• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.247-256
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• 2013

In order to improve the quality assurance of the disaster mitigation projects, the economic effect of these projects in the hazardous areas was analysed. Eight project sites were selected for analyses based on the disaster data during the previous 10 years, and the investment effect was evaluated using a benefit cost ratio (B/C). The benefit was estimated using the historical disaster data and presumed to continue for 30 years, while the cost was assumed with the total project cost. Analysis results indicate the B/C ratio is larger than 1 in the difference range, depending on factors such as impact areas and discount rates. According to the analysis results, the average B/C of the eight projects is 4.1 with assuming the discount rate of 4% and the impact diameter of 5 km, which implies that a disaster management project in hazardous areas will give the positive investment effects.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.771-794
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• 2015

This paper proposes an innovative method for selection of measurement sets in static parameter identification of concrete or steel bridges. This method is proved as a systematic tool to address the first steps of Structural System Identification procedures by observability techniques: the selection of adequate measurement sets. The observability trees show graphically how the unknown estimates are successively calculated throughout the recursive process of the observability analysis. The observability trees can be proved as an intuitive and powerful tool for measurement selection in beam bridges that can also be applied in complex structures, such as cable-stayed bridges. Nevertheless, in these structures, the strong link among structural parameters advises to assume a set of simplifications to increase the tree intuitiveness. In addition, a set of guidelines are provided to facilitate the representation of the observability trees in this kind of structures. These guidelines are applied in bridges of growing complexity to explain how the characteristics of the geometry of the structure (e.g. deck inclination, type of pylon-deck connection, or the existence of stay cables) affect the observability trees. The importance of the observability trees is justified by a statistical analysis of measurement sets randomly selected. This study shows that, in the analyzed structure, the probability of selecting an adequate measurement set with a minimum number of measurements at random is practically negligible. Furthermore, even bigger measurement sets might not provide adequate SSI of the unknown parameters. Finally, to show the potential of the observability trees, a large-scale concrete cable-stayed bridge is also analyzed. The comparison with the number of measurements required in the literature shows again the advantages of using the proposed method.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.369-382
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• 2018

Tornadoes are vertical swirling air formed because of the existence of layers of air with contrasting features of temperature, wind flow, moisture, and density. Tornadoes induce completely different wind forces than a straight-line (SL) wind. A suitably designed building for an SL wind may fail when exposed to a tornado-wind of the same wind speed. It is necessary to design buildings that are more resistant to tornadoes. In tornado-damaged areas, dome buildings seem to have less damage. As a dome structure is naturally wind resistant, domes have been used in back yards, as single family homes, as in-law quarters, man caves, game rooms, storm shelters, etc. However, little attention has been paid to the tornadic wind interactions with dome buildings. In this work, the tornado forces on a dome are computed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for tornadic and SL wind. Then, the interaction of a tornado with a dome and a prism building are compared and analyzed. This work describes the results of the tornado wind effect on dome and prism buildings. The conclusions drawn from this study are illustrated in visualizations. The tornado force coefficients on a dome building are larger than SL wind forces, about 120% more in x- and y-directions and 280% more in z-direction. The tornado maximum pressure coefficients are also higher than SL wind by 150%. The tornado force coefficients on the prism are larger than the forces on the dome, about 100% more in x- and y-directions, and about 180% more in z-direction. The tornado maximum pressure coefficients on prism also are greater those on dome by 150% more. Hence, a dome building has less tornadic load than a prism because of its aerodynamic shape.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.225-233
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• 2009

In various attempts to relate the behaviour of highly-elastic liquids in complex flows to their rheometrical behaviour, obvious candidates for study have been the variation of shear viscosity with shear rate, the two normal stress differences $N_1$ and $N_2$, especially $N_1$, and the extensional viscosity $\eta_E$. In this paper, we shall be mainly interested in 'constant-viscosity' Boger fluids, and, accordingly, we shall limit attention to $N_1$ and $\eta_E$. We shall concentrate on two important flows - axisymmetric contraction flow and "splashing" (particularly that which arises when a liquid drop falls onto the tree surface of the same liquid). Modern numerical techniques are employed to provide the theoretical predictions. It is shown that the two obvious manifestations of viscoelastic rheometrical behaviour can sometimes be opposing influences in determining flow characteristics. Specifically, in an axisymmetric contraction flow, high $\eta_E$ can retard the flow, whereas high $N_1$ can have the opposite effect. In the splashing experiment, high $\eta_E$ can certainly reduce the height of the so-called Worthington jet, thus confirming some early suggestions, but, again, other rheometrical influences can also have a role to play and the overall picture may not be as clear as it was once envisaged.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.205-220
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• 2012

In this article convergent sequences with natural number terms are investigated and the behaviors of tails and limits of these natural number sequences are explored. Firstly this study showed how the pre-service teachers response to the intuitive limit definition using "getting closer" for constant sequences. As a case of convergent natural sequences, the sequences in which the latter term is determined by the sum of digit squares of the former term are considered. To exploring these sequences the computational and charting capabilities of spreadsheets are utilized and some mathematical findings are obtained. Spreadsheet can be instrumentalized by teachers or students to provide a laboratory-like environment to explore a mathematical problem.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.127-146
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• 2020

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is increasingly used throughout the facility's life cycle for various applications, such as design, construction, facility management, and maintenance. For existing buildings, the geometry of as-built BIM is often constructed using dense, three dimensional (3D) point clouds data obtained with laser scanners. Traditionally, as-built BIM systems do not contain the material and textural information of the buildings' elements. This paper presents a semi-automatic method for generation of material and texture rich as-built BIM. The method captures and integrates material and textural information of building elements into as-built BIM using thermal infrared sensing (TIS). The proposed method uses TIS to capture thermal images of the interior walls of an existing building. These images are then processed to extract the interior walls using a segmentation algorithm. The digital numbers in the resulted images are then transformed into radiance values that represent the emitted thermal infrared radiation. Machine learning techniques are then applied to build a correlation between the radiance values and the material type in each image. The radiance values were used to extract textural information from the images. The extracted textural and material information are then robustly integrated into the as-built BIM providing the data needed for the assessment of building conditions in general including energy efficiency, among others.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.387-405
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the change of students 'perception and expression about the motion of object following distance function $={x \atop 3}$ and distance function $y=\frac{x^3}{3}+3$ according to the necessity of research on students' perception and expression about integral constant. In this paper, we present the recognition and the expression of the difference of the constant in the relationship between the distance function and the speed function of the students, while examining the process of constructing the speed function and the inverse process of the distance function. This provides implications for the relationship between the derivative and the indefinite integral corresponding to the inverse process. In particular, in a teaching experiment, a constructive activity was performed to analyze the motion of two distance functions, where the student had a difference of the constant term. At this time, the students used the expression 'starting point' for the constants in the distance function, and the motion was interpreted by using the meaning. This can be seen as a unique 'students' mathematics' in the process of analyzing the motion of objects. These scenes, in introducing the notion of the relation between differential and indefinite integral, it is beyond the comprehension of the integral constant as a computational procedure, so that the learner can understand the meaning of the integral constant in relation to the motion of the object. It is expected that it will be a meaningful basic research on the relationship between differential and integral.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.455-462
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• 2009

A method to find the nearly optimal PSNR values for compression was tried to remotely sensed images. There is no rule to find the best wavelet pairs for image processing. The expected wavelet pairs following the suggested algorithm showed the optimal result for various kinds of images. Firstly, the PSNR variations with three wavelet families were analyzed. In many cases the longer wavelet filter shows the higher PSNR value, but the rate is getting less in orthogonal wavelet families. Wavelets with moderate filter length are suggested at the point of computational cost. For biorthogonal families it was hard to predict from the length of filters. Multiresolution wavelet analysis was used up to level 3 with three kinds of wavelet families. Biorthogonal wavelet family showed irregular pattern to get the maximum PSNR values, while orthogonal wavelet families showed regular pattern. In orthogonal wavelet families the nearly optimal wavelet pair can be predicted from the level 1.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.369-384
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• 2015

This work presents a free vibration analysis of functionally graded metal-ceramic (FG) beams with considering porosities that may possibly occur inside the functionally graded materials (FGMs) during their fabrication. For this purpose, a simple displacement field based on higher order shear deformation theory is implemented. The proposed theory is based on the assumption that the transverse displacements consist of bending and shear components in which the bending components do not contribute toward shear forces and, likewise, the shear components do not contribute toward bending moments. The most interesting feature of this theory is that it accounts for a quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains across the thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the beam without using shear correction factors. In addition, it has strong similarities with Euler-Bernoulli beam theory in some aspects such as equations of motion, boundary conditions, and stress resultant expressions. The rule of mixture is modified to describe and approximate material properties of the FG beams with porosity phases. By employing the Hamilton's principle, governing equations of motion for coupled axial-shear-flexural response are determined. The validity of the present theory is investigated by comparing some of the present results with those of the first-order and the other higher-order theories reported in the literature. Illustrative examples are given also to show the effects of varying gradients, porosity volume fraction, aspect ratios, and thickness to length ratios on the free vibration of the FG beams.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1502-1522
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• 2019

Leakage of secret keys may be the most devastating problem in public key cryptosystems because it means that all security guarantees are missing. The forward security mechanism allows users to update secret keys frequently without updating public keys. Meanwhile, it ensures that an attacker is unable to derive a user's secret keys for any past time, even if it compromises the user's current secret key. Therefore, it offers an effective cryptographic approach to address the private key leakage problem. As an extension of the forward security mechanism in certificate-based public key cryptography, forward-secure certificate-based signature (FS-CBS) has many appealing merits, such as no key escrow, no secure channel and implicit authentication. Until now, there is only one FS-CBS scheme that does not employ the random oracles. Unfortunately, our cryptanalysis indicates that the scheme is subject to the security vulnerability due to the existential forgery attack from the malicious CA. Our attack demonstrates that a CA can destroy its existential unforgeability by implanting trapdoors in system parameters without knowing the target user's secret key. Therefore, it is fair to say that to design a FS-CBS scheme secure against malicious CAs without lying random oracles is still an unsolved issue. To address this problem, we put forward an enhanced FS-CBS scheme without random oracles. Our FS-CBS scheme not only fixes the security weakness in the original scheme, but also significantly optimizes the scheme efficiency. In the standard model, we formally prove its security under the complexity assumption of the square computational Diffie-Hellman problem. In addition, the comparison with the original FS-CBS scheme shows that our scheme offers stronger security guarantee and enjoys better performance.