Computer-Aided Designing and Manufacturing of Lingual Fixed Orthodontic Appliance Using 2D/3D Registration Software and Rapid Prototyping

The availability of 3D dental model scanning technology, combined with the ability to register CBCT data with digital models, has enabled the fabrication of orthognathic surgical CAD/CAM designed splints, customized brackets, and indirect bonding systems. In this study, custom lingual orthodontic appliances were virtually designed by merging 3D model images with lateral and posterior-anterior cephalograms. By exporting design information to 3D CAD software, we have produced a stereolithographic prototype and converted it into a cobalt-chrome alloy appliance as a way of combining traditional prosthetic investment and cast techniques. While the bonding procedure of the appliance could be reinforced, CAD technology simplified the fabrication process by eliminating the soldering phase. This report describes CAD/CAM fabrication of the complex anteroposterior lingual bonded retraction appliance for intrusive retraction of the maxillary anterior dentition. Furthermore, the CAD/CAM method eliminates the extra step of determining the lever arm on the lateral cephalograms and subsequent design modifications on the study model

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential for South Korea

South Korea's energy policies over the past 40 years have focused on securing stable energy supplies from fossil fuels and nuclear power. In 2000, imported energy, mainly coal, oil, natural gas and uranium, accounted for 97.2% of national energy supply. The country's energy intensity has been much above the world average and is still increasing. The energy consumption per capita grew from 2.17 tons of oil equivalent(TOE) in 1990 to 4.10 tons of oil equivalent(TOE) in 2000, higher than in Japan and Germany. South Korea was the tenth largest source of carbon dioxide(C02) emissions in the world as of 1999(World Bank, 1999). South Korea has suffered environmental problems because of its heavy reliance on energy-intensive economy. South Korea's anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases in 1997 are shown in Table 1

Demystifying Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) Influencers: The Effect of Perceived Anthropomorphism and Social Presence on Brand Outcomes

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) influencers are at the forefront of brand communication trends driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Focusing on Lil Miquela, this study explores the mechanism underlying the CGI influencer's persuasiveness based on the computers-are-social-actors (CASA) framework. The study examines how consumers' attitudes toward the influencer's sponsored posts and the endorsed brands are impacted by her perceived anthropomorphism through mediators of social presence and perceived attractiveness. Based on a survey of generation Z consumers, we found that the CGI influencer's perceived anthropomorphism effectively enhances her social presence, which in turn boosts her perceived physical and social attractiveness, respectively, to drive consumer evaluation outcomes

Revision of WDM7 Microphysics Scheme and Evaluation for Precipitating Convection over the Korean Peninsula

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Double-Moment 7-Class (WDM7) cloud microphysics scheme was developed to parameterize cloud and precipitation processes explicitly for mesoscale phenomena in the Korean Integrated Model system. However, the WDM7 scheme has not been evaluated for any precipitating convection system over the Korean peninsula. This study modified WDM7 and evaluated simulated convection during summer and winter. The suggested modifications included the integration of the new fall velocity–diameter relationship of raindrops and mass-weighted terminal velocity of solid-phase precipitable hydrometeors (the latter is for representing mixed-phase particles). The mass-weighted terminal velocity for snow and graupel has been suggested by Dudhia et al. (2008) to allow for a more realistic representation of partially rimed particles. The WDM7 scheme having an additional hail category does not apply this terminal velocity only for hail. Additionally, the impact of enhanced collision-coalescence (C-C) efficiency was investigated. An experiment with enhanced C-C efficiency overall improved the precipitation skill scores, such as probability of detection, equitable threat score, and spatial pattern correlation, compared with those of the control experiment for the summer and winter cases. With application of the new mass-weighted terminal velocity of solid-phase hydrometeors, the hail mixing ratio at the surface was considerably reduced, and rain shafts slowed down low-level winds for the winter convective system. Consequently, the simulated hydrometeors were consistent with observations retrieved via remote sensing. The fall velocity–diameter relationship of raindrops further reduced the cloud ice amount. The proposed modifications in our study improved the simulated precipitation and hydrometeor profiles, especially for the selected winter convection case

Assessment of public health risk associated with viral contamination in harvested urban stormwater for domestic applications

Capturing stormwater is becoming a new standard for sustainable urban stormwater management, which can be used to supplement water supply portfolios in water-stressed cities. The key advantage of harvesting stormwater is to use low impact development (LID) systems for treatment to meet water quality requirement for non-potable uses. However, the lack of scientific studies to validate the safety of such practice has limited its adoption. Microbial hazards in stormwater, especially human viruses, represent the primary public health threat. Using adenovirus and norovirus as target pathogens, we investigated the viral health risk associated with a generic scenario of urban stormwater harvesting practice and its application for three non-potable uses: 1) toilet flushing, 2) showering, and 3) food-crop irrigation. The Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) results showed that food-crop irrigation has the highest annual viral infection risk (median range: 6.8×10-4-9.7×10-1 per-person-per-year or pppy), followed by showering (3.6×10-7-4.3×10-2pppy), and toilet flushing (1.1×10-7-1.3×10-4pppy). Disease burden of each stormwater use was ranked in the same order as its viral infection risk: food-crop irrigation>showering>toilet flushing. The median and 95th percentile risk values of toilet-flushing using treated stormwater are below U.S. EPA annual risk benchmark of ≤10-4pppy, whereas the disease burdens of both toilet-flushing and showering are within the WHO recommended disease burdens of ≤10-6DALYspppy. However, the acceptability of showering risk interpreted based on the U.S. EPA and WHO benchmarks is in disagreement. These results confirm the safety of stormwater application in toilet flushing, but call for further research to fill the data gaps in risk modeling as well as risk benchmarks. © 2015 Elsevier B.V