• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.3 s.108
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• pp.332-343
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• 2004

This study was conducted to test a possibility of water quality improvement using a filter-feeding bivalve (Corbicula leana). In mesocosm scale (width ${\times}$ length ${\times}$ depth: 3 m ${\times}$ 3 m ${\times}$ 0.5 m), we investigated the changes of dissolved nutrient and particulate matter including both abiotic and biotic seston. Short term (16 days) mesocosm experiment was conducted in two stages: the first stage for 8 days and consecutive 8 days of the second stage. Both treatment and control mesocosm were switched over by translocating mussels from the treatment mesocosm to the control, at 8th days since the start of the experiment. This design made it possible to compare mussel effect on the water quality change more clearly. The high mortality of mussel was observed in the treatment of the first stage, but it decreased rapidly and stabilized on the 8th day to less than< 4 ind $day^{-1}$. Chl. a concentration in the treatment mesocosm of the first and second stage decreased to 71 and 88% of initial concentration, respectively, and suspended solids decreased to 70 and 77%. At those times, average filtering rate were 0.46 and 0.61 mL AFDW $mg^{-1}$ $hr^{-1}$, respectively. Both $NH_3-N$ and dissolved total phosphorus (DTP) concentrations increased with the mussel mortality. $NH_3-N$ concentration was positively correlated with the mussel mortality, while DTP concentration showed negative correlation with it. After translocating mussel from the treatment to the control, $NH_3-N$ concentration significantly increased compared with that of initial control. Although DTP concentration also increased, there was no significant difference relative to that of initial control. These results suggest that application of this filter-feeding bivalve in a eutrophic reservoir could be a potential tool to improve water quality if mussels could acclimatize successfully in early stage of the introduction.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.301-310
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• 2016

This is a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized experiment research to verify the effect of moxibustion therapy on efficient management of daily living disabilities and sleep patterns in elderly women with chronic low back pain. Total 12 sessions of moxibustion therapy were applied to elderly women(30 subjects in an experimental group and 30 subjects in a control group) in G City once a week for 12 weeks from March 15th to May $31^{st}$ 2015. Then the follow-up study was conducted 2 weeks after the post survey. For moxibustion, was applied to Shen-shu, Ashi point, Ta chang shu, Yang kuan and Yosu. 5 sheets of moxibustion were applied to 7 acupuncture points of Mugeukboyang moxibustion; Zu san li & Chu chi, Chung wan, Chung chi & Shui tao, Fei shu, Kao hung and Tien shu, Wijung respectively and experimental treatment was conducted. For assessing the degree of back pain, Visual Analog Scale(VAS) developed by Scott & Huskisson(1979) was used and for measuring the degree of daily living disability, Oswestry Disability Index, which was developed by Fairbank et al(1980) and translated and revised by Yim, Hyeon-sul et al.(1998), was used. For measuring sleep patterns, the sleep pattern measurement tool developed by Oh, Jin-su, Song, Mi-soon and Kim, Sin-mi(1998) was used. For data analysis, SPSS/WIN 18.0 was employed and Chi-square test, t-test and repeated measures ANOVA were performed. There were significant differences in pain score(F=2510.32, p<.001), daily living disability score(F=1937.82, p<.001) and sleep pattern score((F=15.54, p<.001) of elderly women that were provided with moxibustion therapy, compared to the control group. Therefore, it was found that moxibustion therapy made a positive contribution to reduction in pain and daily living disabilities and improvement in sleep quality. Based on this study finding, there is a need to apply moxibustion therapy to elderly people with chronic low back pain as a nursing intervention in future.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2018

Purpose: Blood culture is an essential diagnostic tool and requires clear indications, proper techniques, and quality control. We aimed to investigate whether blood cultures in children are appropriate for indications, are performed correctly, and receive proper quality control. Methods: We conducted an online survey targeting pediatric infectious diseases (ID) specialists working in general hospitals and neonatologists (Neo) working at hospitals operating a neonatal intensive care unit in Korea. Results: Approximately 81.1% (30/37) of pediatric ID specialists and 72.2% (52/72) of Neo responded to the survey. Some of the respondents (33.3% of ID and 59.6% of Neo) performed blood culture as a regular test irrespective of the indication. Approximately 40% of ID and 65.4% of Neo ordered only one set of blood culture in patients suspected with bacteremia. The most commonly used disinfectant for skin preparation was povidone-iodine, while the skin preparation method varied by institution. Approximately two-thirds of the institutions were monitoring the blood culture contamination rate, whereas relatively few provided staff with feedback on that rate. In addition, less than half of the institutions were providing regular staff training on blood culture (40% of ID and 28.8% of Neo). Conclusions: The indication and methods of blood culture for children varied according to institution, and few hospitals exert effort in improving the quality of blood culture. Institutions have to strive constantly toward improvement of blood culture quality and evidence-based recommendations for pediatric blood cultures should be standardized.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2430-2434
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• 2005

Automatic FPC punching instrument for the improvement of working condition and cost saving is introduced in this paper. FPC(flexible printed circuit) is used to detect the contact position of K/B and button like a cellular phone. Depending on the quality of the printed ink and position of reference punching point to the FPC, the resistance and current are varied to the malfunctioning values. The size of reference punching point is 2mm and the above. Because the punching operation is done manually, the accuracy of the punching degree is varied with operator's condition. Recently, The punching accuracy has deteriorated severely to the 2mm punching reference hall so that assembly of the K/B has hardly done. To improve this manual punching operation to the FPC, automatic FPC punching system is introduced. Precise mechanical parts like a 5-step stepping motor and ball screw mechanism are designed and tested and low cost PC camera is used for the sake of cost down instead of using high quality vision systems for the FA. 3D Mechanical design tool(Pro/E) is used to manage the exact tolerance circumstances and avoid design failures. Simulation is performed to make the complete vision based punching machine before assembly, and this procedure led to the manufacturing cost saving. As the image processing algorithms, dilation, erosion, and threshold calculation is applied to obtain an exact center position from the FPC print marks. These image processing algorithms made the original images having various noises have clean binary pixels which is easy to calculate the center position of print marks. Moment and Least square method are used to calculate the center position of objects. In this development circumstance, Moment method was superior to the Least square one at the calculation of speed and against noise. Main control panel is programmed by Visual C++ and graphical Active X for the whole management of vision based automatic punching machine. Operating modes like manual, calibration, and automatic mode are added to the main control panel for the compensation of bad FPC print conditions and mechanical tolerance occurring in the case of punch and die reassembly. Test algorithms and programs showed good results to the designed automatic punching system and led to the increase of productivity and huge cost down to law material like FPC by avoiding bad quality.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1036-1043
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• 2014

The installation of PV system to the power distribution system is being increased as one of solutions for environmental pollution and energy crisis. Because the output efficiency of PV system is getting decreased because of the aging phenomenon and several operation obstacles, the technology development of output prediction and state diagnosis of PV modules are required in order to improve operation performance of PV modules. The conventional methods for output prediction by considering various parameters and standard test condition values of PV modules may have difficult and complex computation procedure and also their prediction values may produce large error. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes an optimal prediction algorithm and state diagnosis algorithm of PV modules by using least square methods of linear regression analysis. In addition, this paper presents a state diagnosis evaluation system of PV modules based on the proposed optimal algorithms of PV modules. From the simulation results of proposed evaluation system, it is confirmed that the proposed algorithms is a practical tool for state diagnosis of PV modules.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.42-57
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• 1998

Background : It is increasing the concern for patient satisfaction as a customer information. This study was planned to investigate the activities related to patient satisfaction survey at the Korean hospitals. Methods : We performed the nationwide survey on 235 general hospitals by using the self-administrated checklist from Sep. 9 to Oct. 9, 1996. The response rate were 50.2%. We analyzed the descriptive statistics and chi-square test by SAS software on 118 hospitals. Results : First of all, 62.7% of study hospitals showed to conduct the patient satisfaction survey, and most of hospitals which did not conduct it had a plan to do it within 5 years. The reason that hospitals did not conduct satisfaction survey was due to a lack of administrator's interest or adequate questionnaire form. Second, the bigger, public and being more located in the big city or opened more than 10 years, the more hospitals conducted the patient satisfaction survey. Also, patient satisfaction survey was mainly handled by planning dept. or administrative team. Third, most hospitals had their own way of making questionnaires without proving reliability and validity. The results of the survey were applied to hospital management timely, and were mostly reported to top manager level. Most CEO concerned about the results of satisfaction survey. Fourth, the staffs in charge of survey had problems such as skill related to data analysis and development of questionnaire and they suggested that this problems could be solved through inducing the implementation of the survey results on hospital management, support for the development of standardized questionnaires and increasing the top manager's interests. Fifth, most questionnaires composed of lots of questioning items on hospital equipments and environment, and kindness of hospital employee to patients. Conclusions : Although this study had some limitations in generalization due to low response rate in big hospitals, it is meaningful to find the present state and the problems related to patient satisfaction survey of the general hospitals. We can conclude that there are increasing the concern for patient satisfaction survey among the hospitals nationwide, and it can be needed for technical support related to development of survey tool or method.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.254-257
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• 2007

TiN coating on tool steel has been widely used for the improvement of durability of tools. In this work, radical nitriding(RN) is carried out on SKD61 at $450^{\circ}C$ for 5 hours in the ammonia gas pressure $2.7{\times}10^3\;Pa$. The TiN coating is carried out by arc ion plating(AIP) with the process parameters: arc power 150 A, bias voltage -50V, coating time 40 minutes and nitrogen gas pressure $4{\times}10^3\;Pa$. Hardness, elastic modulus, friction coefficient and adhesion of TiN coating on substrates of both TiN/SKD61 and TiN/RN SKD61 coatings are investigated comparatively. The primary crystalline faces of TiN surface are(200) and(111) for TiN/SKD61 and TiN/RN SKD61 respectively. In addition to the primary phase, Fe phase exists in TiN/SKD61 coating, but not in TIN/RN SKD61. The hardness of TiN/RN SKD61 is about 700 Hv, 250 Hv(56%) higher than that of TiN/SKD61 at the near interface of TiN and substrates. At the TiN surface, hardness of TiN/RN SKD61 is 2,149 Hv, 71 Hv(3%) higher than that of TiN/SKD61. The elastic modulus of TiN coating is improved to 26.7 GPa(6%) by radical nitriding. The adhesion is improved by the RN coating showing no spalling. buckling and chipping on the scratch test track which are shown on the non-RN TiN/SKD61.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.19 no.2 s.20
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• pp.213-223
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• 1986

Ratio analysis allows a hospital to evaluate its own performance over time and to compare its performance with that of other hospitals. For this study, three types of ratio analysis were conducted based on some data on hospitals in Massachusetts. First, Key ratios influencing financial performance were identified using discriminant analysis. Second, the financial structures of the teaching and the non-teaching hospitals were compared using ratios and multiple comparison method. Third, the effects of the prospective reimbursement law of the state on financial performance were examined using ratios and paired t-test. The purpose of the law is to reduce hospital costs by setting the revenue ceiling prior to the effective budget year. The findings of this study were as follows: 1) When hospitals were divided into three groups, according to their operating income, only profitability ratios showed a consistent difference among the groups. 2) In the discriminant analysis, five ratios were selected: current ratio, operating margin, return on assets, fixed assets turnover, and inventory turnover. They are the key ratios to be monitored periodically for the purpose of evaluating the financial performance of hospitals. 3) When teaching hospitals were compared with non-teaching hospitals, acid ratio, days of cash on hand, and inventory turnover were statistically significant before the law went into effect, whereas only fixed assets turnover and inventory turnover were significant afterward. Contrary to previous studies, profitability ratios of teaching hospitals were higher than those of non-teaching hospitals, although the differences were not statistically significant. 4) When the ratios between the two periods (before and after the law) were compared, three profitability ratios (operating margin, return on assets, and return on equity) were significant for teaching hospitals, whereas three activity ratios (total assets turnover, fixed assets turnover, current assets turnover) were significant for non-teaching hospitals. Furthermore, while both total operating revenue and expenses were decreased, net operating income was increased, due to a greater decrease in total operating expenses. This shows that the law can indeed, simultaneously, achieve both a reduction in costs as well as an improvement in the financial situation of hospitals.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.17-25
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• 2007

Various geotechnical problems due to insufficient bearing capacity or excessive settlement are likely to occur when constructing roads or large complexes on soft ground. Accurate predictions of the magnitude of settlement and the consolidation time provide numerous options of ground improvement methods and, thus, enable to save time and expense of the whole project. Asaoka's method is probably the most frequently used one for settlement prediction and the empirical formulae such as Hyperbolic method and Hoshino's method are also often used. To find an elaborate method of predicting the embankment settlement, two recurrent type neural network models, such as Jordan model and Elman-Jordan model, are adopted. The data sets of settlement measured at several domestic sites are analyzed to obtain the most suitable model structures. It was shown from the comparison between predicted and measured settlements that Jordan model provides better predictions than Elman-Jordan model does and that the predictions using CPT results are more accurate than those using SPT results. It is believed that RNN using cone penetration test results can be a highly efficient tool in predicting settlements if enough field data can be obtained.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.357-365
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of children's robot-based play on sequential thinking through appreciation of picture books. For this purpose, 15 children aged 5 years old in each kindergarten located in Seoul were selected and J kindergarten (experimental group) supported <Picture book appreciation robot play> and C kindergarten (comparison group) supported <Picture book appreciation free play>. In order to examine the difference in play experience between the two groups, the score data before and after play support was collected using the sequential thinking test tool, and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 program to perform ANCOVA (Covariance Analysis). As a result, the experimental group that experienced robot-based play through picture book appreciation showed significant improvement in the total score of sequential thinking and the sub-areas of dynamics, behavior, and intention compared to the control group.The results of this study are valuable as a play study to discover the value of robots as a creative play medium led by young children and to promote sequential thinking ability, which is emphasized as the capacity of future society.