• Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.159-168
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• 2023

BACKGROUND: The gold standard for diagnosis of cardiac tumours is histopathological examination. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a valuable non-invasive, radiation-free tool for identifying and characterizing cardiac tumours. Our aim is to understand CMR diagnosis of cardiac tumours by distinguishing benign vs. malignant tumours compared to the gold standard. METHODS: A systematic search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases up to December 2022, and the results were reviewed by 2 independent investigators. Studies reporting CMR diagnosis were included in a meta-analysis, and pooled measures were obtained. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tools from the National Institutes of Health. RESULTS: A total of 2,321 results was obtained; 10 studies were eligible, including one identified by citation search. Eight studies were included in the meta-analysis, which presented a pooled sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 94%, a diagnostic odds ratio of 185, and an area under the curve of 0.98 for CMR diagnosis of benign vs. malignant tumours. Additionally, 4 studies evaluated whether CMR diagnosis of cardiac tumours matched specific histopathological subtypes, with 73.6% achieving the correct diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published systematic review on CMR diagnosis of cardiac tumours. Compared to histopathological results, the ability to discriminate benign from malignant tumours was good but not outstanding. However, significant heterogeneity may have had an impact on our findings.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.158-168
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• 2024

There is hardly any person in modern times who has not taken soft drinks instead of drinking water. The rate of people taking soft drinks being surprisingly high, researchers around the world have cautioned from time to time that these drinks lead to weight gain, raise the risk of non-communicable diseases and so on. Therefore, in this work an image-based tool is developed to monitor the nutritional information of soft drinks by using deep convolutional neural network with transfer learning. At first, visual saliency, mean shift segmentation, thresholding and noise reduction technique, collectively known as 'pre-processing' are adopted to extract the location of drinks region. After removing backgrounds and segment out only the desired area from image, we impose Discrete Wavelength Transform (DWT) based resolution enhancement technique is applied to improve the quality of image. After that, transfer learning model is employed for the classification of drinks. Finally, nutrition value of each drink is estimated using Bag-of-Feature (BoF) based classification and Euclidean distance-based ratio calculation technique. To achieve this, a dataset is built with ten most consumed soft drinks in Bangladesh. These images were collected from imageNet dataset as well as internet and proposed method confirms that it has the ability to detect and recognize different types of drinks with an accuracy of 98.51%.

• Clinical Nutrition Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.218-228
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• 2023

Recent studies have evaluated the association between specific beverage intake and metabolic risks in adults. However, more evidence is needed to examine the association between the Healthy Beverage Index (HBI) and metabolic factors. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between HBI and metabolic factors in adults. In this cross-sectional study, 338 overweight and obese individuals living in Tabriz, Iran were selected. Data on beverage consumption, demographics, physical activity, and anthropometric characteristics were evaluated using validated standard protocols. The predefined HBI was calculated based on previous studies. The mean value of HBI index among all of the participants was 59.76 ± 6.51. Those at the higher HBI scores had significantly lower waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, fat mass, and weight (p < 0.05). HBI and triglyceride scores also had a significant relationship. It has been shown that at higher HBI scores compared to lower scores, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels increase while homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and blood pressure decrease. HBI scores higher among Iranian adults were associated with a better chance of losing weight and weight loss and a better lipid profile, and lower blood pressure. Therefore, HBI can be a useful and helpful tool for assessing the overall quality of beverages adults consume. However, further studies are warranted to confirm the possible health effects of healthy beverage index.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.1079-1094
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• 2008

This study is to evaluate the impact of varying spatial resolutions on the uncertainty of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) predicted streamflow, non-point source (NPS) pollution loads transport in a small agricultural watershed (1.21 $km^2$) for three cases of model input; Case A is the combination of 2 m DEM, QuickBird land use, Case B is the combination of 10 m DEM, 1/25,000 land use, and Case C is the combination of 30 m DEM, Landsat land use, soil data is used 1/25,000 for three cases respectively. The model was calibrated for 2 years (1999-2000) using daily streamflow and monthly water quality records, and verified for another 2 years (2001-2002). The average Nash and Sutcliffe model efficiency was 0.59 for streamflow and RMSE were 2.08, 4.30 and 0.70 tons/yr for sediment, T-N and T-P respectively. The model was run for a small agricultural watershed with three cases of spatial input data. The hydrological results showed that output uncertainty was biggest by spatial resolution of land use. Streamflow increase the watershed average CN value of QucikBird land use was 0.4 and 1.8 higher than those of 1/25,000 and Landsat land use caused increase of streamflow. On the other hand, The NPS loadings from the model prediction showed that the sediment, T-N and T-P of QuickBird land use (Case A) showed 23.7 %, 43.3 % and 48.4 % higher value than 1/25,000 land use (Case B) and 50.6 %, 50.8 % and 56.9 % higher value than Landsat land use (Case C) respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.779-797
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• 2016

A calibrated hydrological model is a useful tool for quantifying the impacts of the climate variations and land use/land cover changes on sediment load, water quality and runoff. In the rainy season each year, the Xe Bang Fai river basin is provisionally flooded because of typhoons, the frequency and intensity of which are sensitive to ongoing climate change. Severe heavy rainfall has continuously occurred in this basin area, often causing severe floods at downstream of the Xe Bang Fai river basin. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the climate change impact on river discharge using a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model based on future climate change scenarios. In this study, the simulation of hydrological river discharge is used by SWAT model, covering a total area of $10,064km^2$ in the central part of country. The hydrological model (baseline) is calibrated and validated for two periods: 2001-2005 and 2006-2010, respectively. The monthly simulation outcomes during the calibration and validation model are good results with $R^2$ > 0.9 and ENS > 0.9. Because of ongoing climate change, three climate models (IPSL CM5A-MR 2030, GISS E2-R-CC 2030 and GFDL CM3 2030) indicate that the rainfall in this area is likely to increase up to 10% during the summer monsoon season in the near future, year 2030. As a result of these precipitation increases, the SWAT model predicts rainy season (Jul-Aug-Sep) river discharge at the Xebangfai@bridge station will be about $800m^3/s$ larger than the present. This calibrated model is expected to contribute for preventing flood disaster risk and sustainable development of Laos

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.4
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• pp.372-382
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• 1992

Recreation planning is essential activity to meet changing demands and to protect the resources. The recreation opportunity specturm(ROS) system is a principal part of a recreational management planning. In this study, the basic concepts and tenets of the ROS system described and reviewed the feasibility of applying to forest recreation planning to the Korean national forest. In Korea, the forest land as a major recreation place has used without the rational planning process. The control for the laissez-faire use on the forest area, the classification of recreational opportunity settings is the most important process and then it make a useful tool for providing proper recreational opportunity and site development guidance. Opportunity settings classification can help maintain diversity and enhance protection of forest resources. It can also improve the quality of recreational experiences and the management action guidances. GIS technology using the ARC/INFO could be useful in current attempts to identify analysis areas for predictive modeling of forest recreation site planning.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4787-4793
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• 2014

Background: Many cancer patients experience poor pain control due to various factors, including misconceptions regarding the use of opioid analgesics. For management of cancer pain, interventions involving education of both patients and physicians have been attempted. Objectives: This review aimed to assess the current evidence of the benefits of education for the management of cancer pain. Methods: We searched the Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and major Korean databases to identify relevant studies. We included most study designs, but excluded case series. The primary outcomes were pain intensity and quality of life (QoL). Two reviewers assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane's tool for RCT and Risk of Bias Assessment tool for Non-randomized Studies (RoBANS) for non-randomized studies, independently. Results: After extensive searches, 3,324 publications were screened, and 32 studies were selected. The education interventions used in the included studies included a wide variety of education methods, but the most common method was a booklet produced for patients. Regardless of the education method used, the results of the meta-analysis were as follows. The SMDs of the most severe, average, and current pain in the RCTs were significant. The SMD of worst, average, and current pain were -0.34 (-0.55, -0.13), -0.40 (-0.64, -0.15), and -0.79 (-1.35, -0.23). In the non-randomized studies, the effects on average pain were significant, but those on worst and current pain were not. Conclusions: Education intervention reduced the pain of cancer patients. Therefore, patient education could be considered to be an effective method of cancer pain management. However, our data should be interpreted with caution, and studies using standardized protocols are needed to confirm these observations.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2020

Problem-Based Learning is the most commonly used teaching method in the field of education as the demand for talented people with creative problem-solving abilities has increased in recent society. In this study, we developed a tool that can simply and regularly measure the learning effects of applying Problem-Based Learning on the classroom. Twenty-two preliminary items for the development were constructed by gathering expert opinions about items collected in existing research of Problem-Based Learning effects measurement. Using this preliminary items, data were collected from 124 students who took the subject-based study. And the validity and reliability were verified through Rash analysis. 11 of 124 students and 1 of 22 items were found to nonconforming and excluded. In addition, the optimal scale for the configuration of this tool was found to be a four-point scale, and the reliability of separation on the subject and the item was found to be excellent. We hope that the assessment tools of Problem-Based Learning effectiveness developed in this study will be actively used to measure learning effectiveness and manage the quality of education.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.1-24
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• 2018

In the last decade, the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a new technology has been applied with traditional Computer-aided design implementations in an increasing number of architecture, engineering, and construction projects and applications. Its employment alongside construction management, can be a valuable tool in helping move these activities and projects forward in a more efficient and time-effective manner. The traditional stakeholders, i.e., Owner, A/E and the Contractor are involved in this BIM system that is used in almost every activity of construction projects, such as design, cost estimate and scheduling. This article extracts major features of the application of BIM from perspective of participating BIM components, along with the different phrases, and applies to them a logistic analysis using a fuzzy performance tree, quantifying these phrases to judge the effectiveness of the BIM techniques employed. That is to say, these fuzzy performance trees with fuzzy logic concepts can properly translate the linguistic rating into numeric expressions, and are thus employed in evaluating the influence of BIM applications as a mathematical process. The rotational fuzzy models are used to represent the membership functions of the performance values and their corresponding weights. Illustrations of the use of this fuzzy BIM performance tree are presented in the study for the uninitiated users. The results of these processes are an evaluation of BIM project performance as highly positive. The quantification of the performance ratings for the individual factors is a significant contributor to this assessment, capable of parsing vernacular language into numerical data for a more accurate and precise use in performance analysis. It is hoped that fuzzy performance trees and fuzzy set analysis can be used as a tool for the quality and risk analysis for other construction techniques in the future. Baldwin's rotational models are used to represent the membership functions of the fuzzy sets. Three scenarios are presented using fuzzy MEAN, AND and OR gates from the lowest to intermediate levels of the tree, and fuzzy SUM gate to relate the intermediate level to the top component of the tree, i.e., BIM application final performance. The use of fuzzy MEAN for lower levels and fuzzy SUM gates to reach the top level suggests the most realistic and accurate results. The methodology (fuzzy performance tree) described in this paper is appropriate to implement in today's construction industry when limited objective data is presented and it is heavily relied on experts' subjective judgment.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.356-368
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• 2010

In this study, we applied approach of integrative star-plot area (SPA), chemical water quality and habitat conditions (QHEI) to diagnoze ecological conditions at the eight sampling sites of Sapkyo Stream. These outcomes were compared with biological health based on the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish assemblage. And then, we evaluated the integrative ecological health condition using the star-plot method. This approach based on the sum of all the star-plot areas over these water and habitat characteristics. It was developed to reflect an integrative assessment of the ecological health in the stream. The biological health, based on the model values of IBI indicating "fair-poor" condition according to the criteria. Physical habitat health, based on the QHEI, averaged 123 indicating a "good-fair" condition. Also, chemical health, based on simply BOD values indicating "poor grade" according to the criteria of the Ministry of Environment Korea (MEK). The SPA indicating that 50% of the all was impaired condition and the most sampling sites were downstream sites influenced by the point and non-point sources. Overall our results suggest that the ecological health impact was a combined effect of eutrophication and habitat degradations in the stream. The approach of SPA can be used as a tool to evaluate the integrative health of stream environment and to identify possible causes of observed effects.