• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.66-71
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• 2014

In this research, a material test machine is developed which uses a small electro-magnetic actuator and a leverage mechanism. The leverage mechanism amplifies the force from the electro-magnetic actuator. The electro-magnetic part operates more silently and cleanly than a hydraulic part. In a tooth material study, a test machine does not require a large force capacity because it handles only $4mm^2$-sectioned and short-span specimens. Conventional test machines such as those by Instron and the BOSE Enduratec ELF3200 have too high aforce capacity for a tooth material study. A test machine for a tooth material study requires an acting force only on the order of tens of Newtons (N) operating at several Hertz.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.245-254
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• 2021

This paper examines the impact of corporate governance strength on capital structure in an emerging country, namely, Jordan, by constructing a corporate governance score that captures both internal monitoring mechanisms (foreign ownership and institutional ownership) and external monitoring mechanism (audit fees). In addition, this study uses profitability as control variable. This paper uses data of non-financial companies (industrial and services) of 87 listed firms on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) from 2011 to 2019. Using the random-effects generalized least square (GLS) regression model, the findings reveal that foreign ownership significantly and negatively influences the level leverage, while institutional ownership has a positive and insignificant association with level leverage. Further, audit fees have a positive and strong significant association with level leverage in Jordan. In addition, profitability has a positive and significant association with leverage. These outcomes suggest that foreign ownership should be encouraged in listed companies as it can replace the weakness of other corporate governance mechanisms in Jordan. The outcomes of the current study should be of great interest to regulators and policy-makers. The results, which are robust to a range of alternative proxies and to additional tests, provide new insights into the determinants of level leverage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2020

In this study, based on the System Dynamics (SD) methodology, the interrelationship between the factors inherent in the operation of the New Technology Certification System (NTCS) in Korea was identified by a causal map containing a feedback loop mechanism in connection with 'new technology development investment', 'commercialization of new technology', and 'sales by new technology'. This conceptualized causal map was applied to the simulation of the operations of the New Excellent Technology and Environmental Technology Verification System (NET&ETV) run by the Ministry of Environment among various NTCSs in Korea. A SD computer simulation model was developed to analyze and predict the operational performance of the NET&ETV in terms of key performance indices such as 'sales by new technology'. Using this model, we predicted the future operational status the NET&ETV and found a policy leverage that greatly influences the operation of the NET&ETV. Also the sensitivity of the key indicators to changes in the external variables in the model was analyzed to find policy leverage.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.373-387
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• 2018

Semi-active isolation systems based on leverage-type stiffness control strategies have been widely studied. The main concept behind this type of system is to adjust the stiffness in the isolator to match the fundamental period of the isolated system by using a simple leverage mechanism. Although this system achieves high performance under far-field earthquakes, it is unsuitable for near-fault strong ground motion. To overcome this problem, this study considers the potential energy effect in the control law of the semi-active isolation system. The minimal energy weighting (MEW) between the potential energy and kinetic energy was first optimized through a series of numerical simulations. Two MEW algorithms, namely generic and near-fault MEW control, were then developed to efficiently reduce the structural displacement responses. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, a two-degree-of-freedom structure was employed as a benchmark. Numerical results indicate that the dynamic response of the structure can be effectively dampened by the proposed MEW control under both far-field and near-fault earthquakes, whereas the structural responses resulting from conventional control methods may be greater than those for the purely passive control method. Moreover, according to experimental verifications, both the generic and near-fault MEW control modes yielded promising results under impulse-like earthquakes. The practicability of the proposed control algorithm was verified.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.425-436
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• 2017

Vibration control using a tuned mass damper (TMD) is an effective technique that has been verified using analytical methods and experiments. It has been applied in mechanical, automotive, and structural applications. However, the damping of a TMD cannot be adjusted in real time. An excessive mass damper stroke may be introduced when the mass damper is subjected to a seismic excitation whose frequency content is within its operation range. The semi-active tuned mass damper (SATMD) has been proposed to solve this problem. The parameters of an SATMD can be adjusted in real time based on the measured structural responses and an appropriate control law. In this study, a stiffness-controllable TMD, called a leverage-type stiffness-controllable mass damper (LSCMD), is proposed and fabricated to verify its feasibility. The LSCMD contains a simple leverage mechanism and its stiffness can be altered by adjusting the pivot position. To determine the pivot position of the LSCMD in real time, a discrete-time direct output-feedback active control law that considers delay time is implemented. Moreover, an identification test for the transfer function of the pivot driving and control systems is proposed. The identification results demonstrate the target displacement can be achieved by the pivot displacement in 0-2 Hz range and the control delay time is about 0.1 s. A shaking-table test has been conducted to verify the theory and feasibility of the LSCMD. The comparisons of experimental and theoretical results of the LSCMD system show good consistency. It is shown that dynamic behavior of the LSCMD can be simulated correctly by the theoretical model and that the stiffness can be properly adjusted by the pivot position. Comparisons of experimental results of the LSCMD and passive TMD show the LSCMD with less demand on the mass damper stroke than that for the passive TMD.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1281-1286
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• 2013

In this paper, a miniaturized stage with two prismatic-prismatic joints (2-PP) type parallel compliant mechanism driven by piezo actuators is proposed. This stage consists of two layers which are a motion guide layer and an actuation layer. The motion guide layer has 2-PP type parallel compliant mechanism to guide two translational motions, whereas the actuation layer has two leverage type amplification mechanisms and two piezo actuators to generate forces. Since the volume of the stage is too small to mount displacement sensors, the piezo actuators embedding strain gauge sensors are chosen. With the strain gauge-embedded piezo actuators, a semi-control is implemented, which results in hysteresis compensation of the stage. As the results, the operating range of $30{\mu}m$, the resolution of 20 nm, and the bandwidth of 400 Hz in each axis were obtained in the experiments.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.41-53
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• 2019

Building a target capital structure is one of the most important decisions in corporate financial management. The purpose of this article is to identify the determinants of capital structure and adjustment mechanism toward the target leverage. The partial adjustment model was applied on a sample of 306 non-financial companies listed on Vietnam stock exchange market during the period of 2008-2017. By the fixed effect model estimation method, the research results have discovered the factors of growth opportunities, firm size, tangible fixed assets and firm's unique characteristics have a positive effect on the target capital structure of enterprises. Besides, profitability and dividend payment have a negative effect on the target capital structure of enterprises. Accordingly, the research results show that the average adjustment speed toward target leverage of the firms is 90.03%. Research results also demonstrate firms have higher or lower debt ratio than the target debt ratio, capital surplus or capital deficit also have an impact on the adjustment rate toward the target capital structure. The research results are consistent with the Dynamic Trade-off Theory. From this result, this article has provided policy implications for non-financial companies listed on Vietnam's stock market in building a reasonable target capital structure according to operating timeline to maximize enterprise value.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2020

Among anti-seismic technologies, base isolation is a very effective means of mitigating damage to structural and nonstructural components, such as equipment. However, most seismic isolation systems are designed for mitigating only horizontal seismic responses because the realization of a vertical isolation system (VIS) is difficult. The difficulty is primarily due to conflicting isolation stiffness demands in the static and dynamic states for a VIS, which requires sufficient rigidity to support the self-weight of the isolated object in the static state, but sufficient flexibility to lengthen the isolation period and uncouple the ground motion in the dynamic state. To overcome this problem, a semi-active VIS, called the piezoelectric inertia-type vertical isolation system (PIVIS), is proposed in this study. PIVIS is composed of a piezoelectric friction damper (PFD) and a leverage mechanism with a counterweight. The counterweight provides an uplifting force in the static state and an extra inertial force in the dynamic state; therefore, the effective vertical stiffness of PIVIS is higher in the static state and lower in the dynamic state. The PFD provides a controllable friction force for PIVIS to further prevent its excessive displacement. For experimental verification, a shaking table test was conducted on a prototype PIVIS controlled by a simple controller. The experimental results well agree with the theoretical results. To further investigate the isolation performance of PIVIS, the seismic responses of PIVIS were simulated numerically by considering 14 vertical ground motions with different characteristics. The responses of PIVIS were compared with those of a traditional VIS and a passive system (PIVIS without control). The numerical results demonstrate that compared with the traditional and passive systems, PIVIS can effectively suppress isolation displacement in all kinds of earthquake with various peak ground accelerations and frequency content while maintaining its isolation efficiency. The proposed system is particularly effective for near-fault earthquakes with long-period components, for which it prevents resonant-like motion.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.756-759
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• 2004

We present a piezoelectric actuator using stiffness control and stroke amplification mechanism in order to make large lateral displacement. In this work, we suggest stiffness control approach that generates lateral displacement by increasing the vertical stiffness and reducing the lateral stiffness using additional structure. In addition, an additional structure of a serpentine spring amplifies the lateral displacement like leverage structure. The suggested lateral PZT actuator (bellows actuator) consists of serpentine spring and PZT/electrode layer which is located at the edge of the serpentine spring. The edge of the serpentine spring prevents the vertical motion of PZT layer, while the other edge of the serpentine spring makes stroke amplification like leverage structure. We have determined dimensions of the bellows actuator using ANSYS simulation. Length, width and thickness of PZT layer are 135$\mu$m, 20$\mu$m and 0.4$\mu$m, respectively. Dimensions of the silicon serpentine spring are thickness of 25$\mu$m, length of 300$\mu$m, and width of 5$\mu$m. The bellows actuator has been fabricated by SOI wafer with 25$\mu$m-top silicon and 1$\mu$m-buried oxide layer. The bellows actuator shows the maximum 3.93$\pm$0.2$\mu$m lateral displacement at 16V with 1Hz sinusoidal voltage input. In the frequency response test, the fabricated bellows actuator showed consistent displacement from 1Hz to 1kHz at 10V. From experimental study, we found the bellows actuator using thin film PZT and silicon serpentine spring generated mainly laterally displacement not vertical displacement at 16V, and serpentine spring played role of stroke amplification.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.5338-5359
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• 2017

In-band full-duplex (IBFD) wireless communication supports symmetric dual transmission between two nodes and asymmetric dual transmission among three nodes, which allows improved throughput for distributed IBFD wireless networks. However, inter-node interference (INI) can affect desired packet reception in the downlink of three-node topology. The current Half-duplex (HD) medium access control (MAC) mechanism RTS/CTS is unable to establish an asymmetric dual link and consequently to suppress INI. In this paper, we propose a medium access control mechanism for use in distributed IBFD wireless networks, FD-DMAC (Full-Duplex Distributed MAC). In this approach, communication nodes only require single channel access to establish symmetric or asymmetric dual link, and we fully consider the two transmission modes of asymmetric dual link. Through FD-DMAC medium access, the neighbors of communication nodes can clearly know network transmission status, which will provide other opportunities of asymmetric IBFD dual communication and solve hidden node problem. Additionally, we leverage FD-DMAC to transmit received power information. This approach can assist communication nodes to adjust transmit powers and suppress INI. Finally, we give a theoretical analysis of network performance using a discrete-time Markov model. The numerical results show that FD-DMAC achieves a significant improvement over RTS/CTS in terms of throughput and delay.