• Title/Summary/Keyword: Ideal Cost

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On low cost model-based monitoring of industrial robotic arms using standard machine vision

  • Karagiannidisa, Aris;Vosniakos, George C.
    • Advances in robotics research
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.81-99
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    • 2014
  • This paper contributes towards the development of a computer vision system for telemonitoring of industrial articulated robotic arms. The system aims to provide precision real time measurements of the joint angles by employing low cost cameras and visual markers on the body of the robot. To achieve this, a mathematical model that connects image features and joint angles was developed covering rotation of a single joint whose axis is parallel to the visual projection plane. The feature that is examined during image processing is the varying area of given circular target placed on the body of the robot, as registered by the camera during rotation of the arm. In order to distinguish between rotation directions four targets were used placed every $90^{\circ}$ and observed by two cameras at suitable angular distances. The results were deemed acceptable considering camera cost and lighting conditions of the workspace. A computational error analysis explored how deviations from the ideal camera positions affect the measurements and led to appropriate correction. The method is deemed to be extensible to multiple joint motion of a known kinematic chain.

Introduction to Utilization Review (의료이용심사에 대한 소고)

  • Shin, Euichul
    • Quality Improvement in Health Care
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.75-83
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    • 2006
  • Background : Utilization review has been adopted as a vehicle for cost and utilization control of health care services. Its role was further stressed and expanded through the establishment of Health Insurance Review Agency in 2001. This article is to introduce concept, activities, and effect of utilization review based on the experiences of U.S. and to suggest important characteristics for ideal utilization review activities at the national level in Korea. Method : Twenty-five articles related with utilization review were reviewed after being selected through web site search through Med Line and Richis. Result : Utilization review was introduced mainly for health care expenditure control either by insurer, provider or the third parties under the pressure of increasing health care cost. It's activities can be categorized to prospective, concurrent and retrospective review according to the time of service provision. Based on most of studies, utilization review has been effective in controling rising health care cost and utilization. However it's effectiveness assumes a reimbursement structure of managed care like capitation payment. More worse, it is still unknown it's effectiveness on quality of care. Conclusion : Utilization review should be employed to increase the cost effectiveness of medical care by optimizing quality and patient's outcomes while also attempting to reduce the use of resources. So, it should consider outcomes before expenditures, check for both under and over-use, and construct an structure in which consumption is reduced equitably. Aggressive adoption of utilization review in Korean health care setting with fee-for-service reimbursement structure might not be a cost-effective approach before adoption of prospective payment system such as D.R.G. and capitation.

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Scented Geraniums: a Model System for Phytoremediation

  • Raj, Sankaran-Krishna;Dixon, Michael-A;Praveen K. Saxena
    • Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.325-337
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    • 2000
  • All living organisms depend on soil and water for their sustained growth and development. In recent years, sustenance of life in these growth matrices has been adversely affected by the cumulative increase in environmental pollutants resulting from increasing population, growing economies and resource-use. This review provides a glimpse into the problem of global environmental pollution, the traditional technologies available for remediation and the scope of emerging‘plant-based remediation’technologies. Phytoremediation, the use of plants to effectively remove or stabilize contaminants from the growth substrate, is a low cost and ecologically friendly alternative to the common‘dig and dump’technologies. The field of phytoremediation has been driven by the intrinsic need for identification of ideal candidate plant species. To date, there are only a very few identified plants which satisfy all of the prerequisites for use in phytoremediation. The review focuses on one such plant species, the common horticultural plant scented geranium (Pelargonium sp.), with demonstrated potential to remediate metal / salt contaminated soils / aqueous systems. The characterization of tolerance and metal / salt accumulation potential of Pelargonium sp. and its efficacy in remediating complex contaminated sites are described. The unique ability of scented geraniums to tolerate excessive amounts of multi-metals, hydrocarbon and salt mixtures, and at the same time to accumulate significant amounts of metal and salt ions in the biomass, renders this plant species as one of the ideal candidates for remediation.

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Quantitative nondestructive evaluation of thin plate structures using the complete frequency information from impact testing

  • Lee, Sang-Youl;Rus, Guillermo;Park, Tae-Hyo
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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    • v.28 no.5
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    • pp.525-548
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    • 2008
  • This article deals the theory for solving an inverse problem of plate structures using the frequency-domain information instead of classical time-domain delays or free vibration eigenmodes or eigenvalues. A reduced set of output parameters characterizing the defect is used as a regularization technique to drastically overcome noise problems that appear in imaging techniques. A deconvolution scheme from an undamaged specimen overrides uncertainties about the input signal and other coherent noises. This approach provides the advantage that it is not necessary to visually identify the portion of the signal that contains the information about the defect. The theoretical model for Quantitative nondestructive evaluation, the relationship between the real and ideal models, the finite element method (FEM) for the forward problem, and inverse procedure for detecting the defects are developed. The theoretical formulation is experimentally verified using dynamic responses of a steel plate under impact loading at several points. The signal synthesized by FEM, the residual, and its components are analyzed for different choices of time window. The noise effects are taken into account in the inversion strategy by designing a filter for the cost functional to be minimized. The technique is focused toward a exible and rapid inspection of large areas, by recovering the position of the defect by means of a single accelerometer, overriding experimental calibration, and using a reduced number of impact events.

Post-polypectomy surveillance: the present and the future

  • Masau Sekiguchi;Takahisa Matsuda;Kinichi Hotta;Yutaka Saito
    • Clinical Endoscopy
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    • v.55 no.4
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    • pp.489-495
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    • 2022
  • An appropriate post-polypectomy surveillance program requires the effectiveness of reducing colorectal cancer and safety. In addition, the post-polypectomy surveillance program should consider the burden of limited medical resource capacity, cost-effectiveness, and patient adherence. In this sense, a risk-stratified surveillance program based on baseline colonoscopy results is ideal. Major international guidelines for post-polypectomy surveillance, such as those from the European Union and the United States, have recommended risk-stratified surveillance programs. Both guidelines have recently been updated to better differentiate between high- and low-risk individuals. In both updated guidelines, more individuals have been downgraded to lower-risk groups that require less frequent or no surveillance. Furthermore, increased attention has been paid to the surveillance of patients who undergo serrated polyp removal. Previous guidelines in Japan did not clearly outline the risk stratification in post-polypectomy surveillance. However, the new colonoscopy screening and surveillance guidelines presented by the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society include a risk-stratified post-polectomy surveillance program. Further discussion and analysis of unresolved issues in this field, such as the optimal follow-up after the first surveillance, the upper age limit for surveillance, and the ideal method for improving adherence to surveillance guidelines, are warranted.

Understanding and Attitude to Sustainable Development of College Students for a Nuclear Power Plant Construction in Education for Sustainable Development through Panel Discussion (패널토론을 적용한 지속가능발전교육에서 대학생의 원자력발전소 건립에 대한 지속가능발전 인식과 태도)

  • MOON, Sungchae
    • Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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    • v.27 no.5
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    • pp.1236-1251
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    • 2015
  • This study examined understanding and attitude of sustainable development(SD) of 38 college students in a nuclear power plant construction after education for sustainable development(ESD) through panel discussion. The results were as follows: First, after lesson 66% of students were expected that SD is possible if scientific technology is developed and a frugal life for the protection of environment is carried out. However, the remaining students regarded SD as an ideal concept, because they thought it is not possible to pursue environmental sustainability and socio-economic development simultaneously. Second, students' opinions in the evaluation of constructing a nuclear power plant in three aspects(environment, society and economy) before and after panel discussion were changed as follows; 1) After panel discussion, the objectors increased to 21% in economic evaluation, while the supporters increased to 11% in environmental evaluation. 2) Students majoring in engineering or natural sciences changed their opinions to agree in environmental evaluation because they considered a nuclear power plant safe and eco-energy. However students majoring in social science/business or liberal arts/arts changed their opinions to disagree in economic evaluation because they considered a nuclear power plant as high-cost energy when assessing danger-accidents cost, public consensus cost, operation and maintenance cost, and waste disposal cost. 3) This change of decision-making in students majoring in social science/business or liberal arts/arts after panel discussion was statistically significant(p<0.05). Implications of panel discussion as a teaching and learning method in ESD are also discussed.

Pre-Computation Based Selective Probing (PCSP) Scheme for Distributed Quality of Service (QoS) Routing with Imprecise State Information

  • Lee Won-Ick;Lee Byeong-Gi
    • Journal of Communications and Networks
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.70-84
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    • 2006
  • We propose a new distributed QoS routing scheme called pre-computation based selective probing (PCSP). The PCSP scheme is designed to provide an exact solution to the constrained optimization problem with moderate overhead, considering the practical environment where the state information available for the routing decision is not exact. It does not limit the number of probe messages, instead, employs a qualitative (or conditional) selective probing approach. It considers both the cost and QoS metrics of the least-cost and the best-QoS paths to calculate the end-to-end cost of the found feasible paths and find QoS-satisfying least-cost paths. It defines strict probing condition that excludes not only the non-feasible paths but also the non-optimal paths. It additionally pre-computes the QoS variation taking into account the impreciseness of the state information and applies two modified QoS-satisfying conditions to the selection rules. This strict probing condition and carefully designed probing approaches enable to strictly limit the set of neighbor nodes involved in the probing process, thereby reducing the message overhead without sacrificing the optimal properties. However, the PCSP scheme may suffer from high message overhead due to its conservative search process in the worst case. In order to bound such message overhead, we extend the PCSP algorithm by applying additional quantitative heuristics. Computer simulations reveal that the PCSP scheme reduces message overhead and possesses ideal success ratio with guaranteed optimal search. In addition, the quantitative extensions of the PCSP scheme turn out to bound the worst-case message overhead with slight performance degradation.

LCL Filter Design Method for Grid-Connected PWM-VSC

  • Majic, Goran;Despalatovic, Marin;Terzic, Bozo
    • Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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    • v.12 no.5
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    • pp.1945-1954
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    • 2017
  • In recent years, several LCL filter design methods for different converter topologies have been published, many of which use analytical expressions to calculate the ideal converter AC voltage harmonic spectrum. This paper presents the LCL filter design methodology but the focus is on presentation and validation of the non-iterative filter design method for a grid-connected three-phase two-level PWM-VSC. The developed method can be adapted for different converter topologies and PWM algorithms. Furthermore, as a starting point for the design procedure, only the range of PWM carrier frequencies is required instead of an exact value. System nonlinearities, usually omitted from analysis have a significant influence on VSC AC voltage harmonic spectrum. In order to achieve better accuracy of the proposed procedure, the system nonlinear model is incorporated into the method. Optimal filter parameters are determined using the novel cost function based on higher frequency losses of the filter. An example of LCL filter design for a 40 kVA grid-connected PWM-VSC has been presented. Obtained results have been used to construct the corresponding laboratory setup and measurements have been performed to verify the proposed method.

A Method of Eliminating Exceptional Elements Attaining Minimum Machine Duplications and Intercell Moves In Cellular Manufacturing Systems (기계중복과 셀간 이동수의 최소화가 가능한 예외적 요소의 제거 방법 : 비용 및 설치대수 제약 고려)

  • Jang, Ik;Yun, Chang-Won;Chung, Byung-Hee
    • Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.87-96
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    • 1998
  • Using the concept of cellular manufacturing systems(CMS) in job shop manufacturing system is one of the most innovative approaches to improving plant productivity. However. several constraints in machine duplication cost, machining capability, cell space capacity, intercell moves and exceptional elements(EEs) are main problems that prevent achieving the goal of maintaining an ideal CMS environment. Minimizing intercell part traffics and EEs are the main objective of the cell formation problem because it is a critical point that improving production efficiency. Because the intercell moves could be changed according to the sequence of operation, it should be considered in assigning parts and machines to machine ceil. This paper presents a method that eliminates EEs under the constraints of machine duplication cost and ceil space capacity attaining two goals of minimizing machine duplications and minimizing intercell moves simultaneously. Developing an algorithm that calculates the machine duplications by cell-machine incidence matrix and part-machine Incidence matrix, and calculates the exact intercell moves considering the sequence of operation. Based on the number of machine duplications and exact intercell moves, the goal programming model which satisfying minimum machine duplications and minimum intercell moves is developed. A linear programming model is suggested that could calculates more effectively without damaging optimal solution. A numerical example is provided to illustrate these methods.

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A Method of Eliminating Exceptional Elements Attainting Minimum Machine Duplications and Intercell Moves In Cell Manufacturing Systems (기계중복과 셀간 이동수의 최소화가 가능한 예외적 요소의 제거 방법 : 비용 및 설치대수 제약 고려)

  • Chang, Ik;Yoon, Chang-Won;Chung, Byeong-Hui
    • Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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    • 1998.10a
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    • pp.263-266
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    • 1998
  • Several constraints in machine duplication cost, machining capability, cell space capacity, intercell moves and exceptional elements(EEs) are main problems that prevent achieving the goal of ideal Cellular Manufacturin System (CMS) environment. Minimizing intercell part traffics and EEs are the main objective of the cell formation problem as it's a critical point that improving production efficiency. Because the intercell moves could be changed according to the sequence of operation, it should be considered in assigning parts and machines to machine cells. This paper presents a method that eliminates EEs under the constraints of machine duplication cost and cell space capacity attaining two goals of minimizing machine duplications and minimizing intercell moves simultaneously. Developing an algorithm that calculates the machine duplications by cell-machine incidence matrix and part-machine incidence matrix, and calculates the exact intercell moves considering the sequence of operation. Based on the number of machine duplications and exact intercell moves, the goal programming model which satisfying minimum machine duplications and minimum intercell moves is developed. A linear programming model is suggested that could calculates more effectively without damaging optimal solution. A numerical example is provided to illustrate these methods.

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