• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.87-100
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• 2009

The quality of early cost estimates is critical to the feasibility analysis and budget allocation decisions for public capital projects. Various researches have been attempted to develop cost prediction models in the early stage of a construction project. However, existing studies are limited on its applicability to actual projects because they focus primarily on a specific phase as well as utilize restricted information while the amount of information collectable differs from one another along with the project stages. This research aims to develop two-staged cost estimation model for the schematic planning and preliminary design process of a construction projects, considering the available information of each phase. In the schematic planning stage where outlined information of a project is only available, the Case-Based Reasoning model is used for easy and rapid elicitation of a project cost based on the extensive database of more than 90 actual highway construction projects. Then, the representing quantity-based model is proposed for the preliminary design stage where more information on the quantities and unit costs are collectable based on the alternative routes and cross-sections of a highway project. Real case studies are used to demonstrate and validate the benefits of the proposed approach. Through the two-stage cost estimation system, users are able to hold a timely prospect to presume the final cost within the budge such that feasibility study as well as budget allocation decisions are made on effectively and competitively.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.460-466
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• 2020

Background Sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) osteomyelitis is a rare pathology requiring urgent intervention. Several operative approaches have been described with conflicting reports. Here, we present a multi-institutional study utilizing multiple surgical pathways for SCJ reconstruction. Methods A multi-institutional retrospective cohort study was conducted to identify patients who underwent surgical repair for sternoclavicular osteomyelitis between 2008 and 2019. Patients were stratified according to reconstruction approach: single-stage reconstruction with advancement flap and delayed-reconstruction with flap following initial debridement. Demographics, operative approach, type of reconstruction, and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. Results Thirty-two patients were identified. Mean patient age was 56.2±13.8 years and 68.8% were male. The average body mass index (BMI) was 30.0±8.8 kg/㎡. The most common infection etiologies were intravenous drug use and bacteremia (both 25%). Fourteen patients (43.8%) underwent one-stage reconstruction and 18 (56.2%) underwent delayed two-staged reconstruction. Both single and delayed-stage groups had comparable rates of reinfection (7.1% vs. 11.1%, respectively), surgical site complications (21.4% vs. 27.8%), readmissions (7.1% vs. 16.6%), and reoperations (7.1% vs. 5.6%; all P>0.05). The single-stage reconstruction group had a significantly lower BMI (26.2±5.7 kg/㎡ vs. 32.9±9.1 kg/㎡; P<0.05) and trended towards shorter hospital length of stay (11.3 days vs. 17.9 days; P=0.01). Conclusions Both single and delayed-stage approaches are appropriate methods with comparable outcomes for reconstruction for SCJ osteomyelitis. When clinically indicated, a single-stage reconstruction approach may be preferable in order to avoid a second operation as associated with the delayed phase, and possibly shortening total hospital length of stay.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.108-112
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• 1999

Background and Purpose : Involvement of supraclavicular Iymph nodes (SCL) is considered distant metastasis for thoracic esophageal carcinoma in AJCC staging system revised in 1997. We investigated significance of SCL involvement compared to other regional Iymph node involvement. Materials and Methods : Two-hundred eighty-nine patients with unresectable esophageal carcinoma were treated with radiation therapy from June of 1979 through December 1992. Of these patients, 25 were identified having SCL involvement. Survival rate and relapse patterns were compared with that of mediastinal and perigastric Iymph node positive patients to evaluate prognostic significance of SCL involvement. Results : Median survival for patients with SCL involvement was 7 months and 2- and 5-year overall survival rates were 12.0$\%$ and 4.0$\%$ respectably. Corresponding features for regional node positive patients were 9 month, 17.0$\%$ and 3.8$\%$. There was no significant difference between two groups. There was also no difference in patterns of recurrence. Conclusions : Results of this analysis showed that SCL involvement should be staged as nodal disease in contrast to present classification of metastatic disease.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.633-637
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate various effects of kinds of culture medium, concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA) or /kinds of osmotica on maturation of somatic embryos (SEs) with four (LL-L, LL-K, LL-P and LL-N) embryogenic tissue lines (ETLs) in Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis). In comparison of two culture medium, the LL-P produced the highest number of the cotyledon-staged SE (134.9/90 mg tissue) in 1/2LM medium. In contrast, no SEs were obtained except the LL-P (32.9) in medium of BLG. Effects of two concentrations of ABA in the medium with four ETL for SEs maturation were also compared. In the test of 60 or 100 ${\mu}M$ ABA, the highest result was obtained in 60 ${\mu}M$ ABA (142.9). However, the influence of ABA had little on SEs production except the LL-N regardless of concentrations of ABA. In comparison of different kinds/concentrations of osmotica, the best response was obtained from the treatment of 0.2 M maltose, the LL-K (540.5). In conclusion, the effects of production of SEs were greatly rely on the ETLs, rather than kinds of medium, concentrations of ABA or osmotica which were used in maturation of SEs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 1993.06a
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• pp.975-976
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• 1993

This talk presents the overview of the author's research and development activities on fuzzy inference hardware. We involved it with two distinct approaches. The first approach is to use application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) technology. The fuzzy inference method is directly implemented in silicon. The second approach, which is in its preliminary stage, is to use more conventional microprocessor architecture. Here, we use a quantitative technique used by designer of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) to modify an architecture of a microprocessor. In the ASIC approach, we implemented the most widely used fuzzy inference mechanism directly on silicon. The mechanism is beaded on a max-min compositional rule of inference, and Mandami's method of fuzzy implication. The two VLSI fuzzy inference chips are designed, fabricated, and fully tested. Both used a full-custom CMOS technology. The second and more claborate chip was designed at the University of North Carolina(U C) in cooperation with MCNC. Both VLSI chips had muliple datapaths for rule digital fuzzy inference chips had multiple datapaths for rule evaluation, and they executed multiple fuzzy if-then rules in parallel. The AT & T chip is the first digital fuzzy inference chip in the world. It ran with a 20 MHz clock cycle and achieved an approximately 80.000 Fuzzy Logical inferences Per Second (FLIPS). It stored and executed 16 fuzzy if-then rules. Since it was designed as a proof of concept prototype chip, it had minimal amount of peripheral logic for system integration. UNC/MCNC chip consists of 688,131 transistors of which 476,160 are used for RAM memory. It ran with a 10 MHz clock cycle. The chip has a 3-staged pipeline and initiates a computation of new inference every 64 cycle. This chip achieved an approximately 160,000 FLIPS. The new architecture have the following important improvements from the AT & T chip: Programmable rule set memory (RAM). On-chip fuzzification operation by a table lookup method. On-chip defuzzification operation by a centroid method. Reconfigurable architecture for processing two rule formats. RAM/datapath redundancy for higher yield It can store and execute 51 if-then rule of the following format: IF A and B and C and D Then Do E, and Then Do F. With this format, the chip takes four inputs and produces two outputs. By software reconfiguration, it can store and execute 102 if-then rules of the following simpler format using the same datapath: IF A and B Then Do E. With this format the chip takes two inputs and produces one outputs. We have built two VME-bus board systems based on this chip for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The board is now installed in a robot at ORNL. Researchers uses this board for experiment in autonomous robot navigation. The Fuzzy Logic system board places the Fuzzy chip into a VMEbus environment. High level C language functions hide the operational details of the board from the applications programme . The programmer treats rule memories and fuzzification function memories as local structures passed as parameters to the C functions. ASIC fuzzy inference hardware is extremely fast, but they are limited in generality. Many aspects of the design are limited or fixed. We have proposed to designing a are limited or fixed. We have proposed to designing a fuzzy information processor as an application specific processor using a quantitative approach. The quantitative approach was developed by RISC designers. In effect, we are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of a specialized RISC processor for fuzzy information processing. As the first step, we measured the possible speed-up of a fuzzy inference program based on if-then rules by an introduction of specialized instructions, i.e., min and max instructions. The minimum and maximum operations are heavily used in fuzzy logic applications as fuzzy intersection and union. We performed measurements using a MIPS R3000 as a base micropro essor. The initial result is encouraging. We can achieve as high as a 2.5 increase in inference speed if the R3000 had min and max instructions. Also, they are useful for speeding up other fuzzy operations such as bounded product and bounded sum. The embedded processor's main task is to control some device or process. It usually runs a single or a embedded processer to create an embedded processor for fuzzy control is very effective. Table I shows the measured speed of the inference by a MIPS R3000 microprocessor, a fictitious MIPS R3000 microprocessor with min and max instructions, and a UNC/MCNC ASIC fuzzy inference chip. The software that used on microprocessors is a simulator of the ASIC chip. The first row is the computation time in seconds of 6000 inferences using 51 rules where each fuzzy set is represented by an array of 64 elements. The second row is the time required to perform a single inference. The last row is the fuzzy logical inferences per second (FLIPS) measured for ach device. There is a large gap in run time between the ASIC and software approaches even if we resort to a specialized fuzzy microprocessor. As for design time and cost, these two approaches represent two extremes. An ASIC approach is extremely expensive. It is, therefore, an important research topic to design a specialized computing architecture for fuzzy applications that falls between these two extremes both in run time and design time/cost. TABLEI INFERENCE TIME BY 51 RULES {{{{Time }}{{MIPS R3000 }}{{ASIC }}{{Regular }}{{With min/mix }}{{6000 inference 1 inference FLIPS }}{{125s 20.8ms 48 }}{{49s 8.2ms 122 }}{{0.0038s 6.4㎲ 156,250 }} }}

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.128-132
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• 2004

Objectives : The total laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer has made patients be afraid of voice loss. Early staged glottic or supraglottic cancer can be treated with conservative laryngeal surgery which preserve voice, though which was not normal voice comparing before. Voice analysis is used to evaluates objectively the quality of the voice in pre- and postoperation, 4 different types of conservative laryngeal surgery : laser cordectomy, supracticoid partial laryngectomy, vertical partial laryngectomy, and supralottic laryngectomy. Materials and Methods : The patients who received conservative laryngeal surgery(laser cordectomy : 23 cases, vertical partial laryngecotmy : 9cases, supracriocoid partial laryngectomy : 6cases, supraglottic laryngectomy : 8cases) from 1995 to 2001 in the Asan medical center. Fundamental frequency(F0), shimmer, jitter, noise to harmony ratio(NHR), maximum comfortable phonation time and subglottic pressure were used as parameters for voice analysis. Results : The patients who received laser cordectomy(shimmer : 5.26${\pm}$1.12%, jitter : 3.33${\pm}$0.42%, NHR : 0.47${\pm}$0.02, MPT : 9.32${\pm}$3.59sec) and supraglottic laryngectomy(shimmer : 4.39${\pm}$1.03%, jitter : 1.49${\pm}$0.14%, NHR : 0.51${\pm}$0.06, MPT : 8.9${\pm}$0.59sec) showed better results than other two procedures, but differed from normal value. Especially the patients who received supracricoid partial laryngectomy(shimmer : 9.23${\pm}$1.56%, jitter : 5.81${\pm}$1.23%, NHR : 5.89${\pm}$1.13, MPT : 6.3${\pm}$1.18sec, MFR : 632${\pm}$89ml/sec) had poorer quality of voice but presented fast functional recovery time, and the subjective symptom was improved as time goes by slowly. Conclusion : The appropriate conservative laryngeal surgery for each cancers and stage can preserve the acceptable voice for patients. Supracricoid partial laryngectomy for T1b glottic cancer can be used for acceptable voice despite its poor voice analysis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.298-310
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• 1976

A clinical analysis was performed on 118 cases of the benign esophageal diseases experienced at Department of Thoracic Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital during 20 year period from 1957 to 1976. Of 118 cases of the benign esophageal diseases, there were 84 patients of esophagenal stenosis, 14 of esophageal perforation, 8 of esophageal atresia, 7 of achalasia, 2 of hiatal hernia, 2 of esophageal foreign body and one of esophageal diverticulum. Fifty-one patients were male and sixty-seven were female, and ages ranged from one day to sixty-four years with peak incidence in the age group of 20 to 29 years. All but one of the esophageal stenosis were caused by corrosive esophagitis and ages ranged from three to sixty-four years with peak incidence in third decade. Main symptoms of the esophageal stenosis were dysphagia, weight loss and chest pain in order and mostly began between one month and one year after ingestion of corrosive agents. Corrosive esophageal stenosis developed most frequently in middle one-third of the esophagus and about one-forth of them were diffuse. Operations were performed on 72 patients of esophageal stenosis of whom 26 patients had esophagocologastrostomy, 21 gastrostomy, 20 esophagogastrostomy, 4 esophagojejunogastrostomy and 2 pharyngogastrostomy. There were 5 deaths in the postoperative period, an operative mortality of 6.9 percent, and 20 patients had one or two complications; eight were anastomotic leaks, 6 gangrenes of replaced loop, 4 wound abscesses and others. The causes of the esophageal perforation were traumatic in 7 cases, caustics in 4 and spontaneous in 3, and the most frequent site of the perforation was lower one-third of the esophagus. Frequent symptoms of the esophageal perforation were pain, fever, dysphagia and dyspnea, and preoperatively there were mediastinitis in 8 cases, empyema in 7, lung abscess in 3 and others. All 14 patients of the esophageal perforation underwent operation: primary closure in 7 cases, drainage in 4, esophagogastrostomy in 2 and 'esophageal diversion in one. There were 4 postoperative deaths and 11 postoperative complications occurred in 7 patients. The duration of symptoms in achalasia was between 3 months and 25 years, with an average duration of 6. 2 years. Frequent symptoms of the achlasia esophagi were dysphagia, regurgitation, pain and weight loss in order. All 7 patients of achlasia underwent modified Heller's operation where 2 patients had complications, restenosis in one and esophageal perforation in another. All 8 patients of congenital esophageal atresia had distal tracheoesophageal fistula and were admitted within 5 days of life, but there were pneumonic consolidation on chest X-ray in patients. Five patients underwent one staged operation with the result of 2 deaths and one anastomotic leak.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2010

Purpose: The radial forearm fasciocutaneous free flap is currently considered as the ideal free flap for reconstruction of mucosal and soft tissue defects of the palate. But the availability of stably attached oral and nasal mucosal lining is needed. In addition to this, for better operation field, operating convenience and esthetics, we planned a prelaminated radial forearm free flap. Methods: A 64-year-old male patient was admitted due to a $4{\times}4.5cm$ full through defect in the middle of the hard palate caused by peripheral T cell lymphoma with actinomycosis. In the first stage, the radial forearm flap was elevated, tailored to fit the hard palate defect, and then it positioned up-side down with split thickness skin graft. Two weeks later, the prelaminated radial forearm free flap was re-elevated and transferred to the palatal defect. One side covered with grafted skin was used to line the nasal cavity, and the other side (the cutaneous portion of the radial forearm flap) was used to line the oral cavity. Results: The prelamination procedure was relatively easy and useful. The skin graft was well taken to the flap. After 2nd stage operation, the flap survived uneventfully. There was no prolapse of the inset flap into the oral cavity and the cutaneous portion of the flap was mucosalized. The procedure was very successful and the patient can enjoy normal rigid diet and speech. Conclusion: The use of prelaminated radial forearm free flap for hard palate reconstruction is an excellent method to restore oral function. Based upon the result of this case, microvascular free flap transfer with prelaminated procedure is a valid alternative to the prosthetic obturator for palatal defect that provides an improved quality of life. It should be considered as an integral component of head and neck cancer therapy and rehabilitation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.759-765
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer of women in Pakistan with the majority presenting with stage III or IV lesionsat initial diagnosis. Patient and health system related factors are well known determinants of delay in presentation and diagnosis. Additionally, breast cancer being a heterogeneous disease, the various molecular subtypes featuring different aggressiveness also need to be considered. The present study evaluated the association of stage at initial diagnosis of breast cancer with these two factors in local women at a tertiary level health care facility in Lahore, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: Patient and tumor features were recorded separately during diagnostic workup in Breast Clinics at INMOL and at Services Hospital, Lahore. Data were entered in MS Excel and analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test. Results: Among the 261 patients, 64% were staged as late breast cancer (LBC), the mean age was 46.8 with standard deviation of 13 years. Some 92% had invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), 61% had luminal types (LT) of non-aggressive tumor while 39% had the non-luminal types (NLT) of of HER2-enriched or basal aggressive tumors. While 70% of patients presented within one year of symptomatic disease (early report group "ERG"), 30% reported after a mean delay of 4 years with a standard deviation of 3.75 years. The stage distribution among ERG patients was not statistically different from those reporting late (P=0.123). Statistically larger proportion of patients with NLT presented as LBC as compared to the LT (P =0.034). Among the ERG, statistically different stage distribution of disease was observed for the NLT versus LT (P=0.047). Among those presenting late, this difference was insignificant (P=0.416). Conclusions: Breast cancer is a distinct disease in Pakistan with a high frequency of aggressive molecular types affecting younger women, with the majority presenting as LBC. Association of NLT with higher stage at diagnosis is statistically significant whereas time delay in diagnosis is not. Further research is required to define the risk profile and features in local patients. The burden of LBC can be reduced by promoting breast health awareness and by establishing easily accessible dedicated breast care set ups in the hospitals.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1195-1199
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• 1998

Bafckground: Thr role and indication of surgery in the treatment of small cell lung cancer(SCLC) is currently limited and unsettled. Material and Method: We analyzed the surgical results of 9 patients with SCLC at Yosei Medical Center from January 1990 to December 1996. There were 8 males and 1 female, and their mean age was 57.2 years (range; 35-76). Preoperatively SCLC was confirmed in 5, but the other 4 cases were diagnosed as undifferentiated squamous cell carcinoma. All patients underwent pulmoinary resection(lobectomy;5, lobectomy, segmentectomy and en-bloc resection of rib;1, bilobectomy; 2, pneumonectomy;1) and mediastinal lymph node dissection. Results: There were no operative mortality with two complications(postoperative bleeding;1, arrhythmia;1). All cases were diagnosed as SCLC histologically and their TNM staging were confirmed as follows: T1N0M0;1, T2N0M0;4, T3N0M0;1, T3N1M0;1, T2N2M0; 1, T4N0M0;1. All patients had received postoperative chemotherapy, and radiotherapy was combined in 4 patients. During follow up period(range 1-63 months; mean 33.0months), there was only one metastasis to pelvic bone among 8 patients without lymph node metastasis, and all patients were alive. On the other hand, among 3 patients who had regional and/or mediastinal lymph node metastasis or T4 lesion, all patients had recurrences(local;2, brain;1), and 2 patients died. Conclusion: We suggest that the use of TNM staging is beneficial, and surgical resection should be recommended in the patients with early staged SCLC as an important treatment modality.