• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.591-597
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• 1996

To straighten the path that farm machinery follows in paddy fields, it is necessary to measure and evaluate the tracks that these machines leave behind. However, there are no known methods for making such measurements and evaluations since it is difficult to accurately trace the paths that the machine make in paddy fields. Therefore, a measuring system has been developed which can accurately recored the path of a farm machinery in a field by measuring the horizontal straight-line distance from the side of the field to the machine. This system consists of a track subsystem on the machine and a range finder system. A measuring appraratus is installed on a flatcar which runs on rails over 50 m long at the side of the filed. The track subsystem uses a CCD camera to track the movement of the machine in the field which is following a lengthwise path. The range finder subsystem measures the distance that the measuring apparatus has traveled on the rails and the distance from the app ratus to the machine in the field. This system makes it possible to record the path that the machine travels. Even though differences in traveling distance arise between the measuring apparatus and the farm machine, these differences are detected by image processing , which allows the machine in the field to be located accurately. The short(0.05 second) time required for image processing is enough to follow an object . In the present study, this system was able to measure the path that a moving tractor makes. Even though a lag of up to 0.4 meters occurred, this system did not miss its target during operation of the track subsystem. Thus the path measuring system developed here is able to record vehicle paths automatically by following the movement of vehicles in the field and measuring the distance to them. It is expected to come into use in such applications as unmanned moving vehicle tests.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

Objective: Significant concerns have been raised over chemical exposure and potential health risks such as increased cancer mortality among laboratory workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the overall exposure and unit task exposure levels of researchers in organic synthesis laboratories at universities. Methods: Seventy-seven personal Time-weighted average(TWA) samples and 139 task-based samples from four organic synthesis laboratories at two universities were collected over three days. The concentrations of acetone, chloroform, dichloromethane(DCM), diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, n-hexane, tetrahydrofuran(THF), benzene, toluene, and xylene were determined using the GC-FID. Results: The most frequently used chemicals in the laboratories were acetone, DCM, n-hexane, methanol, and THF. Carcinogens such as benzene, chloroform, and DCM were used in one or more laboratories. The TWA full-shift exposures of researchers to acetone was the highest(ND-59.3 ppm). Benzene was observed above the occupational exposure limit in 18-40% of the samples. The levels of exposure to organic solvents were statistically different by task(p<0.05), while washing task was the highest. Washing was not perceived as a part of the real lab tasks. Rather it was considered as simple dish-washing or experimental preparation and performed in an open sink where exposure to organic solvents was unavoidable. TWAs and task-based concentrations were compared by substance, which suggests that TWA-based assessment could not reflect short-term and high concentration exposures. Conclusions: Laboratory workers may be exposed to various organic solvents at levels of concern. TWA-based measurement alone cannot guarantee holistic exposure assessment among lab workers as their exposures are very dependent on their tasks. Further investigation and characterization for specific tasks and overall chronic exposures will help protect lab workers from unnecessary exposure to chemicals while they perform research.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2022

Objectives: Fit performance may vary depending on the ambient aerosol number and ratio in respective test environment. Although several instrument can measure it, they differ with respect to the measurement principle and the range of ambient aerosols collected to calculate the fit factor. Methods: In this study, the fit performance between a condensation nuclei counter(CNC) and an optical particle counter(OPC) was compared according to ambient aerosol number concentration, and evaluated consistency. One type respirators(N95 masks) was worn by 50 participants PortaCount®(Pro+ 8038) and MT®(05U) were connected with one probe to one mask, and Fit Factors(FFs) were measured simultaneously. Results: The interclass correlation coefficient of the fit factor and ambient aerosol number, as measured by the two instrument, was 0.82 and 0.79, respectively, indicating a high consistency level. On the other hand there was a significant correlation between the successful test performance of the OPC instrument and the ambient aerosol number. Conclusions: The test was passed with the CNC and OPC instruments when the ambient aerosol number was 635-3,332 particles/cm³ and 368-1,976 particles/cm³, respectively. Thus, the ideal ambient aerosol number of particles differed between the two instrument.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 1996

The ESR is one of the oldest laboratory test still in use. Although it lacks specificity in diagnosis, it can be effective for monitoring disease activity and following-up. The Westergren method is used for reference method, however coefficient of variation has been described 0.8% to 22.9% according to the literature. Since the ESR was invented in 1921, measurement technique has developed and automated measurement is introduced. We analyzed one hundred forty-three patient samples using $SEDIsystem^{TM}$ automated ESR measuring system and compared with modified Westergren and Wintrobe methods. Comparison between $SEDIsystem^{TM}$ and modified Westergren for ESR measurement yields the following regression equation; y = 0.863x - 1.69 (r=0.830), $SEDIsystem^{TM}$ and Wintrobe y = 1.14x - 14.7 (r=0.789), respectively. We repeated measurement to evaluate reliability, results are not significant in statistically. In conclusion, $SEDIsystem^{TM}$ automated ESR measurement correlated with modified Westergren and Wintrobe methods, reveal reliable results after 4 hours and can report rapidly for large samples. Thus, these results indicate that $SEDIsystem^{TM}$ automated ESR measurement may be useful tool for clinical practice.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.425-445
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• 2015

Parametric identification of structures is one of the important aspects of structural health monitoring. Most of the techniques available in the literature have been proved to be effective for structures with small degree of freedoms. However, the problem becomes challenging when the structure system is large, such as bridge structures. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop parametric identification methods that are applicable to complex structures. In this paper, the LSE based techniques will be combined with the substructure approach for identifying the parameters of a cable-stayed bridge with large degree of freedoms. Numerical analysis has been carried out for substructures extracted from the 2-dimentional (2D) finite element model of a cable-stayed bridge. Only vertical white noise excitations are applied to the structure, and two different cases are considered where the structural damping is not included or included. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach is capable of identifying the structural parameters with high accuracy without measurement noises.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2015

Purpose: Soybean growth is adversely affected by environmental stresses such as drought, extreme temperatures, and nutrient deficiency. The objective of this study was to develop a method for rapid measurement of drought stress in soybean plants using a hyperspectral fluorescence imaging technique. Methods: Hyperspectral fluorescence images were obtained using UV-A light with 365 nm excitation. Two soybean cultivars under drought stress were analyzed. A partial least square regression (PLSR) model was used to predict drought stress in soybeans. Results: Partial least square (PLS) images were obtained for the two soybean cultivars using the results of the developed model during the period of drought stress treatment. Analysis of the PLS images showed that the accuracy of drought stress discrimination in the two cultivars was 0.973 for an 8-day treatment group and 0.969 for a 6-day treatment group. Conclusions: These results validate the use of hyperspectral fluorescence images for assessing drought stress in soybeans.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2014

Background: Curcumin has has been reported to exert anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation and anti-angiogenic activity in various types of cancer. It has also been shown to induce apoptosis in leukemia cells. We aimed to unravel the role of the redox pathway in Curcumin mediated apoptosis with a panel of human leukemic cells. Materials and Methods: In this study in vitro cytotoxicity of Curcumin was measured by MTT assay and apoptotic effects were assessed by annexin V/PI, DAPI staining, cell cycle analysis, measurement of caspase activity and PARP cleavage. Effects of Curcumin on intracellular redox balance were assessed using fluorescent probes like $H_2DCFDA$, JC1 and an ApoGSH Glutathione Detection Kit respectively. Results: Curcumin showed differential anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects on different human leukemic cell lines in contrast to minimal effects on normal cells. Curcumin induced apoptosis was associated with the generation of intracellular ROS, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, intracellular GSH depletion, caspase activation. Conclusions: As Curcumin induces programmed cell death specifically in leukemic cells it holds a great promise as a future therapeutic agent in the treatment of leukemia.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.579-588
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• 2016

To improve the ability to determine a vehicle's movement information even in a challenging environment, a hybrid approach called non-Gaussian square rootunscented particle filtering (nGSR-UPF) is presented. This approach combines a square root-unscented Kalman filter (SR-UKF) and a particle filter (PF) to determinate the vehicle state where measurement noises are taken as a finite Gaussian kernel mixture and are approximated using a sparse Gaussian kernel density estimation method. During an outage-free GPS period, the updated mean and covariance, computed using SR-UKF, are estimated based on a GPS observation update. During a complete GPS outage, nGSR-UPF operates in prediction mode. Indeed, because the inertial sensors used suffer from a large drift in this case, SR-UKF-based importance density is then responsible for shifting the weighted particles toward the high-likelihood regions to improve the accuracy of the vehicle state. The proposed method is compared with some existing estimation methods and the experiment results prove that nGSR-UPF is the most accurate during both outage-free and complete-outage GPS periods.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.47-60
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to non-destructively and quickly predict the capsaicinoid content of domestic red pepper powders from various areas of Korea using a pungency measurement system in combination with visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopic techniques. Methods: The reflectance spectra of 149 red pepper powder samples from 14 areas of Korea were obtained in the wavelength range of 450-950 nm and partial least squares regression (PLSR) models for the prediction of capsaicinoid content were developed using area models. Results: The determination coefficient of validation (RV2), standard error of prediction (SEP), and residual prediction deviation (RPD) for the capsaicinoid content prediction model for the Namyoungyang area were 0.985, ${\pm}2.17mg/100g$, and 7.94, respectively. Conclusions: These results show the possibility of VNIR spectroscopy combined with PLSR models in the non-destructive and facile prediction of capsaicinoid content of red pepper powders from Korea.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1103-1117
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• 2015

It is known that material properties, connection quality and manufacturing methods are among the important factors directly affecting the behavior of steel connections and hence steel structures. The possible performance differences between a fabricated connection and its computer model may cause critical design problems for steel structures. Achieving a reliable design depends, however, on how accurately the material properties and relevant constitutive models are considered to characterize the behavior of structures. Conventionally, the stress and strain fields in structural steel connections are calculated using the finite elements method with assumed material properties and constitutive models. Because the conventional strain gages allow the measurement of deformation only at one point and direction for specific time duration, it is not possible to determine the general characteristics of stress-strain distributions in connections after the laboratory performance tests. In this study, a new method is introduced to measure displacement distribution of simple steel welded connections under tension tests. The method is based on analyzing digital images of connection specimens taken periodically during the laboratory tension test. By using this method, displacement distribution of steel connections can be calculated with an acceptable precision for the tested connections. Calculated displacements based on the digital image correlation method are compared with those calculated using the finite elements method.