Multimodal Epidemic Visual Analytics and Modeling

The risk of infectious disease increases due to various factors including the dense population, development of various transportations, urbanization, and abnormal weather conditions. Since the speed of epidemic spread is fast, it is necessary to respond quickly in order to prevent the high fatality rate. Therefore, a fast search for the highly accurate spreading model has to be focused on the proper analysis of disease spreading. There have been many studies to understand the disease spreading and the epidemic model is often used to analyze and predict the spread of infectious disease. However, it is limited to apply the epidemic model for the spread analysis because the model captures spreading changes only within the defined area. In this paper, we propose a framework for the disease spreading simulation with multimodal factors in the epidemic model and networks of possible spread routes. Our system provides an interactive simulation environment with the interregional disease spreading according to various spread parameters. Moreover, in order to understand the spreading directions, we extract vector fields over time and visualize the vector fields with the fatality of the disease. Therefore, users are able to understand the disease spreading phenomena and obtain appropriate models through our framework

A Study on the Application Possibility of the Vehicle Air Conditioning System Using Vortex Tube

Since refrigerants applied to vehicle air conditioning systems exacerbate global warming, many studies have been conducted to supplement them. However, most studies have attempted to maximize the efficiency and minimize the environmental impact of the refrigerant, and thus, an air conditioning system without refrigerant is required. The vortex tube is a temperature separation system capable of separating air at low and high temperatures using compressed air. When applied to an air conditioning system, it is possible to construct an eco-friendly system that does not use a refrigerant. In this paper, various temperature changes and characteristics of a vortex tube were identified and applied to an air conditioning system simulation device. Additionally, an air conditioning system simulation device using indirect heat exchange and direct heat exchange methods was constructed to test the low-temperature air flow rate (yc), according to the temperature and pressure. As a result of the experiment, the temperature of the indirect heat exchange method was found to be higher than the direct heat exchange method, but the direct heat exchange method had low flow resistance. As a result, the direct heat exchange method can easily control the temperature according to the pressure and the low-temperature air flow rate (yc). Therefore, it was judged that the direct heat exchange method is more feasible for use in air conditioning systems than the indirect heat exchange method

Relationship between the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire 2007 and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition in Korean Children

This study investigated the relationship between the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire 2007 (DCDQ’07) and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition (BOT-2) in Korea. This study also adjusted the cutoff score of the DCDQ’07 based on the BOT-2 for Korean children. A total of 256 children were recruited from communities in Korea. They were divided into two age groups: 8 to 9 years old and 10 to 12 years old. Children performed the BOT-2, and their parents completed the DCDQ’07. The correlation between the DCDQ’07 and the BOT-2 was analyzed. The adjusted DCDQ’07 cutoff score for Korean children was calculated using the BOT-2 as the criterion through a receiver operating characteristic curve. A significant correlation between the DCDQ’07 and the BOT-2 was found, indicating that Korean parents’ perception of children’s motor skills was related to their children’s actual motor proficiency. The adjusted cutoff score of the DCDQ’07 had a sensitivity of 72.7–85.7% and a specificity of 62.5–64.0%. This study demonstrated that children’s motor skills reported by Korean parents on the DCDQ’07 were valid based on a community sample. The adjusted cutoff score of the DCDQ’07 could be used to identify children suspected of having a developmental coordination disorder

A parametric study of the performance of a planar membrane humidifier with a heat and mass exchanger model for design optimization

The performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is seriously changed by the humidification capability available when equipped with a PTFE (R) membrane. Typically, the humidification of a fuel cell is carried out by means of an internal or external humidifier. A membrane humidifier is applied to the external humidification of residential power generation fuel cell due to its convenience and high performance. In this study, a static model is constructed to understand the physical phenomena of the membrane humidifier in terms of geometric parameters and operating parameters. The model utilizes the concept of planar type heat exchanger with mass transport through the membrane. The model is constructed with FORTRAN in a Simulink (R) environment for consistency with other components of the model we previously developed. The results show that the humidity of the wet gas and the channel length, the membrane thickness and wet gas inlet humidity are critical parameters affecting the performance of the humidifier. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.N

Therapeutic Potential of Stem Cells Strategy for Cardiovascular Diseases

Despite development of medicine, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Over the past 10 years, various stem cells have been utilized in therapeutic strategies for the treatment of CVDs. CVDs are characterized by a broad range of pathological reactions including inflammation, necrosis, hyperplasia, and hypertrophy. However, the causes of CVDs are still unclear. While there is a limit to the currently available target-dependent treatments, the therapeutic potential of stem cells is very attractive for the treatment of CVDs because of their paracrine effects, anti-inflammatory activity, and immunomodulatory capacity. Various studies have recently reported increased therapeutic potential of transplantation of microRNA- (miRNA-) overexpressing stem cells or small-molecule-treated cells. In addition to treatment with drugs or overexpressed miRNA in stem cells, stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles also have therapeutic potential because they can deliver the stem cell-specific RNA and protein into the host cell, thereby improving cell viability. Here, we reported the state of stem cell-based therapy for the treatment of CVDs and the potential for cell-free based therapy

Therapeutic Potential of Stem Cells Strategy for Cardiovascular Diseases

Despite development of medicine, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Over the past 10 years, various stem cells have been utilized in therapeutic strategies for the treatment of CVDs. CVDs are characterized by a broad range of pathological reactions including inflammation, necrosis, hyperplasia, and hypertrophy. However, the causes of CVDs are still unclear. While there is a limit to the currently available target-dependent treatments, the therapeutic potential of stem cells is very attractive for the treatment of CVDs because of their paracrine effects, anti-inflammatory activity, and immunomodulatory capacity. Various studies have recently reported increased therapeutic potential of transplantation of microRNA-(miRNA-) overexpressing stem cells or small-molecule-treated cells. In addition to treatment with drugs or overexpressed miRNA in stem cells, stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles also have therapeutic potential because they can deliver the stem cell-specific RNA and protein into the host cell, thereby improving cell viability. Here, we reported the state of stem cellbased therapy for the treatment of CVDs and the potential for cell-free based therapy