• Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.113-118
• /
• 2015

An important problem in low-dose CT is the image quality degradation caused by photon starvation. There are a lot of algorithms in sinogram domain or image domain to solve this problem. In view of strong self-similarity contained in the special sinusoid-like strip data in the sinogram space, we propose a novel non-local filtering, whose average weights are related to both the image FBP (filtered backprojection) reconstructed from restored sinogram data and the image directly FBP reconstructed from noisy sinogram data. In the process of sinogram restoration, we apply a non-local method with smoothness parameters adjusted adaptively to the variance of noisy sinogram data, which makes the method much effective for noise reduction in sinogram domain. Simulation experiments show that our proposed method by filtering in both image and projection domains has a better performance in noise reduction and details preservation in reconstructed images.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.45-63
• /
• 2021

This study considers the stages of curriculum development for the integrated curriculum of Pusan National University Graduate School & Hospital of Korean Medicine, and specifically the KAS2021 (announced in 2019), improvement measures for the curriculum of the College of Traditional Korean Medicine, and the case of the College of Medicine. The introduction of integrated curriculum in the College of Traditional Korean Medicine starts from the members (doers)' agreement. In the process of development, the organization that represents the members, the organization that sets up a goal and designs the curriculum, and the organization that executes them should fulfill their own roles. The stage of development and operation should have the support system for manpower, institution, administration, and finance. The curriculum (draft) should be concrete enough to be operated in reality. For the smooth operation of integrated education, it is necessary to secure more full-time teachers than before, and it is also necessary to have an organization fully in charge of monitoring and improving the operation. For the introduction and operation of integrated curriculum in Traditional Korean Medicine education, the members' agreement, institutional change, support system, and the cultivation of manpower for the operation/evaluation/development of curriculum should be considered.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2023

This study aims to evaluate patients' satisfaction with healthcare services in Hawtat Bani Tamim Governorate during the spread of coronavirus. The importance of this study stems from the fact that Covid-19 is challenging countries all over the world. The study adopted a questionnaire for collecting the data. The sample size reached 231 members. The study applied descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods to obtain the result of the study. The analysis of the data revealed that most of the participants are satisfied with the healthcare services in hospitals and health centers during the Corona pandemic, Health precautions and distancing measures were applied appropriately, Vaccination against corona was available in health centers and easy to access, and rapid response of health care service providers to patients' requests. The participant's opinions showed that the application of Mawid is a suitable method to access healthcare services during Corona, the application is more efficient in providing the required healthcare services and facilitating their access to healthcare services. In addition, patient satisfaction with the "My health" application provided fast and convenient services during the Corona pandemic and provided medical consultations easily.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.93-103
• /
• 2022

The main purpose of this study was to gauge the patient satisfaction index and subsequently discuss the Importance-Performance (IP) matrix analysis of the inpatient services in the context of the private hospital setting. The Malaysian Customer Satisfaction Index Model was employed as the theoretical framework for the above purposes. This study involving 242 patients in Malaysian's private healthcare sector used a Web-based survey as the main method of data collection. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized for data analysis. Using Fornell et al. (1996)'s formula, the resulting patient satisfaction index was slightly lower than the "very satisfied" category, the target level required for positioning as one of the world's premier medical tourism players. The IP matrix showed that medical quality is the main competitive advantage of the private hospitals that can propel their growth in the global healthcare marketplace. The results also indicate that outcome quality, patient rights, and privacy, and service quality are the three quality domains that need to be prioritized for further improvement. On the other hand, the servicescape quality domain needs to be strategized as the unique selling proposition as the performance of the private hospitals in this regard is already extremely good.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.47-67
• /
• 2007

This paper aims at suggesting several ways lo change financial vulnerability and to improve managerial capability of local public hospitals (LPHs) in Korea through the identification of factors affecting profitability. Several findings of the research are as follows: To begin with, LPHs exhibited a statistically significant difference in their profitability from one another, according to tile analyses of their profitable margins from tile general characteristics. It depends on the number of hospitals in the area, the population of the hospital-built area, the number of competing hospitals, the number of staff per 100 beds, the opening of special clinic, the educational function, and the capacity of rooms. However, there was no variable in the managerial characteristics, presenting a significant difference, in contrast with hospitals which have been managed by private companies and made a great amount of profits. Second, according to the analyses of profit differences in behavioral effort-characteristics, a statistically significant difference was revealed upon the basis of the efforts to improve the clinic service, invite special patients, and shorten the period of being hospitalized. Third, the result of analyses about the difference of profitability from medical care and finance is statistically significant in the rate of labor cost, the rate of management cost, bed-occupancy rate, and the period of being hospitalized. Fourth, according to the analyses of the factors influencing the net profit ratio of the entire capital, Adjusted explanatory power(Adjusted $R^2$) was shown up to 65.2%, which is high. To compare the adjusted explanatory power stage by stage, the first stage model applying only two variables such as structural and strategic characteristics exhibited 23.8%, and the second stage model adding financial characteristics showed 51.5%. The explanatory power was much improved up to 65.2% when the third stage model incorporated the outcome of medical care performance. When the return on investment(ROI) was examined by using the multi-variate linear regression analysis at the final model of third stage, it was found that ROI had a positive relationship with the increase rate of patients, labor costs per doctor, and medical care rate of socially protected inpatients. However, it revealed that ROI had a negative relationship with the ratio of labor costs, the number of patients per managerial staff, and occupancy rate of rooms, respectively. The research suggests that in order for LPHs to increase profitability, LPH, should make efforts not only to attract patients to the hospitals without any discrimination of the patients depending on their financial status, but also to develop efficient management methods to reduce labor costs.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.231-244
• /
• 2020

This study is a descriptive research to analyze psychosocial factors affecting health behavior adherence among community-dwelling older adults undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Data were collected with structured questionnaires from 126 patients discharged after hospitalization from a university hospital in J city, Gyeongnam, from July 15 to October 2 in 2018, and analyzed using SPSS/WIN 21.0. The result shows that the general characteristics, such as existence of spouse, education level, subjective health status, and subjective life satisfaction, have a significant influence on health behavior adherence. The research also identifies that medical support and resilience are positively correlated with health behavior adherence. In contrast, perceived stress, 3 sub-categories from perceived stress such as, family relations, anxiety and withdrawal, poverty and finance, and depression are negatively correlated. In the multiple regression analysis, resilience, perceived stress from poverty and finance, education level, and subjective life satisfaction explained 27.9% of health behavior adherence among older adults undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop and apply a nursing intervention program to improve the health behavior adherence of local older adults who had Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.38 no.10
• /
• pp.880-894
• /
• 2005

The purposes of this study were to a) measure the IC identified of CFMC (contract foodservice management company) ,b) examine IC circumstance of CFMC, c) evaluate practically IC measurement tool of CFMC, and d) present information for selecting an adequate CFMC to clients. The questionnaires of IC measurement were handed out to 108 CFMCs, there composing of main office employees, foodservice managers, customers, and clients of 207 school,38 hospital, and 86 husiness/industry foodservices. The statistical data analysis was completed using SPSS Win (ver 12.0) for descriptive analysis, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test. First, CFMCs had operational experience for an average of 8 years and 8 months, and served an average of 38,540 meals a day. Most of the respondent companies specialized in the school foodservice field and managed an average of 66 clients for the contract period of 2 years and 3 months. Second, the respondent companies had gotten a score of 77.78 points for the total average, 77.7 points in the large enterprise group and 78.1 points in the small and medium-sized enterprise group. Therefore, the minimum number of points for the accrediting license on Qualification is suggested to be over 70 out of a 100 point scale; this study would be serve as reference for the certification license on qualification. On the level of evaluation category, the scores were 14.15 to 20 points on $\ulcorner$finance$\urcorner$, 19.24 to 25 points on $\ulcorner$customer$\urcorner$, 19.33 to 25 points on $\ulcorner$process$\urcorner$, 14.31 to 20 points on $\ulcorner$human resource$\urcorner$, and 8.6 to 10 point on $\ulcorner$renewal and development$\urcorner$ . $\ulcorner$Renewal and development$\urcorner$ and $\ulcorner$customer focus$\urcorner$ received better grades than other evaluation categories. Third, $\ulcorner$Finance$\urcorner$ indicated similar distribution overall. Small and medium-sized companies had lower grades than large companies on 'market ability' of $\ulcorner$customer$\urcorner$ , but, clients of small and medium-sized companies had higher grade for 'client satisfaction' than large companies. Most of the companies supported 'infrastructure support for foodservice operation' of $\ulcorner$process$\urcorner$ by the main office of CFMCs, but, the branch chain offices of CFMCs were not applied efficiently. Large companies made more effort to improve the 'employee ability' of $\ulcorner$human focus$\urcorner$ than small and medium-sized CFMC. The 'research and development cost' of $\ulcorner$renewal and development$\urcorner$ was increased compared to the previous year. In conclusion, if CFMCs were to perform self-evaluation and a routine checkups by utilizing CFMC's IC measuring tool, improvements in CFMC operational capacities as well as foodservice quality can be noted. (Korean J Nutrition 38(10)'880$\sim$894,2005)

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.221-227
• /
• 2015

Purpose: Confronting the growing burden of dementia requires understanding the causes and predictors of dementia in order to develop preventive strategies. In Korea a large proportion (71%) of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, and the risk factors have not yet been elucidated. Dietary factors may be possible risk factors, however research on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and dietary behaviors has been insufficient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between compliance with the "Dietary Guidelines for Elderly (The Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2011)" and Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly. Methods: Elderly persons who visited a University hospital or a dementia center of Seoul and agreed to participate in the examinations were selected. Among 277 subjects, 89 Alzheimer patients were selected with diagnosis and 118 subjects were assigned to the control group. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was based on Alzheimer's disease criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) and criteria of National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA). Information on the general characteristics, health related behaviors and compliance with the dietary guidelines for Korean elderly was collected by face to face interview using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric variables were measured during the survey. Results: Total compliance score of dietary guidelines was significantly lower in the Alzheimer's disease group than in the control group (p = 0.0001). The odds ratio of Alzheimer's disease was significantly decreased in the group with the highest dietary guideline compliance score (OR = 0.47, 95 % CI = 0.18~1.09) compared to the group with the lowest compliance score. Conclusion: The results indicate that increasing compliance with the dietary guidelines could be an effective strategy to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.22-30
• /
• 2005

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in emotional response and coping pattern by age among cancer patients. Method: As descriptive research, from November 2000 to April 2001, data was collected with semi-structured questionnaire to 90 adult cancer patients, and analyzed using quantitative analysis. Result: Most emotional response at the time of diagnosis of cancer is despair in 20-39years & more than 60 years, and Impact in 40-59years. In emotional response during treatment by age, there were most much hope in 20-39 years, fear in 40-59years, and acceptance in more than 60years. In difficulties by age during treatment, there were most much mental burden in 20-29years, problems about occupation/finance in 40-59years, and physical discomfort related to treatment in more than 60 years. Resolution of difficulties of treatment shows avoidance in 20-39years, active participation in 40-59years and compliance in more than 60 years. Coping pattern during treatment was positive thinking in 20-39years, refreshment in 40-59years, and despair/avoidance in more than 60 years. Coping with treatment & progress shows in 20-39years maintenance of current health, 40-59years impossible to recover, more than 60year health recovery. Conclusion: Nursing could be considered emotional response and coping pattern according to age.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.741-750
• /
• 2011

In this paper, we derive an software mixed debugging model based on a Markov process, assuming that the length of time to perform the debugging is random and its distribution may depend on the fault type causing the failure. We assume that the debugging process starts as soon as a software failure occurs, and either a perfect debugging or an imperfect debugging is performed upon each fault type. One type is caused by a fault that is easily corrected and in this case, the perfect debugging process is performed. An Imperfect debugging process is performed to fix the failure caused by a fault that is difficult to correct. Distribution of the first passage time and working probability of the software system are obtained; in addition, an availability function of a software system which is the probability that the software is in working at a given time, is derived. Numerical examples are provided for illustrative purposes.