• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.439-446
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• 2014

An amphibious inspection robot system (hereafter AIROS) is being developed to visually inspect the in-containment refueling storage water tank (hereafter IRWST) strainer in APR1400 instead of a human diver. Four IRWST strainers are located in the IRWST, which is filled with boric acid water. Each strainer has 108 sub-assembly strainer fin modules that should be inspected with the VT-3 method according to Reg. guide 1.82 and the operation manual. AIROS has 6 thrusters for submarine voyage and 4 legs for walking on the top of the strainer. An inverse kinematic algorithm was implemented in the robot controller for exact walking on the top of the IRWST strainer. The IRWST strainer has several top cross braces that are extruded on the top of the strainer, which can be obstacles of walking on the strainer, to maintain the frame of the strainer. Therefore, a robot leg should arrive at the position beside the top cross brace. For this reason, we used an image processing technique to find the top cross brace in the sole camera image. The sole camera image is processed to find the existence of the top cross brace using the cross edge detection algorithm in real time. A 5-DOF robot arm that has multiple camera modules for simultaneous inspection of both sides can penetrate narrow gaps. For intuitive presentation of inspection results and for management of inspection data, inspection images are stored in the control PC with camera angles and positions to synthesize and merge the images. The synthesized images are then mapped in a 3D CAD model of the IRWST strainer with the location information. An IRWST strainer mock-up was fabricated to teach the robot arm scanning and gaiting. It is important to arrive at the designated position for inserting the robot arm into all of the gaps. Exact position control without anchor under the water is not easy. Therefore, we designed the multi leg robot for the role of anchoring and positioning. Quadruped robot design of installing sole cameras was a new approach for the exact and stable position control on the IRWST strainer, unlike a traditional robot for underwater facility inspection. The developed robot will be practically used to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the inspection of nuclear power plant components.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2007

Global warming crisis due primarily to continued green house gas emission requires impending change to renewable alternative energy than continuously depending on exhausting fossil fuels. Bioenergy including biodiesel and bioethanol are considered good alternatives because of their renewable and sustainable nature. Bioethanol is currently being produced by using sucrose from sugar beet, grain starches or lignocellulosic biomass as sources of ethanol fermentation. However, grain production requires significant amount of fossil fuel inputs during agricultural practices, which means less competitive in reducing the level of green house gas emission. By contrast, cellulosic bioethanol can use naturally-growing, not-for-food biomass as a source of ethanol fermentation. In this respect, cellulosic ethanol than grain starch ethanol is considered a more appropriate as a alternative renewable energy. However, commercialization of cellulosic ethanol depends heavily on technology development. Processes such as securing enough biomass optimized for economic processing, pretreatment technology for better access of polymer-hydrolyzing enzymes, saccharification of recalcitrant lignocellulosic materials, and simultaneous fermentation of different sugars including 6-carbon glucose as well as 5-carbon xylose or arabinose waits for greater improvement in technologies. Although it seems to be a long way to go until commercialization, it should broadly benefit farmers with novel source of income, environment with greener and reduced level of global warming, and national economy with increased energy security. Mission-oriented strategies for cellulosic ethanol development participated by government funding agency and different disciplines of sciences and technologies should certainly open up a new era of renewable energy.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2005

Since the output of retina for visual stimulus is carried by neurons of very diverse functional properties, it is not adequate to use conventional single electrode for recording the retinal action potential. For this purpose, we used newly developed multichannel recording system for monitoring the simultaneous electrical activities of many neurons in a functioning piece of retina. Retinal action potentials are recorded with an extra-cellular planar array of 60 microelectrodes. In studying the collective activity of the ganglion cell population it is essential to recognize basic functional distinctions between individual neurons. Therefore, it is necessary to detect and to classify the action potential of each ganglion cell out of mixed signal. We programmed M-files with MATLAB for this sorting process. This processing is mandatory for further analysis, e.g. poststimulus time histogram (PSTH), auto-correlogram, and cross-correlogram. We established MATLAB based protocol for waveform classification and verified that this approach was effective as an initial spike sorting method.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.651-661
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• 2008

This paper proposes a novel contrast enhancement (CE) algorithm for color images using the modified error diffusion (ED). After conventional color histogram equalization (HE), artifacts such as false contours are produced in the contrast enhanced image. The proposed CE algorithm using the modified ED consists of two parts: CE and ED. In the first part, a low-contrast input image is enhanced by the conventional HE method. In the second part, we use the modified ED algorithm. The inputs of the second part are the average and scaled difference images of the original color input image and the HE image, in which the scaled color difference image is diffused by the ED algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, the modified ED algorithm reduces the artifacts produced in the HE image, and increases the number of color levels. Computer simulations with a number of low-contrast color images show the effectiveness of the proposed CE method in terms of the visual quality as well as the probability mass function. It can be used as a post-processing for CE with simultaneous artifact reduction in various display devices.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.540-547
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• 2017

Background: In general, after Panax ginseng is administered orally, intestinal microbes play a crucial role in its degradation and metabolization process. Studies on the metabolism of P. ginseng by microflora are important for obtaining a better understanding of their biological effects. Methods: In vitro biotransformation of P. ginseng extract by rat intestinal microflora was investigated at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 h, and the simultaneous determination of the metabolites and metabolic profile of P. ginseng saponins by rat intestinal microflora was achieved using LC-MS/MS. Results: A total of seven ginsenosides were detected in the P. ginseng extract, including ginsenosides Rg1, Re, Rf, Rb1, Rc, Rb2, and Rd. In the transformed P. ginseng samples, considerable amounts of deglycosylated metabolite compound K and Rh1 were detected. In addition, minimal amounts of deglycosylated metabolites (ginsenosides Rg2, F1, F2, Rg3, and protopanaxatriol-type ginsenosides) and untransformed ginsenosides Re, Rg1, and Rd were detected at 24 h. The results indicated that the primary metabolites are compound K and Rh1, and the protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides were more easily metabolized than protopanaxatriol-type ginsenosides. Conclusion: This is the first report of the identification and quantification of the metabolism and metabolic profile of P. ginseng extract in rat intestinal microflora using LC-MS/MS. The current study provided new insights for studying the metabolism and active metabolites of P. ginseng.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2018

The precision of the vibration-sensors, contact or non-contact types, is usually satisfactory for the practical measurement applications, but a sensor is confined to the measurement of a point or a direction. Although the precision and frequency span of the low-cost camera are inferior to these sensors, it has the merits in the cost and in the capability of simultaneous measurement of a large vibrating area. Furthermore, a camera can measure multi-degrees-of-freedom of a vibrating object simultaneously. In this study, the calibration method and the dynamic characteristics of the low-cost machine vision camera as a sensor are studied with a demonstrating example of the two-dimensional vibration of a cantilever beam. The planar image of the camera shot reveals two rectilinear and one rotational motion. The rectilinear vibration motion of a single point is first measured using a camera and the camera is experimentally calibrated by calculating error referencing the LDV (Laser Doppler Vibrometer) measurement. Then, by measuring the motion of multiple points at once, the rotational vibration motion and the whole vibration motion of the cantilever beam are measured. The whole vibration motion of the cantilever beam is analyzed both in time and frequency domain.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.525-530
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• 2012

In this study, silane-crosslinked organic/inorganic composite membranes were prepared by simultaneous irradiation grafting of binary monomer mixtures (styrene and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPM)) with various compositions onto a poly(ethylene-alt-tetraethylene) (ETFE) film and followed by sol-gel processing and sulfonation to provide a silane-crosslinked structure and a proton conducting ability, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) were utilized to confirm the crosslinking of ETFE-g-PS/PTMSPM films. The prepared membranes with similar ion exchange capacity but a different TMSPM content were selected and their membrane properties were compared. The ETFE-g-PSSA/PTMSPM membranes were characterized by water uptake, dimensional stability, and proton conductivity after sulfonation. The membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) of the prepared membranes were fabricated and their single cell performances were measured.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.471-478
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• 2004

Electromyogram (EMC) signal generated by voluntary contraction of muscles is often used in a rehabilitation devices such as an upper limb prosthesis because of its distinct output characteristics compared to other bio-signals. This paper proposes an EMG-based human-computer interface (HCI) for the control of the above-elbow prosthesis or the wheelchair. To control such rehabilitation devices, user generates four commands by combining voluntary contraction of two different muscles such as levator scapulae muscles and flexor-extensor carpi ulnaris muscles. The muscle contraction is detected by comparing the mean absolute value of the EMG signal with a preset threshold value. However. since the time difference in muscle firing can occur when the patient tries simultaneous co-contraction of two muscles, it is difficult to determine whether the patient's intention is co-contraction. Hence, the use of the comparison method using a single threshold value is not feasible for recognizing such co-contraction motion. Here, we propose a novel method using double threshold values composed of a primary threshold and an auxiliary threshold. Using the double threshold method, the co-contraction state is easily detected, and diverse interface commands can be used for the EMG-based HCI. The experimental results with real-time EMG processing showed that the double threshold method is feasible for the EMG-based HCI to control the myoelectric prosthetic hand and the powered wheelchair.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2009

Top spray-drying method is frequently utilized for flavor encapsulation, but the top spray-dried products frequently suffer from high losses of volatile flavor as the result of a high processing temperature (150-$300^{\circ}C$). In an effort to solve these problems, a low-temperature fluidized-bed granulating method was utilized to encapsulate the flavor. For the encapsulation of sesame oil, oil-in-water emulsions of sesame oil and a mixture of maltodextrin, modified starch, gum arabic, and gellan gum were bottom-sprayed at milder temperatures (70-$100^{\circ}C$) using a fluidized-bed granulator. Sesame oil extracts from microcapsules were obtained via a simultaneous distillation/extraction technique, and the retention of volatile flavor compounds was analyzed via a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The retention of volatile flavors of sesame oil per se, spray-dried and fluidized-bed granulated microcapsules after 3-day-storage at $37^{\circ}C$ were 0.8%, 37.2%, and 42.0%, respectively. In addition, the low-temperature fluidized-bed granulation showed higher encapsulation yield and sensory preferences for the application of commercial products (beef rice porridge), as compared to spray drying.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

According to Demand and Capacity Model (DCM), external and internal environments influence the disfluency of children who stutter (CWS). This study investigated the effects of simultaneous changes in motoric and linguistic demands on CWS and children who do not stutter (CWNS). Participants were 4-6 years old CWS and CWNS. A sentence imitation task with changes in speech rate, utterance length, and sentence complexity was used to examine their effects on children's disfluency. When the utterance length changed, CWS showed more disfluency regardless of utterance length and as the speech rate changed, CWS showed more disfluency at fast speech rate than CWNS. When the utterance length and speech rate changed, at fast speech rate, CWS showed more disfluency in both utterances than CWNS. When sentence complexity changed, CWS showed more disfluency than CWNS in complex sentences. Changes in linguistic elements such as speech rate, utterance length, and sentence complexity affect disfluency in CWS, especially when they were exposed to faster, longer, and more complex sentences. This indicates that CWS are vulnerable to fast and complex speech motor control and language processing ability than CWNS. Thus, this study suggests that parents and therapists consider both the speech rate and the utterance length when talking with CWS.