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A Machine Learning-based Total Production Time Prediction Method for Customized-Manufacturing Companies (주문생산 기업을 위한 기계학습 기반 총생산시간 예측 기법)

  • Park, Do-Myung;Choi, HyungRim;Park, Byung-Kwon
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.177-190
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    • 2021
  • Due to the development of the fourth industrial revolution technology, efforts are being made to improve areas that humans cannot handle by utilizing artificial intelligence techniques such as machine learning. Although on-demand production companies also want to reduce corporate risks such as delays in delivery by predicting total production time for orders, they are having difficulty predicting this because the total production time is all different for each order. The Theory of Constraints (TOC) theory was developed to find the least efficient areas to increase order throughput and reduce order total cost, but failed to provide a forecast of total production time. Order production varies from order to order due to various customer needs, so the total production time of individual orders can be measured postmortem, but it is difficult to predict in advance. The total measured production time of existing orders is also different, which has limitations that cannot be used as standard time. As a result, experienced managers rely on persimmons rather than on the use of the system, while inexperienced managers use simple management indicators (e.g., 60 days total production time for raw materials, 90 days total production time for steel plates, etc.). Too fast work instructions based on imperfections or indicators cause congestion, which leads to productivity degradation, and too late leads to increased production costs or failure to meet delivery dates due to emergency processing. Failure to meet the deadline will result in compensation for delayed compensation or adversely affect business and collection sectors. In this study, to address these problems, an entity that operates an order production system seeks to find a machine learning model that estimates the total production time of new orders. It uses orders, production, and process performance for materials used for machine learning. We compared and analyzed OLS, GLM Gamma, Extra Trees, and Random Forest algorithms as the best algorithms for estimating total production time and present the results.

GF/PC Composite Filament Design & Optimization of 3D Printing Process and Structure for Manufacturing 3D Printed Electric Vehicle Battery Module Cover (전기자동차 배터리 모듈 커버의 3D 프린팅 제작을 위한 GF/PC 복합소재 필라멘트 설계와 3D 프린팅 공정 및 구조 최적화)

  • Yoo, Jeong-Wook;Lee, Jin-Woo;Kim, Seung-Hyun;Kim, Youn-Chul;Suhr, Jong-Hwan
    • Composites Research
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.241-248
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    • 2021
  • As the electric vehicle market grows, there is an issue of light weight vehicles to increase battery efficiency. Therefore, it is going to replace the battery module cover that protects the battery module of electric vehicles with high strength/high heat-resistant polymer composite material which has lighter weight from existing aluminum materials. It also aims to respond to the early electric vehicle market where technology changes quickly by combining 3D printing technology that is advantageous for small production of multiple varieties without restrictions on complex shapes. Based on the composite material mechanics, the critical length of glass fibers in short glass fiber (GF)/polycarbonate (PC) composite materials manufactured through extruder was derived as 453.87 ㎛, and the side feeding method was adopted to improve the residual fiber length from 365.87 ㎛ and to increase a dispersibility. Thus, the optimal properties of tensile strength 135 MPa and Young's modulus 7.8 MPa were implemented as GF/PC composite materials containing 30 wt% of GF. In addition, the filament extrusion conditions (temperature, extrusion speed) were optimized to meet the commercial filament specification of 1.75 mm thickness and 0.05 mm standard deviation. Through manufactured filaments, 3D printing process conditions (temperature, printing speed) were optimized by multi-optimization that minimize porosity, maximize tensile strength, and printing speed to increase the productivity. Through this procedure, tensile strength and elastic modulus were improved 11%, 56% respectively. Also, by post-processing, tensile strength and Young's modulus were improved 5%, 18% respectively. Lastly, using the FEA (finite element analysis) technique, the structure of the battery module cover was optimized to meet the mechanical shock test criteria of the electric vehicle battery module cover (ISO-12405), and it is satisfied the battery cover mechanical shock test while achieving 37% lighter weight compared to aluminum battery module cover. Based on this research, it is expected that 3D printing technology of polymer composite materials can be used in various fields in the future.

Analysis of Skin Color Pigments from Camera RGB Signal Using Skin Pigment Absorption Spectrum (피부색소 흡수 스펙트럼을 이용한 카메라 RGB 신호의 피부색 성분 분석)

  • Kim, Jeong Yeop
    • KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.41-50
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    • 2022
  • In this paper, a method to directly calculate the major elements of skin color such as melanin and hemoglobin from the RGB signal of the camera is proposed. The main elements of skin color typically measure spectral reflectance using specific equipment, and reconfigure the values at some wavelengths of the measured light. The values calculated by this method include such things as melanin index and erythema index, and require special equipment such as a spectral reflectance measuring device or a multi-spectral camera. It is difficult to find a direct calculation method for such component elements from a general digital camera, and a method of indirectly calculating the concentration of melanin and hemoglobin using independent component analysis has been proposed. This method targets a region of a certain RGB image, extracts characteristic vectors of melanin and hemoglobin, and calculates the concentration in a manner similar to that of Principal Component Analysis. The disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to directly calculate the pixel unit because a group of pixels in a certain area is used as an input, and since the extracted feature vector is implemented by an optimization method, it tends to be calculated with a different value each time it is executed. The final calculation is determined in the form of an image representing the components of melanin and hemoglobin by converting it back to the RGB coordinate system without using the feature vector itself. In order to improve the disadvantages of this method, the proposed method is to calculate the component values of melanin and hemoglobin in a feature space rather than an RGB coordinate system using a feature vector, and calculate the spectral reflectance corresponding to the skin color using a general digital camera. Methods and methods of calculating detailed components constituting skin pigments such as melanin, oxidized hemoglobin, deoxidized hemoglobin, and carotenoid using spectral reflectance. The proposed method does not require special equipment such as a spectral reflectance measuring device or a multi-spectral camera, and unlike the existing method, direct calculation of the pixel unit is possible, and the same characteristics can be obtained even in repeated execution. The standard diviation of density for melanin and hemoglobin of proposed method was 15% compared to conventional and therefore gives 6 times stable.

Microbiological Hazard Analysis of Sundae (Korean Sausage) Made of Meat By-Products (식육 부산물을 활용한 순대의 미생물학적 위해 분석)

  • Cheong, Jin-Sook;Kim, Yun Jeong;Om, Ae-Son
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.181-188
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    • 2022
  • Despite the recent increase in the consumption level of the processed meat-byproducts, the health and safety issue has consistently been raised in the processes of production, distribution and consumption. The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the microbiological hazard elements in the Korean sausage, "Sundae," to present not only the safety standard of meat by-product vendors based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), but also the quality control criteria and sanitary arrangements of small manufacturers. For the study, the microbiological hazards in 24 raw materials, 7 manufacturing processes, 40 facilities and tools, 17 workplace environment, and 12 workers were analyzed. The analysis revealed the hazardous elements in the initial stages with 6.28 and 4.07 log CFU/g of total aerobic count and coliforms, respectively, detected from the porcine blood and 3.23 log CFU/g of coliforms from the porcine small intestines. The result also showed that the total aerobic counts and coliforms in the process of mixing and filling process exceeds the standards in the hygiene guidelines by Natick with the total aerobic counts of 5.23, 5.45 log CFU/g, and the coliforms of 3.25, and 3.31 log CFU/g, respectively. Although the detected total aerobic count and the coliforms in the filling and washing rooms exceeded the standards, it was found that the total aerobic count was significantly reduced by 98% after cleaning and disinfecting and no coliforms was detected in any process thereafter. In order to achieve high level of safety in the manufacturing processes of Sundae, the separation of washing and disinfection room from the other sections and the sanitation control of the workers must be preceded, along with strict monitoring in the storage and distribution processes. The study raises necessity for additional studies for the safety evaluation of the processed meat-byproducts and further researches on the validity of the critical limits.

An Importance Analysis on the NCS-Based Skin Care Qualification L3 Level of Education in Life Care (라이프케어의 피부미용 NCS기반 자격 L3수준의 교육 중요도 연구)

  • Park, Chae-Young;Park, Jeong-Yeon
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.13 no.5
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    • pp.263-271
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    • 2019
  • The recent phenomenon of job "Miss Match", which is inconsistent with knowledge in the demand of educational training institutes and industries, has spread to an increase in private education costs for reeducation and employment of new hires, resulting in weak individual job competency and poor employment capability, as well as economic and material waste at the national level. To compensate for these problems, the National Competency Standards(NCS), which are available immediately in practice and look for a standard point of national job competency with the aim of fostering human resources sought by industries, were developed, and even the NCS-based qualification system was launched in line with the stream of times. This study is intended to look into the importance and priority of competency units and competency unit elements at the NCS-based qualification L3 level in the skin care field for an overall check of the NCS-based qualification level at a time when educational institutes are organizing and operating the school curriculums according to the NCS and NCS-based qualification level. And it is attempted to provide basic data for the development of curriculum in fostering professional human resources required by industries. To analyze the needs for competency units and competency unit elements at the L3 level, a survey using AHP method was carried out to a group of field experts and a group of education experts. In addition, the SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Science) ver. 21.0 and Expert Choice 2000, an AHP-only solution was used to do statistical processing through the processes of data coding and data cleaning. The findings showed that there was a partial difference of opinion between a group of field experts and a group of education experts. This indicates that the inconsistencies between educational training institutes and industrial sites should be resolved at this time of change with the aim of fostering field customized human resources with professional skills. Consequently, the solution is to combine jobs at industrial sites and standardized educations of educational institutes with human resources required at industrial sites.

Research on ITB Contract Terms Classification Model for Risk Management in EPC Projects: Deep Learning-Based PLM Ensemble Techniques (EPC 프로젝트의 위험 관리를 위한 ITB 문서 조항 분류 모델 연구: 딥러닝 기반 PLM 앙상블 기법 활용)

  • Hyunsang Lee;Wonseok Lee;Bogeun Jo;Heejun Lee;Sangjin Oh;Sangwoo You;Maru Nam;Hyunsik Lee
    • KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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    • v.12 no.11
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    • pp.471-480
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    • 2023
  • The Korean construction order volume in South Korea grew significantly from 91.3 trillion won in public orders in 2013 to a total of 212 trillion won in 2021, particularly in the private sector. As the size of the domestic and overseas markets grew, the scale and complexity of EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) projects increased, and risk management of project management and ITB (Invitation to Bid) documents became a critical issue. The time granted to actual construction companies in the bidding process following the EPC project award is not only limited, but also extremely challenging to review all the risk terms in the ITB document due to manpower and cost issues. Previous research attempted to categorize the risk terms in EPC contract documents and detect them based on AI, but there were limitations to practical use due to problems related to data, such as the limit of labeled data utilization and class imbalance. Therefore, this study aims to develop an AI model that can categorize the contract terms based on the FIDIC Yellow 2017(Federation Internationale Des Ingenieurs-Conseils Contract terms) standard in detail, rather than defining and classifying risk terms like previous research. A multi-text classification function is necessary because the contract terms that need to be reviewed in detail may vary depending on the scale and type of the project. To enhance the performance of the multi-text classification model, we developed the ELECTRA PLM (Pre-trained Language Model) capable of efficiently learning the context of text data from the pre-training stage, and conducted a four-step experiment to validate the performance of the model. As a result, the ensemble version of the self-developed ITB-ELECTRA model and Legal-BERT achieved the best performance with a weighted average F1-Score of 76% in the classification of 57 contract terms.

Visual Media Education in Visual Arts Education (미술교육에 있어서 시각적 미디어를 통한 조형교육에 관한 연구)

  • Park Ji-Sook
    • Journal of Science of Art and Design
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    • v.7
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    • pp.64-104
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    • 2005
  • Visual media transmits image and information reproduced in large quantities, such as a photography, film, television, video, advertisement, or computer image. Correspondence to the students' reception and recognition of culture in the future. arrangements for the field of studies of visual culture. 'Visual Culture' implies cultural phenomena of visual images via visual media, which includes not only the categories of traditional arts like a painting, sculpture, print, or design, but the performance arts including a fashion show or parade of carnival, and the mass and electronic media like a photography, film, television, video, advertisement, cartoon, animation, or computer image. In the world of visual media, Image' functions as an essential medium of communication. Therefore, people call the culture of today fra of Image Culture', which has been converted from an alphabet convergence era to an image convergence one. Image, via visual media, has become a dominant means for communication in large part of human life, so we can designate an Image' as a typical aspect of visual culture today. Image, as an essential medium of communication, plays an important role in contemporary society. The one way is the conversion of analogue image like an actual picture, photograph, or film into digital one through the digitalization of digital camera or scanner as 'an analogue/digital commutator'. The other is a way of process with a computer drawing, or modeling of objects. It is appropriate to the production of pictorial and surreal images. Digital images, produced by the other, can be divided into the form of Pixel' and form of Vector'. Vector is a line linking the point of departure to the point of end, which organizes informations. Computer stores each line's standard location and correlative locations to one another Digital image shows for more 'Perfectness' than any other visual media. Digital image has been evolving in the diverse aspects, such as a production of geometrical or organic image compositing, interactive art, multimedia art, or web art, which has been applied a computer as an extended trot of painting. Someone often interprets digitalized copy with endless reproduction of original even as an extension of a print. Visual af is no longer a simple activity of representation by a painter or sculptor, but now is intimately associated with a matter of application of media. There is some problem in images via visual media. First, the image via media doesn't reflect a reality as it is, but reflects an artificial manipulated world, that is, a virtual reality. Second, the introduction of digital effect and the development of image processing technology have enhanced a spectacle of destructive and violent scenes. Third, a child intends to recognize the interactive images of computer game and virtual reality as a reality, or truth. Education needs not only to point out an ill effect of mass media and prevent the younger generation from being damaged by it, but also to offer a knowledge and know-how to cope actively with social, cultural circumstances. Visual media education is one of these essential methods for the contemporary and future human being in the overflowing of image informations. The fosterage of 'Visual Literacy' can be considered as a very purpose of visual media education. This is a way to lead an individual to the discerning, active consumer and producer of visual media in life as far as possible. The elements of 'Visual Literacy' can be divided into a faculty of recognition related to the visual media, a faculty of critical reception, a faculty of appropriate application, a faculty of active work and a faculty of creative modeling, which are promoted at the same time by the education of 'visual literacy'. In conclusion, the education of 'Visual Literacy' guides students to comprehend and discriminate the visual image media carefully, or receive them critically, apply them properly, or produce them creatively and voluntarily. Moreover, it leads to an artistic activity by means of new media. This education can be approached and enhanced by the connection and integration with real life. Visual arts and education of them play an important role in the digital era depended on visual communications via image information. Visual me야a of day functions as an essential element both in daily life and in arts. Students can soundly understand visual phenomena of today by means of visual media, and apply it as an expression tool of life culture as well. A new recognition and valuation visual image and media education is required to cultivate the capability of active, upright dealing with the changes of history of civilization. 1) Visual media education helps to cultivate a sensibility for images, which reacts to and deals with the circumstances. 2) It helps students to comprehend the contemporary arts and culture via new media. 3) It supplies a chance of students' experiencing a visual modeling by means of new media. 4) There are educational opportunities of images with temporality and spaciality, and therefore a discerning person becomes to increase. 5) The modeling activity via new media leads students to be continuously interested in the school and production of plastic arts. 6) It raises the ability of visual communications dealing with image information society. 7) An education of digital image is significant in respect of cultivation of man of talent for the future society of image information as well. To correspond to the changing and developing social, cultural circumstances, and the form and recognition of students' reception of them, visual arts education must arrange the field of studying on a new visual culture. Besides, a program needs to be developed, which is in more systematic and active level in relation to visual media education. Educational contents should be extended to the media for visual images, that is, photography, film, television, video, computer graphic, animation, music video, computer game and multimedia. Every media must be separately approached, because they maintain the modes and peculiarities of their own according to the conveyance form of message. The concrete and systematic method of teaching and the quality of education must be researched and developed, centering around the development of a course of study. Teacher's foundational capability of teaching should be cultivated for the visual media education. In this case, it must be paid attention to the fact that a technological level of media is considered as a secondary. Because school education doesn't intend to train expert and skillful producers, but intends to lay stress on the essential aesthetic one with visual media under the social and cultural context, in respect of a consumer including a man of culture.

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An Analysis of the Moderating Effects of User Ability on the Acceptance of an Internet Shopping Mall (인터넷 쇼핑몰 수용에 있어 사용자 능력의 조절효과 분석)

  • Suh, Kun-Soo
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.27-55
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    • 2008
  • Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

A Comparative Study of the Standard Uptake Values of the PET Reconstruction Methods; Using Contrast Enhanced CT and Non Contrast Enhanced CT (PET/CT 영상에서 조영제를 사용하지 않은 CT와 조영제를 사용한 CT를 이용한 감쇠보정에 따른 표준화섭취계수의 비교)

  • Lee, Seung-Jae;Park, Hoon-Hee;Ahn, Sha-Ron;Oh, Shin-Hyun;NamKoong, Heuk;Lim, Han-Sang;Kim, Jae-Sam;Lee, Chang-Ho
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.235-240
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    • 2008
  • Purpose: At the beginning of PET/CT, Computed Tomography was mainly used only for Attenuation Correction (AC), but as the performance of the CT have been increase, it could give improved diagnostic information with Contrast Media. But it was controversial that Contrast Media could affect AC on PET/CT scan. Some submitted thesis' show that Contrast Media could overestimate when it is for AC data processing. On the contrary, the opinion that Contrast Media could be possible to affect the alteration of SUV because of the overestimated AC. But it does not have a definite effect on the diagnosis. Thus, the affection of Contrast Media on AC was investigated in this study. Materials and Methods: Patient inclusion criteria required a history of a malignancy and performance of an integrated PET/CT scan and contrast- enhanced CT scan within a 1-day period. Thirty oncologic patients who had PET/CT scan from December 2007 to June 2008 underwent staging evaluation and met these criteria. All patients fasted for at least 6 hr before the IV injection of approximately 5.6 MBq/kg (0.15 mCi/kg) of $^{18}F$-FDG and were scanned about 60 min after injection. All patients had a whole body PET/CT performed without IV contrast media followed by a contrast-enhanced CT on the Discovery STe PET/CT scanner. CT data were used for AC and PET images came out after AC. The ROIs drew and measured SUV. A paired t-test of these results was performed to assess the significance of the difference between the SUV obtained from the two attenuation corrected PET images. Results: The mean and maximum Standardized Uptake Values (SUV) for different regions averaged over all Patients. Comparing before using Contrast Media and after using, Most of ROIs have the increased SUV when it did Contrast Enhanced CT compare to Non-Contrast enhanced CT. All regions have increased SUV and also their p value was under 0.05 except the mean SUV of the Heart region. Conclusion: In this regard, the effect on SUV measurements that occurs when a contrast-enhanced CT is used for attenuation correction could have significant clinical ramifications. But some submitted thesis insisted that the percentage change in SUV that can determine or modify clinical management of oncology patients is small. Because there was not much difference that could be discovered by interpreter. But obviously the numerical change was occurred and on the stage finding primary region, small change would be base line, such as the region of liver which has greater change than the other regions needs more attention.

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A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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