• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2011

This experiment was conducted as a part of Asia collaborative study on purpose of verifying the difference between CM6 and CM7 including 3R4F for reference. It carried out using various analytical categories for example, main stream, sidestream and Av. smoke. Additional analysis such as physical properties, blending ratio, combustibility and general leaf component analysis also implemented in order to investigate the difference. We complied with ISO standard and CORESTA recommended method during analytical operating procedures. In this study, we described that comparative analytical result for CM6 and CM7 known as reference or monitoring cigarettes including 3R4F for reference. All sample cigarettes were conditioned at $22^{\circ}C$, 60% relative humidity for 48 hours. Av. Smoke, MS and SS smoke analysis were performed over five times with two smoking condition, ISO and Health Canada with the exception of Av. smoke analysis. We complied with ISO standard method during analytical operating procedures. And, we conducted additional analysis, such as physical properties, blending ratio, combustibility and leaf component analysis also in order to investigate the difference. In conclusion, we found out some differences between CORESTA monitoring cigarette No. 6 and No 7. The smoke components such as total particulate matters, NFDPM, nicotine and carbon monoxide contents of CM7 were a little lower than CM6. And, these phenomena were the same as not only main stream smoke but also side stream smoke and Av. smoke. This tendency was consistent with ISO and Health Canada smoking condition. Besides, leaf constituents' color of CM7 was darker than CM6. In case of combustibility, it showed short combustion time approximately 30 seconds.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2022

Background: Shoulder impingement syndrome, a major cause of shoulder pain, involves weakness of the scapular retractor muscles. The major scapular retractor muscles are the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles; however, the latter is excluded in most studies. Objects: We aimed to measure the thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles using an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system while performing four different shoulder retraction exercises and comparing the thicknesses and ratio of the thicknesses of these muscles. Methods: The thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles was measured in 24 healthy adults using ultrasound. Muscle thickness was measured three times in the Reference posture and four times while performing four different exercises that involved scapular retraction. The averages and standard deviations of the measured muscle thicknesses were obtained and compared. The ratio of muscle thickness and rate of changes in muscle thickness between the reference posture and the four exercises were compared. Results: For both, male (n = 10) and female (n = 14), there was a significant difference in the thickness of the middle trapezius muscle between the reference posture and the four exercises (p < 0.05) and in the thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles between male and female (p < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference in the ratio of the thicknesses of these muscles. Although a significant difference in the rate of change in muscle thickness during the four exercises was noted, there was no significant difference in the ratio of change in muscle thickness. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the ratio of the thicknesses of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles and the rate of change in their thickness during exercises involving scapular retraction in healthy people in their 20s-30s.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.398-403
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• 2006

This paper describes the evaluation of the long duration current impulse withstand characteristics of ZnO blocks for high voltage surge arresters. Four ZnO varistors were manufactured with the general ceramic production method and the long duration current impulse withstand test, electrical uniformity evaluation test and microstructure observation were performed. All varistors exhibited high density, which was in the range of $5.42{\sim}5.46g/cm^3$. In the electrical properties, the reference voltage of samples was in the range of $5.11{\sim}5.25\;kV$ and the residual voltage was in the range of $8.314{\sim}8.523\;kV$. In the long duration current impulse withstand test, sample No.2 and No.3 failed at the 2nd and 4th shot of series impulse currents, respectively, but the rest survived 18 shots during the test. Before and after this test, the variation ratio of the residual voltage of samples survived was below 0.5 %, which was in the acceptance range of 5 %. According to the results of the test, it is thought that if the soldering method is improved, ZnO varistors would be possible to apply to the high voltage arresters like the station class and transmission line arresters in the near future.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.552-560
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• 2011

In this paper, a new no-reference sharpness measure using frequency domain coefficients is proposed. Although most existing sharpness measures used pixel intensity to compute the blur degree, the proposed sharpness measure computes the sharpness using frequency coefficients. To assess the perceived sharpness of a given image, the image is re-blurred by a Gaussian low pass filter and a new quality measure function was defined using the frequency domain coefficients of the given image and the re-blurred image. To evaluate the proposed algorithms, TID2008 quality assessment database was used. Experimental results show that the proposed quality assessment method showed high correlation with the subjective scores.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.907-914
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• 2018

In this article, we conducted molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of applied strain and temperature on irradiation-induced damage in alpha-zirconium. Cascade simulations were performed with primary knock-on atom energies ranging between 1 and 20 KeV, hydrostatic and uniaxial strain values ranging from -2% (compression) to 2% (tensile), and temperatures ranging from 100 to 1000 K. Results demonstrated that the number of defects increased when the displacement cascade proceeded under tensile uniaxial hydrostatic strain. In contrast, compressive strain states tended to decrease the defect production rate as compared with the reference no-strain condition. The proportions of vacancy and interstitial clustering increased by approximately 45% and 55% and 25% and 32% for 2% hydrostatic and uniaxial strain systems, respectively, as compared with the unstrained system, whereas both strain fields resulted in a 15-30% decrease in vacancy and interstitial clustering under compressive conditions. Tensile strains, specifically hydrostatic strain, tended to produce larger sized vacancy and interstitial clusters, whereas compressive strain systems did not significantly affect the size of defect clusters as compared with the reference no-strain condition. The influence of the strain system on radiation damage became more significant at lower temperatures because of less annealing than in higher temperature systems.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2019

One of the most important factors in tall buildings design in urban spaces is wind. The present study aims to investigate the aerodynamic behavior in the square and triangular footprint forms through aerodynamic modifications including rounded corners, chamfered corners and recessed corners in order to reduce the length of tall buildings wake region. The method used was similar to wind tunnel numerical simulation conducted on 16 building models through Autodesk Flow Design 2014 software. The findings revealed that in order to design tall 50 story buildings with a height of about 150 meters, the model in triangular footprint with aerodynamic modification of chamfered corner facing wind direction came out to have the best aerodynamic behavior comparing the other models. In comparison to the related reference model (i.e., the triangular footprint with sharp corners and no aerodynamic modification), it could reduce the length of the wake region about 50% in general. Also, the model with square footprint and aerodynamic modification of chamfered corner with the corner facing the wind could present favorable aerodynamic behavior comparing the other models of the same cluster. In comparison to the related reference model (i.e., the square footprint with sharp corners and no aerodynamic modification), it could decrease the wake region up to 30% lengthwise.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.222-228
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• 2023

This study aimed to analyze the applicability of the improved median filter in positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance (MR) fusion images based on parallel imaging using generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA). In this study, a PET/MR fusion imaging system based on a 3.0T magnetic field and ¹⁸F radioisotope were used. An improved median filter that can set a mask of the median value more efficiently than before was modeled and applied to the acquired image. As quantitative evaluation parameters of the noise level, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were calculated. Additionally, no-reference-based evaluation parameters were used to analyze the overall image quality. We confirmed that the CNR and COV values of the PET/MR fusion images to which the improved median filter was applied improved by approximately 3.32 and 2.19 times on average, respectively, compared to the noisy image. In addition, the no-reference-based evaluation results showed a similar trend for the noise-level results. In conclusion, we demonstrated that it can be supplemented by using an improved median filter, which suggests the problem of image quality degradation of PET/MR fusion images that shortens scan time using GRAPPA.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-39
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• 2023

Recent research in usage-based Second Language Acquisition has provided new insights into second language (L2) learners' development of formulaic language (Wulff, 2019). The current study examines the use of phrase-frames, which are recurring sequences of words including one or more variable slots (e.g., it is * that), in written and oral production data from Asian learners of English across four proficiency levels (beginner, low-intermediate, high-intermediate, advanced) and native English speakers. The variability, predictability, and discourse functions of the most frequent 4-word phrase-frames from the written essay and spoken dialogue sub-corpora of the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) were analyzed and then compared across groups and modes. The results revealed that while learners' phrase-frames in writing became more variable and unpredictable as proficiency increased, no clear developmental patterns were found in speaking, although all groups used more fixed and predictable phrase-frames than the reference group. Further, no developmental trajectories in the functions of the most frequent phrase-frames were found in both modes. Additionally, lower-level learners and the reference group used more variable phrase-frames in speaking, whereas advanced-level learners showed more variability in writing. This study contributes to a better understanding of the development of L2 phraseological competence.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.219-238
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• 2015

As Internet and IT have been developed, people have been exposed to large amounts of information. So, many online information providers recommend relevant information to users to relieve an information overload. However, information recommendation which is based on the taste and preference of a user can lead to a problem of unbalanced information consumption. Prior research about online information has not investigated the side-effect of a recommendation function. This research suggests IT solutions for alleviating unbalanced information consumption behavior. Based on adaptation level theory and expectancy theory, we proposed self-reference point diagnosticity interface and social-reference point diagnosticity interface to help people to consume information following their own information consuming goal. We hypothesized positive impacts of these two interfaces on the self-awareness about information consuming pattern. And we predicted that self-awareness has a positive impact on the motivation and actual behavior to conform the ideal information consuming pattern which the user sets. Laboratory experiment was executed as a research method. As a result, the self-reference diagnosticity interface leaded to higher self-awareness and mitigated the unbalanced information consumption. But, the social-reference diagnosticity interface and the motivation to improve the information consuming behavior had no significant results. Academic and practical implications are discussed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6391-6395
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• 2012

Background: Ovarian cancer is ranked as the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women. In Malaysia, it is the fourth most common cancer in females. CA125 has been the tumor marker of choice in ovarian cancer but its diagnostic specificity in early stages is only 50%. Hence, there is a critical need to identify an alternative tumor marker that is capable of detecting detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. HE4 is a new tumor marker proposed for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and disease recurrence. Currently, none of the normal ranges of HE4 quoted in the literature are based on data for a multiethnic Asian population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine reference intervals for HE4 in an Asian population presenting in University Malaya Medical Centre, a tertiary reference hospital. Materials and Methods: 300 healthy women were recruited comprising 150 premenopausal and 150 postmenopausal women, aged from 20-76 years. All women were subjected to a pelvic ultrasonograph and were confirmed to be free from ovarian pathology on recruitment. Serum HE4 levels were determined by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA, Abbott Architect). The reference intervals were determined following CLSI guidelines (C28-A2) using a non-parametric method. Results: The upper limits of the $95^{th}$ percentile reference interval (90%CI) for all the women collectively were 64.6 pmol/L, and 58.4 pmol/L for premenopausal) and 69.0 pmol/L for postmenopausal. The concentration of HE4 was noted to increase with age especially in women who were more than 50 years old. We also noted that our proposed reference limit was lower compared to the level given by manufacturer Abbott Architect HE4 kit insert (58.4 vs 70 pmol/L for premenopausal group and 69.0 vs 140 pmol/L in the postmenopausal group). The study also showed a significant difference in HE4 concentrations between ethnic groups (Malays and Indians). The levels of HE4 in Indians appeared higher than in Malays (p<0.05), while no significant differences were noted between the Malays and Chinese ethnic groups. Conclusions: More data are needed to establish a reference interval that will better represent the multiethnic Malaysian population. Probably a larger sampling size of equal representation of the Malay, Chinese, Indians as well as the other native ethnic communities will give us a greater confidence on whether genetics plays a role in reference interval determination.