• Title/Summary/Keyword: Influence Point

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A Destructive Method in the Connection of the Algorithm and Design in the Digital media - Centered on the Rapid Prototyping Systems of Product Design - (디지털미디어 환경(環境)에서 디자인 특성(特性)에 관한 연구(硏究) - 실내제품(室內製品) 디자인을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim Seok-Hwa
    • Journal of Science of Art and Design
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    • v.5
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    • pp.87-129
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    • 2003
  • The purpose of this thesis is to propose a new concept of design of the 21st century, on the basis of the study on the general signification of the structures and the signs of industrial product design, by examining the difference between modern and post-modern design, which is expected to lead the users to different design practice and interpretation of it. The starting point of this study is the different styles and patterns of 'Gestalt' in the post-modern design of the late 20th century from modern design - the factor of determination in industrial product design. That is to say, unlike functional and rational styles of modern product design, the late 20th century is based upon the pluralism characterized by complexity, synthetic and decorativeness. So far, most of the previous studies on design seem to have excluded visual aspects and usability, focused only on effective communication of design phenomena. These partial studies on design, blinded by phenomenal aspects, have resulted in failure to discover a principle of fundamental system. However, design varies according to the times; and the transformation of design is reflected in Design Pragnanz to constitute a new text of design. Therefore, it can be argued that Design Pragnanz serves as an essential factor under influence of the significance of text. In this thesis, therefore, I delve into analysis of the 20th century product design, in the light of Gestalt theory and Design Pragnanz, which have been functioning as the principle of the past design. For this study, I attempted to discover the fundamental elements in modern and post-modern designs, and to examine the formal structure of product design, the users' aesthetic preference and its semantics, from the integrative viewpoint. Also, with reference to history and theory of design my emphasis is more on fundamental visual phenomena than on structural analysis or process of visualization in product design, in order to examine the formal properties of modern and post-modern designs. Firstly, In Chapter 1, 'Issues and Background of the Study', I investigated the Gestalt theory and Design Pragnanz, on the premise of formal distinction between modern and post-modern designs. These theories are founded upon the discussion on visual perception of Gestalt in Germany in 1910's, in pursuit of the principle of perception centered around visual perception of human beings. In Chapter 2, I dealt with functionalism of modern design, as an advance preparation for the further study on the product design of the late 20th century. First of all, in Chapter 2-1, I examined the tendency of modern design focused on functionalism, which can be exemplified by the famous statement 'Form follows function'. Excluding all unessential elements in design - for example, decoration, this tendency has attained the position of the international style based on the spirit of Bauhause - universality and regularity - in search of geometric order, standardization and rationalization. In Chapter 2-2, I investigated the anthropological viewpoint that modern design started representing culture in a symbolic way including overall aspects of the society - politics, economics and ethics, and its criticism on functionalist design that aesthetic value is missing in exchange of excessive simplicity in style. Moreover, I examined the pluralist phenomena in post-modern design such as kitsch, eclecticism, reactionism, hi-tech and digital design, breaking away from functionalist purism of modern design. In Chapter 3, I analyzed Gestalt Pragnanz in design in a practical way, against the background of design trends. To begin with, I selected mass product design among those for the 20th century products as a target of analysis, highlighting representative styles in each category of the products. For this analysis, I adopted the theory of J. M Lehnhardt, who gradated in percentage the aesthetic and semantic levels of Pragnantz in design expression, and that of J. K. Grutter, who expressed it in a formula of M = O : C. I also employed eight units of dichotomies, according to the G. D. Birkhoff's aesthetic criteria, for the purpose of scientific classification of the degree of order and complexity in design; and I analyzed phenomenal aspects of design form represented in each unit. For Chapter 4, I executed a questionnaire about semiological phenomena of Design Pragnanz with 28 units of antonymous adjectives, based upon the research in the previous chapter. Then, I analyzed the process of signification of Design Pragnanz, founded on this research. Furthermore, the interpretation of the analysis served as an explanation to preference, through systematic analysis of Gestalt and Design Pragnanz in product design of the late 20th century. In Chapter 5, I determined the position of Design Pragnanz by integrating the analyses of Gestalt and Pragnanz in modern and post-modern designs In this process, 1 revealed the difference of each Design Pragnanz in formal respect, in order to suggest a vision of the future as a result, which will provide systemic and structural stimulation to current design.

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Study on the relationship between family dining and personality in adolescence (중·고등학생의 가족식사와 인성특성에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Hyoshick;Yu, Nan Sook;Jung, Lanhee;Heo, Youngsun;Lee, Joohee
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.1-14
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    • 2017
  • This study described the status of family dining and personality of adolescents, determined the differences in family dining according to personal variables, and examined the relationship between family dining and personality in adolescence. The Data were collected from self-reported inventory of the middle and high school students in a city and 1,259 data copies were used for analyses. Data were analyzed for frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, t-test, ANOVA, scheffe test, and multiple regression analysis using SPSS/PC 18.0 program. The results obtained were as follows. First, as for the weekly family dining frequency, more than 7 times had the most number of responses(44.2%), followed by 1~2 times(20.8%), 3~4 times(18.1%), 5~6 times(12.9%). The average scores for family dining perception and family dining attitudes were 3.75 and 3.42 on a 5-Likert scale, respectively, which means moderately high. But, family dining rules was 2.80, which means moderate. Agreeableness was the highest(3.68) among the personality components followed by Openness/intellect(3.42), Extraversion(3.33), Conscientiousness(3.14), and Emotional Stability(3.05) out of 5-point Likert scale. Second, there were statistically significant differences in family dining frequency, family dining perception, family dining rules, and family dining attitudes depending on the gender, school level, and the father's academic attainment. Third, family dining frequency, family dining perception, and family dining attitudes had statistically significant influence on the personality of adolescents after personal variables were considered. But, there was no significant relationship between family dining rules and the personality. The outcomes indicate that family dining affects the personality of adolescents. School needs to offer quality programs with various teaching methods to enhance family dining frequency, family dining perception, and family dining attitudes.

Thermal Conductivity and Pore Characteristics of Low-Temperature Sintered Lightweight Aggregates Mode from Waste Glass and Bottom Ash (바텀애쉬와 폐유리를 사용하여 제조한 저온소성 경량골재의 열전도율과 기공특성)

  • Lee, Han-Baek;Ji, Suk-Won;Seo, Chee-Ho
    • Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.851-858
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    • 2010
  • In this study, waste glass and bottom ash were used as basic materials in order to secure a recycling technology of by-products which was mostly discarded and reclaimed. In addition, because softening point of waste glass is less than $700^{\circ}C$ and bottom ash includes combustible material, it was possible to manufacture low-temperature sintering lightweight aggregates for energy saving at $800{\sim}900^{\circ}C$ that it is as much as 20~30% lower than sintering temperature of existing lightweight aggregates. Thermal conductivity of newly-developed lightweight aggregates was 0.056~0.105W/m. K and its porosity was 40.36~84.89%. A coefficient of correlation between thermal conductivity and porosity was -0.97, it showed very high negative correlationship. With this, we were able to verify that porosity is key factor to affect thermal conductivity. Microstructure of lightweight aggregates by $CaCO_3$ content and replacement ratio of bottom ash in the variation of temperature were that $CaCO_3$ content increased along with pore size while replacement ratio of bottom ash increased as pore size decreased. Specially, most pores were open pore instead of closed pore of globular shape when replacement ratio of bottom ash was 30%, and pore size was small about 1/10~1/5 as compared with case in bottom ash 0~20%. In addition, open pore shapes were remarkably more irregular form of open pore in $900^{\circ}C$ than $700^{\circ}C$ or $800^{\circ}C$ when replacement ratio of bottom ash was 30%. We reasoned hereby that these results will influence on absorption increase, strength and thermal conductivity decrease of lightweight aggregates.

Development of Korean Green Business/IT Strategies Based on Priority Analysis (한국의 그린 비즈니스/IT 실태분석을 통한 추진전략 우선순위 도출에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Jae-Kyeong;Choi, Ju-Choel;Choi, Il-Young
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.191-204
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    • 2010
  • Recently, the CO2 emission and energy consumption have become critical global issues to decide the future of nations. Especially, the spread of IT products and the increased use of internet and web applications result in the energy consumption and CO2 emission of IT industry though information technologies drive global economic growth. EU, the United States, Japan and other developed countries are using IT related environmental regulations such as WEEE(Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), RoHS(Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substance), REACH(Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of CHemicals) and EuP(Energy using Product), and have established systematic green business/IT strategies to enhance the competitiveness of IT industry. For example, the Japan government proposed the "Green IT initiative" for being compatible with economic growth and environmental protection. Not only energy saving technologies but energy saving systems have been developed for accomplishing sustainable development. Korea's CO2 emission and energy consumption continuously have grown at comparatively high rates. They are related to its industrial structure depending on high energy-consuming industries such as iron and steel Industry, automotive industry, shipbuilding industry, semiconductor industry, and so on. In particular, export proportion of IT manufacturing is quite high in Korea. For example, the global market share of the semiconductor such as DRAM was about 80% in 2008. Accordingly, Korea needs to establish a systematic strategy to respond to the global environmental regulations and to maintain competitiveness in the IT industry. However, green competitiveness of Korea ranked 11th among 15 major countries and R&D budget for green technology is not large enough to develop energy-saving technologies for infrastructure and value chain of low-carbon society though that grows at high rates. Moreover, there are no concrete action plans in Korea. This research aims to deduce the priorities of the Korean green business/IT strategies to use multi attribute weighted average method. We selected a panel of 19 experts who work at the green business related firms such as HP, IBM, Fujitsu and so on, and selected six assessment indices such as the urgency of the technology development, the technology gap between Korea and the developed countries, the effect of import substitution, the spillover effect of technology, the market growth, and the export potential of the package or stand-alone products by existing literature review. We submitted questionnaires at approximately weekly intervals to them for priorities of the green business/IT strategies. The strategies broadly classify as follows. The first strategy which consists of the green business/IT policy and standardization, process and performance management and IT industry and legislative alignment relates to government's role in the green economy. The second strategy relates to IT to support environment sustainability such as the travel and ways of working management, printer output and recycling, intelligent building, printer rationalization and collaboration and connectivity. The last strategy relates to green IT systems, services and usage such as the data center consolidation and energy management, hardware recycle decommission, server and storage virtualization, device power management, and service supplier management. All the questionnaires were assessed via a five-point Likert scale ranging from "very little" to "very large." Our findings show that the IT to support environment sustainability is prior to the other strategies. In detail, the green business /IT policy and standardization is the most important in the government's role. The strategies of intelligent building and the travel and ways of working management are prior to the others for supporting environment sustainability. Finally, the strategies for the data center consolidation and energy management and server and storage virtualization have the huge influence for green IT systems, services and usage This research results the following implications. The amount of energy consumption and CO2 emissions of IT equipment including electrical business equipment will need to be clearly indicated in order to manage the effect of green business/IT strategy. And it is necessary to develop tools that measure the performance of green business/IT by each step. Additionally, intelligent building could grow up in energy-saving, growth of low carbon and related industries together. It is necessary to expand the affect of virtualization though adjusting and controlling the relationship between the management teams.

The Influence of Field Compaction Method on the Efficiency of Compaction and the C. B. R. Value (전압방법(轉壓方法)이 전압효과((轉壓效果) 및 C. B. R. 값에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • Chung, Sang;Kang, Yea Mook
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.292-309
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    • 1983
  • This study is intended to find out the degree of compaction in field compaction, with soil type, the thickness of soil layer and the number of roller passing through the field density test and the field C. B. R. test by comparing vibration and non-vibration compactions. The results in this study are summarized as follows. 1. When the number of roller passing is few, it shows that the efficiency of the compaction by vibratory compaction is greater than that by non-vibratory compaction, the difference of the compaction ratio between vibratory and non-vibratory compaction is decreased according as the number of roller passing is more frequent. 2. Mechanizing on a large scale it is possible for a large equipment to be able to reach the point of A-1 compact ion method with three to five times of roller passing. To provide for mechanizing on a larger scale it is advisable to fix the standard by the D-2 compaction method. 3. As dry-density increases, the C. B. R. value increases, but the increasing ratio of C. B. R. value showed greater in vibrating compacting. 4. According as the number of roller passing increases, the increasing tendency of the C. B. R. Value is slow and the difference of the C. B. R. value between vibration and non-vibration compaction is large, the C. B. R. value showed greater about 20% in vibration compaction than in non-vibration compaction. 5. In C-5 soil type, with increasing the thickness of compaction, the degree of compaction is decreased. When the thickness of compaction is increased from 20cm to 30cm, the degree of compaction is decreased slowly, while the thickness of the compaction is increased from 30cm to 40cm the degree of compaction is decreased remarkably. Therefore it is advisable to compact the ground under the thickness of 30cm.

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Influence of the Levee-burning on the Fauna of Insect Pests and Their Natural Enemies (쥐불놀이 (논둑태우기)가 해충 및 천적상에 미치는 영향)

  • 김홍선;이영인;이해빈
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.209-215
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    • 1990
  • Some preliminary studies were conducted to find out whether the levee-burning could justifiable for the suppression of insect pests, particularly the smaller brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus F.). Density surveys on pests and their enemies (mostly spiders) were carried out upto the mid May at an experimental paddy field located in Suwon after of it's levee $(72\times1m)$ was burned on Feb. 20, 1987. Results were discussed in relation to density recovering of both pests and their possible enemies (spiders) and summarized as below. Not a single individual of any pest or enemy was found from the levee upto sometime after the levee-burning. Grasses started to grow more vigorously in burned ares than in unburned upto about 60 days after the burning. And densities of both pest and enemies grew higher in burned areas than in unburned from about 75 days after the burning (in Early may). It is suspected that all individuals of pests and enemies fond from the burned areas could have immigrated from the surrounding areas. If levee-burning was carried out in much wider areas, much longer time would be needed to recover the density of both pests and enemies to the center region of the burning. Wingless spiders would require even longer time than winged pest species to re-establish in the center region of the widely burned field. Pirata subpiraticus, the most abundant spider species in Korean paddy fields, starts to move about and searches for food at above $9^{\circ}C$ which is somewhat lower than the critical temperature for the pest species. Thus P. subpiraticus would require more food than other pest species early in the spring, and therefore, it would have lower probability to survive than pest species particularly in burned areas. Experiments for pest suppression with levee-burning would better be carried on in much wider areas, and its justification seems to be discussed after man other disciplines related to both pests and their natural enemies were throughly studied together with their density surveys. However, according to the present point of vie, the opinion that levee-burning is helpful for controlling pests which over winter on levee areas could not be justifiable.

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Storage condition that induce black heart of potato (Solanum tuberosom L.)

  • Jin, Yong-Ik;Chang, Dong-Chil;Cho, Ji-Hong;Yu, Dong-Lim;Nam, Jeong-Hwan;Yu, Hong-Seob;Koo, Bon-Choel;Choi, Jong-Kun;Lee, Soon-Ae
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2017.06a
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    • pp.193-193
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    • 2017
  • The black heart in potato is a physiological disorder that occurs when potatoes suffer from breathing problems. When storing potatoes at a low temperature around $0^{\circ}C$, there is a high possibility that the respiration rate of potato will rise and black heart will occur. Also, respiration can occur easily and briefly in a state where high temperature and ventilation is insufficient. Recently, as black heart has been occurred continuously and severely in South Korea, here we tried to identify the causes of black heart in potato and to develop the control strategy of this disorder. Firstly, we analyzed the influence on the black heart on the basis of preservation containers (breathable plastic box, burlap bag, paper box, sealed plastic box). After harvesting the potato which is cv. Superior, it preserved for 6 months under conditions of temperature $3.5^{\circ}C{\pm}0.2$ and humidity 85%, after then we surveyed the incidence of emergence rate, rate of weight loss and occurrence rate of black heart. Secondly, in order to investigate the time point of black heart initiation under the oxygen concentration condition of 1% or less, The potatoes were used for this experiment stored for 6 months in a aerated plastic box under conditions of temperature $3.5^{\circ}C{\pm}0.2$ and humidity 85% under sufficient oxygen condition. After stored for 6 month, those were stored at $15^{\circ}C$ and below 1% of oxygen for 25 days, and then the incidence of black heart was surveyed. Thirdly, to investigate the effects of the number of days after harvest on the occurrence of black heart, it was examined the occurrence of black heart stored on 40 days and 100 days after harvesting under sealed condition and vacuum condition. The temperature condition of potato storage was stored was at $4^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$ in humidity 85%. As a result of investigating the occurrence of black heart depending on the storage containers, all of the potatoes stored in the sealed plastic box had been occurred black heart. However, black heart of the potatoes in the other treatments did not. Potato preserved under the condition of below 1% of oxygen was found to occur 32% black heart after 25 days of storage. The potatoes corresponding to the required number of days after harvesting were stored for 31 days and the black heart was examined on the occurred. As a result, the potatoes which were 40 days after the harvest did not have black heart under sealed condition and vacuum condition. But potatoes harvested 100 days after harvesting had a black heart incidence of 95.7% under sealed condition at $4^{\circ}C$. The potato placed in the vacuum condition and a sealed state at $25^{\circ}C$ was transformed into anaerobic respiration, the inner tissue of tuber collapsed. Therefore, it is considered that black heart is caused by the breathing trouble in the central part when the oxygen is almost consumed after the aerobic respiration which gradually consumes the oxygen. We conclude that the black heart occurred in the central part where exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is the slowest is sensitive to respiration disorder. It is thought that research to investigate black heart generation time according to storage conditions and post-harvest state of potatoes is further necessary.

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Influence of the Composition and Concentration of Fertilizer Solution on Growth and Nutrient Uptake of 'Maehyang' Strawberry during Vegetative Growth (비료의 조성 및 농도가 영양생장 중인 '매향' 딸기의 생장, 양분흡수 및 근권환경 변화에 미치는 영향)

  • Jang, Hyun Ho;Lee, Hee Su;Lee, Chiwon W.;Choi, Jong Myung
    • Horticultural Science & Technology
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.484-492
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    • 2014
  • We quantified the effects of the composition and concentration of fertilizer solutions on the growth and nutrient uptake of 'Maehyang' strawberry at the vegetative growth stage. Acid fertilizer (AF), neutral fertilizer (NF), and basic fertilizer (BF) with concentrations of 100 or $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ based on N, were formulated and applied during the 100 days after transplanting, at which point crop growth and tissue nutrient contents were analyzed. The soil solutions were sampled every two weeks to measure the pH, EC and nutrient concentrations. BF was a more effective fertilizer compared to AF and NF for growth of 'Maehyang' strawberry when fertilizer concentrations were controlled to $100mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$. By contrast, the fresh and dry weights were greatest in the NF treatment when fertilizer concentrations were controlled to $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$. The tissue contents of N, P, and Na were 2.20, 0.51 and 0.10%, respectively, in the NF 200 treatment, and these were the highest among all treatments tested. The highest contents of K, Ca and Mg were 2.60% in AF 200, 0.95% in BF 200 and 0.45% in BF 100, respectively. During the fertilization period, the highest and lowest pHs were 6.13 in BF 100 and 4.92 in AF 200. The lowest EC was $1.376dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in BF 100 and the highest was $4.936dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in NF 200 treatments. The highest $NH_4{^+}$ concentrations in the soil solution occurred during the AF 200 treatment, followed by those with NF 200 and AF 100. When fertilizer concentrations were equal, AF treatment gave rise to the highest $Ca^{+2}$ and $Mg^{+2}$ concentrations, followed by NF and BF, until day 84 of fertilization. The BF treatments had the highest $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations followed by NF and AF. The trends for $PO_4^{-3}$ concentrations were similar in all fertilizer treatments when the fertilizer concentrations were equal. The above results indicate that neutral and basic fertilizers were most effective to promote 'Maehyang' strawberry growth when fertilizer solutions were controlled to low or high concentrations, respectively. These findings are useful for planning fertilization programs for vegetative propagation of 'Maehyang' strawberry.

The Influence of Iteration and Subset on True X Method in F-18-FPCIT Brain Imaging (F-18-FPCIP 뇌 영상에서 True-X 재구성 기법을 기반으로 했을 때의 Iteration과 Subset의 영향)

  • Choi, Jae-Min;Kim, Kyung-Sik;NamGung, Chang-Kyeong;Nam, Ki-Pyo;Im, Ki-Cheon
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.122-126
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    • 2010
  • Purpose: F-18-FPCIT that shows strong familiarity with DAT located at a neural terminal site offers diagnostic information about DAT density state in the region of the striatum especially Parkinson's disease. In this study, we altered the iteration and subset and measured SUV${\pm}$SD and Contrasts from phantom images which set up to specific iteration and subset. So, we are going to suggest the appropriate range of the iteration and subset. Materials and Methods: This study has been performed with 10 normal volunteers who don't have any history of Parkinson's disease or cerebral disease and Flangeless Esser PET Phantom from Data Spectrum Corporation. $5.3{\pm}0.2$ mCi of F-18-FPCIT was injected to the normal group and PET Phantom was assembled by ACR PET Phantom Instructions and it's actual ratio between hot spheres and background was 2.35 to 1. Brain and Phantom images were acquired after 3 hours from the time of the injection and images were acquired for ten minutes. Basically, SIEMENS Bio graph 40 True-point was used and True-X method was applied for image reconstruction method. The iteration and Subset were set to 2 iterations, 8 subsets, 3 iterations, 16 subsets, 6 iterations, 16 subsets, 8 iterations, 16 subsets and 8 iterations, 21 subsets respectively. To measure SUVs on the brain images, ROIs were drawn on the right Putamen. Also, Coefficient of variance (CV) was calculated to indicate the uniformity at each iteration and subset combinations. On the phantom study, we measured the actual ratio between hot spheres and back ground at each combinations. Same size's ROIs were drawn on the same slide and location. Results: Mean SUVs were 10.60, 12.83, 13.87, 13.98 and 13.5 at each combination. The range of fluctuation by sets were 22.36%, 10.34%, 1.1%, and 4.8% respectively. The range of fluctuation of mean SUV was lowest between 6 iterations 16 subsets and 8 iterations 16 subsets. CV showed 9.07%, 11.46%, 13.56%, 14.91% and 19.47% respectively. This means that the numerical value of the iteration and subset gets higher the image's uniformity gets worse. The range of fluctuation of CV by sets were 2.39, 2.1, 1.35, and 4.56. The range of fluctuation of uniformity was lowest between 6 iterations, 16 subsets and 8 iterations, 16 subsets. In the contrast test, it showed 1.92:1, 2.12:1, 2.10:1, 2.13:1 and 2.11:1 at each iteration and subset combinations. A Setting of 8 iterations and 16 subsets reappeared most close ratio between hot spheres and background. Conclusion: Findings on this study, SUVs and uniformity might be calculated differently caused by variable reconstruction parameters like filter or FWHM. Mean SUV and uniformity showed the lowest range of fluctuation at 6 iterations 16 subsets and 8 iterations 16 subsets. Also, 8 iterations 16 subsets showed the nearest hot sphere to background ratio compared with others. But it can not be concluded that only 6 iterations 16 subsets and 8 iterations 16 subsets can make right images for the clinical diagnosis. There might be more factors that can make better images. For more exact clinical diagnosis through the quantitative analysis of DAT density in the region of striatum we need to secure healthy people's quantitative values.

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Analysis of utilization and profit for CT and MRI after implementation of insurance coverage for CT (CT 보험급여 전후의 CT 및 MRI검사의 이용량과 수익성 변화)

  • Suh, Chong-Rock;Yu, Seung-Hum;Chun, Ki-Hong;Nam, Chung-Mo
    • Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.1-21
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    • 1997
  • In order to analyze the shifts in the volume and profits of Computed Tomography(CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) utilization for a year before and after the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, this study has been undertaken examining CT and MRI cost data from 'Y' University Hospital situated in Seoul, Korea. Following are the results of this study: 1. The medical insurance payment for CT, implemented on January 1, 1996, increased CT utilization from January 1996 to April 1996 due to low insurance premiums: however, from May 1996 the number of CT cases significantly decreased as a result of strengthened medical cost reviews and the new 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' announced near the end of April 1996 by the insurer. 2. Since the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, CT fee reduction rates for reimbursements by the insurer to the hospital were 50% and 40% for January and February, respectively, and 31% and 15% for March and April. A significant point in the lowering of the reduction rate was reached in May at 11%; furthermore, since June the reduction rate fell below the average reduction rate for reimbursements for all procedures. If the 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' had been announced before the implementation of insurance coverage for CT, CT utilization would not have been so high due to the need to meet those 'standards'. In addition, loss of hospital profits resulting from the reduction for reimbursements would not have occurred. 3. The shifts in MRI utilization showed that there was no particular change with the beginning of insurance coverage for CT, and the introduction of the 'Detailed standards for approval of CT' made MRI utilization increase because MRI is free of restrictions imposed by the insurer. 4. The relationship between CT utilization and MRI utilization showed that they were supplementary to each other before insurance coverage for CT, but that CT was substituted for MRI because of strengthened medical cost reviews after t~e beginning of insurance coverage for CT. 5. The shifts in volume by patient characteristics showed that the number of inappropriate case patients, according to the insurer's "Standards for approval", decreased more than the number of appropriate case patients after the introduction of insurance coverage for CT. Therefore, the health insurance fee schemes for CT have influenced patient care. 6. The shifts in profits from CT utilization showed a net profit decrease of 31.6%. In order to match the pre-coverage profit level, 5,471 more cases would need to be seen and productivity would need to be increased by 32.7%. This profit decrease resulted from a decrease of CT utilization and low reimbursements. With insurance coverage, net profits from CT were 24.4%, and a margin of safety ratio was 39.6%. Because of the net profits and margin of safety ratio, CT utilization fees for insured appropriate cases could not be considered inappropriate. 7. The shifts in profits from MRI utilization before and after the introduction of CT coverage showed that in order to match pre-CT coverage profit levels, 2,011 more cases would need to be seen and productivity would need to be increased by 9.2%. The reasons for needing to increase the number of cases and productivity result from cost burdens created by adding new MRI units. But with CT coverage already begun, MRI utilization increased. Combined with a minor increase in the MRI fee schedule, MRI utilization showed a net profit increase of 18.5%. Net profits of 62.8% and a 'margin of safety ratio' of 43.1% for MRI utilization showed that the hospital relied on this non-covered procedure for profits. 8. The shifts in profits from CT and MRI utilization showed the net profits from CT decreased by 2.33billion Won while the net profits from MRI increased by 815.7million Won. Overall, these two together showed a net profit decrease of 1.51billion Won. The shifts in utilization showed a functional substitutionary relationship, but the shifts in profits did not show a substitutionary relationship. From these results, We can conclude that if insurance is to be expanded to include previously uncovered procedures using expensive medical equipment, detailed standards should be prepared in advance. The decrease in profits from the shifts in coverage and changes in fees is a difficult burden that should be shared, not carried by the hospital alone. Also, a new or improved fee schedule system should include revised standards between items listed and the appropriateness of the fee schedule should constantly be ensured. This study focused on one university hospital in Seoul and is therefore limited in general applicability. But it is valuable for considering current issues and problems, such as the influence of CT coverage on hospital management. Future studies will hopefully expand the scope of the issues considered here.

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