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Design and stress analysis of femur bone implant with composite plates

  • Ramakrishna, S.;Pavani, B.
    • Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.37-50
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    • 2020
  • Development of lightweight implant plates are important to reduce the stress shielding effect for a prosthesis of femur bone fractures. Stainless steel (SS-316L) is a widely used material for making implants. Stress shielding effect and other issues arise due to the difference in mechanical properties of stainless steel when compared with bone. To overcome these issues, composite materials seem to be a better alternative solution. The comparison is made between two biocompatible composite materials, namely Ti-hydroxyapatite and Ti-polypropylene. "Titanium (Ti)" is fiber material while "hydroxyapatite" and "polypropylene" are matrix materials. These two composites have Young's modulus closer to the bone than stainless steel. Besides the variety of bones, present paper constrained to femur bone analysis only. Being heaviest and longest, the femur is the most likely to fail among all bone failures in human. Modelling of the femur bone, screws, implant and assembly was carried out using CATIA and static analysis was carried out using ANSYS. The femur bone assembly was analyzed for forces during daily activities. Ti-hydroxyapatite and Ti-polypropylene composite implants induced more stress in composite implant plate, results less stress induced in bone leading to a reduction in shielding effect than stainless steel implant plate thus ensuring safety and quick healing for the patient.

Field Programmable Gate Array Reliability Analysis Using the Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology

  • McNelles, Phillip;Lu, Lixuan
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.48 no.5
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    • pp.1192-1205
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    • 2016
  • Field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based systems are thought to be a practical option to replace certain obsolete instrumentation and control systems in nuclear power plants. An FPGA is a type of integrated circuit, which is programmed after being manufactured. FPGAs have some advantages over other electronic technologies, such as analog circuits, microprocessors, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), for nuclear instrumentation and control, and safety system applications. However, safety-related issues for FPGA-based systems remain to be verified. Owing to this, modeling FPGA-based systems for safety assessment has now become an important point of research. One potential methodology is the dynamic flowgraph methodology (DFM). It has been used for modeling software/hardware interactions in modern control systems. In this paper, FPGA logic was analyzed using DFM. Four aspects of FPGAs are investigated: the "IEEE 1164 standard," registers (D flip-flops), configurable logic blocks, and an FPGA-based signal compensator. The ModelSim simulations confirmed that DFM was able to accurately model those four FPGA properties, proving that DFM has the potential to be used in the modeling of FPGA-based systems. Furthermore, advantages of DFM over traditional reliability analysis methods and FPGA simulators are presented, along with a discussion of potential issues with using DFM for FPGA-based system modeling.

Training HMM Structure and Parameters with Genetic Algorithm and Harmony Search Algorithm

  • Ko, Kwang-Eun;Park, Seung-Min;Park, Jun-Heong;Sim, Kwee-Bo
    • Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.109-114
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    • 2012
  • In this paper, we utilize training strategy of hidden Markov model (HMM) to use in versatile issues such as classification of time-series sequential data such as electric transient disturbance problem in power system. For this, an automatic means of optimizing HMMs would be highly desirable, but it raises important issues: model interpretation and complexity control. With this in mind, we explore the possibility of using genetic algorithm (GA) and harmony search (HS) algorithm for optimizing the HMM. GA is flexible to allow incorporating other methods, such as Baum-Welch, within their cycle. Furthermore, operators that alter the structure of HMMs can be designed to simple structures. HS algorithm with parameter-setting free technique is proper for optimizing the parameters of HMM. HS algorithm is flexible so as to allow the elimination of requiring tedious parameter assigning efforts. In this paper, a sequential data analysis simulation is illustrated, and the optimized-HMMs are evaluated. The optimized HMM was capable of classifying a sequential data set for testing compared with the normal HMM.

A Hybrid Correction Technique of Missing Load Data Based on Time Series Analysis

  • Lee, Chan-Joo;Park, Jong-Bae;Lee, Jae-Yong;Shin, Joong-Rin;Lee, Chang-Ho
    • KIEE International Transactions on Power Engineering
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    • v.4A no.4
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    • pp.254-261
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    • 2004
  • Traditionally, electrical power systems had formed the vertically integrated industry structures based on the economics of scale. However, power systems have been recently reformed to increase their energy efficiency. According to these trends, the Korean power industry underwent partial reorganization and competition in the generation market was initiated in 2001. In competitive electric markets, accurate load data is one of the most important issues to maintaining flexibility in the electric markets as well as reliability in the power systems. In practice, the measuring load data can be uncertain because of mechanical trouble, communication jamming, and other issues. To obtain reliable load data, an efficient evaluation technique to adjust the missing load data is required. This paper analyzes the load pattern of historical real data and then the tuned ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average), PCHIP (Piecewise Cubic Interpolation) and Branch & Bound method are applied to seek the missing parameters. The proposed method is tested under a variety of conditions and also tested against historical measured data from the Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO).

A Review on Fire Safety Engineering: Key Issues for High-Rise Buildings

  • Li, Guo-Qiang;Zhang, Chao;Jiang, Jian
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.7 no.4
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    • pp.265-285
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    • 2018
  • This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on the design, research and education aspects of fire safety engineering (FSE) with a particular concern on high-rise buildings. FSE finds its root after Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, followed by Great London Fire in 1666. The development of modern FSE is continuously driven by industry revolution, insurance community and government regulations. Now FSE has become a unique engineering discipline and is moving towards performance-based design since 1990s. The performance-based fire safety design (PBFSD) involves identification of fire safety goals, design objectives, establishment of performance criteria, and selection of proper solutions for fire safety. The determination of fire scenarios and design fires have now become major contents for PBFSD. To experience a rapid and positive evolution in design and research consistent with other engineering disciplines, it is important for fire safety engineering as a profession to set up a special educational system to deliver the next-generation fire safety engineers. High-rise buildings have their unique fire safety issues such as rapid fire and smoke spread, extended evacuation time, longer fire duration, mixed occupancies, etc., bringing more difficulties in ensuring life safety and protection of property and environment. A list of recommendations is proposed to improve the fire safety of high-rise buildings. In addition, some source information for specific knowledge and information on FSE is provided in Appendix.

Load Balancing Approach to Enhance the Performance in Cloud Computing

  • Rassan, Iehab AL;Alarif, Noof
    • International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.158-170
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    • 2021
  • Virtualization technologies are being adopted and broadly utilized in many fields and at different levels. In cloud computing, achieving load balancing across large distributed virtual machines is considered a complex optimization problem with an essential importance in cloud computing systems and data centers as the overloading or underloading of tasks on VMs may cause multiple issues in the cloud system like longer execution time, machine failure, high power consumption, etc. Therefore, load balancing mechanism is an important aspect in cloud computing that assist in overcoming different performance issues. In this research, we propose a new approach that combines the advantages of different task allocation algorithms like Round robin algorithm, and Random allocation with different threshold techniques like the VM utilization and the number of allocation counts using least connection mechanism. We performed extensive simulations and experiments that augment different scheduling policies to overcome the resource utilization problem without compromising other performance measures like makespan and execution time of the tasks. The proposed system provided better results compared to the original round robin as it takes into consideration the dynamic state of the system.

Blood pressure measurements and hypertension in infants, children, and adolescents: from the postmercury to mobile devices

  • Lim, Seon Hee;Kim, Seong Heon
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.65 no.2
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    • pp.73-80
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    • 2022
  • A mercury sphygmomanometer (MS) has been the gold standard for pediatric blood pressure (BP) measurements, and diagnosing hypertension is critical. However, because of environmental issues, other alternatives are needed. Noninvasive BP measurement devices are largely divided into auscultatory and oscillometric types. The aneroid sphygmomanometer, the currently used auscultatory method, is inferior to MS in terms of limitations such as validation and regular calibration and difficult to apply to infants, in whom Korotkoff sounds are not audible. The oscillometric method uses an automatic device that eliminates errors caused by human observers and has the advantage of being easy to use; however, owing to its measurement accuracy issues, the development of an international validation protocol for children is important. The hybrid method, which combines the auscultatory and electronic methods, solves some of these problems by eliminating the observer bias of terminal digit preference while maintaining measurement accuracy; however, the auscultatory method remains limited. As the age-related characteristics of the pediatric group are heterogeneous, it is necessary to reconsider the appropriate BP measurement method suitable for this indication. In addition, the mobile application-based BP measurement market is growing rapidly with the development of smartphone applications. Although more research is still needed on their accuracy, many experts expect that mobile application-based BP measurement will effectively reduce medical costs due to increased ease of access and early BP management.

Weight Gain Due to Abdominal Mass Misdiagnosed as Obesity: Case Report (복부종괴로 인한 체중증가를 비만으로 오인한 2개의 증례)

  • Sun-Hyun Kim
    • Archives of Obesity and Metabolism
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.25-28
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    • 2023
  • Early evaluation of obesity is important. Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of fat that causes harm to health. Among patients who visit a hospital for weight-related issues, diseases other than body fat gain may be present; however, people often cannot distinguish between these issues and concerns. Therefore, among patients who visit the hospital with weight gain concerns, it is necessary to determine whether the weight gain is actually the result of excessive fat accumulation. After being diagnosed with obesity, the cause and degree of obesity, the amount and distribution of body fat, and the degree of risk should be evaluated. Additionally, obesity-related complications should be identified and, even if there are no complications, all related risk factors should be evaluated and managed. In all these processes, diagnostic methods such as history taking, physical examination, body fat measurement, blood tests, and imaging tests are necessary, but history taking and physical examination, which can provide a lot of information from the beginning, should not be overlooked.

Survey of Korean CM Contracts for Current Status and Future Direction: Based on 1997 to 2013 Statistics

  • Ha, Jiwon;Park, Jongsoon;Jung, Youngsoo
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2015.10a
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    • pp.440-444
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    • 2015
  • As domestic construction investment has been gradually reduced, expanding overseas construction is one of the most important issues for Korean construction companies. Among these issues, strategies for overseas CM services have widely been discussed, because the CM services have features of high growth potential and value-added area when compared with other construction sectors. Therefore, recent efforts focus on further development in advanced CM capabilities and expansion to overseas market. However, there has been lack of quantitative research to investigate current status and future direction of CM industry. In this sense, this research investigated what CM has achieved for the past 17years (between 1997 and 2013) and what CM should accomplish for future strategies. The purpose of this research is to statistically analyze total of 2,983 CM service contracts over the past 17 years published in KISCON (Knowledge Information System of Construction Industry) in order to examine current status of CM industry in terms of market type, contract size, commodity type, and owner's type. Based on this research, it is expected to suggest for future strategies and development directions from the CM industry perspective that could provide quantitative analyses, improve current CM statistics systems and strengthen the competitiveness in international CM market.

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Lived Experiences in the Life World of Korean Emerging Adults with Foster Care Backgrounds: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis (자립준비청년의 생활세계 속 실존 체험에 관한 질적 메타분석)

  • Boram Choi;Jaerim Lee
    • Human Ecology Research
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    • v.62 no.2
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    • pp.279-294
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    • 2024
  • The purpose of this study was to synthesize and interpret the findings of previous qualitative studies that investigated the lived experiences of Korean emerging adults who aged out of the foster care system. Based on our selection criteria, we extracted and analyzed 14 papers that were published between 2010 to 2023. Our meta-synthesis found that the emerging adults' life world consisted of seven domains: family experience, life tasks, education and work, financial issues, home and family, interpersonal relationships, and psychological and emotional issues. We restructured the emerging adults' lived experiences using van Manen's concepts of lived time, lived space, lived things, lived self-other, and lived body. Our meta-synthesis revealed that these emerging adults experienced multidimensional difficulties due to shortcomings of formal and informal social support after aging out of the foster care system. Their difficulties accumulated in their interaction with lived time. Based on the level of their accumulated difficulties, we categorized the emerging adults into stable, struggling, and isolated groups. However, it is important to note that many of them adapted to their own life world and strived to move forward. This qualitative meta-synthesis provides a comprehensive understanding and new interpretation of emerging adults who transition from foster care to independent living in the context of Korea.