• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.663-682
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• 2016

Continuum manipulators as a kind of mechanical arms are useful tools in special robotic applications. In medical applications, like colonoscopy, a maneuverable thin and flexible manipulator is required. This research is focused on developing a basic module for such an application using shape memory alloys (SMA). In the structure of the module three wires of SMA are uniformly distributed and attached to the circumference of a flexible tube. By activating wires, individually or together, different rotation regimes are provided. SMA model is used based on Brinson work. The SMA model is combined to model of flexible tube to provide a composite model of the module. Simulating the model in Matlab provided a platform to be used to develop controller. Complex and nonlinear behavior of SMA make the control problem hard especially when a few SMA actuators are active simultaneously. In this paper, position control of the two degree of freedom module is under focus. An experimental control strategy is developed to regulate a desired position in the module. The simulation results present a reasonable performance of the controller. Moreover, the results are verified through experiments and show that the continuum module of this paper would be used in real modular manipulators.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.569-584
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• 2009

Corrosion of steel rebars in bridge decks which are faced to harsh conditions, is a common problem in construction industries due to the porosity of concrete. In this research, the behavior of one-way concrete slabs reinforced with Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) molded grating is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In the analytical method, a closed-form solution for load-deflection behavior of a slab under four-point bending condition is developed by considering a concrete slab as an orthotropic plate and defining stiffness coefficients in principal directions. The available formulation for concrete reinforced with steel is expanded for concrete reinforced with GFRP molded grating to predict ultimate failure load. In finite element modeling, an exact nonlinear behavior of concrete along with a 3-D failure criterion for cracking and crushing are considered in order to estimate the ultimate failure load and the initial cracking load. Eight concrete slabs reinforced with steel and GFRP grating in various thicknesses are also tested to verify the results. The obtained results from the models and experiments are relatively satisfactory.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.90-98
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• 1996

An auditory model is proposed for robust speech recognition in noisy environments. The model consists of cochlear bandpass filters and nonlinear stages, and represents frequency and intensity information efficiently even in noisy environments. Frequency information of the signal is obtained by zero-crossing intervals, and intensity information is also incorporated by peak detectors and saturating nonlinearities. Also, the robustness of the zero-crossings in estimating frequency is verified by the developed analytic relationship of the variance of the level-crossing interval perturbations as a function of the crossing level values. The proposed auditory model is computationally efficient and free from many unknown parameters compared with other auditory models. Speaker-independent speech recognition experiments demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.562-569
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• 2016

This paper proposes a navigation system with a robust localization method for an underwater unmanned vehicle. For robust localization with IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), a DVL (Doppler Velocity Log), and depth sensors, the EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) has been utilized to fuse multiple nonlinear data. Note that the GPS (Global Positioning System), which can obtain the absolute coordinates of the vehicle, cannot be used in the water. Additionally, the DVL has been used for measuring the relative velocity of the underwater vehicle. The DVL sensor measures the velocity of an object by using Doppler effects, which cause sound frequency changes from the relative velocity between a sound source and an observer. When the vehicle is moving, the motion trajectory to a target position can be recorded by the sensors attached to the vehicle. The performance of the proposed navigation system has been verified through real experiments in which an underwater unmanned vehicle reached a target position by using an IMU as a primary sensor and a DVL as the secondary sensor.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.249-255
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• 2007

Under the situation of a fire, it is difficult for a rescue robot to use sensors such as vision sensor, ultrasonic sensor or laser distance sensor because of diffusion, refraction or block of light and sound by dense smoke. But, braille blocks that are installed for the visaully impaired at public places such as subway stations can be used as a map for autonomous mobile robot's localization and navigation. In this paper, we developed a laser sensor stan device which can detect braille blcoks in spite of dense smoke and integrated the device to the robot developed to carry out rescue mission in various hazardous disaster areas at KIST. We implemented MCL algorithm for robot's attitude estimation according to the scanned data and transformed a braille block map to a topological map and designed a nonlinear path tracking controller for autonomous navigation. From various simulations and experiments, we could verify that the developed laser sensor device and the proposed localization method are effective to autonomous tracking of braille blocks and the autonomous navigation robot system can be used for rescue under fire.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1029-1038
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• 2014

Bayesian experimental design is a useful concept in applied statistics for the design of efficient experiments especially if prior knowledge in the experiment is available. However, a theoretical or numerical approach is not simple to implement. We review the concept of a Bayesian experiment approach for linear and nonlinear statistical models. We investigate relationships between prior knowledge and optimal design to identify Bayesian experimental design process characteristics. A balanced design is important if we do not have prior knowledge; however, prior knowledge is important in design and expert opinions should reflect an efficient analysis. Care should be taken if we set a small sample size with a vague improper prior since both Bayesian design and non-Bayesian design provide incorrect solutions.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 1993

Activated carbons were used to examine their performance for the separation of undesirable colored materials from culture broth containing hyaluronic acid. Six local samples and a NORIT ROX 08 were tested, whereas the latter was mainly studied under batch and continuous modes. The optimal wavelength for the detection of colored materials was 330nm. The optimal choice of NORIT ROX 08 provided 30% colored residuals with 96% hyaluronic acid recovery of original broth in batch experiments. The nonlinear adsorption behavior of protein and colored materials with activated carbon (C) was correlated by a Langmuir equation to give 18C/24+C and 500C/892+C for protein and colored materials, respectively. It appears that colored materials were composed of 78% protein and 22% glucose residuals on the basis of clearance results. A microscopic study using a scanning electron microscope suggests that regeneration of used activated carbon with 0.1N NaOH and hot water was not satisfactory. The present study proposes that the continuous monitoring of colored materials during purification can be accomplished by Installation of a UV monitor commonly used for continuous detection of protein during the process, as resulted from the significant correlation of color (A330)=0.353protein(mg/ml)+0.1(R=99.7%).

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.1759-1761
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• 1996

Md:YAG laser has been used in many applications such as micromachining, nonlinear optical experiments, holography, and rangefinding. These applications quite often require operation of the laser at the $TEM_{00}$ mode since this mode produces the smallest beam divergence, the highest power density, and, hence, the highest brightness. In this study, a pinhole is put between a rod and a half mirror to make the $TEM_{00}$ mode, and then we measured the intensity distribution of the output beam as reducing the diameter of the pinhole from 6mm to 1.5mm. As a result, the optimum size of the pinhole fixed in a resonator to make the $TEM_{00}$ mode was obtained, and we found out that the output beam of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a single elliptical cavity has a Gaussian distribution.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.595-606
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• 2018

A calculation method was presented to calculate the deflection of GFRP-concrete-steel beams with full or partial shear connections. First, the sectional analysis method was improved by considering concrete nonlinearity and shear connection stiffness variation along the beam direction. Then the equivalent slip strain was used to take into consideration of variable cross-sections. Experiments and nonlinear finite element analysis were performed to validate the calculation method. The experimental results showed the deflection of composite beams could be accurately predicted by using the theoretical model or the finite element simulation. Furthermore, more finite element models were established to verify the accuracy of the theoretical model, which included different GFRP plates and different numbers of shear connectors. The theoretical results agreed well with the numerical results. In addition, parametric studies using theoretical method were also performed to find out the effect of parameters on the deflection. Based on the parametric studies, a simplified calculation formula of GFRP-concrete-steel composite beam was exhibited. In general, the calculation method could provide a more accurate theoretical result without complex finite element simulation, and serve for the further study of continuous GFRP-concrete-steel composite beams.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 1983

The application of a two-dimensional $M_2$ nonlinear tidal model to southern part of Kyonggi Bay is described. It has provided a preliminary assessment of tidal currents, bottom stress, energy dissipation in the Bay. Further numerical experiments have been performed with the model to determine the effect of deepening the approach channel to Asan Bay on the $M_2$ tide and on the response of Bay system to a stationary northwesterly wind stress field of $10dyne/cm^2$ suddenly imposed on thesea surface. Some of preliminary results are presented and discussed.