• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.61-74
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• 2023

This article investigates the wave propagation analysis of the imperfect functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates based on a novel simple four-variable integral quasi-3D higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). The thickness stretching effect is considered in the transverse displacement component. The presented formulation ensures a parabolic variation of the transverse shear stresses with zero-stresses at the top and the bottom surfaces without requiring any shear correction factors. The studied sandwich plates can be used in several sectors as areas of aircraft, construction, naval/marine, aerospace and wind energy systems, the sandwich structure is composed from three layers (two FG face sheets and isotropic core). The material properties in the FG faces sheet are computed according to a modified power law function with considering the porosity which may appear during the manufacturing process in the form of micro-voids in the layer body. The Hamilton principle is utilized to determine the four governing differential equations for wave propagation in FG plates which is reduced in terms of computation time and cost compared to the other conventional quasi-3D models. An eigenvalue equation is formulated for the analytical solution using a generalized displacements' solution form for wave propagation. The effects of porosity, temperature, moisture concentration, core thickness, and the material exponent on the plates' dispersion relations are examined by considering the thickness stretching influence.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 2023

This work utilizes simplified higher-order shear deformation beam theory (HSDBT) to investigate the vibration response for functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (CNTRC) beam. Novel to this work, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are distributed and aligned in a matrix of polymer throughout the beam, resting on a viscoelastic foundation. Four un-similar patterns of reinforcement distribution functions are investigated for the CNTRC beam. Porosity is another consideration taken into account due to its significant effect on functionally graded materials (FGMs) properties. Three types of uneven porosity distributions are studied in this study. The damping coefficient and Winkler's and Pasternak's parameters are considered in investigating the viscosity effect on the foundation. Moreover, the impact of different parameters on the vibration of the CNTRC beam supported by a viscoelastic foundation is discussed. A comparison to other works is made to validate numerical results in addition to analytical discussions. The findings indicate that incorporating a damping coefficient can improve the vibration performance, especially when the spring constant factors are raised. Additionally, it has been noted that the fundamental frequency of a beam increases as the porosity coefficient increases, indicating that porosity may have a significant impact on the vibrational characteristics of beams.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.401-410
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• 2023

Vibration investigation of fluid-filled three layered cylindrical shells is studied here. A cylindrical shell is immersed in a fluid which is a non-viscous one. Shell motion equations are framed first order shell theory due to Love. These equations are partial differential equations which are usually solved by approximate technique. Robust and efficient techniques are favored to get precise results. Employment of the wave propagation approach procedure gives birth to the shell frequency equation. Use of acoustic wave equation is done to incorporate the sound pressure produced in a fluid. Hankel's functions of second kind designate the fluid influence. Mathematically the integral form of the Lagrange energy functional is converted into a set of three partial differential equations. It is also exhibited that the effect of frequencies is investigated by varying the different layers with constituent material. The coupled frequencies changes with these layers according to the material formation of fluid-filled FG-CSs. Throughout the computation, it is observed that the frequency behavior for the boundary conditions follow as; clamped-clamped (C-C), simply supported-simply supported (SS-SS) frequency curves are higher than that of clamped-simply (C-S) curves. Expressions for modal displacement functions, the three unknown functions are supposed in such way that the axial, circumferential and time variables are separated by the product method. Computer software MATLAB codes are used to solve the frequency equation for extracting vibrations of fluid-filled.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.31-48
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• 2024

In order to get a better understanding of seismic performance of exterior beam-column joint, reciprocating loading tests with variable loading speeds or axial forces were carried out. The main findings indicate that only few cracks exist on the surface of the joint core area, while the plastic hinge region at the beam end is seriously damaged. The damage of the specimen is more serious with the increase of the upper limit of variable axial force. The deflection ductility coefficient of specimen decreases to various degrees after the upper limit of variable axial force increases. In addition, the higher the loading speed is, the lower the deflection ductility coefficient of the specimen is. The stiffness of the specimen decreases as the upper limit of variable axial force or the loading speed increase. Compared to the influence of variable axial force, the influence of the loading speed on the stiffness degradation of the specimen is more obvious. The cumulative energy dissipation and the equivalent viscous damping coefficient of specimen decrease with the increase of loading speed. The influence of variable axial force on the energy dissipation of specimen varies under different loading speeds. Based on the truss model, the biaxial stress criterion, the Rankine criterion, the Kent-Scott-Park model, the equivalent theorem of shearing stress, the softened strut-and-tie model, the controlled slip theory and the proposed equations, a calculation method for the shear capacity is proposed with satisfactory prediction results.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.315-337
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• 2023

During the design phase, it is crucial to determine the interface stresses between the reinforcing plate and the concrete base in order to predict plate end separation failures. In this work, a simple theoretical study of interface shear stresses in beams reinforced with P-FGM and E-FGM plates subjected to an arbitrarily positioned point load, or two symmetrical point loads, was presented using the linear elastic theory. The presence of pores in the reinforcing plate distributed in several forms was also taken into account. For this purpose, we analyze the effects of porosity and its distribution shape on the interracial normal and shear stresses of an FGM beam reinforced with an FRP plate under different types of load. Comparisons of the proposed model with existing analytical solutions in the literature confirm the feasibility and accuracy of this new approach. The influence of different parameters on the interfacial behavior of reinforced concrete beams reinforced with functionally graded porous plates is further examined in this parametric study using the proposed model. From the results obtained in this study, we can say that interface stress is significantly affected by several factors, including the pores present in the reinforcing plate and their distribution shape. Additionally, we can conclude from this study that reinforcement systems with composite plates are very effective in improving the flexural response of reinforced RC beams.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.447-476
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• 2024

The current research proposes an innovative finite element model established within the context of higher-order beam theory to examine the bending and buckling behaviors of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (FG-CNTRC) beams resting on Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundations. This two-node beam element includes four degrees of freedom per node and achieves inter-element continuity with both C¹ and C⁰ continuities for kinematic variables. The isoparametric coordinate system is implemented to generate the elementary stiffness and geometric matrices as a way to enhance the existing model formulation. The weak variational equilibrium equations are derived from the principle of virtual work. The mechanical properties of FG-CNTRC beams are considered to vary gradually and smoothly over the beam thickness. The current investigation highlights the influence of porosity dispersions through the beam cross-section, which is frequently omitted in previous studies. For this reason, this analysis offers an enhanced comprehension of the mechanical behavior of FG-CNTRC beams under various boundary conditions. Through the comparison of the current results with those published previously, the proposed finite element model demonstrates a high rate of efficiency and accuracy. The estimated results not only refine the precision in the mechanical analysis of FG-CNTRC beams but also offer a comprehensive conceptual model for analyzing the performance of porous composite structures. Moreover, the current results are crucial in various sectors that depend on structural integrity in specific environments.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.21-38
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• 2012

Until recently, successful implementation of ERP systems has been a popular topic among ERP researchers, who have attempted to identify its various contributing factors. None of these efforts, however, explicitly recognize the need to identify disparities that can exist between organizational information requirements and ERP systems. Since ERP systems are in fact "packages" -that is, software programs developed by independent software vendors for sale to organizations that use them-they are designed to meet the general needs of numerous organizations, rather than the unique needs of a particular organization, as is the case with custom-developed software. By adopting standard packages, organizations can substantially reduce many of the potential implementation risks commonly associated with custom-developed software. However, it is also true that the nature of the package itself could be a risk factor as the features and functions of the ERP systems may not completely comply with a particular organization's informational requirements. In this study, based on the organizational memory mismatch perspective that was derived from organizational memory theory and cognitive dissonance theory, we define the nature of disparities, which we call "mismatches," and propose that the mismatch between organizational information requirements and ERP systems is one of the primary determinants in the successful implementation of ERP systems. Furthermore, we suggest that customization efforts as a coping strategy for mismatches can play a significant role in increasing the possibilities of success. In order to examine the contention we propose in this study, we employed a survey-based field study of ERP project team members, resulting in a total of 77 responses. The results of this study show that, as anticipated from the organizational memory mismatch perspective, the mismatch between organizational information requirements and ERP systems makes a significantly negative impact on the implementation success of ERP systems. This finding confirms our hypothesis that the more mismatch there is, the more difficult successful ERP implementation is, and thus requires more attention to be drawn to mismatch as a major failure source in ERP implementation. This study also found that as a coping strategy on mismatch, the effects of customization are significant. In other words, utilizing the appropriate customization method could lead to the implementation success of ERP systems. This is somewhat interesting because it runs counter to the argument of some literature and ERP vendors that minimized customization (or even the lack thereof) is required for successful ERP implementation. In many ERP projects, there is a tendency among ERP developers to adopt default ERP functions without any customization, adhering to the slogan of "the introduction of best practices." However, this study asserts that we cannot expect successful implementation if we don't attempt to customize ERP systems when mismatches exist. For a more detailed analysis, we identified three types of mismatches-Non-ERP, Non-Procedure, and Hybrid. Among these, only Non-ERP mismatches (a situation in which ERP systems cannot support the existing information needs that are currently fulfilled) were found to have a direct influence on the implementation of ERP systems. Neither Non-Procedure nor Hybrid mismatches were found to have significant impact in the ERP context. These findings provide meaningful insights since they could serve as the basis for discussing how the ERP implementation process should be defined and what activities should be included in the implementation process. They show that ERP developers may not want to include organizational (or business processes) changes in the implementation process, suggesting that doing so could lead to failed implementation. And in fact, this suggestion eventually turned out to be true when we found that the application of process customization led to higher possibilities of failure. From these discussions, we are convinced that Non-ERP is the only type of mismatch we need to focus on during the implementation process, implying that organizational changes must be made before, rather than during, the implementation process. Finally, this study found that among the various customization approaches, bolt-on development methods in particular seemed to have significantly positive effects. Interestingly again, this finding is not in the same line of thought as that of the vendors in the ERP industry. The vendors' recommendations are to apply as many best practices as possible, thereby resulting in the minimization of customization and utilization of bolt-on development methods. They particularly advise against changing the source code and rather recommend employing, when necessary, the method of programming additional software code using the computer language of the vendor. As previously stated, however, our study found active customization, especially bolt-on development methods, to have positive effects on ERP, and found source code changes in particular to have the most significant effects. Moreover, our study found programming additional software to be ineffective, suggesting there is much difference between ERP developers and vendors in viewpoints and strategies toward ERP customization. In summary, mismatches are inherent in the ERP implementation context and play an important role in determining its success. Considering the significance of mismatches, this study proposes a new model for successful ERP implementation, developed from the organizational memory mismatch perspective, and provides many insights by empirically confirming the model's usefulness.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.15-31
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• 2008

Objective: This study is a quasi-experimental study by nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design, performed in order to identify whether the program developed on the basis of Ajzen(1988, 1991)'s theory of planned behavior (TPB) for predicting the safety behavior of students of department of dental technology affects intention toward safety behavior and general behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify whether the safety education in laboratories in which knowledge is reinforced on the basis of the TPB theory affects safety behavior. Methodology: The theoretical framework of this study was established on the basis of the TPB by Ajzen(1988, 1991). This study was performed between May 20 and December 5, 2006, and the subjects included 101 in the experimental group and 98 in the control group, a total of 199. The experimental group was educated through six 50-minute sessions (twice a week) for three weeks. The experimental group was pretested, educated, and then asked to answer the pro-questionnaire after finishing the sixth session, but the control group was free from intervention. The research tool in this study was developed by the authors with reference to the process of tool development used in Schifter and Ajzen (1985) based on Ajzen and Fishbein(1980)'s tool development guide. Results: The data were analyzed through SPSS 14.0 version. The reliability test of attitude, subjective norm, perceived norm, intention, and behavior toward safety behavior as TPB variables was calculated of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and general characteristics and the homogeneity test of the experimental and the control groups were analyzed through t test and $X^2$ test. According to the results of the analysis, the experiment group may be higher than the control group after the safety education in the scores of attitude, the subjective norm, the perceived norm, and the intention toward safety behavior as TPB independent variables showed no significant difference, but there was significant difference in the behavior and the knowledge. Meanwhile, according to the results of the pretest and posttest, eleven items in the experimental group and two items in the control group showed significant difference in the behaviors, and twelve in the former and four in the latter were significantly different in the knowledge. Conclusion: The safety education program developed on the basis of TPB was identified to enhance safety behavior and knowledge. Therefore, the safety education program used in this study for students of department of dental technology may be utilized as database for safety education in the department of dental technology.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.95-116
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• 2009

Increasingly the institutional theory has been an important theoretical view of decision making process and IT adoption in many academic researches. This study used the institutional theory as a lens through which we can understand the factors that enable the effective appropriation of advanced information technology. It posits that mimetic, coercive, and normative pressures existing in an institutionalized environment could influence the participation of top managers or decision makers and the involvement of users toward an effective use of IT in their tasks. Since the introduction of IT, organizational members have been using IT in their daily tasks, creating and recreating rules and resources according to their own methods and needs. That is to say, the adaptation process of the IT and outcomes are different among organizations. The previous studies on a diverse use of IT refer to the appropriation of technology from the social technology view. Users appropriate IT through not only technology itself, but also in terms of how they use it or how they make the social practice in their use of it. In this study, the concepts of institutional pressure, appropriation, participation of decision makers, and involvement of users toward the appropriation are explored in the context of the appropriation of the mobile electronic medical record system (M-EMRS) in particularly a hospital setting. Based on the conceptual definition of institutional pressure, participation and involvement, operational measures are reconstructed. Furthermore, the concept of appropriation is measured in the aspect of three sub-constructs-consensus on appropriation, faithful appropriation, and attitude of use. Grounded in the relevant theories to appropriation of IT, we developed a research framework in which the effects of institutional pressure, participation and involvement on the appropriation of IT are analyzed. Within this theoretical framework, we formulated several hypotheses. We developed a second order institutional pressure and appropriation construct. After establishing its validity and reliability, we tested the hypotheses with empirical data from 101 users in 3 hospitals which had adopted and used the M-EMRS. We examined the mediating effect of the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users on the appropriation and empirically validated their relationships. The results show that the mimetic, coercive, and normative institutional pressure has an effect on the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users in the appropriation of IT while the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users have an effect on the appropriation of IT. The results also suggest that the institutional pressure and the participation of decision makers influence the involvement of users toward an appropriation of IT. Our results emphasize the mediating effect of the institutional pressure on the appropriation of IT. Namely, the higher degree of the participation of decision makers and the involvement of users, the more effective appropriation users will represent. These results provide strong support for institutional-based variables as predictors of appropriation. These findings also indicate that organizations should focus on the role of participation of decision makers and the involvement of users for the purpose of effective appropriation, and these are the practical implications of our study. The theoretical contribution of this study is lies in the integrated model of the effect of institutional pressure on the appropriation of IT. The results are consistent with the institutional theory and support previous studies on adaptive structuration theory.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2010

Understanding consumers' preferences and use of media types is imperative for marketing and advertising managers, especially in today's fragmented market. A clear understanding assists managers in making more effective selections of appropriate media outlets, yet individuals' choices of type and use of media are based on a variety of characteristics. This paper examines one personality trait, sensation seeking, which has not appeared in the literature examining "new" media preferences and use. Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined as "the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences" (Zuckerman 1979). Six hypotheses were developed from a review of the literature. Particular attention was given to the Uses and Gratification theory (Katz 1959), which explains various reasons why people choose media types and their motivations for using the different types of media. Current theory suggests that High Sensation Seekers (HSS), due to their needs for novelty, arousal and unconventional content and imagery, would exhibit higher frequency of use of new media. Specifically, we hypothesize that HSS will use the internet more than broadcast (H1a) or print media (H1b) and more than low (LSS) (H2a) or medium sensation seekers (MSS) (H2b). In addition, HSS have been found to be more social and have higher numbers of friends therefore are expected to use social networking websites such as Facebook/MySpace (H3) and chat rooms (H4) more than LSS (a) and MSS (b). Sensation seekers can manifest into a range of behaviors including disinhibition,. It is expected that alternative social networks such as Facebook/MySpace (H5) and chat rooms (H6) will be used more often for those who have higher levels of disinhibition than low (a) or medium (b) levels. Data were collected using an online survey of participants in extreme sports. In order to reach this group, an improved version of a snowball sampling technique, chain-referral method, was used to select respondents for this study. This method was chosen as it is regarded as being effective to reach otherwise hidden population groups (Heckathorn, 1997). A final usable sample of 1108 respondents, which was mainly young (56.36% under 34), male (86.1%) and middle class (58.7% with household incomes over USD 50,000) was consistent with previous studies on sensation seeking. Sensation seeking was captured using an existing measure, the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (Hoyle et al., 2002). Media usage was captured by measuring the self reported usage of various media types. Results did not support H1a and b. HSS did not show higher levels of usage of alternative media such as the internet showing in fact lower mean levels of usage than all the other types of media. The highest media type used by HSS was print media, suggesting that there is a revolt against the mainstream. Results support H2a and b that HSS are more frequent users of the internet than LSS or MSS. Further analysis revealed that there are significant differences in the use of print media between HSS and LSS, suggesting that HSS may seek out more specialized print publications in their respective extreme sport activity. Hypothesis 3a and b showed that HSS use Facebook/MySpace more frequently than either LSS or MSS. There were no significant differences in the use of chat rooms between LSS and HSS, so as a consequence no support for H4a, although significant for MSS H4b. Respondents with varying levels of disinhibition were expected to have different levels of use of Facebook/MySpace and chat-rooms. There was support for the higher levels of use of Facebook/MySpace for those with high levels of disinhibition than low or medium levels, supporting H5a and b. Similarly there was support for H6b, Those with high levels of disinhibition use chat-rooms significantly more than those with medium levels but not for low levels (H6a). The findings are counterintuitive and give some interesting insights for managers. First, although HSS use online media more frequently than LSS or MSS, this groups use of online media is less than either print or broadcast media. The advertising executive should not place too much emphasis on online media for this important market segment. Second, social media, such as facebook/Myspace and chatrooms should be examined by managers as potential ways to reach this group. Finally, there is some implication for public policy by the higher levels of use of social media by those who are disinhibited. These individuals are more inclined to engage in more socially risky behavior which may have some dire implications, e.g. by internet predators or future employers. There is a limitation in the study in that only those who engage in extreme sports are included. This is by nature a HSS activity. A broader population is therefore needed to test if these results hold.