• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.91-107
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• 2022

Purpose - This study quantitatively examines the level of financial inclusion of a microfinance institution in each region and how this is changing recently, and examines the level of financial inclusion by region and various financial characteristic factors related to it. It was empirically verified what kind of significant impact actually has on the institution's major management performance indicators (stability, profitability, efficiency, and public interest). Design/methodology/approach - It was confirmed that the institution's financial inclusion index declined rapidly after 2015 as a whole, although there were some differences by region depending on regional characteristics. However, considering the fact that the number of branches per 100,000 adult population is steadily increasing nationwide, it was found that, contrary to what is known, the simple decrease in the number of branches of the institution was not the main cause. Findings - The analysis results of this study show that the institution's efforts for financial inclusion have a positive impact on profitability, stability, efficiency, and public interest, and that the institution pursues profitability, efficiency, stability, and public interest. showed that some trade-offs exist. In other words, overall, it was analyzed that profitability of the institution has a positive effect on efficiency, and efficiency has a positive effect on stability and public interest. Research implications or Originality - Since the institution's efforts to improve its profitability do not have a negative impact on its stability and public interest, it is judged that it is important to take a strategic stance, so excessive loan supply that exceeds the scope of the institution's own control needs to be avoided as much as possible. More detailed financial supply strategies and business management capabilities that enhance the asset soundness and management efficiency of safes need to be demonstrated.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2019

Purpose: Cognitive function is a main concern for rehabilitation progression in individuals who have sustained brain damage, even among those whose motor function has returned after brain damage. The purpose of this study was to investigate how cognitive impairment relates to functional independence in postural stability and gait performance in patients with chronic hemiparetic stroke. Methods: This was an observational design in an outpatient rehabilitation hospital. Twenty-eight adults with chronic hemiparetic stroke, receiving a course in an outpatient rehabilitation program, participated in this study. They were divided into two groups (i.e., non-cognitive impairment and cognitive impairment groups) via a cut-off score of 23 or less on a mini-mental state examination. Functional independence was assessed with the timed up-and-go test (TUG), 10-meter walk test (10mWT), five times sit-to-stand test (FTSST), Berg balance scale (BBS), and modified Barthel index (MBI). The independent t-test was used for statistical analysis when comparing the two groups. Results: The cognitive impairment group had less functional independence, balance, and gait performance than those of the non-cognitive impairment group had. The former also showed a statistically significant decrease in their TUG score, FTSST score, BBS score, and MBI score compared to the latter, but not in their 10mWT score (p<0.05). Although the non-cognitive impairment group walked faster than the cognitive impairment group did, that difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that cognitive impairment relates to functional independence in postural stability and the activities of daily living. In rehabilitation settings, cognitive impairment would be considered a major component in therapeutic rehabilitation to overcome the patients difficult physical problems and to treat for improving functional independence more after stroke.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2023

Xanthan gum and starch compound biopolymer (XS), an environmentally friendly soil-binding material produced from natural resources, has been suggested as a slope protection material to enhance soil strength and erosion resistance. Insufficient wet strength and the consequent durability concerns remain, despite XS biopolymer-soil treatment showing high strength and erosion resistance in the dried state, even with a small dosage of soil mass. These concerns need to be solved to improve the field applicability and post-stability of this treatment. This study explored the utilization of an alkaline-based cation crosslinking method using calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide to induce non-thermal gelation, resulting in the enhancement of the wet strength and durability of biopolymer-treated soil. Laboratory experiments were conducted to assess the unconfined compressive strength and cyclic wetting-drying durability performance of the treated soil using a selected recipe based on a preliminary gel formation test. The results demonstrated that the uniformity of the gel structure and gelling time varied depending on the ratio of crosslinkers to biopolymer; consequently, the strength of the soil was affected. Subsequently, site soil treated with the recipe, which showed the best performance in indoor assessment, was implemented on the field slope at the bridge abutment via compaction and pressurized spraying methods to assess feasibility in field implementation. Moreover, the variation in surface soil hardness was monitored periodically for one year. Both slopes implemented by the two construction methods showed sufficient stability against detachment and scouring, with a higher soil hardness index than the natural slope for a year.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.277-285
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• 2020

Objective: This study was performed to investigate the effects of supplementing sesame seed meal (SSM) with phytase and lysine on performance, egg quality, blood biochemical and antioxidant status of laying hens. Methods: A total of 960, 56-wk-old laying hens were divided into 12 dietary groups with eight replicates per group (10 birds per replicate). A completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 2×3×2 consisted of two levels of lysine supplement (0% and 10% over requirement), three SSM levels (0%, 10%, and 20%) with or without phytase (0 and 300 g/ton). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. Results: Birds fed diets with 10% SSM had higher feed intake than groups fed 0% and 20% SSM. The addition of phytase to experimental feeds, improved feed conversion ratio, increased egg weight and mass (p<0.01). Egg quality criteria was not affected by supplementing phytase; however, supplementing 300 g/ton phytase to hens diet, led to a significant (p<0.05) increase in egg shell strength. Egg yolk cholesterol and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, atherogenic index and total cholesterol were decreased (p<0.01) by diet containing 20% SSM. The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was increased (p<0.05) in serum of hens fed 20% SSM than the other groups. It was also observed that total antioxidant capacity and total superoxide dismutase content of hens fed 20% SSM was significantly higher than control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: As from results, dietary supplementation of SSM and phytase had no negative effects on laying hens performance or egg quality while improving the egg oxidative stability.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2019

Background: The mid-term performance of clinical linear accelerator (LINAC) during volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatment period is not performed in clinical practice and usually replaced with one-time plan quality assurance (QA). In this research we aim to monitor daily reproducibility of VMAT delivery from tracking individual leaf movement error and dosimetric error to evaluate the mid-term quality of the machine used. Materials and Methods: First, multileaf collimator (MLC) information was imported into MATLAB program to determine which of the MLC leaves in the leaf bank had the maximum RMS position error (maxRMS). We estimated where the maximum positional errors (maxPE) of the chosen leaf occur along its path length and tracked its daily variations over the entire treatment period. Secondly, picture information of dosimetric error from portal dosimetry was imported into MATLAB where representative high gamma index region (HGR) was determined as HGR with length of > 1 cm and their centers were daily tracked. Results and Discussion: The maxPEs in the brain and tongue cases were distributed broader than in other cases, but all data were found located within ${\pm}0.5mm$. From first day to last day all of five cases show the similar visual pattern of HGRs and Centers of the longest HGRs remained within ${\pm}1mm$ of that in first day. These findings prove excellent mid-term performance of the LINAC used in VMAT treatments over a full course of treatment. Conclusion: Tracking the daily location changes of leaf movement and dosimetric error can be a good indicator of predicting the daily quality like stability and reproducibility of beam delivering in VMAT treatment.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.445-454
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• 2008

Many countermeasures for local scour at bridge piers constructed on the river and sea have been developed and researched to protect piers against local scour. The most commonly employed method is riprap protection, which is sometimes required the filter installation between riprap and base layers. However, the construction of stone filters are really hard to perform in the field, require the high cost, or sometimes are impossible. The experimental modeling is conducted to analyze the riprap failure modes and the stability of riprap protection without filters based on the different approach velocity and riprap layer thickness conditions. Also, the stability index to evaluate the performance of riprap protection is developed using the experimental results. The cover and thickness of the riprap layer play a very important role in the stability and thicker riprap layers can prevent a total disintegration of the riprap layer effectively, especially due to winnowing failure.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-86
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• 2024

Asphalt concrete (AC), is a mixture of bitumen and aggregates, which is very sensitive in the design of flexible pavement. In this study, the Marshall stability of the glass and carbon fiber bituminous concrete was predicted by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), and M5P Tree machine learning algorithms. To predict the Marshall stability, nine inputs parameters i.e., Bitumen, Glass and Carbon fibers mixed in 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, 0:100 percentage (designated as 100GF:0CF, 75GF:25CF, 50GF:50 CF, 25GF:75CF, 0GF:100CF), Bitumen grade (VG), Fiber length (FL), and Fiber diameter (FD) were utilized from the experimental and literary data. Seven statistical indices i.e., coefficient of correlation (CC), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), relative absolute error (RAE), root relative squared error (RRSE), Scattering index (SI), and BIAS were applied to assess the effectiveness of the developed models. According to the performance evaluation results, Artificial neural network (ANN) was outperforming among other models with CC values as 0.9147 and 0.8648, MAE values as 1.3757 and 1.978, RMSE values as 1.843 and 2.6951, RAE values as 39.88 and 49.31, RRSE values as 40.62 and 50.50, SI values as 0.1379 and 0.2027 and BIAS value as -0.1 290 and -0.2357 in training and testing stage respectively. The Taylor diagram (testing stage) also confirmed that the ANN-based model outperforms the other models. Results of sensitivity analysis showed that the fiber length is the most influential in all nine input parameters whereas the fiber combination of 25GF:75CF was the most effective among all the fiber mixes in Marshall stability.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2020

Super engineering plastic(SEP) are applied to high performance and high value industries due to their excellent mechanical properties and high continuous operating temperature. Among them, PES and PEI are amorphous SEPs, and have the advantages of high flexibility, mechanical properties, transparency, and thermal stability. In this study, polyethersulfone(PES) and polyetherimide(PEI) fibers were manufactured to produce flame retardant artificial hair. PES and PEI fibers prepared through a melt-spinning process at a high temperature of 360 to 420℃. They are compared with commercial artificial hair by thermal gravimetric analysis(TGA), linear density, tenacity, and limited oxygen index(LOI) analysis. PES and PEI fibers have similar linear density and tenacity to commercial artificial hair, while their thermal stability and flame retardant are excellent. In particular, flame retardant was analyzed through LOI value and PES was 35.1%, which is superior to commercial artificial hair PET/Br(28.2%) and PET/P(20.2%). Therefore, PES and PEI are suitable as artificial hair for flame retardant.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.226-228
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• 2002

This paper presents a new control approach for designing a coordinated controller for static VAR compensator system. A SVC constructed by a Fixed Capacitor and a Thyristor Controlled Reactor is designed and implemented to improve the damping of a synchronous generator, as well as controlling the system voltage. A design of linear quadratic controller based on optimal controller depends on choosing weighting matrices. A coordinated optimal controller is achieved by minimizing a quadratic performance index using dynamic programming techniques. The selection of weighting matrices is usually carried out by trial and error which is not a trivial problem. We proposed a efficient method using GA of finding weighting matrices for optimal control law. Thus, we prove the usefulness of proposed method to improve the stability of single machine-infinite bus with SVC system.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.55-70
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• 2011

This study investigates the design criteria required for wind barriers to protect vehicles running on an expressway under a high side wind. At the first stage of this study, the lateral deviations of vehicles in crosswinds were computed from the commercial software, CarSim and TruckSim, and the critical wind speeds for a car accident were then evaluated from a predefined car accident index. The critical wind speeds for driving stability were found to be 35 m/s for a small passenger car, yet 30 m/s for a truck and a bus. From the wind tunnel tests, the minimum height of a wind barrier required to reduce the wind speed by 50% was found to be 12.5% of the road width. In the case of parallel bridges, the placement of two edge wind barriers plus one wind barrier at center was recommended for a separation distance larger than 20 m (four lanes) and 10 m (six lanes) respectively, otherwise two wind barriers were recommended.