• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.332-341
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• 2020

High-speed turbomachinery implements gas foil bearings (GFBs) due to their distinctive advantages, such as high efficiency, lesser part count, and lower weight. This paper provides the test results of the static structural stiffnesses and loss factors of bump-type foil thrust bearings with increasing preload and bearing deflection. The focus of the current work is to experimentally quantify variability in structural stiffnesses and loss factors among the four test thrust bearings with identical design values and material of the bump and top foil geometries using the same (open-source) fabrication method. A simple test setup, using a rigidly mounted non-rotating shaft and thrust disk, measures the bearing bump deflections with increasing static loads on the test bearing. The inner and outer diameters of the test bearings are 41 mm and 81 mm, respectively. The loss factor, best-representing energy dissipation in the test bearings, is estimated from the area inside the local hysteresis loop of the load versus the bearing deflection curve. The measurements show that structural stiffnesses and loss factors of the test bearings significantly rely on applied preloads and bearing deflections. Local structural stiffnesses of the test bearings increase with applied preloads but decrease with bearing deflections. Changes of loss factors are less sensitive to applied preloads and bearing deflections compared to those of structural stiffnesses. Up to 35% variability in static load structural stiffnesses is found between bearings, while up to 30% variability in loss factors is found between bearings.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.111-122
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• 2007

Objective : Progressive muscle relaxation(PMR) therapy is the way of mind and body self-regulation which makes major muscles tension to be comfortable condition. It was considered to be important to check the level of relaxation in objective validity. Therefore, Heart rate variability(HRV) is the valuable measurement to investigate the effect of progressive muscle relaxation therapy on autonomic nerve system. Method : I studied 38 subjects. The subjects were measured HRV at first. And then, Using a CD player, the subjects listened to recorded PMR program for 15 minutes. After this progress, I rechecked HRV. Results : heart rate item of HRV was significantly decreased. Also, the numerical value of SDNN(standard deviation of all NN intervals) and SDSD(standard deviation of differences between adjacent NN intervals) items of HRV were showed significantly increased in all subjects after PMR. Conclusion : It indicated that PMR is efficient for inspiring resistance of the stress and a sense of stability, and PMR is a valuable method to reduce the mind stress and stiffness of body muscle.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.789-799
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a stochastic finite element formulation which takes into account the randonmess in the material and geometrical parameters. The formulation is proposed for plate structures, and is based on the weighted integral approach. Contrary to the case of elastic modulus, plate thickness contributes to the stiffness as a third-order function. Furthermore, Poisson's ratio is even more complex since this parameter appears in the constitutive relations in the fraction form. Accordingly, we employ Taylor's expansion to derive decomposed stochastic field functions in ascending order. In order to verify the proposed formulation, the results obtained using the proposed scheme are compared with those in the literature and those of Monte Carlo analysis as well.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.291-302
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• 2005

Due to the importance of the parameter in structural response, the uncertain elastic modulus was located at the center of stochastic analysis, where the response variability caused by the uncertain system parameters is pursued. However when we analyze the so-called stochastic systems, as many parameters as possible must be included in the analysis if we want to obtain the response variability that can reach a true one, even in an approximate sense. In this paper, a formulation to determine the statistical behavior of in-plane structures due to multiple uncertain material parameters, i.e., elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio, is suggested. To this end, the polynomial expansion on the coefficients of constitutive matrix is employed. In constructing the modified auto-and cross-correlation functions, use is made of the general equation for n-th moment. For the computational purpose, the infinite series of stochastic sub-stiffness matrices is truncated preserving required accuracy. To demons4rate the validity of the proposed formulation, an exemplary example is analyzed and the results are compared with those obtained by means of classical Monte Carlo simulation, which is based on the local averaging scheme.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2011

In this paper, a statistical calibration method is proposed in order to identify the variability of complex modulus for a rubber material due to operational temperature and experimental/model errors. To describe temperature- and frequency-dependent material properties, a fractional derivative model and a shift factor relationship are used. A likelihood function is defined as a product of the probability density functions where experimental values lie on the model. The variation of the fractional derivative model parameters is obtained by maximizing the likelihood function. Using the proposed method, the variability of a synthetic rubber material is estimated and applied to a rubber mount problem. The dynamic characteristics of the rubber mount are calculated using a finite element model of which material properties are sampled from Monte Carlo simulation. The calculated dynamic stiffnesses show very large variation.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2023

Background/Aims: Shear wave elastography (SWE) is used for liver fibrosis staging based on stiffness measurements. It can be performed using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or a transabdominal approach. Transabdominal accuracy can be limited in patients with obesity because of the thick abdomen. Theoretically, EUS-SWE overcomes this limitation by internally assessing the liver. We aimed to define the optimal technique for EUS-SWE for future research and clinical use and compare its accuracy with that of transabdominal SWE. Methods: Benchtop study: A standardized phantom model was used. The compared variables included the region of interest (ROI) size, depth, and orientation and transducer pressure. Porcine study: Phantom models with varying stiffness values were surgically implanted between the hepatic lobes. Results: For EUS-SWE, a larger ROI size of 1.5 cm and a smaller ROI depth of 1 cm demonstrated a significantly higher accuracy. For transabdominal SWE, the ROI size was nonadjustable, and the optimal ROI depth ranged from 2 to 4 cm. The transducer pressure and ROI orientation did not significantly affect the accuracy. There were no significant differences in the accuracy between transabdominal SWE and EUS-SWE in the animal model. The variability among the operators was more pronounced for the higher stiffness values. Small lesion measurements were accurate only when the ROI was entirely situated within the lesion. Conclusions: We defined the optimal viewing windows for EUS-SWE and transabdominal SWE. The accuracy was comparable in the non-obese porcine model. EUS-SWE may have a higher utility for evaluating small lesions than transabdominal SWE.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.217-233
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• 2005

Elastic and electromagnetic waves can be used to gather important information about particulate materials. To facilitate smart geophysical characterization of particulate materials, their fundamental properties are discussed and experimental procedures are presented for both elastic and electromagnetic waves. The first application is related to the characterization of particulate materials using shear waves, concentrating on changes in effective stress during consolidation, multi-phase phenomena with relation to capillarity, and microscale characteristics of particles. The second application involves electromagnetic waves, focusing on stratigraphy detection in layered soils, estimation of void ratio and its spatial distribution, and conduction in unsaturated soils. Experimental results suggest that shear waves allow studying particle contact phenomena and the evolution of interparticle forces, while electromagnetic waves give insight into the characteristics of the fluid phase and its spatial distribution.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3 s.63
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• pp.228-238
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• 2005

Objectives : We conducted a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial to assess the anti-hypertensive effect of Ginseng and to know the difference of the effect according to it's growing districts md species by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM). Methods : We allocated 96 hypertensive patients enrolled in this trial to Korean ginseng(KG), American ginseng (AG), Chinese ginseng (CG), and Korean red ginseng (KRG) groups by randomization. Each subject was administered 4.5mg/day of encapsulated ginseng for 4 weeks. We assessed anti-hypertensive effect, blood pressure variability using ABPM and toxicity by blood chemistry before and after treatment. We also evaluated changes of symptoms due to hypertension and adverse effect in all groups at the first visit, 2 weeks later and 4 weeks later. Results : Blood pressure after treatments showed significant decrease of systolic blood pressure (sBP) in the CG-group (p<0,05) and diastolic blood pressure (dBP) in the KRG-group (p<0.05). However, there were no significant changes of sBP (or dBP) after treatment in the other groups and no significant difference in changes of BP between before and after treatment among the 4 groups. Blood pressure variability in the CG-group showed significant decrease after treatment but not in the KRG-group. Symptoms such as headache or neck stiffness and heating sensation due to hypertension improved significantly in all groups, especially in the KRG-group. A3l patients had no adverse effect after treatment and there was no liver or kidney toxicity. Conclusions : CG and KRG seem to have anti-hypertensive effects, but there was no significantly different effect depending on growing district and species of Ginseng.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2021

Parkinson's disease is one of the typical neurodegenerative disease and it is caused by the destruction of substantia nigra in brain leading to lack of dopamine secretion, and it presents 4 major motor symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, stiffness, postural instability. Furthermore, it causes many non-motor symptoms such as anosmia, REM sleep conduct disorder, orthostatic hypotension, dementia and autonomic ataxia such as lack of adjusting blood pressure, hyperhydrosis, constipation. Dopaminergic therapy is the most commonly used strategy, but long term treatment of levodopa induce various adverse effects. Thus, many people are focusing on new therapies other than established therapies, and there are many tries and approaches with paradigm shift. Our medical team was able to get 4 cases of PD patients who are hospitalized in our hospital, treated by Whole Body Gi-Hyeol Therapy consisting of acupuncture therapy, herbal therapy, and mental therapy, and their conditions improved in perspective of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(UPDRS), Heart Rate Variability(HRV), and Quality of life. Among all 4 cases, UPDRS score and quality of life score is gotton better, and among 2 cases SDNN, RMS-SD, TP, LF, HF scores are finely increased. And PDQ-39 score which shows quality of life is also improved. However, in spite of these improvements and positive results, there were no meaningful improvement in a hurt from a fall which is important to the aged, muscular atrophy which causes bone fracture and SMI(Skeletal Muscle Mass Index) which is indicator of osteoporosis. Thus, supplementary treatment about Whole Body Gi-Hyeol Therapy such as more active nutrition intervention, safe and effective kinesitherapy is needed, and from now on continuous case reports and systematic clinical research which has control group must be carried out.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.8
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• pp.905-920
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• 2010

Changes in temperature, loads and boundary conditions may have effects on the dynamic properties of large civil structures. Taking the Run Yang Suspension Bridge as an example, modal properties obtained from ambient vibration tests and from the structural health monitoring system of the bridge are used to identify and evaluate the modal parameter variability. Comparisons of these modal parameters reveal that several low-order modes experience a significant change in frequency from the completion of the bridge to its operation. However, the correlation analysis between measured modal parameters and the temperature shows that temperature has a slight influence on the low-order modal frequencies. Therefore, this paper focuses on the effects of the boundary conditions on the dynamic behaviors of the suspension bridge. An analytical model is proposed to perform a sensitivity analysis on modal parameters of the bridge concerning the stiffness of expansion joints located at two ends of bridge girders. It is concluded that the boundary conditions have a significant influence on the low-order modal parameters of the suspension bridge. In addition, the influence of vehicle load on modal parameters is also investigated based on the proposed model.