교량의 내진보강용으로 탄성받침이 널리 사용되고 있다. 이에 사용되는 고무재료는 크게 천연고무(NR), 합성고무 (CR), 이 둘을 적정하게 배합한 혼합고무(BR)가 있다. 강재와 달리 고무재료는 다양한 환경요인에 의해 노화(열화)가 빨리 진행 되고 이로 인해 전단강성에 변화가 발생한다. 교량받침에 적용되는 3가지 고무재료에 대해서 전단시편을 제작하여 열을 가하여 노화를 촉진시킨 후(노화촉진시험) 전단성능시험을 수행하였다. 시험변수는 노화촉진온도 3가지(70℃, 80℃, 90℃)와 노출시간 10단계(Fresh∼168days)로 설정하였으며, 시험의 신뢰도를 향상시키기 위해 각각의 변수별로 4개의 시험체를 제작하였다. 시험체는 총 360개이다. 전단성능시험 결과 노출강도가 클수록(노화촉진온도가 높을수록, 노출시간이 길수록) 노화에 따른 고무의 전단 경화 현상(전단강성 증가)이 나타났으며 노화강도가 클수록 심화되었다. 이런 경향은 천연고무(NR), 혼합고무(BR), 합성고무 (CR) 순으로 크케 나타났다. 향후 실제 고무받침에 대해서도 노화에 의한 전단거동 특성 연구가 필요하다.

Performance-based seismic evaluation is usually done by considering simplified models for the liquid storage tanks therefore, it is important to validate those simplified models before conducting such evaluation. The purpose of this study is to compare the seismic response results of the FSI (fluid-structure interaction) model and the simplified models for the cylindrical liquid storage tanks and to verify the applicability of the simplified models for estimating failure probability. Seismic analyses were carried out for two types of storage tanks with different aspect ratios (H/D) of 0.45 and 0.86. FSI model represents detailed 3D fluid-structure interaction model and simplified models are modeled as cantilever mass-spring model, frame type mass-spring model and shell type mass-spring model, considering impulsive and convective components. Seismic analyses were performed with modal analysis followed by time history analysis. Analysis results from all the models were verified by comparing with the results calculated by the code and literature. The results from simplified models show good agreement with the ones from detailed FSI model and calculated results from code and literature, confirming that all three types of simplified models are very valid for conducting failure probability analysis of the cylindrical liquid storage tanks.

Background : Water uptake and flow across cellular membranes is a fundamental requirement for plant growth and development, and plant water status is important not only for plant growth under favorable conditions but also for ability of a plant to tolerate adverse environmental conditions. Thus identification of plasma membrane water channel genes (aquaporins) in ginseng provides extensive information for functional studies and the development of markers for salinity stress tolerance. Methods and Results : For salinity treatment, the plants were grown for 4 weeks in culture medium gelled with 0.8% Phytoagar, and the old media were replaced with the fresh medium containing NaCl at 0, 50, 100, 200 and 400 mM, respectively. The samples for stress treated and non-stressed plants were collected from 6h to 72h, and frozen immediately into liquid nitrogen. According to the sequence information from the assembled transcripts, four primer pairs were designed from the aquaporin gene regions. In order to determine the pattern of aquaporins expression in ginseng seedlings to salinity stress, we conducted semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Conclusion : A tonoplast intrinsic protein 1 (TIP1)-type aquaporin is not only believed to be essential for plant life, but also to be beneficial for growth under salinity stress. Therefore, a deeper understanding of aquaporin genes in ginseng will be essential for crop improvement, which could help us to understand the molecular genetic basis for the ginseng genetic improvement and also provide the functional genetic resources for selective breeding and transgenic research.