Creation of Organic Forms

An artist\u27s work can be an expression of what they are exposed to in their own personal histories, memories and experiences. In this thesis completed for the Masters of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts Studio at Rochester Institute of Technology, I, as a Korean artist, examine how life and death coexist as one, according to the teachings of Buddha. I believe that this is not just a religious perspective but also a universal point of view. The cycle of life and death is like two sides of a coin; they are not separate. This different view of life and death, as understood through Buddhism, has a direct influence on my art practice. The installation artwork done for this thesis attempts to transform the idea of life and death from the Korean Buddhist perspective to a general point of view for everyone. Both two and three-dimensional artworks refer to the human body and human experience. The final, room-sized installation for the thesis is based on photographs of people\u27s bellybuttons that are made into three-dimensional forms, clumped together and spread throughout the space. Bellybuttons represent the very real connection between the life and death of an individual. I hope that this thesis and my artwork, in general, will also encourage all of us to embark on new journeys into the inner and outer world we ordinarily do not notice

Predicting Speech Recognition using the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) for Cochlear Implant Users and Listeners with Normal Hearing

Although the AzBio test is well validated, has effective standardization data available, and is highly recommended for Cochlear Implant (CI) evaluation, no attempt has been made to derive a Frequency Importance Function (FIF) for its stimuli. In the first phase of this dissertation, we derived FIFs for the AzBio sentence lists using listeners with normal hearing. Traditional procedures described in studies by Studebaker and Sherbecoe (1991) were applied for this purpose. Fifteen participants with normal hearing listened to a large number of AzBio sentences that were high- and low-pass filtered under speech-spectrum shaped noise at various signal-to-noise ratios. Frequency weights for the AzBio sentences were greatest in the 1.5 to 2 kHz frequency regions as is the case with other speech materials. A cross-procedure comparison was conducted between the traditional procedure (Studebaker and Sherbecoe, 1991) and the nonlinear optimization procedure (Kates, 2013). Consecutive data analyses provided speech recognition scores for the AzBio sentences in relation to the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII). Our findings provided empirically derived FIFs for the AzBio test that can be used for future studies. It is anticipated that the accuracy of predicting SIIs for CI patients will be improved when using these derived FIFs for the AzBio test. In the second study, the SIIfor CIrecipients was calculated to investigate whether the SII is an effective tool for predicting speech perception performance in a CI population. A total of fifteen CI adults participated. The FIFs obtained from the first study were used to compute the SII in these CI listeners. The obtained SIIs were compared with predicted SIIs using a transfer function curve derived from the first study. Due to the considerably poor hearing and large individual variability in performance in the CI population, the SII failed to predict speech perception performance for this CI group. Other predictive factors that have been associated with speech perception performance were also examined using a multiple regression analysis. Gap detection thresholds and duration of deafness were found to be significant predictive factors. These predictor factors and SIIs are discussed in relation to speech perception performance in CI users

Implications of the dark axion portal for the muon g-2, B-factories, fixed target neutrino experiments and beam dumps

The dark axion portal is a recently introduced portal between the standard model and the dark sector. It connects both the dark photon and the axion (or axion-like particle) to the photon simultaneously through an anomaly triangle. While the vector portal and the axion portal have been popular venues to search for the dark photon and axion, respectively, the new portal provides new detection channels if they coexist. The dark axion portal is not a result of the simple combination of the two portals, and its value is not determined by the other portal values; it should be tested independently. In this paper, we discuss implications of the new portal for the leptonic g-2, B-factories, fixed target neutrino experiments, and beam dumps. We provide the model-independent constraints on the axion-photon-dark photon coupling and discuss the sensitivities of the recently activated Belle-II experiment, which will play an important role in testing the new portal.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. v2 - Additional discussion and references added. v3 - Version accepted for publication by PRD. v4 - Correction to equation following Eq. (15

Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Relieve Post-Concussion Symptoms and Improve Quality of Life?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not hyperbaric oxygen therapy relieves post-concussion symptoms and improve quality of life. Study Design: Review of three randomized controlled trials published in English in peer review journals. Data Sources: Three randomized controlled trials which evaluated the therapeutic benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy compared to control group that did not receive any treatment. All studies were found in PubMed database. Outcomes Measured: All three studies analyzed the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on quality of life. Rivermead Postconcussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and EQ-VAS questionnaire were used to measure subjective improvements in quality of life. Results: Two studies found that hyperbaric oxygen therapy had no statistically significant effect on quality of life. One study determined that treatments were effective and significantly improved quality of life. Conclusions: Evidence is inconclusive and contradictory. Future studies should include large sample size and techniques to minimize placebo effect

RPC Gap Production and Performance for CMS RE4 Upgrade

CMS experiment constructed the fourth Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) trigger station composed of 144 RPCs to enhance the high momentum muon trigger efficiency at both endcap regions. All new CMS endcap RPC gaps are produced in accordance with QA and QC at the Korea Detector Laboratory (KODEL) in Korea. All qualified gaps have been delivered to three assembly sites: CERN in Switzerland, BARC in India, and Ghent University in Belgium for the RPC detector assembly. In this paper, we present the detailed procedures used in the production of RPC gaps adopted for the CMS upgrade.Comment: RPC2014 conference contribution, 7 pages, 8 figure

Large-Scale Highly Aligned Nanowire Printing

Nanowires (NWs) are 1D confined nanostructures; this geometry gives them unique properties that have been exploited in fabrication of high-density and high-tech electronic devices. Current method to produce NWs cannot fabricate large-scale-aligned NW arrays with precise control of length, orientation, location, and number of NWs individually; these inabilities hinder application of NWs in practical electronics. This paper describes e-nanowire printing, a method to print highly aligned NWs on a large scale, and then reviews recent progress in various electronic applications with highly aligned NWs. Finally, future research is suggested to advance nanoelectronics.1110Ysciescopu

Erratum to “Economic Analysis for Setting Appropriate Repair Cycles on the Fixed Materials and Facilities in the Public Rental Housing”

Currently, repair and maintenance cycles that follow the completion of construction facilities lead to the necessitation of subsequent data on the analysis of study and plan for maintenance. As such, an index of evaluation was drafted and a plan of maintenance cycle was computed using the investigation data derived from surveying target housing units in permanent rental environmental conditions, with a minimum age of 20 years, and their maintenance history. Optimal maintenance and replacement methods were proposed based on this data. Economic analysis was conducted through the Risk-Weighted Life Cycle Cost (RWLCC) method in order to determine the cost analysis of maintenance life cycle methods used for repair. Current maintenance cycle methods that have been used for 20 years were also compared with alternative maintenance cycles

Rarity and shifts in occurrence of endangered butterflies in South Korea

Endangered species are often the focus of public attention, partly because of their vulnerability to environmental changes, such as climate and land use change, and subsequently being at high risk of extinctions. Hence, red lists of endangered species play anessential in nature conservation. Although several endangered butterfly species have been previously listed as endangered species by government and/or individuals in South Korea, these red listsrarely include reliable quantitative population data. This has led to endless and unproductive debates on the selection of endangered species. Following Korean butterfly atlases, we assessed the population status of Korean endangered butterfly species whose distributions have been previously published. We hypothesized that these endangered species are rare and are decreasing in occurrence. We found that the decrease in occurrence is more important in determining endanger status than rarity. Using values of rarity and shifts in species occurrence, we selected endangered species from the previously published endangered species. Only eight species of 20 previous endangered species were defined as endangered by this semi-quantitative classification. This finding suggests that the subjective determination based on expert's perception would define more species as endangered compared to the quantitative determination based on population data.Article信州大学農学部紀要 50（1-2）: 37-42(2014)departmental bulletin pape