Unspecified Individuals Research Articles

Psychosocial impact on individuals who received negative test results from predictive testing for Huntington's disease: Anexploratory qualitative study.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease with autosomal dominant inheritance, and no radical cure for HD has been established. Qualitative studies are necessary to investigate the psychological state of individuals who underwent predictive testing for HD, because the psychosocial impact on noncarriers remains unclarified in Japan. Herein, we elucidated the psychosocial impact on the noncarriers for HD and the role of genetic counseling for predictive testing and follow-up after testing by examining their experiences with predictive testing. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight individuals participating in this study. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and evaluated according to thematic analysis. As a result, 4 themes were generated from 21 categories of 46 codes: (1) Diversity of perceptions concerning the test results, (2) Views on life as a noncarrier, (3) Changes in feelings toward and relationships with family members, and (4) Sharing information within the family. After receiving the negative results, the noncarriers felt not only relief but also surprise, doubt, relief from tension, and regret. It was shown that noncarriers felt survivor's guilt toward many unspecified individuals, which was not only a sense of guilt but also a sense of mission or responsibility. Additionally, they conducted altruistic behavior as members of their family and society, that may be related to the Japanese collectivism. Some participants were concerned about sharing information with their siblings. Noncarriers for HD can experience complex psychological states, and Japanese people who prefer high-context communication may find it difficult to express their feelings and thoughts. It is important to understand their true feelings before and after the predictive genetic testing, reconsider the impact of being a noncarrier and whether it is a burden for them from both subjective and objective perspectives, and conduct long-term follow-up as needed.

Ishrana glavoča travaša, Zosterisessor ophiocephalus (Pallas, 1814), u istočnom dijelu Jadranskog mora, ovisno o godišnjem dobu, spolu i veličini

Feeding habits of Grass goby, Zosterisessor ophiocephalus (Pallas, 1814) related to season, sex and size were examined during one year. Stomach contents of 302 specimens were examined, of which 91 stomachs were empty. The sampled population consisted of 136 females (45.03%) ranging from 6.8 to 19.3 cm (13.30 ± 2.24), 156 males (51.65%) ranging from 6.1 to 20.2 cm (14.14 ± 2.91) and 10 unspecified (3.31%) individuals of a length of 5.6 to 16.0 cm (10.07 ± 2.91). Grass goby is mainly carnivorous. The dietary preferences among sexes and sizes did not differ statistically. Results indicate that Grass goby is an opportunistic species that feeds on wide spectrum on prey. Decapods were the most important prey (IRI =3208.49), followed by Osteichthyes (IRI=490.03).

Driver Characteristics Oriented Autonomous Longitudinal Driving System in Car-Following Situation.

Advanced driver assistance system such as adaptive cruise control, traffic jam assistance, and collision warning has been developed to reduce the driving burden and increase driving comfort in the car-following situation. These systems provide automated longitudinal driving to ensure safety and driving performance to satisfy unspecified individuals. However, drivers can feel a sense of heterogeneity when autonomous longitudinal control is performed by a general speed planning algorithm. In order to solve heterogeneity, a speed planning algorithm that reflects individual driving behavior is required to guarantee harmony with the intention of the driver. In this paper, we proposed a personalized longitudinal driving system in a car-following situation, which mimics personal driving behavior. The system is structured by a multi-layer framework composed of a speed planner and driver parameter manager. The speed planner generates an optimal speed profile by parametric cost function and constraints that imply driver characteristics. Furthermore, driver parameters are determined by the driver parameter manager according to individual driving behavior based on real driving data. The proposed algorithm was validated through driving simulation. The results show that the proposed algorithm mimics the driving style of an actual driver while maintaining safety against collisions with the preceding vehicle.

Standardization Procedure for Data Exchange

Common specification of data promotes data exchange among many and unspecified individuals and organizations. However, standardization itself tends to discourage innovation that can create new uses of data. To overcome this dilemma of innovation and standardization, this paper analyzes and proposes hypotheses regarding the process through which the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has realized innovations such as web applications by updating the standard. I hypothesize the following changes in standardization process management at the W3C as key factors supporting innovation through standardization among stakeholders with conflicting interests: (1) defining the scope of the specifications to be developed according to functions instead of technical structures; (2) design of a development management policy based on feedback from implementations, referred to as an “implementation-oriented policy”; (3) inclusion of diversified stakeholders in open standardization processes that facilitate consensus formation and the diffusion of developed standards; and (4) adopting a royalty-free to encourage third-party developers to implement proposed specifications and advance update of proposals. This single case analysis leads to the development and diffusion of common technological data specifications, which are the driving factors for innovation utilizing big data generated by exchanging data of various origins.

Fire Safety Evaluation of Urban Buildings

As buildings have been getting taller and incorporating more intelligent designs due to industry development and population growth, property damage and the numbers of casualties resulting from fires are increasing, which requires safety evaluations that involve engineering analysis methods. This study analyzes the use of safety measures against fire hazards, by conducting fire simulations to calculate the visibility range and radiant/convective heat in CO/CO2/smoke, and by performing evacuation simulations to analyze the ASET(Available Safety Egress Time)/RSET(Required Safety Egress Time). From the results of the fire/evacuation simulations, it is possible to estimate the impacts that fire hazards (e.g. toxic gases and temperatures) can have on the occupants’ safety, to examine the feasibility of the evacuation/fireproof equipment in buildings for unspecified individuals, and to establish an optimized evacuation plan to minimize damage or loss of life. It is expected that fire simulations will enable the following activities: risk impact evaluation analyses, laboratory safety inspections, establishment of safety assessments for construction works, and future continuous research studies linked to super high-rise buildings.

PoWaP: Proof of Work at Proximity for a crowdsensing system for collaborative traffic information gathering

Blockchain technologies has become popular since the appearance of the first electric value exchange system on the Internet: Bitcoin. This technologies enable reliable data structure against tampering even in the absence of any authority to rely on, instead to check consistency with everyone who joins in the system. At present, however, the practical application of the blockchain technologies is to issue currency mainly traded for market speculation or money game. On the other hand, many researchers and software developers believe its applicability not only to improving today’s bank systems but also to creating a new solution to nonbank areas without relying on any centralized control system. In the field of transportation technologies for smart city, the combination of self-driving connected cars and IoT have been recently studied to achieve more efficient and safer transportation. To encourage a reduction of traffic jams by controlling mobility efficiently, it is necessary to automatically gather high-definition traffic information about traffic counts and road closures on urban roads. In this paper, a distributed crowdsensing system for collaborative gathering of traffic information is proposed. In the system, special beacon devices are asumed to be deployed along road segments by many unspecified individuals like today’s Wi-Fi routers. These devices at geographical proximity collaboratively and automatically record which vehicles passed in the road segment into the blockchain using Proof of Work (PoW). This process is incentivized by issuing its own digital currency. The system also enhances anti-tampering performance by cross-referencing blockchains of multiple road segments with each other. By chronologically saving traffic data into blocks in the blockchain, each beacon can refer traffic count and abnormal traffic, such as traffic jam and accidents. To evaluate the proposed system, we demonstrate some simple numerical simulations to show how the system makes localized PoW based consensus, and also the blockchain responds to quasi-real-time traffic status in the road segment.

Key Issues and Countermeasures of Fund-Raising Business without Permission: Focusing on the ‘Dona Dona case’

유사수신행위는 한마디로 금융당국의 인․허가를 받지 않고 투자금 등을 유치하는 것을 업(業)으로 하는 범죄를 말하는데, ‘조희팔 사건’, ‘교수공제회 사건’, ‘인덱코 영농조합 사건’, ‘도나도나 사건’을 대표적인 사례로 들 수 있다. 이러한 유형의 범죄는 첫째, 사법당국에서 적발하거나 형벌을 부과하는데 까지 오랜 시간이 걸리고, 둘째, 피해규모가 상당하고 사회병리적 파급효과가 심각하며, 셋째, 범행사실을 확인하고 법적 조치를 취하더라도 피해구제가 쉽지 않다는 점 등을 공통점으로 가진다. 이러한 문제의식 하에서 본 연구는 ‘도나도나 사건’의 판결문 분석을 토대로 유사수신행위를 둘러싼 수사실무상 그리고 법리적 쟁점들을 도출하고 이에 관한 논평과 더불어 억제방안을 검토하는 것을 목적으로 기획되었다. 판결문들을 살펴본 결과, ①검찰의 축소기소, ②1심 및 2심 재판부의 무죄판결 불합리성, ③금융위원회, 금융감독원, 경찰 등 관련기관의 소극적 대응, ④현행법의 법리상 한계를 주요 쟁점으로 도출할 수 있었다. 이러한 논의를 바탕으로 다음과 같은 유사수신행위 억제방안을 제시하였다. 첫째, 법왜곡죄를 도입하여 검찰과 법원의 법왜곡 행위를 통제하여야 한다. 둘째, 금융정보분석원에 유사수신 혐의 금융정보를 스크린 할 수 있는 시스템을 구축하 고 경찰, 검찰, 금융감독원과의 실시간 협조체계를 강화할 필요가 있다. 셋째,「공익신고자 보호법」상 보상금 규정과 금융감독원의 “불법금융 파파라치” 제도 등을 적극적으로 홍보함으로써 유사수신범죄 신고를 활성화하여야 한다. 넷째, 형 법에 투자사기죄를 신설하고, 유사수신행위법을 개정하여, 형량을 높이고, 범죄수익을 필요적으로 몰수·추징하며, 피해구제기금을 마련하여야 할 것이다.This study was designed to recommend the revision of current laws related to fund-raising business without permission in Korea and to suggest countermeasures about it by way of focusing on the ‘Dona Dona case’. In Korea, Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission provides for special provisions to protect good traders and establish a sound financial order. To regulate offenders and protect victims against it, this law defines the term fund-raising business without permission as “any business that is performed to raise funds from unspecified individuals without obtaining authorization or permission or making a registration or report, etc.” and it also regulates that any person who conducts any fund-raising business without permission shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine not exceeding fifty million won(§2, §3, §6). In this study, I reviewed the first trial, second trial, appeal, and extradition decision of the Dona Dona case. As a result of the review, I could identify problems such as the prosecution s reduced indictment, the irrationality of acquittal, the passive response of related agencies, and the limitations of current laws. The following items can be suggested as solutions and alternatives for the issues. First, it is necessary to do benchmarking “Investment Fraud(Kapitalanlagebetrug)” of Germany. Second, the Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission shall be amended to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement. Third, the government should establish a cooperative system for police, prosecution, financial committee, financial information analysis institute, financial watchdog and local administrative bodies. Fourth, after investigating cases in major countries such as the U.K., the government should establish a nationwide police investigation agency that can exclusively deal with fraud cases. Finally, there is a need

A Comparative Study on the Administrative Compulsory Execution System between Korea and China: Focused on the Administrative Vicarious Execution

많은 경우에 행정목적의 실현은 행정 상대방의 의무이행을 요구하게 된다. 하지만 대립되는 이익이 병존하는 사회에서 행정청이 명한 의무를 이행하지 않거나 위반하는 경우가 종종 발생하게 되는데 행정의 실효성 확보를 위해 이를 강제할 수단이 필요하다. 이런 수단의 대표적인 예가 행정상 강제집행이다. 본 논문은 한국과 중국의 행정상 강제집행제도의 입법체계를 고찰하고, 대집행에 대한 한국과 중국의 법제를 중점적으로 비교하면서 중국법의 한국에 대한 시사점을 찾아보았다. 우선 한국의 행정상 강제집행제도는 대집행에 대해서만 일반법을 제정하고 있으며, 직접강제와 이행강제금 및 기타 행정상 강제집행 수단에 대해서는 개별법에 제한적으로 규정하고 있다. 이에 따라 법률에 강제집행 수단이 불비한 때에 의무불이행의 상태가 지속될 수밖에 없는 문제점이 존재한다. 이와 같은 입법체계상의 문제를 해결하려면 중국과 같이 행정강제에 관한 일반법의 제정이 필요하다. 한편 한국의 현행 「행정대집행법」에 따르면 법령에 의해 직접 명해진 의무의 불이행도 대집행의 대상이 될 수 있다. 하지만 법령에 의해 명해진 의무는 보통 불특정 다수인의 의무로서의 성질을 가지므로, 행정행위를 통해 특정인의 의무로 확정된 다음에야 대집행의 대상이 된다고 본다. 가령 법령에서 명한 의무가 어느 정도 구체적이어도 의무자로서는 특정의무를 인식하기가 어렵다. 이에 의무자의 권리를 보호하는 차원에서 대집행의 대상은 중국과 같이 행정행위를 매개로 하는 대체적 작위의무로 한정하는 것이 바람직하다. 이밖에 「행정대집행법」은 불이행된 의무에 대해 다른 수단으로 이행확보가 어려울 때에 한하여 대집행을 할 수 있다고 규정하였지만, 무엇이 다른 수단에 해당되는지는 밝히지 않고 있다. 졸저는 중국과 같이 행정청과 의무자의 의견을 서로 수렴할 수 있고 탄력적으로 양자 간의 갈등을 해소할 수 있는 협의제도의 도입을 고려해 볼 수 있다고 본다. 궁극적으로 행정상 강제집행제도에 존재하는 문제점들이 점차 정비된다면 행정의 실효성 확보는 물론이고, 행정 상대방의 권익보호도 신장될 것이다.In many cases, the realization of an administrative purpose requires the performance of a duty by the administrative counterpart. However, in a society where conflicting interests coexist, the duty ordered by an administrative agency is often not implemented or is violated. To ensure the effectiveness of administration, a means to coerce the implementation is required. A typical example of such means is administrative compulsory execution. This study investigated the legislative system of the administrative compulsory execution system in Korea and China, then focused on comparing the legislation of administrative vicarious execution in Korea and China to find the implications of the Chinese law for Korea. First of all, according to Korea’s administrative compulsory execution system, only administrative vicarious execution is included in general administrative law, while the use of direct force, compulsion payment or other administrative compulsory execution measures are restrictively provided in individual laws. Accordingly, there is a problem that the state of the nonperformance of an obligation cannot but remain when there is no means of compulsory execution in the law. To solve this problem of the legislative system, it is necessary to enact a general legislation on administrative enforcement like China. In the meantime, according to Korea’s present Administrative Vicarious Execution Act, the nonperformance of an obligation directly ordered by the legislation may also be the target of administrative vicarious execution. However, since the obligation ordered by the legislation usually has a character as that of unspecified individuals, it is judged that it becomes the target of administrative vicarious execution only after it is confirmed as an obligation of specific persons through an administrative act. For instance, although the obligation ordered by the legislation is specific to some extent, it is difficult for a person bound in duty to recognize the specific obligation. Thus, to protect the rights of the person bound in duty, it is desirable to limit the target of administrative vicarious execution to the alternative obligation mediated by an administrative act like China. In addition, Administrative Vicarious Execution Act provided that the administrative vicarious execution could be made only when it would be difficult to secure the implementation concerning an unperformed obligation, but it does not state what comes under the other means. I think it is judged that the introduction of a negotiation system can be considered, which can collect opinions between the administrative agency and the person bound in duty like China and solve the conflict between both parties elastically. Ultimately, if the problems existing in the administrative compulsory execution system are gradually maintained, the effectiveness of administration will be ensured.

Original source tracing enabled by e-learning contents system based on crowdsourcing

ABSTRACTA crowdsourcing environment, where there is a very large volume of diverse content resulting from the participation of a mass of unspecified individuals, has resulted in significant changes in education. This paper presents an e-learning content system to manage the inclusion of crowdsourced material on the Web within lecture materials. The e-learning content system comprises a scrape system, learning content editor, and tracing system. As Web content may change with the progress of time, teachers (and students) must check whether the Web-based materials previously used in their classes have been updated. Accordingly, we designed scrape metadata specifications for tracing the original source. These metadata include information on copyrights and tracing, rather than basic data regarding the original source, to allow users to determine whether the original source has been updated. An editor was also configured so that the scraped Web content could be immediately incorporated into the teaching materials for enhanced convenience. The change point tracing accuracy test and utility evaluation performed using this system show that the accuracy of the change point tracing was 97.1% and that this system effectively saves time as compared with checking for changes by entering each URL directly.

Improved Pattern Matching Method for Intrusion Detection Systems under DDoS Attack

Increasing popularity of the internet usage is causing many DDoS attacks such as 7.7 DDoS in 2009 and 3.4 DDoS in 2011 in South Korea. A DDoS attack is one of the simplest and most powerful cyber-attacks. DDoS attack is getting a huge problem because the unspecified individuals (called zombie PCs) are used in loading malicious codes while attacking a single site or system. Network security appliances such as IDSes (Intrusion Detection Systems) and DDoS attack prevention systems detect attacks by signature-based pattern matching. These appliances check the full data payload of packets to find abnormal signatures. Then reducing the packet inspection time is one of the most important challenges of improving the performance of these systems because pattern matching methods affect the total execution time. In this paper, we analyze network attack events are collected on two DDoS defense systems which are operated by KISA (KrCERT/CC) in Korea. Then we propose improved pattern matching method using multicore process.

과학관에서의 대중 시연을 통한 인간크기 이족보행 휴머노이드 로봇의 평가 연구

Although human-sized bipedal humanoid robots have been developed as the ideal form of human-friendly robots, studies of humanoid robots from the user perspective and of actual interaction between humanoid robots and the public in daily environments are few. This paper presents a long-term public demonstration that encouraged interaction between a humanoid robot and unspecified individuals. We have collected a significant amount of subjective evaluation data from the public by performing a storytelling demonstration that enhanced people's empathy towards the robot. The evaluation model consists of the robot's human friendliness, which involves its impression on humans, interaction with humans, and imitation of human motions and the robot's human appearance which involves gender, age, height, and body type. This study shows that there is no significant difference in human-friendliness between gender groups (male and female), while there is a significant difference between age groups (children and adults). In human appearance, it appears that there is no significant difference between either gender groups or age groups, except for the case of the robot's height.

콘텐츠 공급자의 양방향적인 소셜 미디어 활동 연구 사례: TV 드라마 <한니발>의 트위터 활동을 중심으로

The development of social media in the 2000s led the unspecified individuals to band together for common interests. Social networking services served as a far-reaching tool for sharing different thoughts and interpretation of the pop culture and helped people build up close relations driven by their common interests for certain works of the pop culture. This Study introduces the TV Series as a case that displays specific patterns of communication between its producer and viewers. Producer Bryan Fuller of the Series as well as key production staffs were quite active on social networking sites with the understanding of what the audience desired and the willingness to sympathize with them, which were eagerly welcomed by the dedicated audience whose number, though, was not big. For the Hannibal production team, SNS was a means for them to just be consumers who appreciate the work instead of solely being the content provider. Their approach is quite different from unilateral marketing approaches employed in the past. Through this case, the Study aims to suggest that social networking sites serve as a powerful medium connecting producers and viewers or as an information hub, and that how interactive contents shall be delivered in the new media environment to be effective.

경로선택특성 분석을 통한 교차경로 통과시간 예측 모형 개발

Recently, the buildings are the trend of enlargement and manhattanization. Particularly in case of multi-use facilities, it has the majority of maze structure and utilized for unspecified individuals who understand the space a little as their stakes are high to expose in fire and disaster. To prevent the fire and disaster, Republic of Korea implements Performance Based Design (PBD) but the simulation tool for required safe egress time analysis of PBD doesn't consider the way-finding characteristic though the junction routing selection or decision making time of occupants. Therefore, this paper organizes a mock-up set and analyzes human behavior characteristics of pedestrian targeting 70 people. The test was compartmentalized normal & smoke-filled condition and inquired into the behavior characteristics such as evacuation time, travel distance, walking speed though the experiment. Additionally, decision making time and characteristics of choosing the egress route in the junction were analyzed. Finally, based on the mock-up test results, suggest the junction-travel time prediction considering junction routing selection and decision making time of the pedestrian. Through this paper, the required safe egress time can be analyzed reflecting the decision making of pedestrian.

도서관에서의 유비쿼터스 요소의 디자인 특성 평가 연구

Ubiquitous technology is currently being introduced to libraries at the fastest speed as compared to other spaces. However, the introduction of ubiquitous technology to the existing analog space is causing problems despite such intelligence of libraries as the design standards for ubiquitous spaces have not been arranged yet. This researcher analyzed and evaluated the characteristics of design from the ubiquitous aspect of the ubiquitous environment-oriented libraries that are still at their initial stage. The subjects for this study were the National Library of Korea, Myongji University Bangmok Library, and Yonsei University Library. The definition and characteristics of the ubiquitous environment libraries were examined through literature review and the standards for design analysis were derived by analyzing previous studies. Case analyses were conducted to evaluate the design elements in the ubiquitous environment libraries based on the field observation, photographing, and interviews with managers. As a result, functionality, safety, cognition and convenience were derived based on the investigation and analysis of previous studies; informativeness, playfulness, security, and simplicity which are the design characteristics were found. As a result of the case studies, while functionality and safety are met in most of the standards for design analysis, universality was very low. Care for minorities is need in a library as it is a space used by many unspecified individuals.

수집과 빈도 분석을 이용한 인터넷 게시판의 스팸 메시지 차단 방법

인터넷 환경의 빠른 발전과 함께 널리 사용되고 있는 인터넷 게시판이 기본적인 의사소통 수단으로 정착되고 있으나, 불특정 다수로부터 게시되는 스팸 메시지의 증가로 피해 규모가 날로 증가하고 있다. 현재 스팸 메일을 차단하기 위한 다양한 차단 방법들이 제안되고 있으나 게시판에 자동으로 등록되고 있는 스팸 메시지를 차단하는 방법에 대한 연구는 미미한 실정이다. 본 논문은 인터넷 게시판에 등록되는 스팸 메시지를 수집하여 메시지의 특성과 빈도를 분석하고 차단 규칙을 생성하여 차단하는 단계로 구성된 게시판 스팸 메시지 차단 방법을 제안하였다. 인터넷 게시판의 데이터베이스에 저장되는 모든 메시지를 대상으로 스팸 메시지를 수집하고, 수집한 스팸 메시지를 분석하여 스팸 메시지를 정의할 수 있는 정규화된 규칙을 생성한 후, 이 규칙을 이용하여 등록된 메시지에 대해 스팸 메시지를 검사하여 차단한다. 제안한 방법은 수집되는 스팸 메시지의 정보를 이용하여 다양한 유형의 스팸 메시지를 차단할 수 있으며, 변화하는 스팸 메시지의 형태에 대해서도 유연하게 대처할 수 있는 구조를 가지고 있다. Even though internet community is becoming the basic communication tool with rapidly changing internet environment, its damage is on the rise due to increasing spam messages of unspecified individuals. Currently, various methods to block spam mails, but studies on block spam messages from being automatically posted in community are still insufficient. This study suggested methods to block spam messages in internet community by collecting spam messages posted in internet community to analyze characteristics and frequencies of the messages and create block regulations. It collects spam messages of all messages saved in database of internet community, analyze the collected messages to create normalized rules that can define spam messages, and inspect spam messages among posted messages by using the regulations to block them. The suggested method has a structure that can block various types of spam messages by using information of spam messages collected and flexibly deal with changing spam message types.

Personal Information Protection in Digital Era -Reviewing Personal information protection Act-

Companies using internet as a kind of marketing means are increasing rapidly according to the expansion trend of e-commerce through internet and consumers also use internet as the common means of purchasing necessary articles. E-commerce using internet has advantages without limitation to temporal and spatial accessibility and general consumers and unspecified individuals also use internet to purchase their goods as well as general transactions such as advertisement, contract, payment and claim settlement. 'In the age of information, invasion of personal information resulted from the development of information and communication technology is one of the greatest problems all the countries in the world face. Therefore, Personal information protection Act is one of basic laws to protect personal information and rights and it is also an essential law in the age of information. In that sense, new Personal information protection Act is the advanced act containing various items to minimize the national damages from the leaking of private information and protect right to informational self-determination in the information society. It is expected that this legislation contributes to reduce the leaking of private information, enhance the level of privacy protection and develop privacy related industries. However, active participation of all members of our society and improvement of their recognition should be preceded for the rational and legal use of private information and the settlement of its protection culture. While the purpose of Personal information protection Act can protect privacy from collection, leaking, misuse and abuse of private information and enhance national interests and protect personal dignity and value, it also must perform the roles of balancing privacy protection with liberal information flow.

Design of Adaptive User Interface(AUI) for Bus Information Terminal

Today, the utilization of communication devices is being increased including information terminals, cell phones, handheld personal digital assistants (PDA) caused by the development of information and communication technology. The development of information and services is speeding up, whereas most communication devices have provided a inefficient hierarchical menu and sequential searching structure. In this study, the Adaptive User Interface is applied to the Bus Information Terminal(BIT) which is one of communication equipment installed in the bus stop. It will be based on analysis of unspecified individuals' preferences and user's directly personalization in the BIT prototype. We expect the results of this study to be possible to provide users with efficient and convenient information acquisition and contribute to the development of public transport use by improving the accessibility and usability of BIT.

Physical assault related injuries in Western Nepal – A hospital based retrospective study

Objective The study was carried out to study the pattern of injuries and epidemiological factors in Nepal where there is no systematic surveillance system for injuries. Design A hospital based, retrospective study conducted by extracting data from the medico-legal register of the Emergency Department of a Regional Hospital for 3 years. Setting Regional Hospital in Pokhara, Western Nepal. Results A total of 1100 cases of physical assault had been reported. Male to female ratio was 3.6:1 and most commonly involved age group in males was 16–25 and in females was 26–35 years. Contusion (28.7%) was the commonest type of injury followed by incised wounds (25.7%). Most commonly used weapon was wooden stick and clubs (21.5%) followed by kicks and punches (20.6%). The most frequently affected anatomical site involved was the head and neck (57.06%), followed by the upper limbs (17.74%) and the lower limbs (10.5%). Assailants for females were most commonly spouse (40%) and in-laws (14%) and for males it was unspecified known individuals (18%) followed by neighbours (11%). Maximum number of physical assault injuries occurred between evening and midnight (59.59%). Conclusion Injuries from physical assault occurred in all age groups but most commonly affecting the young males and majority of them were in the productive age group. Commonest type of injury was contusion and weapon used wooden sticks and clubs. Assailants were spouses in females and known but unspecified individuals in men.

Sporadic acute hepatitis E of a 47-year-old man whose pet cat was positive for antibody to hepatitis E virus

We encountered a patient with sporadic acute hepatitis E who had not traveled to areas endemic for hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection and may have been infected in Japan. The patient was a 47-year-old male who had no history of blood transfusion or contact with travelers to hepatitis E-endemic regions or unspecified individuals. The disease presented with general malaise, fever, and brown urine as chief complaints in April 2002. Various hepatitis virus markers were negative, but IgM class antibodies to hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV) and HEV RNA were positive, and the patient was diagnosed with acute hepatitis E. The entire nucleotide sequence (7240 bases) of HEV (HE-JK4) isolated from this patient was determined and compared with known HEV strains. HE-JK4 belonged to genotype IV and exhibited higher similarities to genotype IV HEV strains previously isolated in Japan than to those isolated in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The patient's family members living with him were negative for anti-HEV IgG and IgM, but their pet cat was anti-HEV IgG-positive. This finding suggests a potential route of infection of sporadic cases of hepatitis E in Japan. Since the presence of HEV indigenous to Japan is predicted, HEV infection should be considered in the diagnosis of acute hepatitis of unknown cause, even for patients who have not traveled abroad.

Software Piracy and Hardware Taxation System: Digital Information Goods with Network Externalities

We suppose that Information Technology industry is classified into four sections ((1) Telecommunication infrastructure, (2) Hardware, (3) Software, (4) Contents service), it is symbolic that the historical lawsuit of Anti-trust law has occurred in each section ((1) AT & T, (2) IBM, (3) Microsoft) until now. In recent years, not only the Anti-trust lawsuit but also the problem related to Copyright law has arisen in the Information Technology industry. The Piracy problem of digital information goods with copyrighted have already occurred on the Internet. In the case of illigal copying and selling by the supplier, it can punish for copyright infringement and a claim for damages produced by pirated copies is possible. However, the distribution of pirated copies among indivitual users is impossible for proving the illicit activities and amount of damage as a matter of fact, since it is private use of many and unspecified individuals even if an illegal copy is made.If network externality is taken into consideration, piracy has two economic effects on software publishers. The first effect, increasing piracy leads to a fall in direct sales. The second effect, increasing pirates would boost the demand for the legally supplied software by increasing size of the installed-base. This opposite effects imply that the trade-off relation between losses from reduction of direct sales and benefits arises from the effect which enlarges the network scale formed among the users will exist.In this paper, we consider the piracy problem and hardware taxation system in the present of network externalities. We show that three main results: first, pirates exist in the market equilibrium in the case of no hardware taxation; second, despite the fact that a higher tax rate increases tax revenue transferred to the software firm, the hardware tax rate which maximizes profit of software firm is lower level than the hardware tax rate which maximize tax revenue; and third, a tax on hardware indeed reduces the illigal use of software, but it dose not enhance social welfare.