• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.329-342
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• 2008

The strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) columns by steel angles and strips (steel cage) is one of various techniques available to increase ultimate column load. Different authors have shown the influence of the beam-column joint on the behaviour of columns strengthened by steel cages. This paper presents an experimental study carried out at the Universidad Polit$\acute{e}$cnica de Valencia with the aim of analysing two different techniques to solve the strengthening close to the joint and the influence on the behaviour of RC columns strengthened steel cages. The ultimate loads obtained in the laboratory tests for these two techniques are compared to that specified by Eurocode 4.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.583-595
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• 2015

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of lower limb joint angles computed with the software ImageJ during jumping movements. Background: Kinematics is the study of bodies in motion without regard to the forces or torques that may produce the motion. The most common method for collecting motion data uses an imaging and motion-caption system to record the 2D or 3D coordinates of markers attached to a moving object, followed by manual or automatic digitizing software. Above all, passive optical motion capture systems (e.g. Vicon system) have been regarded as the gold standards for collecting motion data. On the other hand, ImageJ is used widely for an image analysis as free software, and can collect the 2D coordinates of markers. Although much research has been carried out into the utilizations of the ImageJ software, little is known about their reliability. Method: Seven healthy female students participated as the subject in this study. Seventeen reflective markers were attached on the right and left lower limbs to measure two and three-dimensional joint angular motions. Jump performance was recorded by ten-vicon camera systems (250Hz) and one digital video camera (240Hz). The joint angles of the ankle and knee joints were calculated using 2D (ImageJ) and 3D (Vicon-MX) motion data, respectively. Results: Pearson's correlation coefficients between the two methods were calculated, and significance tests were conducted (${\alpha}=1%$). Correlation coefficients between the two were over 0.98. In Vicon-MX and ImageJ, there is no systematic error by examination of the validity using the Bland-Altman method, and all data are in the 95% limits of agreement. Conclusion: In this study, correlation coefficients are generally high, and the regression line is near the identical line. Therefore, it is considered that motion analysis using ImageJ is a useful tool for evaluation of human movements in various research areas. Application: This result can be utilized as a practical tool to analyze human performance in various fields.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.39-52
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• 2016

Objective: This paper investigates gait changes according to different heel heights and speeds, and the interaction between the effects of the heel height and the speed during walking on stride parameters and joint angles. Furthermore, the relationship among heel height, speed and gait variables is investigated using linear regression. Background: Gait changes by heel height or speed have been studied respectively, but has not been reported whether there is an interaction effect between heel height and speed. It would be necessary to understand how gait changes when a person wears heels in different heights at various speeds, for example, high-heeled walking at fast speed, since it may cause unusual gait patterns and musculoskeletal disorders. Method: Ten females were asked to walk at five fixed cadences (94, 106, 118, 130 and 142 steps/min.) wearing three shoes with different heel heights (1, 5.4 and 9.8cm). Nineteen gait variables were analyzed for stride parameters and joint angles using two-way repeated measure analysis of variance and regression analysis. Results: Both heel height and speed affect movement of ankle, knee, spine and elbow joint, as well as stride length and Double/Single support time ratio. However, there is no significant interaction effect between heel height and speed. The regression result shows linear relationships of gait variables with heel height and speed. Conclusion: Heel height and speed independently affect stride parameters and joint angles without a significant interaction, so the gait variables are linearly amplified or diminished by the two factors. Application: Walking in high heels at fast speed should be careful for musculoskeletal disorders, since the amplified movement of knee and spine joint can lead to increased moment. Also, the result might give insight for animators or engineers to generate walking motion with high heels at various speeds.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.47-55
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• 2013

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to investigate the optimal joint positions which can minimize distresses of concrete pavement containing box culvert with horizontally skewed angles. METHODS : The concrete pavement containing the box culvert with different skewed angles and soil cover depths was modeled by 3 dimensional finite element method. The contact boundary condition was used between concrete and soil structures in addition to the nonlinear material property of soil in the finite element model. A dynamic analysis was performed by applying the self weight of pavement, negative temperature gradient of slab, and moving vehicle load simultaneously. RESULTS : In case of zero skewed angle ($0^{\circ}$), the maximum tensile stress of slab was the lowest when the joint was positioned directly over side of box culvert. In case there was a skewed angle, the maximum tensile stress of slab was the lowest when the joint passed the intersection between side of the box culvert and longitudinal centerline of slab. The magnitude of the maximum tensile stress converged to a constant value regardless the joint position from 3m of soil cover depth at all of the horizontally skewed angles. CONCLUSIONS : More reasonable and accurate design of the concrete pavement containing the box culvert can be possible based on the research results.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.83-94
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to elucidate how walking speed influences on change of angles of lower extremity and ground reaction force in normal and obese people. One group with normal body weight who were experimented at a standard speed of 1.5m/s and the other obese group were experimented at two different walking speeds (standard speed of 1.5m/s and self-selected speed of 1.3m/s). We calculated angles of lower extremity and ground reaction force during stance phase through video recording and platform force measuring. When the obese group walked at the standard speed, dorsi-flexion angle of ankle got bigger and plantar-flexion angle of ankle got smaller, which were not statistically significant. There was no significant difference of knee joint angles between normal and obese group at the same speed walking but significant post hoc only for the first flexion of knee joint in obese group. $F_z1$ was bigger than $F_z3$ in vertical axis for ground reaction force in both groups at the standard speed walking and the same force value at self-selected speed in obese group. $F_y3$ was always bigger than $F_y1$ in anterior-posterior axis in both groups.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2020

Purpose: This study compared the muscle activities of the Vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and the Vastus lateralis (VL) at three different knee extension angles: 90°, 135°, and 180° in the sitting position. Methods: Twenty subjects between 20 and 30 years of age participated in the study. A mobile phone application called the Clinometer was used to measure the knee joint angle. Electromyography (EMG) was performed to measure the muscle activities of the VMO and VL muscles during knee isometric extension exercises. The pulling sensor was used to maintain 70% of the maximum strength of the knee extensor continuously in the sitting position. After attaching the EMG sensor, the subjects were asked to perform isometric knee extension exercises randomly among three knee extension angles (90°, 135°, or 180°) in the sitting position. One-way repeated measures analysis of the variance and a Bonferroni post hoc test was used to identify the VMO and VL muscle activity during knee extension angles among 90°, 135°, and 180°. Results: The VMO and VL muscle activities increased with increasing knee extension angle in the sitting position (p<0.01). Conclusions: Knee extension exercise at a 180° angle in the sitting position can be recommended to increase the muscle activity of the VMO and VL muscle activities efficiently.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

In this study, static and fatigue tests on the self-piercing riveted (SPR) joint were conducted using cross-shaped specimens with aluminum alloy (Al-5052) sheets. Mixed mode loading was achieved by changing the loading angles of 0, 45, and 90 degrees using a special fixture to evaluate the static and fatigue strengths of the SPR joints under mixed mode loading conditions. Simulations of the specimens at three loading angles were carried out using the finite element code ABAQUS. The fatigue specimens failed in an interfacial mode where a crack initiated at the upper sheet and propagated along the longitudinal direction and finally fractured Maximum principal stress, von-Mises effective stress failed to correlate the fatigue lifetimes at three loading angles. However, the equivalent stress intensity factor was found to be appropriate to correlate the fatigue lifetimes at three loading angles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

PURPOSE: Lumbosacral orthosis (LSO) is often used to help manage low back pain because it is economical and effective. This study examined the effects of flexible and semirigid LSOs on the lower-limb joint angles in walking in patients with chronic low back pain. METHODS: The effects of the lumbosacral orthosis during gait on the sagittal, frontal, horizontal planes and the change in lower limb angle were examined in fourteen chronic low back pain patients who walked without wearing a LSO, wearing a flexible LSO, and wearing a semirigid LSO in random order for three-dimensional motion analysis. RESULTS: The flexion of the hip and knee joints decreased more significantly during walking with an LSO than without one. The genu valgum angles were reduced in the stance phase more during walking with an LSO than without one. The external rotation of the knee joints in the stance phase increased more during walking with an LSO than without one. CONCLUSION: The angles of the lower-limb joints of patients with chronic low back pain are affected by walking with an LSO, and the effects increased as the LSO stiffened.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.41-50
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• 2023

Gait analysis is an important tool in the clinical management of cerebral palsy, allowing for the assessment of condition severity, identification of potential gait abnormalities, planning and evaluation of interventions, and providing a baseline for future comparisons. However, traditional methods of gait analysis are costly and time-consuming, leading to a need for a more convenient and continuous method. This paper proposes a method for analyzing the posture of cerebral palsy patients using only smartphone videos and deep learning models, including a ResNet-based image tilt correction, AlphaPose for human pose estimation, and SmoothNet for temporal smoothing. The indicators employed in medical practice, such as the imbalance angles of shoulder and pelvis and the joint angles of spine-thighs, knees and ankles, were precisely examined. The proposed system surpassed pose estimation alone, reducing the mean absolute error for imbalance angles in frontal videos from 4.196° to 2.971° and for joint angles in sagittal videos from 5.889° to 5.442°.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.199-213
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• 2022

Experimental and discrete element approaches were used to examine the effects of F shape non-persistent joints on the failure behaviour of concrete under uniaxial compressive test. concrete specimens with dimensions of 200 cm×200 cm×50 cm were provided. Within the specimen, F shape non-persistent joint consisting three joints were provided. The large joint length was 6 cm, and the length of two small joints were 2 cm. Vertical distance between two small joints change from 1.5 cm to 4.5 cm with increment of 1.5 cm. In constant joint lengths, the angle of large joint change from 0° to 90° with increments of 30°. Totally 12 different models were tested under compression test. The axial load rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. Concurrent with experimental tests, numerical simulation (Particle flow code in two dimension) were performed on the models containing F shape non-persistent joint. Distance between small joints and joint angles were similar to experimental one. the results indicated that the failure process was mostly governed by both of the Distance between small joints and joint angles. The axial loading rate on the model was 0.05 mm/min. The compressive strengths of the samples were related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. Furthermore, it was shown that the compressive behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of the induced tensile cracks which are increased by increasing the joint angle. In the first, there were only a few acoustic emission (AE) hits in the initial stage of loading, and then AE hits rapidly grow before the applied stress reached its peak. Furthermore, a large number of AE hits accompanied every stress drop. Finally, the failure pattern and failure strength are similar in both approaches i.e., the experimental testing and the numerical simulation approaches.