Earticle

Pump-type containers are easy to use and also hygienic because the contents do not contact with the air. In this regard, pump-type containers are widely used from detergent to cosmetics. However, sometimes users have to throw the lotions away even if there is still remaining lotion in containers. Thus there is a need to take the measures against the pump-type containers that cause a waste. An experiment- measuring the remaining content of the 2 types of cosmetics-shampoo and body lotion- in containers after pumping the containers until nothing comes out of the containers- was conducted and the inner structure of containers was compared to identify the structural causes for the problems. The purpose of this study is to seek the effective design for pump-type cosmetics containers. A waste of cosmetics prompts customer complaint and also brings about environmental problems. The results of this study are estimated to make contribution to providing effective ideas to container makers, management of cosmetics brand companies and consumers.

The increasing number of people with hearing-impaired in Malaysia attracts to produce a variety of technologies, which can assist the deaf people in carrying out their tasks in everyday life as normal people. New technology can help to decrease the difficulty that hearing-impaired people faces in daily life to use the information services like normal people. Thus, this paper focuses on: i) developing a new multimedia courseware for pre-school students with hearing problem, and ii) comparing the deaf student’s learning performance before and after using the courseware. Four modules were developed for e-MSL courseware consist of alphabets, numbers, words and quizzes with colorful text, animation, sounds, video and pictures using Malaysian Sign Language (MSL). Sekolah Rendah Pendidikan Khas (SRPK) Indera Mahkota II, Kuantan has been chosen as the case study for data collection and for investigating the student learning performance on the courseware. The survey results show that 100% of the respondents have agreed that using e-MSL courseware managed to reduce the student learning time more than 80%. The result has indicated that students have shown better learning performance using e-MSL compared to traditional learning.

The objective of this research was to conduct comparative analysis of recruited muscles group of lower limbs and the muscle activity between alpine and boarder cross athlete in carving turn. Moreover the study aims to contribute snowboarders and winter sports instructors by providing appropriate training method and strength training methodology for performance enhancement. To achieve the purpose, one alpine and one boarder cross athlete from Korean National Team for 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics were chosen. SEMG were placed on three muscle groups on the left side (Lt.) and right side (Rt.) muscles of lower limbs (vastus medialis oblique (VMO), vastus lateralis oblique (VLO), lateral gastrocnemius(GL). The results obtained through the analysis are as follows. The results of comparative analysis in P1 showed the greatest recruitment of muscle activity in Rt.GL in alpine and Rt.VMO in boarder cross whereas, muscle activity in Lt.VLO were the lowest in both subjects. In P2, Lt.VLO in alpine and Rt.GL in boarder cross appeared the lowest whereas, Lt.VMO appeared the greatest in both of the subjects. In P3, Lt.VMO appeared greatest whereas, Rt.GL appeared the lowest in muscle activity in both subjects. In P4, Rt.GL appeared the lowest in both subjects. However, Rt.VMO showed the greater muscle activity in alpine and Lt.VMO showed greater muscle activity in boarder cross.

Studies are underway to catalog genetic diversity in plants and animals and identify genetic variants predictive of economically important traits (e.g., yield, resistance to disease). The high-throughput DNA genotyping and sequencing technologies used in these studies produce large amounts of complex data. Agriculture geneticists are faced with numerous computational obstacles with storing, processing, and analyzing genetic and trait data. We introduce a web application for large-scale agriculture genetic diversity and association studies that aims to simplify and automate many of the data management and analysis tasks common across studies. We present a case study where our software is configured and populated with genome-wide data of over 750,000 genetic markers from the commercially available BovineHD array (Illumina Inc.). Our software is scalable to multiple species and applicable to a wide range of genotyping and sequencing technologies and study designs.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the kinematical variables in different phases of alpine snowboarders’ carving turn. Moreover, the study aims to improve the athletic performance and prevent injury through comparative analysis of different kinematical factors. To achieve the purpose of the study, four alpine snowboarders from Korean National Team for 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics were chosen. For those time duration, distance, velocity and angular variables were calculated. The following conclusions were drawn: The overall elapsed time appeared to have greater significance in P1 than in P2. The displacement in the CM per event increased as a whole in medial-lateral displacement from E1 to E3. Forward-backward displacement results appeared similar in all of the subjects. Increasing trend in upward-downward displacement appeared in all the subjects. Furthermore, in E2 peak point in displacement could be observed which gradually decreased later. Velocity of CM in each event appeared to be the fastest in medial-lateral velocity and Forward-backward velocity in E2. Upward-downward velocity appeared the fastest in E3. The board’s velocity appeared the fastest in E1 however its velocity appeared the lowest in E2. Angle of ankle joint and angle of knee joint per event appeared the lowest in E2. Angle of hip joint and the angle of board- hip and shoulder’s twist appeared the lowest in E3.

Novel amine loaded poly (vinyl benzyl chloride-co divinyl benzene) polymer was synthesized successfully and studied for its CO2 adsorption and moisture adsorbing efficiency. The poly Vbcl DVB co polymer was loaded with tris (2-aminoethyl) amine in different wt %. Then they were characterized with various physiochemical techniques such as thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), FT-IR, diffuse reflectance UV spectroscopy (DRS-UV), differeential scanning calorimetric (DSC). Results shown that the polymer synthesized was stable up to 400 °C and can adsorb 4.5 and 6 wt % CO2 and water at room temperature.

Shorea robusta is threatened these days due to sal borer attack, sal mortality, poor regeneration potential, edapho-climatic changes and various biotic interferences. No systematic attempts were made to understand dynamism of its natural regeneration and to suggest management inputs to encourage its regeneration. The present study deals with the natural regeneration of sal and its associates in Satpura Tiger Reserve, India. The results indicated that the average number of regeneration of sal seedlings per hectare worked out to be 6372 ha-1, which are quite adequate. The distribution pattern of individuals of Shorea robusta trees in different girth classes was also seemed to be uninterrupted in most of the stands studied. This trend of uninterrupted distribution of sal in different growth phases with plenty of established regeneration is the healthy sign of establishment and growth of Shorea robusta crop in the past in this area. Other associates showed different growth patterns.

This study is to verify the effects of the Korean Dance Program for rural middle-aged women on their total cholesterol, triglyceride and climacteric symptoms. In this study, 'Harmony‘, one of the sub-programs of the Korean Dance Program which was developed at Seoul National University Institute Ageing of Woorichum Gymnastics was applied. It was composed of 13 actions and music. Nonequivalent control group pre/post-test method was adopted. Participants of this study lived in rural community, and recruited from two Primary Health Care Posts located in rural community of D city. Total 41 women (experimental group 20, control group 21), from 40s to 60s, were finally selected. Data collection was carried out for 16 weeks. The results were summarized as follows: the total blood cholesterol(F=5.107, p=.029) and climacteric symptoms(F=5.378, p=.025) of the middle-aged in rural community significantly decreased but blood triglyceride did not significantly decrease(F=2.737, p=.106) after the 16 weeks of the Korean dance program. It can be said that the Korean Dance Program, 'Harmony' is a useful implementation for improving rural middle-aged women's blood lipid and climacteric symptoms.

In the field of metabolic engineering, one of the primary goals is to maximize the production of a desired substance. However, to identify the set of gene deletions that will result to the desired production goals is difficult. This is due to the complexity of the regulatory cellular and metabolic network and also lack of good modeling and optimization tools. In this study, the optimization algorithm from previous works was implemented to identify the gene knockout on the result. The previous works faced the problem of inability to provide single run with two goals to maximize the biomass and the desired products. Besides that, the previous work also showed long computational time. In this study, a hybrid of Differential Evolution and Flux Balance Analysis (DEFBA) is proposed to solve the long computational time problem and provide an optimal set of gene knockout with high yield of the desired product. The case study in this research involved the production of succinic acid (also called as succinate) in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The results from this experiment included the list of knockout genes and the growth rate after the deletion. DEFBA had shown better results compared to the other methods. The identified list suggested gene modifications over several pathways which may be useful in solving challenging genetic engineering problems.

Purpose: This study was aimed to develop fee and a resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) advanced nursing practices done by nurse anesthetists under the national health insurance. Methods: The classification of practices in Nurse Anesthetists was performed by clinical panel and then the RBRVS of nurse anesthetists for 16 advanced nursing practices was calculated by magnitude estimation method, based on their workload and working time survey in the context of the national health insurance. A cost analysis including direct labor cost and indirect cost for advanced nursing practice was performed to estimate the conversion factor (unit price) for the RBRVS of nurse anesthetists. The share of nurse anesthetists’ contribution to the fee-for-service was also analyzed. Results: Calculation of the RBRVS for the 16 advanced nursing practices showed a range of points from 100 to 305.2 with an average of 175.3 points. The relevant conversion factor for advanced nursing practices of nurse anesthetists was estimated at 14.9∼19.4 Korean won. The nursing fee for 16 advanced nursing practice was calculated by multiplying the RBRVS of the each practice and the conversion factor. The contribution rate for advanced nursing practices of nurse anesthetists using the relative value scale of the national health insurance was estimated at 9.3%∼100.0% (indirect cost 10%) with the rate varying widely. Conclusion: In order to address the shortage of anesthetic staffs, the employment of nurses specializing in anesthesia is thought to bring the national interests. In addition, we believe the Nurse Anesthetist system is an effective way to prevent a shortage of anesthetic care providers in South Korea.

The mainstream marketing studies have been focusing on the effect of events on the sales. The purpose of this study is to empirically prove the effect of events on corporate images and purchasing intention and the difference in the effect according to the frequency of participation in the same events. This study conducted a survey, targeting 490 participants in some specific events that have continued under the same theme over the last 10 years. The results prove there is a difference in corporate image and purchasing intention between before and after the event, which means that events have a positive, yet there is no difference in the effect according the frequency of event participation. Furthermore the corporate image built through events has a positive effect on purchasing intention

In this paper, we apply a set of algorithms to classify normal and cancer nucleus from uterine cervical pap-smear images. First, we use lightening compensation algorithm to re- store color images that have defamation through the process of obtaining 400x microscope magnification. Then, we remove the background from images with the histogram distribu- tions of RGB regions. We extract nucleus areas from candidates by applying histogram brightness, Kapur method, and our own 8-direction contour tracing algorithm. Various bi- narization methods, cumulative entropy, masking algorithms are used in that process. Then, we are able to recognize normal and cancer nucleus from those areas by using three mor- phological features - directional information, the size of nucleus, and area ratio - with fuzzy membership functions and deciding rules we devised. The experimental result shows our method has low false recognition rate.

This paper presents the development of a virtual patient simulation by a 3D talking head and its use by pharmacy students as a training aid for patient consultation. The paper concentrates on the virtual patient modeling, its synthesis with a speech engine and facial expression interaction. The virtual patient model is developed in three stages: building a personalized 3D face model; animation of the face model; and speech driven face synthesis. The model is used in conjunction with a training artificial intelligence module that creates several scenarios in which the student oral interview ability is assessed. The final evaluation phase is a randomized controlled trial at three partner universities: The University of Newcastle, Monash University and Charles Stuart University. It shows the potential to revolutionize the way pharmacy students’ training is conducted.

The existing process configuration of biometric information system that is defined in the initial performs the same process without changing statically and consistently after the system is running. However, this static process configuration appears an inefficient performance to the applications of the mobile biometric information system in the mobile computing environment. This work proposes the dynamic process design and execution method as a way to overcome these inefficient processes.

For the construction of biometric database from the source data which derived from personal portable device, HL7(Health Level Seven)and CDA(Clinical Document Architecture)standard should be used as application layer protocol. HL7 and CDA standard are protocols which would be used for the communication of medical information among hospital system, but it cannot be connected with mobile devices. Thus, for the u-healthcare monitoring service message conversion gateway should be utilized under the mobile environments. In this study, we designed message conversion gateway and diagnosis support system which control messages among ISO/IEEE 11073 and HL7 CDA. Using this system, medical team located on remote site can manage real time based biometric data.

This paper presents a discussion of the significant trends to technological developments that hold relevance to the evolution of u-Healthcare systems and analyzes the opportunities they may offer to enhance real-time healthcare services. The developments in digital revolution are identified such as location based services, Mobile IPv6, wireless body sensor networks, the evolution of wireless technologies, and smart devices. The convergence of this these technological developments have given a direct impact to the near and far future of u-healthcare systems.

This paper, presents a competent feature extraction technique, i.e., Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (BEMD) for mammogram images. The EMD is fully adaptive and data driven technique. BEMD is used to extract features at numerous scales or spatial frequencies in form of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). By using these IMFs five statistical textural features i.e., mean, standard deviation, kurtosis, skewness and entropy have been extracted from Region of Interests (ROIs) of preprocessed digital mammograms. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) which is inspired by biological neurons has been explored to classify mammograms into different classes. Three experiments, i) classification of normal mammogram and calcification, ii) classification of mass tissue and calcification and iii) classification of normal, mass and calcification have been performed. Accuracies of 95.5%, 93.2% and 82.4% have been obtained by proposed method from respective experiments.

Recently, as a result of advances in technology, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based inertial measurement units (IMUs) have frequently been used for human motion analyses. While the output signal from an IMU is based on the sensor coordinate system (CS), it is necessary to express the signal in the body segment CS for clinical meaning. The offset between the sensor CS and anatomical CS needs to be determined. In this study, a calibration method that determines the orientation offset between a body segment and an IMU attached to the body segment was proposed. The angular velocity was measured while the body segment was rotated and processed using a principle component analysis to form the basis of the orientation offset. The proposed method was applied to calibrate an IMU attached to the forearm and evaluated for five young healthy subjects. Its performance showed reasonable repeatability (mean < 1.4°, SD < 0.8°).

This study aimed to find optimal biomarker combinations (panels) by using logistic regression for the purpose of comparing the accuracy of distinguishing cancerous from benign tumors at the earlier (Stages I and II) and advanced stages (Stages III and IV) of ovarian cancer. Data samples were extracted from 120 patients with benign ovarian cysts and 65 patients with ovarian cancer. The concentrations of 21 urine biomarkers specific to ovarian cancer were obtained using Luminex and used in the study. Data samples were divided into early-stage and advantage-stage sample groups, and 2–3 biomarker combinations with the best area under the curve (AUC) values were selected for each stage using logistic regression to identify the optimal combinations for the accurate diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Additionally, AUC, sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of all of the selected biomarker combinations were compared. Among the combinations of 2 biomarkers, the best performing combination showed AUC values of 85.83% and 97.98% for the early and advanced stages, respectively; the same for the 3-biomarker combinations was 92.77% and 98.74%, respectively. These results confirm that in ovarian cancer diagnosis, biomarkers are more effective in early-stage detection than in advanced-stage detection.

In this paper, we explore the PET-MRI 3D surface image registration method for the longitudinal study of cancer. Image registration gives new information to the radiologists by matching images with different modalities. The objective of this research is to develop 3D surface registration for PET/CT and MR images acquired by different medical imaging systems at different times. Our proposed method consists of three stages: 1) global surface matching, 2) fine adjustment stage and 3) image transformation. In this study, we perform the global registration with surface points within CT and MRI using ICP algorithm. Then we perform the fine adjusts stage using ECICP algorithm. Finally, PET image was transformed with various parameters and overlaid onto MR image.

After gregarious flowering, the natural regeneration of Dendrocalamus strictus (Roxb.) Nees forms carpet on forest floor and remained in whippy stage for several decades in face of severe biotic factors. The present paper deals with the impact of different treatments of fire and grazing closures for rehabilitation of natural regeneration. The treatments were given after formation of bamboo elites. The findings revealed that lit of fire in the month of May proved better in terms of culms growth and clump formation, followed by fire in the month of March. Two fire in a year i.e., fire in March and May, showed detrimental effect on culms growth and clump formation. Similarly, in the experiment of different periods of grazing closures, complete closure for five years proved significantly effective to stimulate growth of bamboo seedlings. This was followed by six months grazing closure (from July to December), and three months (July to Sept.) grazing closure in a year.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of medical research articles published in Korea. To evaluate the quality of medical research articles published in Korea, we compared levels of evidence in medical articles published in Korea and abroad. We chose 2 medical journals in Korea and abroad respectively which representing 15 clinical areas and reviewed all articles published in 1996 and 2008. We used the guidelines of Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine (CEBM) for the quantitative evaluation and classified the levels of evidence in all articles. The majority of medical articles both in Korean and non-Korean medical journals were case-control study and next common were case studies. Whereas randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, and systemic reviews were very rare. However, non-Korean articles had higher levels of evidence than did Korean ones, and this difference was statistically significant. In conclusion, although the quality of medical research articles in Korea improved, we were able to detect a gap in the levels of evidence contained in medical articles published in Korea and outside Korea.