• Title/Summary/Keyword: PER Performance

Search Result 3,964, Processing Time 0.033 seconds

A Study on Minimum Cabin Crew Requirements for Korean Low Cost Air Carriers

  • Yoo, Kyung-In;Kim, Mun-Kyung
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
    • /
    • v.33 no.2
    • /
    • pp.291-314
    • /
    • 2018
  • In recent 3 years, Korea's low-cost airlines have expanded their areas of passenger transportation not only to domestic market but also to Japan, China, Southeast Asia and US territory as a total of 6 companies (8 airlines including small air operation business carriers). Currently, three more airlines have filed for air transportation business certification as future low-cost carriers, and this expansion is expected to continue. To cope with the aggressive airline operations of domestic and foreign low-cost carriers and to enhance their competitiveness, each low-cost airline is taking a number of strategies for promoting cabin service. Therefore, the workload of the cabin crew is increased in proportion to the expansion, and the fatigue directly connected with the safety task performance is increased. It is stipulated in the Enforcement Regulations of the Korea Aviation Safety Act that at minimum, one cabin crew is required per 50 passenger seating capacity, and all low cost carriers are boarding only the minimum cabin crew. Sometimes it is impossible for them to sit in a floor level emergency exit for evacuation, which is the main task of the cabin crew, and this can cause confusion among evacuating passengers in the event of an emergency. In addition, if one of the minimum cabin crew becomes incapacitated due to an injury or the like, it will become a serious impediment in performing emergency evacuation duties. Even in the normal situation, since it will be violating the Act prescription on the minimum cabin crew complement, passengers will have to move to another available airline flights, encountering extreme inconvenience. Annex 6 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation specifies international standards for the determination of the minimum number of cabin crew shall be based only on the number of passenger seats or passengers on board for safe and expeditious emergency evacuation. Thereby in order to enhance the safety of the passengers and the crew on board, it is necessary to consider the cabin crew's fatigue that may occur in the various job characteristics (service, safety, security, first aid)and floor level emergency exit seating in calculating the minimum number of cabin crew. And it is also deemed necessary for the government's regulatory body to enhance the cabin safety for passengers and crew when determining the number of minimum cabin crew by reflecting the cabin crew's workload leading to their fatigue and unavailability to be seated in a floor level emergency exit on low cost carriers.

Economic Impact of HEMOS-Cloud Services for M&S Support (M&S 지원을 위한 HEMOS-Cloud 서비스의 경제적 효과)

  • Jung, Dae Yong;Seo, Dong Woo;Hwang, Jae Soon;Park, Sung Uk;Kim, Myung Il
    • KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
    • /
    • v.10 no.10
    • /
    • pp.261-268
    • /
    • 2021
  • Cloud computing is a computing paradigm in which users can utilize computing resources in a pay-as-you-go manner. In a cloud system, resources can be dynamically scaled up and down to the user's on-demand so that the total cost of ownership can be reduced. The Modeling and Simulation (M&S) technology is a renowned simulation-based method to obtain engineering analysis and results through CAE software without actual experimental action. In general, M&S technology is utilized in Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Multibody dynamics (MBD), and optimization fields. The work procedure through M&S is divided into pre-processing, analysis, and post-processing steps. The pre/post-processing are GPU-intensive job that consists of 3D modeling jobs via CAE software, whereas analysis is CPU or GPU intensive. Because a general-purpose desktop needs plenty of time to analyze complicated 3D models, CAE software requires a high-end CPU and GPU-based workstation that can work fluently. In other words, for executing M&S, it is absolutely required to utilize high-performance computing resources. To mitigate the cost issue from equipping such tremendous computing resources, we propose HEMOS-Cloud service, an integrated cloud and cluster computing environment. The HEMOS-Cloud service provides CAE software and computing resources to users who want to experience M&S in business sectors or academics. In this paper, the economic ripple effect of HEMOS-Cloud service was analyzed by using industry-related analysis. The estimated results of using the experts-guided coefficients are the production inducement effect of KRW 7.4 billion, the value-added effect of KRW 4.1 billion, and the employment-inducing effect of 50 persons per KRW 1 billion.

A Qualitative Study on the Cause of Low Science Affective Achievement of Elementary, Middle, and High School Students in Korea (초·중·고등학생들의 과학 정의적 성취가 낮은 원인에 대한 질적 연구)

  • Jeong, Eunyoung;Park, Jisun;Lee, Sunghee;Yoon, Hye-Gyoung;Kim, Hyunjung;Kang, Hunsik;Lee, Jaewon;Kim, Yool;Jeong, Jihyeon
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.42 no.3
    • /
    • pp.325-340
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study attempts to analyze the causes of low affective achievement of elementary, middle, and high school students in Korea in science. To this end, a total of 27 students, three to four students per grade, were interviewed by grade from the fourth grade of elementary school to the first grade of high school, and a total of nine teachers were interviewed by school level. In the interview, related questions were asked in five sub-areas of the 'Indicators of Positive Experiences about Science': 'Science Academic Emotion', 'Science-Related Self-Concept', 'Science Learning Motivation', 'Science-Related Career Aspiration', and 'Science-Related Attitude'. Interview contents were recorded, transcribed, and categorized. As a result of examining the causes of low science academic emotion, it was found that students experienced negative emotions when experiments are not carried out properly, scientific theories and terms are difficult, and recording the inquiry results is burdensome. In addition, students responded that science-related self-concept changed negatively due to poor science grades, difficult scientific terms, and a large amount of learning. The reasons for the decline in science learning motivation were the lack of awareness of relationship between science class content and daily life, difficulty in science class content, poor science grades, and lack of relevance to one's interest or career path. The main reason for the decline in science-related career aspirations was that they feel their career path was not related to science, and due to poor science performance. Science-related attitudes changed negatively due to difficulties in science classes or negative feelings about science classes, and high school students recognized the ambivalence of science on society. Based on the results of the interview, support for experiments and basic science education, improvement of elementary school supplementary textbook 'experiment & observation', development of teaching and learning materials, and provision of science-related career information were proposed.

Growth, Yield, and Leaf-macronutrient Content of Grafted Cherry Tomatoes as Influenced by Rootstocks in Semi-forcing Hydroponics (반촉성 수경재배시 대목에 따른 방울토마토 접목묘의 생육, 수량 및 엽 내 양분 함량)

  • Hyewon Lee;Hyo Bong Jeong;Jun Gu Lee;Indeok Hwang;Deok Ho Kwon;Yul Kyun Ahn
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
    • /
    • v.32 no.1
    • /
    • pp.40-47
    • /
    • 2023
  • There are many different types of cultivation in tomatoes for year-round production. One of them, semi-forcing cultivation is characterized by growing seedlings in winter season. If grafted seedlings are used in winter season that energy cost can be reduced, because they have tolerance to cold stress. This study was conducted to analyze the rootstock performance by measuring the growth, yield, and leaf-macronutrient content of cherry tomatoes grown in semi-forcing hydroponics. Three domestic rootstocks 'HSF4', '21LM', '21A701', and a control cultivar 'B-blocking' were grafted onto jujube-shaped cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) commercial cultivar 'Nonari'. The total yield per plant with grafted cherry tomato '21A701' was 3,387g, which was 11%, 22% and 24% higher than the yield with 'B-blocking', non-grafted one and 'HSF4'. The stem diameter of '21A701' was thick with 8.26mm, whereas non-grafted one was thin with 7.23mm at 160 days after transplanting. The flowering position of '21LM' was 34% and 47% higher than the flowering position of 'B-blocking' and non-grafted one at 153 days after transplanting. The NO3-N concentration in petiole sap of '21LM' was the highest with 1,746mg·L-1 and non-grafted one and 'HSF4' were the lowest with 1,252mg·L-1 and 1,245mg·L-1 at 167 days after transplanting. The results indicated that rootstock/scion combinations in cherry tomatoes can affect the plant growth, yield, and the concentration of different NO3-N in leaves at the late growth stage. Both '21A701' and '21LM' have vigorous root system, which influence the growth and yield increased.

Biochemical Assessment of Deer Velvet Antler Extract and its Cytotoxic Effect including Acute Oral Toxicity using an ICR Mice Model (ICR 마우스 모델을 이용한 녹용 추출물의 생화학적 평가 및 급성 경구 독성을 포함한 세포 독성 효과)

  • Ramakrishna Chilakala;Hyeon Jeong Moon;Hwan Lee;Dong-Sung Lee;Sun Hee Cheong
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
    • /
    • v.38 no.6
    • /
    • pp.430-441
    • /
    • 2023
  • Velvet antler is widely used as a traditional medicine, and numerous studies have demonstrated its tremendous nutritional and medicinal values including immunity-enhancing effects. This study aimed to investigate different deer velvet extracts (Sample 1: raw extract, Sample 2: dried extract, and Sample 3: freeze-dried extract) for proximate composition, uronic acid, sulfated glycosaminoglycan, sialic acid, collagen levels, and chemical components using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-light mass spectrometry. In addition, we evaluated the cytotoxic effect of the deer velvet extracts on BV2 microglia, HT22 hippocampal cells, HaCaT keratinocytes, and RAW264.7 macrophages using the cell viability MTT assay. Furthermore, we evaluated acute toxicity of the deer velvet extracts at different doses (0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg) administered orally to both male and female ICR mice for 14 d (five mice per group). After treatment, we evaluated general toxicity, survival rate, body weight changes, mortality, clinical signs, and necropsy findings in the experimental mice based on OECD guidelines. The results suggested that in vitro treatment with the evaluated extracts had no cytotoxic effect in HaCaT keratinocytes cells, whereas Sample-2 had a cytotoxic effect at 500 and 1000 ㎍/mL on HT22 hippocampal cells and RAW264.7 macrophages. Sample 3 was also cytotoxic at concentrations of 500 and 1000 ㎍/mL to RAW264.7 and BV2 microglial cells. However, the mice treated in vivo with the velvet extracts at doses of 500-2000 mg/kg BW showed no clinical signs, mortality, or necropsy findings, indicating that the LD50 is higher than this dosage. These findings indicate that there were no toxicological abnormalities connected with the deer velvet extract treatment in mice. However, further human and animal studies are needed before sufficient safety information is available to justify its use in humans.

Effect of Drying Type and Addition Level of Sweet Potato 'Tongchaeru' Byproducts on Broiler Productivity, Meat Quality, Blood Parameters, and Immune Response (고구마 '통채루' 부산물의 건조 방법과 첨가 수준에 따른 육계 생산성, 계육 품질, 혈액 성상, 면역 지표에 미치는 영향)

  • Woo-Do Lee;Hyunsoo Kim;Jiseon Son;Eui-Chul Hong;Hee-Jin Kim;Yeon-Seo Yun;Hye Kyung Shin;Hwan-Ku Kang
    • Korean Journal of Poultry Science
    • /
    • v.50 no.4
    • /
    • pp.325-336
    • /
    • 2023
  • This study used leaves and stems of 'Tongchaeru', one of the sweet potato varieties, to investigate broiler productivity, meat quality, blood properties, growth hormones, and immune factor levels according to drying method and amount added to feed. For this experiment, a total of 720 1-day-old male Ross 308 broilers were used. Treatments were assigned with 3 replicates per treatment and 20 birds were assigned to each replicate. The treatment group was designed into 12 treatments according to the type of natural product (leaves (L), stems (S)), drying type (natural (N), hot air (H), freeze (F)) and amount added (0.1%, 0.3%). The test was conducted for a total of 5 weeks. In this study, there was no significant difference in productivity depending on the type and amount of additives added (P>0.05). The FS 0.3% group showed high pH and WHC levels, and the shear force was lowest at HL 0.1% group (P<0.05). Blood cell and serum biochemical components were similar in all treatments, and growth hormone IGF-1 was highest in FS 0.1% group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in IFN-γ, but the highest level of IL-6 was seen in the HS 0.1% group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the meat quality and the level of growth hormone and immune factors in the body were different depending on the type and amount of dried leaves and stems of sweet potato 'Tongchaeru', further study is needed to compare the selected additives and amounts added with those without additions.

A Study on the Effective Independent Study of Nursing Student (간호학생의 효과적인 자율학습을 위한 조사연구)

  • 김광주;이향련
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.8 no.1
    • /
    • pp.16-42
    • /
    • 1978
  • This survey was made for a month starting from November 15 to December 15, 1977 covering 711 students taking the junior. (3rd-yea.) and the senior. (4th-year) at nine college of nursing in Seoul concerning their perception and Attitude toward the profession of nursing, motive for the necessity of learning, environment of study, attitude of study and particulars relevant with study performance, particulars of library, references and reading, assignments and particulars of the degree of confidence for the learning achievement. Through the survey of the above Particulars, the following results were obtained by classifying all subject matters and by analysing motive of the selection of their course, awarding or not awarding of scholarships. 1. General characteristics: it was revealed that 406 students (57.1%) were attending at the junior. while 305 students (42.9%) were taking the senior. Thus, the total number was 711 and their average age was 21.4 years. Their dwelling category was; 73.9 percent of them resided at their parent's home, 214 students (30.1%) were awarded with scholarships. The reason to be attracted by nursing science was the possibility of continuing social life after graduation (43.5%). 2. Their perception and attitude toward the profession of nursing: According to the perception of profession by the students of each grade, students of the 4th grade showed comparatively strong conception. Also, students of the 4th grade showed more positive attitude in the purchase and reading of magazines relative with the science of nursing, in the reading of Code for Nurses and in their interest in the activity of nursing field. For the necessity of mission of nurse, 97.7 percent of the entire number of students covered responded to necessity. For the necessity of the particular humanity and particularity in the character of nurses, 95.8 percent of those students responded to necessity. By the each grade, students of the 4th grade showed more response. 3. As to professional field desired after completing the professional course: 57 percent of those students desired for clinician nurse while 55 percents desired for community health-nurse. 4. As to the environment of study: they were mostly satisfied with their present residential environment. However, they complained of inconvenience at their lecture-halls. Students of the 3rd grade showed more complain. As to their attitude toward the adjustment of environment of study, they showed a affirmative response. As to the opinion of factors which interfere with their study, comparatively strong response was showed in their scepticism in the science of nursing, insufficient comprehension in general learning, relation with professors n4 discrepancy in the method of study. According to opinions of students at each grade, students of the 4th grade showed more scepticism. 5. Particulars relative with their attitude and performance of study : As to their knowledge of the objectives of their study of subject, the majority was to study with a partial knowledge of the objectives of their study. As to the plan of study, a low percentage indicated management of routine life under regular scheduling. Students of the 4th grade responded to rather planned life. As to time spent in independent study, response to concentrated study when necessary was stronger than that to regular daily study. Students of the 4th grade showed stronger response to regular study than that of the 3rd grade. As to the contents of their note-taking, 67.4 percents of those students responded to such regulatory procedure performing in the lecture-hall as they listen to lectures. 17.3 percents of those students showed response to adding supplementary informations from references to what was entered in choir note-taking at their lecture-halls. 6. Particulars of library, references and reading books: As to receiving of instruction for the utilization of library and time of receiving such instruction 64.7 percents of those students had received such instruction. 66.7 percents of the those responded received such instruction at orientation conducted for freshmen. As to the convenience of the utilization of library, 49.9 percents of those students responded to convenience. However, students of the 3rd grade showed a much stronger response to inconvenience. As to the time of the utilization of library,92.5 percents of those students showed a response to occasional utilization for particular purpose than regular utilization. 53.2 percents of those students responded to ordinary in quantity that library have references. 34.2 percents of those students responded to insufficient. As to the particular relative with the method and field of reading: 53.5 percents of those students responded to intensive reading and was the majority. As to the reading field, fiction u as the majority. When read any books for their major, they usually rend Korean text-b, oks. 7. Particular relative with giving assignment: All respondents were well aware of the objectives of giving home tasks. As to the attitude toward assignments and performing home tasks, 54.8 percents of those students to making ostentatious study because of an excessive quantity of assignments imposed. For performing assignment, they showed comparatively positive response. Also, 52.2 percents of those students responded that they usually submitted complected assignment with references. 8. As to motive to realize the necessity of study : 55.6 percents of those students responded that they realized such necessity in communication with patients when they were engaged in clinical practice. Also, 8.6, the lowest percents of those students responded that they realized such necessity in the course of conversation with nurses when they were engaged in clinical practice. 9. As to the determination of their confidence in the performance of study relative with clinical experience: They showed a general inclination of having in nursing. The major response was that they came to well comprehend the patients families. the lowest response was that they could apply what was learned at lecture-hall to practice. This response incidentally showed the distance the lecture-hall and practical study. In general items, students of the 4th grade showed more favorable response than students of the 3rd grade and there was a significant difference. 10. As to the perception and attitude toward profession according to the motive of selecting the nursing science : Those who selected the nursing voluntarily showed stronger conception than those who selected the nursing through indirect influence. However, there was no significant difference on this point. Only there was a remarkable difference in the reading of Code for Nurses. 11. Those who showed a stronger conception in the profession of nursing according to the motives of attractive nursing science indicated a strong will and ability to manage stable life and comparatively strong response was shown in the management of good home life because of the good adaptability of the science to their character. This group showed a strong conception of the profession than those who responded that they prefer this profession out of a longing for the work of a hospital and for the easy obtaining of opportunity to immigrate to over seas and for economic cause and for high school grade. There was significant difference between these two groups, 12. As to the conception and attitude toward the profession of nursing according to benefits by scholarships, those who were benefitted by scholarship showed stronger conception of profession than those who did not receive scholarship and there was a remarkable difference between these two categories. However, there was no remarkable difference between these two categories in the extent of interest of the activities of nursing fields and in the reading of Code for Nurses. 13. As activation for study according to the benefits of scholarships, those who were benefitted by scholarships showed stronger response to the motive for study comparing with those who receive. 14. As to tile field of reading according to the benefits by scholarships, those who received scholarships tended to read autobiographies and essayers to a considerable extent. Those who did not receive scholarships tended to read novels. Those who received scholarships more read nursing boots than those who did not receive scholarships. 15. As to the attitude of study and doing of assignment according to benefits of scholarships, those who received scholarships managed a favorable life with schedules for study, More students of receiving scholarship showed a regular study for more than one hour per day. Also, in the method of doing home tasks, more students of receiving scholarship showed reference to relative books frequently for the submission of completed assignments.

  • PDF

Problems in the Korean National Family Planning Program (한국가족계획사업(韓國家族計劃事業)의 문제점(問題點))

  • Hong, Jong-Kwan
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
    • /
    • v.2 no.2
    • /
    • pp.27-36
    • /
    • 1975
  • The success of the family planning program in Korea is reflected in the decrease in the growth rate from 3.0% in 1962 to 2.0% in 1971, and in the decrease in the fertility rate from 43/1,000 in 1960 to 29/1,000 in 1970. However, it would be erroneous to attribute these reductions entirely to the family planning program. Other socio-economic factors, such as the increasing age at marriage and the increasing use of induced abortions, definitely had an impact on the lowered growth and fertility rate. Despite the relative success of the program to data in meeting its goals, there is no room for complacency. Meeting the goal of a further reduction in the population growth rate to 1.3% by 1981 is a much more difficult task than any one faced in the past. Not only must fertility be lowered further, but the size of the target population itself will expand tremendously in the late seventies; due to the post-war baby boom of the 1950's reaching reproductive ages. Furthermore, it is doubtful that the age at marriage will continue to rise as in the past or that the incidence of induced abortion will continue to increase. Consequently, future reductions in fertility will be more dependent on the performance of the national family planning program, with less assistance from these non-program factors. This paper will describe various approaches to help to the solution of these current problems. 1. PRACTICE RATE IN FAMILY PLANNING In 1973, the attitude (approval) and knowledge rates were quite high; 94% and 98% respectively. But a large gap exists between that and the actual practice rate, which is only 3695. Two factors must be considered in attempting to close the KAP-gap. The first is to change social norms, which still favor a larger family, increasing the practice rate cannot be done very quickly. The second point to consider is that the family planning program has not yet reached all the eligible women. A 1973 study determineded that a large portion, 3096 in fact, of all eligible women do not want more children, but are not practicing family planning. Thus, future efforts to help close the KAP-gap must focus attention and services on this important large group of potential acceptors. 2. CONTINUATION RATES Dissatisfaction with the loop and pill has resulted in high discontinuation rates. For example, a 1973 survey revealed that within the first six months initial loop acceptance. nearly 50% were dropouts, and that within the first four months of inital pill acceptance. nearly 50% were dropouts. These discontinuation rates have risen over the past few years. The high rate of discontinuance obviously decreases the contraceptive effectiveness. and has resulted in many unwanted births which is directly related to the increase of induced abortions. In the future, the family planning program must emphasize the improved quality of initial and follow-up services. rather than more quantity, in order to insure higher continuation rates and thus more effective contraceptive protection. 3. INDUCED ABORTION As noted earlier. the use of induced abortions has been increase yearly. For example, in 1960, the average number of abortions was 0.6 abortions per women in the 15-44 age range. By 1970. that had increased to 2 abortions per women. In 1966. 13% of all women between 15-44 had experienced at least one abortion. By 1971, that figure jumped to 28%. In 1973 alone, the total number of abortions was 400,000. Besides the ever incre.sing number of induced abortions, another change has that those who use abortions have shifted since 1965 to include- not. only the middle class, but also rural and low-income women. In the future. in response to the demand for abortion services among rural and low-income w~men, the government must provide and support abortion services for these women as a part of the national family planning program. 4. TARGET SYSTIi:M Since 1962, the nationwide target system has been used to set a target for each method, and the target number of acceptors is then apportioned out to various sub-areas according to the number of eligible couples in each area. Because these targets are set without consideration for demographic factors, particular tastes, prejudices, and previous patterns of acceptance in the area, a high discontinuation rate for all methods and a high wastage rate for the oral pill and condom results. In the future. to alleviate these problems of the methodbased target system. an alternative. such as the weighted-credit system, should be adopted on a nation wide basis. In this system. each contraceptive method is. assigned a specific number of points based upon the couple-years of protection (CYP) provided by the method. and no specific targets for each method are given. 5. INCREASE OF STERILIZA.TION TARGET Two special projects. the hospital-based family planning program and the armed forces program, has greatly contributed to the increasing acceptance in female and male sterilization respectively. From January-September 1974, 28,773 sterilizations were performed. During the same time in 1975, 46,894 were performed; a 63% increase. If this trend continues, by the end of 1975. approximately 70,000 sterilizations will have been performed. Sterilization is a much better method than both the loop and pill, in terms of more effective contraceptive protection and the almost zero dropout rate. In the future, the. family planning program should continue to stress the special programs which make more sterilizations possible. In particular, it should seek to add the laparoscope techniques to facilitate female sterilization acceptance rates. 6. INCREASE NUMBER OF PRIVATE ACCEPTORS Among the current family planning users, approximately 1/3 are in the private sector and thus do not- require government subsidy. The number of private acceptors increases with increasing urbanization and economic growth. To speed this process, the government initiated the special hospital based family planning program which is utilized mostly by the private sector. However, in the future, to further hasten the increase of private acceptors, the government should encourage doctors in private practice to provide family planning services, and provide the contraceptive supplies. This way, those do utilize the private medical system will also be able to receive family planning services and pay for it. Another means of increasing the number of private acceptors, IS to greatly expand the commercial outlets for pills and condoms beyond the existing service points of drugstores, hospitals, and health centers. 7. IE&C PROGRAM The current preferred family size is nearly twice as high as needed to achieve a stable poplation. Also, a strong boy preference hinders a small family size as nearly all couples fuel they must have at least one or more sons. The IE&C program must, in the future, strive to emphasize the values of the small family and equality of the sexes. A second problem for the IE&C program to work. with in the: future is the large group of people who approves family planning, want no more children, but do not practice. The IE&C program must work to motivate these people to accept family planning And finally, for those who already practice, an IE&C program in the future must stress continuation of use. The IE&C campaign, to insure highest effectiveness, should be based on a detailed factor analysis of contraceptive discontinuance. In conclusion, Korea faces a serious unfavorable sociodemographic situation- in the future unless the population growth rate can be curtailed. And in the future, the decrease in fertility will depend solely on the family planning program, as the effect of other socio-economic factors has already been maximumally felt. A second serious factor to consider is the increasing number of eligible women due to the 1950's baby boom. Thus, to meet these challenges, the program target must be increased and the program must improve the effectiveness of its current activities and develop new programs.

  • PDF

Comparisons of Unicortical and Bicortical Lateral Mass Screws in the Cervical Spine : Safety vs Strength (경추부의 후관절 나사못 고정술에서 단피질삽입법과 양피질 삽입법 간의 특성에 관한 비교)

  • Park, Choon-Keun;Hwang, Jang-Hoe;Ji, Chul;Lee, Jae Un;Sung, Jae Hoon;Choi, Seung-Jin;Lee, Sang-Won;Seybold, Eric;Park, Sung-Chan;Cho, Kyung-Suok;Park, Chun-Kun;Kang, Joon-Ki
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
    • /
    • v.30 no.10
    • /
    • pp.1210-1219
    • /
    • 2001
  • Introduction : The purpose of this study was to analyze the safety, pullout strength and radiographic characteristics of unicortical and bicortical screws of cervical facet within cadaveric specimens and evaluate the influence of level of training on the positioning of these screws. Methods : Twenty-one cadavers, mean 78.9 years of age, underwent bilateral placement of 3.5mm AO lateral mass screw from C3-C6(n=168) using a slight variation of the Magerl technique. Intraoperative imaging was not used. The right side(unicortical) utilized only 14mm screws(effective length of 11mm) while on the left side to determine the length of the screw after the ventral cortex had been drilled. Three spine surgeons(attending, fellow, chief resident) with varying levels of spine training performed the procedure on seven cadavers each. All spines were harvested and lateral radiographs were taken. Individual cervical vertebrae were carefully dissected and then axial radiographs were taken. The screws were evaluated clinically and radiographically for their safety. Screws were graded clinically for their safety with respect to the spinal cord, facet joint, nerve root and vertebral artery. The grades consisted of the following categories : "satisfactory", "at risk" and "direct injury". Each screw was also graded according to its zone placement. Screw position was quantified by measuring a sagittal angle from the lateral radiograph and an axial angle from the axial radiograph. Pull-out force was determined for all screws using a material testing machine. Results : Dissection revealed that fifteen screws on the left side actually had only unicortical and not bicortical purchase as intended. The majority of screws(92.8%) were satisfactory in terms of safety. There were no injuries to the spinal cord. On the right side(unicortical), 98.9% of the screws were "satisfactory" and on the left side(bicortical) 68.1% were "satisfactory". There was a 5.8% incidence of direct arterial injury and a 17.4% incidence of direct nerve root injury with the bicortical screws. There were no "direct injuries" with the unicortical screws for the nerve root or vertebral artery. The unicortical screws had a 21.4% incidence of direct injury of the facet joint, while the bicortical screws had a 21.7% incidence. The majority of "direct injury" of bicortical screws were placed by the surgeon with the least experience. The performance of the resident surgeon was significantly different from the attending or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the nerve root and vertebral artery. The attending's performance was significantly better than the resident or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the facet joint. There was no relationship between the safety of a screw and its zone placement. The axial deviation angle measured $23.5{\pm}6.6$ degrees and $19.8{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The resident surgeon had a significantly lower angle than the attending or fellow(p<0.05). The sagittal angle measured $66.3{\pm}7.0$ degrees and $62.3{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The attending had a significantly lower sagittal angle than the fellow or resident(p<0.05). Thirty-three screws that entered the facet joint were tested for pull-out strength but excluded from the data because they were not lateral mass screws per-se and had deviated substantially from the intended final trajectory. The mean pull-out force for all screws was $542.9{\pm}296.6N$. There was no statistically significant difference between the pull-out force for unicortical($519.9{\pm}286.9N$) and bicortical($565.2{\pm}306N$) screws. There was no significant difference in pull-out strengths with respect to zone placement. Conclusion : It is our belief that the risk associated with bicortical purchase mandates formal spine training if it is to be done safely and accurately. Unicortical screws are safer regardless of level of training. It is apparent that 14mm lateral mass screws placed in a supero-lateral trajectory in the adult cervical spine provide an equivalent strength with a much lower risk of injury than the longer bicortical screws placed in a similar orientation.

  • PDF

Steel Plate Faults Diagnosis with S-MTS (S-MTS를 이용한 강판의 표면 결함 진단)

  • Kim, Joon-Young;Cha, Jae-Min;Shin, Junguk;Yeom, Choongsub
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.23 no.1
    • /
    • pp.47-67
    • /
    • 2017
  • Steel plate faults is one of important factors to affect the quality and price of the steel plates. So far many steelmakers generally have used visual inspection method that could be based on an inspector's intuition or experience. Specifically, the inspector checks the steel plate faults by looking the surface of the steel plates. However, the accuracy of this method is critically low that it can cause errors above 30% in judgment. Therefore, accurate steel plate faults diagnosis system has been continuously required in the industry. In order to meet the needs, this study proposed a new steel plate faults diagnosis system using Simultaneous MTS (S-MTS), which is an advanced Mahalanobis Taguchi System (MTS) algorithm, to classify various surface defects of the steel plates. MTS has generally been used to solve binary classification problems in various fields, but MTS was not used for multiclass classification due to its low accuracy. The reason is that only one mahalanobis space is established in the MTS. In contrast, S-MTS is suitable for multi-class classification. That is, S-MTS establishes individual mahalanobis space for each class. 'Simultaneous' implies comparing mahalanobis distances at the same time. The proposed steel plate faults diagnosis system was developed in four main stages. In the first stage, after various reference groups and related variables are defined, data of the steel plate faults is collected and used to establish the individual mahalanobis space per the reference groups and construct the full measurement scale. In the second stage, the mahalanobis distances of test groups is calculated based on the established mahalanobis spaces of the reference groups. Then, appropriateness of the spaces is verified by examining the separability of the mahalanobis diatances. In the third stage, orthogonal arrays and Signal-to-Noise (SN) ratio of dynamic type are applied for variable optimization. Also, Overall SN ratio gain is derived from the SN ratio and SN ratio gain. If the derived overall SN ratio gain is negative, it means that the variable should be removed. However, the variable with the positive gain may be considered as worth keeping. Finally, in the fourth stage, the measurement scale that is composed of selected useful variables is reconstructed. Next, an experimental test should be implemented to verify the ability of multi-class classification and thus the accuracy of the classification is acquired. If the accuracy is acceptable, this diagnosis system can be used for future applications. Also, this study compared the accuracy of the proposed steel plate faults diagnosis system with that of other popular classification algorithms including Decision Tree, Multi Perception Neural Network (MLPNN), Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Tree Bagger Random Forest, Grid Search (GS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The steel plates faults dataset used in the study is taken from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository. As a result, the proposed steel plate faults diagnosis system based on S-MTS shows 90.79% of classification accuracy. The accuracy of the proposed diagnosis system is 6-27% higher than MLPNN, LR, GS, GA and PSO. Based on the fact that the accuracy of commercial systems is only about 75-80%, it means that the proposed system has enough classification performance to be applied in the industry. In addition, the proposed system can reduce the number of measurement sensors that are installed in the fields because of variable optimization process. These results show that the proposed system not only can have a good ability on the steel plate faults diagnosis but also reduce operation and maintenance cost. For our future work, it will be applied in the fields to validate actual effectiveness of the proposed system and plan to improve the accuracy based on the results.