• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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• v.67
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• pp.301-311
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• 2018

In this study, the ion-gelation method was applied to fabricate novel Fe-carbon-bentonite-alginate beads ($Fe^0$/C-BABs). $Fe^0$/C-BABs could effectively control Fe release during persulfate (PS) activation in N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP) oxidation. A novel two-stage approach that combined $Fe^0$/C-BABs and an oyster-shell-filled bed (OSFB) column was developed to address the low pH and high Fe concentration of the effluent of the traditional PS process. The application of the $Fe^0$/C-BABs and OSFB column regulated pH levels and Fe release during the advanced oxidation of APAP. The characteristics of $Fe^0$/C-BABs were also investigated through scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The long-term operation performance of $Fe^0$/C-BABs in a continuous fixed-bed reactor under simultaneous PS and APAP feeding was also evaluated. The effects of initial PS concentration, pH, fixed-bed weight, in-flow rate, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were investigated. Under selected conditions, 86.3% efficiency was achieved during the first stage of APAP degradation (effluent pH of 3.05, Fe contents: $106.25mgL^{-1}$). Water quality improved after the effluent was passed through the OSFB column (effluent pH of 6.32, Fe contents: $21.43mgL^{-1}$). Moreover, this study analyzed the free radicals and intermediates produced during APAP degradation to identify the possible routes of APAP degradation.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.27.1-27.13
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• 2022

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most prevalent head and neck malignancy, with frequent cervical lymph-node metastasis, leading to a poor prognosis in OSCC patients. The present study aimed to identify potential markers, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and genes, significantly involved in the etiology of early-stage OSCC. Additionally, the main OSCC's dysregulated Gene Ontology annotations and significant signaling pathways were identified. The dataset GSE45238 underwent multivariate statistical analysis in order to distinguish primary OSCC tissues from healthy oral epithelium. Differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) with the criteria of p-value < 0.001 and |Log2 fold change| > 1.585 were identified in the two groups, and subsequently, validated targets of DEMs were identified. A protein interaction map was constructed, hub genes were identified, significant modules within the network were illustrated, and significant pathways and biological processes associated with the clusters were demonstrated. Using the GEPI2 database, the hub genes' predictive function was assessed. Compared to the healthy controls, main OSCC had a total of 23 DEMs. In patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), upregulation of CALM1, CYCS, THBS1, MYC, GATA6, and SPRED3 was strongly associated with a poor prognosis. In HNSCC patients, overexpression of PIK3R3, GIGYF1, and BCL2L11 was substantially correlated with a good prognosis. Besides, "proteoglycans in cancer" was the most significant pathway enriched in the primary OSCC. The present study results revealed more possible mechanisms mediating primary OSCC and may be useful in the prognosis of the patients with early-stage OSCC.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1339-1355
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• 2023

Localization is a hot research spot for many areas, especially in the mobile robot field. Due to the weak signal of the global positioning system (GPS), the alternative schemes in an indoor environment include wireless signal transmitting and receiving solutions, laser rangefinder to build a map followed by a re-localization stage and visual positioning methods, etc. Among all wireless signal positioning techniques, Wi-Fi is the most common one. Wi-Fi access points are installed in most indoor areas of human activities, and smart devices equipped with Wi-Fi modules can be seen everywhere. However, the localization of a mobile robot using a Wi-Fi scheme usually lacks orientation information. Besides, the distance error is large because of indoor signal interference. Another research direction that mainly refers to laser sensors is to actively detect the environment and achieve positioning. An occupancy grid map is built by using the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method when the mobile robot enters the indoor environment for the first time. When the robot enters the environment again, it can localize itself according to the known map. Nevertheless, this scheme only works effectively based on the prerequisite that those areas have salient geometrical features. If the areas have similar scanning structures, such as a long corridor or similar rooms, the traditional methods always fail. To address the weakness of the above two methods, this work proposes a coarse-to-fine paradigm and an improved localization algorithm that utilizes Wi-Fi to assist the robot localization in a geometrically similar environment. Firstly, a grid map is built by using laser SLAM. Secondly, a fingerprint database is built in the offline phase. Then, the RSSI values are achieved in the localization stage to get a coarse localization. Finally, an improved particle filter method based on the Wi-Fi signal values is proposed to realize a fine localization. Experimental results show that our approach is effective and robust for both global localization and the kidnapped robot problem. The localization success rate reaches 97.33%, while the traditional method always fails.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.3383-3397
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• 2023

Scene graphs serve as semantic abstractions of images and play a crucial role in enhancing visual comprehension and reasoning. However, the performance of Scene Graph Generation is often compromised when working with biased data in real-world situations. While many existing systems focus on a single stage of learning for both feature extraction and classification, some employ Class-Balancing strategies, such as Re-weighting, Data Resampling, and Transfer Learning from head to tail. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that decouples the feature extraction and classification phases of the scene graph generation process. For feature extraction, we leverage a transformer-based architecture and design an adaptive calibration function specifically for predicate classification. This function enables us to dynamically adjust the classification scores for each predicate category. Additionally, we introduce a Distribution Alignment technique that effectively balances the class distribution after the feature extraction phase reaches a stable state, thereby facilitating the retraining of the classification head. Importantly, our Distribution Alignment strategy is model-independent and does not require additional supervision, making it applicable to a wide range of SGG models. Using the scene graph diagnostic toolkit on Visual Genome and several popular models, we achieved significant improvements over the previous state-of-the-art methods with our model. Compared to the TDE model, our model improved mR@100 by 70.5% for PredCls, by 84.0% for SGCls, and by 97.6% for SGDet tasks.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2001

Fruit growth in kiwifruit shows double sigmoid curve, but it does not certainly indicate as years. Therefore, I though the reason to be easy to the effect of water state change in kiwifruit, investigated diurnal change in water status of fruit tissues with an isoipiestic psychrometers against the fruit growth stage of kiwifruit in 1995 and 1996. Diurnal change in the fruit tissue water potential were little, but violent for fruti growth state III in 1996. The potential of two years dropped gradually approach to harvest time. On the other hand, osmotic potential of the tissues indicated to very similar to water potential, dropped rapidly -1.5MPa before dawn, recovered -1 MPa after 3 h on October 14, were -1~-1.7 MPa at the fruit commercial harvest in 1995. It had a tendency to lower in 1996 than in 1995. It was recorded to the minimum air temperature at the first for an autumn in 1995; 13$^{\circ}C$ from the middle night of October 13 to dawn of October 14. Leaves water potential, which is related to water status of xylem, nearly fell below -1 MPa at before dawn from stage II in 1996. However, it fell so low only at commercial in 1995. At the stage II, osmotic potential and ascent of the turgor pressure was high than 1995-fruit. There parameter suggested that three of kiwifruit in 1996 were status of water stress for stage III. The results from this study indicated that difference of fruit growth between 1995-fruit and 1996-fruit was affected by water status of the fruit tissues, which was influenced by weather condition.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2005

Number of fixtures supporting prosthesis for rehabilitation of partial edentulism in distal area is an important factor in distal area to the bone tissue response around dental implant. Optimal number and optimal positioning of dental implant has leaded to the stable condition of bone tissue and successful long-term treatment outcome. This clinical and radiographic study was performed to document and evaluate the short-term result of occlusal rehabilitation by means of implant-supported fixed prostheses (ISPs) especially for partial edentulism in distal area in patients treated for advanced periodontal disease and to verify the number of fixture affecting the bone tissue response. A total of 30 consecutive patients referred because of advanced periodontal disease were included. Before the implant therapy was initiated, periodontal treatment was performed and the outcome evaluated during at least a 6-month period. An individual maintenance care program was designed for each patient. All 75 implants were placed using a 2-stage surgical approach. The patients were divided into 2 groups, in one of which two fixtures were placed and in the other of which three fixtures were placed with tripodal geometry. Following installation of the ISPs, all patients underwent a baseline examination including evaluation of i) oral hygiene, and ii) periodontal/ peri-implant conditions, and iii) radiographs. These examinations were repeated annually during the 1 or 2-year observation period. The results were as follows: 1.No single implant was lost during the observation follow-up period. 1.The percentage of plaque harboring surfaces and bleeding units upon probing were found to be low (<10%), and no soft tissue complications were recorded. 1.Two-fixture group showed bone destruction ranged from 0.0mm to 1.5mm and the mean was 0.31mm. Three-fixture group showed more bone destruction of 0.51mm. There was no statistically difference between two groups. These results suggested that the factor for success is not the number of fixture but the strict maintenance of peri-implant tissue health and initial stability of fixture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1999-2009
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• 2017

The secretion efficiency of a protein in a Sec-type secretion system is mainly determined by an N-terminal signal peptide and its combination with its cognate protein. Five signal peptides, namely, two synthetic Sec-type and three Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase-derived signal peptides, were compared for periplasmic expression of the human growth hormone (hGH) in E. coli. Based on in silico predictions on the signal peptides' cleavage efficiencies and their corresponding mRNA secondary structures, a number of amino acid substitutions and silent mutations were considered in the modified signal sequences. The two synthetic signal peptides, specifically designed for hGH secretion in E. coli, differ in their N-terminal positively charged residues and hydrophobic region lengths. According to the mRNA secondary structure predictions, combinations of the protein and each of the five signal sequences could lead to different outcomes, especially when accessibility of the initiator ATG and ribosome binding sites were considered. In the experimental stage, the two synthetic signal peptides displayed complete processing and resulted in efficient secretion of the mature hGH in periplasmic regions, as was demonstrated by protein analysis. The three alpha-amylase-derived signal peptides, however, were processed partially from their precursors. Therefore, to achieve efficient secretion of a protein in a heterologous system, designing a specific signal peptide by using a combined approach of optimizations of the mRNA secondary structure and the signal peptide H-domain and cleavage site is recommended.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.166-173
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• 2022

The introduction of acellular dermal matrix (ADM) to breast reconstruction has allowed surgeons to reexplore the prepectoral implant placement technique in postmastectomy breast reconstruction. Our institution adopted a novel approach using meshed ADM to lessen the financial burden of increased ADM utilization with the prepectoral breast reconstruction. This is a retrospective, single-center review of two-stage prepectoral breast reconstruction using meshed human-derived ADM for anterior prosthesis coverage. Patient demographics, oncologic data, perioperative characteristics, and complications were examined and reported as means with standard deviations. Cost-saving with the meshed technique was evaluated. Forty-eight patients (72 breasts) with a mean age of 48.5 ± 15.0 years (range 26-70 years) were included in the study. The mean follow-up time was 13.2 ± 4.4 months (range 4.1-25.8 months). Nineteen breasts (24.6%) experienced complications, with seromas being the most common complication (12.5%, n = 9). Expander removal and reoperation occurred at a rate of 8.3 and 9.7%, respectively. The average time to drain removal was 18.8 ± 6.6 days (range 8-32 days). Meshed ADM provided an average cost savings of $6,601 for unilateral and $13,202 for bilateral reconstructions. Our study found that human-derived meshed ADM can be safely used in two-staged prepectoral tissue expander-based breast reconstruction and can result in significant cost savings.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.407-412
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• 2003

An effective methodology is .reported for determining the optimal capacity (lot-size) of batch processing and storage networks which include material recycle or reprocessing streams. We assume that any given storage unit can store one material type which can be purchased from suppliers, be internally produced, internally consumed and/or sold to customers. We further assume that a storage unit is connected to all processing stages that use or produce the material to which that storage unit is dedicated. Each processing stage transforms a set of feedstock materials or intermediates into a set of products with constant conversion factors. The objective for optimization is to minimize the total cost composed of raw material procurement, setup and inventory holding costs as well as the capital costs of processing stages and storage units. A novel production and inventory analysis formulation, the PSW(Periodic Square Wave) model, provides useful expressions for the upper/lower bounds and average level of the storage inventory hold-up. The expressions for the Kuhn-Tucker conditions of the optimization problem can be reduced to two subproblems. The first yields analytical solutions for determining batch sizes while the second is a separable concave minimization network flow subproblem whose solution yields the average material flow rates through the networks. For the special case in which the number of storage is equal to the number of process stages and raw materials storage units, a complete analytical solution for average flow rates can be derived. The analytical solution for the multistage, strictly sequential batch-storage network case can also be obtained via this approach. The principal contribution of this study is thus the generalization and the extension to non-sequential networks with recycle streams. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the results obtainable using this approach.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.444-448
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• 2005

This paper presents a developing procedure of the CAN-based real-time simulator for car body control, aiming at replacing the actual W/H (Wiring Harness) and J/B(Junction Box) couple eventually. The CAN protocol, as one kind of field-bus communication, defines the lowest 2 layers of the ISO/OSI standard, namely, the physical layer(PL) and the data link layer(DLL), for which the CSMA/NBA protocol is generally adopted. For CPU, two PIC18Fxx8x's are used because of their built-in integration of CAN controller, large internal FLASH memory (48K or 64K), and their costs. To control J/B's and actuators, 2 controller boards are separately implemented, between which CAN lines communicate through CAN transceivers MCP255. A power motor for washing windshield, 1 door lock motor, and 6 blink lamps are chosen for actuators of the simulator for the first stage. For the software architecture, a polling method is used for the fast global response time despite its slow individual response time. To improve the individual response time and to escape from some eventual trapped-function loops, High/Low ports of the CPU are simply used, which increases the stability of the actuator modules. The experimental test shows generally satisfactory results in normal transmitting / receiving function and message trace function. This simulator based on CAN shows a promising usefulness of lighter, more reliable and intelligent distributed body control approach than the conventional W/H and J/B couple. Another advantage of this approach lies in the distributed control itself, which gives better performance in hard real-time computing than centralized one, and in the ability of integrating different modules through CAN.