• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제25권4호
• /
• pp.293-302
• /
• 2020

Connections play a significant role in strength of structures against earthquake-induced loads. According to the post-seismic reports, connection failure is a cause of overall failure in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Connection failure results in a sudden increase in inter-story drift, followed by early and progressive failure across the entire structure. This article investigated the cyclic performance and behavioral improvement of shape-memory alloy-based connections (SMA-based connections). The novelty of the present work is focused on the effect of shape memory alloy bars is damage reduction, strain recoverability, and cracking distribution of the stated material in RC moment frames under seismic loads using 3D nonlinear static analyses. The present numerical study was verified using two experimental connections. Then, the performance of connections was studied using 14 models with different reinforcement details on a scale of 3:4. The response parameters under study included moment-rotation, secant stiffness, energy dissipation, strain of bar, and moment-curvature of the connection. The connections were simulated using LS-DYNA environment. The models with longitudinal SMA-based bars, as the main bars, could eliminate residual plastic rotations and thus reduce the demand for post-earthquake structural repairs. The flag-shaped stress-strain curve of SMA-based materials resulted in a very slight residual drift in such connections.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제82권5호
• /
• pp.611-628
• /
• 2022

Energy-dissipative rocking (EDR) columns are a class of seismic mitigation device capable of dissipating seismic energy and preventing weak-story failure of moment resisting frames (MRFs). An EDR consists of two hinge-supported steel columns interconnected by steel dampers along its height. Under earthquakes, the input seismic energy can be dissipated by plastic energy of the steel dampers in the EDR column. However, the unrecoverable plastic deformation of steel dampers generally results in residual drifts in the structural system. This paper presents a proof-of-concept study on an innovative device, namely self-centring energy-dissipative rocking (SC-EDR) column, aiming at enabling self-centring capability of the EDR column by installing a set of shape memory alloy (SMA) tension braces. The working mechanism of the SC-EDR column is presented in detail, and the feasibility of the new device is carefully examined via experimental and numerical studies considering the parameters of the SMA bar diameter and the steel damper plate thickness. The seismic responses including load carrying capacities, stress distributions, base rocking behaviour, source of residual deformation, and energy dissipation are discussed in detail. A rational combination of the steel damper and the SMA tension braces can achieve excellent energy dissipation and self-centring performance.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제81권1호
• /
• pp.39-50
• /
• 2022

Layer separation (delamination) is an essential threat to fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) plates under dynamic, static, and fatigue loads. Under compressive load, the growth of delamination will lead to structural instability. The aim of this paper is to present a method using shape memory alloy (SMA) stitches to suppress the delamination growth in a FRP plate and to improve the buckling behavior of the plate with a rectangular hole. The present paper is divided into two parts. Firstly, a closed-form (CF) formulation for evaluating the buckling load of the FRP plate is presented. Secondly, the finite element method (FEM) will be employed to calculate the buckling loads of the plates which serves to validate the results obtained from the closed-form method. The novelty of this work is the development of the closed-form solution using the p-Ritz energy approach regarding the stress-dependent phase transformation of SMA to trace the equilibrium path. For the FEM, the Lagoudas constitutive model of the SMA material is implemented in FORTRAN programming language using a user material subroutines (VUMAT). The model is simulated in ABAQUS/Explicit solver due to the nature of the loading type. The cohesive zone model (CZM) is applied to simulate the delamination growth.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• 제22권1호
• /
• pp.117-130
• /
• 2005

Objective : Generation after generation, by Oriental medicine literatures, Soyo-san has been used as a clinical prescription that is important to climacteric syndrome, and also has been used extensively to psyco-neurotic problems, melancholia and stress symptoms. The experimental study of Soyo-san's effect has been reported, but the effect of herbal acupuncture solution by Soyo-san is not reported yet. Thus the purpose of this experiment is to test whether Herbal acupuncture of Soyo-san have anti-stress or antidepressant effects in the menopause or not. Methods : Female Sprague-Dawley(240-260g) rats were used. Temperature controlled within $20-25^{\circ}C$. Water and food not limited, and Manipulated the day and night 12 hours each. In the experiment, enforced Morris water maze after immobilization stress for 5 minutes, and operating Herbal acupuncture of Soyo-san 30 minutes before stress every day during 7 days. Flowed through by 4% paraformaldehyde and fixed brain tissue after test of 7 days. Results : 1) As a result of the acquisition test, Soyo-san group was recognized by significant difference compared to Ovx group and the retention test Soyo-san group increased significantly compared to Sham and Ovx group. 2) Soyo-san group showed that the degree of revealation of Tyrosine hydroxylase decreased comparing to Ovx group in ventral tegmental area and that of Choline acetyltransferase increased comparing to Ovx group in CAI region of Hippocampus. Conclusion : As a result of this experiment to grasp those effects on postmenopausal depression or learing disability and memory disorder, the possibility of Herbal acupunture by Soyo-san is warranted as a suitable treatment to relieve women's monopausal depression and those of stress reaction, improving tearing disability and memory disorder.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• 제17권4호
• /
• pp.331-338
• /
• 2013

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an important regulator of energy metabolism, is activated in response to cellular stress when intracellular levels of AMP increase. We investigated the neuroprotective effects of AMPK against scopolamine-induced memory impairment in vivo and glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in vitro. An adenovirus expressing AMPK wild type alpha subunit (WT) or a dominant negative form (DN) was injected into the hippocampus of rats using a stereotaxic apparatus. The AMPK WT-injected rats showed significant reversal of the scopolamine induced cognitive deficit as evaluated by escape latency in the Morris water maze. In addition, they showed enhanced acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-reactive neurons in the hippocampus, implying increased cholinergic activity in response to AMPK. We also studied the cellular mechanism by which AMPK protects against glutamate-induced cell death in primary cultured rat hippocampal neurons. We further demonstrated that AMPK WT-infected cells increased cell viability and reduced Annexin V positive hippocampal neurons. Western blot analysis indicated that AMPK WT-infected cells reduced the expression of Bax and had no effects on Bcl-2, which resulted in a decreased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. These data suggest that AMPK is a useful cognitive impairment treatment target, and that its beneficial effects are mediated via the protective capacity of hippocampal neurons.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 한국진공학회 2011년도 제41회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
• /
• pp.288-288
• /
• 2011

최근 Charge Trap Flash (CTF) Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) 소자가 30 nm node 이하로 보고 되면서, 고집적화 플래시 메모리 소자로 각광 받고 있다. 기존의 CTF NVM 소자의 tunnel layer로 쓰이는 SiO2는 성장의 용이성과 Si 기판과의 계면특성, 낮은 누설전류와 같은 장점을 지니고 있다. 하지만 단일층의 SiO2를 tunnel layer로 사용하는 기존의 Non-Valatile Memory (NVM)는 두께가 5 nm 이하에서 direct tunneling과 Stress Induced Leakage Current (SILC) 등의 효과로 인해 게이트 누설 전류가 증가하여 메모리 보존특성의 감소와 같은 신뢰성 저하에 문제점을 지니고 있다. 이를 극복하기 위한 방안으로, 최근 CTF NVM 소자의 Tunnel Barrier Engineered (TBE) 기술이 많이 접목되고 있는 상황이다. TBE 기술은 SiO2 단일층 대신에 서로 다른 유전율을 가지는 절연막을 적층시킴으로서 전계에 대한 민감도를 높여 메모리 소자의 쓰기/지우기 동작 특성과 보존특성을 동시에 개선하는 방법이다. 또한 터널링 절연막으로 유전률이 큰 High-K 물질을 이용하면 물리적인 두께를 증가시킴으로서 누설 전류를 줄이고, 단위 면적당 gate capacitance값을 늘릴 수 있어 메모리 소자의 동작 특성을 개선할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 CTF NVM 소자의 trap layer로 쓰이는 HfO2의 두께를 5 nm, blocking layer의 역할을 하는 Al2O3의 두께를 12 nm로 하고, tunnel layer로 Si3N4막 위에 유전율과 Energy BandGap이 유사한 HfAlO와 ZrO2를 적층하여 Program/Erase Speed, Retention, Endurance를 측정을 통해 메모리 소자로서의 특성을 비교 분석하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 한국진공학회 2012년도 제42회 동계 정기 학술대회 초록집
• /
• pp.159-160
• /
• 2012

지난 30년 동안 플래시 메모리의 주류 역할을 하였던 부유 게이트 플래시 메모리는 40 nm 기술 노드 이하에서 셀간 간섭, 터널 산화막의 누설전류 등에 의한 오동작으로 기술적 한계를 맞게 되었다. 또한 기존의 비휘발성 메모리는 동작 시 높은 전압을 요구하므로 전력소비 측면에서도 취약한 단점이 있다. 그러나 이러한 문제점들을 기존의 Si기반의 소자기술이 아닌 새로운 재료나 공정을 통해서 해결하려는 연구가 최근 활발하게 진행되고 있다. 특히, 플래시 메모리의 중요한 구성요소의 하나인 터널 산화막은 메모리 소자의 크기가 줄어듦에 따라서 SiO2단층 구조로서는 7 nm 이하에서 stress induced leakage current (SILC), 직접 터널링 전류의 증가와 같은 많은 문제점들이 발생한다. 한편, 기존의 부유 게이트 타입의 메모리를 대신할 것으로 기대되는 전하 포획형 메모리는 쓰기/지우기 속도를 향상시킬 수 있으며 소자의 축소화에도 셀간 간섭이 일어나지 않으므로 부유 게이트 플래시 메모리를 대체할 수 있는 기술로 주목받고 있다. 특히, TBM (tunnel barrier engineered memory) 소자는 유전율이 큰 절연막을 적층하여 전계에 대한 터널 산화막의 민감도를 증가시키고, 적층된 물리적 두께의 증가에 의해 메모리의 데이터 유지 특성을 크게 개선시킬 수 있는 기술로 관심이 증가하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 Si3N4/Ta2O5를 적층시킨 staggered구조의 tunnel barrier를 제안하였고, Si기판 위에 tunnel layer로 Si3N4를 Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) 방법과 Ta2O5를 RF Sputtering 방법으로 각각 3/3 nm 증착한 후 e-beam evaporation을 이용하여 게이트 전극으로 Al을 150 nm 증착하여 MIS- capacitor구조의 메모리 소자를 제작하여 동작 특성을 평가하였다. 또한, Si3N4/Ta2O5 staggered tunnel barrier 형성 후의 후속 열처리에 따른 전기적 특성의 개선효과를 확인하였다.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제27권1호
• /
• pp.71-77
• /
• 2019

Previous studies have shown that spinosin was implicated in the modulation of sedation and hypnosis, while its effects on learning and memory deficits were rarely reported. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of spinosin on the improvement of cognitive impairment in model mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD) induced by $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ and determine the underlying mechanism. Spontaneous locomotion assessment and Morris water maze test were performed to investigate the impact of spinosin on behavioral activities, and the pathological changes were assayed by biochemical analyses and histological assay. After 7 days of intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of spinosin ($100{\mu}g/kg/day$), the cognitive impairment of mice induced by $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ was significantly attenuated. Moreover, spinosin treatment effectively decreased the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ accumulation in hippocampus. $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ induced alterations in the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), as well as inflammatory response in brain were also reversed by spinosin treatment. These results indicated that the ameliorating effect of spinosin on cognitive impairment might be mediated through the regulation of oxidative stress, inflammatory process, apoptotic program and neurotrophic factor expression,suggesting that spinosin might be beneficial to treat learning and memory deficits in patients with AD via multi-targets.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• 제45권1호
• /
• pp.108-118
• /
• 2021

Background: Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) contains a variety of ginsenosides that can be metabolized to a biologically active substance, compound K. Previous research showed that compound K could be enriched in the red ginseng extract (RGE) after hydrolysis by pectinase. The current study investigated whether the enzymatically hydrolyzed red ginseng extract (HRGE) containing a notable level of compound K has cognitive improving and neuroprotective effects. Methods: A scopolamine-induced hypomnesic mouse model was subjected to behavioral tasks, such as the Y-maze, passive avoidance, and the Morris water maze tests. After sacrificing the mice, the brains were collected, histologically examined (hematoxylin and eosin staining), and the expressions of antioxidant proteins analyzed by western blot. Results: Behavioral assessment indicated that the oral administration of HRGE at a dosage of 300 mg/kg body weight reversed scopolamine-induced learning and memory deficits. Histological examination demonstrated that the hippocampal damage observed in scopolamine-treated mouse brains was reduced by HRGE administration. In addition, HRGE administration increased the expression of nuclear-factor-E2-related factor 2 and its downstream antioxidant enzymes NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase and heme oxygenase-1 in hippocampal tissue homogenates. An in vitro assay using HT22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells demonstrated that HRGE treatment attenuated glutamate-induced cytotoxicity by decreasing the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species. Conclusion: These findings suggest that HRGE administration can effectively alleviate hippocampus-mediated cognitive impairment, possibly through cytoprotective mechanisms, preventing oxidative-stress-induced neuronal cell death via the upregulation of phase 2 antioxidant molecules.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• 제33권6호
• /
• pp.465-474
• /
• 2003

The great variety of commercial brands of orthodontic wires available on the market, stimulated by the so called superior wires (nickel titanium with shape memory effect and superelastic nickel titanium), makes the professional choice for a suitable and less expensive material difficult. The in vitro study of the mechanical properties of the orthodontic wires acts as an auxiliary tool for the professional. In this paper, a comparative study of mechanical properties was made, using stress strain tests for 4 types of orthodontic wires (conventional stainless steel, multistranded steel, superelastic nickel titanium and thermoactivated nickel titanium) separated into 5 groups. A series of 6 tests were tested for each group of wires. Initially, each group was tested 3 times until the wires broke. Furthermore, 3 more tests for each group were performed, stretching the wires under standardized activation loads, for a reliable comparison of their mechanical properties, during loading and unloading. 1 tests were applied to check differences among the groups. In vitro, the results suggest that regarding the mechanical properties supposedly desirable for physiological teeth movement, such as resilience, elasticity modulus, strength liberated during unloading, and the way that strength is liberated, thermoactivated nickel titanium wires, acting under mouth temperature, seems to be a good choice, fellowed by superelastic nickel titanium, multistranded stainless steel, and conventional stainless sleet. Superelasticity was demonstrated for superelastic nickel titanium wires. When at $37^{\circ}C$, thermoactivated nickel titanium wires showed shape memory effect, showing that temperature is important for enhancing the mechanical properties.