• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.791-798
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• 2021

Objective : The period of mechanical ventilator (MV)-dependent respiratory failure after cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) varies from patient to patient. This study aimed to identify predictors of MV at hospital discharge (MVDC) due to prolonged respiratory failure among patients with MV after CSCI. Methods : Two hundred forty-three patients with CSCI were admitted to our institution between May 2006 and April 2018. Their medical records and radiographic data were retrospectively reviewed. Level and completeness of injury were defined according to the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) standards. Respiratory failure was defined as the requirement for definitive airway and assistance of MV. We also evaluated magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of the cervical spine. These characteristics included : maximum canal compromise (MCC); intramedullary hematoma or cord transection; and integrity of the disco-ligamentous complex for assessment of the Subaxial Cervical Spine Injury Classification (SLIC) scoring. The inclusion criteria were patients with CSCI who underwent decompression surgery within 48 hours after trauma with respiratory failure during hospital stay. Patients with Glasgow coma scale 12 or lower, major fatal trauma of vital organs, or stroke caused by vertebral artery injury were excluded from the study. Results : Out of 243 patients with CSCI, 30 required MV during their hospital stay, and 27 met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 48.1% (13/27) of patients had MVDC with greater than 30 days MV or death caused by aspiration pneumonia. In total, 51.9% (14/27) of patients could be weaned from MV during 30 days or less of hospital stay (MV days : MVDC 38.23±20.79 vs. MV weaning, 13.57±8.40; p<0.001). Vital signs at hospital arrival, smoking, the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, Associated injury with Injury Severity Score, SLIC score, and length of cord edema did not differ between the MVDC and MV weaning groups. The ASIA impairment scale, level of injury within C3 to C6, and MCC significantly affected MVDC. The MCC significantly correlated with MVDC, and the optimal cutoff value was 51.40%, with 76.9% sensitivity and 78.6% specificity. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, MCC >51.4% was a significant risk factor for MVDC (odds ratio, 7.574; p=0.039). Conclusion : As a method of predicting which patients would be able to undergo weaning from MV early, the MCC is a valid factor. If the MCC exceeds 51.4%, prognosis of respiratory function becomes poor and the probability of MVDC is increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2009

In China, the oil and natural gas resources of Bohai Bay are mainly marginal oil fields. It is necessary to build both ice-resistant and economical offshore platforms. However, risk is involved in the design, construction, utilization, maintenance of offshore platforms as uncertain events may occur within the life-cycle of a platform under the extreme ice load. In this study, the optimum design model of the expected life-cycle cost for ice-resistant platforms based on cost-effectiveness criterion is proposed. Multiple performance demands of the structure, facilities and crew members, associated with the failure assessment criteria and evaluation functions of costs of construction, consequences of structural failure modes including damage, revenue loss, death and injury as well as discounting cost over time are considered. An efficient approximate method of the global reliability analysis for the offshore platforms is provided, which converts the implicit nonlinear performance function in the conventional reliability analysis to linear explicit one. The proposed life-cycle optimum design formula are applied to a typical ice-resistant platform in Bohai Bay, and the results demonstrate that the life-cycle cost-effective optimum design model is more rational compared to the conventional design.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.285-295
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• 2022

Laminated composite plates are utilized extensively in different fields of construction and industry thanks to their advantages such as high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Additionally, they are characterized by their directional properties that permit the designer to optimize their stiffness for specific applications. This paper presents a numerical analysis and optimization study of plates made of composite subjected to low velocity impact. The main aim is to identify the optimum fiber orientations of the composite plates that resist low velocity impact load. First, a three-dimensional finite element model is built using LS DYNA computer software package to perform the impact analyses. The composite plate has been modeled using solid elements. The failure criteria of Tsai-Wu's criterion have been used to control the strength of the composite material. A good agreement has been found between the predicted numerical results and experimental results in the literature which validate the finite element model. Then, an Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) has been used to optimize the response of impacted composite laminate where its objective is to maximize the safety factor by varying the ply angles. The results show that the ASA is robust in the sense that it is capable of predicting the best optimal designs.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 2015

Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs) are useful for determining the software release date or additional testing efforts by using software failure data. It is not appropriate for a SRGM to apply to all software. And besides a large number of SRGMs have already been proposed to estimate software reliability measures. Therefore selection of an optimal SRGM for use in a particular case has been an important issue. The existing methods for selecting a SRGM use the entire collected failure data. However, initial failure data may not affect the future failure occurrence and, in some cases, it results in the distorted result when evaluating the future failure. In this paper, we suggest a method for selecting a SRGM based on the evaluation goodness-of-fit using partial data. Our approach uses partial data except for inordinately unstable failure data in the entire failure data. We will find a portion of data used to select a SRGM through the comparison between the entire failure data and the partial failure data excluded the initial failure data with respect to the predictive ability of future failures. To justify our approach this paper shows that the predictive ability of future failures using partial data is more accurate than using the entire failure data with the real collected failure data.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.142-151
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• 2004

A method for the determination of concrete armor unit weights with hydraulic stability and structural stability may be formulated in this paper. The hydraulic stability is analyzed by using Hudson's formula, the structural stability is also studied by evaluation of maximum flexural tensile stresses in armor unit induced by the impact loads and by comparison of those with the tensile resistance strength directly. The applicable criteria for concrete armor units can be represented as a function of design wave heights with return period, armor weights, and tensile strengths for the practical uses. In addition, reliability analyses for two failure modes are carried out to take into account some uncertainties. Finally, a series system for two-failure mode analysis can be made up straightforwardly, by which the optimal weights of armor units can be estimated with the various relative breakages, given the specific target probability of failure under the concepts of reliability-based design method.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.433-447
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• 2023

There is a growing demand for the stability of existing dams due to abnormal climate and the aging of dams. Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) for reservoir or dam failure only consider a single rainfall event. Therefore, this study simulates dam failure caused by continuous rainfall events, and proposes the establishment of EAP by selecting the optimal shelters. We define a mega rainfall event scenario caused by continuous rainfall events with 500-year frequency in the Chungju Dam watershed and estimate the mega flood. The mega flood event scenario is divided into two cases: scenario A represents the flooding case caused by discharge release from a dam, while scenario B is the case of a dam break. As a result of flood inundation analysis, the flooded damage area by the scenario A is 50.06 km² and the area by the scenario B is 6.1 times of scenario A (307.45 km²). We select optimal shelters for each administrative region in the city of Chungju, which has the highest inundation rate in the urban area. Seven shelter evaluation indicators from domestic and foreign shelter selection criteria are chosen, and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to evaluate the alternatives. As a result of the optimal shelter selection, the six shelters are selected and five are schools. This study considers continuous rainfall events for inundation analysis and selection of optimal shelters. Also, the results of this study could be used as a reference for establishment of the EAP.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.82-88
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• 2013

It is important to give lightning warning prior to a cloud-to-ground (CG) discharge within an Area of Concern (AOC) because most of lightning damage and victim are usually occurred by the first lightning in the AOC. The aim of this study is to find the optimal operation conditions of the automated lightning warning systems in order to make the best use of the available data. In this paper, the test-operated results of the automated lightning alert and risk management system (ALARM) based on detections of CG discharge and eletrostatic field and optimized at probability of lightning have been described. It was possible to obtain the following warning performance parameters: probability of detection (POD), false alarm ratio (FAR), probability of lightning (POL) and failure-to-warn rate (FTW). The data obtained from trial operation for 5months were not sufficient but the first analysis of domestic lightning warning was carried out. We have observed that the evaluated statistical results through trial operation depend on the various factors such as analysis methods and criteria, topographical conditions, etc. Also we suggest some methods for improvement of POL and POD including the finding of the optimal electric field threshold level to be used, based on the high values of FAR and FTW found in this work.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.880-893
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• 2019

Objective: To assess the technical performance of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) for measuring liver stiffness. Materials and Methods: The Ovid-MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for studies reporting the technical performance of 2D-SWE, including concerns with technical failures, unreliable measurements, interobserver reliability, and/or intraobserver reliability, published until June 30, 2018. The pooled proportion of technical failure and unreliable measurements was calculated using meta-analytic pooling via the random-effects model and inverse variance method for calculating weights. Subgroup analyses were performed to explore potential causes of heterogeneity. The pooled intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for interobserver and intraobserver reliability were calculated using the Hedges-Olkin method with Fisher's Z transformation of the correlation coefficient. Results: The search yielded 34 articles. From 20 2D-SWE studies including 6196 patients, the pooled proportion of technical failure was 2.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-3.9%). The pooled proportion of unreliable measurements from 20 studies including 6961 patients was 7.5% (95% CI, 4.7-11.7%). In the subgroup analyses, studies conducting more than three measurements showed fewer unreliable measurements than did those with three measurements or less, but no intergroup difference was found in technical failure. The pooled ICCs for interobserver reliability (from 10 studies including 517 patients) and intraobserver reliability (from 7 studies including 679 patients) were 0.87 (95% CI, 0.82-0.90) and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.89-0.95), respectively, suggesting good to excellent reliability. Conclusion: 2D-SWE shows good technical performance for assessing liver stiffness, with high technical success and reliability. Future studies should establish the quality criteria and optimal number of measurements.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.288-295
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• 2020

Fiber-reinforced composite laminates have high specific stiffness and strength and are expected to be useful for weight reduction in weight-sensitive industries, such as automotive and aerospace. However, designing composite laminates is often dependent on designer's experience and intuition because of difficulties in determining the number of plies and stacking sequence, which tends to lead to over-design. In this study, optimal design of composite laminates was performed to minimize weight, while withstanding the given load. Based on the enumeration method, all combinations of stacking sequence satisfying the design guideline for composite laminates were considered. Composite laminates were discretized into panels. Optimal number of plies and stacking sequence for each panel were determined considering local load on each panel and contiguity across adjacent panels. Failure index from Tsai-Wu criteria was optimized for strength and buckling analysis was performed for compressive load. Stacking angles of 0, ±45 and 90° were used.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.61-78
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• 2021

Background and Objective: The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) increases the risk of negative health outcomes, including drug-related admissions. Tools for structured medication review have been developed to ensure optimal medication use and safety. Here, we aimed to evaluate medication use review (MUR) tools for community-dwelling older patients. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the literature according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement (PRISMA). We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 1991 to 2020, excluding tools that are specifically applied to hospitalized patients or nursing home residents. We identified the most common inappropriate medications, drug-disease interactions, drug-drug interactions and prescribing omissions presented among tools. Results: From among 9,788 identified reports screened, 60 met our inclusion criteria; finally, 27 were eligible for data analysis considering originality and up-to-dateness. Most tools presented explicit criteria (93%), and only one was specific to community-dwelling elderly. The most common PIM was tricyclic antidepressants. Use of diltiazem and verapamil in patients with heart failure and the combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics and warfarin were the most frequent disease-specific PIM and drug-interaction, respectively. Conclusions: Although several medication review tools have been developed for older adults, specific guidelines for community-dwelling populations remain limited. Furthermore, the list of PIMs differed among available tools. In future, specific but integrating MUR tools need to be developed for clinical practice considering this population.