• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.351-359
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• 2007

In this study, a hierarchical switching control scheme based on robust control theory is proposed for tracking control of vehicle longitudinal acceleration in the presence of large uncertainties. A model set consisting of four multiplicative-uncertainty models is set up, and its corresponding controller set is designed by the LMI approach, which can ensures the robust performance of the closed loop system under arbitray switching. Based on the model set and the controller set, a switching index function by estimating the system gain of the uncertainties between the plant and the nominal model is designed to determine when and which controller should be switched into the closed loop. After theoretical analyses, experiments have also been carried out to validate the proposed control algorithm. The results show that the control system has good performance of robust stability and tracking ability in the presence of large uncertainties. The response time is smaller than 1.5s and the max tracking error is about $0.05\;m/S^2$ with the step input.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.480-489
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• 2020

Objective: Sow milk (SM) may not be able to meet the piglet's nutritional needs in late lactation. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of early commercial milk (CM) supplement on the mucosal morphology, bacterial community and bacterial metabolites in jejunum of piglets. Methods: Ten litters of newborn piglets ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) were randomly divided into 2 groups of 5 litters. The piglets in the control group were suckled by the sow (SM), while the piglets in the treatment group (CM supplement) were supplemented with a CM supplement along with suckling from d 4 to d 28 of age. Results: No significant differences were observed about jejunal mucosal morphology on d 28 and d 35 between two groups. On d 28, the activity of lactase in the jejunum was significantly decreased in the CM group, while the activity of sucrase and the ratio of maltase to lactase were significantly increased (p<0.05). On d 35, the activity of maltase in the jejunum was significantly increased in the CM group (p<0.05), and maltase to lactase ratio tended to increase in the CM group (p = 0.065). In addition, piglets in the CM group had a higher abundance of Clostridium XI, Tuicibater, and Moraxella in the jejunum on d 28, while the abundance of Lactobacillus was significantly increased on d 35 (p<0.05). Conclusion: The early CM supplement improved the maturation of the jejunum to some extent by enhancing the maltase and sucrase activities. Moreover, the early CM supplement could help maintain the homeostasis of internal environment in jejunum by increasing the microbial-derived metabolites.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.297-310
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• 2012

Aging-related degradation of nuclear power plant components is an important aspect to consider in securing the long term safety of the plant, especially the seismic safety, since the degradation of the components affects not only their seismic capacity but their response. This can cause a change in the seismic margin of a component and the overall seismic safety of a system. To better understand the status and characteristics of degradation of components in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), the degradation occurrences of components in the U.S. NPPs were identified by reviewing recent publicly available information sources and the characteristics of these occurrences were evaluated and compared to observations from the past. Ten categories of components that are of high risk significance in Korean NPPs were identified, comprising anchorage, concrete, containment, exchanger, filter, piping systems, reactor pressure vessels, structural steel, tanks, and vessels. Software tools were developed to expedite the review process. Results from this review effort were compared to previous data in the literature to characterize the overall degradation trends.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.285-295
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• 2022

Laminated composite plates are utilized extensively in different fields of construction and industry thanks to their advantages such as high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Additionally, they are characterized by their directional properties that permit the designer to optimize their stiffness for specific applications. This paper presents a numerical analysis and optimization study of plates made of composite subjected to low velocity impact. The main aim is to identify the optimum fiber orientations of the composite plates that resist low velocity impact load. First, a three-dimensional finite element model is built using LS DYNA computer software package to perform the impact analyses. The composite plate has been modeled using solid elements. The failure criteria of Tsai-Wu's criterion have been used to control the strength of the composite material. A good agreement has been found between the predicted numerical results and experimental results in the literature which validate the finite element model. Then, an Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) has been used to optimize the response of impacted composite laminate where its objective is to maximize the safety factor by varying the ply angles. The results show that the ASA is robust in the sense that it is capable of predicting the best optimal designs.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2005

Background: DNA vaccination represents an anticipated approach for the control of numerous infectious diseases. Used alone, however, DNA vaccine is weak immunogen inferior to viral vectors. In recent, heterologous prime-boost vaccination leads DNA vaccines to practical reality. Methods: We assessed prime-boost immunization strategies with a DNA vaccine (minigene, $gB_{498-505}$ DNA) and recombinant vaccinia virus $(vvgB_{498-505})$ expressing epitope $gB_{498-505}$ (SSIEF ARL) of CD8+ T cells specific for glycoprotein B (gB) of herpes simplex virus (HSV). Animals were immunized primarily with $gB_{498-505}$ epitope-expressing DNA vaccine/recombinant vaccinia virus and boosted with alternative vaccine type expressing entire Ag. Results: In prime-boost protocols using vvgBw (recombinant vaccinia virus expressing entire Ag) and $vvgB_{498-505}$, CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity was induced maximally at both acute and memory stages if primed with vvgBw and boosted with $vvgB_{498-505}$ as evaluated by CTL activity, intracellular IFN-staining, and MHC class I tetramer staining. Similarly $gB_{498-505}$ DNA prime-gBw DNA (DNA vaccine expressing entire Ag) boost immunization elicited the strongest CD8+ T cell responses in protocols based on DNA vaccine. However, the level of CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity induced with prime-boost vaccination using DNA vaccine expressing epitope or entire Ag was inferior to those based on vvgBw and $vvgB_{498-505}$. Of particular interest CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity was optimally induced when $vvgB_{498-505}$ was used to prime and gB DNA was used as alternative boost. Especially CD7+ T cell responses induced by such protocol was longer lasted than other protocols. Conclusion: These facts direct to search for the effective strategy to induce optimal CD8+ T cell-mediated immunity against cancer and viral infection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.339-352
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• 2023

Prediction of the time-related traits of pebble flow inside pebble-bed HTGRs is of great significance for reactor operation and design. In this work, an image-driven approach with the aid of a convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed to predict the remaining time of initially loaded pebbles and the time interval of paired flow images of the pebble bed. Two types of strategies are put forward: one is adding FC layers to the classic classification CNN models and using regression training, and the other is CNN-based deep expectation (DEX) by regarding the time prediction as a deep classification task followed by softmax expected value refinements. The current dataset is obtained from the discrete element method (DEM) simulations. Results show that the CNN-aided models generally make satisfactory predictions on the remaining time with the determination coefficient larger than 0.99. Among these models, the VGG19+DEX performs the best and its CumScore (proportion of test set with prediction error within 0.5s) can reach 0.939. Besides, the remaining time of additional test sets and new cases can also be well predicted, indicating good generalization ability of the model. In the task of predicting the time interval of image pairs, the VGG19+DEX model has also generated satisfactory results. Particularly, the trained model, with promising generalization ability, has demonstrated great potential in accurately and instantaneously predicting the traits of interest, without the need for additional computational intensive DEM simulations. Nevertheless, the issues of data diversity and model optimization need to be improved to achieve the full potential of the CNN-aided prediction tool.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.519-526
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• 2023

Panax ginseng is one of the most important herbal medicinal plants consumed as health functional food and can be fermented to achieve better efficacy. Lacticaseibacillus, one of the representative genera among lactic acid bacteria (LAB), has also been used as a probiotic material for health functional foods due to its beneficial effects on the human body. To achieve a synergistic effect by using these excellent dietary supplement ingredients together, a novel LAB strain was isolated from the root of 6-year-old ginseng. Through similarity analysis of 16S rRNAs and whole-genome sequences, the strain was confirmed as belonging to the genus Lacticaseibacillus and was named L. casei KGC1201. KGC1201 not only met all safety standards as food, but also showed excellent probiotic properties such as acid resistance, bile salt resistance, and intestinal adhesion. In particular, KGC1201 exhibited superior acid resistance through morphological observation identifying that the cell surface damage of KGC1201 was less than that of the L. casei type strain KCTC3109. Gene expression studies were conducted to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of KGC1201's acid resistance, and the expression of the glycosyltransferase gene was found to be significantly elevated under acidic conditions. Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) biosynthesized by glycosyltransferase were also increased in KGC1201 compared to KCTC3109, which may contribute to better protection of KGC1201 cells from strong acidity. Therefore, KGC1201, with its increased acid resistance through molecular mechanisms and excellent probiotic properties, can be used in health functional foods to provide greater benefit to overall human health and well-being.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2013

Objectives: This study assessed the status of domestic industrial hygiene laboratories using data from on-site investigation for revision of quality control systems in 2012-2013. Methods: The target laboratories were 60 industrial hygiene laboratories chosen by random selection and nationwide distribution which had participated in on-site investigations for revision of quality control systems from March 2012 to August 2013. The investigation was performed on-site following standard quality control procedures. The score between each group was compared using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the correlation between analytical career, sex, academic major of analyst and score of analytical performance was expressed as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: The assessment revealed that the items to be improved, in sequence, were effort at staff training (score 65.5), ability to calculate data (score 73.4), establishment of internal quality control guidelines (score 75.7), laboratory facilities (score 77.1), degree of understanding and skill at gas chromatography (score 77.1). Analysis performance showed a positive correlation with career of analyst (r=0.56, p<0.01). Conclusions: The practice of on-site investigation for quality control systems showed the current status of industrial hygiene laboratories in the first trial. There were many laboratories which needed improvement and development of analytical systems. This assessment can provide information for the systematic operation and improvement of facilities at each laboratory. Further practice of this investigation will lead to a proficiency testing and accreditation system for autonomous quality control as is the practice in many countries, rather than mandatory practice by legal regulation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.431-446
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• 2020

This paper presents the flexural performance of double skin composite beams (DSCBs) at different Arctic low temperatures. 12 DSCBs were prepared and tested under two-point loading at different Arctic low temperatures of 20, -30, -50, and -70℃. The studied parameters include low-temperature level (T), steel-faceplate thickness (t), shear span ratio (λ), and spacing of headed studs (S). The experimental investigations under two-point loading tests showed that flexural failure occurred to all DSCBs, even including the specimen designed with the small λ ratio of 2.9. The ultimate strength behaviours of DSCBs were improved due to the improved mechanical properties of constructional materials and the confinement on shear connectors. The DSCB subjected to two-point loading and low temperatures exhibits a five-stage working mechanism. The stiffness and strength indexes of DSCBs increase linearly with temperature and t value increasing, while decreasing as shear span ratio boosts. In the contrast, the change of S value from 150 to 200 mm has little effect on the ultimate strength behavior of DSCB.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.481-489
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• 2023

Drained cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on a saturated sand to examine its deformation characteristics under either axial or lateral cyclic loading condition. To apply lateral cyclic loading, the cell pressure was cycled while maintaining a constant vertical stress. The strain accumulations and flow direction in the soil were presented and discussed considering various initial stress ratios (η₀), cyclic stress amplitudes and cyclic stress paths. The results indicate that axial strain accumulation shows an exponential increase with the maximum stress ratio (η^max). The initial deviatoric stress has comparable effects with lateral cyclic stress amplitude on the accumulated axial strain. In contrast, the accumulated volumetric strain is directly proportional to the lateral cyclic stress amplitude but not much affected by η₀ values. Due to the anisotropy of the soil, the accumulated axial and lateral bulging strains are greater in lateral cyclic loading when compared to axial cyclic loading even though η^max is the same. It is also found that η^max affects soil's lateral deformation and increasing the ratio could change the lateral deformation from contraction to bulging. The flow direction depends on η^max in the sand under lateral cyclic loading, regardless of η₀ values and the cyclic stress amplitudes, and a large η^max could lead to great deviatoric strain but a little volumetric strain accumulation.