• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.165-171
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• 2019

The study of the computer architecture has shown that major improvements in price-to-energy performance stems from domain-specific hardware development. This paper analyzes the tensor processing unit (TPU) ASIC which can accelerate the reasoning of the artificial neural network (NN). The core device of the TPU is a MAC matrix multiplier capable of high-speed operation and software-managed on-chip memory. The execution model of the TPU can meet the reaction time requirements of the artificial neural network better than the existing CPU and the GPU execution models, with the small area and the low power consumption even though it has many MAC and large memory. Utilizing the TPU for the tensor flow benchmark framework, it can achieve higher performance and better power efficiency than the CPU or CPU. In this paper, we analyze TPU, simulate the Python modeled OpenTPU, and synthesize the matrix multiplication unit, which is the key hardware.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.214-221
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• 2019

A series of model tests was performed to evaluate the survivability of an articulated tower-type buoy structure under harsh environmental conditions. The buoy structure consisted of three long pipes, a buoyancy module, and top equipment. The scale model was made of acrylic pipe and plastic with a scale ratio of 1/22. The experiments were carried out at the ocean engineering basin of KRISO. The performance of the buoy structure was investigated under waves only and under combined environmental conditions from sea state (SS) 5 to 7. A nonlinear time-domain numerical simulation was conducted using the mooring analysis program OrcaFlex. The survivability of the buoy was analyzed based on three factors: the pitch motion, submergence of the top structure, and anchor reaction force. The model test results were directly compared to the results of numerical simulations. The effects of the sea state and combined environment on the performance of the buoy structure were investigated.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.373-378
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• 2019

The nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain (NOD) is an innate pattern recognition receptor that recognizes pathogen- and damage-associated molecular patterns. The 29-kDa amino-terminal fibronectin fragment (29-kDa FN-f) is a matrix degradation product found in the synovial fluids of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). We investigated whether NOD2 was involved in 29-kDa FN-f-induced pro-catabolic gene expression in human chondrocytes. The expression of mRNA and protein was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qrt-PCR) and Western blot analysis. Small interfering RNAs were used for knockdown of NOD2 and toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2). An immunoprecipitation assay was performed to examine protein interactions. The NOD2 levels in human OA cartilage were much higher than in normal cartilage. NOD1 and NOD2 expression, as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1beta (IL-$1{\beta}$) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$), were upregulated by 29-kDa FN-f in human chondrocytes. NOD2 silencing showed that NOD2 was involved in the 29-kDa FN-f-induced expression of TLR-2. Expressions of IL-6, IL-8, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, -3, and -13 were also suppressed by TLR-2 knockdown. Furthermore, NOD2 and TLR-2 knockdown data demonstrated that both NOD2 and TLR-2 modulated the expressions of their adaptors, receptorinteracting protein 2 (RIP2) and myeloid differentiation 88, in 29-kDa FN-f-treated chondrocytes. 29-kDa FN-f enhanced the interaction of NOD2, RIP2 and transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), an indispensable signaling intermediate in the TLR-2 signaling pathway, and activated nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$), subsequently leading to increased expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cartilage-degrading enzymes. These results demonstrate that 29-kDa FN-f modulated pro-catabolic responses via cross-regulation of NOD2 and TLR-2 signaling pathways.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.257-267
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• 2021

Constraints on the structure and composition of the active layer are important for understanding permafrost evolution. Soil convection owing to repeated moisture-induced freeze-thaw cycles within the active layer promotes the formation of self-organized patterned ground. Here we present the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys across a selected sorted circle near King Sejong Station, Antarctica, to better delineate the active layer and its relation to the observed patterned ground structure. We acquire GPR data in both bistatic mode (common mid-points) for precise velocity constraints and monostatic mode (common-offset) for subsurface imaging. Reflections are derived from the active layer-permafrost boundary, organic layer-weathered soil boundary within the active layer, and frozen rock-fracture-filled ice boundary within the permafrost. The base of the imaged sorted circle possesses a convex-down shape in the central silty zone, which is typical for the pattern associated with convection-like soil motion within the active layer. The boundary between the central fine-silty domain and coarse-grained stone border is effectively identified in a radar amplitude contour at the assumed active layer depth, and is further examined in the frequency spectra of the near- and far-offset traces. The far-offset traces and the traces from the lower frequency components dominant on the far-offset traces would be associated with rapid absorption of higher frequency radiowave due to the voids in gravel-rich zone. The presented correlation strategies for analyzing very shallow, thin-layered GPR reflection data can potentially be applied to the various types of patterned ground, particularly for acquiring time-lapse imaging, when electric resistivity tomography is incorporated into the analysis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1591-1600
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• 2021

Streptomyces coelicolor is a filamentous soil bacterium producing several kinds of antibiotics. S. coelicolor abs8752 is an abs (antibiotic synthesis deficient)-type mutation at the absR locus; it is characterized by an incapacity to produce any of the four antibiotics synthesized by its parental strain J1501. A chromosomal DNA fragment from S. coelicolor J1501, capable of complementing the abs- phenotype of the abs8752 mutant, was cloned and analyzed. DNA sequencing revealed that two complete ORFs (SCO6992 and SCO6993) were present in opposite directions in the clone. Introduction of SCO6992 in the mutant strain resulted in a remarkable increase in the production of two pigmented antibiotics, actinorhodin and undecylprodigiosin, in S. coelicolor J1501 and abs8752. However, introduction of SCO6993 did not show any significant difference compared to the control, suggesting that SCO6992 is primarily involved in stimulating the biosynthesis of antibiotics in S. coelicolor. In silico analysis of SCO6992 (359 aa, 39.5 kDa) revealed that sequences homologous to SCO6992 were all annotated as hypothetical proteins. Although a metalloprotease domain with a conserved metal-binding motif was found in SCO6992, the recombinant rSCO6992 did not show any protease activity. Instead, it showed very strong β-glucuronidase activity in an API ZYM assay and toward two artificial substrates, p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucuronide and AS-BI-β-D-glucuronide. The binding between rSCO6992 and Zn²⁺ was confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. We report for the first time that SCO6992 is a novel protein with β-glucuronidase activity, that has a distinct primary structure and physiological role from those of previously reported β-glucuronidases.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1619-1626
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• 2021

Unlike traditional delta-sigma analog-to-digital converters, incremental analog-to-digital converters enable 1:1 mapping of input and output through a reset operation, which can be used very easily for multiplexing. Incremental analog-to-digital converters also allow for simpler digital filter designs compared to traditional delta-sigma converters. Therefore, starting with analysis in the time domain of the delayed integrator and non-delayed integrator, which are the basic blocks of analog-to-digital converter design, the design equations of a second-order input feed-forward, extended counting, 2+1 MASH (Multi-stAge-noise-SHaping), 2+2 MASH incremental analog-to-digital converter are derived in this paper. This allows not only prediction of the performance of the incremental analog-to-digital converter before design, but also the design of a digital filter suitable for each analog-to-digital converter. In addition, extended counting and MASH design techniques were proposed to improve the accuracy of analog-to-digital converters.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.79-90
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• 2022

In this study, the dynamic behavior of functionally graded layered deep beams with viscoelastic core is investigated including the porosity effect. The material properties of functionally graded layers are assumed to vary continuously through thickness direction according to the power-law function. To investigate porosity effect in functionally graded layers, three different distribution models are considered. The viscoelastically cored deep beam is exposed to harmonic sinusoidal load. The composite beam is modeled based on plane stress assumption. The dynamic equations of motion of the composite beam are derived based on the Hamilton principle. Within the framework of the finite element method (FEM), 2D twelve -node plane element is exploited to discretize the space domain. The discretized finite element model is solved using the Newmark average acceleration technique. The validity of the developed procedure is demonstrated by comparing the obtained results and good agreement is detected. Parametric studies are conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed methodology to study and analyze the dynamic response of viscoelastically cored porous functionally graded deep beams. Effects of viscoelastic parameter, porosity parameter, graduation index on the dynamic behavior of porous functionally graded deep beams with viscoelastic core are investigated and discussed. Material damping and porosity have a significant effect on the forced vibration response under harmonic excitation force. Increasing the material viscosity parameters results in decreasing the vibrational amplitudes and increasing the vibration time period due to increasing damping effect. Obtained results are supportive for the design and manufacturing of such type of composite beam structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.267-278
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• 2022

Pre-stressed concrete circular spun piles are widely used in various infrastructure projects around the world and offer an economical deep foundation system with consistent and superior quality compared to cast in-situ and other concrete piles. Conventional methods for measuring the lateral response of piles have been limited to conventional instrumentation, such as electrical based gauges and pressure transducers. The problem with existing technology is that the sensors are not able to assist in recording the lateral stiffness changes of the pile which varies along the length depending on the distribution of the flexural moments and appearance of tensile cracks. This paper describes a full-scale bending test of a 1-m diameter spun pile of 30 m long and instrumented using advanced fibre optic distributed sensor, known as Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA). Optical fibre sensors were embedded inside the concrete during the manufacturing stage and attached on the concrete surface in order to measure the pile's full-length flexural behaviour under the prescribed serviceability and ultimate limit state. The relationship between moments-deflections and bending moments-curvatures are examined with respect to the lateral forces. Tensile cracks were measured and compared with the peak strains observed from BOTDA data which corroborated very well. By analysing the moment-curvature response of the pile, the structure can be represented by two bending stiffness parameters, namely the pre-yield (EI) and post-yield (EI_cr), where the cracks reduce the stiffness property by 89%. The pile deflection profile can be attained from optical fibre data through closed-form solutions, which generally matched with the displacements recorded by Linear Voltage Displacement Transducers (LVDTs).

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.637-646
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• 2022

In this paper the comparative study on the pronunciation of Vietnamese learners and Koreans for the Korean syllable final double consonants was performed. For many errors and the suggested teaching methods related to the pronunciation of the Korean syllable final double consonants that were investigated and analyzed through linguistic research the results of this study by using the analysis tools of speech signal processing were confirmed. Thus, we suggest the new educational method in this paper. Using SVM, which is widely used in machine learning of artificial intelligence the pronunciation of Vietnamese learners and that of Koreans were compared. Being able to obtain the decision hyperplane of the SVM means that Vietnamese learners' pronunciation of the Korean syllable final double consonants is quite different from that of Koreans. Otherwise their pronunciation are pretty similar each other. The new teaching method presented in this paper is not only composed of writing and listening but is included things such as the speech signal waveform in the time domain and its corresponding energy that can be visualized to the learners.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.41-51
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• 2022

PURPOSE: The functional limitations in stroke survivors promote sedentary lifestyles and quality of life inadequacies, but there is increasing evidence that this could be minimized by physical exercise. Therefore, this study examined the effects of physical exercise on the quality of life (QoL) and functional capacity (ability to stand up from a sitting position) among stroke survivors drafted from two tertiary hospitals in Osogbo, Nigeria. METHODS: A purposive sampling technique was used to select 21 registered right or left outpatient hemiplegic stroke survivors in a pre- and post-test experimental research design. The research questions were presented using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, while an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the study hypothesis at the .05 alpha level for significance. RESULTS: Compared to the baseline (week 0), there were significant increases in the general quality of life, healthy well-being, physical exercise, pain perception, and environmental domains of QOL among the survivors in week four. Moreover, a significant increase was observed in these indices in week eight, compared to week four, except for the pain perception domain. Compared to the baseline, there was a significant decrease in the time it took the stroke survivors to stand up from a sitting position in week four. A significant decrease was observed in this index in week eight compared to week four. CONCLUSION: Marked corridor 20 meters brief walking exercise for eight weeks significantly improved the quality of life and ability to stand up from a sitting position in stroke survivors in Osogbo, Nigeria.