• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제50권2호
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• pp.91-99
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• 2017

Objectives: As in many low-income and middle-income countries, out-of-pocket (OOP) payments by patients or their families are a key healthcare financing mechanism in Bangladesh that leads to economic burdens for households. The objective of this study was to identify whether and to what extent socioeconomic, demographic, and behavioral factors of the population had an impact on OOP expenditures in Bangladesh. Methods: A total of 12 400 patients who had paid to receive any type of healthcare services within the previous 30 days were analyzed from the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey data, 2010. We employed regression analysis for identify factors influencing OOP health expenditures using the ordinary least square method. Results: The mean total OOP healthcare expenditures was US dollar (USD) 27.66; while, the cost of medicines (USD 16.98) was the highest cost driver (61% of total OOP healthcare expenditure). In addition, this study identified age, sex, marital status, place of residence, and family wealth as significant factors associated with higher OOP healthcare expenditures. In contrary, unemployment and not receiving financial social benefits were inversely associated with OOP expenditures. Conclusions: The findings of this study can help decision-makers by clarifying the determinants of OOP, discussing the mechanisms driving these determinants, and there by underscoring the need to develop policy options for building stronger financial protection mechanisms. The government should consider devoting more resources to providing free or subsidized care. In parallel with government action, the development of other prudential and sustainable risk-pooling mechanisms may help attract enthusiastic subscribers to community-based health insurance schemes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권7호
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• pp.4209-4214
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• 2013

Background: Breast cancer is among the five most common cancers and ranks first among cancers diagnosed in Iranian women. Screening and treatment of this disease with molecular methods, especially regarding high incidences at early age and advanced stage, is essential. Several genes with altered expression have been identified by cDNA microarray studies in breast cancer, with the Bcl-2 gene indicated as a likely candidate. In this study, we studied Bcl-2 gene expression levels in parallel tumor and non-tumor breast tissues. Materials and Methods: Forty samples including 21 tumor, 16 non tumor (marginal) and 3 benign breast tissues which were all pathologically diagnosed, were subjected to RNA extraction and polyA RT-PCR with the expression level of Bcl-2 quantified using real-time PCR. Results: There is higher expression levels of the Bcl-2 gene in tumor samples compared with marginal samples, but not attaining significance(p>0.05). Bcl-2 expression in 14 (66.7%) of the cases of tumor samples and 9 (56.3%) cases of the marginal samples were positive. Comparison of the expression of the Bcl-2 gene in histological grade showed that a high expression of Bcl-2 was associated with a high histological grade (p<0.41). Conclusions: Our data suggests that dysregulated Bcl-2 gene expression is potentially involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. Using gene expression analysis may significantly improve our ability for screening cancer patients and will prove a powerful tool in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of the disease whilst aiding the cooperative group trials in the Bcl-2 based therapy project.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.145-155
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• 2018

In a monsoonal climate, the soil seed bank can play an important role in plant regeneration after the severe annual floods that disturb above-ground vegetation within the riparian zone. To investigate the relationship between the soil seed bank and vegetation, we measured the species composition of the soil seed bank and the extant above-ground vegetation in six major plant communities (Artemisia selengensis, Miscanthus sacchariflorus, Persicaria nodosa, Phalaris arundinacea, Phragmites japonica, and Rorippa palustris) in the Cheongmicheon Stream, Korea. A total of 21 species germinated from the floodplain soil seed banks. The most diverse seed bank (21 species) was found in the A. selengensis community, wheres the lowest number of species was found in the R. palustris community (2 species). Most soil seed banks were composed of annuals (90%), exceptions being Rumex crispus and Artemisia princeps, which are perennial ruderals. The similarity of species composition between the soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation was low with Sorensen's similarity indices averaging 29% (range 12 - 42%). Crucially, existing dominant perennials of the extant vegetation including A. selengensis, M. sacchariflorus, P. japonica and P. arundinacea were absent from the soil seed bank. In conclusion, the soil seed banks of the floodplains of the Cheongmicheon Stream were mainly composed of viable seeds of ruderal plants, which could germinate rapidly after severe flood disturbance. The soil seed bank may, therefore, be useful for the restoration of the early succession stages of riparian vegetation after flood disturbances.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.629-635
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• 2014

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a fatal hematological malignancy which is resistant to a variety of chemotherapy drugs. Myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), a death-inhibiting protein that regulates apoptosis, has been shown to be overexpressed in numerous malignancies. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the expression level of the Mcl-1 gene increases at the time of leukemic relapse following chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to target Mcl-1 by small interference RNA (siRNA) and analyze its effects on survival and chemosensitivity of acute myeloid leukemia cell line HL-60. Materials and Methods: siRNA transfection was performed with a liposome approach. The expression levels of mRNA and protein were measured by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. Trypan blue assays were performed to evaluate tumor cell growth after siRNA transfection. The cytotoxic effects of Mcl-1 siRNA (siMcl-1) and etoposide were determined using MTT assay on their own and in combination. Apoptosis was quantified using a DNA-histone ELISA assay. Results: Transfection with siMcl-1 significantly suppressed the expression of Mcl-1 mRNA and protein in a time-dependent manner, resulting in strong growth inhibition and spontaneous apoptosis. Surprisingly, pretreatment with siMcl-1 synergistically enhanced the cytotoxic effect of etoposide. Furthermore, Mcl-1 down-regulation significantly increased apoptosis sensitivity to etoposide. No significant biological effects were observed with negative control siRNA treatment. Conclusions: Our results suggest that specific suppression of Mcl-1 by siRNA can effectively induce apoptosis and overcome chemoresistance of leukemic cells. Therefore, siMcl-1 may be a potent adjuvant in leukemia chemotherapy.

• 생태와환경
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.42-57
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• 2011

We described the above-ground plant species composition and measured a range of soil physico-chemical properties and the composition and size of the soil seed bank in the remnant natural vegetations on the flood plains of the Han River within Seoul, South Korea. We used analysis of variance and multivariate analyses to analyse the data and S${\o}$rensen's similarity index to compare the composition of the vegetation and seed banks. The soils were circum-neutral and composed of mainly sand and silt fractions with a very limited clay component; a gradient based on sand/clay proportions was identified. The soil seed banks varied markedly between- and within-sites and had much greater species diversity than the above-ground vegetation. Two of the major dominants in the vegetation (Miscanthus saccariflorus and Phragmites australis) were found at very low densities in the seed bank. The site differences appeared to be correlated with the sand-clay gradient, suggesting that the soil properties differentially affected seed inputs into the soil, or that the processes than controlled sediment deposition during floods was also important in differentially affecting seed deposition. Lastly, there was relatively little similarity between the vegetation, dominated mainly by perennials, and the seed bank which contained a relatively large proportion of annuals and biennials. This result suggests that after disturbance caused by flooding there is the potential for many other species to colonize. This may impinge on the regeneration potential of the sites and cause concern for the future conservation of these important remnants of natural vegetation.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제13권12호
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• pp.6214-6242
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• 2019

Routing in mobile ad hoc networks is performed in a distributed fashion where each node acts as host and router, such that it forwards incoming packets for others without relying on a dedicated router. Nodes are mostly resource constraint and the users are usually inclined to conserve their resources and exhibit selfish behaviour by not contributing in the routing process. The trust and reputation models have been proposed to motivate selfish nodes for cooperation in the packet forwarding process. Nodes having bad trust or reputation are detected and secluded from the network, eventually. However, due to the lack of proper identity management and use of non-persistent identities in ad hoc networks, malicious nodes can pose various threats to these methods. For example, a malicious node can discard the bad reputed identity and enter into the system with another identity afresh, called whitewashing. Similarly, a malicious node may create more than one identity, called Sybil attack, for self-promotion, defame other nodes, and broadcast fake recommendations in the network. These identity-based attacks disrupt the overall detection of the reputation systems. In this paper, we propose a reputation-based scheme that detects selfish nodes and deters identity attacks. We address the issue in such a way that, for normal selfish nodes, it will become no longer advantageous to carry out a whitewash. Sybil attackers are also discouraged (i.e., on a single battery, they may create fewer identities). We design and analyse our rationale via game theory and evaluate our proposed reputation system using NS-2 simulator. The results obtained from the simulation demonstrate that our proposed technique considerably diminishes the throughput and utility of selfish nodes with a single identity and selfish nodes with multiple identities when compared to the benchmark scheme.

• 산업클러스터
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2008

지역경제의 성공에 있어 산업클러스터의 중요성에 대한 증대된 인식에도 불구하고, 구산업지구에 대한 클러스터 정책의 효과성에 대해서는 그다지 많은 관심이 모이지 못했다. 이들 지역 중 상당수에서는 아직 산업클러스터가 작동하고 있거나 재도약을 위한 새로운 전략이 모색되고 있다. 본 연구는 구산업지구에서 대한 산업클러스터 정책의 효과성을 산업클러스터의 진화적 성격에 대한 이해로부터 찾으려 한다. 이를 위하여 유럽 구산업지구의 변환에 대한 선행연구들을 고찰하고, 어떻게 클러스터 정책이 주요한 정책수단으로 등장하게 되었는지 살펴본다. 본 연구는 또한 영국의 북동지 역에서 어떻게 철강산업의 공급체인이 형성되었는지 사례 연구를 통해 살펴본다. 마지막으로 본 연구의 결론은 클러스터 형성 과정에서의 정책적 개입의 타이밍을 어떻게 잡을 것인지를 보여주는 자료에 초점을 맞추고 있다.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.1095-1113
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• 2015

In order to determine the mechanical behavior of the curved laminates in practical applications, three right-angled composite brackets with different lay-ups were investigated both experimentally and numerically. In the experimental, quasi-static tests on both unidirectional and multidirectional curved composite brackets were conducted to study the progressive failure and failure modes of the curved laminates. In the numerical modeling, three-dimensional finite element analysis was used to simulate the mechanical behavior of the laminates. Here, a strength-based failure criterion, namely the Ye criterion, was used to predict the delamination failure in the composite curved laminates. The mechanical responses of the laminate subjected to off-axis tensile loading were analyzed, which include the progressive failure, the failure locations, the load-displacement relationships, the load-strain relationships, and the stress distribution around the curved region of the angled bracket. Subsequently, the effects of stacking sequence and thickness on the load carrying capacity and the stiffness of the laminates were discussed in detail. Through the experimental observation and analysis, it was found that the failure mode of all the specimens is delamination, which is initiated abruptly and develops unstably on the symmetric plane, close to the inner surface, and about $29^{\circ}$ along the circumferential direction. It was also found that the stacking sequence and the thickness have significant influences on both the load carrying capacity and the stiffness of the laminates. However, the thickness effect is less than that on the curved aluminum plate.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.859-887
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• 2015

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has gained in popularity in recent years since it can assess the performance and condition of instrumented structures in real time and provide valuable information to the asset's manager and owner. Operational modal analysis plays an important role in SHM and it involves the determination of natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of a constructed structure based on measured dynamic data. This paper presents the operational modal analysis and seismic response characterization of the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge of 2,160 m long subjected to different earthquake events. Three kinds of events, i.e., short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes are taken into account. A fast Bayesian modal identification method is used to carry out the operational modal analysis. The modal properties of the bridge are identified and compared by use of the field monitoring data acquired before and after the earthquake for each type of the events. Research emphasis is given on identifying the predominant modes of the seismic responses in the deck during short-distance, middle-distance and long-distance earthquakes, respectively, and characterizing the response pattern of various structural portions (deck, towers, main cables, etc.) under different types of earthquakes. Since the bridge is over 2,000 m long, the seismic wave would arrive at the tower/anchorage basements of the two side spans at different time instants. The behaviors of structural dynamic responses on the Tsing Yi side span and on the Ma Wan side span under each type of the earthquake events are compared. The results obtained from this study would be beneficial to the seismic design of future long-span bridges to be built around Hong Kong (e.g., the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge).

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.1366-1379
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• 2019

High-gain DC/DC converters have become one of the key technologies for the grid-connected operation of new energy power generation, and its research provides a significant impetus for the rapid development of new energy power generation. Inspired by the transformer effect and the ripple-suppressed ability of a coupled inductor, a double-coupled inductor high gain DC/DC converter with a ripple absorption circuit is proposed in this paper. By integrating the diode-capacitor voltage multiplying unit into the quadratic Boost converter and assembling the independent inductor into the magnetic core of structure coupled inductors, the adjustable range of the voltage gain can be effectively extended and the limit on duty ratio can be avoided. In addition, the volume of the magnetic element can be reduced. Very small ripples of input current can be obtained by the ripple absorption circuit, which is composed of an auxiliary inductor and a capacitor. The leakage inductance loss can be recovered to the load in a switching period, and the switching-off voltage spikes caused by leakage inductance can be suppressed by absorption in the diode-capacitor voltage multiplying unit. On the basis of the theoretical analysis, the feasibility of the proposed converter is verified by test results obtained by simulations and an experimental prototype.