• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2020

Integral abutment bridges (IABs) are those bridges without expansion joints. A single row of steel H-piles (SHPs) is commonly used at the thin and stub abutments of IABs to form a flexible support system at the bridge ends to accommodate thermal-induced displacement of the bridge. Consequently, as the IAB expands and contracts due to temperature variations, the SHPs supporting the abutments are subjected to cyclic lateral (longitudinal) displacements, which may eventually lead to low-cycle fatigue (LCF) failure of the piles. In this paper, the potential of using finite element (FE) modeling techniques to estimate the LCF life of SHPs commonly used in IABs is investigated. For this purpose, first, experimental tests are conducted on several SHP specimens to determine their LCF life under thermal-induced cyclic flexural strains. In the experimental tests, the specimens are subjected to longitudinal displacements (or flexural strain cycles) with various amplitudes in the absence and presence of a typical axial load. Next, nonlinear FE models of the tested SHP specimens are developed using the computer program ANSYS to investigate the possibility of using such numerical models to predict the LCF life of SHPs commonly used in IABs. The comparison of FE analysis results with the experimental test results revealed that the FE analysis results are in close agreement with the experimental test results. Thus, FE modeling techniques similar to that used in this research study may be used to predict the LCF life of SHP commonly used in IABs.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.21-44
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• 2022

Purpose - This study quantifies sources of trade balance dynamics over the business cycle in Korea. Specifically, we quantify the relative importance of domestic and foreign factors on trade balance dynamics using a small open economy real business cycle (SOE-RBC) model and provide policy implications for stabilization policies. Aggregate productivity and interest rate spreads are considered domestic factors affecting the trade balance. A world interest rate (the U.S. interest rate) is considered a foreign factor. Design/methodology - Following Neumeyer and Perri (2005), we build the SOE-RBC model with three types of shocks: aggregate productivity, interest rate spread, and world interest shocks. The model is estimated by the generalized method of moments (GMM) using relevant business cycle statistics. The estimated model is used for quantifying the relative importance of domestic and foreign factors on trade balance dynamics in Korea. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: 85.64% of the trade balance fluctuations in Korea are explained by domestic factors, the remaining 14.35% by foreign factors. Particularly, trade balance dynamics are mostly accounted for by the change in aggregate productivity shocks (85.58%). World interest rate shocks considerably explain trade balance (14.35%), whereas the role of interest rate spread shocks that represent domestic risks is limited (0.08%). Although aggregate productivity is key in explaining trade balance dynamics in Korea, interest rates still have an essential role. This is because aggregate productivity changes induce interest rate spread variations and, thus, the trade balance significantly. The results suggest that government policies mitigating fluctuations in aggregate productivity would be effective for stabilization policies in Korea by reducing the trade balance volatility. Originality/value - Existing studies on the emerging market business cycle examine mostly Latin American countries, and the main object of the studies is the volatility of consumption rather than trade balance dynamics. Conversely, our study examines Korea rather than Latin American countries. Additionally, we examine sources of trade balance dynamics, which are relatively more important in Korea, rather than those of the volatility of consumption. Hence, we estimate the model to explicitly match moments related to trade balance in the data.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2014

As the prediction of geomagnetic storms is becoming an important and practical problem, conditions in the Earth's magnetosphere have been studied rigorously in terms of those in the interplanetary space. Another approach to space weather forecast is to deal with it as a probabilistic geomagnetic storm forecasting problem. In this study, we carry out detailed statistical analysis of solar wind parameters and geomagnetic indices examining the dependence of the distribution on the solar cycle and annual variations. Our main findings are as follows: (1) The distribution of parameters obtained via the superimposed epoch method follows the Gaussian distribution. (2) When solar activity is at its maximum the mean value of the distribution is shifted to the direction indicating the intense environment. Furthermore, the width of the distribution becomes wider at its maximum than at its minimum so that more extreme case can be expected. (3) The distribution of some certain heliospheric parameters is less sensitive to the phase of the solar cycle and annual variations. (4) The distribution of the eastward component of the interplanetary electric field BV and the solar wind driving function BV2, however, appears to be all dependent on the solar maximum/minimum, the descending/ascending phases of the solar cycle and the equinoxes/solstices. (5) The distribution of the AE index and the Dst index shares statistical features closely with BV and $BV^2$ compared with other heliospheric parameters. In this sense, BV and $BV^2$ are more robust proxies of the geomagnetic storm. We conclude by pointing out that our results allow us to step forward in providing the occurrence probability of geomagnetic storms for space weather and physical modeling.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.9
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• pp.1669-1673
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• 2008

A new cycle ergometer using a Magneto-Rheological (MR) rotary brake system has been developed for rehabilitation of hemiplegia patients to reduce uneven pedaling characteristics. For this purpose, a control method to adjust the resistance of the MR rotary brake in real time based on the magnitude of the muscular force exerted by the subject has been devised so that the mechanical resistance to the pedaling can be minimized when the affected leg was engaged for pedaling. A series of experiments were carried out with and without the engagement of this real-time control mode of MR rotary brake at different pedaling rate to find out the effect of the real-time control mode. The characteristics of the pedaling for these specific conditions were analyzed based on the variations in angular velocities of the pedal unit. The results showed that the variations in the angular velocities were decreased by 42.9% with the control mode. The asymmetry of pedaling between dominant and non-dominant leg was 19.63% in non-control mode and 1.97% in the control mode. The characteristics of electromyography(EMG) in the lower limbs were also measured. The observation showed that Integrated EMG(IEMG) reduced with the control mode. Therefore, the new bicycle system using MR brake with the real time control of mechanical resistance was found to be effective in recovering the normal pedaling pattern by reducing unbalanced pedaling characteristics caused by disparity of muscular strength between affected and unaffected leg.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 2008

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant converts coal to syngas, which is mainly composed of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, by the gasification process and produces electric power by the gas and steam turbine combined cycle power plant. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of using syngas in a gas turbine, originally designed for natural gas fuel, on its performance. A commercial gas turbine is selected and variations of its performance characteristics due to adopting syngas is analyzed by simulating off-design gas turbine operation. Since the heating value of the syngas is lower, compared to natural gas, IGCC plants require much larger fuel flow rate. This increases the gas flow rate to the turbine and the pressure ratio, leading to far larger power output and higher thermal efficiency. Examination of using two different syngases reveals that the gas turbine performance varies much with the fuel composition.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.390-398
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• 2003

The CDP/Cux transcription factor was previously shown to be proteolytically processed at the G1/S transition. In view of characterizing and eventually identifying the protease responsible for CDP/Cux processing, we have established an in vitro proteolytic processing assay. CDP/Cux recombinant proteins expressed in mammalian or bacterial cells were efficiently processed in vitro using as a source of protease either whole cell extracts, the nuclear or the cytoplasmic fraction. Processing was found to take place optimally at a lower pH, to be insensitive to variations in salt concentration, and to be inhibited by the protease inhibitors MG132 and E64D. Interestingly, the bacterially-produced substrate was more efficiently processed than the substrate purified from mammalian cells. Moreover, processing in vitro was more efficient when CDP/Cux substrates were purified from populations of cells enriched in the S phase than in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Altogether, these results suggest that post-translational modifications of CDP/Cux in mammalian cells inhibits processing and contributes to the cell cycle-dependent regulation of processing. The in vitro processing assay described in this study will provide a useful tool for the purification and identification of the protease responsible for the processing of CDP/Cux.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2022

The frequent detection and occurrence of micropollutants (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has raised public health concerns worldwide. In this study, the behavior of 50 MPs was investigated in three different domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Furthermore, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess the geographical and seasonal variation of MPs in the WWTPs. The results showed that the concentrations of 43 MPs ranged from less than 0.1 to 237.6 ㎍ L^-1, while other seven MPs including 17-ethynylestradiol, 17-estradiol, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine, clofibric acid, simvastatin, and lovastatin were not detected in all WWTPs. Among the detected MPs, the pharmaceuticals such as metformin, acetaminophen, naproxen, and caffeine were prominent with maximum concentrations of 133.4, 237.6, 71.5, and 107.7 ㎍ L^-1, respectively. Most perfluorinated compounds and nitrosamines were found at trace levels of 1.2 to 55.3 ng L^-1, while the concentration of corrosion inhibitors, preservatives (parabens), and endocrine disruptors ranged from less than 0.1 to 4310.8 ng L^-1. Regardless of the type of biological treatment process such as MLE, A2O, and MBR, the majority of pharmaceuticals (except lincomycin, diclofenac, iopromide, and carbamazepine), parabens (except Methyl paraben), and endocrine disruptors were removed by more than 80%. However, the removal efficiencies of certain MPs such as atrazine, DEET, perfluorinated compounds (except PFHxA), nitrosamines, and corrosion inhibitors were relatively low or their concentration even increased after treatment. The results of statistical analysis reveal that there is no significant geographical difference in the removal efficacy of MPs, but there are temporal seasonal variations in all WWTPs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.454-462
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• 2008

Since operating conditions are significantly different for heating and cooling mode operations in a $CO_2$ heat pump system, it is difficult to optimize the performance of the $CO_2$ cycle. In addition, the performance of a $CO_2$ heat pump is very sensitive to outdoor temperature and gascooler pressure. In this study, the cooling and heating performances of a variable speed $CO_2$ heat pump with a twin-rotary compressor were measured and analyzed with the variations of EEV opening and compressor frequency. As a result, the cooling and heating COPs were 2.3 and 3.0, respectively, when the EEV opening was 22%. When the optimal EEV openings for heating and cooling were 28% and 16%, the cooling and heating COPs increased by 3.3% and 3.9%, respectively, over the COPs at the EEV opening of 22%. Beside, the heating performance was more sensitive to EEV opening than the cooling performance. As the compressor speed decreased by 5 Hz, the cooling COP increased by 2%, while the heating COP decreased by 8%.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.129-137
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• 2021

It has been established that the acoustic mode parameters of the Sun and Sun-like stars vary over activity cycles. Since the observed variations are not consistent with an activity-related origin, even Sun-like stars showing out-of-phase changes of mode frequencies and amplitudes need to be carefully studied using other observational quantities. In order to test whether the presumed relations between the global seismic parameters are a signature of the stellar activity cycle, we analyze the photometric light curve of HD 49933 for which the first direct detection of an asteroseismic signature for activity-induced variations in a Sun-like star was made, using observations by the CoRoT space telescope. We find that the amplitude of the envelope significantly anti-correlates with both the maximum frequency of the envelope and the width of the envelope unless superflare-like events completely contaminate the light curve. However, even though the photometric proxy for stellar magnetic activity appears to show relations with the global asteroseismic parameters, they are statistically insignificant. Therefore, we conclude that the global asteroseismic parameters can be utilized in cross-checking asteroseismic detections of activity-related variations in Sun-like stars, and that it is probably less secure and effective to construct a photometric magnetic activity proxy to indirectly correlate the global asteroseismic parameters. Finally, we seismically estimate the mass of HD 49933 based on our determination of the large separation of HD 49933 with evolutionary tracks computed by the MESA code and find a value of about 1.2M_☉ and a sub-solar metallicity of Z = 0.008, which agrees with the current consensus and with asteroseismic and non-asteroseismic data.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2020

Pc1 pulsations are important to consider for the interpretation of wave-particle interactions in the Earth's magnetosphere. In fact, the wave properties of these pulsations change dynamically when they propagate from the source region in the space to the ground. A detailed study of the wave features can help understanding their time evolution mechanisms. In this study, we statistically analyzed Pc1 pulsations observed by a Bohyunsan (BOH) magneto-impedance (MI) sensor located in Korea (L = 1.3) for ~one solar cycle (November 2009-August 2018). In particular, we investigated the temporal occurrence ratio of Pc1 pulsations (considering seasonal, diurnal, and annual variations in the solar cycle), their wave properties (e.g., duration, peak frequency, and bandwidth), and their relationship with geomagnetic activities by considering the Kp and Dst indices in correspondence of the Pc1 pulsation events. We found that the Pc1 waves frequently occurred in March in the dawn (1-3 magnetic local time (MLT)) sector, during the declining phase of the solar cycle. They generally continued for 2-5 minutes, reaching a peak frequency of ~0.9 Hz. Finally, most of the pulsations have strong dependence on the geomagnetic storm and observed during the early recovery phase of the geomagnetic storm.