• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2008

Ghrelin is a unique peptide hormone that releases growth factor and it stimulates appetite. It comes from pre pro-ghrelin by the post translational modification process and its innate functions are known as food up-take and the growth hormone regulation. Therefore, the structural information of ghrelin precursor is of importance in understanding it function. From our results, we found that the solution structure of ghrelin is mostly random coil conformation at neutral pH value and the structural population changes with pH environments. Data from circular dichroism in different TFE concentrations revealed that the secondary structure changes from random coil to a-helix and the isodichroic point is observed at 202nm, implying that two equilibrium states exist between random coil and helical structure.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2006

The surface modification of automobile parts is of great technological importance for the improvement of corrosion resistance, wear resistance, fatigue strength and so on. Recently, research on the development of the technology of surface modification substituting 6-balance chrome process has progressively been achieved in automobile parts. Although the innovation technology for the improvement of the corrosion-resisting and wear resistant properties through post oxidation after nitrocarburising process had attracted a great attention. For this, anodically potentiodynamic polarisation testing was carried out to corrosion resistance and friction and wear experiment according to applied load and sliding distance was carried out to evaluate the wear resistance of machine structural steel with nitrocarburising and non-nitrocarburising SM45C. The presumed wear volume was calculated with the image processing far evaluation of wear resistance of two materials. The results show that the nitrocarburising had a distinguished corrosion resistance and wear resistance than non-nitrocarburising.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.183-202
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• 2006

The behavior of steel-concrete composite beams is strongly influenced by the type of shear connection between the steel beam and the concrete slab. For accurate analytical predictions, the structural model must account for the interlayer slip between these two components. This paper focuses on a procedure for response sensitivity analysis using state-of-the-art finite elements for composite beams with deformable shear connection. Monotonic and cyclic loading cases are considered. Realistic cyclic uniaxial constitutive laws are adopted for the steel and concrete materials as well as for the shear connection. The finite element response sensitivity analysis is performed according to the Direct Differentiation Method (DDM); its analytical derivation and computer implementation are validated through Forward Finite Difference (FFD) analysis. Sensitivity analysis results are used to gain insight into the effect and relative importance of the various material parameters in regards to the nonlinear monotonic and cyclic response of continuous composite beams, which are commonly used in bridge construction.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.213-222
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• 2015

Early detection and precise location of leakage is of great importance for life-cycle maintenance and management of municipal pipeline system. In the past few years, acoustic emission (AE) techniques have demonstrated to be an excellent tool for on-line leakage detection. Regarding the multi-mode and frequency dispersion characteristics of AE signals propagating along a pipeline, the direct cross-correlation technique that assumes the constant AE propagation velocity does not perform well in practice for acoustic leak location. This paper presents an improved cross-correlation method based on wavelet transform, with due consideration of the frequency dispersion characteristics of AE wave and the contribution of different mode. Laboratory experiments conducted to simulate pipeline gas leakage and investigate the frequency spectrum signatures of AE leak signals. By comparing with the other methods for leak location identification, the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method are verified.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.389-396
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• 2018

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the structural response of a multi-story building subjected to spreading multi-compartment fires. A recently proposed simple fire model has been used to simulate two spreading multi-compartment fire scenarios in a 10-story steel-framed office building. By assuming simple temperature rising and distribution profiles in the fire exposed structural components (steel beams, steel column and concrete slabs), finite element simulations using a three-dimensional structural model has been carried out to study the failure behavior of the whole structure in two multi-compartment fire conditions and also in a standard fire condition. The structure survived the standard fire but failed in the multi-compartment fire. Whilst more accurate fire models and heat transfer models are needed to better predict the behaviors of structures in realistic fires, the current study based on very simple models has demonstrated the importance and necessity of considering spreadingmulti-compartment fires in fire resistance design of multi-story buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.629-637
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• 2018

In recent years, selection of strong ground motion records by means of intensity measures representing the spectral shape of the earthquake excitation has been studied by many researchers. These studies indicate the adequacy of this record selection approach in reduction of the scattering of seismic responses. In present study, this method has been studied more in depth to reveal the sufficiency of the spectral shape in predicting structural seismic responses such as the plastic deformation and the dissipated hysteresis energy which are associated with cumulative properties of the selected records. For this purpose, after selecting the records based on the spectral shape, the correlation of some seismic responses and strong ground motion duration of earthquake records are explored. Findings indicate strong correlation of some structural responses with the significant duration of the records. This fact implies that the spectral shape could not reflect all characteristics of the strong ground motion and emphasizes the importance of additional criteria along with the spectral shape in the record selection.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2011

In view of the importance of material reduction because of the jump in oil and steel prices, structural design studies for lifting lugs were performed. Hundreds of thousands of such lifting lug structures are needed every year for ship construction. A direct design study was reviewed using the developed design system to increase the design efficiency and provide a way of directly inserting a designer's decisions into the design system process. In order to understand the design efficiency and convenience of a lug structure, parametric studies for prototype lug shapes were performed using the developed design system. From these design studies, various patterns of design parameters for the lug structure according to changes in the main plate length were examined. Based on these parametric study results, design guides were developed for more efficiently suggesting structural data for enormous lug structures. Additionally, a more detailed structural analysis through local strength evaluations will be performed to verify the efficiency of the optimum structural design for a lug structure.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.49-54
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• 2015

Welding process is of importance to assemble products or structures, but also the process is structural weakness due to stress concentration in welding joint. The fatigue design of welded joint requires time & labor consuming fatigue test because the fatigue life is various according to the depth of joint, joint type and load type etc. In fatigue design codes, they guide to classify welding joints with their shape( BS7608, IIW Documents) and provide fatigue assessment information. In terms of numerical method for fatigue analysis, it is also difficult to decide the stress peak in joint because of mesh sensitivity which means that stress value is varies with element type or size on stress concentration zone. Hot-spot method is used generally, but Battelle of United States proposed Master S-N Curve based on structural stresses converted by mechanical equilibrium theory. In this research, we extracted master S-N curve from Battelle's fatigue test DB including test data of various welding joints to apply on Non-Load-Carrying cruciform Joint. Comparing fatigue results between the case of using normal stress and case of structural stress cor the cruciform Joint, The suggested Battelle method showed successive results.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.233-245
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• 2008

For historical masonry structures existing in the Mediterranean area, structural strengthening is of primary importance due to the continuous earthquake threat that is posed on them. Proper retrofitting of historical structures involves a thorough understanding of their structural pathology, before proceeding with any intervention measures. In this paper, a methodology is presented for the evaluation of the actual state of historical masonry structures, which can provide a useful tool for the seismic response assessment before and after the retrofitting. The methodology is mainly focused on the failure and vulnerability analysis of masonry structures using the finite element method. Using this methodology the retrofitting of historical structures with innovative techniques is investigated. The innovative technique presented here involves the exploitation of Shape Memory Alloy prestressed bars. This type of intervention is proposed because it ensures increased reversibility and minimization of interventions, in comparison with conventional retrofitting methods. In this paper, a case study is investigated for the demonstration of the proposed methodologies and techniques, which comprises a masonry Byzantine church and a masonry Cistern. Prestressed SMA alloy bars are placed into the load-bearing system of the structure. The seismic response of the non-retrofitted and the retrofitted finite element models are compared in terms of seismic energy dissipation and displacements diminution.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.173-188
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• 2015

Several structural calamities in the second half of the 20th century have shown that adequate collapse-resistance cannot be achieved by designing the individual elements of a structure without taking their interconnectivity into consideration. It has long been acknowledged that membrane behaviour of reinforced concrete structures can significantly increase the robustness of a structure and delay a complete collapse. An experimental large-scale test was conducted on a horizontally restrained, continuous reinforced concrete slab exposed to an artificial failure of the central support and subsequent loading until collapse of the specimen. Within this investigation the development of catenary action associated with the formation of large displacements was observed to increase the ultimate load capacity of the specimen significantly. The development of displacements, strains and horizontal forces within this investigation confirmed a load transfer process from an elastic bending mechanism to a tension controlled catenary mechanism. In this contribution a special focus is directed towards strain and crack development at critical sections. The results of this contribution are of particular importance when validating numerical models related to the development of catenary action in concrete slabs.