• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.195-221
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• 2009

According to an industry report, a large number of organizations have invested in Organizational Information System(OIS) in the past few years. Several research results indicate that successful investments in OIS lead to productivity enhancement, while failed ones result in undesirable consequences such as financial losses and dissatisfaction among employees. In spite of huge investments, however, many organizations have failed in achieving the hoped-for returns from OIS. Thus, understanding user acceptance, adoption, and usage of new IS(Information Systems) is an important issue for IS practitioners. Indeed, study of the user acceptance of new information system has been one of the most important research topics in the contemporary IS literature. Several theoretical models are tested to examine 'user acceptance' and 'usage behavior' in IS context. While many research models incorporate 'ease of use' or 'usefulness' as important factors in explaining user acceptance, Technology Acceptance Model(TAM) has been one of the most widely applied models in user acceptance and usage behavior. Even in recent IS studies that employ theories of innovation diffusion in the area of IS implementation, a major focus has been on the user's perception of information technologies. In this research, we study 'voluntariness' as an important factor in IS acceptance by users. Voluntariness is defined as "the degree to which the use of the innovation is perceived as being voluntary, or of free will" When examining the diffusion of accepting OIS, a thoughtful consideration should be given to 'perceived voluntariness.' Current article has following research questions: 1) What models are appropriate to explain the success of OIS? and 2) How does the 'voluntariness' affect the success of OIS? In order to answer these questions, a research model is proposed to describe the detailed nature of association among three independent variables (IT usage level, task interdependency, and organizational support), a mediating variable (IS usage), a dependent variable (perceived performance), and a moderating variable(perceived voluntariness). The central claim of this article is that organizations hardly realize expected returns from OIS investments unless perceived voluntariness is effectively managed after operating OIS. As an example of OIS in this study we have selected the Intranet of Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF). ROKAF has implemented the Intranet in an attempt to improve communication and coordination within the organization. To test our research model and hypotheses, survey questionnaires were first sent out to 400 Intranet users. With the assistance of ROKAF, Intranet users were initially identified among its members, and subjects were randomly drawn from the pool. 377 survey responses were finally returned. The unit of measurement and analysis in this research is a personal level. Path analysis based on structural equation modeling was used to test research hypotheses. Construct validity represents accordance between the theoretical base concept of constructs and its measurement items. Tests for the reliability and discriminant validity are accepted, thus verifying our survey instrument. In this research, we have proposed a conceptual framework to highlight the importance of perceived voluntariness after organization deploys OIS. The results of our analysis present several key finding. First, all three independent variables (IT usage level, task interdependency, and organizational support) have significant effects on IS usage, which will eventually improve performance. Thus, IS usage plays a mediating role between antecedent variables (IT usage level. task interdependency, and organizational support) and performance improvement. Second, the effect of the task dependency was the highest for IS usage among the three antecedent variables. This is highly plausible since one of the Intranet's major capabilities is to facilitate communication among members within an organization. Accordingly, we conclude that the higher the task dependency, the higher Intranet usage. The effect of user's IT usage level was the second, while the effect of the organizational support was the third. Finally, the perceived voluntariness plays a pivotal role in enhancing perceived performance in personal level after launching the Intranet. Relationships among investigated variables were significantly different between groups with a high level and a low level of voluntariness. The impact of the Intranet usage on the performance was greater in the higher level voluntariness group than in the lower one. For the lower level voluntariness group, the user's IT usage had the highest effect on the Intranet usage among the three antecedent variables. In short, our study suggests that the higher the perceived voluntariness is the more IS usage will be. Perceived voluntariness was found to have a moderating effect on the relationships among user IT usage level, task interdependency, IS usage, and perceived performance, supporting all the hypotheses on the moderating effect. Most of all, user IT usage level has the strongest influence on IS usage, indicating that users with superior IT usage are more likely to enjoy a high level of perceived performance.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2 s.32
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• pp.337-393
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and standardize the four scales of Questionnaire for the Sasang Constitution Classification 　II (QSCCII). QSCCII is newly prepared by statistical item analysis and is designed to examine its diagnostic discriminability. QSCCII is administered to 1366 random informants. From the survey, we could get the data for the standardization. The criteria of standardization are based on the data from 265 informants who are examined by professionals. Collectted data are analyzed by internal consistency, variation analysis(ANOVA), Duncan test and discrimination analysis of SPSS PC+ V4.0 program. The results are as follows reliability of four scales for QSCCII is relatively valid. The internal consistency of Tae-yang(太陽) (太陽) scale is Cronbach's a=0.5708. That of So-yang(少陽) scale is a=0.5708. That of Tae-eum(太陰) scale is a =0.5922. That of So-eum(少陰) scale is a=0.6319. 2. There is a significant difference between each group through variation analysis of four scales. 3. The process of standardization is based on the average value and standard deviation with respect to age and sex difference of each criteria 4. This study suggests a source of standardization of Sasang Constitution Classification by providing norms in which the differences of age, sex, and number of items are taken into deep consideration. QSCC Ⅱ, therefore, can be applied to every age(the 10's to the 60's) and sex groups. 5. The recalculation of the raw-score to standard value (T-score) shows that the diagnostic discriminability (Hit-ratio: 70.08%) of QSCC Ⅱ brings about 37% improvement than proportional chance criteria (33.33%). Especially, Hit-ratios of Tae-eum In(74.5%) and So-eum In(70.8%) are higher than that of So-yang In(60.0%). 6. QSCC has discriminability only to male informants. Compared with QSCC, however, QSCC II has relatively efficient discriminability both to male and female informants. 7. These results would be a demonstration of the fact that the QSCC II could be used as a tool for sasang constitution classification.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.265-284
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• 2001

The case management has been applied to improve the quality of care and the cost-effectiveness in the most health care institutions. In a way of case management, the critical pathway(CP) has been executed in many acute care settings, focused on the diagnoses with high cost, high volume, and high risk. This study was conducted to develop a case management program using CP as an intervention of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis for the surgery of posterolateral fusion, and to find out the effects of the critical pathway on the quality of nursing care, patient satisfaction as an outcome of care, length of stay and medical charge, and nurses' job satisfaction. At the same time, patients' functional states were checked with the Oswestry Low Back Pain Index, to show that the CP would not decrease the patients' function compared to the control group. The subjects were 25 control patients with a usual operation of lumbar fusion and 25 experimental patients with CP. They were all female, aged $50s{\sim}70s$, admitted in the Orthopedic surgery ward of a university hospital. Also nurses on the floor using CP were asked to respond to measurement tool of job satisfaction before and after the application of CP, and compared with other nurses on the different wards. Data were analyzed with t-test for continuous variables and chi-square for non-parametric variables in addition to the reliability test of the measurement tools. The results of this study were as followings: 1. Patients' functional states The differences in Oswestry scores of the experimental and control groups assessed at preoperation and at discharge were not statistically significant. The change in scores of the experimental group measured at preoperation and at discharge was larger than that of the control group, however the difference was not statistically significant. The results indicate that the CP did not decrease the patients' functional status. 2. The quality of nursing care The total of quality of nursing care given to the experimental group was better than that of the control group(P=.000). In addition, the experimental group showed better scores of quality of every item of care than the control group(P=.000 -.004). 3. Patient satisfaction Patients of the experimental group were not more satisfied with general care than the control group. But they were more satisfied with discharge care of 'explanation about medication, body posture, and brace application' and 'explanation about the adjustment of daily living and exercise during recovery'(P= .047, P=.028). 4. Nurses' job satisfaction Nurses working with the CP showed more job satisfaction than before the CP introduction(P=.048). But the control group of nurses on a different floor showed no change in job satisfaction at the same period of time. 5. Length of stay and medical charge The mean length of stay of the experimental group was shorter than that of the control group without statistical significance. The charge of medication and treatment of the experimental group were smaller than that of the control group(P=.011, P=.000). The results of the study support that the case management using critical pathway enables to improve the quality of care and job satisfaction, to reduce the medical charge, and consequently to increase satisfaction with care. However, the case management should be instituted focusing on the quality improvement of nursing and the client satisfaction, not just for the purpose of cost-effectiveness of health care facilities.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.679-690
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• 2015

The need to remove the cause of traffic accidents by improving the engineering system for a vehicle and the road in order to minimize the accident hazard. This is likely to cause traffic accident continue to take a large and significant social cost and time to improve the reliability and efficiency of this generally poor road, thereby generating a lot of damage to the national traffic accident caused by improper environmental factors. In order to minimize damage from traffic accidents, the cause of accidents must be eliminated through technological improvements of vehicles and road systems. Generally, it is highly probable that traffic accident occurs more often on roads that lack safety measures, and can only be improved with tremendous time and costs. In particular, traffic accidents at intersections are on the rise due to inappropriate environmental factors, and are causing great losses for the nation as a whole. This study aims to present safety countermeasures against the cause of accidents by developing an intersection Traffic safety evaluation model. It will also diagnose vulnerable traffic points through BPA (Back -propagation algorithm) among artificial neural networks recently investigated in the area of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, it aims to pursue a more efficient traffic safety improvement project in terms of operating signalized intersections and establishing traffic safety policies. As a result of conducting this study, the mean square error approximate between the predicted values and actual measured values of traffic accidents derived from the BPA is estimated to be 3.89. It appeared that the BPA appeared to have excellent traffic safety evaluating abilities compared to the multiple regression model. In other words, The BPA can be effectively utilized in diagnosing and practical establishing transportation policy in the safety of actual signalized intersections.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2000

Background :The authors have developed a Digital image chart(DIC) and digital Radiotherapy Record System (DRRS). We have evaluated the DIC and DRRS for reliability, usefulness, ease of use, and efficiency. Materials and Methods :The basic design of the DIC and DRRS was to build an digital image database of radiation therapy Patient records for a more efficient and timely flow of critical image information throughout the department. This system is a submit of comprehensive radiation oncology management system (C-ROMS) and composed of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), a radiotherapy information database, and a radiotherapy imaging database. The DIC and DRRS were programmed using Delphi under a Windows 95 environment and is capable of displaying the digital images of patients identification photos, simulation films, radiotherapy setup, diagnostic radiology images, gross lesion Photos, and radiotherapy Planning isodose charts with beam arrangements. Twenty-three clients in the department are connected by Ethernet (10 Mbps) to the central image server (Sun Ultra-sparc 1 workstation). Results :From the introduction of this system in February 1998 through December 1999, we have accumulated a total of 15,732 individual images for 2,556 patients. We can organize radiation therapy in a 'paperless' environment in 120 patients with breast cancer. Using this system, we have succeeded in the prompt, accurate, and simultaneous access to patient care information from multiple locations throughout the department. This coordination has resulted in improved operational efficiency within the department. Conclusion :The authors believe that the DIC and DRRS has contributed to the improvement of radiation oncology department efficacy as well as to time and resource savings by providing necessary visual information throughout the department conveniently and simultaneously. As a result, we can also achieve the 'paperless' and 'filmless' practice of radiation oncology with this system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2142-2147
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• 2012

This study is aimed at decreasing wrong diagnosis with corrected EF(Ejection Fraction) of 2D echo cardiography by analysing the physical time-resolution difference between Cine MRI and 2D echo cardiography and applying the corrected EF in 2D echocardiography. From February 2010 to December 2011, among the 110 patients who had undergone both 2D echo cardiography and cine MRI only 37 patient were selected suffering aortic valve regurgitation. ED, ES and SV were measured and EF was calculated in each system while normal ranges of Cine MRI and 2D echocardiography were compared to evauate misdiagnosis rate. The correlation of physical time resolution between 2D echocardiography and MRI was evaluated and the differences were corrected with linear regression coefficient which is derived from linear regression analysis. Blandt-Altman plot was used to evaluate the reliability of corrected 2D echo cardiography EF and compare the error among measured values. The values were compared with MRI normal range and misdiagnosis rate was measured again. As a result, misdiagnosis rates of physical time resolution were measured to be 32.4%(12people) before the correction of EF and 18.9%(7people) after the correction. Also, EF confirmed in Blandt-Altman plot were almost the same with MRI EF. In conclusion, when diagnosing aortic regurgitation disease, simply using 2D echocardiography can easily raise the misdiagnosis rates, therefore considering the MRI machine's physical merits, correcting the time resolution difference is important by calculating time resolution wrong diagnosis would decrease and it is considered to be useful in clinical circumstances.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.187-246
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and standardize the four scales of Questionnaire for the Sasang Constitution ClassificationII (QSCCII). QSCCII is newly prepared by statistical item analysis and is designed to examine its diagnostic discriminability. QSCCII is administered to 1366 random informants. From the survey, we could get the data for the standardization. The criteria of standardization are based on the data from 265 informants who are examined by professionals. Collected data are analyzed by internal consistency, variation analysis(ANOVA), Duncan test and discrimination analysis of SPSS PC+ V4.0 program. The results are as follows 1) The reliability of four scales for QSCCII is relatively valid. The internal consistency of Tae-yang(太陽) scale is Cronbach's ${\alpha}=0.5708$. That of So-yang(少陽) scale is ${\alpha}=0.5708$. That of Tae-eum(太陰) scale is ${\alpha}=0.5922$. That of So-eum(少陰) scale is ${\alpha}=0.6319$. 2) There is a significant difference between each group through variation analysis of four scales. 3) The process of standardization is based on the average value and standard deviation with respect to age and sex difference of each criteria. 4) This study suggests a source of standardization of Sasang Constitution Classification by providing norms in which the differences of age, sex, and number of items are taken into deep consideration. QSCCII, therefore, can be applied to every age(the 10's to the 60's) and sex groups. 5) The recalculation of the raw-score to standard value (T-score) shows that the diagnostic discriminability (Hit-ratio : 70.08%) of QSCCII brings about 37% improvement than proportional chance criteria(33.33%). Especially, Hit-ratios of Tae-eum In(74.5%) and So-eum In(70.8%) are higher than that of So-yang In(60.0%). 6) QSCC has discriminability only to male informants. Compared with QSCC, however, QSCCII has relatively efficient discriminability both to male and female informants. 7) These results would be a demonstration of the fact that the QSCCII could be used as a tool for sasang constitution classification.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.43-65
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• 2010

Facing a complex environment driven by a decade, many companies are adopting new strategic frameworks such as Customer Relationship Management system to achieve sustainable profitability as well as overcome serious competition for survival. In many business areas, CRM system advanced a great deal in a matter of continuous compensating the defect and overall integration. However, pharmaceutical companies in Korea were slow to accept them for usesince they still have a tendency of holding fast to traditional way of sales and marketing based on individual networks of sales representatives. In the circumstance, this article tried to empirically address current status of CRM system as well as the effects of the system on the performance of pharmaceutical companies by applying BSC method's four perspectives, from financial, customer, learning and growth and internal process. Survey by e-mail and post to employers and employees who were working in pharma firms were undergone for the purpose. Total 113 cases among collected 140 ones were used for the statistical analysis by SPSS ver. 15 package. Reliability, Factor analysis, regression were done. This study revealed that CRM system had a significant effect on improving financial and non-financial performance of pharmaceutical companies as expected. Proposed regression model fits well and among them, CRM marketing information system shed the light on substantial impact on companies' outcome given profitability, growth and investment. Useful analytical information by CRM marketing information system appears to enable pharmaceutical firms to set up effective marketing and sales strategies, these result in favorable financial performance by enhancing values for stakeholderseventually, not to mention short-term profit and/or mid-term potential to growth. CRM system depicted its influence on not only financial performance, but also non-financial fruit of pharmaceutical companies. Further analysis for each component showed that CRM marketing information system were able to demonstrate statistically significant effect on the performance like the result of financial outcome. CRM system is believed to provide the companies with efficient way of customers managing by valuable standardized business process prompt coping with specific customers' needs. It consequently induces customer satisfaction and retentionto improve performance for long period. That is, there is a virtuous circle for creating value as the cornerstone for sustainable growth. However, the research failed to put forward to evidence to support hypothesis regarding favorable influence of CRM sales representative's records assessment system and CRM customer analysis system on the management performance. The analysis is regarded to reflect the lack of understanding of sales people and respondents between actual work duties and far-sighted goal in strategic analysis framework. Ordinary salesmen seem to dedicate short-term goal for the purpose of meeting sales target, receiving incentive bonus in a manner-of-fact style, as such, they tend to avail themselves of personal network and sales and promotional expense rather than CRM system. The study finding proposed a link between CRM information system and performance. It empirically indicated that pharmaceutical companies had been implementing CRM system as an effective strategic business framework in order for more balanced achievements based on the grounded understanding of both CRM system and integrated performance. It suggests a positive impact of supportive CRM system on firm performance, especially for pharmaceutical industry through the initial empirical evidence. Also, it brings out unmet needs for more practical system design, improvement of employees' awareness, increase of system utilization in the field. On the basis of the insight from this exploratory study, confirmatory research by more appropriate measurement tool and increased sample size should be further examined.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.239-240
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• 2008

As semiconductor devices are scaled down for better performance and more functionality, the Cu-based interconnects suffer from the increase of the resistivity of the Cu wires. The resistivity increase, which is attributed to the electron scattering from grain boundaries and interfaces, needs to be addressed in order to further scale down semiconductor devices [1]. The increase in the resistivity of the interconnect can be alleviated by increasing the grain size of electroplating (EP)-Cu or by modifying the Cu surface [1]. Another possible solution is to maximize the portion of the EP-Cu volume in the vias or damascene structures with the conformal diffusion barrier and seed layer by optimizing their deposition processes during Cu interconnect fabrication, which are currently ionized physical vapor deposition (IPVD)-based Ta/TaN bilayer and IPVD-Cu, respectively. The use of in-situ etching, during IPVD of the barrier or the seed layer, has been effective in enlarging the trench volume where the Cu is filled, resulting in improved reliability and performance of the Cu-based interconnect. However, the application of IPVD technology is expected to be limited eventually because of poor sidewall step coverage and the narrow top part of the damascene structures. Recently, Ru has been suggested as a diffusion barrier that is compatible with the direct plating of Cu [2-3]. A single-layer diffusion barrier for the direct plating of Cu is desirable to optimize the resistance of the Cu interconnects because it eliminates the Cu-seed layer. However, previous studies have shown that the Ru by itself is not a suitable diffusion barrier for Cu metallization [4-6]. Thus, the diffusion barrier performance of the Ru film should be improved in order for it to be successfully incorporated as a seed layer/barrier layer for the direct plating of Cu. The improvement of its barrier performance, by modifying the Ru microstructure from columnar to amorphous (by incorporating the N into Ru during PVD), has been previously reported [7]. Another approach for improving the barrier performance of the Ru film is to use Ru as a just seed layer and combine it with superior materials to function as a diffusion barrier against the Cu. A RulTaN bilayer prepared by PVD has recently been suggested as a seed layer/diffusion barrier for Cu. This bilayer was stable between the Cu and Si after annealing at $700^{\circ}C$ for I min [8]. Although these reports dealt with the possible applications of Ru for Cu metallization, cases where the Ru film was prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have not been identified. These are important because of ALD's excellent conformality. In this study, a bilayer diffusion barrier of Ru/TaCN prepared by ALD was investigated. As the addition of the third element into the transition metal nitride disrupts the crystal lattice and leads to the formation of a stable ternary amorphous material, as indicated by Nicolet [9], ALD-TaCN is expected to improve the diffusion barrier performance of the ALD-Ru against Cu. Ru was deposited by a sequential supply of bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenium [Ru$(EtCp)_2$] and $NH_3$plasma and TaCN by a sequential supply of $(NEt_2)_3Ta=Nbu^t$ (tert-butylimido-trisdiethylamido-tantalum, TBTDET) and $H_2$ plasma. Sheet resistance measurements, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis showed that the bilayer diffusion barriers of ALD-Ru (12 nm)/ALD-TaCN (2 nm) and ALD-Ru (4nm)/ALD-TaCN (2 nm) prevented the Cu diffusion up to annealing temperatures of 600 and $550^{\circ}C$ for 30 min, respectively. This is found to be due to the excellent diffusion barrier performance of the ALD-TaCN film against the Cu, due to it having an amorphous structure. A 5-nm-thick ALD-TaCN film was even stable up to annealing at $650^{\circ}C$ between Cu and Si. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigation combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis revealed that the ALD-Ru/ALD-TaCN diffusion barrier failed by the Cu diffusion through the bilayer into the Si substrate. This is due to the ALD-TaCN interlayer preventing the interfacial reaction between the Ru and Si.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.95-103
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• 2010

Discharge data examine the process of hydrologic cycle and used significantly in water resource planning and irrigation and flood control planning. However, it needs lots of time and money to get the discharge data. So discharge rating curve is usually used in converting discharge data. Therefore reliability of discharge rating curve absolutely depends on quality of discharge data. Many engineers who study hydrologic engineering make high quality discharge data to develop reliable discharge rating curve. And they carry out research on standard and method of discharge measurement, and equipment improvement. Now various flow meters are utilized to make discharge data in Korea. However, accuracy of equipment and experimental research data from measurement are not enough. In this paper, constant discharge flowed through standard concrete channel, and the velocity is measured using various flow meters. Also Discharge is calculated by measured data to compare and analyze. The equipment for the experiment is Price AA(USGS Type AA Current meter), flow meter, ADC, C2 small current meter, flow tracker, Electromagnetic current meter. The discharge got form various flow meters which are widely used for discharge measurement. The various depths of water were examined and compared such as 0.30 m, 0.35 m, 0.40 m, 0.45 m, 0.50 m, 0.55 m. The experiment progresses a round-measurement on 6-case. Wading measurement(one point method : the 60 % height in surface of the water) was applied to improve creditability and accuracy among measurement methods. USGS Type AA current Meter, Flow Meter, ADC, C2 Small Current meter got the certificate of quality guaranteed. So the results of experiment were used to compare discharge. The Results showed the difference based on USGS Type AA current Meter at average discharge and velocity. Electromagnetic current meter made differences over $\pm$ 10 % and Flow Meter made differences under $\pm$ 10 %. Also ADC, Flow Meter, C2 Small Current meter made differences under $\pm$ 5 %.