• Investigative and Clinical Urology
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.399-409
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• 2018

Purpose: To analyze data from an observational, prospective, cumulative registry study in 805 hypogonadal men stratified by mild or moderate-to-severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) according to International Prostate Symptom Score. Materials and Methods: A total of 412 men underwent testosterone therapy (TTh) with injectable testosterone undecanoate, 393 men served as untreated controls. Measures of urinary function, anthropometric and metabolic parameters were performed at least twice per year. Results: Data from 615 men with mild LUTS (253 treated, 362 untreated) and 190 with moderate-to-severe LUTS (159 treated, 31 untreated) were available. During a follow-up period of 8 years a significant improvement of LUTS was noted for all TTh-patients whereas the control-groups showed deterioration or fluctuation around initial values. Despite advancing age, TTh fully prevented worsening of symptoms. In parallel, a considerable improvement of anthropometric parameters, lipids and glycemic control, blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and quality of life was found. Moderate-to-severe LUTS was associated with worse cardiometabolic risk profile at baseline as well as worse cardiovascular outcomes during follow-up in comparison to mild LUTS. Effect size of TTh was more pronounced in men with moderate-to-severe than with mild LUTS. Conclusions: Correcting hypogonadism by TTh is highly effective and safe for improving LUTS in hypogonadal men. TTh may also improve cardiometabolic risk and major adverse cardiovascular events.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to identify tasks performed by patient safety personnel using importance-performance analysis. Methods: An online survey was conducted during a mandatory educational course. The questionnaire consisted of 43 items categorized into four subscales: management of patient safety accidents, education of healthcare personnel, education of patients and guardians, and patient safety activities. Importance-performance analysis was employed to ascertain the relationship between the importance and performance of tasks conducted by patient safety personnel. Results: A total of 145 patient safety personnel participated in the survey. The perceived importance of tasks by participants averaged 3.67 out of four, while the average performance was 3.40 out of four, indicating a significant difference (t=8.04, p<.001). Activities such as collecting patient safety reports, conducting root-cause analyses, and educating new employees were identified as low-performance tasks compared to their perceived importance. Conclusion: Tasks recognized as having low importance but high performance among patient safety personnel should be addressed through increased awareness and education. Analyzing the causes of tasks with low importance and performance is crucial for recognizing their importance and implementing improvement measures.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2023

The need for improvement is raised due to limitations with environmental impact assessment, and the importance for data-based environmental impact assessment is increasing. In this study, data demand was derived by analyzing Agreed Terms and Conditions in the Water Environment field (Water Quality, Hydraulic & Hydrologic Conditions, and Marine Environment) of environmental impact assessment. Agreed Terms and Conditions on environmental impact assessment in the water environment field were classified and categorized by environmental impact assessment stage (addition to status survey, impact prediction and evaluation, establishment of reduction measures, post-environmental impact survey), and data demand for each type of consultation opinion was linked. As a result of the categorization of Agreed Terms and Conditions, it was classified into 18 types in the water quality, 15 types in the hydraulic & hydrologic conditions, and 17 types in the marine environment. As a result of linking data demand, the total number of data demand was 236 in the water quality, 98 in the hydraulic & hydrologic conditions, and 73 in the marine environment. The highest number of Agreed Terms and Conditions and data demands were found in the water quality for the evaluation item and establishment of reduction measures, specifically establishment of non-point source pollution reduction measures, for the stage. The numbers were judged to be linked to the relative importance of the items and the primary purpose of environmental impact assessment. The derivation of data demand through the analysis of Agreed Terms and Conditions in the environmental impact assessment can contribute to the advancement of the preparation of environmental impact assessment reports and is expected to increase data utilization by various decision-makers by establishing a systematic database.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.294-304
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• 2021

Medical institutions remodel existing hospital buildings rather than construct buildings to satisfy patient satisfaction and enhance competitiveness with other medical institutions. Medical institution remodeling is gradually increasing due to enhanced laws and systems to improve the quality of medical services and the level of patient safety. However, prior studies were discussed only within a limited range, including architectural elements, about medical institution remodeling. Therefore, this study aims to provide basic data to medical institutions planning future remodeling by examining the legal issues of medical institution remodeling in various ways. Medical institution remodeling extends the construction period due to restrictions on construction conditions, and causes damage such as noise and dust to patients. So it is necessary to prevent damage to patients in advance and to support appropriate remodeling of medical institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare an Act on promotion of and support for remodeling of medical institutions. In addition, medical institutions should prepare a checklist for voluntary compliance with construction standards, preventive measures and post-improvement measures, and measures for infection and radiation exposure in hospitals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.47-54
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• 2021

In this study, systems and procedures for improving the research and development and purchasing projects for defense specifications were investigated, and the current situation was analyzed in terms of the disclosure and establishment of defense specifications. I would like to discuss the measures that need to be taken to improve the specification affairs of our defense sector in order to improve the production quality of military supplies. It should be noted that it is necessary to establish specifications and procedures for improving the quality of domestically purchased military supplies. Therefore, it is highly imperative to systematically establish detailed performance, and miscellaneous specifications in order to actively respond to the rapid development of superior private technologies. In addition, the barriers in the entry of the defense industry should be removed through active disclosure of the specification data, and the opportunities for participation should be expanded to promote a smooth follow-up logistics support and to improve the quality of military supplies

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2021

This study was intended to present measures for the improvement of the apartment house landscaping supervision system by examining the adequacy of landscaping supervision, which is aimed at improving the quality of landscape plants and facilities in apartment house landscaping sites. Additionally, this study aims to identify the problems occurring in the process of the performance of landscaping supervision and to provide the evidence for legislative activities and revision of the laws currently being pushed forward for the mandatory deployment of apartment house landscaping supervision personnel. The results of the analysis showed that no landscaping supervision personnel was deployed to apartment complexes with less than 1,500 households and that the landscaping comprised 19% to 46% of the entire construction process. The civil engineering firm performed the landscaping supervision, which made it impracticable to fully focus on the construction quality in the field of landscaping. The quality control in terms of landscape plants revealed differences in quality control, depending on the competence and experience of the civil engineer supervising the personnel, where the landscaping supervision personnel was not deployed. The apartment houses landscaping supervision activity index was analyzed, and the results showed that the supervision activity index for apartment house A was 72.0, B was 70.4, and apartment houses C to G ranged from 38.7 to 46.9, which suggested that the difference in quality control, process control, and technical support affected the construction quality and occurrence of defects.The improvement of landscaping process quality control and process management will be carried out more smoothly and the rate of defects will be drastically reduced if the landscaping supervision personnel placement threshold is lowered from 1,500 households to 300 households in complexes. The results of this study are expected to be useful in promoting and re-establishing the landscaping industry based on the improvement of construction quality in the field of landscaping in connection with the construction of apartment houses.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.685-694
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• 2015

In the present study, we conducted in-depth interviews with school dieticians and nutrition teachers to determine the local foods they were aware of and their experiences with local foods. We also aimed to obtain more detailed measures for local food vitalization and suggestions for improvements. In-depth interviews were performed with 8 school dieticians and nutrition teachers, who stated that local food vitalization was needed for school food services, because it could be a foundation for securing safefood products, student healthi mprovements, environmental protection, and the establishment of a general consumption market. However, they were aware of a higher number of disadvantages than advantages in school situations and indicated the deterioration of the quality of food products as the biggest disadvantage. The most-suggested measurement items for local food vitalization in schools included improvement of the food distribution system, expansion of education, information sharing, prevention of monopolies, improvement of food-product quality, and mass production. In addition, it was suggested that school dieticians and nutrition teachers should invest efforts in the development of excellent recipes and varied diets utilizing local foods. Therefore, system supplementation is urgently required in order for school food service officials, and consumers, to efficiently introduce and vitalize local foods. It is also necessary to foster an environment that encourages trust-based relationships with producers to maximize the effect of system supplementation. This would be the foundation for improving the health of students, improving food-service quality, nutrition management, and vitalization of the regional economy in the future, and will positively affect students' food consumption patterns even after they become adults.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.187-200
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• 2020

Despite the eco-friendly route plan, road slopes were collapsed due to road construction, resulting in human and property damage. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs established guidelines in 2009 to conduct a test-bed for slope recording considering the conditions of the site and the ecological environment, and divided them into recording quality and economic evaluation. The following results were obtained by analyzing 183 construction methods of cut-soil sections at 60 sites from 2012 to 2018 for road slope afforestation research. Straw net+seedspray, vegetation media spray method 1T, 3T were used the most, and vegetation media spray method 3T(patent) was excellent in quality, and straw net+seedspray was excellent in economics. As a result of analyzing the market unit price and the construction unit price, vegetation media spray method submitted the construction unit price at up to 60% lower than the market unit price. As a result of the analysis of the key factors of the greening method evaluation, the economic assessment had the greatest influence on all evaluation items. Problems in the evaluation method of revegetation were first identified as problems in the allocation of points and secondly as problems in the evaluation criteria. As for the improvement of the economic assessment criteria, the method was proposed to evaluate the same method based on market unit price when the same method was constructed, and not to conduct an economic assessment if there was a difference in market unit price between methods, or to add weight to the scores. Based on the monitoring data of 60 road slopes, this study drew up problems and improvement measures. However, with regard to scoring, research on appropriate scoring is needed by examining the current status.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2018

This study is to research technical measures for improving energy efficiency in the conservation and reuse of historic buildings focused on the recent research trends and case studies of the west. These measures are broadly classified into three types, the passive measures for saving energy and increasing comfort, the most cost-effective energy saving strategies, and the renewable energy sources. Firstly, the passive measures are divided into the elements and systems. The passive elements are awnings and overhanging eaves, porches, shutters, storm windows and doors, and shade trees. There are also the natural ventilation systems such as the historic transoms, roofs and attics to improve airflow and cross ventilation to either distribute, or exhaust heat. Secondly, the most cost-effective energy efficiency strategies are the interior insulation, airtightness and moisture protection, and the thermal quality improvement of windows. The energy efficiency solutions of modern buildings are the capillary-active interior insulation, the airtightness and moisture protection of interior walls and openings, and the integration of the original historic window into the triple glazing. Beyond the three actions, the additional strategies are the heat recovery ventilation, and the illumination system. Thirdly, there are photovoltaic(PV) and solar thermal energy, wind energy, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal energy in the renewable energy sources. These energy systems work effectively but it is vital to consider its visual effect on the external appearance of the building.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.19-26
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• 2010

Nowadays, the high technology weapons system has been developed and the importance of ATE which measures the test specification is growing bigger and bigger. So the ATE software reliability becomes critical but the regulation of ATE development/management is less inadequate than that of DoD. In this paper, the improvement way of the ATE software reliability verification and ATE development/management processes were proposed.