• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.557-567
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• 2005

The increasing complexity of the socio-economic environments makes it less and less possible for single decision-maker to consider all relevant aspects of problem. Therefore are, many organizations employ groups in decision making. In this paper, we present a multiperson decision making method using fuzzy logic with linguistic quantifier when each of group members specifies imprecise judgments possibly both on performance evaluations of alternatives with respect to the multiperson criteria and on the criteria. Inexact or vague preferences have appeared in the decision making literatures with a view to relaxing the burdens of preference specifications imposed to the decision-makers and thus taking into account the vagueness of human judgments. Allowing for the types of imprecise judgments in the model, however, makes more difficult a clear selection of alternative(s) that a group wants to make. So, further interactions with the decision-makers may proceed to the extent to compensate for the initial comforts of preference specifications. These interaction may not however guarantee the selection of the best alternative to implement. To circumvent this deadlock situation, we present a procedure for obtaining a satisfying solution by the use of linguistic quantifier guided aggregation which implies fuzzy majority. This is an approach to combine a prescriptive decision method via a mathematical programming and a well-established approximate solution method to aggregate multiple objects.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.377-386
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• 2019

Purpose: Percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB), a diagnostic procedure to identify several hepatobiliary disorders, is considered safe with low incidence of associated complications. While postoperative monitoring guidelines are suggested for adults, selection of procedural recovery time for children remains at the discretion of individual operators. We aim to determine if differences exist in frequency of surgical complications, unplanned admissions, and healthcare cost for children undergoing outpatient PLB for cohorts with same-day vs. overnight observation. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in children 1 month to 17 years of age undergoing ultrasound-guided PLB from January 2009 to August 2017 at a tertiary care, pediatric referral center. Cohorts were defined by postprocedural observation duration: same-day (${\leq}8$ hours) vs. overnight observation. Outcomes included surgical complications, medical interventions, unscheduled hospitalization within 7 days, and total encounter costs. Results: One hundred and twelve children met study criteria of which 18 (16.1%) were assigned to same-day observation. No differences were noted in demographics, anthropometrics, comorbidities, biopsy indications, or preoperative coagulation profiles. No major complications or acute hospitalizations after PLB were observed. Administration of analgesia and fluid boluses were isolated and given within 8 hours. Compared to overnight monitoring, same-day observation accrued less total costs (US $992 less per encounter). Conclusion: Same-day observation after PLB in children appears well-tolerated with only minor interventions and complications observed within 8 hours of procedure. We recommend a targeted risk assessment prior to selection of observation duration. Same-day observation appears an appropriate recovery strategy in otherwise low-risk children undergoing outpatient PLB.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.2140-2156
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• 2023

The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), is constructed out of teeny-tiny sensor nodes that are very low-cost, have a low impact on the environment in terms of the amount of power they consume, and are able to successfully transmit data to the base station. The primary challenges that are presented by WSN are those that are posed by the distance between nodes, the amount of energy that is consumed, and the delay in time. The sensor node's source of power supply is a battery, and this particular battery is not capable of being recharged. In this scenario, the amount of energy that is consumed rises in direct proportion to the distance that separates the nodes. Here, we present a Hybrid Firefly Glow-Worm Swarm Optimization (HF-GSO) guided routing strategy for preserving WSNs' low power footprint. An efficient fitness function based on firefly optimization is used to select the Cluster Head (CH) in this procedure. It aids in minimising power consumption and the occurrence of dead sensor nodes. After a cluster head (CH) has been chosen, the Glow-Worm Swarm Optimization (GSO) algorithm is used to figure out the best path for sending data to the sink node. Power consumption, throughput, packet delivery ratio, and network lifetime are just some of the metrics measured and compared between the proposed method and methods that are conceptually similar to those already in use. Simulation results showed that the proposed method significantly reduced energy consumption compared to the state-of-the-art methods, while simultaneously increasing the number of functioning sensor nodes by 2.4%. Proposed method produces superior outcomes compared to alternative optimization-based methods.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-248
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• 2015

"Dynamic stabilization" systems have been developed in recent years to treat degenerative disorders of the spinal column. In contrast to arthrodesis (fusion), the aim here is to conserve intervertebral mobility to maximize comfort. When developing innovative concepts, many mechanical tests need to be carried out in order to validate the different technological solutions. The present study focuses on the B Dyn$^{(R)}$ "dynamic stabilization" device (S14$^{(R)}$ Implants, Pessac, France), the aim being to optimize the choice of polymer material used for one of the implant's components. The device allows mobility but also limit the range of movement. The stiffness of the ring remains a key design factor, which has to be optimized. Phase one consisted of static tests on the implant, as a result of which a polyurethane (PU) was selected, material no.2 of the five elastomers tested. In phase two, dynamic tests were carried out. The fatigue resistance of the B Dyn$^{(R)}$ system was tested over five million cycles with the properties of the polymer elements being measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) after every million cycles. This analysis demonstrated changes in stiffness and in the damping factor which guided the choice of elastomer for the B Dyn$^{(R)}$ implant.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.10
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• pp.643-648
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• 2010

Sir William Osler (1849-1919) recognized that "variability is the law of life, and as no two faces are the same, so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike and behave alike under the abnormal conditions we know as disease". Accordingly, the traditional methods of medicine are not always best for all patients. Over the last decade, the study of genomes and their derivatives (RNA, protein and metabolite) has rapidly advanced to the point that genomic research now serves as the basis for many medical decisions and public health initiatives. Genomic tools such as sequence variation, transcription and, more recently, personal genome sequencing enable the precise prediction and treatment of disease. At present, DNA-based risk assessment for common complex diseases, application of molecular signatures for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, genome-guided therapy, and dose selection of therapeutic drugs are the important issues in personalized medicine. In order to make personalized medicine effective, these genomic techniques must be standardized and integrated into health systems and clinical workflow. In addition, full application of personalized or genomic medicine requires dramatic changes in regulatory and reimbursement policies as well as legislative protection related to privacy. This review aims to provide a general overview of these topics in the field of personalized medicine.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2001

The treatment of Patients with bacteraemia and septicemia requires accurate and rapid identification of the pathogen so that the physician can be guided regarding the selection of the proper antimicrobial therapy. The usual procedure is to withdraw an aliquot of the positive blood culture sample for gram staining and subculturing on the media for the growth and subsequent identification, and susceptibility determinations. It was noticed that during the process some microbiologists would sniff the effluent gases that are products of metabolism and in some cases guess the identity of the bacterium. That Prompted us to engage in systematic investigation of two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria using an electronic nose that had been proven successful in distinguishing the aroma of coffee beans from different sources. The investigation was successful in illustrating the efficacy of such a device in this clinical setting to distinguish Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. A representative set of patterns obtained with this apparatus is displayed as well. A representative set of patterns obtained with this apparatus is displayed as well. No effort was made to determine an optimal set of sensors for some specific set of bacterial metabolism gaseous products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.1-1
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• 2011

We developed a new generalized synthetic procedure, called as "heat-up process," to produce uniform-sized nanocrystals of many transition metals and oxides without a size selection process. We were able to synthesize uniform magnetite nanocrystals as much as 1 kilogram-scale from the thermolysis of Fe-oleate complex. Clever combination of different nanoscale materials will lead to the development of multifunctional nano-biomedical platforms for simultaneous targeted delivery, fast diagnosis, and efficient therapy. In this presentation, I would like to present some of our group's recent results on the designed fabrication of multifunctional nanostructured materials based on uniform-sized magnetite nanoparticles and their medical applications. Uniform ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles of <3 nm were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron-oleate complex in the presence of oleyl alcohol. These ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles exhibited good T1 contrast effect. In in vivo T1 weighted blood pool magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), iron oxide nanoparticles showed longer circulation time than commercial gadolinium complex, enabling high resolution imaging. We used 80 nm-sized ferrimagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals for T2 MRI contrast agent for tracking transplanted pancreatic islet cells and single-cell MR imaging. We reported on the fabrication of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles immobilized with uniform pore-sized mesoporous silica spheres for simultaneous MRI, fluorescence imaging, and drug delivery. We synthesized hollow magnetite nanocapsules and used them for both the MRI contrast agent and magnetic guided drug delivery vehicle.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.267-282
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• 2005

This work describes ongoing development of an embedded sensor system for the early detection and prevention of deterioration of reinforcing steel tendons within reinforced concrete. These devices will evaluate the condition of the steel tendon using ultrasonic techniques and then wirelessly transmit this data to the outside world without human intervention. The ultrasonic transducers and the interpretation of the sensed signals that allow detection and prognosis of tendon condition are detailed. Electrical characterization of concrete mixtures used in bridge construction is conducted and a wideband microstrip antenna is designed and fabricated to operate between 2.4 and 2.5 GHz when embedded in such a medium. Simulations and measurements of the embedded antenna element are presented. Transceiver selection and implementation are discussed as well as future work in operational protocols, sensor networking, and power sources. By implementing commercially available off-the-shelf components whenever possible, these devices have the potential to save millions of dollars a year in evaluation, repair and replacement of reinforced concrete.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.179-208
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• 2001

Using literary materials as resources for English learning rather than an object of literary study can be a genuine tool for the students to learn English in the form of oral and written communication. This case study treated the applications of a whole text to the overall course divided into pre-reading activities, while-reading activities, and post-reading activities and the applications of some partial passages extracted from various texts to teaching objectives with many levels of difficulty. This study found that literary texts could be good materials to teach the target language in EFL setting. The English-speaking students with little linguistic competence as a foreign language may be limited in learning English at first, but soon they can accelerate their linguistic competence by reinforcing the literary competence through the literary texts. To achieve effectively a desired goal through the use of literary texts as resources for language development several concrete techniques should be introduced: teacher-guided question strategies laying a central emphasis on the text itself, a problem-solving ability through student-centered activities, process-based and open-ended activities should be presented in a variety of ways using many appropriate activities according to teaching procedure with a careful selection of the texts.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.1008-1012
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• 2020

In order to make reasonable design for the improvement of comprehensive mechanical properties of RAFM steels, the design system with both machine learning and high-throughput optimization algorithm was established. As the basis of the design system, a dataset of RAFM steels was compiled from previous literatures. Then, feature engineering guided random forests regressors were trained by the dataset and NSGA II algorithm were used for the selection of the optimal solutions from the large-scale solution set with nine composition features and two treatment processing features. The selected optimal solutions by this design system showed prospective mechanical properties, which was also consistent with the physical metallurgy theory. This efficiency design mode could give the enlightenment for the design of other metal structural materials with the requirement of multi-properties.