• Title/Summary/Keyword: alternative testing methods

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Evaluation of adenosine triphosphate testing for on-farm cleanliness monitoring compared to microbiological testing in an empty pig farrowing unit

  • Yi, Seung-Won;Cho, Ara;Kim, Eunju;Oh, Sang-Ik;Roh, Jae Hee;Jung, Young-Hun;Choe, Changyong;Yoo, Jae Gyu;Do, Yoon Jung
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.62 no.5
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    • pp.682-691
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    • 2020
  • Careful cleaning and disinfection of pigpens is essential to prevent disease spread and avoid the resultant economic losses. Hygiene in pigpens is generally evaluated by visual monitoring supplemented with bacteriological monitoring, which includes counting the total aerobic bacteria (TAB) and/or fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). However, these methods present drawbacks such as time and labor requirements. As adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is ubiquitous in all living organisms including microorganisms, this study aimed to directly compare the results of microbial assessment and ATP quantification, and to suggest possible detailed application methods of the ATP test for hygiene evaluation in pigpens of a farrowing unit. Before and after standard cleaning procedures, samples were collected from the floor corner, floor center, and feeding trough of four pigpens at different time points. No FIB were detected and both the TAB and ATP levels were significantly decreased in the floor center area after cleaning. FIB were continuously detected after cleaning and disinfection of the floor corners, and there was no significant ATP level reduction. The feeding trough did not show any significant difference in these values before and after cleaning, indicating insufficient cleaning of this area. The levels of TAB and ATP after cleaning were significantly correlated and the average ATP value was significantly lower in the absence of FIB than in their presence. In the absence of standard references, a more thorough hygiene management could be achieved evenly by supplementing cleaning or disinfection based on the lowest ATP results obtained at the cleanest test site, which in the present study was the floor center. Overall, these results indicate that the on-farm ATP test can be used to determine the cleanliness status, in addition to visual inspection, as an alternative to laboratory culture-based testing for the presence of microorganisms.

Application of Risk-Informed Methods to In-Service Piping Inspection in Framatome Type Nuclear Power Plants (프라마톰형 원전의 배관 가동중검사에 리스크 정보를 활용한 기법 적용)

  • Kim, Jin-Hoi;Lee, Jeong-Seok;Yun, Eun-Sub
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.311-317
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    • 2014
  • The Pressurized water reactor owners group (PWROG) developed and applied a risk-informed in-service inspection (RI-ISI) program, as an alternative to the existing ASME Section XI' sampling inspection method. The RI-ISI programs enhance overall safety by focusing inspections of piping at high safety significance (HSS) locations where failure mechanisms are likely to be present. Additionally, the RI-ISI program can reduce nondestructive evaluation (NDE) exams, man-rem exposure for inspectors, and inspection time, among other benefits. The RI-ISI method of in-service piping inspection was applied to 3 units (KSNPs: Korea standard nuclear power plants) and is being deployed to the other units. In this paper, the results of RI-ISI for a Framatome type (France CPI) nuclear power plant are presented. It was concluded that application of RI-ISI to the plant could enhance and maintain plant safety, as well as provide the benefits of greater reliability.

A Small Crack Length Evaluation Technique by Electronic Scanning (전자적 스캔에 의한 미소결함길이 평가기법)

  • Cho, Yong-Sang;Kim, Jae-Hoon
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.15-20
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    • 2009
  • The results of crack evaluation by conventional UT(Ultrasonic Test)is highly depend on the inspector's experience or knowledge of ultrasound. Phased array UT system and its application methods for small crack length evaluation will be a good alternative method which overcome present UT weakness. This study was aimed at checking the accuracy of crack length evaluation method by electronic scanning and discuss about characteristics of electronic scanning for crack length evaluation. Especially ultrasonic phased array with electronic scan technique was used in carrying out both sizing and detect ability of crack as its length changes. The response of ultrasonic phased array was analyzed to obtain the special method of determining crack length without moving the transducer and detect-ability of crack minimal length and depth from the material. A method of crack length determining by electronic scanning for the small crack is very real method which has it's accuracy and verify the effectiveness of method compared to a conventional crack length determination.

Classification of Surface Defects on Cold Rolled Strips by Probabilistic Neural Networks (확률신경회로망에 의한 냉연 강판 표면결함의 분류)

  • Song, S.J.;Kim, H.J.;Choi, S.H.;Lee, J.H.
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.162-173
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    • 1997
  • Automatic on-line surface inspection systems have been applied for monitoring a quality of steel strip surfaces. One of the important issues in this application is the performance of on-line defect classifiers. Rule-based classification table methods which are conventionally used for this purpose have been suffered from their low performances. In this work, probabilistic neural networks and the enhanced classification tables which are newly proposed here are applied as alternative on-line classifiers to identify types of surface defects on cold rolled strips. Probabilistic neural networks have shown very excellent performance for classification of surface defects.

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Economic Analysis of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Screening Strategies in Korea (우리나라 잠복결핵감염 검진전략의 경제성 분석)

  • Kim, Sang-Won;Kang, Gil-Won;Shin, Sam-Chul;Song, Seung-Eun
    • Health Policy and Management
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.349-357
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    • 2013
  • Background: Although interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) is now available alternatives to tuberculin skin test (TST) for detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), the cost of IGRA test is much higher than TST. So economic analysis of LTBI screening strategies have been done in many countries, but there are few reports in Korea. This study examined cost analysis of LTBI screening strategies in Korea. Methods: The economic outcomes were evaluated by five strategies. These were 1) TST alone, 2) IGRA alone, 3) combination of TST and IGRA (TST followed by IGRA) and 4) no testing no prevention, 5) no testing all prevention. Last two strategies were added to compare with three main LTBI screening strategies. Decision analysis model were used to perform economic analysis. A cohort study of Korean Institute of Tuberculosis and the data of published literatures were used to estimate the cost analysis. Results: In a base-case scenario which was assumed that TST specificity was 80%, TST alone was the least expensive strategy. In a alternative scenario which was assumed that TST specificity was 97%, the combination of TST and IGRA was the least expensive strategy. Sensitivity analysis shows that patients adherent rate to LTBI treatment, TST sensitivity, IGRA sensitivity and IGRA specificity did not have a significant impact on the outcomes. Conclusion: In Korea, for the diagnosis of LTBI at the time of child and adolescent, TST alone reduces medical costs compared with IGRA alone or combination of TST and IGRA.

Testing for validity of isometric muscle endurance test as an abdominal muscular endurance evaluation methods (복근 지구력 평가 도구로서 등척성 수축 후 버티기 방법의 타당성 비교 검증)

  • Park, Soon-Tae;Hur, Sung-Hoon;Lee, Jang-Kyu;Lee, Jong-Sam
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.815-827
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    • 2014
  • The current study was undertaken to verify appropriateness of muscle endurance test at three different angles ($30^{\circ}C$, $40^{\circ}C$, $50^{\circ}C$) of isometric contraction position, and to sought valid and reliable testing method that provide an alternative to sit-ups. Total 92 young and healthy subjects (68 males and 24 females) were recruited, and the following results were obtained. 1. A low correlations in males, but a high correlations in females was found when the comparisons were made between aerobic and muscle endurance capability. 2. Measuring tolerance time, by using isometric contraction was showed a significant correlation with the repetition numbers of sit-ups. 3. The highest correlation was found at 40 inclined degrees of plane, and the lowest correlation was drawn from 50 inclined degrees of plane. Based on these results, it was concluded that measuring tolerance time during maintaining an isometric contraction at 40 inclined degrees of plane is a valid and effective tool for measuring abdominal muscle endurance, and it can be used as an alternative way of sit-up, which potentially risky for inducing many back-associated injuries. Further studies need to be undertaken to determine for optimal angles, that can safely be applied for people of various age groups and physical conditions.

The Future of NVH Research - A Challenge by New Powertrains

  • Genuit, Ing. K.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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    • 2010.05a
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    • pp.48-48
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    • 2010
  • Sound quality and NVH-issues(Noise, Vibration and Harshness) of vehicles has become very important for car manufacturers. It is interpreted as among the most relevant factors regarding perceived product quality, and is important in gaining market advantage. The general sound quality of vehicles was gradually improved over the years. However, today the development cycles in the automotive industry are constantly reduced to meet the customers' demands and to react quickly to market needs. In addition, new drive and fuel concepts, tightened ecological specifications, increase of vehicle classes and increasing diversification(increasing market for niche vehicles), etc. challenge the acoustic engineers trying to develop a pleasant, adequate, harmonious passenger cabin sound. Another aspect concerns the general pressure for reducing emission and fuel consumption, which lead to vehicle weight reductions through material changes also resulting in new noise and vibration conflicts. Furthermore, in the context of alternative powertrains and engine concepts, the new objective is to detect and implement the vehicle sound, tailored to suit the auditory expectations and needs of the target group. New questions must be answered: What are appropriate sounds for hybrid or electric vehicles? How are new vehicle sounds perceived and judged? How can customer-oriented, client-specific target sounds be determined? Which sounds are needed to fulfil the driving task, and so on? Thus, advanced methods and tools are necessary which cope with the increasing complexity of NVH-problems and conflicts and at the same time which cope with the growing expectations regarding the acoustical comfort. Moreover, it is exceedingly important to have already detailed and reliable information about NVH-issues in early design phases to guarantee high quality standards. This requires the use of sophisticated simulation techniques, which allow for the virtual construction and testing of subsystems and/or the whole car in early development stages. The virtual, testing is very important especially with respect to alternative drive concepts(hybrid cars, electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars), where complete new NVH-problems and challenges occur which have to be adequately managed right from the beginning. In this context, it is important to mention that the challenge is that all noise contributions from different sources lead to a harmonious, well-balanced overall sound. The optimization of single sources alone does not automatically result in an ideal overall vehicle sound. The paper highlights modern and innovative NVH measurement technologies as well as presents solutions of recent NVH tasks and challenges. Furthermore, future prospects and developments in the field of automotive acoustics are considered and discussed.

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Statistical Test of Agreement between Measurements in Method-comparison Study (검사법의 일치도 평가를 위한 분석기법)

  • Pak, Son-Il;Oh, Tae-Ho
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.108-112
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    • 2011
  • In clinical settings, researchers often want to assess agreement between two measurements (or tests) of the same continuous variable. For example, when new point-of-care analyzer for testing blood glucose level were introduced clinicians need to compare results from standard or established laboratory method of measurement to those of new or point-of-care analyzer. The question in a method-comparison study would either of two different methods be used to measure the same variable equivalently. In this paper common misuse of statistical methodologies seen in the medical literatures such as correlation coefficient and paired t-test are discussed. The Bland-Altman technique has been widely used for this purpose and provides a graphic in presentation of the findings from a method-comparison study, with a mean value of measurement, this bias and the limits of agreement. For ease of application and interpretation of this technique we discussed the analysis procedure and illustrated with two worked examples. Finally, a number of alternative ways in which data can be analysed and reported in such studies were reviewed.

A Study on the Condition of LED Lights Flicker (국내 LED 조명등에서 플리커 현상에 관한 연구)

  • Heo, Min;Ko, Jae-jun;Kim, Chung-hyeok
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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    • v.29 no.11
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    • pp.729-735
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    • 2016
  • It is highly important issue to use an energy efficiently for sustainable prosperity of mankind. From this point of view, using LED lighting can be a good alternative because it has a lot of advantages such as high efficiency, long life time and eco-friendly manufacturing process. That is the reason why using LED lighting has been encouraged worldwide. However, in situations that LED lighting is replacing traditional lighting quickly, the problem of the flicker of LED lighting has emerged as an important issue. Therefore, in foreign countries like US or Japan in order to ensure the reliability of LED lighting, study for flickering effects of the human body and test methods are have been actively conducted. But related research in domestic situation is an insufficient condition. In this study, a flicker characteristic was measured conventional lamps such as incandescent lamps or fluorescent lamp and 81 items of LED lightings which are distributed in domestic markets.

Alphabetical Gesture Recognition using HMM (HMM을 이용한 알파벳 제스처 인식)

  • Yoon, Ho-Sub;Soh, Jung;Min, Byung-Woo
    • Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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    • 1998.10c
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    • pp.384-386
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    • 1998
  • The use of hand gesture provides an attractive alternative to cumbersome interface devices for human-computer interaction(HCI). Many methods hand gesture recognition using visual analysis have been proposed such as syntactical analysis, neural network(NN), Hidden Markov Model(HMM) and so on. In our research, a HMMs is proposed for alphabetical hand gesture recognition. In the preprocessing stage, the proposed approach consists of three different procedures for hand localization, hand tracking and gesture spotting. The hand location procedure detects the candidated regions on the basis of skin-color and motion in an image by using a color histogram matching and time-varying edge difference techniques. The hand tracking algorithm finds the centroid of a moving hand region, connect those centroids, and thus, produces a trajectory. The spotting a feature database, the proposed approach use the mesh feature code for codebook of HMM. In our experiments, 1300 alphabetical and 1300 untrained gestures are used for training and testing, respectively. Those experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach yields a higher and satisfying recognition rate for the images with different sizes, shapes and skew angles.

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