• Title/Summary/Keyword: Critical quality

Search Result 2,436, Processing Time 0.033 seconds

Clinical Trials and Accuracy of Diagnostic Tests (진단법의 임상시험연구와 진단정확도)

  • Lee, You-Kyoung;Lee, Sang-Moo
    • Journal of Genetic Medicine
    • /
    • v.8 no.1
    • /
    • pp.28-34
    • /
    • 2011
  • Most clinicians understand clinical trials as the evaluation process for new medicine before their use. However, clinical trials can also be applied to laboratory diagnostic tests (LDTs) to verify diagnostic accuracy and efficacy before their clinical laboratory implementation for patients. The clinical trial of LDT has two distinctive characteristics that are different from the case of pharmaceuticals and thus worth special consideration. One of them is the level of evidence. The well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are known to provide the best evidence to prove the clinical efficacy of any pharmaceutical products. However, RCTs lose practicality when applied to LDTs due to various issues including ethical complications. For this reason, comparative study format is considered more feasible approach for LDTs. In addition pharmaceuticals and LDTs are different in that the user's intervention is not required for the former but critical to the latter. Moreover, in the case of pharmaceuticals, end-products are produced by manufacturers before being used by clinicians. However, in LDTs, once reagents and instruments are provided by manufacturers, they are first utilized by clinical laboratories to produce test results in order for clinicians to use them later. In other words, when it comes to LDTs, clinical laboratories play the role of manufacturers, providing reliable test results with improved quality assurance. Considering the distinctive characteristics of LDTs, we would like to offer detailed suggestions to successfully perform clinical trials in LDTs, which include analytical performance measures, clinical test performance measures, diagnostic test accuracy measures, clinical effectiveness measures, and post-implementation surveillance.

Hybrid MBE Growth of Crack-Free GaN Layers on Si (110) Substrates

  • Park, Cheol-Hyeon;O, Jae-Eung;No, Yeong-Gyun;Lee, Sang-Tae;Kim, Mun-Deok
    • Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
    • /
    • 2013.02a
    • /
    • pp.183-184
    • /
    • 2013
  • Two main MBE growth techniques have been used: plasma-assisted MBE (PA-MBE), which utilizes a rf plasma to supply active nitrogen, and ammonia MBE, in which nitrogen is supplied by pyrolysis of NH3 on the sample surface during growth. PA-MBE is typically performed under metal-rich growth conditions, which results in the formation of gallium droplets on the sample surface and a narrow range of conditions for optimal growth. In contrast, high-quality GaN films can be grown by ammonia MBE under an excess nitrogen flux, which in principle should result in improved device uniformity due to the elimination of droplets and wider range of stable growth conditions. A drawback of ammonia MBE, on the other hand, is a serious memory effect of NH3 condensed on the cryo-panels and the vicinity of heaters, which ruins the control of critical growth stages, i.e. the native oxide desorption and the surface reconstruction, and the accurate control of V/III ratio, especially in the initial stage of seed layer growth. In this paper, we demonstrate that the reliable and reproducible growth of GaN on Si (110) substrates is successfully achieved by combining two MBE growth technologies using rf plasma and ammonia and setting a proper growth protocol. Samples were grown in a MBE system equipped with both a nitrogen rf plasma source (SVT) and an ammonia source. The ammonia gas purity was >99.9999% and further purified by using a getter filter. The custom-made injector designed to focus the ammonia flux onto the substrate was used for the gas delivery, while aluminum and gallium were provided via conventional effusion cells. The growth sequence to minimize the residual ammonia and subsequent memory effects is the following: (1) Native oxides are desorbed at $750^{\circ}C$ (Fig. (a) for [$1^-10$] and [001] azimuth) (2) 40 nm thick AlN is first grown using nitrogen rf plasma source at $900^{\circ}C$ nder the optimized condition to maintain the layer by layer growth of AlN buffer layer and slightly Al-rich condition. (Fig. (b)) (3) After switching to ammonia source, GaN growth is initiated with different V/III ratio and temperature conditions. A streaky RHEED pattern with an appearance of a weak ($2{\times}2$) reconstruction characteristic of Ga-polarity is observed all along the growth of subsequent GaN layer under optimized conditions. (Fig. (c)) The structural properties as well as dislocation densities as a function of growth conditions have been investigated using symmetrical and asymmetrical x-ray rocking curves. The electrical characteristics as a function of buffer and GaN layer growth conditions as well as the growth sequence will be also discussed. Figure: (a) RHEED pattern after oxide desorption (b) after 40 nm thick AlN growth using nitrogen rf plasma source and (c) after 600 nm thick GaN growth using ammonia source for (upper) [110] and (lower) [001] azimuth.

  • PDF

4D BIM based Workspace Planning Process in Building Construction Project (4D BIM 기반의 건설프로젝트 작업공간 계획 프로세스)

  • Choi, Byungjoo;Lee, Hyun-Soo;Park, Moonseo;Kim, Hyunsoo;Hwang, Sungjoo
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
    • /
    • v.14 no.5
    • /
    • pp.175-187
    • /
    • 2013
  • Each participant in building construction project requires their own workspace to execute their activities. In this environment, inappropriate workspace planning in construction site causes workspace conflicts which result in a loss of productivity, safety hazard and poor-quality issues. Therefore, workspace should be regarded as one of the most important resources and constraints have to be managed at construction site. However, current construction planning techniques such as Gantt chart, network diagram and critical path method have proven to be insufficient to workspace planning. This paper contains formalized process for workspace planning in 4D BIM environment to prevent workspace related problems in construction project. The proposed process in this paper represents workspace occupation status for each activity and suitable solutions for identified workspace conflicts by integrating workspace attributes and activity execution plan. Based on the result of this study, project manager will be able to prevent probable workspace conflicts and negative effect on project performance by devising appropriate workspace plan during preconstruction phase.

A Study on Relationships between Performance of University-Industry Cooperations and Competency Factors of University (산학협력성과와 대학의 역량요인의 관계에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Cheol-Hoi;Lee, Sang-Don
    • Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
    • /
    • v.10 no.4
    • /
    • pp.629-653
    • /
    • 2007
  • Korean government drives various programs to improve the performance of university-industry cooperation since 1998 such as BK 21(Brain Korea), NURI(New University for Regional Innovation), Connect Korea Program, and so on. We analyse the relationships between performance of university-industry cooperations and university competency factors(research competency and management competency) through multi-regression model, and propose policy implication. We used the basic data related to the performance of university-industry cooperation and university competency factors from Korean 61 universities. We set up some hypotheses and try to verify them with the method of multi-variable regression analysis including dependent variable(licensing fee, the number of technology transfers, the number of spin-offs) and independent variables(research competency, management competency). We, through this analysis, find both the research competency variables and management competency variables are significant to the performance of university-industry cooperation. Firstly, for licensing fee and the number of technology transfers, research competency variables such as the number of SCIE papers, the number of patent registration were significant, but management competency variables such as the scale of technology leasing organization, the number of specialist were not significant. Secondly, for the number of spin-offs management variables are significant, but research competency varialbles are not. These results imply that both the research competency and management competency of universities are the critical factors for the effective commercialization of university technology not only in United States but also in Korea. In the conclusion, we propose government drive university-industry cooperation policy to enhance the quality of research papers and patent as well as management capabilities of technology leasing organization.

  • PDF

A Study on Element Features and Research Frames of Game Trailers (게임 트레일러의 유형 및 산업적 연구 프레임에 관한 고찰)

  • Kwon, Jae-Woong
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
    • /
    • s.41
    • /
    • pp.187-222
    • /
    • 2015
  • The quantitave increase and qualitative development in the game industry leads to bitter competition and makes game companies struggle to find better ways promoting their own games. The game trailer is one of the critical ways to publicize diverse games by showing visual images directly. There are three reasons why the game trailer comes into the spotlight these days; the rapid growth of the Internet speed handling the large size of files, the remarkable development of visual image quality just like digital movies, and the advent of video websites such as You Tube that shows huge amount of videos regardless of the type and size. However, there are not enough amount of research on the game trailer because using game trailers as the marketing source is still at an early stage. Therefore, this research focuses on providing characteristics of game trailers that are available for practical market analysis. First, this research shows that game trailers can be divided by the category of display, style, and contents type. Second, this research provides the component parts of game trailers that are divided into contents factors such as characters, backgrounds, events and promotional factors such as title, production company name, distribution company name. Third, this research explores research frames that would be needed to analyze marketing strategies, effects of game trailers, production pipelines and so on. These categorizations would be useful for producing game trailers efficiently and utilizing them effectively.

Factors Influencing Chinese Customers' Selection of Health Care Service Countries: Focusing on Word-of-Mouth Moderating Effects (중국고객 해외의료관광국가 선택의도에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구: 구전 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Zhang, Jun;Lee, Hoon-Young
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.13 no.12
    • /
    • pp.41-52
    • /
    • 2015
  • Purpose - Given globalization, the new niche market of medical tourism is likely to experience sustainable growth for various reasons, such as aging populations and a shift in the medical consumerism paradigm toward prevention. Importantly, understanding medical customers' behavior is necessary to benefit from a competitive advantage in this industry. The existing research primarily accessed the key factors of medical quality and costs to explain health customers' behavior but is limited in terms of enabling an understanding of the decision process. This limitation exists because, given the intangibility and greater associated risks in the highly professional industry of international medical tourism, most customers lack the knowledge and experience needed to evaluate the central factors-such as the medical competence of health care countries-before purchases. Therefore, they actively search for useful information through various distributions to reduce uncertainty and to make better choices. Interestingly, most of these information channels are associated with word-of-mouth (WOM). However, no evidence is found in the literature to estimate the effect of WOM in the medical tourism field. Thus, this study focuses on WOM to explore its interaction with key medical characteristic factors and the attractiveness of destinations referred to by sources. This study also affects customers' evaluations and, in turn, influences their intention to seek health care services abroad. Research design, data, and methodology - The literature review addressed an interesting research model for estimating the relations among WOM, medical characteristics, attractiveness, and customers' choice intention regarding international health care. In the key economic regions in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong, 2,500 survey questionnaires were distributed to potential customers of different ages, education, and income levels. A resulting 1,717 (68.68 percent of the original 2,500) usable surveys were obtained for analysis. Moderated regression analysis was used to determine the effects of WOM in the decision process regarding international health care destinations. Results - The results indicate that WOM is a good moderator of the relationships between the factors evaluated by sources and customers. More importantly, the WOM effects reflect the factors of tie strength, credibility, and vividness. The results also reveal that, given the moderating role of WOM, the intention of potential Chinese customers to seek the referred health care country varies according to the medical characteristics of medical competency and reputation as evaluated by customers. In contrast, the travel attractiveness of the attractions, facilities, accessibility, and social environment are critical determinants of destination choice intention. Conclusions - The moderating role of WOM has been confirmed through the international healthcare destination selection process. Medical tourism managers should user WOM as an effective marketing tool for industry development. Specially, marketers should consider the effects of WOM determinants, such as tie strength, credibility, and vividness, to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, this study estimates the factors that affect customers' selection of medical tourism destinations. Health care managers or policy makers should consider a broad variety of variables that may attract more Chinese customers to international health care.

Ergonomic Design of Medic Work Table (MWT) for Medical Technologist

  • Choi, Kyeong-Hee;Lee, Sung-Yong;Lee, Jun-Hyub;Kong, Yong-Ku
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
    • /
    • v.35 no.6
    • /
    • pp.595-609
    • /
    • 2016
  • Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the guidelines for Medic Work Table (MWT) based on the anthropometric data of medical technologists. Background: Users' anthropometric data such as sitting height, sitting elbow height, knee height, and so on are significant factors for designing comfortable and useful furniture. Thus, many guidelines for different types of desks and chairs based on the users' anthropometric data have been suggested to many researchers. However, few researches have been conducted to provide design guidelines for MWT for blood collecting task. Medical technologists often use their upper extremities to perform blood collecting task with high repetitions. These repeated motions could be a critical factor in the prevalence rate of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs). Therefore, a study on ergonomic design of MWT would be essential in preventing the WMSDs and improving the quality of the working environment of medical technologists. Method: This study suggested design guidelines for ergonomic MWT by focusing on the heights of the upper side and underside, depths of the inside and outside, and width of MWT through anthropometric studies and literature reviews. Afterwards, a new MWT was made using the suggested design guidelines for this study. Five healthy medical technologists participated to evaluate the original MWT and new MWT. All participants took part in the range of motion (ROM) test, electromyography (EMG) muscle activity test, and usability test to validate the suggested guidelines in this study. EMG signals of related muscles (Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, Extensor Carpi Ulnaris, Deltoid Anterior, and Biceps Branchii) were recorded through the surface electromyography system from both the original MWT and the new MWT. The ROM test of the shoulder and elbow flexion was also assessed using motion sensors. Results: The newly designed MWT showed decreased ROMs of the shoulder and elbow up to 22% and 18% compared to the original MWT. The muscle activities in the new MWT also showed a decrease of 13% in Anterior Deltoid, 6% in Biceps Brachii, 5% in Flexor Carpi Ulnaris, and 8% in Extensor Carpi Ulnaris muscle groups, compared to the original MWT. In the usability test, the satisfaction score of the new MWT was also 56.1% higher than that of the original MWT. Conclusion: This study suggested guidelines for designing MWT and validating the guidelines through qualitative and quantitative analyses. The results of motion analysis, muscle activity, and usability tests demonstrated that the newly designed MWT may lead to less physical stress, less awkward posture, and better physical user interface. Application: The recommended guidelines of the MWT would be helpful information for designing an ergonomic MWT that reduces physical loads and improves the performance of many medical technologists.

A Case Study of Infographics for National Defense - Focusing on the Datajournalism of Afghanistan War in Guardian (국방분야에서 인포그래픽 적용사례 연구 - 영(英) 가디언지 아프가니스탄전 데이터저널리즘을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Dong Hwan
    • Spatial Information Research
    • /
    • v.22 no.5
    • /
    • pp.43-52
    • /
    • 2014
  • Recently, Big Data is a buzzword in the creative economy generation. The organizations related to spatial information society focus on building the spatial big data systems. As spatial big data is a combination of spatial information and big data, the data visualization is essential in order to utilize them efficiently. One of the great methodologies for data visualization is infographics. Nationally, Chousn.com initiated the infographics news in 2010. Korean Administration Branches also recognized the importance of infographic and they adopted infographics for their briefings from 2013. Internationally, Visual.ly is leading company in the infographics market and they produced noticeable interactive infographics for Egypt Parliamentary Elections results. In the defense part, Guardian's datajournalism of Afghanistan war log was a good example of utilizing infographics. Throughout the research, five requirements are extracted. First source data should have precision and accuracy in terms of time and space manner. Second, infographics images have a compressibility. Third, the infographics is properly processed for military commanders. Fourth, sharing, openness and communication are essential for high quality infographic. Lastly, infographics should be an analytic tool for predicting future event based on the past data. Infographics is not a direct representation of data but an analytic tool for helping user's choice and decision in critical moments.

Diffusion of New Technology on Rice Farming and Linkages between Agricultural Education and Extension (벼농사 신기술 전파와 농업교육 및 농촌지도의 연계)

  • Kim, Sung-Soo;Lee, Yong-Hwan;Lee, Byun-Woo
    • Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
    • /
    • v.10 no.2
    • /
    • pp.267-283
    • /
    • 2003
  • The purposes of the study were to; 1) examine the diffusion and adoption of new agricultural technology in rice farming, 2) survey the status of agricultural education institutions on technology transfer, and 3) explore the linkages between agricultural education and extension for more effective reinforcement strategies to further the diffusion and adoption of new agricultural technology in Korea. Literature review, field survey and panel discussions were employed to strengthen the linkages among agricultural education, research and extension in Korea. As the results of analysis of the diffusion and adoption of new agricultural technology in rice farming following recommendations were offered; 1. Extension services have helped Korean farmers in achieving self-sufficiency in rice and year-round supply of green vegetables as well as upbringing rural youth, however, government changed the status of extension educators from central government staff to county/city government staff since 1997. This brought about various problems such as: decreased morale and number of extension educators, thus weakening the extension education function, weakened linkages between national and local extension offices, less opportunity for in-service education of extension educators, and weakened linkages between agricultural research and extension, etc. 2. In order to insure that extension educators are high caliber professional individuals, it is crucial to establish a system that nationally recognizes these individuals as such, and that provides a professional development path. It is important to restore the morale of extension educators to continually achieve the national goals of food production, balanced national development and preservation of environment, at the same time to meet increasing needs of farmers. 3. Because of the critical importance of diffusing innovations to agricultural producers in order to ensure quality and steady food supply, it is crucial that these issues be addressed before the extension service further deteriorates. Further research activities on agricultural extension should be conducted for more effective agricultural extension system in Korea to achieve a greater rural, national and regional development. 4. Research and implementation activities should be emphasized and encouraged to improve the cooperation and collaboration among agricultural education research and extension to better serve farmers' educational and information needs. National level research activities should be encouraged to improve the effectiveness of agricultural technology transfer including internet education programs for farmers in Korea.

  • PDF

A Review of Laws and Evaluation Criteria on Health, Nutrition, and Safety in Child Care Centers (어린이집 건강과 영양, 안전관리 현황과 과제)

  • Choi, Hye Jin;Nam, Mi Kyoung;Son, Won Kyoung
    • Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
    • /
    • v.10 no.2
    • /
    • pp.43-71
    • /
    • 2014
  • This study reviews recent trends of laws and evaluation criteria of heath, nutrition, and safety in child care centers, and addresses future research directions on them. To this end, we analyzed Child Care Laws, Child Care Acts, Child Care Program Accreditation Standards and Criteria, as well as master's theses, doctoral dissertations and journals that have been published on these issues since 1991. Through a comprehensive and critical review, we revealed three following findings in terms of child heath, nutrition, and safety. First, it is necessary to strengthen regulations for all children's heath, nutrition, and safety, or to discuss measures corresponding to those regulations to provide the best possible care to every child. Second, a careful examination of accreditation standards on health, nutrition and safety found that, although specific actions and criteria on these issues were already prepared, their implementation is not mandatory and the quality of provided health, nutrition and safety is not properly guaranteed. This finding shows that what is still necessary is to devise effective plans for handling institutional frameworks and processes of child care program accreditation standards. Third, among the three categories of health, nutrition, and safety, the topics on safety were found to be studied most frequently, whereas the other two topics were considered much less. It thus indicates that more research on health and nutrition are necessary.