Overcoming the Not-in-My-Backyard Phenomenon in Waste Management: How Seoul Worked with a Citizens’ Opposition Movement and Built Incineration Facilities to Dispose of the City’s Waste, 1991–2013

Proper waste disposal is difficult, especially when no one wants disposal facilities in his or her neighborhood. A sound waste management plan has to consider both environmental sustainability and the wishes of the local community. In Seoul’s case, it took two decades of efforts to develop consensus on building and operating incinerators in the Republic of Korea’s capital city to dispose of residents’ waste. City officials held hundreds of open discussions to provide information on waste disposal and to listen to local residents’ concerns. Incorporating citizens’ demands, the government introduced stringent standards for pollutant emissions and related control systems, and it provided compensation to residents in the affected residential areas. At the same time that it built incinerators to dispose of the city’s trash, the government introduced new energy and recycling policies that made energy production more efficient and reduced waste generation. Those policies made residents’ heating and electricity bills more affordable and reduced the total amount of waste the city had to dispose of. Between 1991 and 2005, the city built four waste incineration facilities located in areas that collectively housed about 13,000 residents. The facilities operate harmoniously within those communities under the voluntary watch of residents. By 2013, the incinerators processed almost 80 percent of Seoul’s nonrecyclable municipal waste—a dramatic change compared with the late 1980s, when more than 90 percent of the city’s waste was dumped in a single landfill site

evidence from South Korea

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Public Policy,2019This paper investigates whether air pollution affects labor supply by exploiting a labor supply-air quality matched panel data on particulate matter (PM) and working hours in South Korea from 2010 to 2016. Using fixed effects panel regression, I find that working hours of individuals are not responsive to the level of PM concentration in general. However, the subgroup analysis reveals that women are responsive to a reduction in working hours if they have young children aged between 0 and 3. Given the epidemiological evidence of children’s relative susceptibility to air pollution, caregiving of the vulnerable dependents is suggested as a channel through which air pollution affects labor supply.1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Empirical Strategy 4. Results 5. Discussion 6. ConclusionmasterpublishedAhram HAN

Gray Skies and Blue Moms:The Effect of Air Pollution on Parental Life Satisfaction

We investigate the effects of air pollution on individuals’ life satisfaction, uncovering important heterogeneity in the impact. Using self-reported life satisfaction data from South Korea, we show that individuals report, ceteris paribus, lower life satisfaction in response to worsening air quality if young children are present in the household. This observed impact is driven heavily by the subpopulation of mothers, and the impact on mothers attenuates as their children grow older. We conclude that mothers’ disproportionate responsibility for child rearing and children’s higher vulnerability to air pollution are the likely channels mediating the impact of air pollution on life satisfaction

Will You Work Less, Mommy? The Effect of Air Pollution on Labor Supply in South Korea

We investigate whether air pollution affects labor supply in South Korea. To address endogeneity in the level of local air pollution, we utilize plausibly exogenous changes in wind directions as instruments. This choice is based on the observation that air pollution in South Korea is affected by spillovers from the neighboring countries, mediated by wind directions. We find that mothers reduce working hours in response to the worsening air quality, and the impact attenuates, as children grow. Children’s vulnerability to the air pollutants and mothers’ role as the principal caregiver are the probable reason that drives the results

Impact of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia on kidney transplant outcome

Backgrounds Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant recipients. While the acute phase toxicity in patients with PCP is well-characterized, there is a lack of data on the effects of PCP on long-term graft outcome. Method This retrospective observational study analyzed 1502 adult patients who underwent kidney transplantation at Seoul National University Hospital between 2000 and 2017. After a propensity score matching was performed, the graft and survival outcomes were compared between PCP-negative and PCP-positive groups. Results A total of 68 patients (4.5%) developed PCP after transplantation. The multivariable Cox analysis showed that positivity for cytomegalovirus and lack of initial oral antibiotic prophylaxis were risk factors of post-transplant PCP. The PCP-positive group had higher hazard ratios of graft failure [adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 3.1 (1.14–8.26); P = 0.027] and mortality [adjusted HR, 11.0 (3.68–32.80); P < 0.001] than the PCP-negative group. However, the PCP event was not related with subsequent development of de novo donor-specific antibodies or pathologic findings, such as T-cell or antibody mediated rejection and interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy. Conclusions PCP is a risk factor of long-term graft failure and mortality, irrespective of rejection. Accordingly, appropriate prophylaxis and treatment is needed to avoid adverse transplant outcomes of PCP.This study was supported by the Young Investigator Research Grant from the Korean Society Nephrology (Kyowa Hakko Kirin 2017) and a grant from the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), which is funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A1B03031642). The grants had neither role in the study design, nor in data collection, analysis, interpretation and nor in manuscript writing

Renovascular Hypertension Due to Midaortic Syndrome Associated with Chronic Takayasu Arteritis Successfully Treated with Multiple Simultaneous Visceral Bypasses

Aortoiliac occlusive disease may limit the use of branched endovascular aneurysm repair (BEVAR) of thoracoabdominal aneurysms (TAAAs). Thus, infrarenal aortoiliac occlusion may preclude the use of BEVAR. We present a case involving a 67-year-old patient with a fast-progressing TAAA (diameter: 70 mm) and a concomitant total aortoiliac occlusion. A multi-staged treatment concept included the creation of the access and the distal landing zone for the consecutive endovascular procedures through an aorto-right femoral-left popliteal bypass. At six-week intervals, thoracic endovascular aortic repair for the creation of the proximal landing zone and a 4-vessel BEVAR were accomplished. At 36 months, a type III endoleak occurred due to the fracture of the bridging stent-graft to the celiac trunk and the superior mesenteric artery. It was successfully treated with VBX stent-grafts. This case illustrates the importance of a staged hybrid approach in the management of complex aortic pathologies with poor access and insufficient distal landing zone

Ectopic Variceal Bleeding from the Hepaticojejunostomy due to Extrahepatic Portal Vein Occlusion: How to Treat?

Atypical variceal bleeding, which primarily stems from extrahepatic portal vein obstruction (EHPVO), is a severe complication of pancreatic hepatobiliary surgery. This review provides insights into this condition’s incidence, diagnosis, and management strategies. The treatment modalities for atypical variceal bleeding resulting from EHPVO range from endoscopic intervention to surgical procedures, including direct variceal ligation and shunt surgery. Here, we discuss the efficacy and potential limitations of each treatment approach. Additionally, we explored the utility and therapeutic advantages of the meso-Rex shunt, a particularly promising surgical technique for mitigating the hemodynamic and metabolic impacts of EHPVO

Change Detection in Hyperspectral Images Using Recurrent 3D Fully Convolutional Networks

Hyperspectral change detection (CD) can be effectively performed using deep-learning networks. Although these approaches require qualified training samples, it is difficult to obtain ground-truth data in the real world. Preserving spatial information during training is difficult due to structural limitations. To solve such problems, our study proposed a novel CD method for hyperspectral images (HSIs), including sample generation and a deep-learning network, called the recurrent three-dimensional (3D) fully convolutional network (Re3FCN), which merged the advantages of a 3D fully convolutional network (FCN) and a convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM). Principal component analysis (PCA) and the spectral correlation angle (SCA) were used to generate training samples with high probabilities of being changed or unchanged. The strategy assisted in training fewer samples of representative feature expression. The Re3FCN was mainly comprised of spectral&#8315;spatial and temporal modules. Particularly, a spectral&#8315;spatial module with a 3D convolutional layer extracts the spectral&#8315;spatial features from the HSIs simultaneously, whilst a temporal module with ConvLSTM records and analyzes the multi-temporal HSI change information. The study first proposed a simple and effective method to generate samples for network training. This method can be applied effectively to cases with no training samples. Re3FCN can perform end-to-end detection for binary and multiple changes. Moreover, Re3FCN can receive multi-temporal HSIs directly as input without learning the characteristics of multiple changes. Finally, the network could extract joint spectral&#8315;spatial&#8315;temporal features and it preserved the spatial structure during the learning process through the fully convolutional structure. This study was the first to use a 3D FCN and a ConvLSTM for the remote-sensing CD. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed CD method, we performed binary and multi-class CD experiments. Results revealed that the Re3FCN outperformed the other conventional methods, such as change vector analysis, iteratively reweighted multivariate alteration detection, PCA-SCA, FCN, and the combination of 2D convolutional layers-fully connected LSTM

Late Type III Endoleak after Loss of Component Overlap after EVAR with AFX2 Device: A Case Report

Addressing the high incidence of late type III endoleaks in previous AFX models, Endologix upgraded the device material and updated its recommendation regarding component overlap. However, whether upgraded AFX2 models are safe for endoleaks remains controversial. Here we report a case of a 67-year-old male with an AFX2-implanted abdominal aortic aneurysm experiencing a delayed type IIIa endoleak. Aneurysmal sac enlargement occurred 36 months post-endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), with a computed tomography scan at 52 months revealing component overlap loss and a significant type IIIa endoleak. We performed endograft explantation and endoaneurysmal aorto-bi-iliac interposition grafting. Our findings suggest that sufficient component overlap is necessary when using an AFX2 endograft outside the manufacturer’s instructions for use to prevent late type IIIa endoleaks. Moreover, patients who undergo EVAR with AFX2 for tortuous large aortic aneurysms should be carefully monitored for conformational changes