Figures of personhood

Conceptualizing Linguistic Difference: Perspectives from Linguistic Anthropolog

A study of vector electrocardiography.

The vector electrocardiographic method was applied on 126 healthy young Korean adults without any evidence of cardiac diseases. The range of the age of the subjects were between 19 and 34. The normal values of the magnitude and direction of the mean QRS, T, P vectors, ventricular gradient and QRS-T angle in frontal plane were presented and discussed in comparison with those previously reported in the literature. Considering the age of the subjects under study, our results were in general agreement with those previously reported by other authors.</p

Towards better assessment and training of kinematics in post-stroke gait therapy

Gait impairment is common following neurological injury such as stroke. Therapists train patients based on restoring healthy motions, or kinematics, but evidence for training proper kinematics is not well-established. Because the dosage of therapy has not been well quantified, it is unclear what aspects of gait therapy are important, but simply that more therapy is likely better. However, cost restrictions prevent such intensive therapy, incentivizing value-based care. Robotic gait trainers that repetitively train a specific kinematic walking motions can potentially ease the burden on therapists and allow greater patient throughput, improving the value of therapy. Still, the cost of these trainers is only affordable to the wealthiest clinics, leaving them unavailable to the vast majority of stroke survivors. The overall goal of my research is twofold: to show the role of kinematics in gait recovery following stroke, and how these kinematics can be trained in an economical manner. My first aim focuses on design of an affordable robotic gait trainer that can adapt to an individual’s healthy gait pattern. Such a device could make robotic gait training more accessible to new markets including resource-limited hospitals and even patients’ homes. My second aim presents development of an online algorithm for producing speed-dependent reference joint trajectories that can be used for general robotic gait training applications. The goals of my third and fourth aims investigate the importance of gait kinematics using a novel longitudinal cohort approach in subacute stroke patients. I quantified the dosage of therapy using a wearable motion capture to find correlates of functional recovery, defined as gait speed. I then questioned whether gait speed was sufficient to define gait recovery, taking an innovative look at how gait quality during this subacute period changes as gait function improves. I expect these aims will justify the importance of kinematics and suggest that wearable sensors can become a valuable tool for monitoring detailed kinematic motion, providing insight for more effective therapy regimens.Mechanical Engineerin

Why Go Green: The Influence of Green Practices Coordination on Firm Performance

The aims of the research are to present a model of environmental performance by measuring the effects of a firm’s greenpractice in conjunction with inter-functional coordination mechanisms, and in turn, measure how environmental performanceinfluences firms’ economic performance. Moreover, this study synthesizes both ecological modernization theory (EMT) andcomplementarity theory (CT) as a theoretical lens to develop a comprehensive model. The results of this study showed thatgreen practice-manufacturing coordination and green practice-supply chain coordination have positive effect onenvironmental performance. However, the relationship between green practice-marketing coordination and environmentalperformance and the relationship between green practice-IS coordination and environmental performance were insignificant.Moreover, environmental performance is confirmed as an important antecedent of economic performance. Discussion andimplications are provided

Electromagnetic Model-Based Measurement, Sensing, and Detection for Wireless Power Transfer

Advances in measurement, sensing, and detection are the basis of technological development, which drives or hampers innovation, technology adoption, confidence in the value services, and security. As electric vehicles (EVs) become one of the dominant means of transportation in the next few decades with wireless power transfer for charging, the accuracy and fairness of energy metering and charging safety become prominent. This dissertation aims to develop smart electromagnetic measurement and detection systems integrated for wireless charging. A small number of sensors sample the electromagnetic field to reconstruct the information needed for power measurement for fair metering and foreign object detection for safe wireless charging. This electromagnetic model-based measurement, sensing, and detection provide accurate solutions for receiver coil misalignment and power level variations. First, Faraday coil transfer-power measurement (FC-TPM) is presented for fair metering and transactions of wireless charging in electric vehicles. The transfer-power is defined from the Poynting vector, which is the directed power density. The winding losses in the transmitter and receiver coils are derived and decomposed based on heat dissipation to show how the measurement of transfer-power demarcates the losses and imposes the costs for power losses to each coil based on physical power dissipation, resulting in fair metering. FC-TPM employs non-contact, open-circuited sense coils to calculate the transfer-power. The information obtained from the sense coils (e.g., sense coil voltages) is combined uniquely for the power reconstruction, which is accurate despite receiver coil misalignment without explicitly measuring the misalignment. The coupling coefficient variations to the misalignment are approximated by quadratic functions, explaining why a linear combination of multiple sense coil voltages results in accurate power reconstruction across the variation. Furthermore, this method is accurate over other types of variations (e.g., operating frequencies, different types of wires) since polynomials can generally approximate variations. FC-TPM was demonstrated in hardware accurately within 0.1% errors despite a receiver coil misalignment of up to 10 cm using a 1kW wireless power transfer system. Second, Electromagnetic Model-Based Foreign Object Detection (EM-FOD) is presented for safe wireless power transfer, where foreign objects neighboring wireless power transfer systems are fire hazards. The same electromagnetic physics model, constructed by the transmitter, receiver, and sense coils, is the normal model and can be used to detect the hazardous objects by excluding them from the original normal model. A target information (e.g., the transmitter coil current) reconstruction by the normal model becomes inaccurate when there is a foreign object. The detection metric is a sequent error in the information reconstruction compared to the true information obtained by an independent measurement simultaneously. The detection metric is invariant to receiver coil misalignment and power level, allowing less risky pre-startup low-power detection. Hardware demonstrations show that a 2 cm diameter U.S. nickel coin can be detected using only 9 W regardless of a receiver coil misalignment of up to 10 cm. This dissertation is concluded by presenting a calibration-transfer strategy to consider the practical deployment of the wireless charging models for FC-TPM to energy service stations. Open-circuited sense coils are chosen as transfer standards that convey accurate data obtained from the certified standard in standards laboratories to the transmitter and sense coils in energy service stations.PHDElectrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/169905/1/sungyul_1.pd

Inter-Organizational Information Systems Visibility in Buyer-Supplier Relationships: Buyer and Supplier Perspectives

Many researchers have called for the need to improve the understanding of the concept and working of supply chain visibility. The facilitating role of inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) in achieving SC visibility has received inadequate research attention. This paper is to elaborate on the novel concept of IOIS visibility and to look into the antecedents and consequences of IOIS visibility. Further, investigating SC cooperation from the perspectives of both partners is important, especially when channel partners depend on each other and there can be asymmetries in IOIS visibility. This study attempts to accommodate both partners’ perspectives in IOIS visibility. The data that this study requires were collected from 51 matched pairs of intermediate producers of telecommunication equipment components and their immediate suppliers. The results show that IOIS visibility from the supplier’s perspectives is an important predictor of supply chain performance. In turn, IOIS visibility is significantly influenced by supply chain partner’s internal IS integration and inter-organizational IT infrastructure compatibility. The impact of asymmetries in IOIS visibility on supply chain performance is also investigated

Synchrotron study of the garnet-type oxide Li6CaSm2Ta2O12

Hexalithium calcium disamarium(III) ditantalum(V) dodeca­oxide, Li6CaSm2Ta2O12, crystallizes in a cubic garnet-type structure. In the crystal structure, disordered Li atoms occupy two crystallographic sites. One Li has a tetra­hedral coordination environment in the oxide lattice, whereas the other Li atom occupies a significantly distorted octa­hedral site, with site occupancies for the two Li atoms of 0.26 (7) and 0.44 (2), respectively. Ca and Sm atoms are statistically distributed over the same crystallographic position with a occupancy of 2/3 for Sm and of 1/3 for Ca, and are eightfold coordinated by O atoms. The TaO6 octa­hedron is joined to six others via corner-sharing LiO4 tetra­hedra. One Li and the O atoms lie on general positions, while the other atoms are situated on special positions. The Sm/Ca position has 222, Ta has , and the tetra­hedrally coordinated Li atom has site symmetry

Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy:Modified Ultradissection Reduces pT2 Positive Surgical Margins on the Bladder Neck

The purpose of this study was to compare the positive surgical margin (PSM) rates of 2 techniques of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for pT2 (localized) prostate cancer. A retrospective analysis was conducted of 361 RARP cases, performed from May 2005 to September 2008 by a single surgeon (KHR) at our institution (Yonsei University College of Medicine). In the conventional technique, the bladder neck was transected first. In the modified ultradissection, the lateral border of the bladder neck was dissected and then the bladder neck was transected while the detrusor muscle of the bladder was well visualized. Perioperative characteristics and outcomes and PSM rates were analyzed retrospectively for pT2 patients (n＝217), focusing on a comparison of those undergoing conventional (n＝113) and modified ultradissection (n＝104) techniques. There was no difference between the conventional and modified ultradissection group in mean age, BMI, PSA, prostate volume, biopsy Gleason score, and DʼAmico prognostic criteria distributions. The mean operative time was shorter (p＜0.001) and the estimated blood loss was less (p＜0.01) in the modified ultradissection group. The PSM rate for the bladder neck was significantly reduced by modified ultradissection, from 6.2% to 0% (p＜0.05). In conclusion, modified ultradissection reduces the PSM rate for the bladder neck