• Wind and Structures
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2018

Full-scale measurements of wind action on the open roof structure of the WuXi grand theater, which is composed of eight large-span free-form leaf-shaped space trusses with the largest span of 76.79 m, were conducted during the passage of Typhoons HaiKui and SuLi. The wind pressure field data were continuously and simultaneously monitored using a wind pressure monitoring system installed on the roof structure during the typhoons. A detailed analysis of the field data was performed to investigate the characteristics of the fluctuating wind pressure on the open roof, such as the wind pressure spectrum, spatial correlation coefficients, peak wind pressures and non-Gaussian wind pressure characteristics, under typhoon conditions. Three classical methods were used to calculate the peak factors of the wind pressure on the open roof, and the suggested design method and peak factors were given. The non-Gaussianity of the wind pressure was discussed in terms of the third and fourth statistical moments of the measured wind pressure, and the corresponding indication of the non-Gaussianity on the open roof was proposed. The result shows that there were large pulses in the time-histories of the measured wind pressure on Roof A2 in the field. The spatial correlation of the wind pressures on roof A2 between the upper surface and lower surface is very weak. When the skewness is larger than 0.3 and the kurtosis is larger than 3.7, the wind pressure time series on roof A2 can be taken as a non-Gaussian distribution, and the other series can be taken as a Gaussian distribution.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 1995

The purpose of the study was to develop generalized equations for estimating stature and weight for the nonambulatory elderly persons. Height weight recumbent knee height total ann length, midarm, waist and calf circumferences, triceps and subscapular skinfolds were measured from over 60 years old 315 ambulatory elderly. The equations to predict stature and weight were derived from participants in the validation sample and were applied to the participants in the cross-validation to test the accuracy and validity of equations. Stature and weight were significantly and negatively associated with age of women and similar patterns observed in men but associated to a slight degree. Knee height and total arm length were highly correlated with stature but the majority of the variances in stature was accounted for by knee height for both the men and women. In men, waist circumference was the most significantly correlated with weight and am, calf circumferences and so forth. But in women arm circumference was the highest then waist and calf circumference in order. The possible predictor variables to estimate of stature were knee height total arm length and age for both elderly men and women. Predictor variables to estimate of weight were recumbent measures of waist am, calf circumferences and knee height for both sexes. Inclusion of skinfold thickness measurements did not improve the prediction power of estimation for weight. When both equations developed from the present study and Chumlea's study were applied to cross-valida-tions samples, the equations derived from present study showed better accuracy and validity. The presentation of prediction equations using two, three, or four recommended measurements allows the selection of an equation based upon the measurements that are possible to collect on an individual basis.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.151-167
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• 2015

Instrumentation on structural health monitoring system imposes critical issues for applying the structural monitoring system to real world structures, for which not only on the configuration and geometry, but also aesthetics on the system to be monitored should be considered. To illustrate this point, two real world structural health monitoring systems, the structural health monitoring system of Shenzhen Vanke Center and the structural health monitoring system of Shenzhen Bay Stadium in China, are presented in the paper. The instrumentation on structural health monitoring systems of real world structures is addressed by providing the description of the structure, the purpose of the structural health monitoring system implementation, as well as details of the system integration including the installations on the sensors and acquisition equipment and so on. In addition, an intelligent algorithm on stress identification using measurements from multi-region is presented in the paper. The stress identification method is deployed using the fuzzy pattern recognition and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, where the measurements of limited strain sensors arranged on structure are the input data of the method. As results, at the critical parts of the structure, the stress distribution evaluated from the measurements has shown close correlation to the numerical simulation results on the steel roof of the Beijing National Aquatics Center in China. The research work in this paper can provide a reference for the design and implementation of both real world structural health monitoring systems and intelligent algorithm to identify stress distribution effectively.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.241-262
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• 2011

Cast iron pipe has been used as a water distribution technology in North America since the early nineteenth century. The first cast iron pipes were made of grey cast iron which was succeeded by ductile iron as a pipe material in the 1940s. These different iron alloys have significantly different microstructures which give rise to distinct mechanical properties. Insight into the non-destructive structural condition assessment of aging pipes can be advantageous in developing mitigation strategies for pipe failures. This paper examines the relationship between the small-strain and large-strain properties of exhumed cast iron water pipes. Nondestructive and destructive testing programs were performed on eight pipes varying in age from 40 to 130 years. The experimental program included microstructure evaluation and ultrasonic, tensile, and flexural testing. New applications of frequency domain analysis techniques including Fourier and wavelet transforms of ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements are presented. A low correlation between wave propagation and large-strain measurements was observed. However, the wave velocities were consistently different between ductile and grey cast iron pipes (14% to 18% difference); the ductile iron pipes showed the smaller variation in wave velocities. Thus, the variation of elastic properties for ductile iron was not enough to define a linear correlation because all the measurements were practically concentrated in single cluster of points. The cross-sectional areas of the specimens tested varied as a result of minor manufacturing defects and levels of corrosion. These variations affect the large strain testing results; but, surface defects have limited effect on wave velocities and may also contribute to the low correlations observed. Lamb waves are typically not considered in the evaluation of ultrasonic pulse velocity. However, Lamb waves were found to contribute significantly to the frequency content of the ultrasonic signals possibly resulting in the poor correlations observed. Therefore, correlations between wave velocities and large strain properties obtained using specimens manufactured in the laboratory must be used with caution in the condition assessment of aged water pipes especially for grey cast iron pipes.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 2021

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the amount of height available for a maxillary sinus augmentation procedure without blocking the ostium and jeopardizing the drainage of the ostiomeatal complex using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 sinonasal complexes comprising 100 dentate and 100 edentulous scans were retrospectively assessed using CBCT. Invivo 5.0, a CBCT reconstruction program, was used for image evaluation. The coronal section demonstrating the ostiomeatal complex was selected as a reference view to perform measurements of the sinus. The measurements were done by 2 evaluators in separate sessions. Comparative analyses of measurements were performed between dentate and edentulous patients and between male and female patients. Results: The safe height to which the sinus can be elevated without compromising the integrity of the ostiomeatal complex was calculated for each sinus. In the presence of significant mucosal thickening, the height available for augmentation was calculated by subtracting the height of mucosal thickening from the sinus floor to the location of the ostium. In this study, the available height was approximately 27.05 mm for dentate and 23.40 mm for edentulous patients. The inter-operator reliability was excellent for all the parameters evaluated. Conclusion: This retrospective study with a limited number of patients from a single university-based site shows that CBCT is valuable in evaluating the location and patency of the ostium for planning sinus augmentation procedures for dental implant placement.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.151-162
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• 2022

Prefab members have attracted attention because they can be mass-produced in factories through smart construction technology. For prefab prestressed concrete girders, it is important to manage the shapes of the girders properly from production to the pre-installation stage for consistency with the prefab floor plate during the erection process. This paper presents a camber reconstruction method using collocated strain measurements from the top and bottom of the prefab girder. In particular, the camber reconstruction method is applied to measured strain data in which the time-dependent behavior of concrete is considered after the introduction of prestress. Through Monte Carlo numerical simulations, the statistical accuracy of the reconstructed camber for a limited number of sensors, measurement errors, and nonlinear time-dependent behaviors are analyzed and validated.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.115-125
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• 2023

Arteriovenous fistula flow dysfunction is the leading cause of vascular access thrombosis and loss in patients undergoing hemodialysis. However, data regarding the influence of access flow rate measurements on the long-term outcomes of access are limited. This study aims to identify accesses at a high risk of thrombosis and loss among patients undergoing hemodialysis by measuring the access flow rate and exploring an optimal threshold value for predicting future access thrombosis. We enrolled 220 patients with arteriovenous fistula undergoing hemodialysis. The primary outcome was the occurrence of access thrombosis. Access flow rates were measured monthly using the ultrasound dilution method and were averaged using all measurements from patients with patent access. In patients experienced access thrombosis, those immediately before the thrombosis were selected. Using these data, we calculated the access flow rate threshold for thrombosis occurrence by analyzing the receiver operating characteristic curve, and the patients were divided into two groups according to whether access flow rates were higher or lower than 400 mL/min. During a median follow-up period of 3.1 years, 4,510 access flows were measured (median measurements per patient, 33 times; interquartile range, 11-54). A total of 65 access thromboses and 19 abandonments were observed. Access thrombosis and loss were higher in the lowflow group than in the high-flow group. This study revealed that low access flow rates are strongly associated with access thrombosis occurrence and subsequent loss of arteriovenous fistulas in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2024

Background Breast aesthetics evaluation often relies on subjective assessments, leading to the need for objective, automated tools. We developed the Seoul Breast Esthetic Scoring Tool (S-BEST), a photometric analysis software that utilizes a DenseNet-264 deep learning model to automatically evaluate breast landmarks and asymmetry indices. Methods S-BEST was trained on a dataset of frontal breast photographs annotated with 30 specific landmarks, divided into an 80-20 training-validation split. The software requires the distances of sternal notch to nipple or nipple-to-nipple as input and performs image preprocessing steps, including ratio correction and 8-bit normalization. Breast asymmetry indices and centimeter-based measurements are provided as the output. The accuracy of S-BEST was validated using a paired t-test and Bland-Altman plots, comparing its measurements to those obtained from physical examinations of 100 females diagnosed with breast cancer. Results S-BEST demonstrated high accuracy in automatic landmark localization, with most distances showing no statistically significant difference compared with physical measurements. However, the nipple to inframammary fold distance showed a significant bias, with a coefficient of determination ranging from 0.3787 to 0.4234 for the left and right sides, respectively. Conclusion S-BEST provides a fast, reliable, and automated approach for breast aesthetic evaluation based on 2D frontal photographs. While limited by its inability to capture volumetric attributes or multiple viewpoints, it serves as an accessible tool for both clinical and research applications.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.664-674
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• 2016

The electrical properties of Ti/p-type InP Schottky diodes with and without polyaniline (PANI) interlayer was investigated using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. The barrier height of Ti/p-type InP Schottky diode with PANI interlayer was higher than that of the conventional Ti/p-type InP Schottky diode, implying that the organic interlayer influenced the space-charge region of the Ti/p-type InP Schottky junction. At higher voltages, the current transport was dominated by the trap free space-charge-limited current and trap-filled space-charge-limited current in Ti/p-type InP Schottky diode without and with PANI interlayer, respectively. The domination of trap filled space-charge-limited current in Ti/p-type InP Schottky diode with PANI interlayer could be associated with the traps originated from structural defects prevailing in organic PANI interlayer.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.83-94
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• 2017

Air quality planning and management requires accurate and consistent records of the air quality parameters. Limited number of monitoring stations and inconsistent measurements of the air quality parameters is a very serious problem in many parts of India. It becomes difficult for the authorities to plan proactive measures with such a limited data. Estimation models can be developed using soft computing techniques considering the physics behind pollution dispersion as they can work very well with limited data. They are more realistic and can present the complete picture about the air quality. In the present case study spatio-temporal models using Linear Genetic Programming (LGP) have been developed for estimation of air quality parameters. The air quality data from four monitoring stations of an Indian city has been used and LGP models have been developed to estimate pollutant concentration of the fifth station. Three types of models are developed. In the first type, models are developed considering only the pollutant concentrations at the neighboring stations without considering the effect of distance between the stations as well the significance of the prevailing wind direction. Second type of models are distance based models based on the hypothesis that there will be atmospheric interactions between the two stations under consideration and the effect increases with decrease in the distance between the two. In third type the effect of the prevailing wind direction is also considered in choosing the input stations in wind and distance based models. Models are evaluated using Band Error and it was observed that majority of the errors are in +/-1 band.