• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2014

Rainfall-induced landslides are caused by reduction of effective stress and shear strength due to rainfall infiltration. In order to analyze the susceptibility of landslides, the statistical analysis approach has been used widely but this approach has the limitation which cannot take into account of landslide triggering mechanism. Therefore, the physically based model which can consider the process of landslide occurrence was proposed and commonly used. However, the most previous physically based model analyses evaluate and consider the strength characteristics for saturated soil only in the susceptibility analysis. But the strength parameters for unsaturated soil such as matric suction should be considered with the strength parameters for saturated soil since the shear strength in unsaturated soil also plays important role in the stability of slope. Consequently this study suggested the modified physically based slope model which can evaluate strength characteristics for both of saturated and unsaturated soils. In addition, this study evaluated the thickness of saturated part in slope with rainfall intensity and hydraulic characteristics of slope on the basis of physically based model. In order to evaluate the feasibility, the proposed model was applied to practical example in Jinbu area, Gangwon-do, which was experienced large amount of landslides in July 2006. The ROC graph analysis was used to evaluate the validation of the model, and the analysis results were compared with the results of the previous analysis approach.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.37-41
• /
• 2010

Background and Objectives : Transient minor voice changes after thyroidectomy are not infrequent complaints even in cases without any evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve damage. However, clinical course, diagnosis and management of such voice changes are not fully understood. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. We also tried to assess the significance and feasibility of superior laryngeal nerve monitoring and to find out the optimal evaluation tools for such voice changes after thyroidectomy. Materials and Method : Nine adult patients who received total thyroidectomy without evidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were enrolled for this prospective study. Voice evaluations were performed preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively ; acoustic analyses including voice range profile, aerodynamic study, stroboscopic evaluation and subjective voice assessment with questionnaires. The external branch of superior laryngeal nerve was monitored by nerve stimulator after ligation of superior thyroidal vessels. Results: Four of nine patients complained their voice change at 3 months after the surgery. Three of them reported complete recovery of their voice at 6 months after the surgery. Acoustic analysis revealed significant decrease in their phonatory range especially with high tone loss. Questionnaires related to singing was more sensitive than previously well-known "voice handicap index". Stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve was feasible in most of the cases (94.4%), but it failed to show any correlation with minor voice changes after thyroidectomy. Conclusion : Minor voice changes were not rare events during the first 6 month after thyroidectomy. Decrease in phonatory range with high tone loss and therefore, discomfort in singing was the most common finding. Superior laryngeal monitoring was feasible but it was not a sensitive tool for the prediction of minor voice change after thyroidectomy.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of massive clinical research and to make a basic analysis on the effectiveness and safety of moxibustion treatment on knee osteoarthritis compared to usual care. Methods and Results : This study is a protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Forty participants are assigned to the moxibustion group (n=20) and usual care group (n=20). Participants assigned to the moxibustion group receive moxibustion treatment on the affected knee(s) at six standard acupuncture points (ST36, ST35, ST34, SP9, Ex-LE04 and SP10) three times per week for four weeks (total of 12 sessions). Participants in the usual care group don't receive moxibustion treatment during the study period and follow-up are made on the 5th, 9th and 13th weeks after random allocation. Both groups are allowed to use any kind of treatment, including surgery, conventional medication, physical treatment, acupuncture, herbal medicine, over-the-counter drugs and other active treatments. Education material that explains knee osteoarthritis and current management options and self-exercise is provided for each group. The pain scale of the Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Questionnaire (K-WOMAC) is the primary outcome measurement used in this study. Other subscales of the K-WOMAC, the Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Physical Function test, Patient Global Assessment, and Pain Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) are used as outcome variables to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture. Safety is assessed at every visit. Conclusions : The result of this trial will provide a basis for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2017

Background: Different cases exist in the measurement of thyroid radiobioassays owing to the individual characteristics of the subjects, especially the potential variation in the counting efficiency. An In situ Object Counting System (ISOCS) was developed to perform an efficiency calibration based on the Monte Carlo calculation, as an alternative to conventional calibration methods. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applicability of ISOCS to thyroid radiobioassays by comparison with a conventional thyroid monitoring system. Materials and Methods: The efficiency calibration of a portable high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector was performed using ISOCS software. In contrast, the conventional efficiency calibration, which needed a radioactive material, was applied to a scintillator-based thyroid monitor. Four radioiodine samples that contained $^{125}I$ and $^{131}I$ in both aqueous solution and gel forms were measured to evaluate radioactivity in the thyroid. ANSI/HPS N13.30 performance criteria, which included the relative bias, relative precision, and root-mean-squared error, were applied to evaluate the performance of the measurement system. Results and Discussion: The portable HPGe detector could measure both radioiodines with ISOCS but the thyroid monitor could not measure $^{125}I$ because of the limited energy resolution of the NaI(Tl) scintillator. The $^{131}I$ results from both detectors agreed to within 5% with the certified results. Moreover, the $^{125}I$ results from the portable HPGe detector agreed to within 10% with the certified results. All measurement results complied with the ANSI/HPS N13.30 performance criteria. Conclusion: The results of the intercomparison program indicated the feasibility of applying ISOCS software to direct thyroid radiobioassays. The portable HPGe detector with ISOCS software can provide the convenience of efficiency calibration and higher energy resolution for identifying photopeaks, compared with a conventional thyroid monitor with a NaI(Tl) scintillator. The application of ISOCS software in a radiation emergency can improve the response in terms of internal contamination monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2014

Objectives : This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of further acupuncture research as an effective and safe treatment for reducing cancer-related upper abdominal pain in patients treated with Neurolytic celiac plexus block(NCPB). Methods : This study is a randomized controlled pilot clinical trial of 3-week duration. Fourteen patients will be recruited and randomly allocated to 2 groups: an acupuncture plus NCPB group(experimental group) and a NCPB group(control group). All patients will undergo one session of NCPB, but only the experimental group will receive three acupuncture sessions a week for 2 weeks(6 in total). The primary outcome will be measured using the visual analogue scale, and the secondary outcome will be measured using the Painvision system and the consumption of additional analgesics. Assessments will be made at baseline and at 1, 2, and 3 weeks thereafter(that is, the 3-week assessment will be made 1 week after treatment cessation). Conclusions : This clinical trial will inform the design of a full-scale trial. The outcomes will provide information to facilitate the incorporation of acupuncture into existing pain management methods such as NCPB in the treatment of cancer-related upper abdominal pain patients.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.47-55
• /
• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of further acupuncture research as an effective alternative and safe treatment for abdominal pain control in patients with pancreatitis. Methods and Results : This study is an open-label, assessment-blind, parallel designed pilot clinical trial. Thirty participants will be assigned to the acupuncture group(n=15) and usual care group(n=15). All patients will receive the conventional standard-of-care(SOC) therapy, but only the experimental group will receive acupuncture therapy six times a week, and the duration of acupuncture therapy will be held up to 12 weeks or until the pains are to be resolved. For the conventional SOC therapy, painkiller will be given. In treatment group, the subjects will receive the identical SOC therapy in combination with electroacupuncture therapy on twelve acupuncture points(LI4, PC6, SP6, GB39, ST36, ST37), and auricular acupuncture therapy on five auricular acupuncture points(Sympathetic, Shen Men, Abdomen, Pancreas gall, and Spleen). The primary outcome will be measured using the visual analogue scale(VAS), and the secondary outcome will be measured using the painkiller demand, quality of life index and severity of pancreatitis by abdominal computed tomography(CT). Assessments will be made at baseline and at week 1, 4, 8 and 12. Results of abdominal CT will be evaluated at baseline and at week 12. Conclusions : The result of this trial will provide a basis for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment for abdominal pain in patients with pancreatitis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.5 no.3 s.19
• /
• pp.186-190
• /
• 2005

Purpose: Intraoperative assessment of lymph node status is important when performing limited surgery in gastric cancer patients. Currently available techniques are frozen section, imprint cytology, and other molecular methods, and most current studies use the frozen section method. In the present study, the authors focused on the accuracy and the feasibility of imprint cytology as a tool to assess the lymph node status intraoperatively in gastric cancer surgery. Materials and Methods: Between April 2001 and March 2003, we performed imprint cytology of the sentinel nodes of 260 consecutive patients. After review by an experienced cytopathologist, the sensitivity, the specificity and the overall accuracy were determined. Results: The time required for intraoperative imprint cytology was 8 minutes, and the sensitivity, the specificity and the overall accuracy were 52.2%, 88.8%, and 73.8%, respectively. Conclusion: Imprint cytology can be a useful technique for assessing lymph node status intraoperatively if the sensitivity and the specificity can be improved to an acceptable level.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.3-11
• /
• 2012

The most of domestic bridge has an used life under 30 years, Future maintenance budgets can be expected to increase. However, because of bridge maintenance budgets are limited, demand for asset management being performed to achieve required performance within available budget is increasing. To perform effective asset management of bridges should be made the best use of information to occur in all phase of construction project. Therefore, the development of system and DB is required to support asset management by effective information management. The objective of this study is the development of the BIM-based bridge asset management model. Through previous research survey, BIM capabilities and asset management components were established and mutual linkages were examined. Bridge asset management model was composed of alternate assessment model. In addition, BIM-based asset management model was performed case studies to verify feasibility and applicability. The proposed model can be applied to a current bridge maintenance procedures and supported to perform effective bridge maintenance tasks within a limited budget.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.99-106
• /
• 2013

Personal information protection has become one of the most impending business issues because leakage of personal information can cause tremendous financial losses and image degradation. Consequently, personal information protection initiatives have been recognized widely in business. To invigorate personal information protection investments, performance measurement method such as cost benefits analysis or qualitative analyses are needed, which have not been studied enough in the previous studies. This study proposes a performance measurement model which can include quantitative and qualitative analyses in the context of personal information protection investments. A comparative analysis has been performed on security investment and IT investment performance measurements, which leads to choose the WiBe method (developed by the German Interior Ministry), considering the privacy characteristics and the method's applicability. In particular, the quantitative effect measured how proactive threat assessment based on the way according to the nature of the businesses and organizations of privacy and possible investment decisions. This study proposes the 16 performance indicators, which turn out to be meaningful in terms of their materiality and feasibility by conducting focus group interviews of 25 experts on personal information protection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.187-193
• /
• 2017

This study evaluated tidal stream energy resources according to tidal flow properties around Uido off the west coast of, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. A feasibility study was first carried out through the collection of bathymetry data and tidal phase information. For this simulation, a depth-averaged 2D ADCIRC (Advanced Circulation) model for real sea situations was applied to a Finite Element Method (FEM) approach for tides given the variation of tidal current speed. Hydrodynamics were simulated with 4 major tidal constituents (M2, S2, K1, and O1) after setting up 4 observation points. From the real depth-averaged model simulation results, it was found that the spring tide Higher High Water (HHW) and tidal current speed values at the 4 observation points were about 2.2 m and 1.33 m/s, respectively. The ADCIRC model results were analyzed with reference to the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency's (KHOA) observed data for verification. Furthermore, using topographical characteristics via the Tidal Flux Method (TFM), tidal energy density distribution was calculated, indicating a maximum tidal energy density of about $1.75kW/m^2$ for the 5 assessment areas around Uido. The tidal energy density was evaluated with consideration given to topographical characteristics as well as tidal elevation and tidal current speed to determine an optimum tidal farm candidate.