• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.229-237
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• 2023

Background: We aimed to demonstrate the advances we have achieved in pectus excavatum surgery over the last 10 years, with a particular focus on the refinement of pectus bar stabilization techniques and devices. Methods: In total, 1,526 patients who underwent minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum surgery from 2013 to 2022 were enrolled and analyzed. We have pursued a new paradigm of crane-powered remodeling of the entire chest wall. The method of bar stabilization has changed from claw fixators to hinge plates and, finally, to bridge plate connections. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the hinge plate (group H) and the bridge plate (group B). Results: The bar displacement rates were 0.1% (n=2) for the claw fixator, 0% for the hinge plate (n=0), and 0% for the bridge plate (n=0). We stopped using the claw fixator in 2022 and the hinge plate in 2019. Since 2022, when we shifted to a multiple-bar technique for all patients, the bridge plate has replaced both the claw fixator and the hinge plate. No bar displacement occurred in either group. Group H had more pleural effusion, wound problems (p<0.05), and longer stays (5.5 vs. 6.2 days, p=0.034) than group B. Conclusion: We have made significant progress in pectus repair surgery over the last decade, particularly in stabilizing the pectus bar and reducing perioperative complications. Our current strategy is the multiple-bar approach with bridge stabilization. Since the bridge-only technique resulted in no bar displacement, we could eliminate the invasive claw fixator or hinge plate.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.399-405
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• 2023

This study presents an optimal seismic design method based on genetic algorithms to induce beam-hinge collapse mechanisms in reinforced concrete moment frames. Two objective functions are used. The first minimizes the cost of the structure and the second maximizes the energy dissipation capacity of the structure. Constraints include strength conditions of columns and beams, minimum conditions for column-to-beam flexural strength ratio, and conditions for preventing plastic hinge occurrence of columns. Linear static analysis is performed to evaluate the strength of members, whereas nonlinear static analysis is carried out to evaluate energy dissipation capacity and occurrence of plastic hinges. The proposed method was applied to a four-story example structure, and it was confirmed that solutions for inducing a beam-hinge collapse mechanism are obtained. The value of the column-beam flexural strength ratio of the obtained design was found to be larger than the value suggested by existing seismic codes. A more robust strategy is needed to induce a beam-hinge collapse mode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.789-790
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.1103-1104
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.541-542
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.61-62
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• 2009

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.801-802
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• 2010

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.679-702
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• 2013

During an earthquake, soils filter and send out the shaking to the building and simultaneously it has the role of bearing the building vibrations and transmitting them back to the ground. In other words, the ground and the building interact with each other. Hence, soil-structure interaction (SSI) is a key parameter that affects the performance of buildings during the earthquakes and is worth to be taken into consideration. Columns are one of the most crucial elements in RC buildings that play an important role in stability of the building and must be able to dissipate energy under seismic loads. Recent earthquakes showed that formation of plastic hinges in columns is still possible as a result of strong ground motion, despite the application of strong column-weak beam concept, as recommended by various design codes. Energy is dissipated through the plastic deformation of specific zones at the end of a member without affecting the rest of the structure. The formation of a plastic hinge in an RC column in regions that experience inelastic actions depends on the column details as well as soil-structure interaction (SSI). In this paper, 854 different scenarios have been analyzed by inelastic time-history analyses to predict the nonlinear behavior of RC columns considering soil-structure interaction (SSI). The effects of axial load, height over depth ratio, main period of soil and structure as well as different characteristics of earthquakes, are evaluated analytically by finite element methods and the results are compared with corresponding experimental data. Findings from this study provide a simple expression to estimate plastic hinge length of RC columns including soil-structure interaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.88-94
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• 2007

A flexure hinge-based compliant stage driven by stack-type piezoelectric elements has high precision motion but small operational range due to the characteristics of the piezoelectric element. Since the common flexure hinges can be broken by excessive deflection when the displacement is amplified by a high amplification ratio, a flexure hinge mechanism for large deflection is required. A cartwheel-type flexure hinge has an advantage of larger deflection compared with the common flexure hinges. This study presents a rotation stage with cartwheel-type flexure hinges driven by a stack-type piezoelectric element. The characteristics and the performance of the rotation stage are described by the terms of principal resonance frequency, amplification ratio of rotational displacement, maximum rotational displacement and block moment, in which the terms are analyzed by geometric parameters of the rotation stage. The analyzed results will be used as the guideline of the design of the rotation stage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.86-94
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• 2008

A total stroke of an opening or closing motion of a hinge mechanism in a folder-type mobile phone is composed of two portions. In the first portion, human fingers act a force to open or close the folder. In this portion, the rotating folder compresses the coil spring installed in the mechanism. In the last portion, this compressed coil spring generates a torque to rotate the folder. The main merit of this study is that we have designed a hinge mechanism to be operated by a uniform torque in the first portion of the total stroke. The uniform torque means that it is constant along the folder's swing angle. This mechanism will give softer feeling to human fingers. A pair of contours in the mechanism plays an important role. It transforms rotation into translation in the first portion; on the other hand, it transforms translation into rotation in the last portion. In this study, we have developed an algorithm to obtain the pair of contour curves. We divided the total contour curves into finite sub-intervals. Assuming that the curves in every sub-interval are parabolas, we have obtained the coefficients of them by solving systems of nonlinear equations recursively.