• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.519-528
• /
• 2012

Voice activity detection (VAD) is generally conducted by extracting features from the acoustic signal and a decision rule. The performance of such VAD algorithms driven by the input acoustic signal highly depends on the acoustic noise. When video signals are available as well, the performance of VAD can be enhanced by using the visual information which is not affected by the acoustic noise. Previous visual VAD algorithms usually use single visual feature to detect the lip activity, such as active appearance models, optical flow or intensity variation. Based on the analysis of the weakness of each feature, we propose to combine intensity change measure and the optical flow in the mouth region, which can compensate for each other's weakness. In order to minimize the computational complexity, we develop simple measures that avoid statistical estimation or modeling. Specifically, the optical flow is the averaged motion vector of some grid regions and the intensity variation is detected by simple thresholding. To extract the mouth region, we propose a simple algorithm which first detects two eyes and uses the profile of intensity to detect the center of mouth. Experiments show that the proposed combination of two simple measures show higher detection rates for the given false positive rate than the methods that use a single feature.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.5585-5593
• /
• 2014

This study tested the hypothesis that the significance of the heterogeneous dispersion parameter in safety performance function (SPF) used to estimate the expected crashes is affected by the endogenous heterogeneous prior distributions, and analyzed the impacts of the mis-specified dispersion parameter on the evaluation results for traffic safety countermeasures. In particular, this study simulated the Poisson means based on the heterogeneous dispersion parameters and estimated the SPFs using both the negative binomial (NB) model and the heterogeneous negative binomial (HNB) model for analyzing the impacts of the model mis-specification on the mean and dispersion functions in SPF. In addition, this study analyzed the characteristics of errors in the crash reduction factors (CRFs) obtained when the two models are used to estimate the posterior means and variances, which are essentially estimated through the estimated hyper-parameters in the heterogeneous prior distributions. The simulation study results showed that a mis-estimation on the heterogeneous dispersion parameters through the NB model does not affect the coefficient of the mean functions, but the variances of the prior distribution are seriously mis-estimated when the NB model is used to develop SPFs without considering the heterogeneity in dispersion. Consequently, when the NB model is used erroneously to estimate the prior distributions with heterogeneous dispersion parameters, the mis-estimated posterior mean can produce large errors in CRFs up to 120%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.23
• /
• pp.10107-10114
• /
• 2015

MicroRNA-27a is highly expressed in cancers and has been identified as an oncogenic microRNA. A genetic variant in pre-miR-27a (rs895819) with a transition of A to G has been demonstrated to be associated with cancer risk; however, the results of these studies remain conflicting rather than conclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation. Through searching PubMed or other databases up to March 2014 using the following MeSH terms and keywords, "miR-27a", "polymorphism" and "cancer", seventeen case-control studies were identified in this meta-analysis, including 7,813 cases and 9,602. Crude odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to investigate the association strength between rs895819 and the susceptibility of cancer. The results of the overall meta-analysis did not suggest any association between rs895819 polymorphism and cancer susceptibility, and this remained in Asians as a subgroup. In Caucasians, however, the rs895819 was associated with a reduced cancer risk in heterozygous (OR, 0.83; 95%CI, 0.75-0.93) and dominant models (OR, 0.84; 95%CI, 0.76-0.93), and the [G] allele of rs895819 showed a protective effect (OR, 0.90, 95%CI, 0.84-0.97). Further studies showed a significant association between the [G] allele of rs895819 and decreased risk of breast cancer (0.91; 95%CI, 0.85-0.98), and stratified analyses indicated a protective effect of the [G] allele in Caucasians (OR, 0.89; 95%CI, 0.82-0.98), younger breast cancer cases (OR, 0.87; 95%CI, 0.79-0.96), and in the group of unilateral breast cancer patients (OR, 0.90; 95%CI, 0.83-0.97). These findings suggest an association between pre-miR-27a polymorphism rs895819 and cancer risk in Caucasians. The protective effect of rs895819 [G] allele in younger breast cancer and in the group of unilateral breast cancer patients await further confirmation since the included studies in this meta-analysis were limited.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.167-179
• /
• 2002

In this paper, we propose a new acoustic model for characterizing segmental features and an algorithm based upon a general framework of hidden Markov models (HMMs) in order to compensate the weakness of HMM assumptions. The segmental features are represented as a trajectory of observed vector sequences by a polynomial regression function because the single frame feature cannot represent the temporal dynamics of speech signals effectively. To apply the segmental features to pattern classification, we adopted segmental HMM(SHMM) which is known as the effective method to represent the trend of speech signals. SHMM separates observation probability of the given state into extra- and intra-segmental variations that show the long-term and short-term variabilities, respectively. To consider the segmental characteristics in acoustic model, we present segmental-feature HMM(SFHMM) by modifying the SHMM. The SFHMM therefore represents the external- and internal-variation as the observation probability of the trajectory in a given state and trajectory estimation error for the given segment, respectively. We conducted several experiments on the TIMIT database to establish the effectiveness of the proposed method and the characteristics of the segmental features. From the experimental results, we conclude that the proposed method is valuable, if its number of parameters is greater than that of conventional HMM, in the flexible and informative feature representation and the performance improvement.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.62-73
• /
• 2017

To identify a solution for the restricted availability of healthy lungs and the high risk of immune rejections following organ transplantation, tissue engineering techniques for culturing lungs have been studied by many research groups. The most promising method for culturing lungs is the utilization of a bio-scaffold that was prepared using harvested organs from human donors or other animals by removing their original cells. In this study, a pulsatile perfusion pump was used to alleviate the cell removal effect with the high fluid-dynamic power of the perfusion stream during the decellularization process, while other conventional studies focused on chemical methods to identify efficient detergents. The purpose of this study was to analyze the developed device by using energy equivalent pressure (EEP), which is an indicator of pulsatility, to understand the characteristics of pulsatile energy transmitted according to the load size by using the artificial model and compare it with the measured EEP. The pulsatility of the device can be estimated with the concept of fluid-dynamic energy during a particular constant time period or fluid-dynamic power represented as EEP and EEP increment. Because the measured EEP of perfusion flow during decellularization can be changed by the amount of fluid leakage and the degree of clogging in the capillary vessels, EEP should be measured to determine whether the decellularization is progressing without problems. The decrement of EEP caused by the high perfusion resistance was observed from some experimental results that were obtained with artificial models. EEP can be used to monitor the decellularization process after analyzing the varying EEP according to the amount of load. It was confirmed that the EEP was maintained at a high level in the experiment using the harvested lungs from 12-13-week-old rats. In addition, it was confirmed that the cell removal time was faster than when continuous perfusion was performed. In this study, pulsatile power delivered to the lungs was measured to monitor the process of cell removal, and it serve as the evidence for efficient decellularization.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.164-181
• /
• 2007

This paper empirically analyzes determinants of DTV (Digital Television) adoption in household survey data with IT-related household demand characteristics. To this purpose, we conducted a survey for the adoption of DTV to 1,000 households nationwide. In the questionnaire, various questions asking socio-economics characteristics such as age, education, income were included. Also, status of adoption and usage of IT services such as paid broadcasting, internet, and DVD were asked. To analyze the determinants of intention of purchasing, decision of purchasing, and the timing of purchasing DTV, we adopted the ordered logit, binary logit and multinomial legit models. When there is an order among groups, ordered logit was employed and when there is no orders among groups, multinomial logit was emplyed for the estimation. It is found that when conditions of other explanatory variable are constant, the more educated household heads are, the more probable they become early adopters of DTV. It is also found that other conditions being constant, the income level of households and IT-related household demand characteristics are very important factors affecting DTV adoption. Since the likelihood of purchasing DTV is much higher for those who know the government policy of analog broadcasting termination schedule than others who do not know, dissemination of the Korean government's digital broadcasting policy will affect significantly the adoption of DTV. And policy with various incentives ought to be employed to accelerate DTV adoption, because households with the older TV sets are more likely to purchase DTV. It is suggested that the Korean government should develop policy to connect both DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) and DTV since DBS subscribers are more likely to be an early adopter than non-subscribers.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.289-307
• /
• 2010

The problem of model selection arises in a number of contexts, such as subset selection in linear regression, estimation of structures in graphical models, and signal denoising. This paper studies non-asymptotic model selection for the general case of arbitrary (random or deterministic) design matrices and arbitrary nonzero entries of the signal. In this regard, it generalizes the notion of incoherence in the existing literature on model selection and introduces two fundamental measures of coherence-termed as the worst-case coherence and the average coherence-among the columns of a design matrix. It utilizes these two measures of coherence to provide an in-depth analysis of a simple, model-order agnostic one-step thresholding (OST) algorithm for model selection and proves that OST is feasible for exact as well as partial model selection as long as the design matrix obeys an easily verifiable property, which is termed as the coherence property. One of the key insights offered by the ensuing analysis in this regard is that OST can successfully carry out model selection even when methods based on convex optimization such as the lasso fail due to the rank deficiency of the submatrices of the design matrix. In addition, the paper establishes that if the design matrix has reasonably small worst-case and average coherence then OST performs near-optimally when either (i) the energy of any nonzero entry of the signal is close to the average signal energy per nonzero entry or (ii) the signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement system is not too high. Finally, two other key contributions of the paper are that (i) it provides bounds on the average coherence of Gaussian matrices and Gabor frames, and (ii) it extends the results on model selection using OST to low-complexity, model-order agnostic recovery of sparse signals with arbitrary nonzero entries. In particular, this part of the analysis in the paper implies that an Alltop Gabor frame together with OST can successfully carry out model selection and recovery of sparse signals irrespective of the phases of the nonzero entries even if the number of nonzero entries scales almost linearly with the number of rows of the Alltop Gabor frame.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.39 no.7 s.168
• /
• pp.593-603
• /
• 2006

The basin response to storm is regarded as nonlinearity inherently. In addition, the consistent nonlinearity of hydrologic system response to rainfall has been very tough and cumbersome to be treated analytically. The thing is that such nonlinear models have been avoided because of computational difficulties in identifying the model parameters from recorded data. The parameters of nonlinear system considered as dynamic effects in the conceptual model are optimized as the sum of errors between the observed and computed runoff is minimized. For obtaining the optimal parameters of functions, the historical data for the Bocheong watershed in the Geum river basin were tested by applying the numerical methods, such as quasi-linearization technique, Runge-Kutta procedure, and pattern-search method. The estimated runoff carried through from the storage function with dynamic effects was compared with the one of 1st-order differential equation model expressing just nonlinearity, and also done with Nash model. It was found that the 2nd-order model yields a better prediction of the hydrograph from each storm than the 1st-order model. However, the 2nd-order model was shown to be equivalent to Nash model when it comes to results. As a result, the parameters of nonlinear 2nd-order differential equation model performed from the present study provided not only a considerable physical meaning but also a applicability to Korean watersheds.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2008.05a
• /
• pp.194-198
• /
• 2008

Significant soil erosion and water quality degradation issues are occurring at highland agricultural areas of Kangwon province because of agronomic and topographical specialities of the region. Thus spatial and temporal modeling techniques are often utilized to analyze soil erosion and sediment behaviors at watershed scale. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is one of the watershed scale models that have been widely used for these ends in Korea. In most cases, the SWAT users tend to use the readily available input dataset, such as the Ministry of Environment (MOE) land cover data ignoring temporal and spatial changes in land cover. Spatial and temporal resolutions of the MOE land cover data are not good enough to reflect field condition for accurate assesment of soil erosion and sediment behaviors. Especially accelerated soil erosion is occurring from agricultural fields, which is sometimes not possible to identify with low-resolution MOD land cover data. Thus new land cover data is prepared with cadastral map and high spatial resolution images of the Doam-dam watershed. The SWAT model was calibrated and validated with this land cover data. The EI values were 0.79 and 0.85 for streamflow calibration and validation, respectively. The EI were 0.79 and 0.86 for sediment calibration and validation, respectively. These EI values were greater than those with MOE land cover data. With newly prepared land cover dataset for the Doam-dam watershed, the SWAT model better predicts hydrologic and sediment behaviors. The number of HRUs with new land cover data increased by 70.2% compared with that with the MOE land cover, indicating better representation of small-sized agricultural field boundaries. The SWAT estimated annual average sediment yield with the MOE land cover data was 61.8 ton/ha/year for the Doam-dam watershed, while 36.2 ton/ha/year (70.7% difference) of annual sediment yield with new land cover data. Especially the most significant difference in estimated sediment yield was 548.0% for the subwatershed #2 (165.9 ton/ha/year with the MOE land cover data and 25.6 ton/ha/year with new land cover data developed in this study). The results obtained in this study implies that the use of MOE land cover data in SWAT sediment simulation for the Doam-dam watershed could results in 70.7% differences in overall sediment estimation and incorrect identification of sediment hot spot areas (such as subwatershed #2) for effective sediment management. Therefore it is recommended that one needs to carefully validate land cover for the study watershed for accurate hydrologic and sediment simulation with the SWAT model.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.279-291
• /
• 2015

Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate appropriate weight for aged farmers in manually handling livestock feed in bags using ergonomic methods. Background: In the livestock industry in South Korea, despite the trend of aging of labor manpower, heavy items are still manually handled in many farms. In particular, among stockbreeding works, the handling of feed in bags weighing 25~30kg is reported as a cause of frequent injuries and musculoskeletal system diseases. However, studies on the standard for recommended weight allowed considering the physical characteristics of aged farmers older than 60 years with greatly decreased physical strength and muscle strength are insufficient. Method: To evaluate appropriate weight for handling of heavy livestock feed in bags, physical techniques for measuring recognized levels of physical work loads, the NLE (NIOSH lifting equation) a method that is an observation type technique, and an ergonomic modeling technique to predict compressive force imposed on L5/S1 were used. Subjects who participated in the experiment were organized into two groups of males/females with mean age exceeding 60 years, and lifting tasks were evaluated for nine weight levels. Results: Based on the results of psychophysical measurement, females showed a tendency of more drastic increases compared to males when weight was over 19kg. The results of estimation of regression models for the weight, 18.0 kg ($r^2=0.97$) and 15.3kg ($r^2=0.97$) were evaluated as stable load for males and females, respectively. In addition, both the observation type evaluation and ergonomic model evaluation showed stable loads in a range of 15~18kg. Conclusion: Given the results of the study, the weight of the feed in bags currently distributed to farms can become a cause of not only overexertion but also farm work related disasters such as musculoskeletal disorders and safety accidents. Providing livestock feed in bags weighing not more than 19kg for aged farmers is judged desirable, and managerial improvement for this matter is considered necessary. Application: The results of the present study can be utilized as useful data for institutional improvement of the weight of livestock feed in bags.