• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.45-52
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• 2021

In this paper, we proposed an Atrous Residual U-Net (AR-UNet) to improve the segmentation accuracy of semantic segmentation method based on U-Net. The U-Net is mainly used in fields such as medical image analysis, autonomous vehicles, and remote sensing images. The conventional U-Net lacks extracted features due to the small number of convolution layers in the encoder part. The extracted features are essential for classifying object categories, and if they are insufficient, it causes a problem of lowering the segmentation accuracy. Therefore, to improve this problem, we proposed the AR-UNet using residual learning and ASPP in the encoder. Residual learning improves feature extraction ability and is effective in preventing feature loss and vanishing gradient problems caused by continuous convolutions. In addition, ASPP enables additional feature extraction without reducing the resolution of the feature map. Experiments verified the effectiveness of the AR-UNet with Cityscapes dataset. The experimental results showed that the AR-UNet showed improved segmentation results compared to the conventional U-Net. In this way, AR-UNet can contribute to the advancement of many applications where accuracy is important.

• Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.233-237
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• 2018

Background: Obesity is a complex, medical condition causally contributing to many chronic diseases and a number of efforts have been made to find the associated markers for novel prevention and treatment of obesity. Our study was to evaluate the relationship between gut immune response and obesity and overweight with use of fecal calprotectin (FC) both in adult and children groups. Methods: Fecal samples were obtained from 74 subjects: 14 non-obese and overweight children (PN), 13 obese and overweight children (PO), 20 non-obese and overweight adults (AN), and 27 obese and overweight adults (AO). FC was measured using a commercial Legend Max quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (BioLegend). Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Median FC concentration was $7.9{\mu}g/g$ (range, $1.9-28.9{\mu}g/g$) for PN, $5.0{\mu}g/g$ (range, $2.6-29.6{\mu}g/g$) for PO, $9.5{\mu}g/g$ (range, $0.8-28.9{\mu}g/g$) for AN, and $10.0{\mu}g/g$ (range, $1.6-25.6{\mu}g/g$) for AO, respectively. In both adults and children age groups, the FC showed no statistically significant difference between AO and AN or PO and PN. However, FC showed statistically significant difference (P<0.05) between AO and PO while not significant between AN and PN. Conclusion: FC level in AO was significantly higher than that in PO, suggestive of different pathophysiologic mechanism between children obesity and adults obesity.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2009

Blood coagulation and aggregation of platelet are crucial events in the pathogenesis of various ischemic diseases. The substance which can prevent blood coagulation and platelet aggregation was extracted from wood ear mushroom (Auricularia auricular-judae) and its anticoagulation activity was investigated. The dried A. auricular-judae was extracted with 0.1 N NaOH and its supernatant was further extracted with methanol and ethanol followed by $H_{2}O$. The resulting methanol soluble fraction showed significant antithrombotic activity in activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, and prothrombin time assays with values of 100, 124, and 54 sec, respectively. This active substance was purified with DEAE-Sepharose CL6B and Sephacryl 400-HR and was found to be polysaccharide with the average molecular weight of over 150 kDa. This polysaccharide was xyloglucomannan of which the main component was mannose, and its anticoagulant activity was mostly mediated by inhibition of thrombin activity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2019

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is an endogenous lysophospholipid with signaling properties outside of the cell and it signals through specific G protein-coupled receptors, known as $LPA_{1-6}$. For one of its receptors, $LPA_1$ (gene name Lpar1), details on the cis-acting elements for transcriptional control have not been defined. Using 5'RACE analysis, we report the identification of an alternative transcription start site of mouse Lpar1 and characterize approximately 3,500 bp of non-coding flanking sequence 5' of mouse Lpar1 gene for promoter activity. Transient transfection of cells derived from mouse neocortical neuroblasts with constructs from the 5' regions of mouse Lpar1 gene revealed the region between -248 to +225 serving as the basal promoter for Lpar1. This region also lacks a TATA box. For the region between -761 to -248, a negative regulatory element affected the basal expression of Lpar1. This region has three E-box sequences and mutagenesis of these E-boxes, followed by transient expression, demonstrated that two of the E-boxes act as negative modulators of Lpar1. One of these E-box sequences bound the HeLa E-box binding protein (HEB), and modulation of HEB levels in the transfected cells regulated the transcription of the reporter gene. Based on our data, we propose that HEB may be required for a proper regulation of Lpar1 expression in the embryonic neocortical neuroblast cells and to affect its function in both normal brain development and disease settings.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.996-1003
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• 2019

The undergrounding of diverse ground facilities has led to a decrease in issues, such as foul smell of water supply systems and wastewater, a fall of telephone poles, electromagnetic waves and breaking of wires caused by a railway work. On the other hand, there are new issues, including a fall accident, explosion affected by flammable gas, a choking accident by harmful gas and a lack of oxygen concentration, a fire coming from high-tension wire heating and flooding in the manhole. Besides, these issues damage the civil society and are an anxiety to public safety. Therefore, this paper is focused on a smart manhole device for stable communication environments inside and outside the manhole and wireless communication with various devices for managing facilities in the manhole, and aims to make a contribution to public safety by suggesting a direction of future underground facility management.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.1417-1427
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• 2019

In this study, we evaluated the performance of a commercial pixelated cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector for spectroscopy and identified its feasibility as a Compton camera for radiation monitoring in a nuclear power plant. The detection system consisted of a $20mm{\times}20mm{\times}5mm$ CZT crystal with $8{\times}8$ pixelated anodes and a common cathode, in addition to an application specific integrated circuit. The performance of the various radioisotopes $^{57}Co$, $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, and $^{137}Cs$ was evaluated. In general, the amplitude of the induced signal in a CZT crystal depends on the interaction position and material non-uniformity. To minimize this dependency, a drift time correction was applied. The depth of each interaction was calculated by the drift time and the positional dependency of the signal amplitude was corrected based on the depth information. After the correction, the Compton regions of each spectrum were reduced, and energy resolutions of 122 keV, 356 keV, 511 keV, and 662 keV peaks were improved from 13.59%, 9.56%, 6.08%, and 5%-4.61%, 2.94%, 2.08%, and 2.2%, respectively. For the Compton imaging, simulations and experiments using one $^{137}Cs$ source with various angular positions and two $^{137}Cs$ sources were performed. Individual and multiple sources of $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, and $^{137}Cs$ were also measured. The images were successfully reconstructed by weighted list-mode maximum likelihood expectation maximization method. The angular resolutions and intrinsic efficiency of the $^{137}Cs$ experiments were approximately $7^{\circ}-9^{\circ}$ and $5{\times}10^{-4}-7{\times}10^{-4}$, respectively. The distortions of the source distribution were proportional to the offset angle.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1096-1103
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• 2019

UCB-1 is the commercial rootstock of pistachio. Reproduction of this rootstock by tissue culture is limited by low levels of proliferation rate. Therefore, any compound that improves the proliferation rate and the quality of the shoots can be used in the process of commercial reproduction of this rootstock. Use of plant growth-promoting bacteria is one of the best ideas. Given the beneficial effects of nanoparticles in enhancement of the growth in plant tissue cultures, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of nanoencapsulation of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (using silica nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes) and their metabolites in improving UCB1 pistachio micropropagation. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. Before planting, treatments on the DKW medium were added. The results showed that the use of Pseudomonas fluorescens VUPF5 and Bacillus subtilis VRU1 nanocapsules significantly enhanced the root length and proliferation. The nanoformulation of the VUPF5 metabolite led to the highest root length (6.26 cm) and the largest shoot (3.34 cm). Inoculation of explants with the formulation of the metabolites (both bacterial strains) significantly elevated the average shoot length and the fresh weight of plant compared to the control. The explants were dried completely using both bacterial strains directly and with capsule coating after the three days.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2019

Objective: Myofascial release (MFR) is used to restore tissue extensibility of the fascia tissue and is considered to be useful in a number of clinical settings, such as low back pain (LBP). Dynamic myofascial release (DMFR) is the manual therapy, which combined the conventional MFR with the joint mobilization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the DMFR on trunk mobility, and furthermore, whether the increase of trunk mobility can carry over the improvement of dynamic standing balance in persons with chronic nonspecific LBP. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: Thirty persons with chronic non-specific LBP participated in the study and were randomly assigned to the DMFR group (n=15) or the control group (n=15). DMFR was performed for two sessions (15 minutes/session) per week for four weeks for the treatment group. Both the DMFR and control groups were allowed to perform low-intensity physical activities during the treatment period. The Modified-modified $Sch{\ddot{o}}ber$ test (MMST) for trunk mobility and the Functional Reach Test (FRT) for dynamic standing balance were measured before and after the treatment period in both the DMFR group and the control group. Results: The MMST value of DMFR group increased significantly in all trunk range of motion (flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation) after treatment, compared with the control group (p<0.05). Additionally, the FRT value of the DMFR group improved significantly after treatment, compared with the control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: We suggest that DMFR have a positive effect on trunk mobility and standing balance in persons with chronic LBP.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2019

In this study, we designed a blending algorithm for rate adaptive pacing for cardiac pacemaker. Generally, rate adaptive pacing (RAP) is applied to patients whose heart rate does not rise during exercise for chronotropic incompetence (CI) patient. It is very important to develop an algorithm for RAP that can be properly applied to CI patients. In order to design an RAP algorithm we used dual sensors. Firstly, we designed a bio-signal measurement system based on the dual sensors, which are accelerometer and respiratory system. Secondly, we conducted treadmill test for the simulation experiment while using 3-lead ECG as reference. Finally, we designed a blending algorithm based on activation state of the dual sensors. The proposed blending algorithm was subdivided into three sections based on the accelerometer signal, which are rapidly increased section (W1), hardly changed section (W2), and decreased section (W3). Each weight is set aside for each section. To evaluate this algorithm, ten healthy adult males were participated. The correlation and Root Mean Square Error between the proposed algorithm and the reference were compared, and shown to be r=0.88 and 2.82 bpm, respectively. These results show that the proposed blending algorithm of dual sensors enables proper tracking of the heart rate during exercise. Also, it shows the possibility that the proposed blending algorithm can be applied to improve quality of life of the chronotropic incompetence patient.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2019

The relative position of the orbital eye can be a criterion for evaluating several pathological conditions. It is especially useful to diagnose orbital fractures, thyroid eye disease, orbital tumors and to evaluate the outcome of medication and surgical treatment. Hertel and Naugle are representative measurement tools used to measure eyeball protrusion values, and have different measurement results, such as fixed orbits, every time they are inspected, even if the same inspector repeatedly measures them. Even with the same calibrator, it is inevitable that different manufacturers will change the design of the stationary part of the orbit, causing the surveyor to make a measurement error. In this paper, we designed and fabricated a protrusion measuring device using a white light interferometer and measured the protrusion of the human eye and found that the precision and repeatability were significantly higher than the manual measurement method.