• Title/Summary/Keyword: performance objective

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Problem Analysis and Recommendations for Using Manual Wheelchair for One-hand Users

  • Park, Gemus;Hwang, Jung Bo;Jung, Hwa Shik
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.109-124
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    • 2014
  • Objective: This study was conducted for one-hand users including hemiplegic clients currently using general folding manual wheelchairs, so as to analyze their specific problems and recommend solutions regarding usage. Background: Traditional manual wheelchairs require considerable use and control of both hands for operation, thus adaptations become necessary for individuals with asymmetrical use of hands. Method: Thirty hemiplegic clients who were admitted to rehabilitation and convalescent hospitals participated as subjects. The research tools were general folding manual wheelchairs commonly used by people with impaired gait, and the Wheelchair Skills Tests (WST) WST-M/WCU 4.1 version was adopted as the assessment tool. All participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on demographics and wheelchair usage characteristics. Assessment procedures were performed with currently used manual wheelchairs and with/without the use of foot to control the wheelchair. Results: When the participants drove folding manual wheelchairs without the use of foot, even the lowest failure rate among the WST items tested recorded 96.7%. On the contrary, with the use of foot in maneuvering the wheelchairs, failure rates dropped noticeably and success rate among the WST items tested was as high as 86.7%. Conclusion: These findings imply that the use of one-arm (hand) propellable (drivable) wheelchair can be an active and effective solution in resolving problems for hemiplegic clients using existing manual wheelchairs. As such, the government should provide institutional support to further develop and distribute this device or technology, and promote relative research in tandem. For now, the supply of commercially available device to hemiplegic clients is deemed urgent and also a mechanism to provide the devices and relevant services. Application: This study offers viable solutions for hemiplegic clients who rely on existing manual wheelchairs to increase their mobility and occupational performance.

Effects of a new desensitizing paste containing 8% arginine and calcium carbonate on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets

  • Yagci, Ahmet;Uysal, Tancan;Akinci, Hatice;Uysal, Banu
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.41 no.2
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    • pp.121-126
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    • 2011
  • Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate shear bond strength (SBS) and failure site location of brackets bonded to enamel with or without desensitizer application. Methods: Sixty-six freshly extracted human premolar teeth were randomly divided into 3 groups of 22. Group 1 served as the control. Desensitizer was applied to the remaining teeth at two time intervals (Group 2, bonded immediately after Pro-$Relief^{TM}$ (Colgate-Palmolive Co., New York, NY, USA) application and Group 3, bonded 30 days after Pro-$Relief^{TM}$ application with the teeth stored in artificial saliva during the 30 days). Orthodontic brackets were bonded with a light cure composite resin and cured with a halogen light. After bonding, the SBS of the brackets was tested using a universal testing device. Adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were determined after the brackets failed. Data were analyzed with analysis of variance, Tukey's HSD, and G tests. Results: The SBS was significantly lower in Group 2 than in Groups 1 (p = 0.024) and 3 (p = 0.017). Groups 1 and Group 3 did not differ (p = 0.991). ARI scores did not differ significantly among groups. Conclusions: The Pro-$Relief^{TM}$ desensitizer agent applied immediately before bonding significantly reduces bond strength, but the SBS values still exceed the minimum 5.9 - 7.8 MPa required for adequate clinical performance. Immersing the teeth in artificial saliva for 30 days after applying the Pro-$Relief^{TM}$ desensitizer agent and before bonding increased the SBS to control levels.

In vitro evaluation of resistance to sliding in self-ligating and conventional bracket systems during dental alignment

  • Cordasco, Giancarlo;Giudice, Antonino Lo;Militi, Angela;Nucera, Riccardo;Triolo, Giuseppe;Matarese, Giovanni
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.218-224
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    • 2012
  • Objective: To investigate the resistance to sliding (RS) in self-ligating and conventional ligation bracket systems at 5 different second-order bracket angulations by using low-stiffness alignment wires in a 3-bracket experimental model and to verify the performance of the main RS components in both systems when these wires are used. Methods: Interactive self-ligating brackets with closed and open slides were used for the self-ligating (SL) and conventional ligation (CL) groups, respectively; elastomeric ligatures (1 mm inner diameter) were used in the latter system. The alignment wire used was 0.014 inch heat-activated NiTi (austenitic finish temperature set at $36^{\circ}C$ by the manufacturer). A custom-made testing machine was used to measure frictional resistance. Tests were repeated 5 times at every angulation simulated. All data were analyzed statistically. Results: The RS increased significantly with increasing angulation in both SL and CL groups (p < 0.0001). However, the RS values were significantly higher at every angulation (p < 0.0001) in the CL group. Conclusions: Despite the relevance of the binding phenomenon, ligation forces predominantly affect the RS when lowstiffness alignment wires are used.

Plasma Circulating Cell-free Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA as Potential Biomarkers in the Peripheral Blood of Breast Cancer Patients

  • Mahmoud, Enas H;Fawzy, Amal;Ahmad, Omar K;Ali, Amr M
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.18
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    • pp.8299-8305
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    • 2016
  • Background: In Egypt, breast cancer is estimated to be the most common cancer among females. It is also a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Use of circulating cell-free DNA (ccf-DNA) as non-invasive biomarkers is a promising tool for diagnosis and follow-up of breast cancer (BC) patients. Objective: To assess the role of circulating cell free DNA (nuclear and mitochondrial) in diagnosing BC. Materials and Methods: Multiplex real time PCR was used to detect the level of ccf nuclear and mitochondrial DNA in the peripheral blood of 50 breast cancer patients together with 30 patients with benign lesions and 20 healthy controls. Laboratory investigations, histopathological staging and receptor studies were carried out for the cancer group. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the performance of ccf-nDNA and mtDNA. Results: The levels of both nDNA and mtDNA in the cancer group were significantly higher in comparison to the benign and the healthy control group. There was a statistically significant association between nDNA and mtDNA levels and well established prognostic parameters; namely, histological grade, tumour stage, lymph node status andhormonal receptor status. Conclusions: Our data suggests that nuclear and mitochondrial ccf-DNA may be used as non-invasive biomarkers in BC.

Use of Blood Transfusion at the End of Life: Does it Have Any Effects on Survival of Cancer Patients?

  • Goksu, Sema Sezgin;Gunduz, Seyda;Unal, Dilek;Uysal, Mukremin;Arslan, Deniz;Tatli, Ali Murat;Bozcuk, Hakan;Ozdogan, Mustafa;Coskun, Hasan Senol
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.10
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    • pp.4251-4254
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    • 2014
  • Background: Treatment of anemia is an important issue in the palliative care setting. Blood transfusion is generally used for this purpose in supportive care. However the place of blood transfusion in terminally ill cancer cases is less far established. Objective: We aimed to outline the use of transfusions and to find the impact of blood transfusion on survival in patients with advanced cancer and very near to death. Design: Patients dying in 2010-2011 with advanced cancer were included in the study. We retrospectively collected the data including age, type of cancer, the duration of last hospitalisation, ECOG performance status, Hb levels, transfusion history of erythrocytes and platelets, cause and the amount of transfusion. The anaemic patients who had transfusion at admission were compared with the group who were not transfused. Survival was defined as the time between the admission of last hospitalisation period and death. Results: Three hundred and ninety eight people with solid tumours died in 2010-2011 in our clinic. Ninety percent of the patients had anemia at the time of last hospitalisation. One hundred fifty three patients had erythrocyte transfusion at admission during the last hospitalisation period (38.4%). In the anaemic population the duration of last hospitalisation was longer in patients who had erythrocyte transfusion (15 days vs 8 days, p<0.001). Conclusions: Patients who had blood transfusion at the end of life lived significantly longer than the anaemic patients who were not transfused. This study remarks that blood transfusions should not be withheld from terminal cancer patients in palliative care.

Diffraction Efficiency Analysis of Silver Halide Film for Color Holography Recording

  • Park, Sung Chul;Kim, Sang Il;Son, Kwang Chul;Kwon, Soon Chul;Lee, Seung Hyun
    • International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.16-27
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    • 2015
  • Holography technology which was developed by Dennis Gabor (1900~1979) in 1948 is a technology to record wave planes of actual 3D objects. It is known as the only technology which can express 3D information most perfectly close to human-friendly. Holography technology is widely used in advertisement, architecture and arts as well as science technology areas. Especially, digital holographic print which is an applied area is greatly used in military map, architecture map and cultural asset restoration by printing and reproducing 3D information. Holography is realized by recording and reproducing the amplitude and phase information on high resolution film using coherent light like laser. Recording materials for digital holographic printer are silver halide, photoresist and photopolymer. Because the materials have different diffraction efficiency according to film characteristics of each manufacturer, appropriate guide lines should be suggested through efficiency analysis of each film. This paper suggests appropriate guide lines through the diffraction efficiency measurement of silver halide which is a holographic printer recording medium. And the objective of this study is to suggest appropriate guide lines through diffraction efficiency analysis of Ultimate 08-C and PFG-03C which are commercially used. The experiment was prepared by self-diffraction efficiency system which measures the strength with the defector by penetrating RGB recording medium and concentrating diffracted beams through collimating lens. The experiment showed Geola's PFG-03C which is a silver halide for full color has price/performance advantage in optical hologram recording, but recording angles and reproduction angles are irregular for digital holographic printer recording. Ultimate's Ultimate08-C for full color shows its diffraction efficiency is relatively stable and high according to recording angles and laser wavelength.

Development of ultrasonic testing method for the evaluation of adhesive layer of blast tube (토출관 접합계면 평가를 위한 초음파 시험법 개발)

  • Kim, Y.H.;Song, S.J.;Park, J.S.;Cho, H.;Lim, S.Y.;Yun, N.G.;Park, Y.J.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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    • 2003.10a
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    • pp.230-237
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    • 2003
  • Ultrasonic testing method has been developed to evaluate adhesive layers in blast tube for the reliability of the rocket. The main objective of the present work was to find debonding and missing adhesive in epoxy layer between steel and FRP layers. In this approach, the ultrasonic reflection from the interface between the steel sheet and the epoxy adhesive is measured with a high-frequency pulse-echo setup in order to identify contact debonding and missing adhesive. Then, the steel sheet is excited to resonance by low-frequency ultrasound, and the gap size underneath the measuring location is estimated from the resonance responses. For practical application in industry an automated testing system has been developed where the proposed approach is implemented. The performance of the proposed approach has been verified by actual measurement of gap sizes from the cross-sections of cut specimens using an optical microscope.

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An Efficient Suffix Tree Reconstructing Algorithm for Biological Sequence Analysis (DNA 분석에 효율적인 서픽스 트리 재구성 알고리즘)

  • Choi, Hae-Won;Jung, Young-Seok;Kim, Sang-Jin
    • Journal of Digital Convergence
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    • v.12 no.12
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    • pp.265-275
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    • 2014
  • This paper introduces a new algorithms for reconstructing the suffix tree of character string, when a substring id deleted from the string or a string is inserted into the string as a substring. The algorithem has two main functions, delete-structure and insert-structure. The main objective of this algorithm is to save the time for constructing the suffix tree of an edited string, when the suffix tree of the original string is available. We tested the performance of this algorithm with some DNA sequences. This test shows that delete-reconstructing can save time when the length of the subsequence deleted is less than 30% of the original sequence, and the insert-reconstructing takes less time with regard to the length of inserted sequence.

Effects on the Accident Reduction of Red Light Camera Using Empirical Bayes Method (경험적 베이즈 방법을 이용한 무인신호위반단속장비의 사고감소 효과)

  • Kim, Tae-Young;Park, Byung-Ho
    • The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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    • v.8 no.6
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    • pp.46-54
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    • 2009
  • This study deals with the effects on the accident reduction according to the installation of RLC (red light cameras). The objective is to analyze the effects on the accident reduction using EB (Empirical Bayes) method. In pursuing the above, the study uses the 728 accident data occurred at the 28 intersections which RLC are installed. The main results are as follows. First, the effects of accident reduction were analyzed to be 20.74% by simple before-after study method. Second, the safety performance functions (SPF) were developed by the Poisson and negative binominal regression models, and since the over-dispersion parameter was close to zero, Poisson model was evaluated to be more appropriate than the negative binominal model. Also, the Poisson model was analyzed to be statistically significant because its ${\rho}^2$ value was 0.409. Finally, the results of analysis using an EB method showed that the accidents were reduced by range from 3.89 to 29.23%.

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Construction of 3D CAD Template for the Efficient Design of Refrigerator Components (냉장고 부품 설계 효율화를 위한 3D CAD 템플릿 구축)

  • Lim, O-Kaung;Park, Sam-Kyu;Choi, Eun-Ho
    • Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.243-250
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    • 2009
  • In order to reduce the time needed for design, enterprises recently need the customizing technology that can modify the functions of existing CAD systems according to the their purposes. So most of the companies developing commercial CAD system are providing API to make possible the preparation of macro or external programs, which allow automatic performance of a series of repeated tasks. The objective of the present paper is to achieve more convenient carrying out of a particular modeling, by developing 3D CAD template of the standardized engineering rule of the particular model in order to establish a knowledge-based product development system. The formula, data and design knowledge which are required for the designing of the components of refrigerator were made into a program by means of Unigraphics' UG/Open API. And examples of such a development were presented. By using them in connection with commercial CAD system, design verification and modification were efficiently applied to the product design business.