Pilot Aptitude Research Equipment (PARE) is a simulator developed to measure or research pilot aptitude and train for student pilots. Design of an ergonomic PARE operation console is required to operate the equipment effectively. This study carried out five steps : (S1) operator questionnaire survey, (S2) anthropometric design formula development, (S3) usability evaluation, (S4) improvement design, and (S5) validation considering both Physical User Interface (PUI) and Graphic User Interface (GUI) of PARE operation console. The operator questionnaire surveyed needs for each PUI and GUI part of the console from two PARE actual operators. In terms of PUI, the anthropometric design formula was developed by using design variables, body dimensions, target population characteristics, and reference posture related to the PARE console. In terms of GUI, the usability evaluation was conducted by three usability testing experts with a 7-point scale (1 : very low, 4 : neutral, 7 : very high) on GUI of the PARE operation console by seven usability criteria. The improved PARE operation console was designed to reflect the optimal values of design variables calculated from design formula, the results from usability testing, and the operator’s needs. The improvement effect was observed by 20 people who had experience with the PARE operation console. As a result of the validation, monitor visibility and cockpit visibility for the improved PUI design and visibility and efficiency for the improved GUI design were significantly increased by more than 90% respectively. The improved design of the PARE operation console in this study can contribute to enhance operation performance of the PARE.

PURPOSES: The purpose of this study is to compare the advantages and disadvantages of 3D multichannel ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment, which is mainly used for road cavity detection. The optimal signal analysis method was also proposed for 3D GPR data. METHODS: Four types of 3D GPR equipment were used to detect road cavities in a pilot road section in Seoul. The obtained GPR signals were evaluated in the time and frequency domain using raw data. In addition, various types of filters were applied to time domain (B-scan) data to examine the optimal signal processing. RESULTS: The time and frequency domain analysis of raw data showed that all the equipment produced reverse and strong signal reflections owing to the low dielectric permittivity of air in the cavity compared with neighbor materials. Also, the asymmetric parabolic curve was observed as well. The optimal signal processing method was determined to detect road cavities: zero-setting and background removal should be applied to all equipment. Bandpass filtering can be optionally applied to remove high-frequency noise or direct waves. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the different specifications of GPR equipment in terms of signal generation and bandwidth, the GPR signals were appropriate in terms of zero-setting, noise level, and depth of investigation. Therefore, all the multichannel GPR devices evaluated were found to be suitable to detect road cavities located at depths of 1.0 and 1.5 m after the application of proper filtering process.

To ensure the safety and functionality of a railroad bridge, maintaining the integrity of the bridge via continuous structural health monitoring is important. However, most structural integrity monitoring methods proposed to date are based on modal responses which require the extracting process and have limited availability. In this paper, the applicability of the existing damage identification method based on free-vibration reponses to time-domain deflection shapes due to moving train load is investigated. Since the proposed method directly utilizes the time-domain responses of the structure due to the moving vehicles, the extracting process for modal responses can be avoided, and the applicability of structural health evaluation can be enhanced. The feasibility of the presented method is verified via a numerical example of a simple plate girder bridge.

Accompanied with the industrial development, and enlarging and heightening buildings, building equipments are also enlarging. These changes are serious to the cause of structure noises. The Floating Floor System which uses the soft foam polyurethane are becoming popular in construction areas for its short construction period and well vibration proof ability, hence it is becoming wide in the marketing volume. We were able to enhance the physical characteristics of the vibration proof polyurethane mat with this study. As a result, we were also able to secure material competitiveness by meeting the requirements of customer satisfaction through enhancement in estimated material lifetime and physical characteristics.

본 논문에서는 마리나 항의 상하가 시설 및 장비의 형태를 분석하고 마리나 이용 대상 선박을 기준으로 기 설치된 마리나의 상하가 시설(리프트 피어)과 장비(마린 모바일 리프트)에 대한 분석을 통해 상하가 시설 및 장비의 설치기준을 마련했다. 국내에서 운항중인 선박 총톤수에 따라 요구되는 리프트 피어의 내부 간격은 35톤 선박은 5.50 m, 50톤 선박은 6.20 m이며, 이를 상하가하기 위한 마린 모바일 리프트의 내측 폭은 35톤 선박은 6.10 m, 50톤 선박은 6.80 m가 필요하다. 국내 마리나에 설치된 리프트 피어는 목표한 선박을 인양할 수 있는 곳은 2곳으로 나타났으며, 그 외 다른 마리나의 리프트 피어 내부 간격은 0.35 ~ 0.50 m가량 좁았다. 또한 운용 중인 마린 모바일 리프트 중 목표한 선박을 상하가하기 위해 필요한 내측 폭을 확보한 장비는 2개로 나타났으며, 그 외 마린 모바일 리프트 내측 폭이 0.3 ~ 0.6 m가량 부족했다.

The organism evaluation equipment (OEE) was developed to determine the insecticidal effect of atmospheric-pressure plasma jets (APPJ). The equipment consisted of a plasma-generating acrylic chamber (PGAC) equipped with a plasma generator, a plasma-maintaining acrylic chamber (PMAC), and plasma efficacy evaluation container (PEEC). The amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) directly exposed to PEEC in the PMAC was measured using an ozone calculator. The ROS concentration in the PGAC and PEEC increased over time, and the optimum position for the PEEC was selected showing the lowest variance of ROS concentration. Based on the established equipment, five major insect pests (Aphis gossypii, Bemisia tabaci, Helicoverpa armigera, Tetranychus kanzawai, and Thrips palmi) were tested, and their knockdown time, recovery time, and median lethal time (LT50) were determined. As a result, B. tabaci showed the fastest knockdown in respond to the plasma, but the remaining insect pests were knock downed within 2-3 min. Recovery was the fastest in T. palmi and T. kanzawai and slowest in B. tabaci. The LT50 were determined as 13 and 16 min in B. tabaci and T. palmi, respectively. However, the LT50 of other insect pests showed over 21 min. In conclusion, the OEE system can be used to measure the optimum exposure time of plasma against various insect pests, and the plasma might be used as an alternative tools for pest control in the future.

Chlorine dioxide gas is a relatively new sanitizer in the food industry and has more accessibility than its aqueous form. Depending on the generation method of ClO2, there can be byproducts like chlorite and chlorate ions that can decrease the disinfectant efficacy and purity of ClO2. Recently, a new technology has been developed that generates chlorine dioxide without using chlorine gas. This new electrochemical method generates gaseous chlorine dioxide from aqueous sodium chlorite (NaClO2). Unlike earlier methods, there is reduced generation of byproducts, including chlorite and chlorate. Additionally, the purity of ClO2 obtained by this method can be as high as 98%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ClO2 gas, generated by the electrochemical method, against the foodborne microorganisms occurring on slaughter equipment and livestock carcasses. Using AISI 304 stainless steel in livestock processing equipment, the disinfectant effect of chlorine dioxide gas, in presence of organic matter such as yeast extract and feces, on E. coli and S. typhimurium contamination, was examined. Both E. coli and S. typhimurium counts were reduced by more than 5 log cycles in presence of 2.5% and 5% feces. When beef, pork skin, and chicken wings were treated with chlorine dioxide gas, despite significant differences in comparison with the control group, the microbial count was reduced by less than 2 log cycles. Overall, our results confirmed the applicability of gaseous chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant in livestock processing equipment and livestock products.

As a system complexity increases and technology innovation progresses rapidly, leasing the equipment is considered as an important issue in many engineering areas. In practice, many engineering fields lease the equipment because it is an economical way to lease the equipment rather than to own the equipment. In addition, as the maintenance actions for the equipment are costly and need a specialist, the lessor is responsible for the maintenance actions in most leased contract. Hence, the lessor should establish the optimal maintenance strategy to minimize the maintenance cost. This paper proposes two periodic preventive maintenance policies for the leased equipment. The preventive maintenance action of policy 1 is performed with a periodic interval, in which their intervals are the same until the end of lease period. The other policy is to determine the periodic preventive maintenance interval minimizing total maintenance cost during the lease period. In addition, this paper presents two decision-making models to determine the preventive maintenance strategy for leased equipment based on the lessor’s preference between the maintenance cost and the reliability at the end of lease period. The structural properties of the proposed decision-making model are investigated and algorithms to search the optimal maintenance policy that are satisfied by the lessor are provided. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed model. The results show that a maintenance policy minimizing the maintenance cost is selected as a reasonable decision as the lease term becomes shorter. Moreover, the frequent preventive maintenance actions are performed when the minimal repair cost is higher than the preventive maintenance cost, resulting in higher maintenance cost.