VIRTUE : integrating CFD ship design

Novel ship concepts, increasing size and speed, and strong competition in the global maritime market require that a ship's hydrodynamic performance be studied at the highest level of sophistication. All hydrodynamic aspects need to be considered so as to optimize trade-offs between resistance, propulsion (and cavitation), seakeeping or manoeuvring. VIRTUE takes a holistic approach to hydrodynamic design and focuses on integrating advanced CFD tools in a software platform that can control and launch multi-objective hydrodynamic design projects. In this paper current practice, future requirements and a potential software integration platform are presented. The necessity of parametric modelling as a means of effectively generating and efficiently varying geometry, and the added-value of advanced visualization, is discussed. An illustrating example is given as a test case, a container carrier investigation, and the requirements and a proposed architecture for the platform are outlined

Operational Carbon Footprint of the U.S. Water Sector’s Energy Consumption

Accounting of energy-related GHG emissions in the water sector have largely been conducted at single utilities or cities and rarely at a regional or country scale. In this study, we assess the carbon footprints of operational energy use for 76 wastewater utilities and 64 water utilities across the United States. Additionally, we investigate water-related GHG emissions at a sub-annual scale through three case cities to understand how GHG emissions change at the monthly scale. We estimate the total drinking water and wastewater GHG emissions associated with electricity, biogas, natural gas, and fuel oil consumption across the United States to be 26.5 x 109 and 20.1 x 109 kg CO2e respectively. We find the average GHG emissions per unit drinking water and wastewater emissions to be 0.463 kg CO2e/ m3 and 0.42 kg CO2e/ m3, respectively. The research provides insights into operational GHG emissions of the water sector and advances the understanding of temporal variations in the life-cycle of energy use

Control of tumor size and disease activity during cotreatment with octreotide and the growth hormone receptor antagonist pegvisomant in an acromegalic patient

We describe the case of an acromegalic subject, who was the first patient ever treated with the GH receptor antagonist pegvisomant. Furthermore, in this particular patient, progression in tumor size was encountered during treatment with pegvisomant. The patient described did benefit from cotreatment with pegvisomant and octreotide, including decreased GH levels, normalization of serum insulin-like growth factor I concentrations, and improvement of visual field defects

Modelling the dispersion of airborne pollutants in the Pretoria urban area

The theory and methodology of urban air pollution dispersion models are reviewed to provide the background for a critical approach to modelling atmospheric pollution in South African conditions. It is shown that there is no evidence to suggest the existence of a universally applicable modelling technique. Three models of various degrees of complexity, the Gaussian plume model for multiple sources, the ATDL-grid model and the Gifford-Hanna simple model, are applied to predict long-term concentrations of atmospheric sulphur dioxide in the Pretoria urban area and evaluated against observations. Whereas the ATDL-grid model does not adequately simulate air pollution levels during the main pollution season in Pretoria, more realistic results are obtained by the Gaussian plume model for multiple sources and the Gifferd-Hanna simple model. The refinements introduced into the two models to further improve their performance are presented. A closer association between predicted and observed SO2 concentrations is consistently obtained when an increasing number of wind and stability observations are used in the Gaussian plume model for multiple sources to simulate spatial variations in the dispersion conditions over Pretoria. The Gifford-Hanna simple model is refined by including estimates of hourly, monthly and seasonal air pollution concentrations. An objective weighting scheme is used in conjunction with experimental evidence to determine variations of the stability factor in the model. The methodology of future applications is discussed and it is shown that the refined Gifford-Hanna simple model provides a fast and inexpensive basis for predicting concentration levels of spheric pollutants from multiple sources with a degree of success comparable to the performance of the Gaussian plume model

Common symptoms during pregnancy to predict depression and health status 14 years post partum

Objective: To examine the prospective association between symptoms commonly experienced during pregnancy and the mental and general health status of women 14 years post partum. Methods: Data used were from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, a community-based prospective birth cohort study begun in Brisbane, Australia, in 1981. Logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Data were available for 5118 women. Women who experienced a higher burden of symptoms during pregnancy were at greater risk of becoming depressed and reporting poorer health status 14 years post partum. Women who experienced major problems during pregnancy were 4 times more likely to be depressed and nearly 8 times more likely to report poorer health status 14 years after the index pregnancy compared with women who experienced few problems. Conclusions: Findings suggest that pregnant women who experience common symptoms during pregnancy are likely to experience poorer mental and self-reported general health 14 years after the pregnancy. (C) 2008 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Glargine and degludec: solution behaviour of higher dose synthetic insulins

Single, double and triple doses of the synthetic insulins glargine and degludec currently used in patient therapy are characterised using macromolecular hydrodynamic techniques (dynamic light scattering and analytical ultracentrifugation) in an attempt to provide the basis for improved personalised insulin profiling in patients with diabetes. Using dynamic light scattering and sedimentation velocity in the analytical ultracentrifuge glargine was shown to be primarily dimeric under solvent conditions used in current formulations whereas degludec behaved as a dihexamer with evidence of further association of the hexamers (“multi-hexamerisation”). Further analysis by sedimentation equilibrium showed that degludec exhibited reversible interaction between mono- and-di-hexamer forms. Unlike glargine, degludec showed strong thermodynamic non-ideality, but this was suppressed by the addition of salt. With such large injectable doses of synthetic insulins remaining in the physiological system for extended periods of time, in some case 24–40 hours, double and triple dose insulins may impact adversely on personalised insulin profiling in patients with diabetes