray‐zone.

Abstract The Grell‐Freitas deep convection scheme (GF) has been implemented in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) with the nonhydrostatic Model for Prediction Across Scales dynamical core. Aquaplanet simulations have been performed with a global quasi‐uniform resolution mesh with ∼120 km grid spacing and a variable resolution mesh employing a circular refined region with ∼30 km grid spacing centering at the equator and ∼120 km elsewhere. GF produces overall patterns of the general circulations comparable to those of other aquaplanet experiments, including those produced using the default Zhang‐McFarlane convection scheme (ZM) in CAM Version 5.4. GF alleviates the overestimated occurrence of weak intensity precipitation characteristic of ZM due to GF's different closure methods and deep‐convection trigger conditions. Compared to ZM, the GF characteristics of the equatorial Kelvin waves are closer to observations. GF also better simulates precipitation at variable resolution, with no unrealistic wave distortion by the refinement. Overall, GF shows less sensitivity of convective precipitation and heating/moistening tendencies to changes in horizontal resolution compared to ZM. However, vertically overlapped total cloud fraction simulated with GF in the tropics is more sensitive to the resolution than ZM due to the larger resolution‐sensitivity of high‐level cloud fraction in the tropics.

In this study, we investigated the synoptic features of the August 26–27, 2018 heavy rainfall episode, which was accompanied by a quasi-stationary front over the Korean peninsula, as well as its relationship with the climatological characteristics of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH), using reanalysis and observational data. Through a case study, we analyzed the synoptic environment and frontal structure of the heavy rainfall event by comparing it with a heavy rainfall event associated with a quasi-stationary front that occurred on June 26–27, 2018 (during the Changma period). The case study indicates that the environment and structure of the quasi-stationary fronts in both events exhibited common characteristic features: an extended WPSH and strong low-level winds along the western or northwestern edge of the WPSH and a northward tilted frontal structure. Although differences in the moisture transport path were observed (southwesterly for the Changma event and southerly for the August event), their contributions to maintaining the quasi-stationary fronts were comparable around the Korean peninsula. We further investigated the climatological characteristics of these two heavy rainfall episodes for a 30 year period (1990–2019). We identified heavy rainfall days similar to those of the case study using pattern correlations of the 850 hPa geopotential height anomaly. The occurrence frequencies for each period indicate that the environmental features of the Changma event can be regarded as the typical heavy rainfall environment during the Changma period, whereas the environmental features of the August event were not typical for heavy rainfall during August. The main difference between similar and different cases to the August event is the expansion of the WPSH. Analysis of the relationship between annual variations in the WPSH indices and the occurrence frequency of heavy rainfall days during each August period also indicates that heavy rainfall with a quasi-stationary front similar to the August event is closely related to WPSH expansion.

Abstract Backgrounds The purpose of this study is to discuss the total joint reconstruction surgery for a patient with recurrent ankylosis in bilateral temporomandibular joints (TMJs) using three-dimensional (3D) virtual surgical planning, computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM)-fabricated surgical guides, and stock TMJ prostheses. Case presentation A 66-year-old female patient, who had a history of multiple TMJ surgeries, complained of severe difficulty in eating and trismus. The 3D virtual surgery was performed with a virtual surgery software (FACEGIDE, MegaGen implant, Daegu, South Korea). After confirmation of the location of the upper margin for resection of the root of the zygoma and the lower margin for resection of the ankylosed condyle, and the position of the fossa and condyle components of stock TMJ prosthesis (Biomet, Jacksonville, FL, USA), the surgical guides were fabricated with CAD/CAM technology. Under general anesthesia, osteotomy and placement of the stock TMJ prosthesis (Biomet) were carried out according to the surgical planning. At 2 months after the operation, the patient was able to open her mouth up to 30 mm without complication. Conclusion For a patient who has recurrent ankylosis in bilateral TMJs, total joint reconstruction surgery using 3D virtual surgical planning, CAD/CAM-fabricated surgical guides, and stock TMJ prostheses may be an effective surgical treatment option.

In this study, we investigate the effects of increased dust emission from the Middle East deserts on subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) variability of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM). Numerical experiments are performed using the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) coupled with the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) physics, with regional refinement at 30 km grid resolution over South Asia and the surrounding regions. Result shows that increased dust emission and transport from the Middle East/West Asia region induces a strong dust-cloud-radiation-precipitation-circulation feedback, resulting in a colder surface over the desert regions and the western Tibetan Plateau, but warmer and moister troposphere with enhanced cloudiness and precipitation over the Pakistan/Northwest India (PNWI) region. The latter changes are amplified by the dust aerosol induced Elevated Heat Pump (EHP) mechanism along the West Himalayas/Iranian Plateau foothill regions, most pronounced during May-June. During July-August, cloud radiation feedback further enhances the warming of the upper troposphere, and cooling of the land surface over the PNWI and adjacent regions over West Asia. The upper tropospheric heating and increased precipitation over PNWI spur a large-scale anomalous Rossby wavetrain and a northward displacement of the subtropical jetstream, manifesting in a contraction of the South Asian High and westward shift of the Western Pacific Subtropical High. As a result, the entire ASM precipitation-cloud system is displaced westward. Precipitation and cloudiness are intensified over northwest and western India and west Asia, but suppressed over southern and central East Asia. Analyses of the S2S variability of the upper level vorticity balance suggests that heating by Middle East dust plays an important role in exciting, and anchoring a teleconnection pattern through interactions among dust-cloud radiation, precipitation heating over the PNWI, the development of an upper level Rossby wavetrain, and the northward shift of the boreal summer jetstream over Eurasia.

Currently, significant efforts are being made to enhance the performance of the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) operational model. However, the model performance concerning Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) estimation remains uninvestigated. In this study, three different estimation methods for AOD were implemented using the NIER operational model and validated with satellite and ground observations. In the widely used Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) method, AOD exponentially increases with relative humidity owing to a hygroscopic growth factor. However, alternative methods show better performance, since AOD estimation considers the size dependency of aerosol particles and is not sensitive to high relative humidity, which reduces the high AOD in areas with large cloud fractions. Although some R values are significantly low, especially for a single observational comparison and small numerical domain analysis, one of the alternative estimation methods achieves the best performance for diagnosing AOD in the East Asia region.

In this paper, an improved immune algorithm (IIA) was proposed for the torque ripple reduction optimal design of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) for a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) traction motor. When designing electric machines, both global and local solutions of optimal designs are required as design result should be compared in various aspects, including torque, torque ripple, and cogging torque. To lessen the computational burden of optimization using finite element analysis, the IIA proposes a method to efficiently adjust the generation of additional samples. The superior performance of the IIA was verified through the comparison of optimization results with conventional optimization methods in three mathematical test functions. The optimal design of an IPMSM using the IIA was conducted to verify the applicability in the design of practical electric machines.

Abstract The nonhydrostatic Model for Prediction Across Scales (NH‐MPAS) provides a global framework to achieve high resolution using regional mesh refinement. Previous studies using the hydrostatic version of MPAS (H‐MPAS) with the physics parameterizations of Community Atmosphere Model version 4 (CAM4) found notable resolution‐dependent behaviors. This study revisits the resolution sensitivity using NH‐MPAS with both CAM4 and CAM5 physics. A series of aqua‐planet simulations at global quasiuniform resolutions and global variable resolution with a regional mesh refinement over the tropics are analyzed, with a primary focus on the distinct characteristics of NH‐MPAS in simulating precipitation, clouds, and large‐scale circulation features compared to H‐MPAS‐CAM4. The resolution sensitivity of total precipitation and column integrated moisture in NH‐MPAS is smaller than that in H‐MPAS‐CAM4. This contributes importantly to the reduced resolution sensitivity of large‐scale circulation features such as the intertropical convergence zone and Hadley circulation in NH‐MPAS compared to H‐MPAS. In addition, NH‐MPAS shows almost no resolution sensitivity in the simulated westerly jet, in contrast to the obvious poleward shift in H‐MPAS with increasing resolution, which is partly explained by differences in the hyperdiffusion coefficients used in the two models that influence wave activity. With the reduced resolution sensitivity, simulations in the refined region of the NH‐MPAS global variable resolution configuration exhibit zonally symmetric features that are more comparable to the quasiuniform high‐resolution simulations than those from H‐MPAS that displays zonal asymmetry in simulations inside the refined region. Overall, NH‐MPAS with CAM5 physics shows less resolution sensitivity compared to CAM4.

The importance of providing effective analgesia during sedation for complex endoscopic procedures has been widely recognized. However, repeated administration of opioids in order to achieve sufficient analgesia may carry the risk of delayed recovery after propofol based sedation. This study was done to compare recovery profiles and the satisfaction of the endoscopists and patients between conventional balanced propofol sedation and analgesia-oriented combination sedation for patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).Two hundred and two adult patients scheduled for ERCP were sedated by either the Conventional (initial bolus of meperidine with propofol infusion) or Combination (repeated bolus doses of fentanyl with propofol infusion) method. Recovery profiles, satisfaction levels of the endoscopists and patients, drug requirements and complications were compared between groups.Patients of the Combination Group required significantly less propofol compared to the Conventional Group (135.0 ± 68.8 mg vs. 165.3 ± 81.7 mg, P = 0.005). Modified Aldrete scores were not different between groups throughout the recovery period, and recovery times were also comparable between groups. Satisfaction scores were not different between the two groups in both the endoscopists and patients (P = 0.868 and 0.890, respectively).Considering the significant reduction in propofol dose, the non-inferiority of recovery profiles and satisfaction scores of the endoscopists and patients, analgesia oriented combination sedation may be a more safe yet effective sedative method compared to conventional balanced propofol sedation during ERCP.

To investigate prevalence and clinical characteristics of klassevirus in South Korea, we performed molecular screening in fecal and nasopharyngeal samples from hospitalized children with gastroenteritis. A total of 26 (8.8%) of 294 fecal samples were positive for klassevirus. Klassevirus may be a possible cause of gastroenteritis.