• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.185-206
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• 2023

This article aimed to explore the optimization of mineral admixtures and retarding admixture for high-performance concrete. In essence, fresh concrete can be regarded as a mixture in which both coarse and fine aggregates are suspended in a cement-based matrix paste. Based on this view, the test procedure was divided into three progressive stages of binder paste, mortar, and concrete to explore their rheological behavior and mechanical properties respectively. At each stage, there were four experimental control factors, and each factor had three levels. In order to reduce the workload of the experiment, the Taguchi method with an L9(3⁴) orthogonal array and four controllable three-level factors was adopted. The test results show that the use of the Taguchi method effectively optimized the composition of high-performance concrete. The slump of the prepared concrete was above 18 cm, and the slump flow was above 50 cm, indicating that it had good workability. On the other hand, the 28-day compressive strength of the hardened concretes was between 31.3-59.8 MPa. Furthermore, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the most significant factor affecting the initial setting time of the fresh concretes was the retarder dosage, and its contribution percentage was 62.66%. On the other hand, the ANOVA results show that the most significant factor affecting the 28-day compressive strength of the hardened concretes was the water to binder ratio, and its contribution percentage was 79.05%.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.505-513
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• 2020

Grading of aggregate influences significantly almost all of the concrete performances. The purpose of this paper is to propose practicable equations that express the optimized total aggregate gradation, by weight or by number of particles in a concrete mix. The principle is based on the fractal feature of the grading of combined aggregate in a solid skeleton of concrete. Therefore, equations are derived based on the so-called fractal dimension of the grain size distribution of aggregates. Obtained model was then applied in such a way a correlation between some properties of the dry concrete mix and the fractal dimension of the aggregate gradation has been built. This demonstrates that the parameter fractal dimension is an efficacious tool to establish a unified model to study the solid phase of concrete in order to design aggregate gradation to meet certain requirements or even to predict some characteristics of the dry concrete mixture.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.309-316
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• 2020

The application of multi-variable adaptive regression spline (MARS) in predicting he long-term compressive strength of a concrete with various admixtures has been investigated in this study. The compressive strength of concrete specimens, which were made based on 24 different mix designs using various mineral and chemical admixtures in different curing ages have been obtained. First, The values of fly ash (FA), micro-silica (MS), water-reducing admixture (WRA), coarse and fine aggregates, cement, water, age of samples and compressive strength were defined as inputs to the model, and MARS analysis was used to model the compressive strength of concrete and to evaluate the most important parameters affecting the estimation of compressive strength of the concrete. Next, the proposed equation by the MARS method using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm has been optimized to have more efficient equation from the economical point of view. The proposed model in this study predicted the compressive strength of the concrete with various admixtures with a correlation coefficient of R=0.958 rather than the measured compressive strengths within the laboratory. The final model reduced the production cost and provided compressive strength by reducing the WRA and increasing the FA and curing days, simultaneously. It was also found that due to the use of the liquid membrane-forming compounds (LMFC) for its lower cost than water spraying method (SWM) and also for the longer operating time of the LMFC having positive mechanical effects on the final concrete, the final product had lower cost and better mechanical properties.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.27-40
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• 2020

Response surface methodology (RSM) empirically studies the relationship between a response variable and input variables in the product or process development phase. The ultimate goal of RSM is to find an optimal condition of the input variables that optimizes (maximizes or minimizes) the response variable. RSM can be seen as a knowledge management tool in terms of creating and utilizing data, information, and knowledge about a product production and service operations. In the field of product or process development, most real-world problems often involve a simultaneous consideration of multiple response variables. This is called a multiple response surface (MRS) problem. Various approaches have been proposed for MRS optimization, which can be classified into loss function approach, priority-based approach, desirability function approach, process capability approach, and probability-based approach. In particular, the loss function approach is divided into univariate and multivariate approaches at large. This paper focuses on the univariate approach. The univariate approach first obtains the mean square error (MSE) for individual response variables. Then, it aggregates the MSE's into a single objective function. It is common to employ the weighted sum or the Tchebycheff metric for aggregation. Finally, it finds an optimal condition of the input variables that minimizes the objective function. When aggregating, the relative weights on the MSE's should be taken into account. However, there are few studies on how to determine the weights systematically. In this study, we propose an interactive procedure to determine the weights through considering a decision maker's preference. The proposed method is illustrated by the 'colloidal gas aphrons' problem, which is a typical MRS problem. We also discuss the extension of the proposed method to the weighted MSE (WMSE).

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.423-438
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• 2021

The blade of motor grader is used for scattering and leveling the aggregates on the foundation of road construction site. The paper performed a design improvement research of the blade part to enhance the working efficiency of motor graders. The scattering works of aggregates by blade driving were simulated by DEM (discrete element method) of a dynamic code. The four design parameters were selected and a specific leveling scenario for the simulation was determined. The nine blade models were numerically experimented, and the sensitivity of each factors was analyzed. Next, the design factors that influence a blade performance have been selected by ANOVA, and these key design factors were applied to the progressive quadratic response surface method (PQRSM). The optimum set of design factors of the blade was finally proposed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1751-1757
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• 2004

Recombinant heterologous proteins can be produced as insoluble aggregates partially or perfectly inactive in Escherichia coli. One of the strateges to improve the solubility of recombinant proteins is fusion with a partner that is excellent in producing soluble fusion proteins. To improve the production of soluble $\beta$-galactosidase, the gene of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 $\beta$-galactosidase (KNOUC112 $\beta$-gal) was fused with thioredoxin gene, and optimization of its expression in E. coli TOP10 was performed. KNOUC112 $\beta$-gal in pET-5b was isolated out, fused with thioredoxin gene in pThioHis C, and transformed to E. coli TOP10. The $\beta$-galactosidase fused with thioredoxin was produced in E. coli TOP10 as dimer and trimer. The productivity of fusion $\beta$ -galactosidase expressed via pThioHis C at 37$^{\circ}C$ was about 5 times higher than that of unfused $\beta$-galactosidase expressed via pET-5b at 37$^{\circ}C$. Inclusion body of $\beta$-galactosidase was formed highly, regardless of the induction by IPTG when KNOUC112 $\beta$ -gal was expressed via pET-5b at 37$^{\circ}C$. Fusion $\beta$ -galactosidase expressed at 37$^{\circ}C$ via pThioHis C without the induction by IPTG was soluble, but the induction by IPTG promoted the formation of inclusion body. Lowering the incubation temperature for the expression of fusion gene under 25$^{\circ}C$ prevented the formation of inclusion body, optimally at 25$^{\circ}C$. 0.07 mM of IPTG was sufficient for the soluble expression of fusion gene at 25$^{\circ}C$. The soluble production of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 $\beta$-galactosidase could be increased about 10 times by fusion with thioredoxin, and optimization of incubation temperature and IPTG concentration for induction.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.393-407
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• 2022

Due to the enormous cement content, pozzolanic materials, and the use of different aggregates, sustainable controlled low-strength material (CLSM) has a higher material cost than conventional concrete and sustainable construction issues. However, by selecting appropriate materials and formulations, as well as cement and aggregate content, whitethorn costs can be reduced while having a positive environmental impact. This research explores the desire to optimize plastic properties and 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of CLSM containing powder content from unprocessed-fly ash (u-FA) and recycled fine aggregate (RFA). The mixtures' input parameters consist of water-to-cementitious material ratio (W/CM), fly ash-to-cementitious materials (FA/CM), and paste volume percentage (PV%), while flowability, bleeding, segregation index, and 28-day UCS were the desired responses. The central composite design (CCD) notion was used to produce twenty CLSM mixes and was experimentally validated using MATLAB by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Variance analysis (ANOVA) was used for the determination of statistical models. Results revealed that the plastic properties of CLSM improve with the FA/CM rise when the strength declines for 28 days-with an increase in FA/CM, the diameter of the flowability and bleeding decreased. Meanwhile, the u-FA's rise strengthens the CLSM's segregation resistance and raises its strength over 28 days. Using calcareous powder as a substitute for cement has a detrimental effect on bleeding, and 28-day UCS increases segregation resistance. The response surface method (RSM) can establish high correlations between responses and the constituent materials of sustainable CLSM, and the optimal values of variables can be measured to achieve the desired response properties.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2012

Desirability approaches have been proposed to find an optimum of multiple response problem. The existing desirability approaches use either of mean or min of individual desirability in aggregation of multiple responses. However, in order to find an optimum having high mean and low dispersion among individual desirability, the dispersion needs to be simultaneously considered with its mean. This study proposes bias and variance (BV) method which aggregates bias (ideal target-mean) and variance of individual desirability in multiple response optimization. The proposed BV method was applied to an example to evaluate its usefulness by comparing with existing methods. Evaluation results showed that the solution of BV method was a fairly good compared with DS (Derringer and Suich, 1980) and KL (Kim and Lin, 2000) methods. The BV method can be utilized to multiple response surface problems when decision makers want to find an optimum having high mean and low variance among responses.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.325-342
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• 2014

The use of lightweight aggregate (LWA) instead of ordinary aggregate may make lightweight aggregate concrete, which possesses many advantages such as lightweight, lower thermal conductivity, and better fire and seismic resistance. Recently the developments of LWA have been focused on using industrial wastes as raw materials to reduce the use of limited natural resources. In view of this, the intent of this study was to apply Taguchi optimization technique in determining process condition for producing synthetic LWA by incorporating waste thin film transition liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) glass powder with reservoir sediments. In the study the waste TFT-LCD glass cullet was used as an additive. It was incorporated with reservoir sediments to produce LWA. Taguchi method with an orthogonal array L16(45) and five controllable 4-level factors (i.e., cullet content, preheat temperature, preheat time, sintering temperature, and sintering time) was adopted. Then, in order to optimize the selected parameters, the analysis of variance method was used to explore the effects of the experimental factors on the performances (particle density, water absorption, bloating ratio, and loss of ignition) of the produced LWA. The results showed that it is possible to produce high performance LWA by incorporating waste TFT-LCD glass cullet with reservoir sediments. Moreover, Taguchi method is a promising approach for optimizing process condition of synthetic LWA using recycled glass cullet and reservoir sediments and it significantly reduces the number of tests.

• The Transactions of the Korea Information Processing Society
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.1418-1430
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• 1998

Temporal databases support an efficient historical management by means of valid time and transaction time. Valid time stands for the time when a data happens in the real world. And transaction time stands for the time when a data is stored in the database, Temporal Query Processing System(TQPS) should be extended so as tc process the temporal operations for the historical informations in the user query as well as the conventional relational operations. In this paper, the extended temporal query processing systems which is based on the previous temporal query processing system for TQuel(Temporal Query Language) consists of the temporal syntax analyzer, temporal semantic analyzer, temporal code generator, and temporal interpreter is to be described, The algorithm for additional functions such as transaction time management, temporal aggregates, temporal views, temporal joins and the heuristic optimization functions and their example how to be processed is shown.