• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.68 no.5
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• pp.273-279
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• 2010

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is considered as a poor prognosis factor in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There has been reported brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP) is related with increased right ventricular (RV) workloads. However, there are few studies that evaluate the relationship between BNP and pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP), RV function and St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score in patients with COPD, and the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) on these parameters. Methods: Pulmonary function test, echocardiography, blood BNP, and SGRQ score were evaluated in stabilized moderate degree COPD patients ($FEV_1$/FVC< 70%, $50%{\leq}FEV_1$ < 80%) aged 45 years and over, without worsening of symptoms within recent 3 months. After treating with ramipril 10 mg for 3 months, the same evaluation was repeated. Results: Twenty-two patients were included in this study. BNP was significantly correlated with PAP (Pearson coefficient ${\rho}=0.51$, p=0.02), but not with RV ejection fraction (EF) and predicted $FEV_1%$. The values for predicted $FEV_1%$ showed significant correlation with SGRQ total score and activity score, but not with BNP or PAP. After ramipril treatment, PAP showed significant decrease ($42.8{\pm}8.1$ vs. $34.5{\pm}4.5mm$ Hg p=0.0003), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion significant increase ($21.5{\pm}3.3$ vs. $22.7{\pm}3.1mm$ p=0.009). BNP showed a tendency to decrease without statistical significance ($40.8{\pm}59.6$ vs. $18.0{\pm}9.1pg/mL$ p=0.55). SGRQ scores showed no significant change. Conclusion: BNP showed significant correlation with resting PAP, which means BNP could be used as markers for pulmonary hypertension. Treatment with ACEI didn't show significant change in the level of BNP, while pulmonary hypertension and RV function were improved.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.1483-1495
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• 2006

The navigation mesh represents a terrain as a set of triangles on which characters may move around. The navigation mesh cab be generated automatically, and it is more flexible in representing 3D surface. The number of triangles to represent a terrain may vary according to the structure of the terrain. As characters are moving around on a navigation mesh, the path planning can be performed more easily by projecting the 3D surfaces into 2D space. However, when the terrain is represented with an elaborated mesh of large number of triangles to achieve more realistic movements, the path finding can be very inefficient because there are too many states(triangles) to be searched. In this paper, we propose an efficient method of path finding in 3D games where the terrain is represented by navigation meshes. Our method uses the visibility tests. When the graph-based search is applied to elaborated polygonal meshes for detailed terrain representation, the path finding can be very inefficient because there are too many states(polygons) to be searched. In our method, we reduce the search space by using visibility tests so that the search can be fast even on the detailed terrain with large number of polygons. First we find the visible vertices of the obstacles, and define the heuristic function as the distance to the goal through those vertices. By doing that, the number of states that the graph-based search visits can be substantially reduced compared to the plane search with straight-line distance heuristic.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.133-133
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• 2002

Purpose： The purpose of paper is to implement software to visualize brain fiber tract using a 24-bit color coding scheme and to test its feasibility. Materials and Methods： MR imaging was performed on GE 1.5 T Signa scanner. For diffusion tensor image, we used a single shot spin-echo EPI sequence with 7 non-colinear pulsed-field gradient directions： (x, y, z)：(1,1,0),(-1,1,0),(1,0,1),(-1,0,1),(0,1,1),(0,1,-1) and without diffusion gradient. B-factor was 500 sec/$\textrm{mm}^2$. Acquisition parameters are as follows： TUTE=10000ms/99ms, FOV=240mm, matrix=128${\times}$128, slice thickness/gap=6mm/0mm, total slice number=30. Subjects consisted of 10 normal young volunteers (age：21∼26 yrs, 5 men, 5 women). All DTI images were smoothed with Gaussian kernel with the FWHM of 2 pixels. Color coding schemes for visualization of directional information was as follows. HSV(Hue, Saturation, Value) color system is appropriate for assigning RGB(Red, Green, and Blue) value for every different directions because of its volumetric directional expression. Each of HSV are assigned due to (r,$\theta$,${\Phi}$) in spherical coordinate. HSV calculated by this way can be transformed into RGB color system by general HSV to RGB conversion formula. Symmetry schemes： It is natural to code the antipodal direction to be same color(antipodal symmetry). So even with no symmetry scheme, the antipodal symmetry must be included. With no symmetry scheme, we can assign every different colors for every different orientation.(H =${\Phi}$, S=2$\theta$/$\pi$, V=λw, where λw is anisotropy). But that may assign very discontinuous color even between adjacent yokels. On the other hand, Full symmetry or absolute value scheme includes symmetry for 180$^{\circ}$ rotation about xy-plane of color coordinate (rotational symmetry) and for both hemisphere (mirror symmetry). In absolute value scheme, each of RGB value can be expressed as follows. R=λw｜Vx｜, G=λw｜Vy｜, B=λw｜Vz｜, where (Vx, Vy, Vz) is eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue of diffusion tensor. With applying full symmetry or absolute value scheme, we can get more continuous color coding at the expense of coding same color for symmetric direction. For better visualization of fiber tract directions, Gamma and brightness correction had done. All of these implementations were done on the IDL 5.4 platform.

• Plant Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.46-51
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• 2017

In this study, the boiler efficiency and the change of boiler combustion state with the burner operation of the uppermost layer of 870MW opposite fired coal boiler were measured. Test results showed that the boiler efficiency was high in the order of the uppermost layer simultaneous operation of the front and rear burners, the front burner, and the rear burner operation. When the front and rear burners were operated simultaneously, the heat absorption rate of water walls in the boiler furnace was uniform at four side, and the temperature deviation of the left and right steam on the convection front surface decreased. As the heat absorption rate of the boiler improved, the loss of boiler exhaust gas decreased and the coal supply amount decreased by 8 tons/hour compared to the operation of the rear burner. This will contribute not only to the reduction of fuel cost but also to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.30-39
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• 2022

Maintaining structural integrity of major apparatuses in a nuclear power plant, including piping system, is recognized as a critical safety issue. The integrity of piping system is also a critical matter related to the safety of a nuclear power plant. The actual failure mode of a piping system due to a seismic load is the leakage due to a fatigue crack, and the structural damage mechanism is the low-cycle fatigue due to large relative displacement that may cause plastic deformation. In this study, in-plane cyclic loading tests were conducted under various constant amplitudes using specimens composed of steel straight pipes and a steel pipe tee in the piping system of a nuclear power plant. The loading amplitude was increased to consider the relative displacement generated in the piping system under seismic loads, and the test was conducted until leakage, which is the limit state of the steel pipe tee, occurred due to fatigue cracks. The limit state of the steel pipe tee was expressed using a damage model based on the damage index that used the force-displacement relationship. As a result, it was confirmed that the limit state of the steel pipe tee can be quantitatively expressed using the damage index.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.427-438
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• 2023

We carried out a geological survey to classify the types of mass movement in Danyang Geopark (where various rock types are distributed) and analyzed the mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of landslide materials using a series of laboratory tests. Debris flows occurred in areas of limestone/marble, shale, and porphyroblastic gneiss, and limestone/marble landslides were distinguished from the others through the presence of karren topography. Soil tests showed that soil derived from weathered gneiss, which has a higher proportion of coarse grains, has a higher friction angle, lower cohesion, and larger hydraulic conductivity than soils from areas of limestone/marble, and shale. Rock failure mass movements occurred in areas of phyllite, sandstone, and conglomerate and were subdivided into plane failure, block-fall, and boulder-fall types in areas of phyllite, sandstone, and conglomerate, respectively. The shear strength of phyllite is much lower than that of the other types of rock, which have similar rock quality. The slake durability index of the conglomerate is similar to that of the other rock types, which have similar degrees of weathering, but differential weathering of the matrix and clasts was clearly observed when comparing the samples before and after the test. This study can help establish appropriate reinforcement and disaster prevention measures, which depend on the type of mass movement expected given the geological characteristics of an area.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.119-133
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• 2020

Underground utility tunnel, the most representative cut and cover structure, is subjected to seismic force by displacement of the surrounding soil. In 2020, Korea Infrastructure Safety Corporation has published "Seismic Performance Evaluation Guideline for Existing Utility Tunnel." This paper introduces two seismic evaluation methods, RDM (Response Displacement Method) and RHA (Response History Analysis) adopted in the guide and compares the methods for an example of an existing utility tunnel. The test tunnel had been constructed in 1988 and seismic design was not considered. RDM is performed by single and double cosine methods based on the velocity response spectrum at the base rock. RHA is performed by finite difference analysis that is able to consider nonlinear behavior of soil and structure together in two-dimensional plane strain condition. The utility tunnel shows elastic behavior for RDM, but shows plastic hinge for RHA under the collapse prevention level earthquake.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2015

This study has obtained Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC) of the unsaturated soil from the volumetric pressure plate extractor test and the triaxial compression tests was also conducted. By using the rainfall data measured in the site the seepage analysis of unsteady flow was performed with the program of SEEP/W in Geostudio 2007 and stability of the slope was analyzed with SLOPE/W program. Results of analyses show that shear strength of the unsaturated soil increases with the increase of matric suction. And it was also found that the net volumetric stress and the apparent cohesion increased with the matric suction. The seepage analysis of rainfall represents that the increasing rate of negative pore pressure at the zone of large negative pore pressure is appeared to be high even though lower rainfall intensity, but this tendency declines with ground depth. The stability analysis of slope was carried out for the actual plane of failure with the data representing the field condition. The factor of safety thus calculated was about unity (1.0) or just below, which means that the adopted method of analysis is in good agreement with the field condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.135-145
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• 2019

The slope collapse can be classified into internal and external factors. Internal factors are engineering factors inherent in the formation of slopes such as soil depth, slope angle, shear strength of soil, and external factors are external loading such as earthquakes. The external factor for earthquake can be expressed by various values such as peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), Arias coefficient (I), natural period (T_p), and spectral acceleration (S_aT=1.0). Specially, PGA is the most typical value that defines the magnitude of the ground motion of an earthquake. However, it is not enough to consider the displacement in the slope which depends on the duration of the earthquake even if the vibration has the same peak ground acceleration. In this study, numerical analysis of two-dimensional plane strain conditions was performed on engineered block, and slope responses due to seismic motion of scaling PGA to 0.2 g various event scenarios was analyzed. As a result, the response of slope is different depending on the presence or absence of sliding block; it is shown that slope response depend on the seismic wave triggering sliding block than the input motion factors.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.796-803
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• 2002

T-shaped walls have different strength, stiffness and ductility in the two opposite directions parallel to the web when subjected to horizontal in-plane loads. When the flange is in tension, the extent that the flange reinforcement contributes to the flexural strength will be subjected to shear-lag effect. Because of this shear-lag effect, the flange may not participate fully in the action with the web, and the effective flange width is needed for predicting the actual strength and stiffness of structures. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effective flange width and actual strength of the T-shaped wall with Korean code specified detailing of the wall web. Three specimens were tested with cyclic lateral loading applied at top of the wall. A constant axial load of approximately 0.1f$\_$ck/$.$A$\_$g/ is maintained during the testing. Test results show that the effective flange width increases with increasing drift level, such that the entire overhanging flange of h/3 is effective at the maximum strength level. Therefore, the use of PCI or KBC(Korean Building Code) value of h/10 is unconservative with respect to detailing at the wall web boundary.