• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.325-330
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• 2006

This study presents the characterization of an integrated portable microfluidic electrical detection system for fast and low volume immunoassay using polystyrene microbead, which are used as immobilization surfaces. In our chip, a filtration method using the microbead was adopted for sample immobilization and immunogold silver staining(IGSS) was used to increase the electrical signal. The chip is composed of an inexpensive and biocompatible Polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) layer and Pyrex glass substrate. Platinum microelectrodes for electric signal detection were fabricated on the substrate and microchannel and pillar-type microfilters were formed in the PDMS layer. With a fabricated chip, we reacted antigen and antibody according to the procedures. Then, silver enhancer was injected to increase the size of nanogold particles tagged with the second antibody. As a result, microbeads were connected to each other and formed an electrical bridge between microelectrodes. Resistance measured through the electrodes showed a difference of two orders of magnitude between specific and nonspecific immuno-reactions. The detection limit was 10 ng/ml. The developed immunoassay chip reduced the total analysis time from 3 hours to 50 min. Fast and low-volume biochemical analysis has been successfully achieved with the developed microfilter and immuno-sensor chip, which is integrated to the microfluidic system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.64-70
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• 2011

Portable artificial electronic nose (E-nose) system suffers from noisy fluctuation in surroundings such as temperature, vapor concentration, and gas flow, because its measuring condition is not controled precisely as in the laboratory. It is important to develop a simple and robust vapor recognition technique applicable to this uncontrolled measurement, especially for the portable measuring and diagnostic system which are expanding its area with the improvements in micro bio sensor technology. This study used a PDA-based portable E-nose to collect the uncontrolled vapor measurement signals, and applied the image matching algorithm developed in the previous study on the measured signal to verify its robustness and improved accuracy in portable vapor recognition. The results showed not only its consistent performance under noisy fluctuation in the portable measurement signal, but also an advanced recognition accuracy for 2 similar vapor species which have been hard to discriminate with the conventional maximum sensitivity feature extraction method. The proposed method can be easily applied to the data processing of the ubiquitous sensor network (USN) which are usually exposed to various operating conditions. Furthermore, it will greatly help to realize portable medical diagnostic and environment monitoring system with its robust performance and high accuracy.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2015

In this paper, we present an inertial sensor-based gait analysis system to measure and analyze lower-limb movements. We developed an integral AHRS(Attitude Heading Reference System) using a combination of rate gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer sensor signals. Several AHRS modules mounted on segments of the patient's body provide the quaternions representing the patient segments's orientation in space. And a method is also proposed for calculating three-dimensional inter-segment joint angle which is an important bio-mechanical measure for a variety of applications related to rehabilitation. To evaluate the performance of our AHRS module, the Vicon motion capture system, which offers millimeter resolution of 3D spatial displacements and orientations, is used as a reference. The evaluation resulted in a RMSE(Root Mean Square Error) of 1.08 and 1.72 degree in yaw and pitch angle. In order to evaluate the performance of our the gait analysis system, we compared the joint angle for the hip, knee and ankle with those provided by Vicon system. The result shows that our system will provide an in-depth insight into the effectiveness, appropriate level of care, and feedback of the rehabilitation process by performing real-time limb or gait analysis during the post-stroke recovery.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.309-315
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• 2009

Maintenance of adequate soil water content during the period of crop growth is necessary to support optimum plant growth and yields. A better understanding of soil water movement for precision irrigation would allow efficient supply of water to crops, thereby resulting in minimization of water drainage and contamination of ground water. This research reports on the characterization of spatial and temporal variations in water contents through three different textured soils, such as loam, sandy loam, and loamy sand, when water is applied on the soil surface using an one-line drip irrigation system and the soils are dried after the irrigation stops, respectively. Water contents through each soil profile were continuously monitored using three Sentek probes, each consisting of three capacitance sensors at 10, 20, and 30cm depths. Spatial variability in water content for each soil type was strongly influenced by soil textural class. There were big differences in wetting pattern and the rate of downward movement between loam and sandy loam soils, showing that the loam soil had a wider wetting pattern and a slower rate of downward movement than did the sandy loam soil. The wetting pattern in loamy sand soil was not apparent due to a low variability in water content (< 10%) by a lower-water holding capacity as compared to those measured in the loam and sandy loam soils, implying that the rate of water drainage below a depth of 30cm was high. When soils were dried, there were highly exponential relationships between water content and time elapsed after irrigation stops ($r^2$${\geq}$0.98). It was estimated that equilibrium moisture contents for loam, sandy loam, and loamy sand soils would be 17.6%, 6.2%, and 4.2%, respectively.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2016

Water drainage from the open hydroponics often causes significant environmental pollution due to agrochemicals and loss of water and nutrients. The objectives of this study were to show the potential application of an irrigation schedule based on threshold values of volumetric substrate water content for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. 'Samsamgu') cultivation in a commercial hydroponic farm during spring to summer cultivation. This study was performed for minimizing effluent from coir substrate hydroponics using a frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensor-automated irrigation, as compared with an integrated solar-radiation (IR) and conventional timer-irrigation (TIMER) after transplanting. In results, no significant difference in daily irrigation volume was found among the treatments until 88 days after transplant (DAT). However, during the 88 to 107 DAT, the daily irrigation volume was in the order of IR (2125 mL) > TIMER (2063 mL) > FDR (1983 mL), and during the 108 to 120 DAT, it was in the order of IR (2000 mL) > TIMER (1664 mL) > FDR (1500 mL). The lowest drainage volume was observed in the FDR treatment with the order of IR (12~19%) > TIMER (4~12%) > FDR (0~7%) during the entire growing period. A lower irrigation volume in the FDR treatment after 88 DAT may be due to the sensor's detecting capacity for less water absorption by plant after completing fruit maturity with apical pruning and removal of lower leaves, while a higher irrigation volume in the IR treatment may be due to gradual increase in integrated solar-radiation amount as closer to summer season. There was no significant difference in plant growth and fruit yield among the treatments; however, a 11% and 18% of higher soluble sugar content was observed in the FDR than that of TIMER and IR treatment. respectively.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.257-264
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• 1999

The trickling system for automatic and individual watering were made with Bunchungto, Ongito and Backjato. The thickness of ceramics were 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0mm. And they were fired in a muffle furnace at five different temperatures between 500 and 900'E during 12 hours. The upper plastic parts of sensor consisted of five elements made by steel mold. With the photo fiber sensor attached to datalogger, an accumulated amount of drops for every 10 minutes were recorded. The porosity is higher in the order of Bunchungto, Backjato and Ongito; also, as the firing temperature is higher and the thickness is thicker, the porosity is higher. The ceramic sensors consisted of $SiO_2$ of 54.17~71.62wt.%, A1$_2$ $O_3$ of 15.42~33.79wt.% and the rest of 10wt.%, those were Fe$_2$ $O_3$, CaO, MgO, Na$_2$O, $K_2$O, Ti $O_2$, P$_2$ $O_{5}$. The pattern of dropping were changed according to the variety, thickness and firing temperature of ceramics. As the ceramics were made thicker, the fluctuation of dropping became more rapid, but it did not regularly work at 1mm thickness. As the firing temperature of ceramics became higher, the fluctuation of dropped amount became more rapid.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.233-240
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• 2011

Food security has been a main global issue due to climate changes and growing world population expected to 9 billion by 2050. While biodiversity is becoming more highlight, breeders are confronting shortage of various genetic materials needed for new variety to tackle food shortage challenge. Though biotechnology is still under debate on potential risk to human and environment, it is considered as one of alternative tools to address food supply issue for its potential to create a number of variations in genetic resource. The new technology, phenomics, is developing to improve efficiency of crop improvement. Phenomics is concerned with the measurement of phenomes which are the physical, morphological, physiological and/or biochemical traits of organisms as they change in response to genetic mutation and environmental influences. It can be served to provide better understanding of phenotypes at whole plant. For last decades, high-throughput screening (HTS) systems have been developed to measure phenomes, rapidly and quantitatively. Imaging technology such as thermal and chlorophyll fluorescence imaging systems is an area of HTS which has been used in agriculture. In this article, we review the current statues of high-throughput screening system in phenomics and its application for crop improvement.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.348-353
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• 2009

Organic materials reveal the remarkable absorption and high buffer capacity for nutrient. Hence, organic materials need some different nutrient management skill from inorganic one. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of EC level of nutrient solution on the yield and quality of cut rose grown in the mixed substrate of coir and perlite. 3 EC levels of nutrient solution was treated, which were 0.7, 1.0, 1.3 times of standard solution (Aichiken solution, Japan) for cut rose hydroponics. EC of the standard solution was changed by season following as 1.4 (Apr.~June), 1.0 (July~Aug.), 1.4 (Sep.~Oct.), and $1.6dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ (Nov.~Mar.) subsequently. The supply of nutrient solution was controlled by the signal of water potential at -5kPa using frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensor. As the results, marketable yield was similar for all treatments until 3rd harvest, but was decreased in high EC level from 4th harvest to 7th harvest as final. 0.7 times of standard solution decreased the ratio of unmarketable rose having short stem below 70cm and increased the ratio of high quality rose having long stem above 91cm. The flower weight and stem diameter of cut rose was higher in the low EC treatment than the others.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.219-224
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• 2015

In this paper, the designed fish robots DOMI ver1.0 is researched and development for aquarium underwater robot. The presented fish robot consists of the head, 1'st stage body, 2nd stage body and tail, which is connected two point driving joints. The model of the robot fish is analysis to maximize the momentum of the robot fish and the body of the robot is designed through the analysis of the biological fish swimming. Also, Lighthill was applied to the kinematics analysis of robot fish swimming algorithms, we are applied to the approximate method of the streamer model that utilizes techniques mimic the biological fish. The swimming robot has two operating mode such as manual and autonomous operation modes. In manual mode the fish robot is operated to using the RF transceiver, and in autonomous mode the robot is controlled by microprocessor board that is consist PSD sensor for the object recognition and avoidance. In order to the submerged and emerged, the robot has the bladder device in a head portion. The robot gravity center weight is transferred to a one-axis sliding and it is possible to the submerged and emerged of DOMI robot by the breath unit. It was verified by the performance test of this design robot DOMI ver1.0. It was confirmed that excellent performance, such as driving force, durability and water resistance through the underwater field test.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2020

This study is to compare irrigation efficiency between sap flow sensor automated system (SF) and conventional irrigation system based on integrated solar radiation automated system (ISR) in tomato rockwool hydroponics. Total irrigated volumes was higher in the ISR system by 5.0L per plant, a lower drainage rate was found in the SF system, compared to the ISR system. There was no difference in shoot and fruit fresh weights, water use efficiency (WUE) and water amount consumed for producing 200g of tomato fruit. The daily average sap flow density (SFD) was closer to the change of solar irradiance (SI) in the plant grown under the SF system, compared to the ISR system. The correlation coefficient (r²) between the fruit diameter and the volumetric water content during the 56 and 82 days after transplant showed the SF treatment was higher than the ISR at night and daytime, and the correlation was higher at night time. The sap flow density and humidity deficit (HD) of SF treatment was related as closely as the solar irradiance. Further studies should demonstrate that SF irrigation system is a convenient method for hydroponic farmers with advantages, such as growth, higher yield, WUE, and accuracy.