• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.82-92
• /
• 2018

Considering that earlier stage of construction project has a great influence on the possibility of lowering of environmental load, it is important to build and utilize system that can support effective decision making at the initial stage of the project. In this study, we constructed an environmental load estimation model that can be used at the early stage of the project using basic design factors. The model was constructed by using the artificial neural network to estimate environmental load by applying to planning stage (ANN-1), basic design stage (ANN-2). The result of test, shows that average of absolute measuring efficiency and standard deviation of ANN-1 and ANN-2 were 11.19% / 5.30% and 9.59% / 3.09% each. This result indicates that the model using the input variables extended with the project progress has high reliability and it is considered to be effective in decision support at the initial design stage of the project.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.700-706
• /
• 2009

Bridges are vital components of any road network which demand crucial and timely decision-making for Maintenance, Repair and Rehabilitation (MR&R) activities. Bridge Management Systems (BMSs) as a decision support system (DSS), have been developed since the early 1990's to assist in the management of a large bridge network. Historical condition ratings obtained from biennial bridge inspections are major resources for predicting future bridge deteriorations via BMSs. Available historical condition ratings in most bridge agencies, however, are very limited, and thus posing a major barrier for obtaining reliable future structural performances. To alleviate this problem, the verified Backward Prediction Model (BPM) technique has been developed to help generate missing historical condition ratings. This is achieved through establishing the correlation between known condition ratings and such non-bridge factors as climate and environmental conditions, traffic volumes and population growth. Such correlations can then be used to obtain the bridge condition ratings of the missing years. With the help of these generated datasets, the currently available bridge deterioration model can be utilized to more reliably forecast future bridge conditions. In this paper, the prediction accuracy based on 4 and 9 BPM-generated historical condition ratings as input data are compared, using deterministic and stochastic bridge deterioration models. The comparison outcomes indicate that the prediction error decreases as more historical condition ratings obtained. This implies that the BPM can be utilised to generate unavailable historical data, which is crucial for bridge deterioration models to achieve more accurate prediction results. Nevertheless, there are considerable limitations in the existing bridge deterioration models. Thus, further research is essential to improve the prediction accuracy of bridge deterioration models.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2018

Purpose - This paper investigates the major determinants of consumer decision making for smartphone's consumers in a developing country in Africa especially in Gabon. Analysis of Perceived Quality, Perceived Price, Perceived Risk, Brand Image, Perceived Value, and Purchase Intention Research design and methodology - In order to proceed the empirical research, online survey was done via email and social media network and data was collected from 289 random respondents. Therefore, to assess the reliability, the validity and test hypothesis Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used. Results - After data collection and analysis, results have proved that brand image, perceived price does influence perceived quality, and perceived quality negatively influence perceived risk. The results also show perceived risk along with brand image, perceived price and quality could not influence perceived value. The findings also indicate that perceived value slightly influence purchase intentions. Conclusions - The results of the study show that it is essential to develop an understanding of value in the purchasing process. This study should also provide a glimpse to both marketers and manufacturers about consumers' perceptions towards smartphones.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.273-284
• /
• 1989

The aim of this investigation was to delineate concepts contributing to the Exercise of Self-Care Agency (E.S.C.A.) Scale developed by Kearney & Fleischer (1979) and to test its construct validity and its predictors. The results are summarized as follows ; 1. By means of principal factor analysis and maximal likelihood factor analysis upon data generated from 280 undergraduate students, the factors of Concern about Health Knowledge, self-Concept, Information - Seeking Behavior, Decision -making and Responsibility, Self-esteem, and Passivity emerged. The total percent of variance explained by the 6 factors was 75.1% 2. To assess factor independence and instrument homogeneity, correlations among the 6 factors were computed. The correlations ranged from .24 to .46 indicating that the factors and the items were not too similar or redundant. 3. Test-retest reliability of the total scale is r＝.70. Cronbach's $\alpha$ coefficient for internal consistency of the total scale is .86 and that of the factors ranged from .750 to .661 (only factor 6 .497). 4. In additional analysis of the Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale in relationship to Multiple Health Locus of Control, Family Environmental Scale, and Cornell Medical Index using stepwise multiple regression, the Internal Health Locus of Control Score predicted 21.8%(F＝53.34, p＝.0001), Family Environmental Score 8.3%(F＝22.59, P＝.0001), Modified Cornell Medical Index Score 5.4%(F＝15.74, P＝.0001) of the score of the E.S.C.A.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.313-324
• /
• 2011

Purpose: The study was done to develop a dignified dying scale for Korean adults. Methods: The process included construction of a conceptual framework, generation of initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, preliminary study, and extraction of final items. The participants were 428 adults who lived in one of 3 Korean metropolitan cities: Seoul, Daegu, and Busan. Item analysis, factor analysis, criterion related validity, and internal consistency were used to analyze the data. Data collection was done from March to June 2010. Results: Thirty items were selected for the final scale, and categorized into 5 factors explaining 54.5% of the total variance. The factors were labeled as maintaining emotional comfort (10 items), arranging social relationship (9 items), avoiding suffering (3 items), maintaining autonomous decision making (4 items), and role preservation (4 items). The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with personal meanings of death scale. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 30 items was .92. Conclusion: The above findings indicate that the dignified dying scale has a good validity and reliability when used with Korean adults.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.1058-1076
• /
• 2013

The WBAN(Wireless Body Area Network) supplies mobile convenience to our medical services. But if we have few effective control variables across this service deployment, the hidden distortions or defects of the system might threaten the lives and rights of the stakeholders. Therefore we need to increase the service credibility, to get WBAN effective. This study proposes a governance mechanism using feasible variables that are currently in use in practices in WBAN environments against medical incidents. Control variables were tested in Seoul National University hospital and related medical industries of South Korea. We assume that WBAN systems would be open based on integrating patients, medical employees and law enforcements to get smart theater operations against medical incidents by implementing proposed MJA(Multilateral Joint Analysis) model. MJA model also contributes to the convergence of computer systems and medical services by demonstrating flexible SOA(Service Oriented Architecture) dashboard of healthcare services with credibility factors in medicine. The important components in MJA model across WBAN, were found to be "Safety, Accuracy and Reliability" in priority order. Factor analysis, correlations and ANOVA were used to evaluate this model and an IT dashboard with a realization of mobile application, was used to support participants' decision-making.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.29
• /
• pp.11.1-11.7
• /
• 2014

Objectives South Korea's air quality standards are insufficient in terms of establishing a procedure for their management. The current system lacks a proper decision-making process and prior evidence is not considered. The purpose of this study is to propose a measure for establishing atmospheric environmental standards in South Korea that will take into consideration the health of its residents. Methods In this paper, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of the US was examined in order to suggest ways, which consider health effects, to establish air quality standards in South Korea. Up-to-date research on the health effects of air pollution was then reviewed, and tools were proposed to utilize the key results. This was done in an effort to ensure the reliability of the standards with regard to public health. Results This study showed that scientific research on the health effects of air pollution and the methodology used in the research have contributed significantly to establishing air quality standards. However, as the standards are legally binding, the procedure should take into account the effects on other sectors. Realistically speaking, it is impossible to establish standards that protect an entire population from air pollution. Instead, it is necessary to find a balance between what should be done and what can be done. Conclusions Therefore, establishing air quality standards should be done as part of an evidence-based policy that identifies the health effects of air pollution and takes into consideration political, economic, and social contexts.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.764-775
• /
• 2020

Periodic safety reviews (PSRs) are conducted on operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) and have been mandated also for research reactors in Korea, in response to the Fukushima accident. One safety review tool, the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA), aims to identify weaknesses in the design and operation of the research reactor, and to evaluate and compare possible safety improvements. However, the PSA for research reactors is difficult due to scarce data availability. An important element in the analysis of research reactors is the reactor protection system (RPS), with its functionality and importance. In this view, we consider that of the AGN-201K, a zero-power reactor without forced decay heat removal systems, to demonstrate a risk-informed safety improvement study. By incorporating risk- and safety-significance importance measures, and sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, the proposed method identifies critical components in the RPS reliability model, systematically proposes potential safety improvements and ranks them to assist in the decision-making process.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.13-20
• /
• 2014

Estimating time and cost is an important mission in the early phase of a construction project, especially in feasibility study. It provides a foundation for making decision whether or not the project is performed on schedule and within budget. Thus, reliability of this estimate plays a key role in measuring the success of a project. This study was carried out to investigate the time-cost relationship in building construction projects in Bangladesh. The mathematical equation used in this study is based on Bromilow's equation. The research data were collected from sixty-three completed building projects through questionnaire survey. Type of clients, type of projects, and tender methods are the project characteristics considered in this study. The results of analysis indicated that the Bromilow's time-cost (BTC) models developed for each project characteristic are appropriate due to quite high coefficient of determination and relatively small mean percent errors. Among them, the forecasted model for time and cost according to tender methods is the best fit model. It is concluded that the BTC model could be applied in building construction project to predict its time and cost in Bangladesh. Four different regression models were also developed in this study. The results of BTC model between some selected countries were compared to gain the comprehensive view.

• The Journal of Information Systems
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.25-42
• /
• 2018

Purpose The purpose of this study focused on adopting production systems in cognitive psychology to improve the extraction process of persuasive design characteristics for healthcare-related mobile applications. Design/Methodology/Approach A research approach with four stages was developed. We developed and updated the evaluation guideline for persuasive design characteristics (PDC). We tried to summarize and analyze each of 28 PDC and prepared related production rules. Verification process for both guideline approach and production system approach were performed. Top one hundred apps from both medical category and health and Fitness category were selected and evaluated by two approaches. By comparing the results of the two approaches, we tried to explain the improvement and reliability of introducing the production system in the PDC extraction process. Findings Based on the updated guideline for healthcare-related mobile applications, a production system in cognitive psychology was developed. By comparing the PDC extraction results by two approaches, production system showed a better improvement for evaluation precision and efficiency for decision-making process. The findings of this study can be used for researchers and app developers to apply production system to analyze, evaluate, and develop better healthcare-related apps with persuasion.