Enhanced Precision Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

Time synchronization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a fundamental issue for the coordination of distributed entities and events. Nondeterministic latency, which may decrease the accuracy and precision of time synchronization can occur at any point in the network layers. Specially, random back-off by channel contention leads to a large uncertainty. In order to reduce the large nondeterministic uncertainty from channel contention, we propose an enhanced precision time synchronization protocol in this paper. The proposed method reduces the traffic needed for the synchronization procedure by selectively forwarding the packet. Furthermore, the time difference between sensor nodes increases as time advances because of the use of a clock source with a cheap crystal oscillator. In addition, we provide a means to maintain accurate time by adopting hardware-assisted time stamp and drift correction. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, for which sensor nodes are designed and implemented. According to the evaluation results, the performance of the proposed method is better than that of a traditional time synchronization protocol

Effect of Acupotomy Therapy on Lateral Epicondylitis Diagnosed by Ultrasonography

Purpose: This observation was to report the clinical effects of acupotomy in treating lateral epicondylitis. Methods: Three patients diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis were treated with acupotomy. Two were male and one was female. The improvement of symptom were evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) and self-consciousness symptoms of Cozen test. Results: After one treatments, patient's chief complaint and the pain near the lateral epicondyle while cozen test were notably improved. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that oriental medical treatment with acuputomy therapy has significant effect in improving symptoms of lateral epicondylitis. As though we had not wide experienced in this treatment, more research is needed

Calcium-Decorated Polygon-Graphenes for Hydrogen Storage

We performed first-principles calculations to investigate hydrogen (H2) storage properties of bare and calcium (Ca)-decorated polygon-graphenes, i.e., biphenylene and ψ-graphene monolayers consisting of polygons, from tetragons to octagons. In pristine forms, both biphenylene and ψ-graphene bind H2 weakly. However, upon Ca doping, biphenylene adsorbed up to five H2 molecules regardless of polygonal sites, whereas ψ-graphene anchored up to six and five H2 molecules to pentagonal and heptagonal sites, respectively. In all the cases, the H2 binding energy was ~0.30 eV, enabling reversible room-temperature H2 storage. The H2 storage capacity can reach ~6.8 and ~4.2 wt % for Ca-decorated biphenylene and ψ-graphene, respectively. Using equilibrium thermodynamics, we showed the adsorption and desorption of H2 at 300 and 380 K under ambient pressure, respectively. This clearly indicates that Ca-decorated 2D sp2 carbon sheets with polygons (biphenylene, ψ-graphene) could be used as promising H2 storage materials

The Use of Korean Medicine to Treat Patients with Spinobulbar Muscular Atrophy, Kennedy’s Disease - A Case Study

Objectives: Studies involving patients with spinobulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), which is often referred to as Kennedy’s disease, similar to those involving patients with progressive muscular disease (PMD), are rare. This paper reports a case study involving the use of Korean medicine to treat a patient with SBMA. Methods: We treated a patient with SBMA with unique symptoms by using various kinds of pharmacopuncture and herbal medicines for about two and a half years. After the treatment had ended, we evaluated the patient’s conditions and the side effects of the treatment. Results: After treatment, the patient’s symptoms were stabilized, and the patient suffered no abnormalities or side effects. No special changes in condition were noted during treatment period, and the patient was very satisfied with his response to treatment. Conclusion: Existing treatments have some considerable after effects and are difficult to apply in domestic clinics. In this regard, our findings should open possibilities for new clinical guidelines. Nevertheless, the limitations associated with this case study should be resolved, and more studies need to be conducted

Study on the Single Dose Toxicity of ShinEumHur Pharmacopuncture Injected into the Muscles of Rats

Objectives: This study was carried out to analyze the single dose toxicity of ShinEumHur (SEH) pharmacopuncture injected into the muscles of Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: The SEH pharmacopuncture was made in a clean room at the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute (K-GMP). After the mixing process with sterile distilled water had been completed, the pH was controlled to between 7.0 and 7.5. All experiments were conducted at Biotoxtech, an institution authorized to perform non-clinical studies under the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations. Sprague-Dawley rats were chosen for the pilot study. Doses of SEH pharmacopuncture, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mL, were administered to the experimental groups, and a dose of normal saline solution, 1.0 mL, was administered to the control group. We examined the survival rate, weights, clinical signs, mean hematology parameters, mean clinical chemistry, necropsy and histopathological findings. This study was conducted under the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. Results: No deaths or abnormalities occurred in any of the four groups. No significant changes in weight, hematological parameters or clinical chemistry between the control group and the experimental groups were observed. To check for abnormalities in organs and tissues, we used microscopy to examine representative histological sections of each specified organ; the results showed no significant differences in any of the organs or tissues. Conclusion: The above findings suggest that treatment with SEH pharmacopuncture is relatively safe. Further studies on this subject are needed to yield more concrete evidence

Mecasin treatment in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes paralysis of limb, swallowing, and breathing muscles. Riluzole, the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for ALS, provides minimal benefit, prolonging patient life by only 2–3 months. Previous studies have found a neuro-protective and anti-neuroinflammatory effect of Mecasin, with retrospective studies providing suggestive evidence for a beneficial effect of Mecasin. The aim of this study was to develop a protocol to determine the proper dosage of Mecasin. Methods This is a phase II-A, multi-center, randomized study with three arms. Thirty-six patients with ALS will be randomly assigned to one of three groups, each receiving the standard treatment with 100 mg of riluzole in addition to one of 1.6 g of Mecasin, 2.4 g of Mecasin, or a placebo. The Primary outcome is the Korean version of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised result after 12 weeks of treatment. Secondary outcomes include results of the Short Form Health Survey-8, Medical Research Council Scale, Visual Analogue Scale for Pain, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Fatigue Severity Scale, Patient Global Impression of Change, pulmonary function test, forced expiratory volume in 1 s and its ratio to forced vital capacity, creatine kinase, and body weight. The frequencies of total adverse events and serious adverse events will be described and documented. The trial protocol has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Wonkwang University Gwangju and Sanbon Hospital (2016–5-4 and 2016–34-01, respectively). An Investigational New Drug status (30731) was granted by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. Discussion This trial will aim to identify the optimal dosage of Mecasin. Additionally, it will test the efficacy and safety of Mecasin in conjunction with standard treatment, riluzole, for alleviating the functional decline in patients with ALS. Trial registration Korean National Clinical Trial Registry CRIS; KCT0001984. Registered on 28 July 2016

Light Trapping Color Filters for Semitransparent Solar Cells

Semitransparent colorful solar cells equipped with photonically tailored Fabry–Perot (FP) cavities as the back electrode have garnered attention for their prospective application in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs). These cells transmit colored light at the FP resonance while reflecting nonresonant light back into the cell, a significant portion of which is also lost into air. Herein, we present a method to enhance light trapping in colorful semitransparent solar cells using closely packed Ag-coated silica particles on a thin Ag layer. This structure simultaneously acts as an effective FP cavity and color filter, scattering off-resonant light to high angles while transmitting the targeted colors. We show that the high-angle scattering originates from antiparallel out-of-plane electric dipoles unique to our design, which promote light trapping. When applied onto a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), our effective Fabry–Perot (EFP) color filters provided a maximum of ∼7% more short-circuit current density (Jsc) than those from DSSCs equipped with planar filters. Furthermore, compared to bare DSSCs and DSSCs including conventional scattering layers, DSSCs equipped with EFP filters showed a maximum of 14.6 and 5.9% higher cell efficiencies (η), respectively. The ability to filter color and improve light trapping suggests alternative pathways for engineering colorful semitransparent solar cells