• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.585-590
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• 2024

In this study, rail surface defects are increasing due to the aging of urban railway rails, but in the detailed guidelines for track performance evaluation established by the country, rail surface damage is inspected with the naked eye of engineers and simple measuring tools. With the recent enactment of the Track Diagnosis Act, a large budget has been invested and the volume of rail diagnosis is rapidly increasing, but it is difficult to secure the reliability of diagnosis results using labor-intensive visual inspection techniques. It is very important to discover defects in the rail surface through periodic track tours and visual inspection. However, evaluating the severity of defects on the rail surface based on the subjective judgment of the inspector has significant limitations in predicting damage inside the rail. In this study, the rail internal crack characteristics due to rail surface damage were studied. In field measurements, rail surface damage locations were selected, samples of various damage types were collected, and the rail surface damage status was evaluated. In indoor testing, we intend to analyze the correlation between rail surface defects and internal defects using a electron scanning microscope (SEM). To determine the crack growth rate of urban railway rails currently in use, the Gaussian probability density function was applied and analyzed.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.467-476
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• 2023

Schisandra chinensis (S. chinensis) is a deciduous broad-leaved cave plant belonging to the Schisandraceae family and is widely distributed in East Asia including Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. It has been reported that the main components contained in S. chinensis include lignan compounds and triterpenoid compounds. To distinguish the characteristics of S. chinensis by production region of Korea, a discriminant was established by performing metabolite profiling and principal component analysis, a multivariate statistical analysis technique. As a result, 16 types of triterpenoids, 9 types of lignan, and 1 type each of flavonoid, phenylpropanoid, and fatty acid were identified. In addition, through multivariate statistical analysis, it was confirmed that the four groups in Danyang, Moongyeong, Geochang, and Pyeongchang were divided, by applying the s-plot model of orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. Biomarkers were identified: lanostane, cycloartane, schiartane triterpenoid, and dibenzocyclo-octadiene lignan were identified as chemical markers, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4274-4281
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• 2023

Blanket is of vital importance for engineering application of the fusion reactor. Nuclear heat deposition in materials is the main heat source in blanket structure. In this paper, the three-dimensional method for thermal-hydraulics/neutronics coupling analysis is developed and applied for the full-scale module of the helium-cooled ceramic breeder tritium breeding blanket (HCCB TBB) designed for China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). The explicit coupling scheme is used to support data transfer for coupling analysis based on cell-to-cell mapping method. The coupling algorithm is realized by the user-defined function compiled in Fluent. The three-dimensional model is established, and then the coupling analysis is performed using the paralleled Coupling Analysis of Thermal-hydraulics and Neutronics Interface Code (CATNIC). The results reveal the relatively small influence of the coupling analysis compared to the traditional method using the radial fitting function of internal heat source. However, the coupling analysis method is quite important considering the nonuniform distribution of the neutron wall loading (NWL) along the poloidal direction. Finally, the structure optimization of the blanket is carried out using the coupling method to satisfy the thermal requirement of all materials. The nonlinear effect between thermal-hydraulics and neutronics is found during the blanket structure optimization, and the tritium production performance is slightly reduced after optimization. Such an adverse effect should be thoroughly evaluated in the future work.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.531-550
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• 2023

Purpose: The unique nature of life-and-death healthcare services sets them apart from other service industries. While many studies exist on the relationship between healthcare services and customer satisfaction, most of them focus on mildly ill patients, ignoring the differences between critically ill and non-seriously ill patients. This study discusses the actual quality of healthcare services for patients who are facing life-threatening illnesses and are on life support, as well as their right to protection and dignity. Methods: The survey conducted to 149 patients with the four major illnesses: cancer, heart disease, brain disease and rare and incurable disease, those who have experiences with senior general hospitals. Results: The basic statistics of this study are adequate to represent the four major critical illnesses, and the reliability and validity of this study's hypotheses, which were measured by multiple items, were analyzed, and the internal consistency was judged to be high. In addition, it was found that the convergent validity was good and the discriminant validity was also secured. When examining the goodness of fit of the hypotheses, the SRMR, which is the standardized root mean square of residuals that measures the difference between the covariance matrix of the data variables and the theoretical covariance matrix structure of the model, met the optimal criteria. Conclusion: The academic implications of this study are differentiated from other studies by moving away from evaluating the quality of healthcare services for mildly ill patients and focusing on the rights and dignity of patients with life-threatening illnesses in four senior general hospitals. In terms of academic implications, this study enriches the depth of related studies by demonstrating the right to protection and dignity as a factor of patient-centeredness based on physical environment quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality, which are presented as sub-factors of healthcare quality. We found that the three quality factors classified by Brady and Cronin (2001) are optimized for healthcare quality assessment and management, and that the results of patients' interaction quality assessment can be used to provide a comprehensive quality rating for hospitals. Health and human rights are inextricably linked, so assessing the degree to which rights and dignity are protected can be a superior and more comprehensive measurement tool than traditional health level measures for healthcare organizations. Practical implications: Improving the quality of the physical environment and the quality of outcomes is an important challenge for hospital managers who attract patients with life and death conditions, but given the scale and economics of time, money, and human inputs, improving the quality of interactions and defining them as performance indicators in hospital quality management is an efficient way to create maximum value in the short term.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2024

In this study, vinyl waste, which is the cause of environmental pollution, is recycled via an electrospinning method and applied as a separator that can be employed for energy storage devices. In detail, vinyl wastes are dissolved in a solution containing p-xylene and cyclohexanone, followed by electrospinning to obtain a vinyl waste-derived separator(VWS), and then the hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of VWS are introduced using a plasma treatment to improve wettability. Scanning electron microscopy analysis have verified that the shape and thickness of as-spun VWS vary depending on the concentration of vinyl waste. The surface hydrophility of VWS is modified by plasma treatment with applied powers ranging from 80 to 120W. The lowest contact angle is observed when the 100W power is applied to VWS(VWS-100W). In electrochemical analysis, the VWS-100W-based supercapacitor device shows the highest specific capacitance of 57.9 F g^-1. This is ascribed to the high porosity achieved by electrospinning as well as the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups by the oxygen plasma treatment. In conclusion, vinyl waste is successfully recycled into separators for energy storage devices, suggesting a new way to reduce environmental pollution.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.81-95
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• 2024

This study empirically analyzed the effectiveness of government financial support policies for venture enterprises in the Daejeon region, using raw data obtained from the Small and Medium Venture Business Administration's survey results from 2016 to 2021. Daejeon, considering its economic significance, has a significant proportion of venture enterprises in its economy compared to the national average, with a focus on technological development. Conducting regression analysis yielded several key findings. Firstly, loan and guarantee support is effective for improving sales and market share, while R&D support is effective for technological development. Second, R&D and loan support have the most significant impact on sales in the fourth stage (maturity), while guarantee support is most influential in the third stage. Third, in industry analysis, the coefficients representing the effects of financial support were larger across all performance indicators compared to firm level data analysis. Based on these empirical analysis results, the study proposes several policy implications as follows. First, the government should actively provide funding support to venture companies rather than leaving investments to the capital market. Second, the methods and targets of funding support should vary according to the purpose of the support. Third, it is necessary to establish a platform that connects venture companies with private investors to commercialize developed technologies. Fourth, the funding support of venture capital for technology-intensive venture companies should be expanded.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.38-47
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• 2024

Molybdenite is the primary molybdenum resource and is extracted via flotation due to its unique hydrophobic surface. Meanwhile, the grade and crystal size of mined molybdenite are decreasing. As a result, the size of the molybdenum ore required for liberation is decreasing, and the flotation process's feed size input is also decreasing. Therefore, in order to secure molybdenum, it is necessary to perform research on the flotation for the fine molybdenite. In this study, we developed a method to enhance the flotation efficiency of fine molybdenite particles in the range of 5-30 ㎛. The methodology involved implementing bubble size reduction and particle aggregation. Through simulations of bubble-particle collision probability and flotation experiments, we were able to find the ranges of bubble size and particle aggregate size that make fine particles float more effectively. This range provided the conditions for effective flotation of fine molybdenite particles. Therefore, we will implement the flotation conditions established in this study for fine molybdenum ore to improve the flotation process in molybdenum mineral processing plants in the future.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.48-66
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• 2024

According to the three amended Laws of the Data Economy and the Data Industry Act of Korea, systems for pseudonymous data integration and Data Safe Zones have been operated separately by selected agencies, eventually causing a burden of use in SMEs, startups, and general users because of complicated and ineffective procedures. An over-stringent pseudonymization policy to prevent data breaches has also compromised data quality. Such trials should be improved to ensure the convenience of use and data quality. This paper proposes a prototype system of the Integrated Data Safe Zone based on redesigned and optimized pseudonymization workflows. Conventional workflows of pseudonymization were redesigned by applying the amended guidelines and selectively revising existing guidelines for business process redesign. The proposed prototype has been shown quantitatively to outperform the conventional one: 6-fold increase in time efficiency, 1.28-fold in cost reduction, and 1.3-fold improvement in data quality.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.327-340
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• 2024

Purpose: Results of initial endoscopic biopsy of gastric lesions often differ from those of the final pathological diagnosis. We evaluated whether an artificial intelligence-based gastric lesion detection and diagnostic system, ENdoscopy as AI-powered Device Computer Aided Diagnosis for Gastroscopy (ENAD CAD-G), could reduce this discrepancy. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively collected 24,948 endoscopic images of early gastric cancers (EGCs), dysplasia, and benign lesions from 9,892 patients who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy between 2011 and 2021. The diagnostic performance of ENAD CAD-G was evaluated using the following real-world datasets: patients referred from community clinics with initial biopsy results of atypia (n=154), participants who underwent endoscopic resection for neoplasms (Internal video set, n=140), and participants who underwent endoscopy for screening or suspicion of gastric neoplasm referred from community clinics (External video set, n=296). Results: ENAD CAD-G classified the referred gastric lesions of atypia into EGC (accuracy, 82.47%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 76.46%-88.47%), dysplasia (88.31%; 83.24%-93.39%), and benign lesions (83.12%; 77.20%-89.03%). In the Internal video set, ENAD CAD-G identified dysplasia and EGC with diagnostic accuracies of 88.57% (95% CI, 83.30%-93.84%) and 91.43% (86.79%-96.07%), respectively, compared with an accuracy of 60.71% (52.62%-68.80%) for the initial biopsy results (P<0.001). In the External video set, ENAD CAD-G classified EGC, dysplasia, and benign lesions with diagnostic accuracies of 87.50% (83.73%-91.27%), 90.54% (87.21%-93.87%), and 88.85% (85.27%-92.44%), respectively. Conclusions: ENAD CAD-G is superior to initial biopsy for the detection and diagnosis of gastric lesions that require endoscopic resection. ENAD CAD-G can assist community endoscopists in identifying gastric lesions that require endoscopic resection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.105-115
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• 2024

In coastal structure design incorporating revetments, the assessment of wave overtopping discharge relies on hydraulic model experiments. Numerous empirical formulas have been developed to predict overtopping discharge based on quantitative data from these experiments. Typically, for revetment structures aimed at mitigating wave overtopping, crest height is determined by considering the maximum amplitude of the design wave, resulting in a relatively high freeboard compared to wave heights. However, achieving complete prevention of all wave overtopping would require the crown wall to have substantial crest heights, rendering it economically impractical. Therefore, the concept of limiting discharge has been introduced in the design of revetment structures, aiming to restrict wave overtopping discharge to an acceptable level. Consequently, many coastal structures in real-world settings feature relatively lower freeboard heights than incident wave heights. This study investigated wave overtopping discharge on rubble-mound breakwaters with relatively low freeboard heights through hydraulic model experiments. Furthermore, it conducted a comparative analysis of the predictive capabilities of existing empirical formulas for estimating overtopping discharge using experimental data.