• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.555-565
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• 2019

Development of a biomarker for predicting tumor-treatment efficacy is a matter of great concern, to reduce time, medical expense, and effort in oncology therapy. In a preclinical study, we hypothesized that the blood-flow parameter based on laser speckle flowmetry (LSF) could be a potential indicator to estimate the efficacy of breast-cancer treatment. To verify this hypothesis, a 13762-MAT-B-III rat breast tumor was grown in a dorsal skinfold window chamber applied to a nude mouse, and the change in blood flow rate (BFR) - or the speckle flow index (SFI) is used together as the same meaning in this manuscript - was longitudinally monitored during tumor growth and metronomic cyclophosphamide treatment. Based on the daily LSF angiogram, several BFR parameters (baseline SFI, normalized SFI, and △rBFR) were compared to tumor size in the normal, treated, and untreated tumor groups. Despite the incomplete tumor treatment, we found that the daily changes in all BFR parameters tended to have partially positive correlation with tumor size. Moreover, we observed that the changes in baseline SFI and normalized SFI responded one day earlier than the tumor shrinkage during chemotherapy. However, daily variations in the hypercapnia-induced △rBFR lagged tumor shrinkage by one day. This study would contribute not only to evaluating tumor vascular response to treatment, but also to monitoring blood-flow-mediated diseases (in brain, skin, and retina) by using LSF in preclinical settings.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.1054-1061
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• 2015

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been regulating emissions by making mandatory the compliance with institutions aimed at protecting air quality such as the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and Tier III. Under the circumstances, one of the response measures considered to be the most feasible is the replacement of existing marine fuel with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The industry has been preemptively building infrastructure and developing and spreading engine technology to enable the use of LNG-fueled ships. The IMO, in turn, recently adopted the International Code of Safety for Ships Using Gases or Other Low-Flash-Point Fuels (IGF Code) as an institutional measure. Thus, it is required to comply with regulations on safety-related design and systems focused on response against potential risk for LNG-fueled ships, in which low-flash-point fuel is handled in the engine room. Especially, the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention was amended accordingly. It has adopted the qualification and training requirements for seafarers who are to provide service aboard ships subject to the IGF Code exemplified by LNG-fueled ships. The expansion in the use of LNG-fueled ships and relevant facilities in fact is expected to increase demand for talents. Thus, the time is ripe to develop methods to set up appropriate STCW training courses for seafarers who board ships subject to the IGF Code. In this study, the STCW Convention and existing STCW training courses applied to seafarers offering service aboard ships subject to the IGF Code are reviewed. The results were reflected to propose ways to design new STCW training courses needed for ships subject to the IGF Code and to identify and improve insufficiencies of the STCW Convention in relation to the IGF Code.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2006

Backgrounds: MEG can measure the task-specific neurophysiologic activity with good spatial and time resolution. Language lateralization using noninvasive method has been a subject of interest in resective brain surgery. We purposed to develop a paradigm for language lateralization using MEG and validate its feasibility. Methods: Magnetic fields were obtained in 12 neurosurgical candidates and one volunteer for language tasks, with a 306 channel whole head MEG. Language tasks were word listening, reading and picture naming. We tested two word listening paradigms: semantic decision of meaning of abstract nouns, and recognition of repeated words. The subjects were instructed to silently name or read, and respond with pushing button or not. We decided language dominance according to the number of acceptable equivalent current dipoles (ECD) modeled by sequential single dipole, and the mean magnetic field strength by root mean square value, in each hemisphere. We collected clinical data including Wada test. Results: Magnetic fields evoked by word listening were generally distributed in bilateral temporoparietal areas with variable hemispheric dominance. Language tasks using visual stimuli frequently evoked magnetic field in posterior midline area, which made laterality decision difficult. Response during task resulted in more artifacts and different results depending on responding hand. Laterality decision with mean magnetic field strength was more concordant with Wada than the method with ECD number of each hemisphere. Conclusions: Word listening task without hand response is the most feasible paradigm for language lateralization using MEG. Mean magnetic field strength in each hemisphere is a proper index for hemispheric dominance.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.185-190
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• 2003

Due to the rapid growth of Internet, means of communication with customers in a traditional customer support environment such as telephone calls are being replaced by mainly e-mail in a Web-based customer support system. Although such a Web-based support is efficient and promises potential benefits for firms, including reduced transaction costs, reduced time, and high quality of support, there are some difficulties associated with responding to many types of customer’s inbound e-mails appropriately .As many types of e-mail are received, considerable attention is being paid to methods for increasing the efficiency of managing and responding e-mails. This research proposes an intelligent system for managing customer’s inbound e-mails in organizations by applying case based reasoning technique for responding to various customers' inbound e-mails more effectively. In this approach, a case is represented as a frame-typed data structure corresponding to an inbound e-mail, keywords, and its reply e-mail. In the retrieval procedure, keywords and affinity set is developed to index a case, and then the case is represented as a vector, a case vector. Also, cosines value is calculated to measure the similarity between a new inbound e-mail and the cases in the case base. In the adaptation procedure, we provide several adaptation strategies to adapt and modify the retrieved case. The strategies guide to make an outbound e-mail using product databases, databases for customer support, etc. Additionally, the Web-based system architecture is proposed to implement our methodology. The proposed methodology and system will be helpful for developing more efficient Web-based customer support.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.77-97
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• 2012

Estimated coefficients has serious problems including inconsistency, biasness, etc. because many researches about the effect of fiscal decentralization on a country's economic growth use the traditional OLS method. Researches use the data intactly so that so called "spurious regression" phenomenon exists. This causes fundamental fallacy. This research tries unit root test, cointegration test, and then estimates the United States' economic time series by using VECM. The analysis of the effect of the state level-fiscal decentralization on economic growth shows two long term-equilibriums. During short term-dynamic adjustment, fiscal decentralization and economic growth move the same or different directions. In case of prediction GDP increases steeply and then from 2015 gently; and fiscal decentralization index shows a general reduction trend and then decreases slowly. At local level it shows two long term-equilibriums. During short term-dynamic adjustment, fiscal decentralization and economic growth also move the same or different directions. Impulse response analysis shows the very negative effect of fiscal decentralization on economic growth.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1235-1242
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify through infrared thermal imaging technology the facial surface temperature (FST) of laying hens in response to the variations in their thermal environment, and to identify the regional differences in FST to determine the most stable and reliable facial regions for monitoring of thermoregulatory status in chickens. Methods: Thirty Hy-Line Brown hens (25-week-old) were sequentially exposed to three different thermal conditions; optimal (OT, 22℃±2℃), low (LT, 10℃±4℃), and high temperature (HT, 30℃±2℃). The mean values of FST in five facial regions including around the eyes, earlobes, wattles, beak and nose, and comb were recorded through infrared thermography. The maximum FST (MFST) was also identified among the five face-selective regions, and its relationship with temperature-humidity index (THI) was established to identify the range of MFST in response to the variations in their thermal environment. Results: Hens exposed to OT condition at 15:00 displayed a higher temperature at wattles and around the eyes compared to other regions (p<0.001). However, under LT condition at 05:00 to 08:00, around the eyes surface temperature showed the highest value (p<0.01). In HT, wattles temperature tended to show the highest temperature over almost time intervals. Main distribution regions of MFST were wattles (63.3%) and around the eyes (16.7%) in OT, around the eyes (50%) in LT, and wattles (62.2%) and comb (18.3%) in HT. The regression equation between MFST and THI was estimated as MFST = 35.37+0.2383×THI (R² = 0.44; p<0.001). Conclusion: The FST and the frequency of MFST in each facial region of laying hens responded sensitively to the variations in the thermal environment. The findings of this experiment provide useful information about the effect of the thermal conditions on the specific facial regions, thus offering an opportunity to stress and welfare assessment in poultry research and industry.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.327-340
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• 2022

The Collapse Margin Ratio (CMR) is a notable index used for seismic assessment of the structures. As proposed by FEMA P695, a set of analyses including the Nonlinear Static Analysis (NSA), Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), together with Fragility Analysis, which are typically time-taking and computationally unaffordable, need to be conducted, so that the CMR could be obtained. To address this issue and to achieve a quick and efficient method to estimate the CMR, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Response Surface Method (RSM), and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) will be introduced in the current research. Accordingly, using the NSA results, an attempt was made to find a fast and efficient approach to derive the CMR. To this end, 5016 IDA analyses based on FEMA P695 methodology on 114 various Reinforced Concrete (RC) frames with 1 to 12 stories have been carried out. In this respect, five parameters have been used as the independent and desired inputs of the systems. On the other hand, the CMR is regarded as the output of the systems. Accordingly, a double hidden layer neural network with Levenberg-Marquardt training and learning algorithm was taken into account. Moreover, in the RSM approach, the quadratic system incorporating 20 parameters was implemented. Correspondingly, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) has been employed to discuss the results taken from the developed model. Additionally, the essential parameters and interactions are extracted, and input parameters are sorted according to their importance. Moreover, the ANFIS using Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system was employed. Finally, all methods were compared, and the effective parameters and associated relationships were extracted. In contrast to the other approaches, the ANFIS provided the best efficiency and high accuracy with the minimum desired errors. Comparatively, it was obtained that the ANN method is more effective than the RSM and has a higher regression coefficient and lower statistical errors.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 2022

In this study, the dynamic behavior of functionally graded layered deep beams with viscoelastic core is investigated including the porosity effect. The material properties of functionally graded layers are assumed to vary continuously through thickness direction according to the power-law function. To investigate porosity effect in functionally graded layers, three different distribution models are considered. The viscoelastically cored deep beam is exposed to harmonic sinusoidal load. The composite beam is modeled based on plane stress assumption. The dynamic equations of motion of the composite beam are derived based on the Hamilton principle. Within the framework of the finite element method (FEM), 2D twelve -node plane element is exploited to discretize the space domain. The discretized finite element model is solved using the Newmark average acceleration technique. The validity of the developed procedure is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results and good agreement is detected. Parametric studies are conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed methodology to study and analyze the dynamic response of viscoelastically cored porous functionally graded deep beams. Effects of viscoelastic parameter, porosity parameter, graduation index on the dynamic behavior of porous functionally graded deep beams with viscoelastic core are investigated and discussed. Material damping and porosity have a significant effect on the forced vibration response under harmonic excitation force. Increasing the material viscosity parameters results in decreasing the vibrational amplitudes and increasing the vibration time period due to increasing damping effect. Obtained results are supportive for the design and manufacturing of such type of composite beam structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2595-2609
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• 2024

This paper introduces a base isolation system-tuned mass damper inerter (BIS-TMDI) hybrid system to the AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP), which reduces seismic damage potential of the NPP structure. The effects of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) caused by the passive containment cooling system water storage tank (PCCWST) on NPP's seismic performance are investigated. The FSI of water tank theoretical model is considered based on the Housner's model, and a series of time history analyses are performed to prove the rationality of the proposed model. Three single-objective optimization strategies are employed to minimize the relative displacement variance and absolute acceleration variance of the upper structure, as well as the filtered energy index (FEI). Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization strategy considering all these three indexes is proposed to obtain optimal parameters of vibration control. The influence of vibration control strategies on the relative deformation and acceleration of the upper structure is explored with various water level ratios. The analytical results indicate that the proposed BIS-TMDI strategy has significantly reduced the NPP structure's seismic response. The effectiveness of the vibration control strategy is influenced by the water level ratio, emphasizing the significance of designing an appropriate water level ratio to reduce NPP structure's seismic response.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.708-713
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• 2010

In this research a ring light was developed so that a partial shadowless shooting for the patient's affected area at the medical treatment room and surgical operation room using high luminance light emitting diode (LED) for which attention is being paid as new lighting parts for medical purpose. LED which was applied to the development used high luminance three color LED for full color for which various color materialization and the adjustment of radiation intensity are possible and we can get white light in order to emphasize the delicate expression for generic tone of shooting object, strong highlight, simple shadow and three dimensional effect at the time of close-up shadowless shooting of the affected area. And at the time of design of ring light, the characteristics of LED and the loss of light at the time of penetrating light diffusion PC were considered so that intensity of illumination for over 150 lx can be obtained. The result of measurement of the intensity of illumination of the ring light that was developed revealed that maximum intensity of illumination of 225.7 lx was obtained, while smoke index was measured to be maximum 78 Ra in the case of Red(50%) Green(100%) and Blue LED(60%). We could confirm that response speed was also very fast as 1.72 ms.