• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2007

As the environmental pollution caused by excessive uses of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is aggravated, organic farming using pasture and livestock manure is gaining an increased necessity. The application rate of the organic farming materials to the field is determined as a function of crops and soil types, weather and cultivation surroundings. When livestock manure is used for organic farming materials, the volatilization of ammonia from field-spread animal manure is a major source of atmospheric pollution and leads to a significant reduction in the fertilizer value of the manure. Therefore, an ammonia emission model should be presented to reduce the ammonia emission and to know appropriate application rate of manure. In this study, the ammonia emission rate from field-applied pig manure is predicted using an artificial neural network (ANN) method, where the Michaelis-Menten equation is employed for the ammonia emission rate model. Two model parameters (total loss of ammonia emission rate and time to reach the half of the total emission rate) of the model are predicted using a feedforward-backpropagation ANN on the basis of the ALFAM (Ammonia Loss from Field-applied Animal Manure) database in Europe. The relative importance among 15 input variables influencing ammonia loss is identified using the weight partitioning method. As a result, the ammonia emission is influenced mush by the weather and the manure state.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1493-1498
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide with a rising incidence rate in most countries. Considering the increase in life expectancy and change in lifestyle of Iranian women, this study investigated the age-adjusted trend of breast cancer incidence during 2000-2009 and predicted its incidence to 2020. Materials and Methods: The 1997 and 2006 census results were used for the projection of female population by age through the cohort-component method over the studied years. Data from the Iranian cancer registration system were used to calculate the annual incidence rate of breast cancer. The age-adjusted incidence rate was then calculated using the WHO standard population distribution. The five-year-age-specific incidence rates were also obtained for each year and future incidence was determined using the trend analysis method. Annual percentage change (APC) was calculated through the joinpoint regression method. Results: The bias adjusted incidence rate of breast cancer increased from 16.7 per 100,000 women in 2000 to 33.6 per 100,000 women in 2009. The incidence of breast cancer had a growing trend in almost all age groups above 30 years over the studied years. In this period, the age groups of 45-65 years had the highest incidence. Investigation into the joinpoint curve showed that the curve had a steep slope with an APC of 23.4% before the first joinpoint, but became milder after this. From 2005 to 2009, the APC was calculated as 2.7%, through which the incidence of breast cancer in 2020 was predicted as 63.0 per 100,000 women. Conclusions: The age-adjusted incidence rate of breast cancer continues to increas in Iranian women. It is predicted that this trend will continue until 2020. Therefore, it seems necessary to prioritize the prevention, control and care for breast cancer in Iran.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to develop models for the predict of the milk properties (fat, protein, SNF, lactose, MUN) of unhomogenized milk using the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic technique. A total of 180 milk samples were collected from dairy farms. To determine optimal measurement temperature, the temperatures of the milk samples were kept at three levels ($5^{\circ}C$, $20^{\circ}C$, and $40^{\circ}C$). A spectrophotometer was used to measure the reflectance spectra of the milk samples. Multilinear-regression (MLR) models with stepwise method were developed for the selection of the optimal wavelength. The preprocessing methods were used to minimize the spectroscopic noise, and the partial-least-square (PLS) models were developed to prediction of the milk properties of the unhomogenized milk. The PLS results showed that there was a good correlation between the predicted and measured milk properties of the samples at $40^{\circ}C$ and at 400~2,500 nm. The optimal-wavelength range of fat and protein were 1,600~1,800 nm, and normalization improved the prediction performance. The SNF and lactose were optimized at 1,600~1,900 nm, and the MUN at 600~800 nm. The best preprocessing method for SNF, lactose, and MUN turned out to be smoothing, MSC, and second derivative. The Correlation coefficients between the predicted and measured fat, protein, SNF, lactose, and MUN were 0.98, 0.90, 0.82, 0.75, and 0.61, respectively. The study results indicate that the models can be used to assess milk quality.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.69-85
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• 2016

Successful relationship with loving partners is one of the most important factors in life. In psychology, there have been some previous researches studying the factors influencing romantic relationships. However, most of these researches were performed based on statistical analysis; thus they have limitations in analyzing complex non-linear relationships or rules based reasoning. This research analyzes commitment and persistence in heterosexual involvement according to styles of loving using a datamining technique as well as statistical methods. In this research, we consider six different styles of loving - 'eros', 'ludus', 'stroge', 'pragma', 'mania' and 'agape' which influence romantic relationships between lovers, besides the factors suggested by the previous researches. These six types of love are defined by Lee (1977) as follows: 'eros' is romantic, passionate love; 'ludus' is a game-playing or uncommitted love; 'storge' is a slow developing, friendship-based love; 'pragma' is a pragmatic, practical, mutually beneficial relationship; 'mania' is an obsessive or possessive love and, lastly, 'agape' is a gentle, caring, giving type of love, brotherly love, not concerned with the self. In order to do this research, data from 105 heterosexual couples were collected. Using the data, a linear regression method was first performed to find out the important factors associated with a commitment to partners. The result shows that 'satisfaction', 'eros' and 'agape' are significant factors associated with the commitment level for both male and female. Interestingly, in male cases, 'agape' has a greater effect on commitment than 'eros'. On the other hand, in female cases, 'eros' is a more significant factor than 'agape' to commitment. In addition to that, 'investment' of the male is also crucial factor for male commitment. Next, decision tree analysis was performed to find out the characteristics of high commitment couples and low commitment couples. In order to build decision tree models in this experiment, 'decision tree' operator in the datamining tool, Rapid Miner was used. The experimental result shows that males having a high satisfaction level in relationship show a high commitment level. However, even though a male may not have a high satisfaction level, if he has made a lot of financial or mental investment in relationship, and his partner shows him a certain amount of 'agape', then he also shows a high commitment level to the female. In the case of female, a women having a high 'eros' and 'satisfaction' level shows a high commitment level. Otherwise, even though a female may not have a high satisfaction level, if her partner shows a certain amount of 'mania' then the female also shows a high commitment level. Finally, this research built a prediction model to establish whether the relationship will persist or break up using a decision tree. The result shows that the most important factor influencing to the break up is a 'narcissistic tendency' of the male. In addition to that, 'satisfaction', 'investment' and 'mania' of both male and female also affect a break up. Interestingly, while the 'mania' level of a male works positively to maintain the relationship, that of a female has a negative influence. The contribution of this research is adopting a new technique of analysis using a datamining method for psychology. In addition, the results of this research can provide useful advice to couples for building a harmonious relationship with each other. This research has several limitations. First, the experimental data was sampled based on oversampling technique to balance the size of each classes. Thus, it has a limitation of evaluating performances of the predictive models objectively. Second, the result data, whether the relationship persists of not, was collected relatively in short periods - 6 months after the initial data collection. Lastly, most of the respondents of the survey is in their 20's. In order to get more general results, we would like to extend this research to general populations.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.111-124
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• 2002

Purpose : Although the average life expectancy has increased due to advances in medicine, mortality due to cancer is on an increasing trend. Consequently, the number of terminally ill cancer patients is also on the rise. Predicting the survival period is an important issue in the treatment of terminally ill cancer patients since the choice of treatment would vary significantly by the patents, their families, and physicians according to the expected survival. Therefore, we investigated the prognostic factors for increased mortality risk in terminally ill cancer patients to help treat these patients by predicting the survival period. Methods : We investigated 31 clinical parameters in 157 terminally ill cancer patients admitted to in the Department of Family Medicine, National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital between July 1, 2000 and August 31, 2001. We confirmed the patients' survival as of October 31, 2001 based on medical records and personal data. The survival rates and median survival times were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test was used to compare the differences between the survival rates according to each clinical parameter. Cox's proportional hazard model was used to determine the most predictive subset from the prognostic factors among many clinical parameters which affect the risk of death. We predicted the mean, median, the first quartile value and third quartile value of the expected lifetimes by Weibull proportional hazard regression model. Results : Out of 157 patients, 79 were male (50.3%). The mean age was $65.1{\pm}13.0$ years in males and was $64.3{\pm}13.7$ years in females. The most prevalent cancer was gastric cancer (36 patients, 22.9%), followed by lung cancer (27, 17.2%), and cervical cancer (20, 12.7%). The survival time decreased with to the following factors; mental change, anorexia, hypotension, poor performance status, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, elevated serum creatinine level, hypoalbuminemia, hyperbilirubinemia, elevated SGPT, prolonged prothrombin time (PT), prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), hyponatremia, and hyperkalemia. Among these factors, poor performance status, neutrophilia, prolonged PT and aPTT were significant prognostic factors of death risk in these patients according to the results of Cox's proportional hazard model. We predicted that the median life expectancy was 3.0 days when all of the above 4 factors were present, $5.7{\sim}8.2$ days when 3 of these 4 factors were present, $11.4{\sim}20.0$ days when 2 of the 4 were present, and $27.9{\sim}40.0$ when 1 of the 4 was present, and 77 days when none of these 4 factors were present. Conclusions : In terminally ill cancer patients, we found that the prognostic factors related to reduced survival time were poor performance status, neutrophilia, prolonged PT and prolonged am. The four prognostic factors enabled the prediction of life expectancy in terminally ill cancer patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.11-18
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to develop the simple method to estimate ungauged river section for flood stage analysis. Damage prediction should be prioritized using hydrological modeling to reduce flood risk. Mostly, the geographical data using hydrological modeling depends on national river cross-section survey. However because of the lack of measured data, it is difficult to apply to many local streams or small watersheds. For this reason, this study suggest the method to estimate unguaged river cross-section. Simple regression equations were derived and used to estimate river cross-section by analyzing the correlation between the river cross-sectional characteristics (width, height and area). The estimated cross-sections were used to simulate flood level by HEC-RAS (Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System). The applicability of this method was verified by comparing simulated flood level between measured and estimated cross-section. The water surface elevation of the flood stage analysis was 6.56-7.24 m, 5.33-5.95 m and 6.12-6.75 m for measured cross section, for estimated cross section and for estimated cross section based on DEM elevation, respectively. Further study should consider other factors for more accurate flood stage analysis. This study might be used one of the guidelines to estimate ungauged river section for flood stage analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.260-266
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• 2009

Non-revenue water reduction(NRW) technologies are implemented to evaluate and manage leakages scientifically in water distribution systems under local governments. A development of quantitative leakage indicator by measuring minimum night flow, pressure control policy by installation of PRV(pressure reducing valve) and the establishment of leakage prevention schemes by residual life modeling of deteriorated water pipes are reviewed and studied. Estimation models of allowable leakage are developed by measuring and analyzing minimum night flow at residential and commercial area in Nonsan city, which is suggested from UK water industry and can improve an existing leakage indicator for the evaluation of non-revenue water. Also, pressure control method is applied and analyzed to Uti distribution area in Sacheon city in the operation aspect. As results, $466\;m^3/day$ of leakage can be reduced and it is expected that 113million won of annual cost can be saved. In the part of corrosion velocity and residual life assessment, non-linear prediction models of residual thickness are proposed by assessment of corrosion velocity based on exposure years, soil and water quality etc., since the deteriorated water pipe play a major role to increase leakage. It is expected that collection data and analyzing results can be applied effectively and positively to reduce non-revenue water by accumulating surveying data and verifying the results in the business field of water distribution systems under local governments.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2016

The endurance reliability assessment of a highly complex mechanism is generally predicted by the fatigue life based on simple stress analysis. This study discusses various fatigue life assessment techniques for an automobile clutch snap ring. Finite element analyses were conducted to determine the structural stress on the snap ring. Structural stress that is insensitive in regards to the mesh size and type definition is presented in this study. The structural stress definition is consistent with elementary structural mechanics theory and provides an effective measure of a stress state that pertains to fatigue behavior of welded joints in the form of both membrane and bending components. Numerical procedures for both solid models and shell or plate element models are presented to demonstrate the mesh-size insensitivity when extracting the structural stress parameters. Conventional finite element models can be used with the structural stress calculations as a post-processing procedure. The two major implications from this research were: (a) structural stresses pertaining to fatigue behavior can be consistently calculated in a mesh-insensitive manner regardless of the types of finite element models; and (b) by comparing with the clutch snap-ring fatigue test data, we should predict the fatigue fractures of an automobile clutch snap ring using this method.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.816-824
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• 2006

This study was conducted to evaluate the shoot height at which the yield and nutritive value of wormwood (Artemisia montana) is optimized in order to provide information on its potential to support animal production (Experiment 1). A second objective was to determine how the essential oil (EO) concentration in wormwood hay and silage differ (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, Artemisia montana was harvested at five different shoot heights (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 cm) from triplicate $1.8{\times}1.8m$ plots. Dry matter (DM) yield was measured at each harvest date and the harvested wormwood was botanically separated into leaf, stalk and whole plant fractions and analyzed for chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD). Values for total digestible nutrients (TDN), digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) were subsequently calculated using prediction equations. Dry matter yields of stalk and whole plant increased linearly (p<0.001) and leaf yield increased quadratically (p<0.01) with shoot height, whereas the leaf/stalk ratio decreased linearly (p<0.001). As shoot height increased, there was a linear increase (p<0.001) in leaf DM, ether extract (EE) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents and a quadratic increase (p<0.05) in leaf acid detergent fiber (ADF) and nitrogen free extract (NFE) contents, and stalk and whole plant DM (p<0.001), organic matter (OM, p<0.01 and p<0.05), NDF (p<0.001 and 0.05) and NFE (p<0.05) contents. However, there were decreases in leaf crude protein content (CP, quadratic, p<0.001) and stalk and whole plant EE content (linear, p<0.001), CP (quadratic, p<0.05) and ash (quadratic, p<0.05) contents. Digestibility of DM and TDN, and DE and ME value in leaves were not affected by increasing shoot height, but these measures linearly decreased (p<0.001) in stalk and whole plant. In Experiment 2, the hay had higher DM and CP concentrations, but lower EE concentration than the silage. Essential oil (EO) content in wormwood silage (0.49 g/100 g DM) was higher (p<0.05) than that in wormwood hay (0.32 g/100 g DM). Wormwood hay contained 25 essentail oils (EO) including camphor (10.4 g/100 g), 1-borneol (11.6 g/100 g) and caryophyllene oxide (27.7 g/100 g), and wormwood silage had 26 EO constituents including 3-cyclohexen-1-ol (8.1 g/100 g), trans-caryophyllene (8.6 g/100 g) and ${\gamma}$-selinene (16.8 g/100 g). It is concluded that the most ideal shoot height for harvesting wormwood is 60 cm based on the optimization of DM yield and nutritive value. Wormwood silage had a greater quantity and array of EO than wormwood hay.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.250-255
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• 2002

Fluorescent species-specific DNA probe (AT1) of toxic dinoflagellate Arexandrium tamarense was tested on several other species, on comparison of binding activity at different preservatives for fixation of the cells, at different culture age and estimation of cell density by light microscope or epifluorescent microscope using whole cell hybridization. Th AT1 probe specifically bound to Alexandrium tamarense, whereas it did not bind to other phytoplankton, in particular Alexandrium catenella, morphologically similar to Alexandrium tamarense, could not react to AT1 probe. When cells were fixed with all three preservatives, labeling cells of Alexandrium tamarense emitted strong fluorescent signal intensity. In addition, regardless culture days, binding activity with AT1 probe was strong. The tell densities estimated by epifluorescent microscope were than those estimated by light microscope. The enumeration and identifying of Arexandriurn tamarense using DNA probe method will be contributed to a new biotoxin monitoring and prediction system in field.