• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 1997

Bypassing acrosome reaction and fusion process in intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI), most of injected spermatozoa still contain intact acrosome contents and plasma membrane. It Is not known yet what acrosome contents and plasma membrane of spermatozoa have effect on the development of embryo. For further understanding of fertilization process after ICSI, we studied the time of pronucleus formation, disappearance and first cleavage in human zygote, and pregnancy rate in relation to acrosome reaction rate of spermatozoa after ICSI. Seventy cycles undergoing ICSI program were randomly selected. Sperm suspension from 38 cycles were treated 50% human follicular fluid(hFF) for 3 hours in order to induce acrosome reaction, others were not treated as control. Acrosome reaction in hFF treated and non-treated group was assessed by fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC)-conjugated Arachis hypogea(PNA) and Pisum sativum agglutinin(PSA). Oocytes were classified into 'good' and 'poor' according to their morphology. After ICSI, fertilization of oocytes were assessed by detection of two pronuclei at 16 hours. The pronuclei disappearance and first cleavage of zygotes were observed at 24 hours, and then embryos were transferred to uterus after culture for 72 hours. The rate of acrosome reaction of spermatozoa in hFF treated group was significantly higher than that in control(p<0.01). Fertilization rates of good oocytes were not different both control and hFF treated group(81.3%(174/206) vs. 72.1%(102/130)). But, in poor oocytes, the fertilization rates in hFF treated group(72.1%(149/183)) were increased compared than those of control group (63.6%(98/140), p<0.01). In either good or poor oocytes, the rates of pronuclei disappearance in hFF treated-spermatozoa injected oocytes were higher than control (59.1%(103/174), 56.4%(84/149) vs. 32.4%(33/102), 37.8%(37/98), p<0.01). Also, the rates of thirst cleavage were increased in hFF treated group (31%(54/174), 24.1%(36/149)) compared than those of control group (10.8%(11/102), 13.2%(13/98), p<0.01). The pregnancy rates of hFF treated group (42.1%(16/38)) were slightly higher than control group (28.1%(9/32), p>0.05). But, the pregnancy rate of group which possessed more than one cleavaged zygote at 24 hours was higher than group which did not (45.2%(19/42) vs. 21.4%(6/28), p<0.05). From these results, the development of zygotes were faster in higher acrosome reacted sperm group than lower acrosome reacted sperm group after ICSI. Our results may be explained that acrosomal membrane and plasma membrane are easily detached from spermatozoa in acrosome reacted spermatozoa compared with acrosome intact sperm in the cytoplasm of oocyte during pronuclear formation. We conclude that the injection of acrosome reacted spermatozoa will increase the pregnancy rate as they can induce fast embryonic development in ICSI.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.211-216
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• 2010

The luminescence properties of $In_{0.5}Ga_{0.5}As/In_{0.5}Al_{0.5}As$ multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown on $In_{0.5}Al_{0.5}As$ buffer layers have been studied by using photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL measurements. A$1-{\mu}m$ thick $In_{0.5}Al_{0.5}As$ buffer layers were deposited on a 500 nm thick GaAs layer, followed by the deposition of the InGaAs/InAlAs MQWs. In order to investigate the effects of InAlAs buffer layer on the optical properties of the MQWs, four different temperature sequences are used for the growth of InAlAs buffer layer. The growth temperature for InAlAs buffer layer was varied from 320^{\circ}C to $580^{\circ}C$. The MQWs consist of three $In_{0.5}Ga_{0.5}$As wells with different well thicknesses (2.5 nm, 4.0 nm, and 6.0 nm thick) and 10 nm thick $In_{0.5}Al_{0.5}$As barriers. The PL spectra from the MQWs with InAlAs layer grown at lower temperature range ($320-580^{\circ}C$) showed strong peaks from 4 nm QW and 6 nm QW. However, for the MQWs with InAlAs buffer grown at higher temperature range ($320-480^{\circ}C$), the PL spectra only showed a strong peak from 6 nm QW. The strongest PL intensity was obtained from the MQWs with InAlAs layer grown at the fixed temperature of $480^{\circ}C$, while the MQWs with buffer layer grown at higher temperature from $530^{\circ}C$ to $580^{\circ}C$ showed the weakest PL intensity. From the emission wavelength dependence of PL decay times, the fast and slow decay times may be related to the recombination of carriers in the 4 nm QW and 6 nm QW, respectively. These results indicated that the growth temperatures of InAlAs layer affect the structural and optical properties of the MQWs.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.473-481
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• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the contents of ginsenosides and physiochemical properties of Panax ginseng after 9 times steaming and drying treatment by using the new auto steamer which is more fast and simple than previous report. In the process of steaming and drying, the content of six major ginsenosides such as Rg1, Re, Rb1, Rc, Rb2 and Rd were gradually decreased. On the other hand, the content of seven minor ginsenosides includes Rh1, 20(S)-Rg2, 20(R)-Rg2, 20(S)-Rg3, 20(R)-Rg3, Rk1 and Rg5 were gradually increased. We observed the protopanxadiol ginsenosides such as Rb1, Rb2, Rc and Rd were converted into 20(S)-Rg3, 20(R)-Rg3, Rk1 and Rg5; similarly protopanxatriol ginsenosides of Rg1 and Re were converted into Rh1, 20(S)-Rg2 and 20(R)-Rg2. Based on the result of fresh ginseng, the contents of reducing sugar, acidic polysaccharide and total phenolic compounds were gradually increased and reached to maximum at 7 times repetitive steaming process of the fresh ginseng. Whereas DPPH radical scavenging activities were gradually decreased to 68% at 7 times steaming. New auto 9 repetitive steaming and drying process has similar production with original methods, but content of benzo(a)pyrene were not almost detected comparatively taking less time. The present results suggested that this method is best for the development of value-added ginseng industry related products.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.287-292
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• 2005

To investigate the effects of heat conservation materials on freeze damage and weed occurrence during overwintering in Saururus chinensis, Temperature difference was $6.9^{\circ}C$ in chaff, and was lower than those ranged from 9.7 to $14.4^{\circ}C$ in other materials. Heat conservation index, calculated from average temperatures below $-10^{\circ}C$ of earth's surface during the winter, was higher $1.7^{\circ}C\;and\;1.5^{\circ}C$ in chaff and lagging, respectively than in straw. Preservation of water is greater $9.6{\sim}26.1%$ in covering than in open field, and it increased in the order of lagging > chaff > straw among heat conservation materials. The survival rate of rhizome was increased in the order of 99% in lagging > 75% in chaff > 58% in straw, 32% in open field after overwintering, budbreak began fast, and the numbers of total budbreak per unit area were greater 22 times in lagging than 35.0 units in open field. Weeds occurrence was decreased in covering, i.e., $12.0{\sim}33.2\;units/m^2,\;7.3{\sim}10.7\;kg/10a$ of dry weight, and $5.6{\sim}6.4\;hours/10a$ of labor input compared with $157.2\;units/m^2,\;28.9\;kg/10a$ of dry weight, and 65.7 hours/10a of labor input in open field. Growth of top part was better in covering than in open field, and the number of tillers per unit area showed $347{\sim}396$ compared with 293 in open field. Marketable yields of dried stem and leaves and rhizome were higher $69{\sim}87%\;and\;58{\sim}88%$, respectively in covering than in open field, and among heat conservation materials, those were highest in lagging.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.268-279
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• 2004

Background : The tuberculin skin test has been used to diagnose latent tuberculosis infection, but is not widely used to diagnose or exclude pulmonary tuberculosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the tuberculin test in diagnosing and excluding pulmonary tuberculosis, and differentiating pulmonary tuberculosis from nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) pulmonary disease, when a sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear was positive. Material and Methods : From October 2002 to August 2003, among all the inpatients of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Samsung Medical Center, 258 patients with clinical suspicion of pulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled and underwent a tuberculin test. Results : 156 males and 102 females were included, with a mean age of 57.5 years. The final diagnoses included lung cancer in 89 cases (34.5%), pulmonary tuberculosis in 59 cases (22.9%), bacterial pneumonia in 33 cases (12.8%) and NTM pulmonary disease in 24 cases (9.3%). The positive tuberculin test rate was higher in the tuberculosis than non-tuberculosis group; 81.4 (48/59) vs. 42.4% (81/199). (p<0.001). In 208 patients with a negative sputum AFB smear, the result of the tuberculin test was positive in 69.4% (25/36) of the tuberculosis group and in 44.8% (77/172) of the non-tuberculosis group (p=0.007), so a positive result of the tuberculin test could predict pulmonary tuberculosis with 69.4% sensitivity, 55.2% specificity, a 24.5% positive predictive value and a 89.6% negative predictive value. In 50 patients with a positive sputum AFB smear, the positive rates of the tuberculin test were 83.9% (26/31) in tuberculosis group and 21.1% (4/19) in NTM pulmonary disease group (p<0.001), so a positive result of the tuberculin skin test could predict pulmonary tuberculosis with 83.9% sensitivity, 78.9% specificity, a 86.7% positive predictive value and a 75.0% negative predictive value. Conclusion : The tuberculin test could be useful in excluding pulmonary tuberculosis when the sputum AFB smear is negative, and to differentiate pulmonary tuberculosis from NTM pulmonary disease when the sputum AFB smear is positive.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.248-260
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• 2004

Background : As an effective regimen for isoniazid (INH)-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis, several treatment regimens have been recommended by many experts. In Korea, a standard regimen has not been established for INH-resistant tuberculosis, and the treatment by individual physicians has been performed on an empirical bases. The purpose of the present study was to retrospectively describe the treatment characteristics and evaluate the treatment outcomes of patients with INH-resistant tuberculosis. Materials and Methods : Sixty of 69 patients reported to have INH-resistant tuberculosis from 1994 to 2001 were retrospectively analyzed. Exclusion criteria included: death from other causes, with the exceptions of tuberculosis and incomplete treatment, including a patient's transfer-out. Results : A previous tuberculosis history was found in 28 (46.7%) patients. The sputum smear for acid-fast bacilli was positive in 44 (73.3%) patients, and 30 (50.0%) had cavitary disease. Streptomycin resistance coexisted in 25.0% of isolates. INH was to be prescribed continuously, even after INH resistance was reported, in 86.0% of patients. The treatment regimens were diverse between the patients according to drug regimen composition and treatment duration. The most frequent prescribed regimen included rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide, with and without INH, for the full 12-month term of treatment. Treatment failure occurred in 13 (21.7%) patients. Cavitary disease (p=0.005) and a treatment regimen with second-line drugs, excluding rifampin (p=0.015), were associated with treatment failure. One patient experienced a relapse. Conclusions : Standardized treatment guidelines will be needed in Korea to improve the treatment efficacy for INH-resistant tuberculosis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 1993.06a
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• pp.975-976
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• 1993

This talk presents the overview of the author's research and development activities on fuzzy inference hardware. We involved it with two distinct approaches. The first approach is to use application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) technology. The fuzzy inference method is directly implemented in silicon. The second approach, which is in its preliminary stage, is to use more conventional microprocessor architecture. Here, we use a quantitative technique used by designer of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) to modify an architecture of a microprocessor. In the ASIC approach, we implemented the most widely used fuzzy inference mechanism directly on silicon. The mechanism is beaded on a max-min compositional rule of inference, and Mandami's method of fuzzy implication. The two VLSI fuzzy inference chips are designed, fabricated, and fully tested. Both used a full-custom CMOS technology. The second and more claborate chip was designed at the University of North Carolina(U C) in cooperation with MCNC. Both VLSI chips had muliple datapaths for rule digital fuzzy inference chips had multiple datapaths for rule evaluation, and they executed multiple fuzzy if-then rules in parallel. The AT & T chip is the first digital fuzzy inference chip in the world. It ran with a 20 MHz clock cycle and achieved an approximately 80.000 Fuzzy Logical inferences Per Second (FLIPS). It stored and executed 16 fuzzy if-then rules. Since it was designed as a proof of concept prototype chip, it had minimal amount of peripheral logic for system integration. UNC/MCNC chip consists of 688,131 transistors of which 476,160 are used for RAM memory. It ran with a 10 MHz clock cycle. The chip has a 3-staged pipeline and initiates a computation of new inference every 64 cycle. This chip achieved an approximately 160,000 FLIPS. The new architecture have the following important improvements from the AT & T chip: Programmable rule set memory (RAM). On-chip fuzzification operation by a table lookup method. On-chip defuzzification operation by a centroid method. Reconfigurable architecture for processing two rule formats. RAM/datapath redundancy for higher yield It can store and execute 51 if-then rule of the following format: IF A and B and C and D Then Do E, and Then Do F. With this format, the chip takes four inputs and produces two outputs. By software reconfiguration, it can store and execute 102 if-then rules of the following simpler format using the same datapath: IF A and B Then Do E. With this format the chip takes two inputs and produces one outputs. We have built two VME-bus board systems based on this chip for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The board is now installed in a robot at ORNL. Researchers uses this board for experiment in autonomous robot navigation. The Fuzzy Logic system board places the Fuzzy chip into a VMEbus environment. High level C language functions hide the operational details of the board from the applications programme . The programmer treats rule memories and fuzzification function memories as local structures passed as parameters to the C functions. ASIC fuzzy inference hardware is extremely fast, but they are limited in generality. Many aspects of the design are limited or fixed. We have proposed to designing a are limited or fixed. We have proposed to designing a fuzzy information processor as an application specific processor using a quantitative approach. The quantitative approach was developed by RISC designers. In effect, we are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of a specialized RISC processor for fuzzy information processing. As the first step, we measured the possible speed-up of a fuzzy inference program based on if-then rules by an introduction of specialized instructions, i.e., min and max instructions. The minimum and maximum operations are heavily used in fuzzy logic applications as fuzzy intersection and union. We performed measurements using a MIPS R3000 as a base micropro essor. The initial result is encouraging. We can achieve as high as a 2.5 increase in inference speed if the R3000 had min and max instructions. Also, they are useful for speeding up other fuzzy operations such as bounded product and bounded sum. The embedded processor's main task is to control some device or process. It usually runs a single or a embedded processer to create an embedded processor for fuzzy control is very effective. Table I shows the measured speed of the inference by a MIPS R3000 microprocessor, a fictitious MIPS R3000 microprocessor with min and max instructions, and a UNC/MCNC ASIC fuzzy inference chip. The software that used on microprocessors is a simulator of the ASIC chip. The first row is the computation time in seconds of 6000 inferences using 51 rules where each fuzzy set is represented by an array of 64 elements. The second row is the time required to perform a single inference. The last row is the fuzzy logical inferences per second (FLIPS) measured for ach device. There is a large gap in run time between the ASIC and software approaches even if we resort to a specialized fuzzy microprocessor. As for design time and cost, these two approaches represent two extremes. An ASIC approach is extremely expensive. It is, therefore, an important research topic to design a specialized computing architecture for fuzzy applications that falls between these two extremes both in run time and design time/cost. TABLEI INFERENCE TIME BY 51 RULES {{{{Time }}{{MIPS R3000 }}{{ASIC }}{{Regular }}{{With min/mix }}{{6000 inference 1 inference FLIPS }}{{125s 20.8ms 48 }}{{49s 8.2ms 122 }}{{0.0038s 6.4㎲ 156,250 }} }}

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.393-401
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• 1998

Based on clinical observations, it is suspected that the bone-tendon origin is the site where piratical failure, leading to pathophysiological changes in the humeral epicondyle after repetitive loading, is initiated Mechanical properties and failure patterns of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle under static and repetitive loading have not been well documented. Our goal was to determine mechanical properties of failure strength and strain changes, to correlate strain changes and the number of cyclic repetitions, and to identify the failure pattern of bone-tendon specimens of common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle. Mechnaical properties of human cadaver bone-tendon specimens of the common extensor and flexor tendons of the humeral epicondyle were tested under two different loading rates. No statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength was found between male and female specimens or between slow (10 mm/sec) and fast elongation (100 mm/sec) rates. However, a statistically significant difference in ultimate tensile strength between the common extensor (1190.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$388.8) and flexor 1922.0 N/$cm^2{\pm}$764.4)tendons was found (p<0.05). When loads of 25%, 33%, and 41% of the ultimate tensile strength of their contralateral sides were applied, the number of cycles required to reach 24% strain change for the common extersor and flexor tendons were approximately 8,893, 1,907, and 410, respectively. The relationship between cycles and loads was correlated ($R^2$=0.46) Histological observation showed that complete or partial failure after tensile or cyclic loadings occurred at the transitional zone, which is the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone between tendon and bone of the humeral epicondyle. Sequential histological sections revealed that failure initiated at the upper, medial aspect of the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon origin. Biomechanical and hstological data obtained in this study indicated that the uncalcified fibrocartilage zone at the bone-tendon origin of the common extensor and flexor tendons is the weak anatomical structure of the humeral epicondyle.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.129-141
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• 2010

An Internet shopping mall for clothing operates a warehouse for packing and shipping products to fulfill its orders. All the products in the warehouse are put into the boxes of same brands and the boxes are stored in a row on shelves equiped in the warehouse. To make picking and managing easy, boxes of the same brands are located side by side on the shelves. When new products arrive to the warehouse for storage, the products of a brand are put into boxes and those boxes are located adjacent to the boxes of the same brand. If there is not enough space for the new coming boxes, however, some boxes of other brands should be moved away and then the new coming boxes are located adjacent in the resultant vacant spaces. We want to minimize the movement of the existing boxes of other brands to another places on the shelves during the warehousing of new coming boxes, while all the boxes of the same brand are kept side by side on the shelves. Firstly, we define the adjacency of boxes by looking the shelves as an one dimensional series of spaces to store boxes, i.e. cells, tagging the series of cells by a series of numbers starting from one, and considering any two boxes stored in the cells to be adjacent to each other if their cell numbers are continuous from one number to the other number. After that, we tried to formulate the problem into an integer programming model to obtain an optimal solution. An integer programming formulation and Branch-and-Bound technique for this problem may not be tractable because it would take too long time to solve the problem considering the number of the cells or boxes in the warehouse and the computing power of the Internet shopping mall. As an alternative approach, we designed a fast heuristic method for this reallocation problem by focusing on just the unused spaces-empty cells-on the shelves, which results in an assignment problem model. In this approach, the new coming boxes are assigned to each empty cells and then those boxes are reorganized so that the boxes of a brand are adjacent to each other. The objective of this new approach is to minimize the movement of the boxes during the reorganization process while keeping the boxes of a brand adjacent to each other. The approach, however, does not ensure the optimality of the solution in terms of the original problem, that is, the problem to minimize the movement of existing boxes while keeping boxes of the same brands adjacent to each other. Even though this heuristic method may produce a suboptimal solution, we could obtain a satisfactory solution within a satisfactory time, which are acceptable by real world experts. In order to justify the quality of the solution by the heuristic approach, we generate 100 problems randomly, in which the number of cells spans from 2,000 to 4,000, solve the problems by both of our heuristic approach and the original integer programming approach using a commercial optimization software package, and then compare the heuristic solutions with their corresponding optimal solutions in terms of solution time and the number of movement of boxes. We also implement our heuristic approach into a storage location assignment system for the Internet shopping mall.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 1988

Size characteristics of three widely used landscape trees were analized to establish a methodology of size prediction as time Passes. Tree height, tree width, stem diameter(breast or surface), canopy length and tree age were measured directly and indirectly(by using photograph), and the data were analized by using regression analysis through PC-SAS. The results are summarized as follows : 1. Zelkova serrata MAKINO showed relatively slow growth rate and the tree form was changed as aged. Size predictions were available by using the regression equations listed below : Surface diameter = 0.8293 x AGE Tree height = 0.4109(0.8293 x AGE) - 0.0039(0.7273 x AGE)$^2$Tree width = 0.3240(0.8293 x AGE) - 0.0024(0.1293 x AGE)$^2$Canopy length = 0.1337(0.8293 x AGE) - 0.0020(0.7293 x AGE)$^2$2. Pinus strobus L. showed relatively fast growth rate and the tree form did not change much as aged. Size predictions were available by using the regression equations listed below. Breast diameter = 0.756 x AGE Tree height = 0.7695(0.756 x AGE) - 0.0164(0.75\ulcorner x AGE)$^2$Tree width = 0.4331(0.756 x AGE) - 0.0079(0.75\ulcorner x AGE)$^2$Canopy length = 0.1365(0.756 x AGE) - 0.0032(0.75f x AGE)$^2$ 3. In case of Magnolia denudata DESROUX, tree form was determined relatively earlier than the other two species. Si2e predictions were available by using the regression equations listed below : Surface diameter = 0.88 x AGE Tree height = 0.5412(0.88 x AGE) - 0.0110(0.88 x AGE)$^2$ Tree width = 0.3752(0.88 x AGE) - 7.0061(0.88 x AGE)$^2$Canopy length = 0.1110(0.88 x AGE) - 0.0022(0.88 x AGE)$^2$ This study aimed to find a way to predict size change of landscaping plants. This methodology will be applied to a wide range of landscape plants to provide practical data to landscape designers.