When a train is traveling along the transition such as slab and ballasted track, dynamic behaviors of rail system and train are abruptly changed. In R&D project, the newly-developed precast slab track system and track transition between slab and ballasted track was planned to construct in 2006 on the newly-built Jeolla-line. Maintenance demand, settlement and component degradation were predicte...

We study closed smooth convex plane curves Γ enjoying the following property: a pair of points x, y can traverse Γ so that the distances between x and y along the curve and in the ambient plane do not change; such curves are called bicycle curves. Motivation for this study comes from the problem how to determine the direction of the bicycle motion by the tire tracks of the bicycle wheels; bicyc...

the deformation and stiffness characteristics of a cemented gravely sand was investigated using triaxial equipment. the triaxial tests were conducted in both dry and saturated undrained conditions. artificially cemented samples are prepared using gypsum plaster as the cementing agent. the plaster was mixed with the base soil at the weight percentages of 1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6. the applied confining ...

Scanning probe microscopy and immunofluorescence observations indicated that cellular stiffness was attributed to a contractile network structure consisting of stress fibers. We measured temporal variations in cellular stiffness when cellular contractility was regulated by dosing with lysophosphatidic acid or Y-27632. This experiment revealed a clear relation between cellular stiffness and cont...

Humans demonstrate an impressive ability to manipulate fragile objects without damaging them, graciously controlling the position of hands and tools while managing contact forces as necessary for the task. Robot control has been characterized by position control with the aim of producing fast, accurate and repeatable motion. These capabilities have reached a level where robots often outperform ...

The motor system can use a number of mechanisms to increase movement accuracy and compensate for perturbing external forces, interaction torques, and neuromuscular noise. Empirical studies have shown that stiffness modulation is one adaptive mechanism used to control arm movements in the presence of destabilizing external force loads. Other work has shown that arm muscle activity is increased a...

Nucleus replacement by a synthetic material is a recent trend for treatment of lower back pain. Hydrogel nucleus implants were prepared with variations in implant modulus, height, and diameter Human lumbar intervertebral discs (IVDs) were tested in compression for intact, denucleated, and implanted condition. Implantation of nucleus implants with different material and geometric parameters into...

In view of the weak isolation and shock absorption effect ordinary bearings at present, a new track damping negative-stiffness device was designed based on principle negative stiffness. The stiffness applied to base isolation, system proposed in which track-type NSD common layer were connected parallel. had characteristics clear force transmission, simple structure, self-resetting ability. theo...

Prostate cancer is the most frequent type of cancer in men in Europe and the USA. The methods presently used to detect and diagnose prostate cancer are inexact, and new techniques are needed. Prostate tumours can be regarded as harder than the surrounding normal healthy glandular tissue, and therefore it is of interest to be able to reliably measure prostate tissue stiffness. In this dissertati...