• Title/Summary/Keyword: old novel

Search Result 283, Processing Time 0.024 seconds

Designing an Intelligent Rehabilitation Wheelchair Vehicle System Using Neural Network-based Torque Control Algorithm

  • Kim, Taeyeun;Bae, Sanghyun
    • KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
    • /
    • v.11 no.12
    • /
    • pp.5878-5904
    • /
    • 2017
  • This paper proposes a novel intelligent wheelchair vehicle system that enables upper limb exercises, lower limb standing exercises and rehabilitation training in a daily life. The proposed system, which can be used to prevent at least the degeneration of body movements and further atrophy of musculoskeletal system functions, considers the characteristics and mobility of the old and the disabled. Its main purpose is to help the old and the disabled perform their daily activities as much as they can, minimizing the extent of secondary disabilities. In other words, the system will provide the old and the disabled with regular and quantitative rehabilitation exercises and diagnosis using the wheelchair-based upper/lower limb rehabilitation vehicle system and then verify their effectiveness. The system comprises an electric wheelchair, a biometric module to identify individual characteristics, and an upper/lower limb rehabilitation vehicle. In this paper the design and configuration of the developed vehicle is described, and its operation method is presented. Moreover, to verify the tracking performance of the proposed system, dangerous situations according to biosignal changes occurring during the rehabilitation exercise of a non-disabled examinee are analyzed and the performance of the upper/lower limb rehabilitation exercise function depending on muscle strength is evaluated through a neural network algorithm.

Effects of therapeutic ultrasound for contour asymmetry after liposuction, a case study

  • Wong, Yiu Ming
    • CELLMED
    • /
    • v.5 no.3
    • /
    • pp.19.1-19.2
    • /
    • 2015
  • This is a case report involving a novel setting of sonographic scan for thickness of superficial abdominal fat and a non-invasive approach for reduction of the fat thickness. A 38-year-old woman complained of her abdominal contour asymmetry after the laser-assisted liposuction performed two years ago. Compression-free sonographic scanning confirmed that her superficial abdominal fat was thicker in left side than that of right side. After 9 sessions of 40KHz therapeutic ultrasound, the contour asymmetry was reduced.

Recovering the Electrically Resistive Quality of a Liquid-Crystal Material Stored in a Common Environment

  • Lee, Wei;Wang, Chun-Tsai;Lin, Chia-Her
    • 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
    • /
    • 2009.10a
    • /
    • pp.163-165
    • /
    • 2009
  • It is commonly found that liquid crystals stored in a common environment degrade with time, trapping more and more ion impurity in the materials. In this paper, we demonstrate how the electrical property of an old batch of liquid crystal can be effectively restored by a novel regenerative agent.

  • PDF

microRNA for determining the age-related myogenic capabilities of skeletal muscle

  • Lee, Kwang-Pyo;Shin, Yeo Jin;Kwon, Ki-Sun
    • BMB Reports
    • /
    • v.48 no.11
    • /
    • pp.595-596
    • /
    • 2015
  • Skeletal muscle exhibits a loss of muscle mass and function with age. Decreased regenerative potential of muscle stem/progenitor cells is a major underlying cause of sarcopenia. We analyzed microRNAs (miRNA) that are differentially expressed in young and old myoblasts, to identify novel intrinsic factors that play a degenerative role in aged skeletal muscle. miR-431, one of decreasing miRNAs in old myoblasts, improved the myogenic differentiation when overexpressed in old myoblast, but suppressed their myogenic capability in knockdowned young myoblasts. We found that miR-431 directly binds to 3` untranslated regions (UTR) of Smad4 mRNA, and decreases its expression. Given that SMAD4 is one of the downstream effectors of TGF-β, a well-known degenerative signaling pathway in myogenesis, the decreased miR-431 in old myoblast causes SMAD4 elevation, thus resulting in defective myogenesis. Exogenous expression of miR-431 greatly improved the muscle regeneration in the cardiotoxin-injured hindlimb muscle of old mice by reducing SMAD4 levels. Since the miR-431 seed sequence is conserved in human SMAD4 3'UTR, miR-431 regulates the myogenic capacity of human skeletal myoblasts in the same manner. Our results suggest that age-associated miR-431 is required for the maintenance of the myogenic capability in myoblasts, thus underscoring its potential as a therapeutic target to slow down muscle aging.

The 21-century Techo-Scientific Predicaments and Its Call for Post-anthropocentric Worldviews: Luth Ozeki's A Tale for The Time Being (21세기 기술과학적 곤경과 탈인간중심주의적 세계관의 요청: 루스 오제키의 『시간존재를 위한 이야기』)

  • Lee, Kyung-Ran
    • English & American cultural studies
    • /
    • v.17 no.1
    • /
    • pp.129-162
    • /
    • 2017
  • Ruth Ozeki(Japanese-American female novelist)?s recent novel, A Tale for the Time Being (2013) draws our attention because the fiction shows very interesting fictional experiments, especially in terms of post-humanism. Indeed, the novel is not a science fiction at all which has been, and still is, the typical fictional field employed in the discussion for the transhumanism and posthumanism. It also does not include any cybogs, robots, or aliens which provoke the posthumanism-related issues like mind/body, human/nonhuman, nature/culture relations. Indeed, it seems "merely" represent realistic day-to-day lives of ordinary people living in contemporary Japan and Canada, and in very minute and particular details at that. Indeed, the central action of the main characters of the novel seems very traditional, that is on the one hand writing a diary by a teenage girl who is counting the days and weeks before her suicide and on the other hand reading it by a female novelist who happens to find her diary several years later. Nevertheless, I would like to suggest that underneath this traditional narrative surface are simmering post-humanist and post-anthropocentric worldviews beyond liberal Humanism which takes human beings to be exceptional against human or non-human others. Not only in narrative contents and characterizations but also through narrative structure and strategies, the novel enacts post-humanist and post-anthropocentric worldviews which are interestingly drawn from both age-old Buddhist ideas and modern eco-philosophy and quantum physics. I would like to stress that what triggers the author's fictional experiments helping our rethinking and redefining "what human beings are" and "what the relation between humans and nonhumans" is not merely intellectual interests but her keen and passionate response to the heart-breaking pains and sufferings of human and nonhuman beings caused by the contemporary natural-artificial catastrophes and techno-scientific predicaments.

Development of a foaling alarm system using an accelerometer

  • Youngwook, Jung;Honghee, Chang;Minjung, Yoon
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.64 no.6
    • /
    • pp.1237-1244
    • /
    • 2022
  • Horse breeders suffer massive economic losses due to dystocia, abortion, and stillbirths. In Thoroughbred mares, breeders often miss the foaling process because approximately 86% of the foaling events occur from 19:00 to 7:00; consequently, breeders cannot assist mares experiencing dystocia. To solve this problem, various foaling alarm systems have been developed. However, there is a need to develop a new system to overcome the shortcomings of the existing devices and improve their accuracy. To this end, the present study aimed to (1) develop a novel foaling alarm system and (2) compare its accuracy with that of the existing FoalertTM system. Specifically, eighteen Thoroughbred mares (11.9 ± 4.0 years old) were included. An accelerometer was used to analyze specific foaling behaviors. Behavioral data were transmitted to a data server every second. Depending on the acceleration value, behaviors were automatically classified by the server as categorized behaviors 1 (behaviors without change in body rotation), 2 (behaviors with sudden change in body rotation, such as rolling over), and 3 (behaviors with long-term change in body rotation, such as lying down laterally). The system was designed to alarm when the duration of categorized behaviors 2 and 3 was 12.9% and that of categorized behavior 3 was 1% during 10 min. The system measured the duration of each categorized behavior every 10 min and transmitted an alarm to the breeders when foaling was detected. To confirm its accuracy, the foaling detection time of the novel system was compared with that of FoalertTM. The novel foaling alarm system and FoalertTM alarmed foaling onset respectively 32.6 ± 17.9 and 8.6 ± 1.0 min prior to foal discharge, and the foaling detection rate of both systems was 94.4%. Therefore, the novel foaling alarm system equipped with an accelerometer can precisely detect and alert foaling onset.

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Aspergillus tubingensis with a Hydrolyzing Activity of Cellulose-pectin Complex (섬유소-펙틴 분해력이 있는 새로운 Aspergillus tubingensis의 분리와 특성 규명)

  • 김영민;서원숙;홍진영;최홍서;김주환
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
    • /
    • v.31 no.2
    • /
    • pp.124-128
    • /
    • 2003
  • In order to isolate and characterize a novel fungal strain capable of producing cellulase, each samples of the old rice straw, soil, and the old tree were screened by congo red test. One of the fungi screened has been identified as Aspergillus tubingensis strain from the results of the phylogenic analysis based on partial DNA sequence and the basis of its biochemical properties. A carboxymethyl cellulase activity of the strain was higher than that of A. oryzae KCTC 6291. In CMCase activity measurement, it wasn't sensitive about pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, but the enzyme was more stable than A. oryzae under the various pH and temperature conditions and the enzyme activity was more similar to neutrality and alkali. Therefore, it could be suggested that the isolated strain has a potential possibility for the developing of the probiotics.

Microsatellite Instability and p53, k-ras c-myc Oncoprotein Expression in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (비소세포 폐암에서의 Microsatellite Instability와 p53. K-ras, c-myc 암단백의 발현)

  • 나석주;곽문섭
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
    • /
    • v.33 no.1
    • /
    • pp.60-67
    • /
    • 2000
  • Background: Microsatellites are short-tandem repeated uncleotide sequences present throughout the human genome. Alterations of microsatellites have been termed microsatellite instability(MI). It has been generally known that microsatellite instability detected in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) reflects genetic instability that is caused by impairments of DNA mismatch repair system regarding as a novel tumorigenic mechanism. A number of studies reported that MI occurred at varying frequencies in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However It has been unproven whether MI could be a useful market of genetic instability and have a clinical significance in NSCLC. Material and Method : We have examined whether MI can be observed in thirty NCSLC using polymerase chain reaction whether such alterations are associated with other molecular changes such as p53, K-ras and c-myc oncoproteins expression detected by immunohistochemical stain,. Result: MI(+) was observed in 16.6%(5/30) and MI(-) was 83.3% (25/30) Average age was 50$\pm$7.5 year-old in MI(+) group and 57$\pm$6.6 year-old in MI(-) group. Two year survival rate in MI(=) group (20% 1/5) was worse than MI(-) group (64% 16/25) with a statistic difference. (P=0.04) The positive rate of K-ras oncoprotein expression and simultaneous expression of 2 or 3 oncoproteins expression were higher in MI(+) group than MI(-) group with a statistic difference(P=0.05, P=0.01) Conclusion: From, these results the authors can conclude that MI is found in some NSCLC and it may be a novel tumorigenic mechanism in some NSCLC. We also conclude that MI could be used as another poor prognostic factor in NSCLS.

  • PDF

Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome with a novel missense mutation of SKI in a 6-month-old boy

  • Jeon, Min Jin;Park, Seul Gi;Kim, Man Jin;Lim, Byung Chan;Kim, Ki Joong;Chae, Jong Hee;Kim, Soo Yeon
    • Journal of Genetic Medicine
    • /
    • v.17 no.1
    • /
    • pp.43-46
    • /
    • 2020
  • The Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome (SGS) is an extremely rare genetic disorder caused by heterozygous variant in SKI. SGS is characterized by neurodevelopmental impairment with skeletal anomaly. Recognition of SGS is sometimes quite challenging in practice because it has diverse clinical features involving skeletal, neurological, and cardiovascular system. Here we report a case of a 6-month-old boy who initially presented with developmental delay and marfanoid facial features including prominent forehead, hypertelorism, high arched palate and retrognathia. He showed motor developmental delay since birth and could not control his head at the time of first evaluation. His height was above 2 standard deviation score. Arachnodactyly, hypermobility of joints, skin laxity, and pectus excavatum were also noted. Sequencing for FBN1 was negative, however, a novel missense variant, c.350G>A in SKI was identified by sequential whole exome sequencing. To our knowledge, this is the first case with SGS with phenotypic features of SGS overlapping with those of the Marfan syndrome, diagnosed by next generation sequencing in Korea.

A study on the Gae-sung Han-ok of in the 『Mi-mang』 of novel (소설 『미망』 속 개성 한옥 고찰)

  • Kim, Bue-Dyel;Cho, Jeong-Sik
    • Journal of architectural history
    • /
    • v.31 no.3
    • /
    • pp.41-52
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study explains the han-ok. in Gae-sung, which was antique and traditional city. In view of the fact that these were located in Gae-sung in North Korea hence direct investigate is not possible. Since there was no comprehensive study of Gaeseong han-ok, we have no choice but to rely on fragmentary records and memory of Gaeseong people. In accordance from the Japanese colonial era's surveys and sketches as well as how they were illustrated in the novel. Hark back to the peoples' thought of the han-ok years when they ran the survey in 1920s, the results were as follows: First, there are many houses so various classes in Mi-Mang. Jeon Cheo-man's house was a representative example of a rich family in Gae-sung, Jeon Je-seong(Jeon's 2nd son)'s house was located in Si-jeon(government licensed-markets) near by the South gate. In particular, Jeon Yi-seong(Jeon's 3rd son)'s house was in rural areas. He managed on immense ginseng field and worker's houses. Hae-ju's house was a small house off the track. Second, the outer house is low and the main house is high and neat. Lastly, it was confirmed that it corresponded to sketches recorded by architects, such as neat housekeeping, long stones used for various purposes, invisible flat gates, the appearance of old and old houses and the composition of each room.