Fluid-structure interactions occur in many engineering and industrial applications. Such interactions may result in undesirable forces acting on the structure that may cause fatigue and degradation of the structural components. The purpose of this research is to develop a solver that simulates the fluid-structure interaction, assess tools that can be used to control the resulting motions and analyze a system that can be used to convert the structure's motion to a useful form of energy. For this purpose, we develop a code which encompasses three-dimensional numerical simulations of a flow interacting with a freely-oscillating cylinder. The solver is based on the accelerated reference frame technique (ARF), in which the momentum equations are directly coupled with the cylinder motion by adding a reference frame acceleration term; the outer boundary conditions of the flow domain are updated using the response of the cylinder. We develop active linear and nonlinear velocity feedback controllers that suppress VIV by directly controlling the cylinder's motion. We assess their effectiveness and compare their performance and required power levels to suppress the motion of the cylinder. Particularly, we determine the most effective control law that requires minimum power to achieve a desired controlled amplitude. Furthermore, we investigate, in detail, the feasibility of using a nonlinear energy sink to control the vortex-induced vibrations of a freely oscillating circular cylinder. It has been postulated that such a system, which consists of a nonlinear spring, can be used to control the motion over a wide range of frequencies. However, introducing an essential nonlinearity of the cubic order to a coupled system could lead to multiple stable solutions depending on the initial conditions, system's characteristics and parameters. Our investigation aims at determining the effects of the sink parameters on the response of the coupled system. We also investigate the extent of drag reduction that can be attained through rotational oscillations of the circular cylinder. An optimization is performed by combining the CFD solver with a global deterministic optimization algorithm. The use of this optimization tool allows for a rapid determination of the rotational amplitude and frequency domains that yield minimum drag. We also perform three-dimensional numerical simulations of an inline-vibrating cylinder over a range of amplitudes and frequencies with the objective of suppressing the lift force. We compare the amplitude-frequency response curves, levels of lift suppression, and synchronization maps for two- and three-dimensional flows. Finally, we evaluate the possibility of converting vortex-induced vibrations into a usable form of electric power. Different transduction mechanisms can be employed for converting these vibrations to electric power, including electrostatic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric transduction. We consider the piezoelectric option because it can be used to harvest energy over a wide range of frequencies and can be easily implemented. We particularly investigate the conversion of vortex-induced vibrations to electric power under different operating conditions including the Reynolds number and load resistance. / Ph. D.

<p>The impinging jets atomizer is widely used in engineering applications. As two liquid jetsimpinging to each other, a liquid sheet is first formed and then breaks up into small dropletsto comply the atomization. The features such as size, shape, velocity, thickness, etc., of thesheet/droplet are controlled by various impingement parameters such as impinging angle,jet velocity, and physical properties of the liquid. Since the sheet generation is prior to thedroplet, the modeling of the sheet is the premise of the droplet modeling. Therefore, to studythe atomization of the impinging jet atomizer, it is important to pay effort on the research ofimpinging sheet both experimentally and theoretically. In this research, the characterizationof the impinging sheet formed by two jets is given in two specific aspects, the thicknessand the velocity. A non-intrusive measurement technique, partial coherent interferometry(PCI) is developed and applied to measure the thickness of the impinging sheet dynamically.The PCI unitizes the calibrated linear relationship between the optical path difference andthe degree of coherence to measure the impinging sheet thickness. By placing the sheet inone of the two branches of the designed interferometer, the optical path is altered basedon the sheet thickness and shown as the change of the degree of coherence of interferencepattern recorded by the camera. With a calibration process, the thickness of the sheet is thencan be measured via a designed interferometer. The velocity measurement of the impingingsheet is implemented via particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) adopted with the shadowgraphtechnique. To implement the particle tracking velocimetry, seeding particles are added intothe fluid and with the aid of an imaging acquiring system and the post-processing algorithm,the locations of those particles in different frames are identified. Thus, the velocity of the fluidis estimated as the velocity of the particles calculated from the recorded images. However,while applying the PTV to investigate the impinging sheet studied in this research, theparticles can be recorded at a large field of view with insufficient magnification. This is ownedto the so-called "particle induced lens effect" found when applying the small particles to athin liquid sheet. When the seeding particles move to the region where the sheet thicknesshas a similar scale as the particle, the fluid will wrap around the particle and act as a positivelens. For shadowgraph imaging, the collimated light forms an enlarged shadow at the image plane by passing through such lens. Experimentally, the thickness measurements via PCIare implied to the impinging sheet generated under a range of Reynolds number between 269to 370 and velocity measurements via PTV are implied to the ones under Reynolds numberof 362 to 430. The measured results for both thickness and velocity are different from thetheoretical model of the impinging sheet which implies the need for a review of sheet model.Therefore, in this research, the author proposed a revised impinging sheet model considerthe friction effect due to the air over the sheet. A theoretical analysis is made base on theboundary layer equation under the cylindrical coordinate with unique boundary conditionsassumed for the impinging sheet. By introducing the unique similarity variable found byauthor, the equation could be transformed to an ordinary differential equation and solvednumerically. The revised model first predict the air boundary layer profile over the sheet,then, estimate the sheet velocity profile as a function of the distance to the impinging pointand the azimuth angle. As a parameter of the revised sheet model, the jet velocity profilebefore the impingement is also assumed as a free jet gradually developed from a Posieuilleflow and estimated in advance. The revised model is compared with the experimental resultsand some key parameters are identified empirically.</p> <p>Other than the thickness and velocity, this research is also interested in measuring thegeometry of the sheet and the detached droplets. Thus, a multi-view digital inline holography(DIH) technique is developed to capture the three-dimensional shape of the impinging sheetand the locations of the droplets. The DIH determines the shape and location of the targetin a detection volume base on the recorded hologram. The MvDIH, as the name suggested,combines the DIH results from multiple orientations to reconstruct the shape and the locationof the target. Two reconstruction ideologies, cross-section based one and the outline basedone, are proposed. The former estimates the target by finding the intersection of the recordedcross-sections of the target from different views. The latter estimates the target geometryby combining the outlines determined by DIH at different views. To evaluate the feasibilityof such technique, a test model which imitates the droplet and liquid ligament structure isapplied to the measurement in this research. Yet, the application on a real impinging sheetis not implemented.</p>

In medicine, reliable data are available only in a few areas and necessary information on prognostic implications is generally missing. In spite of the fact that a great amount of money has been invested to ease the process, an effective solution has yet to be found. Unfortunately, existing data collection approaches in medicine seem inadequate to provide accurate and high quality data, which is a prerequisite for building a robust and effective DDSS. In this thesis, many different medical reporting methodologies and systems which have been used up to now are evaluated / their strengths and deficiencies are revealed to shed light on how to set up an ideal medical reporting type. This thesis presents a new medical reporting method, namely &ldquo / Structured, Interactive, Standardized and Decision Supporting Method&rdquo / (SISDS) that encompasses most of the favorable features of the existing medical reporting methods while removing most of their deficiencies such as inefficiency and cognitive overload as well as introducing and promising new advantages. The method enables professionals to produce multilingual medical reports much more efficiently than the existing approaches in a novel way by allowing free-text-like data entry in a structured form. The proposed method in this study is proved to be more effective in many perspectives, such as facilitating the complete and the accurate data collection process and providing opportunities to build DDSS without tedious pre-processing and data preparation steps, mainly helping health care professionals practice better medicine.

Sensors based on radio waves are used for inline moisture determination in the sawn wood industry. Placed at the final sorting line such a device can be invaluable, giving the operators real time information on the moisture content of the boards passing through. Information that can then be used to improve process control both upstream and downstream. The equipment must first be trained to correlate radio wave attenuation and phase shift to water conten

Metallische Bipolarplatten (BPP) rücken immer mehr in den Fokus der Forschung. Daher stellt die Entwicklung geeigneter Methoden zur Inline-Qualitätsüberwachung eine wichtige Aufgabe dar. So sind unterschiedliche Beschichtungsverfahren und -strategien in der Entwicklung, die verschiedene funktionelle Eigenschaften des Produktes ermöglichen sollen. Sowohl nach dem Beschichtungsprozess, als auch dem nachgelagerten Umformprozess muss die Realisierung einer homogenen und fehlerfreien Schutzschicht gewährleistet sein. Die notwendige lückenlose Überprüfung der Oberflächen erzeugt dabei aufgrund der erforderlichen optischen Analyse in Verbindung mit angestrebten hohen Durchsatzraten in der Produktion große Datenmengen zur Auswertung. Um die Fehlererkennung im Produktionstakt zu ermöglichen, kommen massiv parallele Hardwarestrukturen (Multi-Core-CPUs, GPUs) zum Einsatz. Zusätzlich zu den Hardwarestrukturen werden auch dafür optimierte Auswertungsverfahren zur Erkennung BPP-spezifischer Oberflächen- und Beschichtungsfehler benötigt. Mit Hilfe optischer Sensorik können neben Mikrorissen in der Grundstruktur auch Schichtdefekte in der Oberfläche im Takt detektiert werden. Somit wird die Weitergabe defekter BPP an die Montage erfolgreich verhindert.

In the introduction of theoretical part, a sport discipline In line skating is described. Legislative aspect together with use of cycle paths is considered.The second chapter describes system of cyclopaths in the cities. Following chapters are describing the concept of parks and cyclopaths development in the rural area until 2020. Next, the work establishes criteria for evaluation of locations discussed in charter 5. Theoretical part of this work discusses in chapter six general rules for cyclopaths and park use. In chapter seven traffic signalization and in line skaters' equipment are discussed. Further chapters focus on sport and safety equipment. In the end of theoretical part of chapter ten and eleven I comment on particularities of in line skating education for children 7- 10 years old. Practical part describes mapping and evaluation of 10 selected cyclopaths located on the left side of Vltava River and close surroundings in chapter 12-13. Chapter 14 is dedicated to in-line skating and its categories. In the end of the practical part, the structure and methodology of teaching lesson of in-line skating is depicted together with description of basics of in line skating. Appendix consists of graphical comparison of results from public survey Keywords In-line skating, skating lessons, mapping of...

In the introduction of theoretical part, a sport discipline In line skating is described. Legislative aspect together with use of cycle paths is considered.The second chapter describes system of cyclopaths in the cities. Following chapters are describing the concept of parks and cyclopaths development in the rural area until 2020. Next, the work establishes criteria for evaluation of locations discussed in charter 5. Theoretical part of this work discusses in chapter six general rules for cyclopaths and park use. In chapter seven traffic signalization and in line skaters' equipment are discussed. Further chapters focus on sport and safety equipment. In the end of theoretical part of chapter ten and eleven I comment on particularities of in line skating education for children 7- 10 years old. Practical part describes mapping and evaluation of 10 selected cyclopaths located on the left side of Vltava River and close surroundings in chapter 12-13. Chapter 14 is dedicated to in-line skating and its categories. In the end of the practical part, the structure and methodology of teaching lesson of in-line skating is depicted together with description of basics of in line skating. Appendix consists of graphical comparison of results from public survey Keywords In-line skating, skating lessons, mapping of...

A lack of information is identified on the ability of professional nurses working in a neonatal intensive care unit to make competent clinical decisions pertaining to the employment of bedside blood product filters during neonatal transfusion. In addition, a lack of complete guidelines existed to aid professional nurses in instances where they are faced with such a decision. A descriptive survey was conducted to determine and describe the knowledge professional nurses working in neonatal intensive care unit have regarding the employment of bedside blood product filters during the transfusion of a neonate with blood or blood products, as well as their ability to make competent clinical decisions in the regard. A questionnaire was designed, which was validated by experts in neonatal intensive care nursing and blood transfusion. The questionnaires were distributed to 10 nominated public and private hospitals with neonatal intensive care units in Gauteng, South Africa, for completion. Participants were self-nominated; they participated in the study of their own free will. Neither the participants’ nor the hospitals’ names were revealed at any stage. Numbers were used to identify the questionnaires. 120 questionnaires were completed and were analysed using descriptive statistics. In the following step, the results obtained from the questionnaires together with literature were used to recommend guidelines for neonatal transfusion utilisation by professional nurses working in neonatal intensive care units. The recommended guidelines were divided into two categories: General guidelines and Specific blood products guidelines. Validity and reliability was enhanced by using staff from ten neonatal intensive care units from the private and public health care sector in Gauteng, South Africa; obtaining a sufficient sample size (n=120); involvement of experts in the field of neonatal nursing science and blood transfusion, as well as a statistician from the University of Pretoria; and verification of results with literature. Ethical principles were adhered to: confidentiality was maintained as no names of any of the hospitals or the participants were disclosed. All information regarding the study was provided to the relevant parties and the participants voluntarily signed an informed consent form. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the selected hospitals’ management. Approval to conduct the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria. There were no known risks involved in the study. Recommendations were made for more research on the same topic to be conducted and their outcomes be compared to the results yielded by this study and research to be conducted to related topics. The findings of this study were meant to improve the clinical practice of nursing in neonatal intensive care units. It was therefore recommended that these guidelines be implemented by neonatal intensive care units, training institutions and the South African Blood Transfusion Services. AFRIKAANS : Die navorser het ’n intensiewe oorsig van die bestaande literatuur rakende die kliniese besluitneming van professionele verpleegkundiges in neonatale intensiewe sorgeenhede gedoen. Dit het duidelik uit dié navorsingsoorsig geblyk dat daar baie min gedoen is om die vermoëns vas te stel van professionele verpleegkundiges wat in die neonatale intensiewe sorgeenheid werk met betrekking tot kliniese besluitneming wat die aanwending van bloedprodukfilters tydens neonatale transfusie betref. Aanvullend het die oorsig onthul dat daar geen volledige riglyne bestaan, of voorsien word, vir professionele verpleegkundiges in gevalle waar hul met so ’n besluit gekonfronteer word. Die studie is in twee fases gedoen. In Fase een is ’n vraelys ontwerp gebaseer op konsepte en temas uit die literatuur geїdentifiseer, waarna dit gevalideer is deur kundiges. Die vraelyste is uitgegee aan 10 genomineerde privaat- en publieke hospitale met neonatale inesiewe sorgeenhede in Gauteng vir voltooiing. Die voltooide vraelyste is gesorteer en geanaliseer. Deelnemers is self-genomineerd; die navorser het hulle toegelaat om self te besluit of hulle wou deelneem aan die studie of nie. Deelnemers en hospitale se name is op geen stadium bekend gemaak nie. Nommers is gebruik om die vraelyste te identifiseer. In Fase twee is die uitslae van die vraelyste gebruik om riglyne te ontwerp om gebruik te word in neonatale intensiewe sorgeenhede deur professionele verpleegkundiges vir neonatale transfusie. Riglyne vir neonatale transfusie is geformuleer volgens die uitkoms van die vraelyste in kombinasie sowel as die oorsig van die reeds bestaande literatuur deur middel van induktiewe en deduktiewe beredenering. Aangesien professionele verpleegkundiges kennis moet dra van algemene riglyne om spesifieke riglyne te kan toepas, is die riglyne in twee kategorieë verdeel: Algemene riglyne en Spesifieke bloedprodukte riglyne. Deur hierdie studie in twee verskillende omgewings, naamlik privaat- en publieke instansies te doen, en 10 eenhede van een area (Gauteng) in Suid- Afrika daarby te betrek, sowel as om ’n relatief groot steekproef te gebruik, is die oordraagbaarheid van die uitkoms van die studie na ander streke verhoog. Die navorser het aanbeveel dat verdere studies oor dieselfde onderwerp gedoen word, en die uitkomste daarvan vergelyk word met die resultaat van hierdie studie. Die uitkoms die studie sal dan meer oordraagbaar wees na ander streke in Suid-Afrika. Die uitgebreide literatuuroorsig, die betrokkenheid van kundiges en die navorser se eie ondervinding en kennis in die neonatale intensiewe sorgverpleegkunde, het bygedra tot die vertrouenswaardigheid van die studie. Kundiges op die gebied van neonatale verpleegkunde en bloedtransfusie was betrokke, sowel as ’n biostatistikus verbonde aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Etiese beginsels is gevolg. Die navorser was nie bewus van, en is ook nie gekonfronteer met enige etiese dilemmas of probleme tydens die studie nie. Konfidensialiteit is deurgaans gehandhaaf in die studie deurdat geen name van die deelnemers of hospitale genoem is nie. Alle inligting met betrekking tot die studie is aan die relevante partye verstrek en die deelnemers het almal uit eie vrye wil ’n ingeligte toestemmingsvorm onderteken. Toestemming om die studie te doen is ook verkry van die genomineerde hospitale se bestuur. Toestemming om die studie te doen is verkry van die Etiese Komittee van die Fakulteit van Gesondheidswetenskappe, Universiteit van Pretoria. Daar was geen risiko’s betrokke aan die studie nie, slegs voordele, aangesien die doel van die studie was om die professionele verpleegkundiges in die neonatale intensiewe sorgeenhede behulpsaam te wees met besluitneming rakende die gebruik van bloedprodukfilters tydens transfusie van bloed of bloedprodukte aan ’n neonaat. Die bevindings van die studie is bedoel om die kliniese praktyk van verpleging in neonatale intensiewe sorgeenhede te verbeter. Gevolglik word ’n aanbeveling gemaak dat hierdie riglyne geïmplimenteer word in neonatale intensiewe sorgeenhede, opleidingsinstansies sowel as die Suid-Afrikaanse Bloedoortappingsdiens. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

The aim of this diploma work is to design moving parts of the five cylinder inline diesel engine with given parameters, then to balance centrifugal forces and moments and design viscous torsional vibrations damper and calculate forced oscilations without the damper as well as with the damper. The designed parts are put to stress analyse by finite elements method. My design is based on similar construction of four cylinder engine Zetor.

This thesis provides an overall evaluation of the concept of inline injection pump for pressure 120 MPa. The name of this pump is "Mj" and it is a product of the Motorpal, a.s. company. This thesis also contains an analysis of the contact pressures between the cam lobe and the pumping element's roller tappet. This includes comparing three different shapes of the roller and their influence on the magnitude of contact pressures. Calculations of the plunger helix and of the fuel delivery's impact on the relative position of plunger are also present.