• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.17-34
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• 2011

This paper deals with the modeling of the plane frame structure-foundation-soil system. The superstructure along with the foundation beam is idealized as beam bending elements. The soil medium near the foundation beam with stress concentrated is idealized by isoparametric finite elements, and infinite elements are used to represent the far field of the soil media. This paper presents the modeling of shear wall structure-foundation and soil system using the optimal membrane triangular, super and conventional finite elements. Particularly, an alternative formulation is presented for the optimal triangular elements aimed at reducing the programming effort and computational cost. The proposed model is applied to a plane frame-combined footing-soil system. It is shown that the total settlement obtained from the non-linear interactive analysis is about 1.3 to 1.4 times that of the non-interactive analysis. Furthermore, the proposed model was found to be efficient in simulating the shear wall-foundation-soil system, being able to yield results that are similar to those obtained by the conventional finite element method.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.563-573
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• 2017

Transparency, excellent toughness, thermal stability and a very good dimensional stability make Polycarbonate (PC) one of the most widely used engineering thermoplastics. Polycarbonate market include electronics, automotive, construction, optical media and packaging. One alternative for reducing the environmental pollution caused by polycarbonate from electronic waste (e-waste), is to use it in cement concretes. In this work, physical and chemical characterization of recycled polycarbonate from electronic waste was made, through the analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Then cement concrete was made with Portland cement, sand, gravel, water, and this recycled polycarbonate. Specimens without polycarbonate were produced for comparison purposes. The effect of the particle sizes and concentrations of recycled polycarbonate within the concrete, on the compressive strength and density was studied. Results show that compressive strength values and equilibrium density of concrete depend on the polycarbonate particle sizes and its concentrations; particularly the highest compressive strength values were 20% higher than that for concrete without polycarbonate particles. Moreover, morphological, structural and crystallinity characteristics of recycled polycarbonate, are suitable for to be mixed into concrete.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.421-427
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• 2019

Coastal erosion is becoming a significant problem in Greece, Bangladesh, and globally. For the prevention and minimization of damage from coastal erosion, combinations of various structures have been used conventionally. However, most of these methods are expensive. Therefore, creating artificial beachrock using local ureolytic bacteria and the MICP (Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation) method can be an alternative for coastal erosion protection, as it is a sustainable and eco-friendly biological ground improvement technique. Most research on MICP has been confined to land ureolytic bacteria and limited attention has been paid to coastal ureolytic bacteria for the measurement of urease activity. Subsequently, their various environmental effects have not been investigated. Therefore, for the successful application of MICP to coastal erosion protection, the type of bacteria, bacterial cell concentration, reaction temperature, cell culture duration, carbonate precipitation trend, pH of the media that controls the activity of the urease enzyme, etc., are evaluated. In this study, the effects of temperature, pH, and culture duration, as well as the trend in carbonate precipitation of coastal ureolytic bacteria isolated from two coastal regions in Greece and Bangladesh, were evaluated. The results showed that urease activity of coastal ureolytic bacteria species relies on some environmental parameters that are very important for successful sand solidification. In future, we aim to apply these findings towards the creation of artificial beachrock in combination with a geotextile tube for coastal erosion protection in Mediterranean countries, Bangladesh, and globally, for bio-mediated soil improvement.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-53
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• 2021

The study reported in this paper aimed to evaluate the topics and opinions of COVID-19 discussion found on Twitter. It performed topic modeling and sentiment analysis of tweets posted during the COVID-19 outbreak, and compared these results over space and time. In addition, by covering a more recent and a longer period of the pandemic timeline, several patterns not previously reported in the literature were revealed. Author-pooled Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was used to generate twenty topics that discuss different aspects related to the pandemic. Time-series analysis of the distribution of tweets over topics was performed to explore how the discussion on each topic changed over time, and the potential reasons behind the change. In addition, spatial analysis of topics was performed by comparing the percentage of tweets in each topic among top tweeting countries. Afterward, sentiment analysis of tweets was performed at both temporal and spatial levels. Our intention was to analyze how the sentiment differs between countries and in response to certain events. The performance of the topic model was assessed by being compared with other alternative topic modeling techniques. The topic coherence was measured for the different techniques while changing the number of topics. Results showed that the pooling by author before performing LDA significantly improved the produced topic models.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.119-128
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• 2021

This study defines the integrated game experience of game users that across internal and external media of game as the transmedia enjoyment of game. This study categorizes the cases and analyze features. Game users have four types of transmedial enjoyment. The expansion type is characterized by the user's desire to solve the uncertainty, and the transmission type is characterized by the emergence of alternative play spaces. In the permeation type and the circulation type, it is observed users participate more in the content can be re-contextualized and based on real world knowledge.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1479-1484
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• 2022

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is gaining attention as a carbon-neutral alternative to plant cellulose, and as a means to prevent deforestation and achieve a carbon-neutral society. However, the high cost of fermentation media for BC production is a barrier to its industrialization. In this study, chestnut shell (CS) hydrolysates were used as a carbon source for the BC-producing bacteria strain, Gluconacetobacter xylinus ATCC 53524. To evaluate the suitability of the CS hydrolysates, major inhibitors in the hydrolysates were analyzed, and BC production was profiled during fermentation. CS hydrolysates (40 g glucose/l) contained 1.9 g/l acetic acid when applied directly to the main medium. As a result, the BC concentration at 96 h using the control group and CS hydrolysates was 12.5 g/l and 16.7 g/l, respectively (1.3-fold improved). In addition, the surface morphology of BC derived from CS hydrolysates revealed more densely packed nanofibrils than the control group. In the microbial BC production using CS, the hydrolysate had no inhibitory effect during fermentation, suggesting it is a suitable feedstock for a sustainable and eco-friendly biorefinery. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to valorize CS by utilizing it in BC production.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.1167-1191
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• 2012

For Romantic women writers the paratext itself is essentially a masculine literary space affiliated with established writing practices; however, this paper suggests that Charlotte Turner Smith's mode of discourse in her use of notes and their relation to the text proper are never fixed in her contemplative blank-verse long poem, Beachy Head (1807). Even though the display of learning in the paratext partly supports the woman writer's claim to authority, this paper argues that Smith's endnotes also indicate her way of challenging the double bind for women writers, summoning masculine authority on the margins of her book while simultaneously interrogating essentialist thinking and instructions about one's identity in a culture and on the printed page. The poem shows how the fringes of the book can be effectively transformed from a masculine site of authority to an increasingly feminized site of interchange as Smith writes with an awareness of patriarchal, imperial abuses of power in that area of the book. There is a persistent transgression of cultural/textual boundaries occurring in Beachy Head, which explores the very scene and languages of imperial encounter. Accordingly, if Wordsworth's theory of composition suggests a subjective and abstract poetic experience-an experience without mediation-in which its medium's purpose seems to be to disappear from the reader's consciousness, an examination of the alternative discourse of self-exposure in Smith's poem reveals the essentially fluid nature of media-consciousness in the Romantic era, which remains little acknowledged in received accounts of Romantic literary culture.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2024

Presence of hazardous dyes in water cause considerable risks to the human health and environment due to their potential toxicity and ecological disruptions. Therefore, in the present research, to suggest an alternative method for the retention of toxic Azocarmine G (ACG) dye from aqueous media, natural and H₂SO₄-modified acacia sawdust were performed for the first time as low-cost and efficient adsorbents. Based on batch experiments, it was determined that the best conditions for the developed dye retention process were an initial pH of 2.0 and an equilibrium time of 240 min. Analysis of the data using both pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models showed that the retention of ACG onto the adsorbents predominantly occurred through chemical adsorption. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models were employed to provide insights into the interaction between the adsorbate and adsorbent and the mechanism of the adsorption process. Maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of natural and H₂SO₄-modified acacia sawdust were determined as 28.01 and 64.90 mg g^-1, respectively by Langmuir isotherm model. Results of the study clearly indicated that the modification of acacia sawdust with H₂SO₄ leads to a substantial increase in the adsorption performance of anionic dyes.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.85-91
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• 2024

With the current surge in leisure sports activities involving firearms and the costly shooting practices in the military, there's a growing interest in using virtual reality as a cost-effective alternative. This study proposes a system that addresses the drawbacks of existing shooting practice setups, such as dim spaces and high installation costs, by making it feasible on large display screens. The system integrates IR receivers and guns for practice, ensuring usability and efficiency through an application. Additionally, an accuracy adjustment feature enhances precise coordination recognition. As a result, this cyber light gun system offers an affordable solution for outdoor training.