• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.311-318
• /
• 1996

Mycoplasmas have long been suspected of contributing to involuntary infertility in couples. However considerable disagreement exits concerning the role of genital mycoplasma infection in human infertility. Several investigators have noted abnormalities in the semen analysis of men with positive mycoplasma cultures, and early epidemiologic studies indicated that Ureaplasma urealyticum was linked to human reproductive failure on the basis of higher frequencies of isolation from infertile versus fertile couples and successful pregnancies in infertile couples after doxycycline therapy. However, subsequent investigators have questioned these findings because there are many studies in which treatment for mycoplasma in the male or female did not demonstrate an improved pregnancy rate, and semen samples from unexplained infertile men containing ureaplasmas have not revealed poorer motility, fewer spermatozoa and more aberrant forms. The objective of this study were to investigate the incidence rate of mycoplasma in semen and to investigate whether the presence of mycoplasma in semen makes significant difference to the semen volume, sperm motility and sperm counts. The results were that the rate of isolation of mycoplasma species was 70.3%. Semen volume is $2.84{\pm}1.01ml$ for culture negative and $3.15{\pm}1.42ml$ for culture positive group. Sperm motility is $46.23{\pm}15.80%$ for culture negative and $50.09{\pm}15.69%$ for culture positive group, and sperm count is $95.47{\pm}47.14({\times}(P)10^6/ml)$ for culture negative and $86.73{\pm}47.59({\times}10^6/ml)$ for culture positive group. In conclusion, we suggest that the presence of mycoplasma in semen makes no significant differences to the sperm parameters.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.60-67
• /
• 2020

Purpose: We performed three-dimensional (3D) dose reconstruction-based pretreatment verification to evaluate gamma analysis acceptance criteria in volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for prostate cancer. Materials and Methods: Pretreatment verification for 28 VMAT plans for prostate cancer was performed using the COMPASS system with a dolphin detector. The 3D reconstructed dose distribution of the treatment planning system calculation (TC) was compared with that of COMPASS independent calculation (CC) and COMPASS reconstruction from the dolphin detector measurement (CR). Gamma results (gamma failure rate and average gamma value [GFR and γAvg]) and dose-volume histogram (DVH) deviations, 98%, 2% and mean dose-volume difference (DD_98%, DD_2% and DD_mean), were evaluated. Gamma analyses were performed with two acceptance criteria, 2%/2 mm and 3%/3 mm. Results: The GFR in 2%/2 mm criteria were less than 8%, and those in 3%/3 mm criteria were less than 1% for all structures in comparisons between TC, CC, and CR. In the comparison between TC and CR, GFR and γAvg in 2%/2 mm criteria were significantly higher than those in 3%/3 mm criteria. The DVH deviations were within 2%, except for DD_mean (%) for rectum and bladder. Conclusions: The 3%/3 mm criteria were not strict enough to identify any discrepancies between planned and measured doses, and DVH deviations were less than 2% in most parameters. Therefore, gamma criteria of 2%/2 mm and DVH related parameters could be a useful tool for pretreatment verification for VMAT in prostate cancer.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.22-28
• /
• 2014

To enhance productivity and provide high quality production material in a GMA welding process, weld quality, productivity and cost reduction affects the number of process variables. In addition, a reliable welding process and conditions must be implemented to reduce weld structure failure. In various industries the welding process mathematical model is not fully formulated for the process parameter and on the welding conditions, therefore only partial variables can be predicted. The research investigates the interaction between the welding parameters (welding speed, distance between electrodes, and flow rate of shielding gas) and bead geometry for predicting the weld bead geometry (bead width, bead height). Taguchi techniques are applied to bead shape to develope curve equation for predicting the optimized process parameters and quality characteristics by analyzing the S/N ratio. The experimental results and measured error is within the range of 10% presenting satisfactory accuracy. The curve equation was developed in such a way that you can predict the bead geometry of constructed machinery that can be used for making tandem welding process.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.809-815
• /
• 2011

An experimental investigations on the bond-slip properties of the steel and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer(GFRP) bars in engineered cementitious composite (ECC) with Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) fibers are presented. Total of 8 beam specimens prepared according to the Rilem procedures with 2% of PVA and PE fiber volume percentage and steel and GFRP reinforcements significantly changed the failure mechanism and slightly improved bond strength. The main objective of the tests was to evaluate the load versus displacement and load versus slip behaviors and the bond strength for the following parameters: concrete type (normal and fiber concrete) and bar diameter (10 and 13 mm). The study results showed that ordinary concrete and ECC specimens showed similar behavior for steel reinforced specimen. However, GFRP reinforced specimen showed different behavior that the steel specimen. The code analytical results showed more accuracy compared to the experimental results as expected in conservative code provisions. Based on the obtained results, it is safe to conclude that the new parameters need to be adopted to ensure safe usage of ECC for construction applications.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.172-179
• /
• 2016

For an evaluation of service life in RC(Reinforced Concrete) structures, deterministic method and probabilistic method considering random variables of design parameters are usually adopted. In the work, surface chloride contents which vary with distance from sea shore and height are investigated from the previous research literature surveys, and they are considered for service life estimation. Through the analysis, the probabilistic method shows much lower results, which is due to variations of design parameters and very low intended durability failure. In the deterministic method, the structures within 250m and higher than 60m are evaluated to be free from chloride attack. In the probabilistic method, those higher than 60m in all the region and higher than 40m and 250m from sea shore are evaluated to satisfy the service life.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.181-194
• /
• 1999

Both the chemical components and the physical and mechanical properties of the compacted and undisturbed weathered granite soils were estimated to investigate the influences of the degree of weathering and saturation on the shear strength. The weathered granite soils used in this study were taken from six different sites in Korea. The results showed that the shear strength of weathered granite soil decreased with increasing the degree of weathering and saturation. Under the normal stresses less that 40kPa, the shape of Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope followed curved or hyperbolic relationship and a half of cohesion value obtained by the common shear test was observed. Using the Sueoka's method, the values of CWI were ranged from 21.5 to 31.26 which can be characterized as a completely weathered granite soil. Large decrease in shear strength and remarkable variation in dilatancy were observed in saturated granite soil compared to unsaturated soil. It was also found that the shear strength of undisturbed weathered granite soil of Pungam site can be expressed approximately by the equation of ${(\tau)_{sat}= 1.0(\tau)_{unsat}-12.48}$ and this equation can be extended to the other sites considered in this study.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.805-814
• /
• 1994

In this paper, we introduce a new method which is available for analyzing the throughput of the packet radio network by using the auxiliary Markov transient matrix with a failure state and a success state. And we consider the effect of symbol error for the network state(X, R) consisted of the number of transmitting PRU X and receiving PRU R. We examine the packet radio network of a continuous time Markov chain model, and the direct sequence binary phase shift keying CDMA radio channel with hard decision Viterbi decoding and bit-by-bit changing spreading code. For the unslotted distributed multi-hop packet radio network, we assume that the packet error due to a symbol error of radio channel has Poisson process, and the time period of an error occurrence is exponentially distributed. Through the throughputs which are found as a function of radio channel parameters, such as the received signal to noise ratio and chips of spreading code per symbol, and of network parameters, such as the number of PRU and offered traffic rate, it is shown that this composite analysis enables us to combine the Markovian packet radio network model with a coded DS/BPSK CDMA radio channel.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.493-500
• /
• 2014

This paper presents findings from the assessment of the volcanic ash fragility for multi-hazard resisting vinyl greenhouse and livestock shed among the agricultural facilities. The volcanic ash fragility was evaluated by using a combination of the FOSM (first-order second-moment) method, available statistics of volcanic load, facility specifications, and building code. In this study, the evaluated volcanic ash fragilities represent the conditional probability of failure of the agricultural facilities over the full range of volcanic ash loads. For the evaluation, 6 types(ie., 2 single span, 2 tree crop, and 2 double span types) of multi-hazard resisting vinyl greenhouses and 3 types(ie., standard, coast, and mountain types) of livestock sheds are considered. All volcanic ash fragilities estimated in this study were fitted by using parameters of the GEV(generalized extreme value) distribution function, and the obtained parameters were complied into a database to be used in future. The volcanic ash fragilities obtained in this study are planning to be used to evaluate risk by volcanic ash when Mt. Baekdu erupts.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.79-96
• /
• 2005

The use of high-strength concrete (HSC) has significantly increased over the last decade, especially in offshore structures, long-span bridges, and tall buildings. The behavior of such concrete is noticeably different from that of normal-strength concrete (NSC) due to its different microstructure and mode of failure. In particular, the shear capacity of structural members made of HSC is a concern and must be carefully evaluated. The shear fracture surface in HSC members is usually trans-granular (propagates across coarse aggregates) and is therefore smoother than that in NSC members, which reduces the effect of shear transfer mechanisms through aggregate interlock across cracks, thus reducing the ultimate shear strength. Current code provisions for shear design are mainly based on experimental results obtained on NSC members having compressive strength of up to 50MPa. The validity of such methods to calculate the shear strength of HSC members is still questionable. In this study, a new approach based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used to predict the shear capacity of NSC and HSC beams without shear reinforcement. Shear capacities predicted by the ANN model were compared to those of five other methods commonly used in shear investigations: the ACI method, the CSA simplified method, Response 2000, Eurocode-2, and Zsutty's method. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the ability of ANNs to capture the effect of main shear design parameters (concrete compressive strength, amount of longitudinal reinforcement, beam size, and shear span to depth ratio) on the shear capacity of reinforced NSC and HSC beams. It was found that the ANN model outperformed all other considered methods, providing more accurate results of shear capacity, and better capturing the effect of basic shear design parameters. Therefore, it offers an efficient alternative to evaluate the shear capacity of NSC and HSC members without stirrups.

• Survey Research
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.19-41
• /
• 2010

Although it is possible to provide statistically reliable estimators of the entire population parameters based on each independent rolling sample, estimators of the small areas may not have the required statistical efficiency. Thus, in general, small area estimators are calculated based on the combined rolling sample after entire rolling sample survey is finished. In this study, we considered the construction of weights that is necessary in the analysis of the combined rolling sample. Unlike the past studies that provided the empirical results for the corresponding specific rolling sample survey, we considered linear models that depends only on design variables and rolling period and provided the corresponding Best Linear Unbiased Predictor(BLUP). Through a simulation study, we proposed the estimators for the population parameters that are robust to model failure and the BLUP under the assumed model. The results are applied to the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.