Developing Web-based Interdisciplinary Modules to Teach Solid Waste/Residue Management in the Food Chain

ABSTRACT: A Web-based interdisciplinary instructional resource was developed to provide information that will increase food science educators' knowledge of waste management in the food chain. The 4 modules are: legal implications for management of wastes/residues; identification, quantification, and characterization of wastes/residues; management of wastes/residues; and economic ramifications of wastes/residues. Instructional materials are available for faculty and GTAs for use in teaching the 4 modules. Food science educators can use this Web-based instructional tool as an educational resource in their undergraduate classes to enhance students' knowledge and ability to solve critical environmental problems in the food chain. See http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/swr/home/welcome.htm     

Unsupervised word sense disambiguation for Korean through the acyclic weighted digraph using corpus and dictionary

Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is meant to assign the most appropriate sense to a polysemous word according to its context. We present a method for automatic WSD using only two resources: a raw text corpus and a machine-readable dictionary (MRD). The system learns the similarity matrix between word pairs from the unlabeled corpus, and it uses the vector representations of sense definitions from MRD, which are derived based on the similarity matrix. In order to disambiguate all occurrences of polysemous words in a sentence, the system separately constructs the acyclic weighted digraph (AWD) for every occurrence of polysemous words in a sentence. The AWD is structured based on consideration of the senses of context words which occur with a target word in a sentence. After building the AWD per each polysemous word, we can search the optimal path of the AWD using the Viterbi algorithm. We assign the most appropriate sense to the target word in sentences with the sense on the optimal path in the AWD. By experiments, our system shows 76.4% accuracy for the semantically ambiguous Korean words.     

Using the revised EM algorithm to remove noisy data for improving the one-against-the-rest method in binary text classification

Automatic text classification is the problem of automatically assigning predefined categories to free text documents, thus allowing for less manual labors required by traditional classification methods. When we apply binary classification to multi-class classification for text classification, we usually use the one-against-the-rest method. In this method, if a document belongs to a particular category, the document is regarded as a positive example of that category; otherwise, the document is regarded as a negative example. Finally, each category has a positive data set and a negative data set. But, this one-against-the-rest method has a problem. That is, the documents of a negative data set are not labeled manually, while those of a positive set are labeled by human. Therefore, the negative data set probably includes a lot of noisy data. In this paper, we propose that the sliding window technique and the revised EM (Expectation Maximization) algorithm are applied to binary text classification for solving this problem. As a result, we can improve binary text classification through extracting potentially noisy documents from the negative data set using the sliding window technique and removing actually noisy documents using the revised EM algorithm. The results of our experiments showed that our method achieved better performance than the original one-against-the-rest method in all the data sets and all the classifiers used in the experiments.     

Network-based synchronization of T–S fuzzy chaotic systems with asynchronous samplings

In this paper, we study the problem of network-based synchronization of chaotic systems in Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy form, in which the master and slave fuzzy chaotic systems are connected with a continuous-time controller through a network. In all communication channels, asynchronous samplings and external disturbances are considered. The asynchronously sampled state information of the master and slave systems received in the controller is treated by designing an observer for estimating the states of the master system. Then, based on the observation result, the problem of asynchronous samplings between the slave-controller and controller-slave channels is solved in two different cases. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the desired observer and controllers for each asynchronous cases are presented in the form of linear matrix inequalities. An numerical example is given to illustrate the validity and potential of the proposed new design techniques.     

A novel actuation method of transporting droplets by using electrical charging of droplet in a dielectric fluid

We evaluate the feasibility of manipulating droplets in two dimensions by exploiting Coulombic forces acting on conductive droplets immersed in a dielectric fluid. When a droplet suspended in an immiscible fluid is located near an electrode under a dc voltage, the droplet can be charged by direct contact, by charge transfer along an electrically conducting path, or by both mechanisms. This process is called electrical charging of droplet (ECOD). This charged droplet may then be transported rapidly by exploiting Coulombic forces. We experimentally demonstrate electrical actuation of a charged droplet by applying voltage sequences. A charged droplet is two dimensionally actuated by following the direction of the electrical field signal. The droplet does not contact the surface of the microfluidic chip when it moves. This characteristic is very advantageous because treatments of the substrate surfaces of microfluidic chip become simpler. In order to test the feasibility of using ECOD in a droplet-based microreactor, electrocoalescence of two oppositely charged droplets is also studied. When two droplets approach each other due to Coulombic attraction, a liquid bridge is formed between them. We postulate that if the applied electric field is weaker than a certain critical level, the two droplets coalesce instantaneously when the charges are exchanged and redistributed through this liquid bridge.     

Reading Korean society through Stuart Hall’s cultural theory: constructing a new paradigm for socialist politics in the 21st century

This paper discusses the legacy of Stuart Hall’s cultural studies approach to socialist politics. Like many other socialist thinkers, his ideas are the direct outcome of political intervention, often through the form of theoretical practice. Because gaps will always remain between reality and theoretical explanation, political intervention tends to be an overreaction to social change or the underestimation of people’s power. Hall’s political practice cannot therefore be exceptional in that it is far from perfect. This paper attempts to establish a balance sheet in terms of his involvement in the debate on the nature of British society, Thatcherism and neo-liberalism. From this examination, some key concepts will be employed to analyse the nature of Korean society in relation to neo-liberal restructuration and the neo-liberal historic bloc. Discussing Hall’s ideas and applying these to Korea, the paper sets out to demonstrate both weaknesses and strengths in Hall’s thought. The strength consists of his open-ended and empirically sensitive reformation of Marxism. On the other hand, the core weakness is found in his post-Marxist epistemological relativism. The main argument set out here is that, in order to develop and refine Hall’s thought, there should be an ontologically realist position compatible with epistemological relativism. For this difficult task, the concept of needs can be suggested as a fresh starting point.     

From inter-Asia studies toward tricontinental studies

Abstract

This paper proposes new conceptual frameworks for “inter-Asia studies” in order to be more appropriate for addressing and redressing the demands of global patriarchal capitalism as well as overcoming the “regime of separation” of Asian studies from African and/or Latin American studies. To do that, first, I will problematize the male-East Asia-metropolis centeredness of “inter-Asia.” Then, I will try to locate “inter-Asia studies” into the field of “tricontinental studies” invented by the decolonial and deimperial spirit of connection between the colonized continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the third section, I will propose a “feminist inter-referencing reading” that involves shuttling back and forth between the postcolonial sub-regions of Asia, Africa and/or Latin America horizontally from the location and perspective of gendered subalterns rather than upward-mobile metropolitan feminists. The feminist standpoint that reading takes is combined with the conceptual frameworks of labor, ecology and ethnicity. It is also held that such a feminist inter-referencing reading needs the imaginative and interpretative metaphor of the “planet” to overcome the Westernized notion of the “nation” and “globe” as well as the concept of “universality shared by all humans” not monopolized by Westerners. Lastly, this paper will illustrate the new kind of “tricontinental studies” by providing an example of “feminist inter-referencing reading” which connects and compares the sub-regions of South Korea, Vietnam and Liberia.     

A new perspective on in vitro assessment method for evaluating quantum dot toxicity by using microfluidics technology

In this study, we demonstrate a new perspective on in vitro assessment method for evaluating quantum dot (QD) toxicity by using microfluidics technology. A new biomimetic approach, based on the flow exposure condition, was applied in order to characterize the cytotoxic potential of QD. In addition, the outcomes obtained from the flow exposure condition were compared to those of the static exposure condition. An in vitro cell array system was established that used an integrated multicompartmented microfluidic device to develop a sensitive flow exposure condition. QDs modified with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide∕trioctylphosphine oxide were used for the cytotoxicity assessment. The results suggested noticeable differences in the number of detached and deformed cells and the viability percentages between two different exposure conditions. The intracellular production of reactive oxygen species and release of cadmium were found to be the possible causes of QD-induced cytotoxicity, irrespective of the types of exposure condition. In contrast to the static exposure, the flow exposure apparently avoided the gravitational settling of particles and probably assisted in the homogeneous distribution of nanoparticles in the culture medium during exposure time. Moreover, the flow exposure condition resembled in vivo physiological conditions very closely, and thus, the flow exposure condition can offer potential advantages for nanotoxicity research.     

SUPPORT NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES: AGE‐RELATED IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT

The Supports Intensity Scale–Children's Version (SIS‐C) was developed to assess the support needs of children and youth aged 5 to 16 years with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Data from the standardization sample of the SIS‐C were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the age cohorts (5–6, 7–8, 9–10, 11–12, 13–14, and 15–16 years) used to stratify the sample on the measurement model, as well as the latent means, standard deviations, and correlations. The findings confirmed measurement invariance across age cohorts, but suggested that at the latent level, younger children, generally, have more intensive support needs and that as students with intellectual disability age, their support needs decrease. In addition, the 15‐ to 16‐year‐old cohort displayed differences in terms of the strength of correlations between support need domains, with stronger correlations than the other age groups. Implications for future research and practice are described.