• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2008

In this paper, we present a real-time algorithm for recognizing the vehicle color from the indoor and outdoor vehicle images based on GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) acceleration. In the preprocessing step, we construct feature victors from the sample vehicle images with different colors. Then, we combine the feature vectors for each color and store them as a reference texture that would be used in the GPU. Given an input vehicle image, the CPU constructs its feature Hector, and then the GPU compares it with the sample feature vectors in the reference texture. The similarities between the input feature vector and the sample feature vectors for each color are measured, and then the result is transferred to the CPU to recognize the vehicle color. The output colors are categorized into seven colors that include three achromatic colors: black, silver, and white and four chromatic colors: red, yellow, blue, and green. We construct feature vectors by using the histograms which consist of hue-saturation pairs and hue-intensity pairs. The weight factor is given to the saturation values. Our algorithm shows 94.67% of successful color recognition rate, by using a large number of sample images captured in various environments, by generating feature vectors that distinguish different colors, and by utilizing an appropriate likelihood function. We also accelerate the speed of color recognition by utilizing the parallel computation functionality in the GPU. In the experiments, we constructed a reference texture from 7,168 sample images, where 1,024 images were used for each color. The average time for generating a feature vector is 0.509ms for the $150{\times}113$ resolution image. After the feature vector is constructed, the execution time for GPU-based color recognition is 2.316ms in average, and this is 5.47 times faster than the case when the algorithm is executed in the CPU. Our experiments were limited to the vehicle images only, but our algorithm can be extended to the input images of the general objects.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2011

Purpose: The recently adopted multiple confocal SPECT SYSTEM (hereinafter called IQ SPECT$^{TM}$) has a high difference from the conventional myocardial perfusion SPECT in the collimator form, image capture method, and image reconstruction method. This study was conducted to compare this novice equipment with the conventional one to design a protocol meeting the IQ SPECT, and also determine the characteristics and usefulness of IQ SPECT. Materials and Methods: 1. For the objects of LEHR (Low energy high resolution) collimator and Multiple confocal collimator, $^{99m}Tc$ 37MBq was put in the acrylic dish then each sensitivity ($cpm/{\mu}Ci$) was measured at the distance of 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, and 40 cm respectively. 2. Based on the sensitivity measure results, IQ SPECT Protocol was designed according to the conventional general myocardial SPECT, then respectively 278 kBq/mL, 7.4 kBq/mL, and 48 kBq/mL of $^{99m}Tc$ were injected into the myocardial and soft tissues and liver site by using the anthropomorphic torso phantom then the myocardial perfusion SPECT was run. 3. For the comparison of FWHMs (Full Width at Half Maximum) resulted from the image reconstruction of LEHR collimator, the FWHMs (mm) were measured with only algorithms changed, in the case of the FBP (Filtered Back projection) method- a reconstruction method of conventional myocardial perfusion SPECT, and the 3D OSEM (Ordered subsets expectation maximization) method of IQ SPECT, by using $^{99m}Tc$ Line source. Results: 1. The values of IQ SPECT collimator sensitivity ($cpm/{\mu}Ci$) were 302, 382, 655, 816, 1178, and those of LEHR collimator were measured as 204, 204, 202, 201, 198, both at the distance of 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, and 40 cm respectively. It was found the difference of sensitivity increases up to 4 times at the distance of 30 cm in the cases of IQ SPECT and LEHR. 2. The myocardial perfusion SPECT Protocol was designed according to the geometric characteristics of IQ SPECT based on the sensitivity results, then the phantom test for the aforesaid protocol was conducted. As a result, it was found the examination time can be reduced 1/4 compared to the past. 3. In the comparison of FWHMs according to the reconstructed algorithm in the FBP method and 3D OSEM method followed after the SEPCT test using a LEHR collimator, the result was obtained that FWHM rose around twice in the 3D OSEM method. Conclusion : The IQ SPECT uses the Multiple confocal collimator for the myocardial perfusion SPECT to enhance the sensitivity and also reduces examination time and contributes to improvement of visual screen quality through the myocardial-specific geometric image capture method and image reconstruction method. Due to such benefits, it is expected patients will receive more comfortable and more accurate examinations and it is considered a further study is required using additional clinical materials.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.9
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• pp.861-874
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• 2012

To fulfill applicability of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, it is important that this model passes through a careful calibration and uncertainty analysis. In recent years, many researchers have come up with various uncertainty analysis techniques for SWAT model. To determine the differences and similarities of typical techniques, we applied three uncertainty analysis procedures to Chungju Dam watershed (6,581.1 $km^2$) of South Korea included in SWAT-Calibration Uncertainty Program (SWAT-CUP): Sequential Uncertainty FItting algorithm ver.2 (SUFI2), Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE), Parameter Solution (ParaSol). As a result, there was no significant difference in the objective function values between SUFI2 and GLUE algorithms. However, ParaSol algorithm shows the worst objective functions, and considerable divergence was also showed in 95PPU bands with each other. The p-factor and r-factor appeared from 0.02 to 0.79 and 0.03 to 0.52 differences in streamflow respectively. In general, the ParaSol algorithm showed the lowest p-factor and r-factor, SUFI2 algorithm was the highest in the p-factor and r-factor. Therefore, in the SWAT model calibration and uncertainty analysis of the automatic methods, we suggest the calibration methods considering p-factor and r-factor. The p-factor means the percentage of observations covered by 95PPU (95 Percent Prediction Uncertainty) band, and r-factor is the average thickness of the 95PPU band.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-61
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• 2016

Customer reviews help potential customers make purchasing decisions. However, the prevalence of reviews on websites push the customer to sift through them and change the focus from a mere search to identifying which of the available reviews are valuable and useful for the purchasing decision at hand. To identify useful reviews, websites have developed different mechanisms to give customers options when evaluating existing reviews. Websites allow users to rate the usefulness of a customer review as helpful or not. Amazon.com uses a ratio-type helpfulness, while Yelp.com uses a count-type usefulness index. This usefulness index provides helpful reviews to future potential purchasers. This study investigated the effects of sentiment and readability on useful votes for customer reviews. Similar studies on the relationship between sentiment and readability have focused on the ratio-type usefulness index utilized by websites such as Amazon.com. In this study, Yelp.com's count-type usefulness index for restaurant reviews was used to investigate the relationship between sentiment/readability and usefulness votes. Yelp.com's online customer reviews for stores in the beverage and food categories were used for the analysis. In total, 170,294 reviews containing information on a store's reputation and popularity were used. The control variables were the review length, store reputation, and popularity; the independent variables were the sentiment and readability, while the dependent variable was the number of helpful votes. The review rating is the moderating variable for the review sentiment and readability. The length is the number of characters in a review. The popularity is the number of reviews for a store, and the reputation is the general average rating of all reviews for a store. The readability of a review was calculated with the Coleman-Liau index. The sentiment is a positivity score for the review as calculated by SentiWordNet. The review rating is a preference score selected from 1 to 5 (stars) by the review author. The dependent variable (i.e., usefulness votes) used in this study is a count variable. Therefore, the Poisson regression model, which is commonly used to account for the discrete and nonnegative nature of count data, was applied in the analyses. The increase in helpful votes was assumed to follow a Poisson distribution. Because the Poisson model assumes an equal mean and variance and the data were over-dispersed, a negative binomial distribution model that allows for over-dispersion of the count variable was used for the estimation. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to model count variables with excessive zeros and over-dispersed count outcome variables. With this model, the excess zeros were assumed to be generated through a separate process from the count values and therefore should be modeled as independently as possible. The results showed that positive sentiment had a negative effect on gaining useful votes for positive reviews but no significant effect on negative reviews. Poor readability had a negative effect on gaining useful votes and was not moderated by the review star ratings. These findings yield considerable managerial implications. The results are helpful for online websites when analyzing their review guidelines and identifying useful reviews for their business. Based on this study, positive reviews are not necessarily helpful; therefore, restaurants should consider which type of positive review is helpful for their business. Second, this study is beneficial for businesses and website designers in creating review mechanisms to know which type of reviews to highlight on their websites and which type of reviews can be beneficial to the business. Moreover, this study highlights the review systems employed by websites to allow their customers to post rating reviews.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2014

In general radiotherapy, mega-voltage (MV) x-ray images are widely used as the unique method to verify radio-therapeutic fields. But, the image quality of MV images is much lower than that of kilo-voltage x-ray images due to scatter interactions. Since 1990s, studies for the scatter correction have performed with digital-based MV imaging systems. In this study, a novel method for the scatter correction is suggested using scatter to primary ratio (SPR), instead of conventional methods such as digital image processing or scatter kernel calculations. We measured two MV images with and without a solid water phantom describing a patient body with given imaging conditions, and calculated un-attenuated ratios. Then, we obtained SPR distributions for the scatter correction. For experimental validation, a line-pair (LP) phantom using several Al bars and a clinical pelvis MV image was used. As the result, scatter signals of the LP phantom image were successfully reduced so that original density distribution of the phantom was restored. Moreover, image contrast values increased after SPR correction at all ROIs of the clinical image. The mean value of increases was 48%. The SPR correction method suggested in this study has high reliability because it is based on actually measured data. Also, this method can be easily adopted in clinics without additional cost. We expected that the SPR correction can be an effective method to improve the quality of MV image guided radiotherapy.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.41-48
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• 1995

In former times the protection of our environment didn't play an important role due to the fact that emissions and effluents were not considered as serious impacts. However, opinions and scientific measurements meanwhile confirmed that the impacts are more serious than expected. Thus measures to protect our earth has to be taken into consideration. A part of these measures in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). One of the most important parts of the EIA is the collection of basic datas and the following evaluation. Experience out of the daily business of Gerling Consulting Group shows that the content of the EIA has to be revised and enlarged in certain fields. The historical development demonstrated that in areas in which the population and the industrial activities reached high concentration there is a high necessity to develop strict environmental laws and regulations. Maximum values of the concentration of hazardous materials were fixed concerning the emission into and water. Companies not following these regulations were punished. The total amount of environmental offences increased rapidly during the last decade, at least in Germany. During this development the public consciousness concerning environmental affairs increased as well in the industrialized countries. But it could clearly be seen that the development in the field of environmental protection went into the wrong direction. The technologies to protect the environment became more and more sophisticated and terms as: "state of the art" guided more and more to lower emissions, Filtertechnologies and wastewater treatment for example reached a high technical level-but all these sophisticated technologies has one and the same characteristic: they were end-of-the pipe solutions. A second effect was that this kind of environmental protection costs a lot of money. High investments are necessary to reduce the dust emission by another ppm! Could this be the correct way? In Germany the discussion started that the environmental laws reduce the attractivity to invest or to enlarge existing investments within the country. Other countries seem to be not so strict with controlling the environmental laws which means it's simply cheaper to produce in Portugal or Greece. Everybody however knows that this is not the correct way and does not solve the environmental problems. Meanwhile the general picture changes a little bit and we think it changes into the correct direction "End-of-the-pipe" solutions are still necessary but this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word received a real negative touch and nobody wants to be brought into connection with this word especially in connection with environmental management and safety. Modern actual environmental management starts in a different way. Thoughts about emissions start in the very beginning of the production, they start with the design of the product and modification of traditional modes of production. Basis of these ideas are detailed analyses of products and processes. Due to the above mentioned facts that the public environmental consciousness changed dramatically a continous environmental improvement of each single production plant has to be guarantied. This question is already an important question of the EIA. But it was never really checked in a wholistic approach. Environmental risks have to be taken into considerations during the execution of an EIA. This means that the environmental risks have to be reduced down to a capable risk-level. Environmental risks have to be considered within the phase of planning, during the operation of a plant and after shut down. The experience shows that most of the environmental relevant accidents were and caused by human fault. Even in highly protected plants the human risk-factor can not be excluded during evaluation of the risk-potential. Thus the approach of an EIA has to regard technical evaluations as well as organizational thoughts and the human factor. An environmental risk is a threat to the environment. An analysis of the risk concerning the organizational and human aspect however never was properly executed during an EIA. A possible solution could be to use an instrument as the actual EMAS (Environmental Management System) of the EC for more accurate evaluation of the impact to the environment during an EIA. Organizations or investors could demonstrate by an approved EMAS or even by showing their installment of EMAS that not only the technical level of the planned investment meets the requested standards but as well the actual or planned management is able to reduce the environmental impact down to a bearable level.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.359-369
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• 2011

The study was carried out to investigate the quality characteristics of pellets manufactured with adding soybean oil, waste soybean oil, ozonized soybean oil and ozonized waste soybean oil to Larix kaemferi Carr sawdust. The characteristics of pellet included moisture contents, heating value, ash contents, apparent densities, durabilities, absorption ratio and elementary analysis. Moisture contents were shown 7.66~9.48% which satisfied the first grade (less than 10%) of quality standard of wood pellets announced by Korea Forest Research Institute. The heating value of the manufactured wood pellets in this study exceeded the first grade of quality standard (more than 4,300 kcal/kg) and it appeared that the pellets manufactured with adding oils and ozonized oils had more heating value than the control pellets. Ash contents 0.34~0.42% also passed the first grade (less than 0.7%) of quality standard and apparent densities were adequate for the first grade (640 kg/$m^3$) on the quality standard. Durabilities of the pellets manufactured with adding soybean oil and ozonized waste soybean oil were shown over the first grade (97.5 kg/$m^3$) of quality standard. In the general results of durabilities, the pellets manufactured with additives had better values than the control pellets. After 24 hours absorption ratio experiment, absorption ratio of pellets manufactured with additives also appeared much lower moisture absorption than the control pellets and they still had the same results after 5days absorption ratio experiment. Elementary analysis of the sulfur content was satisfied the first grade (less than 0.05%) of quality standard of wood pellets and the nitrogen content was also adequate for the first grade (less than 0.3%) of quality standard of wood pellets.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.815-826
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• 1994

Skew bridges are found frequently in new bridge construction due to geographical conditions when new constructing bridges are put across the existing highways, railroads or rivers. This study is to investigate the static behaviors of the steel deck plates of skew bridges which are increasingly used in bridges due to outstanding quality of structural steels, development of welding techniques, in order to reduce dead loads and period of constructions. The static behaviours of steel deck plates are analyzed using general purpose FE code SAP90 by modeling the skewed deck plates with rigorous finite elements, as the skew angles vary. The results of finite element analysis for the behaviors of steel deck plates and concrete slabs in acute, obtuse corners and center of decks are compared and discussed as the skew angles vary from $90^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$. Two types of decks are treated, as isotropic plates and orthotropic plates, respectively. From the results of finite element analysis, it is found that more moments, reactions, and deflections occur at the obtuse corners than at the center of skewed decks regardless of isotropy or orthotropy. Especially, in case of the skewed deck plates with skew angles less than 45 degrees, significantly large discrepancies for the values of those internal forces are shown between the skewed and right deck plates. This study estimates the characteristics of deck behaviors according to skew angles, and proposes limitations of skew angles and the ciritical regions of decks.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.27 no.5 s.64
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• pp.743-760
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• 1997

This study was done to evaluate the correlations between the size, the form of the cranial base, head posture and the horizontal and vertical position of craniofacial structures. For this purpose, 100 cephalometric radiographs were taken from the sample composed of 51 male and 49 female, 12 measurement criteria and 37 reference points were established and digitized, then calculation was performed for the values of measurement variables and the horizontal and vertical position of reference points. The correlations be4ween them were analyzed statistically and mean facial diagrams were constructed and compared with the selected groups which were composed of 10 Samples each as large and small group from the measurement value. The following results were obtained: 1. The angles n-s-ba and n-s-ar as variables for the ion of cranial base correlated highly to the horizontal and vertical position of reference points in the cervical column with statistical significance($0.1\%$ level). 2. The angles n-s-ba and n-s-ar as variables for the form of cranial base correlated to the horizontal position of the reference points in the facial structure with statistical significance($1\%$ level), but not to the vertical position of them($5\%$ level). 3. The length n-s, s-ba, and n-ar as variables for the size of cranial base were correlated th the position of craniofacial structures in various ways, but in general, highly correlated to the horizontal and vertical position of midfacial structures around the teeth and alveolar area. 4. the angle NSL/CVT and NSL/OPT as postural variables tot the inclination of cranial base and cervical column were correlated to the horizontal position of the craniofacial structures with statistical significance($1\%$ level), but not to the vortical position of them($5\%$ level). 5. The angle OPT/HOR and CVT/HOR as postural variables lot the inclination of cranial base and true horizontal line were not correlated to the horizontal and vertical position of the craniofacial structures with statistical significance($5\%$ level). 6. The correlation between the measurement variables and horizontal and vortical positions of the reference poits in soft tissue were shown as similar to the related hard tissue points.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2008

Progeny tests of Abies holophylla were established with 32 open-pollinated families at Hwaseong and Gangneung in 1994. Growth characteristics (height, DBH and volume index) were measured at the age of 15, showing that Gangneung site showed in general better performance than Hwaseong site. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the growth characteristics showed that there was a significant difference among families in Gangneung but not in Hwaseong, and Hwaseong site showed that DBH and volume index were statistically different among replications. At Gangneung site, family ${\times}$ replication interaction was significant in DBH and volume index. Based on the combined analysis of both sites, all characteristics except height showed highly significant differences between sites and among families. On the other hand, family ${\times}$ replication interaction was not significant, implying that growth pattern of families could be similar at Gangneung and Hwaseong. Individual heritabilities ($hi^2$) at Gangneung were 0.485 in height, 0.611 in DBH and 0.538 in volume index, and the values of $hi^2$ at Hwaseong were 0.121 in height, 0.054 in DBH and 0.080 in volume index, respectively. Based on both sites, $hi^2$ was estimated as 0.204 in height, 0.326 in DBH and 0.238 in volume index. Individual heritabilities (0.054~0.611) were lower than family heritabilities (0.089~0.723) for all growth characteristics. Realized gain was estimated to be 2.5% in height, 9.2% in DBH and 23.6% in volume. When inferior families (about 50% of all families) are genetically thinned from a seed orchard, genetic gain would be 9.55% in height, 17.0% in DBH and 46.8% in volume.