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Abstract Background The impact of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) on cardiovascular and obstetrical outcomes in pregnant women remains unclear, particularly in Asian populations. This study aimed to evaluate the maternal cardiovascular and obstetrical outcomes in Korean women with HCM. Methods Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, we identified women who gave birth via cesarean section or vaginal delivery after being diagnosed with HCM between 2006 and 2019. Maternal cardiovascular and obstetrical outcomes were assessed based on the trimester of pregnancy. Results This study included 122 women and 158 pregnancies. No maternal deaths were noted; however, 21 cardiovascular events, such as hospital admission for cardiac problems, including heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF), new-onset AF or ventricular tachycardia (VT) occurred in 14 pregnancies (8.8%). Cardiac events occurred throughout pregnancy with a higher occurrence in the third trimester. Cesarean sections were performed in 49.3% of the cases, and all cardiovascular outcomes occurring after delivery were observed in patients who had undergone cesarean sections. Seven cases involved preterm delivery, and two of these cases were accompanied by cardiac events, specifically AF. Pre-existing arrhythmia (AF: odds ratio (OR): 7.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.61–21.21, P

Abstract Background Early-onset dementia (EOD, onset age

Abstract The association of bipolar disorder (BD) with the risk of cardiometabolic diseases and premature death in Asians needs to be further determined. Relatively less attention has been paid to heart failure (HF) among cardiometabolic outcomes. We analyzed the Korean National Health Insurance Service database (2002–2018) for this population-based, matched cohort study. The hazards of ischemic stroke, ischemic heart disease (IHD), hospitalization for HF (hHF), composite cardiometabolic diseases, and all-cause mortality during follow-up were compared between individuals with BD (n = 11,329) and 1:1-matched controls without psychiatric disorders among adults without cardiometabolic disease before or within 3 months of baseline. Hazards of outcomes were higher in individuals with BD than in matched controls (adjusted hazard ratios [95% confidence intervals]: 1.971 [1.414–2.746] for ischemic stroke, 1.553 [1.401–1.721] for IHD, 2.526 [1.788–3.567] for hHF, 1.939 [1.860–2.022] for composite cardiometabolic diseases, and 2.175 [1.875–2.523] for all-cause mortality) during follow-up. Associations between BD and outcome hazards were more prominent in younger individuals (p for interaction

Background The effects of psychotic disorders on cardiometabolic diseases and premature death need to be determined in Asian populations. Methods In this population-based matched cohort study, the Korean National Health Insurance Service database (2002 to 2018) was used. The risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), ischemic stroke, composite of all cardiometabolic diseases, and all-cause death during follow-up was compared between individuals with psychotic disorders treated with antipsychotics (n=48,162) and 1:1 matched controls without psychiatric disorders among adults without cardiometabolic diseases before or within 3 months after baseline. Results In this cohort, 53,683 composite cases of all cardiometabolic diseases (during median 7.38 years), 899 AMI, and 1,216 ischemic stroke cases (during median 14.14 years), 7,686 T2DM cases (during median 13.26 years), and 7,092 deaths (during median 14.23 years) occurred. The risk of all outcomes was higher in subjects with psychotic disorders than matched controls (adjusted hazard ratios [95% confidence intervals]: 1.522 [1.446 to 1.602] for T2DM; 1.455 [1.251 to 1.693] for AMI; 1.568 [1.373 to 1.790] for ischemic stroke; 1.595 [1.565 to 1.626] for composite of all cardiometabolic diseases; and 2.747 [2.599 to 2.904] for all-cause mortality) during follow-up. Similar patterns of associations were maintained in subgroup analyses but more prominent in younger individuals (P for interaction

In vehicular applications, remote eye pupil tracking is essential, particularly for advanced augmented reality (AR) 3D head-up displays (HUDs), and driver monitoring systems (DMS). However, achieving accurate pupil center localization under varied head poses presents significant challenges, especially when cameras are positioned on a vehicle’s A-pillar. This placement introduces substantial head pose variations, complicating traditional tracking methods. In response, this study presents a remote pupil localization method designed to address the unique challenges posed by a camera situated on a vehicle’s A-pillar, a spot causing significant head pose variations. The proposed technique relies on a head pose-aware pupil localization strategy utilizing A-pillar cameras. Our pupil localization algorithm adopts a Transformer regression approach, into which we integrate head pose estimation data, enhancing its capability across diverse head poses. To further enhance our approach, we used an optimized nine-point eye-nose landmark set, to minimize the pupil center localization loss. To demonstrate the robustness of our method, we conducted evaluations using both the public WIDER Facial Landmarks in-the-wild (WFLW) dataset and a custom in-house dataset focused on A-pillar camera captures. Results indicate a Normalized Mean Error (NME) of 2.79% and a failure rate (FR) of 1.28% on the WFLW dataset. On our in-house dataset, the method achieved an NME of 2.96% and a FR of 0.72%. These impressive results demonstrate the robustness and efficacy of our method, suggesting its potential for implementation in commercial eye tracking systems using A-pillar mounted cameras, especially for AR 3D HUD and DMS applications.

Creeping fat (CrF) is an extraintestinal manifestation observed in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). It is characterized by the accumulation of mesenteric adipose tissue (MAT) that wraps around the intestinal wall. Although the role of CrF in CD is still debated, multiple studies have highlighted a correlation between CrF and inflammation, as well as fibrostenosais of the intestine, which contributes to the worsening of CD symptoms. However, the mechanism underlying the potential role of CrF in the development of Crohn’s fibrosis remains an enigma. This study aimed to analyze CrF comprehensively using single-cell RNA sequencing analysis. The data was compared with transcriptomic data from adipose tissue in other disease conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, lymphedema, and obesity. Our analysis classified two lineages of preadipocyte (PAC) clusters responsible for adipogenesis and fibrosis in CrF. Committed PACs in CrF showed increased cytokine expression in response to bacterial stimuli, potentially worsening inflammation in patients with CD. We also observed an increase in fibrotic activity in PAC clusters in CrF. Co-analyzing the data from patients with lymphedema, we found that pro-fibrotic PACs featured upregulated pentraxin-3 expression, suggesting a potential target for the treatment of fibrosis in CrF. Furthermore, PACs in CrF exhibited a distinct increase in cell-to-cell communication via cytokines related to inflammation and fibrosis, such as CCL, LIGHT, PDGF, MIF, and SEMA3. Interestingly, these interactions also increased in PACs of the lymphedema, whereas the increased MIF signal of PACs was found to be a distinct characteristic of CrF. In immune cell clusters in CrF, we observed high immune activity of pro-inflammatory macrophages, antigen-presenting macrophages, B cells, and IgG+ plasma cells. Finally, we have demonstrated elevated IgG+ plasma cell infiltration and increased pentraxin-3 protein levels in the fibrotic regions of CrF in CD patients when compared to MAT from both UC patients and healthy individuals. These findings provide new insights into the transcriptomic features related to the inflammation of cells in CrF and suggest potential targets for attenuating fibrosis in CD.

BackgroundPrevious studies have reported that depression can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, they did not sufficiently consider antidepressants or comorbidity.MethodsThe National Health Insurance Sharing Service database was used. Among the sample population, 276,048 subjects who had been diagnosed with depression and prescribed antidepressants (DEP with antidepressants group) and 79,119 subjects who had been diagnosed with depression but not prescribed antidepressants (DEP without antidepressants group) were found to be eligible for this study. Healthy controls (HCs) were 1:1 matched with the DEP with antidepressants group for age and sex. We followed up with them for the occurrence of type 2 diabetes.ResultsIn the group of DEP with antidepressants, although the risk of type 2 diabetes increased compared to HCs in a crude analysis, it decreased when comorbidity was adjusted for. In the group of DEP without antidepressants, the risk of type 2 diabetes decreased both in the crude model and the adjusted models. The risk varied by age group and classes or ingredients of antidepressants, with young adult patients showing an increased risk even in the fully adjusted model.ConclusionOverall, those with depression had a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. However, the risk varied according to the age at onset, comorbidity, and type of antidepressants.

ZnO nanosheets with nanograin distributions, high mesoporosity, and ultrathin thickness have garnered considerable attention owing to their intriguing properties, such as high surface-to-volume ratio and chemical reactivity. Although various methods for fabricating two-dimensional structures have been reported, the surfactant-assisted method is advantageous as it produces nanosheet structures at the water–air interface without affecting the crystal structure of the material. This study developed an innovative surfactant-assisted synthesis method to fabricate flower-like Zinc Oxide (f-ZnO) nanostructures. The synthesis, performed at a mild temperature of 70 °C, yields f-ZnO with high surface area-to-volume ratios and porous morphology. The f-ZnO demonstrates photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance due to increased interfacial contact with electrolytes and the formation of a wurtzite ZnO crystal structure. Additionally, f-ZnO exhibits sensitivity and selectivity as a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas sensor. This facile synthesis method opens new avenues for developing functional oxide nanostructures for sensors, catalysts, and energy storage systems.

IntroductionDespite the benefits of direct oral anti-Xa anticoagulants (DOACs), the risk–benefit profile of DOAC therapy compared to warfarin therapy in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), including end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is uncertain.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study using the Korea National Health Insurance Database from 2013 to 2018. We evaluated patients with incident non-valvular AF and CKD. The primary and secondary effectiveness outcomes were ischemic stroke and all-cause mortality. The primary safety outcomes included intracranial hemorrhage, gastrointestinal bleeding, and extracranial or unclassified major bleeding.ResultsAmong the 1,885 patients evaluated, 970 (51.5%) initiated warfarin therapy, and 915 (48.5%) initiated DOAC therapy. During a mean follow-up period of 23.8 months, there were 293 and 214 cases of ischemic stroke and all-cause death, respectively. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed significantly lower all-cause mortality in DOAC users than in warfarin users. In multivariate Cox regression analyses, DOAC therapy had a hazard ratio for all-cause mortality of 0.41 (95% CI, 0.30–0.56; p

An innovative approach to pupil tracking using event cameras is presented in this paper. Our method incorporates two primary processes: RGB-to-Event image domain translation and pupil localization utilizing Event Cameras. Initially, we convert traditional RGB images into event-like images with our novel adaptive StyleFlow algorithm. This advanced algorithm enables the generation of images that are remarkably similar to those produced by real event cameras in terms of their distinctive characteristics and visual appeal. Subsequently, we perform the pupil localization process, which involves applying the RetinaFace algorithm. This algorithm is trained using our unique cross-modal learning strategy on a mixed dataset, consisting of both RGB and the newly transformed event-like images. When evaluated using real event camera data, our approach sets a new benchmark in accuracy performance. We achieved a face detection accuracy of 99.4% and a pupil alignment accuracy of 97.2%, exceeding the performance of previous deep learning-based methods that were trained on conventional RGB images. Our results effectively demonstrate the promising potential of event camera-based pupil tracking. Furthermore, our study represents an important advance in the field, offering the possibility of future advancements and potential applications in vehicular systems and augmented reality heads-up displays (AR HUDs).

In this research, the dynamics and control of web handling in roll-to-roll (R2R) systems using a driven roller are presented. The viscoelasticity effect for systems with and without the driven roller is analyzed to study web dynamics. To achieve high precision control performance, the driven roller is responsible for regulating web speed, while the winders regulate tension control. A tension feedback control is used as a cascade control to achieve a fast system response, and feedforward compensators are provided to account for changes in the winders’ radius. Control performances are verified under several scenarios using an experimental setup. The web tension is validated with errors of ±0.625%, ±1%, and ±1.25%, while the web speed is validated with errors of ±0.0007 m/s, ±0.002 m/s, and ±0.0008 m/s at speed levels of 0.01 m/s, 0.05 m/s, and 0.1 m/s, respectively. Furthermore, it is verified that the tension error in the desired linear tension profile change is around ±0.25 N at 0.01 m/s.

With the development of IT technologies, event data recorder (EDR) devices are now installed in modern vehicles to record and analyze vehicle-related events. As data recorded in EDRs began to be used as conclusive proof in courts, many researchers turned their to focus on developing methodologies that can protect data recorded in EDRs from data forgery attacks. In general, these existing methods generate verification values for EDR data by using a digital signature algorithm. However, these methods do not provide a way to protect the data stored in an EDR from data forgery attacks in the event of an emergency, such as a car accident, and it is not possible to properly create a verification value for the EDR data due to unexpected and sudden events like a power supply problem. Thus, in this paper, we propose TB-Logger, a novel method that protects EDR data even when there is an emergency situation. TB-Logger relies on the trusted execution environment (TEE) to protect EDR data from data forgery attacks, which ultimately result in data modification, reordering, and deletion. In addition, in the event of an emergency, TB-Logger utilizes a blockchain system to store verification values and publicly verify the data generated during the event. We evaluated the practicality of TB-Logger using two real vehicles: the Hyundai Avante CN7 and the Tesla Model 3. Through these tests, we confirmed that TB-Logger can generate verification values for EDR data without incurring any data loss.

Background Hypertension is an important cause of morbidity, which predisposes patients to major cardiovascular events and mortality. The aim of this study was to explore the association between adherence to antihypertensive medication and clinical outcomes in adult patients with cancer. Methods and Results Using the 2002 to 2013 Korean National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort, we extracted adult patients with cancer treated with antihypertensive medications. Based on the medication possession ratio value, participants were divided into 3 groups: good (medication possession ratio ≥0.8), moderate (0.5≤ medication possession ratio

Pupil tracking plays a crucial role in various applications, including human–computer interactions, biometric identification, and Autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) displays, such as augmented reality (AR) 3D head-up displays (HUDs). This study aims to explore and compare advancements in pupil-tracking techniques using event camera imaging. Event cameras, also known as neuromorphic cameras, offer unique benefits, such as high temporal resolution and low latency, making them well-suited for capturing fast eye movements. For our research, we selected fast classical machine-learning-based computer vision techniques to develop our remote pupil tracking using event camera images. Our proposed pupil tracker combines local binary-pattern-features-based eye–nose detection with the supervised-descent-method-based eye-nose alignment. We evaluate the performance of event-camera-based techniques in comparison to traditional frame-based approaches to assess their accuracy, robustness, and potential for real-time applications. Consequently, our event-camera-based pupil-tracking method achieved a detection accuracy of 98.1% and a tracking accuracy (pupil precision < 10 mm) of 80.9%. The findings of this study contribute to the field of pupil tracking by providing insights into the strengths and limitations of event camera imaging for accurate and efficient eye tracking.

A Chebyshev chaotic map is a method for implementing efficient authentication. Recently, Chatterjee et al. proposed an authentication scheme for multi-server/multi-client environments using a Chebyshev chaotic map. However, we found four critical vulnerabilities in the proposed authentication method. To begin with, the method is open to user as well as server impersonation attacks. User revocation is also infeasible. Finally, there is a possibility of critical information leakage. We propose a new scheme that overcomes the four weaknesses listed previously using a symmetric Chebyshev chaotic map. We tested our proposed scheme using ProVerif and AVISPA, and compared its performance with that of the conventional authentication method. Results indicate that our scheme is 44.025 times more efficient than the conventional method.

In a roll-to-roll (R2R) system, the roller’s traction force for precision transportation is crucial for the commercialization of printed electronic devices. Moreover, greater traction force of the roller can prevent several issues, such as slippage, wrinkles, sagging, and air entrainment, which occur because of insufficient traction force. The wrap angle, tension, and friction coefficient between the roller and the transporting film are key factors for achieving greater traction force in an R2R transport system. However, design of the wrap angle and tension are limited by the film damage and complex arrangement of the rollers. For these reasons, this study focused on the method that increases the friction coefficient on the surface of the roller. We applied three methods—normal force, static electricity, and thin polydimethylsiloxane coating—on the surface of the roller. Then, we suggest an effective means of improving the friction coefficient to supplement the design restrictions of tension and the wrap angle in R2R transport systems.

Abstract Borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) represent noninvasive tumors with uncertain malignant potential. They have a favorable prognosis although they can also recur or be fatal. There are limited population-based data on BOTs, its incidence and surgical treatment approach. We sought to analyze these trends in South Korea between 2014 and 2018. Data from patients diagnosed with BOT between 2014 and 2018 were obtained from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service/National Inpatient Sample in South Korea. Treatment was analyzed by using codes including adnexal surgery with or without hysterectomy. Data from 4,636,542 women were entered into the database between 2014 and 2018. Data from 5,109 women with BOT, and 537 women with surgery were extracted for analysis. The highest prevalence of BOT occurred in women 40–44 years old. In logistic regression analysis, age was significantly correlated with the prevalence of BOT (p

Polypropylene (PP) is used as a housing material in automotive headlamps but can cause fogging as a result of absorbed moisture and temperature differences between the exterior and interior of the housing. In this study, PP was combined with a graphene/montmorillonite hybrid (MMT-G) to yield a nanocomposite with reduced moisture absorption. Crucially, the modified nanofiller had low hydrophilicity and good compatibility with the PP matrix. Notably, the water contact angle of the MMT-G improved by 676%. Furthermore, the maximum moisture absorption of the PP/MMT-G nanocomposites was reduced by up to 11.22% compared to that of commercial PP composites, and the weight of the headlamp housing was decreased by 3.6%. Therefore, the designed nanocomposites are expected to help mitigate headlamp fogging while slightly reducing the housing weight.

In this paper, the development of an ultra-precision XY nanopositioning stage is presented. For system structure, the actuator decoupled parallel compliant mechanism is designed to have the same dynamics in both x- and y-direction so that the coupling crosstalk between two axes can be minimized. Throughout the simulation validation of the deformed XY stage, the motion in the x-axis is not transferred to the motion in the y-axis. For the control structure, the simplified feedforward compensator provides the piezoelectric actuator to reduce the control effort of the system. A proportional double integral (PII) feedback controller is used to minimize the ramp-like disturbances so that the compensation of hysteretic nonlinearity and other disturbances can be effectively reduced. Moreover, the jerk-based optimal reference trajectory is designed so that 10 $\mu \text{m}$ displacement at the constant speed with the smooth accel/deceleration period can be achieved. Having an experimental setup with several scenarios such as the constant speed of 10 $\mu \text{m}$ /s, 20 $\mu \text{m}$ /s, and 40 $\mu \text{m}$ /s, the tracking error can minimize within ± 2.5 nanometers, ± 3 nanometers, and ± 5 nanometers in the x-axis for each case. Moreover, the hysteresis variable is well compensated that the relationship between the reference trajectory and output displacement is almost linear. The proposed control strategies and implementation methods can operate the piezoelectric actuated XY stage system with the nanoscale precision motion for convenience.

Eye pupil tracking is important for augmented reality (AR) three-dimensional (3D) head-up displays (HUDs). Accurate and fast eye tracking is still challenging due to multiple driving conditions with eye occlusions, such as wearing sunglasses. In this paper, we propose a system for commercial use that can handle practical driving conditions. Our system classifies human faces into bare faces and sunglasses faces, which are treated differently. For bare faces, our eye tracker regresses the pupil area in a coarse-to-fine manner based on a revised Supervised Descent Method based eye-nose alignment. For sunglasses faces, because the eyes are occluded, our eye tracker uses whole face alignment with a revised Practical Facial Landmark Detector for pupil center tracking. Furthermore, we propose a structural inference-based re-weight network to predict eye position from non-occluded areas, such as the nose and mouth. The proposed re-weight sub-network revises the importance of different feature map positions and predicts the occluded eye positions by non-occluded parts. The proposed eye tracker is robust via a tracker-checker and a small model size. Experiments show that our method achieves high accuracy and speed, approximately 1.5 and 6.5 mm error for bare and sunglasses faces, respectively, at less than 10 ms on a 2.0GHz CPU. The evaluation dataset was captured indoors and outdoors to reflect multiple sunlight conditions. Our proposed method, combined with AR 3D HUDs, shows promising results for commercialization with low crosstalk 3D images.

Few studies have reported comparisons of out-of-hospital clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) in the era of current-generation valves that reflect the real-world situation. Data on patients with severe AS aged 65 years or older who underwent TAVR or SAVR between 2015 and 2018 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service in Korea and clinical event rate was analyzed. The primary endpoint was all-cause death at 1 year. The cohort included a total of 4623 patients over 65 years of age, of whom 1269 (27.4%) were treated with TAVR. After 1:1 propensity score matching, 2120 patients were included in the study. TAVR was associated with reduced 1-year mortality (hazard ratio (HR): 0.55; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42–0.70; p < 0.001). There was no difference between the groups in the incidence of ischemic stroke (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.43–1.20; p = 0.21) and intracranial hemorrhage (HR: 1.10; p = 0.74). Permanent pacemaker insertion was observed more frequently in the TAVR cohort (9.4% vs. 2.5%, HR: 3.95, 95% CI: 2.57–6.09; p < 0.001), whereas repeat procedures were rare in both treatments (0.5% vs. 0.3%, p = 0.499). In the nation-wide real-world data analysis, TAVR with current-generation devices showed significantly lower 1-year mortality compared to SAVR in severe AS patients.

Owing to stringent international environmental and fuel efficiency requirements for lightweight automotive systems, polymer composites have attracted widespread attention. Polypropylene (PP) is a widely employed commercial polymer because of its lightweight and low cost. In this study, PP nanocomposites were fabricated to reduce the moisture absorption of PP composites in automotive headlamp housings. Alkylated chemically modified graphene (CMG-R) was synthesized to reduce the surface hydrophilicity of graphene and increase compatibility with the PP matrix. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were performed to analyze the nanofillers. X-ray diffraction was performed to determine the interlayer spacing of the nanofiller resulting from surface treatment. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to analyze the crystallinity of the nanocomposites. The results indicated that the improved hydrophobicity of the nanofiller due to alkylation reduced the maximum moisture absorption of the PP nanocomposites by 15% compared to PP composites. The findings of this study are useful for reducing fogging in automotive headlamps.

Networks can be used to model various aspects of our lives as well as relations among many real-world entities and objects. To detect a community structure in a network can enhance our understanding of the characteristics, properties, and inner workings of the network. Therefore, there has been significant research on detecting and evaluating community structures in networks. Many fields, including social sciences, biology, engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics, have developed various methods for analyzing and detecting community structures in networks. In this paper, a new community detection algorithm, which repeats the process of dividing a community into two smaller communities by finding a minimum cut, is proposed. The proposed algorithm is applied to some example network data and shows fairly good community detection results with comparable modularity Q values.

With the development of information technology and the Internet, users can conveniently use roaming services without time and space restrictions. This roaming service is initiated by establishing a session key between a home node, which exists in a home network, and a mobile node, which exists in a foreign network. However, in the process of verifying a legitimate user and establishing a session key, various security threats and privacy exposure issues can arise. This study demonstrates that the authentication scheme for the roaming service proposed in the existing Global Mobility Network (GLOMONET) environment has several vulnerabilities and, hence, is impractical. In addition, the scheme does not satisfy the privacy of the session key or user's identity or password. Accordingly, we propose a new lightweight authentication scheme to compensate for these vulnerabilities and secure a high level of privacy, such as non-traceability. In addition, formal and informal analyses are conducted to examine the safety of the proposed scheme. Based on the results of our analyses, we prove that the proposed scheme is highly secure and applicable to the actual GLOMONET environment.

Recent advances in autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display systems have led to innovations in consumer electronics and vehicle systems (e.g., head-up displays). However, medical images with stereoscopic depth provided by 3D displays have yet to be developed sufficiently for widespread adoption in diagnostics. Indeed, many stereoscopic 3D displays necessitate special 3D glasses that are unsuitable for clinical environments. This paper proposes a novel glasses-free 3D autostereoscopic display system based on an eye tracking algorithm and explores its viability as a 3D navigator for cardiac computed tomography (CT) images. The proposed method uses a slit-barrier with a backlight unit, which is combined with an eye tracking method that exploits multiple machine learning techniques to display 3D images. To obtain high-quality 3D images with minimal crosstalk, the light field 3D directional subpixel rendering method combined with the eye tracking module is applied using a user’s 3D eye positions. Three-dimensional coronary CT angiography images were volume rendered to investigate the performance of the autostereoscopic 3D display systems. The proposed system was trialed by expert readers, who identified key artery structures faster than with a conventional two-dimensional display without reporting any discomfort or 3D fatigue. With the proposed autostereoscopic 3D display systems, the 3D medical image navigator system has the potential to facilitate faster diagnoses with improved accuracy.

In this paper, experimental validation of high precision web handling for a two-actuator-based roll-to-roll (R2R) system is presented. To achieve this, the tension control loop is utilized to regulate the tension in the unwinder module, and the velocity loop is utilized to regulate the web speed in the rewinder module owing to the limitation of the number of actuators. Moreover, the radius estimation algorithm is applied to achieve an accurate web speed and the control sequence of the web handling in the longitudinal axis is developed to manipulate the web handling for convenience. Having these, the tension control performances are validated within ±0.79, ±1.32 and ±1.58 percent tension tracking error and 1.6, 1.53 and 1.33 percent web speed error at the speeds of 0.1 m/s, 0.2 m/s, and 0.3 m/s, respectively. The tension control performance is verified within ±0.3 N tracking error in the changes of the reference tension profile at 0.1 m/s web speed. Lastly, the air floating roller is used to minimize the friction terms and the inertia of the idle roller in the tension zone so that tension control performance can be better achieved during web transportation.

The content of chlorophyll, a fundamental component required for photosynthesis in plants, has been widely studied across crop species. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of 453 peanut accessions. We evaluated the evolutionary relationships using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of leaf color data based on chlorophyll content analysis using the Axiom_Arachis array containing 58K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We identified seven SNPs as being significantly associated with leaf chlorophyll content on the chromosomes Aradu.A02, Aradu.A08, Araip.B02, Araip.B05, Araip.B06, and Araip.B08 in a GAPIT analysis. The SNP AX-176820297 on Araip.B05 was significantly linked with leaf chlorophyll content across the seasons. The Arahy.SDG4EV gene was detected to be in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with the significant SNPs, and its expression was significantly correlated with leaf chlorophyll content. The results of the current study provide useful and fundamental information with which to assess genetic variations in chlorophyll content and can be utilized for further genetic and genomic studies and breeding programs in peanuts.

Explosives, especially those used for military weapons, have a short lifespan and their performance noticeably deteriorates over time. These old explosives need to be disposed of safely. Fluidized bed incinerators (FBIs) are safe for disposal of explosive waste (such as TNT) and produce fewer gas emissions compared to conventional methods, such as the rotary kiln. However, previous studies on this FBI process have only focused on minimizing the amount of NOx emissions without considering the operating and unitality costs (i.e., total cost) associated with the process. It is important to note that, in general, a number of different operating conditions are available to achieve a target NOx emission concentration and, thus, it requires a significant computational requirement to compare the total costs among those candidate operating conditions using a computational fluid dynamics simulation. To this end, a novel framework is proposed to quickly determine the most economically viable FBI process operating condition for a target NOx concentration. First, a surrogate model was developed to replace the high-fidelity model of an FBI process, and utilized to determine a set of possible operating conditions that may lead to a target NOx emission concentration. Second, the candidate operating conditions were fed to the Aspen Plus™ process simulation program to determine the most economically competitive option with respect to its total cost. The developed framework can provide operational guidelines for a clean and economical incineration process of explosive waste.

This study proposes a pupil-tracking method applicable to drivers both with and without sunglasses on, which has greater compatibility with augmented reality (AR) three-dimensional (3D) head-up displays (HUDs). Performing real-time pupil localization and tracking is complicated by drivers wearing facial accessories such as masks, caps, or sunglasses. The proposed method fulfills two key requirements: low complexity and algorithm performance. Our system assesses both bare and sunglasses-wearing faces by first classifying images according to these modes and then assigning the appropriate eye tracker. For bare faces with unobstructed eyes, we applied our previous regression-algorithm-based method that uses scale-invariant feature transform features. For eyes occluded by sunglasses, we propose an eye position estimation method: our eye tracker uses nonoccluded face area tracking and a supervised regression-based pupil position estimation method to locate pupil centers. Experiments showed that the proposed method achieved high accuracy and speed, with a precision error of

In modern society, high-quality material development and a large stable supply are key to perform frontier research and development. However, there are negative issues to address to utilize high-quality resources with a large stable supply for research, such as economic accessibility, commercialization, and so on. One of the cutting-edge research fields, perovskite-related research, usually requires high-quality chemicals with outstanding purity (>99%). We developed an economically feasible PbI2 precursor with around 1/20 cost-down for perovskite/perovskite quantum dots through recrystallization and/or hydrothermal purification. Following the methodology, the quantum dots from both as-prepared and purified PbI2 demonstrated identical photophysical properties, with a photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 52.61% using the purified PbI2 vs. 45.83% PLQY using commercial PbI2. The role of hydrothermal energy was also checked against the problematic PbI2, and we checked whether the hydrothermal energy could contribute to the hindrance of undesired particle formation in the precursor solution, which enables them to form enlarged grain size from 179 ± 80 to 255 ± 130 nm for higher photoconversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells from 14.77 ± 1.82% to 15.18 ± 1.92%.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the important oil crops of the world. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity of 384 peanut germplasms including 100 Korean germplasms and 284 core collections from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) using an Axiom_Arachis array with 58K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We evaluated the evolutionary relationships among 384 peanut germplasms using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of seed aspect ratio data processed by ImageJ software. In total, 14,030 filtered polymorphic SNPs were identified from the peanut 58K SNP array. We identified five SNPs with significant associations to seed aspect ratio on chromosomes Aradu.A09, Aradu.A10, Araip.B08, and Araip.B09. AX-177640219 on chromosome Araip.B08 was the most significantly associated marker in GAPIT and Regularization method. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) was found among the eleven genes within a linkage disequilibrium (LD) of the significant SNPs on Araip.B08 and could have a strong causal effect in determining seed aspect ratio. The results of the present study provide information and methods that are useful for further genetic and genomic studies as well as molecular breeding programs in peanuts.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology has recently been integrated with various healthcare devices to monitor patients’ health status and share it with their healthcare practitioners. Since healthcare data often contain personal and sensitive information, healthcare systems must provide a secure user authentication scheme. Recently, Adavoudi-Jolfaei et al. and Sharma and Kalra proposed a lightweight protocol using hash function encryption only for user authentication on wireless sensor systems. In this paper, we found some weaknesses in target schemes. We propose a novel three-factor lightweight user authentication scheme that addresses these weaknesses and verifies the security of the proposed scheme using a formal verification tool called ProVerif. In addition, our proposed scheme outperforms other proposed symmetric encryption-based schemes or elliptic curve-based schemes.

Purpose: This study was aimed to identify bacteria what might contaminate peritoneal cavity during gastric cancer surgery and to find the relating factors with the distribution of the bacteria. Methods: From January 2011 to June 2013, in 91 consecutive patients who underwent open gastrectomy or laparoscopic gastrectomy with extracorporeal anastomosis. Intraluminal contents of esophagus (E-sample, n=40), stomach (S-sample, n=38), or duodenum (D-sample, n=23) were cultured for evaluating species of microflora. Results: Alpha streptococcus was the most common flora of the three organs (62.5% in esophagus, 31.6% in stomach, 47.8% in duodenum). Gram positive bacteria (G(+)) were colonized in 92.5% of E-samples, 73.7% of S-samples, and 69.6% of D-samples. The colonization rate of G(+) was significantly higher in esophagus than in stomach or duodenum. That was also significantly higher in patients with preoperatively proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medication than in patients without preoperatively PPI medication. Gram negative bacteria (G(-)) were colonized in 47.5% of esophagus, 44.7% of stomach and 43.5% of duodenum. The distribution of G(-) was no significantly related with the sample site or PPI medication. Anaerobe or fungus was not commonly colonized in upper gastrointestinal tract (anaerobe/fungus: 0%/10.0% in esophagus, 7.9%/13.2% in stomach, 4.3%/4.3% in duodenum). Conclusion: We should pay special attention during operation to prevent spillage from esophagus in total gastrectomy or proximal gastrectomy cases or preoperative PPI medication given patients.

This study develops an eye tracking method for autostereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) display systems for use in various environments. The eye tracking-based autostereoscopic 3D display provides low crosstalk and high-resolution 3D image experience seamlessly without 3D eyeglasses by overcoming the viewing position restriction. However, accurate and fast eye position detection and tracking are still challenging, owing to the various light conditions, camera control, thick eyeglasses, eyeglass sunlight reflection, and limited system resources. This study presents a robust, automated algorithm and relevant systems for accurate and fast detection and tracking of eye pupil centers in 3D with a single visual camera and near-infrared (NIR) light emitting diodes (LEDs). Our proposed eye tracker consists of eye–nose detection, eye–nose shape keypoint alignment, a tracker checker, and tracking with NIR LED on/off control. Eye–nose detection generates facial subregion boxes, including the eyes and nose, which utilize an Error-Based Learning (EBL) method for the selection of the best learnt database (DB). After detection, the eye–nose shape alignment is processed by the Supervised Descent Method (SDM) with Scale-invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). The aligner is content-aware in the sense that corresponding designated aligners are applied based on image content classification, such as the various light conditions and wearing eyeglasses. The conducted experiments on real image DBs yield promising eye detection and tracking outcomes, even in the presence of challenging conditions.

With the evolution of communication technology and the exponential increase of mobile devices, the ubiquitous networking allows people to use our data and computing resources anytime and everywhere. However, numerous security concerns and complicated requirements arise as these ubiquitous networks are deployed throughout people's lives. To meet the challenge, the user authentication schemes in ubiquitous networks should ensure the essential security properties for the preservation of the privacy with low computational cost. In 2017, Chaudhry et al. proposed a password-based authentication scheme for the roaming in ubiquitous networks to enhance the security. Unfortunately, we found that their scheme remains insecure in its protection of the user privacy. In this paper, we prove that Chaudhry et al.'s scheme is vulnerable to the stolen-mobile device and user impersonation attacks, and its drawbacks comprise the absence of the incorrect login-input detection, the incorrectness of the password change phase, and the absence of the revocation provision. Moreover, we suggest a possible way to fix the security flaw in Chaudhry et al's scheme by using the biometric-based authentication for which the bio-hash is applied in the implementation of a three-factor authentication. We prove the security of the proposed scheme with the random oracle model and formally verify its security properties using a tool named ProVerif, and analyze it in terms of the computational and communication cost. The analysis result shows that the proposed scheme is suitable for resource-constrained ubiquitous environments.

Sleep architecture and sleep patterns normally change with aging. In preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the accumulation of amyloid plaques begins 10 to 20 years before any cognitive symptoms progress. Soluble amyloid-β (Aβ) is secreted during physiological synaptic activity. Since synaptic activity is correlated with sleep and awake state, a degree of Aβ fluctuates in a diurnal sleep pattern. In animal and human studies, a degree of sleep quality showed a significant correlation with brain levels of Aβ and a risk of AD. Conversely, Aβ aggregation would debilitate neuronal function in brain regions critical to sleep and wake promotion. This bidirectional relationship can be explained as positive feedback loop and associated factors that influence this relationship. In AD, the degree of sleep disturbances is much more severe compared with in the normal elderly. Further, Sundowning syndrome and a reduction of melatonin level cause a stressful neuropsychiatric symptoms and a disruption of physiological sleep rhythm, respectively. In AD patients, a correlation between sleep architectural modifications and learning performances has been reported. Moreover, executive function and emotional reactivity might be attenuated by sleep disturbances, too. However, sleep disturbance does not impact cognitive functions of all patients with AD. This could support an individual and potentially genetically determined susceptibility. Sleep disturbances have an important effect on patients and caregivers. It has a critical value to confirm and treat individuals with sleep disorders and to explore whether good quality of sleep in humans can decrease the progression of preclinical to symptomatic AD.

Nowadays, many hospitals and medical institutes employ an authentication protocol within electronic patient records (EPR) services in order to provide protected electronic transactions in e-medicine systems. In order to establish efficient and robust health care services, numerous studies have been carried out on authentication protocols. Recently, Li et al. proposed a user authenticated key agreement scheme according to EPR information systems, arguing that their scheme is able to resist various types of attacks and preserve diverse security properties. However, this scheme possesses critical vulnerabilities. First, the scheme cannot prevent off-line password guessing attacks and server spoofing attack, and cannot preserve user identity. Second, there is no password verification process with the failure to identify the correct password at the beginning of the login phase. Third, the mechanism of password change is incompetent, in that it induces inefficient communication in communicating with the server to change a user password. Therefore, we suggest an upgraded version of the user authenticated key agreement scheme that provides enhanced security. Our security and performance analysis shows that compared to other related schemes, our scheme not only improves the security level, but also ensures efficiency.

The Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is a network-based mobility management protocol that allows a Mobile Node(MN) connected to the PMIPv6 domain to move from one network to another without changing the assigned IPv6 address. The user authentication procedure in this protocol is not standardized, but many smartcard based authentication schemes have been proposed. Recently, Alizadeh et al. proposed an authentication scheme for the PMIPv6. However, it could allow an attacker to derive an encryption key that must be securely shared between MN and the Mobile Access Gate(MAG). As a result, outsider adversary can derive MN's identity, password and session key. In this paper, we analyze Alizadeh et al.'s scheme regarding security and propose an enhanced authentication scheme that uses a dynamic identity to satisfy anonymity. Furthermore, we use BAN logic to show that our scheme can successfully generate and communicate with the inter-entity session key.

Magnetic bearings support rotors in a non-contact way using magnetic force. Therefore, there is no friction and it is possible to measure and control the position of a rotor in the air gap. In this study, the rotational vibration of a roller was minimized using magnetic bearings, and a precision roller capable of automatic alignment using the position control function of magnetic bearings was proposed. A rotation accuracy of approximately 4.6 μm (peak-to-peak) was observed, even under a rotation of 30 rev/min and a radial force load of 300 N. The rotor position control experiment for magnetic bearings showed that 1-μm resolution position control is possible. To further improve the accuracy, the automatic alignment algorithm was proposed using magnetic bearings for the roller misalignment condition, and it was confirmed that alignment is possible at a level that the pressing force difference between both ends of the roller is within 0.3 N. Through this study, it was confirmed that rollers with magnetic bearings can be applied to precision equipment. It is expected that the implementation of the automatic alignment function will simplify the equipment configuration and maintenance compared to conventional rollers with ball bearings.

Printed electronics is one of the emerging technologies owing to its low cost and productivity. Recently, many researchers tried to adapt printing technology to the fabrication of fine electronic patterns on flexible substrates, including the gate line of thin film transistors. In this study, we fabricated a flexible cliché using the nanoimprint process and used it in reverse offset printing. Then, we analyzed the effect of the surface energy of the imprinted cliché on process parameters, such as printing speed and rolling direction. We showed that the productivity of the process and quality of printed pattern can be considerably enhanced by controlling the surface energy of the cliché. When a flexible cliché is manufactured using a resin with a surface energy considerably different from that of the blanket, the ink can be detached easily and fine patterns can be engraved successfully regardless of the pattern shape.