• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.1056-1063
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• 2010

We present a new joining method for Pd-Cu membrane foils used as permeation tubes to collect $CO_2$. Since foils have poor mechanical strength, joining should be done at low temperatures to reduce residual stresses and without joining pressure. This contradicts the well known conditions for good contact between base materials that determines joint qualities. We selected Sn-Ag-Cu alloys that are highly reactive with Pd and Cu as a filler metal. As the filler melts at joining temperatures as low as $220{\sim}280^{\circ}C$, Pd and Cu are dissolved into the melt and react with the filler elements, which raises the melting temperature of the filler based on eutectic structures among the elements. Then, isothermal solidification progresses for the rest of the joining time. Intermetallic compounds (IMC) in the joints, one of the main factors for brittle joints, are inevitably formed. However, by optimizing both joining time and temperature, we balanced the wettability with IMC. Sealing test results confirmed that the joints are mechanically reliable during operation.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2019

This paper describes the structural design of a 212 m tall building currently under construction in the Tokiwabashi District Redevelopment Project facing Tokyo Station. In this project there was a requirement to rationally solve many issues arising from the conditions of the redevelopment project. In particular, the following two points were considered to be important from the point of view of structural design. 1) To provide an overhang frame with the perimeter columns on the lower stories inclined, in order to enable a typical floor area that greatly exceeded the limitations of the underground structure shape. 2) To provide high grade seismic performance for the office buildings to be constructed on prime city center land. LSCVCS (Lower Stories Concentrated Vibration Control System) was proposed as the method of rationally designing the overhang frame, which is an extremely disadvantageous element in the structural scheme of the tall building with a large slenderness ratio. LSCVCS is a system to provide effective damping by arranging vibration control devices in a concentrated manner in a lower story with large story height, that produces large deformation in an earthquake. Also, the vibration control devices arranged in the lower story are limited to viscous devices, to take into consideration the residual deformation of the overhang frame after an earthquake. The results of investigations into the specific effects of the system for the seismic design are reported, including Performance-based seismic design.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.163-181
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• 2015

This research investigates the structural health monitoring of nonlinear structures after a major seismic event. It considers the identification of flag-shaped or pinched hysteresis behavior in response to structures as a more general case of a normal hysteresis curve without pinching. The method is based on the overall least squares methods and the log likelihood ratio test. In particular, the structural response is divided into different loading and unloading sub-half cycles. The overall least squares analysis is first implemented to obtain the minimum residual mean square estimates of structural parameters for each sub-half cycle with the number of segments assumed. The log likelihood ratio test is used to assess the likelihood of these nonlinear segments being true representations in the presence of noise and model error. The resulting regression coefficients for identified segmented regression models are finally used to obtain stiffness, yielding deformation and energy dissipation parameters. The performance of the method is illustrated using a single degree of freedom system and a suite of 20 earthquake records. RMS noise of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% is added to the response data to assess the robustness of the identification routine. The proposed method is computationally efficient and accurate in identifying the damage parameters within 10% average of the known values even with 20% added noise. The method requires no user input and could thus be automated and performed in real-time for each sub-half cycle, with results available effectively immediately after an event as well as during an event, if required.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1455-1464
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• 2021

Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide in increasing demand for applications in food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. Single-step trehalose production by trehalose synthase (TreS) using maltose as a starting material is a promising alternative process for industrial application due to its simplicity and cost advantage. Pseudomonas monteilii TBRC 1196 was identified using the developed screening method as a potent strain for TreS production. The TreS gene from P. monteilii TBRC 1196 was first cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Purified recombinant trehalose synthase (PmTreS) had a molecular weight of 76 kDa and showed optimal pH and temperature at 9.0 and 40℃, respectively. The enzyme exhibited >90% residual activity under mesophilic condition under a broad pH range of 7-10 for 6 h. Maximum trehalose yield by PmTreS was 68.1% with low yield of glucose (4%) as a byproduct under optimal conditions, equivalent to productivity of 4.5 g/l/h using enzyme loading of 2 mg/g substrate and high concentration maltose solution (100 g/l) in a lab-scale bioreactor. The enzyme represents a potent biocatalyst for energy-saving trehalose production with potential for inhibiting microbial contamination by alkaline condition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1686-1704
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• 2021

This study addresses the numerical simulation of the shield building of an AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP) subjected to a large commercial aircraft impact. First, a simplified finite element model (F.E. model) of the large commercial Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is established. The F.E. model of the AP1000 shield building is constructed, which is a reasonably simplified reinforced concrete structure. The effectiveness of both F.E. models is verified by the classical Riera method and the impact test of a 1/7.5 scaled GE-J79 engine model. Then, based on the verified F.E. models, the entire impact process of the aircraft on the shield building is simulated by the missile-target interaction method (coupled method) and by the ANSYS/LS-DYNA software, which is at different initial impact velocities and impact heights. Finally, the laws and characteristics of the aircraft impact force, residual velocity, kinetic energy, concrete damage, axial reinforcement stress, and perforated size are analyzed in detail. The results show that all of them increase with the addition to the initial impact velocity. The first four are not very sensitive to the impact height. The engine impact mainly contributes to the peak impact force, and the peak impact force is six times higher than that in the first stage. With increasing initial impact velocity, the maximum aircraft impact force rises linearly. The range of the tension and pressure of the reinforcement axial stress changes with the impact height. The perforated size increases with increasing impact height. The radial perforation area is almost insensitive to the initial impact velocity and impact height. The research of this study can provide help for engineers in designing AP1000 shield buildings.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.535-543
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• 2019

Building on/with expansive soils with no treatment brings complications. Compacted expansive soils specifically fall short in satisfying the minimum requirements for transport embankment infrastructures, requiring the adoption of hauled virgin mineral aggregates or a sustainable alternative. Use of hauled aggregates comes at a high carbon and economical cost. On average, every 9m high embankment built with quarried/hauled soils cost $12600MJ.m^{-2}$ Embodied Energy (EE). A prospect of using mixed cutting-arising expansive soils with industrial/domestic wastes can reduce the carbon cost and ease the pressure on landfills. The widespread use of recycled materials has been extensively limited due to concerns over their long-term performance, generally low shear strength and stiffness. In this contribution, hydromechanical properties of a waste tyre sand-sized rubber (a mixture of polybutadiene, polyisoprene, elastomers, and styrene-butadiene) and expansive silt is studied, allowing the short- and long-term behaviour of optimum compacted composites to be better established. The inclusion of tyre shred substantially decreased the swelling potential/pressure and modestly lowered the compression index. Silt-Tyre powder replacement lowered the bulk density, allowing construction of lighter reinforced earth structures. The shear strength and stiffness decreased on addition of tyre powder, yet the contribution of matric suction to the shear strength remained constant for tyre shred contents up to 20%. Reinforced soils adopted a ductile post-peak plastic behaviour with enhanced failure strain, offering the opportunity to build more flexible subgrades as recommended for expansive soils. Residual water content and tyre shred content are directly correlated; tyre-reinforced silt showed a greater capacity of water storage (than natural silts) and hence a sustainable solution to waterlogging and surficial flooding particularly in urban settings. Crushed fine tyre shred mixed with expansive silts/sands at 15 to 20 wt% appear to offer the maximum reduction in swelling-shrinking properties at minimum cracking, strength loss and enhanced compressibility expenses.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.492-501
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• 2018

The following results were obtained from a series of studies to accumulate data to reduce the coefficient of friction for press dies by performing tribological tests before and after the UNSM treatment of SM45C. The UNSM-treated material had a nano-size surface texture, high surface hardness, and large and deep compressive residual stress formation. Even when the load was doubled, the small amount of abrasion, small weight of the abrasion, and width and depth of the abrasion did not increase as much as those for untreated materials. When loads of 5 N, 7.5 N, and 10 N were applied to the untreated material of SM45C, the coefficient of friction was approximately 0.76-0.78. With the large specimen, a value of 0.72-0.78 was maintained at a load of 50 N despite the differences in the size of the wear specimen and working load. Tribological tests of large specimens of SM45C treated with UNSM under tribological conditions of 100 N and 50 N showed that the frictional coefficient and time constant stably converged between 0.7 and 0.8. The friction coefficients of the small specimens treated with UNSM showed values between 0.78 and 0.75 under 5 N, 7.5 N, and 10 N. The friction coefficients of the SM45C treated with UNSM were comparable to each other.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.502-510
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• 2018

In order to accumulate data to lower the friction coefficient of a press mold, tribological tests were performed before and after coating SM45C with a PVC/PO film and plasma coating (CrN, concept). The ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM)-treated material had a nano-size surface texture, high surface hardness, and large and deep compressive residual stress formation. Even when the load was doubled, the small amount of abrasion, small weight of the abrasion, and width and depth of the abrasion did not increase as much as those of untreated materials. A comparison of the weight change before and after the tribological test with the CrN and the concept coating material and that of the untreated material showed that the wear loss of the concept coating material and P-UNSM treated material (that is, the UNSM treated material treated with the concept coating) showed a tendency to decrease by approximately 55-75%. Concept 100N had a lower friction coefficient of about 0.6, and P-UNSM-30-100N showed almost the same curve as concept 100N and had a low coefficient of friction of about 0.6. The concept multilayer coating had a thickness of $5.32{\mu}m$. In the beginning, the coefficient of friction decreased because of the plasma coating, but it started to increase from about 250-300 s. After about 350 s, the coefficient of friction tended to approach the friction coefficient of the SM45C base metal. The SGV-280F film-attached test specimen was slightly pushed back and forth, but the SM45C base material was not exposed due to abrasion. The friction coefficient was 0.22, which was the lowest, and the tribological property was the best in this study.

• Investigative and Clinical Urology
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.392-398
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• 2018

Purpose: To evaluate the initial experience and outcome of photo-selective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in Pakistan with the use of a 980 nm diode laser. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was performed from November 2016 to December 2017. A total of 100 patients diagnosed with bladder outlet obstruction secondary to BPH who planned for PVP were enrolled in the study. PVP was carried out with a diode laser at 980 nm (Biolitec Diode 180W laser) in a continuous wave with a 600 nm (twister) fiber. Baseline characteristics and perioperative data were compared. Postoperative outcomes were evaluated by International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), post void residual (PVR) and maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax) at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Results: The mean age was $65.82{\pm}10.42$, mean prostate size was $67.35{\pm}16.42$, operative time was $55.85{\pm}18.01$ and total energy was $198.68{\pm}49.12kJ$. At 3 months and 6 months, significant improvements were noted (p<0.001) in IPSS $7.04{\pm}1.69$ (-18.92), Qmax $19.22{\pm}4.75mL/s$ (+13.09) and and PVR $18.89{\pm}5.39mL$ (-112.80). Most frequent problems were burning micturition (35%) and terminal dysuria (29%). No significant difference in postoperative hemoglobin was seen in patients who were on anti-platelet drugs. Conclusions: PVP with a diode laser is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of BPH and is also safe in patients who are on anti-platelet agents.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2018

In this paper, the kernel regression model is applied for the case study of gas turbine abnormal state analysis. In addition to vibration analysis at the remote site, the kernel regression model technique can is useful for analyzing abnormal state of rotor vibration signals of gas turbine in power plant. In monitoring based on data-driven techniques correlated measurements, the fault free training data of shaft vibration obtained during normal operations of gas turbine are used to develop a empirical model based on auto-associative kernel regression. This data-driven model can be used to predict virtual measurements, which are compared with real-time data, generating residuals. Any faults in the system may cause statistically abnormal changes in these residuals and could be detected. As the result, the kernel regression model provides information that can distinguish anomalies such as sensor failure in a shaft vibration signal.