• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2008

Based on the multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT), we present a survey method to measure consumer preferences. The multi-attribute utility theory has been used to make decisions in OR/MS field; however, we show that the method can be effectively used to estimate the demand for new services by measuring individual level utility function. Because conjoint method has been widely used to measure consumer preferences for new products and services, we compare the pros and cons of two consumer preference survey methods. Further, we illustrate how swing weighing method can be effectively used to elicit customer preferences especially for new telecommunications services, Multi-attribute utility theory is a compositional approach for modeling customer preference, in which researchers calculate overall service utility by summing up the evaluation results for each attribute. On the contrary, conjoint method is a decompositional approach, which requires holistic evaluations for profiles. Partworth for each attribute is derived or estimated based on the evaluation, and finally consumer preferences for each profile are calculated. However, if the profiles are quite new and unfamiliar to the survey respondents, they will find it very difficult to accurately evaluate the profiles. We believe that the multi-attribute utility theory-based survey method is more appropriate than the conjoint method, because respondents only need to assess attribute level preferences and not holistic assessment. We chose swing weighting method among many weight assessment methods in multi-attribute utility theory, because it is designed to perform in a simple and fast manner. As illustrated in Clemen and Reilly (2001), to assess swing weights, the first step is to create the worst possible outcome as a benchmark by setting the worst level on each of the attributes. Then, each of the succeeding rows "swings" one of the attributes from worst to best. Upon constructing the swing table, respondents rank order the outcomes (rows). The next step is to rate the outcomes in which the rating for the benchmark is set to be 0 and the rating for the best outcome to be 100, and the ratings for other outcomes are determined in the ranges between 0 and 100. In calculating weight for each attribute, ratings are normalized by the total sum of all ratings. To demonstrate the applicability of the approach, we elicited and analyzed individual-level customer preference for new telecommunication services-WiBro and HSDPA. We began with a randomly selected 800 interviewees, and reduced them to 432 because other remaining ones were related to the people who did not show strong intention for subscription to new telecommunications services. For each combination of content and handset, number of responses which favored WiBro and HSDPA were counted, respectively. It was assumed that interviewee favors a specific service when expected utility is greater than that of competing service(s). Then, the market share of each service was calculated by normalizing the total number of responses which preferred each service. Holistic evaluation of new and unfamiliar service is a tough challenge for survey respondents. We have developed a simple and easy method to assess individual level preference by estimating weight of each attribute. Swing method was applied for this purpose. We believe that estimating individual level preference will be quite flexibly used to predict market performance of new services in many different business environments.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.13-21
• /
• 2014

To quantitatively evaluate the influence of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as a supplementary cementitious material on the life-cycle environmental impact of concrete, a comprehensive database including 3395 laboratory mixes and 1263 plant mixes was analyzed. The life-cycle assesment studied for the environmental impact of concrete can be summarized as follows: 1) the system boundary considered was from cradle to pre-construction; 2) Korea life-cycle inventories were primarily used to assess the environmental loads in each phase of materials, transportation and production of concrete; and 3) the environmental loads were quantitatively converted into environmental impact indicators through categorization, characterization, normalization and weighting process. The life-cycle environmental impacts of concrete could be classified into three categories including global warming, photochemical oxidant creation and abiotic resource depletion. Furthermore, these environmental impacts of concrete was significantly governed by the unit content of ordinary portland cement (OPC) and decreased with the increase of the replacement level of GGBS. As a result, simple equations to assess the environmental impact indicators could be formulated as a function of the unit content of binder and replacement level of GGBS.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.281-290
• /
• 2010

Cone-beam digital tomosynthesis (CBDT) has greatly been paid attention in the image-guided radiation therapy because of its attractive advantages such as low patient dose and less motion artifact. Image quality of tomograms is, however, dependent on the imaging conditions such as the scan angle (${\beta}_{scan}$) and the number of projection views. In this paper, we describe the principle of CBDT based on filtered-backprojection technique and investigate the optimization of imaging conditions. As a system performance, we have defined the figure-of-merit with a combination of signal difference-to-noise ratio, artifact spread function and floating-point operations which determine the computational load of image reconstruction procedures. From the measurements of disc phantom, which mimics an impulse signal and thus their analyses, it is concluded that the image quality of tomograms obtained from CBDT is improved as the scan angle is wider than 60 degrees with a larger step scan angle (${\Delta}{\beta}$). As a rule of thumb, the system performance is dependent on $\sqrt{{\Delta}{\beta}}{\times}{\beta}^{2.5}_{scan}$. If the exact weighting factors could be assigned to each image-quality metric, we would find the better quantitative imaging conditions.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.46 no.5
• /
• pp.479-483
• /
• 2009

Objective : A mouse model of spinal cord injury (SCI) could further increase our basic understanding of the mechanisms involved in injury and repair of the nervous system. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether methods used to produce and evaluate photochemical graded ischemic SCI in rats, could be successfully adapted to mice, in a reliable and reproducible manner. Methods : Thirty female imprinting control region mice (weighting 25-30 g, 8 weeks of age) were used in this study. Following intraperitoneal injection of Rose bengal, the translucent dorsal surface of the T8-T9 vertebral laminae of the mice were illuminated with a fiber optic bundle of a cold light source. The mice were divided into three groups; Group 1 (20 mg/kg Rose bengal, 5 minutes illumination), Group 2 (20 mg/kg Rose bengal, 10 minutes illumination), and Group 3 (40 mg/kg Rose bengal, 10 minutes illumination). The locomotor function, according to the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scale, was assessed at three days after the injury and then once per week for four weeks. The animals were sacrificed at 28 days after the injury, and the histopathology of the lesions was assessed. Results : The mice in group 1 had no hindlimb movement until seven days after the injury. Most mice had later recovery with movement in more than two joints at 28 days after injury. There was limited recovery of one joint, with only slight movement, for the mice in groups 2 and 3. The histopathology showed that the mice in group 1 had a cystic cavity involving the dorsal and partial involvement of the dorsolateral funiculi. A larger cavity, involving the dorsal, dorsolateral funiculi and the gray matter of the dorsal and ventral horns was found in group 2. In group 3, most of the spinal cord was destroyed and only a thin rim of tissue remained. Conclusion : The results of this study show that the photochemical graded ischemic SCI model. described in rats, can be successfully adapted to mice, in a reliable and reproducible manner. The functional deficits are correlated an increase in the irradiation time and, therefore, to the severity of the injury. The photothrombotic model of SCI, in mice with 20 mg/kg Rose bengal for 5 minutes illumination, provides an effective model that could be used in future research. This photochemical model can be used for investigating secondary responses associated with traumatic SCI.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.472-482
• /
• 2017

In this study, discrete mathematical items were classified into analytical items and mathematical items were analyzed on the basis of analytic framework items of mathematics and the past items of mathematics subject contents of the period 2011-2017 school year. First, the discrete mathematics evaluation areas and evaluation contents proposed by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation should be evenly distributed. Second, the items of measuring metacognitive knowledge as a strategic knowledge on the use of cognitive methods should be given. Third, the ratio of the number of items in discrete mathematics to the number of that was 3.8%~6.8%, and the ratio according to the item weighting was 2.2%~6.3%. Fourth, it is analyzed that all the items are suitable for the evaluation goal and the pre-service math teachers who have faithfully implemented the curriculum have maintained the appropriate level of difficulty to solve. Finally, the content items such as the method of counting the discrete mathematics curriculum, the Recurrence Relation, the generation function, and the graph are matched with the teacher certification examination and the mathematics education curriculum of each teachers college. By these reasons, we conclude that the contribution of pre-service teachers to the motivation of learning is obtained and implications.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.836-845
• /
• 2017

Gravimetric method is usually used to evaluate air-dry density, which is governing physical or mechanical properties of wood. Although it had high evaluation accuracy, the method is time consuming process. Thus, this study was conducted to estimate air-dry density of wood with high accuracy by using polychromatic X-ray and digital detector as alternative of gravimetric method. To quantify polychromatic X-ray projection for evaluating air-dry density, Lambert-Beer's law with the integral value of probability function was used. The integral value was used as weighting factor in the law, and it was determined by conducting simple test at various penetration depths and tube voltage. Mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of wood also calculated by investigating polychromatic X-ray projection according to species, penetration depth and tube voltage. The species had not an effect on change of MAC. Finally, an air-dry density of wood was estimated by applying the integral value, MAC and Lambert-Beer's law to polychromatic X-ray projection. As an example, the relation of the integral value (${\alpha}$) according to penetration depth (t, cm) at tube voltage of 35 kV was ${\alpha}=-0.00091t{\times}0.0184$ while the regression of the MAC (${\mu}$, $cm^2/g$) was ${\mu}=0.5414{\exp}(-0.0734t)$. When calculation of root mean squared error (RMSE) was performed to check the estimation accuracy, RMSE at 35, 45 and 55 kV was 0.010, 0.013 and $0.009g/cm^3$, respectively. However, partial RMSE in relation to air-dry density was varied according to tube voltage. The partial RMSE below air-dry density of $0.41g/cm^3$ was $0.008g/cm^3$ when tube voltage of 35 kV was used. Meanwhile, the partial RMSE above air-dry density of $0.41g/cm^3$ decreased as tube voltage increased. It was conclude that the accuracy of estimation with polychromatic X-ray and digital detector was quite high if the integral value and MAC of wood were determined precisely or a condition of examination was chosen properly. It was seemed that the estimation of air-dry density by using polychromatic X-ray system can supplant the gravimetric method.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.1-32
• /
• 2000

It has long been known that SOAT is effective for sudden palpitation occurring unexpectedly in Oriental Medicine. However, effect of SOAT on the isolated heart has not been studied yet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of SOAT on hemodynamics and ECG of isolated rat hearts induced by electrical stimulation using Langendorff perfusion apparatus for nonworking heart. SOAT extract was manufactured by water-alcohol precipitated method. Sprague-Dawley rats weighting $120{\sim}150g$ were used for the experiments, Subject animals were divided into four groups, which are consisted of 1) control(Group orally administered by normal saline 1ml for 14days), 2) sample A(Group orally administered by SOAT extract 1ml for 14days), 3) sample C(Group injected by SOAT extract 0.5ml after stimulation, 4) sample C(Group injected by SOAT extract 1ml after stimulation. To evluate the effects of SOAT on hemodynamics and ECG of isolated rat heart induced by stimulation, heart rate, left ventricular pressure, systolic power, diastolic power, coronary artery perfusion volume and ECG were measured using Langendorff apparatus in both stimulation mode(5 volts, 450 beats/min) and arrythmic mode(5 volts, 420 beats/min including 60 beats/min) The results obtained are as follows : 1. After receiving stressful electrical stimuli, isolated heart showed the heart rate, left ventricular pressure, systolic power, diastolic power, coronary artery perfusion volume were all decreased temporarily, but perfusion continued longer recovery to the control state appeared. However, the coronary artery perfusion volume diminished continuously. 2. The heart rates did not change significantly with both stimulation mode and arrhythmic mode, among experimental groups. 3. The left ventricular pressure showed with both stimulation mode and arrhythmic mode, the significant changes(p<0.05) especially in the injection sample group. In case of stimulation mode, low concentration injection group(0.5ml) was more significantly increased rather than high concentration group(1ml) and in case of arrhythmic mode, high density group(1ml) was so increased than the other(0.5ml). 4. For the systolic power and diastolic power, no significant changes were noticed in the stimulation mode, but in the arrhythmic mode of injection sample groups, significant change(p<0.05) was noticed in both systolic power and diastolic power. Specially the high concentration group(1ml) showed more significant increase than the low concentration group. 5. For the coronary artery perfusion volume, no significant change difference among sample groups was observed in both the stimulation mode and the arrhythmic mode. 6. For the ECG recordings, arrhythmia was induced by electrical stimulus of arrythmia mode and after the stimulus was removed, irregular wave appeared temporarily, but as perpusion continued, recovery to the control state was abtained like the stimulation mode. According to the above results, SOAT significantly changed the hemodynamic data from the electrically stressed, isolated hearts of connected Langendorff perfusion apparatus and we propose SOAT has the direct effects on the muscular function of heart.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.22-38
• /
• 2012

Adaptation of climate change is necessary to avoid unexpected impacts of climate change caused by human activities. Vulnerability refers to the degree to which system cannot cope with impacts of climate change, encompassing physical, social and economic aspects. Therefore the quantification of climate change impacts and its vulnerability is needed to identify vulnerable regions and to setup the proper strategies for adaptation. In this study, climate change vulnerability is defined as a function of climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Also, we identified regions vulnerable to ozone due to climate change in Korea using developed proxy variables of vulnerability of regional level. 18 proxy variables are selected through delphi survey to assess vulnerability over human health sector for ozone concentration change due to climate change. Also, we estimate the weighting score of proxy variables from delphi survey. The results showed that the local regions with higher vulnerability index in the sector of human health are Seoul and Daegu, whereas regions with lower one are Jeollanam-do, Gyeonggi-do, Gwangju, Busan, Daejeon, and Gangwon-do. The regions of high level vulnerability are mainly caused by their high ozone exposure. We also assessed future vulnerability according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2, A1FI, A1T, A1B, B2, and B1 scenarios in 2020s, 2050s and 2100s. The results showed that vulnerability increased in all scenarios due to increased ozone concentrations. Especially vulnerability index is increased by approximately 2 times in A1FI scenarios in the 2020s. This study could support regionally adjusted adaptation polices and the quantitative background of policy priority as providing the information on the regional vulnerability of ozone due to climate change in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.96-104
• /
• 2001

Usage of ecosystem models has been extended to landscape scales for understanding the effects of environmental factors on natural and agro-ecosystems and for serving as their management decision tools. Accurate prediction of spatial variation in daily temperature is required for most ecosystem models to be applied to landscape scales. There are relatively few empirical evaluations of landscape-scale temperature prediction techniques in mountainous terrain such as Korean Peninsula. We derived a periodic function of seasonal lapse rate fluctuation from analysis of elevation effects on daily temperatures. Observed daily maximum and minimum temperature data at 63 standard stations in 1999 were regressed to the latitude, longitude, distance from the nearest coastline and altitude of the stations, and the optimum models with $r^2$ of 0.65 and above were selected. Partial regression coefficients for the altitude variable were plotted against day of year, and a numerical formula was determined for simulating the seasonal trend of daily lapse rate, i.e., partial regression coefficients. The formula in conjunction with an inverse distance weighted interpolation scheme was applied to predict daily temperatures at 267 sites, where observation data are available, on randomly selected dates for winter, spring and summer in 2000. The estimation errors were smaller and more consistent than the inverse distance weighting plus mean annual lapse rate scheme. We conclude that this method is simple and accurate enough to be used as an operational temperature interpolation scheme at landscape scale in Korea and should be applicable to elsewhere.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.417-423
• /
• 2014

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between prosthetic status and health related quality of elderly by using EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) which is a standardized instrument used as a measure of health outcome. Data from 1,179 elderly subjects (over 65 years old) from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used in our analysis. Oral examination were conducted to obtain wearing prosthetic and needed prosthetic. EQ-5D is a widely used health condition measuring instrument. It consists of the five dimensions: Mobility, Self-care, Usual activities, Pain/discomfort and Anxiety/depression. EQ-5D index is a score calculated out of a weighting system. In this study, the mean score of the EQ-5D index among the elderly was 0.86. For EQ-5D index gender, female showed statistically significantly lower quality of life than male. The related factors EQ-5D index, when the lower demand for fixed prosthodontics and full denture. Wearers in partial and complete denture than non-wearers showed higher EQ-5D index. In order to improve EQ-5D index among the elderly who demand prosthetic status, which has lost its function through providing proper dental prostheses.