• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.361-370
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• 2016

Objective:The aim of this study is to evaluate contributions of individual finger forces associated with various levels of submaximal voluntary contraction tasks. Background: Although many researches for individual finger force have been conducted, most of the studies mainly focus on the maximal voluntary contraction. However, Information concerning individual finger forces during submaximal voluntary contraction is also very important for developing biomechanical models and for designing hand tools, work equipment, hand prostheses and robotic hands. Due to these reasons, studies on the contribution of individual finger force in submaximal grip force exertions should be fully considered. Method: A total of 60 healthy adults without any musculoskeletal disorders in the upper arms participated in this study. The young group (mean: 23.7 yrs) consisted of 30 healthy adults (15 males and 15 females), and the elderly group (mean: 75.2 yrs) was also composed of 30 participants (15 males and 15 females). A multi-Finger Force Measurement (MFFM) System developed by Kim and Kong (2008) was applied in order to measure total grip strength and individual finger forces. The participants were asked to exert a grip force attempting to minimize the difference between the target force and their exerted force for eight different target forces (5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 75% MVCs). These target forces based on the maximum voluntary contraction, which were obtained from each participant, were randomly assigned in this study. Results: The contributions of middle and ring fingers to the total grip force represented an increasing trend as the target force level increased. On the other hand, the contributions of index and little fingers showed a decreasing trend as the target force level increased. In particular, Index finger exerted the largest contribution to the total grip force, followed by middle, ring and little fingers in the case of the smallest target force level (5% MVC), whereas middle finger showed the largest contribution, followed by ring, index and little fingers at the largest target force levels (65 and 75% MVCs). Conclusion: Each individual finger showed a different contribution pattern to the grip force exertion. As the target force level increase from 5 to 75% MVC, the contributions of middle and ring fingers showed an increasing trend, whereas the contributions of index and little fingers represented a decreasing trend in this study. Application: The results of this study can be useful information when designing robotic hands, hand tools and work equipment. Such information would be also useful when abnormal hand functions are evaluated.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.153-160
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• 2003

The purpose of study was to evaluate the effects of the $CO_2$ laser irradiation on demineralization inhibition and rehardening of human primary tooth enamel by laser fluoresecence measurement. Enamel specimens were made from the human primary teeth. The center spots of the specimens about 2 mm diameter were irradiated by $CO_2$ laser at the conditions of focused continuous or defocused pulsed, 3 or 6 W, for 4 seconds, before or after the demineralization by Coca-Cola for 24 hours at $37^{\circ}C$. The Diagnodent was used to measure the degree of demineralization and rehardening. There was no significant difference between focused continuous and defocused pulsed irradiation. 6W irradiation inhibited the demineralization but 3W did not. 6W irradiation rehardened the demineralized enamel but 3W did partially. The color of enamel was changed to brown to black after 6W irradiation but 3W caused no color change. $CO_2$ laser irradiation showed the effects on demineralization inhibition and rehardening of human priamary tooth enamel, and the laser fluoresecence measurement technique seemed to be a valid evaluation method.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.75-97
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• 2015

Recently public institutions' debt is growing therefore it became an important issue to the level that the government concerns about the possibility of financial burden to reduce the debt. Especially debt of public enterprises in metropolitan areas was in a serious state where debt in late 2013 was 43.2 trillion, which takes approx. 58.4% of 73.9 trillion of debt of all local public enterprises. Sound financial state of local public enterprises is important to public enterprises in metropolitan areas and it may affect seriously financial stability of local governments when public enterprises have financial problems. However, land supply business to form local industrial complexes or local demand for development of public rental housing business always exist; and vitalizing local economy and creating jobs through these businesses are very necessary to develop the areas. However, for local economic development, industirial land business and public rental housing business are needed. In this study, Gwangju Metropolitan City Corporation Ltd is used as a case study to evaluate the local public financial soundness via debt management assessment i.e.(using) the feasibility analysis in the urban development and housing development. As an improvement measure following the result of analysis, for the enhancement of financial soundness of urban innovation corporation, the government and local government shall evaluate and differentiate market demand, price competitiveness, and infrastructure of new town land development project to improve accuracy of project feasibility analysis. Another important insight is that there should be local government-centered management of liabilities of the local government and local public enterprises with the integrated liability management system to reduce the liability of the corporation and solve the issue of debts for local government. This study is significant in that it has analyzed cases from the theoretical aspect to secure financial soundness of national and local public enterprises.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.160-168
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• 2014

Continuous body temperature monitoring is useful and essential in diverse medical procedures such as infection onset detection, therapeutic hypothermia, circadian rhythm monitoring, sleep disorder assessment, and gynecological research. However, the existing thermometers are too invasive or intrusive to be applied to long-term body temperature monitoring. In our previous study, we invented the bi-medium deep body thermometer which can noninvasively and continuously monitor deep tissue temperature. And the ratio of thermal resistances expressed as K-value should be obtained to estimate body temperature with the thermometer and it can be different under various measurement environments. Although the device was proven to be useful through preliminary simulation test and small group of human study, the experimental environment was restrictive in our previous approach. In this study, a finite element simulation was executed to obtain the K-value and evaluate the accuracy of bi-medium thermometer under various measurement environments. In addition, K-value estimation equation was developed by analyzing the influence of 5 measurement environmental factors (medium length, medium height, tissue depth, blood perfusion rate, and ambient temperature) on K-value. The results revealed that the estimation accuracy of bi-medium deep body thermometer based on computer simulation was very high (RMSE < $0.003^{\circ}C$) in various measurement environments. Also, bi-medium deep body thermometer based on K-value estimation equation showed relatively accurate results (RMSE < $0.3^{\circ}C$) except for one case. Although the K-value estimation technology should be improved for more accurate body temperature estimation, the results of finite element simulation showed that bi-medium deep body thermometer could accurately measure various tissue temperatures under diverse environments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.325-330
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• 2004

Several kinds of low voltage cables have been used in nuclear power plants for the supply of electric power, supervision, and the propagation of control signals. These low voltage tables must be inspected for safe and stable operation of nuclear power plants. In particular, the degradation diagnosis to estimate the integrity of low voltage rabies has recently been emphasized according to the long use of nuclear power plants. In order to evaluate their degradation, the surrounding temperature, hardness of insulation material, elongation at breaking point (EAB), etc. have been used. However, the measurement of temperature or hardness is not useful because of the absence of quantitative criteria; the inspection of a sample requires turning off of the power plant power; and, the electrical inspection method is not sufficiently sensitive from the initial through the middle stage of degradation. In this research, based on the theory that the ultrasonic velocity changes with relation to the degradation of the material, we measured the ultrasonic velocity as low voltage cables were degraded. To this end, an ultrasonic degradation diagnosis device was developed and used to measure the ultrasonic velocity with the clothing on the cable, and it was confirmed that the ultrasonic velocity changes according to the degradation of low voltage cables. The low voltage cables used in nuclear power plants were degraded at an accelerated rate, and EAB was measured in a tensile test conducted after the measurement of ultrasonic velocity. With the increasing degradation degree, the ultrasonic velocity decreased, whose potential as a useful parameter for the quantitative degradation evaluation was thus confirmed.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.627-635
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• 2020

Objectives: Indoor air quality has become more important aspeople spend most of their times indoors. Since students spend most of their times at home or at school, they are more likely to be exposed to indoor air pollutants. Ventilation in school classrooms can affect health and learning performance. In this study, ventilation deficiency was evaluated in school classrooms using Monte Carlo simulation. Methods: This study used sensor-based monitoring for six months to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in classrooms in elementary, middle, and high schools. The volume of the classroom and the number of students were investigated, and the students' body surface area was used to calculate the CO2 emission rate. The distribution of ventilation rates was estimated by measured CO2 concentration and a mass-balance model using Monte Carlo simulation. Results: In the elementary, middle, and high schools, the average CO2 concentrations exceeded 1000 ppm, indicating that the ventilation rates were insufficient. The ventilation rates were deficient from July to August and in December, but showed relatively high ventilation rates in October. Forty-three percent of elementary schools, 56% of middle schools, and 62% of high schools showed insufficient ventilation rates. Conclusions: The ventilation rates calculated in elementary, middle and high schools were found to be quite insufficient. Therefore, proper management is needed to overcome the lack of ventilation and improve air quality.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.637-646
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• 2020

Background and objective: The main objective of this study is to measure the amount of particulate matter (PM) reduction under different characteristics of leaves in 18 different species of indoor plants. Methods: First, a particular amount of PM was added to the glass chambers (0.9×0.86×1.3 m) containing the indoor plant (height = 40 ± 20 cm), and the PM concentration were measured at 2-hour intervals. The experiment with the same conditions was conducted in the empty chamber as the control plot. Results: The range of PM reduction per unit leaf area of 18 species of experimental plants was 3.3-286.2 ㎍·m^-2 leaf, total leaf area was 1,123-4,270 cm², and leaf thickness was 0.14-0.80 mm and leaf size 2.27-234.47 cm². As time passed, the concentration of PM decreased more in the chamber with plants than in the empty chamber. Among the 18 indoor plants, the ones with the greatest reduction in PM2.5 in 2 hours and 4 hours of exposure to PM2.5 were Pachira aquatica and Dieffenbachia amoena. As the exposure time of PM increased, the efficiency of reducing PM2.5 was higher in plants with medium-sized leaves than plants with large or small leaves. The effect of reducing PM2.5 was higher in linear leaves than round or lobed leaves. Plants with high total leaf area did not have advantage in reducing PM because the leaves were relatively small and there were many overlapping parts between leaves. In the correlation between leaf characteristics and PM 2.5 reductions, all leaf area and leaf thickness showed a negative and leaf size showed a positive correlation with PM reduction. Conclusion: The PM reduction effect of plants with medium-sized leaves and long linear leaves was relatively high. Moreover, plants with a large total leaf area without overlapping leaves will have advantaged in reducing PM. Plants are effective in reducing PM, and leaf characteristics are an important factor that affects PM reduction.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.27-37
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• 2022

Objective : This study was adapted into Korean for domestic use of the Sensory Processing and Self-Regulation Checklist (here in after referred to as SPSRC) and verified its content validity. Methods : The Korean version of the SPSRC, which was completed via a translation, content suitability, reverse translation, expert committee review, and content understanding process, was presented to three professors of the Department of Occupational Therapy and seven occupational therapists to confirm the content validity. Results : The content validity index (CVI) of the Korean version of the SPSRC was 0.9 or higher in all 130 items. Additionally, the CVI of all items was also 0.99, showing a high level of content validity result. Conclusion : The Korean version of the SPSRC was confirmed to have high content validity as a tool that can measure children's sensory processing ability and self-regulation ability together. The Korean version of the SPSRC facilitates the understanding and evaluation of children's sensory processing and self-regulation abilities in the clinical field, and is thought to be used to establish an intervention plan.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 2024

According to the method of settling the construction structure on the ground to keep the structure safe, the ground anchor method is divided into a load-distributing anchor and a general anchor. Recently, the application of load-distributed anchors, which show a large degree of recognition by anchors, is increasing in the field, but the problem of field applicability is also caused. The load-distributed anchor fixes the tensile force to each section of the lecture line and applies it, causing a problem of asymmetric loads in which the maximum tensile force size of each settlement site differs due to the length difference of the anchor body. Therefore, in this study, as a quality management method according to the asymmetric load of anchors, a mono-type load cell that can measure the load for each lecture line of a load-distributed anchor was developed, and the field applicability was analyzed by comparing and analyzing the measurement results of the existing multi-type load cell and mono-type load cell. As a result of the study, the multi-type load cell had no choice but to estimate the working load for each inner body, so it was impossible for the load-distributed anchor to manage it according to the generation of asymmetric loads for each lecture line. However, in the case of a mono-type load cell the load was measured for each inner body and for each lecture line, regardless of ground conditions and construction conditions, and thus the load value was measured for each lecture line, enabling safety management and construction management according to the occurrence of asymmetric loads.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.388-407
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• 1995

This study is (a) to describe the history of Total Quality Management (TQM) generated in the industry, health care service, and nursing society ; (b) to define the concept, total quality management including the definition of quality ; (C) to explain the each principle of TQM theory developed by main theorists, E. Deming, J. Juran, and B. Crosby ; (d) to give the examples related to TQM implementation at the health care organization ; and (e) to mention the extent to which the health care organizations are able to evaluate their cultural organization toward TQM and have had the way to measure the effect of TQM implementation. TQM referred to Continuous Quality Improvement(CQI), Quality Improvement(QI), and Total Quality Improvement(TQI), was not recognized by experts in the United States industry, but by economists in Japan until the end of the 1970's. However, the United States' government led to introduce the principles of TQM to general industry as well as health care service area so that TQM became a main philosophy to manage the organizations in health care service. TQM is a structured, systematic process for creating organization-wide participation in planning and implementing continuous improvement in quality. E. Deming established the "Chain reaction in Quality" and the fourteen point of TQM. The Chain reaction in quality is to describe the relationship among the reduction of waste, rework, and delay, quality improvement, customer satisfaction, and productivity. There are fourteen points to explain the principles of TQM by E. Deming. Juran defined the "Quality Trilogy" to improve the level of quality in any organization. Quality Trilogy has three steps such as quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement for implementing the TQM projects. Crosby describes his TQM theory by establishing "Four Absolutes" and "Fourteen steps in TQM" implementation. Until now, most healthcare organizations have made efforts to organize the TQM task team and to implement TQM principles with various issues. There are three priorities to select the TQM issues : High-volume, High-risk, and Problem-prone. However, there is no absolute, credible measurement yet to evaluate the effects of TQM implementation in health care organization regardless of the classification of health care organizations, geographical background, and social influence. Thus, developing the evaluation way in terms of TQM is the foremost task in health service area. The most important thing for TQM implementation in the organization is to settle up the concept, cultural transformation from traditional management toward quality.