• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.321-329
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• 2006

Albuterol, a selective ${\beta}_2$-adrenergic receptor stimulant, has been introduced as a potent bronchodilator for patients with bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive bronchial disease, chronic bronchitis and pulmonary emphysema. The percutaneous permeation of albuterol sulfate was investigated in hairless mouse skin in vitro with and without pretreatment with enhancers. The enhancing effects of ethanol and various penetration enhancers such as terpenes, non-ionic surfactants, pyrrolidones, and fatty acids on the permeation of albuterol sulfate were evaluated using Franz diffusion cells. Among terpenes studied, 1,8-cineole was the most effective enhancer, which increased the permeability of albuterol sulfate approximately 33-fold compared with the control without enhancer pretrement, followed by d-limonene with enhancement ratio of 21.79. 2-Pyrrolidone-5-carboxylic acid increased the permeability of albuterol sulfate approximately 5.5-fold compared with the control. Other pyrrolidones tested showed only slight permeability enhancing effect with enhancement ratio less than 2.8. Nonionic surfactants showed moderate enhancing effects. Lauric acid increased the permeability of albuterol sulfate approximately 30-fold with decreasing the lag time from 2.85 to 0.64 hr. Oleic acid and linoleic acid showed enhancement ratio of 24.55 and 22.91, respectively. These findings would allow a more rational approach for designing formulations for the transdermal delivery of albuterol sulfate and similar drugs.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 2009

Noise estimation and suppression are a crucial factor of many speech communication and recognition systems. In this paper, proposed algorithm is based on the ratio of variance normalized of noisy power spectrum in time-frequency domain. Our proposed algorithm tracks the threshold and controls the trade-off between residual noise and distortion. This algorithm is evaluated by the ITU-T P.835 signal distortion (SIG) and segment signal to noise ratio (SNR), and is superior to the conventional methods.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.510-513
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• 2018

Recently, EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) becomes very important, which demands the measurement of EMI (electromagnetic interference) in the chip level. NFS (near-field scanning) systems defined in IEC 61967 and IEC 62508 are typical methods to analyze EMI in the chip level. As chips becomes faster, frequency measurement of NFS system should become wideband, but it degrades SNR (singal-to-noise ratio) of the NFP (near-field probe). This paper surveys SNR enhancement technologies of the NFS while maintaining wideband characteristics.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.35-43
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• 2014

In this paper, we propose a performance enhancement method of the target tracking system for communication signal using the monopulse and the ${\alpha}{\beta}$ filter to keep the connection of the communication system between the airplane and the ground. We suggest the minimum distance measurement method for tracking error angle of the monopulse signal instead of the generally used method of MR(Monopulse Ratio) curve, and the ${\alpha}{\beta}$ filter with variable gain for enhancement of the tracking accuracy and the probability of re-tracking the monopulse signal under the disconnection of link. We show the performance enhancement of the proposed method of monopulse system using the measured MR Curve results of the prototype system. And also, the comparison of simulation results between the ${\alpha}{\beta}$ filter with variable gain and the ${\alpha}{\beta}$ filter with fixed gain shows the performance enhancement of the proposed ${\alpha}{\beta}$ filter. Using the proposed methods, we expect the enhanced performance of the existing target tracking system for communication signal only by changing the algorithm without hardware changes.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.561-571
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• 2020

Objective: To evaluate the clinical utility of ultrafast dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI compared to conventional DCE-MRI by studying lesion conspicuity and size according to the level of background parenchymal enhancement (BPE). Materials and Methods: This study included 360 women (median age, 54 years; range, 26-82 years) with 361 who had undergone breast MRI, including both ultrafast and conventional DCE-MRI before surgery, between January and December 2017. Conspicuity was evaluated using a five-point score. Size was measured as the single maximal diameter. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare median conspicuity score. To identify factors associated with conspicuity, multivariable logistic regression was performed. Absolute agreement between size at MRI and histopathologic examination was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: The median conspicuity scores were 5 at both scans, but the interquartile ranges were significantly different (5-5 at ultrafast vs. 4-5 at conventional, p < 0.001). Premenopausal status (odds ratio [OR] = 2.2, p = 0.048), non-mass enhancement (OR = 4.1, p = 0.001), moderate to marked BPE (OR = 7.5, p < 0.001), and shorter time to enhancement (OR = 0.9, p = 0.043) were independently associated with better conspicuity at ultrafast scans. Tumor size agreement between MRI and histopathologic examination was similar for both scans (ICC = 0.66 for ultrafast vs. 0.63 for conventional). Conclusion: Ultrafast DCE-MRI could improve lesion conspicuity compared to conventional DCE-MRI, especially in women with premenopausal status, non-mass enhancement, moderate to marked BPE or short time to enhancement.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.3E
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• pp.87-96
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• 2007

In this paper we propose a new noise reduction algorithm for stationary and nonstationary noisy environments. Our algorithm classifies the speech and noise signal contributions in time-frequency bins, and is not based on a spectral algorithm or a minimum statistics approach. It relies on calculating the ratio of the standard deviation of the noisy power spectrum in time-frequency bins to its normalized time-frequency average. We show that good quality can be achieved for enhancement speech signal by choosing appropriate values for ${\delta}_t\;and\;{\delta}_f$. The proposed method greatly reduces the noise while providing enhanced speech with lower residual noise and somewhat higher mean opinion score (MOS), background intrusiveness (BAK) and signal distortion (SIG) scores than conventional methods.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.245-248
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• 2005

SCRamjet is the key technology for hypersonic flight over mach number 6. It is characterized by very short residence time in combustor because its internal flow is supersonic. In this short time, the whole process of combustion must be done. Especially numerical study of combustor is important because air-fuel mixing rate influences the performance of combustor. Various methods of air-fuel mixing enhancement are proposed. Among these, cavity injection method is selected to study in this paper. The numerical study is conducted with the variation of the cavity length at the fixed height of unit and jet injection on the downstream of cavity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.85-88
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• 2011

This paper describes a single channel speech enhancement as the pre-processor of automatic speech recognition system. The improvements are based on using optimally modified log-spectra (OM-LSA) gain function with a non-causal a priori signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation. Experimental results show that the proposed method gives better perceptual evaluation of speech quality score (PESQ) and lower log-spectral distance, and also better word accuracy. In the enhancement system, parameters was turned for automatic speech recognition.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.667-673
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• 2000

In order to understand the laminar flow heat transfer enhancement by the swirl flow, the effects of heat transfer in a circular pipe with a twisted tape insert were investigated experimentally. In the present study, the uniform heat flux condition was considered. The laminar heat transfer correlations were developed using the least-square-fit from the surface temperature distribution of an electrically-heated pipe and flow property data. Average Nusselt number correlations with the twisted tape insert were expressed as a function of swirl parameter, Reynolds number and Prandtl number. In the case of the twisted ratio y = 6.05, the mean Nusselt number increased approximately 500% and the friction factor increased approximately 300%, compared to the case of the empty pipe, respectively.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.52-57
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• 2015

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) shows higth strength, high elastic limit, corrosion resistance and good wear resistance and soft magnetic properties and has been considering as a candidate for new structural materials. But they show limited macroscopic plasticity and lack of tensile ductility due to highly localized shear deformation, which should be solved for real structural application. In this paper researches on the enhancement of plasticity of BMG were reviewed briefly. Introducing heterogeneous structure in glass is effective to induce more shear transformation zones (STZs) active for multiple shear band initiation and also to block the propagating shear band. Several methods such as BMG alloy design for high Poisson's ratio, addition of alloying element having positive heat of mixing, pre-straining BMG and variety of BMG composites have been developed for homogenous distribution of locally weak region, where local strain can be initiated. Therefore enhancement of plasticity of BMG is normally accompanied with some penalty of strength loss.