• Title/Summary/Keyword: Prior Distributions

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Conservative Neck Dissection in Oral Cancer Patients: a 5 Year Retrospective Study in Malaysia

  • Balasundram, Sathesh;Mustafa, Wan Mahadzir Wan;Ip, Jolene;Adnan, Tassha Hilda;Supramaniam, Premaa
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.13 no.8
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    • pp.4045-4050
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    • 2012
  • Objective: The impact of ablative oral cancer surgery was studied, with particular reference to recurrence and nodal metastasis, to assess survival probability and prognostic indicators and to elucidate if ethnicity influences the survival of patients. Methods: Patients who underwent major ablative surgery of the head and neck region with neck dissection were identified and clinical records were assessed. Inclusion criteria were stage I-IV oral and oropharyngeal malignancies necessitating resection with or without radiotherapy from 2004 to 2009. All individuals had a pre-operative assessment prior to the surgery. The post operative assessment period ranged from 1 year to 5 years. Survival distributions were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: 87 patients (males:38%; females:62%) were included in this study, with an age range of 21-85 years. Some 78% underwent neck dissections while 63% had surgery and radiotherapy. Nodal recurrence was detected in 5.7% while 20.5% had primary site recurrence within the study period. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that the median survival time was 57 months. One year overall survival (OS) rate was 72.7% and three year overall survival rate dropped to 61.5%. On OS analysis, the log-rank test showed a significant difference of survival between Malay and Chinese patients (Bonferroni correction p=0.033). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) analysis revealed that 25% of the patients have reached the event of recurrence at 46 months. One year RFS rate was 85.2% and the three year survival rate was 76.1%. In the RFS analysis, the log-rank test showed a significant difference in the event of recurrence and nodal metastasis (p<0.001). Conclusion: Conservative neck is effective, in conjunction with postoperative radiotherapy, for control of neck metastases. Ethnicity appears to influence the survival of the patients, but a prospective trial is required to validate this.

Development of a Comprehensive Flood Index through Standardizing Distributions of Runoff Characteristics (유출특성 분포함수의 표준화를 통한 종합홍수지수의 개발)

  • Wi, Sung-Wook;Chung, Gun-Hui;Kim, Tae-Woong
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.41 no.6
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    • pp.605-617
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    • 2008
  • This study developed a flood index which evaluates runoff characteristics. Runoff characteristics expressed in a hydrograph were reflected in the flood index in the form of characteristic factors such as a rising curve gradient, a peak discharge, a flood response time, and a flood discharge volume prior to peak. This study applied the standardization method to estimate the relative severity of the characteristic factors by transforming the distribution of characteristic factors into the standard normal distribution. The flood index developed in this study is a comprehensive flood index (CFI) which makes up for the weak points of a flash flood index (FFI) in determining relative severities. The CFI was applied to Han River basin and Selma River basin, and was compared with the FFI based on the correlation analysis and the regression analysis. The CFI could comprehensively evaluate flood runoff characteristics because the CFI is not dominated by a specific characteristic factor, and the CFI could explain more efficiently the relationship between rainfall and runoff than the FFI.

The Risk Assessment and Prediction for the Mixed Deterioration in Cable Bridges Using a Stochastic Bayesian Modeling (확률론적 베이지언 모델링에 의한 케이블 교량의 복합열화 리스크 평가 및 예측시스템)

  • Cho, Tae Jun;Lee, Jeong Bae;Kim, Seong Soo
    • Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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    • v.16 no.5
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    • pp.29-39
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    • 2012
  • The main objective is to predict the future degradation and maintenance budget for a suspension bridge system. Bayesian inference is applied to find the posterior probability density function of the source parameters (damage indices and serviceability), given ten years of maintenance data. The posterior distribution of the parameters is sampled using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. The simulated risk prediction for decreased serviceability conditions are posterior distributions based on prior distribution and likelihood of data updated from annual maintenance tasks. Compared with conventional linear prediction model, the proposed quadratic model provides highly improved convergence and closeness to measured data in terms of serviceability, risky factors, and maintenance budget for bridge components, which allows forecasting a future performance and financial management of complex infrastructures based on the proposed quadratic stochastic regression model.

Isolation, Molecular Phylogeny, and Tissue Distribution of Four cDNAs Encoding the Apolipoprotein Multigene Family in Barred Knifejaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus (Teleostei, Perciformes)

  • Kim, Keun-Yong;Cho, Young-Sun;Kim, Sung-Koo;Nam, Yoon-Kwon
    • Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.88-97
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    • 2008
  • Lipoproteins are complexes of lipids and specific apolipoproteins that are involved in lipid transport and redistribution among various tissues. In this study, we isolated full-length apolipoprotein cDNA sequences encoding apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), apoE, apoC-II, and apo-14 kDa in barred knifejaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus. In addition, we reconstructed phylogenetic trees and investigated mRNA tissue distributions. Alignment analyses of amino acid sequences revealed that secondary structures of the polypeptides apoA-I, apoE, and apoC-II in barred knifejaw are well conserved with their teleostean and mammalian counterparts in terms of characteristic tandem repetitive units forming amphipathic ${\alpha}$-helices. Both the sequence alignment data and cleavage sites of apo-14 kDa indicated a clear differentiation between Percomorpha and Cypriniformes. Meanwhile, the phylogenetic trees of apolipoprotein sub-families suggested that the common ancestor prior to the split of the Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) and Sarcopterygii (tetrapods) would have possessed the primordial protein-encoding genes. Tissue distribution of each apolipoprotein transcript determined by semi-quantitative RTPCR showed that barred knifejaw apoA-I transcripts were more or less ubiquitously expressed in the liver, intestines, brain, muscle, spleen, and kidney. The most striking difference from previous observations on barred knifejaw was the ubiquitous expression of apoE across all somatic tissues. Barred knifejaw apoC-II showed tissue-specific expression in the liver and intestines, while the liver and brain were the major sites of apo-14kDa mRNA synthesis.

Reference Intervals from Hospital-Based Data for Hematologic and Serum Chemistry Values in Dogs (병원자료에 근거한 혈액 및 혈액화학 검사항목의 참고구간 설정)

  • Kwon, Young-Wook;Pak, Son-Il
    • Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.66-70
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    • 2010
  • Reference interval is critical for interpreting laboratory results, monitoring response to therapy and predicting the prognosis of the patients in clinical settings. The aim of the present study was to update established reference intervals for routine hematologic and serum chemistry values for a population of clinically healthy dogs (range, 1-8 years) seen in an animal hospital. Blood was obtained by venipuncture while animals were physically restrained, and samples were analyzed for 9 chemistries on MS9-5H (Melot Schloesing Lab, France) and 6 hematology on Vet Test 8008 (IDEXX, USA). Data from 105 dogs (52 males and 53 females) for hematology and 113 dogs (37 males and 76 females) for chemistry were used to determine reference intervals using the parametric, nonparametric and bootstrap methods. Prior to analysis, all parameters were tested for normal distribution using Anderson-Darling criterion. Of the 9 biochemical analytes, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine, total protein, and glucose concentrations did not fit normal distribution for both original and transformed data. All but eosinophil count satisfied normal distribution for either original or transformed data. Parametric method can be used for original cholesterol concentrations, RBC, WBC, and neutrophil counts. This technique can also be used for power-transformed values of blood urea nitrogen concentrations and for logarithm of lymphocyte and monocyte counts. Non-parametric or bootstrap method was the preferred choice for the remaining 7 biochemical parameters and eosinophil count as they did not follow normal distributions. All three statistical techniques performed in similar reference intervals. When establishing reference intervals for clinical laboratory data, it is essential to assess the distribution of the original data to increase the accuracy of the interval, and non-parametric or bootstrap methods are of alternative for the data that do not fit normal distribution.

Modeling the Heterogeneous Microstructures of Ti-MMCs in Consolidation Process (강화공정에 따른 비균질 티타늄 금속기 복합재료 모델링)

  • Lee Soo-Yeun;Kim Tae-Won
    • Composites Research
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.21-30
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    • 2005
  • Vacuum hot pressing has been used for the development of titanium metal matrix composites using foil-fiber-foil method. Heterogeneous microstructures prior to and following consolidation have been quantified, and the relations to densification behavior investigated. As shown by the results, dramatic variations of the microstructures including equiaxed $\alpha$, transformed $\beta$ and $ Widmanst\ddot{a}tten$ $\alpha$ are obtained during the process according to the fiber distributions. The dependence of microstructures on the consolidation then has been explained in terms of the change in mechanisms such as grain growth and recrystallization that occur with changing levels of inhomogeneity of deformation. Further, micro-mechanics based constitutive model enabling the evolution of density over time together with the evolutions of microstructure to be predicted has been developed. The mode developed is then implemented into finite element scheme so that practical process simulation has been carried out.

Hair Classification and Region Segmentation by Location Distribution and Graph Cutting (위치 분포 및 그래프 절단에 의한 모발 분류와 영역 분할)

  • Kim, Yong-Gil;Moon, Kyung-Il
    • The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2022
  • Recently, Google MedeiaPipe presents a novel approach for neural network-based hair segmentation from a single camera input specifically designed for real-time, mobile application. Though neural network related to hair segmentation is relatively small size, it produces a high-quality hair segmentation mask that is well suited for AR effects such as a realistic hair recoloring. However, it has undesirable segmentation effects according to hair styles or in case of containing noises and holes. In this study, the energy function of the test image is constructed according to the estimated prior distributions of hair location and hair color likelihood function. It is further optimized according to graph cuts algorithm and initial hair region is obtained. Finally, clustering algorithm and image post-processing techniques are applied to the initial hair region so that the final hair region can be segmented precisely. The proposed method is applied to MediaPipe hair segmentation pipeline.

Dosimetric Evaluation of Synthetic Computed Tomography Technique on Position Variation of Air Cavity in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Radiotherapy

  • Hyeongmin Jin;Hyun Joon An;Eui Kyu Chie;Jong Min Park;Jung-in Kim
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.33 no.4
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    • pp.142-149
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    • 2022
  • Purpose: This study seeks to compare the dosimetric parameters of the bulk electron density (ED) approach and synthetic computed tomography (CT) image in terms of position variation of the air cavity in magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) for patients with pancreatic cancer. Methods: This study included nine patients that previously received MRgRT and their simulation CT and magnetic resonance (MR) images were collected. Air cavities were manually delineated on simulation CT and MR images in the treatment planning system for each patient. The synthetic CT images were generated using the deep learning model trained in a prior study. Two more plans with identical beam parameters were recalculated with ED maps that were either manually overridden by the cavities or derived from the synthetic CT. Dose calculation accuracy was explored in terms of dose-volume histogram parameters and gamma analysis. Results: The D95% averages were 48.80 Gy, 48.50 Gy, and 48.23 Gy for the original, manually assigned, and synthetic CT-based dose distributions, respectively. The greatest deviation was observed for one patient, whose D95% to synthetic CT was 1.84 Gy higher than the original plan. Conclusions: The variation of the air cavity position in the gastrointestinal area affects the treatment dose calculation. Synthetic CT-based ED modification would be a significant option for shortening the time-consuming process and improving MRgRT treatment accuracy.

Water balance change at a transiting subtropical forest in Jeju Island

  • Kim, JiHyun;Jo, Kyungwoo;Kim, Jeongbin;Hong, Jinkyu;Jo, Sungsoo;Chun, Jung Hwa;Park, Chanwoo;Kim, Yeonjoo
    • Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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    • 2022.05a
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    • pp.99-99
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    • 2022
  • Jeju island has a humid subtropical climate and this climate zone is expected to migrate northward toward the main land, Korea Peninsula, as temperature increases are accelerated. Vegetation type has been inevitably shifted along with the climatic change, having more subtropical species native in southeast Asia or even in Africa. With the forest composition shift, it becomes more important than ever to analyze the water balance of the forest wihth the ongoing as well as upcoming climate change. Here, we implemented the Ecosystem Demography Biosphere Model (ED2) by initializing the key variables using forest inventory data (diameter at breast height in 2012). Out of 10,000 parameter sets randomly generated from prior distribution distributions of each parameter (i.e., Monte-Carlo Method), we selected four behavioral parameter sets using remote-sensing data (LAI-MOD15A2H, GPP-MOD17A2H, and ET-MOD16A2, 8-days at 500-m during 2001-2005), and evaluated the performances using eddy-covariance carbon flux data (2012 Mar.-Sep. 30-min) and remote sensing data between 2006-2020. We simulated each of the four RCP scenarios (2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5) from four climate forcings (GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, IPSL-CM5A-LR, and MIROC5 from ISIMIP2b). Based on those 64 simulation sets, we estimate the changes in water balance resulting from the forest composition shift, and also uncertainty in the estimates and the sensitivity of the estimates to the parameters, climate forcings, and RCP scenarios.

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Ichthyotoxic Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tides offshore in the South Sea, Korea in 2014: I. Temporal variations in three-dimensional distributions of red-tide organisms and environmental factors

  • Jeong, Hae Jin;Lim, An Suk;Lee, Kitack;Lee, Moo Joon;Seong, Kyeong Ah;Kang, Nam Seon;Jang, Se Hyeon;Lee, Kyung Ha;Lee, Sung Yeon;Kim, Mi Ok;Kim, Ji Hye;Kwon, Ji Eun;Kang, Hee Chang;Kim, Jae Seong;Yih, Wonho;Shin, Kyoungsoon;Jang, Poong Kook;Ryu, Joo-Hyung;Kim, Sung Young;Park, Jae Yeon;Kim, Kwang Young
    • ALGAE
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    • v.32 no.2
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    • pp.101-130
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    • 2017
  • The ichthyotoxic Cochlodinium polykrikoides red tides have caused great economic losses in the aquaculture industry in the waters of Korea and other countries. Predicting outbreak of C. polykrikoides red tides 1-2 weeks in advance is a critical step in minimizing losses. In the South Sea of Korea, large C. polykrikoides red tide patches have often been recorded offshore and transported to nearshore waters. To explore the processes of offshore C. polykrikoides red tides, temporal variations in 3-dimensional (3-D) distributions of red tide organisms and environmental parameters were investigated by analyzing 4,432 water samples collected from 2-5 depths of 60 stations in the South Sea, Korea 16 times from May to Nov, 2014. In the study area, the vegetative cells of C. polykrikoides were found as early as May 7, but C. polykrikoides red tide patches were observed from Aug 21 until Oct 9. Cochlodinium red tides occurred in both inner and outer stations. Prior to the occurrence of large C. polykrikoides red tides, the phototrophic dinoflagellates Prorocentrum donghaiense (Jun 12 to Jul 11), Ceratium furca (Jul 11 to Aug 21), and Alexandrium fraterculus (Aug 21) formed red tides in sequence, and diatom red tides formed 2-3 times without a certain distinct pattern. The temperature for the optimal growth of these four red tide dinoflagellates is known to be similar. Thus, the sequence of the maximum growth rates of P. donghaiense > C. furca > A. fraterculus > C. polykrikoides may be partially responsible for this sequence of red tides in the inner stations following high nutrients input in the surface waters because of heavy rains. Furthermore, Cochlodinium red tides formed and persisted at the outer stations when $NO_3$ concentrations of the surface waters were < $2{\mu}M$ and thermocline depths were >20 m with the retreat of deep cold waters, and the abundance of the competing red-tide species was relatively low. The sequence of the maximum swimming speeds and thus potential reachable depths of C. polykrikoides > A. fraterculus > C. furca > P. donghaiense may be responsible for the large C. polykrikoides red tides after the small blooms of the other dinoflagellates. Thus, C. polykrikoides is likely to outgrow over the competitors at the outer stations by descending to depths >20 m and taking nutrients up from deep cold waters. Thus, to predict the process of Cochlodinium red tides in the study area, temporal variations in 3-D distributions of red tide organisms and environmental parameters showing major nutrient sources, formation and depth of thermoclines, intrusion and retreat of deep cold waters, and the abundance of competing red tide species should be well understood.