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H.264/SVC Spatial Scalability Coding based Terrestrial Multi-channel Hybrid HD Broadcasting Service Framework and Performance Analysis on H.264/SVC (H.264/SVC 공간 계위 부호화 기반 지상파 다채널 하이브리드 고화질 방송 서비스 프레임워크 및 H.264/SVC 부호화 성능 평가)

  • Kim, Dae-Eun;Lee, Bum-Shik;Kim, Mun-Churl;Kim, Byung-Sun;Hahm, Sang-Jin;Lee, Keun-Sik
    • Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.640-658
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    • 2012
  • One of the existing terrestrial multi-channel DTV service frameworks, called KoreaView, provides four programs, composed of MPEG-2 based one HD video and H.264/AVC based three SD videos within one single 6MHz frequency bandwidth. However the additional 3 SD videos can not provide enough quality due to its reduced spatial resolution and low target bitrates. In this paper, we propose a framework, which is called a terrestrial multi-channel high quality hybrid DTV service, to overcome such a weakness of KoreaView services. In the proposed framework, the three additional SD videos are encoded based on an H.264/SVC Spatial Base layer, which is compliant with H.264/AVC, and are delivered via broadcasting networks. On the other hand, and the corresponding three additional HD videos are encoded based on an H.264/SVC Spatial Enhancement layer, which are transmitted over broadband networks such as Internet, thus allowing the three additional videos for users with better quality of experience. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed framework, various experimental results are provided for real video contents being used for DTV services. First, the experimental results show that, when the SD sequences are encoded by the H.264/SVC Spatial Base layer at a target bitrate of 1.5Mbps, the resulting PSNR values are ranged from 34.5dB to 42.9dB, which is a sufficient level of service quality. Also it is noted that 690kbps-8,200kbps are needed for the HD test sequences when they are encoded in the H.264/SVC Spatial Enhancement layer at similar PSNR values for the same HD sequences encoded by MPEG-2 at a target bitrate of 12 Mbps.

The Feasibility Study of MRI-based Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Using Look Up Table (Look Up Table을 이용한 자기공명영상 기반 방사선 치료계획의 타당성 분석 연구)

  • Kim, Shin-Wook;Shin, Hun-Joo;Lee, Young-Kyu;Seo, Jae-Hyuk;Lee, Gi-Woong;Park, Hyeong-Wook;Lee, Jae-Choon;Kim, Ae-Ran;Kim, Ji-Na;Kim, Myong-Ho;Kay, Chul-Seung;Jang, Hong-Seok;Kang, Young-Nam
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.237-242
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    • 2013
  • In the intracranial regions, an accurate delineation of the target volume has been difficult with only the CT data due to poor soft tissue contrast of CT images. Therefore, the magnetic resonance images (MRI) for the delineation of the target volumes were widely used. To calculate dose distributions with MRI-based RTP, the electron density (ED) mapping concept from the diagnostic CT images and the pseudo CT concept from the MRI were introduced. In this study, the look up table (LUT) from the fifteen patients' diagnostic brain MRI images was created to verify the feasibility of MRI-based RTP. The dose distributions from the MRI-based calculations were compared to the original CT-based calculation. One MRI set has ED information from LUT (lMRI). Another set was generated with voxel values assigned with a homogeneous density of water (wMRI). A simple plan with a single anterior 6MV one portal was applied to the CT, lMRI, and wMRI. Depending on the patient's target geometry for the 3D conformal plan, 6MV photon beams and from two to five gantry portals were used. The differences of the dose distribution and DVH between the lMRI based and CT-based plan were smaller than the wMRI-based plan. The dose difference of wMRI vs. lMRI was measured as 91 cGy vs. 57 cGy at maximum dose, 74 cGt vs. 42 cGy at mean dose, and 94 cGy vs. 53 at minimum dose. The differences of maximum dose, minimum dose, and mean dose of the wMRI-based plan were lower than the lMRI-based plan, because the air cavity was not calculated in the wMRI-based plan. These results prove the feasibility of the lMRI-based planning for brain tumor radiation therapy.

Development of a complex failure prediction system using Hierarchical Attention Network (Hierarchical Attention Network를 이용한 복합 장애 발생 예측 시스템 개발)

  • Park, Youngchan;An, Sangjun;Kim, Mintae;Kim, Wooju
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.4
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    • pp.127-148
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    • 2020
  • The data center is a physical environment facility for accommodating computer systems and related components, and is an essential foundation technology for next-generation core industries such as big data, smart factories, wearables, and smart homes. In particular, with the growth of cloud computing, the proportional expansion of the data center infrastructure is inevitable. Monitoring the health of these data center facilities is a way to maintain and manage the system and prevent failure. If a failure occurs in some elements of the facility, it may affect not only the relevant equipment but also other connected equipment, and may cause enormous damage. In particular, IT facilities are irregular due to interdependence and it is difficult to know the cause. In the previous study predicting failure in data center, failure was predicted by looking at a single server as a single state without assuming that the devices were mixed. Therefore, in this study, data center failures were classified into failures occurring inside the server (Outage A) and failures occurring outside the server (Outage B), and focused on analyzing complex failures occurring within the server. Server external failures include power, cooling, user errors, etc. Since such failures can be prevented in the early stages of data center facility construction, various solutions are being developed. On the other hand, the cause of the failure occurring in the server is difficult to determine, and adequate prevention has not yet been achieved. In particular, this is the reason why server failures do not occur singularly, cause other server failures, or receive something that causes failures from other servers. In other words, while the existing studies assumed that it was a single server that did not affect the servers and analyzed the failure, in this study, the failure occurred on the assumption that it had an effect between servers. In order to define the complex failure situation in the data center, failure history data for each equipment existing in the data center was used. There are four major failures considered in this study: Network Node Down, Server Down, Windows Activation Services Down, and Database Management System Service Down. The failures that occur for each device are sorted in chronological order, and when a failure occurs in a specific equipment, if a failure occurs in a specific equipment within 5 minutes from the time of occurrence, it is defined that the failure occurs simultaneously. After configuring the sequence for the devices that have failed at the same time, 5 devices that frequently occur simultaneously within the configured sequence were selected, and the case where the selected devices failed at the same time was confirmed through visualization. Since the server resource information collected for failure analysis is in units of time series and has flow, we used Long Short-term Memory (LSTM), a deep learning algorithm that can predict the next state through the previous state. In addition, unlike a single server, the Hierarchical Attention Network deep learning model structure was used in consideration of the fact that the level of multiple failures for each server is different. This algorithm is a method of increasing the prediction accuracy by giving weight to the server as the impact on the failure increases. The study began with defining the type of failure and selecting the analysis target. In the first experiment, the same collected data was assumed as a single server state and a multiple server state, and compared and analyzed. The second experiment improved the prediction accuracy in the case of a complex server by optimizing each server threshold. In the first experiment, which assumed each of a single server and multiple servers, in the case of a single server, it was predicted that three of the five servers did not have a failure even though the actual failure occurred. However, assuming multiple servers, all five servers were predicted to have failed. As a result of the experiment, the hypothesis that there is an effect between servers is proven. As a result of this study, it was confirmed that the prediction performance was superior when the multiple servers were assumed than when the single server was assumed. In particular, applying the Hierarchical Attention Network algorithm, assuming that the effects of each server will be different, played a role in improving the analysis effect. In addition, by applying a different threshold for each server, the prediction accuracy could be improved. This study showed that failures that are difficult to determine the cause can be predicted through historical data, and a model that can predict failures occurring in servers in data centers is presented. It is expected that the occurrence of disability can be prevented in advance using the results of this study.

Biotope Mapping of Pinus densiflora Based on Growth Environment of Tricholoma matsutake - A Case Study of Yangyang-gun, Kang Won-do - (송이 생육환경 특성을 고려한 소나무비오톱지도 작성 연구 - 강원도 양양군을 사례로 -)

  • Han, Bong-Ho;Park, Seok-Cheol;Kwak, Jeong-In;Kim, Bo-Hyun;Lee, Kyong-Jae
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.211-226
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this paper was to ensure the basis for effective management of Tricholoma matsutake mountain province, to perform biotope mapping of Pinus densiflora based on growth environment of Tricholoma matsutake, target a cluster of Yangyang-gun, Kang Won-do. Study Methods were to review on growth and environmental characteristics of Tricholoma matsutake through internal and external documents and to identify vegetational structure and soil characteristics. This paper studied growth structure and soil environment of Pinus densiflora forest where a farm of production area for Tricholoma matsutake of in order to set the standard of Pinus densiflora biotope. Mapping standards were derived by separating of landform conditions, soil conditions, vegetation conditions. Biotope types were divided into possible production area for Tricholoma matsutake and potential production area for Tricholoma matsutake, possible production area for Tricholoma matsutake were Pinus densiflora biotope in landform and soil structure that enables Tricholoma matsutake production and Single-layered Pinus densiflora biotope of less than 30cm(DBH)-Tree species that other shrub is dominant in shrub layer, Multi-layered Pinus densiflora biotope that Pinus densiflora forest was predominant in understrory layer. Potential production area for Tricholoma matsutake were single-layered Pinus densiflora biotope of more than 30cm(DBH) in landform that enables Tricholoma matsutake production, Pinus densiflora biotope with Quercus predominant in the understrory layer, single-layered Pinus densiflora biotope with Quercus predominant in shrub layer, inappropriate vegetation structure area that the induction of production of Tricholoma matsutake was possible through future vegetation management. According to the research results, Pinus densiflora forest were divided into 16 types; 6 types of possible Tricholoma matsutake production areas, 9 potential Tricholoma matsutake production areas and 16 types of areas where Tricholoma matsutake production was impossible. Possible production areas account for 15.48%, or $9.8km^2$ out of the total Pinus densiflora forest while potential production areas take up 32.42%, or $20.52km^2$, and areas where Tricholoma matsutake production was impossible was 52.10%, or $32.97km^2$.

Development and Validation of Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction to Determine Squid Species Based on 16s rRNA Gene (오징어류 종 판별을 위한 다중 유전자 검사법 개발 및 검증)

  • Kim, Hyunsu;Seo, Yong Bae;Choi, Seong-Seok;Kim, Jin-Hee;Shin, Jiyoung;Yang, Ji-Young;Kim, Gun-Do
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.43-50
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    • 2015
  • In this study, single PCR and multiplex PCR tests were examined for identification of four types of squid species (giant squid, cuttlefish, octopus, beka squid) purchased from fish market as well as aquatic processed products in Busan. To design the specific primers against each species, the nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial 16s rRNA gene of Architeuthis dux, Todarodes pacificus, Enteroctopus dofleini, Enteroctopus megalocyathus, Uroteuthis chinensis, Uroteuthis duvauceli, Uroteuthis edulis groups were analyzed for the identification of each species registered in the GeneBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and have been used for comparative analysis. In order to obtain the size variation of amplified fragments on multiplex PCR, we designed KOJ-F, OJ-F, OCT-F, HAN-F, ALLR primers for each species. The optimal PCR conditions and primers were selected for four types of squid species to determine target base sequences in its PCR products. In the case of single PCR, giant squid was only amplified by KOJ-F/ALLR primer; cuttlefish was only amplified by OJ-F/ALLR primer; octopus was only amplified by OCT-F/ALLR primer; and beka squid was only amplified by HAN-F/ALLR primer. For multiplex PCR, the mixture of four kinds of genomic DNA (giant squid, cuttlefish, octopus, beka squid) been prepared as a template and used together with the mixture of KOJ-F/OJ-F/OCT-F/HAN-F/ALLR primers in the reaction. By the multiplex PCR, it is confirmed that four samples are correspond to multiple simultaneous amplicon. Finally, we validated the established methods of multiplex PCR in the aquatic processed products. Although the mitochondrial 16s rRNA primers used in this study was useful as a marker for detection of each species among them, the study indicated that the established multiplex PCR method can be more useful tool for monitoring the processed products.

Sex Pheromone Trapping of Spodoptera frugiperda (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) in Korea and the Distribution of Intraspecies-specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit 1 (CO1) (성페로몬을 이용한 열대거세미나방 포획과 시토크롬 옥시다제 1(CO1)에서 종내 변이군 특이적 단일염기다형성 분포)

  • Seo, Bo Yoon;Jung, Jin Kyo;Lee, Gwan-Seok;Yang, Chang Yeol;Cho, Jumrae;Kim, Yang Pyo
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
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    • v.59 no.3
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    • pp.217-231
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    • 2020
  • In 2019, the sex pheromones of Spodoptera frugiperda were used to examine moth trapping in cornfields in Gochang, Korea. Four types of traps were prepared, two funnel-types and two delta-types, each baited with 300 or 1000 ㎍ of a two-component (2C) blend of synthetic sex pheromones [100% (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-14Ac) and 2% (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (Z7-12Ac)]. The greatest number of S. frugiperda were captured in the 300 ㎍ funnel-type trap (first catch: August 6). Large numbers of Mythimna loreyi (a non-target) were also caught in the funnel-type traps. Two wing-type traps were baited with 1000 ㎍ of the 2C blend or a four-component (4C) blend [100% (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate, 8% (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16Ac), 2% (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate, and 1% (Z)-9-dodecenyl acetate (Z9-12Ac)] and the capture efficiency was assessed. Low numbers of S. frugiperda were captured regardless of the blend, and more M. loreyi were captured using the 4C blend. The two intraspecies groups clustered separately in a phylogenetic tree constructed using partial sequences (1004 bp) of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1). Of the 70 S. frugiperda captured in the pheromone traps, 66 belonged to CO1-RS (CO1 rice-strain) and 4 to CO1-CS (CO1 corn-strain). Twelve consistent single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in CO1 between the CO1-RS and CO1-CS groups of S. frugiperda. Of the 73 S. frugiperda, 4 had the same SNP pattern as the CO1-CS group (including the corn strain) and 69 had the same SNP pattern as the CO1-RS group (including the rice strain).

Dosimetric Effect on Selectable Optimization Parameters of Volumatric Modulated Arc Therapy (선택적 최적화 변수(Selectable Optimization Parameters)에 따른 부피적조절회전방사선치료(VMAT)의 선량학적 영향)

  • Jung, Jae-Yong;Shin, Yong-Joo;Sohn, Seung-Chang;Kim, Yeon-Rae;Min, Jung-Wan;Suh, Tae-Suk
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.15-25
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    • 2012
  • The aim of this study is to evaluate plan quality and dose accuracy for Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) on the TG-119 and is to investigate the effects on variation of the selectable optimization parameters of VMAT. VMAT treatment planning was implemented on a Varian iX linear accelerator with ARIA record and verify system (Varian Mecical System Palo Alto, CA) and Oncentra MasterPlan treatment planning system (Nucletron BV, Veenendaal, Netherlands). Plan quality and dosimetric accuracy were evaluated by effect of varying a number of arc, gantry spacing and delivery time for the test geometries provided in TG-119. Plan quality for the target and OAR was evaluated by the mean value and the standard deviation of the Dose Volume Histograms (DVHs). The ionization chamber and $Delta^{4PT}$ bi-planar diode array were used for the dose evaluation. For treatment planning evaluation, all structure sets closed to the goals in the case of single arc, except for the C-shape (hard), and all structure sets achieved the goals in the case of dual arc, except for C-shape (hard). For the variation of a number of arc, the simple structure such as a prostate did not have the difference between single arc and dual arc, whereas the complex structure such as a head and neck showed a superior result in the case of dual arc. The dose distribution with gantry spacing of $4^{\circ}$ was shown better plan quality than the gantry spacing of $6^{\circ}$, but was similar results compared with gantry spacing of $2^{\circ}$. For the verification of dose accuracy with single arc and dual arc, the mean value of a relative error between measured and calculated value were within 3% and 4% for point dose and confidence limit values, respectively. For the verification on dose accuracy with the gantry intervals of $2^{\circ}$, $4^{\circ}$ and $6^{\circ}$, the mean values of relative error were within 3% and 5% for point dose and confidence limit values, respectively. In the verification of dose distribution with $Delta^{4PT}$ bi-planar diode array, gamma passing rate was $98.72{\pm}1.52%$ and $98.3{\pm}1.5%$ for single arc and dual arc, respectively. The confidence limit values were within 4%. The smaller the gantry spacing, the more accuracy results were shown. In this study, we performed the VMAT QA based on TG-119 procedure, and demonstrated that all structure sets were satisfied with acceptance criteria. And also, the results for the selective optimization variables informed the importance of selection for the suitable variables according to the clinical cases.

A Store Recommendation Procedure in Ubiquitous Market for User Privacy (U-마켓에서의 사용자 정보보호를 위한 매장 추천방법)

  • Kim, Jae-Kyeong;Chae, Kyung-Hee;Gu, Ja-Chul
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.123-145
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    • 2008
  • Recently, as the information communication technology develops, the discussion regarding the ubiquitous environment is occurring in diverse perspectives. Ubiquitous environment is an environment that could transfer data through networks regardless of the physical space, virtual space, time or location. In order to realize the ubiquitous environment, the Pervasive Sensing technology that enables the recognition of users' data without the border between physical and virtual space is required. In addition, the latest and diversified technologies such as Context-Awareness technology are necessary to construct the context around the user by sharing the data accessed through the Pervasive Sensing technology and linkage technology that is to prevent information loss through the wired, wireless networking and database. Especially, Pervasive Sensing technology is taken as an essential technology that enables user oriented services by recognizing the needs of the users even before the users inquire. There are lots of characteristics of ubiquitous environment through the technologies mentioned above such as ubiquity, abundance of data, mutuality, high information density, individualization and customization. Among them, information density directs the accessible amount and quality of the information and it is stored in bulk with ensured quality through Pervasive Sensing technology. Using this, in the companies, the personalized contents(or information) providing became possible for a target customer. Most of all, there are an increasing number of researches with respect to recommender systems that provide what customers need even when the customers do not explicitly ask something for their needs. Recommender systems are well renowned for its affirmative effect that enlarges the selling opportunities and reduces the searching cost of customers since it finds and provides information according to the customers' traits and preference in advance, in a commerce environment. Recommender systems have proved its usability through several methodologies and experiments conducted upon many different fields from the mid-1990s. Most of the researches related with the recommender systems until now take the products or information of internet or mobile context as its object, but there is not enough research concerned with recommending adequate store to customers in a ubiquitous environment. It is possible to track customers' behaviors in a ubiquitous environment, the same way it is implemented in an online market space even when customers are purchasing in an offline marketplace. Unlike existing internet space, in ubiquitous environment, the interest toward the stores is increasing that provides information according to the traffic line of the customers. In other words, the same product can be purchased in several different stores and the preferred store can be different from the customers by personal preference such as traffic line between stores, location, atmosphere, quality, and price. Krulwich(1997) has developed Lifestyle Finder which recommends a product and a store by using the demographical information and purchasing information generated in the internet commerce. Also, Fano(1998) has created a Shopper's Eye which is an information proving system. The information regarding the closest store from the customers' present location is shown when the customer has sent a to-buy list, Sadeh(2003) developed MyCampus that recommends appropriate information and a store in accordance with the schedule saved in a customers' mobile. Moreover, Keegan and O'Hare(2004) came up with EasiShop that provides the suitable tore information including price, after service, and accessibility after analyzing the to-buy list and the current location of customers. However, Krulwich(1997) does not indicate the characteristics of physical space based on the online commerce context and Keegan and O'Hare(2004) only provides information about store related to a product, while Fano(1998) does not fully consider the relationship between the preference toward the stores and the store itself. The most recent research by Sedah(2003), experimented on campus by suggesting recommender systems that reflect situation and preference information besides the characteristics of the physical space. Yet, there is a potential problem since the researches are based on location and preference information of customers which is connected to the invasion of privacy. The primary beginning point of controversy is an invasion of privacy and individual information in a ubiquitous environment according to researches conducted by Al-Muhtadi(2002), Beresford and Stajano(2003), and Ren(2006). Additionally, individuals want to be left anonymous to protect their own personal information, mentioned in Srivastava(2000). Therefore, in this paper, we suggest a methodology to recommend stores in U-market on the basis of ubiquitous environment not using personal information in order to protect individual information and privacy. The main idea behind our suggested methodology is based on Feature Matrices model (FM model, Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003) that uses clusters of customers' similar transaction data, which is similar to the Collaborative Filtering. However unlike Collaborative Filtering, this methodology overcomes the problems of personal information and privacy since it is not aware of the customer, exactly who they are, The methodology is compared with single trait model(vector model) such as visitor logs, while looking at the actual improvements of the recommendation when the context information is used. It is not easy to find real U-market data, so we experimented with factual data from a real department store with context information. The recommendation procedure of U-market proposed in this paper is divided into four major phases. First phase is collecting and preprocessing data for analysis of shopping patterns of customers. The traits of shopping patterns are expressed as feature matrices of N dimension. On second phase, the similar shopping patterns are grouped into clusters and the representative pattern of each cluster is derived. The distance between shopping patterns is calculated by Projected Pure Euclidean Distance (Shahabi and Banaei-Kashani, 2003). Third phase finds a representative pattern that is similar to a target customer, and at the same time, the shopping information of the customer is traced and saved dynamically. Fourth, the next store is recommended based on the physical distance between stores of representative patterns and the present location of target customer. In this research, we have evaluated the accuracy of recommendation method based on a factual data derived from a department store. There are technological difficulties of tracking on a real-time basis so we extracted purchasing related information and we added on context information on each transaction. As a result, recommendation based on FM model that applies purchasing and context information is more stable and accurate compared to that of vector model. Additionally, we could find more precise recommendation result as more shopping information is accumulated. Realistically, because of the limitation of ubiquitous environment realization, we were not able to reflect on all different kinds of context but more explicit analysis is expected to be attainable in the future after practical system is embodied.

Dosimetric Influence of Implanted Gold Markers in Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer (전립선암에 대한 양성자치료에서 금마커에 의한 방사선 선량분포의 영향)

  • Kwak, Jung-Won;Shin, Jung-Wook;Kim, Jin-Sung;Park, Sung-Yong;Shin, Dong-Ho;Yoon, Myong-Geun;Park, So-Ah;Kim, Dong-Wook;Lim, Young-Gyeung;Lee, Se-Byeong
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.291-297
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    • 2010
  • This study examined the dosimetric influence of implanted gold markers in proton therapy and the effects of their positions in the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) proton beam. The implanted cylindrical gold markers were 3 mm long and 1.2 mm in diameter. The dosimetric influence of the gold markers was determined with markers at various locations in a proton-beam field. Spatial dose distributions were measured using a three-dimensional moving water phantom and a stereotactic diode detector with an effective diameter of 0.5 mm. Also, a film dosimetry was performed using Gafchromic External Beam Treatment (EBT) film. The GEANT4 simulation toolkit was used for Monte-Carlo simulations to confirm the measurements and to construct the dose-volume histogram with implanting markers. Motion data were obtained from the portal images of 10 patients to investigate the effect of organ motions on the dosimetric influence of markers in the presence of a rectal balloon. The underdosed volume due to a single gold marker, in which the dose was less than 95% of a prescribed amount, was 0.15 cc. The underdosed volume due to the presence of a gold marker is much smaller than the target volume. However, the underdosed volume is inside the gross tumor volume and is not smeared out due to translational prostate motions. The positions of gold markers and the conditions of the proton-beam field give different impacts on the dose distribution of a target with implanted gold markers, and should be considered in all clinical proton-based therapies.

An Empirical Study on How the Moderating Effects of Individual Cultural Characteristics towards a Specific Target Affects User Experience: Based on the Survey Results of Four Types of Digital Device Users in the US, Germany, and Russia (특정 대상에 대한 개인 수준의 문화적 성향이 사용자 경험에 미치는 조절효과에 대한 실증적 연구: 미국, 독일, 러시아의 4개 디지털 기기 사용자를 대상으로)

  • Lee, In-Seong;Choi, Gi-Woong;Kim, So-Lyung;Lee, Ki-Ho;Kim, Jin-Woo
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.113-145
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    • 2009
  • Recently, due to the globalization of the IT(Information Technology) market, devices and systems designed in one country are used in other countries as well. This phenomenon is becoming the key factor for increased interest on cross-cultural, or cross-national, research within the IT area. However, as the IT market is becoming bigger and more globalized, a great number of IT practitioners are having difficulty in designing and developing devices or systems which can provide optimal experience. This is because not only tangible factors such as language and a country's economic or industrial power affect the user experience of a certain device or system but also invisible and intangible factors as well. Among such invisible and intangible factors, the cultural characteristics of users from different countries may affect the user experience of certain devices or systems because cultural characteristics affect how they understand and interpret the devices or systems. In other words, when users evaluate the quality of overall user experience, the cultural characteristics of each user act as a perceptual lens that leads the user to focus on a certain elements of experience. Therefore, there is a need within the IT field to consider cultural characteristics when designing or developing certain devices or systems and plan a strategy for localization. In such an environment, existing IS studies identify the culture with the country, emphasize the importance of culture in a national level perspective, and hypothesize that users within the same country have same cultural characteristics. Under such assumptions, these studies focus on the moderating effects of cultural characteristics on a national level within a certain theoretical framework. This has already been suggested by cross-cultural studies conducted by scholars such as Hofstede(1980) in providing numerical research results and measurement items for cultural characteristics and using such results or items as they increase the efficiency of studies. However, such national level culture has its limitations in forecasting and explaining individual-level behaviors such as voluntary device or system usage. This is because individual cultural characteristics are the outcome of not only the national culture but also the culture of a race, company, local area, family, and other groups that are formulated through interaction within the group. Therefore, national or nationally dominant cultural characteristics may have its limitations in forecasting and explaining the cultural characteristics of an individual. Moreover, past studies in psychology suggest a possibility that there exist different cultural characteristics within a single individual depending on the subject being measured or its context. For example, in relation to individual vs. collective characteristics, which is one of the major cultural characteristics, an individual may show collectivistic characteristics when he or she is with family or friends but show individualistic characteristics in his or her workplace. Therefore, this study acknowledged such limitations of past studies and conducted a research within the framework of 'theoretically integrated model of user satisfaction and emotional attachment', which was developed through a former study, on how the effects of different experience elements on emotional attachment or user satisfaction are differentiated depending on the individual cultural characteristics related to a system or device usage. In order to do this, this study hypothesized the moderating effects of four cultural dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs, collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, and power distance) as suggested by Hofstede(1980) within the theoretically integrated model of emotional attachment and user satisfaction. Statistical tests were then implemented on these moderating effects through conducting surveys with users of four digital devices (mobile phone, MP3 player, LCD TV, and refrigerator) in three countries (US, Germany, and Russia). In order to explain and forecast the behavior of personal device or system users, individual cultural characteristics must be measured, and depending on the target device or system, measurements must be measured independently. Through this suggestion, this study hopes to provide new and useful perspectives for future IS research.