• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.443-450
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• 2012

As for cluster-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs), cluster lifetime is one of the most important subjects in recent researches. Besides reducing the energy consumptions of the clusters, it is necessary to make the clusters achieve equal lifetimes so that the whole network can survive longer. In this paper, we focus on the cluster lifetimes in multi-hop WSNs with cooperative multi-input single-output scheme. With a simplified model of multi-hop WSNs, we change the transmission schemes, the sizes and transmission distances of clusters to investigate their effects on the cluster lifetimes. Furthermore, linear and uniform data aggregations are considered in our model. As a result, we analyze the cluster lifetimes in different situations and discuss the requirements on the sizes and transmission distances of clusters for equal lifetimes.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.549-563
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• 2012

Theoretical analysis is performed on a multi-mode energy harvester design with focus on the first two vibration modes. Based on the analysis, a modification is proposed for designing a novel adaptive multi-mode energy harvester. The device comprises a simply supported beam with distributed mass and piezoelectric elements, and an adaptive damper that provides a 180 degree phase shift for the motions of two supports only at the second vibration mode. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that the new design can efficiently scavenge energy at the first two vibration modes. The energy harvesting capability of the multi-mode energy harvester is also compared with that of a cantilever-based energy harvester for single-mode vibration. The results show that the energy harvesting capacity is affected by the damping ratios of different designs. For fixed damping ratio and design dimensions, the multi-mode design has higher energy harvesting capacity than the cantilever-based design.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.617-632
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aims to explore the relationship between the focal firm's interdepartmental cooperation and new product development (NPD) performance with focus on the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty. The basic hypothesized model is that there are positively associated relationships. Methods: The proposed research model was tested using structural equation modeling with 601 responses from multi-functional and multiple respondents in Korean manufacturing firms. Multi-group SEM analyses were conducted to explore the degree to which the hypothesized model was equivalent for different levels of environmental uncertainty. Results: Interdepartmental cooperation between R&D and production is positively associated with NPD performance under both higher and lower environmental uncertainties, while one between R&D and marketing is positively associated under only higher environmental uncertainty. Conclusion: This paper determined that NPD performance is positively correlated with R&D-production cooperation in a focal firm, and the relationship between R&D-marketing cooperation and NPD performance is positively moderated by level of environmental uncertainty. Consequently, this study suggests that it is always important for firms to put much effort on R&D-production cooperation for a better NPD performance, while R&D-marketing cooperation should be enhanced especially under higher environmental uncertainty than lower.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.153-167
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• 2009

This research analyzes factors of family life adjustment in mixed-culture families through a focus group and individual interviews with nine mixed-culture couples eighteen people who live in city C. First, the reason that women of other cultures wants to marry Korean men is because they find it a good opportunity, as they expect that Korean husbands will take responsibility of their family. On the other hand, Korean men also expect that they would have some similarities to each other. Also, in southeastern Asian men have more freedom than women to choose an international marriage in Southeastern Asia. Second, mixed-culture couples in everyday life are affected by communication problems, cultural differences, natural environment, financial situation, male -dominant attitude, self-adjustment pressure, house-work role and financial support from their own country. Third, wives from other cultures ask for social support to adjust in Korea and make a healthy family. These women can be important, as they have their own role in the family even though they may be far from their mother in law's strong expectation in how well she can adopt Korean culture.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 2009

We propose in this paper a novel approach to image fusion in which the fusion rule is guided by optimizing an image clarity function. A Genetic Algorithm is used to stochastically select, comparative to the clarity function, the optimum block from among the source images. A novel nested Genetic Algorithm with gifted individuals found through bombardment of genes by the mutation operator is designed and implemented. Convergence of the algorithm is analytically and empirically examined and statistically compared (MANOVA) with the canonical GA using 3 test functions commonly used in the GA literature. The resulting GA is invariant to parameters and population size, and a minimal size of 20 individuals is found to be sufficient in the tests. In the fusion application, each individual in the population is a finite sequence of discrete values that represent input blocks. Performance of the proposed technique applied to image fusion experiments, is characterized in terms of Mutual Information (MI) as the output quality measure. The method is tested with C=2 input images. The results of the proposed scheme indicate a practical and attractive alternative to current multi-focus image fusion techniques.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.75-88
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• 2008

This paper presents a spatial-level nonparametric multi-focus image fusion technique based on kernel estimates of input image blocks' underlying class-conditional probability density functions. Image fusion is approached as a classification task whose posterior class probabilities, P($wi{\mid}Bikl$), are calculated with likelihood density functions that are estimated from the training patterns. For each of the C input images Ii, the proposed method defines i classes wi and forms the fused image Z(k,l) from a decision map represented by a set of $P{\times}Q$ blocks Bikl whose features maximize the discriminant function based on the Bayesian decision principle. Performance of the proposed technique is evaluated in terms of RMSE and Mutual Information (MI) as the output quality measures. The width of the kernel functions, ${\sigma}$, were made to vary, and different kernels and block sizes were applied in performance evaluation. The proposed scheme is tested with C=2 and C=3 input images and results exhibited good performance.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.59-68
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• 2009

This paper addresses a hybrid multi-focus image fusion scheme using the recent curvelet transform constructions. Hybridization is obtained by combining the MS fusion rule with a novel "copy" method. The proposed scheme use MS rule to fuse the m most significant terms in spectrum of an image at each decomposition level. The scheme is dubbed in this work as m-term fusion in adherence to its use of the MSC (most significant coefficients) in the transform set at any given scale, orientation, and translation. We applied the edge-sensitive objective quality measure proposed by Xydeas and Petrovic to evaluate the method. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is a potential alternative to the redundant, shift-invariant Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet transforms. In particular, it was confirmed that a 50% m-term fusion produces outputs with no visible quality degradation.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-47
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate social workers' personal experiences providing social support to multi-cultural family in a multi-cultural family center. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 social workers at the multi-cultural family center, and were analyzed using a phenomenological research method. The major findings were as follows : The social workers' personal experiences with and understanding of social support were classified as 4 categories : 'source of emotional support to the multi-cultural family', 'diverse and systematic educational support', 'excessive demands on material support', and 'daily life support and connection with community network'. The social workers recognized emotional and educational support as essential factors in providing social support to multi-cultural family. However, the social workers' perceptions of material support derived from negative personal experiences stemming from excessive demands and misunderstanding for material support. These results showed that social workers at the multi-cultural family center provided multi-cultural families with social support and that they interacted with community support system and multi-cultural families to increase their satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.31-40
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• 2017

As 3D cell culture has recently become possible, it has been able to observe a 3D shape of cell and volume. Generally, 3D information of a cell should be observed with a special microscope such as a confocal microscope or an electron microscope. However, a confocal microscope is more expensive than a conventional microscope and takes longer time to capture images. Therefore, there is a need for a method that can reconstruct the 3D shape of cells using a common microscope. In this paper, we propose a method of reconstructing 3D cells using the focus estimator value from multi-focal fluorescence images of cells. Initially, 3D cultured cells are captured with an optical microscope by changing the focus. Then the approximate position of the cells is assigned as ROI (Region Of Interest) using the circular Hough transform in the images. The MSBF (Modified Sliding Band Filter) is applied to the obtained ROI to extract the outlines of the cell clusters, and the focus estimator values are computed based on the extracted outlines. Using the computed focus estimator values and the numerical aperture (NA) of the microscope, we extract the outline of the cell cluster considering the depth and reconstruct the cells into 3D based on the extracted outline. The reconstruction results are examined by comparing with the combined in-focus portions of the cell images.

• MALSORI
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• no.63
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• pp.113-124
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a use of confidence vector as an intermediate input feature for multi-stage based speech recognition architecture to improve recognition accuracy. A multi-stage speech recognition structure is introduced as a method to reduce the computational complexity of the decoding procedure and then accomplish faster speech recognition. Conventional multi-stage speech recognition is usually composed of three stages, acoustic search, lexical search, and acoustic re-scoring. In this paper, we focus on improving the accuracy of the lexical decoding by introducing a confidence vector as an input feature instead of phoneme which was used typically. We take experimental results on 220K Korean Point-of-Interest (POI) domain and the experimental results show that the proposed method contributes on improving accuracy.