• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.902-907
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• 2008

Shape of the pulse waveform is affected by the visco-elasticity characteristics of the arterial wall and the reflection waves generated at the bifurcations of arterial branches. This study was designed to improve the accuracy for the extraction of pulse wave features, then proved the superiority of the developed algorithm by clinical evaluation. Upstroke point of the pulse wave was used as an extraction feature since it is minimally affected by the waveform variation. R-peak of the ECG was used as a reference to decide the minimum level, then intersection of the least squares of regression line was used as an upstroke point. Developed algorithm was compared with the existing minimum value detection algorithm and tangent-intersection algorithm using data obtained from 102 subjects. Developed algorithm showed the least standard deviation of $0.29{\sim}0.44\;m/s$ compared with that of the existing algorithms, $0.91{\sim}3.66\;m/s$. Moreover, the rate of standard deviation of more than 1.00m/s for the PWV values reduced with the range of $29.0{\sim}42.4%$, which proved the superiority of the newly developed algorithm.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.525-536
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• 2005

The interfacial area transport equation dynamically models the changes in interfacial structures along the flow field by mechanistically modeling the creation and destruction of dispersed phase. Hence, when employed in the numerical thermal-hydraulic system analysis codes, it eliminates artificial bifurcations stemming from the use of the static flow regime transition criteria. Accounting for the substantial differences in the transport mechanism for various sizes of bubbles, the transport equation is formulated for two characteristic groups of bubbles. The group 1 equation describes the transport of small-dispersed bubbles, whereas the group 2 equation describes the transport of large cap, slug or chum-turbulent bubbles. To evaluate the feasibility and reliability of interfacial area transport equation available at present, it is benchmarked by an extensive database established in various two-phase flow configurations spanning from bubbly to chum-turbulent flow regimes. The geometrical effect in interfacial area transport is examined by the data acquired in vertical fir-water two-phase flow through round pipes of various sizes and a confined flow duct, and by those acquired In vertical co-current downward air-water two-phase flow through round pipes of two different sizes.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.12a
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• pp.121-124
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• 2006

The arteries are very important in cardiovascular system and easily adapt to varying flow and pressure conditions by enlarging or shrinking to meet the given hemodynamic demands. The blood flow in arteries is dominated by unsteady flow phenomena due to heart beating. In certain circumstances, however, unusual hemodynamic conditions cause an abnormal biological response and often induce circulatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, thrombosis and inflammation. Therefore quantitative analysis of the unsteady pulsatile flow characteristics in the arterial blood vessels plays important roles in diagnosing these circulatory diseases. In order to verify the hemodynamic characteristics, in-vivo measurements of blood flow inside the extraembryonic arterial bifurcation cascade of chicken embryo were carried out using a micro-PIV technique. To analyze the unsteady pulsatile flow temporally, the (low images of RBCs were obtained using a high-speed CMOS camera at 250fps with a spatial resolution of $30{\mu}m\times30{\mu}m$ in the whole blood vessels. In this study, the unusual flow conditions such as flow separation or secondary flow were not observed in the arterial bifurcations. However, the vorticity has large values in the inner side of curvature of vessels. In addition, the mean velocity in the arterial blood vessel was decreased and pulsating frequency obtained by FFT analysis of velocity data extracted in front of the each bifurcation was also decreased as the bifurcation cascaded.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2020

We present four cases of aberrant carotid arteries manifesting as pharyngeal masses with throat discomfort. The symptoms of this anomaly are very similar to those of laryngopharyngeal reflux or globus pharyngeus. The identification of this anomalous artery is essential for the head and neck surgeon because the anomaly frequently manifests as a symptomatic pulsatile mass in the pharynx. All patients complained of foreign body sensation in the throat and showed protrusion of the posterolateral pharyngeal wall anteromedially. CT scans demonstrated that there were two cases involving the right common carotid artery (CCA) and two cases involving both CCAs in the retropharyngeal space. As conclusion, the aberrant course of the artery can occur on both sides of CCAs, and it can manifest as a pharyngeal mass. When the patients complain of foreign body sensation in the throat without any other abnormal findings in the pharynx, we should consider the possibility that it may be due to the aberrant course of the CCA and its bifurcations in the retropharyngeal space.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.2507-2528
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• 2022

Blockchain interoperability, which refers in particular to the ability to access information across blockchain systems, plays the key role for different blockchains to communicate with each other, and further supports the superstructure built on top of the cross-chain mechanism. Nowadays, blockchain interoperability technology is still in its infancy. The existing cross-chain scheme such as BTCRelay requires that the smart contract in a blockchain to download and maintain block headers of the other blockchain, which is costly in maintenance and inefficient to use. In this paper, we propose a supervision mechanism between blockchains, called Surveillant. Specially, the new entities called dual-functional nodes are introduced to commit the real-time information from the blockchain under supervision to the supervising blockchain, which enables users to have efficient cross-chain verification. Furthermore, we introduce Merkle mountain range for blocks aggregation to deal with the large-scale committing data. We propose the design of long orphan branch counter to trace the bifurcations in the blockchain under supervision. The existing incentive mechanism is improved to encourage the behaviors of dual-functional nodes. In Surveillant, the analysis and experimental results demonstrate that users are able to have efficient cross-chain verification with low maintenance overhead.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.418-424
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• 2023

Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in combating infections and tumors. However, their therapeutic application in solid tumors is hindered by challenges, such as limited lifespan, tumor penetration, and delivery precision. Our research introduces a novel ultrasonic actuation technique to navigate NK cells more effectively in the vascular system, particularly at vessel bifurcations where targeted delivery is most problematic. We use a hemispherical ultrasonic transducer array that generates phase-modulated traveling waves, focusing on an ultrasound beam to steer NK cells using blood-flow dynamics and a focused acoustic field. This method enables the precise obstruction of non-target vessels and efficiently directs NK cells toward the tumor site. The simulation results offer insights into the behavior of NK cells under various conditions of cell size, radiation pressure, and fluid velocity, which inform the optimization of their trajectories and increase targeting efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of this ultrasonic approach for enhancing NK cell targeting, suggesting a potential leap forward in solid tumor immunotherapy. This study represents a significant step in NK cell therapeutic strategies, offering a viable solution to the existing limitations and promising enhancement of the efficacy of cancer treatments.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 1985

Renal arterial infusion of renotropic agents has been a very useful technique in the renal function studies. This type of experiments have usually been conducted in the large animals such as dogs and sheep. In these animals a catheter can be placed in the site without much disturbances of renal blood flow. Rabbits as an experimental model, however, caused a disturbances of renal blood flow by a catheterization of renal artery by its properties. Therefore we have developed a new technique that allows a simple and selective access to one side of renal arteries and the other as a control, without any disturbances of renal function. The distance between the both bifurcations of renal arteries on abdominal aorta is about 7 mm. To locate the tip of catheter on one side renal artery, ascending cannulation performed via femoral artery was done. We did an experiment with the technique to clarify the effect of calmodulin inhibitor on the renal function. One of the phenothiazine derivatives, trifluoperazine known as a powerful calmodulin inhibitor. Trifluoperazine, actual dose ranges of $2.76-5.20\;ug\;{\cdot}\;kg^{-1}\;{\cdot}\;min^{-1}$, increased urine volume and glomerular filtration rate significantly. Significant increases in urinary excretion of sodium, chloride and potassium were found. Fractional excretion of sodium and free water clearance increased significantly. These data suggest that this new technique is very useful in field of renal physiology and that striking effect of trifluoperazine on the renal function may be caused by increasing the renal hemodynamics, and by the inhibition of sodium, chloride and potassium reabsorption in the renal tubules.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.301-307
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• 2012

The characteristics of pressure loss in an asymmetric bifurcating tube were investigated numerically for steady inspiratory conditions. The loss coefficient K calculated for various asymmetry and flow-distribution ratios found in human lung airways showed a power-law dependence on the Reynolds number (Re) and length-to-diameter ratio (L/d), with different exponents for Re $\geq$ 100 and Re < 100. The fundamental characteristics of the asymmetric bifurcation are similar to the case of symmetric bifurcation. In addition, the effect of skewed inlet velocity profiles on the pressure loss was weak, and decreased with an increasing number of bifurcations.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2006

Objective : An Intracranial aneurysm is an important acquired cerebrovascular disease that can cause a catastrophic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Atherosclerosis is one of possible mechanism, but its contribution to aneurysm formation is unclear. Human apolipoprotein E[apoE] is best known for its arterial protection from atherosclerosis. In this study we observe apoE expression in experimental cerebral aneurysms of rats to elucidate the role of apoE in the process of cerebral aneurysm formation. Methods : Twenty-four male 7-week-old Sprague-Dawley strain rats received a cerebral aneurysm induction procedure. One month[12] and three months[12] after the operation, the rats were killed, their cerebral arteries were dissected, and the regions of the bifurcation of the right anterior cerebral artery-olfactory artery [ACA-OA] bifurcations were examined histologically and immunohistochemically. Results : In the 1 month group [n=12], the ACA-OA bifurcation showed no aneurysmal change in 7 rats and early aneurysmal change in 5 rats. In the 3 months group (n=12), the bifurcation showed no aneurysmal change in 2 rats and an advanced aneurysm in 10 rats. ApoE expression were in 3 specimen in early aneurysmal change, but not in advanced aneurysms. Conclusion : ApoE expression in early aneurysmal wall suggests a possible role for apoE in early events leading to aneurysm formation. Further studios are necessary to elucidate the exact role of apoE in the pathophysiology of cerebral aneurysm.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.479-486
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• 2011

In image-based CFD modeling of carotid bifurcation hemodynamics, it is often not possible (or at least not convenient) to impose measured velocity profiles at the common carotid artery inlet. Instead, fully-developed velocity profiles are usually imposed based on measured flow rates. However, some studies reported a pronounced influence of inflow boundary conditions that were based on actual velocity profiles measured by magnetic resonance imaging which showing the unusual presence of a high velocity band in the middle of the vessel during early diastole inconsistent with a Dean-type velocity profile. We demonstrated that those velocity profiles were induced by the presence of modest secondary curvature of the inlet and set about to test whether such more "realistic" velocity profiles might indeed have a more pronounced influence on the carotid bifurcation hemodynamics. We found that inlet boundary condition with axisymmetric fully-developed velocity profile(Womersley flow) is reasonable as long as sufficient CCA inlet length of realistic geometry is applied.