• Title/Summary/Keyword: Image training

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Building the Process for Reducing Whole Body Bone Scan Errors and its Effect (전신 뼈 스캔의 오류 감소를 위한 프로세스 구축과 적용 효과)

  • Kim, Dong Seok;Park, Jang Won;Choi, Jae Min;Shim, Dong Oh;Kim, Ho Seong;Lee, Yeong Hee
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.76-82
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    • 2017
  • Purpose Whole body bone scan is one of the most frequently performed in nuclear medicine. Basically, both the anterior and posterior views are acquired simultaneously. Occasionally, it is difficult to distinguish the lesion by only the anterior view and the posterior view. In this case, accurate location of the lesion through SPECT / CT or additional static scan images are important. Therefore, in this study, various improvement activities have been carried out in order to enhance the work capacity of technologists. In this study, we investigate the effect of technologist training and standardized work process processes on bone scan error reduction. Materials and Methods Several systems have been introduced in sequence for the application of new processes. The first is the implementation of education and testing with physicians, the second is the classification of patients who are expected to undergo further scanning, introducing a pre-filtration system that allows technologists to check in advance, and finally, The communication system called NMQA is applied. From January, 2014 to December, 2016, we examined the whole body bone scan patients who visited the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea Results We investigated errors based on the Bone Scan NMQA sent from January 2014 to December 2016. The number of tests in which NMQA was transmitted over the entire bone scan during the survey period was calculated as a percentage. The annual output is 141 cases in 2014, 88 cases in 2015, and 86 cases in 2016. The rate of NMQA has decreased to 0.88% in 2014, 0.53% in 2015 and 0.45% in 2016. Conclusion The incidence of NMQA has decreased since 2014 when the new process was applied. However, we believe that it will be necessary to accumulate data continuously in the future because of insufficient data until statistically confirming its usefulness. This study confirmed the necessity of standardized work and education to improve the quality of Bone Scan image, and it is thought that update is needed for continuous research and interest in the future.

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A study of Mrs Yun's Teaching Life and It's Meaning (윤씨부인의 여사적(女師的) 삶과 그 의미)

  • Yoon, Kyunghee
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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    • no.49
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    • pp.161-185
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    • 2012
  • This thesis reorganized the life of Mrs. Yun who was a noble woman in the middle of the Joseon period with main material of Seopo, Kim, Man Joong(1637-1692)'s "Seonbijungkyungbuinhaengjang(先?貞敬夫人行狀)" and considered yeosa(女師)'s image of noble woman embodied by her son. Although women who were remarkable in premodern period nurtured their son well and they became excellent, it's easy that the life of their mother can be hidden by sons' shadow. Luckily, materials of Mrs. Yun were kept by her descendants, so people could analogize how she could endure difficulties and how she educate her children. In a word, the life of Mrs. Yun can be yeosa(女師)'s life. She was born as a only daughter of the best ancestry in the period and grown to be a considerable woman with strong will and discipline under the strict training of her grandmother, Junghye Ongju. And then, she married Gwangsan Kimmun, the best literature house of Joseon period, but her husband, Kim, Ik Kyum was died by unexampled difficulty, Byungjahoran. During the tribulation, Mrs. Yun was in charge of not only parents supporting but also two sons' education excellently. She educated not only her children but also grandchildren and nephews around her, so she had extraordinary passion and sincerity for the education. As the result, she enjoyed a glory that two sons and grandchildren became on daejehak. Mrs. Yun was living with thrift and saving continuously regardless of her circumstances. When her granddaughter became inkyungwanghoo who is a wife of sookjong, she didn't kick her common habit and trained strictly the mind of family members who could be easily in disorder. In spite of the richness, he obeyed manners and showed thrift and saving continuously and thoroughly. When there was a crisis in her family, the first son, Kim, Man Ki was died and the second son, Kim, Man Joong and grandson went into exile during the continuous political upheaval. But, she supported her house, obeyed the rules and promised the future. At that time, she continuously encouraged grandchildren and the eldest grandsons of the head family to study without any stop for themselves in spite of the difficulties. Mrs. Yun pursued truly valuable life. She considered that the life which didn't get praised by other people wasn't valid although he or she lived a pleasant life in luck and richness. Mrs. Yun was a true teacher yeosa (女師) who placed a true value on the life enduring hardship and poorness without fear and becoming an example of other people.

A Study on Evaluating the Possibility of Monitoring Ships of CAS500-1 Images Based on YOLO Algorithm: A Case Study of a Busan New Port and an Oakland Port in California (YOLO 알고리즘 기반 국토위성영상의 선박 모니터링 가능성 평가 연구: 부산 신항과 캘리포니아 오클랜드항을 대상으로)

  • Park, Sangchul;Park, Yeongbin;Jang, Soyeong;Kim, Tae-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.38 no.6_1
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    • pp.1463-1478
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    • 2022
  • Maritime transport accounts for 99.7% of the exports and imports of the Republic of Korea; therefore, developing a vessel monitoring system for efficient operation is of significant interest. Several studies have focused on tracking and monitoring vessel movements based on automatic identification system (AIS) data; however, ships without AIS have limited monitoring and tracking ability. High-resolution optical satellite images can provide the missing layer of information in AIS-based monitoring systems because they can identify non-AIS vessels and small ships over a wide range. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate vessel monitoring and small vessel classification systems using high-resolution optical satellite images. This study examined the possibility of developing ship monitoring systems using Compact Advanced Satellite 500-1 (CAS500-1) satellite images by first training a deep learning model using satellite image data and then performing detection in other images. To determine the effectiveness of the proposed method, the learning data was acquired from ships in the Yellow Sea and its major ports, and the detection model was established using the You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm. The ship detection performance was evaluated for a domestic and an international port. The results obtained using the detection model in ships in the anchorage and berth areas were compared with the ship classification information obtained using AIS, and an accuracy of 85.5% and 70% was achieved using domestic and international classification models, respectively. The results indicate that high-resolution satellite images can be used in mooring ships for vessel monitoring. The developed approach can potentially be used in vessel tracking and monitoring systems at major ports around the world if the accuracy of the detection model is improved through continuous learning data construction.

A Study on the exploration of the Identity of Korean Floral Art : Focusing on the creator's beyond form and free spirit (한국화예의 정체성 탐구를 위한 연구 - 창작의 탈형식과 자유정신을 중심으로 -)

  • Moon, Young Ran
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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    • no.45
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    • pp.77-95
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    • 2021
  • This study considers the problem of reality that our floral art has to overcome as a loss of the floral art spirit caused by the expansion of Western-centered formalism flower culture, and considers the discussion on the deformality of distancing and the free spirit of nomadism. The floral art, which works on the creator's aesthetic mental world through flowers, is an art of mental image that values the free mental world of the creator. It also refers to the importance of artist consciousness as an art of self-imago that makes the target world beyond the "expression of similarity" that reproduces the target world. In this context, the lack of concern about the identity of Korean floral art appears to be the creative training and work of Korean floral artists who are biased toward Western expression techniques and creative methods. It also expresses a problem with our cultural consciousness, which is dominated by the Western flower culture of flower design. Here, we are obliged to understand the reality of Korean floral art biased by Western flower design and to organize discussions to solve the problem. Therefore, this study examines the problems that our floral art has to overcome as part of seeking the identity of Korean floral art and enhancing the cultural value of Korean floral art through criticism of Western cultural acceptance. This is a historical consideration of the nature of Korean floral art to recover, while also a process of identifying the meaning of the free creative spirit that the artist should maintain as an aesthetic art. Furthermore, such criticism of the Korean floral art culture and discussion of introspection are expected to serve as an opportunity to further expand the academic discourse system for the floral art while embodying the "identity" of Korean floral art.

Sorghum Field Segmentation with U-Net from UAV RGB (무인기 기반 RGB 영상 활용 U-Net을 이용한 수수 재배지 분할)

  • Kisu Park;Chanseok Ryu ;Yeseong Kang;Eunri Kim;Jongchan Jeong;Jinki Park
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.39 no.5_1
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    • pp.521-535
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    • 2023
  • When converting rice fields into fields,sorghum (sorghum bicolor L. Moench) has excellent moisture resistance, enabling stable production along with soybeans. Therefore, it is a crop that is expected to improve the self-sufficiency rate of domestic food crops and solve the rice supply-demand imbalance problem. However, there is a lack of fundamental statistics,such as cultivation fields required for estimating yields, due to the traditional survey method, which takes a long time even with a large manpower. In this study, U-Net was applied to RGB images based on unmanned aerial vehicle to confirm the possibility of non-destructive segmentation of sorghum cultivation fields. RGB images were acquired on July 28, August 13, and August 25, 2022. On each image acquisition date, datasets were divided into 6,000 training datasets and 1,000 validation datasets with a size of 512 × 512 images. Classification models were developed based on three classes consisting of Sorghum fields(sorghum), rice and soybean fields(others), and non-agricultural fields(background), and two classes consisting of sorghum and non-sorghum (others+background). The classification accuracy of sorghum cultivation fields was higher than 0.91 in the three class-based models at all acquisition dates, but learning confusion occurred in the other classes in the August dataset. In contrast, the two-class-based model showed an accuracy of 0.95 or better in all classes, with stable learning on the August dataset. As a result, two class-based models in August will be advantageous for calculating the cultivation fields of sorghum.

Research Framework for International Franchising (국제프랜차이징 연구요소 및 연구방향)

  • Kim, Ju-Young;Lim, Young-Kyun;Shim, Jae-Duck
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.61-118
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    • 2008
  • The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.

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Management and Use of Oral History Archives on Forced Mobilization -Centering on oral history archives collected by the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism Republic of Korea- (강제동원 구술자료의 관리와 활용 -일제강점하강제동원피해진상규명위원회 소장 구술자료를 중심으로-)

  • Kwon, Mi-Hyun
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.16
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    • pp.303-339
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    • 2007
  • "The damage incurred from forced mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism" means the life, physical, and property damage suffered by those who were forced to lead a life as soldiers, civilians attached to the military, laborers, and comfort women forcibly mobilized by the Japanese Imperialists during the period between the Manchurian Incident and the Pacific War. Up to the present time, every effort to restore the history on such a compulsory mobilization-borne damage has been made by the damaged parties, bereaved families, civil organizations, and academic circles concerned; as a result, on March 5, 2004, Disclosure act of Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism[part of it was partially revised on May 17, 2007]was officially established and proclaimed. On the basis of this law, the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism Republic of Korea[Compulsory Mobilization Commission hence after] was launched under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister on November 10, 2004. Since February 1, 2005, this organ has begun its work with the aim of looking into the real aspects of damage incurred from compulsory mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism, by which making the historical truth open to the world. The major business of this organ is to receive the damage report and investigation of the reported damage[examination of the alleged victims and bereaved families, and decision-making], receipt of the application for the fact-finding & fact finding; fact finding and matters impossible to make judgment; correction of a family register subsequent to the damage judgement; collection & analysis of data concerning compulsory mobilization at home and from abroad and writing up of a report; exhumation of the remains, remains saving, their repatriation, and building project for historical records hall and museum & memorial place, etc. The Truth Commission on Compulsory Mobilization has dug out and collected a variety of records to meet the examination of the damage and fact finding business. As is often the case with other history of damage, the records which had already been made open to the public or have been newly dug out usually have their limits to ascertaining of the diverse historical context involved in compulsory mobilization in their quantity or quality. Of course, there may happen a case where the interested parties' story can fill the vacancy of records or has its foundational value more than its related record itself. The Truth Commission on Compulsory mobilization generated a variety of oral history records through oral interviews with the alleged damage-suffered survivors and puts those data to use for examination business, attempting to make use of those data for public use while managing those on a systematic method. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization-possessed oral history archives were generated based on a drastic planning from the beginning of their generation, and induced digital medium-based production of those data while bearing the conveniences of their management and usage in mind from the stage of production. In addition, in order to surpass the limits of the oral history archives produced in the process of the investigating process, this organ conducted several special training sessions for the interviewees and let the interviewees leave their real context in time of their oral testimony in an interview journal. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization isn't equipped with an extra records management system for the management of the collected archives. The digital archives are generated through the management system of the real aspects of damage and electronic approval system, and they plays a role in registering and searching the produced, collected, and contributed records. The oral history archives are registered at the digital archive and preserved together with real records. The collected oral history archives are technically classified at the same time of their registration and given a proper number for registration, classification, and keeping. The Truth Commission on compulsory mobilization has continued its publication of oral history archives collection for the positive use of them and is also planning on producing an image-based matters. The oral history archives collected by this organ are produced, managed and used in as positive a way as possible surpassing the limits produced in the process of investigation business and budgetary deficits as well as the absence of records management system, etc. as the form of time-limit structure. The accumulated oral history archives, if a historical records hall and museum should be built as regulated in Disclosure act of forced mobilization, would be more systematically managed and used for the public users.

A Study on the Individual Radiation Exposure of Medical Facility Nuclear Workers by Job (의료기관 핵의학 종사자의 직무 별 개인피폭선량에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Chun-Goo;Oh, Ki-Baek;Park, Hoon-Hee;Oh, Shin-Hyun;Park, Min-Soo;Kim, Jung-Yul;Lee, Jin-Kyu;Na, Soo-Kyung;Kim, Jae-Sam;Lee, Chang-Ho
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.9-16
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: With increasing medical use of radiation and radioactive isotopes, there is a need to better manage the risk of radiation exposure. This study aims to grasp and analyze the individual radiation exposure situations of radiation-related workers in a medical facility by specific job, in order to instill awareness of radiation danger and to assist in safety and radiation exposure management for such workers. Materials and Methods: 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009 to work in medical institutions are classified as radiation workers Nuclear personal radiation dosimeter regularly, continuously administered survey of 40 workers in three years of occupation to target, Imaging Unit beautifully, age, dose sector, job function-related tasks to identify the average annual dose for a deep dose, respectively, were analyzed. The frequency analysis and ANOVA analysis was performed. Results: Imaging Unit beautifully three years the annual dose PET and PET/CT in the work room 11.06~12.62 mSv dose showed the highest, gamma camera injection room 11.72 mSv with a higher average annual dose of occupation by the clinical technicians 8.92 mSv the highest, radiological 7.50 mSv, a nurse 2.61 mSv, the researchers 0.69 mSv, received 0.48 mSv, 0.35 mSv doctors orderly, and detail work employed the average annual dose of the PET and PET/CT work is 12.09 mSv showed the highest radiation dose, gamma camera injection work the 11.72 mSv, gamma camera imaging work 4.92 mSv, treatment and safety management and 2.98 mSv, a nurse working 2.96 mSv, management of 1.72 mSv, work image analysis 0.92 mSv, reading task 0.54 mSv, with receiving 0.51 mSv, 0.29 mSv research work, respectively. Dose sector average annual dose of the study subjects, 15 people (37.5%) than the 1 mSv dose distribution and 5 people (12.5%) and 1.01~5.0 mSv with the dose distribution was less than, 5.01~10.0 mSv in the 14 people (35.0%), 10.01~20.0 mSv in the 6 people (15.0%) of the distribution were analyzed. The average annual dose according to age in occupations that radiological workers 25~34 years old have the highest average of 8.69 mSv dose showed the average annual dose of tenure of 5~9 years in jobs radiation workers in the 9.5 mSv The average was the highest dose. Conclusion: These results suggest that medical radiation workers working in Nuclear Medicine radiation safety management of the majority of the current were carried out in the effectiveness, depending on job characteristics has been found that many differences. However, this requires efforts to minimize radiation exposure, and systematic training for them and for reasonable radiation exposure management system is needed.

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Evaluation of the Usefulness of Restricted Respiratory Period at the Time of Radiotherapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient (비소세포성 폐암 환자의 방사선 치료 시 제한 호흡 주기의 유용성 평가)

  • Park, So-Yeon;Ahn, Jong-Ho;Suh, Jung-Min;Kim, Yung-Il;Kim, Jin-Man;Choi, Byung-Ki;Pyo, Hong-Ryul;Song, Ki-Won
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.123-135
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    • 2012
  • Purpose: It is essential to minimize the movement of tumor due to respiratory movement at the time of respiration controlled radiotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer patient. Accordingly, this Study aims to evaluate the usefulness of restricted respiratory period by comparing and analyzing the treatment plans that apply free and restricted respiration period respectively. Materials and Methods: After having conducted training on 9 non-small cell lung cancer patients (tumor n=10) from April to December 2011 by using 'signal monitored-breathing (guided- breathing)' method for the 'free respiratory period' measured on the basis of the regular respiratory period of the patents and 'restricted respiratory period' that was intentionally reduced, total of 10 CT images for each of the respiration phases were acquired by carrying out 4D CT for treatment planning purpose by using RPM and 4-dimensional computed tomography simulator. Visual gross tumor volume (GTV) and internal target volume (ITV) that each of the observer 1 and observer 2 has set were measured and compared on the CT image of each respiratory interval. Moreover, the amplitude of movement of tumor was measured by measuring the center of mass (COM) at the phase of 0% which is the end-inspiration (EI) and at the phase of 50% which is the end-exhalation (EE). In addition, both observers established treatment plan that applied the 2 respiratory periods, and mean dose to normal lung (MDTNL) was compared and analyzed through dose-volume histogram (DVH). Moreover, normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of the normal lung volume was compared by using dose-volume histogram analysis program (DVH analyzer v.1) and statistical analysis was performed in order to carry out quantitative evaluation of the measured data. Results: As the result of the analysis of the treatment plan that applied the 'restricted respiratory period' of the observer 1 and observer 2, there was reduction rate of 38.75% in the 3-dimensional direction movement of the tumor in comparison to the 'free respiratory period' in the case of the observer 1, while there reduction rate was 41.10% in the case of the observer 2. The results of measurement and comparison of the volumes, GTV and ITV, there was reduction rate of $14.96{\pm}9.44%$ for observer 1 and $19.86{\pm}10.62%$ for observer 2 in the case of GTV, while there was reduction rate of $8.91{\pm}5.91%$ for observer 1 and $15.52{\pm}9.01%$ for observer 2 in the case of ITV. The results of analysis and comparison of MDTNL and NTCP illustrated the reduction rate of MDTNL $3.98{\pm}5.62%$ for observer 1 and $7.62{\pm}10.29%$ for observer 2 in the case of MDTNL, while there was reduction rate of $21.70{\pm}28.27%$ for observer 1 and $37.83{\pm}49.93%$ for observer 2 in the case of NTCP. In addition, the results of analysis of correlation between the resultant values of the 2 observers, while there was significant difference between the observers for the 'free respiratory period', there was no significantly different reduction rates between the observers for 'restricted respiratory period. Conclusion: It was possible to verify the usefulness and appropriateness of 'restricted respiratory period' at the time of respiration controlled radiotherapy on non-small cell lung cancer patient as the treatment plan that applied 'restricted respiratory period' illustrated relative reduction in the evaluation factors in comparison to the 'free respiratory period.

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Consumer Awareness and Evaluation of Retailers' Social Responsibility: An Exploratory Approach into Ethical Purchase Behavior from a U.S Perspective (소비자인지도화령수상사회책임(消费者认知度和零售商社会责任): 종미국시각출발적도덕구매행위적탐색성연구(从美国视角出发的道德购买行为的探索性研究))

  • Lee, Min-Young;Jackson, Vanessa P.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.49-58
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    • 2010
  • Corporate social responsibility has become a very important issue for researchers (Greenfield, 2004; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; McWilliams et al., 2006; Pearce & Doh 2005), and many consider it necessary for businesses to define their role in society and apply social and ethical standards to their businesses (Lichtenstein et al., 2004). As a result, a significant number of retailers have adopted CSR as a strategic tool to promote their businesses. To this end, this study sought to discover U.S. consumers' attitudes and behavior in ethical purchasing and consumption based on their subjective perception and evaluation of a retailer. The objectives of this study include: 1) determine the participants awareness of retailers corporate social responsibility; 2) assess how participants evaluate retailers corporate social responsibility; 3) examine whether participants evaluation process of retailers CSR influence their attitude toward the retailer; and 4) assess if participants attitude toward the retailers CSR influence their purchase behavior. This study does not focus on actual retailers' CSR performance because a consumer's decision making process is based on an individual assessment not an actual fact. This study examines US college students' awareness and evaluations of retailers' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Fifty six college students at a major Southeastern university participated in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 26 years old. Content analysis was conducted with open coding and focused coding. Over 100 single-spaced pages of written responses were collected and analyzed. Two steps of coding (i.e., open coding and focused coding) were conducted (Esterberg, 2002). Coding results and analytic memos were used to understand participants' awareness of CSR and their ethical purchasing behavior supported through the selection and inclusion of direct quotes that were extracted from the written responses. Names used here are pseudonyms to protect confidentiality of participants. Participants were asked to write about retailers, their aware-ness of CSR issues, and to evaluate a retailer's CSR performance. A majority (n = 28) of respondents indicated their awareness of CSR but have not felt the need to act on this issue. Few (n=8) indicated that they are aware of this issue but not greatly concerned. Findings suggest that when college students evaluate retailers' CSR performance, they use three dimensions of CSR: employee support, community support, and environmental support. Employee treatment and support were found as an important criterion in evaluation of retailers' CSR. Respondents indicated that their good experience with a retailer as an employee made them have a positive perception and attitude toward the retailer. Regarding employee support four themes emerged: employee rewards and incentives based on performance, working environment, employee education and training program, and employee and family discounts. Well organized rewards and incentives were mentioned as an important attribute. The factors related to the working environment included: how well retailers follow the rules related to working hours, lunch time and breaks was also one of the most mentioned attributes. Regarding community support, three themes emerged: contributing a percentage of sales to the local community, financial contribution to charity organizations, and events for community support. Regarding environments, two themes emerged: recycling and selling organic or green products. It was mentioned in the responses that retailers are trying to do what they can to be environmentally friendly. One respondent mentioned that the company is creating stores that have an environmentally friendly design. Information about what the company does to help the environment can easily be found on the company’s website as well. Respondents have also noticed that the stores are starting to offer products that are organic and environmentally friendly. A retailer was also mentioned by a respondent in this category in reference to how the company uses eco-friendly cups and how they are helping to rebuild homes in New Orleans. The respondents noticed that a retailer offers reusable bags for their consumers to purchase. One respondent stated that a retailer uses its products to help the environment, through offering organic cotton. After thorough analysis of responses, we found that a participant's evaluation of a retailers' CSR influenced their attitudes towards retailers. However, there was a significant gap between attitudes and purchasing behavior. Although the participants had positive attitudes toward retailers CSR, the lack of funds and time influenced their purchase behavior. Overall, half (n=28) of the respondents mentioned that CSR performance affects their purchasing decisions making when shopping. Findings from this study provide support for retailers to consider their corporate social responsibility when developing their image with the consumer. This study implied that consumers evaluate retailers based on employee, community and environmental support. The evaluation, attitude and purchase behavior of consumers seem to be intertwined. That is, evaluation is based on the knowledge the consumer has of the retailers CSR. That knowledge may influence their attitude toward the retailer and thus influence their purchase behavior. Participants also indicated that having CSR makes them think highly of the retailer, but it does not influence their purchase behavior. Price and convenience seem to surpass the importance of CSR among the participants. Implications, recommendations for future research, and limitations of the study are also discussed.