• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.121-129
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• 2011

The completely mixed flow and plug flow (CAP) water quality model was developed for streams with discontinuous flows, a condition that often occurs in low base flow streams with in-stream hydraulic structures, especially during dry seasons. To consider the distinct physical properties of each reach effectively, the CAP model stream network can include both plug flow (PF) segments and completely mixed flow (CMF) segments. Many existing water quality models are capable of simulating various constituents and their interactions in surface water bodies. More complicated models do not necessarily produce more accurate results because of problems in data availability and uncertainties. Due to the complicated and even random nature of environmental forcing functions, it is not possible to construct an ideal model for every situation. Therefore, at present, many governmental level water quality standards and decisions are still based on lumped constituents, such as the carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD), the total nitrogen (TN) or the total phosphorus (TP). In these cases, a model dedicated to predicting the target concentration based on available data may provide as equally accurate results as a general purpose model. The CAP model assumes that its water quality constituents are independent of each other and thus can be applied for any constituent in waters that follow first order reaction kinetics. The CAP model was applied to the Geum River in Korea and tested for CBOD, TN, and TP concentrations. A trial and error method was used for parameter calibration using the field data. The results agreed well with QUAL2EU model predictions.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.268-277
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• 2003

In this paper, we propose a new video watermarking method exploiting the human visual system (HVS) to find effective locations. in the video frames which make the watermark robust and imperceptible simultaneously. In particular, we propose a new HVS-optimized weighting map for hiding the watermark by considering HVS in three different aspects : frequency, spatial, and motion masking effects. The global masking map is modeled by combining the frequency masking, the spatial masking, and the motion masking. In this paper, we use a watermark which is generated by the bitwise exclusive-OR operation between a logo image and a random sequence. The amount of watermarks is weighted by a control parameter. Furthermore, we embed the watermark in the uncompressed video sequence for the general watermarking method available to various coding schemes. Simulation results show that the watermark is imperceptible and the proposed method is good for watermark capacity. It is also demonstrated that the proposed method is robust against various attacks, such as MPEG coding, MPEG re-encoding, and frame attacks.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.771-794
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• 2015

This paper proposes an innovative method for selection of measurement sets in static parameter identification of concrete or steel bridges. This method is proved as a systematic tool to address the first steps of Structural System Identification procedures by observability techniques: the selection of adequate measurement sets. The observability trees show graphically how the unknown estimates are successively calculated throughout the recursive process of the observability analysis. The observability trees can be proved as an intuitive and powerful tool for measurement selection in beam bridges that can also be applied in complex structures, such as cable-stayed bridges. Nevertheless, in these structures, the strong link among structural parameters advises to assume a set of simplifications to increase the tree intuitiveness. In addition, a set of guidelines are provided to facilitate the representation of the observability trees in this kind of structures. These guidelines are applied in bridges of growing complexity to explain how the characteristics of the geometry of the structure (e.g. deck inclination, type of pylon-deck connection, or the existence of stay cables) affect the observability trees. The importance of the observability trees is justified by a statistical analysis of measurement sets randomly selected. This study shows that, in the analyzed structure, the probability of selecting an adequate measurement set with a minimum number of measurements at random is practically negligible. Furthermore, even bigger measurement sets might not provide adequate SSI of the unknown parameters. Finally, to show the potential of the observability trees, a large-scale concrete cable-stayed bridge is also analyzed. The comparison with the number of measurements required in the literature shows again the advantages of using the proposed method.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.339-352
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• 2014

This paper discusses the appropriate duration for basic gust wind speeds in wind loading codes and standards, and in wind engineering generally. Although various proposed definitions are discussed, the 'moving average' gust duration has been widely accepted internationally. The commonly-specified gust duration of 3-seconds, however, is shown to have a significant effect on the high-frequency end of the spectrum of turbulence, and may not be ideally suited for wind engineering purposes. The effective gust durations measured by commonly-used anemometer types are discussed; these are typically considerably shorter than the 'standard' duration of 3 seconds. Using stationary random process theory, the paper gives expected peak factors, $g_u$, as a function of the non-dimensional parameter ($T/{\tau}$), where T is the sample, or reference, time, and ${\tau}$ is the gust duration, and a non-dimensional mean wind speed, $\bar{U}.T/L_u$, where $\bar{U}$ is a mean wind speed, and $L_u$ is the integral length scale of turbulence. The commonly-used Durst relationship, relating gusts of various durations, is shown to correspond to a particular value of turbulence intensity $I_u$, of 16.5%, and is therefore applicable to particular terrain and height situations, and hence should not be applied universally. The effective frontal areas associated with peak gusts of various durations are discussed; this indicates that a gust of 3 seconds has an equivalent frontal area equal to that of a tall building. Finally a generalized gust response factor format, accounting for fluctuating and resonant along-wind loading of structures, applicable to any code is presented.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.6
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• pp.677-691
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• 2018

Reliability assessment of complex structures using simulation methods is time-consuming. Thus, surrogate models are usually employed to reduce computational cost. AK-MCS is a surrogate-based Active learning method combining Kriging and Monte-Carlo Simulation for structural reliability analysis. This paper proposes three modifications of the AK-MCS method to reduce the number of calls to the performance function. The first modification is related to the definition of an initial Design of Experiments (DoE). In the original AK-MCS method, an initial DoE is created by a random selection of samples among the Monte Carlo population. Therefore, samples in the failure region have fewer chances to be selected, because a small number of samples are usually located in the failure region compared to the safe region. The proposed method in this paper is based on a uniform selection of samples in the predefined domain, so more samples may be selected from the failure region. Another important parameter in the AK-MCS method is the size of the initial DoE. The algorithm may not predict the exact limit state surface with an insufficient number of initial samples. Thus, the second modification of the AK-MCS method is proposed to overcome this problem. The third modification is relevant to the type of regression trend in the AK-MCS method. The original AK-MCS method uses an ordinary Kriging model, so the regression part of Kriging model is an unknown constant value. In this paper, the effect of regression trend in the AK-MCS method is investigated for a benchmark problem, and it is shown that the appropriate choice of regression type could reduce the number of calls to the performance function. A stepwise approach is also presented to select a suitable trend of the Kriging model. The numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed modifications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.149-155
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• 2008

To evaluate the formulae for the stability of riprap, the formulae of Isbash, California division of highway, Netherlands, ASCE, Pilarczk, and Maynord are comparatively analysed with the experimental results. The critical velocity which initiates the motion of riprap is increased with the weight and the size in diameter and the riprap size with water depth, Froude number, shear velocity with mean velocity, Shields parameter have great correlation with them. The results by 6 formulae are overestimated in riprap size in diameter and the result by Maynord formula proposed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates rather correct. The results by Isbash, Netherlands, and Pilarczk are overestimated in riprap weight but the result by California division of highway formula coincides with experimental result. In the experimental results of model riprap artificially made by gypsum with light weight density, the critical velocity is increased with shape factors. The critical velocity appears greater in regular arrangement of model riprap than in random arrangement of it. Therefore the shape factor and the degree of interlocking are an important parameters in riprap stability.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.16A no.6
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• pp.509-518
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• 2009

In this paper, a mechanism that produces an approximation edges minimum spanning tree swiftly using virtual nodes called portals dividing given edges into same distance sub-edges. The approximation edges minimum spanning tree can be used in many useful areas as connecting communication lines, road networks and railroad systems. For 3000 random input edges, when portal distance is 0.3, tree building time decreased 29.74% while the length of the produced tree increased 1.8% comparing with optimal edge minimum spanning tree in our experiment. When portal distance is 0.75, tree building time decreased 39.96% while the tree length increased 2.96%. The result shows this mechanism might be well applied to the applications that may allow a little length overhead, but should produce an edge connecting tree in short time. And the proposed mechanism can produce an approximation edge minimum spanning tree focusing on tree length or on building time to meet user requests by adjusting portal distance or portal discard ratio as parameter.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.675-678
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• 2015

Background: There are several validated risk factors for breast cancer. However the legitimacy of elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG) is not well established. This study was designed to assess this parameter as a risk factor for breast cancer among pre- and post-menopausal women. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted at Department of Biochemistry, University of Karachi from June 2010 to August 2014. Simple random sampling technique was used to collect data of study subjects comprising 175 diagnosed breast cancer patients with positive histopathology from Breast Clinic, surgical unit-1, Civil Hospital, Karachi and 175 healthy controls from various screening programs. Blood samples were analyzed for FBG and serum insulin. Results: FBG, HOMA-IR, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly raised in breast cancer cases when compared to control subjects. Cases and controls were further categorized in to two groups using cutoff value of 110mg/dl to distinguish subjects into normal fasting glucose (<110mg/dl) and having impaired fasting glucose (${\geq}110-{\leq}125mg/dl$) or diabetes (${\geq}126mg/dl$). Odds ratios were found to be 1.57, 2.15 and 1.17 in overall, pre-menopausal and post-menopausal groups, respectively. (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: A statistically significant risk of breast cancer exists in women having elevated fasting blood glucose levels, corresponding to prediabetes and diabetes, among pre and postmenopausal ages, with comparatively greater effects in the premenopausal group.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.203-211
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• 2009

In flows with deformation rates larger than the inverse Rouse time of the polymer chain, chains are stretched and their confining tubes become increasingly anisotropic. The pressures exerted by a polymer chain on the walls of an anisotropic confinement are anisotropic and limit chain stretch. In the Molecular Stress Function (MSF) model, chain stretch is balanced by an interchain pressure term, which is inverse proportional to the $3^{rd}$ power of the tube diameter and is characterized by a tube diameter relaxation time. We show that the tube diameter relaxation time is equal to 3 times the Rouse time in the limit of small chain stretch. At larger deformations, we argue that chain stretch is balanced by two restoring tensions with weights of 1/3 in the longitudinal direction of the tube (due to a linear spring force) and 2/3 in the lateral direction (due to the nonlinear interchain pressure), both of which are characterized by the Rouse time. This approach is shown to be in quantitative agreement with transient and steady-state elongational viscosity data of two monodisperse polystyrene melts without using any nonlinear parameter, i.e. solely based on the linear-viscoelastic characterization of the melts. The same approach is extended to model experimental data of four styrene-butadiene random copolymer melts in shear flow. Thus for monodisperse linear polymer melts, for the first time a constitutive equation is presented which allows quantitative modeling of nonlinear extension and shear rheology on the basis of linear-viscoelastic data alone.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.665-683
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• 2006

The strength behaviors of Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Composites can be greatly influenced by the properties of constitutive materials, the laminate structures, and load conditions etc, accompanied by many uncertainty factors. So the reliability study on FRP is an important subject of research. Many achievements have been made in reliability studies based on the probability theory, but little has been done on the roles played by fuzzy variables. In this paper, a fuzzy reliability model for FRP laminates is established first, in which the loads are considered as random variables and the strengths as fuzzy variables. Then a numerical model is developed to assess the fuzzy reliability. The Monte Carlo simulation method is utilized to compute the reliability of laminas under the maximum stress criterion. In the second part of this paper, a generalized fuzzy reliability model (GFRM) is proposed. By virtue of the fact that there may exist a series of states between the failure state and the function state, a fuzzy assumption for the structure state together with the probabilistic assumption for strength parameters is adopted to construct the GFRM of composite materials. By defining a generalized limit state function, the problem is converted to the conventional reliability formula that enables the first-order reliability method (FORM) applicable in calculating the reliability index. Several examples are worked out to show the validity of the models and the efficiency of the methods proposed in this paper. The parameter sensitivity analysis shows that some of the mean values of the strength parameters have great influence on the laminated composites' reliability. The differences resulting from the application of different failure criteria and different fuzzy assumptions are also discussed. It is concluded that the GFRM is feasible to use, and can provide an effective and synthetic method to evaluate the reliability of a system with different types of uncertainty factors.