Bakgrund: Hot och våld mot sjuksköterskor på akutmottagningen är ett allvarligt arbetsmiljöproblem. Sjuksköterskor som arbetar på akutmottagningen riskerar att utsättas för hot och våld i större utsträckning än övriga yrken. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av hot och våld på akutmottagningen. Metod:Beskrivande litteraturstudie med tematisk analysmetod baserat på 10 vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats från databasen PubMed. Huvudresultat: Sjuksköterskors upplevelser av hot och våld på akutmottagningen gav psykiska-, fysiska- och sociala konsekvenser. Sjuksköterskorna upplevde att konsekvenserna påverkade motivationen till yrket och påverkade vårdkvalitén negativt. Sjuksköterskorna upplevde ett bristande förebyggande arbete och menade att en hälsosam arbetsmiljö är viktigt för den enskilda sjuksköterskan att bedriva patientsäker vård. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskorna som arbetade på akutmottagningen kände sig utsatta, sårbara och hjälplösa i hotfulla och våldsamma situationer. Deras fysiska, psykisk och sociala liv påverkades negativt. Sjuksköterskorna önskade mer stöd samt förebyggande arbete från ledning och organisation för att kunna hantera och bearbeta traumatiska händelser som uppstår på akutmottagningen.Vi valde att skriva om sjuksköterskors upplevelse av hot och våld på akutmottagningen för att förbereda oss själva inför kommande yrkeskarriär och för att informera människor om hur hot och våld kan påverka vården

Creep compliance of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) is an important property to characterize the material's viscoelatic behavior. It is used to predict HMA thermal cracking at low temperature and permanent deformation at high temperatures. There are several experimental methods to measure the creep compliance. Two of these methods were used in this thesis; uniaxial compressive and indirect tension (IDT) creep compliance. The tests were conducted at five temperatures (-15, 5, 20, 30, and 40°C) with a static loading for 1000-sec to characterize two typical HMA mixes used in Virginia, a base and a surface mix. Creep compliance master curves (CCMC) were developed by shifting the curves to a reference temperature using time-temperature superposition. Three mathematical functions, Prony series, power and sigmoidal, were fitted to the experimental data using regression analysis. Uniaxial CCMC were also predicted based on dynamic modulus measurements using method for interconversion of vicoelastic properties recommended in the literature. Finally, the susceptibility of the mixes to thermal cracking was evaluated based on the creep compliance measurements at low temperature. The regression analysis showed that the three mathematical models considered are appropriate to model the CCMC over a wide ranger of reduced times. The sigmoidal model provided the best fit over the entire range of reduced times investigated. This model also produced the best results when used in the interconversion procedures. However, there were noticeable differences between the CCMC predicted using interconversion and the experimental measurements, probably due to nonlinearity in the material behavior. The m-values for the base mix were higher using the creep results measured with both configurations. / Master of Science

Bakgrund: Hot och våld är vanligt förekommande inom psykiatrisk heldygnsvård och kan anta olika former, inklusive muntliga eller skriftliga hot om fysiskt våld eller skadegörelse. Detta har en betydande påverkan på arbetsmiljön för sjuksköterskorna, vilket resulterar i negativa konsekvenser. Motiv: Det finns ett behov av en djupare förståelse av sjuksköterskans erfarenheter av hot och våld, hur dessa erfarenheter kan bidra till att förbättra vårdkvaliteten, minska risken för trauma både för patienter och sjuksköterskorna samt öka förståelsen i bemötande. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenhet av hot och våld inom psykiatrisk slutenvård. Metod: Studien genomfördes med semistrukturerande intervjuer och analyserad med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Totalt intervjuades 10 sjuksköterskor inom psykiatrisk slutenvård.  Resultat: Resultat i studien visade att sjuksköterskor inom psykiatrisk slutenvård utsätts för hot och våld i sitt dagliga arbete. Det kan innefatta både verbala och fysiska trakasserier från patienter. Deltagarna beskriver känslor av obehag, rädsla, oro och stress som kan påverka deras förmåga att ge god omvårdnad. De har även upplevt att de blivit kränkta. Betydelsen av bemötande, samarbete och utbildning lyfts fram, tillsammans med förslag på förbättringar för att skapa en tryggare arbetsmiljö. Konklusion: Sjuksköterskor inom psykiatrisk slutenvård står inför hot, verbala trakasserier och fysiskt våld från patienter. Trots dessa påfrestningar försöker sjuksköterskorna hantera situationerna med professionalism och empati. För att skapa en tryggare arbetsmiljö betonas vikten av ett bra bemötande gentemot patienter, samarbete inom personalgruppen och tillgång till adekvat utbildning. Förbättringsförslag inkluderar behovet av bättre anpassade avdelningar och för ökad säkerhet både för personal och patienter.

Narrow gaps in overlapping structural steel surfaces are problematic when being hot-dip galvanized due to the potential for trapped cleaning solutions between the surfaces. A seal-weld is often used to prevent the cleaning solutions from penetrating this gap. However, these welds are not necessary used for strength, and add fabrication costs because of the additional weld. The purpose of this research is to provide alternatives, which fall under two major categories, to the seal-weld fabrication process. The first one was motivated by the steel fabrication industry and uses a commercial silicone caulk to seal the narrow gap instead of a seal-weld. The second was motivated by the galvanizing industry and increases the narrow gap to a minimum of 3/32 in. to allow free flowing of the liquids including viscous molten zinc. 45 specimens in six different overlapping configurations were tested. Three experimental tasks were performed as part of this research: two different types of silicone caulks were used to partially substitute the seal-weld to prevent fluid penetration; an accelerated corrosion test was performed to determine the long-term corrosion resistance of each configuration; and a coating layer evaluation was performed to investigate the bond of the metallurgical layer between the steel and the coating. Results indicate that silicone only partially prevented the penetration of the cleaning solutions into the gap but performed poorly when fully galvanized. Also, the accelerated corrosion and coating investigations indicated that the suggested caulks and the 3/32 in. gap were not as efficient as the seal-weld solution. / Master of Science / Hot-dip galvanizing is a corrosion protective process for steel. The process involves dipping the base material into a series of different baths. The first set of baths are the cleaning baths and the last bath is the zinc coating bath. In the cleaning baths, certain chemicals are applied to clean the steel surface from oxides and rusts and to prepare the steel for a better zinc coating. When steel members that are fabricated with narrow gaps between overlapping surfaces are subjected to the galvanizing process, the quality of the zinc coating is often inferior along the interface between the two surfaces. This problem occurs because the cleaning solutions—which have a lower viscosity than zinc—get trapped inside the gap while the molten zinc cannot galvanize narrow gaps due to its high viscosity. For this reason, overlapping steel members are seal-welded to prevent such issues. Since seal-welding is not efficient from a fabrication standpoint, the purpose of this research is to provide alternative geometrical overlapping surface configurations. These configurations were subjected to the galvanizing process. To evaluate their performance, three separate tasks were applied through this investigation. The first task involved sealing the gap with commercial silicone sealants instead of a seal-weld, the second task was an accelerated corrosion test, and finally a bond investigation of the coating of the overlapping surfaces was performed. Results have shown that the proposed alternatives did not provide an improved detail for overlapping steel surfaces compared to the existing seal-weld.

An 8 blade, 7 passage linear compressor cascade with tip leakage was built. The flowfield downstream of the cascade was measured using four sensor hot-wire anemometers, from which the mean velocity field , the turbulence stress field and velocity spectra were obtained. Oil flow visualizations were done on the endwall underneath the blade row. Also studied were the effects of tip gap height, and blade boundary layer trip variations. The results revealed the presence of two distinct vortical structures in the flow. The tip leakage vortex is formed due to the roll up the tip flow as it exits the tip gap region. A second vortex, counter-rotating when compared to the tip leakage vortex, is formed due to the separation of the flow leaving the tip gap from the endwall. Increasing the tip gap height increases the strength of the tip leakage vortex, and vice versa. Changing the boundary layer trip had no effect on the flowfield due the fact that boundary layers on the blade surface had separated. As the vortices develop downstream, the tip leakage vortex convects into the passage "pushing" the counter rotating vortex with it. As it does so, the tip leakage vortex dominates the endwall flow region, and is responsible for most of the turbulence present in the downstream flow field. This turbulence production is primarily due to axial velocity gradients in the flow, and not due to the circulatory motion of the vortex. Velocity spectra taken in the core of the vortex show the broadband characteristics typical of such turbulent flows. The results also revealed that the wakes of the blades exhibit characteristics of two-dimensional plane wakes. The wake decays much faster than the vortex. Velocity spectra taken in the wake region show the broadband characteristics of such turbulent flows, and also suggest that there might be some coherent motion in the wake as a result of vortex shedding from the trailing edge of the blades. The present study reveals the complex nature of such flows, and should provide valuable information in helping to understand them. This study was made possible with support from NASA Langley through grant number NAG-1-1801 under the supervision of Dr. Joe Posey / Master of Science

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Mustaque Hossain / Hot in-place recycling (HIR) preserves distressed asphalt pavements while minimizing use of virgin binder and aggregates. The final quality of an HIR mixture depends on characteristics of the original binder, aging of the pavement surface during service, and whether or not new binder or rejuvenator was added to the mixture. An HIR mixture should maintain desired properties for additional service periods, making asphalt binder modification inevitable. Asphalt binder modifications in HIR are commonly done by adding an asphalt rejuvenating agent (ARA). However, ARA may adversely affect the qualities of new HIR and potentially fail to improve the quality of the final surface. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of rejuvenation on HIR performance characteristics by assessing critical performance indicators such as stiffness, permanent deformation, moisture susceptibility, and cracking resistance. A two-step experimental program was designed that included mechanical property measurements of the HIR mixture and rheological properties of the extracted binder. The level of mixing occurring between new and aged binder with ARA was also investigated. HIR Samples were obtained from three Kansas Department of Transportation projects, and Hamburg wheel-tracking device, dynamic modulus, flow number, Texas overlay, thermal stress restrained specimen, and moisture susceptibility tests were conducted on mixtures with and without ARA. Rheological studies on the extracted binder included dynamic shear rheometer and bending beam rheometer tests. The miscibility of new and aged binder was investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), and the exudation droplet test (EDT). Study results showed significant variability in the mechanical performance of HIR mixtures, which was attributed to the variability of binders as observed in EDT, SEM and EDXS studies. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) showed that HIR is an economic maintenance alternative for asphalt projects in Kansas. LCCA results exhibited that pavement design strategies with HIR activities will result in alternatives with lower net present values when compared to alternatives without HIR maintenance activities.

Os fármacos pertencentes às classes II e IV do sistema de classificação biofarmacêutica são aqueles sujeitos a problemas relacionados com a sua biodisponibilidade. Um dos procedimentos utilizados para melhorar a solubilidade de fármacos pouco solúveis é a granulação com materiais lipídicos ou cerosos. Para aumentar a solubilidade da carbamazepina, fármaco de classe II, ou seja, que apresenta baixa solubilidade e alta permeabilidade, inicialmente esta foi associada com os excipientes Gelucire® 50/13 ou Polietilenoglicol 6000, através de uma mistura física ou dispersão sólida. Estas associações foram submetidas a procedimentos analíticos como DSC, Infravermelho, Difração de Raios-X e teste de solubilidade em água. Nas misturas físicas a carbamazepina permaneceu estável, porém nas dispersões sólidas houve o aparecimento de polimorfismo. No entanto estes polimorfos também apresentam atividade terapêutica. As misturas físicas e as dispersões sólidas foram submetidas ao teste de solubilidade e as amostras que continham Gelucire® 50/13 aumentaram em torno de 15 vezes a solubilidade da carbamazepina em água, enquanto que as amostras que continham Polietilenoglicol 6000 aumentaram em torno de 14 vezes. Optou-se pela utilização do PEG 6000 devido à melhor compatibilidade deste com o equipamento utilizado. A granulação por Hot Melt em leito fluidizado foi realizada após alguns ensaios de fluidodinâmica utilizando a lactose spray dried como substrato. Durante os experimentos as condições do processo permaneceram estáveis e a curva característica foi típica de leito fluidizado. Os granulados foram obtidos utilizando o planejamento fatorial Box Behnken cujos fatores estudados foram: vazão de dispersão sólida, quantidade de dispersão sólida e pressão de atomização e em seguida caracterizados e avaliados. A maioria das propriedades físicas e farmacotécnicas dos granulados foi dependente da quantidade de dispersão sólida. A utilização do método de granulação por fusão em leito fluidizado melhorou o perfil de dissolução das cápsulas contendo os granulados, sendo que com o maior nível da quantidade de dispersão sólida houve um aumento significante na quantidade de carbamazepina liberada. Os resultados mostram que esta técnica é relevante para preparar dispersões sólidas com fármacos que apresentam baixa biodisponibilidade devido a sua baixa solubilidade. / Drugs belonging to classes II and IV in the biopharmaceutical classification system are those having bioavailability problems. Granulation with waxy lipids is one of the procedures used to improve the solubility of poorly soluble drugs. To increase the solubility of carbamazepine a drug of class II that has low solubility but high permeability, its association with the excipients Gelucire® 50/13 or Polyethylene 6000, was done by physical mixtures or solid dispersions. The associations were subjected to analytical procedures such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), infrared light, X-ray diffraction and tests of solubility in water. In physical mixtures carbamazepine remained stable, but showed different polymorphic forms in solid dispersions. However, the polymorphic forms were also therapeutically active.Solubility tests of physical mixtures and solid dispersions indicated that samples containing Gelucire ® 50 / 13 increased the solubility of carbamazepine in water about 15 times, while the ones containing Polyethylene glycol 6000 had an increase of about 14 times. PEG 6000 was the chosen carrier due to its better compatibility with the equipment used.Fluid dynamic tests using spray dried lactose as a substrate were preliminary to the granulation experiments in the fluidised bed. The process conditions remained stable during the experiments and the characteristic curve tracing was typical of fluidised beds. Granules were obtained in experiments that followed a Box Behnken factorial design, where the factors studied were: flow rate of the solid dispersion, amount of solid dispersion and atomization pressure .Most physical and technical granule properties were dependent on the quantity of solid dispersion. The method of granulation by hot melt in a fluidised bed improved the solubility profile of carbamazepine in granule containing capsules.Granules containing the highest amount of solid dispersion showed a significant increase in the amount of carbamazepine released. The results proved that this technique is relevant to the preparation of solid dispersions with low bioavailable drugs due to their poor solubility.

A granulação através do uso de dispersões sólidas é um recurso que pode ser utilizado para aumentar a solubilidade de fármacos pouco solúveis, como no processo de Hot Melt Granulation (HMG). Este processo pode ser realizado utilizando-se o aparelho de leito fluidizado, com a atomização de uma dispersão fundida de carreadores solúveis com fármacos pouco solúveis sobre um substrato efetuando sua granulação. Essa é uma alternativa em relação aos métodos de granulação tradicionais, sendo vantajoso por não utilizar solvente. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar a granulação de piroxicam por HMG em leito fluidizado com polietilenoglicol (PEG) na forma de dispersão fundida, usando lactose spray dried como substrato com o intuito de aumentar a solubilidade do fármaco que é pouco solúvel em água, classificado como classe 2 (baixa solubilidade e alta permeabilidade) no Sistema de Classificação Biofarmacêutica. Foi realizada também a avaliação de misturas físicas e dispersões sólidas dos excipientes e do fármaco para obter informações de pré-formulação. O processo de granulação em leito fluidizado foi realizado através de um planejamento fatorial do tipo Box-Behnken, no qual as variáveis de operação carga de substrato, vazão do ar do bico de atomização e altura do bico de atomização foram variadas para a caracterização do processo e o estudo do efeito das variáveis do processo sobre as propriedades dos grânulos também foi realizado. Os grânulos obtidos foram caracterizados pela avaliação das propriedades farmacotécnicas, doseamento, distribuição granulométrica e também pela determinação das propriedades físico-químicas através de análises de calorimetria exploratória diferencial (DSC), espectroscopia no infravermelho e difração de raios-X. O perfil de dissolução de cápsulas contendo os grânulos também foi determinado. De acordo com as análises realizadas, não ocorreram interações nas misturas físicas e dispersões sólidas, nem nos granulados obtidos. Em relação aos grânulos, o resultado da avaliação farmacotécnica demonstrou que a maioria apresentou valores de fluxo excelente e bom. Através da distribuição granulométrica e das imagens dos grânulos obtidas por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (M.E.V.), pode-se observar que ocorreu a aglomeração das partículas de lactose pela atomização da dispersão de piroxicam e PEG 4000. Na avaliação do perfil de dissolução, os grânulos mostraram-se com uma solubilidade superior ao piroxicam isolado, sendo a granulação por Hot Melt em leito fluidizado um processo vantajoso em relação aos métodos atuais de granulação. / Granulation through solid dispersions may be employed to increase drug solubility as in the Hot Melt Granulation (HMG). Fluidized beds are used in the procedure, which by atomizing a melted dispersion of soluble carriers and low solubility drugs on a substrate produces the desired granulation. This is an advantageous alternative to traditional granulation methods since solvents are not involved. The objective of this study was to granulate the low solubility drug, piroxicam, by HMG in a fluidized bed with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in the form of a melted dispersion and dried lactose spray as the substrate. The drug has low aqueous solubility and is classified as Class 2 (low solubility and high intestinal permeability) in the Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS). Physical mixtures and solid dispersions of excipients and drug were previously tested as to obtain pre-formulation data. A factorial planning of the Box-Behnken type was used for the granulation in a fluidized bed, with the operation variables as substrate load, air stream velocity through the atomizing outlet and its height being varied to characterize the process and to verify their effects on the granule properties. Characterization of the granules was by evaluation of pharmacotechnical properties, dosage of active principle, granule size distribution and also by physicochemical analyses. These were by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Interactions in the physical mixtures, solid dispersions and granules were not detected. The dissolution profile of capsules containing the granules was determined. Evaluation results showed that most granules had excellent to good flux properties. Granulometric distribution and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicated agglomeration of lactose particles by the atomization of the piroxicamPEG dispersion. Evaluating the granule dissolution profiles it was shown that they were more soluble than piroxicam only. These results suggest that granulation by Hot Melt in a fluidized bed is process with advantages when compared to methods currently used.

Hot tearing is a common and severe defect encountered in alloy castings and perhaps the pivotal issue defining an alloy's castability. Once it occurs, the casting has to be repaired or scraped, resulting in significant loss. Over the years many theories and models have been proposed and accordingly many tests have been developed. Unfortunately many of the tests that have been proposed are qualitative in nature; meanwhile, many of the prediction models are not satisfactory as they lack quantitative information, data and knowledge base. The need exists for a reliable and robust quantitative test to evaluate/characterize hot tearing in cast alloys. This work focused on developing an advanced test method and using it to study hot tearing in cast aluminum alloys. The objectives were to: 1) develop a reliable experimental methodology/setup to quantitatively measure and characterize hot tearing; and 2) quantify the mechanistic contributions of the process variables and investigate their effects on hot tearing tendency. The team at MPI in USA and CANMET-MTL in Canada has collaborated and developed such a testing setup. It consists mainly of a constrained rod mold and the load/displacement and temperature measuring system, which gives quantitative, simultaneous measurements of the real-time contraction force/displacement and temperature during solidification of casting. The data provide information about hot tearing formation and solidification characteristics, from which their quantitative relations are derived. Quantitative information such as tensile coherency, incipient crack refilling, crack initiation and propagation can be obtained. The method proves to be repeatable and reliable and has been used for studying the effects of various parameters (mold temperature, pouring temperature and grain refinement) on hot tearing of different cast aluminum alloys. In scientific sense this method can be used to study and reveal the nature of the hot tearing, for industry practice it provides a tool for production control. Moreover, the quantitative data and fundamental knowledge gained in this thesis can be used for validating and improving the existing hot tearing models.

Hot spotting of automotive disc brakes is an undesired thermal localisation phenomenon, which is a challenge for numerical modelling in terms of both accuracy and efficiency especially for complex disc geometry. In this research, the aim was to develop a computationally efficient finite element (FE) approach for 2-piece pin-mounted ventilated disc hot spot prediction with acceptable accuracy enabling parametric studies to contribute to the knowledge of the complex mechanisms. A time reduction strategy for the simulations was established by incorporating an axisymmetric brake pad assumption with material scaling factor and the friction characteristics were defined by a user-subroutine. The computing accuracy and efficiency of this method were then verified by comparing with traditional FE models. 2D in-plane, 2D out-of-plane, and 3D models were performed to investigate the effects of ventilated disc hot spotting, radial hot spot/band migration, and hot spotting of realistic complex disc geometry respectively. Both 2D and 3D results were validated using experimental results based on a laboratory dynamometer and showed good correlation. The results suggested that adequate modelling of friction pair contact pressure distribution and the subsequent non-uniform heat generation is essential for hot spot simulation; speed was identified as the determinant for the number of hot spots, whereas hot spot temperature was determined by energy level. Furthermore, recommendations for vent design, pins, disc run-out, cooling, material selection, wear rate, pad length and loading distribution were given. Finally, hot spotting and hot band migration cause-effect chains were established based on the results and discussion.