• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.188-191
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• 2006

Objective : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and necessity of combined anterior approach [discectomy and fusion] and posterior approach[open-door laminoplasty] in the treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy. Methods : The authors reviewed 14 cases in whom combined anterior and posterior approach performed for cervical myelopathy due to simultaneous anterior and posterior pathology such as huge central disc herniation with narrow spinal canal between January 2000 and December 2002. Clinical symptoms were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association [JOA] score and then the cervical curvature, change of spinal canal to vertebral body[SC/VB] ratio and canal widening were measured and compared to the clinical symptoms. Results : The mean JOA score increased from $10.4{\pm}3.1$ preoperatively to $14.8{\pm}1.2$ at the final follow up with a mean recovery rate 66.4%. In all cases, there were not neurologic deterioration. Mild postoperative complications developed in two cases. One patient had a limitation of range of neck motion and the other one showed kyphotic change. Postoperative radiography showed an improvement of body to canal ratios [average $0.70{\pm}0.08$ before surgery to $1.05{\pm}0.12$ after surgery and mainte nance or recovery of cervical lordosis. Canal widening of antero-posterior diameter and dimension after operation is 6.8mm. $116.61mm^2$. Conclusion : Combined anterior and posterior procedure could be helpful in decompression of the spinal cord and good functional recovery in spondylotic myelopathy patients with combined anterior and posterior pathology such as huge disc herniation accompanying narrow spinal canal.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.421-426
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• 2019

In this paper, we propose a method to visualize the geometric features of the contact region between proteins in a protein complex. When proteins or ligands are represented as curved surfaces with irregularities, the property that the two surfaces contact each other without intersections is called shape compatibility. Protein-Protein or Protein-Ligand docking researches have shown that shape complementarity, chemical properties, and entropy play an important role in finding contact regions. Usually, after finding a region with high shape complementarity, we can predict the contact region by using residual polarity and hydrophobicity of amino acids belonging to this region. In the research for predicting the contact region, it is necessary to investigate the geometrical features of the contact region in known protein complexes. For this purpose, it is essential to visualize the geometric features of the molecular surface. In this paper, we propose a method to find the contact region, and visualize the geometric features of it as normal vectors and mean curvatures of the protein complex.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1028-1036
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• 2018

Study Design: Single-center, observational, case-control study. Purpose: Comparison and analysis of the metabolic and coagulative profiles in patients with idiopathic scoliosis, patients with congenital scoliosis, and healthy controls. Overview of Literature: Serum melatonin deficiency has been a controversial topic in the etiopathogenesis of scoliosis. Low bone mineral density, low vitamin D3 levels, and high parathyroid hormone levels are common metabolic abnormalities associated with scoliosis that may be responsible for its pathogenesis. In addition to metabolic defects, several studies have shown coagulation defects that either persist from the preoperative period or occur during surgery and usually lead to more than the expected amount of blood loss in patients undergoing deformity correction for scoliosis. Methods: The study population (n=73) was classified into those having congenital scoliosis (n=31), those with idiopathic scoliosis (n=30), and healthy controls (n=12). After detailed clinicoradiological evaluation of all the subjects, 10-mL blood samples were collected, measured, and analyzed for various metabolic and coagulation parameters. Results: The mean serum melatonin levels in patients with idiopathic scoliosis were significantly lower than those in the healthy controls. Although the mean serum melatonin level in the congenital group was also low, the difference was not statistically significant. Serum alkaline phosphatase and parathyroid hormone levels were higher in the scoliosis groups, whereas the vitamin D level was lower. No differences were observed in the coagulation profiles of the different groups. Conclusions: Low serum melatonin levels associated with scoliosis can be a cause or an effect of scoliosis. Moreover, low bone mineral density, high bone turn over, and negative calcium balance appear to play an important role in the progression, if not the onset, of the deformity.

• International Journal of Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Systems
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2013

Patients with heart disease need long-term monitoring of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal using a portable electrocardiograph. This trend requires the miniaturization of data storage and faster transmission to medical doctors for diagnosis. The ECG signal needs to be utilized for efficient storage, processing and transmission, and its data must contain the important components for diagnosis, such as the P wave, QRS-complex, and T wave. In this study, we select the vertex which has a larger curvature value than the threshold value for compression. Then, we reconstruct the compressed signal using by radial basis function interpolation. This technique guarantees a lower percentage of root mean square difference with respect to the extracted sample points and preserves all the important features of the ECG signal. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated in the experiment using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston's Beth Israel Hospital arrhythmia database.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1520-1532
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• 2003

An experiment was performed to obtain the local heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number in a circular duct with a 180$^{\circ}$ bend for Re=6 x 10$^4$, 8 x 10$^4$ and 1 x 10$\^$5/ under swirling flow and non-swirling flow conditions. The test tube with a circular section was made from stainless steel having a curvature ration of 9.4. Current heat flux of 5.11 kW/㎡ was applied to the test tube by electrical power and the swirling motion of air was produced by a tangential inlet to the pipe axis at 180$^{\circ}$. Measurements of local wall temperatures and the bulk mean temperatures of air were made at four circumferential positions at 16 stations. The wall temperatures showed a reduced distribution curve at the bend for the non-swirling flow, but this effect did not appear for the swirling flow. The Nusselt number distributions for the swirling flow, which was calculated from the measured wall and the bulk temperatures, were higher than that of the non-swirling flow. The average Nusselt number of the swirling flow increased by about 90-100%, compared to that of the non-swirling flow. The Nu/Nu$\_$DB/ values at the 90$^{\circ}$ station for non-swirling flow and swirling flow were approximately 2.5 and 4.8 at Re=6x10$^4$ respectively. The values agree well with Said's results for non-swirling flow.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.220-224
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• 2010

In this study, we designed a device for consecutively observing position, utilizing 3-axises acceleration sensor. This method offer to check his or her wrong position and developed could to help derived a position appliance. And, we developed a Cobb's angle value in three dimensional using 3-axises acceleration sensor. A proposed device with integrated accelerometers, which can detect postural changes in terms of curvature variation of the spine in the sagittal and coronal planes, has been developed with intention to facilitate posture training. The proposed device was evaluated with 3 normal subjects daily activities. We evaluated the performance of our designed device as calculating the correlation coefficients and mean errors between the angle measured by an electro-goniometer and that estimated by a gravity accelerometer and verified the accuracy and sensitivity. The results showed that the angle obtained from the proposed device revealed a linear characteristic at the range of $\pm60^{\circ}$(correlation coefficient 0.99, error range $\pm2^{\circ}$). We demonstrated that our device could detect the changes of the motion in upper trunk accurately. Also, our device showed good potential for treatment of the patients with scoliosis and prevention of the unbalance position during a daily life.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.181-210
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• 1997

The stress distribution generated in the surrounding bone was calculated and compared for various geometry of the dental implants by means of the finite element methods. The models were designed to represent the screw type endosseous implants(varing the size, shape, direction of the screw thread and the angle of the body) with supporting bone and the cylinder type endosseous implants(varing the lower portion-Round type, tapered type) with supporting bone. Static mean bite forces were applied 100N vertically and 25N horizontally on the center of the implant and three dimensional finite analysis was undertaken using software ANSYS 5.1 Version. The result demonstrated that different implant shape leads to significant variations in stress distribution in the bone. In the case of variation of the screw size, direction and shape the implant model with normally directional and triangular screw implied lower stress than with upper directional or lower directional and quadrangular screw but among models a different screw size, within a variation of 0.2mm there was no meaningful difference in maximum stress. In the case of variation of angle of body the straight implied lower stress than the tapered. As a result of analysis of cylinder type, the implants with larger radius of curvature of the round form and larger diameter of the tapered form implied lower stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2003

During the past five decades or so, the characteristics of turbulent swirling flow have been studied extensively because of its great technological and scientific importance. It is well known that the swirling flow improves heat transfer in duct flow. The reason for this is due to the effect of streamline curvature associated with the tangential velocity component. Although many studies have been carried out to investigate the characteristics of the swirling flow in a circular tube. The experimental methods for measuring the velocity components are by hot-wire or LDV (Laser-Doppler-Velocimetry) measuring single point velocity so far. The present study was aimed to analyse the flow characteristics of swirling flow such as time-mean velocity vector, local velocity turbulence intensity and turbulence kinetic energy by using PIV(Particle-Image Velocimetry). The experiment was carried out for four Reynold numbers $1.0\times10^{4}$, $1.5\times10^{4}$, $2.0\times10^{4}$ and $2.5\times10^{4}$ of the measuring area.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.731-739
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• 2018

This paper presents an optimal pattern for distributing stiffness along a framed tube structure through an analytic equation, which may be used during the preliminary design stage. Most studies in this field are computationally intensive and time consuming, while a hand-calculation method, as presented here, is a more suitable tool for sensitivity analyses and parametric studies. Approach in development of the analytic model is to minimize the mean compliance (external work) for a given volume of material. A variational statement of the problem is made, and a specified deformation-profile is obtained as the necessary condition for a minimum; enforcing this condition, stiffness is then computed. Due to some near-zero values for stiffness, the problem is modified by considering a lower bound constraint. To deal with this constraint, the design domain is assumed to be divided into two zones of constant stiffness and constant curvature; and the problem is restated in terms of these concepts. It will be shown that this methodology allows for easy computation of stiffness through an analytic and dimensionless equation, valid in any system of units. To show practicality of the proposed method, a tubed-system structure with uniform stiffness distribution is redesigned using the proposed model. Comparative analyses of the results reveal that in addition to simplicity of the proposed method, it provides a rather high degree of accuracy for real-world problems.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.175-180
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• 2016

The demand for accurate freeform apsheric surface is increasing to satisfy the optical performance. In this paper, we develop the algorithm for opto-mechatronics convergence, that reconstruct the surface 3D profiles from the curvarure data along two orthogonal directions. A synthetic freeform surface with 8.4 m diameter was simulated for the testing. The simulation results show that the reconstruction error is 0.065 nm PV(Peak-to-valley) and 0.013 nm RMS(Root mean square) residual difference. Finally the sensitivity to noise is diagnosed for probe position error, the simulation results proving that the suggested method is robust to position error.