The North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) are often called upon to assist in traffic incidents. Yet little systematic research has examined the extent to which these two agencies collaborate. This gap in understanding is problematic, as a lack of collaboration may result in significant delays in the clearing of traffic incidents. The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate circumstances when the two agencies collaborated in clearing major traffic incidents, and the efficiency of the clearance of the incidents, through the measurement of normal traffic flow. The theory of the convergence of resources from divergent organizations framed the study. The research questions addressed the extent of collaboration between the NCSHP and the NCDOT, the conditions under which this collaboration took place, and the efficiency of the clearance of these incidents. Data were obtained from the NCSHP and the NCDOT on characteristics of 1,580 traffic incidents that occurred on the North Carolina portion of Interstate 95 during the year 2014. The data were analyzed using chi-square tests, analyses of variance, and Z-tests for proportions. Collaboration between the two agencies occurred in 7.2% of all of the incidents and in 21.6% of incidents of major severity (p < .001), which indicated a low level of interagency collaboration. The mean clearance time for incidents in which collaboration took place was 115.92 minutes compared to a national goal of 90 minutes. It is hoped that these results can contribute to policy dialogue relevant to the state's Strategic Plan, leading to safer highways and less financial loss due to congestion caused by traffic incidents.

In this thesis, the relationships among oesophageal motility, bolus clearance and sensory perception of oesophageal stimuli in patients with several dysphagia syndromes were investigated. The work is divided into the following major sections: 1) Current advances in the application of impedance and its utility in distinguishing clearance characteristics between primary and secondary peristalsis; 2) The advances in our understanding of peristaltic motor characteristics, oesophageal bolus clearance and symptom perception in dysphagia syndromes; 3) Peristaltic dysfunction, impaired bolus clearance and symptom perception in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) and in patients with globus; 4) TRPV1 expression in oesophageal mucosa in patients with GORD. The main findings from this work are: 1) Secondary peristalsis is less effective as primary peristalsis regarding esophageal transit and clearance of a liquid bolus. 2) In patients with non-obstructive dysphagia (NOD), bolus clearance by both morphologically normal and aberrant secondary peristaltic sequences is impaired. 3) Although, when compared with healthy controls, patients with NOD have a higher prevalence of non-specifically abnormal motor patterns, there is a poor correlation between dysphagia and oesophageal dysmotility. 4) Whereas manometry identified motility abnormalities in one quarter of patients with GORD, impedance demonstrated that the majority of these patients, as well as some patients with normal manometry, had defective bolus clearance. 5) Although patients with erosive GORD have delayed oesophageal bolus clearance, manometric characteristics in these patients are comparable to those seen in non-erosive reflux disease (NERD). These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that abnormal oesophageal bolus clearance may reflect a continuum of dysfunction secondary to increasing oesophageal mucosal damage. 6) Patients with globus are characterized by oesophageal visceral hypersensitivity and aberrant viscerosomatic referral of mechanical and electrical stimuli to the oesophagus. These findings support the hypothesis that oesophageal hypersensitivity with associated viscerosomatic referral patterns are an important pathogenetic mechanism for globus. 7) Patients with erosive GORD exhibit greater gene expression of TRPV1 in oesophageal mucosa when compared with NERD or healthy controls. These findings support the hypothesis that chronic inflammation may lead to the release of mediators which may modulate function of primary sensory neurons.

The interior flowfield analysis of fan has been considered to be one of the most difficult problems in the past. With the advent of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, many flow problems inside the fan can now be solved with a good degree of accuracy. ¡@ A numerical study of the influence of inlet cone and volute cutoff on a centrifugal fan performance is presented in this work. Using the flow-visualization simulating analysis of the flow-flied characteristic of air across the inner of centrifugal fan, the performance curve with different inlet cone shape, inlet clearance gap, cone position, extending angle and curvature radius of cutoff arc were obtained and explored. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier- Stokes equations with the Standard k-£` turbulence model is used to simulate the three-dimensional, steady, incompressible, turbulent flow field inside a double-suction backward-curved centrifugal fan and is solved by control volume method. The numerical model is validated by experimental data. The results showed that (i) the inlet cone can induce the air to enter into the impeller smoothly and uniformly, which reduces the flow-separation occurrence along the blade surface. However, the inlet cone with larger friction loss will also slightly lessen the fan performance; (ii) recirculation zones appear inside the volute channel due to the existence of inlet clearance gap between inlet cone and volute, which results in part of fluid leaving from the impeller outlet re-entering into the impeller inlet and reducing the fan performance. This recirculation leakage ratio of fluid through inlet clearance gap increases with increasing inlet clearance gap, which is also depends on the shape of inlet cone; (ii) the distance of inlet cone extending into the impeller will interfere the uniformity of inlet airflow distribution along each blade height. The longer the extending distance, the larger the vortex zone occupying the inter-blade space which makes less fan performance; (iv) it makes only little improvement in the fan performance to change the shape of volute cutoff. ¡@ It is found that (1) decreasing the inlet clearance from 11mm to 5mm, the outlet average total pressure increases about 3.26%; (2) increasing the distance of inlet cone extending into the impeller from 0mm from 20mm, the outlet average total pressure decreases about 6.32%; (3)changing the shape of inlet cone, the outlet average total pressure increases up to 5.4%, and (4) reducing the tongue radius of volute cutoff from 25mm to 15mm, the performance efficiency of fan promotes slightly about 1%.

Trade facilitating is a necessary trend for economic globalization. With the raising degree of global free trade, the needs for reducing and eliminating barriers of goods and factors, simplified trade procedure, and efficiency are becoming more notable. Establishing a high-performance trade system is the most important factor to the trade regime and the increase of international trade. Therefore, the studying of reinforcing trade facilitating is becoming increasingly important. This studying focusing on interests brought by trade facilitating to China and the Chinese custom`s policy and mechanism to improve it. Besides, this essay is trying to describe the situation from both theoretical and practical levels. The research finds out that trade facilitating is not only chances but also challenges to Mainland China. Chinese custom learns from developed countries and intensifies reform and abilities, to combine risk manage and custom clearance and to apply modern information technique for improving efficiency, so that Chinese custom can reach the requirements of trade facilitating. Out of reasons, like, small economic basis, relatively weak infrastructure, shortage of capital, and primitive, low manage thought and technique, China has its achievements only in the first stage. There is a gap between China and West countries. The reform and mechanism adopted by custom of People Republic of China is a kind of reference to custom of Republic of China. Further, this essay suggests that customs in cross-strait should set up a channel or reach a administrative arrangement to share custom information, to improve trade facilitating, and, in the end, to realize the goal of global free trade.

The objective of this thesis is to determine a method for computing the amount of capacitance in a power electronic converter required to melt a fuse in the event of a line to ground fault. DC micro-grids rely on power electronic converters to change voltage levels. All converters rely on semiconductor switches that must be protected from surges of fault current. This limits the power that a converter can supply to a fuse. In many cases, sufficient power may be achieved by appropriately sizing the converters’ output capacitor. / text

Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka om det fanns intresse för att införande av DUKC (Dynamic Under Keel Clearance) systemet i Sverige.Vi utgick ifrån en hamn i Australien, Port Hedland, som använt systemet sedan 1996, sedan tog vi reda på vad som användes i Sverige. För att få en bra grund sökte vi information om vad som krävdes för att DUKC skulle fungera tillfredställande. Vi Tog också del av en studie som man utfört i Mälaren som grundar sig på fartygs dynamiska rörelser och djupgående.Utifrån vår insamlade data ville vi fråga en sjöfartsrelaterad grupp och undersöka hur intresset för DUKC såg ut och skickade ut en enkät som även innehöll ett informationsblad.Efter sammanställning av erhållna svara framgick det att intresset för att införa just DUKC systemet inte var så stort men däremot ett system som gör det möjligt att säkerställa de krav som finns idag.

Chronic viral infection is a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Robust anti-viral immune responses are essential for viral clearance. Persistent viruses use a variety of mechanisms to evade immune surveillance including the upregulation of host immunesuppressive factors. Secreted fibrinogen-like protein 2 (FGL2) has been identified as an inhibitory effector molecule in suppressing immune responses in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) disease. In a murine model of chronic infection caused by Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) clone 13, we demonstrate that mice deficient in Fgl2 have increased numbers of mature antigen-presenting cells (APC), improved virus-specific cytotoxic T cell immunity and enhanced viral clearance when compared to wild-type mice. These results highlight the importance of the FGL2 inhibitory pathway in immune evasion and provide a rationale to investigate the effects of blocking FGL2 as a novel immune therapeutic in patients suffering from persistent infections.

Chronic viral infection is a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Robust anti-viral immune responses are essential for viral clearance. Persistent viruses use a variety of mechanisms to evade immune surveillance including the upregulation of host immunesuppressive factors. Secreted fibrinogen-like protein 2 (FGL2) has been identified as an inhibitory effector molecule in suppressing immune responses in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) disease. In a murine model of chronic infection caused by Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) clone 13, we demonstrate that mice deficient in Fgl2 have increased numbers of mature antigen-presenting cells (APC), improved virus-specific cytotoxic T cell immunity and enhanced viral clearance when compared to wild-type mice. These results highlight the importance of the FGL2 inhibitory pathway in immune evasion and provide a rationale to investigate the effects of blocking FGL2 as a novel immune therapeutic in patients suffering from persistent infections.

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Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a common bleeding disorder caused primarily by autoantibodies against platelet GPIIbIIIa and/or the GPIb complex. Current theory suggests antibody-mediated platelet destruction occurs in the spleen via Fcγ receptors (FcγR). However, it has been demonstrated that anti-GPIbα-mediated ITP is often refractory to therapies targeting FcγR pathways. Utilizing a panel of murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against murine and human GPIIbIIIa and GPIbα, it was found that anti-GPIbα induces not only platelet activation to a much greater extent than anti-GPIIbIIIa antibodies, but also significant surface expression of neuraminidase 1 and platelet desialylation. Utilizing inhibitors of platelet activation and desialylation, it was found that these two processes are not mutually exclusive, but rather exist in a positive feedback loop, leading to FcγR-independent platelet clearance in the liver likely via Ashwell-Morell receptors. Furthermore, in a murine model of ITP, sialidase inhibitor treatment rescued platelet counts in predominantly anti-GPIbα -mediated thrombocytopenia.