• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.327-348
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• 2008

A risk-informed regulatory approach implies that risk insights be used as supplement of deterministic information for safety decision-making purposes. In this view, the use of risk assessment techniques is expected to lead to improved safety and a more rational allocation of the limited resources available. On the other hand, it is recognized that uncertainties affect both the deterministic safety analyses and the risk assessments. In order for the risk-informed decision making process to be effective, the adequate representation and treatment of such uncertainties is mandatory. In this paper, the risk-informed regulatory framework is considered under the focus of the uncertainty issue. Traditionally, probability theory has provided the language and mathematics for the representation and treatment of uncertainty. More recently, other mathematical structures have been introduced. In particular, the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is here illustrated as a generalized framework encompassing probability theory and possibility theory. The special case of probability theory is only addressed as term of comparison, given that it is a well known subject. On the other hand, the special case of possibility theory is amply illustrated. An example of the combination of probability and possibility for treating the uncertainty in the parameters of an event tree is illustrated.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.313-321
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• 2012

Vibration analysis of a thin-walled structure can be performed with a consistent mass matrix determined by the shape functions of all degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) used for construction of conventional stiffness matrix, or with a lumped mass matrix. In similar way stability of a structure can be analysed with consistent geometric stiffness matrix or geometric stiffness matrix with lumped buckling load, related only to the rotational d.o.f. Recently, the simplified mass matrix is constructed employing shape functions of in-plane displacements for plate deflection. In this paper the same approach is used for construction of simplified geometric stiffness matrix. Beam element, and triangular and rectangular plate element are considered. Application of the new geometric stiffness is illustrated in the case of simply supported beam and square plate. The same problems are solved with consistent and lumped geometric stiffness matrix, and the obtained results are compared with the analytical solution. Also, a combination of simplified and lumped geometric stiffness matrix is analysed in order to increase accuracy of stability analysis.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2016

Magnetic sensors and actuators have been widely used in industry and medical fields. Integrated systems based on sensors and actuators are defined as mechatronics that is the general combination of mechanics and electronics. Recently, magnetic wireless sensors and actuators have been developed and used at a systematic level. In particular, their mechanisms depend on magnetic, such as magnetic material and physical phenomena. However, their research boundary has not been clear. Researchers talk of magnetic micro-robots, magnetic actuators and sensors. Therefore, a new and correct definition is required. In this study, we introduce the advanced and extended concept of mechatronics, which is a magneto-mechantronics for biomedical and rehabilitation. Among various applications, we focused on wireless pump and sensing system for blood vessel rehabilitation and local motion capture, respectively.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.50-59
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• 2009

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise therapy on physical function of patients with anklyosing spondylitis (AS) through the systemic review and meta-analysis. The 54 studies were identified from computerized search of published researches on PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PEDro, KISS, KERIS database until February, 2008 and review of reference lists. The main search terms were the combination "ankylosing spondylitis", "exercise", "spondyloarthropathy and exercise", "ankylosing spondylitis and physical therapy". The subgroup analysis was performed by the publication year, quality score, type of disease, content of intervention, intervention provider, type of intervention, method of intervention, intervention period and the point of outcome measured. Two reviewers independently selected trials for inclusion, assessed the quality and extracted the data. The result was as follows: The 10 trials were eligible for inclusion criteria, then the systematic review and meta-analysis was assessed on effectiveness of exercise therapy. The meta-analysis of 10 studies based on the random effect model showed that the exercise therapy was beneficial in treating the diseases (effect size .55; 95% confidence interval -.3.75~.61). The findings suggest that the exercise therapy would be appropriate to manage the physical function of AS with evidence based on Meta-analysis. Therefore, the exercise therapy supervised by physical therapist should be recognized as the essential approach to manage the AS and necessarily recommended to improve physical function.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.352-359
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• 2010

In recent years, the market has shown increasing interest in pump-turbines. The prompt availability of pumped storage plants and the benefits to the power system achieved by peak lopping, providing reserve capacity, and rapid response in frequency control are providing a growing advantage. In this context, there is a need to develop pumpturbines that can reliably withstand dynamic operation modes, fast changes of discharge rate by adjusting the variable diffuser vanes, as well as fast changes from pumping to turbine operation. In the first part of the present study, various flow patterns linked to operation of a pump-turbine system are discussed. In this context, pump and turbine modes are presented separately and different load cases are shown in each operating mode. In order to create modern, competitive pump-turbine designs, this study further explains what design challenges should be considered in defining the geometry of a pump-turbine impeller. The second part of the paper describes an innovative, staggered approach to impeller development, applied to a low head pump-turbine project. The first level of the process consists of optimization strategies based on evolutionary algorithms together with 3D in-viscid flow analysis. In the next stage, the hydraulic behavior of both pump mode and turbine mode is evaluated by solving the full 3D Navier-Stokes equations in combination with a robust turbulence model. Finally, the progress in hydraulic design is demonstrated by model test results that show a significant improvement in hydraulic performance compared to an existing reference design.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.147-170
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• 2014

In the recent times, dimensions of heavy load carrying vehicle have changed significantly incorporating structural flexibility in vehicle body. The present paper outlines a procedure for the estimation of bridge response statistics considering structural bending modes of the vehicle. Bridge deck roughness has been considered to be non homogeneous random process in space. Influence of pre cambering of bridge surface and settlement of approach slab on the dynamic behavior of the bridge has been studied. A parametric study considering vehicle axle spacing, mass, speed, vehicle flexibility, deck unevenness and eccentricity of vehicle path have been conducted. Dynamic amplification factor (DAF) of the bridge response has been obtained for several of combination of bridge-vehicle parameters. The present study reveals that flexible modes of vehicle can reduce dynamic response of the bridge to the extent of 30-37% of that caused by rigid vehicle model. However, sudden change in the bridge surface profile leads to significant amount of increment in the bridge dynamic response even if flexible bending modes remain active. The eccentricity of vehicle path and flexural/torsional rigidity ratios plays a significant role in dynamic amplification of bridge response.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.243-257
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• 2007

A numerically efficient superelement is proposed as a low degree of freedom model for dynamic analysis of rotating tapered beams. The element uses a combination of polynomials and trigonometric functions as shape functions in what is also called the Fourier-p approach. Only a single element is needed to obtain good modal frequency prediction with the analysis and assembly time being considerably less than for conventional elements. The superelement also allows an easy incorporation of polynomial variations of mass and stiffness properties typically used to model helicopter and wind turbine blades. Comparable results are obtained using one superelement with only 14 degrees of freedom compared to 50 conventional finite elements with cubic shape functions with a total of 100 degrees of freedom for a rotating cantilever beam. Excellent agreement is also shown with results from the published literature for uniform and tapered beams with cantilever and hinged boundary conditions. The element developed in this work can be used to model rotating beam substructures as a part of complete finite element model of helicopters and wind turbines.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.653-668
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• 2012

In this study, an improved HMM based recognition model is proposed for online English and Korean handwritten characters. The pattern elements of the handwriting model are sub character strokes and ligatures. To deal with the problem of handwriting style variations, a modified Hierarchical Clustering approach is introduced to partition different writing styles into several classes. For each of the English letters and each primitive grapheme in Korean characters, one HMM that models the temporal and spatial variability of the handwriting is constructed based on each class. Then the HMMs of Korean graphemes are concatenated to form the Korean character models. The recognition of handwritten characters is implemented by a modified level building algorithm, which incorporates the Korean character combination rules within the efficient network search procedure. Due to the limitation of the HMM based method, a post-processing procedure that takes the global and structural features into account is proposed. Experiments showed that the proposed recognition system achieved a high writer independent recognition rate on unconstrained samples of both English and Korean characters. The comparison with other schemes of HMM-based recognition was also performed to evaluate the system.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.824-836
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• 2018

The automatic extraction of temporal information from written texts is a key component of question answering and summarization systems and its efficacy in those systems is very decisive if a temporal expression (TE) is successfully extracted. In this paper, three different approaches for TE extraction in Uyghur are developed and analyzed. A novel approach which uses lexical semantics as an additional information is also presented to extend classical approaches which are mainly based on morphology and syntax. We used a manually annotated news dataset labeled with TIMEX3 tags and generated three models with different feature combinations. The experimental results show that the best run achieved 0.87 for Precision, 0.89 for Recall, and 0.88 for F1-Measure in Uyghur TE extraction. From the analysis of the results, we concluded that the application of semantic knowledge resolves ambiguity problem at shallower language analysis and significantly aids the development of more efficient Uyghur TE extraction system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.35-35
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• 1997

High$\cdot$speed steels (HSS) with a combination of good wear resistance and toughness are finding new, non-cutting applications such as rolls and rollers. In this paper, the research interests are focused on the microstructural evolution of a SMo-6W series high speed steel during HIPping and the effect of HIPping process parameters on its microstructure and properties. HIPping process variables includes; temperature, pressure and hold time. The microstructures of the HIPped HSS were examined by SEM, OM and X-ray diffraction whereas the properties measured were the relative density, hardness, and bend strength at room temperature. In HIPped materials, MC and M6C were the major carbides formed in a matrix of martensite. The effect of powder size on the microstructure and mechanical properties of HIPped materials was insignificant. However, HIPping temperature and hold time strongly affected the carbide size and distribution. The results show that at proper HIPping temperature and pressure conditions, the final products approach the full density ( > 99% RD). The particle boundaries were completely eliminated without an eminent microstructural coarsening. The bend strength was about 2.3 Gpa, which is superior to cast HSS. At excessive HIPping temperatures, rapid carbide coarsening occurred, thus deteriorating the mechanical properties of the P/M steels.