• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6337-6342
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• 2012

Background: Clinical trials on cancer subjects have one of the highest dropout rates. Barriers to recruitment range from patient-related, through institutional-related to staff-related factors. This paper highlights the low response rate and the recruitment barriers faced in our Qigong exercises trial. Materials and Method: The Qigong trial is a three-arm trial with a priori power size of 114 patients for 80% power. The University Malaya Medical Centre database showed a total of 1,933 patients from 2006-2010 and 751 patients met our inclusion criteria. These patients were approached via telephone interview. 131 out of 197 patients attended the trial and the final response rate was 48% (n=95/197). Results: Multiple barriers were identified, and were regrouped as patient-related, clinician-related and/or institutional related. A major consistent barrier was logistic difficulty related to transportation and car parking at the Medical Centre. Conclusions: All clinical trials must pay considerable attention to the recruitment process and it should even be piloted to identify potential barriers and facilitators to reduce attrition rate in trials.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.42-45
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• 2014

Recently, tremendous application utilizing electrospun nanofibers have been actively reported due to its several advantages, such as high surface to volume ratio, simple fabrication and high-throughput manufacturing. In this paper, we developed highly sensitive and consistent nanofiber humidity sensor by electrospinning. The humidity sensor was fabricated by rapid electrospinning (~2 sec) $TiO_2$/PVP/LiCl mixed solution on the micro-interdigitated electrode. In order to evaluate the humidity sensing performances, we measured current response using DC bias voltage under various relative humidity levels. The results show fast response / recovery time and marginal hysteresis as well as long-term stability. In addition, with the aid of micro-interdigitated electrode, we can reduce a total resistance of the sensor and increase the total reaction area of nanofibers across the electrodes resulting in high sensitivity and enhanced current level. Therefore, we expect that the electrospun nanofiber array for humidity sensor can be feasible and promising for diverse humidity sensing application.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.489-498
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• 2004

In this paper, a new form of linear models referred to as generalized weighted linear models is proposed. The proposed models assume that the relationship between the response variable and explanatory variables can be modelled by a distribution function of the response mean and a weighted linear combination of distribution functions of covariates. This form addresses a structural problem of the link function in the generalized linear models in which the parameter space may not be consistent with the space derived from linear predictors. The maximum likelihood estimation with Lagrange's undetermined multipliers is used to estimate the parameters and resampling method is applied to compute confidence intervals and to test hypotheses.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.621-634
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• 2018

Flush end-plate (FEP) beam-to-column joints are commonly used for gravity load resisting parts in steel multi-storey buildings. However, in seismic resisting structures FEP joints should also provide rotation capacity consistent with the global structural displacements. The current version of EN1993-1-8 recommends a criterion aiming at controlling the thickness of the end-plate in order to avoid brittle failure of the connection, which has been developed for monotonic loading conditions assuming elastic-perfectly plastic behaviour of the connection's components in line with the theory of the component method. Hence, contrary to the design philosophy of the hierarchy of resistances implemented in EN1998-1, the over strength and the hardening of the plastic components are not directly accounted for. In light of these considerations, this paper describes and discusses the results obtained from parametric finite element simulations aiming at investigating the moment-rotation response of FEP joints under cyclic actions. The influence of bolt diameter, thickness of end-plate, number of bolt rows and shape of beam profile on the joint response is discussed and design requirements are proposed to enhance the ductility of the joints.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.597-607
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• 1992

The present study examined effects of caffeine on coronary circulation myocardial oxygen me-tabolism and calcium release in isolated perfused guinea pig hearts. Intracoronary caffeine({{{{ {10 }^{-5 } }}}}∼{{{{ { 10}^{-3 } }}}}M) was employed for 10 minutes to measure coronary perfusate flow(CF) and coronary vascular sresistance(CVR) at a constant coronary perfusion pressure of 80 cmH2O Perfusate myocardial oxygen consumption(MVO2) and percent oxygen extraction(%EC2) were calcula-ted. In addition calcium contents in both perfusate samples were measured to calculate calcium release in coronary venous effluent. Caffeine significantly decreased CF and increased CVR during 10 minutes of caffeine perfusion regardless of dose of caffeine perfused exhibiting time-response. While % EO2 was significantly enhanced with caffeine MVO2 was markedly reduced. The coronary venous perfusate pH dcreased during the perfusion with caffeine. These changes were consistent with caffeine-induced metabolic acidosis. Calcium release appeared to be dose-dependent and high dose of caffeine greatly increased venous calcium release even 2 minutes after perfusion with carffeine. These finding in dicate that caffeine produced coronary vasoconst-riction with increased calcium release in isolated perfused guinea pig hearts. Additionaly this vasoconstrictor response mignt be due tin part to the direct actions of caffeine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.229.2-229.2
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• 2014

Graphene, an allotrope of carbon, is a two-dimensional material having a unique electro-mechanical property that shows significant change of the electrical conductance under the applied strain. In addition of the extraordinary mechanical strength [1], graphene becomes a prospective candidate for pressure sensor technology [2]. However, very few investigations have been carried out to demonstrate characteristics of graphene sensor as a device form. In this study, we demonstrate a pressure sensor using graphene double layer as an active channel to generate electrical signal as the response of the applied vertical pressure. For formation of the active channel in the pressure sensor, two single graphene layers which are grown on Cu foil (25 um thickness) by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are sequentially transformed to the poly-di-methyl-siloxane (PDMS) substrate. Dry and wet transfer methods are individually employed for formation of the double layer graphene. This sensor geometry results a switching characteristic which shows ~900% conductivity change in response to the application of pulsed pressure of 5 kPa whose on and off duration is 3 sec. Additionally, the functional reliability of the sensor confirms consistent behavior with a 200-cycle test.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2001

The deposition behavior and photoelectric response characteristics of chlorophyll a(Chl a) monolayers and multilayers were investigated under various film fabrication conditions. Chl a LB films were deposited onto quartz and pretreated ITO glass substrates under several fabrication conditions, including surface pressure and number of layers. The absorption spectra of Chl a in a solution state and solid-like state (LB films) were fairly consistent with each other, and two absorption peaks were found at 678 and 438nm, respectively. The prepared Chl a LB films were set into an electrochemistry cell equipped with a Pt plate as the counter electrode, and the photoelectric response characteristics were obtained and analyzed relative to the light illumination. By considering the resulting photocurrents, the optimal fabrication conditions for Chl a LB films were determined as 20mN/m of surface pressure and 20 layers. The action spectrum of the Chl a LB films was obtained in the visible region, and was found to be in good agreement with the absorption spectrum. The possible application of the proposed system as a constituent of an artificial color recognition device was suggested based on combining with the photoelectric conversion property of another light-sensitive biological pigment.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.61-68
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• 2004

Necessity to address engineering system uncertainties in design processes has long been acknowledged. To obtain quality of product, a safety factor is traditionally used by many design engineers due to its easy of use and comprehension. However, the safety factor approach often yields either conservative or unreliable designs, since it ignores the type of probability distribution and the mechanism of uncertainty propagation from the input to the output. For a consistent reliability-based design, two fundamental issues must be investigated thoroughly. First, the design-decision process that clearly identifies a mechanism of uncertainty propagation under system uncertainties needs to be developed, which must be an efficient and accurate process. To identify the mechanism more effectively, an adaptive probability analysis is proposed by adaptively setting probability levels through a posteriori error estimation. The second is to develop the design process that not only yields a high quality design but also a cost-effective optimum design from manufacturing point of view. As a result, a response surface methodology is specially developed for RBDO, thus enhancing numerical challenges of efficiency and complicatedness. Side crashworthiness application is used to demonstrate the integrated design process for product and manufacturing process design.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.137-170
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose and analyze three viral infection models with humoral immunity including an eclipse stage of infected cells. The incidence rate of infection is represented by bilinear incidence and saturated incidence in the first and second models, respectively, while it is given by a more general function in the third one. The neutralization rate of viruses is giv0en by bilinear form in the first two models, while it is given by a general function in the third one. For each model, we have derived two threshold parameters, the basic infection reproduction number which determines whether or not a chronic-infection can be established without humoral immunity and the humoral immune response activation number which determines whether or not a chronic-infection can be established with humoral immunity. By constructing suitable Lyapunov functions we have proven the global asymptotic stability of all equilibria of the models. For the third model, we have established a set of conditions on the threshold parameters and on the general functions which are sufficient for the global stability of the equilibria of the model. We have performed some numerical simulations for the third model with specific forms of the incidence and neutralization rates and have shown that the numerical results are consistent with the theoretical results.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.39-74
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• 2018

Purpose: For more than 30 years, robust parameter design (RPD), which attempts to minimize the process bias (i.e., deviation between the mean and the target) and its variability simultaneously, has received consistent attention from researchers in academia and industry. Based on Taguchi's philosophy, a number of RPD methodologies have been developed to improve the quality of products and processes. The primary purpose of this paper is to review and discuss existing RPD methodologies in terms of the three sequential RPD procedures of experimental design, parameter estimation, and optimization. Methods: This literature study composes three review aspects including experimental design, estimation modeling, and optimization methods. Results: To analyze the benefits and weaknesses of conventional RPD methods and investigate the requirements of future research, we first analyze a variety of experimental formats associated with input control and noise factors, output responses and replication, and estimation approaches. Secondly, existing estimation methods are categorized according to their implementation of least-squares, maximum likelihood estimation, generalized linear models, Bayesian techniques, or the response surface methodology. Thirdly, optimization models for single and multiple responses problems are analyzed within their historical and functional framework. Conclusion: This study identifies the current RPD foundations and unresolved problems, including ample discussion of further directions of study.