• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2019

Lateral epicondylitis is caused by repeated use of the wrist, which causes inflammation and pain in the wrist extensor and tendon of the humerus. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) caused by repetitive resistance exercise affects the tendons connected in series with the muscle, leading to lateral epicondylitis. Although micro-current stimulation has been suggested as a possible treatment for tendinitis, there are insufficient studies on specific variables such as frequency. In this study, 15 healthy adult males and females developed DOMS in the wrist extensor and tendon in the humerus. The experimental group consisted of a low frequency group applying 20 Hz and a high frequency group applying 100 Hz according to the micro-current frequency. Each subject underwent an experiment for 5 days after DOMS, and the recovery rates were compared by measuring AROM, GPT, MST, PPT, and VAS. As a result, the 20 Hz group showed significant changes in AROM, MST, and VAS compared to the control group on the 4th day, and the recovery rate was also higher than that of the 100 Hz group. On the 5th day, recovery rate of 100 Hz group was higher than 20 Hz in AROM and PPT, and MST showed higher recovery rate than 20 Hz group, but there was no significant difference. These results indicate that microcurrent stimulation is effective for the treatment of delayed myalgia and tendon inflammation and that the 100 Hz group has faster recovery than the 20 Hz group.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.284-296
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• 2018

Obesity is considered as a primary health problem over the past century in line with life environmental changes. It is mainly associated with increased risk of numerous chronic diseases which may significantly reduce health-related quality of life. Therefore, efforts to reduce weight should be performed. This study suggested a novel approach to reduce body fat by applying external stimulation which is micro-current stimulation (MCS). In this clinical study, we evaluated the potential effects of MCS for reduction of abdominal fat and weight loss. Prior to the clinical test, computational simulation was conducted to find the proper MCS conditions that allow externally applied stimulation to reach the internal fat section from the external skin. Particularly, the clinical study evaluated the unilateral effects of MCS for body fat loss and lipolysis without any additional limitations such as physical exercise and dietary therapy. The results showed that whole body fat, waist circumferences, and abdominal fat are gradually decreased after intervention in proportion to the time. From the results, we can estimate that MCS can be effective on the body fat loss by activation of lipolysis in human adipose.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2011

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of high-energy mechanical milling (HEMM) time and sintering temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of the TiAl composite fabricated by pulse current activated sintering. TiAl intermetallic powders were milled by HEMM for 1h, 4h, and 8h respectively. Thermal analysis was used to observe the phase transformation of the milled TiAl powders. The sintering time decreased with increase of milling time. The hardness and fracture toughness of the sintered specimens also was improved with increasing milling time. The grain size of the sintered specimens which was milled for 4h was in the range of 50~100 nm.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.88-93
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• 2021

SAW (Submerged Arc Welding) is often used for ship construction or welding pressure vessels and involves spraying a flux in a powder form to a welding site to a certain thickness and continuously supplying electrode wires therein. This welding method enables high current welding up to 1,500 to 3,000 A. Arc efficiency is higher than 95% and the technique allows clean work as it creates less welding fume, which is composed of fine metal oxide particles, and the arc beam is not exposed. In this study, SM490C-TMC thick plates were heterogeneously welded by SAW. Mechanical properties of welds were measured, and welds were assessed macroscopically and for adhering magnetic particles. The following conclusions were drawn. Bending tests showed no spots exploded on sample surfaces or any other defect, and plastic deformation testing confirmed sufficient weld toughness. These results showed the 1F welding method has no shortcomings in terms of bending performance.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.86-95
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of ultra-thin microcurrent patch application on pain, tenderness, trunk flexion, and trunk extension in patients with back pain. Design: pretest-posttest design: single blind. Methods: Thirty men and women diagnosed with chronic back pain were classified into 15 microcurrent application groups and 15 placebo groups. Changes in pain were observed on a visual analog scale, tenderness was observed with a digital tenderness meter, and changes in trunk flexion and trunk extension angles were evaluated with a posture analyzer. The paired t-test was used to see the changes within each group before and one week after the experiment, and the independent t-test was used to see the change in the difference between the groups, and the significance level was 0.05. Results: In both the experimental group and the control group, there was a significant difference in pain within and between groups(p<0.05). In the experimental group, there were significant differences in the intra- and inter-group changes in the erector spinae muscle tenderness and low back pain disorder index(p<0.05). In the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the change in trunk flexion and extension within the group(p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, it was confirmed that the application of ultra-thin microcurrent was effective for pain, tenderness, and movement of back extension in patients with low back pain. It is expected that it will be used as a basic data for microcurrent therapy and as a treatment method for improving the function of patients with back pain in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

This study has utilized self-assembled monolayers technology to improve electrical property of graphene-oxide, which has been seperated graphine powder through a chemical exfoliation. Aluminum sulfate (Al₂(SO₄)₃) was applied on graphene-oxide as a reactant, and the fundamental research was carried out to apply on the self-sensing of cement-based construction structures. Electric resistance measurement result has shown that cement-composites with GO and Al-GO can be used as a conductor, electric resistance of GO and Al-GO contained composites improved by 10.2% and 15.9% respectively when compared to the standard cement-composite. Microstructure analyzation shown the formation of Al(OH)₃ gel when Al-GO was added, which is speculated to result the smooth flow of current by improving the density of cement-composite. This implies that graphene-oxide has a possibility to be utilized as smart building materials and construction structure itself rather than just a structure.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2019

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of high-voltage microcurrent therapy in patients with herniated lumbar disc (HLD) presenting radicular or back pain. Method: This is a retrospective study with 33 patients who are complaining pain with HLD findings on magnetic resonance image. Microcurrent therapy was applied to leg or paralumbar area. Treatment was conducted for seven minutes with 250~1000 uA intensity as high as the patients could tolerate via stimulating probe with roller type and the frequency was 60 Hz with a sine wave pulse. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was measured just before and after the treatment. Results: The degree of pain reduction (△VAS) was 1.6 points after treatment on average. The △VAS according to the diagnosis, stenosis, dermatome area, medication, pain site and caudal epidural block was not statistically significant. However, the △VAS according to the number of treatments (< 3, ≥ 3 times) showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.04). Conclusion: High-voltage microcurrent therapy may help reduce lumbar or lumbosacral radiating pain after the procedure. The effect was better when microcurrent was applied three times or more. This result suggests that the microcurrent would have cumulative effect on reducing radicular or back pain in patients with HLD.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.518-523
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• 2023

The diagnosis of Inter Turn Short Circuits (ITSC) in induction motors is critical due to the escalating severity of faults resulting from even minor disruptions in the stator windings. However, diagnosing ITSC presents significant challenges due to similarities in noise and losses shared with 3-phase induction motors. Although artificial intelligence techniques have been explored for efficient diagnosis, practical applications heavily rely on model-based methods, necessitating further research to enhance diagnostic performance. This study proposed a diagnostic method applied the Clarke Transformation approach, focusing solely on current components while disregarding changes in rotating flux. Experimental results conducted over a 30-minute period, encompassing both normal and ITSC conditions, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, with FAR(False Accept Rates) of 0.2% for normal-to-ITSC FRR(False Rejection Rates) and 0.26% for ITSC-to-normal FRR. These findings underscore the efficacy of the proposed approach.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 1984

Optimizing investigation of characteristics of underwater welding by a gravity type arc welding process was experimentally carried out by using six types of domestic coated welding electrodes for welding of domestic marine structural steel plates (KR Grade A-1, SWS41A, SWS41B,) in order to develop the underwater welding techniques in practical use. Main results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. The absorption speed of the coating of domestic coated lime titania type welding-electrode became constant at about 60 minutes in water and it was about 0.18%/min during initial 8 minutes of absorption time. 2. Thus, the immediate welding electrode could be used in underwater welding for such a short time in comparison with the joint strength of in-atmosphere-and on-water-welding by dry-, wet-or immediate-welding-electrode. 3. By bead appearance and X-ray inspection, ilmenite, limetitania and high titanium oxide types of electrodes were found better for underwater-welding of 10 mm KR Grade A-1 steel plates, while proper welding angle, current and electrode diameter were 6$0^{\circ}C$, above 160A and 4mm respectively under 28cm/min of welding speed. 4. The weld metal tensile strength or proof stress of underwater-welded-joints has a quadratic relationship with the heat input, and the optimal heat input zone is about 13 to 15KJ/cm for 10mm SWS41A steel plates, resulting from consideration upon both joint efficiency of above-100% and recovery of impact strength and strain. Meanwhile, the optimal heat input zone resulting from tension-tension fatigue limit above the base metal's of SWS41A plates is 16 to 19KJ/cm. Reliability of all the empirical equations reveals 95% confidence level. 6. The microstructure of the underwater welds of SES41A welded in such a zone has no weld defects such as hydrogen brittleness with supreme high hardness, since the HAZ-bond boundary area adjacent to both surface and base metal has only Hv400 max with the microstructure of fine martensite, bainite, pearlite and small amount of ferrite.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.754-762
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• 1995

Strontium titanate(SrTiO$_3$) thin film was prepared on Si substrates by RF magnetron sputtering for a high capacitance density required for the next generation of LSTs. The optimum deposition conditions for SrTiO$_3$thin film were investigated by controlling the deposition parameters. The crystallinity of films and the interface reactions between SrTO$_3$film and Si substrate were characterized by XRD and AES respectively. High quality films were obtained by using the mixed gas of Ar and $O_2$for sputtering. The films were deposited at various bias voltages to obtain the optimum conditions for a high quality file. The best crystallinity was obtained at film thickness of 300nm with the sputtering gas of Ar+20% $O_2$and the bias voltage of 100V. The barrier layer of Pt(100nm)/Ti(50nm) was very effective in avoiding the formation of SiO$_2$layer at the interface between SrTiO$_3$film and Si substrate. The capacitor with Au/SrTiO$_3$/Pt/Ti/SiO$_2$/Si structure was prepared to measure the electric and the dielectric properties. The highest capacitance and the lowest leakage current density were obtained by annealing at $600^{\circ}C$ for 2hrs. The typical specific capacitance was 6.4fF/$\textrm{cm}^2$, the relative dielectric constant was 217, and the leakage current density was about 2.0$\times$10$^{-8}$ A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at the SrTiO$_3$film with the thickness of 300nm.