• Korean Journal of Family Medicine
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.364-369
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• 2018

Background: Compared with other chronic diseases, hearing loss is generally overlooked from the perspective of disease burden. However, hearing loss is emerging as an important issue in the current society. The objective of this study was to investigate disease burdens and marginal utilities associated with hearing loss and other chronic diseases. Methods: This study analyzed the cross-sectional data of 32,986 participants aged 19 years and older who completed the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2009 and 2013. Additionally, this study used the pure tone audiometric test, European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions Questionnaire, and chronic disease status. The data were analyzed using a multiple linear regression method. Results: The data of 23,297 people who underwent a pure tone audiogram and completed the European Quality of Life-Five Dimensions Questionnaire were used in this analysis. The marginal utility of hearing loss ranked fifth among nine chronic diseases. The estimated loss of quality-adjusted life years associated with hearing loss was -93.69 years per 100,000 people, which is similar to other chronic diseases. Conclusion: This study assessed the marginal utilities and public burdens of hearing loss and eight chronic diseases in a South Korean population. Although the values may vary depending on country and race, this study may provide an indispensable foundation for more detailed studies on hearing loss.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2019

Objectives: Obesity is associated with a high mortality risk and impairment in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The aim of this article is to examine the impact of weight loss on HRQOL and which questionnaires sensitively reflect weight loss effects on HRQOL. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Research Information Sharing Service, and Korean Studies Information Service System were searched for the studies related to weight loss and HRQOL, published from 2009 to 2018. A total of 28 studies were eligible for inclusion. HRQOL results after weight loss from selected studies were classified and reported according to questionnaires. Results: Twenty-two studies reported statistically significant HRQOL improvements after weight loss and especially, all of studies with weight loss of more than 5% reported HRQOL improvements. HRQOL questionnaires were classified as generic, obesity-related and depression questionnaires. The most commonly used questionnaires were Short-Form health survey 36 (SF-36), Impact of Weight on Quality Life-Lite (IWQOL-Lite) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) respectively. SF-36 had a tendency to reflect physical health. IWQOL-Lite score was tended to be changed sensitively according to weight change. Depression questionnaires including BDI reported improvement of depression while mental aspects of SF-36 not changed in same studies. Conclusions: Improvements of HRQOL were noted in studies with weight loss of more than 5%. The main questionnaires for evaluating HRQOL were SF-36, IWQOL-Lite and BDI. It is suggested to use these questionnaires together for evaluating multiple aspects of impact of weight loss on HRQOL.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-54
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• 2008

The process capability indices have been widely used to measure process capability and performance. In this paper, we proposed a new process capability index which is based on an actual dollar loss by defects. The new index is similar to the Taguchi's loss function and fully incorporates the distribution of quality attribute in a process. The strength of the index is to apply itself to non-normal or asymmetric distributions. Numerical examples were presented to show superiority of the new index against $C_p$, $C_{pk}$, and $C_{pm}$ which are the most widely used process capability indices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2002

Process capability indices are widely used in industries and quality assurance system. In past years, process capability analysis have been used to characterize process performance on the basis of univariate quality characteristics. However, in actual manufacturing industrial, statistical process control (SPC) often entails characterizing or assessing processes or products based on more than one engineering specification or quality characteristic. Therefore, the analysis have to be required a multivariate statistical technique. This paper introduces to multivariate capability indices and then selects a multivariate process capability index incorporated both the process variation and the process deviation from target among these indices under the multivariate normal distribution. We propose a new multivariate capability index $MC_{pm}^+$ using quality loss function instead of the process variation and this index is compared with the proposed indices when quality characteristics are independent and dependent of each other.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.175-183
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• 2020

The change in the demand and perception of wigs worn for hair loss is getting better, but hair extension is emerging as a new treatment method that improves as there are inconvenient areas such as hair loss, bleaching, and tangling of wigs themselves, and time spent on unnatural hair styling and wearing wigs. The purpose of this study is to verify that the quality of life of middle-aged female hair loss is positively affected by hair growth techniques that weave wool strands into their hair. Those surveyed were middle-aged women with hair loss and were analyzed by measuring the quality of life before and after hair growth. The analysis showed that hair increased techniques affects the economic satisfaction, physical satisfaction, mental satisfaction and social satisfaction of middle-aged women with hair loss, indicating that hair increased techniques is effective in improving the quality of life for middle-aged women with hair loss. It is also expected that the beauty industry will develop high value through hair increased techniques, a blue ocean in the beauty market.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.109-122
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• 2003

This paper presents a robust process capability index(PCI) based on the expected loss derived from the empirical distribution function(EDF). We propose the EDF expected loss in order to develop a PCI that does not depends on the underlying process distribution. The EDF expected loss depends only on the sample data, so the PCI based on it is robust and it does nor require complex calculations. The inverted normal loss function(INLF) is employed in order to overcome the drawback of the quadratic loss which may Increase unboundedly outside the specification limits. A comprehensive simulation study was performed under various process distributions, in order to compare the accuracy and the precision of the proposed PCI with those of the PCI based on the expected loss derived from the normal distribution. The proposed PCI turned out to be more accurate than the normal PCI in most cases, especially when the process distribution has high kurtosis or skewness. It is expected that the proposed PCI can be utilized In real processes where the true distribution family may not be known.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2011

The quality inspections items such as loss on drying, total ash, and acid-insoluble ash contents in herbal medicines, have a correlation with external sources of pollution, but are not themselves hazardous factors. Z-scores for standard normal distribution were used to investigate herbal medicines requiring quality control, which exceeds the regulatory limits of quality inspection. In total, 7,773 samples were analyzed based on plant parts. For the loss on drying, the numbers of items of herbal medicines requiring quality control are like these; 15 items for above-ground parts and 5 items for underground parts. For the total ash, 21 items for above-ground parts and 4 items for underground parts. For the acid-insoluble ash, 8 items for above-ground parts and 1 item for underground parts.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.628-633
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• 2005

Muscle fiber characteristics were evaluated for predictability of meat quality traits using 231 crossbred pigs. Muscle $pH_{45min}$, R-value, and $pH_{24hr}$ were selected to estimate regression equation model of drip loss and lightness, although variances of coefficient estimates could only account for small part of drip loss (about 16.3 to 25.3%) and lightness (about 16.9 to 31.7%). Muscle $pH_{24hr}$ was represented to drip loss and lightness, which explained corresponding 25.3 and 31.7% of estimation in drip loss and lightness, respectively. Area percentage of type IIb fiber significantly contributed to prediction of metabolic rate and meat quality. However, equations predicting meat quality traits based on area percentage of type IIb fiber alone are less useful than ones based on early postmortem parameters. These results suggest estimated model using both metabolic properties of muscle and postmortem metabolic rate could be used for prediction of pork quality traits.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.482-495
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• 2014

The objectives of this study were to know the effect of repeated freeze-thaw cycles of beef on the sensory, physicochemical quality and microbiological assessment. The effects of three successive freeze-thaw cycles on beef forelimb were investigated comparing with unfrozen fresh beef for 75 d by keeping at $-20{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. The freeze-thaw cycles were subjected to three thawing methods and carried out to know the best one. As the number of freeze-thaw cycles increased color and odor declined significantly before cook within the cycles and tenderness, overall acceptability also declined among the cycles after cook by thawing methods. The thawing loss increased and dripping loss decreased significantly (p<0.05). Water holding capacity (WHC) increased (p<0.05) until two cycles and then decreased. Cooking loss increased in cycle 1 and 3, but decreased in cycle 2. pH decreased significantly (p<0.05) among the cycles. Moreover, drip loss, cooking loss and WHC were affected (p<0.05) by thawing methods within the cycles. 2-Thiobarbituric acid (TBARS) value increased (p<0.05) gradually within the cycles and among the cycles by thawing methods. Total viable bacteria, total coliform and total yeast-mould count decreased significantly (p<0.05) within and among the cycles in comparison to the initial count in repeated freeze-thaw cycles. As a result, repeated freeze-thaw cycles affected the sensory, physicochemical and microbiological quality of beef, causing the deterioration of beef quality, but improved the microbiological quality. Although repeated freeze-thaw cycles did not affect much on beef quality and safety but it may be concluded that repeated freeze and thaw should be minimized in terms of beef color for commercial value and WHC and tenderness/juiciness for eating quality.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.87-102
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• 2024

This study aims to compare the chemical composition, quality, and muscle fiber characteristics of cull sows and commercial pigs, investigating the effect of changes in muscle fiber characteristics on pork quality. The proximate composition, color, pH, water-holding capacity (drip loss and cooking loss), protein solubility, total collagen content, and muscle fiber characteristics of cull sows (n=20) and commercial pigs (n=20) pork were compared. No significant differences were found between cull sows and commercial pigs in terms of proximate composition, drip loss, protein solubility, or total collagen content of their meat (p<0.05). However, cull sow pork exhibited a red color and a higher pH (p<0.05). This appears to be the result of changes in muscle fiber number and area composition (p<0.05). Cull sow meat also displayed better water-holding capacity as evident in a smaller cooking loss (p<0.05), which may be related to an increase in muscle fiber cross-sectional area (p<0.05). In conclusion, muscle fiber composition influences the pork quality; cull sow pork retains more moisture when cooked, resulting in minimal physical loss during processing and can offer more processing suitability.