• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.24 no.8B
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• pp.1518-1531
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• 1999

The reconstructed images from highly compressed MPEG or H.263 data have noticeable image degradations, such as blocking artifacts near the block boundaries, corner outliers at cross points of blocks, and ringing noise near image edges, because the MPEG or H.263 quantizes the transformed coefficients of 8$\times$8 pixel blocks. A post-processing algorithm has been proposed by authors to reduce quantization effects, such as blocking artifacts, corner outliers, and ringing noise, in MPEG-decompressed images. Our signal-adaptive post-processing algorithm reduces the quantization effects adaptively by using both spatial frequency and temporal information extracted from the compressed data. The blocking artifacts are reduced by one-dimensional (1-D) horizontal and vertical low pass filtering (LPF), and the ringing noise is reduced by two-dimensional (2-D) signal-adaptive filtering (SAF). A comparison study of the subjective quality evaluation using modified single stimulus method (MSSM), the objective quality evaluation (PSNR) and the computation complexity analysis between the signal-adaptive post-processing algorithm and the MPEG-4 VM (Verification Model) post-processing algorithm is performed by computer simulation with several MPEG-4 image sequences. According to the comparison study, the subjective image qualities of both algorithms are similar, whereas the PSNR and the comparison complexity analysis of the signal-adaptive post-processing algorithm shows better performance than the VM post-processing algorithm.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.110-122
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• 2014

As multimedia technologies develop, three-dimensional (3D) technologies are attracting increasing attention from researchers. In particular, video quality assessment (VQA) has become a critical issue in stereoscopic image/video processing applications. Furthermore, a human visual system (HVS) could play an important role in the measurement of stereoscopic video quality, yet existing VQA methods have done little to develop a HVS for stereoscopic video. We seek to amend this by proposing a 3D visual attention (3DVA) model which simulates the HVS for stereoscopic video by combining multiple perceptual stimuli such as depth, motion, color, intensity, and orientation contrast. We utilize this 3DVA model for pooling on significant regions of very poor video quality, and we propose no-reference (NR) stereoscopic VQA (SVQA) method. We validated the proposed SVQA method using subjective test scores from our results and those reported by others. Our approach yields high correlation with the measured mean opinion score (MOS) as well as consistent performance in asymmetric coding conditions. Additionally, the 3DVA model is used to extract information for the region-of-interest (ROI). Subjective evaluations of the extracted ROI indicate that the 3DVA-based ROI extraction outperforms the other compared extraction methods using spatial or/and temporal terms.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.696-708
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• 2002

In this paper, a novel transcoding algorithm for the Adaptive Multi Rate(AMR) and the Enhanced Variable Rate Codec(EVRC) vocoders via direct parameter transformation is proposed. In contrast to the conventional tandem transcoding algorithm, the proposed algorithm converts the parameters of one coder to the other without going through the decoding and encoding processes. The proposed algorithm consists of the parameter decoding, frame classification, mode decision, and transcoders for two frame types. The transcoders convert the parameters such as LSP, frame energy, pitch delay for the adaptive codebook, fixed codebook vector, and codebook gains. Evaluation results show that while exhibiting better computational and delay characteristics, the proposed algorithm produces equivalent speech quality to that produced by the tandem transcoding algorithm.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1064-1074
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• 1994

In this paper, an optimum TCM(trellis coded modulation)combined with CPM(continuous phase modulation) signal is investigated, and the performances are evaluated on the two-ray fading channel, which is one of the well-known frequency-selected because of their relatively good power and spectrum efficiency, and the modulation index is varied from 0.1 to 0.6. The performance is evaluated for each modulation index. The constraint length of the encoder, which is comprised in TCM, is chosen to be 2 and 3. From the performance evaluations, when the constraint length is 3 and modulation index 0.5, a power gain if the optimum TCM over the scheme without coding is observed to be 2.0dB for 1REC and 2.1dB for 3RC, respectively, on the fading channel. Thus, a significant improvement on the line quality is expected when the optimum TCM presented in this paper is employed in digital mobile radio applications.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1239-1248
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• 2004

The methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha has been extensively studied as a model organism for methanol metabolism and peroxisome biogenesis. Recently, this yeast has also attracted attention as a promising host organism for recombinant protein production. Here, we describe the fabrication and evaluation of a DNA chip spotted with 382 open reading frames (ORFs) of H. polymorpha. Each ORF was PCR-amplified using gene-specific primer sets, of which the forward primers had 5'-aminolink. The PCR products were printed in duplicate onto the aldehyde-coated slide glasses to link only the coding strands to the surface of the slide via covalent coupling between amine and aldehyde groups. With the partial genome DNA chip, we compared efficiency of direct and indirect cDNA target labeling methods, and found that the indirect method, using fluorescent-labeled dendrimers, generated a higher hybridization signal-to-noise ratio than the direct method, using cDNA targets labeled by incorporation of fluorescence-labeled nucIeotides during reverse transcription. In addition, to assess the quality of this DNA chip, we analyzed the expression profiles of H. polymorpha cells grown on different carbon sources, such as glucose and methanol, and also those of cells treated with the superoxide­generating drug, menadione. The profiles obtained showed a high-level induction of a set of ORFs involved in methanol metabolism and oxidative stress response in the presence of methanol and menadione, respectively. The results demonstrate the sensitivity and reliability of our arrays to analyze global gene expression changes of H. polymorpha under defined environmental conditions.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.2 s.42
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• pp.293-309
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• 1993

With expanded and extended coverage of the national medical insurance and fast growing health care expenditures, appropriateness of health service utilization and quality of care are concerns of both health care providers and insurers as well as patients. An accurate patient classification system is a basic tool for effective health care policies and efficient health services management. A classification system applicable to Korean medical information-Korean Diagnosis Related Groups (K-DRGs)-was developed based on the U.S. Refined DRGs, and the performance of the developed system was assessed in this study. In the process of the development, first the Korean coding systems for diagnoses and procedures were converted to the systems used in the definition of the U.S. Refined DRGs using the mapping tables formulated by physician panels. Then physician panels reviewed the group definition, and identified medical practice patterns different in two countries. The definition was modified for the differences in K-DRGs. The process resulted in 1,199 groups in the system. Several groups in Refined DRGs could not be differentiated in K-DRGs due to insufficient medical information, and several groups could not be defined due to procedures which were not practiced in Korea. However, the classification structure of Refined DRGs was retained in K-DRGs. The developed system was evaluated fur its performance in explaining variations in resource use as measured by charges and length of stay(LOS), for both all and non-extreme discharges. The data base used in this evaluation included 373,322 discharges which was a random sample of discharges reviewed and payed by the medical insurance during the five-month period from September 1990. The proportion of variance in resource use which was reduced by classifying patients into K-DRGs-r-square-was comparable to the performance of the U.S. Refined DRGs: .39 for charges and .25 for LOS for all discharges, and .53 for charges and .31 for LOS for non-extreme discharges. Another measure analyzed to assess the performance was the coefficient of variation of charges within individual K-DRGs. A total of 966 K-DRGs (87.7%) showed a coefficient below 100%, and the highest coefficient among K-DRGs with more than 30 discharges was 159%.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.359-372
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study was to develop risk-adjustment models for acute stroke mortality that were based on data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) dataset and to evaluate the validity of these models for comparing hospital performance. Methods: We identified prognostic factors of acute stroke mortality through literature review. On the basis of the avaliable data, the following factors was included in risk adjustment models: age, sex, stroke subtype, stroke severity, and comorbid conditions. Survey data in 2014 was used for development and 2012 dataset was analysed for validation. Prediction models of acute stroke mortality by stroke type were developed using logistic regression. Model performance was evaluated using C-statistics, $R^2$ values, and Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistics. Results: We excluded some of the clinical factors such as mental status, vital sign, and lab finding from risk adjustment model because there is no avaliable data. The ischemic stroke model with age, sex, and stroke severity (categorical) showed good performance (C-statistic=0.881, Hosmer-Lemeshow test p=0.371). The hemorrhagic stroke model with age, sex, stroke subtype, and stroke severity (categorical) also showed good performance (C-statistic=0.867, Hosmer-Lemeshow test p=0.850). Conclusion: Among risk adjustment models we recommend the model including age, sex, stroke severity, and stroke subtype for HIRA assessment. However, this model may be inappropriate for comparing hospital performance due to several methodological weaknesses such as lack of clinical information, variations across hospitals in the coding of comorbidities, inability to discriminate between comorbidity and complication, missing of stroke severity, and small case number of hospitals. Therefore, further studies are needed to enhance the validity of the risk adjustment model of acute stroke mortality.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.216-227
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• 2022

The MPEG-I (Immersive) group is working on a standardization project for immersive video that provides 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF). The MPEG Immersion Video (MIV) standard technology is intended to provide limited 6DoF based on depth map-based image rendering (DIBR) technique. Many efficient coding methods have been suggested for MIV, but efficient transmission strategies have received little attention in MPEG-I. This paper proposes group-based adaptive rendering method for immersive video streaming. Each group can be transmitted independently using group-based encoding, enabling adaptive transmission depending on the user's viewport. In the rendering process, the proposed method derives weights of group for view synthesis and allocate high quality bitstream according to a given viewport. The proposed method is implemented through the Test Model for Immersive Video (TMIV) test model. The proposed method demonstrates 17.0% Bjontegaard-delta rate (BD-rate) savings on the peak signalto-noise ratio (PSNR) and 14.6% on the Immersive Video PSNR(IV-PSNR) in terms of various end-to-end evaluation metrics in the experiment.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.92-95
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• 2017

Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by an ${\alpha}$-galactosidase A (GLA, MIM 300644) enzyme deficiency due to pathogenic variants in the ${\alpha}$-galactosidase A gene (GLA). The disease leads to accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) and related glycophospholipids affecting nearly all major organ systems, with the primary sites damaged by Gb3 including renal glomeruli, myocardium, neurons of the dorsal ganglion and autonomic nervous system, and vascular endothelial and smooth muscle. Progressive deposition in these organ systems present with various clinical manifestations including acroparesthesia, renal failure and heart failure. Here, we report a Chinese male diagnosed with Fabry disease in his late $4^{th}$ decades showing improvement of acroparesthesia during enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). A 48-year-old Chinese man who presented with chronic recurrent severe burning pain in his fingers and toes since the age of 10, with worse involvement of the former visited to our clinic for further evaluation. His medical history included a transient ischemic attack aged 40 and diagnosed with stage 4-5 chronic kidney disease aged 47. In the family history, the patient's brother was found to be have Fabry disease 1 month before his visit. Except for his brother, all other members of the family are healthy. Based on his medical history and family history, he was strongly suspicious for Fabry disease. He was found to have a galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose level 4.96 (Reference range, 42.5-67.9) suggestive of Fabry disease. The followed sequencing of GLA coding region in our patient revealed hemizyosity for the mutation c.988C>T (Q330X) in Exon 7. Since ERT start, he showed significant improvement in his symptoms of burning sensation of fingers and toes. On the contrary, due to deteriorating kidney function even with ERT, he is considered for kidney transplantation. Despite of diagnostic delay until late 4th decades, ERT showed a potential improvement of acroparesthesia in our patient. However, late start of ERT can lead to poor outcome in multiorgan function. Therefore, early diagnosis with high index of suspicion followed by continuous ERT with regular monitoring have an impact on quality of life in Fabry disease.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.273-300
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• 2018

In order to analyze the experience of women from the provinces settling in Seoul, the current study conducts in-depth interviews on seven women who are working in Seoul after coming up to Seoul to attend and graduate from university. The results of the interview were analyzed using grounded theory methodology, under which the open coding extracted one hundred ten concepts, twenty-one sub-categories, and eleven categories encompassing them all. Causal condition is 'difficulty of settling in Seoul' and contextual conditions are 'intensification of psychological anxiety', 'reduction in quality of life', and 'continuation of economic instability'. The central phenomenon is 'dilemma of continuing life in Seoul' and intervening condition is 'diagnosis of ten years after coming up to Seoul'. Action/interaction strategies are 'changes in personal life', 'securing economic abilities through a stable job', and 'finding ways to participate in the society', while the result was 'choosing whether to continue living in Seoul'. The paradigm of experience of women from the provinces settling in Seoul proceed from coming up to Seoul for university to becoming independent, adapting to life in the city, experiencing growth and failures, facing challenge and searching for solutions, and conducting self-evaluation and making new choices. The participants reported that they were aware of differences and experienced anxieties as a stranger in Seoul even after living in the city for ten years; the problems they face have become more complex and diverse since when they were in university, and while they launched a career and making money, the gap between them and their peers from Seoul has not closed. The women also express desperation that they may need to leave Seoul to find alternatives to problems caused by accumulated stress and social problems that cannot be solved by an individual. In conclusion, the current study confirmed that efforts by individuals can only have limited effects in helping women from the provinces to settle in Seoul, indicating that detailed policy plans are required to solve social issues in the overall Korean society.