In traditional Chinese and Korean medicine, doctors first observe a patient’s pulse by gently and strongly pressing their fingers onto the wrist, and then make a diagnosis based on the observed pulse waves. The most common method to implement this diagnostic technique is to mechanically extract the pulse waves by applying a fixed range of pressures for all patients. However, this method does not consider the patients individual characteristics such as age, sex, and skin thickness. In the present study, we propose a new method of pulse wave extraction that incorporates the personal characteristics of the patients. This method measures the pulse wave signal at varying hold-down pressures, rather than applying a fixed hold-down pressure for all patients. To compare this new technique with existing methods, we extracted pulse waves from 20 subjects, and then determined the actual applied pressure at each step, the coefficient of floating and sinking pulse (CFS), and the distinction of floating/sinking pulse for each group. Consequently, each subject had a different pressure range in our proposed method, whereas all subjects had a similar pressure range in the existing method. Four of 20 subjects exhibited different floating/sinking pulse patterns due to the value of the first pressure step and the range of hold-down pressures. These four subjects were categorized as overweight based on BMI. In addition, the moving distance of the proposed method was longer than the existing method (p = 0.003, paired t-test), and the correlation coefficient between CFS values of two different methods was 0.321, indicating that there was no correlation.

This paper considers a replenishment problem for a single buyer who orders multiple types of items from two or more heterogeneous suppliers in order to sell to end customers. The buyer periodically orders each type of item from the suppliers according to a select inventory control policy. Processing the order, each supplier enforces the policy that an order from the buyer must meet a predetermined minimum order quantity (MOQ). Therefore, the buyer must decide how much to order from each supplier considering the current inventory level, demand forecast, and MOQ requirement. The buyer's problem is formulated as an integer programming model and an efficient implementation strategy is suggested to apply the model to real problems. Numerical experiments are performed to test the validity of the proposed model as well as the efficiency of the implementation strategy. The experimental results show that this model combined with the implementation method yields a considerable cost reduction compared to the most efficient policy currently available.

Immunomagnetic separation is the laboratory method used to separate targets from heterogeneous samples. It has been applied to separate or detect target entity existing rarely in the sample solution. In this study, a new type of microfluidic device with a 3D micromagnet array was designed, and it was demonstrated that this microfluidic device could be applied to immunomagnetic separation. As the 3D micromagnet is embedded in the microchannel, the height of the microchannel is extended to several hundred micrometers, and the magnetic field pulling the target can be confined to a limited region within the microchannel. Immunomagnetic separation using a microfluidic device was experimentally confirmed by fluorescence imaging. The capture efficiency was maximally 94.9% in the experimental study using the streptavidin-biotin binding of microbeads of the diameter of 1 µm. As a result, the microfluidic device with micromagnet arrays provides new solution for point-of-care device for immunomagnetic separation.

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In the biosensing platform, label-free detection technique provides advantages such as the short analysis time and the cost-effectiveness. In this study, we showed the feasibility of the LSPR substrate with gold nanoparticle array for detecting low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) without labeling. The LSPR substrate was fabricated through the lift-off process with the anodized alumina mask, and its LSPR phenomenon was observed by measuring the optical transmission of substrate. The antibodies were immobilized on the gold nanoparticle array via the chemical binding, in which the 11-MUA was used as the linker to bind the antibodies. The binding of antibodies was confirmed by observing the shift of LSPR peak of the substrate. Finally, with the LSPR substrates with the antibodies immobilized, the detection of LDL and HDL was investigated. As a result, LDL and HDL could be detected in the clinically available concentration range, respectively.