Air Entrainment Processes in a Full-Scale Rectangular Dropshaft at Large Flows

Rectangular dropshafts, commonly used in sewers and storm water systems, are characterised by significant flow aeration. New detailed air-water flow measurements were conducted in a near-full-scale dropshaft at large discharges. In the shaft pool and outflow channel, the results demonstrated the complexity of different competitive air entrainment mechanisms. Bubble size measurements showed a broad range of entrained bubble sizes. Analysis of streamwise distributions of bubbles suggested further some clustering process in the bubbly flow although, in the outflow channel, bubble chords were in average smaller than in the shaft pool. A robust hydrophone was tested to measure bubble acoustic spectra and to assess its field application potential. The acoustic results characterised accurately the order of magnitude of entrained bubble sizes, but the transformation from acoustic frequencies to bubble radii did not predict correctly the probability distribution functions of bubble sizes.

A test of competing explanations of compensation demanded

We find that prospect theory behavior is significantly more prevalent than utility theory behavior in experiments involving multiple, real items. In the experiments, subjects were endowed with three items and asked the minimum payments they required to be willing to return one, two, or three of them. Our key observation is that prospect theory implies concavity of compensation demanded, whereas utility theory implies convexity. We examine whether the compensation demanded is convex or concave in the number of items returned. (JEL C91).

Cytokine-related genes identified from the RIKEN full-length mouse cDNA data set

To identify novel cytokine-related genes, we searched the set of 60,770 annotated RIKEN mouse cDNA clones (FANTOM2 clones), using keywords such as cytokine itself or cytokine names (such as interferon, interleukin, epidermal growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and transforming growth factor). This search produced 108 known cytokines and cytokine-related products such as cytokine receptors, cytokine-associated genes, or their products (enhancers, accessory proteins, cytokine-induced genes). We found 15 clusters of FANTOM2 clones that are candidates for novel cytokine-related genes. These encoded products with strong sequence similarity to guanylate-binding protein (GBP-5), interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 2 (IRAK-2), interleukin 20 receptor alpha isoform 3, a member of the interferon-inducible proteins of the Ifi 200 cluster, four members of the membrane-associated family 1-8 of interferon-inducible proteins, one p27-like protein, and a hypothetical protein containing a Toll/Interleukin receptor domain. All four clones representing novel candidates of gene products from the family contain a novel highly conserved cross-species domain. Clones similar to growth factor-related products included transforming growth factor beta-inducible early growth response protein 2 (TIEG-2), TGFbeta-induced factor 2, integrin beta-like 1, latent TGF-binding protein 4S, and FGF receptor 4B. We performed a detailed sequence analysis of the candidate novel genes to elucidate their likely functional properties.

Identification of novel "pathologs" (human disease-related gene candidates) from the RIKEN full-length mouse cDNA data set

The majority of common diseases such as cancer, allergy, diabetes, or heart disease are characterized by complex genetic traits, in which genetic and environmental components contribute to disease susceptibility. Our knowledge of the genetic factors underlying most of such diseases is limited. A major goal in the post-genomic era is to identify and characterize disease susceptibility genes and to use this knowledge for disease treatment and prevention. More than 500 genes are conserved across the invertebrate and vertebrate genomes. Because of gene conservation, various organisms including yeast, fruitfly, zebrafish, rat, and mouse have been used as genetic models.

Compensation for obesity-induced insulin resistance in dogs: Causal web analysis of the associations of leptin and GLP-1.

Obesity affects aspects of glucose homeostasis such as insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. Hormones secreted by adipocytes like leptin mediate the metabolic consequences of obesity. Incretin hormones like glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) increase insulin secretion in response to changes in blood glucose concentration and have been proposed to regulate insulin secretion in fasting, overweight dogs. The aim of this study was to examine hormonal mechanisms by which adiposity alters glucose homeostasis, plasma insulin concentration, and insulin sensitivity in spontaneously overweight dogs.

Modelling of cold-formed purlin-sheeting systems .1. Full model

Purlin-sheeting systems used for roofs and walls commonly take the form of cold-formed channel or zed section purlins, screw-connected to corrugated sheeting. These purlin-sheeting systems have been the subject of numerous theoretical and experimental investigations over the past three decades, but the complexity of the systems has led to great difficulty in developing a sound and general model. This paper presents a non-linear elasto-plastic finite element model, capable of predicting the behaviour of purlin-sheeting systems without the need for either experimental input or over simplifying assumptions. The model incorporates both the sheeting and the purlin, and is able to account for cross-sectional distortion of the purlin, the flexural and membrane restraining effects of the sheeting, and failure of the purlin by local buckling or yielding. The validity of the model is shown by its good correlation with experimental results. A simplified version of this model, which is more suitable for use in a design environment, is presented in a companion paper. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Wildlife damage, insurance/compensation for farmers and conservation: Sri Lankan elephants as a case

The interference with agriculture has been recognised as the main cause for the current conflict between farmers and wild elephants in Sri Lanka, as elsewhere in the Asian elephant range. Thus compensating farmers for the damages caused by elephants is essential, if this endangered species is to survive in the long run. This paper explores the practicality of establishing an improved publicly funded insurance/compensation scheme to recompense farmers for the elephant damages. It does so by analysing results from two contingent valuation surveys undertaken in Sri Lanka. We find that possible public support of farmers plus urban dwellers significantly exceeds the financial requirement of the insurance scheme proposed in this study for perpetuity. The article also shows that it is often inappropriate from an economic viewpoint to analyse crop insurance as if it only involves the insurance of a private good because important positive externalities can arise from ‘crop’ damages by wildlife, e.g. elephants. The use of agricultural land by some species is essential for their long-term survival and this is often positively valued by the community as a whole.

Time evolution in the unimolecular master equation at low temperatures: full spectral solution with scalable iterative methods and high precision

A new method is presented to determine an accurate eigendecomposition of difficult low temperature unimolecular master equation problems. Based on a generalisation of the Nesbet method, the new method is capable of achieving complete spectral resolution of the master equation matrix with relative accuracy in the eigenvectors. The method is applied to a test case of the decomposition of ethane at 300 K from a microcanonical initial population with energy transfer modelled by both Ergodic Collision Theory and the exponential-down model. The fact that quadruple precision (16-byte) arithmetic is required irrespective of the eigensolution method used is demonstrated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Population pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus in children who receive cut-down or full liver transplants

Background. The aim of this study was to investigate the population pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus in pediatric liver transplant recipients and to identify factors that may explain pharmacokinetic variability. Methods. Data were collected retrospectively from 35 children who received oral immunosuppressant therapy with tacrolimus. Maximum likelihood estimates were sought for the typical values of apparent clearance (CL/F) and apparent volume of distribution (V/F) with the program NONMEM. Factors screened for influence on the pharmacokinetic parameters were weight, age, gender, postoperative day, days since commencing tacrolimus therapy, transplant type (whole child liver or cut-down adult liver), liver function tests (bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase [ALP], aspartate aminotransferase [AST], gamma -glutamyl transferase [GGT], alanine aminotransferase [ALT]), creatinine clearance, hematocrit, corticosteroid dose, and concurrent therapy with metabolic inducers and inhibitors of tacrolimus. Results. No clear correlation existed between tacrolimus dosage and blood concentrations (r(2) =0.003). Transplant type, age, and liver function test values were the most important factors (P

Coupling between replication and packaging of flavivirus RNA: Evidence derived from the use of DNA-based full-length cDNA clones of kunjin virus

In order to study whether flavivirus RNA packaging is dependent on RNA replication, we generated two DNA-based Kunjin virus constructs, pKUN1 and pKUN1dGDD, allowing continuous production of replicating (wild-type) and nonreplicating (with a deletion of the NS5 gene RNA-polymerase motif GDD) full-length Kunjin virus RNAs, respectively, via nuclear transcription by cellular RNA polymerase II. As expected, transfection of pKUN1 plasmid DNA into BHK cells resulted in the recovery of secreted infectious Kunjin virions. Transfection of pKUN1dGDD DNA into BHK cells, however, did not result in the recovery of any secreted virus particles containing encapsidated dGDD RNA, despite an apparent accumulation of this RNA in cells demonstrated by Northern blot analysis and its efficient translation demonstrated by detection of correctly processed labeled structural proteins (at least prM and E) both in cells and in the culture fluid using coimmunoprecipitation analysis with anti-E antibodies. In contrast, when dGDD RNA was produced even in much smaller amounts in PKUN1dGDD DNA-transfected repBHK cells (where it was replicated via complementation), it was packaged into secreted virus particles, Thus, packaging of defective Kunjin virus RNA could occur only when it was replicated. Our results with genome-length Kunjin virus RNA and the results with poliovirus replicon RNA (C, I. Nugent et al,, J, Virol, 73:427-435, 1999), both demonstrating the necessity for the RNA to be replicated before it can be packaged, strongly suggest the existence of a common mechanism for minimizing amplification and transmission of defective RNAs among the quasispecies in positive-strand RNA viruses, This mechanism may thus help alleviate the high-copy error rate of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases.