• Title/Summary/Keyword: Real-time Monitoring

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Evaluation of the Positional Uncertainty of a Liver Tumor using 4-Dimensional Computed Tomography and Gated Orthogonal Kilovolt Setup Images (사차원전산화단층촬영과 호흡연동 직각 Kilovolt 준비 영상을 이용한 간 종양의 움직임 분석)

  • Ju, Sang-Gyu;Hong, Chae-Seon;Park, Hee-Chul;Ahn, Jong-Ho;Shin, Eun-Hyuk;Shin, Jung-Suk;Kim, Jin-Sung;Han, Young-Yih;Lim, Do-Hoon;Choi, Doo-Ho
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.155-165
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: In order to evaluate the positional uncertainty of internal organs during radiation therapy for treatment of liver cancer, we measured differences in inter- and intra-fractional variation of the tumor position and tidal amplitude using 4-dimentional computed radiograph (DCT) images and gated orthogonal setup kilovolt (KV) images taken on every treatment using the on board imaging (OBI) and real time position management (RPM) system. Materials and Methods: Twenty consecutive patients who underwent 3-dimensional (3D) conformal radiation therapy for treatment of liver cancer participated in this study. All patients received a 4DCT simulation with an RT16 scanner and an RPM system. Lipiodol, which was updated near the target volume after transarterial chemoembolization or diaphragm was chosen as a surrogate for the evaluation of the position difference of internal organs. Two reference orthogonal (anterior and lateral) digital reconstructed radiograph (DRR) images were generated using CT image sets of 0% and 50% into the respiratory phases. The maximum tidal amplitude of the surrogate was measured from 3D conformal treatment planning. After setting the patient up with laser markings on the skin, orthogonal gated setup images at 50% into the respiratory phase were acquired at each treatment session with OBI and registered on reference DRR images by setting each beam center. Online inter-fractional variation was determined with the surrogate. After adjusting the patient setup error, orthogonal setup images at 0% and 50% into the respiratory phases were obtained and tidal amplitude of the surrogate was measured. Measured tidal amplitude was compared with data from 4DCT. For evaluation of intra-fractional variation, an orthogonal gated setup image at 50% into the respiratory phase was promptly acquired after treatment and compared with the same image taken just before treatment. In addition, a statistical analysis for the quantitative evaluation was performed. Results: Medians of inter-fractional variation for twenty patients were 0.00 cm (range, -0.50 to 0.90 cm), 0.00 cm (range, -2.40 to 1.60 cm), and 0.00 cm (range, -1.10 to 0.50 cm) in the X (transaxial), Y (superior-inferior), and Z (anterior-posterior) directions, respectively. Significant inter-fractional variations over 0.5 cm were observed in four patients. Min addition, the median tidal amplitude differences between 4DCTs and the gated orthogonal setup images were -0.05 cm (range, -0.83 to 0.60 cm), -0.15 cm (range, -2.58 to 1.18 cm), and -0.02 cm (range, -1.37 to 0.59 cm) in the X, Y, and Z directions, respectively. Large differences of over 1 cm were detected in 3 patients in the Y direction, while differences of more than 0.5 but less than 1 cm were observed in 5 patients in Y and Z directions. Median intra-fractional variation was 0.00 cm (range, -0.30 to 0.40 cm), -0.03 cm (range, -1.14 to 0.50 cm), 0.05 cm (range, -0.30 to 0.50 cm) in the X, Y, and Z directions, respectively. Significant intra-fractional variation of over 1 cm was observed in 2 patients in Y direction. Conclusion: Gated setup images provided a clear image quality for the detection of organ motion without a motion artifact. Significant intra- and inter-fractional variation and tidal amplitude differences between 4DCT and gated setup images were detected in some patients during the radiation treatment period, and therefore, should be considered when setting up the target margin. Monitoring of positional uncertainty and its adaptive feedback system can enhance the accuracy of treatments.

A Criteria on Nitrate Concentration in Soil Solution and Leaf Petiole Juice for Fertigation of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) under Greenhouse Cultivation (시설 오이의 관비재배를 위한 토양용액과 엽병즙액중 질산태 농도 기준 설정)

  • Lim, Jae-Hyun;Lee, In-Bog;Kim, Hong-Lim
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.34 no.5
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    • pp.316-325
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    • 2001
  • To develope a technique for efficiently managing fertilizer for cucumber, a quick test method to quantify nitrate content in soil solution and leaf petiole juice using a simple instrument was investigated. Among the nitrate analyzing instruments such as compact ion meter, nitrate ion meter, and test strip with reflectometer, the paper test-strip used in conjunction with a hand-held reflectometer was most closely correlated with ion chromatography method in nitrate content, and then it would be suggested with a tool that a farmer can use rapidly, conveniently and accurately for nitrate analysis in a field. Nitrate content in soil solution collected by porous cup was very variable on the lapsed time after drip irrigation and the sampling positions such as soil depth and the distance from dripper. As a result, a significant correlation between nitrate contents of soil solutions and 2M KCl soil extract was not found. However, nitrate content in soil solution extracted with a volume basis (soil:water=1:2) showed the highly significant correlation with that in 2M KCl extract. Nitrate contents of cucumber leaf petiole juices was greatly different between upper and lower leaves. Eleven to sixteen positioned-leaf would be a proper sampling position to determine nitrate content in leaf petiole for evaluating nutrient state by plant tissue analysis. From the secondary regression equations between nitrate contents of soil and petiole juice and the yield of cucumber, nitrate levels for real time diagnosis were estimated as $400mg\;l^{-1}$ soil solution by porous cup. $300mg\;l^{-1}$ in a soil volume extraction, and $1400mg\;l^{-1}$ in petiole juice from spring to summer season. In addition, the maximum yield of cucumber fruit in pot test was obtained in nitrate $1500mg\;l^{-1}$ level of petiole juice, which was similar to nitrate $1400mg\;l^{-1}$ in greenhouse trial.

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Effects of climate change on biodiversity and measures for them (생물다양성에 대한 기후변화의 영향과 그 대책)

  • An, Ji Hong;Lim, Chi Hong;Jung, Song Hie;Kim, A Reum;Lee, Chang Seok
    • Journal of Wetlands Research
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.474-480
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    • 2016
  • In this study, formation background of biodiversity and its changes in the process of geologic history, and effects of climate change on biodiversity and human were discussed and the alternatives to reduce the effects of climate change were suggested. Biodiversity is 'the variety of life' and refers collectively to variation at all levels of biological organization. That is, biodiversity encompasses the genes, species and ecosystems and their interactions. It provides the basis for ecosystems and the services on which all people fundamentally depend. Nevertheless, today, biodiversity is increasingly threatened, usually as the result of human activity. Diverse organisms on earth, which are estimated as 10 to 30 million species, are the result of adaptation and evolution to various environments through long history of four billion years since the birth of life. Countlessly many organisms composing biodiversity have specific characteristics, respectively and are interrelated with each other through diverse relationship. Environment of the earth, on which we live, has also created for long years through extensive relationship and interaction of those organisms. We mankind also live through interrelationship with the other organisms as an organism. The man cannot lives without the other organisms around him. Even though so, human beings accelerate mean extinction rate about 1,000 times compared with that of the past for recent several years. We have to conserve biodiversity for plentiful life of our future generation and are responsible for sustainable use of biodiversity. Korea has achieved faster economic growth than any other countries in the world. On the other hand, Korea had hold originally rich biodiversity as it is not only a peninsula country stretched lengthily from north to south but also three sides are surrounded by sea. But they disappeared increasingly in the process of fast economic growth. Korean people have created specific Korean culture by coexistence with nature through a long history of agriculture, forestry, and fishery. But in recent years, the relationship between Korean and nature became far in the processes of introduction of western culture and development of science and technology and specific natural feature born from harmonious combination between nature and culture disappears more and more. Population of Korea is expected to be reduced as contrasted with world population growing continuously. At this time, we need to restore biodiversity damaged in the processes of rapid population growth and economic development in concert with recovery of natural ecosystem due to population decrease. There were grand extinction events of five times since the birth of life on the earth. Modern extinction is very rapid and human activity is major causal factor. In these respects, it is distinguished from the past one. Climate change is real. Biodiversity is very vulnerable to climate change. If organisms did not find a survival method such as 'adaptation through evolution', 'movement to the other place where they can exist', and so on in the changed environment, they would extinct. In this respect, if climate change is continued, biodiversity should be damaged greatly. Furthermore, climate change would also influence on human life and socio-economic environment through change of biodiversity. Therefore, we need to grasp the effects that climate change influences on biodiversity more actively and further to prepare the alternatives to reduce the damage. Change of phenology, change of distribution range including vegetation shift, disharmony of interaction among organisms, reduction of reproduction and growth rates due to odd food chain, degradation of coral reef, and so on are emerged as the effects of climate change on biodiversity. Expansion of infectious disease, reduction of food production, change of cultivation range of crops, change of fishing ground and time, and so on appear as the effects on human. To solve climate change problem, first of all, we need to mitigate climate change by reducing discharge of warming gases. But even though we now stop discharge of warming gases, climate change is expected to be continued for the time being. In this respect, preparing adaptive strategy of climate change can be more realistic. Continuous monitoring to observe the effects of climate change on biodiversity and establishment of monitoring system have to be preceded over all others. Insurance of diverse ecological spaces where biodiversity can establish, assisted migration, and establishment of horizontal network from south to north and vertical one from lowland to upland ecological networks could be recommended as the alternatives to aid adaptation of biodiversity to the changing climate.

Implementation of integrated monitoring system for trace and path prediction of infectious disease (전염병의 경로 추적 및 예측을 위한 통합 정보 시스템 구현)

  • Kim, Eungyeong;Lee, Seok;Byun, Young Tae;Lee, Hyuk-Jae;Lee, Taikjin
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.69-76
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    • 2013
  • The incidence of globally infectious and pathogenic diseases such as H1N1 (swine flu) and Avian Influenza (AI) has recently increased. An infectious disease is a pathogen-caused disease, which can be passed from the infected person to the susceptible host. Pathogens of infectious diseases, which are bacillus, spirochaeta, rickettsia, virus, fungus, and parasite, etc., cause various symptoms such as respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disease, liver disease, and acute febrile illness. They can be spread through various means such as food, water, insect, breathing and contact with other persons. Recently, most countries around the world use a mathematical model to predict and prepare for the spread of infectious diseases. In a modern society, however, infectious diseases are spread in a fast and complicated manner because of rapid development of transportation (both ground and underground). Therefore, we do not have enough time to predict the fast spreading and complicated infectious diseases. Therefore, new system, which can prevent the spread of infectious diseases by predicting its pathway, needs to be developed. In this study, to solve this kind of problem, an integrated monitoring system, which can track and predict the pathway of infectious diseases for its realtime monitoring and control, is developed. This system is implemented based on the conventional mathematical model called by 'Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) Model.' The proposed model has characteristics that both inter- and intra-city modes of transportation to express interpersonal contact (i.e., migration flow) are considered. They include the means of transportation such as bus, train, car and airplane. Also, modified real data according to the geographical characteristics of Korea are employed to reflect realistic circumstances of possible disease spreading in Korea. We can predict where and when vaccination needs to be performed by parameters control in this model. The simulation includes several assumptions and scenarios. Using the data of Statistics Korea, five major cities, which are assumed to have the most population migration have been chosen; Seoul, Incheon (Incheon International Airport), Gangneung, Pyeongchang and Wonju. It was assumed that the cities were connected in one network, and infectious disease was spread through denoted transportation methods only. In terms of traffic volume, daily traffic volume was obtained from Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). In addition, the population of each city was acquired from Statistics Korea. Moreover, data on H1N1 (swine flu) were provided by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and air transport statistics were obtained from Aeronautical Information Portal System. As mentioned above, daily traffic volume, population statistics, H1N1 (swine flu) and air transport statistics data have been adjusted in consideration of the current conditions in Korea and several realistic assumptions and scenarios. Three scenarios (occurrence of H1N1 in Incheon International Airport, not-vaccinated in all cities and vaccinated in Seoul and Pyeongchang respectively) were simulated, and the number of days taken for the number of the infected to reach its peak and proportion of Infectious (I) were compared. According to the simulation, the number of days was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days when vaccination was not considered. In terms of the proportion of I, Seoul was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. When they were vaccinated in Seoul, the number of days taken for the number of the infected to reach at its peak was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days. In terms of the proportion of I, Gangneung was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. When they were vaccinated in Pyeongchang, the number of days was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days. In terms of the proportion of I, Gangneung was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. Based on the results above, it has been confirmed that H1N1, upon the first occurrence, is proportionally spread by the traffic volume in each city. Because the infection pathway is different by the traffic volume in each city, therefore, it is possible to come up with a preventive measurement against infectious disease by tracking and predicting its pathway through the analysis of traffic volume.

A Structural Relationship of Topography, Developed Areas, and Riparian Vegetation on the Concentration of Total Nitrogen in Streams (지형, 개발지역, 수변림과 하천 내 총질소 농도와의 구조적 관계 분석)

  • Lee, Sang-Woo;Lee, Jong-Won;Park, Se-Rin
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.48 no.1
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    • pp.25-34
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    • 2020
  • Land use in watersheds has been shown to be a major driving factor in determining the status of the water quality of streams. In this light, scientists have been investigating the roles of riparian vegetation on the relationships between land use in watersheds and the associated stream water quality. Numerous studies reported that riparian vegetation could alleviate the adverse effects caused by land use in watersheds and on stream water quality through various hydrological, biochemical and ecological mechanisms. However, this concept has been criticized as the true effects of riparian vegetation must be assessed by comprehensive models that mimic real environmental settings. This study aimed to estimate a comprehensive structural equation model integrating topography, land use, and characteristics of riparian vegetation. We used water quality data from the Nakdong River system monitored under the National Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NAEMP) of the Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE). Also, riparian vegetation data and land use data were extracted from the Land Use/Land Cover map (LULC) produced by the MOE. The number of structural equation models (SEMs) were estimated in Amos of IBM SPSS. Study results revealed that land use was determined by elevation, and developed areas within a watershed significantly increased the concentration of Total Nitrogen (TN) in streams and LDI in riparian vegetation. On the contrary, developed areas significantly reduced LPI and PLAND. At the same time, PLAND and LDI significantly reduced the concentration of TN in streams. Thus, it was clear that developed areas in watersheds had both a direct and an indirect impact on the concentration of TN in streams, and spatial pattern and the amount of vegetation of riparian vegetation could significantly alleviate the negative impacts of developed areas on TN concentration in streams. To enhance stream water quality, reducing developed areas in a watershed is critical for long-term watershed management plans, restoration patterns for riparian vegetation could be immediately implemented since riparian areas were less developed than most other watersheds.

A Study on the Application of RTLS Technology for the Automation of Spray-Applied Fire Resistive Covering Work (뿜칠내화피복 작업 자동화시스템을 위한 RTLS 기술 적용에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Kyoon-Tai
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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    • v.9 no.5
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    • pp.79-86
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    • 2009
  • In a steel structure, spray-applied fire resistive materials are crucial in preventing structural strength from being weakened in the event of a fire. The quality control of such materials, however, is difficult for manual workers, who can frequently be in short supply. These skilled workers are also very likely to be exposed to environmental hazards. Problems with construction work such as this, which are specifically the difficulty of achieving quality control and the dangerous nature of the work itself, can be solved to some degree by the introduction of automated equipment. It is, however, very difficult to automate the work process, from operation to the selection of a location for the equipment, as the environment of a construction site has not yet been structured to accommodate automation. This is a fundamental study on the possibility of the automation of spray-applied fire resistive coating work. In this study, the linkability of the cutting-edge RTLS to an automation system is reviewed, and a scenario for the automation of spray-applied fire resistive coating work and system composition is presented. The system suggested in this study is still in a conceptual stage, and as such, there are many restrictions still to be resolved. Despite this fact, automation is expected to have good effectiveness in terms of preventing fire from spreading by maintaining a certain level of strength at a high temperature when a fire occurs, as it maintains the thickness of the fire-resistive coating at a specified level, and secures the integrity of the coating with the steel structure, thereby enhancing the fire-resistive performance. It also expected that if future research is conducted in this area in relation to a cutting-edge monitoring TRS, such as the ubiquitous sensor network (USN) and/or building information model (BIM), it will contribute to raising the level of construction automation in Korea, reducing costs through the systematic and efficient management of construction resources, shortening construction periods, and implementing more precise construction

Fluorine Plasma Corrosion Resistance of Anodic Oxide Film Depending on Electrolyte Temperature

  • Shin, Jae-Soo;Kim, Minjoong;Song, Je-beom;Jeong, Nak-gwan;Kim, Jin-tae;Yun, Ju-Young
    • Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.9-13
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    • 2018
  • Samples of anodic oxide film used in semiconductor and display manufacturing processes were prepared at different electrolyte temperatures to investigate the corrosion resistance. The anodic oxide film was grown on aluminum alloy 6061 by using a sulfuric acid ($H_2SO_4$) electrolyte of 1.5 M at $0^{\circ}C$, $5^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$, $15^{\circ}C$, and $20^{\circ}C$. The insulating properties of the samples were evaluated by measuring the breakdown voltage, which gradually increased from 0.43 kV ($0^{\circ}C$) to 0.52 kV ($5^{\circ}C$), 1.02 kV ($10^{\circ}C$), and 1.46 kV ($15^{\circ}C$) as the electrolyte temperature was increased from $0^{\circ}C$ to $15^{\circ}C$, but then decreased to 1.24 kV ($20^{\circ}C$). To evaluate the erosion of the film by fluorine plasma, the plasma erosion and the contamination particles were measured. The plasma erosion was evaluated by measuring the breakdown voltage after exposing the film to $CF_4/O_2/Ar$ and $NF_3/O_2/Ar$ plasmas. With exposure to $CF_4/O_2/Ar$ plasma, the breakdown voltage of the film slightly decreased at $0^{\circ}C$, by 0.41 kV; however, the breakdown voltage significantly decreased at $20^{\circ}C$, by 0.83 kV. With exposure to $NF_3/O_2/Ar$ plasma, the breakdown voltage of the film slightly decreased at $0^{\circ}C$, by 0.38 kV; however, the breakdown voltage significantly decreased at $20^{\circ}C$, by 0. 77 kV. In addition, for the entire temperature range, the breakdown voltage decreased more when sample was exposed to $NF_3/O_2/Ar$ plasma than to $CF_4/O_2/Ar$ plasma. The decrease of the breakdown voltage was lower in the anodic oxide film samples that were grown slowly at lower temperatures. The rate of breakdown voltage decrease after exposure to fluorine plasma was highest at $20^{\circ}C$, indicating that the anodic oxide film was most vulnerable to erosion by fluorine plasma at that temperature. Contamination particles generated by exposure to the $CF_4/O_2/Ar$ and $NF_3/O_2/Ar$ plasmas were measured on a real-time basis. The number of contamination particles generated after the exposure to the respective plasmas was lower at $5^{\circ}C$ and higher at $0^{\circ}C$. In particular, for the entire temperature range, about five times more contamination particles were generated with exposure to $NF_3/O_2/Ar$ plasma than for exposure to $CF_4/O_2/Ar$ plasma. Observation of the surface of the anodic oxide film showed that the pore size and density of the non-treated film sample increased with the increase of the temperature. The change of the surface after exposure to fluorine plasma was greatest at $0^{\circ}C$. The generation of contamination particles by fluorine plasma exposure for the anodic oxide film prepared in the present study was different from that of previous aluminum anodic oxide films.

Growth and Physiological Adaptations of Tomato Plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) in Response to Water Scarcity in Soil (토양 수분 결핍에 따른 토마토의 생육과 생리적응)

  • Hwang, Seung-Mi;Kwon, Taek-Ryun;Doh, Eun-Soo;Park, Me-Hea
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.266-274
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    • 2010
  • This study aim to investigate fundamentally the growth and physiological responses of tomato plants in responses to two different levels of water deficit, a weak drought stress (-25 kPa) and a severe drought stress (-100 kPa) in soil. The two levels of water deficit were maintained using a micro-irrigation system consisted of soil sensors for the real-time monitoring of soil water content and irrigation modules in a greenhouse experiment. Soil water contents were fluctuated throughout the 30 days treatment period but differed between the two treatments with the average -47 kPa in -25 kPa set treatment and the -119 kPa in -100 kPa set treatment. There were significant differences in plant height between the two different soil water statuses in plant height without differences of the number of nodes. The plants grown in the severe water-deficit treatment had greater accumulation of biomass than the plants in the weak water-deficit treatment. The severe water-deficit treatment (-119 kPa) also induced greater leaf area and leaf dry weight of the plants than the weak water-deficit treatment did, even though there was no difference in leaf area per unit dry weight. These results of growth parameters tested in this study indicate that the severe drought could cause an adaptation of tomato plants to the drought stress with the enhancement of biomass and leaf expansion without changes of leaf thickness. Greater relative water content of leaves and lower osmotic potential of sap expressed from turgid leaves were recorded in the severe water deficit treatment than in the weak water deficit treatment. This finding also postulated physiological adaptation to be better water status under drought stress. The drought imposition affected significantly on photosynthesis, water use efficiency and stomatal conductance of tomato plants. The severe water-deficit treatment increased PSII activities and water use efficiency, but decreased stomatal conductance than the weak water-deficit treatment. However, there were no differences between the two treatments in total photosynthetic capacity. Finally, there were no differences in the number and biomass of fruits. These results suggested that tomato plants have an ability to make adaptation to water deficit conditions through changes in leaf morphology, osmotic potentials, and water use efficiency as well as PSII activity. These adaptation responses should be considered in the screening of drought tolerance of tomato plants.

Critical Pathway Development for the Hysterectomy Patients and its applied Effect (자궁적출술 환자를 위한 critical pathway 개발과 적용효과)

  • Noh, Gi-Ok;Park, Kyung-Sook
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.234-257
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    • 2000
  • At present in the medical care, the study and effort for producing health service to consider efficiency, effectiveness, and quality are urgently called for because of the difficulty in the keen competition according to the inter- nationalization and opening, the operation in the medical institution service testing system, the change in the medical policy of KDRGs, and the lack of the health care cost increasing rate. As an alternative, the case management for the new management system is introduced in the U.S., and the Critical Pathway that is the method designing the contents of activity and its result has been developed and applied in order to anticipate and manage the patient-outcome for the realization of the cost-effective case-management. Thus, this study intended to analyze the effectiveness to obtain by developing the Critical Pathway presented as the method to improve the quality-betterment and cost effectiveness through the continuous and consistent patient management for the hysterectomy patient and applying it to the real practice. As a study method, this author formed a conceptual framework through considering five Critical Pathway used in the current U.S. and three Critical Pathway presented in the literature to develop the Critical Pathway for the hysterectomy patient, and made out the preliminary Critical Pathway through reviewing the old chart. This author made the verified the validity of the expert group about the developed Critical Pathway, and to confirm the possibility of practice application, completed and settled the final Critical Pathway after using the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from March 1st to 15th, 1997. Finally, to analyze the application-effect of the developed Critical Pathway, this author offered health care service applying the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from April 15th to August 31th, 1997. The guide for the Critical Pathway was carried out in advance by outpatient setting nurse for outpatient setting visit before the operation, and after hospitalization the primary nurse monitored the execution degree on the every duty. After discharge this author surveyed the complication through phone visiting, and one month after discharge surveyed the patient's reaction about the offered service when outpatient setting visit and analyzed the result. The source for health care cost was obtained by the statistics about the hospital charge which was offered by the General Business Department. The results were as follows. 1. It was decided that the vertical line of the Critical Pathway was made up of eight items such as monitoring/assessment, treatment, line/drains, activity, medication, lab test, diet, patient teaching, and the horizontal line of the Critical Pathway was made up of from hospitalization to discharge. 2. After the analysis of service contents through reviewing the old chart, it was decided that the horizontal line of the preliminary Critical Pathway was made up of from hopitalization to fourth postoperative day, and the vertical line of it was divided into eight items which were the contents to occur with the time frame of the horizontal line. 3. After the verifying the validity of the expert group about the preliminary Critical Pathway, the horizontal line was amended from hopitalization to third postoperative day, and taking their consensus, some contents of the horizontal line was amended and deleted. 4. From March 1st to 15th, 1997, to confirm the clinical suitability, this author offered eight hysterectomy patients the medical service through the Critical Pathway. The result was that three of them could be discharged at the expected discharge day, and the others later than that day. Supplementing the preliminary Critical Pathway through analyzing the cause of that delay- case, this author developed the final Critical Pathway. 5. There were no significant differences between the experimental and the control group in the incidence of complication(P > 0.05). 6. The 92.4% of experimental group was satisfied with the Critical Pathway service. 7. The length of hospital stay of the experimental group offered with the Critical Pathway service was 4.6 days and there was a significant difference that it was 1.3 days shorter than that of the control group(t=-29.514, P=0.000). 8. There wsa a significant difference that the mean medical charge per one patient of the experimental group offered the Critical Pathway service was cheaper \124,150 than that of the control group(t=-9.826, P=0.000). 9. The result that the author assumed and analyzed hospital income with the rate of turning bed was assumed that the increase of hospital income was \63,245,072 for that study, and the income increase was expected with \68,704,864 for a year. The result that this author applied the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient have no differences in the incidence of complication, high satisfaction with that service, and the length of hospital stay decreased in the experimental group, and the mean hospital charge per one patient decreased, but hospital income increased. Suggestions for further study and nursing practice are as follows. 1. The study to apply the Critical Pathway for a year, verify the validity, and measure the effect repeatedly is needed. 2. To apply and manage the Critical Pathway effectively, the study to computerize it is needed. 3. The study to develop hospital-based Critical Pathway about other diseases or procedure, and measure the effect is needed.

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Radiology Department Infection Control According to Radiography Frequency and Disinfection Period (촬영 빈도수 및 소독 주기에 따른 영상의학과 감염 관리)

  • Lee, Jae-Seung;Jeong, Kyu-Hwan;Kim, Gyoung-Hee;Im, In-Chul;Kweon, Dae-Cheol;Goo, Eun-Hoe;Dong, Kyung-Rae;Chung, Woon-Kwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.73-80
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    • 2011
  • Questionnaires were distributed to Radiology departments at hospitals with 300 sickbeds throughout the Pohang region of North Gyeongsang Province concerning awareness and performance levels of infection control. The investigation included measurements of the pollution levels of imaging equipment and assistive apparatuses in order to prepare a plan for the activation of prevention and management of hospital infections. The survey was designed to question respondents in regards to personal data, infection management prevention education, and infection management guidelines. The ATP Public Heath Monitering System was used to measure seven items for pollution levels of imaging equipment and assistive apparatuses in the Radiology Department. Data was analysed using SPSS version 12.0 for paired t-test and Pearson coefficient with a statistically significant level of 0.05. The results of the survey showed a total awareness level of infection management prevention education averaged at $3.73{\pm}0.64$ and performance levels resulted at $3.39{\pm}0.83$ which were statistically significant (p = 0.01). Also the measurements of pollution levels for equipment with high patient contact showed a Pearson Coefficient of over 0.5 implying a focus on pathogenic bacterium. There was no statistical significance with the frequency of imaging (p < 0.05). Therefore for general hospitals with high patient contact, there is a need to supply analyzing equipment for real time monitoring and the implementation of disinfection management that uses a Ministry of Health and Welfare approved antiseptic solution twice every minute.