Interference effects on the processing of Korean double relative clauses

The current investigates the parsing process and its utilization of various linguistic information to resolve dependencies in Korean double relative clauses. While previous research has revealed evidence of interference effects of a distractor during dependency formations, a distractor involving dependency formations by itself has not been thoroughly explored. In light of this, we aimed to explore how the grammatical-role parallelism of a distractor modulates multiple filler-gap dependencies and examine the role of case marking in the resolution of these dependencies. In a self-paced reading experiment, we discovered that the parallelism effects of both head nouns were instrumental in the resolution of longer dependencies of a higher head noun and its gap. The non-parallel role of a distractor (i.e., low head noun) was reanalyzed before the integration of higher head noun and its gap. This finding suggests that parallelism effects play a critical role in the resolution of complex dependency structures. Additionally, our experiments investigated the role of case marking as a morphosyntactic cue in predicting the syntactic encoding of upcoming noun phrases. Our results demonstrated the immediate processing difficulty of conditions with double nominative markers, suggesting that parsers are selectively sensitive to case marking. Overall, our study contributes to our understanding of the parsing process and the selective use of linguistic cues in the resolution of complex dependency structures

Investigating the role of case markers in honorific agreement processing in Korean

This study explores the influence of case markers on the attraction effect in subject-verb honorific agreement in Korean. Using a self-paced reading experiment on PCIbex Farm, we manipulated case markers (possessive vs. nominative) and the presence of the honorific marker -si on verbs to assess their impact on the attraction effect, where syntactically illicit NPs are erroneously retrieved due to partial feature matching. While Avetisyan et al. (2020) reported that in Armenian, case information is used as a retrieval cue during subject-verb number agreement, our preliminary findings reveal no significant attraction effect related to case marker similarity, indicating that the case features (nominative case) do not crucially trigger the attraction effect in honorific agreement. The discrepancy with previous studies highlights the role of noun animacy and the specific construction of Korean sentence structure. Our results contribute to understanding the nuanced factors influencing honorific agreement processing in Korean and suggest that case marking, while integral to sentence structure, does not significantly affect the attraction effect in honorific agreement processing

Comparison Of Interpolation Technique For Rain Gauge Data Through The Distributed Rainfall-Runoff Model

Precipitation estimated from different measuring techniques such as rain gauge, radar and satellite have some similarities, but there are also differences among them. For example, techniques based on radar and satellite data underestimate rainfall than those using rain gauge data. In addition, many different interpolation techniques have been used to measure spatial pattern of precipitation but it is still difficult to have an accurate pattern by any one of them. The differences between the rainfall estimates from different techniques vary seasonally as well as regionally so that the radar or satellites are not directly applied into hydrologic analysis. In this regard, a main objective of this study is to develop a systematic way to interpolate ground rain gauge using discharge data from distributed rainfall-runoff model The spatial rainfall patterns estimated from the interpolation methods will be evaluated with the object function to minimize the difference between observed and estimated discharge. In other words, this study seeks to identify the optimal spatial pattern in rain field that can generate a similar pattern of observed discharge through the distributed rainfall-runoff model. This study will compare the spatial pattern from different types of climate systems and different seasons derived from different interpolation methods may help to validate the proposed algorithms

Willingness to pay for accessible elderly housing in Korea

The demands and requirements for accessible housing of a diverse population can vary considerably, especially considering that “aging in place” is a growing trend among the elderly. In an aging society, accessibility can be a housingmarket commodity, and the demand in Korea for this commodity is expected to increase. The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of accessible housing and the consumer᾽s willingness to pay (WTP) using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). For the analysis, 700 people were interviewed based on the housing type and age group. More than half of the respondents were willing to pay more for accessible housing compared to conventional housing. The WTP amount differed considerably with the age group, gender, housing type, size of unit, and tenure type. The elderly showed a greater WTP than the younger group; higher economic status (as indicated by monthly household income), educational level, and home ownership influenced WTP. The results showed that accessible housing could be an important housing choice for the elderly and can be adopted as an affordable option. Moreover, the results can help reduce the negative perception of accessible housing, which is commonly associated with its supposed high costs. First published online 16 October 201

Oncolytic Virus-Based Immunotherapies for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is highly refractory cancer which is resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, carrying a dismal prognosis. Although many anticancer drugs have been developed for treating HCC, sorafenib is the only effective treatment, but it only prolongs survival duration for about 3 months. Recently, oncolytic virotherapy has shown promising results in treating HCCs and the effects can be more enhanced by adopting immune modulatory molecules. This review discusses the current status of treating HCC and the effective strategy of oncolytic virus-based immunotherapy for the treatment of HCCs

Quantitative Iodine-123 single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography for Iodine-131 therapy of an autonomously functioning thyroid nodule

Purpose Autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTNs) are treated with iodine-131 (I-131) therapy, which increases the risk of permanent hypothyroidism; however, the risk can be reduced by separately estimating the accumulated activity for the AFTN and extranodular thyroid tissue (ETT). Methods A quantitative I-123 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT (5mCi) was performed in one patient with unilateral AFTN and T3 thyrotoxicosis. The I-123 concentrations measured at 24h were 12.26µCi/mL and 0.11µCi/mL in the AFTN and contralateral ETT, respectively. Thus, the I-131 concentrations and radioactive iodine uptake expected at 24h by 5mCi of I-131 were 38.59µCi/mL and 0.31 for the AFTN and 0.34µCi/mL and 0.007 for the contralateral ETT. The weight was calculated as CT-measured volume multiplied by 1.03. Results In the AFTN patient with thyrotoxicosis, we administered 30mCi of I-131, which would maximize the 24-h I-131 concentration in the AFTN (226.86µCi/g) and maintain a tolerable concentration in the ETT (1.97µCi/g). The percentage of I-131 uptake at 48h post I-131 administration was 62.6%. The patient achieved a euthyroid state at 14weeks and maintained the state until 2years post I-131 administration with an AFTN volume reduction of 61.38%. Conclusion The pre-therapeutic planning of quantitative I-123 SPECT/CT may enable a therapeutic window for I-131 therapy, which directs optimal I-131 activity to effectively treat AFTN while preserving the normal thyroid tissue.Key points Question: Is it feasible for I-123 SPECT/CT to be used for planning of I-131 therapy in an autonomously functioning thyroid nodule (AFTN)? Pertinent findings: The radioactive iodine uptake of the AFTN and extranodular normal thyroid tissue can be accurately estimated using the I-123 quantitative SPECT/CT. Implications for patient care: Patient-tailored I-131 therapy can be possible using the pre-therapeutic I-123 SPECT/CT-based planning in patients with AFTN.This study was supported by a grant from the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Research Fund (Grant No. 02-2021-0050)