• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3740-3749
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• 2024

To reduce the losses caused by aging failure of insulation gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), which is the core components of nuclear power plant rod position indicating and rod control (RPC) system. It is necessary to conduct studies on its life prediction. The selection of IGBT failure characteristic parameters in existing research relies heavily on failure principles and expert experience. Moreover, the analysis and learning of time-domain degradation data have not been fully conducted, resulting in low prediction efficiency as the monotonicity, time correlation, and poor anti-interference ability of extracted degradation features. This paper utilizes the advantages of the stacked denoising autoencoder(SDAE) network in adaptive feature extraction and denoising capabilities to perform adaptive feature extraction on IGBT time-domain degradation data; establishes a long-short-term memory (LSTM) prediction model, and optimizes the learning rate, number of nodes in the hidden layer, and number of hidden layers using the Gray Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm; conducts verification experiments on the IGBT accelerated aging dataset provided by NASA PCoE Research Center, and selects performance evaluation indicators to compare and analyze the prediction results of the SDAE-LSTM model, PSOLSTM model, and BP model. The results show that the SDAE-LSTM model can achieve more accurate and stable IGBT life prediction.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2013

Due to the recent advances in technology, the systems are becoming more demanding in terms of functionality and implementation complexity. Therefore, when system failures are involved in such complex systems, the effects of the related safety issues can also be more serious, thereby causing in the worst case irrecoverable hazards on both human being and properties. This fact can be witnessed in the recent rail systems accidents. In general, the accidents can be attributed to the systematic failure or the random failure. The latter is due to the aging or unsatisfied quality of the parts used in implementation or some unexpected external cause that would otherwise result in accidents whereas the former is usually related to incomplete systems design. As the systems are becoming more complex, so are the systematic failures. The objective of the paper is to study an approach to solving the systematic failure. To do so, at first the system design process is augmented by the functional safety activities that are suggested in the standard IEC 61508. Analyzing the artifacts of the integrated process yields the traceability, which satisfies the requirements for reduction of systematic failure as provided in ISO 26262. In order to reduce systematic failure, the results are utilized in the conceptual design stage of systems development in which systems requirements are generated and functional architecture is developed.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.216-224
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• 2024

This paper presents a method for analyzing the reliability of hardware electronic equipment, taking into account failures caused by radiation. Traditional reliability analysis primarily focuses on the wear out failure rate and often neglects the impact of radiation failure rates. We calculate the wear out failure rate through physics of failure analysis, while the radiation failure rate is semi-empirically estimated using the Verilog Fault Injection tool. Our approach aims to ensure reliability early in the development process, potentially reducing development time and costs by identifying circuit vulnerabilities in advance. As an illustrative example, we conducted a reliability analysis on the ISCAS85 circuit. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method compared to traditional reliability analysis tools. This thorough analysis is crucial for ensuring the reliability of FPGAs in environments with high radiation exposure, such as in aviation and space applications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2003

Nondestructive Damage Evaluation (NDE) techniques yield the damage location and its size from the modal characteristics of pre-damaged and post-damaged structures. To predict the system reliability of the aging structure, results from the NDE are integrated into the element/component failure probabilities. The element/component failure probabilities can be calculated from failure functions for each element/component with the aid of techniques from a structural reliability analysis. In this paper, a method to estimate the system reliability of a structure that is based on the reliabilities of elements/components in a given structure is presented. The efficacy of the combination of the nondestructive damage detection and the structural reliability evaluation is demonstrated using pre-damaged and post-damaged modal data obtained from numerical simulations of a rigid frame.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.349-359
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• 2017

During the past 25 years, in the context of probabilistic safety assessment, efforts have been directed towards establishment of comprehensive pipe failure event databases as a foundation for exploratory research to better understand how to effectively organize a piping reliability analysis task. The focused pipe failure database development efforts have progressed well with the development of piping reliability analysis frameworks that utilize the full body of service experience data, fracture mechanics analysis insights, expert elicitation results that are rolled into an integrated and risk-informed approach to the estimation of piping reliability parameters with full recognition of the embedded uncertainties. The discussion in this paper builds on a major collection of operating experience data (more than 11,000 pipe failure records) and the associated lessons learned from data analysis and data applications spanning three decades. The piping reliability analysis lessons learned have been obtained from the derivation of pipe leak and rupture frequencies for corrosion resistant piping in a raw water environment, loss-of-coolant-accident frequencies given degradation mitigation, high-energy pipe break analysis, moderate-energy pipe break analysis, and numerous plant-specific applications of a statistical piping reliability model framework. Conclusions are presented regarding the feasibility of determining and incorporating aging effects into probabilistic safety assessment models.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.251-264
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• 2022

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) accounts for approximately half of all heart failure (HF) cases. The prevalence of HFpEF is increasing due to an aging population with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. HFpEF remains a challenging clinical entity due to a lack of effective treatment options. Traditional HF medications have not been shown to reduce mortality of patients with HFpEF, and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is not indicated due to normal ejection fraction. Sudden death is the most common mode of death in patients with HFpEF; however, the underlying mechanisms of sudden death are not fully elucidated. Although ventricular arrhythmias are responsible for the majority of sudden deaths in general, their contribution to sudden deaths in HFpEF patients is likely less significant. The mechanisms of ventricular arrhythmias in HFpEF are 1) reduced conduction velocity due to ventricular hypertrophy, 2) delayed repolarization due to potassium current down-regulation, 3) calcium leakage due to altered excitation-contraction coupling, and 4) increased ventricular fibrosis caused by systemic inflammation. Hypertension and subsequent ventricular hypertrophy reduce the conduction velocity in HFpEF hearts via heterogeneous distribution of connexin 43. Delayed repolarization caused by potassium current down-regulation in HFpEF hearts provides a window for early afterdepolarization to trigger ventricular arrhythmias. Altered excitation-contraction coupling in HFpEF can cause calcium to leak and trigger delayed afterdepolarization. Increased systemic inflammation and subsequent ventricular fibrosis provide substrates for re-entry. Further research is warranted to investigate the detailed mechanisms of ventricular arrhythmias in HFpEF.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.668-677
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• 2017

Embryo implantation is the crucial step for a successful pregnancy. Diverse factors, including adhesion molecules, growth factors, and cytokines are important for embryo implantation through improving endometrial receptivity. Benzoic acid (BA), a component of various plants, has been shown to have antifungal and antioxidant effects. However, the effect of BA on embryo implantation remains unknown. Here, we showed the contribution of BA for the enhancement of endometrial receptivity through the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)-dependent increase of integrin ${\alpha}V$, ${\beta}3$, and ${\beta}5$ expression. Furthermore, in vivo study using a mifepristone-induced implantation failure model showed that BA definitely improves the numbers of implantation embryos. Taken together, we suggest that BA has a novel function for embryo implantation through the up-regulation of LIF-mediated integrins, and may be a candidate for therapeutic medicine to increase the pregnancy rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.36-41
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• 2003

This paper presents the results of power spectra using the fundamental and low frequency harmonic components of leakage current waveform to study aging on contaminated EPDM insulator(was serviced during 1997-2001, region Pohang, korea) under salt fog conditions. Experiments have been conducted in the chamber salt fog and at the 16KVrms. The salt contents adjusted as 0g,25g,50g and 75g per liter of deionized water. The onset of dry-band arcing on polymer insulators could be determined by signal processing the low frequency harmonics components. A correlation has been found between the fundamental and low harmonic components of power spectra on leakage current. Where aging could be associated with an increase in the level of both the fundamental and low frequency harmonics components of leakage current. Surface aging for contaminated EPDM insulators occurred when the fundamental component of leakage current was greater then some level On the other hand, when the polymer insulator approached failure, the fundamental component of leakage current reached relatively high values and low frequency harmonics components of the leakage current trended to decrease. The results suggest that both the fundamental and low frequency harmonics of leakage current can be used as a tool to determine both the beginning of aging and before flashover, end of life EPBM insulator in salt fog.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.149-158
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• 2022

As a bridge ages, its mechanical properties and structural performance deteriorate, degrading its seismic performance during a strong earthquake. In this study, the aging of piers and bridge bearings was quantified in several stages and reflected in the analysis model, enabling the evaluation of the member-level seismic fragility of these bearings. Moreover, by assuming that the failure mechanism of a bridge system is a series system, a method for evaluating the system-level seismic fragility based on the member-level seismic fragility analysis result is formulated and proposed. For piers with rubber and lead-rubber bearings (members vulnerable to aging effects), five quantitative degrees of aging (0, 5, 10, 25, and 40%) are assumed to evaluate the member-level seismic fragility. Then, based on the result, the system-level seismic fragility evaluation was implemented. The pier rather than the bridge bearing is observed to have a dominant effect on the system-level seismic fragility. This means that the seismic fragility of more vulnerable structural members has a dominant influence on the seismic fragility of the entire bridge system.

• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2007

To evaluate and investigate the aging characteristics and the structural service lifetime of the CFV(carbon fiber pressure vessel), natural aging tests were carried out using the CFVs, which had been placed and aged at outdoor and indoor laboratories for 10 and 15 years, respectively. To obtain the probabilistic characteristics of ageing characteristics in aged CFVs, inner pressure loading test was conducted with ring specimens taken from aged CFVs. And, to observe the interface morphology of aged CFVs, the micro-photographs were taken by SEM microscope and the fractured interfaces between the carbon fiber and the matrix resin were scrutinized. Based on the Weibull parameters of the tensile failure strain of aged CFVs, the degradation of the 10 and the 15 year aged CFV occur by 19% and 23%, respectively, and the effect of the placement, whether being placed inside the laboratory or not, is not so significant. However, the outer layer protection, such as painting, is found very advantageous to prevent CFV from aging.