• Title/Summary/Keyword: Environmental issue

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Ductility-based design approach of tall buildings under wind loads

  • Elezaby, Fouad;Damatty, Ashraf El
    • Wind and Structures
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.143-152
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    • 2020
  • The wind design of buildings is typically based on strength provisions under ultimate loads. This is unlike the ductility-based approach used in seismic design, which allows inelastic actions to take place in the structure under extreme seismic events. This research investigates the application of a similar concept in wind engineering. In seismic design, the elastic forces resulting from an extreme event of high return period are reduced by a load reduction factor chosen by the designer and accordingly a certain ductility capacity needs to be achieved by the structure. Two reasons have triggered the investigation of this ductility-based concept under wind loads. Firstly, there is a trend in the design codes to increase the return period used in wind design approaching the large return period used in seismic design. Secondly, the structure always possesses a certain level of ductility that the wind design does not benefit from. Many technical issues arise when applying a ductility-based approach under wind loads. The use of reduced design loads will lead to the design of a more flexible structure with larger natural periods. While this might be beneficial for seismic response, it is not necessarily the case for the wind response, where increasing the flexibility is expected to increase the fluctuating response. This particular issue is examined by considering a case study of a sixty-five-story high-rise building previously tested at the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario using a pressure model. A three-dimensional finite element model is developed for the building. The wind pressures from the tested rigid model are applied to the finite element model and a time history dynamic analysis is conducted. The time history variation of the straining actions on various structure elements of the building are evaluated and decomposed into mean, background and fluctuating components. A reduction factor is applied to the fluctuating components and a modified time history response of the straining actions is calculated. The building components are redesigned under this set of reduced straining actions and its fundamental period is then evaluated. A new set of loads is calculated based on the modified period and is compared to the set of loads associated with the original structure. This is followed by non-linear static pushover analysis conducted individually on each shear wall module after redesigning these walls. The ductility demand of shear walls with reduced cross sections is assessed to justify the application of the load reduction factor "R".

Analysis of the Policy Network for the “Feed-in Tariff Law” in Japan: Evidence from the GEPON Survey

  • Okura, Sae;Tkach-Kawasaki, Leslie;Kobashi, Yohei;Hartwig, Manuela;Tsujinaka, Yutaka
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.41-63
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    • 2016
  • Energy policy is known to have higher path dependency among policy fields (Kuper and van Soest, 2003; OECD, 2012; Kikkawa, 2013) and is a critical component of the infrastructure development undertaken in the early stages of nation building. Actor roles, such as those played by interest groups, are firmly formed, making it unlikely that institutional change can be implemented. In resource-challenged Japan, energy policy is an especially critical policy area for the Japanese government. In comparing energy policy making in Japan and Germany, Japan’s policy community is relatively firm (Hartwig et al., 2015), and it is improbable that institutional change can occur. The Japanese government’s approach to energy policy has shifted incrementally in the past half century, with the most recent being the 2012 implementation of the “Feed-In Tariff Law” (Act on Special Measures Concerning Procurement of Renewable Electric Energy by Operators of Electric Utilities), which encourages new investment in renewable electricity generation and promotes the use of renewable energy. Yet, who were the actors involved and the factors that influenced the establishment of this new law? This study attempts to assess the factors associated with implementing the law as well as the roles of the relevant major actors. In answering this question, we focus on identifying the policy networks among government, political parties, and interest groups, which suggests that success in persuading key economic groups could be a factor in promoting the law. Our data is based on the “Global Environmental Policy Network Survey 2012-2013 (GEPON2)” which was conducted immediately after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with respondents including political parties, the government, interest groups, and civil society organizations. Our results suggest that the Feed in Tariff (FIT) Law’s network structure is similar to the information network and support network, and that the actors at the center of the network support the FIT Law. The strength of our research lays in our focus on political networks and their contributing mechanism to the law’s implementation through analysis of the political process. From an academic perspective, identifying the key actors and factors may be significant in explaining institutional change in policy areas with high path dependency. Close examination of this issue also has implications for a society that can promote renewable and sustainable energy resources.

TERRAPOWER, LLC TRAVELING WAVE REACTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM OVERVIEW

  • Hejzlar, Pavel;Petroski, Robert;Cheatham, Jesse;Touran, Nick;Cohen, Michael;Truong, Bao;Latta, Ryan;Werner, Mark;Burke, Tom;Tandy, Jay;Garrett, Mike;Johnson, Brian;Ellis, Tyler;Mcwhirter, Jon;Odedra, Ash;Schweiger, Pat;Adkisson, Doug;Gilleland, John
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.45 no.6
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    • pp.731-744
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    • 2013
  • Energy security is a topic of high importance to many countries throughout the world. Countries with access to vast energy supplies enjoy all of the economic and political benefits that come with controlling a highly sought after commodity. Given the desire to diversify away from fossil fuels due to rising environmental and economic concerns, there are limited technology options available for baseload electricity generation. Further complicating this issue is the desire for energy sources to be sustainable and globally scalable in addition to being economic and environmentally benign. Nuclear energy in its current form meets many but not all of these attributes. In order to address these limitations, TerraPower, LLC has developed the Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) which is a near-term deployable and truly sustainable energy solution that is globally scalable for the indefinite future. The fast neutron spectrum allows up to a ~30-fold gain in fuel utilization efficiency when compared to conventional light water reactors utilizing enriched fuel. When compared to other fast reactors, TWRs represent the lowest cost alternative to enjoy the energy security benefits of an advanced nuclear fuel cycle without the associated proliferation concerns of chemical reprocessing. On a country level, this represents a significant savings in the energy generation infrastructure for several reasons 1) no reprocessing plants need to be built, 2) a reduced number of enrichment plants need to be built, 3) reduced waste production results in a lower repository capacity requirement and reduced waste transportation costs and 4) less uranium ore needs to be mined or purchased since natural or depleted uranium can be used directly as fuel. With advanced technological development and added cost, TWRs are also capable of reusing both their own used fuel and used fuel from LWRs, thereby eliminating the need for enrichment in the longer term and reducing the overall societal waste burden. This paper describes the origins and current status of the TWR development program at TerraPower, LLC. Some of the areas covered include the key TWR design challenges and brief descriptions of TWR-Prototype (TWR-P) reactor. Selected information on the TWR-P core designs are also provided in the areas of neutronic, thermal hydraulic and fuel performance. The TWR-P plant design is also described in such areas as; system design descriptions, mechanical design, and safety performance.

Analyzing Relationship between Road Traffic Flows and Noise Trend using Korea Highway Traffic Noise Model (KHTN을 이용한 교통류 특성과 교통소음추이 분석)

  • Choi, Yoon Hyuk;Kim, Cheol Hwan
    • Journal of Environmental Policy
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.49-65
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    • 2012
  • Road traffic noise is closely related to road traffic environment, including traffic volumes by type and travel speed. In this study, we stated some issues and analyzed the relationships between road traffic noise and traffic flow characteristics. First, in attempt to find the answer to the question "When does the loudest traffic noise occur?" we reviewed the issue in the terms of traffic flow. As a result of analyzing level of service through Korea Highway Traffic Noise model, the actual maximum noise occurred in level of service D rather than level of service E, on the capacity state. It shows that maximum noise would be most likely to occur right before and after the peak hours. Second, this paper was looking for the method of a more easy and accurate traffic speed estimation to predict traffic noise. This paper proposed sketch planning techniques of speed-volume curve by level of service on Korea Highway Capacity Manual. As a result of trend line modeling, it was judged that quadratic form is a suitable function, and coefficient of determination ($R^2$) was higher than 0.96, respectively.

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Strategy for Improving Forestland Classification System in Korea (산지이용구분제도의 개선방안 연구)

  • Park, Young-Kyu;Jeon, Jun-Heon;Roh, Hye-Jung
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.98 no.6
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    • pp.780-790
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    • 2009
  • The objective of this study was to analyze 'Forestland Classification System' in Korea and to develop a strategy for its improvement. A survey was conducted in this study based on the Delphi technique, one of the interactive survey method relying on a panel of experts. The result indicated that the existing 'Forestland Classification System' was initiated for reasonable management of forestland, but now it turned into one of the most strict management restrictions. To improve forestland management in Korea, it was suggested to adopt 'Forest Function System' in this study. Moreover, to avoid indiscreet landuse conversion that might be occurred by substituting the 'Forest Function System' for the 'Forestland Classification System', it was suggested to adopt 'Forestland Conversion Propriety Assessment System'. In fact, landuse conversion has been regulated by the 'Environmental Impact Assessment System', but this system appeared inadequate to be applied to the forested area. Illegal acts for having permission of landuse conversion for reserved forests was another big issue in the forestland management. For example, alteration of the reserved status of forests or partition into patches smaller than the size limit has been attempted. Thus in this study, it was strongly recommended to take sanction against such illegal acts. In order to enhance the efficiency of forestland management, it was also suggested to integrate administrative agencies related to the landuse conversion or to take over the charge to local governments.

Modeling of Gas Permeability Coefficient for Cementitious Materials with Relation to Water Permeability Coefficient (시멘트계 재료의 기체 투기계수 해석 및 투수계수와의 상관성 연구)

  • Yoon, In-Seok
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.36 no.2
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    • pp.207-217
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    • 2016
  • Permeability can not be expressed as a function of porosity alone, it depends on the porosity, pore size and distribution, and tortuosity of pore channels in concrete. There has been considerable interest in the relationship between microstructure and transport in cementitious materials, however, it is very rare to deal with the theoretical study on gas permeability coefficient in connection with carbonation of concrete and the effect of volumetric fraction of cement paste or aggregate on the permeability coefficient. The majority of these researches have not dealt with this issue combined with carbonation of concrete, although carbonation can significantly impact on the permeability coefficient of concrete. In this study, fundamental approach to compute gas permeability of (non)carbonated concrete is suggested. For several compositions of cement pastes, the gas permeability coefficient was calculated with the analytical formulation, followed by a microstructure-based model. For carbonated concrete, reduced porosity was calculated and this was used for calculating the gas permeability coefficeint. As the result of calculation of gas permeability for carbonated concrete, carbonation leaded to the significant reduction of gas permeability coefficient and this was obvious for concrete with high w/c ratio. Meanwhile, the relationship between gas permeability and water permeability has a linear function for cement paste based on Klinkenberg effect, however, which is not effective for concrete. For the evidence of the modeling, YOON's test was accomplished and these results were compared to each other.

Survey of Influencing Factors on Depression and Anxiety in Vietnamese Marriage Immigrant Women (베트남 결혼이주여성의 우울과 불안에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대한 설문연구)

  • Hong, Sun-Yeob;Nguyen, Duc Thanh;Shin, Chul-Jin;Lee, Sang-Ick;Son, Jung-Woo;Kim, Sie-Kyeong;Ju, Ga-Won
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.144-150
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    • 2013
  • Objectives The number of marriage immigrant women has been increasing in the past several years in Korea and their adaptations to the new environment have been an important social issue. The aims of this study were to evaluate the psychosocial and mental health statuses of Vietnamese marriage immigrant women (VMIW). We intended to compare the mental health of VMIW with married Vietnamese women living in Vietnam and reveal the demographic or psychosocial factors affecting their mental health. Method Subjects comprised one-hundred-forty-three VMIW who enrolled in multiculture family support centers in Chungbuk Province and forty-eight women from Vinh Phuc province in Vietnam. Marital satisfaction, domestic violence and social support were evaluated as psychosocial factors, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used to evaluate mental health. Results VMIW had a larger age gap with their husbands but better psychosocial statuses. BDI (p = 0.20), BAI (p = 0.08), GHQ (p = 0.13) scores of VMIW were not significantly different compared to Vietnamese residents. Marriage duration of VMIW affects significantly their marital satisfaction, social support and depressive levels (p < 0.01). The level of domestic violence showed a significant difference according to the educational levels of their husbands, composition of family members and marriage process (p < 0.05). VMIW with older husbands and jobless VMIW had low levels of anxiety (p < 0.01). Conclusion The results suggest that VMIW have no difference in mental health compared to Vietnamese women living in Vietnam which is contrary to general expectations. However, various environmental factors, such as marriage duration, have an effect on the mental health of VMIW. As marriage duration is proven to be important factor on mental health of VMIW, more extended duration of care and interventions are needed to maintain good mental health. Networking system connecting mental health screenings by the multiculture family support center to the local mental healthcare center is needed to care those with poor screening outcomes.

Aminopropyl Functionalized Silica Nanoparticle Dispersed Nafion Composite Membranes for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (아미노프로필 관능기를 갖는 실리카 나노 입자가 분산된 나피온 복합막을 이용한 바나듐 레독스 흐름 전지)

  • Lee, Doohee;Yu, Duk Man;Yoon, Sang Jun;Kim, Sangwon;So, Soonyong;Hong, Young Taik
    • Membrane Journal
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    • v.30 no.5
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    • pp.307-318
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    • 2020
  • Conventional perfluorinated sulfonic acid membrane, Nafion is widely used for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). It is desired to prevent vanadium ion permeation through a membrane to retain the capacity, and to keep the cell efficiency of a VRFB. Highly proton conductive and chemically stable Nafion membranes, however, suffer from high vanadium permeation, which induce the reduction in charge and discharge capacity by side reactions of vanadium ions. In this study, to resolve the issue, silica nanoparticles, which are functionalized with 3-aminopropyl group (fS) are introduced to enhance the long-term performance of a VRFB by lowering vanadium permeation. It is expected that amine groups on silica nanoparticles are converted to positive ammonium ion, which could deteriorate positively charged vanadium ions' crossover by Gibbs-Donnan effect. There is reduction in proton conductivity may due to acid-base complexation between fS and Nafion side chains, but ion selectivity of proton to vanadium ion is enhanced by introducing fS to Nafion membranes. With the composite membranes of Nafion and fS, VRFBs maintain their discharge capacity up to 80% at a high current density of 150 mA/㎠ during 200 cycles.

A New Cleaning Concept for Display Manufacturing Process with Electrolyzed Anode Water (전해 양극수를 이용한 새로운 디스플레이 세정)

  • Ryoo Kunkul
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.78-82
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    • 2005
  • Display manufacturing process has adopted RCA cleaning, applying to larger area and coping with environmental issue for last ten years. However, the approaching concept of ozonized, hydrogenised, or electrolyzed water cleaning technologies is within RCA clean paradigm. In this work, only electrolyzed anode water was applied to clean particles and organics as well as metals based on Pourbaix concept, and as a test vehicle, MgO particles were introduced to prove the new concept. The electrolyzed anode water is very oxidative with high oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and low in pH of more than 900 mV and 3.1, respectively. MgO particles were immersed in the anode water and its weight losses due to dissolution were measured with time. Weight losses were in the ranges of 100 to 500 micrograms in 250 ml anode water depending on their ORP and pH. Therefore it was concluded that the cleaning radicals in the anode water was at least in the range of 1 to $5{\times}10^{20}$ ea per 250 ml anode water equivalent to $1{\times}10^{18} ea/cm^2$. Hence it can be assumed that the anode water applied to display cleaning from now on $1{\times}10^{10}$ to $1{\times}10^{15} ea/cm^2$ ranges of contaminants are being treated. In addition, it was observed that anode water did not develop micro-roughness on hydrophobic surface while it did on the native silicon oxide.

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A Study on the Detection and Statistical Feature Analysis of Red Tide Area in South Coast Using Remote Sensing (원격탐사를 이용한 남해안의 적조영역 검출과 통계적 특징 분석에 관한 연구)

  • Sur, Hyung-Soo;Lee, Chil-Woo
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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    • v.14B no.2
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    • pp.65-70
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    • 2007
  • Red tide is becoming hot issue of environmental problem worldwide since the 1990. Advanced nations, are progressing study that detect red tide area on early time using satellite for sea. But, our country most seashores bends serious. Also because there are a lot of turbid method streams on coast, hard to detect small red tide area by satellite for sea that is low resolution. Also, method by sea color that use one feature of satellite image for sea of existent red tide area detection was most. In this way, have a few feature in image with sea color and it can cause false negative mistake that detect red tide area. Therefore, in this paper, acquired texture information to use GLCM(Gray Level Co occurrence Matrix)'s texture 6 information about high definition land satellite south Coast image. Removed needless component reducing dimension through principal component analysis from this information. And changed into 2 principal component accumulation images, Experiment result 2 principal component conversion accumulation image's eigenvalues were 94.6%. When component with red tide area that uses only sea color image and all principal component image. displayed more correct result. And divided as quantitative,, it compares with turbid stream and the sea that red tide does not exist using statistical feature analysis about texture.