IL4 receptor targeting enables nab-paclitaxel to enhance reprogramming of M2-type macrophages into M1-like phenotype via ROS-HMGB1-TLR4 axis and inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis.

Rationale: Nab-paclitaxel (Abx) is widely employed in malignant tumor therapy. In tumor cells and pro-tumoral M2-type macrophages, the IL4 receptor (IL4R) is upregulated. This study aimed to elucidate the selective delivery of Abx to M2-type macrophages by targeting IL4R and reprogramming them into an anti-tumoral M1-type. Methods: Abx was conjugated with the IL4R-binding IL4RPep-1 peptide using click chemistry (IL4R-Abx). Cellular internalization, macrophage reprogramming and signal pathways, and tumor growth and metastasis by IL4R-Abx were examined. Results: IL4R-Abx was internalized into M2 macrophages more efficiently compared to the unmodified Abx and control peptide-conjugated Abx (Ctrl-Abx), which was primarily inhibited using an anti-IL4R antibody and a receptor-mediated endocytosis inhibitor compared with a macropinocytosis inhibitor. IL4R-Abx reprogrammed the M2-type macrophages into M1-like phenotype and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and extracellular release of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in M2 macrophages at higher levels than Abx and Ctrl-Abx. The conditioned medium of IL4R-Abx-treated M2 macrophages skewed M2 macrophages into the M1-like phenotype, in which an anti-HMGB1 antibody and a toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) inhibitor induced a blockade. IL4R-Abx accumulated at tumors, heightened immune-stimulatory cells while reducing immune-suppressing cells, and hampered tumor growth and metastasis in mice more efficiently than Abx and Ctrl-Abx. Conclusions: These results indicate that IL4R-targeting allows enhancement of M2-macrophage shaping into M1-like phenotype by Abx through the ROS-HMGB1-TLR4 axis, improvement of antitumor immunity, and thereby inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis, presenting a new approach to cancer immunotherapy.

TM-MC 2.0: an enhanced chemical database of medicinal materials in Northeast Asian traditional medicine.

BACKGROUND: As chromatographic techniques have advanced, many articles that analyze the constituting compounds of medicinal materials have been published in relation to Northeast Asian traditional medicine, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TM-MC was launched in 2015, providing information about the chemical compounds in medicinal materials from chromatographic articles in PubMed. Since 2015, through continuous curation efforts, we have now released TM-MC 2.0 with significant improvements to the quantity and quality of the data ( https://tm-mc.kr ). DESCRIPTION: TM-MC 2.0 contains 635 medicinal materials, 34,107 chemical compounds (21,306 identified and de-duplicated), 13,992 targets, 27,997 diseases, and 5,075 prescriptions (2,393 de-duplicated by name). The database provides the largest number of identified compounds for medicinal materials listed in the pharmacopoeia compared to all TCM databases. In particular, marker compounds of medicinal materials and many newly discovered compounds were added through the manual curation of recent chromatographic articles. CONCLUSION: TM-MC 2.0 provides the largest collection of information about the chemical compounds of the medicinal materials listed in the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese pharmacopoeias. Our database can be utilized for network pharmacology in traditional medicine and for the compound screening of medicinal materials for modern drug discovery.

Design optimization of a linkage-based 2-DOF wheel mechanism for stable step climbing.

This paper presents the design optimization of a linkage-based wheel mechanism with two degrees of freedom, for stable step climbing. The mechanism has seven rotational joints and one prismatic joint. Kinematic and dynamic analyses of the mechanism were performed. The design was optimized in terms of linkage length and architecture to better manipulate the mechanism in its workspace, which was defined here by the targeted step size, as well as to ensure stability while climbing stairs. Optimization by genetic algorithm was performed using MATLAB. The optimized mechanism exhibited enhanced torque transmission from the input torque to the exerted for at the lobe of the wheel. Compliance control of the transformation will be addressed in the future.

Points and the Delivery of Gameful Experiences in a Gamified Environment: Framework Development and Case Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Points represent one of the most widely used game mechanics in gamification. They have been used as a means to provide feedback to users. They visually show user performance and are used along with other game mechanics to produce synergy effects. However, using points without analyzing the application environment and targets adversely affects users. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify the problems that users encounter when points are applied improperly, to solve problems based on an analysis of previous studies and actual point use cases, and to develop a point design framework to deliver gameful experiences. METHODS: Three problems were identified by analyzing previous studies. The first problem is points that only accumulate. The second is points that emphasize a user's difference from other people. The third pertains to the reward distribution problem that occurs when points are used as rewards. RESULTS: We developed a framework by deriving 3 criteria for applying points. The first criterion is based on the passive acquisition approach and the active use approach. The second criterion is used to classify points as "high/low" and "many/few" types. The third criterion is the classification of personal reward points and group reward points based on segmentation of the reward criteria. We developed 8 types of points based on the derived point design framework. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that some of the problems that users experience when using points can be solved. Furthermore, we expect that some of the problems that arise when points are used as rewards, such as pointsification and the overjustification effect, can be solved. By solving such problems, we suggest a direction that enables a gameful experience for point users and improves the core value delivery through gameful experiences. We also suggest a gameful experience delivery method in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Feature Matching Combining Radiometric and Geometric Characteristics of Images, Applied to Oblique- and Nadir-Looking Visible and TIR Sensors of UAV Imagery.

A large amount of information needs to be identified and produced during the process of promoting projects of interest. Thermal infrared (TIR) images are extensively used because they can provide information that cannot be extracted from visible images. In particular, TIR oblique images facilitate the acquisition of information of a building's facade that is challenging to obtain from a nadir image. When a TIR oblique image and the 3D information acquired from conventional visible nadir imagery are combined, a great synergy for identifying surface information can be created. However, it is an onerous task to match common points in the images. In this study, a robust matching method of image pairs combined with different wavelengths and geometries (i.e., visible nadir-looking vs. TIR oblique, and visible oblique vs. TIR nadir-looking) is proposed. Three main processes of phase congruency, histogram matching, and Image Matching by Affine Simulation (IMAS) were adjusted to accommodate the radiometric and geometric differences of matched image pairs. The method was applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images of building and non-building areas. The results were compared with frequently used matching techniques, such as scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), speeded-up robust features (SURF), synthetic aperture radar-SIFT (SAR-SIFT), and Affine SIFT (ASIFT). The method outperforms other matching methods in root mean square error (RMSE) and matching performance (matched and not matched). The proposed method is believed to be a reliable solution for pinpointing surface information through image matching with different geometries obtained via TIR and visible sensors.

The cognitive development of food taste perception in a food tourism destination: A gastrophysics approach.

This study aims to explore the nature and processes involved in the cognitive development of food tourist's taste perception and identify cognitive factors influencing their food taste experience in the context of a food tourism destination. Adopting a gastrophysics approach, this exploratory qualitative research analyses food taste perceptions of Chinese domestic tourists during their visit to the Hangzhou Cuisine Museum and its associated restaurants. The findings suggest that prior knowledge formation as a manifestation of cognitive signs relating to Hangzhou cuisine and interpretive cognitive information acquired at the museum exhibition, greatly affect the tourists' local food taste experiences: these comprise menu selection and appetitive responses in textual, visual and gustatory senses. This paper sheds light on important theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders concerning tourist experiences around food taste perception in food tourism destinations and attractions.

Leaderboard Design Principles to Enhance Learning and Motivation in a Gamified Educational Environment: Development Study.

BACKGROUND: Gamification in education enhances learners' motivation, problem-solving abilities, decision-making abilities, and social skills such as communication. Numerous ongoing studies are examining the application of gamification design methodology and game mechanics to a learning environment. Leaderboards are a type of game mechanic that assist learners in goal setting and unleash the motivation for learning. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop leaderboard design principles to assist learners in efficient goal setting, improve learning motivation, and promote learning in gamified learning environments. METHODS: This study implemented 2 different strategies. First, we analyzed previous research on leaderboards that focus on educational efficacy and influence on social interactions. Second, we collected and analyzed data related to cases of leaderboards being used in educational and sport environments. RESULTS: This study determined 4 leaderboard design objectives from previous studies. Based on these objectives, we developed 3 leaderboard design principles. First, macro leaderboards and micro leaderboards should be designed and used together. Second, all the elements used to measure learners' achievements in an educational environment should be incorporated into the micro leaderboard. Third, leaderboards should be designed and considered for application in contexts other than learning environments. This study further analyzes best practices considering the 3 leaderboard design principles. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes toward resolving problems associated with leaderboard design for the application of gamification in educational environments. Based upon our results, we strongly suggest that when teachers consider applying gamification in classrooms, the leaderboard design principles suggested in this research should be incorporated.

Universal Verification Platform and Star Simulator for Fast Star Tracker Design.

Developing star trackers quickly is non-trivial. Achieving reproducible results and comparing different algorithms are also open problems. In this sense, this work proposes the use of synthetic star images (a simulated sky), allied with the standardized structure of the Universal Verification Methodology as the base of a design approach. The aim is to organize the project, speed up the development time by providing a standard verification methodology. Future rework is reduced through two methods: a verification platform that us shared under a free software licence; and the layout of Universal Verification Methodology enforces reusability of code through an object-oriented approach. We propose a black-box structure for the verification platform with standard interfaces, and provide examples showing how this approach can be applied to the development of a star tracker for small satellites, targeting a system-on-a-chip design. The same test benches were applied to both early conceptual software-only implementations, and later optimized software-hardware hybrid systems, in a hardware-in-the-loop configuration. This test bench reuse strategy was interesting also to show the regression test capability of the developed platform. Furthermore, the simulator was used to inject specific noise, in order to evaluate the system under some real-world conditions.

Comparative studies on vertical-channel charge-trap memory thin-film transistors using In-Ga-Zn-O active channels deposited by sputtering and atomic layer depositions.

Vertical-channel charge-trap memory thin film-transistors (V-CTM TFTs) using oxide semiconductors were fabricated and characterized, in which In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) channels were prepared by sputtering and atomic-layer deposition (ALD) methods to elucidate the effects of deposition process. The vertical-channel gate stack of the fabricated device was verified to be well implemented on the vertical sidewall of the spacer patterns due to excellent step-coverage and self-limiting mechanisms of ALD process. The V-CTM TFTs using ALD-IGZO channel exhibited a wide memory window (MW) of 15.0 V at a VGS sweep of ±20 V and a large memory margin of 1.6 × 102 at a program pulse duration as short as 5 ms. The programmed memory margin higher than 105 did not experience any degradation with time evolution for 104 s. The mechanical durability was also evaluated after the delamination process of polyimide (PI) film. There were no marked variations in charge-trap-assisted MW even at a curvature radius of 1 mm and programmed memory margin even after repeated program operations of 104 cycles. The introduction of ALD process for the formation of IGZO active channel was suggested as a main process parameter to ensure the excellent memory device characteristics of the V-CTM TFTs.

Regional characteristics of NO2 column densities from Pandora observations during the MAPS-Seoul campaign.

Vertical column density (VCD) of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was measured using Pandora spectrometers at six sites on the Korean Peninsula during the Megacity Air Pollution Studies-Seoul (MAPS-Seoul) campaign from May to June 2015. To estimate the tropospheric NO2 VCD, the stratospheric NO2 VCD from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) was subtracted from the total NO2 VCD from Pandora. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis wind data was used to analyze variations in tropospheric NO2 VCD caused by wind patterns at each site. The Yonsei/SEO site was found to have the largest tropospheric NO2 VCD (1.49 DU on average) from a statistical analysis of hourly tropospheric NO2 VCD measurements. At rural sites, remarkably low NO2 VCDs were observed. However, a wind field analysis showed that trans-boundary transport and emissions from domestic sources lead to an increase in tropospheric NO2 VCD at NIER/BYI and KMA/AMY, respectively. At urban sites, high NO2 VCD values were observed under conditions of low wind speed, which were influenced by local urban emissions. Tropospheric NO2 VCD at HUFS/Yongin increases under conditions of significant transport from urban area of Seoul according to a correlation analysis that considers the transport time lag. Significant diurnal variations were found at urban sites during the MAPS-Seoul campaign, but not at rural sites, indicating that it is associated with diurnal patterns of NO2 emissions from dense traffic.

A systems pharmacology approach to investigate the mechanism of Oryeong-san formula for the treatment of hypertension.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Oryeong-san (ORS) is a traditional formula that has long been used for the treatment of dysfunctions of body fluids and electrolyte homeostasis in Korea, China and Japan. Recent reports have shown that ORS may suppress hypertension by controlling the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) in the kidney, but its action mechanism has not been well defined. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to decipher the ORS mechanisms in the treatment of hypertension using a systems pharmacology approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The compounds of ORS were obtained from the TM-MC (database of medicinal materials and chemical compounds in Northeast Asian traditional medicine), and the drug-likeness (DL) and oral bioavailability (OB) of the compounds were evaluated. The potential targets of the compounds were identified using various pharmacology databases. To analyze the mechanisms of the ORS for hypertension, a Compound-Target-Disease (C-T-D) network was established with respect to the genes related to hypertension. RESULTS: A screening evaluation of the DL and OB of the ORS compounds identified a list of 232 active compounds. The pharmacological activity of the targets was investigated by exploring the interaction network between the compounds and the targets. Analysis of the interactions between the compounds and the hypertension-related targets revealed that 14 ORS compounds regulate the RAAS and vasoconstrictors in the kidney. CONCLUSIONS: This study used the systems pharmacology approach to decipher the mechanisms of action of ORS for the treatment of hypertension. When hypertension drugs and ORS are used in combination for treatment, possible side effects should be considered because most hypertension drugs are related to the RAAS. The results of this study may provide clues to not only analyze the pharmacological activity of ORS for the treatment of hypertension but other diseases as well.

Impact of Polyimide Film Thickness for Improving the Mechanical Robustness of Stretchable InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistors Prepared on Wavy-Dimensional Elastomer Substrates.

We report on the In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors (IGZO TFTs) with outstanding mechanical stretchability, which were fabricated on ultrathin polyimide (PI) film/prestrained elastomer with a wavy-dimensional structure. The device characteristics of the fabricated devices were evaluated under mechanically strained conditions with various strains. The operational reliabilities against the bias stress conditions and during the cyclic stretching tests were also carefully examined. The stretchable IGZO TFTs exhibited good device operations without any marked degradation under stretching/compressed conditions with a strain of 40%. Under positive bias stress with a prestrain of 50%, the turn-on voltage instabilities for the TFTs prepared on 0.9 and 2.0 µm-thick PI films were estimated to be 1.5 and 3.9 V, respectively. During the cyclic stretching tests with a strain of 50%, the device operations failed after 20,000 and 100,000 stretching cycles for the TFTs fabricated on 2.0 and 0.9 µm-thick PI films, respectively. As a result, the IGZO TFTs fabricated on a thinner PI film presented more reliable operations after the repeated stretching events. The robust mechanical stretchability dependent on the PI film thickness was suggested to be due to the difference in critical values of bending radii and the influence of the local strain induced by the spatial fluctuations of the wavy structures.

Research trends in Korean medicine based on temporal and network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Much research on Korean medicine has been recently published in Korea. The aim of this study was to determine the research trends in Korean medicine by performing a comprehensive analysis of articles that have been published in Korea using temporal and network analysis methods. METHODS: A total of 29,876 articles from 1963 to 2018 were prepared from OASIS (Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System), the largest portal for Korean medicine. After the keywords and years were extracted from the metadata of the articles, an annual frequency matrix was obtained for the keywords. By using the matrix, the temporal trends of the keywords were analyzed by comparing the changes in similarity between the lists of keywords by year. Moreover, to analyze the relationship among research topics, a clustered network was constructed in which a node was a keyword and an edge was a similarity between two keywords. RESULTS: The temporal trend of the keywords was classified into six chronological phases. The appearance frequency of most keywords tended to increase gradually, but only the keywords "mibyeong," "systems biology" and "korean medicine hospital" appeared in the most recent phase. The network of keywords was clustered and visualized into thirteen groups with the Gephi software. The main keywords in each group were related to effects such as "anti-inflammation" and "antioxidant," to diseases such as "allergic rhinitis" and "diabetes" and to therapies such as "herbal acupuncture" and "herbal formula." CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of the trends determined in this study provides a systematic understanding as well as future research directions in Korean medicine to researchers. In the future, an overall analysis of the research trends in Korean medicine will be done by analyzing articles published in Korea and other countries.

A Badge Design Framework for a Gamified Learning Environment: Cases Analysis and Literature Review for Badge Design.

BACKGROUND: In the past, the educational badge was an extrinsic means of rewarding the motivation to learn. Based on continued research, however, the badge began to be recognized as a scale to measure the learner's knowledge and skill and an important means of helping learners to gradually build intrinsic motivation by using certain extrinsic motivators. As the badge's value has grown, the importance of its design has garnered attention. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to establish a badge design framework that can be used in a gamified learning environment. METHODS: Data were collected from previous studies on badge design, 943 badge cases were extracted from 11 online and offline gamification in education contents, and their patterns and features were analyzed. RESULTS: Based on the analysis of results from previous studies and 943 collected badge cases, our study suggests three conditions for badge design. Through the literature review and collected badge cases, our study designed a badge design framework. First, it is necessary to distinguish whether the type of learning activity required for earning badges is physical or conceptual. Second, it is necessary to distinguish whether the scale of an activity required for earning badges requires individual learning or interaction-induced learning. Third, it is important to review whether the time and effort invested in earning badges is simple, repetitive, and short-term or continuous and long-term. Based on these three conditions, collected badge cases were analyzed. To verify self-developed badge types, we conducted a chi-square test on the collected cases and confirmed that there was a significant difference for each of the eight badge types (Pearson chi-square 1117.7, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Through its literature review on previous studies, this study demonstrated the badge's educational effectiveness. The badge design framework suggested in our study is expected to resolve some of the difficulties experienced during the badge design process in a gamified learning environment, encourage efficient badge design, and maximize learning effect.

Patterns Among 754 Gamification Cases: Content Analysis for Gamification Development.

BACKGROUND: Gamification is one of the techniques that applies game elements, such as game mechanics and dynamics, to a nongame context (eg, management, education, marketing, and health care). A variety of methodologies have been published for developing gamification. However, some of these are only usable by people with a certain level of gamification knowledge. People who do not have such knowledge face difficulty in using game mechanics and experiencing enjoyment. To ease their difficulties, a gamification methodology should provide directions for using game mechanics. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at collecting global gamification cases and determining patterns or differences among the collected cases. METHODS: In total, 754 cases were collected based on 4F process elements, such as play type, playful user experience (PLEX)-based fun factors, and game mechanics. In addition, the collected cases were classified into 6 categories. From the data analysis, basic statistics and correlation analyses (Pearson and Kendall) were conducted. RESULTS: According to the analysis results in PLEX-based fun factors, challenge and completion fun factors formed a large proportion among the 6 categories. In the results of the game mechanics analysis, point, leaderboard, and progress accounted for a large proportion among the 6 categories. The results of the correlation analysis showed no difference or specific patterns in game mechanics (Pearson r>.8, Kendall τ>.5, P<.05) and PLEX-based fun factors (Pearson r>.8, Kendall τ>.7, P<.05). CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the statistical findings, this study suggests an appropriate number of PLEX-based fun factors and game mechanics. In addition, the results of this study should be used for people who do not have gamification knowledge and face difficulty using game mechanics and PLEX-based fun factors.

DisArticle: a web server for SVM-based discrimination of articles on traditional medicine.

BACKGROUND: Much research has been done in Northeast Asia to show the efficacy of traditional medicine. While MEDLINE contains many biomedical articles including those on traditional medicine, it does not categorize those articles by specific research area. The aim of this study was to provide a method that searches for articles only on traditional medicine in Northeast Asia, including traditional Chinese medicine, from among the articles in MEDLINE. RESULTS: This research established an SVM-based classifier model to identify articles on traditional medicine. The TAK + HM classifier, trained with the features of title, abstract, keywords, herbal data, and MeSH, has a precision of 0.954 and a recall of 0.902. In particular, the feature of herbal data significantly increased the performance of the classifier. By using the TAK + HM classifier, a total of about 108,000 articles were discriminated as articles on traditional medicine from among all articles in MEDLINE. We also built a web server called DisArticle ( http://informatics.kiom.re.kr/disarticle ), in which users can search for the articles and obtain statistical data. CONCLUSIONS: Because much evidence-based research on traditional medicine has been published in recent years, it has become necessary to search for articles on traditional medicine exclusively in literature databases. DisArticle can help users to search for and analyze the research trends in traditional medicine.

Structuralizing biomedical abstracts with discriminative linguistic features.

OBJECTIVE: Nearly 75% of the abstracts in MEDLINE papers present in an unstructured format. This study aims to automate the reformatting of unstructured abstracts into the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRAD) format. The quality of this reformatting relies on the features used in sentence classification. Therefore, we explored the most effective linguistic features in MEDLINE papers. METHODS: We constructed a feature set consisting of bag of words, linguistic features, grammatical features, and structural features. In order to evaluate the effectiveness, which is the capability of the sentence classification with the features, three datasets from PubMed Central Open Access Subset were selected and constructed: (1) structured abstract (SA) for training, (2) unstructured RCT abstract (UA-1) and (3) unstructured general abstract (UA-2). F-score and accuracy were used to measure the effectiveness on IMRAD section level and the overall classification. RESULTS: Adding linguistic features improves the classification of the abstract sentence from 1.2% to 35.8% in terms of accuracy in three abstract datasets. The highest accuracies achieved were 91.7% in SA, 86.3% in UA-1, and 77.9% in UA-2. Linguistic features (dimensions=15) had fewer dimensions than bag-of-words (dimensions= 1541). All representative linguistic features (n-gram and verb phrase, and noun phrase) for each section are identified in our system (available at http://abstract.bike.re.kr). CONCLUSION: Linguistic features can be used to effectively classify sentence with low computation burden in MEDLINE abstract.

Characterizations of organic compounds in diesel exhaust particulates.

To characterize how the speed and load of a medium-duty diesel engine affected the organic compounds in diesel particle matter (PM) below 1 µm, four driving conditions were examined. At all four driving conditions, concentration of identifiable organic compounds in PM ultrafine (34-94 nm) and accumulation (94-1000 nm) modes ranged from 2.9 to 5.7 µg/m(3) and 9.5 to 16.4 µg/m(3), respectively. As a function of driving conditions, the non-oxygen-containing organics exhibited a reversed concentration trend to the oxygen-containing organics. The identified organic compounds were classified into eleven classes: alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, carboxylic acids, esters, ketones, alcohols, ethers, nitrogen-containing compounds, and sulfur-containing compounds. At all driving conditions, alkane class consistently showed the highest concentration (8.3 to 18.0 µg/m(3)) followed by carboxylic acid, esters, ketones and alcohols. Twelve polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were identified with a total concentration ranging from 37.9 to 174.8 ng/m(3). In addition, nine nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic compounds (NPACs) were identified with a total concentration ranging from 7.0 to 10.3 ng/m(3). The most abundant PAH (phenanthrene) and NPACs (7,8-benzoquinoline and 3-nitrophenanthrene) comprise a similar molecular (3 aromatic-ring) structure under the highest engine speed and engine load.

TM-MC: a database of medicinal materials and chemical compounds in Northeast Asian traditional medicine.

BACKGROUND: In traditional medicine, there has been a great deal of research on the effects exhibited by medicinal materials. To study the effects, resources that can systematically describe the chemical compounds in medicinal materials are necessary. In recent years, numerous databases on medicinal materials and constituent compounds have been constructed. However, because these databases provide differing information and the sources of such information are unclear or difficult to verify, it is difficult to decide which database to use. Moreover, there is much overlapping information. The aim of this study was to construct a database of medicinal materials and chemical compounds in Northeast Asian traditional medicine (TM-MC), for which medicinal materials are listed in the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese pharmacopoeias and information on the compound names of medicinal materials can easily be confirmed online. DESCRIPTION: To provide information on the chemical compounds of medicinal materials, chromatography articles from MEDLINE and PubMed Central were searched. After chemical compounds of medicinal materials were extracted by manually investigating the full-text of articles, a database of information on about 14,000 compounds from 536 medicinal materials was built. The database also provides links to the articles from which each medicinal material and chemical compound were extracted. CONCLUSION: TM-MC database provides information on medicinal materials and their chemical compounds from chromatography articles in MEDLINE and PubMed Central. Researchers can easily check relevant information through the links to articles.

Decision support model for introduction of gamification solution using AHP.

Gamification means the use of various elements of game design in nongame contexts including workplace collaboration, marketing, education, military, and medical services. Gamification is effective for both improving workplace productivity and motivating employees. However, introduction of gamification is not easy because the planning and implementation processes of gamification are very complicated and it needs interdisciplinary knowledge such as information systems, organization behavior, and human psychology. Providing a systematic decision making method for gamification process is the purpose of this paper. This paper suggests the decision criteria for selection of gamification platform to support a systematic decision making process for managements. The criteria are derived from previous works on gamification, introduction of information systems, and analytic hierarchy process. The weights of decision criteria are calculated through a survey by the professionals on game, information systems, and business administration. The analytic hierarchy process is used to derive the weights. The decision criteria and weights provided in this paper could support the managements to make a systematic decision for selection of gamification platform.