• Title/Summary/Keyword: Software V&V

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Cardiac Phenotyping of SARS-CoV-2 in British Columbia: A Prospective Echo Study With Strain Imaging

  • Jeffrey Yim;Michael Y.C. Tsang;Anand Venkataraman;Shane Balthazaar;Ken Gin;John Jue;Parvathy Nair;Christina Luong;Darwin F. Yeung;Robb Moss;Sean A Virani;Jane McKay;Margot Williams;Eric C. Sayre;Purang Abolmaesumi;Teresa S.M. Tsang
    • Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.125-132
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    • 2023
  • BACKGROUND: There is limited data on the residual echocardiographic findings including strain analysis among post-coronavirus disease (COVID) patients. The aim of our study is to prospectively phenotype post-COVID patients. METHODS: All patients discharged following acute COVID infection were systematically followed in the post-COVID-19 Recovery Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul's Hospital. At 4-18 weeks post diagnosis, patients underwent comprehensive echocardiographic assessment. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was assessed by 3D, 2D Biplane Simpson's, or visual estimate. LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) was measured using a vendor-independent 2D speckle-tracking software (TomTec). RESULTS: A total of 127 patients (53% female, mean age 58 years) were included in our analyses. At baseline, cardiac conditions were present in 58% of the patients (15% coronary artery disease, 4% heart failure, 44% hypertension, 10% atrial fibrillation) while the remainder were free of cardiac conditions. COVID-19 serious complications were present in 79% of the patients (76% pneumonia, 37% intensive care unit admission, 21% intubation, 1% myocarditis). Normal LVEF was seen in 96% of the cohort and 97% had normal right ventricular systolic function. A high proportion (53%) had abnormal LV GLS defined as < 18%. Average LV GLS of septal and inferior segments were lower compared to that of other segments. Among patients without pre-existing cardiac conditions, LVEF was abnormal in only 1.9%, but LV GLS was abnormal in 46% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: Most post-COVID patients had normal LVEF at 4-18 weeks post diagnosis, but over half had abnormal LV GLS.

Identifying Personal Values Influencing the Lifestyle of Older Adults: Insights From Relative Importance Analysis Using Machine Learning (중고령 노인의 개인적 가치에 따른 라이프스타일 분류: 머신러닝을 활용한 상대적 중요도 분석 )

  • Lim, Seungju;Park, Ji-Hyuk
    • Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.69-84
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    • 2024
  • Objective : This study aimed to categorize the lifestyles of older adults into two types - healthy and unhealthy, and use machine learning to identify the personal values that influence these lifestyles. Methods : This cross-sectional study targeting middle-aged and older adults (55 years and above) living in local communities in South Korea. Data were collected from 300 participants through online surveys. Lifestyle types were dichotomized by the Yonsei Lifestyle Profile (YLP)-Active, Balanced, Connected, and Diverse (ABCD) responses using latent profile analysis. Personal value information was collected using YLP-Values (YLP-V) and analyzed using machine learning to identify the relative importance of personal values on lifestyle types. Results : The lifestyle of older adults was categorized into healthy (48.87%) and unhealthy (51.13%). These two types showed the most significant difference in social relationship characteristics. Among the machine learning models used in this study, the support vector machine showed the highest classification performance, achieving 96% accuracy and 95% area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The model indicated that individuals who prioritized a healthy diet, sought health information, and engaged in hobbies or cultural activities were more likely to have a healthy lifestyle. Conclusion : This study suggests the need to encourage the expansion of social networks among older adults. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity to comprehensively intervene in individuals' perceptions and values that primarily influence lifestyle adherence.

A Method to Design Components using Commonality and Variability Analysis (공통성 및 가변성 분석을 활용한 컴포넌트 설계 기법)

  • 장수호;김수동
    • Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.716-727
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    • 2004
  • Component-based software development (CBD) technology has been widely accepted as a new effective paradigm for building software systems with reusable components, consequently reducing efforts and shortening time-to-market. Hence, components should provide standard or common functionalities in a domain, yielding a higher level of reusability. Especially, micro-level variability within the commonality should also be modeled so that a product member-specific business logic or requirement can be supported through component tailoring or customization The importance of commonality and variability (C&V) analysis has been emphasized in several CBD methods, but they lack of well-defined systematic process, detailed instructions, and standard artifact templates. As the result, the development of components has been carried out in ad-hoc fashion, depending on developer's experience. In this paper, we propose a systematic process and work instructions to design components. The process consists of phases and their activities and each activity is specified with detailed instructions and artifact templates in order to facilitate effective development of components. To verify a feasibility of the propose method, a case study in a banking domain and comparison and assessment between the proposed method and other methods are additionally provided. With proposed processes and instructions, reusability and efficiency of developing components can be better supported.

The Evaluation of Image Correction Methods for SPECT/CT in Various Radioisotopes with Different Energy Levels (SPECT/CT에서 서로 다른 에너지의 방사성동위원소 사용시 영상보정기법의 유용성 평가)

  • Shin, Byung Ho;Kim, Seung Jeong;Yun, Seok Hwan;Kim, Tae Yeop;Lim, Jung Jin;Woo, Jae Ryong;Oh, So Won;Kim, Yu Kyeong
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.53-58
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    • 2013
  • Purpose: To optimize correction method for SPECT/CT, image quality consisting of resolution and contrast was evaluated using three radioisotopes ($^{99m}Tc$, $^{201}Tl$ and $^{131}I$) and three different correction methods; attenuation correction (AC), scatter correction (SC) and both attenuation and scatter correction (ACSC). Materials and Methods: Images were acquired with a SPECT/CT scanner and a conventional CT protocol with an OESM reconstruction algorithm (2 iterations and 10 subsets). For resolution measurement, fixed radioactivity (2.22 kBq) was infused into a spatial resolution phantom and full width at half maximum (FWHM) was measured using a vendor-provided software. For contrast evaluation, radioactive source with a ratio of 1:8 to background was filled in a Flanged Jaszczak phantom and percent contrast (%) were calculated. All the parameters for image quality were compared with non-correction (NC) method. Results: As compared with NC, image resolution of all three isotopes were significantly improved by AC and ACSC, not by SC. In particular, ACSC showed better resolution than AC alone for $^{99m}Tc$ and $^{201}Tl$. Image contrast of all three radioisotopes in a sphere with the largest diameter were enhanced by all correction methods. ACSC showed the highest contrast in all three radioisotopes, which was the most accurate in $^{99m}Tc$ (85.9%). Conclusion: Image quality of SPECT/CT was improved in all the radioisotopes by CT-based attenuation correction methods, except SC alone. SC failed to improve resolution in any radioisotopes, but it was effective in contrast enhancement. ACSC would be the best correction method as it improved resolution in radioisotopes with low energy levels and contrast in radioisotope with low energy levels. However, in radioisotope with high energy level, AC would be better than ACSC for resolution improvement.

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Edge to Edge Model and Delay Performance Evaluation for Autonomous Driving (자율 주행을 위한 Edge to Edge 모델 및 지연 성능 평가)

  • Cho, Moon Ki;Bae, Kyoung Yul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.191-207
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    • 2021
  • Up to this day, mobile communications have evolved rapidly over the decades, mainly focusing on speed-up to meet the growing data demands of 2G to 5G. And with the start of the 5G era, efforts are being made to provide such various services to customers, as IoT, V2X, robots, artificial intelligence, augmented virtual reality, and smart cities, which are expected to change the environment of our lives and industries as a whole. In a bid to provide those services, on top of high speed data, reduced latency and reliability are critical for real-time services. Thus, 5G has paved the way for service delivery through maximum speed of 20Gbps, a delay of 1ms, and a connecting device of 106/㎢ In particular, in intelligent traffic control systems and services using various vehicle-based Vehicle to X (V2X), such as traffic control, in addition to high-speed data speed, reduction of delay and reliability for real-time services are very important. 5G communication uses high frequencies of 3.5Ghz and 28Ghz. These high-frequency waves can go with high-speed thanks to their straightness while their short wavelength and small diffraction angle limit their reach to distance and prevent them from penetrating walls, causing restrictions on their use indoors. Therefore, under existing networks it's difficult to overcome these constraints. The underlying centralized SDN also has a limited capability in offering delay-sensitive services because communication with many nodes creates overload in its processing. Basically, SDN, which means a structure that separates signals from the control plane from packets in the data plane, requires control of the delay-related tree structure available in the event of an emergency during autonomous driving. In these scenarios, the network architecture that handles in-vehicle information is a major variable of delay. Since SDNs in general centralized structures are difficult to meet the desired delay level, studies on the optimal size of SDNs for information processing should be conducted. Thus, SDNs need to be separated on a certain scale and construct a new type of network, which can efficiently respond to dynamically changing traffic and provide high-quality, flexible services. Moreover, the structure of these networks is closely related to ultra-low latency, high confidence, and hyper-connectivity and should be based on a new form of split SDN rather than an existing centralized SDN structure, even in the case of the worst condition. And in these SDN structural networks, where automobiles pass through small 5G cells very quickly, the information change cycle, round trip delay (RTD), and the data processing time of SDN are highly correlated with the delay. Of these, RDT is not a significant factor because it has sufficient speed and less than 1 ms of delay, but the information change cycle and data processing time of SDN are factors that greatly affect the delay. Especially, in an emergency of self-driving environment linked to an ITS(Intelligent Traffic System) that requires low latency and high reliability, information should be transmitted and processed very quickly. That is a case in point where delay plays a very sensitive role. In this paper, we study the SDN architecture in emergencies during autonomous driving and conduct analysis through simulation of the correlation with the cell layer in which the vehicle should request relevant information according to the information flow. For simulation: As the Data Rate of 5G is high enough, we can assume the information for neighbor vehicle support to the car without errors. Furthermore, we assumed 5G small cells within 50 ~ 250 m in cell radius, and the maximum speed of the vehicle was considered as a 30km ~ 200 km/hour in order to examine the network architecture to minimize the delay.

Repair of UV-induced Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers in Human Mitochonrial DNA-less Cells

  • Ikushima, Takaji;Gu, Ning;Tanizaki, Yuichi
    • Journal of Photoscience
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.479-481
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    • 2002
  • UV-induced DNA damage causes cell killing and mutations leading to carcinogenesis. In normal human cells, UV damage such as cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and primidine-prymidone (6-4) photoproducts are mainly repaired by nucleotide excision repair mechanism. The molecular processes have been well characterized recently. To know the influence of mitochondrial genome on the nucleotide excision repair mechanism against CPDs, we comparatively examined the production of CPDs by UVC irradiation and their repair kinetics in human cells completely lacking mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the parental HeLa S cells. Whole DNA extracted from the cells exposed to UVC was treated with T4-endonuclease V to break the phosphodiester bond adjacent to CPDs. The DNA was electrophoresed in a denaturing agarose gel, which was visualized by ethidium bromide staining. The relative amount of CPDs was determined by image analysis using NIH Image software. MtDNA- less (rho-O) cells were apparently more sensitive to UVC than HeLa S cells, while the level of induction of CPDs in rho-O and HeLa cells was comparable. The repair of CPDs was less efficient in rho-O cells compared with HeLa cells. The residual amount of CPDs after 24-h repair was larger in rho-O cells than in HeLa cells where more than 90 % of CPDs were repaired by then. The non-repaired CPDs would lead to apoptosis in rho-O cells. These results suggest that mitochondrial genome may contribute to some ATP-dependent steps in nucletide excision repair by supplying sufficient ATP which is generated through a respiratory chain in mitochondria.

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Introduction to High-Performance ERC32 Processor for the Development of Flight Software (차세대 위성용 탑재소프트웨어 개발을 위한 고성능 탑재컴퓨터 ERC32 프로세서 소개)

  • Lee Jae-Seung;Choi Jong-Wook;Chae Dong-Seok;Lee Jong-In;Kim Hak-Jung
    • Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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    • 2005.11a
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    • pp.475-477
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    • 2005
  • 국내에서 개발된 저궤도 관측위성에는 인텔계열의 프로세서가 사용되어 졌다. 인텔계열의 프로세서를 이용한 임베디드 시스템은 다양하고 상세한 기술문서들이 많이 제공될 수 있고 국내에도 관련된 기술 습득이 이루어져 있다는 장점이 있다. 그러나 프로세서에 대한 새로운 기술의 개발 및 적용이 단기간에 이루어지기 때문에 이를 이용한 시스템 개발에 계속적으로 개발비용 부담이 가중되고 선진국의 첨단기술 유출 방지를 위한 여러 규제들로 인해 인텔 계열의 프로세서를 사용한 위성용 임베디드 시스템 개발에 걸림돌이 되고 있다. 이러한 문제점들을 해결하기 위해 차세대 위성에 사용 가능한 탑재컴퓨터에 대한 조사 및 기술분석을 수행하였으며, 유럽에서 자체적으로 개발하여 위성용 탑재컴퓨터로 사용하고 있는 MCM-ERC52가 차세대 위성개발에 적합한 것으로 판단되었다. MCM-ERC32는 SPARC v.7을 기반으로 한 ERC32SC 프로세서를 이용한 탑재컴퓨터 보드로 향후 위성에 요구되는 다양한 기능들을 수행하기에 충분한 고성능 탑재컴퓨터이다. 국내에서는 MCM-ERC32를 이용한 개발 경험이 전무한 상황이며, 관련된 기술자료도 충분하지 않은 실정이다. 이에 따라 MCM-ERC32에 적합한 저궤도 위성용 탑재소프트웨어 개발을 위한 연구가 진행되고 있으며. 본 논문에서는 MCM-ERC32를 이용한 탑재소프트웨어 개발에 필요한 특징적인 ERC32 프로세서의 개념과 기능에 대해 소개하고자 한다.

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Optimization of Swine Breeding Programs Using Genomic Selection with ZPLAN+

  • Lopez, B.M.;Kang, H.S.;Kim, T.H.;Viterbo, V.S.;Kim, H.S.;Na, C.S.;Seo, K.S.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.29 no.5
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    • pp.640-645
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    • 2016
  • The objective of this study was to evaluate the present conventional selection program of a swine nucleus farm and compare it with a new selection strategy employing genomic enhanced breeding value (GEBV) as the selection criteria. The ZPLAN+ software was employed to calculate and compare the genetic gain, total cost, return and profit of each selection strategy. The first strategy reflected the current conventional breeding program, which was a progeny test system (CS). The second strategy was a selection scheme based strictly on genomic information (GS1). The third scenario was the same as GS1, but the selection by GEBV was further supplemented by the performance test (GS2). The last scenario was a mixture of genomic information and progeny tests (GS3). The results showed that the accuracy of the selection index of young boars of GS1 was 26% higher than that of CS. On the other hand, both GS2 and GS3 gave 31% higher accuracy than CS for young boars. The annual monetary genetic gain of GS1, GS2 and GS3 was 10%, 12%, and 11% higher, respectively, than that of CS. As expected, the discounted costs of genomic selection strategies were higher than those of CS. The costs of GS1, GS2 and GS3 were 35%, 73%, and 89% higher than those of CS, respectively, assuming a genotyping cost of $120. As a result, the discounted profit per animal of GS1 and GS2 was 8% and 2% higher, respectively, than that of CS while GS3 was 6% lower. Comparison among genomic breeding scenarios revealed that GS1 was more profitable than GS2 and GS3. The genomic selection schemes, especially GS1 and GS2, were clearly superior to the conventional scheme in terms of monetary genetic gain and profit.

Return to Work in Multi-ethnic Breast Cancer Survivors - A Qualitative Inquiry

  • Tan, Foo Lan;Loh, Siew Yim;Su, TinTin;Veloo, V.W.;Ng, Lee Luan
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.13 no.11
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    • pp.5791-5797
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    • 2012
  • Introduction: Return-to-work (RTW) can be a problematic occupational issue with detrimental impact on the quality of life of previously-employed breast cancer survivors. This study explored barriers and facilitators encountered during the RTW process in the area of cancer survivorship. Materials and Methods: Six focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide on 40 informants (employed multiethnic survivors). Survivors were stratified into three groups for successfully RTW, and another three groups of survivors who were unable to return to work. Each of the three groups was ethnically homogeneous. Thematic analysis using a constant comparative approach was aided by in vivo software. Results: Participants shared numerous barriers and facilitators which directly or interactively affect RTW. Key barriers were physical-psychological after-effects of treatment, fear of potential environment hazards, high physical job demand, intrusive negative thoughts and overprotective family. Key facilitators were social support, employer support, and regard for financial independence. Across ethnic groups, the main facilitators were financial-independence (for Chinese), and socialisation opportunity (for Malay). A key barrier was after-effects of treatment, expressed across all ethnic groups. Conclusions: Numerous barriers were identified in the non-RTW survivors. Health professionals and especially occupational therapists should be consulted to assist the increasing survivors by providing occupational rehabilitation to enhance RTW amongst employed survivors. Future research to identify prognostic factors can guide clinical efforts to restore cancer survivors to their desired level/type of occupational functioning for productivity and wellbeing.

Experimental and numerical studies of precast connection under progressive collapse scenario

  • Joshi, Digesh D.;Patel, Paresh V.;Rangwala, Husain M.;Patoliya, Bhautik G.
    • Advances in concrete construction
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.235-248
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    • 2020
  • Progressive collapse in a structure occurs when load bearing members are failed and the adjoining structural elements cannot resist the redistributed forces and fails subsequently, that leads to complete collapse of structure. Recently, construction using precast concrete technology is adopted increasingly because it offers many advantages like faster construction, less requirement of skilled labours at site, reduced formwork and scaffolding, massive production with reduced amount of construction waste, better quality and better surface finishing as compared to conventional reinforced concrete construction. Connections are the critical elements for any precast structure, because in past, major collapse of precast structure took place because of connection failure. In this study, behavior of four different precast wet connections with U shaped reinforcement bars provided at different locations is evaluated. Reduced 1/3rd scale precast beam column assemblies having two span beam and three columns with removed middle column are constructed and examined by performing experiments. The response of precast connections is compared with monolithic connection, under column removal scenario. The connection region of test specimens are filled by cast-in-place micro concrete with and without polypropylene fibers. Performance of specimen is evaluated on the basis of ultimate load carrying capacity, maximum deflection at the location of removed middle column, crack formation and failure propagation. Further, Finite element (FE) analysis is carried out for validation of experimental studies and understanding the performance of structural components. Monolithic and precast beam column assemblies are modeled using non-linear Finite Element (FE) analysis based software ABAQUS. Actual experimental conditions are simulated using appropriate boundary and loading conditions. Finite Element simulation results in terms of load versus deflection are compared with that of experimental study. The nonlinear FE analysis results shows good agreement with experimental results.