• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.319-328
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• 2022

Ensuring the integrity of a country's infrastructure is necessary to protect surrounding communities in case of disaster. Embankment dam systems across the US are an essential component of infrastructure, referred to as lifeline structures. Embankment dams are crucial to the survival of life and if these structures were to fail, it is imperative that states be prepared. Southern California is particularly concerned with the stability of embankment dams due to the frequent seismic activity that occurs in the state. The purpose of this study was to create a numerical model of an existing embankment dam simulated under seismic loads using previously recorded data. The embankment dam that was studied in Los Angeles, California was outfitted with accelerometers provided by the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program that have recorded strong motion data for decades and was processed by the Center for Engineering Strong Motion Data to be used in future engineering applications. The accelerometer data was then used to verify the numerical model that was created using finite element modeling software RS2. The results from this study showed Puddingstone Dam's simulated response was consistent with that experienced during previous earthquakes and therefore validated the predicted behavior from the numerical model. The study also identified areas of weakness and instability on the dam that posed the greatest risk for its failure. Following this study, the numerical model can now be used to predict the dam's response to future earthquakes, develop plans for its remediation, and for emergency response in case of disaster.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2013.01a
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• pp.459-466
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• 2013

Risk exists in all construction projects and resides among the collection of subcontractors and their array of individual activities. Wherever risk resides, the interrelation of participants to one another becomes paramount for the way in which risk is measured. Inherent risk becomes recognizable and quantifiable within network schedules in the form of consuming float - the flexibility to absorb delays. Allocating, owning, valuing, and expending such float in network schedules has been debated since the inception of the critical path method itself. This research investigates the foundational element of a three-part approach that examines how float can be traded as a commodity, a concept whose promise remains unfulfilled for lack of a holistic approach. The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) of financial portfolio theory, which describes the relationship between risk and expected return of individual stocks, is explored as an analogy to quantify the inherent risk of the participants in construction projects. The inherent relationship between them and their impact on overall schedule performance, defined as schedule risk -the likelihood of failing to meet schedule plans and the effect of such failure, is matched with the use of CAPM's beta component - the risk correlation measure of an individual stock to that of the entire market - to determine parallels with respect to the inner workings and risks represented by each entity or activity within a schedule. This correlation is the initial theoretical extension that is required to identify where risk resides within construction projects, allocate and commoditize it, and achieve actual tradability.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.419-428
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• 2024

Prefabricated partially-encased composite (PEC) structural component is widely used in construction industry due to its superior structural performance and easy assembly characteristic. However, the solid web in traditional PEC components tends to split concrete into two halves, thus potentially reduces structural integrity and requires double concrete pouring. To overcome the above disadvantages, a new PEC beam with open-web π-shaped steel is proposed in this paper. Four open-web PEC beams with varying sectional height, flange thickness and web void rate were constructed and tested under flexural loads. During experimental tests, all beams exhibited typical flexural failure modes with strong moment capacities and excellent ductility. Owing to the unique construction form of web opening, steel-concrete bonding properties were enhanced and very small relative steel-concrete slips were observed. Experimental results also showed that the flexural capacity of such PEC beams increased with the increase of the sectional height and flange thickness, while was not affected by the web void rate. At last, a flexural capacity formula of the open-web PEC beam was proposed based on the whole section plastic rule. The formula results agreed well with experimental results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1472-1479
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• 2024

Cyber-Physical Energy Systems (CPESs) integrate cyber and hardware components to ensure a reliable and safe physical power production and supply. Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) add uncertainty to energy demand that can be dealt with flexible operation (e.g., load-following) of CPES; at the same time, scenarios that could result in severe consequences due to both component stochastic failures and aging of the cyber system of CPES (commonly overlooked) must be accounted for Operation & Maintenance (O&M) planning. In this paper, we make use of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to search for the optimal O&M strategy that, not only considers the actual system hardware components health conditions and their Remaining Useful Life (RUL), but also the possible accident scenarios caused by the failures and the aging of the hardware and the cyber components, respectively. The novelty of the work lies in embedding the cyber aging model into the CPES model of production planning and failure process; this model is used to help the RL agent, trained with Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Imitation Learning (IL), finding the proper rejuvenation timing for the cyber system accounting for the uncertainty of the cyber system aging process. An application is provided, with regards to the Advanced Lead-cooled Fast Reactor European Demonstrator (ALFRED).

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.451-460
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• 2024

Hollow reinforced concrete columns confined with GFRP tubes (GRCH) are composite members composed of the outer GFRP tube, the PVC or other plastic tube as the inner tube, and the reinforced concrete between two tubes. Because of their high ductility, light weight, corrosion resistance and convenient construction, many researchers pay attention to the composite members. However, there are few studies on GRCH members under eccentric compression compared with those under axial compression. Eight hollow columns were tested under eccentric compression, including one axial compression column and seven eccentric compression columns. The failure modes and force mechanisms of GRCH members were analyzed, considering the varying in hollow ratio, reinforcement ratio and eccentricity. The test results showed that configuring steel bars can greatly increase the bearing capacity and ductility of the members. Each component (GFRP tube, concrete, steel bar) had good deformation coordination and the strength of each material could be fully utilized. But for specimens with larger eccentricity ratio (e_r=0.4) and larger hollow ratio (χ=0.55), the restraining effect of GFRP tube on concrete was significantly decreased.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2005

Purpose : To prospectively evaluate the use of positron emission tomography with the glucose analog fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) to deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) to predict disease-free survival (DFS) after concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in patients with non-disseminated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and Methods : We studied 41 patients with non-disseminated NPC scheduled to undergo platinum-based CCRT were eligible for this study. Patients were studied by FDG-PET prior to the CCRT. FDG uptake of tumors were measured with the maximal standardized uptake value (SUV). Results : Complete response rate was $100\%$. In ten patients who presented with any component of treatment failure, the median $SUV_{max}$ was 8.55 (range: $2.49\~14.81$) in any component of failure and the median $SUV_{max}$ was 5.48 (range: $2.31\~26.07$) In the remaining patients without any such failure. Patients having tumors with high FDG uptake had a significantly lower 3-year DFS ($51\%\;{\nu}91\%$, p=0.0070) compared with patients having low uptake tumors. Conclusion : FDG uptake, as measured by the SUV, has potential value in predicting DFS in NPC treated by CCRT, High FDG uptake may be a useful parameter for Identifying patients requiring more aggressive treatment approaches.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.309-322
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• 2007

This study deals with the irradiation effects on some selected components which are being used in an Advanced Spent Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP). Irradiation test components have a higher priority from the aspect of their reliability because their degradation or failure is able to critically affect the performance of an ACP equipment. Components that we chose for the irradiation tests were the AC servo motor, potentiometer, thermocouples, accelerometer and CCD camera. ACP facility has a number of AC servo motors to move the joints of a manipulator and to operate process equipment. Potentiometers are used for a measurement of several joint angles in a manipulator. Thermocouples are used for a temperature measurement in an electrolytic reduction reactor, a vol-oxidation reactor and a molten salt transfer line. An accelerometer is installed in a slitting machine to forecast an incipient failure during a slitting process. A small CCD camera is used for an in-situ vision monitoring between ACP campaigns. We made use of a gamma-irradiation facility with cobalt-60 source for an irradiation test on the above components because gamma rays from among various radioactive rays are the most significant for electric, electronic and robotic components. Irradiation tests were carried out for enough long time for total doses to be over expected threshold values. Other components except the CCD camera showed a very high radiation hardening characteristic. Characteristic changes at different total doses were investigated and threshold values to warrant at least their performance without a deterioration were evaluated as a result of the irradiation tests.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2004

In this study, a comparison was made between the resulting behaviors of scaled model test and particle flow analysis for blasting demolition of a reinforced concrete structure. For the test and analysis, a progressive failure of a five-story structure was considered. The dimension analysis was carried out to properly scale down the real structure into the laboratory size. The test model was made of the mixture of gypsum, sand and water along with soldering lead to analogy reinforcing steel bars. The ratio of mixing components was chosen to best represent the scaled down strength and deformation modulus. The columns and girders of the structure were precasted in the laboratory and assembled right before the blasting test. The numerical analysis of the blasting demolition was carried out using PFC2D (Particle Flow Analysis 2-Dimension by Itasca). The results of the blasting of concrete lahmen structure showed roughly identical demolition behavior between scaled model test and numerical test. For the blasting of the reinforced concrete structure, the results were more identical and closer to the real demolition behavior, since the demolition behavior was better represented in this case due to the increased tensile strength of the component.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.102-109
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• 2019

This paper describes the design of the circuit card assembly to eliminate the communication error on a servo control unit installed in the automated resupply vehicle K56. K56 is a weapon system that automates the supply and loading of ammunition on the K-55A1 self-propelled artillery. As the core item responsible for ammunition movement control, the servo control unit is required to have good communication stability and reliability, but the conventional unit has recognized a problem that communication error intermittently occurs, resulting in an emergency stop phenomenon. We analyzed the communication signal of the servo control unit and identified the failure cause of the circuit card assembly to solve this problem. In addition, the signal interference in data/address line of the circuit card assembly was confirmed through analysis of the failure cause, and redesigned to avoid the interference, such as adjustment of the distance between communication lines and position change. Finally, the proposed cause analysis and redesign were verified through the component of servo control unit and attachment test on K56. We expected these study results to be used as reference for the design of other similar items.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.542-548
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• 2003

The present study was aimed to investigate whether glycyrrhizin, which is the major component of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, has an antioxidant effect and regulatory effect on Na,K-ATPase in gentamicin-induced acute renal failure (ARF) rats . It is well known that reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical, are main pathophysiological factor in gentamicin-induced ARF. Glycyrrhizin showed potent in vitro antioxidant activity, especially superoxide scavenging activity, in a dose-dependent manner. Plasma lipid peroxide level was restored to normal level by oral administration of glycyrrhizin (200 mg/kg) in the gentamicin-induced ARF rats. The expression of Na,K-ATPase α1 subunit was restored in the gentamicin-induced ARF rats by administration of glycyrrhizin, whereas β1 subunit was not restored. The renal functional parameters including urine volume, cleatinine clearance, urine osmolality, solute-free water reabroption were also partially restored in gentamicin-ARF rats by administration of glycyrrhizin. Taken together, the amelioration of renal functions and the expression of sodium pump by administration of glycyrrhizin in the gentamicin-induced ARF was appear to be mediated by the scavenging of ROS.