Companies struggle to make their best products with high quality and service at a competitive price in global markets. However, customer needs and requirements keep changing with a variety of situations. Companies that face the changes can not stay the same and make an effort to adapt themselves to new circumstances. They would probably review the overall management system that is currently implementing to improve management efficiency. Among other things, quality might be considered to be a crucial element if they are manufacturing industries to be sustained in global markets. KSA (Korean Standards Association) is a government- affiliated organization under the Ministry of Trade, Infrastructure, and Energy. It is a Korean standards provider for quality and service industry. KSA confers national commendations for organizations, quality circles, artisans, QCEC (Quality Competitive Excellent Company), and the most honorable KNQA (Korean National Quality Award) every year. KSA established KNQA on the basis of Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award, Deming Prize, and European Quality Award. Research on quality awards shows that there are many similarities in the framework. Although KSA summarizes two factors for 13 evaluation indicators in the quality competitive excellent model of QCEC, the categorization is ambiguous to explain them according to earlier studies. We performed a deep analysis of foreign quality awards and background for KNQA and QCEC. We conducted a content analysis of KNQA and QCEC and matched evaluation items that were closely related. We proposed a quality competitiveness model with three factors, Technology, System, and Tools, summarizing 13 evaluation indicators in QCEC. Based on audit data for six years from 2012 to 2017 we carried out a confirmatory factor analysis for the proposed model by examining the model validity and fitness.

Advancing the estrous cycle of mares is an essential breeding strategy that is routinely conducted by Thoroughbred breeders to improve economic outcomes. For this purpose, Equilume light masks have been developed as an alternative to existing technologies such as artificial lighting or hormonal treatments because they are considered as valid as existing methods with additional animal welfare advantages. For example, with the Equilume light masks, horses can be let out into the pasture, whereas they have to be kept indoors during lighting treatment. Because the function of Equilume light mask on the estrous cycle of mares is influenced by environmental factors such as nutrition condition and temperature, Equilume light mask should be studied in various environments. The objective of the present study was thus to verify the effect of Equilume light masks on the onset of the estrous cycle in Thoroughbred mares in South Korea. Mares were randomly selected and separated into two groups at two Thoroughbred horse breeding farms. The mares in the treatment group were equipped with Equilume light masks from November 18 to February 10 the following year. The body condition, the number and size (> 35 mm) of uterine follicles, and the uterine horn score of the mares were assessed on January 6 and February 10. The body condition scores were not different between the two groups. The treatment with the Equilume light mask had no positive effects on developing follicles and the reproductive tract. In conclusion, the use of Equilume light masks did not influence the seasonal resumption of the estrus cycles in Thoroughbred mares in South Korea.

Partheno Embryo's research is known to play a very important role in identifying the development of embryonic cells or analyzing the genetic mechanisms of embryonic development, but the information on apoptosis formed during the early stage of development on Partheno Embryo is very little. Therefore, this study analyzed whether the embryonic cell death of unit embryos can be inhibited by adding Scriptaid, one of HDACi, which plays a role in demethylation of histone proteins as a method of regulating the cell cycle in the early embryo development of Partheno Embryo. As a result, the differentiation rate was higher in the group that added Scriptaid and FBS, but the cellular development was higher in the group that added pregnant serum to Scriptaid. As a result of analyzing the expression of the gene through IF and PCR, the group with the addition of gestational serum increased the expression of BCL2 and PCNA, which affects the anti-Casp3 action in cell survival. In addition, it is interpreted that treatment of Scriptaid for 16 hours, rather than 24 h treatment lowers the expression of Casp-3, a representative factor of apoptosis, and also increases embryonic development, thus affecting early embryo development. Therefore, it is concluded that the 16-hour treatment of Scriptaid and the use of gestational serum will inhibit cell death in the early embryonic development and increase the development rate of the embryo.

The accurate estimation of fish assemblages is highly dependent on the sampling gear used for sampling. We used data from 15 sampling sites along the Nakdong River, which is a large river in South Korea, to identify differences in assemblages and sizes of freshwater fishes collected with either cast nets or gill nets, the two most commonly used sampling gear in South Korea. The two gears differed in the fish assemblages they captured, with more species caught by gill nets. Further, due to its tighter mesh size, the cast net caught significantly smaller fishes than the gill nets (independent t-test, p<0.05). We found the cast net to be appropriate for species that inhabit shallow (less than 2 m) and open water, but inappropriate for deep water, habitats with plant beds, and nocturnal species. Thus, cast net sampling is not efficient in a large river environment, and a combination of sampling methods is more suitable for understanding fish assemblages in such habitats. In general, appropriate selection of fishing methods to specific habitats is necessary to improve data quality and minimize the misrepresentation of environmental conditions.

This study was conducted to develop a high-moisture food waste dryer that uses steam as a direct heat source to improve the drying speed. Another objective was to verify its performance through experiments. A dryer with a drying capacity of 10,000 kg/hr, which uses steam from an incineration plant as a drying heat source, was fabricated. The performance and applicability of the dryer were verified through drying experiments, in which the food waste collected from large restaurants near the incineration plant was used as the experimental material. The drying experiment results showed that the input steam temperature increased by 21℃ from approximately 145℃ to 166℃ compared to the case in which drying was performed by converting steam into heated air. The drying speed increased by 1.5 times from approximately 0.63 to 0.94 %/hr, and drying up to approximately 20%(wb) moisture content was possible. The drying energy rate, which represents the ratio of the energy consumed for drying to the input energy, increased by approximately ten times from 7.17% to 70.87%. The total drying time still remained approximately 100 hr due to the re-condensation of moisture. When steam was directly used as a drying heat source to improve the drying speed of food waste containing high moisture, the drying speed, water content after drying, and drying energy rate were clearly improved compared to the case in which steam was converted into heated air for use. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to develop a dryer that directly uses steam from an incineration plant for drying. To shorten the total drying time, it is necessary to develop a device that solves the problem of moisture condensation in the dryer.

Data on patent and scientific paper is considered as a useful information source for analyzing technological information and has been widely utilized. Technology big data is analyzed in various ways to identify the latest technological trends and predict future promising technologies. Clustering is one of the ways to discover new features by creating groups from technology big data. Patent includes refined bibliographic information such as patent classification code whereas scientific paper does not have appropriate bibliographic information for clustering. This research proposes a new approach for clustering data of scientific paper by utilizing reference titles in each scientific paper. In this approach, the reference titles are considered as textual information because each reference consists of the title of the paper that represents the core content of the paper. We collected the scientific paper data, extracted the title of the reference, and conducted clustering by measuring the text-based similarity. The results from the proposed approach are compared with the results using existing methodologies that one is the approach utilizing textual information from titles and abstracts and the other one is a citation-based approach. The suggested approach in this paper shows statistically significant difference compared to the existing approaches and it shows better clustering performance. The proposed approach will be considered as a useful method for clustering scientific papers.

In this study, we investigated whether infusion of colorectal cancer cell line and PMSG could increase endometrial cancer. As a result, our study confirmed that the injection of colorectal cancer can cause inflammation and cancer in the uterus and increase the VEGF gene in the uterus. The study also found that endometrial cancer was associated with PMSG.

Background: Neck pain can be caused by any structure in the neck, such as intervertebral discs, ligaments, muscles, facet joints, dura mater, and nerve roots. The hyoid bone is a structure that is also related to head and neck posture, neck movement and pain, but there are no studies on hyoid deviation, neck pain, and range of motion (ROM). Objects: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fascia relaxation and mobilization of the hyoid bone on the ROM, pain, and lateral deviation of the hyoid bone. Methods: Twenty-five patients with neck pain identified by the lateral motion test (10 males [35.13 ± 7.67 years, 172.69 ± 3.90 cm, 78.77 ± 6.96 kg] and 15 females [35.13 ± 10.05 years, 161.11 ± 4.09 cm, 52.59 ± 2.98 kg]) was chosen randomly. Baseline values for pain, neck ROM, and lateral deviation in the hyoid bone were recorded using a visual analogue scale (VAS), goniometer, and tape measure. Then, each patient was treated with hyoid fascia relaxation and mobilization, and all results were recorded after intervention. Comparison of the results before and after intervention was analyzed using paird t-test (p < 0.05). Results: Right rotation, extension, VAS, and rotational asymmetry statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). Right rotation and extension increased ROM, rotational asymmetry ratio and VAS decreased. However, there was no significant difference in flexion, left rotation, center point (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Fascia relaxation and hyoid mobilization could improve the ROM of cervical extension, asymmetry of the cervical rotation and neck pain.