• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.131-136
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to establish the flexural strengthening method of the concrete members. To accomplish this objective, a total of seven concrete beams were tested. From this study, it is found that the initial flexural stiffness and strength of the beams reinforced with NSM CFRP strips were significantly improved compared to the beam without CFRP strip. Failure of the beam reinforced with NSM strips is initiated by failure of NSM strips, eventually sudden explosive compressive failure in the loaded region. This strengthening method combined with NSM CFRP strips and high performance mortar for concrete cover recovery is evaluated by a good strengthening method for the strength, durability and good appearance of concrete structures.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.15-31
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• 2000

The aim was to evaluate the prevailing ergonomic and psychosocial conditions regarding low back injury in an automobile assembly system. This study consisted of two parts. In the first part of the study, analytic biomechanical model and NIOSH guidelines were applied to evaluate risk levels of low back injury for automobile assembly jobs. Total of 246 workers were analysed. There were 20 jobs having greater back compressive forces than 300kg at L5/S1. Also, there were 44 jobs over Action Limit with respect to 1981 NIOSH guidelines. This might in part be explained by the ergonomic conditions of the company analysed generally being good, with a relatively low duration of 'combined' extreme work posture. The relationship between psychosocial factors and low back injury was examined in the second part of the study. It has recently been recognized that overall reaction to working conditions was influenced by a range of factors, some of which were physical and some psychosocial. The psychosocial environment surrounding the work place may contribute to the perception of risk and eventual ill-health. A battery of questionnaires concerning the psychosocial stress based on PWI(Psychosocial Well-being Index) and musculoskeletal pain symptoms at low back was completed by 246 workers at the same plant. Results showed that 207 out 246 workers experienced the symptoms and 27 workers were diagnosed as patients. Two groups(low stressed, high stressed) based on PWI score had no significant relationships with both symptoms and results of diagnosis. However, sensitivities for symptoms and diagnosis by PWI were 91.3% and 92.6% respectively. Finally, relationships between physical work load and psychosocial stress were analysed. Specifically, some postural factors {vertical deviation angle of forearm, horizontal deviation angle of upperarm, vertical deviation angle of thigh, etc) were highly correlated with psychosocial stress. The results illustrated that PWI scores were associated with some physical workloads. However, psychosocial stress levels couldn't be well related with the pain symptom as well as the actual incidence of low back injury since pain or discomfort regarding low back injury were more complex than that of other musculoskeletal disorders.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.323-339
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• 2020

In steel framed-tube structures (SFTSs), the plastic hinges at beam-ends cannot be adequately improved because of the large cross sections of spandrel beams, which results in the lower ductility and energy dissipation capacities of traditional SFTSs. To address this drawback, high-strength steel fabricated SFTSs with bolted web-connected replaceable shear links (HSFTS-SLs) have been proposed. In this system, shear links use conventional steel and are placed in the middle of the deep spandrel beams to act as energy dissipative components. In this study, 2/3-scaled HSFTS-SL specimens were fabricated, and cyclic loading tests were carried out to study the seismic performance of both specimens. The finite element models (FEMs) of the two specimens were established and the numerical results were compared with the test results. The results showed that the specimens had good ductility and energy dissipation capacities due to the reliable deformation capacities. The specimens presented the expected failure modes. Using a shorter shear link can provide a higher load-carrying capacity and initial elastic lateral stiffness but induces lower ductility and energy dissipation capacity in HSFTS-SLs. The performance of the specimens was comparable to that of the original sub-structure specimens after replacing shear links. Additionally, the expected post-earthquake recoverability and resilience of the structures could be achieved by replacing shear links. The acceptable residual interstory drift that allows for easy replacement of the bolted web-connected shear link was 0.23%. The bolted web-connected shear links had reliable hysteretic responses and deformation capacities. The connection rotation had a notable contribution to total link rotation. The results of the numerical analysis run for the proposed FEMs were consistent with the test results. It showed that the proposed FEMs could be used to investigate the seismic performance of the HSFTS-SL.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.58-65
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• 2015

This paper presents the design of an implantable stimulation IC intended for neural prosthetic devices using $0.18-{\mu}m$ standard CMOS technology. The proposed single-channel biphasic current stimulator prototype is designed to deliver up to 1 mA of current to the tissue-equivalent $10-k{\Omega}$ load using 12.8-V supply voltage. To utilize only low-voltage standard CMOS transistors in the design, transistor stacking with dynamic gate biasing technique is used for reliable operation at high-voltage. In addition, active charge balancing circuit is used to maintain zero net charge at the stimulation site over the complete stimulation cycle. The area of the total stimulator IC consisting of DAC, current stimulation output driver, level-shifters, digital logic, and active charge balancer is $0.13mm^2$ and is suitable to be applied for multi-channel neural prosthetic devices.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2016

Developments in power electronics have enabled the widespread application of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) inverters, notably for connecting renewable systems to the grid. This study demonstrates that a high-quality power can be achieved using a stand-alone inverter, whereby the comparison between the power quality of the stand-alone inverter with battery storage (off-grid) and the power quality of the utility network is presented. Multi-loop control techniques for a single phase stand-alone inverter are used. A capacitor current control is used to give active damping and enhance the transient and steady state inverter performance. A capacitor current control is cheaper than the inductor current control, where a small current sensing resistor is used. The output voltage control is used to improve the system performance and also control the output voltage. The inner control loop uses a proportional gain current controller and the outer loop is implemented using internal model control proportional-integral-derivative to ensure stability. The optimal controls are achieved by using the Sisotool tool in MATLAB/Simulink. The outcome of the control scheme of the numerical model of the stand-alone inverter has a smooth and good dynamic performance, but also a strong robustness to load variations. The numerical model of the stand-alone inverter and its power quality are presented, and the power quality is shown to meet the IEEE 519-2014. Furthermore, the power quality of the off-grid system is measured experimentally and compared with the grid power, showing power quality of off-grid system to be better than that of the utility network.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.1 s.74
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• pp.103-113
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• 2005

In the present study, the Direct Inelastic Design (DID) for steel structures developed in the previous study was improved to expand it applicability. The proposed design method can perform inelastic designs that address the design characteristics of steel structures: Group member design, discrete member sizes, variation of moment-carrying capacity according to axial force, connection types, and multiple design criteria and load conditions. The design procedure for the proposed method was established, and a computer program incorporating the design procedure was developed. The design results from the conventional elastic method and the DID were compared and verified by the existing computer program for nonlinear analysis. Compared with the conventional elastic design, the DID addressing the inelastic behavior reduced the total weight of steel members and enhanced the deformability of the structure. The proposed design method is convenient because it can directly perform inelastic design by using linear analysis for secant stiffness. Also, it can achieve structural safety and economical design by controlling deformations of the plastic hinges.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.49-57
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• 2019

Recently, the use of deep deck plate has been increased in various structures, such as underground parking lots, logistics warehouses, because it can reduce construction periods and labor costs. In this study, a newly developed Double Deck (D-deck) plate which can leads to save story heights has been introduced, and experimental tests on a total of five D-deck plates under construction loads have been carried out to investigate their structural performance at construction stage. The loads were applied by sands and concrete to simulate the actual distributed loading conditions, and the vertical deflection of D-Deck and the horizontal deformation of web were measured and analyzed in detail. As a result, it was confirmed that all the D-decks showed very small vertical deflection of less than 5.34 mm under construction loads, which satisfies the maximum deflection limit of L / 180. In addition, the D-Deck plate was found to have a sufficient rigidity to resist construction loads in a stable manner.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2020

Reutilization of solid waste such as Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA) and mixing it with soft soil for backfill material not only reduces the required volume of backfill soil (i.e., sand-mining procedures; reinforcement), but also preserves the environment from pollution by recycling. TDA is a widely-used material that has a good track record for improving sustainable construction. This paper attempted to investigate the performance of Kaolin-TDA mixtures as a backfill material underneath a strip footing and close to a retaining wall. For this purpose, different types of TDA i.e., powdery, shredded, small-size granular (1-4 mm) and large-size granular (5-8 mm), were mixed with Kaolin at 0, 20, 40, and 60% by weight. Static surcharge load with the rate of 10 kPa per min was applied on the strip footing until the failure of footing happened. The behaviour of samples K80-G (1-4 mm) 20 and K80-G (5-8 mm) 20 were identical to that of pure Kaolin, except that the maximum footing stress had grown by roughly three times (300-310 kPa). Therefore, it can be concluded that the total flexibility of the backfill and shear strength of the strip footing have been increased by adding the TDA. The results indicate that, a significant increase in the failure vertical stress of the footing is observed at the optimum mixture content. In addition, the TDA increases the elasticity behaviour of the backfill.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.213-219
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• 2019

Background: Smoking exerts an adverse effect on the periodontal tissue by reorganizing the ecosystem of oral microorganisms and is considered to be an important factor in the development of periodontal disease. Although cross-sectional studies on smokers and non-smokers have been attempted to investigate the microbial differences in periodontal oral cavity, only few studies have been conducted to investigate the changes in oral microorganisms during smoking cessation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of bacteria in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) over a period of one year among 11 smokers trying to quit smoking. Methods: Eleven smokers trying to quit smoking visited the clinic at baseline, two weeks, two months, four months, six months, and 12 months to give saliva and GCF samples. The amounts of 16S rRNA, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. nucleatum, Streptococcus mutans, and Streptococcus sobrinus in saliva and GCF were quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction TaqMan probe assay. The results were analyzed by nonparametric statistical analysis using Friedman test and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: After cessation of smoking, the amounts of 16S rRNA corresponding to P. gingivalis, F. nucleatum, P. intermedia, and T. denticola in saliva decreased and then again increased significantly. The amount of F. nucleatum 16S rRNA in GCF decreased significantly after smoking cessation. Positive correlations were observed between 16S rRNA and F. nucleatum and between F. nucleatum and T. denticola in saliva and GCF. Conclusion: Even if the number of subjects in this study was small, we suggest that smoking cessation may reduce the total bacterial amount and F. nucleatum in GCF. However, the results regarding changes in the microbial ecosystem due to smoking or smoking cessation were inconsistent. Therefore, further in-depth studies need to be carried out.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.309-315
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• 2017

Objectives: This study assessed the effect of water storage on the flexural strength (FS) of low shrinkage composites. Materials and Methods: A total of 165 bar-shaped specimens ($2{\times}2{\times}25mm$) were fabricated of 2 low shrinkage composites (Filtek P90 [3M ESPE], GC Kalore [GC International]) and a conventional methacrylate-based composite (Filtek Z250 [3M ESPE]). The specimens were subjected to 3-point bending test at 6 time intervals, namely: immediately after curing, at 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year following storage in wet and dry conditions. The FS of the specimens were measured by applying compressive load at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min. Data was analyzed using 3-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test. Results: Three-way ANOVA revealed significant interactions between time, type of composite, and storage condition (p = 0.001). Tukey's multiple comparison test revealed significant reductions in FS of all composites after 6 months and 1 year of storage in distilled water compared to dry condition. Conclusions: Filtek P90 showed the highest and GC Kalore showed the lowest FS after 1 year storage in distilled water. The immediate high strength of Filtek Z250 significantly decreased at 1 year and its final value was lower than that of Filtek P90.