• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.449-463
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• 2024

Automated crack detection is crucial for structural health monitoring and post-earthquake rapid damage detection. However, realizing high precision automatic crack detection in the absence of corresponding manual labeling presents a formidable challenge. This paper presents a novel crack segmentation transfer learning method and a novel crack segmentation model called Swin-CrackFormer. The proposed method facilitates efficient crack image style transfer through a meticulously designed data preprocessing technique, followed by the utilization of a GAN model for image style transfer. Moreover, the proposed Swin-CrackFormer combines the advantages of Transformer and convolution operations to achieve effective local and global feature extraction. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, this study validates the proposed method on three unlabeled crack datasets and evaluates the Swin-CrackFormer model on the METU dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the crack transfer learning method significantly improves the crack segmentation performance on unlabeled crack datasets. Moreover, the Swin-CrackFormer model achieved the best detection result on the METU dataset, surpassing existing crack segmentation models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2024

This work presents the effectiveness of differential quadrature shape functions (i.e., Lagrange interpolation polynomial, Cardinal sine function, Delta Lagrange kernel and Regularized Shannon kernel) in the solution of nonlinear vibration of multilayers piezoelectric plates with nonlinear elastic support. A piezoelectric composite laminated plate is rested on nonlinear Winkler and Visco-Pasternak elastic foundations problems. Based on 3D elasticity theory and piezoelectricity, the governing equations of motion are derived. Differential quadrature methods based on four shape functions are presented as numerical techniques for solving this problem. The perturbation method is implemented to solve the obtained nonlinear eigenvalue problem. A MATLAB code is written for each technique for solving this problem and extract the numerical results. To validate these methods, the computed results are we compare with the previous exact results. In addition, parametric analyses are offered to investigate the influence of length to thickness ratio, elastic foundation parameters, various boundary conditions, and piezoelectric layers thickness on the natural frequencies and mode shapes. Consequently, it is discovered that the obtained results via the proposed schemes can be applied in structural health monitoring.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.225-242
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify students' experiences of performance and their satisfaction with clinical nursing practice in Women's health nursing. Methods: Data was collected using questionnaire consisting of 104; 89,; and 82 nursing activities with 12; 10; and 7 domains for delivery floor, obstetric, and gynecologic wards retrospectively. Five hundred ninety nursing students from 10 four year and one three year colleges, were recruited and selected for data collection. Results: Site specific core nursing activities among top 15 items of performed experience were: interpreting fetal monitoring; massage for pain reduction; breathing technique; perineal pad change; non stress test; manual check for uterine contraction; and position change for the delivery floor. Experiences of clinical nursing practice for the obstetric ward and the gynecologic ward were identified and ranked as well. Observation of delivery, measurement & test during labor and observation of anesthesia and operation were the highest ranked activity domains of satisfaction for delivery floor, obstetric and gynecologic wards retrospectively. Conclusion: Discussions are needed to standardize curriculum for clinical practice in women's health nursing initiated at the level of Korean Society of Womens' Health Nursing by reflecting this result. Strategic approaches are emphasized in order to enhance a collaboration between clinical fields and colleges.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.161-183
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• 2017

This paper investigates the damage identification of the concrete pile element through axial wave propagation technique using computational and experimental studies. Now-a-days, concrete pile foundations are often common in all engineering structures and their safety is significant for preventing the failure. Damage detection and estimation in a sub-structure is challenging as the visual picture of the sub-structure and its condition is not well known and the state of the structure or foundation can be inferred only through its static and dynamic response. The concept of wave propagation involves dynamic impedance and whenever a wave encounters a changing impedance (due to loss of stiffness), a reflecting wave is generated with the total strain energy forked as reflected as well as refracted portions. Among many frequency domain methods, the Spectral Finite Element method (SFEM) has been found suitable for analysis of wave propagation in real engineering structures as the formulation is based on dynamic equilibrium under harmonic steady state excitation. The feasibility of the axial wave propagation technique is studied through numerical simulations using Elementary rod theory and higher order Love rod theory under SFEM and ABAQUS dynamic explicit analysis with experimental validation exercise. Towards simulating the damage scenario in a pile element, dis-continuity (impedance mismatch) is induced by varying its cross-sectional area along its length. Both experimental and computational investigations are performed under pulse-echo and pitch-catch configuration methods. Analytical and experimental results are in good agreement.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1509-1521
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• 2013

Social demand for the stability of structures lead to the development of the technology to accomplish it. The non-destructive seismic technique, which is able to assess structural integrity of infrastructures, belongs to this category. Seismic technique is focused on the measurement of seismic velocity propagating through the material, and has to utilize sensors coupled to material surface, which does not allow the testing to be performed on the fly. In this paper, a general vocal microphone, which works as a non-contact sensor, was adopted to facilitate seismic testing with mobility and efficiency improved. The target of using microphones was oriented toward quality assessment of compacted subgrade, stiffness evaluation and health monitoring of concrete structures. Experimental parametric study and field applications were performed to investigate reliability and efficiency of microphones. Finally, the optimal test configuration of microphones was suggested for resonance tests and surface-wave tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2012

A structural health monitoring technique for locating impact position in a plate structure is presented in this paper. The method employs a single sensor and spatial focusing of time reversal (TR) acoustics. We first examine the TR focusing effect at the impact position and its surroundings through simulation and experiment. The imaging results of impact points show that the impact source location can be accurately estimated in any position of the plate. Compared to existing techniques for locating impact or acoustic emission source, the proposed method has the benefits of using a single sensor and not requiring material properties and geometry of structures. Furthermore, it does not depend on a particular mode of dispersive Lamb waves that is frequently used in other ultrasonic testings of plate-like structures.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.294-300
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• 2009

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) is performed by artificial ventilation and thoracic compression for the patient under emergent situation to maintain at least the minimum level of respiration and blood circulation for life survival. Quality of the pre-hospital CPR not only significantly affects the patient's survival rate but also minimizes side effects caused by CPR. Good quality CPR requires monitoring respiration, however, traditional respiratory air flow transducers cannot be used because the transducer elements are located on the flow axis. The present study developed a new technique with no physical object on the flow stream but enabling the air flow measurement and easily incorporated with the CPR devices. A turbulence chamber was formed in the middle of the respiratory tube by locally enlarging the cross-sectional area where the flow related turbulence was generated inducing energy loss which was in turn converted into pressure difference. The turbulence chamber was simply an empty enlarged air space, thus no physical object was placed on the flow stream, but still the flow rate could be evaluated. Both inspiratory and expiratory flows were obtained with symmetric measurement characteristics. Quadratic curve fitting provided excellent calibration formula with a correlation coefficient>0.999 (P<0.0001) and the mean relative error<1 %. The present results can be usefully applied to accurately monitor the air flow rate during CPR.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.683-696
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• 2017

In this study, the reliability of nonlinear ultrasonic modulation based fatigue crack detection is improved using a feature-level data fusion approach. When two ultrasonic inputs at two distinct frequencies are applied to a specimen with a fatigue crack, modulation components at the summation and difference of these two input frequencies appear. First, the spectral amplitudes of the modulation components and their spectral correlations are defined as individual features. Then, a 2D feature space is constructed by combining these two features, and the presence of a fatigue crack is identified in the feature space. The effectiveness of the proposed fatigue crack detection technique is experimentally validated through cyclic loading tests of aluminum plates, full-scale steel girders and a rotating shaft component. Subsequently, the improved reliability of the proposed technique is quantitatively investigated using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The uniqueness of this study lies in (1) improvement of nonlinear ultrasonic modulation based fatigue crack detection reliability using feature-level data fusion, (2) reference-free fatigue crack diagnosis without using the baseline data obtained from the intact condition of the structure, (3) application to full-scale steel girders and shaft component, and (4) quantitative investigation of the improved reliability using receiver operating characteristic analysis.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.205-213
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• 1993

The APHA-MPN procedure is the only officially accepted method for classifying shellfish growing areas in U. S. A. The method estimates the levels of fecal coliforms and E. coli, indicators of the sanitary quality of environmental waters. However, the MPN has several disadvantages requiring far more time, labor and expense for assay, as well as providing relatively poor precision. Several membrane filtration procedures have been developed to enumerate these indicators in waters. Of these, the mTEC technique has been shown to provide recoveries of fecal coliforms and E. coli comparable to those of the MPN method. In an abbreviated sanitary survey for Greenwich Bay in Rhode Island, U. S. A., classified as an approved shellfish growing area, the mTEC and conventional MPN methods were again compared for their recoveries of the indicator bacteria. It was found that the recoveries of fecal coliforms and E. coli provided by the mTEC technique are 1.08 and 1.27 times higher than those produced by MPN for water monitoring, respectively, and that the membrane filtration method appears to be a possible alternative to APHA-MPN.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.749-765
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• 2010

There are on-going efforts to utilize guided waves for structural damage detection. Active sensing devices such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) have been widely used for guided wave generation and sensing. In addition, there has been increasing interest in adopting wireless sensing to structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. One of major challenges in wireless SHM is to secure power necessary to operate the wireless sensors. However, because active sensing devices demand relatively high electric power compared to conventional passive sensors such as accelerometers and strain gauges, existing battery technologies may not be suitable for long-term operation of the active sensing devices. To tackle this problem, a new wireless power transmission paradigm has been developed in this study. The proposed technique wirelessly transmits power necessary for PZT-based guided wave generation using laser and optoelectronic devices. First, a desired waveform is generated and the intensity of the laser source is modulated accordingly using an electro-optic modulator (EOM). Next, the modulated laser is wirelessly transmitted to a photodiode connected to a PZT. Then, the photodiode converts the transmitted light into an electric signal and excites the PZT to generate guided waves on the structure where the PZT is attached to. Finally, the corresponding response from the sensing PZT is measured. The feasibility of the proposed method for wireless guided wave generation has been experimentally demonstrated.