• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.576-587
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• 2010

Background: Effective decellularization and fixation process is critical, in order to use xenogenic valves clinically. In the present study, we decellularized bovine pericardium using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and N-lauroyl sarcosinate, treated with $\alpha$-galactosidase, and then fixed in various manners, to find out the most effective tissue preservation & fixation procedure. Material and Method: Bovine pericardium was decellularized with SDS and N-lauroyl sarcosinate, and treated with $\alpha$-galactosidase. Both groups were fixed differently, by varying glutaraldehyde (GA) or EDC (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl)-carbodiimide)/N-hydroxysuccinamide (NHS) treatment conditions. Thereafter, physical examination, tensile strength test, thermal stability test, cytotoxicity test, pronase test, pronase-ninhydrin test, purpald test, permeability test, compliance test, H&E staining, DNA quantification, and $\alpha$-galactose staining were carried out to each groups. Result: GA fixed groups showed better physical properties and thermal stability than EDC/NHS fixed groups, EDC/NHS-GA dual fixed groups showed better physical properties and thermal stability than EDC/NHS fixed groups, and showed better thermal stability than GA fixed groups. In pronase test and pronase-ninhydrin test, GA fixed groups and EDC/NHS-GA dual fixed groups showed stronger crosslinks than EDC/NHS groups. Permeability and compliance tended to increase in EDC/NHS-GA dual fixed groups, compared to GA fixed groups. But, EDC/NHS-GA dual fixed groups had stronger tensile strength and lower cytotoxicity than GA fixed groups. Conclusion: We have verified that EDC/NHS-GA dual fixation can make effective crosslinks and lower the toxicity of GA fixation. Henceforth, we will verify if EDC/NHS-GA dual fixation can lower calcifications & tissue failure in vivo experiment.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.121-139
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• 2014

Predicting corporate failure has been an important topic in accounting and finance. The costs associated with bankruptcy are high, so the accuracy of bankruptcy prediction is greatly important for financial institutions. Lots of researchers have dealt with the topic associated with bankruptcy prediction in the past three decades. The current research attempts to use ensemble models for improving the performance of bankruptcy prediction. Ensemble classification is to combine individually trained classifiers in order to gain more accurate prediction than individual models. Ensemble techniques are shown to be very useful for improving the generalization ability of the classifier. Bagging is the most commonly used methods for constructing ensemble classifiers. In bagging, the different training data subsets are randomly drawn with replacement from the original training dataset. Base classifiers are trained on the different bootstrap samples. Instance selection is to select critical instances while deleting and removing irrelevant and harmful instances from the original set. Instance selection and bagging are quite well known in data mining. However, few studies have dealt with the integration of instance selection and bagging. This study proposes an improved bagging ensemble based on instance selection using genetic algorithms (GA) for improving the performance of SVM. GA is an efficient optimization procedure based on the theory of natural selection and evolution. GA uses the idea of survival of the fittest by progressively accepting better solutions to the problems. GA searches by maintaining a population of solutions from which better solutions are created rather than making incremental changes to a single solution to the problem. The initial solution population is generated randomly and evolves into the next generation by genetic operators such as selection, crossover and mutation. The solutions coded by strings are evaluated by the fitness function. The proposed model consists of two phases: GA based Instance Selection and Instance based Bagging. In the first phase, GA is used to select optimal instance subset that is used as input data of bagging model. In this study, the chromosome is encoded as a form of binary string for the instance subset. In this phase, the population size was set to 100 while maximum number of generations was set to 150. We set the crossover rate and mutation rate to 0.7 and 0.1 respectively. We used the prediction accuracy of model as the fitness function of GA. SVM model is trained on training data set using the selected instance subset. The prediction accuracy of SVM model over test data set is used as fitness value in order to avoid overfitting. In the second phase, we used the optimal instance subset selected in the first phase as input data of bagging model. We used SVM model as base classifier for bagging ensemble. The majority voting scheme was used as a combining method in this study. This study applies the proposed model to the bankruptcy prediction problem using a real data set from Korean companies. The research data used in this study contains 1832 externally non-audited firms which filed for bankruptcy (916 cases) and non-bankruptcy (916 cases). Financial ratios categorized as stability, profitability, growth, activity and cash flow were investigated through literature review and basic statistical methods and we selected 8 financial ratios as the final input variables. We separated the whole data into three subsets as training, test and validation data set. In this study, we compared the proposed model with several comparative models including the simple individual SVM model, the simple bagging model and the instance selection based SVM model. The McNemar tests were used to examine whether the proposed model significantly outperforms the other models. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the other models.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.442-458
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• 2004

This study was conducted to develop a plan for a large-scale implementation of the Girl Friendly Science Program based on the results of analysis and investigation of its current pilot implementation, Girl Friendly Science Program materials, which was first developed in 1999 with the support from Ministry of Gender Equality, consist of 1) five theme-based units that are specifically targeted individual students' unique ability, aptitude, and career choice, and 2) differentiated learning materials for 7th through 10th grade female students. All the materials are available at the homepage (http://tes.or.kr/gfsp.cgi) of 'Teachers for Exciting Science(the organization of science teachers in Seoul area)'. Since the materials are well organized by topic and grade level and presented in both Korean word process document and html format, anyone can easily access to the materials for their own instructional use. Ever since its launch the number of visitors to the homepage has been constantly increasing. The evaluation results of the current pilot implementation of the materials that targeted individual students' ability and aptitude showed that it scored high in terms of its alignment to the original purpose, content, level, and effectiveness to implement in classrooms. However, its evaluation scores were low in terms of the convenience for teachers to guide the materials, and its organization and operation. The results also showed a significant change in students' perception of science, and students' positive experiences of science through various interdisciplinary activities. On the other hand, the evaluation of students' experiences with the materials showed that students' assessment about an activity was largely depending on a success or failure of their experiences. Overall, students' evaluation of activities scores were low for simple activities such as cutting off or pasting papers. According to students' achievement test results, differences between pre and post test scores in the Affective Domain was statistically significant (p<0.05), but not in Inquiry Domain. Based on teachers observations, numerous schools where have run this program reported that students' abilities to cooperate, discuss, observe and reason with evidences were improved. In order to implement this program in a larger scale, it is critical to have a strong support of teachers and induce them to change their teaching strategy through building a community of teachers and developing ongoing teacher professional development programs. Finally, there still remain strong needs to develop more programs, and actively discover and train more domestic woman scientists and engineers and collaborate with them to develop more educational materials for girls in all ages.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.11-30
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• 2006

The preliminary investigative activities by the police officer play a critical role in identifying the cause of death in unnatural death investigations. The failure to secure the crime scene leads to the destruction of significant evidence, which results in the difficulty or impossibility to identify the cause of death. In order to prevent this jeopardizing crucial evidence, and to identify the level of preliminary investigation on the scene, this research is conducted and analyzed with questionnaires of 300 police first responders and 100 detectives. As a result, it was disclosed that there is a possibility for first responders to fail to ensure scene security, scene observation, and canvass interviews. Besides, when medical personnel have no choice but to contaminate the crime scene in order to save lives, it is necessary for them to take photos and to take proper actions before they enter the scene. The importance of scene-control education cannot be emphasized enough in order to prevent media from entering and destroying the evidence. Through research of actual conditions of unnatural death cases which occurred in Kyongbook Province for last five years, the statistics regarding a few different types of death were analyzed as follows. Evidence that homicide, suicide, accidental death, and disaster deaths have increased year by year. Therefore, it is deemed necessary for the government to take multilateral policies to reduce them, and for police to reinforce their investigative skills. Further, the insufficient number of autopsy facilities and forensic pathologists, only 13% of the deceased (1,237 cases) have had an autopsy conducted to identify the cause of death for last five years. The other, 87.3% (8,496 cases) of the deceased, were handled through simple postmortem examination. The significance of this percentage is that there is still the possibility not revealing the cause of unjust deaths. Therefore, it is necessary to furnish police agency with the reasonable amount of funding for autopsies and maintaining enough forensic pathologists.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.31 no.3 s.86
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• pp.381-391
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• 2001

In orthodontic patients, frequently, amalgam restorations are present on the buccal surface of molars. The ability to successfully bond orthodontic brackets and buccal tubes to amalgam restorations would therefore be of clinical value. But the bond strength to total amalgam surface is probably not critical in most instances. Because there is usually a considerable amount of sound enamel surrounding a buccal amalgam filling. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bond strengths of orthodontic brackets according to surface treatments and size of amalgam restorations. Eighty tooth specimen were assigned to four groups according to amalgam size-1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm diameter-and then divided into two groups : one half was sandblasting group the other half was no sandblasting group. After Bracket bonding, shear bond strength for each specimen was determined and bond failure patterns was evaluated. 1. Shear bond strength of amalgam size 1.5mm group was significantly higher than that of the other groups. (p<0.05) 2. There was no significant difference in the bond strength produced by sandblasting. (p<0.05) 3. Shear bond strength of G and H group of which amalgam restoration ratio to the bracket base sizes were $61\%$ were significantly decreased $50-60\% level of that of control group. (p<0.05) 4. There was positive correlation between sandblasting and mARI. (p<0.05) The results of the present study indicate that it may be feasible to bond orthodontic bracket clinically successfully to amalgam restoration with conventional orthodontic resin when its size is less than $50\%$ of that of bracket base.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.627-634
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• 2014

In this study, standoff detonation tests and static beam tests on $160{\times}290{\times}2200mm$ RC beams were conducted to investigate the effect of local damage on the flexural strength and ductility index. And also, blast resistance of RC beams strengthened with steel fiber and FRP sheet were evaluated by these tests. The standoff detonation tests were performed with charge weight of 1kg and standoff distance of 0.1m. After the tests, crater diameters and loss weights of specimens were measured to evaluate the local damage of specimens. Flexural strength and ductility index were measured by conducting the static beam tests on the damaged and undamaged specimens. As a test results, normal concrete specimen(NC) showed relatively large crater and spall diameters that caused weight loss of 23.5kg as a local damage. Whereas, steel fiber reinforced concrete specimen(SFRC) and FRP sheet retrofitted specimens(NC-F, NC-FS) showed higher blast resistance than NC by reducing crater size and weight loss. Flexural strength and ductility index were decreased in case of local damaged specimens by detonation. Especially, large decrease of flexural strength was shown in NC as compared with intact specimen and brittle failure was occurred due to buckling of compressive reinforcement. In case of specimens strengthened with steel fiber and FRP sheet, residual flexural strength and ductility index were increased as compared with NC. In these results, it is concluded that critical local damage can be occurred unless enough standoff distance can be assured even if the charge weight is small. and it is verified that strengthening method using steel fiber and FRP sheet can increase blast resistance.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.445-450
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• 2008

Background: As the number of older-aged people increases, the number of elderly patients who receive critical care services is expected to increase substantially. The objective of this study was to examine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of elderly patients who receive mechanical ventilation for more than 30 days in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at a university hospital. Methods: We retrospectively examined forty-one elderly patients (${\geq}65$ years old) who were receiving mechanical ventilation, from April 2004 to March 2007, for periods exceeding 30 days at the MICU at Eulji University Hospital. Results: The MICU and hospitalmortality rate were 60.9% and 65.9%, respectively. The mean length of the ICU stay was 57.5 days and the mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 49.3 days. The most common reason for MICU admission was acute respiratory failure (73.2%), followed by sepsis (12.2%), neurological problems (9.8%), and gastrointestinal bleeding (4.9%). The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II scores were higher for the nonsurvivors than for the survivors (28.0 vs. 25.0, respectively, p=0.03). The nonsurvivors received more red blood cell (RBC) transfusions during their ICU stay than did the survivors (84.0% vs. 43.8%, respectively p=0.007). The factors associated with hospital death were the APACHE II score and if the patient had received a RBC transfusion. Conclusion: The APACHE II score and a RBC transfusion were predictors of increased hospital mortality for the elderly patients who were on prolonged mechanical ventilation. These predictors may assist physicians to make clinical decisions for this patient population.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.52-72
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• 1984

This study was performed to obtain the basic data which can be applied to the use of epoxy resin mortars. The data was based on the properties of epoxy resin mortars depending upon various mixing ratios to compare those of cement mortar. The resin which was used at this experiment was Epi-Bis type epoxy resin which is extensively being used as concrete structures. In the case of epoxy resin mortar, mixing ratios of resin to fine aggregate were 1: 2, 1: 4, 1: 6, 1: 8, 1:10, 1 :12 and 1:14, but the ratio of cement to fine aggregate in cement mortar was 1 : 2.5. The results obtained are summarized as follows; 1.When the mixing ratio was 1: 6, the highest density was 2.01 g/cm$^3$, being lower than 2.13 g/cm$^3$ of that of cement mortar. 2.According to the water absorption and water permeability test, the watertightness was shown very high at the mixing ratios of 1: 2, 1: 4 and 1: 6. But then the mixing ratio was less than 1 : 6, the watertightness considerably decreased. By this result, it was regarded that optimum mixing ratio of epoxy resin mortar for watertight structures should be richer mixing ratio than 1: 6. 3.The hardening shrinkage was large as the mixing ratio became leaner, but the values were remarkably small as compared with cement mortar. And the influence of dryness and moisture was exerted little at richer mixing ratio than 1: 6, but its effect was obvious at the lean mixing ratio, 1: 8, 1:10,1:12 and 1:14. It was confirmed that the optimum mixing ratio for concrete structures which would be influenced by the repeated dryness and moisture should be rich mixing ratio higher than 1: 6. 4.The compressive, bending and splitting tensile strenghs were observed very high, even the value at the mixing ratio of 1:14 was higher than that of cement mortar. It showed that epoxy resin mortar especially was to have high strength in bending and splitting tensile strength. Also, the initial strength within 24 hours gave rise to high value. Thus it was clear that epoxy resin was rapid hardening material. The multiple regression equations of strength were computed depending on a function of mixing ratios and curing times. 5.The elastic moduli derived from the compressive stress-strain curve were slightly smaller than the value of cement mortar, and the toughness of epoxy resin mortar was larger than that of cement mortar. 6.The impact resistance was strong compared with cement mortar at all mixing ratios. Especially, bending impact strength by the square pillar specimens was higher than the impact resistance of flat specimens or cylinderic specimens. 7.The Brinell hardness was relatively larger than that of cement mortar, but it gradually decreased with the decline of mixing ratio, and Brinell hardness at mixing ratio of 1 :14 was much the same as cement mortar. 8.The abrasion rate of epoxy resin mortar at all mixing ratio, when Losangeles abation testing machine revolved 500 times, was very low. Even mixing ratio of 1 :14 was no more than 31.41%, which was less than critical abrasion rate 40% of coarse aggregate for cement concrete. Consequently, the abrasion rate of epoxy resin mortar was superior to cement mortar, and the relation between abrasion rate and Brinell hardness was highly significant as exponential curve. 9.The highest bond strength of epoxy resin mortar was 12.9 kg/cm$^2$ at the mixing ratio of 1:2. The failure of bonded flat steel specimens occurred on the part of epoxy resin mortar at the mixing ratio of 1: 2 and 1: 4, and that of bonded cement concrete specimens was fond on the part of combained concrete at the mixing ratio of 1 : 2 ,1: 4 and 1: 6. It was confirmed that the optimum mixing ratio for bonding of steel plate, and of cement concrete should be rich mixing ratio above 1 : 4 and 1 : 6 respectively. 10.The variations of color tone by heating began to take place at about 60˚C, and the ultimate change occurred at 120˚C. The compressive, bending and splitting tensile strengths increased with rising temperature up to 80˚ C, but these rapidly decreased when temperature was above 800 C. Accordingly, it was evident that the resistance temperature of epoxy resin mortar was about 80˚C which was generally considered lower than that of the other concrete materials. But it is likely that there is no problem in epoxy resin mortar when used for unnecessary materials of high temperature resistance. The multiple regression equations of strength were computed depending on a function of mixing ratios and heating temperatures. 11.The susceptibility to chemical attack of cement mortar was easily affected by inorganic and organic acid. and that of epoxy resin mortar with mixing ratio of 1: 4 was of great resistance. On the other hand, when mixing ratio was lower than 1 : 8 epoxy resin mortar had very poor resistance, especially being poor resistant to organicacid. Therefore, for the structures requiring chemical resistance optimum mixing of epoxy resin mortar should be rich mixing ratio higher than 1: 4.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2017

Purposes: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that requires continuous care in order to prevent complications, as it can impose a critical burden on families and society due to various complications, including terminal renal failure, non-traumatic lower extremity amputation, and adult blindness. The usual sources of care are "specified private clinics, public health centers, or other facilities to visit when ill or when health-related advice is needed". These usual sources of care offer preventative services, have a high overall satisfaction rate in terms of public health care, and decrease the inpatient rates and medical costs of medical aid recipients. This study analyzed the current status of diabetic patients over 20 years of age based on their possession of a usual source of care, and the effects of this possession on the frequency of their medical service usage and its costs. Methodology: Based on data from the 7th Korea Health Panel, a Tobit analysis was used to analyze the different factors that can affect the frequency of medical service usage and its costs for diabetic patients with and without a usual source of care. Findings: The medical costs of diabetic patients with a usual source of care decreased in terms of inpatient, and the outpatient visits and inpatient costs of the group with a usual source of care in the form of a mainly-visiting doctor decreased more than those of the group with a mainly-visiting medical institution only. Practical Implications: Having a usual source of care can increase the treatment continuity, leading to reduced inpatient, and having a mainly-visiting doctor as the usual source of care further increases the treatment continuity. Based on these results, a new policy is needed to increase and strengthen diabetic patients? possession of a usual source of care.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2006

Background: Intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) is defined as the presence of either an intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) ${\geq}12mmHg$ or an abdominal perfusion pressure (APP = mean arterial pressure - IAP) ${\leq}60mmHg$. Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) is defined as the presence of an IAP ${\geq}20mmHg$ together with organ failure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of IAH and ACS on the day of admission and the effects of these maladies on the prognosis of critically ill patients in the ICU. Methods: At the day of admission to the ICU, the IAP was recorded by measuring the intravesicular pressure via a Foley catheter. The APACHE II and III scores were checked and SAPS II was also scored during the days the patients were in the ICU. The primary end point was the prevalence of IAH and ACS at the day of admission and the correlation between them with the 28-days mortality rate. The measurement of IAP continued until the 7th day or the day when the patient was transferred to the general ward before 7th day, unless the patient died or a Foley catheter was removed before 7th day. Patients were observed until death or the 28th day. Results: A total of 111 patients were enrolled. At the day of admission, the prevalence of IAH and ACS were 47.7% and 15.3%, respectively and the mean IAP was $15.1{\pm}8.5mmHg$. The rates of IAH for the survivor and the non-survivor groups were 56.5% and 71.4%, respectively, and these were not significantly different (p=0.593). Yet the rates of ACS between these two groups were significantly different (4/62, 6.5% vs. 13/49, 26.5%; Odds Ratio = 5.24, 95% CI = 1.58-17.30, p=0.004). Conclusion: In the present study, the prevalence of IAH was 47.7% and the prevalence of ACS was 15.3% on the day of admission. ACS was associated with a poor outcome for the critically ill patients in the ICU.