Contrast Maximization and Sonority: A Functional Approach

This paper explores the functional goal governing the pattern of permissible codas in many languages. I argue that the choice of more sonorous consonants in syllable codas, but not in onsets, can be accounted for by a phonological strategy to maximize contrast. Based on the proposal that syllable codas are less prominent linguistic positions (Beckman 1997), certain types of segments are argued to be less salient than any other segment types, thus frequently deleted or neutralized in syllable codas. I argue that to prohibit deletion or neutralization of less salient segments and preserve their contrast in syllable codas, more salient segments, namely, more sonorous segments are chosen. In tenus of saliency ranking, stops are argued to be the least salient segments, and thus not likely to be chosen as syllable codas. The weak saliency of stops as compared to other types of segments is shown to be acoustically supported

Retrieval of total precipitable water from Himawari-8 AHI data: A comparison of random forest, extreme gradient boosting, and deep neural network

Total precipitable water (TPW), a column of water vapor content in the atmosphere, provides information on the spatial distribution of moisture. The high-resolution TPW, together with atmospheric stability indices such as convective available potential energy (CAPE), is an effective indicator of severe weather phenomena in the pre-convective atmospheric condition. With the advent of high performing imaging instrument onboard geostationary satellites such as Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard Himawari-8 of Japan and Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) onboard GeoKompsat-2A of Korea, it is expected that unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution data (e.g., AMI plans to provide 2 km resolution data at every 2 min over the northeast part of East Asia) will be provided. To derive TPW from such high-resolution data in a timely fashion, an efficient algorithm is highly required. Here, machine learning approaches-random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and deep neural network (DNN)-are assessed for the TPW retrieved from AHI over the clear sky in Northeast Asia area. For the training dataset, the nine infrared brightness temperatures (BT) of AHI (BT8 to 16 centered at 6.2, 6.9, 7.3, 8.6, 9.6, 10.4, 11.2, 12.4, and 13.3 ??m, respectively), six dual channel differences and observation conditions such as time, latitude, longitude, and satellite zenith angle for two years (September 2016 to August 2018) are used. The corresponding TPW is prepared by integrating the water vapor profiles from InterimEuropean Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis data (ERA-Interim). The algorithm performances are assessed using the ERA-Interim and radiosonde observations (RAOB) as the reference data. The results show that the DNN model performs better than RF and XGB with a correlation coefficient of 0.96, a mean bias of 0.90 mm, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.65 mm when compared to the ERA-Interim. Similarly, DNN results in a correlation coefficient of 0.95, a mean bias of 1.25 mm, and an RMSE of 5.03 mm when compared to RAOB. Contributing variables to retrieve the TPW in each model and the spatial and temporal analysis of the retrieved TPW are carefully examined and discussed. ?? 2019 by the authors

Detecting axion dark matter with chiral magnetic effects

We show that dark matter axions or axion-like particles (ALP) induce non-dissipative alternating electric currents in conductors along the external magnetic fields due to the axial anomaly, realizing the chiral magnetic effects. We propose a new experiment to measure this current to detect the dark matter axions or ALP. This non-dissipative currents are the electron medium effects, directly proportional to the axion or ALP coupling to electrons, which depends on their microscopic physics.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Osteoarthritis: toward a comprehensive understanding of pathological mechanism

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease and a major cause of pain and disability in adult individuals. The etiology of OA includes joint injury, obesity, aging, and heredity. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of OA initiation and progression remain poorly understood and, currently, there are no interventions available to restore degraded cartilage or decelerate disease progression. The diathrodial joint is a complicated organ and its function is to bear weight, perform physical activity and exhibit a joint-specific range of motion during movement. During OA development, the entire joint organ is affected, including articular cartilage, subchondral bone, synovial tissue and meniscus. A full understanding of the pathological mechanism of OA development relies on the discovery of the interplaying mechanisms among different OA symptoms, including articular cartilage degradation, osteophyte formation, subchondral sclerosis and synovial hyperplasia, and the signaling pathway(s) controlling these pathological processes

National Cancer Control Plan of the Korea: Current Status and the Fourth Plan (2021-2025)

Cancer management has become a major policy goal for the government of the Korea. As such, the government introduced the National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP) to reduce the individual and social burdens caused by cancer and to promote national health. During the past 25 years, 3 phases of the NCCP have been completed. During this time, the NCCP has changed significantly in all aspects of cancer control from prevention to survival. The targets for cancer control are increasing, and although some blind spots remain, new demands are emerging. The government initiated the fourth NCCP in March 2021, with the vision of “A Healthy Country with No Concerns about Cancer Anywhere at Any Time,” which aims to build and disseminate high-quality cancer data, reduce preventable cancer cases, and reduce gaps in cancer control. Its main strategies include (1) activation of cancer big data, (2) advancement of cancer prevention and screening, (3) improvement in cancer treatment and response, and (4) establishment of a foundation for balanced cancer control. The fourth NCCP has many positive expectations, similar to the last 3 plans; however, cross-domain support and participation are required to achieve positive results in cancer control. Notably, cancer remains the leading cause of death despite decades of management efforts and should continue to be managed carefully from a national perspective

Inhibitory effect of a tyrosine-fructose Maillard reaction product, 2,4-bis(p-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal on amyloid-β generation and inflammatory reactions via inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 activation in cultured astrocytes and microglial BV-2 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Amyloidogenesis is linked to neuroinflammation. The tyrosine-fructose Maillard reaction product, 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal, possesses anti-inflammatory properties in cultured macrophages, and in an arthritis animal model. Because astrocytes and microglia are responsible for amyloidogenesis and inflammatory reactions in the brain, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and anti-amyloidogenic effects of 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated astrocytes and microglial BV-2 cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cultured astrocytes and microglial BV-2 cells were treated with LPS (1 μg/ml) for 24 h, in the presence (1, 2, 5 μM) or absence of 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal, and harvested. We performed molecular biological analyses to determine the levels of inflammatory and amyloid-related proteins and molecules, cytokines, Aβ, and secretases activity. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) DNA binding activity was determined using gel mobility shift assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal (1, 2, 5 μM) suppresses the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) as well as the production of nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in LPS (1 μg/ml)-stimulated astrocytes and microglial BV-2 cells. Further, 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal inhibited the transcriptional and DNA binding activity of NF-κB--a transcription factor that regulates genes involved in neuroinflammation and amyloidogenesis via inhibition of IκB degradation as well as nuclear translocation of p50 and p65. Consistent with the inhibitory effect on inflammatory reactions, 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal inhibited LPS-elevated Aβ₄₂levels through attenuation of β- and γ-secretase activities. Moreover, studies using signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) siRNA and a pharmacological inhibitor showed that 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal inhibits LPS-induced activation of STAT3.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results indicate that 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal inhibits neuroinflammatory reactions and amyloidogenesis through inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 activation, and suggest that 2,4-bis(<it>p</it>-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butenal may be useful for the treatment of neuroinflammatory diseases like Alzheimer's disease.</p

Auto-Guiding System for CQUEAN (Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse)

To perform imaging observation of optically red objects such as high redshift quasars and brown dwarfs, the Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU) recently developed an optical CCD camera, Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse(CQUEAN), which is sensitive at 0.7-1.1 um. To enable observations with long exposures, we developed an auto-guiding system for CQUEAN. This system consists of an off-axis mirror, a baffle, a CCD camera, a motor and a differential decelerator. To increase the number of available guiding stars, we designed a rotating mechanism for the off-axis guiding camera. The guiding field can be scanned along the 10 acrmin ring offset from the optical axis of the telescope. Combined with the auto-guiding software of the McDonald Observatory, we confirmed that a stable image can be obtained with an exposure time as long as 1200 seconds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Korean Astronomical Society (JKAS

Gene mapping study for constitutive skin color in an isolated Mongolian population

To elucidate the genes responsible for constitutive human skin color, we measured the extent of skin pigmentation in the buttock, representative of lifelong non-sun-exposed skin, and conducted a gene mapping study on skin color in an isolated Mongolian population composed of 344 individuals from 59 families who lived in Dashbalbar, Mongolia. The heritability of constitutive skin color was 0.82, indicating significant genetic association on this trait. Through the linkage analysis using 1,039 short tandem repeat (STR) microsatellite markers, we identified a novel genomic region regulating constitutive skin color on 11q24.2 with an logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 3.39. In addition, we also found other candidate regions on 17q23.2, 6q25.1, and 13q33.2 (LOD ≥ 2). Family-based association tests on these regions with suggestive linkage peaks revealed ten and two significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the linkage regions of chromosome 11 and 17, respectively. We were able to discover four possible candidate genes that would be implicated to regulate human skin color: ETS1, UBASH3B, ASAM, and CLTC