• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate difference in fascicle behavior of the medial gastrocnemius during the locomotion with varying intensities, such as gait and one-legged and two-legged vertical jumping. Methods : Six subjects (3 males and 3 females; age: $27.2{\pm}1.6yrs.$, body mass: $62.8{\pm}9.8kg$, height: $169.6{\pm}8.5cm$) performed normal gait (G) at preferred speed and maximum vertical jumping with one (OJ) and two (TJ) legs. While subjects were performing the given tasks, the hip, knee and ankle joint motion and ground reaction force was monitored using a 8-infrared camera motion analysis system with two forceplates. Simultaneously, electromyography of the triceps surae muscles, and the fascicle length of the medial gastrocnemius were recorded using a real-time ultrasound imaging machine. Results : Comparing to gait, the kinematic and kinetic parameters of TJ and OJ were found to be significantly different. Along with those parameters, change in the medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle-tendon complex (MTC) length ($50.57{\pm}6.20mm$ for TJ and $44.14{\pm}5.39mm$ for OJ) and changes in the fascicle length of the MG ($18.97{\pm}3.58mm$ for TJ and $20.31{\pm}4.59mm$ for OJ) were observed. Although the total excursion of the MTC and the MG fascicle length during the two types of jump were not significantly different, however the pattern of length changes were found to be different. For TJ, the fascicle length maintained isometric longer during the propulsive phase than OJ. Conclusion : One-legged and two-legged vertical jumping use different muscle-tendon interaction strategies.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.519-547
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• 2017

This paper explores whether it is better to forecast city gas demand in Korea using national level data directly or, alternatively, construct forecasts from regional demand models and then aggregate these regional forecasts. In the regional model, we consider gas demand for Seoul metropolitan and the other local areas. Our forecast evaluation exercise for 2013-2016 shows the regional forecast model generally outperforms the national forecasting model. This result comes from the fact that the dynamic properties of each region's gas demands can be better taken into account in the regional demand model. More specifically, the share of residential gas demand in the Seoul metropolitan area is above 50%, and subsequently this demand is heavily influenced by temperature fluctuations. Conversely, the dominant portion of regional gas demand is due to industrial gas consumption. Moreover, electricity is regarded as a substitute for city gas in the residential sector, and industrial gas competes with certain oil products. Our empirical results show that a regional demand forecast model can be an effective alternative to the demand model based on nation-wide gas consumption and that regional information about gas demand is also useful for analyzing sectoral gas consumption.