• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.83-89
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• 2010

Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility for the early diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis by the reconstruction of three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging with a tissue phantom. Methods: Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (l = 532 nm) was applied to a tissue phantom to generate photoacoustic waves, and the acquired photoacoustic signals at different positions around the sample were used to recombine the distribution of the optical absorption and the images were subsequently generated through a reconstruction algorithm. Results: From the acquired photoacoustic signals, the surface andinner core of the phantom was clearly distinguished. Furthermore, the back-projection algorithm was able to reconstruct two-dimensional and three-dimensional photoacoustic images that contained the optical absorption property information of the tissue phantom. Conclusion: The results indicate that the photoacoustic imaging technique has many advantages such as high optical contrast and high acoustic resolution. The acquired images can be used for the early diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis by the structural information obtained from the region of interest.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.133-140
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• 2001

Recently, to assure the integrity of a structural components such as piping pressure vessels and thinning structure, Lamb wave inspection technique has been used in material evaluation. It is very important to select the optimal Lamb wave mode and to analyze the signal accurately because of its unique dispersion properties grnerating several modes within the speci-men. It this study, the feasibility of material evaluation applications using wavelet analysis of Lamb wave has been veir-fied experimentally. These results show as follows; 1)dispersion characteristic of each mode in dispersion curve is demon-strated that A0 mode propagating material surface is useful mode having the lest energy loss and not sensitive to surface condition. 2) it can be detected even the micro defect ($1\times2mm$) fabricated in ultrasonic probe flaw distance (290mm) to axis direction. 3) the wavelet transform which is called "time-frequency analysis" shows the Lamb wave propagation due to the change of materials characterization can be evaluated at each frequency and experimental group velocity of Lamb wave agrees quite well with that of simulated dispersion curve.ion curve.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.215-244
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• 2004

There is an ever-increasing demand for assessment of earthquake effects on transportation structures, emphasised by the crippling consequences of recent earthquakes hitting developed countries reliant on road transportation. In this work, vulnerability functions for RC bridges are derived analytically using advanced material characterisation, high quality earthquake records and adaptive inelastic dynamic analysis techniques. Four limit states are employed, all based on deformational quantities, in line with recent development of deformation-based seismic assessment. The analytically-derived vulnerability functions are then compared to a data set comprising observational damage data from the Northridge (California 1994) and Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe 1995) earthquakes. The good agreement gives some confidence in the derived formulation that is recommended for use in seismic risk assessment. Furthermore, by varying the dimensions of the prototype bridge used in the study, and the span lengths supported by piers, three more bridges are obtained with different overstrength ratios (ratio of design-to-available base shear). The process of derivation of vulnerability functions is repeated and the ensuing relationships compared. The results point towards the feasibility of deriving scaling factors that may be used to obtain the set of vulnerability functions for a bridge with the knowledge of a 'generic' function and the overstrength ratio. It is demonstrated that this simple procedure gives satisfactory results for the case considered and may be used in the future to facilitate the process of deriving analytical vulnerability functions for classes of bridges once a generic relationship is established.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.237-252
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• 2014

The use of composite structures is increasingly present in civil building works. Composite Box Girder Bridges (CBGB), particularly, are study of effect of shear connector's numbers and distribution on the behavior of CBGBs is submitted. A Predicti structures consisting of two materials, both connected by metal devices known as shear connectors. The main functions of these connectors are to allow for the joint behavior of the girder-deck, to restrict longitudinal slipping and uplifting at the element's interface and to take shear forces. This paper presents 3D numerical models of CBGBs to simulate their actual structural behavior, with emphasis on the girder-deck interface. Additionally, a Prediction of several FE models is assessed against the results acquired from a field test. A number of factors are considered, and confirmed through experiments, especially full shear connections, which are obviously essential in composite box girder. A good representation for shear connectors by suitable element type is considered. Numerical predictions of vertical displacements at critical sections fit fairly well with those evaluated experimentally. The agreement between the FE models and the experimental models show that the FE model can aid engineers in design practices of box girder bridges. Preliminary results indicate that number of shear studs can be significantly reduced to facilitate adoption of a new arrangement in modeling CBGBs with full composition. However, a further feasibility study to investigate the practical and economic aspects of such a remedy is recommended, and it may represent partial composition in such modeling.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.359-370
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• 2017

This study presents a particle swarm optimization algorithm integrated with weighted particle concept and improved fly-back technique. The rationale behind this integration is to utilize the affirmative properties of these new terms to improve the search capability of the standard particle swarm optimizer. Improved fly-back technique introduced in this study can be a proper alternative for widely used penalty functions to handle existing constraints. This technique emphasizes the role of the weighted particle on escaping from trapping into local optimum(s) by utilizing a recursive procedure. On the other hand, it guaranties the feasibility of the final solution by rejecting infeasible solutions throughout the optimization process. Additionally, in contrast with penalty method, the improved fly-back technique does not contain any adjustable terms, thus it does not inflict any extra ad hoc parameters to the main optimizer algorithm. The improved fly-back approach, as independent unit, can easily be integrated with other optimizers to handle the constraints. Consequently, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method on solving the truss weight minimization problems with discrete variables, several benchmark examples taken from the technical literature are examined using the presented method. The results obtained are comparatively reported through proper graphs and tables. Based on the results acquired in this study, it can be stated that the proposed method (integrated particle swarm optimizer, iPSO) is competitive with other metaheuristic algorithms in solving this class of truss optimization problems.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.275-284
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• 2020

The scope of this study is the comparison between experimental results of tests performed on a base isolated building using helical wire rope isolators (WRs), and results of Nonlinear Response History Analyses (NRHAs) performed using SAP 2000, a commercial software for structural analysis. In the first stage of this research, WRs have been tested under shear deformation beyond their linear range of deformation, and analytical models have been derived to describe the nonlinear response of the bearings under different directions of loading. On the following stage, shaking table tests have been carried out on a 1/3 scale steel model isolated at the base by means of curved surface sliders (CSS) and WRs. The response of the structure under ground motion excitation has been compared to that obtained using numerical analyses in SAP 2000. The feasibility of modelling the nonlinear behavior of the tested isolation layer using multilinear link elements embedded in SAP 2000 is discussed in this paper, together with the advantages of using WRs as supplemental devices for CSSs base isolated structures.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1990.10b
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• pp.1361-1364
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• 1990

In order to tackle global environmental problems such as destruction of the ozone layer or climatic changes due to atmospheric temperature increase, the acquisition of plentiful and precise data is necessary. Therefore, a means of conducting long-lasting high-resolution measurements over broad areas is required. A feasibility study has been made on a high altitude (20km), super-pressured helium-filled PLTA (Powered Ligher-than-Air) vehicle as an ideal platform for environmental observation. It has a long service life and carries a larger payload than an artificial satellite. This PLTA platform uses an electric propulsion system to maintain position in space against wind currents. The thruster is driven by solar power acquired from solar cells. For night use, solar energy is stored in regenerative fuel cells. This study focuses on energy balance and structural analysis of the hull and platform. The platform is capable of conducting high resolution remote sensing as well as having the capability to serve as a telecommunications relay. The platform could replace a number of ground-based telecommunications relay facilities, guaranteeing sufficient radio frequency intensity to secure good quality telecommunication transmittal. The altitude at which the platform resides has the lowest wind flow in the lower stratosphere, and permits viewing from the ground within a 1,000km range. Because this altitude is much lower than that required of an artificial satellite, the measuring resolution is a couple of thousand times higher than with artificial satellites. The platform can also be used to chase typhoons and observe them from their sources in tropical regions.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.45-56
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to develop the model including multiple causal relationship between factors to evaluate overall user satisfaction and develop an objective method to quantify the impacts and scores of each qualitative factors on overall user satisfaction using Structural Equation Model(SEM) and also test the feasibility to construct a comprehensive website evaluation model including qualitative and quantitative factors. The SEM model used 2 qualitative factors of usability and esthetic factors for the evaluation factors of user satisfaction and select 4 attributes of each factors using factor analysis. 3 shopping mall sites were evaluated to construct the SEM model, and 155 subjects participated the website evaluation using the walk-through and face-to-face survey method. Analysis results showed that the SEM model was statistically significant for all the 3 websites evaluated. Both the usability and esthetic factors showed significant effects to user satisfaction of websites and have positive correlation. The user satisfaction was more effected by the usability factor than esthetic factors, and the simplification and harmonization were the most critical attributes of the usability and esthetic factors.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.316-320
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• 2010

We report an application of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) for identifying counterfeit bank notes. The depth-resolved imaging capability of FF-OCT was used for tomographic identification of superficially-identical objects. By retrieving the internal structures of the security feature (cash hologram) of an original banknote, we could demonstrate the feasibility of FF-OCT to identify counterfeit money. The FF-OCT images showed that the hologram consisted of micron scale multi-coated layers including an air gap. Therefore, it is expected that FF-OCT has potential as a new non-invasive tool to discern imitation of currency, and it would find applications in a wide field of counterfeit sciences.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.393-402
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• 2017

Many vibration-based global damage detection methods attempt to extract modal parameters from vibration signals as the main structural features to detect damage. The local flexibility method is one promising method that requires only the first few fundamental modes to detect not only the location but also the extent of damage. Generally, the mode shapes in the lateral degree of freedom are extracted from lateral vibration signals and then used to detect damage for a beam structure. In this study, a new approach which employs the mode shapes in the rotary degree of freedom obtained from the macro-strain vibration signals to detect damage of a beam structure is proposed. In order to facilitate the application of mode shapes in the rotary degree of freedom for beam structures, the local flexibility method is modified and utilized. The proposed rotary approach is verified by numerical and experimental studies of simply supported beams. The results illustrate potential feasibility of the proposed new idea. Compared to the method that uses lateral measurements, the proposed rotary approach seems more robust to noise in the numerical cases considered. The sensor configuration could also be more flexible and customized for a beam structure. Primarily, the proposed approach seems more sensitive to damage when the damage is close to the supports of simply supported beams.