• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.15-20
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• 2009

The number of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles have increased gradually by virtue of korea government's urban air quality improvement policy since 1998. Although the use of CNG as transportation fuel gives environmental benefits, there is a possibility of huge accidents from unexpected fire. Therefore, needs for the guarantee of safety are indispensible for the reliable operation of CNG vehicles. A check valve is a safety device which prevents leakage of the pressurized fuel charged in a fuel tank. Durability of this component should be guaranteed in spite of repeated operation. This research has performed durability tests of a CNG check valve regarding the repeated usage, extreme chattering, and the effect of compressor oil.Although a check valve used for CNG vehicle satisfies validation requirements in the test results, it has been found that problem in the function of leakage prevention in a check valve could take place in the case of prolonged exposure to compressor oil.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.467-480
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• 2024

The mechanical properties and durability of concrete pavements may be degraded in extreme situations, resulting in the need for partial repair or total replacement. During the past few decades, there has been a growing body of research on substituting a portion of Portland cement with alternative cementitious materials for improving concrete properties. In this study, two different configurations of powdered and granulated blast furnace slag were implemented, replacing fine aggregates (by 12 wt.%) and Portland cement (by 0, 20, 40, and 60 wt.%) in the making of roller-compacted concrete (RCC) mixes. The specimens were fabricated to investigate the mechanical properties and durability specifications, involving freeze-thaw, salt-scaling, and water absorption resistance. The experimental results indicated that the optimum mechanical properties of RCC mixes could be achieved when 20-40 wt.% of powdered slag was added to concrete mixes containing slag aggregates. Accordingly, the increases in compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths were 45, 50, and 28%, in comparison to the control specimen at the age of 90 days. Also, incorporating 60 wt.% of powdered slag gave rise to the optimum mix plan in terms of freeze-thaw resistance such that a negligible strength degradation was experienced after 300 cycles. In addition, the optimal moisture content of the proposed RCC mixtures was measured to be in the range of 5 to 6.56%. Furthermore, the partial addition of granulated slag was found to be more advantageous than using entirely natural sand in the improvement of the mechanical and durability characteristics of all mixture plans.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.201-218
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• 2018

In this study, the effects of magnesium sulfate on the mechanical performance and the durability of confined and unconfined geopolymer concrete (GPC) specimens were investigated. The carbon and basalt fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) fabrics with 1-layer and 3-layers were used to evaluate the performances of the specimens under static and cyclic loading in the ambient and magnesium sulfate environments. In addition, the use of FRP materials as a rehabilitation technique was also studied. For the geopolymerization process of GPC specimens, the alkaline activator has selected a mixture of sodium silicate solution ($Na_2SiO_3$) and sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) with a ratio ($Na_2SiO_3/NaOH$) of 2.5. In addition to GPC specimens, an ordinary concrete (NC) specimens were also produced as a reference specimens and some of the GPC and NC specimens were immersed in 5% magnesium sulfate solutions. The mechanical performance and the durability of the specimens were evaluated by visual appearance, weight change, static and cyclic loading, and failure modes of the specimens under magnesium sulfate and ambient environments. In addition, the microscopic changes of the specimens due to sulfate attack were also assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the macroscale behavior of the specimens. Results indicated that geopolymer specimens produced with nano-silica and fly ash showed superior performance than the NC specimens in the sulfate environment. In addition, confined specimens with FRP fabrics significantly improved the compressive strength, ductility and durability resistance of the specimens and the improvement was found higher with the increased number of FRP layers. Specimens wrapped with carbon FRP fabrics showed better mechanical performance and durability properties than the specimens wrapped with basalt FRP fabrics. Both FRP materials can be used as a rehabilitation material in the sulfate environment.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.531-539
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• 2019

The development of cost-effective electrocatalysts with high durability is one of the most important challenges for the commercialization of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). The durability of the electrocatalyst has been studied in terms of structural change in the active metal and the support. In particular, in fuel cell vehicles, degradation of the carbon-based support is known to have a significant effect on the electrocatalyst deterioration since the start-up/shut-down cycle is frequently repeated. The requirements for the support of the electrocatalyst include high surface area, electrical conductivity, chemical stability, and so on. In this study, we propose the evaluation methods for choosing better support materials and present the physicochemical properties that promising carbon supports should have. Three kinds of carbon materials with different crystallinity are compared. From in-depth study using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and accelerated stress test, it is clearly confirmed that the durability of carbon-supported electrocatalysts is closely related to the physicochemical properties of the carbon supports.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.211-217
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• 2017

In this study, we investigated to the heat transfer performance of coating nano-structure with various shapes and patterns on the heat transfer surface. As a result of the measurement of the 3D nano shape, it was confirmed that the roughness generally increases when the adhesive is sprayed on the coating surface and finished durability experiment. In the case of TEOS adhesive, the roughness increased by $0.074{\mu}m$, $0.012{\mu}m$ and $0.015{\mu}m$, and the contact angle decreased $12.64^{\circ}$, $1.31^{\circ}$, $9.84^{\circ}$ at the coating time of 120 seconds, 180 seconds and 240 seconds, respectively. In the case of PVA adhesive, the roughness increased by $0.069{\mu}m$, $0.056{\mu}m$ and $0.03{\mu}m$, and the contact angle decreased $2.85^{\circ}$, $4.82^{\circ}$, $6.96^{\circ}$ at the coating time of 120 seconds, 180 seconds and 240 seconds, respectively. In the case of DGEBF adhesive, the roughness increased by $0.042{\mu}m$, $0.053{\mu}m$ and $0{\mu}m$, and the contact angle decreased $0.81^{\circ}$ at the coating time of 120 seconds, increased $4.82^{\circ}$, $6.96^{\circ}$ at the coating time of 180 seconds and 240 seconds, respectively. As a result, the durability tends to decrease as more nano-structures are deposited, and 3D nano shapes, contact angles and SEM photographs showed that the performance of the PVA adhesive was superior among the three adhesives.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.72-79
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to draw the improvement plan through the analysis of problems of main stretchers that are being used by the 119 EMS. In order to find out the problems, we used the literature review and analysis, survey questionnaire and we also made full use of KJ method (Kawakita Jiro method, affinity diagram), graph method, and priority matrix method to produce the improvement indicators. The problems of main stretchers are summarized as follows. they are being recognized as part of the emergency vehicle, they have the imperfection of performance verification criteria, and they cause the injuries of paramedics and patients accidents in operation. The indicators such as the ease of operation, the high performance, the multi-function, the driving performance, the durability and the lightweight, was produced to improve the problems. The results of the interconnection analysis and the applying priority matrix method on the indicators are the ease of operation ${\rightarrow}$ the multi-function ${\rightarrow}$ the driving performance ${\rightarrow}$ the high performance ${\rightarrow}$ the durability and the lightweight in order of importance.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.27-41
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• 2022

In a fiercely competitive environment, quality is a key factor that enables dashboard camera makers to maintain their competitive advantage. Quality affects consumer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and firm performance. Therefore, to remain competitive, it is important that manufacturers maintain product quality that meets consumer expectations. To this end, it is necessary to investigate customer preferences and product performance in terms of product quality and to properly allocate resources to improve the quality level such that the firm can maintain a competitive advantage. In this paper, we proposed the various ways in which manufacturing firms can determine which quality dimensions need improvement in order to secure competitiveness. To this end, we analyzed a case study of Urive to develop a quality improvement strategy through importance performance competitor analysis (IPCA). Urive's IPCA results showed that 14 quality dimensions, namely performance, size, price, ease of use, country of origin, manufacturer, brand, product certificate, warranty, distribution channel, market share, reliability, durability, and conformance, were not absolutely competitive compared with those of Mando, Inavi, and Finevu. In terms of color, Urive had an absolute competitive advantage over Mando, but not Inavi and Finevu. Urive's appearance was more competitive than Mando's, but not Inavi's and Finevu's. In terms of advertisement and serviceability, Urive was absolutely less competitive than Mando and Inavi, but had a competitive advantage over Finevu. Therefore, it is necessary to put resources and time as the first priority for performance, reliability, and durability, which have a large performance difference in common among the three brands. The quality dimensions in which resources and time need to be put in second place are price and ease of use, which have a large performance difference in common among the two brands.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.288-294
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• 2009

Various polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) startup procedures were tested to explore possible techniques for reducing performance decay and improving durability during repeated startup-shutdown cycles. The effects of applying a dummy load, which prevents cell reversal by consuming the air at the cathode, on the degradation of a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) were investigated via single cell experiments. The electrochemical results showed that application of a dummy load during the startup procedure significantly reduced the performance decay, the decrease in the electrochemically active surface area (EAS), and the increase in the charge transfer resistance ($R_{ct}$), which resulted in a dramatic improvement in durability. After 1200 startup-shutdown cycles, post-mortem analyses were carried out to investigate the degradation mechanisms via various physicochemical methods including FESEM, an on-line $CO_2$ analysis, EPMA, XRD, FETEM, SAED, FTIR. After 1200 startup-shutdown cycles, severe Pt particle sintering/agglomeration/dissolution and carbon corrosion were observed at the cathode catalyst layer when starting up a PEMFC without a dummy load, which significantly contributed to a loss of Pt surface area, and thus to cell performance degradation. However, applying a dummy load during the startup procedure remarkably mitigated such severe degradations, and should be used to increase the durability of MEAs in PEMFCs. Our results suggest that starting up PEMFCs while applying a dummy load is an effective method for mitigating performance degradation caused by reverse current under a repetition of unprotected startup cycles.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.557-570
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of teachers' creative personality and self-efficacy on their role for young children's creativity improvement. The subjects were 269 teachers who were working at the public or private kindergartens. Measurements consisted of teachers' creativity personality(Park & You, 2000), self-efficacy(Lim, 1999), and teachers' role for young children's creativity improvement(Guliford, 1956). The data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Duncan's post-analysis, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical regression using SPSS 11.0 Program. The results of this research are as follows: first, teachers' creativity personality, teacher's self-efficacy on self-regulation, and the teacher's role for children's creativity improvement had significant differences according to teachers' general background. Second, it appeared that teacher's creativity personality and self-efficacy meaningfully influenced the teacher's role for children's creativity improvement. Teacher's curiosity, and self-efficacy on self-regulation affects teacher's role in improving children's immersion/ durability, flexibility and delicacy.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.71-79
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• 2008

The rebar work is very related to the safety and durability of the building. Recently, the rebar work is produced some serious problems due to the lack of skillful crafts-man and the rising cost of rebar materials. Many papers have dealt with the rebar work of the manufacturing system in plants with a view to improvement those problems. But, the research on the rebar work of the manufacturing system in field is in a insignificant condition. This study presents the following improvement schemes as a result. First, the education strengthening for evaluation on practical affairs, second, the reinforcement of drawing & management in shop drawing and finally the simplification of apartment rebar work in slab. Also, this paper aims at advancing apartment rebar work by the actual condition survey in slab work. The further research will be needed about the whole structure parts such as foundation, wall, girder and rebar truss-deck plate as one of the improvement methods.