CFD simulation of wind forces on ships in ports: Case study for the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal

A nautical port is an aerodynamically complex built-up area. The wind forces on ships in ports can be very different from those at open sea. Knowledge of the wind conditions in ports and of the wind forces acting on ships in ports are essential for safe maneuvering and mooring. This paper presents a case study in which wind forces on a large cruise ship moored at the quay of the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal are determined by 3D steady RANS simulations. The simulated wind speeds and wind directions are validated by on-site measurements. A previous study in which simulated wind forces on a container ship were validated with wind-tunnel tests, is also mentioned here to justify the selection of computational parameters for the case study. Near to the Cruise Terminal quay various high-rise buildings exist that can influence the wind loads on the ship. It is shown that the presence of the high-rise buildings can yield locally amplified surface pressure, but that, due to the large size of the ship, the net horizontal force decreases. However, the net vertical upward force increases. For smaller ships, nearby high-rise buildings could yield an increase in both horizontal and vertical forces

Original Article Assessment of the clinical relevance of quantitative sensory testing with Von Frey monofilaments in patients with allodynia and neuropathic pain. A pilot study

Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Summary Background: Allodynia is a common and disabling symptom in many patients with neuropathic pain. Whereas quantification of pain mostly depends on subjective pain reports, allodynia can also be measured objectively with quantitative sensory testing. In this pilot study, we investigated the clinical relevance of quantitative sensory testing with Von Frey monofilaments in patients with allodynia as a consequence of a neuropathic pain syndrome, by means of correlating subjective pain scores with pain thresholds obtained with quantitative sensory testing. Methods: During a 4-week trial, we administered a cannabis extract to 17 patients with allodynia. We quantified the severity of the allodynia with Von Frey monofilaments before, during and after the patients finished the trial. We also asked the patients to rate their pain on a numeric rating scale at these three moments. Results: We found that most of the effect of the cannabis occurred in the last 2 weeks of the trial. In this phase, we observed that the pain thresholds, as measured with Von Frey monofilaments, were inversely correlated with a decrease of the perceived pain intensity. Conclusion: These preliminary findings indicate clinical relevance of quantitative sensory testing with Von Frey monofilaments in the quantification of allodynia in patients with neuropathic pain, although confirmation of our data is still required in further studies to position this method of quantitative sensory testing as a valuable tool, for example, in the evaluation of therapeutic interventions for neuropathic pain. Download date: 30-06-2019 European Journal of Anaesthesiology 2007; 24: 658-663 r 2007 Copyright European Society of Anaesthesiology doi: 10.101

Quantifying the impact of mass vaccination programmes on notified cases in the Netherlands.

Vaccination programmes are considered a main contributor to the decline of infectious diseases over the 20th century. In recent years, the national vaccination coverage in the Netherlands has been declining, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring and evaluation of vaccination programmes. Our aim was to quantify the impact of long-standing vaccination programmes on notified cases in the Netherlands. We collected and digitised previously unavailable monthly case notifications of diphtheria, poliomyelitis, mumps and rubella in the Netherlands over the period 1919-2015. Poisson regression models accounting for seasonality, multi-year cycles, secular trends and auto-correlation were fit to pre-vaccination periods. Cases averted were calculated as the difference between observed and expected cases based on model projections. In the first 13 years of mass vaccinations, case notifications declined rapidly with 82.4% (95% credible interval (CI): 74.9-87.6) of notified cases of diphtheria averted, 92.9% (95% CI 85.0-97.2) cases of poliomyelitis, and 79.1% (95% CI 67.1-87.4) cases of mumps. Vaccination of 11-year-old girls against rubella averted 49.9% (95% CI 9.3-73.5) of cases, while universal vaccination averted 68.1% (95% CI 19.4-87.3) of cases. These findings show that vaccination programmes have contributed substantially to the reduction of infectious diseases in the Netherlands