• Title/Summary/Keyword: pre-feasibility evaluation

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Evaluation of Computer-Assisted Quantitative Volumetric Analysis for Pre-Operative Resectability Assessment of Huge Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  • Tang, Jian-Hua;Yan, Fu-Hua;Zhou, Mei-Ling;Xu, Peng-Ju;Zhou, Jian;Fan, Jia
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.3045-3050
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: Hepatic resection is arguably the preferred treatment for huge hepatocellular carcinoma (H-HCC). Estimating the remnant liver volume is therefore essential. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using computer-assisted volumetric analysis for this purpose. Methods: The study involved 40 patients with H-HCC. Laboratory examinations were conducted, and a contrast CT-scan revealed that 30 cases out of the participating 40 had single-lesion tumors. The remaining 10 had less than three satellite tumors. With the consensus of the team, two physicians conducted computer-assisted 3D segmentation of the liver, tumor, and vessels in each case. Volume was automatically computed from each segmented/labeled anatomical field. To estimate the resection volume, virtual lobectomy was applied to the main tumor. A margin greater than 1 cm was applied to the satellite tumors. Resectability was predicted by computing a ratio of functional liver resection (R) as (Vresected-Vtumor)/(Vtotal-Vtumor) x 100%, applying a threshold of 50% and 60% for cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic cases, respectively. This estimation was then compared with surgical findings. Results: Out of the 22 patients who had undergone hepatectomies, only one had an R that exceeded the threshold. Among the remaining 18 patients with non-resectable H-HCC, 12 had Rs that exceeded the specified ratio and the remaining 6 had Rs that were < 50%. Four of the patients who had Rs less than 50% underwent incomplete surgery due to operative findings of more extensive satellite tumors, vascular invasion, or metastasis. The other two cases did not undergo surgery because of the high risk involved in removing the tumor. Overall, the ratio of functional liver resection for estimating resectability correlated well with the other surgical findings. Conclusion: Efficient pre-operative resectability assessment of H-HCC using computer-assisted volumetric analysis is feasible.

Feasibility Study of Credit Rating Upgrading through Technology Evaluation of SMEs (중소기업의 기술력평가를 통한 신용등급 상향의 타당성 연구)

  • Kim, Jaechun;Son, Seokhyun
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.129-149
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    • 2018
  • Technology finance is an area in which financial authorities have introduced and implemented a strong policy will for the advancement of the financial industry and the development of SMEs. As a result, the Bank's own technology evaluation was conducted from September 2016. Technically superior companies are upgrading their credit ratings, and as a result, they benefit from financial transactions as much as their higher credit ratings through technology evaluation. Based on the data generated during this process, we analyze the degree to which credit ratings was upgraded by technology evaluation. The pre study handles 406 data from KEB Hana Bank's technology evaluation conducted in the second half of 2016. As a result of combining the credit rating with the calculated technology rating, J58 'Publishing Activities' technology-credit rating is raised by 1.05 rating, which is the highest, and C10 'Manufacture of Food Products' is the second highest. As a result, we were able to identify the sectors that benefited from the technology evaluation and confirmed the usefulness of technology evaluation by industry(KSIC). To expanding the study, 2,719 companies evaluated during the entire period were analyzed by technology grade, business experience and promising growth industry code. As a result of the analysis, technological power over T-4 grade companies had the highest credit rating upgrades. The companies belonging to promising growth industries designated for efficiency of policy support, it is confirm that the support of the promising business type was useful because the credit grade was upgraded through technology evaluation. The validity of the technology evaluation based on the five-year business experience was found to be insignificant. In the future, it will be possible to maximize the support effect by concentration on the companies with over T-4 grade and growth potential companies when supporting SMEs.

A Study on the Feasibility Evaluation of Overseas Wind Power Projects with RETScreen Software (RETScreen를 활용한 풍력발전사업의 투자 적절성 평가 사례 연구)

  • Lee, Ju-Su;Choi, Bong Seok;Lee, Hwa-Su;Jeon, Eui Chan
    • Journal of Climate Change Research
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.105-114
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    • 2013
  • Recently, foreign direct investment of Korea has increased significantly. Foreign direct investment is motivated by various reasons and renewable energy investments in foreign countries can be performed by many causes. Korean companies can enjoy the export of products, related EPC contracts, acquisition of the knowledge of the project management technique, pre-occupying effect of the market and profit itself. Wind power projects have biggest share in the investment amounts among the renewable energy business. So, in this study, one wind farm project was selected and supposed to be invested in China, USA, Germany and UK at the same time and the effect of electricity price, corporate income tax, inflation rate and interest rate of debt were analyzed. The result showed that investing in Germany is most profitable because of the highest electricity price and electricity price and debt interest rate are the most sensitive factors for IRR. This approach would be helpful to make decisions in investing foreign wind power projects.

A vision and strategy for developing virtual construction system (가상 건설 시스템 비전과 구축 방향)

  • Choi, Cheol-Ho;Chin, Sang-Yoon;Kim, Jae-Jun;Shin, Hyun-Mock;Lee, Kwang-Myong;Yoon, Su-Won
    • Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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    • 2007.04a
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    • pp.62-67
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    • 2007
  • The research team for the virtual construction development was established with the support of Korea Ministry of Construction and Transportation, and KICTEP (Korea Institute of Construction and Transportation Technology Evaluation and Planning). Its aims are to develop system that is to improve productivity & quality, to create a higher value-added business, and to cultivate international competitiveness in the construction industry. The virtual construction system is a design, engineering, and construction management information system that allows the project participants to effectively share the information throughout the construction life cycle with the support of 3D and design information. To achieve this, the research team focuses on developing several systems. First, the team focuses on developing for the pre-planning, the structural engineering, MEP, and the 3D based estimation system. Second, they focus on developing a simulation system for the construction process planning and feasibility study with help of the virtual reality technologies. Third, they focus on developing the CPLM (Construction Project Life-cycle Management) system for managing construction project data, and the decision support system that makes the collaboration among the project participants based on 3D technologies and information. We also focus on developing the SDAI (Standard Data Access Interface), the localized guideline for 3D design, and a training program. In addition, we focus on developing the undeveloped area of the commercial system and building an environment that can support the communication and collaboration in the construction life-cycle rather than developing the existing and commercialized system.

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A Study on the Evaluation of Service Quality Index for International Airport Using MCJ (MCJ를 이용한 공항서비스 품질지수 평가에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Seung-Chang;Lee, Gang-Seok
    • Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.45-54
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    • 2005
  • The main purpose of this study is located at developing Ominibus Monitoring System(OMS) for the purpose of the internal management, which enable to establish job standards, find out matters to be improved, and appreciate for its treatment in a systematic way. It is through developing subjective or objective estimation tool with use of importance, perceived level, and complex index at international airport by each principal service items, The direction of this study came towards for the purpose of developing a metric analysis tool, utilizing the Quantitative Secondary Data, Analysing Perceived Data through airport user surveys, systemizing the data collection-input-analysis process, making data image according to the graph of results, planning service encounter and endowing control attribution, and ensuring competitiveness at the minimal international standards. It is much important to set up a pre-investigation plan on the base of existent foreign literature and actual inspection to international airport. Two tasks have been executed together on the base of this pre-investigation; one is developing subjective estimation standards for departing party, entering party, and airport residence and the other is developing objective standards as complementary methods. The study has processed for the monitoring services at airports regularly and irregularly through developing software system for operating standards after ensuring credibility and feasibility of estimation standards with substantial and statistical way.

Development and Evaluation of a Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) Scale for Breast Cancer

  • Zhang, Jun;Yao, Yu-Feng;Zha, Xiao-Ming;Pan, Li-Qun;Bian, Wei-He;Tang, Jin Hai
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.18
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    • pp.8573-8578
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    • 2016
  • Background: This study was guided by principles of the theoretical system of evidence-based medicine. In particular, when searching for evidence of breast cancer, a measuring scale is an instrument for evaluating curative effects in accordance with the laws and characteristics of medicine and exploring the establishment of a system for medically assessing curative effects. At present, there exist few tools for evaluating curative effects. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) refer to outcomes directly reported by patients (without input or explanations from doctors or other intermediaries) with respect to all aspects of their health. Data obtained from PROs provide evidence of treatment effects. Materials and Methods: In accordance with the tenets of theoretical medicine and ancient medical theory regarding breast cancer, principles for developing a PRO scale were established, and a theoretical model was developed and a literature review was performed, items from this pool were combined and split, and an initial scale was constructed. After a pilot survey and additional modifications, a pre-questionnaire scale was formed and used in a field investigation. After the application of statistical methods, the item pool was used to create a formal scale. The reliability, validity and feasibility of this formal scale were then assessed. Results: In a clinical investigation, 479 responses were recovered, with an acceptance rate of 95%. a combination of various methods was employed, and the items that were selected by all methods or more than half of the methods were employed in the questionnaire. In these cases, the screening methods were combined with certain features of the item, A total of four domains and 38 items were reserved. The reliability analysis indicated that the PRO scale was relatively reliable. Conclusions: Scientific assessment proved that the proposed scale exhibited good reliability and validity. This scale was readily accepted and could be used to assess the curative effects of medical therapy. However, given the limited scope of this investigation, the capacity for adapting this scale to incorporate other theories could not be determined.

Evaluation of Field Application of Portable Near Infrared Reflectance Spectrometer (NIRS) for Quality Evaluation of Italian Ryegrass Silages (신속한 이탈리안라이그라스 사일리지의 품질평가를 위한 소형 근적외선분광기(NIRS)의 현장 적용성 평가)

  • Park, Hyung-Soo;Lee, Sang-Hoon;Kim, Jong-Gun;Choi, Ki-Choon;Seo, Sung;Kim, Won-Ho;Lee, Hyo-Won;Lim, Young-Chul
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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    • v.31 no.4
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    • pp.415-422
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    • 2011
  • This study evaluated the feasibility of using a portable near infrared reflectance spectrometer working in the 900~1,600 nm range for the measurement of quality-related parameters (moisture, pH, Acid detergent fiber (ADF), Neutral detergent fiber (NDF), Crude protein (CP), lactic acid) in intact silage. The calibration result for the Phazir (handheld, Polychromix) was compared with the result for the Spectrastar (Lab. based, Unity). A total of 67 Italian ryegrass silages were used to build calibration models using different spectral signal pre-treatments and the partial least squares regression (PLS) method. The good calibration statistics in two instruments was obtained for moisture content of Italian ryegrass silages with over $R^2$ = 0.95. The Phazir spectrometer was less accurate in measuring of ADF, NDF and CP contents. The Spectrastar instrument yielded greater precision for pH and lactic acid content; statistic values were over $R^2$ = 0.82 and the standard error of calibration (SEC) = 0.21% and 0.24%. Thus, the NIR measurement of forage quality in the field by portable NIR analyzers was shown not to be feasible, but additional investigations are required to discern the key instrumental and operational parameters that may influence the portable NIR measurement.

A basic research for evaluation of a Home Care Nursing Delivery System (가정간호 서비스 질 평가를 위한 도구개발연구)

  • Kim, Mo-Im;Cho, Won-Jung;Kim, Eui-Sook;Kim, Sung-Kyu;Chang, Soon-Bok;Ryu, Ho-Sihn
    • Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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    • v.6
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    • pp.33-45
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    • 1999
  • The purpose of this study was to develop a basic framework and criteria for evaluation of quality care provided to patients with the attributes of disease in the home care nursing field, and to provide measurement tools for home health care in the future. The study design was a developmental study for evaluation of hospital-based HCN(home care nursing) in Korea. The study process was as follows: a home care nursing study team of College of Nursing. Yonsei University reviewed the nursing records of 47 patients who were enrolled at Yonsei University Medical Center Home Care Center in March, 1995. Twenty-five patients were insured at that time, were selected from 47 patients receiving home care service for study feasibility with six disease groups; Caesarean Section (C/S), simple nephrectomy, Liver cirrhosis(LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), Lung cancer or cerebrovascular accident(CVA). In this study, the following items were selected : First step : Preliminary study 1. Criteria and items were selected on the basis of related literature on each disease area. 2. Items were identified by home care nurses. 3. A physician in charge reviewed the criteria and content of selected items. 4. Items were revised through preliminary study offered to both HCN patients and discharged patients from the home care center. Second step : Pretest 1. To verify the content of the items, a pretest was conducted with 18 patients of which there were three patients in each of the six selected disease groups. Third step : Test of reliability and validity of tools 1. Using the collected data from 25 patients with either cis, Simple nephrectomy, LC, COPD, Lung cancer, or CVA. the final items were revised through a panel discussion among experts in medical care who were researchers, doctors, or nurses. 2. Reliability and validity of the completed tool were verified with both inpatients and HCN patients in each of field for researches. The study results are as follows: 1. Standard for discharge with HCN referral The referral standard for home care, which included criteria for discharge with HCN referral and criteria leaving the hospital were established. These were developed through content analysis from the results of an open-ended questionnaire to related doctors concerning characteristic for discharge with HCN referral for each of the disease groups. The final criteria was decided by discussion among the researchers. 2. Instrument for measurement of health statusPatient health status was measured pre and post home care by direct observation and interview with an open-ended questionnaire which consisted of 61 items based on Gorden's nursing diagnosis classification. These included seven items on health knowledge and health management, eight items on nutrition and metabolism, three items on elimination, five items on activity and exercise, seven items on perception and cognition, three items on sleep and rest, three items on self-perception, three items on role and interpersonal relations, five items on sexuality and reproduction, five items on coping and stress, four items on value and religion, three items on family. and three items on facilities and environment. 3. Instrument for measurement of self-care The instrument for self-care measurement was classified with scales according to the attributes of the disease. Each scale measured understanding level and practice level by a Yes or No scale. Understanding level was measured by interview but practice level was measured by both observation and interview. Items for self-care measurement included 14 for patients with a CVA, five for women who had a cis, ten for patients with lung cancer, 12 for patients with COPD, five for patients with a simple nephrectomy, and 11 for patients with LC. 4. Record for follow-up management This included (1) OPD visit sheet, (2) ER visit form, (3) complications problem form, (4) readmission sheet. and (5) visit note for others medical centers which included visit date, reason for visit, patient name, caregivers, sex, age, time and cost required for visit, and traffic expenses, that is, there were open-end items that investigated OPD visits, emergency room visits, the problem and solution of complications, readmissions and visits to other medical institution to measure health problems and expenditures during the follow up period. 5. Instrument to measure patients satisfaction The satisfaction measurement instrument by Reisseer(1975) was referred to for the development of a tool to measure patient home care satisfaction. The instrument was an open-ended questionnaire which consisted of 11 domains; treatment, nursing care, information, time consumption, accessibility, rapidity, treatment skill, service relevance, attitude, satisfaction factors, dissatisfaction factors, overall satisfaction about nursing care, and others. In conclusion, Five evaluation instruments were developed for home care nursing. These were (1)standard for discharge with HCN referral. (2)instrument for measurement of health status, (3)instrument for measurement of self-care. (4)record for follow-up management, and (5)instrument to measure patient satisfaction. Also, the five instruments can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the service to assure quality. Further research is needed to increase the reliability and validity of instrument through a community-based HCN evaluation.

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Using the METHONTOLOGY Approach to a Graduation Screen Ontology Development: An Experiential Investigation of the METHONTOLOGY Framework

  • Park, Jin-Soo;Sung, Ki-Moon;Moon, Se-Won
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.125-155
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    • 2010
  • Ontologies have been adopted in various business and scientific communities as a key component of the Semantic Web. Despite the increasing importance of ontologies, ontology developers still perceive construction tasks as a challenge. A clearly defined and well-structured methodology can reduce the time required to develop an ontology and increase the probability of success of a project. However, no reliable knowledge-engineering methodology for ontology development currently exists; every methodology has been tailored toward the development of a particular ontology. In this study, we developed a Graduation Screen Ontology (GSO). The graduation screen domain was chosen for the several reasons. First, the graduation screen process is a complicated task requiring a complex reasoning process. Second, GSO may be reused for other universities because the graduation screen process is similar for most universities. Finally, GSO can be built within a given period because the size of the selected domain is reasonable. No standard ontology development methodology exists; thus, one of the existing ontology development methodologies had to be chosen. The most important considerations for selecting the ontology development methodology of GSO included whether it can be applied to a new domain; whether it covers a broader set of development tasks; and whether it gives sufficient explanation of each development task. We evaluated various ontology development methodologies based on the evaluation framework proposed by G$\acute{o}$mez-P$\acute{e}$rez et al. We concluded that METHONTOLOGY was the most applicable to the building of GSO for this study. METHONTOLOGY was derived from the experience of developing Chemical Ontology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid by Fern$\acute{a}$ndez-L$\acute{o}$pez et al. and is regarded as the most mature ontology development methodology. METHONTOLOGY describes a very detailed approach for building an ontology under a centralized development environment at the conceptual level. This methodology consists of three broad processes, with each process containing specific sub-processes: management (scheduling, control, and quality assurance); development (specification, conceptualization, formalization, implementation, and maintenance); and support process (knowledge acquisition, evaluation, documentation, configuration management, and integration). An ontology development language and ontology development tool for GSO construction also had to be selected. We adopted OWL-DL as the ontology development language. OWL was selected because of its computational quality of consistency in checking and classification, which is crucial in developing coherent and useful ontological models for very complex domains. In addition, Protege-OWL was chosen for an ontology development tool because it is supported by METHONTOLOGY and is widely used because of its platform-independent characteristics. Based on the GSO development experience of the researchers, some issues relating to the METHONTOLOGY, OWL-DL, and Prot$\acute{e}$g$\acute{e}$-OWL were identified. We focused on presenting drawbacks of METHONTOLOGY and discussing how each weakness could be addressed. First, METHONTOLOGY insists that domain experts who do not have ontology construction experience can easily build ontologies. However, it is still difficult for these domain experts to develop a sophisticated ontology, especially if they have insufficient background knowledge related to the ontology. Second, METHONTOLOGY does not include a development stage called the "feasibility study." This pre-development stage helps developers ensure not only that a planned ontology is necessary and sufficiently valuable to begin an ontology building project, but also to determine whether the project will be successful. Third, METHONTOLOGY excludes an explanation on the use and integration of existing ontologies. If an additional stage for considering reuse is introduced, developers might share benefits of reuse. Fourth, METHONTOLOGY fails to address the importance of collaboration. This methodology needs to explain the allocation of specific tasks to different developer groups, and how to combine these tasks once specific given jobs are completed. Fifth, METHONTOLOGY fails to suggest the methods and techniques applied in the conceptualization stage sufficiently. Introducing methods of concept extraction from multiple informal sources or methods of identifying relations may enhance the quality of ontologies. Sixth, METHONTOLOGY does not provide an evaluation process to confirm whether WebODE perfectly transforms a conceptual ontology into a formal ontology. It also does not guarantee whether the outcomes of the conceptualization stage are completely reflected in the implementation stage. Seventh, METHONTOLOGY needs to add criteria for user evaluation of the actual use of the constructed ontology under user environments. Eighth, although METHONTOLOGY allows continual knowledge acquisition while working on the ontology development process, consistent updates can be difficult for developers. Ninth, METHONTOLOGY demands that developers complete various documents during the conceptualization stage; thus, it can be considered a heavy methodology. Adopting an agile methodology will result in reinforcing active communication among developers and reducing the burden of documentation completion. Finally, this study concludes with contributions and practical implications. No previous research has addressed issues related to METHONTOLOGY from empirical experiences; this study is an initial attempt. In addition, several lessons learned from the development experience are discussed. This study also affords some insights for ontology methodology researchers who want to design a more advanced ontology development methodology.

The Present Status and Vision of Virtual Construction System Development (가상 건설 시스템 개발 현황과 비전)

  • Kim, Jae-Jun;Choi, Cul-Ho;Shin, Hyun-Mok;Jin, Sang-Yoon;Lee, Kwang-Myung
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute Of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • 2008.11a
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    • pp.170-175
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    • 2008
  • The research team for the virtual construction development was established with the support of Korea Ministry of Construction and Transportation, and KICTEP (Korea Institute of Construction and Transportation Technology Evaluation and Planning). Its aims are to develop system that is to improve productivity & quality, to create a higher value-added business, and to cultivate international competitiveness in the construction industry. The virtual construction system is a design, engineering, and construction management information system that allows the project participants to effectively share the information throughout the construction life cycle with the support of 3D and design information. To achieve this, the research team focuses on developing several systems. First, the team focuses on developing for the pre-planning, the structural engineering, MEP, and the 3D based estimation system. Second, they focus on developing a simulation system for the construction process planning and feasibility study with help of the virtual reality technologies. Third, they focus on developing the CPLM (Construction Project Life-cycle Management) system for managing construction project data, and the decision support system that makes the collaboration among the project participants based on 3D technologies and information. We also focus on developing the SDAI (Standard Data Access Interface), the localized guideline for 3D design, and a training program. In addition, we focus on developing the undeveloped area of the commercial system and building an environment that can support the communication and collaboration in the construction life-cycle rather than developing the existing and commercialized system.

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