Detection of Hotspot for Korea Earthquake Data using Echelon Analysis and Seismic Wave Energy

Echelon analysis (Myers et al., 1997) is a method to investigate the phase-structure of spatial data systematically and objectively. This method is also useful to prospect the areas of interest in regional monitoring of a surface variable. The spatial scan statistic (Kulldorff, 1997) is a method of detection and inference for the zones of significantly high or low rates based on the likelihood ratio. These zones are called hotspots. The purpose of this paper is to detect the hotspot area for spatial data using echelon. We perform echelon analysis for Korea earthquake data. We use ESRI’s ArcGIS that is geographical information system (GIS) software to make the meshed areas and get contiguity information of these areas. With this contiguity information on the meshed areas, we detect the hotspot area using echelon analysis and spatial scan statistics. In addition, we compare with the result of analysis based on the total of number of times simply and the seismic wave energy

Exploring Effects of Intrinsic Motivation and Prior Knowledge on Student Achievements in Game-Based Learning

This study investigates the effects of students’ intrinsic motivation and prior knowledge on student achievement in learning Chinese in a game-based learning environment. A total of 140 fourth-grade students from an elementary school in South Korea participated in this study. An instructional game called “Hanjamaru,” which is designed to teach Chinese characters, was implemented for four weeks. During the experiment, students’ prior knowledge, intrinsic motivation in gaming, and achievements learning Chinese were quantitatively measured. Findings from this study demonstrate that both students’ prior knowledge and intrinsic motivation affect their achievements in learning Chinese. Also, there students’ prior knowledge and intrinsic motivation affected each other; that is, a group low in intrinsic motivation but with higher prior knowledge showed comparatively higher student achievements. These findings suggest that students’ prior knowledge should also be considered while designing and adopting game-based learning in order to engage students with different levels of intrinsic motivation

Isolating Rule-versus Evidence-Based Prefrontal Activity during Episodic and Lexical Discrimination: a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Detection Theory Distinctions

Dorsolateral and frontopolar prefrontal cortices (PFCs) are often implicated in neuroimaging studies of memory retrieval, with this activity ascribed to controlled monitoring processes indicative of difficult or demanding retrieval. Difficulty, however, is multiply determined, with success rates governed both by the available evidence and by the nature of decision rules applied to that evidence. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we isolated these factors by 1) contrasting different decision rules across matched evidence and 2) manipulating the level of evidence within a fixed decision rule. For identically constructed retrieval probes (1 old and 1 new item), same--different (are these different?) compared with forced--choice (which one is old?) decision rules yielded bilateral dorsolateral and right frontopolar PFC increases. However, these regions were unaffected when the available evidence was greatly lowered within forced--choice decisions. Thus, the regions were simultaneously sensitive to the type of decision rule and yet insensitive to the level of evidence supporting those decisions. Analogous lexical tasks yielded similar patterns, demonstrating that the PFC responses were not episodic memory specific. We discuss the mechanistic differences between same--different versus forced--choice decisions and the implications of these data for current theories of PFC activity during episodic remembering and executive control

Performance of unprotected and protected cellular beams in fire conditions

AbstractThis paper describes an experimental study at elevated temperatures on the behaviour of full-scale composite floor unprotected and protected cellular steel beams with intumescent coating having different size and openings shape. All beams were designed for a full shear connections between the steel beam and the concrete flange using headed shear studs in order to fail in by web-post buckling. In fire, the temperature distribution across a composite member is non-uniform, since the web and bottom flange have thin cross-sections and a greater exposed perimeter than the top flange. The deterioration of the material properties of the web will therefore become an important effect on the overall performance of the member in the event of fire. Fire resistance and protection of cellular beams has been very controversial concerning their behaviour in elevated temperatures, the fire protection material and the required thickness. Two failure temperatures were observed in the fire tests indicated that cellular beams failed by web post buckling and Vierendeel bending associated with the buckling of the web posts of the steel section. The finite element modelling software TNO-Diana was used to complete the numerical investigation. Comparison of the experimental and FEM results is presented and both are in good agreement. However the Euro code approach can be improved by using the correct material specification of the intumescent coating used

Gene-based copy number variation study reveals a microdeletion at 12q24 that influences height in the Korean population

AbstractHeight is a classic polygenic trait with high heritability (h2=0.8). Recent genome-wide association studies have revealed many independent loci associated with human height. In addition, although many studies have reported an association between copy number variation (CNV) and complex diseases, few have explored the relationship between CNV and height. Recent studies reported that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are highly correlated with common CNVs, suggesting that it is warranted to survey CNVs to identify additional genetic factors affecting heritable traits such as height.This study tested the hypothesis that there would be CNV regions (CNVRs) associated with height nearby genes from the GWASs known to affect height. We identified regions containing >1% copy number deletion frequency from 3667 population-based cohort samples using the Illumina HumanOmni1-Quad BeadChip. Among the identified CNVRs, we selected 15 candidate regions that were located within 1Mb of 283 previously reported genes. To assess the effect of these CNVRs on height, statistical analyses were conducted with samples from a case group of 370 taller (upper 10%) individuals and a control group of 1828 individuals (lower 50%).We found that a newly identified 17.7kb deletion at chromosomal position 12q24.33, approximately 171.6kb downstream of GPR133, significantly correlated with height; this finding was validated using quantitative PCR. These results suggest that CNVs are potentially important in determining height and may contribute to height variation in human populations

Permanent Pacemaker for Syncope after Heart Transplantation with Bicaval Technique

Sinus node dysfunction occurs occasionally after heart transplantation and may be caused by surgical trauma, ischemia to the sinus node, rejection, drug therapy, and increasing donor age. However, the timing and indication of permanent pacemaker insertion due to sinus node dysfunction following heart transplantation is contentious. Here, we report a case of a permanent pacemaker insertion for syncope due to sinus arrest after heart transplantation, even with a bicaval technique, which has been known to associate with few incidences of sinus node dysfunction