• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2017

Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) is composed of heterogeneous subgroups that require a multidisciplinary team approach in order to ensure optimal therapy for each patient. Since 2010, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has recommended chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for bulky mediastinal disease and surgical combination for those patients with single-station N2 involvement who respond to neoadjuvant therapy. According to lung cancer tumor boards, thoracic surgeons make a decision on the resectability of the tumor, if it is determined to be unresectable, concurrent CRT (CCRT) is considered the next choice. However, the survival benefit of CCRT over sequential CRT or radiotherapy alone carries the risk of additional toxicity. Considering severe adverse events that may lead to death, fit patients who are able to tolerate CCRT must be identified by multidisciplinary tumor board. Decelerated approaches, such as sequential CRT or high-dose radiation alone may be a valuable alternative for patients who are not eligible for CCRT. As a new treatment strategy, investigators are interested in the application of the innovative radiation techniques, trimodality therapy combining surgery after high-dose definitive CCRT, and the combination of radiation with targeted or immunotherapy agents. The updated results and on-going studies are thoroughly reviewed in this article.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.303-316
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• 2021

Digital content protection has recently become an important requirement in biometrics-based authentication systems due to the challenges involved in designing a feasible and effective user authentication method. Biometric approaches are more effective than traditional methods, and simultaneously, they cannot be considered entirely reliable. This study develops a reliable and trustworthy method for verifying that the owner of the biometric traits is the actual user and not an impostor. Watermarking-based approaches are developed using a combination of a color face image of the user and a mobile equipment identifier (MEID). Employing watermark techniques that cannot be easily removed or destroyed, a blind image watermarking scheme based on fast discrete curvelet transform (FDCuT) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) is proposed. FDCuT is applied to the color face image to obtain various frequency coefficients of the image curvelet decomposition, and for high frequency curvelet coefficients DCT is applied to obtain various frequency coefficients. Furthermore, mid-band frequency coefficients are modified using two uncorrelated noise sequences with the MEID watermark bits to obtain a watermarked image. An analysis is carried out to verify the performance of the proposed schema using conventional performance metrics. Compared with an existing approach, the proposed approach is better able to protect multimedia data from unauthorized access and will effectively prevent anyone other than the actual user from using the identity or images.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1288-1294
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• 2021

There are a growing number of reports of hospital-acquired infections caused by pathogenic bacteria, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Many plant products are now being used as a natural means of exploring antimicrobial agents against different types of human pathogenic bacteria. In this research, we sought to isolate and identify an active molecule from Sedum takesimense that has possible antibacterial activity against various clinical isolates of MRSA. NMR analysis revealed that the structure of the HPLC-purified compound was 1,2,4,6-tetra-O-galloyl-glucose. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of different extract fractions against numerous pathogenic bacteria was determined, and the actively purified compound has potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria, i.e., MRSA and its clinical isolates. In addition, the combination of the active compound and β-lactam antibiotics (e.g., oxacillin) demonstrated synergistic action against MRSA, with a fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index of 0.281. The current research revealed an alternative approach to combating pathogenesis caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria using plant materials. Furthermore, using a combination approach in which the active plant-derived compound is combined with antibiotics has proved to be a successful way of destroying pathogens synergistically.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.387-398
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• 2019

On the basis that ground motions may arrive at a structure from any horizontal direction and that different directions of seismic incidence would result in different structural dynamic responses, this paper focuses on orienting the crucial seismic incidence of transmission tower-line systems based on the wavelet energy method. A typical transmission tower-line system is chosen as the case study, and two finite element (FE) models are established in ABAQUS, with and without consideration of the interaction between the transmission towers and the transmission lines. The mode combination frequency is defined by considering the influence of the higher-order modes of the structure. Subsequently, wavelet transformation is performed to obtain the total effective energy input and the effective energy input rate corresponding to the mode combination frequency to further judge the critical angle of seismic incidence by comparing these two performance indexes under different seismic incidence angles. To validate this approach, finite element history analysis (FEHA) is imposed on both FE models to generate comparative data, and good agreement is found. The results demonstrate that the wavelet energy method can forecast the critical angle of seismic incidence of a transmission tower-line system with adequate accuracy, avoiding time-consuming and cumbersome computer analysis. The proposed approach can be used in future seismic design of transmission tower-line systems.

• FOCUS: LIFE SCIENCE
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• no.1
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• pp.6.1-6.9
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• 2024

The document is a white paper on Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) analysis method development. HILIC is a type of chromatography that uses an organic/aqueous mobile phase and a polar stationary phase. In HILIC, water is a strong solvent, and unlike in Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography (RPLC), increasing the proportion of water in the mobile phase reduces the retention time of the analyte. The paper discusses when to consider HILIC analysis methods, the advantages of HILIC, and the challenges often encountered due to the lack of understanding of HILIC mechanisms compared to RPLC. It also provides a systematic flowchart for intelligent solutions for HILIC analysis method development, which includes a three-step approach for chromatography analysis method development. The first step involves gathering as much information as possible about the analyte (e.g., pKa, log P, log D). The second step involves analyzing the sample under different pH conditions using three HILIC columns in either isocratic or gradient mode to identify the suitable column/pH combination for the analyte. The third step involves optimizing the separation by investigating other parameters such as temperature and ionic strength, and assessing the robustness of the method. The paper emphasizes that the selection of the appropriate stationary/mobile phase combination, based on the differences between the HILIC stationary phases and the mobile phase pH, can provide high selectivity in the analysis. This step-by-step approach can help users develop an efficient analysis method.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2019

Objectives : In this study, we investigated the combination effects of Cinnamomi cortex Ethanol Extract (CcEE) and hyperthermia in the human AGS gastric cancer cell line. Methods : AGS cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of CcEE (0, 50 or $60{\mu}g/mL$) for 1h prior to hyperthermia. And then incubated for a further 30 min at the indicated temperatures (37, 42 or $43^{\circ}C$) in a humidified incubator containing 5% $CO_2$ or a thermostatically controlled water bath for hyperthermia. The cell viability was measured by MTT assay, Morphology assay and Trypan blue assay. To investigate the possible molecular signaling pathways, the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) proteins (ERK, p38 and JNK) and expression of various anti-apoptotic proteins such as Caspase-3, Caspase-9, p53, Cyclin D1 and MMP-2 were assessed by Western blot analysis. In addition, Annexin V and 7-amino-actinomycin D (7-AAD) staining was performed to examine the apoptotic mechanism. Results : Combination of CcEE with hyperthermia effectively suppressed the cell viability and changed cellmorphology compared with CcEE or hyperthermia treatment alone. Combined treatment also abated the expression of Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Cyclin D1 and MMP-2. Whereas, the expression level of p53 was up-regulated by co-treatment. Moreover, combination treatment enhanced phosphorylation of ERK, p38 and JNK. In addition, this combination increased anti-cancer effect by inducing cell death through the apoptosis. Conclusions : Taken together, all these findings suggest that the combination treatment with CcEE and hyperthermia may have therapeutic potential as a promising approach to patients with stomach cancer.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.38-45
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• 2020

This study presents a systematic procedure for developing a short-term prediction deep learning model of rebar price using bidirectional LSTM, Random Search, data combination, Dropout. In general, users intuitively determine these values, making it time-consuming and repetitive attempts to explore results with good predictive performance, and the results found by these attempts cannot be guaranteed to be excellent. With the proposed approach presented in this study, the average accuracy of short-term price forecasts is approximately 98.32%. In addition, this approach could be used as basic data to produce good predictive results in a study that predicts prices with time series data based on statistics, including building materials other than rebars.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 2014

This study carried out finite element vibration analysis of composite plate structures for construction using multi-scale approaches, which is based on the higher-order theory. The finite element (FE) models for composite structures using multi-scale approaches described in this paper is attractive not only because it shows excellent accuracy in analysis but also it shows the effect of the material combination. The FE model is used for studying free vibrations of laminated composite plates for various fiber-volume fractions. In particular, new results reported in this paper are focused on the significant effects of the fiber-volume fraction for various parameters, such as fiber angles, layup sequences, and length-thickness ratios. It may be concluded from this study that the combination effect of fiber and matrix, largely governing the dynamic characteristics of composite structures, should not be neglected and thus the optimal combination could be used to design such civil structures for better dynamic performance.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.205-217
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• 2010

Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival rates and analyze the stability of lateral approach and trans-crestal approach for maxillary sinus floor elevation of simultaneous implant placement. Materials and method 407 patients who have been treated in LivingWell dental hospital between 2003 to 2009 were selected. Lateral window technique, osteotome technique and sinus drill technique were used for sinus floor elevation procedure. A total of 714 implants-MP-1 HA coated implant(Tapered Screw $Vent^{TM}$, $Spline^{TM}$, Zimmer, USA), FBR surfaced implant(Pitt-$Easy^{TM}$, Oraltronics, Germany)-were placed in grafted maxillary sinus simultaneously. The autogenous bone or a combination with the allograft or alloplast was grafted into sinus. Sinus floor elevation was combined with vertical/horizontal onlay bone grafts to reconstruct the defect of alveolar ridge. Results The average preoperative height of the maxillary alveolar bone was 5.78mm(range: 0.4mm~12.5mm). 14 implants failed during the healing period(lateral approach: 4, trans-crestal approach: 10) and 3 implant failed after prosthetic loading(lateral approach: 2, trans-crestal approach: 1). The cumulative survival rate of implants after 6 years was 97.6%. Trans-crestal approach(97.4%) and lateral approach(97.9%) had similar survival rates. Conclusion The results indicate that the trans-crestal approach and lateral approach for maxillary sinus elevation is a acceptable method at atrophic maxillary posterior area.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.109-119
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• 2014

This study aimed to examine the applicability of a portfolio approach to the ecosystem-based fisheries management targeting the large purse seine fishery. Most fisheries are targeting multispecies and species are biologically and technically interacted each other. It enables a portfolio approach to be applied to find optimal production of each species through expected returns and risk analyses. Under specific assumptions on the harvest quota by species, efficient risk-return frontiers were generated and they showed a combination of optimal production level. Comparisons between portfolio and actual production provided a useful information for targeting strategy and management. Results also showed the possibility of effective multispecies fisheries management by imposing constraints on each species such as total allowable catch quotas.