• Title/Summary/Keyword: S/W Development Process

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Development of Pilot-Scale Manufacturing Process of SiC Fiber from Polycarbosilane Precursor with Excellent Mechanical Property at Highly Oxidation Condition and High Temperature (폴리카보실란 전구체로부터 고온 산화성분위기서 기계적물성이 우수한 파이롯-규모의 탄화규소섬유 제조공정 개발)

  • Yoon, B.I.;Choi, W.C.;Kim, J.I.;Kim, J.S.;Kang, H.G.;Kim, M.J.
    • Composites Research
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.116-125
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this study is to develop silicon carbide fiber showing an excellent mechanical properties under highly oxidative conditions at high temperature. Polycarbosilane(PCS) as a preceramic precursor was used for making the SiC fiber. PCS fiber was taken by melt spinning method followed by melting the PCS at $300{\sim}350^{\circ}C$ in N2 gas. The Curing of PCS fiber was carried out in air oxygen chamber, prior to high temperature pyrolysis. Degree of cure was calculated by characteristic peak's ratio of Si-H to $Si-CH_3$ in FT-IR spectra before and after curing of PCS fiber. The properties of SiC fiber was affected greatly by the degree of cure. The SiC fiber produced by controlling fiber tension during heat treatment showed good properties. The SiC fiber exposed to $1000^{\circ}C$ at air from 1 min. up to maximum 50 hrs showed around 60% reduction in tensile strength. We found that large amount of carbon content on the fiber surface after long-term exposure has resulted in lower tensile strength.

Developing status of the Preparedness and Response System for HNS accident (HNS 해상사고 대비.대응체제구축 추진현황)

  • Im, T.S.;Lee, S.H.;Choi, J.W.
    • Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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    • 2006.05a
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    • pp.65-70
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    • 2006
  • The regulation of HNS has been intensified by the international trends including OPRC-HNS Protocol and '96 Convention which was driven by the high amounts of cargo. Due to the characteristics of HNS that would possibly bring potential damage with personnel and assets, effective management and prompt actions are required definitely. In order to respond effectively against HNS accidents, Korea Coast Guard (KCG) is in the process q development of HNS accident response manual and information system which allows On-Scene Coordinator(OSC) and personnels for rescue including an information for hazardous materials, sensitive area to be affected, solution methods and more. Furthermore, KCG is also building up establishment of national and local contingency plans for HNS in accordance with OPRC-HNS Protocol. It is also advised to proceed for the government to solve the anticipated obstacles that include protection equipments to get close to the site, experts allowing to manage accidents and organizations specialized for overall HNS related matters. The proposed issues described above are planned to conducted on basis of government.

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Behavior Interpretation of Discontinuity for Conservation Treatment of Standing Sculptured Buddha at the Yongamsa Temple, Korea (옥천 용암사 마애불의 보존관리를 위한 불연속면의 거동특성 해석)

  • Lee, Chan-Hee;Jeong, Yeon-Sam;Kim, Ji-Young;Yi, Jeong-Eun;Kim, Sun-Duk
    • 한국문화재보존과학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.10a
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    • pp.81-91
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    • 2004
  • The host rock of standing sculptured Buddha in the Yongamsa temple was macular biotite granite, which has gone through mechanical and chemical weathering. The principal rock-forming minerals are quartz, plagioclase, alkali feldspar, and biotite, the last two of which have been transformed into clay minerals and chlorite due to weathering processes. The bed rock around the Buddha statue is busily scattered with steep inclinations that are almost vertical and discontinuous planes with the strikes of $N8^{\circ}E$. The major joints have the strikes of N4 to $52^{\circ}W$ and N6 to $88^{\circ}E$ and the dips of 42 to $89^{\circ}$. Especially thee development of the joints that cross the major joints causes tile structural instability of the rock. The host rock of the Buddha image is separated into many different rock masses because of the also many different discontinuity, which group accounts for about $12{\%}$ of the rock. Thus it's estimated that the bed rock has not only plane and toppling failure but also wedge failure in all the sides. Since the earth pressure and the inclination pressure are imposed on the body of the Buddha in the basement rock, it's urgent to give a treatment of geotechnical engineering for the sake of its structural stability. The parts where serious fractures are seen should receive the hardening process using the fillers for stones. It's also necessary to introduce a landfill liner system in order to reduce the ground humidity. The rock surface of the Buddha statue are partly contaminated by lichens and bryophyte. The joints have turned into earth, which promotes the growth of weeds and plant roots. Thus biochemical treatments should also be considered to get rid of the vegetation along the discontinuous planes and prevent further biological damages.

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Effect of Ethane 1,2-Dimethane Sulfonate(EDS) on the Apoptosis in the Rat Epididymis (흰쥐 부정소에서의 세포자연사에 미치는 Ethane 1,2-Dimethane Sulfonate(EDS)의 효과)

  • Son, Hyeok-Jun;Lee, Sung-Ho
    • Development and Reproduction
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.203-209
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    • 2006
  • Ethane 1,2-Dimethane sulfonate(EDS), a toxin which specifically kills Leydig cells(LC), has been widely used to prepare the reversible testosterone(T) depletion rat model. Previous studies including our own clearly demonstrated that the dramatic weight loss of the T-dependent accessory sex organs such as epididymis and seminal vesicle in this 'LC knock-out' rats. These weight loss could be derived from massive and abrupt death of the cells via apoptotic process. The present study was performed to test the effect of EDS administration on the expression of some apoptotic genes in the rat epididymis. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats($300{\sim}350$ g B.W.) were injected with single dose of EDS(75 mg/kg, i.p.) and sacrificed on Weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Tissue weights and the numbers of the epididymal sperm were measured. The transcriptional activities of the bcl-2, bax, Fas and Fas ligand(Fas-L) were evaluated by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. As expected, the weights and the sperm counts of epididymis declined progressively after the EDS treatment during Week 1 and 2. These decrements were discontinued with a gradual return towards normal during Weeks $5{\sim}7$, although the maximal recoveries of the epididymal weights(71%) and sperm count(38%) were subnormal on Week 7. The initial level of bcl-2 transcripts persisted to Week 6 then elevated significantly on Week 7. The level of bax transcripts significantly decreased on Week 6, and no remarkable change was found in the rest of the experimental period. The transcripts for the Fas in epididymis elevated during Weeks $1{\sim}2$, returned to normal on Week 3, and the level persisted to the Week 7. Similarly, the level of Fas-L transcripts elevated during Weeks $1{\sim}3$ and returned to normal after Week 4. Our results demonstrated the transient T depletion by EDS administration could induce the changes in expression of the apoptotic genes in rat epididymis. The activation of Fas and Fas-L in the epididymis of EDS-treated rats might be responsible for the initial apototic process and consequently the tissue damage and the sperm loss. Future studies will attempt to determine the precise molecular mechanism(s) of apoptosis in the rat epididymis.

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Some lessons from German startup policies (독일의 창업정책과 정책적 시사점)

  • Kim, Young-woo
    • Journal of Venture Innovation
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.49-65
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    • 2018
  • For a long time the German economy was primarily defined by large corporations and thriving small and medium-sized enterprises. Since about 2005 a second strand has started to emerge and it is one which is becoming increasingly important and is creating jobs - start-ups in the digital sector. This start-up activity is taking an important role in Germany's economic development: Start-up companies spawn innovations and create jobs, thus promoting the concept of competition. In general "start-up" refers to digitally-driven companies that are not more than five years old. Germany's start-up policy consists of three main parts. First of all, Germany has the characteristics of technology-based start-ups. The Hartz reform since 2002 has shown its focus on technology-based start-ups. In particular, it is the most appropriate for a start-up company to take the role of a new technology company to respond to changes in the global industrial structure. Second, it is approaching from a long-term perspective. In this regard, the small business policy, including Germany's new business policy, is seen as a tradition that can be consistent and can make policy decisions based on the basics rather than following the times. Third, the government is implementing policies centered on demand. Germany's start-up policy is summarized as a technology-based policy and new job creation. The policy response is that the government seeks the best combination of policies by adapting them to the times from the broad trend of employment market policies. What is important here is that policies are made based on consumers, not suppliers, in the process of policy making and implementation. With the Digital Agenda 2020 the Federal government has likewise committed itself to preparing the digital economy for international competition and making Germany the "No. 1 digital growth country in Europe". Ever since 1998 the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has awarded the "EXIST" start-up scholarship to students and graduates. The Ministry also invests in the High Tech start-up fund. Together with Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and 18 other investors from the world of business the seed investor promotes young technology companies. Germany offers start-ups a good infrastructure and lots of funding opportunities. Berlin is regarded as Europe's start-up capital and also attracts lots of international young entrepreneurs.

Expression of Bcl-2 Family in 4-Nitroquinoline 1-Oxide-Induced Tongue Carcinogenesis of the Rat (백서 혀에서의 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide 유도 발암과정에서 Bcl-2 계 유전자의 발현)

  • Choi, Jae-Wook;Chung, Sung-Su;Lee, Geum-Sug;Kim, Byung-Gook;Kim, Jae-Hyeong;Kook, Eun-Byul;Jang, Mi-Sun;Ko, Mi-Kyeong;Jung, Kwon;Choi, Hong-Ran;Kim, Ok-Joon
    • Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.301-317
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    • 2005
  • The number of patients with tongue carcinoma is increasing rapidly among young individuals in many parts of the world. Oral carcinoma progresses from hyperplastic lesion through dysplasia to invasive carcinoma and the concept of "field cancerization" with molecular alteration has been suggested for oral cavity carcinogenesis. Significant improvement in treatment and prognosis will depend on more detailed understanding of the multi-step process leading to cancer development. To induce tongue carcinoma in rat by 4-NQO, each drinking water was made to 10 ppm, 25 ppm, 50 ppm and control (only D.W. without 4-NQO). Specimens were classified into 4 groups such as control, I (mild & moderate dysplasia), II (severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ), III (carcinoma). The mRNA expressions of Bcl-2 family were evaluated by RT-PCR technique. For anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family, mRNA expression of Bcl-w was down-regulated in all stages of tongue carcinogenesis model. However, mRNA expression of Bcl-2 was up-regulated. For pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family, all members were down-regulated in all stages of tongue carcinogenesis model except for Bad mRNA in group III. In terms of BH3 only protein, mRNA expressions of Bok and Mcl-1 were down regulated in all stages of specimen, but Bmf in group II and BBC3 in group III were up-regulated. Our current findings demonstrated the involvements of mRNA expression of Bcl-2 family in multi-step tongue carcinogensis. This highlights the necessity for continued efforts to discover suitable biomakers (Bcl-2 family) for early diagnosis of the disease, and to understand its pathogenesis as a first step in improving methods of treatment. The discovery of these potential biomarkers and molecular targets for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics has the potential to significantly change the clinical approach and outcome of the disease.

Development of in-situ Sintered Ni-Al Alloy Anode for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (용융탄산염 연료전지용 in-situ 소결된 Ni-Al 합금 연료극 개발)

  • Chun, H.A.;Yoon, S.P.;Han, J.;Nam, S.W.;Lim, T.H.
    • Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.124-131
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    • 2006
  • For commercialization of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), it has some problems to be overcome such as decrease of porosity and thickness of the anode under the operating condition (at $650^{\circ}C$ and working pressure of more than 2 $kg_f/cm^2$). Recently, Ni-Al alloy anode has been proposed to replace the conventional Ni-Cr anode as an alternative material to resist a creep and inhibit the sintering. The objective of this research is to sinter the green sheet of Ni-Al alloy anode during single cell pre-treatment process, which has several advantages like cost down and simplification of manufacturing process. However, the Ni-Al alloy anode prepared with a conventional pre-treatment process showed the phase separation of Ni-Al alloy and formation of micropore(${\leqq}0.4{\mu}m$), resulting in low creep resistance and high electrolyte re-distribution. In order to prevent the Ni-Al alloy anode from phase-separating, nitrogen gas was used in the process of pre-treatment. Introducing the nitrogen, the phase separation from Ni-Al alloy into nickel and alumina was minimized and increased creep resistance. However, there was some micropore formation on the surface of Ni-Al alloy anode during the cell operation due to creation of lithium aluminate. Addition of more amount of electrolyte into a cell, especially at cathode, made the cell performance stable for 2,000 hrs. Consequently, it was possible to make the Ni-Al alloy anode with good creep resistance by the modified in-situ sintering technique.

An experimental study on the impact of an agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period of primiparous mothers and enhance their self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance (산욕초기 초산모의 간호목표달성방번 합의가 어머니 역할수행에 대한 자신감 및 만족도에 미치는 영향에 관한 실험적 연구)

  • 이영은
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.81-115
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    • 1992
  • The problem addressed by this study was to determine the effect of nurse - patient agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period of primiparous mothers. It was hypothesized that the experimental treatment would result in hegher self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance. This purpose was to contribute to the planning of nursing care to enhance self- confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance and to the development of relevant nursing theory. Especially, the early postpartum period is crucial toward in recovery from childbirth and attainment of the maternal role. Maternal role attaintment is a complex social and cognitive process of stimulus -response accomplished by learning. Most women attain the maternal role sucessfully. But, some primiparous mothers experience difficultites in attainment of the maternal role due to lack of experience and knowledge. Self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance are important factors in attainment and adjustment to the maternal role (Mercer, 1981a, 1981b ; Lederman, Weigarten, and Lederman, 1981 :Bobak and Jensen, 1985). Nursing is defined as behaviors of nurses add patients that attain nursing goals through action, reaction, interaction, and transaction. For attainment of nursing goals, active participating transactions must occur by agreement on the means to achieve those goals through nurse -patient mutual goal setting and establishment of their active relationships(King, 1981, Ha, 1977). Based on King's theory of goal attainment (1981), this stuy was planned as a non-equivalent control group, non -synchronized quasi -experimental design using agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in early postpartum as the experimental treatment. The data were collected from July 20 to Sep. 1, 1991 by questionnaires with 60 primiparous mothers planing to breast feed after normal deliveries at W hospital in Pusan, Korea. The subjects were divided into a control group(conventional group) -those admitted from July 20 to Aug. 12, and an experimental group(agreement group) - those admitted from Aug. 13 to Sep. 1. The instument for agreement on the means to nursing goals in the early postpartum period included five steps - identification of disturbances of problems through action, reaction, and interaction with primiparous mothers : mutual early postpartal nursing goal setting : exploration of the means to achieve goals ; agreement on the means (self- care, ealry maternal -infant contact, performance of mothering behavior, and communicating about the infant's behavior and health condition) : implementation of the means. This instrument was developed on the basis of King's elements that lead to transactions in nurse-patient interactions. Lederman et al's (1981) scale for Confidence in ability to cope with tasks of motherhood and Lederman et al's(1981) scale for Mother's satisfaction with motherhood and infant care were used to measure self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance ·with the subjects immediately after admission and on the day of discharge. Self-care performance in the experimental group was measured by self -evaluation tool developed by the investigator from the literature concerned. The tools to measure Pelf-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance, and the tool to measure self-evaluation of self-care performance were tested for internal reliability. Cronbach's Alphas were 0.94, 0.94, and 0.63. The data were analysed by using in S.P.S.S. computerized program and included percentage, x²-test, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The conclusions obtained from this study are summerized as follows : 1. The degree of self-confidence in maternal role performance of the total subjects group measured before the experimental treatment was above average with a mean score of 2.77(range 2.14-3.64). Out of 14 items, those with relatively high mean scores were ‘I would like to be a better mother than I am’(3.95), and ‘I have my doubts about whether I am a good mother’(2.87). Those with low mean scores were ‘I know that my baby wants most of the times’(2.28), ‘When the baby cries, I can tell what she /he wants’(2.37), and ‘I have confidence in my ability to care for the baby’(2;50). That is, the self - confidence of Primiparous mothers was considerably high in mothering, but rather low in activities concerning the infant care and understanding of the infant behavior. The degree of satisfaction in maternal role performance of the total subjects group measured before the experimental treatment was high with a mean score of 3.18(range 1.92-3.92). Out of 13 items, those with relatively high mean scores were ‘I am glad 1 had this baby now’(3.75), ‘I play with the baby between feedings when s/he is awake and quiet’(3.67), and ‘I enjoy being a mother’(3.27). Those with low mean scores were ‘I am upset about having too many responsibilities as a mother’(2.78), ‘It bothers me to get up for the baby at night’(2.82), and ‘I get annoyed if the baby frequently interrupts my activities’.(2.82), That is, the satisfaction of primiparous mothers was considerably high in mothering and infant care, but rather low in restraints in time or on the mother's self accomplishment and development. 2. Agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period included process of mutual goal setting, exploration of the means to achieve goals, and ahreement in concert means to achieve goals based on the mothers' condition, concerns, self-perception of the nurse - patient interactions. In the process of agreement, there was agreement that the means to achieve goals should be through trust and establishment of active relationships with the nurse through identification of problems according to planned nursing goals and active interaction, such as explanations, teaching, changing of opinions, acceptance or rejection of explanations, and proposing of questions. Therefore agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period appears to be an effective nursing intervention for primiparous mothers. 3. The degree of self- confidence in maternal role performance of the exprimental group was higher than that of the control group(t=3.95, p<0.01). Out of 14 items, those with higher score in the experimental group were ‘I would like to be a better mother than I am’(t=1.93, p<0.05), ‘I know that my baby wants most of the times’(t=2.75, p<0.01), ‘When the baby cries, 1 can tell what she/he wants’(t=2.10, p<0.05), ‘I have confidence in my ability to care for the baby’(t=3.72, p<0.01), ‘I trust my own judement in deciding how to care for the baby’(t=1.96, p<0.05), ‘I feel that I know my baby and what to do for him /her’(t=2.44, p<0.01), ‘I am concerned about being able to meet the baby's needs’(t=2.87, p<0.01), ‘I know what my baby likes and dislikes’(t=3.26, p<0.01), ‘I don't know to care for the baby as well as I should’(t=2.07, p<0.05), and ‘I am unsure about whether I give enough attention to the baby’(t=3.04, p<0.01), That is, the degree of self-confidence in mothering, activities concerning infant care, and understanding of infant behavior of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Therefore, the first hypothesis, that the degree of self-confidence in maternal role performance of the experimental group would be higher than that of the control group, was supported(t=3.95, p<0.01). 4. The degree of satisfaction in the maternal role performance of the exprimental group was higer than that or the control group(t=2.31, p<0.05). Out of 13 items, those with higher score in the experimental group were ‘I am glad I had this baby now’(t=2.29, p<0.05), ‘I enjoy taking care of the baby’(t=2.4g, p<0.01), ‘It is boring for me to care for the baby and do the same thing over and over’(t=2.87, P<0.01), ‘I am unhappy with the amount of time I have for activities other than childcare’(t=2.51, p<0.01), and ‘When bathing and diapering the baby, I would like to be doing something else’(t=2.43, p<0.01). That is, the degree of satisfaction in mothering, infant care, and restraints in time of on the mother's self accomplishment and development in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Therefore, the second hypothesis, that the degree of satisfaction in maternal role performance of the experimental group would be higher than that of the control group, was supported(t=2.31, p<0.05). 5. The third hypothesis, that the higher the degree of satisfaction in materenal role performance, the higher the degree of self-confidence in materenal role performance in the experimental group, was supported (r=0.57, p<0.01)

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A Study of Segmental and Syllabic Intervals of Canonical Babbling and Early Speech

  • Chen, Xiaoxiang;Xiao, Yunnan
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.28
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    • pp.115-139
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    • 2012
  • Interval or duration of segments, syllables, words and phrases is an important acoustic feature which influences the naturalness of speech. A number of cross-sectional studies regarding acoustic characteristics of children's speech development found that intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases tend to change with the growing age. One hypothesis assumed that decreases in intervals would be greater when children were younger and smaller decreases in intervals when older (Thelen,1991), it has been supported by quite a number of researches on the basis of cross-sectional studies (Tingley & Allen,1975; Kent & Forner,1980; Chermak & Schneiderman, 1986), but the other hypothesis predicted that decreases in intervals would be smaller when children were younger and greater decreases in intervals when older (Smith, Kenney & Hussain, 1996). Researchers seem to come up with conflicting postulations and inconsistent results about the change trends concerning intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases, leaving it as an issue unresolved. Most acoustic investigations of children's speech production have been conducted via cross-sectional designs, which involves studying several groups of children. So far, there are only a few longitudinal studies. This issue needs more longitudinal investigations; moreover, the acoustic measures of the intervals of child speech are hardly available. All former studies focus on word stages excluding the babbling stages especially the canonical babbling stage, but we need to find out when concrete changes of intervals begin to occur and what causes the changes. Therefore, we conducted an acoustic study of interval characteristics of segments and words concerning Canonical Babble ( CB) and early speech in an infant aged from 0;9 to 2;4 acquiring Mandarin Chinese. The current research addresses the following two questions: 1. Whether decreases in interval would be greater when children were younger and smaller when they were older or vice versa? 2. Whether the child speech concerning the acoustic features of interval drifts in the direction of the language they are exposed to? The female infant whose L1 was Southern Mandarin living in Changsha was audio- and video-taped at her home for about one hour almost on a weekly basis during her age range from 0;9 to 2;4 under natural observation by us investigators. The recordings were digitized. Parts of the digitized material were labeled. All the repetitions were excluded. The utterances were extracted from 44 sessions ranging from 30 minutes to one hour. The utterances were divided into segments as well as syllable-sized units. Age stages are 0;9-1;0,1;1-1;5, 1;6-2;0, 2;1-2;4. The subject was a monolingual normal child from parents with a good education. The infant was audio-and video-taped in her home almost every week. The data were digitized, segments and syllables from 44 sessions spanning the transition from babble to speech were transcribed in narrow IPA and coded for analysis. Babble was coded from age 0;9-1;0, and words were coded from 1;0 to 2;4, the data has been checked by two professionally trained persons who majored in phonetics. The present investigation is a longitudinal analysis of some temporal characteristics of the child speech during the age periods of 0;9-1;0, 1;1-1;5, 1;6-2;0, 2;1-2;4. The answer to Research Question 1 is that our results are in agreement with neither of the hypotheses. One hypothesis assumed that decreases in intervals would be greater when children were younger and smaller decreases in intervals when older (Thelen,1991); but the other hypothesis predicted that decreases in intervals would be smaller when children were younger and greater decreases in intervals when older (Smith, Kenney & Hussain, 1996). On the whole, there is a tendency of decrease in segmental and syllabic duration with the growing age, but the changes are not drastic and abrupt. For example, /a/ after /k/ in Table 1 has greater decrease during 1;1-1;5, while /a/ after /p/, /t/ and /w/ has greater decrease during 2;1-2;4. /ka/ has greater decrease during 1;1-1;5, while /ta/ and /na/ has greater decrease during 2;1-2;4.Across the age periods, interval change experiences lots of fluctuation all the time. The answer to Research Question 2 is yes. Babbling stage is a period in which the children's acoustic features of intervals of segments, syllables, words and phrases is shifted in the direction of the language to be learned, babbling and children's speech emergence is greatly influenced by ambient language. The phonetic changes in terms of duration would go on until as late as 10-12 years of age before reaching adult-like levels. Definitely, with the increase of exposure to ambient language, the variation would be less and less until they attain the adult-like competence. Via the analysis of the SPSS 15.0, the decrease of segmental and syllabic intervals across the four age periods proves to be of no significant difference (p>0.05). It means that the change of segmental and syllabic intervals is continuous. It reveals that the process of child speech development is gradual and cumulative.

Keyhole Imaging Combined Phase Contrast MR Angiography Technique (Keyhole Imaging기법을 적용한 위상대조도 자기공명 혈관조영기법)

  • Lee, D.H.;Hong, C.P.;Han, B.S.;Lee, M.W.
    • Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.72-77
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    • 2012
  • Phase Contrast MR Angiography(PC MRA) is excellent MRA technique for measuring the velocity of vessels in the human body. PC MRA need to at least four images for angiogram reconstruction and it caused longer scan time. Therefore, we used keyhole imaging combined PC MRA to reduce the scan time. However, keyhole imaging can lead the erroneous effects as loss of phase information or frequency discontinuous. In this study, we applied the keyhole imaging combined 2D PC MRA for improving the temporal resolution and also measured the velocity to evaluate the accuracy of phase information. We used 0.32T MRI scanner(Magfinder II, Scimedix, Korea). Using the 2D PC MRA pulse sequence, the vascular images for a human brain targeted on the Superior Sagittal Sinus(SSS) were obtained. We applied tukey window function for keyhole images to minimize the ringing artifact and erroneous factors that are induced frequency discontinuous and phase information loss. We also applied zero-padded algorithm to peripheral missing k-space lines to compare keyhole imaging results and the artifact power(AP) value was measured on the complex difference images to validate the image quality. Consider as based on our results, heavy image distortions and artifacts were shown until using at least 50% keyhole factor. Using above the 50% keyhole factors are shown well reconstructed and matched for magnitude images and velocity information measurements. In conclusion, we confirmed the image quality and velocity information of keyhole technique combined 2D PC MRA. Especially, measured velocity information through the keyhole imaging combination was similar to the velocity information of full sampled k-space image despite of frequency discontinuous and phase information loss in the keyhole imaging reconstruction process. Consequently, the keyhole imaging combined 2D PC MRA will give some clinical usefulness and advantages as improving the temporal resolution and measuring the velocity information via selecting the appropriate keyhole factor at low tesla MRI system.