• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.7
• /
• pp.1667-1679
• /
• 2010

This thesis proposes an adaptive variable-sized matching window method using the characteristic points of the image and a method to increase the reliability of the cross-consistency check to raise the correctness of the final disparity image. The proposed adaptive variable-sized window method segments the image with the color information, finds the characteristic points in each segmented image, and varies the size of the matching window according to the existence of the characteristic points inside the window. Also the proposed cross-consistency check method processes the two cases with the cost values corresponding to the best disparity and the second-best disparity: when the cost values themselves are too large and when the difference between the two cost values are too small. The two proposed methods were experimented with the four test images provided by the Middleburry site. As the results from the experiments, the proposed adaptive variable-sized matching window method decreased up to 18.2% of error ratio and the proposed cross-consistency check method increased up to 7.4% of reliability.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.225-234
• /
• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.38 no.12 s.161
• /
• pp.1029-1037
• /
• 2005

Urban Storm Sewer Optimal Design Model(USSOD) was developed to compute pipe capacity, pipe slope, crown elevation, excavation depth, risk and return cost in the condition of design discharge. Rational formula is adopted for design discharge and Manning's formula is used for pipe capacity. Discrete differential dynamic programming(DDDP) technique which is a kind of dynamic programming (DP) is used for optimization and first order second moment approximation method and uncertainty analysis is also for developing model. USSOD is applied to hypothetical drainage basin to test and verify. After testing the model, it is also applied to Ulsan drainage basin which was developed by Korea Land Cooperation(KOLAND). Comparing the design results of USSOD with those of KOLAND, discharge capacity 0.35 $m^3/sec$, the crown elevation is 0.77m higher and return cost is $9\%$ less than design results of KOLAND, which verify the improvement of USSOD. Layout design model using GIS and optimization including detention or retention effect are needed in the future study.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• /
• v.41
• /
• pp.35.1-35.7
• /
• 2019

Background: The purpose of this study was to measure the time of the conventional surgical planning (CSP) and virtual surgical planning (VSP) in orthognathic surgery and to compare them in terms of cost. Material and method: This is a retrospective study of the patients who underwent orthognathic surgery at the Pusan National University Dental Hospital from December 2017 to August 2018. All the patients were analyzed through both CSP and VSP, and all the surgical stents were fabricated through manual and three-dimensional (3D) printing. The predictor variables were the planning method (CSP vs. VSP) and the surgery type (group I: Le Fort I osteotomy + bilateral sagittal split osteotomy [LFI+BSSO] or group II: only bilateral sagittal split osteotomy [BSSO]), and the outcomes were the time and cost. The results were analyzed using the paired t test. Results: Thirty patients (12 females, 18 males) met the inclusion criteria, and 17 patients were excluded from the study due to missing or incomplete data. There were 20 group I patients (LFI+BSSO regardless of genioplasty) and 10 group II patients (BSSO regardless of genioplasty). The average time of CSP for group I was 385 ± 7.8 min, and that for group II was 195 ± 8.33 min. The time reduction rate of VSP compared with CSP was 62.8% in group I and 41.5% in group II. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant cost reduction. Conclusions: The time investment in VSP in this study was significantly smaller than that in CSP, and the difference was greater in group I than in group II.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.423-435
• /
• 2004

The purposes of this study were to compare, through a factor analysis, the perceived level of importance of 4 categories of features relating to food service management between salespeople and clients, to establish an effective marketing strategy for successful contracting. To obtain data on the perceived level of importance level of the factors affecting foodservice management contracts, questionnaires were developed using the Delphi technique, which were modified by apilot test. The questionnaires consisted of 4 categories and 19 items on the factors affecting foodservice management contracts, with the importance level of these factors measured on a 5 point-Likert type scale. Between March 12 and April 13 2003, the self-administrative questionnaires were mailed to the 60 salespeople and 280 clients. A total of 50 clients (25%) and 48 salespeople(77%) responded to the questionnaires. As a result, forprivate contracts and in competitive biding, the differences of the perceived importance level between the salespeople and clients of the 3 categories (the appropriateness of foodservice operation plan, sales ability, the conditions and costs of the contract) were significant. For the 5 items relating to private contracts, Field trip, Menu Management Plan, Sanitation and Safety Management, Cost per meal and Food Cost per meal, both the salespeople and clients perceived high levels of importance for all these items. For competitive biding, both the salespeople and clients perceived high levels of importance for the 6 item the Foodservice operation supportive system, Field trip, Menu Management Plan, Renewal plans for interior and environment, Cost per meal and Food Cost per meal.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.489-499
• /
• 2017

Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) is a new technology capable to flow without segregation or any addition of energy which leads to efficient construction and cost savings. In this study, the effect of replacing the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with Fly Ash (FA) on the strength, durability of the concrete was investigated experimentally, and carbon footprint and cost were also assessed. Four different replacement FA ratios (0%, 20%, 40% and 60%) were used to create four SCC mixes. Standard test methods were used to determine the workability, strength, and durability of the SCC mixes including resist chloride ion penetration, water permeability, water absorption, and initial surface absorption. The axial cube compressive strength tests were performed on the SCC mixes at 1, 7, 14, 28 and 35 days. Replacing the OPC with FA had a significant positive impact on chloride iron penetration resistance and water absorption but had a considerable negative impact on the compressive strength. The SCC mix with 60% FA had 36.7% and 15.8% enhancement in the resistance to chloride ion penetration and water absorption, respectively. Evaluation of the carbon footprint and the cost of each SCC mixes showed the $CO_2$ emissions mixes 1, 2, 3 and 4 were significantly reduced by increasing the FA content from 0% to 60%. Compared with the control mix, the cost of all mixes increased when the FA content increased, but no significant differences were seen between the estimated costs of all four mixes.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.581-589
• /
• 2013

Generally, Sewage Treatment Plants(STPs) are complexes systems in which a range of physical, chemical and biological processes occur. However, their performance strongly depends on the know-how acquired by the field-engineer. Recently, in order to solve this situations, various operation and management technologies based on the Instrumentation, Control and Automation(ICA) have been developed. As a economies-environmental affect point of view, this study was for the performance evaluation and assessment of results from the Smart Operation System(SOS) in full-scale STP. The SOS in STP consisted of the process monitoring module, including real-time influent prediction and effluent simulation, and the Smart Air Control(SAC) module. According to the results from field test for 2 years, the results of economical evaluation, amount of benefits and cost saving by the SOS have shown to be much higher than that of traditional operation. Nevertheless, the removal load(kg/yr) of BOD 13.3 %, COD 28.2 %, TN 44.4 % and TP 20.8 % were increased, respectively. Remarkable improvement of removal load could be achieved after the SOS was adapted. It was concerned that the SOS offer a user friendly functionalities and cost saving needed by the field-engineers. In addition, it was expected that the results of this study would supply helpful information for design and cost saving for the SOS in full-scale STP.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.43-65
• /
• 2014

In this paper, we test for allocative efficiency of productive inputs including electricity and measure the divergence between the actual and optimal level of electricity for the chemical products, which is a relatively highly electricity-intensive sector in Korean manufacturing industries, by estimating a shadow cost function. Supposing cost minimization subject to market prices was achieved, we derive the price elasticities of demand for each input and simulate the impact of a 10% increase in power rate on its demand and supply price by estimating jointly a cost function with an inverse supply relation. The null hypothesis of allocative efficiency of inputs is rejected over the period 1982-2006. On average, electricity is used more than optimal level by 98% per year. The demand for electricity decreases by 11.4%, and supply price, on average, falls by 0.08%, other things being equal.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.187-191
• /
• 2013

Background Our objective was to compare the complication rates of two common breast reconstruction techniques performed at our hospital and the cost-effectiveness for each test group. Methods All patients who underwent deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap and transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap by the same surgeon were selected and matched according to age and mastectomy with or without axillary clearance. Patients from each resultant group were selected, with the patients matched chronologically. The remainder were matched for by co-morbidities. Sixteen patients who underwent immediate breast reconstruction with pedicled TRAM flaps and 16 patients with DIEP flaps from 1999 to 2006 were accrued. The average total hospitalisation cost, length of hospitalisation, and complications in the 2 year duration after surgery for each group were compared. Results Complications arising from both the pedicled TRAM flaps and DIEP flaps included fat necrosis (TRAM, 3/16; DIEP, 4/16) and other minor complications (TRAM, 3/16; DIEP, 1/16). The mean hospital stay was 7.13 days (range, 4 to 12 days) for the pedicled TRAM group and 7.56 (range, 5 to 10 days) for the DIEP group. Neither the difference in complication rates nor in hospital stay duration were statistically significant. The total hospitalisation cost for the DIEP group was significantly higher than that of the pedicled TRAM group (P<0.001). Conclusions Based on our study, the pedicled TRAM flap remains a cost-effective technique in breast reconstruction when compared to the newer, more expensive and tedious DIEP flap.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.508-516
• /
• 2012

The lifespan of a rolling stock is limited to 25 years by the urban railway law. But it can be extended to 40 years by conducting the regular safety test. This gives additional 15 years of lifespan. In Seoul Metro, Many of the rolling stocks were already replaced with new types in 1996 and 2008. New type - VVVF rolling stocks have better safety, maintainability, durability than old types. For this reason, it is desirable to extend the lifespan of new type-rolling stocks. In this paper, we investigated the economical lifespan using LCC (Life Cycle Cost) analysis. This study shows that the economical lifespan comes out 41 years when extra 10% cost has been considered after 25 years of the train service and 46 years when extra 10% cost not considered.