• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.323-330
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• 2021

Visual object tracking is a challenging area of study in the field of computer vision due to many difficult problems, including a fast variation of target shape, occlusion, and arbitrary ground truth object designation. In this paper, we focus on the reinforced feature of the dynamic search area to get better performance than conventional discriminative model prediction trackers on the condition when the accuracy deteriorates since low feature discrimination. We propose a reinforced input feature method shown like the spotlight effect on the dynamic search area of the target tracking. This method can be used to improve performances for deep learning based discriminative model prediction tracker, also various types of trackers which are used to infer the center of the target based on the visual object tracking. The proposed method shows the improved tracking performance than the baseline trackers, achieving a relative gain of 38% quantitative improvement from 0.433 to 0.601 F-score at the visual object tracking evaluation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.365-369
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• 2021

Background: Law enforcement communications (i.e., 911 dispatch and call takers) is a challenging and stressful occupation. The purpose of this study is to identify the main stressors associated with employment in law enforcement communications, and to identify and provide context to how these stressors affect workers' health and wellbeing. Methods: This research study included focus groups with 23 call takers and 911 dispatchers employed by a large, urban law enforcement agency in 2018. Thematic analyses were conducted to identify trends. Results: Four themes of stressors emerged (i.e., the high stakes nature of some 911 calls for service, understaffing, supervisor-related stress, and recruiting practice). Two health-related themes emerged as being occupation-related: weight gain and poor sleep patterns/insufficient sleep). Specifically, participants reported negative eating habits resulting in weight gain and obesity, lack of sleep and irregular sleep schedules, and development of hypertension and/or diabetes since beginning their jobs. Conclusion: Law enforcement communications professionals experience a number of the same stressors facing law enforcement officers in patrol. These stressors, combined with the sedentary nature of the job, could result in long-term, chronic health problems.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2021

One of the most challenging issues when robots interact with the environment is to establish contact quickly and avoid high impact force at the same time. The proposed method implements the passive suspension system using the redundancy of the torque-controlled robot. Instead of utilizing the actual mechanical compliance, the distal joints near the end-effector are controlled to act as a virtual spring-damper system with low feedback gains. The proximal joints are precisely controlled to push the mid-link, which is defined as the boundary link between the proximal and distal joints, towards the environment with high feedback gains. Compared to the active compliance methods, the contact force measurements or estimates are not required for contact establishment and the control time delay problems do not occur correspondingly. The proposed method was applied to the landing foot control of the 12-DoF biped robot DYROS-RED in the simulations. In the results, the impact force during landing was significantly reduced at the same collision speed.

• The Korean journal of internal medicine
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1039-1049
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• 2018

The populations of Asian countries are expected to age rapidly in the near future, with a dramatic increase in the number of heart failure (HF) patients also anticipated. The need for palliative and end-of-life care for elderly patients with advanced HF is currently recognized in aging societies. However, palliative care and active treatment for HF are not mutually exclusive, and palliative care should be provided to reduce suffering occurring at any stage of symptomatic HF after the point of diagnosis. HF patients are at high risk of sudden cardiac death from the early stages of the disease onwards. The decision of whether to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event of an emergency is challenging, especially in elderly HF patients, because of the difficulty in accurately predicting the prognosis of the condition. Furthermore, advanced HF patients are often fitted with a device, and device deactivation at the end of life is a complicated process. Treatment strategies should thus be discussed by multi-disciplinary teams, including palliative experts, and should consider patient directives to address the problems discussed above. Open communication with the HF patient regarding the expected prognosis, course, and treatment options will serve to support the patient and aid in future planning.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.456-462
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• 2019

Hydrocarbon contamination is among the most challenging problems in soil remediation. Electrokinetic method can be a promising method to remediate hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. Electrokinetic method consists of different transport phenomena including electro-migration, electrophoresis, and electroosmotic flow. Electroosmotic flow is the main transport phenomenon for hydrocarbon removal in soil porous media. However, the main component of hydrocarbons is the hydrophobic organic which indicates low water solubility; therefore, it makes the electroosmotic flow less effective. The objective of the present study is to enhance electrokinetic remediation of diesel-contaminated silty sand by increasing the solubility of the hydrocarbons in the soil and then increase the efficiency. For this purpose, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used as a catholyte. In this content, SDS 0.05 M was used as catholyte and $Na_2SO_4$ 0.1 M was used as an anolyte. Low (1 V/cm) and high (2 V/cm) voltage gradients were used in periodic and continuous forms. The best removal efficiency was observed for high voltage gradient (2 V/cm) in a periodic form, which was 63.86. This result showed that a combination of periodic voltage application in addition to the employment of SDS is an effective method for hydrocarbon removal from low permeable sand.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5765-5781
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• 2018

Extreme learning machine (ELM) is emerging as a powerful machine learning method in a variety of application scenarios due to its promising advantages of high accuracy, fast learning speed and easy of implementation. However, how to select the optimal hidden layer of ELM is still an open question in the ELM community. Basically, the number of hidden layer nodes is a sensitive hyperparameter that significantly affects the performance of ELM. To address this challenging problem, we propose to adopt multiple kernel learning (MKL) to design a multi-hidden-layer-kernel ELM (MHLK-ELM). Specifically, we first integrate kernel functions with random feature mapping of ELM to design a hidden-layer-kernel ELM (HLK-ELM), which serves as the base of MHLK-ELM. Then, we utilize the MKL method to propose two versions of MHLK-ELMs, called sparse and non-sparse MHLK-ELMs. Both two types of MHLK-ELMs can effectively find out the optimal linear combination of multiple HLK-ELMs for different classification and regression problems. Experimental results on seven data sets, among which three data sets are relevant to classification and four ones are relevant to regression, demonstrate that the proposed MHLK-ELM achieves superior performance compared with conventional ELM and basic HLK-ELM.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.573-578
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• 2019

Anisotropic distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy and the near-field excitations are the main causes of the steady state Flow-Induced Vibration (FIV) which could lead to fretting wear damage in vertically arranged supported slender rods. In this article, a combined Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Structural Mechanic (CSM) approach named two-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) is used to investigate the modal characteristics of a typical rod's vibration. Performance of an Unsteady Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes (URANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence models on asymmetric fluctuations of the flow field are investigated. Using the LES turbulence model, any large deformation damps into a weak oscillation which remains in the system. However, it is challenging to use LES in two-way FSI problems from fluid domain discretization point of view which is investigated in this article as the innovation. It is concluded that the near-wall meshes whiten the viscous sub-layer is of great importance to estimate the Root Mean Square (RMS) of FIV amplitude correctly as a significant fretting wear parameter otherwise it merely computes the frequency of FIV.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.705-714
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• 2019

Seismic assessment of underground structures is one of the challenging problems in engineering design. This is because there are usually many sources of uncertainties in rocks and probable earthquake characteristics. Therefore, for decreasing of the uncertainties, seismic response of underground structures should be evaluated by sufficient number of earthquake records which is scarcely possible in common seismic assessment of underground structures. In the present study, a practical risk-based approach was performed for seismic risk assessment of an unsupported tunnel. For this purpose, Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) was used to evaluate the seismic response of a tunnel in south-west railway of Iran and different analyses were conducted using 15 real records of earthquakes which were chosen from the PEER ground motion database. All of the selected records were scaled to different intensity levels (PGA=0.1-1.7 g) and applied to the numerical models. Based on the numerical modeling results, seismic fragility curves of the tunnel under study were derived from the IDA curves. In the next, seismic risk curve of the tunnel were determined by convolving the hazard and fragility curves. On the basis of the tunnel fragility curves, an earthquake with PGA equal to 0.35 g may lead to severe damage or collapse of the tunnel with only 3% probability and the probability of moderate damage to the tunnel is 12%.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2022

The reconstruction of total lower eyelid defects is challenging to plastic surgeons due to the complicated anatomical structure of the eyelid. In addition, in the setting of cancer excision, the resection is deep, which requires some volume augmentation. However, in some cases, free tissue transfer is not applicable. We report a case of using a temporoparietal fascia flap (TPFF) for reconstructing a total lower eyelid defect. A large erythematous mass in an 83-year-old woman was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma by biopsy. After wide excision, the defect size was about 8×6 cm. The lower eyelid structures including the tarsus were removed. The TPFF including the superficial temporal artery was elevated and inset to the defect area. After the flap inset, a split-thickness skin graft with an acellular dermal matrix was performed on the fascial flap. There were no wound problems such as infection, dehiscence, or necrosis. After the patient's discharge, partial skin graft loss and ectropion occurred. The complications resolved spontaneously during the postoperative period. We report a case of reconstructing a lower eyelid defect using a TPFF. A TPFF can be applied to patients with large defects for whom free tissue transfer surgery is not appropriate as in this case.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.33-43
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• 2022

We evaluated the problems of the current disaster psychological recovery support system of the Ministry of Interior and Safety for periodic infectious disease disasters, including COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). The current disaster psychological recovery support systems are challenging to preemptively respond to infectious disease disasters over a wide range and for a long period. These result from the workforce shortage according to the face-to-face consultation method and the limited real-time application of consultation contents. Additionally, due to the workforce shortage, it is difficult to track those who have experienced disasters in the long term. Furthermore, most disaster psychology evaluation tools are for adults, and there are few evaluation tools for children and adolescents. This paper presents an advanced disaster psychological recovery support platform technology that can actively assist people in psychological recovery from disasters while mitigating these issues.