• Coupled systems mechanics
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.157-190
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• 2016

This paper deals with frequency analysis of Euler-Bernoulli beams carrying an arbitrary number of Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic dampers, subjected to harmonic loads. Multiple external/internal dampers occurring at the same position along the beam axis, modeling external damping devices and internal damping due to damage or imperfect connections, are considered. The challenge is to handle simultaneous discontinuities of the response, in particular bending-moment/rotation discontinuities at the location of external/internal rotational dampers, shear-force/deflection discontinuities at the location of external/internal translational dampers. Following a generalized function approach, the paper will show that exact closed-form expressions of the frequency response under point/polynomial loads can readily be derived, for any number of dampers. Also, the exact dynamic stiffness matrix and load vector of the beam will be built in a closed analytical form, to be used in a standard assemblage procedure for exact frequency response analysis of frames.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.71-88
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• 2004

In this paper the capacity of Covariance Proper Transformation (CPT) analyses to provide information about the wind loading mechanisms of bluff bodies is investigated through the application to square cylinders. CPT is applied to the fluctuating pressure distributions on a single cylinder, as well as on a pair of cylinders in the tandem and side by side arrangements, with different separations. Both smooth and turbulent flow conditions are considered. First, through the analysis of the contributions of each CPT mode to the total fluctuating aerodynamic forces, a correspondence between modes and aerodynamic components is sought, which is then verified through examination of the mode shapes. When a correspondence between modes and aerodynamic components is found, an attempt is made to separate the different frequency contributions to the aerodynamic forces, provided by each mode. From the analyses it emerges that (a) in most cases each mode is associated to one single force component, that (b) retaining a limited number of modes allows reproducing the aerodynamic forces with a rather good accuracy, and that (c) each mode is mainly associated with one frequency of excitation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.679-698
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• 2002

In this paper some techniques for the dynamic analysis of non-classically damped linear systems are reviewed and compared. All these methods are based on a transformation of the governing equations using a basis of complex or real vectors. Complex and real vector bases are presented and compared. The complex vector basis is represented by the eigenvectors of the complex eigenproblem obtained considering the non-classical damping matrix of the system. The real vector basis is a set of Ritz vectors derived either as the undamped normal modes of vibration of the system, or by the load dependent vector algorithm (Lanczos vectors). In this latter case the vector basis includes the static correction concept. The rate of convergence of these bases, with reference to a parametric structural system subjected to a fixed spatial distribution of forces, is evaluated. To this aim two error norms are considered, the first based on the spatial distribution of the load and the second on the shear force at the base due to impulsive loading. It is shown that both error norms point out that the rate of convergence is strongly influenced by the spatial distribution of the applied forces.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• 제5권8호
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• pp.1368-1387
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• 2011

In recent years, ubiquitous and pervasive scenarios have emerged as a complex ecosystem where differentiated software/hardware components interoperate wirelessly and seamlessly. The goal is to enable users to continuously access services and contents, and to always get the best out of their current environment and available resources. In such dynamic and flexible scenarios, the need emerges for flexible and general solutions for continuous runtime self-reconfiguration and self-optimization of ubiquitous support software systems. This paper proposes a fully reconfigurable middleware approach that aims at reconfiguring complex software systems made up of heterogeneous off-the-shelf components from both functional and non-functional perspectives. Our middleware can also extend already existing and non-reconfigurable middleware/applications in an easy and flexible way, with no need to re-design them. The proposed design principles have been practically applied to the implementation of a runtime self-reconfigurable middleware called Off-The-Shelf Ready To Go (OTS-RTG), implemented on top of iPOJO. The reported experimental results both exhibit a limited overhead and show the wide applicability of the proposed solution to many application scenarios, including complex, industrial, Enterprise Service Bus-based ones.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.89-106
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• 2004

The response of tall buildings to gust buffeting is usually evaluated assuming that the structural damping is of a viscous nature. In addition, when dampers are incorporated in the design to mitigate the response, their effect is allowed for increasing the building modal damping ratios by a quantity corresponding to the additional energy dissipation arising from the presence of the devices. Even though straightforward, this procedure has some degree of inaccuracy due to the existence of a memory effect, associated with the damping mechanism, which is neglected by a viscous model. In this paper a more realistic viscoelastic model is used to evaluate the response to gust buffeting of tall buildings provided with energy dissipation devices. Both cases of viscous and hysteretic inherent damping are considered, while for the dampers a generic viscoelastic behaviour is assumed. The Laguerre Polynomial Approximation is used to write the equations of motion and find the frequency response functions. The procedure is applied to a 25-story building to quantify the memory effects, and the inaccuracy arising when the latter is neglected.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.151-171
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• 1999

In its 90 years of life, the Tuned Mass Damper have found application in many fields of engineering as a vibration reducing device. The evolution of the theory of TMDs is briefly outlined in the paper. A generalised mathematical linear model for the analysis of the response of line-like structures with TMDs is presented. The system matrices of the system including the TMDs are written in the state space as a function of the mean wind speed. The stability of the system can be analysed and the Power Spectral Density Function of any response parameter calculated, taking into account an arbitrary number of modes of vibration as well as an arbitrary number of TMDs, for any given PSDF of the excitation. The procedure can be used to optimise the number, position and mechanical properties of the damping devices, with respect to any response parameter. Due to the stationarity of the excitation, the method is well suited to structures subjected to the wind action. In particular the procedure allows the calculation of the onset galloping wind speed and the response to buffeting, and a linearisation of the aeroelastic behaviour allows its use also for the evaluation of the response to vortex shedding. Finally three examples illustrate the suggested procedure.

• 한국실내디자인학회논문집
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• 제39호
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• pp.100-107
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to help create environments for early childhood education according to the principles of Constructivism. Generally, preschools in Ulsan Metropolitan City were used as samples for this study More particularly, 116 kindergartens were surveyed by telephone to evaluate their education programs. Four kindergartens that completely or partially used Constructivism in their programs were chosen as primary subjects for this study The results of this study were as follows: First, it was discovered that preschool education in Ulsan uses an integrated education model based on activities and Montessorie. Constructivist programs were also present using Project Approach, Reggio Emilia and Piaget. Second, the number of infants per class averaged 29.3. The average infants per playroom was 2.38$m^2$. It seems, therefore, that there is a lack of sufficient space for activities. Playroom furniture is primarily used for storage and it lacks variety and flexibility of use. The interior of preschools in related to materials, color and images also showed little difference among schools. Third, it was found that virtually every play space did not have adequate water playing and sand playing sections. Instead, the space for the large-muscle activities of big groups was used for this purpose. Fourth, kindergartens that use the principles of Constructivism plan to specialize their activities. Those only partially using Constructivism showed conventional tendencies and small play spaces that would be defined as inadequate according to Constructivism. This study, therefore, demonstrates that preschool education based on Constructivism are not being well-implemented in concert with other programs.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• 제22권7호
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• pp.123-130
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• 2022

Researchers had theorized that the earliest years' experiences were extremely critical to a child's future development (Jung, 2008; Liu et al., 2020), and parental involvement was a key character (Lamb et al., 2002; Liu, 2020). Though the critical role of parental involvement in education has been confirmed, less attention has been paid to its influence on infants' development. For the sake of infants' appropriate development, infant teachers always met barriers to finding, designing, and implementing age-appropriate activities. This case study aims at exploring the role of parental involvement in the development in infancy by surveying one director, four infant teachers, and six early childhood pre-service teachers' perspectives and practices regarding parental involvement in infant rooms within a Reggio Emilia-inspired child development center. Findings revealed that all participants: (1) thought parental involvement was essential to their decision-making process; (2) were aware of the benefits of implementing parental involvement in infants' rooms; (3) gained an opportunity to reflect on their practices regarding parental in-volvement and reprocess their previous perspectives. This study recommends that, in order to facilitate infants' development appropriately, child-care centers need to take into account parental involvement and work with parents collaboratively.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• 제8권4호
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

The effect of the inlet swirling flow in a hydraulic turbine draft tube is a very complex phenomenon, which has been extensively investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In fact, the finding of the optimal flow distribution at the draft tube inlet in order to get the best performance has remained a challenge. Thus, attempting to answer this question, it was assumed that through an automatic optimization process a Genetic Algorithm would be able to manage a parameterized inlet velocity profile in order to achieve the best flow field for a particular draft tube. As a result of the optimization process, it was possible to obtain different draft-tube flow structures generated by the automatic manipulation of parameterized inlet velocity profiles. Thus, this work develops a qualitative and quantitative analysis of these new draft tube flow field structures provoked by the redesigned inlet velocity profiles. The comparisons among the different flow fields obtained clearly illustrate the importance of the flow uniformity at the end of the conduit. Another important aspect has been the elimination of the re-circulating flow area which used to promote an adverse pressure gradient in the cone, deteriorating the pressure recovery effect. Thanks to the evolutionary optimization strategy, it has been possible to demonstrate that the optimized inlet velocity profile can suppress or mitigate, at least numerically, the undesirable draft tube flow characteristics. Finally, since there is only a single swirl number for which the objective function has been minimized, the energy loss factor might be slightly affected by the flow rate if the same relation of the axial-tangential velocity components is maintained, which makes it possible to scale the inlet velocity field to different operating points.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제12권7호
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• pp.1104-1110
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• 1999

We condicted two experiments to evaluate the interaction among fumaric acid (FA), protected acids (PA), or no additional acid (NO) and two different levels of acid buffering capacity (BC) in diets for 14-d-old weaned pigs. BC was varied substituting mono-calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate for dicalcium phosphate and calcium carbonate. In the high BC diet plus PA, FA was also added. In Exp. 1, 48 gilts were raised for 31 days on the six diets, evaluating growth performance and fecal digestibility. In Exp. 2, 42 gilts were raised. With each diet three subjects were sacrificed after 19 days and four after 38 days. In addition, six subjects were sacrificed at weaning. Growth and carcass performance, ileal digestibility, bacterial populations and pH in the gut were assessed. The piglet performance and stomach, ileal and cecal pH, and empty body composition were not affected by the diets. Empty body composition other than ash content was affected by piglet age (p<0.01). The BC did not influence digestibility. The dietary inclusion of PA improved fecal digestibility of protein (p<0.05) compared to the addition of FA and NO. Ileal digestibility slightly increased with both acid additions (p<0.10), the groups receiving PA showing the higher values. Piglets fed diets with low BC had lower Lactobacillus and E. coli counts in the ileum (p=0.07) and higher Lactobacillus in the colon (p=0.08). Acidified diets tended to reduce E. coli counts in the ileum (p=0.10) and increased Lactobacillus in the colon (p=0.09). The addition in the diet of PA increased Lactobacillus in the ileum compared to the sole addition of free fumaric acid (p=0.07). The addition of protected acids, combined with free fumaric acid in the case of high BC diets, increased protein digestibility and Lactobacillus counts and reduced E.coli counts. Only some changes in the concentration of bacterial population can be expected with a diet of low BC.