• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.85 no.2
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• pp.381-393
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• 2024

Purpose Metabolic abnormalities in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) cause brain edema or demyelinating disease, resulting in symmetric regional cerebral edema (SRCE) on MRI. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of the clustering analysis of SRCE in predicting the development of brain failure. Materials and Methods MR findings and clinical data of 98 consecutive patients with HE were retrospectively analyzed. The correlation between the 12 regions of SRCE was calculated using the phi (φ) coefficient, and the pattern was classified using hierarchical clustering using the φ² distance measure and Ward's method. The classified patterns of SRCE were correlated with clinical parameters such as the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score and HE grade. Results Significant associations were found between 22 pairs of regions of interest, including the red nucleus and corpus callosum (φ = 0.81, p < 0.001), crus cerebri and red nucleus (φ = 0.72, p < 0.001), and red nucleus and dentate nucleus (φ = 0.66, p < 0.001). After hierarchical clustering, 24 cases were classified into Group I, 35 into Group II, and 39 into Group III. Group III had a higher MELD score (p = 0.04) and HE grade (p = 0.002) than Group I. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that the SRCE patterns can be useful in predicting hepatic preservation and the occurrence of cerebral failure in HE.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.251-268
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• 2024

Recently, with the implementation of the "e-Government Performance Management Guidelines," there is a growing demand for setting performance indicators for information systems. For systems that provide information services to the public, such as CODIL, it is not easy to set performance indicators. This study presented a research model that applies Monte Carlo simulation to set expected performance targets that can be achieved through CODIL based on objective evidence. Among the survey contents conducted from 2015 to 2023, the statistical characteristics of user satisfaction regarding the frequency of use of construction technology information provided by CODIL were designated as input variables. Future expected targets and confidence intervals from 2024 to 2026 were designated as outcome variables. The expected target value was measured by generating 5 simulation alternatives and 1,000 random numbers for each alternative. Next, the measured expected goals were interpreted and compared with the results of time series regression analysis measured in previous studies. Although, as in previous studies, the expected target value could not be predicted based on time series regression analysis that considers the correlation between years. However, compared to previous studies, this study can be considered a more accurate analysis result because it predicted the expected target value based on 5,000 input variables.

• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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• v.483 no.3
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• pp.3950-3970
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• 2019

We investigate the spatial distribution of Ly α-emitting galaxies (LAEs) at z ≈ 2.67, selected from the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey, using two-point statistics and topological diagnostics adopted from network science. We measure the clustering length, r₀ ≈ 4 h^-1 Mpc, and the bias, b_LAE = 2.2^+0.2_-0.1. Fitting the clustering with halo occupation distribution (HOD) models results in two disparate possibilities: (1) where the fraction of central galaxies is <1 per cent in haloes of mass >10¹² M_⊙ and (2) where the fraction is ≈20 per cent. We refer to these two scenarios as the 'Dusty Core Scenario' for Model#1, since most of the central galaxies in massive haloes are dead in Ly α emission, and the 'Pristine Core Scenario' for Model#2, since the central galaxies are bright in Ly α emission. Traditional two-point statistics cannot distinguish between these disparate models given the current data sets. To overcome this degeneracy, we generate mock catalogues for each HOD model using a high-resolution N-body simulation and adopt a network statistics approach, which provides excellent topological diagnostics for galaxy point distributions. We find three topological anomalies from the spatial distribution of observed LAEs, which are not reproduced by the HOD mocks. We find that Model#2 matches better all network statistics than Model#1, suggesting that the central galaxies in >10¹² h^-1 M_⊙ haloes at z ≈ 2.67 need to be less dusty to be bright as LAEs, potentially implying some replenishing channels of pristine gas such as the cold mode accretion.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.244-254
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• 2024

PURPOSE. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of a four-item questionnaire using a face rating scale to measure dental trait anxiety (DTA), dental trait fear (DTF), dental state anxiety (DSA), and dental state fear (DSF). MATERIALS AND METHODS. Participants were consecutively selected from patients undergoing scaling (S-group; n = 47) and implant placement (I-group; n = 25). The S-group completed the questionnaire both before initial and second scaling, whereas the I-group responded on the pre-surgery day (Pre-day), the day of implant placement (Imp-day), and the day of suture removal (Post-day). RESULTS. The reliability in the S-group was evaluated using the test-retest method, showing a weighted kappa value of DTA, 0.61; DTF, 0.46; DSA, 0.67; DSF, 0.52. Criterion-related validity, assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory's trait anxiety and state anxiety, revealed positive correlations between trait anxiety and DTA/DTF (DTA, ρ = 0.30; DTF, ρ = 0.27, ρ: correlation coefficient) and between state anxiety and all four items (DTA, ρ = 0.41; DTF, ρ = 0.32; DSA, ρ = 0.25; DSF, ρ = 0.25). Known-group validity was assessed using the initial data and Imp-day data from the S-group and I-group, respectively, revealing significantly higher DSA and DSF scores in the I-group than in the S-group. Responsiveness was gauged using I-group data, showing significantly lower DSA and DSF scores on post-day compared to other days. CONCLUSION. The newly developed questionnaire has acceptable reliability and validity for clinical use, suggesting its usefulness for research on dental anxiety and fear and for providing patient-specific dental care.

• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.59-71
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• 2023

This paper proposes a method of estimating the illumination chromaticity of a scene in which an image is taken. Storring and Bianco proposed a method of estimating illuminant chromaticity using skin color. Storring et al. used skin color distribution characteristics and black body locus, but there is a problem that the link between the locus and CIE-xy data is reduced. Bianco et al. estimated the illuminant chromaticity by comparing the skin color distribution in standard lighting with the skin color distribution in the input image. This method is difficult to measure and secure as much skin color as possible in various illumination. The proposed method can estimate the illuminant chromaticity for any input image by analyzing the relationship between the skin color information and the illuminant chromaticity. The estimation method is divided into an analysis stage and a test stage, and the data set was classified into an analysis group and a test group and used. Skin chromaticity is calculated by obtaining skin color areas from all input images of the analysis group, respectively. A mapping is obtained by analyzing the correlation between the average set of skin chromaticity and the reference illuminant chromaticity set. The calculated mapping is applied to all input images of the analysis group to estimate the illuminant chromaticity, calculate the error with the reference illuminant chromaticity, and repeat the above process until there is no change in the error to obtain a stable mapping. The obtained mapping is applied to the test group images similar to the analysis stage to estimate the illuminant chromaticity. Since there is no independent data set containing skin area and illuminant reference information, the experimental data set was made using some of the images of the Intel TAU data set. Compared to Finlayson, a similar theory-based existing method, it showed performance improvement of more than 40%, Zhang 11%, and Kim 16%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2182-2189
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• 2024

The high-purity germanium gamma-ray spectrometer was used to measure the radioisotope in surface water of lakes in a Chinee petroleum industrial area. 92 samples were collected from surface water of three lakes. Activity concentrations of ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K in three lakes were measured, distributed in the range of 101.8-209.4, 192.1-224.9 and 335.0-548.9 mBq/L, respectively. Results were all within the limits of WHO and China. Potential environmental and health risks were assessed by calculating some radiation hazard indicators, radium equivalent index, annual effective dose, excess lifetime cancer risk, absorbed dose rate, external hazard index, internal hazard index, annual gonadal dose equivalent, activity utilization index and representative gamma index, which ranged 0.38-0.54 Bq/L, 0.06-0.08 mSv/y, 0.23 × 10^-3-0.31 × 10^-3, 0.17-0.24 nGy/h, 1.01 × 10^-3-1.46 × 10^-3, 1.55 × 10^-3-2.02 × 10^-3, 1.16-1.66 μSv/y, 3.13 × 10^-3-4.45 × 10^-3 and 2.60 × 10^-3-3.77 × 10^-3. The results were all at acceptable levels, meaning no impact on human health. The relationship between the electrical conductivity of surface water and the activity concentration of ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K was evaluated. The electrical conductivity value was 0.241-0.369 mS/cm, showing a significant correlation coefficient between ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K and electrical conductivity. Multivariate statistical methods were used to determine the relationship between the activity concentrations of ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra, and ⁴⁰K, radiation hazard indicators and electrical conductivity.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.100-109
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• 2024

There are various methods in surface image velocimetry that can measure the flow velocity of a river surface using footage of a river surface. Among them, spatio-temporal image velocimetry (STIV) is widely used. This paper analyzed advantages and disadvantages of two STIV methods developed by the author, correlation-based STIV (C-STIV) and FFT-based STIV (F-STIV). This study also proposed a new method, hybrid STIV (H-STIV), that could supplement the advantages and disadvantages of the two existing methods by combining them. For the analyses, 20 cases of artificial spatio-temporal images, having image displacement ranging from 0.1 px/fr to 19.0 px/fr, were prepared. As a result, F-STIV was accurate with footage containing small image displacements and C-STIV was more accurate with footage containing large image displacements. For images with medium displacement, the two methods showed similar accuracies. Based on this result, H-STIV was proposed to adopt the result of F-STIV in displacements smaller than 2.0 px/fr (image strip slope 63.4°) and the result of C-STIV in larger displacements. As a result of applying the proposed method to argumentation, it was confirmed that H-STIV could calculate the flow velocity efficiently according to the situation.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.427-433
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• 2024

As the automotive industry transitions from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV) to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), customers are becoming increasingly aware of and demanding solutions to squeak noises, especially from audio, video, and navigation (AVN) components. These noises occur under relatively high load and low speed conditions and cannot be reproduced on commercial friction test equipment. Therefore, a new friction testing machine was developed and evaluated in this study. This machine is a pin-on-disk type tribometer that can set up the squeak noises test conditions for AVN component materials and quantitatively measure acceleration, sound pressure, and displacement due to friction. The developed equipment was evaluated through two types of tests: the noise evaluation of well-known contact pairs, and the comparison test of the friction coefficient repeatability. The test results confirm that the developed test machine can be utilized for the evaluation of the squeak noise. In addition, it was also found that the characteristics of squeak noise in high load and low speed conditions can be defined as groan noise. Moreover, displacement, friction force, acceleration was found to have a relationship with sound amplitude with relation of more than R² = 0.75. Acceleration can be a key parameter to predict squeak noise, since it has a strong correlation (R² = 0.94) in high load low speed conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 1997

Recently, [I-123]IPT SPECT has been used for early diagnosis of Parkinson's patients(PP) by imaging dopamine transporters. The dynamic time activity curves in basal ganglia(BG) and occipital cortex(OCC) without blood samples were obtained for 2 hours. These data were then used to measure dopamine transporters by operationally defined ratio methods of (BG-OCC)/OCC at 2 hrs, binding potential $R_v=k_3/k_4$ using graphic method or $R_A$= (ABBG-ABOCC)/ABOCC for 2 hrs, where ABBG represents accumulated binding activity in basal ganglia(${\int}^{120min}_0$ BG(t)dt) and ABOCC represents accumulated binding activity in occipital cortex(${\int}^{120min}_0$ OCC(t)dt). The purpose of this study was to examine the IPT pharmacokinetics and investigate the usefulness of simplified methods of (BG-OCC)/OCC, $R_A$, and $R_v$ which are often assumed that these values reflect the true values of $k_3/k_4$. The rate constants $K_1,\;k_2\;k_3$ and $k_4$ to be used for simulations were derived using [I-123]IPT SPECT and aterialized blood data with a standard three compartmental model. The sensitivities and time activity curves in BG and OCC were computed by changing $K_l$ and $k_3$(only BG) for every 5min over 2 hours. The values (BG-OCC)/OCC, $R_A$, and $R_v$ were then computed from the time activity curves and the linear regression analysis was used to measure the accuracies of these methods. The late constants $K_l,\;k_2\;k_3\;k_4$ at BG and OCC were $1.26{\pm}5.41%,\;0.044{\pm}19.58%,\;0.031{\pm}24.36%,\;0.008{\pm}22.78%$ and $1.36{\pm}4.76%,\;0.170{\pm}6.89%,\;0.007{\pm}23.89%,\;0.007{\pm}45.09%$, respectively. The Sensitivities for ((${\Delta}S/S$)/(${\Delta}k_3/k_3$)) and ((${\Delta}S/S$)/(${\Delta}K_l/K_l$)) at 30min and 120min were measured as (0.19, 0.50) and (0.61, 0,23), respectively. The correlation coefficients and slopes of ((BG-OCC)/OCC, $R_A$, and $R_v$) with $k_3/k_4$ were (0.98, 1.00, 0.99) and (1.76, 0.47, 1.25), respectively. These simulation results indicate that a late [I-123]IPT SPECT image may represent the distribution of the dopamine transporters. Good correlations were shown between (3G-OCC)/OCC, $R_A$ or $R_v$ and true $k_3/k_4$, although the slopes between them were not unity. Pharmacokinetic computer simulations may be a very useful technique in studying dopamine transporter systems.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

The bleaching phenomenon of otter spraints is indicates that the age of spraints (fresh or old spraints). As previous studies on the old otter faeces (spraint) have focused only on the external changes of spraints, it has been difficult to explain the difference of the decomposition rates among old spraints. We hypothesized that the micrometeorology difference caused by various characteristics of sprainting sites such as porosity and consistency of soil could affect the extent of the decomposition rate, the solar bleaching phenomenon of spraints used as a measure of the patterns of old spraints. Sprainting sites were classified into four types (Clay, Sand, Rock and Concrete spot) and each type was divided into two groups according to the sunlight condition (Sunny site and Shady site) to measure the effect of solar radiation. Micrometeorology of the sites were evaluated by measuring temperatures and humidities of the sites during the whole season. The variations in micrometeorology of the sunny sites according to the sprainting site types were examined with correlation analyses between the factors of micrometeorology. The analyses on the bleaching phenomenon of the spraints by micrometeorology showed that the highest rate of bleaching was found at the 'Rock spot' and 'Concrete spot' of the sunny site and especially in summer, the highest rate of bleaching ($63.4{\pm}7.6%$) was found at the 'Clay spot' of the sunny sites. The lowest rate of bleaching was found at the 'Sand spot' of the sunny sites. The above findings show that the difference in bleaching rates among sprainting sites was due to the seasonal or sunny condition. In addition, we found that the differences in thermal conductivity among sprainting site characteristics have resulted in different sprainting site temperature which have affected the rate of bleaching of spraints. In conclusion, this study suggests that studies of otters on their population size and home ranges using spraints as an indirect sign, should consider the effects of sprainting site characteristics and weather conditions.