• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.503-514
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• 2006

FBG sensors are capable of measuring the strain of structures easily and more durably than electric resistance gauges. Thus, many researches are dedicated to the application for the response monitoring or non-destructive evaluation of structures using FBG sensors. Additionally, the measured strains at the top and bottom of a cross-section can be transformed into the curvature of the section, which can be used to calculate its vertical displacement. Hence, this study aims to measure the dynamic strain signals of a steel section simply supported beam and to estimate the dynamic displacement from the strain signals, after which the estimated displacement is com pared with the measured displacement. The dynamic characteristics (natural frequency, damping ratio and mode shape) of the beam are predicted from both the estimated and measured displacement signals, and from the strain time history of the FBG sensors. The predicted properties are compared with those of an analytical model of the beam. The estimated displacement. However, the predicted dynamic properties from both the estimated displacements and the measured strains are well-correlated with those from the measured displacement. It is therefore appreciated that the estimation of the dynamic properties of FBG sensor signals is reasonable. Especially, the strain signal of the FBG sensor was amplified at a higher-frequency region in comparison with the displacement estimation with higher-mode properties.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.333-337
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• 2003

This study was conducted to estimate the biofunctional characteristics, namely nitrite scavenging effect of barley leaves (BL) and their mixture (AM) with other antioxidants. Aqueous or methanol extracts were obtained from BL and AM. Aqueous and methanol extracts from barley leaves had relatively higher nitrite scavenging effects and its activities and contents increased in a concentration-dependent manner. The activities and contents of methanol extracts obtained from BL and AM were higher than those of aqueous extracts. Especially, AM containing BL and other antioxidant mixture had the highest activities and contents increased in a concentration-dependent manner. BL or AM were added to macrophage cells of RAW 264.7. Survival rates of the cells treated with BL and AM were measured to be different. $IC_{50}$ value decreased in a concentration-dependent manner by the addition of aqueous or methanol extracts from BL and AM. Especially, methanol extracts of AM had the highest nitrite scavenging effects. Thus, BL and AM may have protective effect against carcinogen and immune ability against reactive molecules through NO (nitric oxide) signal pathway. From the above results, barley leaves appear to contain natural anticancer and immune-related agents and may have potentiality to be used as functional food ingredients.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.76-85
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• 2009

UWB signal with high resolution capability can be used to estimate ranging and positioning in wireless personal area network. The node works on its local clock and the frequency differences of nodes have serious affects on ranging algorithms estimating locations of mobile nodes. The low rate UWB, IEEE802.15.4a, describes asynchronous two way ranging methods such as TWR and SDS-TWR working without any additional network synchronization, but the algorithms can not eliminate the effect of clock frequency differences. Therefore, the mechanisms to characterize the crystal difference is essential in typical UWB PHY implementations. In high rate UWB, characterizing of crystal offset with tracking loop is not required. But, detection of the clock frequency offset between the local clock and remote clock can be performed if there is little noise induced jitter. In this paper, we complete related ranging equations of high rate UWB based on TWR with relative frequency offset, and analyze a residual error in the ideal equations. We also evaluate the performance of the relative frequency offset algorithm by simulation and analyze the ranging errors according to the number of TWR to compensate coarse clock resolution. The results show that the relative frequency offset compensation and many times of TWR enhance the performance to converge to a limited ranging errors even with coarse clock resolutions.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.682-692
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• 2007

This study presents an automatic system to predict parturition time in the crated sows. The system relies on ultrasonic transducers mounted from above along the length of the crate. Using a 40 kHz time of flight (TOF) single envelope wave, the momentary distances between the sensors are measured. Therefore, the local momentary height of the sow and the momentary posture, i.e. standing posture (SDP), kneeling posture (KP), sitting posture (STP) and lateral lying posture (LLP) are determined. Crated sows change their postures from standing to lying and vice versa which follows a characteristic pattern. As parturition approaches, sows exhibit uneasiness, restlessness and the stand up sequence (SUS, the posture transition from LLP to SDP) rate increases because of labor pains. In time series, the SUS rate demonstrates a peak and it happens approximately 0-12 h before parturition. In this paper, the basic parturition threshold value method (BPTVM) and the same hour method (SHM) are proposed for predicting parturition, both of which are based on the SUS rate. The BPTVM mainly detects the peak of the SUS rate. As the SUS rate exceeds the threshold value, the parturition becomes predictable. Moreover, the SHM calculates the difference in the SUS rates between a particular time of day and the corresponding time of the preceding day. Compared to the BPTVM, the SHM can eliminate the circadian rhythm of the SUS rate influenced by feeding behavior. Using the SHM the parturition can be approximately predicted within hours. In an attempt to define the threshold parameters of predicting parturition, a data set with 32 sows of the SUS rate are used to estimate assumable predicting probability. The results show the assumable probability of the parturition prediction within 9 h is 96.9% for the SHM and 84.4% for the BPTVM. Moreover, the SHM can even reach a 75% probability of prediction within three hours of parturition. We conclude that the SHM is more accurate and is more useful for parturition time prediction. When parturition is detected, the proposed algorithm generates a warning signal which can inform human personnel to protect the mother and newborn piglets.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.696-701
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• 2017

This paper proposes an improved de-interlacing method that converts interlaced images into progressive images from one field. First, it calculates inter-pixel values applying third-order spline interpolation for the horizontal direction from four upper lower pixel values of missing pixels. From inter-pixel values obtained from spline interpolation and upper lower pixels with value, the proposed method makes an accurate estimate of the direction by applying the correlation between upper and lower pixels. The correlation between upper and lower pixels is calculated in nine directions of a missing pixel by using values obtained from spline interpolation and pixels with value. The direction of an edge is determined as the direction in which the correlation between upper and lower pixels is at its minimum. Thus, a missing pixel is calculated by taking the average of upper lower pixels obtained from the predicted direction of an edge. From the simulation results, there are problems in that it takes a bit more time for processing, but it is expected that the time problem will be improved by increasing CPU processing speed. As for image quality, it is shown that the proposed method improves both subjective and objective image quality and quantitatively improves picture signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) in the range between 0.1 dB to 0.5 dB, as compared with previously presented de-interlacing methods.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.518-523
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• 2017

This paper proposes a novel denoising method based on non-local(NL) means. The NL-means algorithm is effective for removing an additive Gaussian noise, but the denoising parameter should be controlled depending on the noise level for proper noise elimination. Therefore, the proposed method optimizes the denoising parameter according to the noise levels. The proposed method consists of two processes: off-line and on-line. In the off-line process, the relations between the noise level and the denoising parameter of the NL-means filter are analyzed. For a given noise level, the various denoising parameters are applied to the NL-means algorithm, and then the qualities of resulting images are quantified using a structural similarity index(SSIM). The parameter with the highest SSIM is chosen as the optimal denoising parameter for the given noise level. In the on-line process, we estimate the noise level for a given noisy image and select the optimal denoising parameter according to the estimated noise level. Finally, NL-means filtering is performed using the selected denoising parameter. As shown in the experimental results, the proposed method accurately estimated the noise level and effectively eliminated noise for various noise levels. The accuracy of noise estimation is 90.0% and the highest Peak Signal-to-noise ratio(PSNR), SSIM value.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2011

From among the NDT (nondestructive testing) methods, the MFL (magnetic flux leakage) method is specially suitable for testing pipelines because pipeline has high magnetic permeability. The system applied to MFL method is called the MFL PIG. The previous MFL PIG showed high performance in detecting the metal loss and corrosions. However, MFL PIG is highly unlikely to detect the cracks which occur by exterior-interior pressure difference in pipelines and the shape of crack is long and very narrow. In MFL PIG, the magnetic field is performed axially and there is no changes of cross-sectional area at cracks that the magnetic field passes through. Cracks occur frequently in the pipelines and the risk of the accident from the cracks is higher than that from the metal loss and corrosions. Therefore, the new PIG is needed to be researched and developed for detecting the cracks. The circumferential MFL (CMFL) PIG performs magnetic fields circumferentially and can maximize the magnetic flux leakage at the cracks. In this paper, CMFL PIG is designed and the distribution of the magnetic fields is analyzed by using 3 dimensional nonlinear finite element method (FEM). In CMFL PIG, cracks, standards of NACE, are detectable. To estimate the shape of crack, the leakage of magnetic fields for many kinds of cracks is analyzed and the method is developed by signal processing.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.5-14
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• 2016

The leakage of water under sewer pipelines is one of main sources of sinkholes in urban areas. We performed laboratory model tests to investigate the presence of cavities using impact-echo method, which is a nondestructive test method. To simulate a concrete sewer pipe, a thin concrete plate was built and placed over container filled with sand. The cavity was modeled as an extruded polystyrene foam box. Two sets of tests were performed, one over sand and the other on cavity. A new impact device was developed to apply a consistent high frequency impact load on the concrete plate, thereby increasing the reliability of the test procedure. The frequency and transient characteristics of the measured reflected waveforms were analyzed via fast Fourier transform and short time Fourier spectrum. It was shown that the shapes of Fourier spectra are very similar to one another, and therefore cannot be used to predict the presence of cavity. A new index, termed resonance duration, is defined to record the time of vibration exceeding a prescribed intensity. The results showed that the resonance duration is a more effective parameter for predicting the presence of a cavity. A value of the resonance period was proposed to estimate the presence of cavity. Further studies using various soil types and field tests are warranted to validate the proposed approach.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.38-46
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• 2012

Atrial fibrillation is needed to be detected at paroxysmal stage and to be treated. But, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation ECG is hardly obtained with 12-lead electrocardiographs but Holter systems. Presently, the averaged beat subtraction(ABS) method is solely used to estimate atrial fibrillatory waves even with somewhat large residual error. As an alternative, in this study, we suggested an ESAF(event-synchronous adaptive filter) based algorithm, in which the AF ECG was treated as a primary input and event-synchronous impulse train(ESIT) as a reference. And, ESIT was generated so to be synchronized with the ventricular activity by detecting QRS complex. We tested proposed algorithm with simulated AF ECGs and real AF ECGs. As results, even with low computational cost, this ESAF based algorithm showed better performance than the ABS method and comparable performance to algorithm based on PCA(principal component analysis) or SVD(singular value decomposition). We also proposed an expanded version of ESAF for some AF ECGs with multi-morphologic ventricular activities and this also showed reasonable performance. Ultimately, with Holter systems including our proposed algorithm, atrial activity signal can be precisely estimated in real-time so that it will be possible to calculate atrial fibrillatory rate and to evaluate the effect of anti-arrhythmic drugs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1710-1718
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplements with different crude protein (CP) contents on grazing cattle intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation pattern, and nitrogen (N) metabolism characteristics during the rainy season. Five ruminal and abomasal cannulated Holstein${\times}$Zebu steers (296 kg body weight, BW) were used in a $5{\times}5$ Latin square design. The animals grazed five signal grass paddocks (0.34 ha). The five treatments evaluated were: Control (no supplement) and 1.0 g of supplement/kg BW with 0, 330, 660, and 1,000 g of CP/kg as-fed. The supplement was composed of starch, soybean meal, urea, and ammonium sulphate. There was a positive linear effect ($p{\leq}0.033$) of the CP content in the supplements on the organic matter (OM), CP, and digested OM intakes. The provision of supplements did not increase ($p{\geq}0.158$), on average, total and ruminal digestibilities of OM and CP. However, the increase in CP content in the supplements caused a positive linear effect ($p{\leq}0.018$) on ruminal digestibilities of OM and CP. Additionally, a quadratic effect of the CP contents of the supplements were observed (p = 0.041) for the ruminal digestibility of neutral detergent fiber corrected for ash and protein, with the highest estimate obtained with the CP content of 670 g/kg. The supply of supplements increased (p<0.001) the ruminal ammonia N concentration, which also changed linearly and positively (p<0.001) according to increase in CP content in the supplements. The apparent N balance and relative N balance (g/g N intake) were not, on average, changed ($p{\geq}0.164$) by the supplements supply. However, both showed a tendency of a linear increase ($p{\leq}0.099$) with increasing supplement CP content. The supplements increased (p = 0.007) microbial N production in the rumen, which also changed linearly and positively (p = 0.016) with increasing supplement CP content. In conclusion, protein supplementation in grazing cattle during the rainy season, while stimulating voluntary forage intake, results in higher efficiency of N utilization when compared to energy supplementation. This is a possible response to increased microbial protein synthesis in the rumen and improved N status in the animal body.