• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

In the water-filling and preloading test, the sensing cables were installed on the surface of steel spiral case and in the surrounding concrete to monitor the strain distribution of several cross-sections by using Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA), a kind of distributed optical fiber sensing (DOFS) technology. The average hoop strain of the spiral case was about $330{\mu}{\varepsilon}$ and $590{\mu}{\varepsilon}$ when the water-filling pressure in the spiral case was 2.6 MPa and 4.1 MPa. The difference between the measured and the calculated strain was only about $50{\mu}{\varepsilon}$. It was the first time that the stress adjustment of the spiral case was monitored by the sensing cable when the pressure was increased to 1 MPa and the residual strain of $20{\mu}{\varepsilon}$ was obtained after preloading. Meanwhile, the shrinkage of $70{\sim}100{\mu}{\varepsilon}$ of the surrounding concrete was effectively monitored during the depressurization. It is estimated that the width of the gap between the steel spiral case and the surrounding concrete was 0.51 ~ 0.75 mm. BOTDA based distributed optical fiber sensing technology can obtain continuous strain of the structure and it is more reliable than traditional point sensor. The strain distribution obtained by BOTDA provides strong support for the design and optimization of the spiral case structure.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2385-2390
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• 2015

Background: Invasive ductal (IDC) and lobular (ILC) carcinomas are the common histological types of breast carcinoma which are difficult to distinguish when poorly differentiated. Discoidin domain receptor (DDR1) and Drosophila dishevelled protein (DVL1) were recently suggested to differentiate IDC from ILC. Objectives: To assess the expression of DDR1 and DVL1 and their association with histological type, grading and hormonal status of IDC and ILC. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on IDC and ILC breast tumours. Tumours were immunohistochemically stained for (DDR1) and (DVL1) as well as estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and C-erbB2 receptor. Demographic data including age and ethnicity were obtained from patient records. Results: A total of 51 cases (30 IDCs and 21 ILCs) were assessed. DDR1 and DVL1 expression was not significantly associated with histological type (p=0.57 and p=0.66 respectively). There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1 expression and tumour grade (p=0.32 and p=1.00 respectively), ER (p=0.62 and 0.50 respectively), PR (p=0.38 and p=0.63 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression (p=0.19 and p=0.33 respectively) in IDC. There was no association between DDR1 and DVL1 expression and tumour grade (p=0.52 and p=0.33 respectively), ER (p=0.06 and p=0.76 respectively), PR (p=0.61 and p=0.43 respectively) and C-erbB2 expression (p=0.58 and p=0.76 respectively) in ILC. Conclusions: This study revealed that DDR1 and DVL1 are present in both IDC and ILC regardless of the tumour differentiation. More studies are needed to assess the potential of these two proteins in distinguishing IDC from ILC in breast tumours.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2749-2752
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• 2012

Background: Breaking bad news to cancer patients is a delicate and challenging task for most doctors. Better understanding of patients' preferences in breaking bad news can guide doctors in performing this task. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the preferences of Malaysian cancer patients regarding the communication of bad news. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Oncology clinic of a tertiary teaching hospital. Two hundred adult cancer patients were recruited via purposive quota sampling. They were required to complete the Malay language version of the Measure of Patients' Preferences (MPP-BM) with minimal researcher assistance. Their responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Association between demographic characteristics and domain scores were tested using non-parametric statistical tests. Results: Nine items were rated by the patients as essential: "Doctor is honest about the severity of my condition", "Doctor describing my treatment options in detail", "Doctor telling me best treatment options", Doctor letting me know all of the different treatment options", "Doctor being up to date on research on my type of cancer", "Doctor telling me news directly", "Being given detailed info about results of medical tests", "Being told in person", and "Having doctor offer hope about my condition". All these items had median scores of 5/5 (IQR:4-5). The median scores for the three domains were: "Content and Facilitation" 74/85, "Emotional Support" 23/30 and "Structural and Informational Support" 31/40. Ethnicity was found to be significantly associated with scores for "Content and Facilitation" and "Emotional Support". Educational status was significantly associated with scores for "Structural and Informational Support". Conclusion: Malaysian cancer patients appreciate the ability of the doctor to provide adequate information using good communication skills during the process of breaking bad news. Provision of emotional support, structural support and informational support were also highly appreciated.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 2014

In this paper, we propose an efficient OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) frame synchronization scheme for LED-ID(Identification) systems. A frame synchronization is an essential procedure for normal operations of OFDM systems. Bernoulli-Gaussian noise is considered in LED-ID systems' environments. In order to enhance the OFDM frame synchronization performance, we add a ROGS(Repeated Orthogonal Gold Sequence) to OFDM signals in the time domain. The power level of a ROGS does not affect a normal operation of the LED-ID systems. Frame synchronization can be achieved successfully over LED-ID channels interfered by impulsive noise owing to good auto and cross-correlation properties of the ROGS.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.154-168
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to adapt the previously developed, high-quality oral care guideline for the usage in clinical settings in Korea. Methods: Guideline adaptation process was undertaken according to the guideline adaptation manual version 2.0 developed by National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (Kim, et al., 2011) and the standardized methodology for nursing practice guideline adaptation (Gu, et al. 2012). Results: The adapted oral care guideline was consisted of 10 domains and 85 recommendations. The number of recommendations in each domain were: 4 general issues, 2 oral care indications, 10 oral assessment 16 general oral care, 15 oral care for critically ill, 15 oral care for cancer patients, 14 oral care for cancer patients withoral complications, 5 oral careeducation, 2 oral care referral, and 2 documentation and report. Ten point six percent of the recommendations were rated as grade A, 20.0% as grade B grade, and more than half (69.4%) were rated as grade C. Conclusion: The adapted oral care practice guideline is expected to included the evidence-based practice guidelines as fundamentalss of nursing practice. Dissemination of the developed guideline nationwide would contribute improving the efficiency of oral care practice.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.19-27
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• 2012

In railway tunnel environment, the reliability of a high-data-rate and real-time train-to-wayside communication should be maintained especially when high-speed train moves along the track. In China and Europe, the communication frequency around 900 MHz is widely used for railway applications. At this carrier frequency band, both of the solutions based on continuously laid leaky coaxial cable (LCX) and discretely installed base-station antennas (BSAs), are applied in tunnel radio coverage. Many available works have concentrated on the radio-wave propagation in tunnels by different kinds of prediction models. Most of them solve this problem as natural propagation in a relatively large hollow waveguide, by neglecting the transmitting/receiving (Tx/Rx) components. However, within such confined areas like railway tunnels especially loaded with train, the complex communication environment becomes an important factor that would affect the quality of the signal transmission. This paper will apply a full-wave numerical method to this case, for considering the BSA or LCX, train antennas and their interacted environments, such as the locomotive body, overhead line for power supply, locomotive pantograph, steel rails, ballastless track, tunnel walls, etc.. Involving finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and uni-axial anisotropic perfectly matched layer (UPML) technique, the entire wireless RF downlinks of BSA and LCX to tunnel space to train antenna are precisely modeled (so-called integrative modeling technique, IMT). When exciting the BSA and LCX separately, the field distributions of some cross-sections in a rectangular tunnel are presented. It can be found that the influence of the locomotive body and other tunnel environments is very significant. The field coverage on the locomotive roof plane where the train antennas mounted, seems more homogenous when the side-laying position of the BSA or LCX is much higher. Also, much smoother field coverage solution is achieved by choosing LCX for its characteristic of more homogenous electromagnetic wave radiation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.261-270
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• 2013

As part of the development of the 3-D geologic modeling software, this study addresses on new development of software modules that can perform the analysis and visualization of the fracture network system in 3-D. The developed software modules, such as BOUNDARY, DISK3D, FNTWK3D, CSECT and BDM, are coded on Microsoft Visual Studio platform using the MFC and OpenGL library supported by C++ program language. Each module plays a role in construction of analysis domain, visualization of fracture geometry in 3-D, calculation of equivalent pipes, production of cross-section map and management of borehole data, respectively. The developed software modules for analysis and visualization of the 3-D fracture network system can be used to tackle the geomechanical problems related to strength, deformability and hydraulic behaviors of the fractured rock masses. All these benefits will further enhance the economic competitiveness of the domestic software industry.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.381-385
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• 2015

Background:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most common malignancy in Egypt. Data mining is a method of predictive analysis which can explore tremendous volumes of information to discover hidden patterns and relationships. Our aim here was to develop a non-invasive algorithm for prediction of HCC. Such an algorithm should be economical, reliable, easy to apply and acceptable by domain experts. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 315 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related chronic liver disease (CLD); 135 HCC, 116 cirrhotic patients without HCC and 64 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Using data mining analysis, we constructed a decision tree learning algorithm to predict HCC. Results: The decision tree algorithm was able to predict HCC with recall (sensitivity) of 83.5% and precession (specificity) of 83.3% using only routine data. The correctly classified instances were 259 (82.2%), and the incorrectly classified instances were 56 (17.8%). Out of 29 attributes, serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP), with an optimal cutoff value of ${\geq}50.3ng/ml$ was selected as the best predictor of HCC. To a lesser extent, male sex, presence of cirrhosis, AST>64U/L, and ascites were variables associated with HCC. Conclusion: Data mining analysis allows discovery of hidden patterns and enables the development of models to predict HCC, utilizing routine data as an alternative to CT and liver biopsy. This study has highlighted a new cutoff for AFP (${\geq}50.3ng/ml$). Presence of a score of >2 risk variables (out of 5) can successfully predict HCC with a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 82%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1479-1485
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• 2015

Background: Even after completion of conventional treatment, breast cancer survivors continue to exhibit a variety of psychological and physical symptoms, affecting their quality of life. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between socio-demography, medical characteristics and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of a sample of breast cancer survivors in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This pilot cross-sectional survey was conducted among breast cancer survivors (n=40) who were members of Breast Cancer Support Group Centre Johor Bahru. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to identify the relationships between socio-demography, medical characteristics and HR-QOL of the participants. Results: Living with family and completion of treatment were significant predictive factors of self-rated QOL, while living with family and ever giving birth significantly predicted satisfaction with health and physical health. Psychological health had moderate correlations with number of children and early cancer stage. Survivors' higher personal income (>MYR4,500) was the only significant predictor of social relationship, while age, income more than MYR4,500 and giving birth significantly predicted environment domain score. Conclusions: The findings suggested the survivors coped better in all four HR-QOL domains if they were married, lived with family, had children and were employed.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.38A no.11
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• pp.955-966
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• 2013

We propose two feedback interference cancellers(FICs) to improve the performance of the equalization digital on-channel repeater(EDOCR) with the FIC for the ATSC DTV broadcasting system. The FIC estimates the feedback channel between Tx. and Rx. antennas of the repeater by cross-correlating the reference signal and the feedback signal. Since there is a DC pilot which ruins the white property of the ATSC DTV signals, the FIC cannot estimate the feedback channel accurately. To solve the problem, the structural method which uses an additional DC pilot free reference for feedback channel estimation and the algorithmic method based on the digital signal processing which whitens the ATSC DTV signals and performs the feedback cancellation in the whitened signal domain. Simulation results show that the proposed two FICs show better feedback cancellation performance than the conventional FIC.