• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.43-55
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• 2021

This study analyzed the efficiency of medical services in OECD member countries by dividing it into operational efficiency and quality efficiency. For this purpose, data from 2017-2019 OECD Health Statistics were used. As the analysis method, super efficiency was measured by applying an output-oriented Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) model. As a result of the analysis, Switzerland, Korea, and Italy were included in the high group of operational efficiency, Canada, Greece, Denmark, etc. in the medium group, and Belgium, Germany, and Spain in the low group. Based on quality efficiency, Norway, Switzerland, and Spain are in the high group, and Greece, Denmark, Mexico, etc. are in the medium group, and the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, etc. were included in the low group. As a result of comparative analysis of efficiency by OECD member countries as of 2018, it was found that Korea's operational efficiency was the most efficient and quality efficiency was inefficient. Korea (0.998) should improve life expectancy by 0.2 (0.2%) and subjective health perception by 44.2 (138.1%) by benchmarking Greece (0.422), Switzerland (0.207), and Spain (0.371) to improve quality efficiency. Unlike most previous studies that focused on operational efficiency, this study measured quality efficiency together and analyzed the efficiency of the medical service industry in each OECD member country. Through this, this study has implications in that it confirmed the international competitiveness of the domestic medical service industry and suggested ways to improve efficiency.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.217-228
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• 2023

Video instance segmentation is an intelligent visual task with high complexity because it not only requires object instance segmentation for each image frame constituting a video, but also requires accurate tracking of instances throughout the frame sequence of the video. In special, human instance segmentation in drama videos has an unique characteristic that requires accurate tracking of several main characters interacting in various places and times. Also, it is also characterized by a kind of the class imbalance problem because there is a significant difference between the frequency of main characters and that of supporting or auxiliary characters in drama videos. In this paper, we introduce a new human instance datatset called MHIS, which is built upon drama videos, Miseang, and then propose a novel video data augmentation method, CDVA, in order to overcome the data imbalance problem between character classes. Different from the previous video data augmentation methods, the proposed CDVA generates more realistic augmented videos by deciding the optimal location within the background clip for a target human instance to be inserted with taking rich spatio-temporal context embedded in videos into account. Therefore, the proposed augmentation method, CDVA, can improve the performance of a deep neural network model for video instance segmentation. Conducting both quantitative and qualitative experiments using the MHIS dataset, we prove the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed video data augmentation method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6A
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• pp.789-798
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• 2008

The stiffness method provides a framework to calculate the structural deformations directly from solving the equilibrium state. However, to use the displacement shape functions leads to approximate estimation of stiffness matrix and resisting forces, and accordingly results in a low accuracy. The conventional flexibility method uses the relation between sectional forces and nodal forces in which the equilibrium is always satisfied over all sections along the element. However, the determination of the element resisting forces is not so straightforward. In this study, a new fiber finite element mixed method has been developed for nonlinear anaysis of steel-concrete composite structures in the context of a standard finite element analysis program. The proposed method applies the Newton method based on the load control and uses the incremental secant stiffness method which is computationally efficient and stable. Also, the method is employed to analyze the steel-concrete composite structures, and the analysis results are compared with those obtained by ABAQUS. The comparison shows that the proposed method consistently well predicts the nonlinear behavior of the composite structures, and gives good efficiency.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2B
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• pp.177-185
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• 2008

Accurate monitoring of snow cover is a key component for studying climate and global as well as for daily weather forecasting and snowmelt runoff modelling. The few observed data related to snowmelt was the major cause of difficulty in extracting snowmelt factors such as snow cover area, snow depth and depletion curve. Remote sensing technology is very effective to observe a wide area. Although many researchers have used remote sensing for snow observation, there were a few discussions on the characteristics of spatial and temporal variation. Snow cover maps were derived from NOAA AVHRR images for the winter seasons from 1997 to 2006. Distributed snow depth was mapped by overlapping between snow cover maps and interpolated snowfall maps from 69 meteorological observation stations. Model parameters (Snow Cover Area: SCA, snow depth, Snow cover Depletion Curve: SDC) were built for 7 major watersheds in South Korea. The decrease pattern of SCA for time (day) was expressed as exponentially decay function, and the determination coefficient was ranged from 0.46 to 0.88. The SCA decreased 70% to 100% from the maximum SCA when 10 days passed.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6D
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• pp.809-817
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• 2008

This paper deals with the development of ViscoElastic Continuum Damage Finite Element Program (VECD-FEP++) and its verification with the results from both field and laboratory accelerated pavement tests. Damage characteristics of asphalt concrete mixture have been defined by Schapery's work potential theory, and uniaxial constant crosshead rate tests were carried out to be used for damage model implementation. VECD-FEP++ predictions were compared with strain responses (longitudinal and transverse strains) under moving wheel loads running at different constant speeds. To this end, an asphalt pavement section (A5) of Korea Expressway Corporation Test Road (KECTR) instrumented with strain gauges were loaded with a dump truck. Also, a series of accelerated pavement fatigue tests have been conducted at pavement sections surfaced with four asphalt concrete mixtures (Dense-graded, SBS, Terpolymer, CR-TB). Planar strain responses were in good agreement with field measurements at base layers, whereas strains at both surface and intermediate layers were found different from simulation results due to the complexity of tire-road contact pressures. Finally, fatigue characteristics of four asphalt mixtures were reasonably described with VECD-FEP++.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4D
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• pp.485-492
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• 2008

This study presents a viscoelastic characterization of flexible pavement subjected to moving loads. A series of field tests have been conducted on three pavement sections (A2, A5, and A8) at the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) test road. The effect of vehicle speed on the responses of each test section was investigated at three speeds: 25 km/hr, 50 km/hr, and 80 km/hr. During the test, both longitudinal and lateral strains were measured at the bottom of asphalt layers and in-situ measurements were compared with the results of finite element (FE) analyses. A commercial FE package, ABAQUS was used to model each test section and a step loading approximation has been adopted to simulate the effect a moving vehicle. For viscoelastic analysis, relaxation moduli of asphalt mixtures were obtained from laboratory test. Field responses reveals the strain anisotropy (i.e., discrepancy between longitudinal and lateral strains) and the amplitude of strain normally decreases as the vehicle speed increases. In most cases, lateral strain was smaller than longitudinal strain, and strain reduction was more significant in lateral direction.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.140-150
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• 2023

The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is an apex predator of the riparian ecosystem. It is a keystone and an indicator species; consequently, its presence suggests a sustainable water environment. Otter is a keystone species as a predator at the top of the food web in the aquatic environment and an indicator species representing the health of the aquatic environment. Although Eurasian otters disappeared from the Han River urban water system because of anthropogenic activities like habitat destruction, poaching, and environmental pollution in the 1980s, the species were sighted in the Cheonggye Stream, Jungrang Stream, and Seongnae Stream, which are urban sections of the Han River, in 2016 and 2021. Therefore, it is pertinent to assess the habitat potential in the area for conservation and management measures to ensure its permanent presence. However, existing studies on otter habitats focused on natural rivers and reservoirs, and there is a limit to applying them to habitats artificially confined habitats in narrow spaces such as tributaries in urban areas of the Han River. This study selected the Cheonggye Stream, an artificially restored urban stream, to evaluate its potential as a habitat for Eurasian otters in urban water environments using the habitat suitability index (HSI). The HSI was calculated with selected environment attributes, such as the cover, food, and threat, that best describe the L. lutra habitat. According to the results, the confluence area of Seongbuk Stream and Cheonggye Stream and the confluence area of Cheonggye Stream and Jungnang Stream were suitable otter habitats, requiring appropriate conservation efforts. The HSI model suggests a valuable method to assess the habitat quality of Eurasian otters in urban water environments. The study is crucial as it can help rehabilitate the species' populations by identifying and managing potential Eurasian otter habitats in highly urbanized areas of the Han River basin and its tributaries.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4A
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• pp.753-759
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• 2006

To predict service life of concrete structures exposed to chloride attack, surface chloride concentration, diffusion coefficient of chloride ion, and chloride corrosion threshold value in concrete, are used as important factors. Of these, as the diffusion coefficient of chloride ion for concrete is strongly influenced by concrete quality and environmental conditions of structures and may significantly change the service life of structures, it is considered as the most important factor for service life prediction. The qualitative factors affecting the penetration and diffusion of chloride ion into concrete are water-cement (W/C) ratio, age, curing conditions, chloride ion concentration of given environment, wet and dry conditions, etc. In this paper the influence of W/C ratio and curing conditions on the diffusion characteristics of chloride ion in concrete was investigated through the chloride ion diffusion test. In the test, the voltages passing through the diffusion cell were measured by accelerated test method using potential difference, and then with the consideration of IR drop ratio the diffusion coefficient of chloride ion for concrete with different W/C ratios were estimated by Andrade's model. Furthermore, under different curing conditions formulas for the estimation of the diffusion coefficient of chloride ion have been proposed by the regression analysis considering the effect of W/C ratio and age.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1A
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• pp.61-73
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• 2009

In this paper, hybrid health monitoring techniques using acceleration-impedance features are newly proposed to detect two damage-type in steel plate-girder bridges, which are girder's stiffness-loss and support perturbation. The hybrid techniques mainly consists of three sequential phases: 1) to alarm the occurrence of damage in global manner, 2) to classify the alarmed damage into subsystems of the structure, and 3) to estimate the classified damage in detail using methods suitable for the subsystems. In the first phase, the global occurrence of damage is alarmed by monitoring changes in acceleration features. In the second phase, the alarmed damage is classified into subsystems by recognizing patterns of impedance features. In the final phase, the location and the extent of damage are estimated by using modal strain energy-based damage index method and root mean square deviation (RMSD) method. The feasibility of the proposed hybrid technique is evaluated on a laboratory-scaled steel plate-girder bridge model for which hybrid acceleration-impedance signatures were measured for several damage scenarios. Also, the effect of temperature on the accuracy of the impedance-based damage monitoring results are experimentally examined from combined scenarios of support damage cases and temperature changes.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6A
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• pp.625-639
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• 2009

Experimental and analytical studies are performed on the mechanical behavior of concrete-filled tubular(CFT) truss girders for different f/L ratios. Bending tests are conducted on two CFT truss girder specimens to determine fundamental structural characteristics such as the strength and deformation properties. Nonlinear material models for CFT members subjected to an axial compressive force are compared in this paper by using the nonlinear finite element program, ABAQUS. Previous researchers have proposed several nonlinear stress-strain models of confined concrete. In this study, the nonlinear analyses are performed applying several stress-strain models for confined concrete proposed by Mander, Sakino, Han, Susantha and Ellobody, and the results are compared with the experimental results in terms of load-deflection and load-strain relationships. Based on the comparisons of the load-deflection relationships, the models proposed by Mander and Susantha provide a maximum load about 12.0~13.8% higher and that by Sakino gives a maximum load about 7.6% higher than the experimental results. The models proposed by Han and Ellobody give a maximum load only about 0.2~1.2% higher than the test results, showing the best agreement among the proposed stress-strain models. However, the load-strain relations predicted by the existing models generally provide conservative results exhibiting larger strains than the experimental data.