• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2011

Assuming that photons absorbed by a vessel do not have acute variations, DC component reflect the basal blood volume (or diameter) before blood pulsation. Vascular stiffness and reflection is influenced by changes in basal blood volume (or diameter). This paper describes analysis of the characteristic variations of vascular stiffness, according to relative variations in DC components of the PPG signal (25-75%). For quantitative analysis, we have used parameters that were proposed previously, reflection and stiffness index, and the second derivative of PPG waveform, b/a and d/a. Significantly, the vascular stiffness and reflections were increased according to increase in DC component of the PPG signal for more than about 3% of baseline values. The systolic blood pressure were increased from $113.1{\times}13.18$ to $116.2{\times}13.319$ mmHg, about 2.76% (r = 0.991, P < 0.001) and the AC component of the PPG signal were decreased from $2.073{\times}2.287$ to $1.973{\times}2.2038$ arbitrary unit, about 5.09% (r = -0.993, P < 0.001). It is separated by DC median and correlation analysis was performed for analyzing vascular characteristics according to instantaneous DC variations. There are significant differences between two correlation coefficients in separated data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2006

A locally varying temperature field or a mixture of two or more different materials can cause local variation of elasticity properties of a beam. In this paper, a new Euler-Bernoulli beam element with varying Young's modulus along its longitudinal axis is presented. The influence of axial forces according to the linearized 2nd order beam theory is considered, as well. The stiffness matrix of this element contains the transfer constants which depend on Young's modulus variation and on axial forces. Occurrence of the polynomial variation of Young's modulus has been assumed. Such approach can be also used for smooth local variation of Young's modulus. The critical loads of the straight slender columns were studied using the new beam element. The influence of position of the local Young's modulus variation and its type (such as linear, quadratic, etc.) on the critical load value and rate of convergence was investigated. The obtained results based on the new beam element were compared with ANSYS solutions, where the number of elements gradually increased. Our results show significant influence of the locally varying Young's modulus on the critical load value and the convergence rate.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.199-208
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• 2022

Purpose : The study aimed to examine gender-differences in muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness of the erector spinae in young and old subjects. This study also aimed to assess the effect of aging on muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness of the erector spinae in men and women, and compare the trend of the aging effect between the two gender groups. Methods : With the muscle in the relaxed state and subjects in the prone position, a myotonometer was used to quantify muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness, of the erector spinae in 102 participants[46 males (29 young subjects, aged 22.48±2.23 years and 17 old subjects, aged 76.35±3.71 years), 56 females (40 young subjects, aged 20.38±1.43 years and 16 old subjects, aged 74.56±5.40 years)]. Results : The tone and stiffness of the erector spinae muscles were greater in men than in women for both age groups (p<.001-.01), while elasticity did not show a significant difference between men and women. For the direction of change, both male and female groups showed significantly increased tone and stiffness, and decreased elasticity with increasing age (p<.001). For age-related changes, a different tendency was observed between men and women. Men showed a greater increase in tone than women with aging. in contrast, both men and women exhibited a similar decrease or increase in elasticity and stiffness. Conclusion : Gender-differences in the erector spinae in terms of muscle tone and stiffness were observed. Regardless of the age, men had higher muscle tone and stiffness than women, but not elasticity. The erector spinae muscles showed age-related changes in all aspects of muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness, in both men and women. Notably, men presented greater variation than women in the amount of increase of muscle tone with aging. These findings have implications for musculoskeletal therapeutic approaches, and gender-customized tuning may be indicated for designing exercise interventions to prevent and manage gender-sensitive muscular injuries or diseases and frailty.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.569-595
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• 2014

In this paper, a novel semi-energy finite strip method (FSM) is developed based on the concept of first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) in order to attempt the post-buckling solution for thin and relatively thick functionally graded (FG) plates under uniform end-shortening. In order to study the effects of through-the-thickness shear stresses on the post-buckling behavior of FG plates, two previously developed finite strip methods, i.e., semi-energy FSM based on the concept of classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) and a CLPT full-energy FSM, are also implemented. Moreover, the effects of aspect ratio on initial post-buckling stiffness of FG rectangular plates are studied. It has been shown that the variation of the ratio of initial post-buckling stiffness to pre-buckling stiffness ($S^*/S$) with respect to aspects ratios is quite independent of volume fractions of constituents in thin FG plates. It has also been seen that the universal curve representing the variation of ($S^*/S$) with aspect ratio of a FG plate demonstrate a saw shape curve. Moreover, it is revealed that for the thin FG plates in contrast to relatively thick plates, the variations of non-dimensional load versus end-shortening is independent of ceramic-metal volume fraction index. This means that the post-buckling behavior of thin FG plates and the thin pure isotropic plates is similar. The results are discussed in detail and compared with those obtained from finite element method (FEM) of analysis. The study of the results may have a great influence in design of FG plates encountering post-buckling behavior.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.125-131
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• 2014

In order to develop stretchable substrates for wearable packaging applications, the variation behavior of elastic modulus was evaluated for transparent PDMS Sylgard 184 and black PDMS Sylgard 170 as a function of the base/curing agent mixing ratio. Both for Sylgard 184 and Sylgard 170, the true elastic modulus evaluated on a true stress-true strain curve was higher more than two times compared to the engineering elastic modulus obtained from an engineering stres-sengineering strain curve, and their difference became larger with increasing the stiffness of the PDMS. Sylgard 184 exhibited a maximum engineering elastic modulus of 1.74 MPa and a maximum true elastic modulus of 3.57 MPa at the base/curing agent mixing ratio of 10. A maximum engineering elastic modulus of 1.51 MPa and a maximum true elastic modulus of 3.64 MPa were obtained for Sylgard 170 at the base/curing agent mixing ratio of 2.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2012

To examine the interaction of the floating pontoon with a steel moment resisting frame, the static structural analysis is carried out, in which the pressure load are calculated from the forgoing fluid dynamic analysis, varying the period of wave from 3 to 15 second and for 3 cases of depth of pontoon, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5m. As results, it has shown that RAO-pitch has the linear relationship with the increase of moment of the frame and the curvature of pontoon is reversely proportional to the stiffness of pontoon. By synthesizing these results, an estimation method is proposed, which predicts the moment of frame of the different depth of pontoon based on the analysis result of an arbitrary depth of a floating pontoon. The estimation result shows considerably good agreement, compared with the analysis result.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.124-135
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• 2011

The capacity of bearings installed at abutments and piers for continuous bridges is usually determined by the magnitude of the maximum vertical reaction at each support and the capacity of bearings placed at piers is higher than that at abutments. In this study, the possibility of the improved seismic performance of base-isolated continuous skew bridges was investigated by analysing the variation of the seismic behavior of them according to three arrangements of bearings. Based on the conventional arrangement of bearings(Case A), three arrangements of bearings such as Case A, Case B and Case C were selected considering the variation of the horizontal stiffness of the lead rubber bearing(LRB) installed at the pier. The seismic behavior of the total 36 skew bridges was investigated by conducting the response spectrum analysis using the hybrid response spectrum considered the effect of LRB's damping. Results of analyses show that a more desirable seismic behavior of base-isolated continuous skew bridges can be obtained by reducing the magnitude of the horizontal stiffness of LRB placed at the pier to similar to or less than that of LRB installed at abutments. The variation of LRB's stiffness at the pier brings about period elongation and the change of mode shapes of base-isolated skew bridges and results in the reduction of the total base shear, the maximum base shear at the pier and the girder stresses. Although positive effects on the seismic behavior of base-isolated skew bridges caused by the change of arrangement of bearings decreased slighty with an increase in the flexibility of the substructure, the proposed arrangements of bearings bring about the improved seismic performance of base-isolated continuous skew plate girder bridges with less than 10m height of piers.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.241-260
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• 2002

The effect of shear coupled with axial force variation on the inelastic seismic behaviour of reinforced concrete bridge piers is investigated in this paper. For this purpose, a hysteretic axial-shear interaction model was developed and implemented in a nonlinear finite element analysis program. Thus, flexure-shear-axial interaction is simulated under variable amplitude reversed actions. Comparative studies for shear-dominated reinforced concrete columns indicated that a conventional FE model based on flexure-axial interaction only gave wholly inadequate results and was therefore incapable of predicting the behaviour of such members. Analysis of a reinforced concrete bridge damaged during the Northridge (California 1994) earthquake demonstrated the importance of shear modelling. The contribution of shear deformation to total displacement was considerable, leading to increased ductility demand. Moreover, the effect of shear with axial force variation can significantly affect strength, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of reinforced concrete members. It is concluded that flexure-shear-axial interaction should be taken into account in assessing the behaviour of reinforced concrete bridge columns, especially in the presence of high vertical ground motion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.805-812
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• 2003

This paper presents a method to investigate the characteristics of a ball bearing and the dynamics of a HDD spindle system due to temperature variation. Finite element model is developed for the rotating and stationary parts of a HDD spindle system separately to determine their thermal deformations by using ANSYS, a finite element program. Then, the relative position of the rotating part with respect to the stationary part is determined by solving the equilibrium equation of the contact force between upper and lower ball bearings. The validity of the proposed method is verified by comparing the theoretical natural frequencies of a HDD spindle system with the experimental ones before and after temperature variation. It shows that the elevated temperature results in the increase of contact angle and the decrease of bearing deformation, contact force and bearing stiffness, which result in the decrease of the natural frequencies of a HDD spindle system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.578-584
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• 2003

This paper presents a method to investigate the characteristics of a ball bearing and the dynamics of a HDD spindle system due to temperature variation. Finite element model is developed fer the rotating and stationary parts of a HDD spindle system separately to determine their thermal deformations by using ANSYS, a finite element program. Then, the relative position of the rotating part with respect to the stationary part is determined by solving the equilibrium equation of the contact force between upper and lower ball bearings. The validity of the proposed method is verified by comparing the theoretical natural frequencies of a HDD spindle system with the experimental ones before and after temperature variation. It shows that the elevated temperature results in the increase of contact angle and the decrease of bearing deformation, contact force and bearing stiffness, which result in the decrease of the natural frequencies of a HDD spindle system.