Multi-scale friction modeling for manufacturing processes: The boundary layer regime

This paper presents a multi-scale friction model for largescale forming simulations. A friction framework has been developed including the effect of surface changes due to normal loading and straining the underlying bulk material. A fast and efficient translation from micro to macro modeling, based on stochastic methods, is incorporated to reduce the computational effort. Adhesion and ploughing effects have been accounted for to characterize friction conditions on the micro scale. A discrete model has been adopted which accounts for the formation of contact patches ploughing through the contacting material. To simulate metal forming processes a coupling has been made with an implicit Finite Element code. Simulations on a typical metal formed product shows a distribution of friction values. The modest increase in simulation time, compared to a standard Coulomb-based FE simulation, proves the numerical feasibility of the proposed method

Real-life effectiveness of once-daily calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate gel vs. ointment formulations in psoriasis vulgaris: final analysis of the 52-week PRO-long study

Background: Topical therapies are the mainstay of treatment for psoriasis vulgaris. The fixed combination of calcipotriol (Cal) 50 mu g/g plus betamethasone 0.5 mg/g (as dipropionate; BD) is a first-line topical treatment and available as a gel or ointment. The use of these fixed combination products was compared in PRO-long, a long-term noninterventional study, for which interim results (4 and 12 weeks) have previously been reported. Objective: To describe and compare patients' perspectives on the fixed combination gel and ointment formulations; to include efficacy, adherence behaviour, treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) aspects during long-term real-life psoriasis management. Methods: PRO-long was a multicentre, prospective, observational, 52-week study of patients prescribed fixed combination Cal/BD gel or ointment in clinical practice. For final analysis the following were assessed at weeks 24, 36 and 52: differences in the proportion of patients with 'mild'/'very mild' disease according to patient's global assessment of disease severity, adherence behaviour, treatment satisfaction (nine-item treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication) and HRQoL (Skindex-29). Results: Patients (n = 328) were prescribed once-daily Cal/BD gel (n = 152) or ointment (n = 176). At week 52, a higher proportion of patients reported that the severity of their psoriasis was 'mild'/'very mild' vs. baseline (gel: 60.2 vs. 47.1%; ointment: 58.8 vs. 42.4%), with greater treatment satisfaction reported in patients using gel vs. those using ointment. A higher proportion of patients found the gel 'easy' to use compared with the ointment (66.7 vs. 45.2%). Daily application of treatment took <= 5 min for 86.1% of patients using gel and 71.0% of patients using ointment. Conclusion: This real-life study has demonstrated similar effectiveness between the Cal/BD formulations. However, over a 52-week treatment period, patients reported greater treatment satisfaction with the gel, which was considered easier to use, faster to apply and overall a more convenient product

Mucosal Immune Regulation in Early Infancy: Monitoring and Intervention

The mucosal immune system of infants is dependent on the maintenance of mucosal homeostasis. Homeostasis results from the interaction between the mucosa and exogenous factors such as dietar and microbial agents. Induction and maintenance of homeostasis is a highly regluated system that involves different cell types. If homeostasis is lost this may lead to disease, including allergy and chronic intestinal inflammation. In this thesis we observed whether loss of homeostasis leading to cow's milk allergy could be influenced by the supplementation of probiotic bacteria. Next to that the thesis focuses on a (buccal) epithelial cells and their role in mucosal homeostasis

Structure-stiffness relation of live mouse brain tissue determined by depth-controlled indentation mapping

The mechanical properties of brain tissue play a pivotal role in neurodevelopment and neurological disorders. Yet, at present, there is no consensus on how the different structural parts of the tissue contribute to its stiffness variations. Here, we have gathered depth-controlled indentation viscoelasticity maps of the hippocampus of isolated horizontal live mouse brain sections. Our results confirm the highly viscoelestic nature of the material and clearly show that the mechanical properties correlate with the different morphological layers of the samples investigated. Interestingly, the relative cell nuclei area seems to negatively correlate with the stiffness observed

Ammoniakemissie en emissiereductie van het balansballensysteem bij vleesvarkens

This research was conducted to measure the effect of the “balansballen” system, with and without VevoVitall®, on the ammonia emission from growing-finishing pigs housed in partly slatted pens that were fully equipped with a manure pit underneath. These emissions were compared to a reference system (without VevoVitall® and without the “balansballen” system) in order to determine the emission reduction of both treatments. The measurements were performed according to the measurement protocol “Ammonia emission from animal houses 2007”

Analyse ammoniakemissieniveaus van praktijkbedrijven in de varkenshouderij (1990-2003)

The main objectives of this study are: to gain insight in the variance structure of ammonia emission for the four main pig categories by analyzing available datasets (1990- 2003) measured in the Netherlands, to estimate the accuracy of the current measurement protocol of ammonia emission and to gain insight in the effects of modifying protocols on their accuracy. Results from the statistical analysis were used to test the accuracy of alternative measurement protocols based on different sampling strategies. To minimize the measurement error associated with ammonia emission measurements, it is proposed to increase the number of locations involved in the measurement schem

Evaluatie van de CIGR methode voor de bepaling van het ventilatiedebiet uit stallen

In this study the calculation method used by the CIGR to determine the ventilation rate from animal houses (CO2 mass balance method) was evaluated with measurement data for different animal categories