• Title/Summary/Keyword: quality maintenance

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The Effect of Hounsfield Unit Value with Conventional Computed Tomography and Intraoperative Distraction on Postoperative Intervertebral Height Reduction in Patients Following Stand-Alone Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

  • Lee, Jun Seok;Son, Dong Wuk;Lee, Su Hun;Ki, Sung Soon;Lee, Sang Weon;Song, Geun Sung;Woo, Joon Bum;Kim, Young Ha
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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    • v.65 no.1
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    • pp.96-106
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    • 2022
  • Objective : The most common complication of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is cage subsidence and maintenance of disc height affects postoperative clinical outcomes. We considered cage subsidence as an inappropriate indicator for evaluating preservation of disc height. Thus, this study aimed to consider patients with complications such as reduced total disc height compared to that before surgery and evaluate the relevance of several factors before ACDF. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 40 patients who underwent stand-alone single-level ACDF using a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cage at our institution between January 2012 and December 2018. Our study population comprised 19 male and 21 female patients aged 24-70 years. The minimum follow-up period was 1 year. Twenty-seven patients had preoperative bone mineral density (BMD) data on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Clinical parameters included sex, age, body mass index, smoking history, and prior medical history. Radiologic parameters included the C2-7 cobb angle, segmental angle, sagittal vertical axis, disc height, and total intervertebral height (TIH) at the preoperative and postoperative periods. Cage decrement was defined as the reduction in TIH at the 6-month follow-up compared to preoperative TIH. To evaluate the bone quality, Hounsfield unit (HU) value was calculated in the axial and sagittal images of conventional computed tomography. Results : Lumbar BMD values and cervical HU values were significantly correlated (r=0.733, p<0.001). We divided the patients into two groups based on cage decrement, and 47.5% of the total patients were regarded as cage decrement. There were statistically significant differences in the parameters of measuring the HU value of the vertebra and intraoperative distraction between the two groups. Using these identified factors, we performed a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Based on the ROC curve, the cut-off point was 530 at the HU value of the upper cortical and cancellous vertebrae (p=0.014; area under the curve [AUC], 0.727; sensitivity, 94.7%; specificity, 42.9%) and 22.41 at intraoperative distraction (p=0.017; AUC, 0.722; sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 57.9%). Using this value, we converted these parameters into a bifurcated variable and assessed the multinomial regression analysis to evaluate the risk factors for cage decrement in ACDF. Intraoperative distraction and HU value of the upper vertebral body were independent factors of postoperative subsidence. Conclusion : Insufficient intraoperative distraction and low HU value showed a strong relationship with postoperative intervertebral height reduction following single stand-alone PEEK cage ACDF.

Analysis of Electrical Characteristics of CCFL Exit Light (CCFL유도등의 전기적 특성 분석)

  • Jung, Jong-Jin
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.184-193
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: In this study, since the operation principle of the CCFL Exit light is the same as that of general lighting equipment, the characteristics of the CCFL Exit light were analyzed by deriving test items that can affect the characteristics of the light source from the KS standard, which is the standard for lamp ballast performance certification of general lighting equipment. Method: The samples used in the experiment were performed on products of two manufacturers for each size, such as large, medium, and small, and the test items were power factor, crest factor, and current harmonic distortion. Result: As a result of the experiment, the power factor showed a value between 0.4 and 0.6 in all samples, which was smaller than the 0.9 value set by KS. The crest factor ranged from 3.6 to 3.7 for large, 4.4 to 4.7 for medium, and 3.5 to 3.7 for small. It showed a value more than two times higher than the KS standard of 1.7. Current total harmonic distortion ranged from 81% to 110%, and considering that the KS standard was less than 20%, it could be confirmed that all samples had a value significantly exceeding the KS standard. Conclusion: The crest factor and current total harmonic distortion may affect the temperature rise of the light source and the burnout of the device. When developing an exit light, if this item is developed within the scope of the KS standard, the quality improvement and maintenance of the exit light will be greatly improved.

A Study on the Design of Planterior to Reduce and Purify Indoor Particle Matters (PM) (실내 미세먼지 저감을 위한 플랜테리어 디자인 연구)

  • Ahn, SeungWon;Jeong, Jun Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Floral Art and Design
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    • no.44
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    • pp.3-31
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    • 2021
  • To verify the types of effects that plants have in our general living conditions, I examined an air quality in living rooms of the three, 129.78m2 size, apartments that were with and without plants. and the findings of the study were as addressed below. 1) Experiments showed no statistically significant differences in Case A. However, in Case B and Case C, the standard deviation of PM10, PM2.5 and PM 1.0 verified that each had statistically significant (p<.01) differences. 2) It is believed that the effect of reducing particle matters due to the installation of plants in the indoor space is to vary significantly depending on the indoor environmental conditions, the cleanliness of the room, and the amount of furniture and may also differ depending on the daily dietary cooking method. In addition, it is believed that the planterior will not only reduce indoor fine dust, but also reduce the psychological comfort and eye fatigue of the residents. Nevertheless, supplementary research is needed. 3) In the planterior design for reducing indoor particle matters, various measures were examined. Among them, the vertical wall design method was tested and suggested through empirical experiments. In addition, maintenance methods were proposed depending on the type of indoor plant.

A Study about the Legal Nature of Negotiations between NHIS and Pharmaceutical Company (국민건강보험공단과 제약사 간 의약품 관련 협상 행위의 법적 성격에 관한 고찰)

  • DUCKGYU JANG
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.3-28
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    • 2022
  • Recently, the targets and clauses of negotiation between 'National Health Insurance Service (NHIS)' and Pharmaceutical companies has been expanded. Due to newly adopted 'Quality management clause', 'Compulsory supply maintenance clause' and 'Penalty for breach of contract clause', not only 'Ministry of Health and Wellfare (MOHW)'s 'drug listing' and 'Price cap' announcement, but also 'negotiation between NHIS and pharmaceutical companies' can be a legal sanction to the suppliers. Once secretary of MOHW order NHIS to negotiate with pharmaceutical company, NHIS notify this order to the company and enter into the negotiation. 'The order' exists in the public domain between the government (MOHW) and public institutions (NHIS) and does not constrain the legal rights of companies (Therefore companies cannot pile a lawsuit about the order). However, 'the notice' or 'negotiation' is an act which has a counterpart, can be a target of administrative litigation if the company get some disadvantages from the talks. Negotiations can be divided into four types according to "the target (whether it is listed on the insurance benefit list)" and "the purpose (whether the target is price or conditional)." In particular, negotiations on listed drugs, whose goal is to set unfavorable conditions for companies, can be illegal if there is no price. So we need to consider compensation for the company as an incentive to negotiate.

A Study on Critical Success Factors of Off-Site Construction - By Importance Performance Analysis - (IPA를 통한 OSC 핵심성공요인에 관한 연구 - 국내 PC기반 OSC를 중심으로 -)

  • Jung, Seoyoung;Yu, Jungho
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.24-36
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    • 2023
  • OSC is drawing attention to supplement limitations such as productivity problems and on-site safety and quality problems of existing on-site labor-oriented construction production methods. In order to activate the introduction and use of OSC in the domestic construction market, it is important to innovate the technology applied to each stage of OSC process (design and engineering, factory manufacturing, site assembly, and maintenance), but it is also necessary to develop a project management method suitable for OSC method. However, research related to OSC currently being conducted in Korea is mainly in terms of related technology development, and research on deriving project management measures for the success of OSC projects is insufficient. Therefore, it is time for research on deriving a project management plan based on the core success factors of the OSC project. Therefore, by conducting importance-performance analysis on 69 OSC critical success factors derived from the previous study, the study was conducted to derive key improvement factors for OSC introduction and utilization improvement and to provide implications for this. The results of this study are expected to have useful implications for the R&D planning and policy-making process for OSC activation in the future.

A Study on the Contents to Vitalize the Space for Making Traditional Gwangheemun A Tourism Resource (문화유산 광희문(光熙門)의 관광자원화를 위한 공간 활성화 콘텐츠 연구)

  • Kim, Ji Eun;Park, Eun Soo
    • Korea Science and Art Forum
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    • v.23
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    • pp.95-109
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    • 2016
  • The background and objective of this study are as follows. Gwangheemun, one of the 4 small gates of Seoul Castle is a space to represent ordinary people and it is a valuable cultural heritage that shows the process of technical transition of fortification technology during Chosun Dynasty. It is a place that we can expect to play a role as a field where history and culture mix and communicate together. But currently, the environment and facilities around Gwangheemun have fallen behind and become old, so they need to be reorganized as their local feature is not shown distinctly. We need to vitalize the new traditional space that shows local feature. This study has drawn out the method, contents and the result of study like as follows. This study aims to establish an identity based on the historical and cultural backgrounds and suggest the contents to vitalize the space of Gwangheemun as a traditional cultural heritage. By this, this study aims to create a historical and cultural space where people can enjoy, eat and look around. Therefore, based on the historical and cultural feature, it gives an identity as moonlight street, and it has developed and suggested 5 contents to vitalize space: Gwangheemun maintenance, plan, castle restoration plan, village inside the castle, village outside the castle and fashion art street. Contents to vitalize space has a meaning as a specific developmen method of urban restoration, and we can expect to be used as a direction to develop the area to enhance the cultural quality of life of both inhabitants and visitors by forming the brand identity of surrounding area with traditional cultural heritage.

Distribution Status and Extinction Threat Evaluation of the Short Ninespine Stickleback Pungitius kaibarae (Gasterosteidae) in Korea (잔가시고기 Pungitius kaibarae (큰가시고기과)의 분포 현황 및 멸종위협평가)

  • Myeong-Hun Ko;Mee-Sook Han;Hyeong-Su Kim
    • Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.262-269
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    • 2022
  • A distribution survey was conducted from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate the distribution status, habitat characteristics, and extinction threat of the short ninespine stickleback Pungitius kaibarae (Gasterosteidae). Literature reports of P. kaibarae distribution have been sorted by each period, 1980~1996, 1997~2005, and 2007~2017, and the samples were collected in 32, 43, and 64 stations for each period. Among the 75 streams and 193 sampling sites investigated during the study period, 1,400 P. kaibarae individuals were collected from 26 streams at 39 sites. The main habitat of P. kaibarae was downstream or brackish water zones with a low altitude, slow water velocity, and many aquatic plants. The main reasons for the decline in population size were assumed to be drought and flood, river work for flood restoration and river maintenance, bridges construction, and predation by the exotic fish species Micropterus salmoides. Previous evidence reported a 42.6% reduction in occupancy within 10 years, a decline in habitat quality, and the spread and impact of the exotic fish species Micropterus salmoides. Therefore, P. kaibarae is now considered a Vulnerable (VU A2ace) species based on the IUCN Red List categories and criteria. Therefore, P. kaibarae should be redesignated as an endangered species by the Ministry of Environment and systematically managed.

Evaluation of bonding state of shotcrete lining using nondestructive testing methods - experimental analysis (비파괴 시험 기법을 이용한 숏크리트 배면 접착상태 평가에 관한 실험적 연구)

  • Song, Ki-Il;Cho, Gye-Chun;Chang, Seok-Bue;Hong, Eun-Soo
    • Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.71-83
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    • 2009
  • Shotcrete is an important primary support for tunnelling in rock. The quality control of shotcrete is a core issue in the safe construction and maintenance of tunnels. Although shotcrete may be applied well initially onto excavated rock surfaces, it is affected by blasting, rock deformation and shrinkage and can debond from the excavated surface, causing problems such as corrosion, buckling, fracturing and the creation of internal voids. This study suggests an effective non-destructive evaluation method of the tunnel shotcrete bonding state applied onto hard rocks using the impact-echo (IE) method and ground penetration radar (GPR). To verify previous numerical simulation results, experimental study carried out. Generally, the bonding state of shotcrete can be classified into void, debonded, and fully bonded. In the laboratory, three different bonding conditions were modeled. The signals obtained from the experimental IE tests were analyzed at the time domain, frequency domain, and time-frequency domain (i.e., the Short- Time Fourier transform). For all cases in the analyses, the experimental test results were in good agreement with the previous numerical simulation results, verifying this approach. Both the numerical and experimental results suggest that the bonding state of shotcrete can be evaluated through changes in the resonance frequency and geometric damping ratio in a frequency domain analysis, and through changes in the contour shape and correlation coefficient in a time-frequency analysis: as the bonding state worsens in hard rock condition, the autospectral density increases, the geometric damping ratio decreases, and the contour shape in the time-frequency domain has a long tail parallel to the time axis. The correlation coefficient can be effectively applied for a quantitative evaluation of bonding state of tunnel shotcrete. Finally, the bonding state of shotcrete can be successfully evaluated based on the process suggested in this study.

Performance Evaluation for All-In-One Construction Method of Curbstone and Gutter Using Formwork Rail and Jig (거푸집 레일과 지그를 이용한 경계석 및 측구의 일체형 시공법에 대한 성능평가)

  • Choi, Jae-Jin;Ko, Man-Gi;Kim, Kyoung-Ju;Choi, Khyung-Dong
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.30 no.6A
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    • pp.525-534
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    • 2010
  • A road curbstone is a structure installed at the boundary of the sidewalk and the street with the objectives of road drainage, drawing attention and such. The current general construction method of curbstones places foundation concrete for the curbstones first, waits until the concrete reaches the strength to support the curbstones, places the curbstones on top, and then places the gutter and rear filling concrete. Such method has the issues of poor compaction and weakened bond strength of concrete due to split placing of concrete, and causes the curbstones to easily separate due to vehicle impact or earth pressure, in turn creating maintenance costs and spoiling the aesthetics. To improve such conventional construction methods, an all-in-one method was developed using formwork rail and jig where both the curbstones and gutter can be worked at the same time, and to evaluate the structural performance, static tests of lateral loading test, pullout test, and bending test were executed, and dynamic tests such as pendulum test and actual vehicle impact test were executed. In all tests, the all-in-one construction method using formwork rail and jig was shown to be superior to the conventional construction method by the increase of construction quality and bond strength of concrete.

A Study on the Application of Micro-Credentials for Vocational Competency Development Training Teachers and Instructors (직업능력개발훈련 교·강사의 자격연계형 마이크로 크리덴셜 적용 방안)

  • Miseok Yang;Ohyoung Kwon;Woocheol Kim
    • Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.169-181
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    • 2023
  • This study was conducted to examine the remuneration curriculum of vocational ability development training teachers and instructors and to examine ways to apply micro credentials. To this end, the current status of the remuneration curriculum of vocational ability development training instructors and instructors at K University's Competency Education Development Institute, the characteristics of micro credentials, and the possibility of linking the remuneration curriculum to micro credentials are as follows. First, most of the recognition of digital certificates was positive for digital certificates such as digital credit, digital badge issuance, and recognition of the recognized qualification process of maintenance education when completing the training course. In addition, as a method of applying micro credentials to conservative education, various cases were proposed to benefit from conservative education, systematization and grading of the qualification process, and credit of the qualification process. Second, as an institutional supplement to enhance the utilization of conservative education using micro credentials, the need to expand NCS-based major conservative education, provide efficient learning contents and learning methods, and set minimum completion time. In addition, the most common response as a way to improve the understanding of teachers and instructors in vocational ability development training was the micro credential promotion plan. Third, in the role of conservative education institutions and vocational ability development training instructors and instructors, conservative education institutions mention maintaining educational quality the most, and active participation was the role of vocational ability development training instructors. Through this study, it is expected to establish a vocational training environment that can enhance expertise and provide a practical portfolio of practical competency history by linking the remuneration curriculum of vocational competency development training instructors and micro credentials.