• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.53-69
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• 2011

Vision and voice-based technologies are commonly utilized for human-robot interaction. But it is widely recognized that the performance of vision and voice-based interaction systems is deteriorated by a large margin in the real-world situations due to environmental and user variances. Human users need to be very cooperative to get reasonable performance, which significantly limits the usability of the vision and voice-based human-robot interaction technologies. As a result, touch screens are still the major medium of human-robot interaction for the real-world applications. To empower the usability of robots for various services, alternative interaction technologies should be developed to complement the problems of vision and voice-based technologies. In this paper, we propose the use of accelerometer-based gesture interface as one of the alternative technologies, because accelerometers are effective in detecting the movements of human body, while their performance is not limited by environmental contexts such as lighting conditions or camera's field-of-view. Moreover, accelerometers are widely available nowadays in many mobile devices. We tackle the problem of classifying acceleration signal patterns of 26 English alphabets, which is one of the essential repertoires for the realization of education services based on robots. Recognizing 26 English handwriting patterns based on accelerometers is a very difficult task to take over because of its large scale of pattern classes and the complexity of each pattern. The most difficult problem that has been undertaken which is similar to our problem was recognizing acceleration signal patterns of 10 handwritten digits. Most previous studies dealt with pattern sets of 8~10 simple and easily distinguishable gestures that are useful for controlling home appliances, computer applications, robots etc. Good features are essential for the success of pattern recognition. To promote the discriminative power upon complex English alphabet patterns, we extracted 'motion trajectories' out of input acceleration signal and used them as the main feature. Investigative experiments showed that classifiers based on trajectory performed 3%~5% better than those with raw features e.g. acceleration signal itself or statistical figures. To minimize the distortion of trajectories, we applied a simple but effective set of smoothing filters and band-pass filters. It is well known that acceleration patterns for the same gesture is very different among different performers. To tackle the problem, online incremental learning is applied for our system to make it adaptive to the users' distinctive motion properties. Our system is based on instance-based learning (IBL) where each training sample is memorized as a reference pattern. Brute-force incremental learning in IBL continuously accumulates reference patterns, which is a problem because it not only slows down the classification but also downgrades the recall performance. Regarding the latter phenomenon, we observed a tendency that as the number of reference patterns grows, some reference patterns contribute more to the false positive classification. Thus, we devised an algorithm for optimizing the reference pattern set based on the positive and negative contribution of each reference pattern. The algorithm is performed periodically to remove reference patterns that have a very low positive contribution or a high negative contribution. Experiments were performed on 6500 gesture patterns collected from 50 adults of 30~50 years old. Each alphabet was performed 5 times per participant using $Nintendo{(R)}$ $Wii^{TM}$ remote. Acceleration signal was sampled in 100hz on 3 axes. Mean recall rate for all the alphabets was 95.48%. Some alphabets recorded very low recall rate and exhibited very high pairwise confusion rate. Major confusion pairs are D(88%) and P(74%), I(81%) and U(75%), N(88%) and W(100%). Though W was recalled perfectly, it contributed much to the false positive classification of N. By comparison with major previous results from VTT (96% for 8 control gestures), CMU (97% for 10 control gestures) and Samsung Electronics(97% for 10 digits and a control gesture), we could find that the performance of our system is superior regarding the number of pattern classes and the complexity of patterns. Using our gesture interaction system, we conducted 2 case studies of robot-based edutainment services. The services were implemented on various robot platforms and mobile devices including $iPhone^{TM}$. The participating children exhibited improved concentration and active reaction on the service with our gesture interface. To prove the effectiveness of our gesture interface, a test was taken by the children after experiencing an English teaching service. The test result showed that those who played with the gesture interface-based robot content marked 10% better score than those with conventional teaching. We conclude that the accelerometer-based gesture interface is a promising technology for flourishing real-world robot-based services and content by complementing the limits of today's conventional interfaces e.g. touch screen, vision and voice.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2016

Purpose: Up to 90% of pancreatic cancer patients suffer from neuropathic pain. In a palliative care setting, pain control in pancreatic cancer patient is one of the major goals. Ketamine is a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, effective in neuropathic pain. Additionally, there have been studies about the opioid sparing effect of ketamine. This study was held in the palliative care unit among pancreatic cancer patients to determine the factors related to ketamine use and the opioid sparing effect. Methods: The medical records of pancreatic cancer patients admitted to St. Mary's hospital palliative care unit between January, 2013 and December, 2014 were reviewed. Patients were divided into 2 categories according to ketamine use. Also, opioid use before and after ketamine use was compared in the ketamine group. Results: Compared to the non-ketamine use group, patients in the ketamine group required a higher dose of opioid. The total opioid dose, daily opioid dose, number of daily rescue medications, and daily average rescue dose were statistically significantly higher in the ketamine group. The opioid requirement was increased after ketamine administration. Conclusion: In this retrospective study, ketamine was frequently considered in patients with severe pain, requiring higher amount of opioid. Studies about palliative use of ketamine in a larger number of patients with diverse types of cancer pain are required in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: The ferronickel and rapid cooling slags used in present study are industrial wastes derived from a steel factory in Korea. These slags are used as almost road construction materials after magnetic separation. However, the use of slag to remove phosphorus from wastewater is still a relatively less explored. The objective of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of ferronickel slag (FNS) and rapid cooling slag (RCS) as sorbents for phosphorus removal in wastewater. METHODS AND RESULTS: Adsorption experiments were conducted to determine the adsorption characteristics of the FNS and RCS for the phosphorus. Adsorption behaviour of the phosphorus by the FNS and RCS was evaluated using both the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption isotherm equations. FNS and RCS were divided into two sizes as effective sizes. Effective sizes of FNS and RCS were 0.5 and 2.5 mm, respectively. The adsorption capacities (K) of the phosphorus by the FNS and RCS were in the order of RCS 0.5 (0.5105) > RCS 2.5 (0.3572) ${\gg}$ FNS 2.5 (0.0545) ${\fallingdotseq}$ FNS 0.5 (0.0400) based on Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacities (a; mg/kg) of the phosphorus determined by the Langmuir isotherms were in the order of RCS 0.5 (3,582 mg/kg) > RCS 2.5 (2,983 mg/kg) > FNS 0.5 (320 mg/kg) ${\fallingdotseq}$ FNS 2.5 (187 mg/kg). RCS 0.5 represented the best sorbent for the adsorption of phosphorus. In the experiment, the Langmuir model showed better fit with our data than the Freundlich model. CONCLUSION: This study indicate that the use of RCS in constructed wetlands or filter beds is a promising solution for phosphorus removal via adsorption and precipitation mechanisms.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 1996

Stem length, main root length and main root diameter showed rapid increasement in two-years-old and three-years-old peony. And there after, the increasement was almost finished. Occurrence of disease was increasing every cultivated year, especially the development of leaf spot was most serious. In propagation by root dividing method, the radix yield (kg/10a) was increasing every cultivated year. However, the difference of radix yield at four and five-years-old peony were not significant. The radix yield of four-years-old peony was higher 26% than three-years-old one. As cultivated year goes by, content of paeoniflorin was increasing then the content was highest at four-years-old peony (4.06%). In 1995, the content, had no certain tendency, was highest at three-years-old peony (3.14%). At hot air drying, browing of peony radix was increasing every cultivated year. If we consider radix yield and color, three-years-old peony was proper object of harvesting.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.8
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• pp.29-37
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• 1967

Citrus fruits of ten varieties grown in Chaeju island and a few other fruits for the comparison were analyzed to determined the contents of crude fat, crude fiber, total carbohydrates, macroelements and ash. Acids and sugars in fruit juices were also determined and the characteristic of neutralization of fruit juices were investigated. 1. The per cent of edible part of citrus fruits having the range of 48.5(Daingwoochi) to 72(Onju) were lower than that of other fruits. It was lower by about 8 per cent than that of the same variety produced in U.S.A. It was shown that the amount of rind per fruit might be increased in the citrus fruit grown in the low annual temperature. 2. The content of crude protein were around 1% and higher than other's. The contents of crude fat were below 0.1% in three varieties and over 0.1 in others. The contents of crude fiber were between 0.3 to 0.8% and the fruits with the high content of crude protein were inclined to have the high content of crude fiber and it was also shown that the low annual temperature was inclined to increase the amount of crude fiber per fruit. 3. The amount of total acid were from 19.5 m.e per 100 g of fresh fruit in Byongkyul to 44.2 m.e in Daingwoochi. The high percentage of titrable acid was over 90 in two sour varieties, Daingwoochi and Hakyul having pH below 3 and the high content of total acid. These two varieties were above 10 in the ratio of total acid in the edible part to the total acid in the rind(total acid in edible part/total acid in the rind). The content of combined acid was lower than that of titrable acid in the edible part and vice versa in the rind. 4. Navel was highest as 12.82% in the total sugar content and the lowest content was 4.9% of Hakyul. The contents of reducing sugar in the citrus fruits were about half of that in other fruits. The ratio of total sugar to titrable acid (sugar/acid: the grade of sweet taste) were lower than foreign products . 5. From the titration curves of fruit juices the characteristic of neutralization of juices could be grouped in three types, and other values, that is, pH, the content of total acid, the percentage of combined acid, the ratio of total acids in edible part and rind, the content of sugar, and the grade of sweet taste were also devided into the same three categories. 6. The contents of macroelements were different along to the each part of fruit. The content, in the seed were high and the ones in the rind were low. The contents of each element were in the order of $K_2O>N>P_2O_5{\gtrless}CaO{\gtrless}MgO$ in the edible part, $K_2O>N>CaO>P_2O_5{\gtrless}MgO$ in the rind, $N>K_2O>P_2O_5>CaO>MgO$ in the seed. The content of potassium was especially high in Marumeru and Hakyul and the content of calcium in citrus fruit was higher than others.

• 한국석유지질학회:학술대회논문집
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• autumn
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• pp.28-46
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• 2001

Natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases and impurities such as nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide and a clean energy producing no pollution materials for combustion. Currently, the demand of the natural gas is rapidly increasing due to worldwide environmental problems. According to Hubbert's study in the past, the natural gas was predicted as rapidly depleted resources, and then the results led to high gas price and limitation of usage during 1980s. Afterward, the study of natural gas resources based on geology identified the additional natural gas resources that were not considered in Hubbert's study. They are unconventional gas, additional resources in the existed reservoirs, and natural gas in deep subsurface areas. Such additional resouces made the future of natural gas bright and pormised low and stable gas price in the future. Deep natural gas is defined as the gas existing at or below 15,000ft$(4,752{\cal}m)$ in depth from the surface. According to the study from the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS) in 1995, 1,412 TCF of technically recoverable natural gas was remained to be discovered or developed in the onshore of United States. A significant part of that resource base, 114 TCF, exists at deep sedimentary basins, and it shows wide distribution with various geological environments. In 1995, the deep gas contributed to $6.7\% of total supply amount of natural gas in the United States and is expected to be $18.7\% by 201.5. However, the development of the deep gas is a high risky business due to expensive investment and high portion of dry holes, although it is developed. Thus, for developing the deep gas economically, it is necessary to overcome many technical challenges. In this paper, for increasing success rate of the deep gas, 1) geologic and compositional characteristics, and production cost have been analyzed according to depth, 2) technical problems related to deep gas production have been summarized, and 3) finally future study areas for increasing application of the deep gas have been suggested. For reference, this paper was written based on the study results from USGS and Gas Research Institute(GRI), for the United States is doing the most active R&D in the deep gas area, and thus, has many reliable data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1031-1031
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• 2001

The mammary gland is made up of remarkably sensitive tissue, which has the capability of producing a large volume of secretion, milk, under normal or healthy conditions. When bacteria enter the gland and establish an infection (mastitis), inflammation is initiated accompanied by an influx of white cells from the blood stream, by altered secretory function, and changes in the volume and composition of secretion. Cell numbers in milk are closely associated with inflammation and udder health. These somatic cell counts (SCC) are accepted as the international standard measurement of milk quality in dairy and for mastitis diagnosis. NIR Spectra of unhomogenized composite milk samples from 14 cows (healthy and mastitic), 7days after parturition and during the next 30 days of lactation were measured. Different multivariate analysis techniques were used to diagnose the disease at very early stage and determine how the spectral properties of milk vary with its composition and animal health. PLS model for prediction of somatic cell count (SCC) based on NIR milk spectra was made. The best accuracy of determination for the 1100-2500nm range was found using smoothed absorbance data and 10 PLS factors. The standard error of prediction for independent validation set of samples was 0.382, correlation coefficient 0.854 and the variation coefficient 7.63%. It has been found that SCC determination by NIR milk spectra was indirect and based on the related changes in milk composition. From the spectral changes, we learned that when mastitis occurred, the most significant factors that simultaneously influenced milk spectra were alteration of milk proteins and changes in ionic concentration of milk. It was consistent with the results we obtained further when applied 2DCOS. Two-dimensional correlation analysis of NIR milk spectra was done to assess the changes in milk composition, which occur when somatic cell count (SCC) levels vary. The synchronous correlation map revealed that when SCC increases, protein levels increase while water and lactose levels decrease. Results from the analysis of the asynchronous plot indicated that changes in water and fat absorptions occur before other milk components. In addition, the technique was used to assess the changes in milk during a period when SCC levels do not vary appreciably. Results indicated that milk components are in equilibrium and no appreciable change in a given component was seen with respect to another. This was found in both healthy and mastitic animals. However, milk components were found to vary with SCC content regardless of the range considered. This important finding demonstrates that 2-D correlation analysis may be used to track even subtle changes in milk composition in individual cows. To find out the right threshold for SCC when used for mastitis diagnosis at cow level, classification of milk samples was performed using soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) and different spectral data pretreatment. Two levels of SCC - 200 000 cells/$m\ell$ and 300 000 cells/$m\ell$, respectively, were set up and compared as thresholds to discriminate between healthy and mastitic cows. The best detection accuracy was found with 200 000 cells/$m\ell$ as threshold for mastitis and smoothed absorbance data: - 98% of the milk samples in the calibration set and 87% of the samples in the independent test set were correctly classified. When the spectral information was studied it was found that the successful mastitis diagnosis was based on reviling the spectral changes related to the corresponding changes in milk composition. NIRS combined with different ways of spectral data ruining can provide faster and nondestructive alternative to current methods for mastitis diagnosis and a new inside into disease understanding at molecular level.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2010

Considering the benefits for both consumers and suppliers, firms are taking advantage of the Internet as a medium to communicate with and sell products to their consumers. This trend makes the online shopping environment a growing field for both researchers and practitioners. This paper contributes by testing a model of online consumer behavior with websites varying in levels of hedonism. Unlike past studies, we included all three types of emotions (arousal, pleasure, and dominance) and flow into the model. In this study, we assumed that website interfaces, such as background colors, music, and fonts impact the three types of emotions at the initial exposure to the site (Mazaheri, Richard, and Laroche, 2011). In turn, these emotions influence flow and consumers' perceptions of the site atmospherics-perception of site informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment. This assumption is consistent with Zajonc (1980) who argued that affective reactions are independent of perceptual and cognitive operations and can influence responses. We, then, propose that the perceptions of site atmospherics along with flow, influence customers' attitudes toward the website and toward the product, site involvement, and purchase intentions. In addition, we studied the moderating impact of the level of hedonism of websites on all the relationship in the model. Thus, the path coefficients were compared between "high" and "low" hedonic websites. We used 39 real websites from 12 product categories (8 services and 4 physical goods) to test the model. Among them, 20 were perceived as high hedonic and 19 as low hedonic by the respondents. The result of EQS 6.1 support the overall model: $\chi^2$=1787 (df=504), CFI=.994; RMSEA=.031. All the hypotheses were significant. In addition, the results of multi-groups analyses reveal several non-invariant structural paths between high and low hedonic website groups. The findings supported the model regarding the influence of the three types of emotions on customers' perceptions of site atmospherics, flow, and other customer behavior variables. It was found that pleasure strongly influenced site attitudes and perceptions of site entertainment. Arousal positively impacted the other two types of emotions, perceptions of site informativeness, and site involvement. Additionally, the influence of arousal on flow was found to be highly significant. The results suggested a strong association between dominance and customers' perceptions of site effectiveness. Dominance was also found to be associated with site attitudes and flow. Moreover, the findings suggested that site involvement and attitudes toward the product are the most important antecedents of purchase intentions. Site informativeness and flow also significantly influenced purchase intentions. The results of multi-group analysis supported the moderating impacts of hedonism of the websites. Compared to low (high) hedonic sites, the impacts of utilitarian (hedonic) attributes on other variables were stronger in high (low) hedonic websites. Among the three types of emotions, dominance (controlling feelings) effects were stronger in high hedonic sites and pleasure effects were stronger in low hedonic sites. Moreover, the impact of site informativeness was stronger for high hedonic websites compared to their low-hedonic counterparts. On the other hand, the influence of effectiveness of information on perceptions of site informativeness and the impact of site involvement on product attitudes were stronger for low hedonic websites than for high hedonic ones.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.519-524
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• 2010

Purpose : To determine the efficacy of the N-terminal fragment of B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as a useful diagnostic method in children with incomplete Kawasaki disease (KD). Methods : Ninety-six patients who were diagnosed as having KD between January 2008 and June 2009 were enrolled in the study. American Heart Association recommendations for diagnosis were used, and patients were divided into the complete KD and incomplete KD groups. Blood tests including NT-proBNP were performed on admission day. Nineteen patients who had other febrile diseases other than KD were enrolled as control. Results : Thirty-three patients (34%) had incomplete KD. Change in the lips and oral cavity and conjunctivitis were the most common clinical features, but their frequency was lower than complete KD (76% vs 98%, 76% vs 90%). Patients with incomplete KD exhibited significantly higher NT-proBNP level than that of control ($1,407.7{\pm}1633.5pg/mL$ vs $126.2{\pm}135.5pg/mL$, $P$<0.001). An NT-proBNP cutoff value of 158 pg/mL provided a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 74% for diagnosis of incomplete KD. Conclusion : NT-proBNP assay can be clinically useful for the diagnosis of incomplete KD, if the patient has persistent fever, change in the lips and oral cavity, and conjunctivitis, and if the patient with those symptoms is suspected to have incomplete KD.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.265-273
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• 2005

Chemical properties and heavy metal concentrations of forest soils of four abandoned coal mine lands affected by coal mining activities in the Mungyeong area were investigated to provide basic information for revegetation of abandoned coal mine lands. Soil pH in abandoned coal mine lands ranged from 5.30 to 6.76 it in the control site was 5.23. Contents of organic matter and total N in abandoned coal mine lands were $4.46\~7.19\%\;and\;0.07\~0.15\%$, respectively. Available P contents were 6.54 for A (Samchang), 6.52 for B (Bongmyeong),3.94 fur C (Kabjung), 5.45 mg/kg for D (Danbong coal mine land) and 5.25 mg/kg for the control site, which had a positive correlation with soil pH. Contents of exchangeable Ca, Mg, K and Na in abandoned coal mile lands averaged 196.1, 88.7, 88.2 and $10.2cmol^+/kg$, with a range of $132.1\~242.1,\;24.2\~138.\; 64.9\~120.8\;and\;8\~12.2cmol^+/kg$, respectively. Those of the control site were 192.8, 95.8, 104 and $21.2 cmol^+/kg$, respectively. Heavy metals such as Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn of forest soil in abandoned coal mine lands have a larger content than those of the control site. Al, Mn and fb content was especially high in abandoned coal mine lands. The Al content of forest soil in abandoned coal mine lands ranged from 397 to 917 ppm, which was considered to be high enough to inhibit tree growth. Therefore, it is suggested that soils of abandoned coal mine lands contaminated by mining activities need to be properly treated for remediation of environmental problems.