• Title/Summary/Keyword: Complex Communication

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Sensing the Stress: the Role of the Stress-activated p38/Hog1 MAPK Signalling Pathway in Human Pathogenic Fungus Cryptococcus neoformans

  • Bahn, Yong-Sun;Heitman, Joseph
    • Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2007.05a
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    • pp.120-122
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    • 2007
  • All living organisms use numerous signal-transduction pathways to sense and respond to their environments and thereby survive and proliferate in a range of biological niches. Molecular dissection of these signalling networks has increased our understanding of these communication processes and provides a platform for therapeutic intervention when these pathways malfunction in disease states, including infection. Owing to the expanding availability of sequenced genomes, a wealth of genetic and molecular tools and the conservation of signalling networks, members of the fungal kingdom serve as excellent model systems for more complex, multicellular organisms. Here, we employed Cryptococcus neoformans as a model system to understand how fungal-signalling circuits operate at the molecular level to sense and respond to a plethora of environmental stresses, including osmoticshock, UV, high temperature, oxidative stress and toxic drugs/metabolites. The stress-activated p38/Hog1 MAPK pathway is structurally conserved in many organisms as diverse as yeast and mammals, but its regulation is uniquely specialized in a majority of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans serotype A and D strains to control differentiation and virulence factor regulation. C. neoformans Hog1 MAPK is controlled by Pbs2 MAPK kinase (MAPKK). The Pbs2-Hog1 MAPK cascade is controlled by the fungal "two-component" system that is composed of a response regulator, Ssk1, and multiple sensor kinases, including two-component.like (Tco) 1 and Tco2. Tco1 and Tco2 play shared and distinct roles in stress responses and drug sensitivity through the Hog1 MAPK system. Furthermore, each sensor kinase mediates unique cellular functions for virulence and morphological differentiation. We also identified and characterized the Ssk2 MAPKKK upstream of the MAPKK Pbs2 and the MAPK Hog1 in C. neoformans. The SSK2 gene was identified as a potential component responsible for differential Hog1 regulation between the serotype D sibling f1 strains B3501 and B3502 through comparative analysis of their meiotic map with the meiotic segregation of Hog1-dependent sensitivity to the fungicide fludioxonil. Ssk2 is the only polymorphic component in the Hog1 MAPK module, including two coding sequence changes between the SSK2 alleles in B3501 and B3502 strains. To further support this finding, the SSK2 allele exchange completely swapped Hog1-related phenotypes between B3501 and B3502 strains. In the serotype A strain H99, disruption of the SSK2 gene dramatically enhanced capsule biosynthesis and mating efficiency, similar to pbs2 and hog1 mutations. Furthermore, ssk2, pbs2, and hog1 mutants are all hypersensitive to a variety of stresses and completely resistant to fludioxonil. Taken together, these findings indicate that Ssk2 is the critical interface protein connecting the two-component system and the Pbs2-Hog1 pathway in C. neoformans.

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Development of Gateway Review System for Supporting Collaborative Decision-Making through Project Life Cycle (사업 단계별 의사결정 지원 게이트웨이 리뷰 체계 구축)

  • Shin, Seung-Woo;Yi, June-Seong;Lee, Jee-Hee;Park, Kyung-Rog;Lim, Ji-Youn
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.43-54
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    • 2010
  • As Urban Regeneration is being carried out, stakeholders are most likely to have disagreements on their interests. Besides, dispersion of numerous communication routes and obscure decision processes aggravate the situation. Eventually, fragmented decision-making processes and complex structure lead to inefficient outcome and delay of projects. This paper is a study on decision-making support not only helps the program manager have more efficient and optimum decision, but also provides alternatives for Urban Regeneration. This study is conducted as follows. Firstly, the project process and the decision-making structure among stakeholders in Urban Regeneration are analyzed, and then the current status of decision-making in Urban Regeneration project is classified. Secondly, with literature study on "Gateway Review", the decision-making gateway review process in Urban Regeneration is defined, and then the "Gateway Review Elements" are listed. Thirdly, to establish gateway review process, this paper presents a check points, namely gate which supports a program manager to monitor and to control the program management in Urban Regeneration. Each gate has several supporting tools such as diagram of critical decision points relation, scheme of stakeholder, checklist. Fourthly, the proposed concept is verified by experts who have been carefully selected to provide their respective reviews. Finally, decision-making support gateway review system is modified based on their critiques and suggestions.

Customizable Global Job Scheduler for Computational Grid (계산 그리드를 위한 커스터마이즈 가능한 글로벌 작업 스케줄러)

  • Hwang Sun-Tae;Heo Dae-Young
    • Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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    • v.33 no.7
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    • pp.370-379
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    • 2006
  • Computational grid provides the environment which integrates v 따 ious computing resources. Grid environment is more complex and various than traditional computing environment, and consists of various resources where various software packages are installed in different platforms. For more efficient usage of computational grid, therefore, some kind of integration is required to manage grid resources more effectively. In this paper, a global scheduler is suggested, which integrates grid resources at meta level with applying various scheduling policies. The global scheduler consists of a mechanical part and three policies. The mechanical part mainly search user queues and resource queues to select appropriate job and computing resource. An algorithm for the mechanical part is defined and optimized. Three policies are user selecting policy, resource selecting policy, and executing policy. These can be defined newly and replaced with new one freely while operation of computational grid is temporarily holding. User selecting policy, for example, can be defined to select a certain user with higher priority than other users, resource selecting policy is for selecting the computing resource which is matched well with user's requirements, and executing policy is to overcome communication overheads on grid middleware. Finally, various algorithms for user selecting policy are defined only in terms of user fairness, and their performances are compared.

A Study on the Nordic Sweaters (노르딕 스웨터에 관한 연구)

  • 이선명
    • Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.139-161
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    • 2002
  • This study investigates the characteristics of Nordic sweaters works from a historical perspective. Specifically, this study deals with the following research topics: 1) development of Nordic sweaters, 2) the characteristics of Nordic sweaters industry according to the change of times, 3) the comparison of local knitting patterns, 4) the symbolic meaning of the designs in the Nordic sweaters and patterns. The results of the study are summarized as follows. 1. Knitted work developed mostly in Northern Europe, a cold area, and the barren, mountainous coastal areas where people frequently used woolen materials for clothes. It was also developed in Scandinavian regions which lead the fashion in modern days. Scandinavian knitting techniques have been diffused into the east coast of England and Northern Europe by Vikings. 2. Scandinavian countries are distinguished from other countries by their conservative but creative cultural tradition. Their knitting patterns are characterized by small geometric figures such as dots, triangles, squares, rhombuses, and crosses used often with stars and roses. Scandinavian knitting is also salient for its vertical stripes and simple motifs repeating at short intervals. 1) Norway ; Simple and geometric Norwegian patterns are classified into three groups of motifs: (a) the motifs of cross, diamond, X, and swastika (equation omitted). (b) the motifs of human figures, animals and birds, (c) floral motifs (especially eight-petal roses). Their use of color is also simple, and is limited to more than two colors. (2) Sweden ; Swedish patterns are colorful and geometric. They are characterized by features such as brocade, complex embroidery, and contrast of red and black colors. They also show Guernsey patterns. Initials and production years were knitted in sweaters which have different patterns in their trunks and sleeves. 3) Denmark ; The Danish pattern is the purl stitch knitted against the stockinette stitch. The technique is used to copy woven damask motifs. The patterns are seen most clearly when they are knit with smooth yarn. The Faeroe sweaters are the representative work of Danish knitting. Faeroe knitting, incorporates stranded pattern and is knit in the round, either with circular needles. 4) Finland ; Finnish patterns are similar to Norwegian patterns. Finnish knitted work show very colorful, variety and free-flowing geometric patterns. 5) Iceland ; Icelandic knitting shows original ribbon pattern. Lope sweater is the representative work. 3. The traditional knitting patterns not only carried symbolic meanings but also served as means of communication. First of all, patterns had incantatory meanings. Patterns were symbolic of one's social standing, too. The colors, motifs and their arrangements were very important features symbolizing one's social position or family line. People often communicated by certain pieces of knitted work or patterns. In short, the knitted work in the Nordic sweaters served the function of admiring the beauty of nature and symbolizing various meanings. The unique designs and colors of the knitted work reflected the characteristics of the culture those works belonged to. This study also turns our attention to the issue of how the traditional colors and designs of the knitted work can contribute to the development of modern designs, and by doing so, if makes us realize the importance of knitted works in modern society.

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Methods for Video Caption Extraction and Extracted Caption Image Enhancement (영화 비디오 자막 추출 및 추출된 자막 이미지 향상 방법)

  • Kim, So-Myung;Kwak, Sang-Shin;Choi, Yeong-Woo;Chung, Kyu-Sik
    • Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.235-247
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    • 2002
  • For an efficient indexing and retrieval of digital video data, research on video caption extraction and recognition is required. This paper proposes methods for extracting artificial captions from video data and enhancing their image quality for an accurate Hangul and English character recognition. In the proposed methods, we first find locations of beginning and ending frames of the same caption contents and combine those multiple frames in each group by logical operation to remove background noises. During this process an evaluation is performed for detecting the integrated results with different caption images. After the multiple video frames are integrated, four different image enhancement techniques are applied to the image: resolution enhancement, contrast enhancement, stroke-based binarization, and morphological smoothing operations. By applying these operations to the video frames we can even improve the image quality of phonemes with complex strokes. Finding the beginning and ending locations of the frames with the same caption contents can be effectively used for the digital video indexing and browsing. We have tested the proposed methods with the video caption images containing both Hangul and English characters from cinema, and obtained the improved results of the character recognition.

Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning-Based Behavior Control of Grid Sortation Systems in Smart Factory (스마트 팩토리에서 그리드 분류 시스템의 협력적 다중 에이전트 강화 학습 기반 행동 제어)

  • Choi, HoBin;Kim, JuBong;Hwang, GyuYoung;Kim, KwiHoon;Hong, YongGeun;Han, YounHee
    • KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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    • v.9 no.8
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    • pp.171-180
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    • 2020
  • Smart Factory consists of digital automation solutions throughout the production process, including design, development, manufacturing and distribution, and it is an intelligent factory that installs IoT in its internal facilities and machines to collect process data in real time and analyze them so that it can control itself. The smart factory's equipment works in a physical combination of numerous hardware, rather than a virtual character being driven by a single object, such as a game. In other words, for a specific common goal, multiple devices must perform individual actions simultaneously. By taking advantage of the smart factory, which can collect process data in real time, if reinforcement learning is used instead of general machine learning, behavior control can be performed without the required training data. However, in the real world, it is impossible to learn more than tens of millions of iterations due to physical wear and time. Thus, this paper uses simulators to develop grid sortation systems focusing on transport facilities, one of the complex environments in smart factory field, and design cooperative multi-agent-based reinforcement learning to demonstrate efficient behavior control.

On the Use of SysML Models in the Conceptual Design of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (무인항공기체계의 개념설계에서 SysML 모델의 활용에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Young-Min;Lee, Jae-Chon
    • The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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    • v.37 no.2C
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    • pp.206-216
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    • 2012
  • Today's war fields can be characterized by net-centric wars where a variety of independent weapon systems are operated in connection with each other via networks. As such, weapon systems become dramatically advanced in terms of complexity, functionality, precision and so on. It is then obvious that the defense R&D of those requires systematic and efficient development tools enabling the effective management of the complexity, budget/cost, development time, and risk all together. One viable approach is known to be the development methods based on systems engineering, which is already proved to successful in U.S. In this paper, a systems engineering approach is studied to be used in the conceptual design of advanced weapon systems. The approach is utilizing some graphical models in the design phase. As a target system, an unmanned aerial vehicle system is considered and the standard SysML is also used as a modeling language to create models. The generated models have several known merits such as ease of understanding and communication. The interrelationships between the models and the design artifacts are identified, which should be useful in the generation of some design documents that are required in the defense R&D. The result reported here could be utilized in the further study that can eventually lead to a full-scale model-based systems engineering method.

RET Modelling through the Phase Function Measurement at 12.5 GHz (12.5 GHz 대역 위상 함수 특성 측정을 통한 RET 모델링)

  • Han, Il-Tak;Bae, Seok-Hee;Jung, Myoung-Won;Pack, Jung-Ki
    • The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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    • v.18 no.3 s.118
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    • pp.334-340
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    • 2007
  • The prediction for vegetation attenuation using the RET model recommended in the ITU-R requires six RET input parameters. Among these, 4 parameters are related to the scattering characteristics of vegetation. To extract these parameters, two methods can be used. One is to extract the parameters by curve fitting of the measured vegetation-attenuation curve with the RET prediction model, and the other is to use the additional phase function measurement data. In the former method, fitting is quite complex and it does not result in the unique results in some cases. In addition, the extracted parameters lack the physical meaning as well. Thus, in this paper, the measurement method of phase function, and the method of extracting the RET model parameters which lead to more accurate and physically more meaningful results are presented. The extracted RET model parameters are also presented. The RET modeling method, measurement data, and the extracted RET model parameters presented in this paper were submitted to the ITU-R meeting in 2006, and adapted for ITU-R report and recommendation P.833.

The Effect of Physical Environments in the Comprehensive Health Examination Center on Medical Service Value, Satisfaction and Switching Barrier (종합검진센터의 물리적 환경이 의료서비스가치와 만족도, 전환장벽에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, YongTae;Chae, BongSik;Hwang, BokJu
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.63-80
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    • 2019
  • This study presents strategic implications for enhancing the competitiveness of the comprehensive health examination center through the study of its impact on the switching barrier with medical service value and medical service satisfaction as parameters. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, a total of 324 questionnaires were analyzed for customers who received health examinations at the general examination center. Covariance structure analysis was performed to test hypotheses and causal relationships. The results showed that the physical environment had a significant effect on the medical service value and medical service satisfaction. The value of medical service also had a significant effect on medical service satisfaction. The value of medical service was found to affect the transition barrier, but the satisfaction of medical service did not affect the transition barrier. The implications of this study are that physical environment has a significant effect on medical service value and medical service satisfaction. Therefore, modern medical equipment should be equipped with the latest medical equipment to minimize accurate examination and misdiagnosis through modernization of medical examination center. In addition, since the value of medical service has a significant effect on the switching barrier, it is necessary to establish a plan to enhance the value of medical service. We need to promote sustainable customer retention and creation of new customers through differentiated screening items and cost advantages over competitors. In addition to check-up services, efforts should be made to enhance the value of services such as strengthening medical communication and medical complex cultural spaces, and at the same time, establish an organizational culture of customer-first examination centers through the placement of excellent personnel and continuous education.

A Robust Method for Automatic Generation of Moire Reference Phase from Noisy Image (노이즈 영상으로부터 모아레 기준 위상의 강인 자동 생성 방법)

  • Kim, Kuk-Won;Kim, Min-Young
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.10 no.5
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    • pp.909-916
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    • 2009
  • This paper presents the automatic vision algorithm to generate and calibrate reference phase plane to improve the accuracy of 3D measuring machine of using phase shifting projection moire method, which is not traditional N-bucket method, but is based on direct image processing method to the pattern projection image. Generally, to acquire accurate reference phase plane, the calibration specimen with well treated surface is needed, and detailed calibration method should be performed. For the cost reduction of specimen manufacturing and the calibration time reduction, on the specimen, not specially designed, with general accuracy level, an efficient calibration procedure for the reference phase generation is proposed. The proposed vision algorithm is developed to extract the line center points of the projected line pattern from acquired images, derive the line feature information consisting of its slope and intercept by using sampled feature points, and finally generate the related reference phase between line pairs. Experimental results show that the proposed method make reference phase plane with a good accuracy under noisy environment and the proposed algorithm can reduce the total cost to make high accurate calibration specimen, also increase the accuracy of reference phase plane, and reduce the complex calibration procedure to move grid via N-bucket algorithm precisely.