• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.412-418
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• 2015

Objective : To investigate the effects of posterior implant rigidity on spinal kinematics at adjacent levels by utilizing a cadaveric spine model with simulated physiological loading. Methods : Five human lumbar spinal specimens (L3 to S1) were obtained and checked for abnormalities. The fresh specimens were stripped of muscle tissue, with care taken to preserve the spinal ligaments and facet joints. Pedicle screws were implanted in the L4 and L5 vertebrae of each specimen. Specimens were tested under 0 N and 400 N axial loading. Five different posterior rods of various elastic moduli (intact, rubber, low-density polyethylene, aluminum, and titanium) were tested. Segmental range of motion (ROM), center of rotation (COR) and intervertebral disc pressure were investigated. Results : As the rigidity of the posterior rods increased, both the segmental ROM and disc pressure at L4-5 decreased, while those values increased at adjacent levels. Implant stiffness saturation was evident, as the ROM and disc pressure were only marginally increased beyond an implant stiffness of aluminum. Since the disc pressures of adjacent levels were increased by the axial loading, it was shown that the rigidity of the implants influenced the load sharing between the implant and the spinal column. The segmental CORs at the adjacent disc levels translated anteriorly and inferiorly as rigidity of the device increased. Conclusion : These biomechanical findings indicate that the rigidity of the dynamic stabilization implant and physiological loading play significant roles on spinal kinematics at adjacent disc levels, and will aid in further device development.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.235-243
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• 2020

Lumbar Lordosis Angle (LLA) is an index that can be used to evaluate the curvature of the lumbar vertebrae. It can measure the structural stability of the lumbar spine and the stability of each segment of the vertebral column at the intervertebral disc angle (IDA). Especially, our data shows it is found to be a strong positive correlation between obesity and the angle of lordosis for lumbar vertebrae. Also, the reason for the large IDA in the case of obesity seems to be the result of the weakening of anatomical structure as well as the gravity effect. And, the obesity interferes with normal sagittal balance and fails to maintain a straight posture with minimal energy. Therefore, the obesity can be an important factor in causing back pain by changing the lumbar lordosis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.241-266
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• 2011

The Self Compacting Concrete, SCC is the new generation type of concrete which is not needed to be compacted by vibrator and it will be compacted by its own weight. Since SCC is a new innovation and also the high strength self compacting concrete, HSSCC behavior is like a brittle material, therefore, understanding the strength effect on the serviceability performance of reinforced self compacting concretes is critical. For this aim, first the normal and high strength self compacting concrete, NSSCC and HSSCC was designed. Then, the serviceability performance of reinforced connections consisting of NSSCC and HSSCC were investigated. Twelve reinforced concrete connections (L = 3 m, b = 0.15 m, h = 0.3 m) were simulated, by this concretes, the maximum and minimum reinforcement ratios ${\rho}$ and ${\rho}^{\prime}$ (percentage of tensile and compressive steel reinforcement) are in accordance with the provision of the ACI-05 for conventional RC structures. This study was limited to the case of bending without axial load, utilizing simple connections loaded at mid span through a stub (b = 0.15 m, h = 0.3 m, L = 0.3 m) to simulate a beam-column connection. During the test, concrete and steel strains, deflections and crack widths were measured at different locations along each member. Based on the experimental readings and observations, the cracked moment of inertia ($I_{cr}$) of members was determined and the results were compared with some selective theoretical methods. Also, the flexural crack widths of the members were measured and the applicability for conventional vibrated concrete, as for ACI, BS and CSA code, was verified for SCCs members tested. A comparison between two Codes (ACI and CSA) for the theoretical values cracking moment is indicate that, irrespective of the concrete strength, for the specimens reported, the prediction values of two codes are almost equale. The experimental cracked moment of inertia $(I_{cr})_{\exp}$ is lower than its theoretical $(I_{cr})_{th}$ values, and therefore theoretically it is overestimated. Also, a general conclusion is that, by increasing the percentage of ${\rho}$, the value of $I_{cr}$ is increased.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.743-767
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• 2020

Due to the impressive flexural performance, enhanced compressive strength and more constrained crack propagation, Fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) have been widely employed in the construction application. Majority of experimental studies have focused on the seismic behavior of FRC columns. Based on the valid experimental data obtained from the previous studies, the current study has evaluated the seismic response and compressive strength of FRC rectangular columns while following hybrid metaheuristic techniques. Due to the non-linearity of seismic data, Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) has been incorporated with metaheuristic algorithms. 317 different datasets from FRC column tests has been applied as one database in order to determine the most influential factor on the ultimate strengths of FRC rectangular columns subjected to the simulated seismic loading. ANFIS has been used with the incorporation of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic algorithm (GA). For the analysis of the attained results, Extreme learning machine (ELM) as an authentic prediction method has been concurrently used. The variable selection procedure is to choose the most dominant parameters affecting the ultimate strengths of FRC rectangular columns subjected to simulated seismic loading. Accordingly, the results have shown that ANFIS-PSO has successfully predicted the seismic lateral load with R² = 0.857 and 0.902 for the test and train phase, respectively, nominated as the lateral load prediction estimator. On the other hand, in case of compressive strength prediction, ELM is to predict the compressive strength with R² = 0.657 and 0.862 for test and train phase, respectively. The results have shown that the seismic lateral force trend is more predictable than the compressive strength of FRC rectangular columns, in which the best results belong to the lateral force prediction. Compressive strength prediction has illustrated a significant deviation above 40 Mpa which could be related to the considerable non-linearity and possible empirical shortcomings. Finally, employing ANFIS-GA and ANFIS-PSO techniques to evaluate the seismic response of FRC are a promising reliable approach to be replaced for high cost and time-consuming experimental tests.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.523-530
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• 2008

In structural design provision, maximum punching shear stress of slabs is prescribed as combined stress in direct shear occurred by gravity load and eccentric shear occurred by unbalanced moment. This means that the effect of unbalanced moment is considered to decide the punching shear stress. However, from the resistance capacity standpoint, the effect of unbalanced moment strength is not considered for deciding punching shear strength. In this paper, a model considering interrelation between unbalanced moment and punching shear was proposed. In the model, the relation between load effect and resistance capacity in unbalanced moment and punching shear was two-dimensionally expressed. Using the interrelation model, a method how unbalanced moment strength should be considered to decide the punching shear strength was proposed. Additionally, effective width enlargement factors for deciding the unbalanced moment strength of flat plates with shear reinforcements were proposed. The interrelation model proposed in this paper is very effective for the prediction of the behavior of slab-column connection because not only punching shear and unbalanced moment strengths but also failure modes of flat plates can be accurately predicted.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 2015

CFT column has a lot of structural advantages due to the composite behavior between in-filled concrete and steel tube. This paper deals with the development of an effective numerical model which can consider the bond-slip behavior between both components of concrete matrix and steel tube without taking double nodes. Since the applied axial load to in-filled concrete matrix is delivered to steel tube by the confinement effect and the friction, the governing equation related to the slip behavior can be constructed on the basis of the force equilibrium and the compatability conditions. In advance, the force and displacement relations between adjacent two nodes make it possible to express the slip behavior with the concrete nodes only. This model results in significant savings in the numerical modeling of CFT columns to take into account the effect of bond-slip. Finally, correlation studies between numerical results and experimental data are conducted to verifying the efficiency of the introduced numerical model.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.797-804
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• 2009

The structural designs of RC flat plates that have insufficient flexural stiffness due to lack of support from boundary beams may be governed by serviceability as well as a strength criteira. Specially, since over-loading and tensile cracking in early-aged slabs significantly increase the deflection of a flat plate system under construction, a construction sequence and its impact on the slab deflections may be decisive factors in designs of flat plate systems. In this study, the procedure of calculating slab deflections considering construction sequences and concrete cracking effects is proposed. The construction steps and the construction loads are defined by the simplified method, and then the slab moments, elastic deflections, and the effective moment of inertia are calculated in each construction step. The elastic deflections in column and middle strips are magnified to inelastic deflections by the effective moment of inertia, and the center deflection of slab are calculated by the crossing beam method. The proposed method is verified by comparisons with the existing test result and the nonlinear analysis result. Also, by applications of the proposed method, the effects of the slab construction cycle and the number of shored floors on the deflections of flat plates under construction are analyzed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.99-111
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• 2011

This paper presents an investigation of the structural stability of cable-stayed bridges in the construction stage, using geometric nonlinear finite-element analysis and considering various geometric nonlinearities, such as the sag effect of the cables, the P-${\Delta}$ effects of the girder and mast, and the large displacement effect. Initial shape analysis and construction-stage analysis were performed to determine the equilibrium of the structure in the construction stage. After that, geometric nonlinear analysis was performed to study structural stability. In this study, the weight of the derrick crane and the key segment were considered the main external loads, which were applied to the tip of the center span. The cable arrangement type and the stiffness ratios of the girder and mast were considered the main parameters of the analytic research. Based on the results of the analysis, the change in the buckling mode and critical load factors with respect to the cable arrangement type and the stiffness ratios of the girder and mast was investigated. The buckling modes of the steel cable-stayed bridges in the construction stage were classified, and the ranges of the stiffness ratios of the girder and mast, which show these classified buckling modes, were suggested.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.535-547
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• 2019

In this study, the heavy metal analysis in sediments (surface sediments, sediments cores and settling particles) from Shihwa Lake has been carried out to evaluate the changes of metal pollution levels in sediments after the operation of Tidal Power Plant (TPP). The average concentrations of metals in surface sediments sampled in 2015 were 8% (Cd)~31% (Zn, Hg) lower than in 2009 before TPP operation. Results of calculating the pollution load index (PLI) with 8 metals, the PLI value in 2015 showed a 18% decrease compared to 2009. However, Cu, Zn, Pb concentrations of surface sediments in 2015 at the upper region around industrial complex still exceeded the TEL (threshold effect level) values for sediment quality guideline in Korea. After the operation of TPP, the metal contaminated depths were increasing from 15 cm to 30 cm at S6 site and from 8 cm to 20 cm at S7 site, respectively. Our data showed that the mean concentration of heavy metals in core samples decreased but the contaminated depth increased. The average of the total sedimentation flux for particulate matter increased by 3.2 times from 32.5 g/㎡/d in 2009 to 103.5 g/㎡/d in 2015. This showed that the bottom sediments were resuspended by the operation of TPP, resulting in an increase of particulate matter in the water column. These results suggest that the sediments contaminated with heavy metals seem to be resuspended and relocated due to the water current caused by the operation of TPP. Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd were highly exceeding the TEL values in the upstream region and accumulated more than 40 cm of sediment depth, indicating that heavy metal contamination through industrial activity were still a serious environmental problem of Shihwa Lake. Although the metal pollution of Shihwa Lake has been slightly reduced, the contaminated sediments with heavy metals inside of Shihwa Lake might be discharged to outer sea after the resuspension by TPP operation. It is necessary for the advanced scientific approach and political decision to drastically reduce the heavy metal pollution of the study region.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.417-426
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• 2023

Rapid climate change has resulted in glacial retreat and increased meltwater inputs in the Antarctic Peninsula, including King George Island where Marian Cove is located. Consequently, these phenomena are expected to induce changes in the water column light properties, which in turn will affect phytoplankton communities. To comprehend the effects of glacial retreat on the marine ecosystem in Marian Cove, we investigated on phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll-a, chl-a) and various environment parameters in this area in December 2021 and January 2022. The average temperature at the euphotic depth in January 2022 (1.41 ± 0.13 ℃) was higher than that in December 2021 (0.87 ± 0.17 ℃). Contrastingly, the average salinity was lower in January 2022 (33.9 ± 0.10 psu) than in December 2021 (34.1 ± 0.12 psu). Major nutrients, including dissolved inorganic nitrogen, phosphate, and silicate, were sufficiently high, and thus, did not act as limiting factors for phytoplankton biomass. In December 2021 and January 2022, the mean chl-a concentrations were 1.03 ± 0.64 and 0.66 ± 0.15㎍ L^-1, respectively. The mean concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) was 24.9 ± 3.54 mgL^-1 during the study period, with elevated values observed in the vicinity of the inner glacier. However, relative lower chl-a concentrations were observed near the inner glacier, possibly due to high SPM load from the glacier, resulting in reduced light attenuation by SPM shading. Furthermore, the proportion of nanophytoplankton exceeded 70% in the inner cove, contributing to elevated mean fractions of nanophytoplankton in the glacier retreat marine ecosystem. Overall, our study indicated that freshwater and SPM inputs from glacial meltwater may possibly act as main factors controlling the dynamics of phytoplankton communities in glacier retreat areas. The findings may also serve as fundamental data for better understanding the carbon cycle in Marian Cove.