• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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• v.15B no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2008

With increases in recent security requirements, biometric technology such as fingerprints, faces and iris recognitions have been widely used in many applications including door access control, personal authentication for computers, internet banking, automatic teller machines and border-crossing controls. Finger vein recognition uses the unique patterns of finger veins in order to identify individuals at a high level of accuracy. This paper proposes new device and methods for touchless finger vein recognition. This research presents the following five advantages compared to previous works. First, by using a minimal guiding structure for the finger tip, side and the back of finger, we were able to obtain touchless finger vein images without causing much inconvenience to user. Second, by using a hot mirror, which was slanted at the angle of 45 degrees in front of the camera, we were able to reduce the depth of the capturing device. Consequently, it would be possible to use the device in many applications having size limitations such as mobile phones. Third, we used the holistic texture information of the finger veins based on a LBP (Local Binary Pattern) without needing to extract accurate finger vein regions. By using this method, we were able to reduce the effect of non-uniform illumination including shaded and highly saturated areas. Fourth, we enhanced recognition performance by excluding non-finger vein regions. Fifth, when matching the extracted finger vein code with the enrolled one, by using the bit-shift in both the horizontal and vertical directions, we could reduce the authentic variations caused by the translation and rotation of finger. Experimental results showed that the EER (Equal Error Rate) was 0.07423% and the total processing time was 91.4ms.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2010

The ultimate goal of radiation treatment is to use enough radiation dosage in order to examine a tumor while protecting normal tissue. Respiratory guided radiotherapy is being clinically implemented to examine a given stabilized area in order to compensate for the problems of patient breathing. This study investigates the effects of breathing movements on 40 patients with liver cancer through the actual radiation therapy plan using 4D-CT and respiratory guided radiotherapy using RPM. Using a commercial RPM respiratory gating system 4D-CT, we acquired 4D CT on multislice helical CT scanners that use different approaches to 4D CT image reconstruction. The results from analyzing forty patients according to age and direction showed no relationship between gender and transition change. The mean left-right, anteroposterior, and craniocaudal total movements were $3.19{\pm}1.29$, $5.44{\pm}2.07$, and $12.54{\pm}4.70$ mm, respectively. Changes were the largest with CC directions and as patients advanced in age, movements were larger. Therefore, as changes occur in treatment areas because of movements caused from breathing, respiratory gating system is put into operation to revise movement and can increase the radiotherapeutics effects in treating liver cancer.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.60-72
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• 1994

Background: The number of outpatients visiting large university teaching hospitals has increased drastically with the introduction of a nationwide health care insurance in 1989 and the improvement of the socio-economic status of the population. This resulted in long waiting times for services, particularly prescribed drugs, which have been patients' chief complaints. Hospitals have tried to solve the problem with limited success because their approach lacked comprehensive research. The objective of this study is to investigate associations between waiting times and variables defining a total work system. Methods: Data for the outpatient pharmacy department in a tertiary care university teaching hospital located in Seoul was analyzed to achieve the study objective. Associations of pharmacy system variables -- work load, work force, pharmacist work schedule, machine problems, and inventory control -- with mean and 99th percentile of waiting times were examined by the hierarchical stepwise regression method. Day was a unit of the analyses. Results: The regression models explained 65.8% of variance in the mean waiting time and 61.34% in the 99th percentile of waiting times. The break-down of the printer for drug envelops, Automatic Tablet Counters (ATCs), and main computer system lasted longer than 30 minutes increased the mean for 7.7 minutes, 4.5 minutes, and 7.0 minutes, respectively, and the 99th percentile for 14.8 minutes, 9.0 minutes, and 15.7 minutes, respectively. Concerning the work force, study results showed that there were significant differences in the productivity of pharmacists with work experience more than three years, one to three years, and less than one year, and showed that peak time aid work by pharmacists at job assignments other than the outpatient pharmacy, part-time pharmacists, and the installation of ATCs were effective in reducing waiting times, Finally, study findings indicated that the operational policy of work assignment and rotation schedule, supply and inventory of drugs at work tables, and readiness for undisrupted work during the work hours could have a significant effect on waiting times. Conclusion: The study results indicated that efforts to reduce waiting times for prescribed drugs should be geared toward every components of the pharmacy work system ranging from work schedule of pharmacists and supply of dugs at work tables. These findings should provide hospital managers with right directions in battling the problem.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.21-37
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• 2016

The purpose of study was to examine the entrepreneurial supporting policy and the entrepreneurship which can affect the entrepreneurial intention, and to prove the moderating effect of the business failure burden and the self-efficacy on the relationship of the entrepreneurial supporting policy, entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial intention through the empirical study in the fusion of industries. We used data from 321 survey participants by using structured questionnaires, excluding dishonest respondents, and statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 18.0 statistic package. We used hierarchical regression technique to prove our hypothesis. The results showed that education and marketing support which are part of the entrepreneurial supporting policy in the fusion of industries will have positive influence on innovativeness, pro-activeness and risk acceptability which are part of entrepreneurship. It has been reported that only funding support has positive influence on entrepreneurship pro-activeness. The results also indicated that the entrepreneurial supporting policy will have positive influence on the entrepreneurial intention, but business failure burden and self-efficacy will have no moderating effect in the relation between the entrepreneurial supporting policy and the entrepreneurship. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed and the directions for future research were presented.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4D
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• pp.613-622
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to provide fundamental references for the establishment of environmental policies by using and evaluating EPI (Environmental Performance Index). Data of EPI for this study come from the 2010 World Economic Forum. By using these variables, we have comparison analysis of EPI of 163 countries. Next, the object of similarity analysis using MDS is the OECD countries and shown on PREMAP, drawing the position of each nation in environmental category and environmental policy index. The result of this study shows that there are differences in environmental policy index according to each nation's income and furthermore, similarity analysis makes it possible to locate environmental policy index of each nation in an awareness, which would help to set directions of policies concerning environment through the comparison with other advanced countries. But it could be more worth investigating time-series analysis for the change of environment-related variables because EPI has been just four times published since its first announcement in 2002. Despite, such limits would be overcome through continuous data collected over time.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2013

Purpose. Based on the comparison and analysis with those of United States, the aim of this research is to find the problems in current management, operation and future directions of emergency medical service (EMS) fund in S. Korea and to provide basic resources and appropriate measures to make a right decision in policies for EMS fund. Methods. Data from Ministry of Health and Welfare and other various sources during 1995 to 2012 were collected and analyzed. Results. From our analyses, several problems are identified in EMS fund operation. In brief, problems discerned are as follows. First, whereas the purpose and direction of EMS fund operations in United States are highlighted and focused on pre-hospital EMS system and associated infrastructures which need to be constructed, those of S. Korea are emphasized mainly on the in-hospital EMS system so far. Second, on the contrary to the fact that the EMS funds in United States are tuned to pre-hospital EMS system to provide prompt and efficient emergency care at the emergency scene of pre-hospital stage and to achieve the development, design, planning and demonstration projects for pre-hospital EMS systems, up to date, our investment of EMS funds demonstrated an excess biased inclination toward the construction of in-hospital EMS system, which is far from the realization of constructive and vital pre-hospital infrastructures. Third, while emergency medical technician is important and principal body in the management of emergency medical funds in United States, so far, no EMS funds in S. Korea existed for EMTs including the job condition, improved treatment and working environment for them. Conclusion. In conclusion, we strongly suggest that the problems pointed out must be revised and corrected. Current usage of EMS fund needs to be redirected predominatly to pre-hospital EMS system. Otherwise, unless current management and investment of emergency medical funds in S. Korea are applied and used for the vital necessities and demands of EMTs, public EMS units and private EMS units as well as related units in pre-hospital EMS system as in the cases of United States, in our consideration, they must be suspended or abolished.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.297-304
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• 2013

Due to its excessive $CO_2$ emissions, road transport sector becomes a target for emission reduction strategies. Although precise and reliable emissions inventories are necessary for evaluating plans and strategies, developing the region-wide inventory is a difficult task mainly because of a lack of data including travel patterns and modal volumes in the reginonal context. Most existing inventory methodologies employ fuel sale data within the target region, which ignores actual regional traffic patterns and thus not suited to its geographical context. To overcome these problems, this study develops region-wide $CO_2$ emissions inventory methodology by utilizing the Korea Transport DB (KTDB). KTDB provides a number of useful information and data, such as road network with which one can identify in and out trips over the entire region, traffic volumes of various modes, distance of travel, travel speed and so on. A model of equations that allow the computation of volume of $CO_2$ emitting from the road transport activities within the target region is developed. Using the model, numerical analyses are performed for the case of Busan Metropolitan City to demonstrate the applicability of the developed model. This study is indeed exploratory in the sense that using the existing data, it develops the $CO_2$ emissions inventory methodology which can produce better results than those from conventional fuel sales methodology. This study also suggests further reresarch directions to develop more refined methodologies in region-wide basis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.387-396
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• 2020

Objectives: The lack of advance planning in a public health emergency can lead to wasted resources and inadvertent loss of lives. This study is aimed at forecasting the needs for healthcare resources following the expansion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the Republic of Kazakhstan, focusing on hospital beds, equipment, and the professional workforce in light of the developing epidemiological situation and the data on resources currently available. Methods: We constructed a forecast model of the epidemiological scenario via the classic susceptible-exposed-infected-removed (SEIR) approach. The World Health Organization's COVID-19 Essential Supplies Forecasting Tool was used to evaluate the healthcare resources needed for the next 12 weeks. Results: Over the forecast period, there will be 104 713.7 hospital admissions due to severe disease and 34 904.5 hospital admissions due to critical disease. This will require 47 247.7 beds for severe disease and 1929.9 beds for critical disease at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. There will also be high needs for all categories of healthcare workers and for both diagnostic and treatment equipment. Thus, Republic of Kazakhstan faces the need for a rapid increase in available healthcare resources and/or for finding ways to redistribute resources effectively. Conclusions: Republic of Kazakhstan will be able to reduce the rates of infections and deaths among its population by developing and following a consistent strategy targeting COVID-19 in a number of inter-related directions.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.211-226
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• 2011

This study was intended to investigate the attributes of the Internet shopping mall and to examine the effects of each attribute on the consumer purchase intention. 279 valid responses of total 300 questionnaire were used for the analysis of this study. Both the exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted to evaluate the conceptual validity and internal coherence of the determining variables and the use intention. The factor analysis resulted in identifying the five factors of the Internet shopping mall and on the multiple regression analysis, three of the five identified factors were found to affect significantly the purchase intention. According to the verified results interactivity(t=4.384) was found to affect positively the use intention, while privacy risk(t=-2.985) and delivery risk(t=-2.257) were found to affect negatively the purchase intention. Managerial suggestions are recommended as the results of analysis. It is urgently necessary for decreasing countermeasures delivery risk and privacy risk to enhance purchase intention of customers in internet shopping malls. Especially obtaining more information on consumers gives short-term advantages to marketers, perceived slackness in privacy will hinder purchase intention in internet shopping malls in the long run by causing distrust of consumers. Other limitations and future research directions are also mentioned.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 1994

The states of development of remote sensing, GIS and forest management technology are such that new directions in forest surveys and management are possible. The technologies can not be considered separately. With the increasing power and decreasing cost of computer processing and the development of inexpensive mass storage media, digital remote sensing applications are becoming more practical. Powerful microcomputer-based image analysis systems and GIS are important advancements. As well, it is only a matter of time before the integration of remote sensing image analysis systems and GIS becomes transparent to the users. Implementation of operational applications by both centralized agencies and local units is, therefore, becoming practical. This paper discussed the state of remote sensing technology and its application to forest surveys and management. The relative advantages and disadvantages of readily available remote sensing products for regional biodiversity assessment were summarized. Discussion is limited to the sources of up-to-date imagery suitable for regional land use/cover mapping, specifically : LANDSAT MSS and TM, and SPOT.