• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.213-226
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• 2015

Objectives : This study was aimed to show the effect of electroacupuncture combined with magnetic acupuncture on abdominal obesity without patient dieting, exercise or use of herbal medication. Methods : Women over 85 cm in waist circumference were treated with electroacupuncture combined with magnetic acupuncture. Acupuncture points were located at the abdomen ($CV_{12}$, $CV_6$, $ST_{25}$, $ST_{21}$, $SP_{15}$, $SP_{14}$), extremities ($LI_4$, $LI_{11}$, $ST_{36}$, $ST_{44}$) and were stimulated 30 minutes with 2.1~3 Gaus, 500 Hz, tolerable strength. The Interference wave forms were by Whata 153 (Medi Lab, Korea). Two or three treatment sessions per week (five or ten sessions in total) were done. Before treatment, and after the last treatment, we measured waist circumference, hip circumference, waist hip ratio, thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat, body weight, body mass index, body fat ratio, visceral fat area, free fat mass, body fat mass and skeletal muscle mass. We also measured the subcutaneous temperature of the abdomen($CV_{12}$, $ST_{25}(Rt)$, $ST_{25}(Lt)$, $CV_6$) by using digital infrared thermal imaging(DITI). Results : In this study, significant reductions were shown in waist circumference, hip circumference, thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat, body weight, body mass index, body fat ratio and body fat mass. There were no significant differences in waist hip ratio, free fat mass or skeletal muscle mass. There were also significant increases of the subcutaneous temperature on $CV_{12}$, $ST_{25}(Rt)$, $ST_{25}(Lt)$. Conclusions : From the above results, electroacupuncture combined with magnetic acupuncture might be an effective treatment for abdominal obesity.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.403-410
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• 2009

In this paper, damping coefficients and effective masses of tuned liquid-type column dampers were quantitatively evaluated based on experimental results by using system identification technique. First, shaking table tests were performed for two types of tuned liquid-type column dampers. Then, the dynamic characteristics of dampers used in this study were experimentally grasped from harmonic wave excitation testing results of the dampers with various water level. Finally, damping ratios and effective masses of the dampers with varying water level were quantitatively evaluated from minimizing the errors between numerical and experimental results. It was confirmed from system identification results that damping ratio and effective mass are decreased as the water level of dampers is increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.6
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• pp.747-762
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• 2019

Based on the ball-screw mechanism, a tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD) has been proposed, which has functions of amplifying physical mass of the system and frequency tuning. Considering the sensitivity of a single TVMD's effectiveness to frequency mistuning like that of the conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) and according to the concept of the conventional multiple tuned mass damper (MTMD), in the present paper, multiple tuned mass viscous dampers (MTVMD) consisting of many tuned mass dampers (TVMD) with a uniform distribution of natural frequencies are considered for attenuating undesirable vibration of a structure. The MTVMD is manufactured by keeping the stiffness and damping constant and varying the mass associated with the lead of the ball-screw type inerter element in the damper. The structure is represented by its mode-generalized system in a specific vibration mode controlled using the mode reduced-order method. Modal properties and fundamental characteristics of the MTVMD-structure system are investigated analytically with the parameters, i.e., the frequency band, the average damping ratio, the tuning frequency ratio, the total number of TVMD and the total mass ratio. It is found that there exists an optimum set of the parameters that makes the frequency response curve of the structure flattened with smaller amplitudes in a wider input frequency range. The effectiveness and robustness of the MTVMD are also discussed in comparison with those of the usual single TVMD (STVMD) and the results shows that the MTVMD is more effective and robust with the same level of total mass.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.23-40
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• 2003

The steady state response of a torsionally coupled system with tuned mass dampers (TMDs) to external wind-induced harmonic excitation is presented. The torsionally coupled system is considered as one-way eccentric system. The eccentricity considered in the system is accidental eccentricity only. The performance of single tuned mass damper (TMD) optimally designed without considering the torsion is investigated for the torsionally coupled system and found that the effectiveness of a single TMD is significantly reduced due to torsion in the system. However, the design of TMD system without considering the torsion is only justified for torsionally stiff systems. Further, the optimum parameters of a single TMD considering the accidental eccentricity are obtained using numerical searching technique for different values of uncoupled torsional to lateral frequency ratio and aspect ratio of the system. The optimally designed single TMD system is found to be less effective for torsionally coupled system in comparison to uncoupled system. This is due to the fact that a torsionally coupled system has two natural frequencies of vibration, as a result, at least two TMDs are required which can control both lateral and torsional response of the system. The optimum damper parameters of different alternate arrangements such as (i) two identical TMDs placed at opposite corners, (ii) two independent TMDs and (iii) four TMDs are evaluated for minimum response of the system. The comparative performance of the above TMDs arrangements is also studied for both torsionally coupled and uncoupled systems. It is found that four TMDs arrangement is quite effective solution for vibration control of torsionally coupled system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.455-467
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• 2023

This study focuses on demonstrating the effectiveness of vibration control of tuned rotary mass damper (TRMD) for reducing the bidirectional and torsional response of the irregular asymmetric structure with voided slabs under earthquake excitations. The TRMD arranged in plane of one-story eccentric structure is proposed as a distributed tuned rotary mass damper (DTRMD) system. Lagrange's equation is used to derive the equations of motion of the controlled system. The optimum position and number of TRMD are numerically investigated under harmonic excitation and the control effects of different distributions are discussed. Furthermore, a shaking table test is conducted under different excitation cases, including free vibration, forced vibration and seismic wave to investigate the absorption performance of the device. The numerical simulations of different distributions of the TRMDs show that the DTRMDs are more effective in reduction of the displacement response of the asymmetric structure under the same mass ratio, even when the degree of eccentricity becomes large. However, with small degree of eccentricity, the unreasonable asymmetrical arrangement may cause the increase of the peak value of the rotational angular displacement. Finally, the experimental investigations exhibit similar results of translational displacement of the structure. It is concluded that the vibration of the irregular asymmetric structure can be controlled more economically and effectively by reducing the mass ratio through reducing the quantity of TRMDs at the high stiffness end.

• ALGAE
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2004

Since cultural eutrophication has the detrimental effects on estuarine and coastal ecosystems, recognition of early stage of nutrient over-enrichment is critical for effective managements of the ecosystems. Since released nutrients into coastal ecosystems are diluted and dissipated through tidal action and rapid uptakes by marine plants, monitoring of in situ nutrient concentrations may not be useful for detecting early eutrophication on coastal and estuarine ecosystems. To develop an effective indicator of cultural eutrophication using marine plants, tissue N content and area normalized leaf mass of eelgrass, Zostera marina were examined in Kosung Bay and Koje Bay on the south coast of Korea from June 2001 to April 2003. Eelgrass tissue N content exhibited obvious seasonal variations. Leaf N content was highest during winter and early spring and lowest during summer. Eelgrass tissue N content was higher at Kosung Bay site, which has higher sediment organic content, than at Koje Bay site. Area normalized leaf mass showed reverse trend of leaf N content, and consequently, eelgrass leaf N content and leaf mass exhibited strong negative correlation at both study sites. The results of the present study suggested that the ratio of eelgrass leaf N content to area normalized leaf mass can be applied to assess environmental nitrogen conditions on the coastal and estuarine ecosystems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 2021

In this paper, the effects of Tuned Mass dampers (TMDs) on the reduction of the vertical vibrations of a real horizontally curved steel box-girder bridge due to different traffic loads are numerically investigated. The performance of TMDs to reduce the bridge vibrations can be affected by the parameters such as dynamic characteristics of TMDs, the location of TMDs, the speed and weight of vehicles. In the first part of this study, the effects of mass ratio, damping percentage, frequency ratio, and location of TMDs on the performance of TMDs to decrease vertical vibrations of different sections of bridge deck are evaluated. In the second part, the performance of TMD is investigated for different speeds and weights of traffic loads. Results show that the mass ratio of TMDs is the more effective parameter in reducing imposed vertical vibration in comparison with the damping ratio. Furthermore, it is found that TMD is very sensitive to its tuned frequency, i.e., with a little deviation from a suitable frequency, the expected performance of TMD significantly decreased. TMDs have a positive and considerable performance at certain vehicle speeds and this performance declines when the weight of traffic loads is increased. Besides, the results reveal that the highest impact of TMD on the reduction of the vertical vibrations is when free vibrations occur for the bridge deck. In that case, maximum reductions of 24% and 59% are reported in the vertical acceleration of the bridge deck for the forced and free vibration amplitudes, respectively. The maximum reduction of 13% is also obtained for the maximum displacement of the bridge deck. The results are mainly related to the resonance condition.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 1983

The analysis shows that the variation of maximum pressure of the cycle, rate of hear release, rate of mass burned, and combustion delay are influenced by the inlet air humidity in the spark-ignition engine. The quantitative combustion delay can be obtained from the rate of mass burned. Also, the variation of time loss and effective compression ratio with the change of inlet air humidity are dominated by the development of rate of heat release.

• Proceedings of the SCSK Conference
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• 2003.09b
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• pp.480-507
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• 2003

A rapid and efficient method for analyzing the nonionic surfactants and silicone polymers, which control the shape and characteristics of cosmetic products and give influence on product quality, has been developed using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI- TOF IMS). The MALDI-TOF/MS could easily and effectively determine the molecular weight distribution and monomer units of nonionic surfactants. As a result, creating a library of mass spectrum data of surfactants used in cosmetic products using MALDI-TOF/MS and analyzing surfactants extracted from the products may become a useful method for detailed structural characterization of the surfactants. Furthermore, the MALDI-TOF/MS analysis was effective in obtaining the spectrum of silicone polymers from which the molecular weight distribution could be determined. The repetition units and structural data could also be obtained through molecular mass peaks. Additionally, the monomer ratio and terminal groups as properties of silicone copolymers could be determined

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4141-4149
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• 2013

Background: Mammography is considered the gold standard of breast cancer mass screening and many countries have implemented this as an established breast cancer screening strategy. However, although the incidence of breast cancer and racial characteristics are different between Western and Asian countries, many Asian countries adopted mammography for mass screening. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine whether mammography mass screening is cost-effective for both Western and Asian countries. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was performed of 17 national mammography cost-effectiveness data sets. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP), breast cancer incidence rate, and the most optimal cost-effectiveness results [cost per life year saved (LYS)] of a mammography screening strategy for each data set were extracted. The CE/per capita GDP ratio is used to compare the cost-effectiveness of mammography by countries. Non-parametric regression was used to find a cut-off point which indicated the breast cancer incidence rate boundary line determining whether mammography screening is cost-effective or not. Results: We found that the cost-effective cut-off point of breast cancer incidence rate was 45.04; it exactly divided countries into Western and Asian countries (p<0.0014). Conclusions: Mammography screening is cost-effective in most of Western countries, but not in Asian countries. The reason for this result may be the issues of incidence rate or racial characteristics, such as dense breast tissue. The results indicate that mammography screening should be adopted prudently in Asian countries and other countries with low incidence rates.