• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.953-963
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• 2013

Reliable long-term streamflow forecasting is invaluable for water resource planning and management which allocates water supply according to the demand of water users. Forecasting of seasonal inflow to Andong dam is performed and assessed using statistical methods based on hydrometeorological data. Predictors which is used to forecast seasonal inflow to Andong dam are selected from southern oscillation index, sea surface temperature, and 500 hPa geopotential height data in northern hemisphere. Predictors are selected by the following procedure. Primary predictors sets are obtained, and then final predictors are determined from the sets. The primary predictor sets for each season are identified using cross correlation and mutual information. The final predictors are identified using partial cross correlation and partial mutual information. In each season, there are three selected predictors. The values are determined using bootstrapping technique considering a specific significance level for predictor selection. Seasonal inflow forecasting is performed by multiple linear regression analysis using the selected predictors for each season, and the results of forecast using cross validation are assessed. Multiple linear regression analysis is performed using SAS. The results of multiple linear regression analysis are assessed by mean squared error and mean absolute error. And contingency table is established and assessed by Heidke skill score. The assessment reveals that the forecasts by multiple linear regression analysis are better than the reference forecasts.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to compare the effect of superficial acupuncture to deep acupuncture on normal muscle function. Methods : In Group A, 12 healthy subjects had been treated by deep acupuncture(10mm). In Group B, 12-healthful subjects had been treated by superficial acupuncture(5mm). Each session took 10 minutes. Before and after the treatment, outcomes were assessed by Algometer for muscle tenderness, dynamometer for grasping power and Meridian-Electromyograph(MEMG) for extensor muscles. Results : The Contraction power of finger extensor muscles assessed by MEMG had decreased significantly in both groups. The muscle fatigue of finger extensor muscles assessed by MEMG had increased significantly in Deep acupuncture group. Grasping power assessed by dynamometer had no significant change in both groups. Conclusions : According to above results, superficial acupuncture is more effective on reducing muscle fatigue.

• Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2018

Objective For patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), symptoms assessed by emergency medical services (EMS) providers have a critical role in prehospital treatment decisions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms of AMI. Methods Patients transported by EMS to 4 study hospitals from 2008 to 2012 were included. Using EMS and administrative emergency department databases, patients were stratified according to the presence of EMS-assessed cardiac symptoms and emergency department diagnosis of AMI. Cardiac symptoms were defined as chest pain, dyspnea, palpitations, and syncope. Disproportionate stratified sampling was used, and medical records of sampled patients were reviewed to identify an actual diagnosis of AMI. Using inverse probability weighting, verification bias-corrected diagnostic performance was estimated. Results Overall, 92,353 patients were enrolled in the study. Of these, 13,971 (15.1%) complained of cardiac symptoms to EMS providers. A total of 775 patients were sampled for hospital record review. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms for the final diagnosis of AMI was 73.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70.8 to 75.7), 85.3% (95% CI, 85.3 to 85.4), 3.9% (95% CI, 3.6 to 4.2), and 99.7% (95% CI, 99.7 to 99.8), respectively. Conclusion We found that EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms had moderate sensitivity and high specificity for diagnosis of AMI. EMS policymakers can use these data to evaluate the pertinence of specific prehospital treatment of AMI.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1325-1348
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• 2015

Real-time hybrid testing (RTHT) involves virtual splitting of the structure into two parts: physical substructure that contains the key region of interest which is tested in a laboratory and numerical substructure that contains the remaining part of the structure in the form of a numerical model. This paper numerically assesses four step-by-step integration methods (Central difference method (CDM), Operator splitting method (OSM), Rosenbrock based method (RBM) and CR-integration method (CR)) which are widely used in RTHT. The methods have been assessed in terms of stability and accuracy for various realistic damping ratios of the physical substructure. The stability is assessed in terms of the spectral radii of the amplification matrix while the accuracy in terms of numerical damping and period distortion. In order to evaluate the performance of the methods, five carefully chosen examples have been studied - undamped SDOF, damped SDOF, instantaneous softening, instantaneous hardening and hysteretic system. The performance of the methods is measured in terms of a non-dimensional error index for displacement and velocity. Based on the error indices, it is observed that OSM and RBM are robust and performs fairly well in all the cases. CDM performed well for undamped SDOF system. CR method can be used for the system showing softening behaviour. The error indices indicate that accuracy of OSM is more than other method in case of hysteretic system. The accuracy of the results obtained through time integration methods for different damping ratios of the physical substructure is addressed in the present study. In the presence of a number of integration methods, it is preferable to have criteria for the selection of the time integration scheme. As such criteria are not available presently, this paper attempts to fill this gap by numerically assessing the four commonly used step-by-step methods.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2022

Purpose: The goal of this systematic review was to compare the use of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) with that of computed tomography (CT) for volumetric evaluations of the tongue and oral cavity. Materials and Methods: A search for articles was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses guidelines. The PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and SAGE Journals databases were searched for articles published between 2011 and 2021. Articles were screened and assessed for eligibility. Screening involved checking for duplication, reading the title and abstract, and reading the full text. Results: The initial search retrieved 25,780 articles. Application of the eligibility criteria yielded 16 articles for qualitative analysis. Multiple uses of CBCT were identified. In several studies, researchers assessed the volumetric correlation between tongue and oral cavity volumes, as well as other parameters. Post-treatment volumetric evaluations of the oral cavity were also reported, and the reliability of CBCT was assessed. The use of CT resembled that of CBCT. Conclusion: CBCT has been used in the evaluation of tongue and oral cavity volumes to assess correlations between those volumes and with the upper airway. It has also been used for volumetric evaluation after surgical and nonsurgical procedures and to assess the relationships between tongue volume, tooth position, occlusion, and body mass index. Participants with obstructive sleep apnea and malocclusion have been evaluated, and the reliability of CBCT has been assessed. In the included studies, CT was utilized for similar purposes as CBCT, but its reliability was not assessed.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.284-293
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• 2023

Objective: To validate a simplified ordinal scoring method, referred to as modified length-based grading, for assessing coronary artery calcium (CAC) severity on non-electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated chest computed tomography (CT). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 120 patients (mean age ± standard deviation [SD], 63.1 ± 14.5 years; male, 64) who underwent both non-ECG-gated chest CT and ECG-gated cardiac CT between January 2011 and December 2021. Six radiologists independently assessed CAC severity on chest CT using two scoring methods (visual assessment and modified length-based grading) and categorized the results as none, mild, moderate, or severe. The CAC category on cardiac CT assessed using the Agatston score was used as the reference standard. Agreement among the six observers for CAC category classification was assessed using Fleiss kappa statistics. Agreement between CAC categories on chest CT obtained using either method and the Agatston score categories on cardiac CT was assessed using Cohen's kappa. The time taken to evaluate CAC grading was compared between the observers and two grading methods. Results: For differentiation of the four CAC categories, interobserver agreement was moderate for visual assessment (Fleiss kappa, 0.553 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.496-0.610]) and good for modified length-based grading (Fleiss kappa, 0.695 [95% CI: 0.636-0.754]). The modified length-based grading demonstrated better agreement with the reference standard categorization with cardiac CT than visual assessment (Cohen's kappa, 0.565 [95% CI: 0.511-0.619 for visual assessment vs. 0.695 [95% CI: 0.638-0.752] for modified length-based grading). The overall time for evaluating CAC grading was slightly shorter in visual assessment (mean ± SD, 41.8 ± 38.9 s) than in modified length-based grading (43.5 ± 33.2 s) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The modified length-based grading worked well for evaluating CAC on non-ECG-gated chest CT with better interobserver agreement and agreement with cardiac CT than visual assessment.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2002

The objective of this study is to establish outcome validity for three instruments that assess whether subjects met recommendations for daily servings of fruits and vegetables for“Stage of Change”research. A convenience sample of 294 college students was recruited from introductory nutrition classes at Michigan State University in the United States. To measure servings of fruits and vegetables, separately, three types of methods (self-rated intake, 24-hour recall and food frequency) were used in comparison to the servings from a three-day food record, the criterion used. The outcome validity was assessed based on whether or not at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables were reported. Validity was assessed by sensitivity, to measure the ability to detect low intakes, and by specificity, to measure ability to detect adequate intakes. Cohen's kappa was used as well to examine the agreement between the three methods and a three-day food record. The results showed, for fruits, the 24-hour recall had the best agreement (recall 0.54, self-rated : 0.31, food frequency : 0.29) with a three-day food record for servings consumed by people in pre-action or post-action stages. Sensitivity for fruit was also best using a recall (0.81). For vegetables, however, all three methods had low agreement (food frequency : 0.27, recall : 0.21, self-rated : 0.17) with the results of the three-day food record. Self-rated intakes for vegetables had the best sensitivity (0.66) and the food frequency had the best specificity (0.73). Therefore, researcher can use the 24-hour recall method to identify people who consume inadequate servings of fruit. To detect adequate vegetable intake, the food frequency was best of the three methods. Accuracy may be improved by probing for vegetables in mixed dishes and on sandwiches. (J Community Nutrition 4(3)： 143∼150, 2002)

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.267-272
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• 2006

A procedure for selecting regressors in the linear regression model is suggested using local influence approach. Under an appropriate perturbation scheme, the effect of perturbation of regressors on the profile log-likelihood displacement is assessed for variable selection. A numerical example is provided for illustration.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1181-1184
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• 2015

Background: Accurate measurement of breast mass size is fundamental for treatment planning. We evaluated performance of BreastLight apparatus in detection breast of masses with this in mind. Materials and Methods: From July 2011 to September 2013, a total of 500 women referred to mammography unit in Yazd, Iran for screening were recruited to this study. Performance of BreastLight in detection breast masses regard their sizeing, measured with clinical breast examination (CBE), mammography and sonography, was assessed. Sonographic and mammography examinations were performed according to breast density among women in two groups of women younger (n=105) and older (n=395) than 30 years. Size correlations were performed using Spearman rho analysis. Differences between mass size as assessed with the different methods (mammography, sonography, and clinical examination) and the BreastLight detection were analyzed using $X^2$-trend test. Results: Performance of the BreastLight in detection of lesions smaller than or equal to 1 cm assessed by CBE, mammography and sonography was 4.4%,7.7% and 12.5% and for masses larger than 4 cm was 65%, 100% and 57.1%, respectively. The performance of BreastLight in detection was significantly increased with larger masses (p<0.001). Conclusions: We conclude that clinical measurement of breast cancer size is as accurate as that from mammography or ultrasound. Accuracy can be improved by the use of a simple formula of both clinical and mammographic measurements.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.1034-1043
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the pooled agreements of the coronary artery calcium (CAC) severities assessed by electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated and non-ECG-gated CT and evaluate the impact of the scan parameters. Materials and Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library were systematically searched. A modified Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool was used to evaluate the quality of the studies. Meta-analytic methods were utilized to determine the pooled weighted bias, limits of agreement (LOA), and the correlation coefficient of the CAC scores or the weighted kappa for the categorization of the CAC severities detected by the two modalities. The heterogeneity among the studies was also assessed. Subgroup analyses were performed based on factors that could affect the measurement of the CAC score and severity: slice thickness, reconstruction kernel, and radiation dose for non-ECG-gated CT. Results: A total of 4000 patients from 16 studies were included. The pooled bias was 62.60, 95% LOA were -36.19 to 161.40, and the pooled correlation coefficient was 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.89-0.97) for the CAC score. The pooled weighted kappa of the CAC severity was 0.85 (95% CI = 0.79-0.91). Heterogeneity was observed in the studies (I² > 50%, p < 0.1). In the subgroup analysis, the agreement between the CAC categorizations was better when the two CT examinations had reconstructions based on the same slice thickness and kernel. Conclusion: The pooled agreement of the CAC severities assessed by the ECG-gated and non-ECG-gated CT was excellent; however, it was significantly affected by scan parameters, such as slice thickness and the reconstruction kernel.