• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2023

Purpose PET-CT imaging require an appropriate quality assurance system to achieve high efficiency and reliability. Quality control is essential for improving the quality of care and patient safety. Currently, there are performance evaluation methods of UN2-1994 and UN2-2001 proposed by NEMA and IEC for PET-CT image evaluation. In this study, we compare phantom images with the same experiments before and after PET-CT 3D normalization and well counter correction and evaluate the usefulness of quality control. Materials and methods Discovery 690 (General Electric Healthcare, USA) PET-CT equiptment was used to perform 3D normalization and well counter correction as recommended by GE Healthcare. Based on the recovery coefficients for the six spheres of the NEMA IEC Body Phantom recommended by the EARL. 20kBq/㎖ of ¹⁸F was injected into the sphere of the phantom and 2kBq/㎖ of ¹⁸F was injected into the body of phantom. PET-CT scan was performed with a radioacitivity ratio of 10:1. Images were reconstructed by appliying TOF+PSF+TOF, OSEM+PSF, OSEM and Gaussian filter 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6,5 mm with matrix size 128×128, slice thickness 3.75 mm, iteration 2, subset 16 conditions. The PET image was attenuation corrected using the CT images and analyzed using software program AW 4.7 (General Electric Healthcare, USA). The ROI was set to fit 6 spheres in the CT image, RC (Recovery Coefficient) was measured after fusion of PET and CT. Statistical analysis was performed wilcoxon signed rank test using R. Results Overall, after the quality control items were performed, the recovery coefficient of the phantom image increased and measured. Recovery coefficient according to the image reconstruction increased in the order TOF+PSF, TOF, OSEM+PSF, before and after quality control, RCmax increased by OSEM 0.13, OSEM+PSF 0.16, TOF 0.16, TOF+PSF 0.15 and RCmean increased by OSEM 0.09, OSEM+PSF 0.09, TOF 0.106, TOF+PSF 0.10. Both groups showed a statistically significant difference in Wilcoxon signed rank test results (P value<0.001). Conclusion PET-CT system require quality assurance to achieve high efficiency and reliability. Standardized intervals and procedures should be followed for quality control. We hope that this study will be a good opportunity to think about the importance of quality control in PET-CT

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2019

Purpose: To investigate the healing effect of 21 patients with chronic back pain, shoulder pain, and knee arthritis by a Qigong. Methods: The study performed by hand injection of a Soojung Qi-therapy. Results: Ten patients (47.6%) had low back pain, eight (38%) had frozen shoulders, and three (14.3%) had knee arthritis. Satisfaction after five times of the Qi-healing was 72% in those who returned to normal and 14% in those who improved. When the maximum pain level set at 5.0, the difference between before and after healing was 3.33 in arthritis subjects, 3.75 in fifty shoulder subjects, and 3.80 in low back pain. In general, the degree of pain decreased as the number of healings increased. In particular, even after the first healing, the pain reduction of the subjects was high in arthritis, frozen shoulders, and low back pain. That is, there was a possibility of controlling pain with only one Qi-healing. Conclusions: Soojung Qi-therapy is one of the natural healing treatments because it reduces fast pains and accessible to handling anytime and anywhere. Conclusions: With Qi-therapy, arthritis, frozen shoulder, and lumbago patients almost recovered to their original shape. Therefore, Qi-therapy regarded as one of the useful natural healing therapies.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1612-1618
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• 2023

Objective: In our previous study, we observed that the addition of waste cooking oil (WCO) reduced ammonia (NH₃) emissions during laboratory-scale composting of dairy cattle manure under low-aeration condition. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of addition of WCO on NH₃ emissions reduction during pilot-scale composting of dairy cattle manure, which is close to the conditions of practical composting treatment. Methods: Composting tests were conducted using pilot-scale composting facilities (1.8 m³ of capacity). The composting mixtures were prepared from manure, sawdust, and WCO. Two treatments were set: without WCO (Control) and with WCO added to 3 wt% of manure (WCO3). Composting was conducted under continuous aeration at 40 L/min, corresponding to 22.2 L/(min·m³) of the mixture at the start of composting. The changes in temperatures, NH₃ concentrations in the exhaust gases, and contents of the composted mixtures were analyzed. Based on these analysis results, the effect of WCO addition on NH₃ emissions and nitrogen loss during composting was evaluated. Results: During composting, the temperature increase of the composting mixture became higher, and the decreases of weight and water content of the mixture became larger in WCO3 than in Control. In the decrease of weight, and the residual weight and water content of the mixture, significant differences (p<0.05) were detected between the two treatments at the end of composting. The NH₃ concentrations in the exhaust gases tended to be lower in WCO3 than in Control. Nitrogen loss was 21.5% lower in WCO3 than in Control. Conclusion: Reduction of NH₃ emissions by the addition of WCO under low aeration condition was observed in pilot-scale composting, as well as in laboratory-scale composting. This result suggests that this method is effective in reducing NH₃ emissions in practical-scale composting.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.321-321
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• 2022

Wheat was brought to solve food scarcity with aid from the United States caused by the Korean War. The Korean government launched a campaign to encourage mixed rice and wheat meals due to shortage of rice production in the 1960s, Wheat consumption began in earnest. However, it is difficult to rebuild the domestic wheat production base devastated by the Korean War with the technology at the time. Thus, wheat was mainly consumed from imported in the past. Since then, as wheat consumption has increased due to westernization and diversification of dietary life, wheat became the second staple grain in Korea. In this situation, the government enacted the Wheat Industry Promotion Act to create a basis for sustainable production and consumption of wheat in Korea. This study sought to improve the self-sufficiency of domestic wheat by examining the possibility of using "Ariheuk", a variety of new Korean wheat, as a rice supplement in the same context as the govemment's policy. Wheat has been used as a raw material for the processed food, such as noodles and bread. However, we approached it by using whole wheat as a nutritional grain. Participants were recruited from the agri-food consumer panel conducted by Rural Development Administration. We set a final sample of 525 consumer panels based on the age of census household heads. The experiment was conducted in such a way that participants cooked and ate 100% rice meal and rice containing 20% whole wheat meal. Participants completed the sensory evaluation questionnaire with online. For this experiment, all participants were given same whole wheat product. The sensory evaluation questionnaire consisted of color, glossiness, stickiness, aroma, chewing, sweetness, nuttiness, chewiness, softness, bursting, flavor, texture and swallowability. The sensory evaluation results were analyzed by giving -3 points to +3 points. The former points were given to the response that 100% rice meal is very superior to the response that rice containing 20% whole wheat meal. The latter points were given vice versa. Zero point was given to the response that they are similar each other. As a result, rice with 20% whole wheat meal was better than 100% rice meal in terms of color, aroma, chewiness, bursting and flavor. In case of sweetness and glossiness, there didn't exist significantly different. On the other hands, 100% rice meal was better in terms of softness and swallowability. As a result of ANOVA by age groups, from 30s or younger to 60s or more, there was significant difference among the groups in terms of color, chewiness and bursting. As a result of post-hoc analysis with Duncan's multiple range test (p < 0.05), 50s were evaluated to be significantly superior in color, chewiness and bursting compared to other age groups. In conclusion, it is appropriate to use whole wheat as a supplement to rice in order to improve the self-sufficiency of domestic wheat. As a strategy to promote domestic wheat consumption, in case of Ariheuk, it is necessary to provide an experience through whole wheat tasting and to establish a marketing strategy segmented by age groups.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.982-992
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• 2024

Objective: Jining Grey goat is a local Chinese goat breed that is well known for its high fertility and excellent meat quality but shows low meat production performance. Numerous studies have focused on revealing the genetic mechanism of its high fertility, but its highlighting meat quality and muscle growth mechanism still need to be studied. Methods: In this research, an integrative analysis of the genomics and transcriptomics of Jining Grey goats compared with Boer goats was performed to identify candidate genes and pathways related to the mechanisms of meat quality and muscle development. Results: Our results overlap among five genes (ABHD2, FN1, PGM2L1, PRKAG3, RAVER2) and detected a set of candidate genes associated with fatty acid metabolism (PRKAG3, HADHB, FASN, ACADM), amino acid metabolism (KMT2C, PLOD3, NSD2, SETDB1, STT3B, MAN1A2, BCKDHB, NAT8L, P4HA3) and muscle development (MSTN, PPARGC1A, ANKRD2). Several pathways have also been detected, such as the FoxO signaling pathway and Apelin signaling pathway that play roles in lipid metabolism, lysine degradation, N-glycan biosynthesis, valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation that involving with amino acid metabolism. Conclusion: The comparative genomic and transcriptomic analysis of Jining Grey goat and Boer goat revealed the mechanisms underlying the meat quality and meat productive performance of goats. These results provide valuable information for future breeding of goats.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.294-304
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• 2023

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether image standardization using deep learning-based computed tomography (CT) image conversion would improve the performance of deep learning-based automated hepatic segmentation across various reconstruction methods. Materials and Methods: We collected contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT of the abdomen that was obtained using various reconstruction methods, including filtered back projection, iterative reconstruction, optimum contrast, and monoenergetic images with 40, 60, and 80 keV. A deep learning based image conversion algorithm was developed to standardize the CT images using 142 CT examinations (128 for training and 14 for tuning). A separate set of 43 CT examinations from 42 patients (mean age, 10.1 years) was used as the test data. A commercial software program (MEDIP PRO v2.0.0.0, MEDICALIP Co. Ltd.) based on 2D U-NET was used to create liver segmentation masks with liver volume. The original 80 keV images were used as the ground truth. We used the paired t-test to compare the segmentation performance in the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and difference ratio of the liver volume relative to the ground truth volume before and after image standardization. The concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) was used to assess the agreement between the segmented liver volume and ground-truth volume. Results: The original CT images showed variable and poor segmentation performances. The standardized images achieved significantly higher DSCs for liver segmentation than the original images (DSC [original, 5.40%-91.27%] vs. [standardized, 93.16%-96.74%], all P < 0.001). The difference ratio of liver volume also decreased significantly after image conversion (original, 9.84%-91.37% vs. standardized, 1.99%-4.41%). In all protocols, CCCs improved after image conversion (original, -0.006-0.964 vs. standardized, 0.990-0.998). Conclusion: Deep learning-based CT image standardization can improve the performance of automated hepatic segmentation using CT images reconstructed using various methods. Deep learning-based CT image conversion may have the potential to improve the generalizability of the segmentation network.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.190-203
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• 2023

Objective: We aimed to assess and validate the radiologic and clinical factors that were associated with recurrence and survival after curative surgery for heterogeneous targetoid primary liver malignancies in patients with chronic liver disease and to develop scoring systems for risk stratification. Materials and Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included 197 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease who had a single targetoid primary liver malignancy (142 hepatocellular carcinomas, 37 cholangiocarcinomas, 17 combined hepatocellular carcinoma-cholangiocarcinomas, and one neuroendocrine carcinoma) identified on preoperative gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI and subsequently surgically removed between 2010 and 2017. Of these, 120 patients constituted the development cohort, and 77 patients from separate institution served as an external validation cohort. Factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were identified using a Cox proportional hazards analysis, and risk scores were developed. The discriminatory power of the risk scores in the external validation cohort was evaluated using the Harrell C-index. The Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate RFS and OS for the different risk-score groups. Results: In RFS model 1, which eliminated features exclusively accessible on the hepatobiliary phase (HBP), tumor size of 2-5 cm or > 5 cm, and thin-rim arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE) were included. In RFS model 2, tumors with a size of > 5 cm, tumor in vein (TIV), and HBP hypointense nodules without APHE were included. The OS model included a tumor size of > 5 cm, thin-rim APHE, TIV, and tumor vascular involvement other than TIV. The risk scores of the models showed good discriminatory performance in the external validation set (C-index, 0.62-0.76). The scoring system categorized the patients into three risk groups: favorable, intermediate, and poor, each with a distinct survival outcome (all log-rank p < 0.05). Conclusion: Risk scores based on rim arterial enhancement pattern, tumor size, HBP findings, and radiologic vascular invasion status may help predict postoperative RFS and OS in patients with targetoid primary liver malignancies.

• Journal of Korean Medical Ki-Gong Academy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-29
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• 2024

Objective : The purpose of this study is to determine whether An's breathing meditation qigong therapy (ABMQT) delivers bioenergy to the frontal lobe, prefrontal lobe, the olfactory tract in the mesolimbic pathway, olfactory bulb, CV22, CV21, olfactory area and vocal-related areas in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients to help improve olfactory disorders (anosmia) and vocal functions. Methods : The subjects of this study were 4 patients with idiopathic PD (3 males/1 female, 65.0±NA/68.7±10.2 years old). ABMQT was applied once a week, 120 minutes per session for 12 weeks in a non-invasive and noncontact manner, and the test before and after ABMQT application included olfactory impairment test the Korean version of Sniffin' stick test (KVSS), voice acoustic test, aerodynamic test, vocal handicap index (VHI-30), and auditory perception scale test tools. The results before and after the experiment were analyzed assuming a normal distribution, and a chi-square test was performed using a continuity correction, and the significance level was set to p<0.05. And the medical diagnosis and findings of the examiner (doctor in charge) before and after the experiment were described. Results : KVSS was significant as 0.2±0.5 and 9.0±0.0 before and after the experiment. There was no significant difference between the voice acoustic test FO and Jitter, the vocal aerodynamic test MPT, SP, AE, the vocal disorder index test, and the auditory perception test. However, the medical diagnosis findings of four study subjects showed that olfactory disorders, voice disorders, and laryngeal function were improved before and after the application of ABMQT. Conclusions : The breathing meditation qigong program showed significant effects on improving the olfactory disorders (anosmia) and speech function of each study subject. However, to produce meaningful results, it is thought that experiments involving a larger number of research participants are necessary, and additional blood and FMRI tests are conducted to verify metabolic activities and the olfactory neuron signal transmission system.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2009

Purpose: Recently, most hospitals are introducing the PACS system and use of the system continues to expand. But small-scaled PACS called MicroPACS has already been in use through open source programs. The aim of this study is to prove utility of operating a MicroPACS, as a substitute back-up device for conventional storage media like CDs and DVDs, in addition to the full-PACS already in use. This study contains the way of setting up a MicroPACS with open source programs and assessment of its storage capability, stability, compatibility and performance of operations such as "retrieve", "query". Materials and Methods: 1. To start with, we searched open source software to correspond with the following standards to establish MicroPACS, (1) It must be available in Windows Operating System. (2) It must be free ware. (3) It must be compatible with PET/CT scanner. (4) It must be easy to use. (5) It must not be limited of storage capacity. (6) It must have DICOM supporting. 2. (1) To evaluate availability of data storage, we compared the time spent to back up data in the open source software with the optical discs (CDs and DVD-RAMs), and we also compared the time needed to retrieve data with the system and with optical discs respectively. (2) To estimate work efficiency, we measured the time spent to find data in CDs, DVD-RAMs and MicroPACS. 7 technologists participated in this study. 3. In order to evaluate stability of the software, we examined whether there is a data loss during the system is maintained for a year. Comparison object; How many errors occurred in randomly selected data of 500 CDs. Result: 1. We chose the Conquest DICOM Server among 11 open source software used MySQL as a database management system. 2. (1) Comparison of back up and retrieval time (min) showed the result of the following: DVD-RAM (5.13,2.26)/Conquest DICOM Server (1.49,1.19) by GE DSTE (p<0.001), CD (6.12,3.61)/Conquest (0.82,2.23) by GE DLS (p<0.001), CD (5.88,3.25)/Conquest (1.05,2.06) by SIEMENS. (2) The wasted time (sec) to find some data is as follows: CD ($156{\pm}46$), DVD-RAM ($115{\pm}21$) and Conquest DICOM Server ($13{\pm}6$). 3. There was no data loss (0%) for a year and it was stored 12741 PET/CT studies in 1.81 TB memory. In case of CDs, On the other hand, 14 errors among 500 CDs (2.8%) is generated. Conclusions: We found that MicroPACS could be set up with the open source software and its performance was excellent. The system built with open source proved more efficient and more robust than back-up process using CDs or DVD-RAMs. We believe that the operation of the MicroPACS would be effective data storage device as long as its operators develop and systematize it.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.3642-3654
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• 1975

The purpose of this thesis is to derive a unit hydrograph which may be applied to the ungaged watershed area from the relations between directly measurable unitgraph properties such as peak discharge(qp), time to peak discharge (Tp), and lag time (Lg) and watershed characteristics such as river length(L) from the given station to the upstream limits of the watershed area in km, river length from station to centroid of gravity of the watershed area in km (Lca), and main stream slope in meter per km (S). Other procedure based on routing a time-area diagram through catchment storage named Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph(IUH). Dimensionless unitgraph also analysed in brief. The basic data (1969 to 1973) used in these studies are 9 recording level gages and rating curves, 41 rain gages and pluviographs, and 40 observed unitgraphs through the 9 sub watersheds in Nak Oong River basin. The results summarized in these studies are as follows; 1. Time in hour from start of rise to peak rate (Tp) generally occured at the position of 0.3Tb (time base of hydrograph) with some indication of higher values for larger watershed. The base flow is comparelatively higher than the other small watershed area. 2. Te losses from rainfall were divided into initial loss and continuing loss. Initial loss may be defined as that portion of storm rainfall which is intercepted by vegetation, held in deppression storage or infiltrated at a high rate early in the storm and continuing loss is defined as the loss which continues at a constant rate throughout the duration of the storm after the initial loss has been satisfied. Tis continuing loss approximates the nearly constant rate of infiltration (${\Phi}$-index method). The loss rate from this analysis was estimated 50 Per cent to the rainfall excess approximately during the surface runoff occured. 3. Stream slope seems approximate, as is usual, to consider the mainstreamonly, not giving any specific consideration to tributary. It is desirable to develop a single measure of slope that is representative of the who1e stream. The mean slope of channel increment in 1 meter per 200 meters and 1 meter per 1400 meters were defined at Gazang and Jindong respectively. It is considered that the slopes are low slightly in the light of other river studies. Flood concentration rate might slightly be low in the Nak Dong river basin. 4. It found that the watershed lag (Lg, hrs) could be expressed by Lg=0.253 (L.Lca)0.4171 The product L.Lca is a measure of the size and shape of the watershed. For the logarithms, the correlation coefficient for Lg was 0.97 which defined that Lg is closely related with the watershed characteristics, L and Lca. 5. Expression for basin might be expected to take form containing theslope as {{{{ { L}_{g }=0.545 {( { L. { L}_{ca } } over { SQRT {s} } ) }^{0.346 } }}}} For the logarithms, the correlation coefficient for Lg was 0.97 which defined that Lg is closely related with the basin characteristics too. It should be needed to take care of analysis which relating to the mean slopes 6. Peak discharge per unit area of unitgraph for standard duration tr, ㎥/sec/$\textrm{km}^2$, was given by qp=10-0.52-0.0184Lg with a indication of lower values for watershed contrary to the higher lag time. For the logarithms, the correlation coefficient qp was 0.998 which defined high sign ificance. The peak discharge of the unitgraph for an area could therefore be expected to take the from Qp=qp. A(㎥/sec). 7. Using the unitgraph parameter Lg, the base length of the unitgraph, in days, was adopted as {{{{ {T}_{b } =0.73+2.073( { { L}_{g } } over {24 } )}}}} with high significant correlation coefficient, 0.92. The constant of the above equation are fixed by the procedure used to separate base flow from direct runoff. 8. The width W75 of the unitgraph at discharge equal to 75 per cent of the peak discharge, in hours and the width W50 at discharge equal to 50 Per cent of the peak discharge in hours, can be estimated from {{{{ { W}_{75 }= { 1.61} over { { q}_{b } ^{1.05 } } }}}} and {{{{ { W}_{50 }= { 2.5} over { { q}_{b } ^{1.05 } } }}}} respectively. This provides supplementary guide for sketching the unitgraph. 9. Above equations define the three factors necessary to construct the unitgraph for duration tr. For the duration tR, the lag is LgR=Lg+0.2(tR-tr) and this modified lag, LgRis used in qp and Tb It the tr happens to be equal to or close to tR, further assume qpR=qp. 10. Triangular hydrograph is a dimensionless unitgraph prepared from the 40 unitgraphs. The equation is shown as {{{{ { q}_{p } = { K.A.Q} over { { T}_{p } } }}}} or {{{{ { q}_{p } = { 0.21A.Q} over { { T}_{p } } }}}} The constant 0.21 is defined to Nak Dong River basin. 11. The base length of the time-area diagram for the IUH routing is {{{{C=0.9 {( { L. { L}_{ca } } over { SQRT { s} } ) }^{1/3 } }}}}. Correlation coefficient for C was 0.983 which defined a high significance. The base length of the T-AD was set to equal the time from the midpoint of rain fall excess to the point of contraflexure. The constant K, derived in this studies is K=8.32+0.0213 {{{{ { L} over { SQRT { s} } }}}} with correlation coefficient, 0.964. 12. In the light of the results analysed in these studies, average errors in the peak discharge of the Synthetic unitgraph, Triangular unitgraph, and IUH were estimated as 2.2, 7.7 and 6.4 per cent respectively to the peak of observed average unitgraph. Each ordinate of the Synthetic unitgraph was approached closely to the observed one.