• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2024

Individuals with visual impairments face numerous challenges in their daily lives, with navigating streets and public spaces being particularly daunting. The inability to identify safe crossing locations and assess the feasibility of crossing significantly restricts their mobility and independence. Globally, an estimated 285 million people suffer from visual impairment, with 39 million categorized as blind and 246 million as visually impaired, according to the World Health Organization. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are approximately 159 thousand blind individuals, as per unofficial statistics. The profound impact of visual impairments on daily activities underscores the urgent need for solutions to improve mobility and enhance safety. This study aims to address this pressing issue by leveraging computer vision and deep learning techniques to enhance object detection capabilities. Two models were trained to detect objects: one focused on street crossing obstacles, and the other aimed to search for objects. The first model was trained on a dataset comprising 5283 images of road obstacles and traffic signals, annotated to create a labeled dataset. Subsequently, it was trained using the YOLOv8 and YOLOv5 models, with YOLOv5 achieving a satisfactory accuracy of 84%. The second model was trained on the COCO dataset using YOLOv5, yielding an impressive accuracy of 94%. By improving object detection capabilities through advanced technology, this research seeks to empower individuals with visual impairments, enhancing their mobility, independence, and overall quality of life.

• Journal of Advanced Technology Convergence
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.47-56
• /
• 2024

This study analyzes the field practicum experiences of adult learners in social welfare and discusses areas for improvement. The field practicum is an essential process and training course for becoming a social worker. Through the practicum experience, learners gain a valuable opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world settings and understand their future roles as prospective social workers. However, if the field practicum does not adequately reflect the characteristics of adult learners, it may be difficult to ensure a successful practicum experience. For adult learners to successfully complete their social welfare practicum, integrated and consistent support from both the university and practicum institutions is essential. In particular, the challenges adult learners may face, such as difficulties in time management, psychological stress, and the gap between theory and practice, must be addressed. Most importantly, thorough preparation before the practicum is necessary to ensure success.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.267-273
• /
• 2024

Helicobacter pylori infection is often acquired in early childhood. While most infected children remain asymptomatic, H. pylori can cause chronic gastritis, gastric ulceration, and, in the long term, gastric cancer. This article aimed to review different diagnostic and treatment options and discuss the challenges associated with applying the current guidelines in the real world. Relevant articles published from 2015 to August 2023 in the English language in PubMed and Medline electronic databases were extracted using subject headings and keywords of interest to the topic. References of interest in the selected articles were also considered. Invasive and noninvasive diagnostic tests have advantages but also disadvantages and limitations according to the clinical setting and age of the child. Guidelines recommend not performing diagnostic testing in children with long-lasting or recurrent abdominal complaints or cases of a family history of severe disease caused by H. pylori. However, parents regularly consult with the explicit demand to test for H. pylori because of them or a close family member experiencing severe gastric disease caused by H. pylori. In some situations, it may be challenging for the healthcare professional to stick to evidence-based guidelines and not consider "patient-centered care," with the risk of putting a trustful relationship in danger. Physicians may find it challenging not to perform diagnostic tests for H. pylori and prescribe eradication treatment in specific clinical settings when maintaining a trusting patientphysician relationship by applying this "patient-centered care" method when evidence-based guidelines recommend differently.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.429-436
• /
• 2024

As Large Language Models (LLMs) continue to advance, effectively harnessing their potential has become increasingly important. LLMs, trained on vast datasets, are capable of generating text across a wide range of topics, making them useful in applications such as content creation, machine translation, and chatbots. However, they often face challenges in generalization due to gaps in specific or specialized knowledge, and updating these models with the latest information post-training remains a significant hurdle. To address these issues, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models have been introduced. These models enhance response generation by retrieving information from continuously updated external databases, thereby reducing the hallucination phenomenon often seen in LLMs while improving efficiency and accuracy. This paper presents the foundational architecture of RAG, reviews recent research trends aimed at enhancing the retrieval capabilities of LLMs through RAG, and discusses evaluation techniques. Additionally, it explores performance optimization and real-world applications of RAG in various industries. Through this analysis, the paper aims to propose future research directions for the continued development of RAG models.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.453-465
• /
• 2017

UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, a set of 17 objectives with 169 targets expected to guide actions over the next 15 years (2016-2030). One goal expressly focuses on the oceans, that is, SDG 14 'Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development'. More than 30% of fish stocks worldwide were classified by FAO(2016) as overfished. Globally, world capture fisheries are near the ocean's productive capacity with catches on the order of 80 million metric tons. Aquaculture production is increasing rapidly and is expected to continue to increase, but aquaculture encounters some environmental challenges, including potential pollution, competition with wild fishery resources, potential contamination of gene pools, disease problems, and loss of habitat. Accordingly, there have been a variety of world organization and conferences stressing the importance of the implementation of the ecosystem-based fisheries management(EBFM) to overcome these problems. Annual catch of Korean fisheries have shown continuously declining patterns since late 1990s. Most fish stocks are currently known to be over-exploited, and some stocks are depleted due to the increase in fishing intensity and over-capitalization of fishing fleets. Other reasons for the depletion are land reclamations and coastal pollution, which destroy spawning and nursery grounds along the coastal regions. Aquaculture production is also increasing rapidly in Korea. However, several important issues such as gene pool and interaction with capture fisheries should be considered. The EBFM approach should use the best available information coupled with a reasonable application of the precautionary approach. The EBFM has global relevance, and so the real challenge will be to develop and use reliable, robust and cost-effective means of assessing and monitoring the status of ecosystems and their resources, and rapid means of detecting any undesirable and excessive impacts that threaten sustainable use. Future fisheries education should take into account UN's SDGs, which were adopted to achieve the global 2030 agenda. However, there are some difficulties in the current fisheries education system in Korea. First, the current education organizations are limited within the old frame of traditional fisheries sciences. Second, the fisheries education is currently lack of the future-oriented education system and of customized schools or departments. Third, the on-going fisheries education has been based upon few educational policies which are sufficiently relevant to holistic SDGs of the global standard. Accordingly, directions to modern fisheries education for achieving SDGs would be, first, the transition of fisheries education structure into the future-oriented and customized education system. Second, fisheries education needs to shift to the new paradigm, which combines traditional fisheries science education with related fields such as oceanography and environmental sciences to adopt the concept of EBFM. Lastly, fisheries education should accompany relevant policies for effectively achieving SDGs.

• Strategy21
• /
• s.39
• /
• pp.5-46
• /
• 2016

North Korea's 4th nuclear test on Jan. 6 and following developments once again awakened the world into seriousness of the nuclear matters on the Korean peninsula. On March 2, UNSC adopted Resolution 2270 which is complemented by Seoul government's measures such as withdrawal from the Gaesung Industrial Complex (Feb. 9) and announcement of unilateral sanction (March 8). Seoul government also strongly urged the international community to strangle North Korea's 'financial resources.' The U.S., Japan, China, and other countries have issued unilateral sanctions to complement the UNSC measure. South Korea and the U.S. conducted their annual joint military drill (Resolve-Foal Eagle) in the largest-ever scale. North Korea, however, responded with demonstration of its nuclear capabilities and announcement of de facto 'nuclear-first' politics. North Korea test-fired a variety of delivery vehicles, threatened nuclear strikes against South Korea and the U.S., and declared itself as an 'invincible nuclear power armed with hydrogen bombs' at the 7th Workers 'Party Congress held in May, 2016. Considering the circumstantial evidences, the North's 4th nuclear test may have been a successful boosted fission bomb test. North Korea, and, if allowed to go on with its nuclear programs, will become a nuclear power armed with more than 50 nuclear weapons including hydrogen bombs. The North is already conducting nuclear blackmail strategy towards South Korea, and must be developing 'nuclear use' strategies. Accordingly, the most pressing challenge for the international community is to bring the North to 'real dialogue for denuclearization through powerful and consistent sanctions. Of course, China's cooperation is the key to success. In this situation, South Korea has urgent challenges on diplomacy and security fronts. A diplomatic challenge is how to lead China, which had shown dual attitudes between 'pressure and connivance' towards the North's nuclear matters pursuant to its military relations with the U.S, to participate in the sanctions consistently. A military one is how to offset the 'nuclear shadow effects' engendered by the North's nuclear blackmail and prevent its purposeful and non-purposeful use of nuclear weapons. Though South Korea's Ministry of Defense is currently spending a large portion of defense finance on preemption (kill-chain) and missile defense, they pose 'high cost and low efficiency' problems. For a 'low cost and high efficiency' of deterrence, South Korea needs to switch to a 'retaliation-centered' deterrence strategy. Though South Korea's response to the North's nuclear threat can theoretically be boiled down into dialogue, sanction and deterrence, now is the time to concentrate on strong sanction and determined deterrence since they are an inevitable mandatory course to destroy the North' nuclear-first delusion and bring it to a 'real denuclearization dialogue.'

• Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.351-357
• /
• 2018

This study is on the elderly people's use and experience of a wearable device. By using wearable device, the elderly can monitor their health data at real time. As a result, their motivation for health care, exercise, and so on can improve and enhance. Across the globe, population aging becomes one of the most important problems in each nation. The social and economic burden from aging is one of most serious challenges to sustainability of the world and its economy, including South Korea. Information Communication Technology including wearable device can help the elderly health care improve. In 2016, the number of wearable devices is more than 19 million. Many of them are the devices related to health data monitoring. In the experiment, the authors measure real time health data from the subjects' wearable devices. In the first experiment day, subjects' average waist size was 36.29 inches. In the final experiment day, 31st day later from start of the experiment, the average waist size was 35.51 inches. At the beginning of the experiment, standard deviation was 1.93. At the final day of the experiment, it was 2.24. In regression analysis, when experiment day extends, average waist size seems to decrease. The trend is significant (t=2.719, p<0.05). That result may mean the subjects' motivation for health care improve. Wearable device can increase the elderly people's motivation for health care and exercise. As a result, their health can improve.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2024

A cyber-physical system is a technology that connects the physical systems of a manufacturing environment with a cyber space to enable simulation. One of the major challenges in this technology is the seamless communication between these two environments. In complex manufacturing processes, it is crucial to adapt to various protocols of manufacturing equipment and ensure the transmission and reception of a large volume of data without delays or errors. In this study, we propose a method for constructing agent models for real-time simulation-capable cyberphysical systems. To achieve this, we design data collection units as independent agent models and effectively integrate them with existing simulation tools to develop the overall system architecture. To validate the proposed structure and ensure reliability, we conducted empirical testing by integrating various equipment from a real-world smart microfactory system to assess the data collection capabilities. The experiments involved testing data delay and data gaps related to data collection cycles. As a result, the proposed approach demonstrates flexibility by enabling the application of various internal data collection methods and accommodating different data formats and communication protocols for various equipment with relatively low communication delays. Consequently, it is expected that this approach will promote innovation in the manufacturing industry, enhance production line efficiency, and contribute to cost savings in maintenance.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2019

Purpose - Media is a significant distributional channel in sport. In terms of determining the influencer in building sport media contents, recent sport media studies have employed agenda-setting theory, assuming media itself as the agenda provider. In a real-world situation, however, sports stars have been deemed key factor determining distribution contents in sport. The starting point of this study is the "tacit premise" of agenda-setting theory. Given the agenda-setting theory, the current study attempted to explore the function of sport stars as an agenda provider, which is a key determinant of sport distribution. Research design, data, and methodology - This study has reviewed articles of Yuna Kim, Sang-hwa Lee, and Hyun-jin Ryu from daily newspapers including as dong-a ilbo and joongang ilbo (2013 to 2017). The study collected data, portable document format (PDF), from the online archive of dong-a ilbo and joongang ilbo. We coded the length of the article, the frequency, the size of the picture, and the structural form of the article. Inter-coder reliability was compared with data previously investigated by the researcher. Inter-coder reliabilities for study 1 and 2 was .89 and .85. To examine hypotheses, descriptive analysis, correlations, and cross-tap analysis were performed. Results - The results partially supported the hypotheses proposing the significant role of sports stars as the agenda setters in distributing sport media contents. In specific, the study found that the number of articles about sports stars prevailed the number of articles about regular athletes. Besides, studies found that the use of photos was more frequent in articles of sports starts than that of regular athletes. In sports newspaper articles, featured story articles were used more than straight-articles for news relating to sports stars. Also, sports newspaper of sports stars contained more information associated within an event rather than outside of an event. Conclusions - In sports journalism, this study challenges the current theory that the media affects the composition and the content of sports coverages. As the principle of the agenda-setting of sports media, the influence of sports stars must be continuously studied along with a follow-up study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.630-637
• /
• 2018

Harmony search (HS) is a recently developed metaheuristic optimization algorithm. HS is inspired by the process of musical improvisation and repeatedly searches for the optimal solution using three operations: random selection, memory recall (or harmony memory consideration), and pitch adjustment. HS has been applied by many researchers in various fields. The increasing complexity of real-world optimization problems has created enormous challenges for the current technique, and improved techniques of optimization algorithms and HS are required. We propose an improved clustering harmony search (ICHS) that uses a clustering technique to group solutions in harmony memory based on their objective function values. The proposed ICHS performs modified harmony memory consideration in which decision variables of solutions in a high-ranked cluster have higher probability of being selected than those in a low-ranked cluster. The ICHS is demonstrated in various optimization problems, including mathematical benchmark functions and water distribution system pipe design problems. The results show that the proposed ICHS outperforms other improved versions of HS.