• Title/Summary/Keyword: Economic efficacy

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Effects of Phytase Supplementation on the Performance of Broiler Chickens Fed Maize and Wheat Based Diets with Different Levels of Non-phytate Phosphorus

  • Singh, P.K.;Khatta, V.K.;Thakur, R.S.;Dey, S.;Sangwan, M.L.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.16 no.11
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    • pp.1642-1649
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    • 2003
  • An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of phytase supplementation on the growth performance, nutrients utilization and bone mineralization in broiler chickens. Day-old broiler chicks (n=480) were equally devided into eight treatment groups and fed maize or wheat based isocaloric, isonitrogenous and isocalcium diets having two non phytate phosphorus (NPP) concentrations (0.50% and 0.30%) and two phytase levels (0 and 500 phytase units/kg diet) in a 42 days growth trial. Maize based dietary treatments were MC (NPP 0.50%, MN (NPP 0.30%), MNP (MN+500 units of phytase) and MCP (MC+500 units of phytase), whereas wheat based experimental diets were WC (NPP 0.50%), WN (NPP 0.30%), WNP (WN+500 units of phytase) and WCP (WC+500 units of phytase). The NPP levels were maintained by dicalcium phosphate. Reduction in dietary NPP depressed live weight gain and feed intake and increased feed conversion ratio (FCR). Phytase supplementation to low NPP (0.30%) diets significantly (p<0.05) improved the growth performances of broilers. The supplementation to low NPP diets allowed complete, safe and economic replacement of dietary inorganic P (dicalcium phosphate) to reduce feed cost per kg live weight gain of broilers. Reduction in dietary NPP did not affect retention of nutrients except phosphorus (P) but had a significant (p<0.05) depression in tibia ash and minerals (Ca, P) concentration in serum and tibia ash. Phytase supplementation at low NPP level was effective (p<0.05) in improving the retention of dry matter, Ca and P and Ca and P concentration in serum and tibia ash. However, the supplementation was not effective at high level of NPP (0.50%). There were no significant (p>0.05) differences in carcass quality among dietary treatments. The response of phytase was greater in low NPP and maize based diets as compared with high NPP and wheat based diets, respectively. The results show that phytase supplementation to low NPP (0.30%) diets improved the growth performance, relative retention of nutrients (N, Ca and P) and minerals (Ca, P) status of blood and bone in broiler chickens, with a better efficacy in maize based diets.

A Critical analysis of NCS-based Curriculum (국가직무능력표준(NCS) 기반 교육과정에 대한 비판적 고찰)

  • Ko, Kyoung-Im
    • Journal of Digital Convergence
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    • v.13 no.8
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    • pp.69-82
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    • 2015
  • This article critically examines the backgrounds and meanings of National Competency Standards (NCS) that is employed by Korean colleges for managing performance-based, competency-based curriculum. Findings are as follows: 1) the NCS-based curriculum was primarily adopted to enhance students' business competency for their successes in a competitive job market. 2) NCS is questioned its efficacy to resolve Korean employment issues in a serious economic structure in which a growing number of jobless youth and aged employees and education discrimination are involved. 3) NCS, with its emphasis on the Tyler Rationale and principles of scientific curriculum development, has many criticisms due to its technical approaches to educational processes and needs to be replaced with an alternative paradigm. 4) This article suggests that administrators, policy makers, and educators seek ways to resolve NCS issues considering contextual features of Korean job market and rethinking NCS ideology in the education process. A need for curriculum reconceptualisation is discussed.

Policy Suggestions to Korea from a Comparison Study of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark's Polices on Risk Assessment of Contaminated Soils (토양오염 지역의 위해성 평가에 관한 외국 정책의 비교분석 및 우리나라의 정책 개선에 관한 고찰)

  • Park Yong-Ha;Yang Jay-E.;Ok Yong-Sik
    • Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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    • v.10 no.5
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    • pp.1-10
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    • 2005
  • Policies of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark were compared and analyzed on risk assessment of contaminated sites. These countries were chosen from a feasible preliminary analysis of 18 countries of the European Union and the U. S. All the countries selected met two major criteria : I) implementation of risk assessment to determine the soil contamination and remediation targets of contaminated sites, ii) use of soil guidance values and risk assessment as complementary measures to determine soil contamination. Suggested policy improvements to Korea regarding these issues include i) legislation of a rational risk assessment methodology of contaminated sites, and ii) enactment of collaboration of risk assessment with the soil guidance values. To establish effective risk assessment legislation, additional in-depth research on social, economic and long-term effects of the proposed risk assessment methodologies, as well as the mutual consent of all parties including academia, industry, and administration will be necessary. Linking risk assessment with soil guidance values would be applicable to a site contaminated where the contaminant concentration exceeds a certain soil guidance value. In parallel, application of risk assessment to a site where a contaminant concentration is naturally different such as mining sites would be plausible. The policy suggestions above are not yet conclusive due to a lack of policy implementation, and simulation. Thus, additional research on developing risk assessment methodology is needed. Nevertheless, initiation of the suggested policy would increase the efficacy of Korean policy regarding the survey and remediation of contaminated sites.

A Study on the Patient's Attitude of Korean Medicine by Social Classes (계층별 한방의료 이용 실태에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Han-Wool;Chong, Myong-Soo;Lee, Ki-Nam
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.71-86
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    • 2007
  • This study aims at looking into the use of oriental medical services in treating disease and patient's attitude of oriental medicine by social classes. The first to be explored through this study is medical accessibility, classifying them by age, gender and job. Second is to examine kinds of oriental medical services and expenses incurred in treating the disease. Third is to compare satisfaction for the services offered and investigate into relations between disease and oriental medicine through cross-analysis by class, and provide fundamental materials for enhancing accessibility to oriental medical centers for treating chronic diseases. The 1,376 households for the period of time from Apr. to Jun. 2005, were asked to answer to the questionnaires offered. The conclusion from the survey can be summarized as follows. Medical services for the onset of disease were less offered to females, older group, low schooling, and low-income bracket. It is attributable to an economic cause, in both genders. The in- and outpatients' rate were found higher in groups of female, older age, low-income and blue-color workers. Use of oriental medical centers were higher in outpatients than inpatients probably for low-income brackets were less frequently put on regular physical checkups, more exposing to diseases. Each hospitalization was found over six days longer in average; 19.7 days for oriental medical hospitals, 12.5 for hospitals. The hospital charges that patients should pay for one hospitalization showed 909,000 won in oriental medical hospitals, much higher than 518,000 won in hospitals. Outpatients were also found to pay more for oriental medical services; 55,000 won for oriental medical hospitals, 19,000 for hospitals. As to outpatients' satisfaction, oriental medical hospitals were generally found to be a little more satisfactory than general hospitals; 11.2% of respondents answered Very Satisfactory. Satisfaction to services offered to outpatients showed 82.2% of respondents responded to Over Satisfactory for herb clinics, 76% for general hospitals. For future intention to use oriental medical services, females, over 51 years old, lower education and income, and blue color workers showed more intention to use them. To be more competitive in treating chronic diseases, it is necessary that oriental medical services become more accessible through extending its coverage of insurance into more medical herbs and their prepared packs, as well as mapping out extensive publicity strategies to make known to the public about high efficacy of medical herbs and their safety.

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NIS quality analysis of pre- and post-harvest sugarcane.

  • Johnson, Sarah E.;Berding, Nils
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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    • 2001.06a
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    • pp.1621-1621
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    • 2001
  • The quality of sugarcane grown on the NE Australian tropical coast ($16^{\circ}$15'- $18^{\circ}$15' S Lat.) has declined markedly in the past seven years. This has been linked to dilution of mill-supply cane with increasing levels of non mature-stalk material consisting of leaves and sucker culms. The prime research objective was to examine the transition from the pre-harvest, in-field crop to harvested material sent for processing, in terms of quality and crop fraction proportions. A secondary objective was to quantify the effects of preharvest-season crop habit and culm condition on crop quality. Ten quadrat samples from each of 54 random crop sites (17 in 1999 and 37 in 2000), covering a wide range of variables (cultivar, crop class, and edaphic, topographic, climatic, and temporal factors) were collected immediately before harvest. Samples were partitioned into four fractions:- sound and unsound mature stalks (culms), sucker culms, and extraneous matter (leaves). Material harvested from each site was sampled and partitioned into four fractions:- sound and unsound billets (culm pieces), culm-spindle pieces, and leaf. In 2000, before harvest, 14 additional sites were sampled monthly, on three occasions, from March - June. Erect and non-erect culms were divided into sound and unsound classes. All samples were disintegrated and presented to a remote reflectance module of a scanning spectrophotometer using the BSES large cassette module. Near infra-red spectroscopic (NIS) analyses were developed for the rapid determination of quality components (Brix, commercial cane sugar (CCS), fibre, moisture, and polariscope reading). Calibrations for three material groups (culm (n = 639), non-culm (n = 496), and combined) were developed for all components using the 1999 data set. Two sub-sets (n = 178, and 190) of about 10% of the preharvest-season and harvest populations scanned in 2000 also were subjected to full routine laboratory analyses. The 1999 combined calibrations were excellent, but the culm calibrations produced consistently lower standard errors. Non-culm calibrations were marginally better than the combined for only CCS and pol. reading. Analysis of the 2000 culm data with calibrations using all 1999 and 2000 culm data resulted in better predictions relative to the 1999 culm calibrations. This also was true for the combined calibrations. Assessment of quality components in pre- and post-harvest sugarcane using NIS calibrations was more cost effective than using routine laboratory techniques. Outcomes from this NIS-facilitated research will have important economic consequences for the Australian sugarcane industry. Potential CCS present in mature culms is being discounted by dilution with leaves and sucker culms, threatening farm viability. The results question the efficacy of current harvesting technology. The CCS of harvested cane is improved only marginally over that of the in-field crop. Current harvesting technology requires either supplementary, innovative pre-mill processing or a design revolution to improve mill-supply cane quality, and therefore whole of industry economics. NIS-facilitated analyses, before the harvest season, highlighted the benefits of growing erect, sound crops. Loss of CCS then, can be minimized only by a combination of crop improvement and agronomic solutions, applied as part of sound on-farm management.

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NATURAL ATTENUATION OF HAZARDOUS INORGANIC COMPONENTS: GEOCHEMISTRY PROSPECTIVE (유해 무기질의 자연정화 : 지화학적 고찰)

  • Lee, Suk-Young;Lee, Chae-Young;Yun, Jun-Ki
    • Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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    • 2002.06a
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    • pp.81-100
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    • 2002
  • While most of regulatory communities in abroad recognize ' 'natural attenuation " to include degradation, dispersion, dilution, sorption (including precipitation and transformation), and volatilization as governing Processes, regulators prefer "degradation" because this mechanism destroys the contaminant of concern. Unfortunately, true degradation only applies to organic contaminants and short- lived radionuclides, and leaves most metals and long-lived radionuclides. The natural attenuation Processes may reduce the potential risk Posed by site contaminants in three ways: (i)contaminants could be converted to a less toxic form througy destructive processes such as biodegradation or abiotic transformations; (ii) potential exposure levels may be reduced by lowering concentrations (dilution and dispersion); and (iii) contaminant mobility and bioavailability may be reduced by sorption to geomedia. In this review, authors will focus will focul on "sorption" among the natural attenuation processes of hazardous inorganic contaminants including radionuclides. Note though that sorption and transformation processes of inorganic contaminants in the natural setting could be influenced by biotic activities but our discussion would limit only to geochemical reactions involved in the natural attenuation. All of the geochemical reactions have been studied in-depth by numerous researchers for many years to understand "retardation" process of contaminants in the geomedia. The most common approach for estimating retardation is the determination of distrubution coefficiendts ($K_{d}$) of contaminants using parametric or mechanistic models. As typocally used in fate and contaminant transport calculations such as predictive models of the natural attenuation, the $K_{d}$ is defined as the ratio of the contaminant concentration in the surrounding aqueous solution when the system is at equilibrium. Unfortunately, generic or default $K_{d}$ values can result in significant error when used to predict contaminant migration rate and to select a site remediation alternative. Thus, to input the best $K_{d}$ value in the contaminant transport model, it is essential that important geochemical processes affecting the transport should be identified and understood. Precipitation/dissolution and adsorption/desorption are considered the most important geochemical processes affecting the interaction of inorganic and radionuclide contaminants with geomedia at the near and far field, respectively. Most of contaminants to be discussed in this presentation are relatively immobile, i.e., have very high $K_{d}$ values under natural geochemical environments. Unfortunately, the obvious containment in a source area may not be good enough to qualify as monitored natural attenuation site unless owner demonstrate the efficacy if institutional controls that were put in place to protect potential receptors. In this view, natural attenuation as a remedial alternative for some of sites contaminated by hazardous-inorganic components is regulatory and public acceptance issues rather than scientific issue.

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Anti-protozoal effect of organic acids against Azumiobodo hoyamushi that causes soft tunic syndrome to Halocynthia roretzi (멍게 물렁증의 원인충인 Azumiobodo hoyamushi에 대한 유기산의 살충효과 연구)

  • Lee, Ji Hoon;Park, Kyung Il;Park, Kwan Ha
    • Journal of fish pathology
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.117-123
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    • 2015
  • Economic loss by soft tunic syndrome of edible ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi has become a serious problem. Recently, it has discovered that the cause of this syndrome is infection by a protozoan parasite Azumiobodo hoyamushi. However, only a few studies have been conducted to control this parasitic disease. In a previous research, non-specific disinfectants have been found to be effective in controling the causative parasite. In an attempt to eradicate this causative parasite, organic acids were tested in this study to evaluate their in vitro and in vivo efficacy. In vitro tests showed that 8 different organic acids used in this study were moderately or highly effective with protozoan-killing effects ($EC_{50}=153{\sim}275{\mu}g/ml$). Despite weak in vivo penetration of organic acids into the tunic tissues, treatment with high concentration reduced the mortality of ascidian caused by infection the parasite, indicating that we might be able to develop a disinfection method using environmentally-friendly organic acids.

Tumor Markers for Diagnosis, Monitoring of Recurrence and Prognosis in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer

  • Jing, Jie-Xian;Wang, Yan;Xu, Xiao-Qin;Sun, Ting;Tian, Bao-Guo;Du, Li-Li;Zhao, Xian-Wen;Han, Cun-Zhi
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.23
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    • pp.10267-10272
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    • 2015
  • To evaluate the value of combined detection of serum CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS for the clinical diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT) cancer and to analyze the efficacy of these tumor markers (TMs) in evaluating curative effects and prognosis. A total of 573 patients with upper GIT cancer between January 2004 and December 2007 were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS were examined preoperatively and every 3 months postoperatively by ELISA. The sensitivity of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, AFP, CA72-4, SCC, TPA and TPS were 26.8%, 36.2%, 42.9%, 2.84%, 25.4%, 34.6%, 34.2% and 30.9%, respectively. The combined detection of CEA+CA199+CA242+CA724 had higher sensitivity and specificity in gastric cancer (GC) and cardiac cancer, while CEA+CA199+CA242+SCC was the best combination of diagnosis for esophageal cancer (EC). Elevation of preoperative CEA, CA19-9 and CA24-2, SCC and CA72-4 was significantly associated with pathological types (p<0.05) and TNM staging (p<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that CA24-2 was significantly correlated with CA19-9 (r=0.810, p<0.001). The levels of CEA, CA19-9, CA24-2, CA72-4 and SCC decreased obviously 3 months after operations. When metastasis and recurrence occurred, the levels of TMs significantly increased. On multivariate analysis, high preoperative CA72-4, CA24-2 and SCC served as prognostic factors for cardiac carcinoma, GC and EC, respectively. combined detection of CEA+CA199+CA242+SCC proved to be the most economic and practical strategy in diagnosis of EC; CEA+CA199+CA242+CA724 proved to be a better evaluation indicator for cardiac cancer and GC. CEA and CA19-9, CA24-2, CA72-4 and SCC, examined postoperatively during follow-up, were useful to find early tumor recurrence and metastasis, and evaluate prognosis. AFP, TPA and TPS have no significant value in diagnosis of patients with upper GIT cancer.

Study of Multi Floor Plant Layout Optimization Based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO 최적화 기법을 이용한 다층 구조의 플랜트 배치에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Pyung Jae;Lee, Chang Jun
    • Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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    • v.52 no.4
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    • pp.475-480
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    • 2014
  • In the fields of researches associated with plant layout optimization, the main goal is to minimize the costs of pipelines for connecting equipment. However, what is the lacking of considerations in previous researches is to handle the multi floor processes considering the safety distances for domino impacts on a complex plant. The mathematical programming formulation can be transformed into MILP (Mixed Integer Linear Programming) problems as considering safety distances, maintenance spaces, and economic benefits for solving the multi-floor plant layout problem. The objective function of this problem is to minimize piping costs connecting facilities in the process. However, it is really hard to solve this problem due to complex unequality or equality constraints such as sufficient spaces for the maintenance and passages, meaning that there are many conditional statements in the objective function. Thus, it is impossible to solve this problem with conventional optimization solvers using the derivatives of objective function. In this study, the PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) technique, which is one of the representative sampling approaches, is employed to find the optimal solution considering various constraints. The EO (Ethylene Oxide) plant is illustrated to verify the efficacy of the proposed method.

Phase II Study of Pemetrexed as Second or Third Line Combined Chemotherapy in Patients with Colorectal Cancer

  • Wu, Xue-Yan;Huang, Xin-En;You, Shan-Xi;Lu, Yan-Yan;Cao, Jie;Liu, Jin;Xiang, Jin
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.2019-2022
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: To investigate the safety and efficacy of pemetrexed combined with chemotherapy as second or third line in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC). Patients and Methods: This trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of pemetrexed given to patients with recurrent or metastatic colorectal carcinoma who previously received 5-FU-based chemotherapy. All patients were required to have a histological diagnosis of colorectal adenocarcinoma with measurable metastatic disease and prior chemotherapy. Patients received pemetrexed at a dose of 500 $mg/m^2$ by 10 minute infusion on day 1, repeated every 21 days. Doses were modified depending on nadir counts. Combined chemotherapy included Oxaliplatin, Irinotecan and cis-platinum. Results: Thirty patients were enrolled and twenty-nine were evaluable for response. One patient did not have repeat radiological testing to determine response because he went off study after only one cycle of treatment for economic reasons. For 29 evaluable patients, 1 partial response, 6 stable disease and 22 progressive disease were recorded. Response rate was 3.45% (1/29). All responses occurred in patients receiving a starting dose of pemetrexed 500 $mg/m^2$. Median time to progression for all eligible patients was 2.5 months. The most common toxicities experienced were mild to moderate fever, hepatic damage, myelosuppression, nausea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and skin rash. Conclusion: Pemetrexed at 500 $mg/m^2$ given every three weeks combined with chemotherapy is associated with moderate response and good tolerability in patients with stage IV CRC.