• Title/Summary/Keyword: Least Cost

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An Inexpensive System for Rapid and Accurate On-site Detection of Garlic-Infected Viruses by Agarose Gel Electrophoresis Followed by Array Assay

  • Kazuyoshi Furuta;Shusuke Kawakubo;Jun Sasaki;Chikara Masuta
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.40-47
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    • 2024
  • Garlic can be infected by a variety of viruses, but mixed infections with leek yellow stripe virus, onion yellow dwarf virus, and allexiviruses are the most damaging, so an easy, inexpensive on-site method to simultaneously detect at least these three viruses with a certain degree of accuracy is needed to produce virus-free plants. The most common laboratory method for diagnosis is multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). However, allexiviruses are highly diverse even within the same species, making it difficult to design universal PCR primers for all garlic-growing regions in the world. To solve this problem, we developed an inexpensive on-site detection system for the three garlic viruses that uses a commercial mobile PCR device and a compact electrophoresis system with a blue light. In this system, virus-specific bands generated by electrophoresis can be identified by eye in real time because the PCR products are labeled with a fluorescent dye, FITC. Because the electrophoresis step might eventually be replaced with a lateral flow assay (LFA), we also demonstrated that a uniplex LFA can be used for virus detection; however, multiplexing and a significant cost reduction are needed before it can be used for on-site detection.

A study on a Carbon Trust OWA Stage 2 Domestic Verification Case in the Yellow Sea (서해 해상 환경에서 선박형 부유식 라이다의 Carbon Trust OWA Stage 2 국내 인증 사례에 대한 고찰)

  • Yong-Soo Gang;Dong-Chan Chang;Su-In Yang;Baek-Bum Lee
    • Journal of Wind Energy
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.50-59
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    • 2024
  • Floating LiDAR systems provide significant savings in cost and time compared to the fixed meteorological mast measurement type, and have the advantage of being able to be deployed in various locations due to less restriction on the depth of the installation site. However, to use the wind data collected by a floating LiDAR system commercially, verification procedure is required to ensure that the collected data have sufficient availability. The Carbon Trust OWA roadmap presents guidelines in three stages for the reliability of the wind data collected using a floating LiDAR system. Companies developing wind farms are requesting at least Stage 2 (pre-commercial stage) presented by OWA, and many overseas companies are leading the domestic and overseas markets. In this paper, we introduce the case of OWA Stage 2 certification for the commercial operation of floating LiDAR systems.

Stochastic Programming Model for River Water Quality Management (추계학적 계획모형을 이용한 하천수질관리)

  • Cho, Jae Heon
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.231-243
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    • 1994
  • A stochastic programming model for river water quality management was developed. River water quality, river flow, quality and flowrate of the wastewater treatment plant inflow were treated as random variables in the model. Withdrawal for water supply and submerged weir reaeration were included in the model itself. A probabilistic model was formulated to compute the expectation and variance of water quality using Streeter-Phelps equation. Chance constraints of the optimization problem were converted to deterministic equivalents by chance constrained method. Objective function was total annual treatment cost of all wastewater treatment plants in the region. Construction cost function and O & M cost function were derived in the form of nonlinear equations that are functions of treatment efficiency and capacity of treatment plant. The optimization problem was solved by nonlinear programming. This model was applied to the lower Han River. The results show that the reliability to meet the DO standards of the year 1996 is about 50% when the treatment level of four wastewater treatment plants in Seoul is secondary treatment, and BOD load from the tributary inflows is the same as present time. And when BOD load from Tanchon, Jungrangchon, and Anyangchon is decreased to 50%, the reliability to meet the DO standards of the year 1996 is above 60%. This results indicated that for the sake of the water quality conservation of the lower Han River, water quality of the tributaries must be improved, and at least secondary level of treatment is required in the wastewater treatment plants.

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Workload Measurement of Home Health Care Nurses상 Services using Relative Value Units (가정간호행위 업무량의 상대적 가치 측정에 관한 연구)

  • 이태화;박정숙;김인숙
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.1543-1555
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    • 2000
  • Home health care is moving into a set of new realities. An era of competition and cost containment has arrived. Before nurses are able to contain costs or describe the relationship between nursing activities, cost must be accurately measured based on the nurse's workload. Nurses in home health care usually desire to measure expenses for one of three reasons : reimbursement, management, or research. The purpose of the study was to investigate the work input by Registered Nurse in each of the home health care activities by relative value units and identify the factors affecting the nurses' total work input in health care services. To measure the work input by nurses, work was defined by four dimensions: time, physical effort, mental effort, and stress. This study used a descriptive-correlational design. Data collection consisted of two phases. In phase I, data on home health activities performed by nurses were collected. In phase II, data on nurses' time, physical effort, mental effort, and stress in each of home health care activities discovered phase I were collected. In this method, the respondent was asked to rate a service in relation to a reference service using a ratio scale. The sample included 39 home health care nurses. The results of the study indicated that home health care activities performed by the nurses were in 10 categories and 69 items. Measuring the relative work inputs in each of home health care activities, and foley catheterization was selected as the reference to service. In terms of time and physical effort dimensions, full bath service was rated as the most strenuous among 69 activities by the respondents, and intramuscular injection was rated as least. It was found that emergency treatment required the highest mental effort and the highest stress, while blood sugar tests required the lowest mental effort. Approximately 91.3% of the variance in total work input was accounted for by the linear combination of time, physical effort, mental effort judgement, and stress. Examining the regression coefficients of those variables, physical effort, time, and stress were found as the predictors which were significantly associated with the total work of nurses in home health care. Professional nursing's next step in the conundrum of economic volatility is to develop a tool to reflect the interaction of functional deficiency and direct professional nursing care. And this will be a more accurate predictor of nursing resource use and ultimately a great forcaeter cost.

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An Experimental Study of the Fuel Additive to Improve the Performance of a 2-Stroke Large Diesel Engine (2행정 대형 디젤엔진의 성능향상을 위한 연료첨가제의 실험적 연구)

  • Ryu, Younghyun;Lee, Youngseo;Nam, Jeonggil
    • Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.620-625
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    • 2015
  • In an effort to reduce the onset of global warming, the International Maritime Organization Marine Environment Protection Committee (IMO MEPC) proposed the reduction in ship speeds as a way of lowering the proportion of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) in the Green House Gas emissions from ships. To minimize fuel costs, shipping companies have already been performing slow steaming for their own fleets. Specifically, the slow steaming approach has been adopted for most ocean-going container lines. In addition, because of the increased marine fuel cost that is required to enable increased capacity, there is an urgent need for more advanced fuel-saving technologies. Therefore, in this present study, we propose a fuel-cost reduction method that can improve the performance of diesel engines. We introduce a predetermined amount (0.025% of the amount of fuel used) of fuel additive (oil-soluble calcium-based organometallic compound). For improved experimental accuracy, as the test subjects, we utilize a large two-stroke diesel engine installed in land plants. The loads of the test engine were classified as low, medium, and high (50, 75, and 100%, respectively). We compare the engine performance parameters (power output, fuel consumption rate, p-max, and exhaust temperature) before and after the addition of fuel additives. Our experimental results, confirmed that we can realize fuel-cost savings of at least 2% by adding the fuel additive in low load conditions (50%). Likewise, the maximum combustion pressure was found to have increased. On the other hand, we observed that there was a reduction in the exhaust temperature.

A Investigation and Study on the Farm Mechanization in Korea (우리나라 농업기계화에 관한 조사연구)

  • 최재갑
    • Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.2349-2371
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    • 1971
  • 1. The historical development of the agriculture in Korea is observed and the future of Korean agriculture is suggested with present situation in order to recommend a direction of policy in agricultural mechanization. 2. A factor analysis of agricultural mechanization The needs of agricultural mechanization in the view of both national need and the armer's desire under the present situation are analyzed with data from the various sources. The researcher found that the agricultural mechanization is badly needed to develop prospective Korean agriculture to future. 3. The direction of agricultural mechanization. It can be said that the position of agriculture in the national economy plays a very important role. This importance should not be ignored by the Politicians in their process of developing long range economy plan. The agricultural mechanization for the modernized Korean agriculture should be directed to increase the most effective results with minimize the least sacrifice. The merry tiller is recommended to the main agricultural machinery in Korea in order to meet its small farming operation un-its(or farm size). Tractor is recommended in the plain area for the crop cultivation. The cooperative cultivation for rice and the upland crops will be developed in the plain area. Tractor, therefore, is recommended for the main agricultural machinery in these areas. Either tractor or merry tiller is recommended to the orchard area by its operating size of the orchard. The researcher also disoussed about the development of animal husbandry on the farm with increasing the farm size in order to develop meadow and pasture nuder the consideration of both the improvement of food consumption and the comprehensive development of national resources. 4. Relationship between the Performance of various agricultural machinery and the economic scale. Because of the agricultural machinery needs an expensive fixed expense(fixed cost) the total expense Per ha of the fixed expense and the operation expense should less than the traditional expense Per Dan Bo with in creased corpgiclds Per Dan Bo. Since the anual fixed expense of the agricultural machinery is figured out by the durability the more the farm size the less fixed expense of machinery is required. The formula of this principle is as follows; fixed expense for Dan Bo=Fixed expense of agricultural machinery farm size(or farming scale) The breaking-even point is the balance point between the expense of the using agricultural machinery and the traditional farming expenses. Labor cost of the Dan Bo is increasing when the management scale increases by the tradititional farming while the machanized management decrease the management cost Per Dan Bo. The reseracher found that the distribution of agricultural machinery will be the adeventeous after the year of 1981 by the result of frguring out the breaking-even point. 5. The Investigate and the conclusion. The purpose of this study is found out the direction of agricultural machanization and the breaking-even point of various agricultural machinery, there for is found out effective of the using various agricultural machinery for Collection cutter, Binder, Footing thresser, Semi-power thresser, Power thresser, Combine, Power rice-Trans-Planter, etc.

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A Pre-Feasibility Test of Introducing Renewable Energy Hybrid Systems -Case Studies for 3 Off-Grid Islands- (도서지역 신·재생복합 전력시스템 보급 타당성 분석 -3개 도서지역 분석결과-)

  • Jang, HaNa;Kim, Suduk
    • Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.693-712
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    • 2006
  • A pre-feasibility test is done for renewable energy hybrid power systems at off~grid islands in which the current power supply is provided only by diesel generation. We apply Homer (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables) which was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the analysis to identify the cost-minimizing combination of power generating facilities for the given load profiles. Chuja-Do, Geomun-Do and Youngsan-Do have been selected for our analysis considering the wind resources data of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER). Information on wind speed, solar radiation and temperature is also used for the analysis. System component cost information from overseas market has been used due to the lack of domestic information. Site specific Load profile for electricity demand for those islands are reconstructed based on the partial survey results obtained form other sources. The LCOE of the least cost hybrid power systems for Chuja-Do, Geomun-Do and Youngsan-Do are $0.278/kWh, $0.234/kWh and $0.353/kWh, respectively Considering the fact that diesel generation is being subsidized at the price of $0.300/kWh by the government, first 2 cases are economically feasible for the introduction of renewable energy hybrid systems to those islands. But the third case of Youngsan-Do does not meet the criteria. The basic differences of these pre-feasibility test results are from the differences of the site specific renewable energy conditions, especially wind resources. In summary, promoting hybrid systems in the off-grid remote island should be based on the economic feasibility test results. Not all the off-grid islands are feasible for introducing this renewable energy hybrid system.

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The Influence of Dynamic Capabilities on the Competitive Capabilities and Performance of Export Venture Firms in Korea (기업의 동태적 역량이 경쟁능력 및 기업성과에 미치는 영향)

  • Hwang, Kyung-Yun;Sung, Eul-Hyun;Cho, Dae-Woo
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.19-40
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of a firm's dynamic capabilities measured by sensing, seizing, transforming, coordinating, and learning capabilities on its competitive capabilities, such as product quality, process flexibility, delivery speed, and low cost. The relationship among dynamic capabilities, competitive capabilities, and export firm performance is set up as a research model based on empirical studies related to the existing dynamic capability perspective and competitive capabilities. To test this research model, this study collected 102 samples of data using a questionnaire survey on both manufacturing and exporting firms. The partial least squares method is used and the following results are derived from an empirical analysis. First, dynamic capabilities have a positive effect on competitive capabilities, such as product quality, process flexibility, delivery speed, and low cost. Second, product quality and process flexibility have a positive effect on export firm performance. Third, unlike previous research results, this study finds that the competitive capabilities of a firm in the areas of delivery speed and low cost do not significantly affect its performance. These findings provide meaningful implications for export venture firms that need to acquire and maintain competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment.

Satisfaction Level and Performance Evaluation for CM Service in Korea (국내 건설사업관리 업무만족도 및 성과평가)

  • Kim, Won-Tae;Chang, Chul-Ki
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.108-117
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    • 2013
  • The domestic CM business market has continued to grow, but its size is relatively small yet in comparison with the total size of the domestic construction industry. Evaluation of CM projects was conducted through questionnaire surveys. Both clients and CM firms showed positive satisfaction levels. Nevertheless, the clients' satisfaction levels were relatively low in safety management, cost management, and document and information management. Superior areas of CM tasks were time management and recovery scheduling, quality control and technical instruction, and design value engineering. On the other hand, inferior areas of CM tasks were claim analysis and dispute resolution, cost estimation, and life cycle costing. Both entities have agreed with the positive effects of CM involvement in terms of cost saving, time reduction, quality improvement, and safety incidents prevention to at least 0~5% extent.

The Epidemiology of Antidepressant Prescriptions in South Korea from the Viewpoint of Medical Providers : A Nationwide Register-Based Study (정신과 의사와 비정신과 의사의 항우울제 처방에 대한 연구 : 건강보험심사평가원 청구 데이터 중심으로)

  • Kim, Min Ji;Kim, Namwoo;Shin, Daun;Rhee, Sang Jin;Park, C. Hyung Keun;Kim, Hyeyoung;Yang, Boram;Ahn, Yong Min
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.39-46
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    • 2019
  • Antidepressants are widely used to treat depression in Korea, however, only a few studies have focused on the provider of the treatment. The aim of the study is to compare the differences between patients who were prescribed antidepressants by psychiatrists and those who were prescribed antidepressants by non-psychiatrists in South Korea. Patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder who had been newly prescribed antidepressants in 2012 were selected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. They were classified into two groups depending on whether they received the antidepressant prescription from a psychiatrist or non-psychiatrist. Sociodemographic, clinical, and depression related cost has been investigated. Treatment resistant depression, which is defined as a failure of two antidepressant regimens to alleviate symptoms, was also investigated. Prescription adequacy was assessed based on whether a regimen was maintained for at least 4 weeks. Among the 834694 patients with pharmaceutically treated depression (PTD) examined in this study, 326122 (39.1%) were treated by psychiatrists. Patients who were treated by psychiatrists were younger and had more psychiatric comorbidities than those treated by non-psychiatrists. They had longer PTD duration (229.3 days vs. 103.0 days, p < 0.05) and a larger proportion of treatment resistant depression (9.3% of PTD) when compared to those patients treated by non-psychiatrists. The patients treated by psychiatrists had a smaller proportion of inadequate antidepressant use compared to those patients in the non-psychiatrist group (44.5% vs. 65.1%, p < 0.05). The costs related to depression corrected with PTD duration were higher in the non-psychiatrist group (32214 won vs. 56001 won, p < 0.05). Patients who receive antidepressants from psychiatrists are patients with more severe, treatment-resistant depression. Psychiatrists prescribe antidepressants more adequately and cost- effectively than non-psychiatrists.