• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.244-252
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• 2001

Objective : Health insurers and policy makers are increasingly examining the hospital mortality rate as an indicator of hospital quality and performance. To be meaningful, a risk-adjustment of the death rates must be implemented. This study reviewed 5 severity measurement methods and applied them to the same data set to determine whether judgments regarding the severity-adjusted hospital mortality rates were sensitive to the specific severity measure. Methods : The medical records of 584 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 6 general hospitals during 1996 and 1997 were reviewed by trained nurses. The MedisGroups, Disease Staging, Computerized Severity Index, APACHE III and KDRG were used to quantify severity of the patients. The predictive probability of death was calculated for each patient in the sample from a multivariate logistic regression model including the severity score, age and sex to evaluate the hospitals' performance, the ratio of the observed number of deaths to the expected number for each hospital was calculated. Results : The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 7.0%, ranging from 2.7% to 15.7% depending on the particular hospital. After the severity adjustment, the mortality rates for each hospital showed little difference according to the severity measure. The 5 severity measurement methods varied in their statistical performance. All had a higher c statistic and $R^2$ than the model containing only age and sex. There was a little difference in the relative hospital performance evaluation by the severity measure. Conclusion : These results suggest that judgments regarding a hospital's performance based on severity adjusted mortality can be sensitive to the severity measurement method. Although the 5 severity measures regarding hospital performance concurred, more often than would be expected by chance, the assessment of an individual hospital mortality rates varied by the different severity measurement method used.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5959-5963
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• 2012

Background: The term 'hardcore' has been applied to use of smoking tobacco and generally referred to as the inability or unwillingness of regular smokers to quit. The component constructs of hardcore except nicotine dependence are product neutral. With the use of 'time to first chew' as a measure of nicotine dependence, hardcore definition can be extended to characterize smokeless tobacco users. Hardcore users respond less to tobacco cessation interventions, and are prone to tobacco induced diseases including cancer. Thus identifying hardcore users would help in estimate the burden of high risk population for tobacco induced diseases. Smokeless tobacco use is predominant and accounts for more than 50% of oral cancer in India. Hence, hardcore chewing information could be used for planning of tobacco and cancer control interventions. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India. Materials and Methods: Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)-India 2010 data were analyzed to quantify hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India with following five criteria: (1) current daily smokeless tobacco use; (2) no quit attempt in the past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of less than 24 hours duration; (3) no intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting; (4) time to first use of smokeless tobacco product within 30 minutes of waking up; and (5) knowledge of smokeless tobacco hazards. Results: The number of hardcore smokeless tobacco users among adult Indians is estimated to be 5% (39.5 million). This group comprises 23.2% of daily smokeless tobacco users. The population prevalence varied from 1.4-9.1% across different national regions of India. Logistic regression modeling indicated age, education and employment status to be the major predictors of hardcore smokeless tobacco use in India. Conclusions: The presence of a huge number (39.5 million) of hardcore smokeless tobacco users is a challenge to tobacco control and cancer prevention in India. There is an unmet need for a universal tobacco cessation programme and intensification of anti-tobacco education in communities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.45-55
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• 2015

In this paper, we consider curriculum mining as an application of process mining in the domain of education. The basic objective of the curriculum mining is to construct a registration pattern model by using logs of registration data. However, subject registration patterns of students are very unstructured and complicated, called a spaghetti model, because it has a lot of different cases and high diversity of behaviors. In general, it is typically difficult to develop and analyze registration patterns. In the literature, there was an effort to handle this issue by using clustering based on the features of students and behaviors. However, it is not easy to obtain them in general since they are private and qualitative. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new framework of curriculum mining applying K-means clustering based on subject attributes to solve the problems caused by unstructured process model obtained. Specifically, we divide subject's attribute data into two parts : categorical and numerical data. Categorical attribute has subject name, class classification, and research field, while numerical attribute has ABEEK goal and semester information. In case of categorical attribute, we suggest a method to quantify them by using binarization. The number of clusters used for K-means clustering, we applied Elbow method using R-squared value representing the variance ratio that can be explained by the number of clusters. The performance of the suggested method was verified by using a log of student registration data from an 'A university' in terms of the simplicity and fitness, which are the typical performance measure of obtained process model in process mining.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.161-169
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• 2014

We present the results of an experimental physical weathering study that focuses on fresh and slightly weathered gneiss samples from the Wonju area of Korea. The study investigated changes in the physico-mechanical properties of these samples during accelerated laboratory-based weathering, including analyses of microfracture formation. The deteriorated samples used in the study were subjected to 100-150 freeze-thaw cycles, with index properties and microfracture geometries measured between each cycle. Each complete freeze-thaw cycle lasted 24 hours, and consisted of 2 hours of saturation in a vacuum chamber, 8 hours of freezing at $-21^{\circ}C{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, and 14 hours of thawing at room temperature. Specific gravity and seismic velocity values were negatively correlated with the number of freeze-thaw cycles, whereas absorption values tended to increase. The amount of deterioration of the rock samples was dependent on the degree of weathering of the rock prior to the start of the analysis. Absorption, specific gravity, and seismic velocity values can be used to infer the amount of physical weathering experienced by a gneiss in the study area. The sizes and density of microfracture in the rock specimens varied with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. We found that box fractal dimensions can be used to quantify the formation and propagation of microfracture in the samples. In addition, these box fractal dimensions can be used as a weathering index for the mid-and long-term prediction of rock weathering. The present results indicate that accelerated-weathering analysis can provide a detailed overview of the weathering characteristics of deteriorated rocks.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.261-271
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• 2018

Purpose: Few studies have examined periodontal pathogens from saliva samples in periodontally healthy young adults. The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of periodontopathic bacteria and to quantify periodontal pathogens in saliva samples using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays in periodontally healthy Korean young adults under 35 years of age. Methods: Nine major periodontal pathogens were analyzed by real-time PCR in saliva from 94 periodontally healthy young adults. Quantification of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Campylobacter rectus, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, and Eikenella corrodens was performed by DNA copy number measurement. Results: F. nucleatum and E. corrodens were detected in all subjects; the numbers of positive samples were 87 (92.6%), 91 (96.8%), and 90 (95.7%) for P. gingivalis, P. anaerobius, and C. rectus, respectively. Other pathogens were also detected in periodontally healthy subjects. Analysis of DNA copy numbers revealed that the most abundant periodontal pathogen was F. nucleatum, which was significantly more prevalent than all other bacteria (P<0.001), followed by P. anaerobius, P. gingivalis, E. corrodens, C. rectus, and T. denticola. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of each bacterium between men and women. The DNA copy number of total bacteria was significantly higher in men than in women. Conclusions: Major periodontal pathogens were prevalent in the saliva of periodontally healthy Korean young adults. Therefore, we suggest that the development of periodontal disease should not be overlooked in periodontally healthy young people, as it can arise due to periodontal pathogen imbalance and host susceptibility.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.84-93
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• 2016

As a transition region between ocean and land, coastal wetlands are significant ecosystems that maintain water quality, provide natural habitat for a variety of species, and slow down erosion. The energy of coastal waves and storm surges are reduced by vegetation cover, which also helps to maintain wetlands through increased sediment deposition. Wave attenuation by vegetation is a highly dynamic process and its quantification is important for understanding shore protection and modeling coastal hydrodynamics. In this study, laboratory experiments were used to quantify wave attenuation as a function of vegetation type as well as wave conditions. Wave attenuation characteristics were investigated under regular waves for rigid model vegetation. Laboratory hydraulic test and numerical analysis were conducted to investigate regular wave attenuation through emergent vegetation with wave steepness ak and relative water depth kh. The normalized wave attenuation was analyzed to the decay equation of Dalrymple et al.(1984) to determine the vegetation transmission coefficients, damping factor and drag coefficients. It was found that drag coefficient was better correlated to Keulegan-Carpenter number than Reynolds number and that the damping increased as wave steepness increased.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.172-179
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• 2012

Objectives : This study was designed to quantify the characteristics, main diagnosis and complications in the intensive care unit (ICU) at an Oriental Medical Hospital. Methods : The medical records of 44 patients admitted to the ICU at Kyunghee Oriental Medical Hospital between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 were reviewed. Basic characteristics of patients, admission channel, main diagnosis, east-western medical therapy, mortality, and complications were investigated retrospectively based on medical notes. Results : 1. The total number of patients was 44. Males were 63.6%, females 36.3%. Average admission days was 15.9. 2. The most frequent age group is eighties, 38.6%. 3. The most frequent disease is cerebrovascular disease, 61.3%. 4. The medical therapy done after admission to ICU was intubation. Central vein insertion was performed next, followed by Foley's catheter insertion, ventilator, tracheostomy, nasogastric intubation, and thoracentesis in order. The proportion of Oriental medical treatment provided to the patients of ICU was as follows: herbal medication only 6.8%; herbal medication plus acupuncture 31.8%; herbal medication, acupuncture electro-acupuncture, plus subcutaneous acupuncture 2.3%; and none 27.3%. 5. The number of cases of complications occurred since ICU admission was 18. The most frequently observed complication was infection, including 6 cases of pneumonia and 4 cases of urinary tract infection. Conclusions : We suggest that ICUs of Oriental medical hospitals need to be managed effectively to treat diseases including cerebrovascular disease and prevent complications.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.25-32
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• 2010

This paper evaluates the outage probability of cognitive relay networks with cooperation between secondary users based on the underlay approach, when multiple primary receivers coexist with secondary users. Using an appropriate relay selection criterion in cognitive radio networks, we derive the outage probability of secondary user. It is shown that the outage probability increases as the number of primary receivers increases and we quantify the increase. Through the simulation results, we verify that the performance of relaying transmission is varied more sensitively compared to that of direct transmission as the number of primary receivers increases. In addition, the relaying transmission can be less efficient than the direct transmission when multiple primary receiver exist but it can be more efficient than the direct transmission by increasing the relay selection diversity.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2015

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate voluntary wheel running behavior in the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model. Methods : Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to 2 groups : 6-OHDA group (n=17) and control group (n=8). The unilateral 6-OHDA rat model was induced by injection of 6-OHDA into unilateral medial forebrain bundle using a stereotaxic instrument. Voluntary wheel running activity was assessed per day in successfully lesioned rats (n=10) and control rats. Each behavioral test lasted an hour. The following parameters were investigated during behavioral tests : the number of running bouts, the distance moved in the wheel, average peak speed in running bouts and average duration from the running start to the peak speed. Results : The number of running bouts and the distance moved in the wheel were significantly decreased in successfully lesioned rats compared with control rats. In addition, average peak speed in running bouts was decreased, and average duration from the running start to the peak speed was increased in lesioned animals, which might indicate motor deficits in these rats. These behavioral changes were still observed 42 days after lesion. Conclusion : Voluntary wheel running behavior is impaired in the unilateral 6-OHDA rat model and may represent a useful tool to quantify motor deficits in this model.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.15-25
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• 1993

In order to promote the efficient use of composite materials, effort is currently being directed at the development of design criteria for composite structures. Insofar as design against buckling is concerned, it is well known that, for metal shells, a key step is the definition of 'knockdown' factors on the elastic critical buckling stress accounting mainly for the influence of initial geometric imperfections. At present, the imperfection sensitivity of composite shells has not been explored in detail. Due to the large number of parameters influencing buckling response (considerably larger than for isotropic shells), a very large number of tests would be needed to quantify imperfection sensitivity experimentally. An alternative approach is to use validated numerical models for this task. Thus, the objective of this paper is to outline the underlying theory used in developing a composite shell element and to present results from a validation exercise and subsequently from a parametric study on axially loaded glass fibre-reinforced plastic (GFRP) curved panels using finite element modelling. Both eigenvalue and incremental analyses are performed, the latter including the effect of initial geometric imperfection shape and amplitude, and the results are used to estimate 'knockdown' factors for such panels.