• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.385-395
• /
• 2022

Detecting cracks on a concrete structure is crucial for structural maintenance, a crack being an indicator of possible damage. Conventional crack detection methods which include visual inspection and non-destructive equipment, are typically limited to a small region and require time-consuming processes. Recently, to reduce the human intervention in the inspections, various researchers have sought computer vision-based crack analyses: One class is filter-based methods, which effectively transforms the image to detect crack edges. The other class is using deep-learning algorithms. For example, convolutional neural networks have shown high precision in identifying cracks in an image. However, when the objective is to classify not only the existence of crack but also the types of cracks, only a few studies have been reported, limiting their practical use. Thus, the presented study develops an image processing procedure that detects cracks and classifies crack types; whether the image contains a crazing-type, single crack, or multiple cracks. The properties and steps in the algorithm have been developed using field-obtained images. Subsequently, the algorithm is validated from additional 227 images obtained from an open database. For test datasets, the proposed algorithm showed accuracy of 92.8% in average. In summary, the developed algorithm can precisely classify crazing-type images, while some single crack images may misclassify into multiple cracks, yielding conservative results. As a result, the successful results of the presented study show potentials of using vision-based technologies for providing crack information with reduced human intervention.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.311-324
• /
• 2022

The objective of this study is to examine the influence of fraud investigation on organizational performance of Thai listed companies through mediating effects of internal audit quality, accounting information transparency and financial effectiveness, and moderating effect of corporate governance. In this study, 333 Thai listed companies are the samples of the study. Both the structural equation model and multiple regression analysis are used to examine the research relationships. The results of this study show that fraud investigation has a significant influence on internal audit quality, accounting information transparency, and financial effectiveness. Internal audit quality significantly influences accounting information transparency, financial effectiveness, and organizational performance while financial effectiveness significantly influences organizational performance. Next, both internal audit quality and financial effectiveness potentially mediate the fraud investigation-organizational performance relationships. In addition, corporate governance critically moderates the fraud investigation-internal audit quality relationships and the fraud investigation-financial effectiveness relationships. In summary, fraud investigation functions as an important valuable technique of internal audit practices. As a result, businesses must build and implement a systematic fraud investigation procedure to generate and improve beneficial outcomes in the short, medium, and long term.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.1257-1274
• /
• 2023

Rotating machines heavily rely on an intricate network of interconnected sub-components, with bearing failures accounting for a substantial proportion (40% to 90%) of all such failures. To address this issue, intelligent algorithms have been developed to evaluate vibrational signals and accurately detect faults, thereby reducing the reliance on expert knowledge and lowering maintenance costs. Within the field of machine learning, Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) have exhibited notable potential, with applications ranging from malware detection in computer systems to fault detection in bearings, which is the primary focus of this study. In pursuit of this objective, we propose a novel procedure for detecting novel instances of anomalies in varying operating conditions, utilizing only the signals derived from the healthy state of the analyzed machine. Our approach incorporates AIS augmented by Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). The experimental outcomes demonstrate that the AIS-DTW method yields a considerable improvement in anomaly detection rates (up to 53.83%) compared to the conventional AIS. In summary, our findings indicate that our method represents a significant advancement in enhancing the resilience of AIS-based novelty detection, thereby bolstering the reliability of rotating machines and reducing the need for expertise in bearing fault detection.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
• /
• v.10A no.5
• /
• pp.469-478
• /
• 2003

Internet information search engines using web robots visit servers conneted to the Internet periodically or non-periodically. They extract and classify data collected according to their own method and construct their database, which are the basis of web information search engines. There procedure are repeated very frequently on the Web. Many search engine sites operate this processing strategically to become popular interneet portal sites which provede users ways how to information on the web. Web search engine contacts to thousands of thousands web servers and maintains its existed databases and navigates to get data about newly connected web servers. But these jobs are decided and conducted by search engines. They run web robots to collect data from web servers without knowledge on the states of web servers. Each search engine issues lots of requests and receives responses from web servers. This is one cause to increase internet traffic on the web. If each web server notify web robots about summary on its public documents and then each web robot runs collecting operations using this summary to the corresponding documents on the web servers, the unnecessary internet traffic is eliminated and also the accuracy of data on search engines will become higher. And the processing overhead concerned with web related jobs on web servers and search engines will become lower. In this paper, a monitoring system on the web server is designed and implemented, which monitors states of documents on the web server and summarizes changes of modified documents and sends the summary information to web robots which want to get documents from the web server. And an efficient web robot on the web search engine is also designed and implemented, which uses the notified summary and gets corresponding documents from the web servers and extracts index and updates its databases.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.370-375
• /
• 1999

To evaluate the efficacy of antibiotic administration in the impacted mandibular third molar extraction the author investigated 107 patients requiring extraction of the lower third molar who visited at the Department of oral and maxillofacial Surgery, Chosun Dental Hospital and were healthy without medical problems and had no signs and symptoms of infection around the lower third molar. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to the method of antibiotics administration: 13 patients without antibiotics administration(group 1), 30 patients with only intravenous injection of $Cefazoline^{(R)}$ 2.0g 30 minutes before the procedure(group 2), 39 patients with intravenous injection of $Cefazoline^{(R)}$ 2.0g 30 minutes before the procedure and oral administration of follow-up dosages of $Augmentin^{(R)}$ for 1 day(group 3), and 25 patients with intravenous injection of $Cefazoline^{(R)}$ 2.0g 30 minutes before the procedure and oral administration of follow-up dosages of $Augmentin^{(R)}$ for 3 day(group 4). Infection rates after extraction were calculated and compared according to gender, the age of the patients, the level of impaction, and also compared between four groups. The results were as follows. 1. The overall infection rate was 8.4%. 2. The infection rate was higher in male(11.9%) than in female(4.2%), but there were statistically no significant differences between them. 3. Infection rate was lower in patients under age 30(7.2%) than in patients over age 30(12.5%), but there were statistically no significant between them. 4. Infection rate was higher in patients with complete bony impacted tooth(11.1%) than in patients with partial bony impacted tooth(6.5%), but there were statistically no significant differences between them. 5. Infection rate was 7.7% in group 1, 10.0% in group 2, 10.3% in group 3, 4.0% in group 4 and there were statistically no significant differences between groups. In summary, it is more important to extract the impacted lower third molar under aseptic condition and to minimize the injury of tissue if possible than to administer the preventive antibiotics in reducing the infection rate in healthy patients without medical problems who had no signs and symptoms of infection around the lower third molar.

• Asian Spine Journal
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.1010-1016
• /
• 2018

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Purpose: To report on spinal fusion assessment using computed tomography (CT) after adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery using ultra-low dose recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (RhBMP-2). Overview of Literature: The reported dose of RhBMP-2 needed for successful spinal posterolateral fusion in ASD ranges from 10 to 20 mg per spinal level. This study reports the use of ultra-low dose of RhBMP-2 (0.07 mg per facet) to achieve spinal fusion in multilevel ASD surgery. Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent ASD surgery using ultra-low dose RhBMP-2 were recruited. Routine postoperative CT analysis for spinal fusion was performed by two spine surgeons. Inter-observer agreement was calculated for facet fusion (FF) and interbody fusion (IBF) at 6 and 12 months after the procedure. Results: Six consecutive ASD patients with a mean age of 62 years (28-72 years) were examined. Each patient received a total dose of 12 mg with an average dose of $0.69{\pm}0.2mg$ (0.42-1 mg) per single FF and $1.38{\pm}0.44mg$ (0.85-2 mg) for IBF. Total 131 FF and 15 IBF were examined in the study, with 88 FFs and nine IBFs being analyzed specifically at 6 months after the surgery. FF and IBF reported by surgeons A and B at 6 months were 97.7% vs. 91.9% FF, respectively (${\kappa}=0.95$) and 100% vs. 100% IBF, respectively (${\kappa}=1$). Two patients underwent longitudinal follow-up CT at 12 months, and the FF rates reported by surgeons A and B were 100% vs. 95.8%, respectively (${\kappa}=0.96$). Five out of nine facet (56%) non-unions were identified at the cross-links. The remaining four facet pseudarthrosis were noted at 1-2 spinal levels caudal to the cross-links. At the final clinical follow-up, there was no rod breakage, deformity progression, neurological deficit, or symptom recurrence. The Oswestry Disability Index improved by an average of $32.8{\pm}6.3$, while the mental component summary of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey improved by an average of $4.7{\pm}2.1$, and physical component summary improved by an average of $10.5{\pm}2.1$. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to report a CT that defined 92%-98% FF and 100% IBF using the lowest reported dose of RhBMP-2 in multilevel ASD surgery. The use of ultra-low dose RhBMP-2 reduces the RhBMP-2 related complications and healthcare costs.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.12-22
• /
• 2014

Over the last decade, Saudi Arabia has experienced significant economic increases as evidenced by the 30% growth in its gross domestic product; furthermore, the construction industry has increased 10% in the same time period. Due to this significant growth, the construction industry is encountering issues related to construction quality resulting in significant waste and associated environmental impacts. In this research, we applied our previously developed framework that integrates three different methods-Lean, Green, and Six-sigma - to a residential construction complex in Saudi Arabia. Our aim of this case study was to explore the application of the framework in practice to glean quantitative results and further validate the framework. In the case study, we used the developed framework to identify a significant issue related to quality and delays - final completion of 53 residential units was delayed because of failed exterior buildings surfaces. We then used the framework to define the causes behind the defects via a field investigation of the 53 units. Of the defect, construction execution was responsible for 43% of the defect, 31% untrained workers, 19% unfavorable construction weather condition, with 7% accounting for other issues. A procedure was developed in concert with the construction manager and overall developer reducing the amount of rework and waste causes revealed by the field examination and the framework. Although two steps were added to the original construction process to overcome waste causes, still save a lot of resources and reduces environmental impact. In summary, we found that the Lean, Green, Six-sigma framework increased productivity, quality, and reduced waste.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.391-406
• /
• 2015

Macrodystrophia lipomatosa (MDL) is a rare congenital non-hereditary disorder that has significant impact on patient morbidity. This study provides a comprehensive review of the natural history, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of the disorder. A literature search in PubMed was conducted to identify cases of MDL from January 1950 to 14 February 2014. After ruling out articles without information related to the management of the disorder, a summary of 32 studies was performed. An additional three cases from the authors are also presented. Based on 57 journal articles and three additional cases from the authors, around 108 cases of MDL were reviewed. Most patients were males who were admitted to a treatment clinic in the first four years of life. The lower extremities were more frequently affected, with unilateral presentation being most common. They commonly underwent a single-staged surgical procedure with follow-up periods ranging from more than one year up to 21 years. Out of 43 cases that underwent surgical procedures, 13 reported no complications, and there were seven cases of esthetic satisfaction and 15 cases of significant functional improvement. Depending on the severity of a patient's condition, the use of non-invasive diagnostic tools should be carefully considered. Surgery might be a better choice of management than observation, taking into account possible future complications in the absence of surgery and the beneficial outcomes of surgical procedures.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.323-345
• /
• 2015

This study is intended to establish and apply a program created with RME for mathematising instruction and learning and identify how it influences on the mathematical thinking process in the field. In order to deal with this study inquiries, related theories have been analyzed establishing a program for mathematising instruction and learning method based on a model of them and RME theory principles and re-organizing education courses for instruction on the fields concerned. Study subjects were limited to two classes consisting of fifth graders in S elementary school located in the city of Daegu and divided them in an experiment group and a control group. An experiment group was given a mathematising learning method applied with RME, while a control group had a class with regular methods of learning and instruction during the period of experiment. As a summary of aforementioned results of the study, mathematising learning method applied with RME had an effect on improving mathematical thinking ability for students and also on promoting mathematising outcome through a repetitive experience in each procedure obtained on a regular basis.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.11-19
• /
• 1997

Clinical lymphadenopathies are subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) for diagnosing not only benign lesions but also malignant ones, as the first diagnostic procedure. While the diagnostic reliability in metastatic carcinoma is high, it is difficult to differentiate malignant lymphoma from reactive conditions. We evaluated the diagnostic reliability of FNAC in lymphadenopathy, and discuss the diagnostic limitation and its place in clinical practice in this study, Over 8 years from January 1988, FNAC of 1,216 lymphadenopathies were analyzed and among them 170 cases were compared with histopathology. The results are as follows. 1. Of ail the cases, 890 cases(73.2%) were diagnosed cytologically as benign, 312 cases(25.7%) as malignant, and 14 cases(1.1%) as unsatisfactory material. Reactive hyperplasia was diagnosed in 585 cases(65.7%) of the benign lesions, and among the malignant diseases, metastatic carcinoma was diagnosed in 248 cases(79.5%), and malignant lymphoma in 62 cases(19.9%). 2. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 89.2%, and no false positive case and 9 false negative results were observed among 170 cases which were proven by histopathology. Six cases of sampling error of false negative diagnoses included 3 of metastatic carcinomas and 3 of malignant lymphomas. The causes were difference between aspiration and biopsy site, poor fixation, or scanty cellularity with bloody smear. All 3 cases of misinterpretation error were malignant lympliomas, one of mixed type on biopsy which was diagnosed as reactive hyperplasia cytologically. In summary, FNAC technique is thought to be useful in the initial diagnosis of lymphadenopathies as well as in the follow-up of patients with known malignancy. Although the results of malignant lymphoma was less accurate than other malignant lesions, the application of strict cytologic criteria or lymphoid marker studies of aspiration material will reduce the false negative rate.